Enjoy new music with our classical music chart for this week. Our weekly selections are based on sales numbers and simply what albums we love and think you NEED to hear.
For the complete top 20, tune into Classical Chartz with the New Classical FM’s Mark Wigmore every Saturday from 3-5 p.m.
It had to happen sometime — Andre Rieu’s The Sound of Heaven has tumbled from its No. 1 position on the Classical Chartz last week to No. 4 this week. Ludovico Einaudi (The Summer Portraits), Maria (The Original Soundtrack) and Andrea Bocelli’s Duets (30th Anniversary), take up the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 positions respectively. Traditional repertoire and new/neoclassical approaches are both represented in the top positions — who says you have to choose?
Three newcomers climb into the Classical Chartz Top Ten for this week. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and music director Gustavo Gimeno make a splashy debut on the Chartz, landing at no less than No. 5 in their first week. The release, the TSO’s Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, was recorded live at Roy Thomson Hall in February 2024.
Stravinsky conducted the ballet score for the last time in public with the TSO, as it happens, giving the piece a special place in the TSO’s repertoire. Pulcinella was inspired by 17th-century Italian commedia dell’arte, and Stravinsky uses his thoroughly modern sensibilities to reinvent the musical ideas of the baroque period in his own style. The full ballet suite of 16 movements is paired with the composer’s homage to Tchaikovsky, The Fairy’s Kiss, and the world premiere recording of Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s TSO-commissioned work, Curiosity, Genius, and the Search for Petula Clark.
Also new to the Classical Chartz Top Ten is Alica Sara Ott and her release John Field Complete Nocturnes which rises from No. 13 to finish at No. 8. The German-Japanese pianist has chosen to focus on the complete Nocturnes by rarely performed composer John Field — often referred to as the father of the Nocturne.
The Irish pianist, composer and teacher was the first to use the term Nocturne to define the piece as we know it today. Field became a concert pianist and well regarded composer in his time, influencing Chopin, Brahms and many others. He moved to London, then to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he settled for most of his life.
“Engaging with Field’s nocturnes was a deeply rewarding experience,” says Ott in the album’s notes. “Their beauty and grace affected me profoundly and enriched my life while I was preparing for this recording. By recording this album, I hope to share the story of this historically important composer and to encourage listeners to discover the origins of the Nocturne.”
In an innovative touch, the music is accompanied by a music video. The 45 minute film is an odyssey into the artist and her relationship to the music.
French violinist Renaud Capuçon’s Richard Strauss makes the leap from No. 12 to land at the No. 9 spot this week. Strauss has been an important composer in Capuçon’s stellar career, and the album includes a selection of his favourite works, like the Violin Concerto in D minor, performed with the Wiener Symphoniker and Czech conductor Petr Popelka. For Ein Heldenleben, he’s joined by the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, with Seiji Ozawa at the helm (recorded in 2000).
Other guests join him on the Deutsche Grammphon release, including three young musicians who have been mentored by Capuçon as part of his Beau Soir Productions initiative. Capuçon selections also include Strauss’ Piano Quartet, the Sextet from Capriccio, and a string septet arrangement of Metamorphosen, as well as the Daphne-Etude for solo violin.
Are you looking to promote an event? Have a news tip? Need to know the best events happening this weekend? Send us a note.
#LUDWIGVAN
Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! — local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox HERE.
