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.
Jean-Micheal Blais & Lara Somogyi’s Desert makes the climb up from No. 3 to land at the No. 1 position on the Classical Chartz this week. They’re followed by Nevermind with Bach: Goldberg Variations, which steps up from No 6 to come in at No. 2. Jan Lisiecki’s Preludes lets go of No. 1 to land at No. 3, and another Bach, this time with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and James Ehnes, likewise takes two steps down from No. 2 to end up at No. 4.
There’s one newcomer to the Classical Chartz Top Ten this week: the Takács Quartet and Marc-André Hamelin with Dvořák and Price – Piano Quintets. Founded in Budapest, Hungary, and now based in Boulder, Colorado, the Takács Quartet is celebrating their 50th anniversary season this year. The Grammy Award-winning Quartet has frequently collaborated with Canadian virtuoso pianist Marc-André Hamelin to explore Dvořák and Price.
The composers may seem diverse; while Dvořák was notably marked by the time he spent in the US, he had actually composed his second Piano Quintet, before that period in his life. Both, however, use folk melodies as inspiration, with Dvořák using elements of Ukrainian music in the work. Price’s Quintet was written in 1936, with final revisions that date from 1952. As with most of her pieces, she combines elements of Western art music, particularly of the late Romantic period, with African-American spiritual music, and more.
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