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.
There’s a shakeup at the top of the Classical Chartz as Le Piano et le torrent by Viviane Audet takes over the No. 1 spot, up from No. 3 last week. At No. 2, Beethoven for three, reuniting Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, and Leonidas Kavakos, hangs on for no change in position over the last week. Olafur Arnalds and Talo round out the top of the Chartz at No. 3 with their album A Dawning.
There are two newcomers to the Top Ten this week. Yunchan Lim’s Tchaikovsky: Seasons, lands at No. 5 in its Chartz debut week. The young superstar pianist recorded the album live in England at Menuhin Hall in Surrey on July 31 and Aug. 1, 2024. He takes a thoughtful approach to interpreting Tchaikovsky Opus 37a, which he takes to describe not only the seasons of nature, but a 12-month period in the life of a person.
“Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Seasons’ captures the final year of a human life,” he says in a statement.
It’s a personal take on the music and what it means, and a development of Lim’s interpretive talent.
“I have resolved to live my life only for the sake of music, and I have decided to give up everything for music… I want my music to become deeper, and if this desire reaches the audience, I will be happy,” says the Korean pianist in the album notes.
The album’s cover was designed by an artist friend, as he mentions in an Instagram post.
“The cover art is a work by my dear friend Ho-Yeon Choi @bacnekgrvowl, whose brush and words trace the still, fleeting memories of those tender ancient hours which this music recalls, and dares to resurrect as eternal reverie.”
At No. 7, Joyce DiDonato’s Dido and Aeneas makes the leap up from No. 12 last week. While she’d been performing the famous Dido’s Lament, the closing aria of the opera, as part of her repertoire for years, it wasn’t until 2024 that DiDonato first performed Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in full.
She sings the title role with Il Pomo d’Oro and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, a production that toured extensively to venues such as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Teatro Real de Madrid before the recording took place in Essen’s Philharmonie. Michael Spyres sings the role of Aeneas. Spyres also sang on DiDonato’s prize-winning recording of Les Troyens, recorded in 2017. Sopranos Fatma Said (Belinda) and Beth Taylor (Sorceress) are also in the cast.
Il Pomo d’Oro was founded in 2012, and is dedicated to historically informed performance. The name of the ensemble comes from the opera Il pomo d’oro by Antonio Cesti that premiered in 1668. Maxim Emelyanychev has been their chief conductor since 2016.
Purcell’s opera was composed around 1683, and is based on Virgil’s Aeneid. It tells the tale of Dido, Queen of Carthage, and her love affair with Trojan hero Aeneas. Alas, he leaves her to continue his travels, and she takes her own life, in true operatic fashion. The closing aria is a showcase piece for a mezzo soprano.
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