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. Find the whole Top 20 here.
The Bridgerton Season 4 Soundtrack makes the biggest leap of the week, rising from No. 8 to land in the top position of the Classical Chartz. Mikhail Pletnev’s Chopin & Scriabin Preludes drops one position to end up at No. 2, while Anastasia Kobekina’s Bach Cello Suites and Alice Sara Ott’s Johann Johannsson: Piano Works, hold their own at Nos. 3 and 4 respectively.
The sole newcomer to the Classical Chartz Top 10 this week is American composer Christopher Tin’s new finale for Turandot, Puccini’s final opera. The opera was left incomplete at Puccini’s death in 1924, and today is performed either by leaving it unfinished, and stopping the action shortly after the death of the character Liù, or with an ending composed by someone else.
Tin’s take on the finale premiered at the then John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in May 2024, a commission by the Washington National Opera Company, artistic director Francesca Zambello. Additional libretto was written by Susan Soon He Stanton. According to the program notes, Zambello commissioned the new ending to Puccini’s opera after hearing Tin’s heme to Civilization VI “Sogno di Volare” coming from her son’s bedroom in 2018. At first, their discussions revolved around a new work — representing Tin’s debut in the opera world.
Zambello, however, had always been interested in commissioning a new ending for Turandot. The idea appealed to Christopher, and the deal was struck.
He calls it “the most daunting commission of my entire career”, and writes that he spent years studying Turandot, along with Puccini’s sketches, and the endings written by others. That includes the commonly performed ending by Franco Alfano (1926), along with those composed by Luciano Berio in 2002, and Hao Weiya in 2008.
While others have emphasized Turandot’s psychology, and other elements, Tin’s finale empowers Turandot, and makes her a true leader, while not shying away from her trauma.
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