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.
For another week, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra sits at the top of the Classical Chartz with their most recent album The Miraculous Mandarin. At No. 2, Ludovico Einaudi’s Solo Piano makes the biggest leap within the Top Ten, vaulting form No. 7 last week. Hauser’s The Swan holds fast at No. 3 for a second week, followed by Hania Rani’s Sentimental Value, which steps up from No. 5 last week to take the No. 4 spot.
The Bridgerton Season 4 Soundtrack drops to No. 6, though it’s worth noting that it has stayed within the Top Ten since it appeared on the Classical Chartz weeks ago.
New this week is Renaud Capuçon and his latest recording, J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas. It climbs from No. 14 last week to take the No. 10 spot. The renowned French violinist has released the album to coincide with his 50th birthday in January.
Capuçon was first introduced to Bach’s seminal works, considered a benchmark of the violin repertoire, from an LP owned by his parents. Renaud began to study the music as a child as soon as he was able, beginning with the Third Partita, inspired by Yehudi Menuhin. The idea of recording the Sonatas and Partitas came to him at various points in his career, but it was his wife, Laurence Ferrari, who finally persuaded him to turn that thought into reality.
“Until then, I kept thinking I should wait a little longer,” Capuçon explains in the album’s liner notes. “I wanted to be a better human, a better violinist… The fact that I’m doing it for my 50th birthday has a nice symbolism, but it doesn’t mean this is a definitive interpretation. It’s a snapshot of today – Renaud Capuçon playing Bach at 50!”
Bach’s works for solo violin require a mastery of technique and superlative interpretative skills. For Capuçon, it was a labour of love
“For as long as I can remember, his music has always calmed and comforted me, while at the same time filling me with feelings of energy and joy. It was with a mixture of serenity and humility that I approached these recording sessions in Berlin. This was a moment of introspection for me, a moment of listening to a voice within myself and of searching for the absolute,” says Renaud.
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