{"id":121959,"date":"2026-02-23T12:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T17:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=121959"},"modified":"2026-02-23T13:00:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:00:01","slug":"classical-chartz-the-top-ten-classical-music-albums-for-the-week-of-february-23-to-march-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2026\/02\/23\/classical-chartz-the-top-ten-classical-music-albums-for-the-week-of-february-23-to-march-1\/","title":{"rendered":"CLASSICAL CHARTZ | The Top Ten Classical Music Albums For The Week Of February 23 To March 1 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"classical<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For the complete top 20, tune into Classical Chartz<\/a><\/strong> with the New Classical FM\u2019s Mark Wigmore every Saturday from 3-5 p.m. Find the whole Top 20 here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Top
Top ten classical music albums for the week of February 23, 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/strong>\u2019s Chopin & Scriabin<\/strong> Preludes drops one position to end up at No. 2, while Anastasia Kobekina<\/strong>\u2019s Bach Cello Suites<\/strong> and Alice Sara Ott<\/strong>\u2019s Johann Johannsson: Piano Works<\/strong>, hold their own at Nos. 3 and 4 respectively.<\/p>\n

The sole newcomer to the Classical Chartz Top 10 this week is American composer Christopher Tin<\/strong>\u2019s new finale for Turandot<\/strong>, Puccini\u2019s final opera. The opera was left incomplete at Puccini\u2019s death in 1924, and today is performed either by leaving it unfinished, and stopping the action shortly after the death of the character Li\u00f9, or with an ending composed by someone else.<\/p>\n

Tin\u2019s 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<\/strong>. Additional libretto was written by Susan Soon He Stanton<\/strong>. According to the program notes, Zambello commissioned the new ending to Puccini\u2019s opera after hearing Tin\u2019s heme to Civilization VI \u201cSogno di Volare\u201d coming from her son’s bedroom in 2018. At first, their discussions revolved around a new work \u2014 representing Tin\u2019s debut in the opera world.<\/p>\n

Zambello, however, had always been interested in commissioning a new ending for Turandot. The idea appealed to Christopher, and the deal was struck.<\/p>\n

He calls it \u201cthe most daunting commission of my entire career\u201d, and writes that he spent years studying Turandot, along with Puccini\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

While others have emphasized Turandot\u2019s psychology, and other elements, Tin\u2019s finale empowers Turandot, and makes her a true leader, while not shying away from her trauma.<\/p>\n

Are you looking to promote an event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? Have a\u00a0news tip<\/u><\/a>? Need to know the best\u00a0events<\/u><\/a>\u00a0happening this weekend? Send us a\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>note<\/u>.<\/em><\/strong>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! \u2014 local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox <\/em>HERE<\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enjoy new music with our classical music chart for this week, based on sales numbers and simply what albums we love and think you NEED to hear. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42533,75,77,40920,41373,3922,51,63],"tags":[42455,40693],"yst_prominent_words":[10292,34943,6767,6715,26649,7852,6616,9913,6886,17872,19594,31348],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/Classical-Chartz-image-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-vJ5","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121959"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121964,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121959\/revisions\/121964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121959"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=121959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}