2014 New Classical Releases Index (Collaborative Playlist)

Thanks everyone for updating the 2011, 2012 and 2013 New Classical Releases Indices. Let's do it again in 2014 and hopefully next year you won't have to use a playlist to browse the newly recorded/released classical albums of the year.

Same rules as before:

1. One track per album. You can click album titles and browse full albums.

2. Add new tracks at the top of the playlist, so the new additions can be found easily.

3. Please avoid duplicated entries. Use the filter bar to check before adding. For example: before you add Daniel Barenboim – New Year's Concert 2014 / Neujahrskonzert 2014, you can press Ctrl (CMD) + F to bring out the filter bar, input partial title (like Barenboim or new year's concert) to check if the album has already been added.

4. Only add newly recorded albums. No re-issues, re-packages or compilations of previously released material.

Get the regularly updated 2014 classical catalog in one Spotify playlist here: 2014 New Classical Releases Index (No reissues or compilations).

Guest Post: Classics Today 10/10 Albums

Another guest post from Sam Callahan, who shared some brilliant trumpet playlists earlier this year. It is a collaborative playlist and anyone who are interested can help to update it. I already discovered a fine recording from this playlist and updated my Shostakovich playlist with Pacifica Quartet's recording of Quartet No.5. Thanks, Sam!

-------------------

For years, Classics Today has been my go-to source for classical album reviews because of its enormous breadth and excellent writing. The reviewers rate CDs daily using a dual-number system, the first for "artistic quality" and the second for "sound quality," meaning the top possible rating is a "10/10".

This Spotify playlist is based on Classic Today's list of "Current 10/10 Reviews", which shows all reviews from the past month that received top honors. One track represents each each album on the list, sorted descending by review date. The playlist will be constantly updated to include new additions to the 10/10 list, but older CDs will still remain on the bottom of the playlist. Happy listening!

Playlist: Classics Today: Current 10/10 Reviews

Guest post by Sam Callahan

Naïve Vivaldi Edition + Open Vivaldi Playlist

"The Vivaldi Edition, a recording venture conceived by the Italian musicologist Alberto Basso and the independent label Naïve, is one of the most ambitious recording projects of the twentyfirst century. Its principal objective is to record the massive collection of Vivaldi autograph manuscripts preserved today in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Turin, some 450 works. Incredibly, this is the private library of scores Vivaldi had at home at the time of his death in Vienna in 1741 and includes his extant operas, hundreds of concertos, sacred compositions and cantatas. Much of this music has not been heard since the 18th century. The release of more than 100 CDs, which began in 2000, will extend over the next ten years.

The Vivaldi Edition's goal is to make this extraordinary wealth of music available to the public and at the same time to reveal the full genius of Vivaldi, not only as a composer of instrumental music, for which he was already known, but as the creator of some of the 18th-century’s most exhilarating vocal music. " Naïve official site

Click thumbnail for full size image (2.7 MB)

All titles released so far are available on Spotify, except for Vol. 8, the most over-recorded classical works ever, The Four Seasons. I compiled a playlist for all titles with TDP (Tesori del piemonte, Treasures of Piedmont) volume numbers, in reverse order. So it goes like Vol.47, 46... Vol.10, Vol,7. Vol.1-6 and Vol.9 are not Vivaldi works, therefor not included here. And I also made a separate playlist for Naïve's Vivaldi recordings without TDP numbers, like opera highlights, sacred arias and new discoveries (one track per album, to keep this one neat). The latter one also function as a Vivaldi Edition appreciation playlist, and I will keep adding standout tracks that grab me when I listen to this Edition. You are welcome to add in your favourite tracks. For such a gigantic Edition, I am desperately in need for good recommendations like this.

Here are the Spotify playlists: Naïve: Vivaldi Edition (1521 tracks, 39 out of 40 released volumes) And Listen to Naïve Vivaldi Edition (open playlist, 11 tracks as of 2010, Jan. 16th) Enjoy. Everybody needs sunny Vivaldi, especially in this cold winter.

The official site doesn't list all titles, for complete discography, check out Presto and Arkivmusic. Press Ctrl (CMD on Macs) + G to browse in album view.

Open Playlist: 2011 New Classical Releases

Since Spotify still doesn't offer an iTunes store-like interface that you can browse the new recordings easily, I think it would be handy to have all new classical releases in one open playlist.

Here's the Spotify playlist: 2011 New Classical Releases (As of 2011, Jan. 10th, 114 tracks, 10 hours) You are welcome to add in any new classical release you found. Please note: only newly recorded or never before released archive recordings that are released in 2011, are qualified. Reissues and repackaged box-sets don't belong here. As for the definition of classical... well, I hate to drew the line, but in order to keep it simple, I'd say that Ludovico Einaudi and "String Quartet Tribute to Metallica" don't belong here either. I may listen to Einaudi under certain circumstance, but not in this playlist. And if I'm going to give Metallica a spin, which I do occasionally, give me the real thing instead of a string quartet.

You can also check out new releases on Afront's New on Spotify page.

More Complete Sets of Bach Cantatas + An Open Playlist

No it's not an unhealthy obsession, the Bach Cantatas deserve all these different recordings: HIP or modern instruments, sopranos or boy sopranos, one voice per part or choirs, you should listen to them all and judge for yourself. They all reveal the numerous possibilities in Bach's works in their own unique way. Thankfully Spotify will also protect you from bankruptcy while offering you all the music.

Here are the Spotify playlists:

Bach Cantatas - Harnoncourt & Leonhardt (1239 tracks, all 60 CDs are in here) "A major project, shared with Gustav Leonhardt, to record all Bach’s sacred cantatas was launched in 1971 and completed in 1990. Each director revealed his own distinctive approach in the series, with Harnoncourt the more demonstrative, exuberant, and mannerist in his musical expression. The enterprise established a landmark in Bach recording, both for its challenging of previously accepted interpretative conventions and for the use of a boy’s voice to sing almost all the soprano solos." - Bach-Cantatas.com

Bach Cantatas - Leusink (1219 tracks, all 60 CDs are in here) Recorded by Conductor Pieter Jan Leusink, Holland Boys Choir and Netherlands Bach Collegium. "In 1999 and 2000 all Bach's sacred cantatas were recorded within 15 months, a tremendous achievement, considering the fact that it was accomplished with the same amateur (read literately: music-loving) choir, soloists and orchestra throughout the project, in itself deserving an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. The project aroused storms of criticism in The Netherlands on alleged grounds of inferior haste-work (Recording at this speed must be superficial and lacking depth) and commercialism (imagine! Culture with a capital C on the shelves of a drugstore: how low can you go!), even before anyone had heard a single note! Since the release of the first boxes, reviews have become more and more favorable, especially from foreign critics from all over the world" - Bach-Cantatas.com

Bach Cantatas - Koopman (956 tracks, 14 out of 22 volumes that are available on Spotify, are in here) 13 volumes actually, and I put in all the non-duplicate cantatas from other Koopman recordings, approximately one volume's worth. "Koopman's directing vitality keeps the music spontaneously alive, with no sense of over-refinement or scholarly rectitude; the recording is first class, and the documentation could hardly be more informative. In short, this is a more enjoyable and rewarding series that will give much satisfaction" - Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, 2008.

And here's an open playlist for Bach Cantata fans:

Listen to Bach Cantatas (14 tracks at this moment, continuously growing.)

Please add you favourite tracks, or the movement that really moves you as you listen through those Cantata playlists, into this open playlist. Bach Cantata recordings from albums other than those six complete sets are welcome too, and I've already put in many of them. Newcomers to the cantatas can also use this open playlist as an introduction to this magnificent new world. Yes, 300 years after they were written down, they are still much more fresh than most, if not all, of the "new music" that are fresh out of the oven everyday. One more useful link: notes and translations for all the cantatas.