To welcome the spring, British ensemble I Fagiolini puts aside its beloved Monteverdi to uncover its own national heritage: the best of John Wilbye's classic Golden Age madrigals. Whilst his oeuvre may have been small (just 75 works that we know of and most just a couple of minutes long), time and again, in these exquisite cameos, Wilbye delivers what might be reckoned the ultimate madrigal experience.The plangent dissonance of Draw on, sweet night and Weep, weep, mine eyes perfectly evoke English melancholy, while Sweet honey-sucking bees and Adieu, sweet Amaryllis are such sheer pleasure to sing that many listeners will scrabble to unearth old scores. This album is, in a nutshell, 75 minutes of madrigalian bliss! Rediscover or enjoy anew this central part of English choral culture, strangely out of fashion for so long, sung by a group that has matured into the repertoire like a good wine.

Both Mendelssohn's and Bruch's Violin concertos have in common that they were composed with great violinists in mind. With Mendelssohn it was the violin virtuoso Ferdinand David. There’s an interesting exchange of letters about the E Minor Violin Concerto and the friendship shared by Mendelssohn and David, which is a highly informative and compelling read. And the Bruch Concerto is unthinkable without Sarasate. Both works are based on a similar foundation. What the works have in common, however, is that they are two completely different masterpieces, each of which tells a completely different “story”. This combination creates many moments full of suspense.

Let me be honest: I got this for the Mahler, and it's excellent. I'll look at the Beethoven concerto some time down the road. But for me, this was my best encounter with the Mahler first in a long, long time. Even though I didn't agree with every interpretive decision that Fabio Luisi made, he knew exactly what he wanted, and exactly how to express what he wanted to the Dresdeners via his hands, eyes, and face. This guy is amazing.

As such, this is my third encounter with Luisi. The first two were the Bruckner 9th and Richard Strauss' "Alpine" symphony; both on Sony, and both of those are excellent. But then again, the Staatskapelle has had a long history with both Bruckner and Strauss. But I think this orchestra was also born to play the Mahler 1st. In fact, they've already made two very good commercial recordings of M1: one with Otmar Suitner in 1962 (sans expo repeat), and one with Hiroshi Wakasugi in 1986 (I own that one). However, both are now hard to find. I want to cover some specifics, so indulge me in some subjective blather first.

B. Guerrero – Amazon