The Critic's Chair

This week Cynthia Morahan is transported to France with tenor Juan Diego Florez's latest album L'amour. She also features piano works by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven that were all composed in 1789; and… Read more Audio

William Dart reviews a number of local releases in this programme. The Auckland Philharmonia play works by Ross Harris; and Jaz Coleman's Symphony No 2 The Island. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra… Read more Audio

Robert Johnson looks at the chamber music of Gabriel Pierné and Louis Vierne, performed by the Goldner Quartet and pianist Piers Lane. He also features an exciting recording of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic… Read more Audio

Robbie Ellis introduces four recent releases. There are new commissions for solo clarinet played by Matthias Schorn, and works for organ by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho. There's also a sumptuous new… Read more Audio

Peter Walls looks at the final disc, Volume 55, in the Bach Collegium Japan's complete cantata series, begun nearly 20 years ago. The Academy of Ancient Music under Richard Egarr present a… Read more Audio

Robert Johnson looks at a new disc of orchestral works by Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik, who would have been 100 years old this year. He also reviews a stunning new recording of Shostakovich’s… Read more Audio

Peter Mechen surveys some of the great Beethoven symphony cycles: from the intense and visionary accounts of Bruno Walter in 1949, to the formative 1962 Karajan recordings, and into the 21st century… Read more Audio

Kenneth Young sits in our Critic's Chair this week. He revels in a new recording of Gabrieli works performed by Berlin Brass, and explores three orchestral works by Chinese-American composer Bright… Read more Audio

Robert Johnson reviews recent releases by New Zealand and Eastern European composers this week. The New Zealand Chamber Soloists have a new recording of John Psathas, and the compelling monodrama Alic… Read more Audio

David Bremner sits in our Critic's Chair this week. You'll hear the first and last symphonies of Shostakovich in a brand new recording from the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. Gustavo Dudamel conducts… Read more Audio

Nick Tipping sits in the Critic's Chair this week, with a New Zealand Music Month special. He casts the spotlight on five recent jazz releases on the local Rattle label, featuring the Phil Broadhurst… Read more Audio

This week Robert Johnson presents a programme in celebration of New Zealand Music Month. Hear Douglas Lilburn’s chamber music played by Justine Cormack and Michael Houstoun, and the NZSO on a new… Read more Audio