CityLife

Robert Beale's Classical top 10

SO here we go with my top 10 of the year again.

It's been a year which started rather slowly, in terms of performances that moved and delighted as well as impressed. But the Hallé and Mark Elder pulled off one top-quality effort with The Wasps (though I didn't like the David Pountney contribution), and another with their selection of shorter English pieces.

The middle of the year brought several really great listening experiences, and it's good to record that the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda provided one of them and the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra under Clark Rundell - though with very different material - another.

Finally, the new Messiah recording on Naxos, by Edward Higginbottom's Choir of New College, Oxford, is one of the best Christmas presents I've had.

Hallé, conducted by Mark Elder - The Wasps (Vaughan Williams), complete incidental music (2 CDs, Hallé HLD 7510)

The King's Consort, conducted by Robert King - Vespers of 1610 (Monteverdi) and other pieces (2 CDs, Hyperion CDA67531/2)

Scottish Chamber Orchestra, directed by Alexander Janiczek - Wind concertos (Mozart) (SACD Linn CKD 273)

RNCM Wind Orchestra, conducted by Clark Rundell - "Experiments on a March" (Ives, Purcell, Wagner, Bruckner, Weill, Kagel and Wengler) (Chandos CHAN 10367)

BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda - Faust Symphony (Liszt) (Chandos CHAN 10375)

Teatro Marrucino, conducted by Marzio Conti - Il Turco In Italia (Rossini) (2 CDs, Naxos 8.660183-84)

La Serenissima: Cantatas and sonatas (Vivaldi), featuring Adrian Chandler and Mhairi Lawson (Linn CKD 281)

Hallé, conducted by Mark Elder - English Landscapes (Bax, Vaughan Williams, Finzi, Delius, Elgar, Ireland) (Hallé HLL 7512)

BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Donald Runnicles - Tristan Und Isolde (Wagner), with John Treleaven, Christine Brewer and Apollo Voices (4 CDs, Warner Classics 2564 62964-2)

Academy of Ancient Music and Choir of New College, Oxford, conducted by Edward Higginbottom - Messiah (Handel) (2 CDs, Naxos 8.570131-32)