Feature

The Limelight Chart: May 2018

Fresh from their recent tour for Musica Viva, Sabine Meyer and Alliage Quintett top The Limelight Chart – our monthly list of Australia’s best-selling classical music albums.

by Limelight on 3 May, 2018

The Limelight Chart – our exclusive chart ranking the top 20 best-selling classical CDs and DVDs according to the monthly sales figures drawn from Australia’s classical specialist stores. Limelight’s specially assembled list is the only chart of its kind in Australia admitting only pure classical releases. We aim to reflect the listening and buying habits of our readers, who are serious about their classical music.

1. FANTASIA

SONY CLASSICAL 88875190972 – New to the Limelight Chart

Featuring renowned clarinettist Sabine Meyer, the Alliage Quintett’s Fantasia presents recordings of new arrangements of famous musical tales. The players join forces to explore the imaginative world of music from Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances to Stravinsky’s Firebird, Dukas’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Bernstein’s Candide.

REVIEW: SABINE MEYER & ALLIAGE QUINTETT (MUSICA VIVA)

Sabine Meyer and the Alliage Quintett kick off Musica Viva’s 2018 with a carnival of orchestral favourites.

2. Orava Quartet

Deutsche Grammophon 4816874 – Featured at #1 in April 2018

Rising star Australian ensemble the Orava Quartet has released their debut album on Deutsche Grammophon in Australia, featuring Tchaikovsky’s First String Quartet, Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet and the two movements of Rachmaninov’s String Quartet – and, as a bonus, Rachmaninov’s Vocalise with special guest Greta Bradman.

Feature: THE ORAVA QUARTET – FOUR’S COMPANY

Buoyed by a residency with the legendary Takács Quartet and now boasting a major record deal, the Orava Quartet is taking the chamber music world by storm.

3. Glass: Piano Études

ABC Classics 4816952 – Featured at #2 in April 2018

Read our review in the May 2018 issue of Limelight Magazine.

4. Visions of Prokofiev

Deutsche Grammophon 4798529 – New to the Limelight Chart

5. Bach: Cello Suites Volume II

ABC Classics 4816472 – Featured at #5 in April 2018

The highly anticipated sequel to Australian guitarist Slava Grigoryan’s wildly successful recording of JS Bach’s Cello Suites, Volume II completes the set with Suites 4, 5 and 6. While Suites 4 and 5 can be played in their original keys on the resonant baritone guitar, Grigoryan returns to the standard classical guitar for the final Suite.

FEATURE: GRIGORYAN’S BACH FOR MORE WITH CELLO SUITES VOLUME II

With his new album on the shelves, the guitarist talks about the peace and purity of Bach – despite some noisy frogs.

6. Wayfaring

ABC CLASSICS 4816812 – New to the Limelight Chart

7. A Winter’s Tale

ABC CLASSICS 4816749 – New to the Limelight Chart

8. Bach: Cello Suites Volume 1

ABC Classics 4814553 – Featured as #10 in April 2018

9. Clarke’s Classics

ABC Classics 4828548 – Featured as #6 in April 2018

ABC Classics has released an album of the beloved satirist’s stint as a guest presenter who brought “balance” to the station.

10. Butterflying

ABC Classics 4812625 – New to the Limelight Chart

11. New Year’s Concert 2018

SONY 88985470582 – Featured as #11 in April 2018

12. Dolce Duello

DECCA 4832473 – Featured as #8 in April 2018

13. Beethoven: Piano Sonatas

Deutsche Grammophon 4798353 – New to the Limelight Chart

14. Mozart’s Last Symphonies

ABC CLASSICS 4812880 – Featured as #7 in April 2018

15. Into Silence

ABC CLASSICS 4816295 – New to the Limelight Chart

“It’s all lovingly rendered, lyrical splendour, with quiet solace in the delicate solo piano works and rich warmth provided by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s string section.”