The Well-Tempered Ear

The Guardian names its Top 10 classical albums of 2023

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By Jacob Stockinger

Here’s another “Best of 2023” or “Top 10 of 2023” list of classical recordings during the past year.

This one comes come the British newspaper The Guardian. The Ear likes that the critic also refrains from calling the choices definite, but rather emphasizes personal preference that were “particularly impressive or rewarding.”.

While my own preferences haven’t been well incorporated into other lists, at least this one has one of my favorite and relatively young artists: the Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson (below).

He is noteworthy when playing Mozart, Debussy and Philip Glass.

But I find him most outstanding in Baroque repertoire, including his performances and own transcriptions of Rameau and especially Bach.

This year he is touring the world with his latest release — an astonishing recordings of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.” He takes all repeats and offers 85 minutes or greater clarity, drive, left hand voicing and ornamentation. (You can hear a snippet in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

But there is much more to check out.

This list lacks audio samples but does have links to the full reviews.

See for yourself:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/20/our-top-10-classical-recordings-of-2023

And here are lists to other Best of lists, which can be used for buying or receiving gifts or for exploring on various subscription services.

This is from NPR or National Public Radio:

And this is from Gramophone magazine:

Are you familiar with any of the named or honored recordings?

What ones do you recommend?

The Ear wants to hear.