Metacritic Aggregate: 2021 New Music: Classical/New Age

Notes

For information on what lists are consulted, and what the various abbreviations and notes mean, click here.

For reissues and compilations, click here.

Sub-Lists

Some breakdowns by genre:

Ranking

  1. Wild Up: Julius Eastman Vol 1: Femenine (New Amsterdam) {26}: IR:9, JC:+, NPR:10, PJ:83, PO:1+; cw:+, jtd:2, nat:9, npr_th:1, tgl:++ -- TH:***
  2. Clark: Playground in a Lake (Deutsche Grammophon) {6}: DJM:+, Mj:+, MO:+, U:+; am:+, am_e:+
  3. Heritage Orchestra/Jules Buckley/Ghost-Note: The Breaks (Decca) {5}: ws_f:1 -- TH:**
  4. Apartment House: John Cage Number Pieces (Another Timbre -4CD) {4}: AAJ:+, W:6
  5. Balmorhea: The Wind (Deutsche Grammophon) {4}: Mj;+; hc_d:1
  6. Ensemble O/Aum Grand Ensemble: Julius Eastman: Femenine (Sub Rosa) {4}: PO:+ -- TH:***
  7. Naoko Sakata: Dancing for Spirits (Pomperipossa) {3}: BPM:+, VF:48; boj:+
  8. Dan Dean: Fanfare for the Common Man (Origin Classical) {2}: AAJ:+; jdm:+ -- TH:B-
  9. Lukasz Pawlik: Long-Distance Connections (Summit) {2}: -- TH:**
  10. Eliane Radigue: Occam Ocean 3 () {2}: W:35; tgl:+
  11. Max Richter: Voices 2 (Decca) {2}: AAJ:+, U:+
  12. Caroline Shaw: Narrow Sea (Nonesuch) {2}: Mj:+, PM:+
  13. Freiburger Barockorchester/Gottfried Von Der Goltz: Beethoven: Symphony No 7 (Harmonia Mundi) {1}: YW:41
  14. Matthias Goerne/Seong-Jin Cho: In Abendrot: Wagner, Pfitzner, Strauss () {1}: am:+
  15. Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven: Symphony No 9 () {1}: am:+
  16. Rene Jacobs: Beethoven: Missa Solemnis () {1}: am:+
  17. Klenke Quartett/Nicola Jurgensen/Stephan Katte: Mozart: Clarinet Quintet/Modern Quintet () {1}: am:+
  18. George Lewis/BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Minds in Flux () {1}: W:21
  19. Jakob Lindberg: Bach on the Rauwolf Lute (BIS) {1}: YW:98
  20. Viktoria Mullova/Alasdair Beatson: Beethoven: Sonatas 4, 5 & 7 () {1}: am:+
  21. Sarah Neufeld: Detritus (Paper Bag) {1}: RM:92
  22. Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck: Beethoven: Symphony No 9 (Reference) {1}: YW:85
  23. Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Wind Orchestra: Sousa: Music for Wind Band Vol 20 (Naxos) {1}: YW:110