SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
Rachmaninoff: Complete Piano Music Zlata Chochieva, Lukas Geniušas, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Nikolai Lugansky, Alexander Ghindin, Elisa Tomellini [ Brilliant Classics / 8 CD Box Set - released 12/Mar/2021 ] This 8-CD set contains the works for piano solo by Sergei Rachmaninoff, 20-th century romantic, one of the greatest pianists of all time himself. |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Cinderella (complete ballet recorded in 2003) Zurich Ballet / Karine Seneca / Stanislav Jermakov / Marine Castel / Jozef Varga / Vladimir Fedoseyev (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques / DVD - released 1/Dec/2008 ] G - Heinz Spoerli's Zurich Ballet Cinderella production, filmed as a musical from Hollywood, turned out to be a huge success at its premiere and must rank as one of the most 'dancerly' stagings Prokofiev's popular ballet has ever received. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Oratorios: Messiah, Athalia, Esther and La Resurrezione [8 CD set] Academy of Ancient Music / Emma Kirkby / Joan Sutherland / Aled Jones / David Thomas et al [ Decca / 8 CD Box Set - released 7/Dec/2005 ] Now at budget price! Christopher Hogwood's pioneering period instrument recordings of 4 Handel oratorios. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Messiah (complete oratorio Live from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge 2009) Ailish Tynan, Alice Coote, Allan Clayton & Matthew Rose / Choir of King's College, Academy of Ancient Music, Stephen Cleobury [ Warner Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 10/Mar/2010 ] "The first choral concert transmitted live to 85 cinemas, Stephen Cleobury's interpretation ticks all the boxes, with choir and orchestra impeccably balanced, and soloists glowing." The Independent, 24th April 2009 **** |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: String Quartets, Trout Quintet & String Quintet Alban Berg Quartet, Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano), Georg Hörtnagel (double bass) [ Warner Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 17/Mar/2023 ] The Alban Berg Quartett approach Schubert with classical discipline while vividly conveying the mysterious fervent power that is so instantaneously unique in the composer's works. They capture the quintessentially Viennese spirit of Schubert, as... |
ERIK SATIE
Erik Satie - Old Sequins and Ancient Breastplates [Historial Recordings 1926-1961] Aldo Ciccolini, Francis Poulenc, William Masselos, Manuel Rosenthal, Igor Markevitch, Pierre Bernac, etc [ Cherry Red Records / 4 CD Box Set - released 9/Dec/2022 ] A four disc Box set collection of historic Satie recordings, ranging from the 1920's onwards. Including such rarities as Henri Sauguet's 'Socrate' for solo voice and orchestra; piano sets by William Masselos and Aldo Ciccolini. |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Orchestral Works [5 CD set] Anna Tomowa-Sintow (sop) / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan, with Lothar Koch, oboe, & Norbert Hauptmann, horn [ Deutsche Grammophon Collector's Edition / 5 CD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2012 ] Herbert von Karajan's Strauss recordings of the early 1980s, remastered in the 1990s, for the Karajan Gold Edition are a benchmark of lifetime of engagement with the composer in the concert hall and studio, and won unparalleled critical acclaim. |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY / MAURICE RAVEL
Boulez Conducts Debussy and Ravel (6 CDs special price) Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo) Krystian Zimerman (piano) / London Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Symphony, Pierre Boulez [ Deutsche Grammophon / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/Jun/2012 ] "Zimerman's pianism is self-recommending. His trills in the first movement of the G major Concerto are to die for, his passagework in the finale crystalclear, never hectic, always stylish. Boulez and the Clevelanders are immaculate and responsive"... |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: The Opera & Operettas Collection Anneliese Rothenberger, Teresa Berganza, Michel Dens, Jose Carreras, Nicolai Gedda, Gabriel Bacquier, John Aler, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, etc [ Warner Classics / 30 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2019 ] He was born in Cologne, but it was in Paris that Jacques Offenbach achieved fame. A special feature of this 30-CD collection are star-studded recordings in both French and German of his most celebrated operettas. |
W. A. MOZART / BEETHOVEN / SCHUMANN / LISZT / BARTOK / SCHUBERT
Annie Fischer: The Complete London Studio Recordings Annie Fischer (piano) Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Otto Klemperer, etc [ Warner Classics Icon / 8 CD Box Set - released 23/Aug/2014 ] 'I can find no praise too high for Annie Fischer's playing, for she makes every phrase a delight. Sawallisch partners his soloist to perfection. Everybody has here combined to produce something really outstanding among recordings of Mozart... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Symphonies (Nos 1-9) Barbara Bonney, Birgit Remmert, Kurt Streit, Thomas Hampson / City Of Birmingham Symphony Chorus / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Simon Rattle [ Warner Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2010 ] A superbly played account by one of the world's great orchestras. ***** Five Stars (Pick of the Month) BBC Music Magazine |
BRITTEN / DELIUS / ELGAR / VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / TIPPETT / HOLST
The British Line: A celebration of British Music BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, with Dame Evelyn Glennie, Thomas Hampson, Tasmin Little, Sir Bryn Terfel, etc [ Warner Classics / 16 CD Box Set - released 19/Jul/2019 ] In 1991, Hamburg-based record label Teldec Classics embarked on a fruitful partnership with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. "The British Line" was soon to become an essential series of critically acclaimed digital recordings of major... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Claudio Abbado conducts Beethoven Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, with Maurizio Pollini (piano) Cheryl Studer (soprano) Ilya Gringolts (violin), etc [ Deutsche Grammophon / 10 CD Box Set - released 17/Jul/2015 ] "One could say, briefly but not inaccurately, that this is the antithesis of Karajan. Where he was smooth, this is rugged. Where he went in for broad tempos in slow movements, Abbado moves things along." (BBC Music Five Stars) |
ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: The Nine Symphonies Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim [ Warner Classics / 9 CD Box Set - released 20/Aug/2021 ] "Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic have given us one of the finest (and certainly the best-recorded) Bruckner Sixths of all time - this represents a major landmark in Brucknerian discography." Fanfare |
SHOSTAKOVICH
String Quartets [complete] Brodsky Quartet [ Teldec Warner Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 27/Oct/2003 ] "If you do not presently own a version of these quartets, then the Brodsky would be a very good one as a first set." (Bargain of the Month MusicWeb January 2004) |
TAVENER / ALLEGRI / BARBER / FAURE / PALESTRINA / and many more
The Glory Of New College Choir Choir of New College, Oxford / Edward Higginbottom, with the Academy of Ancient Music [ Erato / Warner Classics / 8 CD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2018 ] "This is one of the most sublime choral records I have ever heard." - Organists' Review |
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / CHOPIN / DEBUSSY / SCHUMANN/ LISZT / GRIEG
Claudio Arrau - The Complete Warner Classics Recordings Claudio Arrau (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra, Alceo Galliera, Andreas Weissgerber (violin) [ Warner Classics / 24 CD Box Set - released 14/Oct/2022 ] Claudio Arrau (1903-1991) is a pianist fully deserving of the epithet 'legendary'. His rigorous intellect and sense of the sublime found expression in his transcendent technique and sumptuous, yet lucid sonorities. The recordings in this 24CD... |
MOZART / BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / SCHUBERT / etc
Lili Kraus: The Complete Parlophone, Ducretet- Thomson & Discophiles Français recordings [1933-1958] Lili Kraus (piano), with Willi Boskovsky (violin) Gilbert Coursier (horn) Francois Etienne (clarinet) [ Erato / Warner Classics / 31 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/2015 ] While the outstanding reputation of the Hungarian-born pianist Lili Kraus was built on a comparatively narrow repertoire of Viennese classics (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert), her experience as a musician and as a human being was of... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Complete Piano Concertos (Recorded 1967 - 1974) Daniel Barenboim (piano/conductor), English Chamber Orchestra [ Warner Classics / 10 CD Box Set - released 12/Aug/2016 ] "Barenboim is assured and broadly enjoyable in both these concertos, but also perhaps a little idiosyncratic in such a way that we sometimes seem to be invited to listen to him for himself rather than simply to experience Mozart through him."... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven : The Complete Works [80 CD set] Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pre, Itzhak Perlman, Gautier Capucon, Janet Baker, Andras Schiff, etc [ Warner Classics / 80 CD Box Set - released 1/Dec/2019 ] Carefully selected from the Warner Classics and Erato catalogues, and complemented by items licensed in from external catalogues, the recordings do full justice to the extraordinary breadth, diversity and depth of Beethoven's oeuvre. |