GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Serse (complete opera recorded in 1979) Carolyn Watkinson, Barbara Hendricks, Paul Esswood / la Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy, Jean-Claude Malgoire [ Sony Classical Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 28/Mar/2017 ] Jean-Claude Malgoire conducts his Parisian ensemble, La Grande Ecurie et La Chambre du Roy, in a complete 1979 recording of Handel's delightful comic opera Serse, best known for its universally familiar opening aria "Ombra mai fu". |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Fritz Reiner conducts Richard Strauss (5 CDs) Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, with Antonio Janiqro (cello) Bryon janis (piano) Inqu Borkh (soprano) [ Sony Classical Masters / 5 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2011 ] "These were the first stereo sessions the RCA engineers arranged with Fritz Reiner. The RCA recording team 'got it right' from the very beginning. Reiner achieves an admirable balance and whatever he does is convincing." Rosette (Penguin Stereo Guide) |
CARL NIELSEN / JEAN SIBELIUS
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Nielsen Cho-Liang Lin (violin) / Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philharmonia Orchestra [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2017 ] The second core cycle of symphonic works in this Masters Series comes from the 20th century. The six masterful symphonies by Nielsen with the Swedish Radio Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, "performances of great thrust and unflagging energy,... |
ANONYMOUS
Konrad Ruhland Conducts Gregorian Chant Choralschola of the Niederaltaicher Scholaren, Capella Antiqua Munchen Choralschola, Konrad Ruhland [ Sony Classical / 4 CD Box Set - released 25/Feb/2018 ] "The hypnotic beauty of Gregorian Chant intoned in high-vaulted churches and cathedrals has found widespread popularity in recent decades through countless recordings. Some of the most distinguished of them were made in the 1970s, 80s and 90s by the... |
ANTONIN DVOARK / BEDRICH SMETANA
George Szell conducts Dvorak & Smetana The Cleveland Orchestra, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York, George Szell [ Sony Classical Masters / 7 CD Box Set - released 5/Jun/2019 ] "George Szell's Dvorák performances feature his customary blend of razor sharp orchestral discipline allied to a wholly idiomatic, singing line..Indispensable!" ClassicsToday Dvorak Symphonies |
SCHUMANN / BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / IVES / BARBER / MENDELSSOHN / etc
Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection The Cleveland Quartet, with Emanuel Ax (piano), Jack Brymer (clarinet), Barry Tuckwell (horn), Richard Stoltzman (Clarinet), Yo Yo Ma (cello) [ Sony Classical / RCA Red Seal / 23 CD Box Set - released 11/Nov/2023 ] Immediately upon their debut at the 1969 Marlboro Festival, four brilliant young American musicians calling themselves the Cleveland Quartet were hailed as a chamber ensemble of exceptional quality. |
MAHLER / BRUCKNER / WAGNER / BEETHOVEN / MOZART / etc
Bruno Walter: The Complete Columbia Album Collection Columbia Symphony, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruno Walter, with Rudolf Serkin, Ernst Haefliger, Maureen Forrester, Lily Pons, etc [ Sony Classical / 77 CD Box Set - released 25/Nov/2019 ] Walter was arguably the most old-world of the many long-lived conductors who were born in the latter part of the 19th century. Indeed, few maestros of any era were so big-hearted and warmly expressive, yet without undo sentimentality. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (complete) Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paavo Järvi [ Sony Classical / 5 CD Box Set - released 16/Oct/2016 ] The recordings of Beethoven's nine symphonies collected together here for this 5 disc album - for which Paavo Järvi received the 2010 ECHO Klassik Conductor of the Year award - and the orchestra's live performances of the complete Beethoven symphony... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527 (complete opera) Dimitris Tiliakos, Vito Priante, Myrtò Papatanasiu, Kenneth Tarver, Karina Gauvin / MusicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis [ Sony Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Mar/2017 ] "Do not expect a familiar 'warm bath' experience here; it offers an invigorating shower of fresh new insights" BBC Music Magazine Awards 2017 - Opera Winner |
TRADITIONAL
Plácido Domingo: The Latin Album Collection Plácido Domingo (tenor) with Julio Iglesias, Ana Gabriel, Daniela Romo, Patricia Soso, Pandora, etc [ Sony Classical / 8 CD Box Set - released 1/Dec/2018 ] Popular songs, ballads and light repertoire have always played a huge part in Plácido Domingo's career, from his first appearances on stage in his parents' zarzuela (operetta) company to his recent collaborations with stars such as Josh Groban and... |
PUCCINI / VERDI / HANDEL / DEBUSSY / POULENC / etc
Eileen Farrell - The Complete Columbia Album Collection Eileen Farrell (soprano) with various orchestras, conductors & instrumentalists [ Sony Classical / 16 CD Box Set - released 20/Jul/2020 ] In celebration of the Eileen Farrell's 100th anniversary, Sony Classical is pleased to release a new x16 CD collection of this beloved artist's entire American Columbia discography. This stunning collection displays Farrell's uniquely wide... |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Fou Ts'ong plays Chopin Fou Ts'ong (piano) [ Sony Classical / 10 CD Box Set - released 12/Nov/2021 ] The first ever collection of Fou Ts'ong's complete Chopin Recordings for CBS Masterworks on 10 CDs. This special release includes full sets of the Ballades, Nocturnes, Études, Préludes, and Mazurkas. |
BEETHOVEN
The 5 Piano Concertos Glenn Gould (piano) / Columbia Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra [ Sony Classical / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Oct/2013 ] As part of the extensive Glenn Gould Anniversary series of releases, celebrating what would have been the great pianist's 80th birthday year, Sony Classical presents a series of 20 collections and box sets. The sets are mainly composer-based... |
W. A. MOZART
Glenn Gould plays Mozart Piano Sonatas Glenn Gould (piano) [ Sony Classical / 4 CD Box Set - released 10/Dec/2021 ] "(K457)..the Adagio still features his détaché phrasing, his non-legato, unvaried series of dynamics and anti-melodic determinism and lasting twelve minutes is endless. The concluding finale is an exercise in deconstruction and utterly disjunct." MW |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Glenn Gould plays Beethoven [6 CD set] Glenn Gould, piano [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2011 ] "Gould had a distinctive range of personae where the Beethoven was concerned. (his 3rd is a) studiously intense, intimately scaled studio recording Gould made with Leonard Bernstein in 1959." (Gramophone on the 3rd piano Concerto) |
J. S. BACH
Glenn Gould - The Bach Box (The Remastered Columbia Recordings) Glenn Gould (piano) [ Sony Classical Masters / 30 CD Box Set - released 7/Aug/2020 ] This stunning set is packed in a cube-shaped box and includes facsimile LP and CD Sleeves, a 240 page hardcover book featuring complete original liner notes (many penned by Gould himself) and an introductory essay by Michael Stegemann. |
J. S. BACH
Glenn Gould - The Complete 1981 Goldberg Sessions Glenn Gould (piano) [ Sony Classical / 11 CD Box Set - released 30/Sep/2022 ] Forty years ago, on September 2, 1982 - the year of Michael Jackson's Thriller - Glenn Gould's legendary second recording of the Goldberg Variations closed a circle that his revolutionary 1955 recording of Bach's masterpiece had opened. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: 6 String Quartets dedicated to Haydn / String Quintets Guarneri Quartet, with Ida Kavafian & Kim Kashkashian (violas) [ Sony / RCA Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 1/Jun/2012 ] "The E flat major Quartet has a high seriousness that the Guarneri rightly bring out without, I think, overloading the music...The Guarneri bring plenty of vigour and weight to the more boisterous Hunt Quartet." (original Gramophone review) |
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
Schoenberg: Moses und Aron Hans Herbert Fiedler, Helmut Krebs, Ilona Steingruber-Wildans, Ursula Zollenkops, Helmut Kretschmar, Horst Gunter / NDR Sinfonieorchester und Chor, Ha [ Sony RCA Classical Opera / 2 CD Box Set - released 10/Mar/2017 ] This reissue moves us into the 20th century for a veritable landmark recording. Arnold Schoenberg died in 1951 without completing his only full-length opera, Moses und Aron. Three years later, North German Radio mounted the work's first performance... |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Pinchas Zukerman plays Vivaldi Pinchas Zukerman (violin & conductor) with Isaac Stern (violin) / Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic [ Sony RCA Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 25/Jul/2018 ] Violinist-conductor Pinchas Zukerman recorded many of Vivaldi's best-loved concertos for CBS/Sony, with the English Chamber Orchestra in the 1970s and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the 1980s, when he served as that ensemble's music director and... |