GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1-7 (Blu-ray) Eteri Gvazava (soprano) / Anna Larsson (contralto) / Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano) / Lucerne Festival Orchestra / Claudio Abbado [ EuroArts Blu-Ray / 4 Blu-ray Disc - released 8/Aug/2011 ] "Has there ever been a suaver, more transparent Mahler performance or one in which everything stays so beautifully in tune? ... Abbado's music-making is a celebration of the purest joy." The Gramophone Magazine |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Donizetti: Olivo e Pasquale (complete opera recorded in 1980 with complete libretto) Eva Czapò, Benedetta Pecchioli, Gastone Sarti, Gino Orlandini, Mario Chiappi / Coro Della Radio Televisione Della Svizzera Italiana, Bruno Rigacci [ Nuova Era / 2 CD Box Set - released 21/Jun/1997 ] Recording Date: October 26, 1980 Recording Location: Lugano, Svizzera, Auditorio RSI |
FEDERICO MOMPOU
Mompou: Complete solo piano works (Rec 1974) Federico Mompou (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 17/Aug/2005 ] "These classic recordings, licensed from Ensayo, always will be treasured by those who enjoy Federico Mompou's haunting and hermetic style." (ClassicsToday 10/8 for performance and sound) |
CHARLES GOUNOD
The Songs of Charles Gounod Felicity Lott (soprano) Ann Murray (mezzo) Anthony Rolfe Johnson (tenor) Graham Johnson (piano) [ Hyperion / 2 CD Box Set - released 10/Nov/2009 ] 'Superb ... perfection ... Best of the year' (The Sunday Times) |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: La Belle Helene, Orphee Aux Enfers, La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein (Complete Operettas in French) Felicity Lott, Yann Beuron, Natalie Dessay, Ewa Podles, Sandrine Piau, Laurent Naouri, Patricia Petibon, etc / Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble, Marc [ Erato Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 15/Nov/2018 ] "These are enormously spirited performances, no undue lingering, rhythmically riveting and generally uplifting. There is punch in the concerted numbers and the dances are whirlwinds." MusicWeb |
JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn: The Complete Strings Quartets played on period instruments Festetics Quartet [ Arcana / 19 CD Box Set - released 27/May/2022 ] This remarkable undertaking by the Festetics Quartet represents the first and only recording of Haydn's complete String Quartets on period instruments. Recorded in Budapest between 1993 and 2006. |
JEAN SIBELIUS
Sibelius: Symphonies Nos 1 - 7 / Karelia Overture & Suite / Violin Concerto / etc Finnish Radio Symphony, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, with Joseph Swensen (violin) [ Sony / RCA / Finlandia / 8 CD Box Set - released 13/Mar/2020 ] "His tempos grab and hold the listener, and the orchestra plays with a sure sense of style. The brasses are incisive, the woodwinds reedy and a bit nasal, the strings strident or cushioning, all as appropriate." New York Times |
MOZART / SCARLATTI / CHOPIN / SCHUMANN / SCHUBERT / etc
Fou Ts'ong - Complete Westminster Recordings Fou Ts'ong (piano) / London Symphony Orchestra, Peter Maag, Vienna Radio Orchestra, Brian Priestman, with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, etc [ Westminster Australian Eloquence / 10 CD Box Set - released 10/Dec/2021 ] The Westminster label legacy of a master Chopin interpreter, issued complete for the first time in an 'original covers' box of new remasterings. |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Vivaldi: Cello Concertos (complete) Francesco Galligioni (cello) / L'Arte dell'Arco, Federico Guglielmo [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 25/Feb/2015 ] Antonio Vivaldi was one of the first composers to feature the cello, then a relatively "new" instrument (after the viola da gamba), as a mature solo instrument. He wrote no less than 27 concertos for the cello. |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: Concert Arias Francine van der Heyden, Miranda van Kralingen, Annemarie Kremer, Marcel Reijans, Ezio Maria Tisi, and others / various orchestras [ Brilliant Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 10/Aug/2007 ] This set contains all concert arias on 6 CD's recorded by several singers including the famous Dutch soprano Miranda van Kralingen. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera (complete opera) Freddie de Tommaso, Saioa Hernández, Lester Lynch, Elisabeth Kulman / [ Pentatone SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 23/Jun/2023 ] "De Tommaso turns out to be the real deal, singing with a confidence and ease that seem astonishing for a singer who was only 28 at the time of the recording, His is a real *spinto* tenor: bright yet intensely masculine." BBC Music Opera Choice |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (complete opera with libretto) Piero Cappuccilli, Mirella Freni, José van Dam, Nicolai Ghiaurov / La Scala Chorus & Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon Originals / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Jul/2016 ] "one of the most beautiful Verdi sets ever made. The playing of the orchestra is brilliantly incisive as well as refined, so that the drama is underlined by extra sharpness of focus..with electrifying choral singing as well." (Penguin Guide) |
FRITZ BRUN
Brun: Complete Orchestral Works Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, Adriano [ Brilliant Classics / 11 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2019 ] "...if you have yet to explore the music of this Swiss master, this release affords a very reasonably priced way of immersing yourself into the gorgeous musical world of Fritz Brun." Fanfare |
W. A. MOZART
Fritz Busch at Glyndebourne - Mozart Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Audrey Mildmay, Heddle Nash, John Brownlee, Ina Souez, Sena Jurinac, Alexander Young, Richard Lewis / Fritz Busch (cond) [ Warner Classics / 9 CD Box Set - released 8/Jul/2017 ] Fritz Busch (1890-1951) was one the greatest German conductors of the first half of the twentieth century, noted for his illuminating performances and his ethical principles. |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Monteverdi: Orfeo (complete opera with libretto) Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Julianne Baird, Lynne Dawson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Nancy Argenta / Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gard [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD Box Set - released 2/Feb/1987 ] "This is an impressively musical Orfeo. With John Eliot Gardiner in charge of such a strong cast of singers and players, it could hardly have been otherwise. Most enigmatic of all is Anthony Rolfe Johnson's acting of the central role." Gramophone |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Concerti grossi Op. 3 and Op. 6 Georg Kallweit, Bernhard Forck, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [ Pentatone / 3 CD Box Set - released 12/Mar/2021 ] BRILLIANT PERFORMANCES OF HANDEL'S MASTERWORKS Handel's concerti grossi Op. 3 and Op. 6 are among the most exceptional instrumental music of the baroque age, and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin brings out all the brilliance of these delightful... |
FRANZ LISZT
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Liszt: Piano works [Incls 'Hungarian Rhapsodies'] Georges Cziffra (piano) [ EMI Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 20/Oct/2011 ] "Cziffra, with his superb technique, Hungarian birthright and virtuoso flair, is the ideal exponent of this music and, predictably, there are wonderful things in these performances" Gramophone on the Hungarian Rhapsodies |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Brahms: Complete works for solo piano Gerhard Oppitz (piano) [ Eurodisc / 5 CD Box Set - released 14/Jul/1990 ] "Gerhard Oppitz is a penetrating Brahmsian, bracing in the youthful works, quietly confiding in the later ones" Gramophone |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: The Essential Mozart [5 DVD set] Gil Shaham / Sharon Kam / Sandrine Piau / Dorothea Roschmann / Daniel Barenboim / and more [ EuroArts DVD / 5 DVD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2011 ] MediciArts offers a DVD box full of the most sparkling of Mozart's compositions. Performed by instrumentalists, orchestras, conductors and singers, among the best interpreters of his works, this representative selection... |
DUPRÉ / FRANCK / COUPERIN / BRUHNS / BACH / MESSIAEN
Gillian Weir: A Celebration Gillian Weir (organ) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 22 CD Box Set - released 12/Feb/2021 ] 'Dame Gillian is one of the greatest of living artists; her playing shows a perfect mixture of hand and heart, a true musician with the technique to tackle anything.' - JOHN AMIS, WRITER AND CRITIC |