JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn 2032, Vol. 1-10: The Symphonies Il Giardino Armonico, Kammerorchester Basel, Giovanni Antonini [ Alpha Classics / 10 CD Box Set - released 28/Jan/2022 ] This ten-CD set celebrates the release of the first ten volumes of the HAYDN2032 series, which aims to record all 107 Haydn symphonies by the 300th anniversary of his birth in 2032. |
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare: Great Comedies: - Twelfth Night / A Midsummer Night's Dream / The Taming of the Shrew (recorded live at the Globe Theatre London) Globe Theatre / Liam Brennan, Johnny Flynn, Stephen Fry, Paul Chahidi, Colin Hurley [ Opus Arte DVD / 3 DVD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2015 ] A Midsummer Night's Dream: Shakespeare put some of his most dazzling dramatic poetry at the service of this teasing, glittering, hilarious and amazingly inventive play, whose seriousness is only fleetingly glimpsed beneath its dreamlike... |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel Box Set: Rinaldo / Saul / Giulio Cesare (Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, 2005-2015) Glyndebourne Opera / Sonia Prina, Anett Fritsch, Sarah Connolly, Danielle de Niese, Christopher Purves, Iestyn Davies / Orchestra of the Age of Enligh [ Opus Arte DVD / 5 DVD Box Set - released 20/Mar/2017 ] "Dantone conducts a strongly characterised performance founded on the alert playing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment." (BBC Music on Rinaldo) |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini (Complete opera recorded in 2003) Gregory Kunde, Joyce DiDonato, Patrizia Ciofi, Laurent Naouri / Orchestre Nationale de France. John Nelson [ Erato / Warner Classics Home of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 15/Sep/2018 ] 'A splendid achievement. Here indeed is the 'verve and vitality' Berlioz always believed he had found.' - Gramophone |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies 1 - 9 [Complete 1963 recordings on CD & Blu-ray audio] Gundula Janowitz, Hilde Rassel Majdan, Waldemar Kmentt, Walter Berry / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Gramophone / 6 CD/Blu-ray Disc - released 9/Jul/2022 ] The classic recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies conducted by master Karajan with the addition of a Blu-ray audio of all the symphonies plus rehearsals. |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Ariadne auf Naxos (Complete Opera recorded in 1969) Gundula Janowitz, James King, Peter Schrier, Hermann Prey / Straatskapelle Dresden, Rudolf Kempe [ EMI Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Sep/1992 ] "Gundula Janowitz sings the role of Ariadne with incomparable line and style. Her knowledge of Strauss singing has never been bettered." (review) |
JEAN SIBELIUS
Sibelius: The Complete Symphonies / Orchestral Works Hallé Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli [ Warner Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 19/Mar/2021 ] Sir John Barbirolli's electrifying interpretations of the works of Jean Sibelius have inspired audiences all over the world. In a letter to Barbirolli, Sibelius declared himself to be a 'devoted admirer' of the conductor, adding that he was always... |
MAURO GIULIANI
Giuliani: Complete Original Works for Flute and Guitar Mikael Helasvuo (flute) & Jukka Savijoki (guitar) [ BIS / 3 CD Box Set - released 2/Feb/2013 ] In the beginning of the nineteenth century the guitar enjoyed a wide popularity...The most celebrated of the several composer-guitarists active at this time was Mauro Giuliani, born in 1781 in southern Italy. |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Britten: The Turn of the Screw (Complete Opera with libretto) Helen Donath, Heather Harper, Robert Tear, Ava June / Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis [ Philips Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/Aug/1995 ] "The Philips recording boasts luscious stereo sound and a good cast, including a youthful sounding Helen Donath as an appropriately idealistic Governess" (EnjoyTheMusic.com) |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Schubert: The Great Masses (D678 & D 950) Helen Donath, Peter Schreier, Ingeborg Springer, Theo Adam, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wolfgagng Sawallisch [ Philips / 2 CD Box Set - released 16/Jun/2003 ] Schubert's six masses cover the period 1814-28 and deserve to be much better known than they are at present. |
WALTER BRAUNFELS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Braunfels: Die Vogel [The Birds] (complete opera ) Hellen Kwon, Endrik Wottrich, Michael Kraus, Marita Posselt, Wolfgang Holzmair, Matthias Görne / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Lothar Zagrosek [ Decca / 2 CD Box Set - released 16/Feb/2011 ] "Zagrosek's reading and the performances by his cast and orchestra are gripping and more than do justice to this wonderful score. Wottrich and Kraus are impressive in the male leads." ClassicalNet |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rossini: Operas (Includes 'Il barbiere di Siviglia' & 'La Cenerentola') [9 CD set] Hermann Prey, Luigi Alva, Teresa Berganza, Margherita Guglielmi, Agnes Baltsa, Frank Lopardo, Samuel Ramey, Claudio Abbado (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon Collector's Edition / 9 CD Box Set - released 20/Jun/2012 ] Here - in a single box-set for the first time - are Claudio Abbado's celebrated recordings of four great Rossini comic operas, featuring fine singers and first-rate orchestras and choruses. |
BACH / BEETHOVEN / BERNSTEIN / BARBER / MEYER / BRAHMS / etc
Hilary Hahn: The Complete Sony Recordings Hilary Hahn (violin) with various orchestras [ Sony Classical Masters / 5 CD Box Set - released 30/Oct/2015 ] "Spellbinding...there is mastery in every silken phrase, every poised lyrical phrase...an object lesson in beautiful violin playing." Chicago Tribune (for Mendelssohn / Shostakovich) |
HEINRICH SCHUTZ
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Schutz: Opus ultimate (Der Schwanengesang) The Hilliard Ensemble, Knabenchor Hannover, London Baroque, Heinz Hennig [ Virgin Veritas / 2 CD Box Set - released 24/Mar/1996 ] The male-voice Hilliard Ensemble was founded in 1974 and was disbanded after 40 years in 2014. Its singers were praised by Gramophone: "the superlative purity of their vibrato-free tone, perfect blend and balance of voices and immaculate intonation" |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Violin Concertos, Salzburg Divertimenti and Haffner Serenade Hungarian Chamber Orchestra, Kristóf Baráti / Amati Chamber Orchestra, Gil Sharon / Kammerorchestra 'C.P.E. Bach', Hartmut Haenchen [ Brilliant Classics Quintessence / 5 CD Box Set - released 25/Sep/2020 ] "..Baráti is out of the top drawer. With intensity of sound, unbridled athleticism and searing leaps into the stratosphere which send a tingle down the spine" (Gramophone) |
MICHAEL FINNISSY
The History of Photography in Sound Ian Pace (piano) [ Metier / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/Mar/2016 ] "You might think a piano cycle lasting more than five hours is asking too much. But when the music is as endlessly fascinating, engaging, challenging, puzzling, beautiful, thought-provoking and charming as Finnissy's, it is not a hardship" BBC Music |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Paderewski: The American Recordings [Complete Victor Recordings, 1914-31] Ignacy Jan Paderewski (piano) [ Appian APR / 5 CD Box Set - released 21/Nov/2016 ] IGNACY JAN PADEREWSKI (1860-1941) must be counted as one of the most famous pianists who ever lived, and he was certainly the most financially successful, yet his recorded legacy has always been something of a puzzle. Paderewski was from a generation... |
PIETRO ANTONIO LOCATELLI
Locatelli: Complete Edition Igor Ruhadze (violin), Jed Wentz (flute) / Ensemble Violini Capricciosi, Musica ad Rhenum [ Brilliant Classics / 21 CD Box Set - released 18/Sep/2015 ] Pietro Antonio Locatelli was one of the most important composers of the Baroque period, being a particularly celebrated composer of violin repertoire. |
GUSTAV MAHLER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mahler: Symphonies 1 - 9 Ileana Cotrubas, Heather Harper, Hermann Prey, Hans Sotin & others / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Bernard Haitink [ Philips / 10 CD Box Set ] "Some have even said that the Concertgebouw Orchestra at the time managed to deliver a spectacular performance not with Haitink, but despite Haitink, and though I think that statement's much too extreme, I understand that sometimes the credit of a... |
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorák: Complete Piano Music Inna Poroshina (piano) [ Brilliant Classics Quintessence / 5 CD Box Set - released 22/Jan/2021 ] Gramophone Magazine Re-issue of the Month - March 2011 |