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JOHN DOWLAND
John Dowland: A Fancy (LP) Bor Zuljan (lute) [ Ricercar / 2 LP - due 20/Nov/2026 ] The first notes of the descending chromatic theme break the silence and it seems as if time has stopped. The listener is drawn into the world of John Dowland, the greatest lutenist of all, in a journey through multiple shades of melancholy and lucent... |
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GAO PING / WOJCIECH KILAR / ANTHONY RITCHIE / JACK BODY / etc
Adrianna Lis: Rozmowa / Dialogue Adrianna Lis (flute) / Sarah Watkins (piano) [ Atoll Records New Zealand / CD - released 10/Jun/2012 ] "Modern virtuoso music for flute from Poland and NZ" |
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GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: La Pietra del paragone (complete opera) Agata Bienkowska (mezzo), Alessandro Codeluppi (tenor), Raffaele Constantini (bass), Anna Rita Gemmabella (sop), Anke Herrmann (sop) / Czech Chamber S [ Naxos Opera Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 2/Jun/2004 ] "Polish mezzo Agata Bienkowska...here evinces a rich-toned flexible voice of considerable promise ..The conductor, Alessandro de Marchi, is well known in early music circles. He brings clear articulation to the ensembles." MusicWeb |
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GUSTAV MAHLER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mahler: Symphony No 3 / Kindertotenlieder Agnes Baltsa (mezzo-soprano) / Wiener Sangerknaben, Wiener Staatsoper Damenchor, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Lorin Maazel [ Sony Classical / 2 CD Box Set - released 16/Feb/1992 ] Original recording from 1986/1987 |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Aleksandra Kurzak - Desire Aleksandra Kurzak (soprano) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 29/May/2020 ] The incredible soprano Aleksandra Kurzak presents 'Desire', her first solo album on Sony Classical! With this new release, Kurzak ventures into heavier territory, as she reveals both the new roles she is already singing and those she is working on. |
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VALENTIN SILESTROV
Silvestrov: Forgotten Word I Wished To Say Alexei Lubimov (piano) with Viktoriia Vitrenko (soprano) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 1/Apr/2024 ] "Alexei Lubimov's poised performances always bring clarity and balance to Silvestrov's music, enabling this carefully crafted and proportioned post-tonal style to simply speak for itself." Gramophone |
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BENJAMIN BRITTEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Complete opera recorded in 1967) Alfred Deller, Peter Pears, Thomas Hemsley,Owen Brannigan, Josephine Veasey, Robert Tear / London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten [ Decca Records / 2 CD Box Set - released 2/Jan/2002 ] "...Britten again proves himself an ideal interpreter of his own music." *** Three Stars. Penguin Stereo Guide |
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SIR MICHAEL TIPPETT
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Tippett: String Quartet No.2 / The Heart's Assurance / Boyhood's End / Songs for Ariel (with Seiber: Quartetto lirico) Amadeus Quartet / Sir Peter Pears (tenor) / Noel Mewton-Wood, Benjamin Britten piano) [ EMI Classics / CD - released 2/Feb/2003 ] EMI has issued numerous, and excellent, single-disc releases. One offers another view of three of the song-cycles ("Boyhood's End", "The Heart's Assurance" and "Songs for Ariel"). The tenor is Peter Pears. (ClassicalSource) |
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PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (complete ballet recorded in 2011) BLU-RAY Amsterdam Music Theatre / Anna Tsygankova, Matthew Golding, James Stout / Ermanno Florio [ Arthaus Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/Oct/2012 ] Choreographers Toer van Schayk and Wayne Eagling created a Nutcracker for the children and adults of today. It is more dynamic and exciting, and less sweet than usual. |
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TRADITIONAL
A Family Christmas Andrea Bocelli, Matteo Bocelli, Virginia Bocelli [ Classics & Jazz UK / CD - released 21/Oct/2022 ] This holiday season, internationally renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli is teaming up with his 24-year-old son Matteo Bocelli and 10-year-old daughter Virginia Bocelli for their first ever album together, A Family Christmas. |
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RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Parsifal (complete opera recorded at the Bayreuth Festival in 2023) Andreas Schager, Elīna Garanča, Georg Zeppenfeld / Bayreuther Festspielorchester, Bayreuther Festspielchor, Pablo Heras-Casado [ Deutsche Grammophon / 4 CD Box Set - released 5/Jul/2024 ] The acclaimed new production of Wagner's final opera "Parsifal" is "a musical godsend" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). The successful partnership between Deutsche Grammophon and the Bayreuth Festival continues, and what was started with the 2015... |
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GRAUN / HANDEL / PERTI / PORPORA / ORLANDINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Agrippina Opera Arias Ann Hallenberg (mezzo) / Il Pomo d'Oro, Riccardo Minasi [ Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/Mar/2016 ] "there's an equally dazzling vengeance aria by Orlandini, in which Riccardo Minasi's orchestra, Il Pomo d'Oro, really lets fly. Hallenberg is as convincing in these as she is in the more reflective numbers...very classily done" (The Guardian) |
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BERLIOZ / BELLINI / DONIZETTI / DVORAK / GOUNOD / MOZART / PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Anna Netrebko - Opera Arias Anna Netrebko (soprano) / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda [ Deutsche Grammophon First Choice / CD - released 15/Mar/2012 ] "This solo recital, conducted by an old colleague from the Kirov, Gianandea Noseda, makes a fine portrait of a lovely singer." (Gramophone) |
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BIZET / RACHMANINOV / SARASATE / RAVEL / de FALLA / BRAHMS
New Year's Concert 1997 (recorded in 2007) Anne Sofie von Otter, Bryn Terfel, Roberto Alagna, Gil Shaham, Mikhail Pletnev / Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 10/Jul/2008 ] The Berliner Philharmoniker's annual New Year's Eve concert is one of the highlights in the calendar of every classical music fan. The program of the New Year's Eve Concert 1997 bore the title "Dances of Life, Love, and Death"...a homage to Carmen. |
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GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (Complete opera recorded in 2002) Glyndebourne Opera / Anne Sofie von Otter, Marcus Haddock, Laurent Naouri, Lisa Milne / Philippe Jordan (cond) [ Opus Arte Essential Opera Collection DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Oct/2013 ] G: "(Von Otter's) Carmen has loads of overt sexuality - she languidly glides through the Habanera while sucking on a piece of fruit and then a cigar - and she shows plenty of temperament and fatalism tinged with fear later." (Los Angeles Times) |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS / CLARA SCHUMANN
Brahms: Double Concerto & Clara Schumann: Piano Trio Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Pablo Fernandez (cello), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Manfred Honeck, Lambert Orkis (piano) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 4/Nov/2022 ] An aristocrat of the string world is united with one of its most exciting newcomers - this is the first joint album by Anne-Sophie Mutter and Pablo Ferrández. |
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GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI
Pergolesi: Il Prigionier Superbo / La Serva Padrona (complete operas recorded 2009 & 2011) Antonio Lozano, Maria Rodrìguez Cusì, Marina de Liso, Alessandra Marianelli, Carlo Lepore / Accademia Barocca de I Virtuosi Italiani, Corrado Rovaris [ Arthaus DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/Nov/2012 ] "Marianelli is a sharp-witted, pert-voiced Serpina...Lepore is a suitably blustery Uberto, the playing of Accademia Barocca is exemplary, with some particularly splendid trumpet playing" International Record Review |
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WILHELM STENHAMMAR
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Stenhammar: Piano Concerto No. 2 In D Minor / Serenade In F / Ballad Janos Solyom (piano) Ingvar Wixell (baritone) / Münchner Philharmoniker, Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester, Stig Westerberg [ EMI Classics / CD - released 10/Aug/1994 ] Stenhammar the conductor and pianist was a leading figure in the musical life of Sweden and Scandinavia, but in his role as composer he struggled with self-doubt, feeling that his knowledge of musical theory was insufficient. |
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ANTHONY RITCHIE
Ritchie: Survivors Aquarius Choir, Marc Michael de Smet [ Atoll Records New Zealand / CD - released 5/Sep/2018 ] Moving a cappella settings of contemporary poems - music composed by Anthony Ritchie and performed by the superb Aquarius Choir of Belgium. |
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ARVO PART
Pärt: Alina (LP) Vladimir Spivakov, Sergej Bezrodny, Dietmar Schwalke, Alexander Malter [ ECM New Series / LP - released 19/Jun/2026 ] In July 1995, Arvo Pärt and Manfred Eicher convened at Frankfurt's Festeburgkirche with four insightful musicians - the violinist Vladimir Spivakov, the cellist Dietmar Schwalke, and the pianists Alexander Malter and Sergej Bezrodny - to realize a... |