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) |
BACH / BRAHMS / SCHUBERT / LOEWE / ORFF / WAGNER / GRIEG / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Icon: Hans Hotter - The Great Bass Bar (incls and much much more) Hans Hotter (baritone) with Birgit Nilsson, Gerald Moore, Michael Raucheisen, etc [ EMI Icon / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2009 ] "All told, then, this is an essential set for lovers of one of the most authoritative yet beautiful voices the gramophone has had the privilege to capture." (Bargain of the Month MusicWeb May 2009) |
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. |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: La Finta Semplice (complete opera recorded in 1983) Helen Donath, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Robert Holl, Teresa Berganza / Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Leopold Hager(cond) [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2012 ] "Helen Donath is her usual bright-toned and fluent self and she has a fine trill; Teresa Berganza is lovely too, nuanced as always and still in creamy voice. Light and springy, even more delectable is Jutta-Renate Ihloff in the soubrette role." |
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 |
AARON COPLAND
Copland Conducts Copland Henry Fonda (narrator) Benny Goodman, Isaac Stern / London Symphony Orchestra, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra [ Sony Classical / 20 CD Box Set - released 12/Apr/2024 ] This boxset includes Aaron Copland's complete own recordings for Columbia Masterworks from 1935 to 1976 on 19 CDs plus recordings of two of his works by Leonard Bernstein on one additional CD. |
SCHUBERT / BRAHMS / SCHUMANN / KEISER / GLUCK / TCHAIKOVSKY / KORNGOLD / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Herman Prey - A Life In Song Hermann Prey (baritone) with Sylvia Geszty, Erika Koth, Anneliese Rothenberger, Karl Engel, etc [ EMI Classics Icon / 10 CD Box Set - released 7/Feb/2011 ] Hermann Prey (11 July 1929 - 22 July 1998) was a German lyric baritone, who was equally at home in the Lied, operatic and concert repertoires. His American debut was in November 1952, with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy, and his... |
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) |
PIERO LOCATELLI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Locatelli: L'Arte del Violino, Op. 3 I Musici, Mariana Sirhu (solo violin) [ Philips / 3 CD Box Set - released 12/Jun/1997 ] |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Britten: The Turn of the Screw (Complete Opera recorded in 2002) Ian Bostridge, Joan Rodgers, Julian Leang, Caroline Wise / Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Harding [ Virgin Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Apr/2011 ] Gramophone Magazine Award Finalist 2003 - Editor's Choice (Gramophone Magazine) October 2002 |
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 |
TCHAIKOSVKY / BRAHMS / SHOSTAKOVICH / SIBELIUS / HANDEL / RIMSKY KORSAKOV / etc
Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra - The Columbia Stereo Collection Isaac Stern (violin) William Kincaid (flute) Anthony Gigliotti (clarinet) Gary Graffman (piano) / Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy [ Sony RCA Original Masters / 88 CD Box Set - released 17/Nov/2023 ] The Sony label now presents Eugene Ormandy's stereo recordings from Philadelphia containing all recordings released from 1958 to 1963 (plus some fillers from later years). |
BOCCHERINI / DVORAK / ELGAR / HAYDN / MONN / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Jacqueline Du Pre - Favourite Cello Concertos Jacqueline Du Pre (cello) / English Chamber Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New Philhamonia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra [ EMI / 3 CD Box Set - released 23/Oct/1989 ] Du Pré was born in Oxford, England, the second child of Iris Greep and Derek du Pré. At the age of four du Pré is said to have heard the sound of the cello on the radio and asked her mother for "one of those". She began with lessons from her mother. |
EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Orchestral Works, Cello Concerto, Sea Pictures, Dream of Gerontius Jacqueline du Pre (cello) Dame Janet Baker (mezzo) Richard Lewis (tenor) / Halle Orchestra / Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli [ EMI British Composers / 7 CD Box Set - released 25/Mar/2022 ] Born in London of Italian-French parents, Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970) trained as a cellist and played in theatre and café orchestras before joining the Queen's Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood in 1916. |