HOLST / MENDELSSOHN / TRADITIONAL
Christmas With Canterbury Cathedral Girls' Choir Canterbury Cathedral Girls' Choir [ Decca / CD - released 1/Dec/2017 ] This is the debut album from the first ever girls' choir at historic Canterbury Cathedral. This album marks the first time that girls have been allowed to sing in an official capacity over the 1,400 year history of Canterbury Cathedral |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: Selva morale e spirituale (complete) Cantus Calln / Junghanel [ Harmonia Mundi Heritage / 3 CD - released 20/Aug/2015 ] Gramophone Award Winner 2002: Baroque vocal - "This set is a remarkable achievement. Anybody at all interested in Monteverdi's music will want to own it." |
Capella Antiqua Munchen/Ruhlan
Adoratio - Gregorian Chant [ Sony Classical / CD - released 3/Nov/2008 ] |
GEOFFREY BUSH
A Christmas Cantata Cardiff Polyphonic Choir and Orchestra [ Saydisc / CD - released 1/Nov/2008 ] The highly regarded Cardiff Polyphonic Choir and Orchestra perform the first commercial recording of Geoffrey Bush's beautiful work "A Christmas Cantata". This popular work features well-known carols in a setting for choir with string orchestra and... |
THOMAS TALLIS
Tallis: Gaude gloriosa The Cardinall's Musick / Andrew Carwood (director) [ Hyperion / CD - released 10/Aug/2005 ] Gramophone Magazine Award Finalist 2006 - "The Cardinall's Musick - a group specialising in music of the English Renaissance - excel themselves here. The singing is radiant, warm and luminous with the individual winding strands of voices clear and... |
WILLIAM BYRD
Byrd Edition Vol 10: Laudibus in sanctis The Cardinall's Musick / Andrew Carwood [ Hyperion / CD - released 23/Nov/2006 ] 'If, according to Burney, the Mannheim orchestra of 1772 was 'an army of Generals', the Cardinall's Musick of 2006 is surely 'an exaltation of larks'... Performances of exquisite perfection' (International Record Review) |
Carlos Alvarez
Alvarez Sings Opera Arias [ Sony Classical / CD ] |
CARLOS KLEIBER
Carlos Kleiber - Traces to Nowhere Carlos Kleiber with Placido Domingo, Brigitte Fassbaender, and others [ Arthaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 10/Jun/2011 ] Gramophone Magazine Award WINNER 2011 (DVD Documentary) - |
JULIAN ANDERSON
Julian Anderson: In lieblicher Bläue / Alleluia / The Stations of the Sun Carolin Widmann (violin) / London Philharmonic Choir & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski [ LPO Live / CD - released 20/May/2017 ] Vladimir Jurowski ensures everything is deftly paced in all three pieces, while the LPO's joyous commitment to new music shines through" BBC Music Magazine Awards 2017 - Premiere Winner |
KREISLER / CORIGLIANO / VIEUXTEMPS / GERSHWIN / etc
Caroline Goulding Caroline Goulding (violin) & Christopher Riley (piano) [ Telarc Classical / CD - released 5/Oct/2009 ] Although she has already performed with several leading orchestras, violinist Caroline Goulding is still only sixteen. Her debut recording, in which she is accompanied by pianist Chris O'Riley, features an intriguing selection of works with an... |
J. S. BACH
Mass in B minor Carolyn Sampson, Rachel Nicholls (sopranos) Robin Blaze (alto) Gerd Tark (tenor) / Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 1/Sep/2007 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD FINALIST 2008 - Baroque Vocal - "Among the handful of best recordings made, regardless of style." (MusicWeb Jan 2008) |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Messiah (complete with bonus CD) Carolyn Sampson (soprano) Catherine Wyn-Rogers (contralto) Mark Padmore (tenor) Christopher Purves (bass) / The Sixteen / Harry Christophers [ Coro / 3 CD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2008 ] "a Messiah of splendid vitality and authority, a summation of Christophers's and The Sixteen's Handelian enterprise." International Record Review |
J.S. BACH
Cantatas (Vol 42) BWV13, BWV16, BWV32 & BWV72 Carolyn Sampson (soprano) Gerd Tark (tenor) Peter Kooij (bass) / Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Jan/2009 ] The present volume in the cantata cycle of the Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki consists of four works all written for performances in January 1726. Among these is the New Year's cantata Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV16 (Lord God, we praise you). |
PURCELL
Victorious Love Carolyn Sampson (soprano) Lawrence Cummings (harpsichord & spinet) Elizabeth Kenny (archlute & thearbo) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Aug/2007 ] One of the most exciting young sopranos to emerge in recent years, Carolyn Sampson was born in Bedford, studied music at the University of Birmingham and lives in London. She made her opera début with English National Opera as Amor in The Coronation... |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Cantatas (Vol 41) (Nos BWV56, 82, 84, 156) Carolyn Sampson (soprano) Peter Kooij (bass) / Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Oct/2008 ] Masaaki Suzuki here concentrates on the so-called solo cantatas, providing an opportunity for two of the highly acclaimed soloists of this series, Carolyn Sampson and Peter Kooij, to shine even more brightly. |
ERIC BIDDINGTON
Chamber Music for Friends (Including the Piano Trio & Three Pieces for cello and piano) Carolyn Scholes (violin) / Mark Hobson (alto saxophone/clarinet) / Greg McMillan-Perry (oboe) / Nicola Ansley (alto saxophone) / Maurice Till (piano) [ Ode Records / CD - released 18/Jan/2006 ] Eric Biddington was born in Timaru in October 1953. He received his schooling in Timaru and Christchurch. On leaving school he started work as a labourer and combined this with study at the University of Canterbury. |
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". |
The Carpenters
Christmas Collection [ A & M / 2 CD - released 27/Nov/2020 ] How about snowy days and Mondays? The soft, soothing sounds of Karen and Richard Carpenter are perfectly suited to a white Christmas with a crackling fire; here are their Christmas Portrait ('78) and An Old Fashioned Christmas ('84) LPs, together in... |
GOLDEN AGE OF THE GRAMOPHONE
The Golden Age of the Gramophone: 42 best-loved popular classical recordings 1907-1945 Enrico Caruso, Pablo Casals, Peter Dawson, Master Ernest Lough, Paul Robeson, Manchester Children's Choir, Glasgow Orpheus Choir, etc [ Nimbus Retrospective / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2010 ] "What you're getting are two well filled discs, neatly annotated. The period covered is just shy of forty years, so we go from acoustic to electric and all in mono, and we cover singers, instrumentalists, choirs and conductors." (MusicWeb June 2010) |
Dame Malvina Major with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Brian Law, conducto
Casta Diva: arias from the opera stage [ Kiwi-Pacific / CD - released 1/Jan/2001 ] 100 Years of opera heroines: a beautiful concert by our top classic diva |