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BRITTEN / RAVEL / DEBUSSY / CHABRIER
The Art of Janine Micheau Janine Micheau (soprano), with Janine Collard (mezzo-soprano), Jean Mollien (tenor) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 10/Feb/2019 ] 'the Damoiselle élue always seemed to be her best recorded work. Hearing it again, one admires no less the clear definition and the virginal simplicity.' Gramophone, April 1985 |
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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Bach: Cello Suites Jean-Max Clément (cello) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 8/Nov/2019 ] Newly remastered from the original L'Oiseau Lyre tapes, a little-known Bach recording in the true French style. The modern phenomenon of the Cello Suites as a staple of any record collection may be laid at the feet of the Catalan cellist Pablo... |
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RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Burleske / Duet-Concertino / Oboe Concerto / le Bourgeois Gentilhomme / etc Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano), Dimitri Ashkenazy (clarinet) Gordon Hunt (oboe) / Wiener Philharmoniker [Vienna Philharmonic], Lorin Maazel, etc [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2014 ] Relative rarities among his output are Richard Strauss's concertos, many written later in his life. This collection brings together works for oboe, clarinet and bassoon (the Duet Concertino) and the scintillating Burleske for piano and orchestra. In... |
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FRANZ LISZT
Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Hungarian Fantasy / etc Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano) / Orchestre symphonique de Montreal / Charles Dutoit [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Dec/2006 ] "Indeed, I have only praise. Each of the four works here is well characterized, and the typically Lisztian varying tempos are spot on, unrushed but never deliberate and always leading naturally from one to the next. Climactic passages are powerful,... |
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GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Semele (complete opera recorded in 1956) Jennifer Vyvyan, Anthony Lewis, William Herbert / New Symphony Orchestra, The St. Anthony Singers, Anthony Lewis [ Australian Eloquence / Decca / 2 CD - released 20/Dec/2018 ] A pioneering Handel recording of the 1950s in a new digital remastering. The scholar and conductor Anthony Lewis was one of the early luminaries of the L'OiseauLyre label which became, over time, the early-music imprint of Decca. Drawing on his... |
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JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH
Mr. Bach at Vauxhall Gardens Jennifer Vyvyan, Elsie Morrison (sopranos) / Boyd Neel Orchestra, Thurston Dart [ Australian Eloquence / Decca / CD - released 28/Sep/2018 ] "It's a long time since I have heard such consummately seductive singing." Gramophone Dec 1957 |
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ARNE / ELGAR / WOOD / PARRY / WALTON / WILLIAMSON
The Last Night Of The Proms 1969 • 1971 • 1972 - Highlights Jessye Norman (soprano) Elizabeth Bainbridge (mezzo-soprano) / BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Choral Society, BBC Chorus, Sir Colin Davis [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2019 ] Compiled together for the first time, historic recordings of the grand finale to the world's greatest music festival. |
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JACQUES OFFENBACH / GIUSEPPE VERDI / VINCENZO BELLINI
Darwin: Song for a City [Recorded Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, UK, January 1975] Joan Sutherland, Heather Begg Tom McDonnell, Clifford Grant, Louis Quilico, Margreta Elkins / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 10/Apr/2012 ] Christmas Eve 1974 was a nightmare for the inhabitants of Darwin when it was destroyed by a violent cyclone. A Darwin Appeal Fund was launched and a month later, on 25 January 1975, Richard Bonynge conducted a fund-raising concert at the Royal Opera. |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 / Overtures - Prometheus, Fidelio, Leonore 2 & 3 / Grosse Fuge Joan Sutherland, Norma Procter, Arnold Van Mill / L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Ernest Ansermet [ Decca ABC Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2009 ] "…the depth and concentration of the Ansermet shines decisively out… Ansermet's reading is taut and imposing" Gramophone |
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PICCINNI / DONIZETTI / VERDI / BELLINI / MOZART / HANDEL / etc
Joan Sutherland - The Age of Bel Canto (2CD) Joan Sutherland (Soprano) / London Symphony & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, with Marilyn Horne & Richard Conrad [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 11/Mar/2022 ] A groundbreaking Decca album celebrating the glory of both bel canto and the voice of Sutherland in her prime, long unavailable on its own, reissued complete with a booklet introduction from Richard Bonynge. |
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MOZART / SZYMANOWSKI / MILHAUD / RAVEL / DVORAK / BEETHOVEN / etc
Johanna Martzy, Michael Mann - Complete Deutsche Grammophon Recordings Johanna Martzy (violin) Michael Mann (viola) with Jean Antonietti, Yaltah Menuhin, Dika Newlin (piano) etc [ Deutsche Grammophon Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 9/Apr/2021 ] Complete on CD for the first time, the Deutsche Grammophon legacy of cult violinist Johanna Martzy, and of violist Michael Mann. Five original DG albums complete on two CDs. |
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BAX / BRIDGE / DELIUS / ELGAR / GRAINGER / VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
English Idylls John Birch (organ), John Lanehan (piano), Julian Lloyd-Webber (cello) / Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner [ Philips SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 20/Mar/2016 ] Simply idyllic, this 2-CD set couples a traversal of English seasons (CD1) with idyllic music for cello and orchestra by English composers, all rapturously performed by the Academy and Marriner. |
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GILBERT & SULLIVAN
The Gondoliers (complete operetta recorded in 1977) John Reed, Geoffrey Shovelton, Kenneth Sanford, Barbara Lilley / D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Royal Philharmonic, Royston Nash [ Australian Decca SBS Eloquence / 2 CD - released 10/Aug/2015 ] "the appealing gondoliers of Meston Reid and Michael Rayner, John Reed's typically reliable Duke and Kenneth Sandford's pillar of strength Don Alhambra" (Gramophone) |
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J. S. BACH
Mass in B minor BWV232 / Cantata BWV56 'Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen' John Shirley-Quirk, Margaret Marshall, Janet Baker, Robert Tear / Academy & Chorus of St Martin in the Fields [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 10/Mar/2013 ] "I found the solo singing rewarding and in particular Dame Janet Baker's account of the Agnus Dei very moving … the sound is rich with plenty of bloom ... Cum Sancto Spiritu is a real choral tour de force" (Gramophone Mass) |
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J. S. BACH / DOMENICO & ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI
Bach & Scarlatti: Guitar Suites and Sonatas John Williams (guitar) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 14/Apr/1994 ] 'self recommending' 24 Hours |
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DEBUSSY
16 Preludes Jorge Bolet (piano) [ Decca ABC Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Oct/2009 ] The Cuban-American pianist Jorge Bolet isn't readily associated with the music of Debussy, but his selection of sixteen of the composer's Préludes yield performances of refinement and fluidity. |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Piano Encores (incls Albeniz: Tango & Mendelssohn: Rondo capriccioso) Jorge Bolet (piano) [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Oct/2009 ] "…the unfailing wizardry of Bolet. He is also splendidly recorded. It is difficult to see how an encore-fancier could greet this record with anything but the most delighted of, well encores." Gramophone |
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SCHUBERT
Piano Sonatas D 959 & 784 Jorge Bolet (piano) [ Decca ABC Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Oct/2009 ] Schubert and Jorge Bolet may seem rare bedfellows for a virtuoso who excelled in the music of Liszt and Rachmaninov and whose lineage extended, through his teacher David Saperton, to Leopold Godowsky (Saperton's teacher). But he finds in this music... |
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BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / STRAVINSKY / HONEGGER / Prokofiev / DEBUSSY / etc
Joseph Szigeti - The Mercury Masters Joseph Szigeti (violin) with Roy Bogas, Artur Balsam, Mieczysław Horszowski (piano), various concductors & soloists [ Mercury Living Presense Australian Eloquence / 6 CD Box Set - released 17/Feb/2023 ] Issued internationally and complete, for the first time on CD in this Limited Edition original-jackets collection, these Mercury recordings were made in New York and London during the autumn of Szigeti's career, between 1959 and 1961. |
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J. S. BACH
Jörg Demus - The Bach Recordings on Westminster Jörg Demus (piano), with Paul Badura-Skoda (piano) [ Westminster Australian Eloquence / 11 CD Box Set - released 2/Dec/2022 ] Bach playing to refresh the spirits as well as satisfy the mind: the early recordings of consummate Viennese pianist, Jörg Demus, unfailingly lively as well as faithful. |