GRAZYNA BACEWICZ
Bacewitz: String Quartets Silesian Quartet [ Chandos / 2 CD - released 15/Jul/2016 ] "These seven works, composed between 1938 and 1965, add up to a compelling portrait of a powerfully original creative spirit...the whole group seem to understand this life-affirming music from the inside." Gramophone Award WINNER 2017 - Chamber |
ABEL / REICHARDT / ZELTER / STORACE / MOZART / PAISIELLO
Jet Set! Classical Glitterati Simon Murphy , New Dutch Academy [ Pentatone / CD - released 22/Mar/2019 ] Featuring works by Abel, Reichardt, Zelter, Storace, Mozart and Paisiello, this album follows the musical "jet set" of the 18th century as they "do" the splendid cosmopolitan cultural epicentres of the time, including London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna... |
RICHARD WAGNER
Father & Son - Wagner Scenes & Arias Simon O'Neill (tenor) / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Pietari Inkinen (with Susan Bullock & John Tomlinson) [ EMI Classics / CD - released 7/Jul/2012 ] "O'Neill's singing has radiance, drama and vigorous intensity. He sings securely, easily and lyrically in the upper register which makes all the Siegfried highlights possibly the best moments on this CD." (MusicWeb May 2010) |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen Simon O'Neill, Matthias Goerne, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden [ Naxos / 14 CD Box Set - released 9/Aug/2018 ] Wagner's visionary Der Ring des Nibelungen was first performed as a cycle of four operas in 1876. One of the most sustained and remarkable achievements in all music, the tetralogy is performed by an all-star cast, conducted by the new music director... |
SACRED MUSIC
Sacred Music: a story spanning six centuries Simon Russell Beale / The Sixteen, Harry Christophers [ BBC / Coro DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Mar/2010 ] Series One of the BBC's groundbreaking classical music programme follows renowned actor and former chorister Simon Russell Beale as he explores the flowering of Western sacred music. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Symphonies Simona Šaturová, Mihoko Fujimura, Christian Elsner & Christian Gerhaher / ewandhausorchester Leipzig, Herbert Blomstedt [ Accentus / 5 CD Box Set - released 3/Jul/2017 ] "Blomstedt's Beethoven seems 'right': tempi are never too fast or too slow, but never staid, and phrasing is alive with rhythmic energy and cumulative momentum. His Leipzig players give their all- the strings in particular have a glorious burnished... |
Simone Dinnerstein
Bach, J.S.: Bach - A Strange B [ Sony Classical / CD - released 17/Jan/2011 ] |
Simone Dinnerstein
Bach/Schubert: Something Almos [ Sony Classical / CD - released 13/Feb/2012 ] |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart in Havana: Piano Concertos Nos 21 & 23 Simone Dinnerstein (piano) / Havana Lyceum Orchestra, José Antonio Méndez Padrón [ Sony Classical / CD - released 7/Aug/2017 ] "the orchestra's potential for greatness is obvious, and so is the seriousness and fervent dedication that their music director Jose Antonio Méndez Padrón brings to everything he conducts." Gramophone |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Così fan tutte, K588 (complete opera recorded in 2014) Simone Kermes, Malena Ernman, Anna Kasyan, Kenneth Tarver, Christopher Maltman / MusicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis [ Sony Classical / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Aug/2016 ] In 2011, when invited to the post of Artistic Director at Perm's opera house, Currentzis negotiated unheard-of conditions: unlimited rehearsal time; the freedom to schedule performances depending on the quality reached in rehearsals; the necessary... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Colori d'Amore Simone Kermes (soprano) / Le Musiche Nove / Claudio Osele [ Sony Classical / CD - released 10/Dec/2010 ] "there is no more individual or idiosyncratic baroque diva around." (The Sunday Times) |
DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE
Buxtehude: Complete Harpsichord Music Simone Stella (harpsichord) [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 30/Jan/2012 ] "you can hardly go wrong with Stella's performances which are very good. He uses the harpsichord well and explores its various stops, mostly in a convincing and stylistically appropriate manner." MusicWeb |
JOHANN PACHELBEL
Pachelbel: Complete Keyboard Music Simone Stella (harpsichord & organ) [ Brilliant Classics / 13 CD Box Set - released 1/Jan/2019 ] "..the organ used here has much greater possibilities in variety of tonal colours, and Stella uses it to fine effect in the many fugues and chorale variations." Choir & Organ |
JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn: Symphonies [Complete] Sinfonia Finlandia, Patrick Gallois / Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Bela Drahos / Toronto Chamber Orchestra, Kevin Mallon [ Naxos / 34 CD Box Set - released 1/Jan/2009 ] One of the most extraordinary bequests in the history of music, Haydn's symphonies established his reputation as the greatest composer of his time. |
JOHN DOWLAND
Dowland: Songs for Soprano and Guitar Siphiwe McKenzie (soprano) & Riccardo Bini, Adriano Sebastiani (classical guitars) [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 25/Sep/2016 ] This new recording uses the classical guitar as accompanying instrument, played by Adriano Sebastiani. The young soprano Siphiwe McKenzie was twice nominated by the prestigious magazine Opernwelt as "Young Singer of the Year". She sang in important... |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (2LP) Sir Simon Rattle & Berliner Philharmoniker [ ANTON BRUCKNER / 2 LP - released 23/Aug/2024 ] Bruckner was working on the Ninth Symphony until the day he died. He left a stark and magnificent torso that marks the end of the 19th-century symphony - but he also left fragments and sketches for a magnificent finale that would cap his life's work.... |
Sir Thomas Beecham
Conducts Mozart: Symphony 35 [ Sony Classical / CD - released 12/Nov/2001 ] |
VLADIMIR MARTYNOV
Martynov Edition The Sirin Choir, Alexei Lubimov, Opus Posth Ensemble, Tatiana Grindenko and others [ Brilliant Classics / 9 CD Box Set - released 7/Oct/2022 ] Vladimir Martynov (b. 1946) is one of the leading composers of the Russian avant-garde, an experimentalist of serial, minimalist and electronic music. His ethno-musicological studies into the folk music of Russia, his philosophical and religious... |
GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI da PALESTRINA
Hodie Christus Natus Est [Christmas Mass] / etc The Sixteen, Harry Christophers [ Coro Palestrina Edition Volume 2 / CD - released 1/Oct/2012 ] Following the success of the first volume in their Palestrina series which won the International Classical Music Award for Early Music, Harry Christophers and The Sixteen release the second recording in the series which has a Christmas... |
BYRD / TALLIS / LASSUS / VICTORIA etc
A Renaissance Christmas The Sixteen, Harry Christophers [ Coro / CD ] Following The Sixteen's hugely successful album, 'Song of the Nativity', which featured Christmas music from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, this new seasonal offering explores a stunning selection of festive works from the Renaissance. The... |