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... |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Vivaldi: Nisi Dominus / Salve Regina / etc Andreas Scholl (counter-tenor) / Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Paul Dyer [ ABC Classics / CD - released 9/Jun/2000 ] "Yet another superb disc from the honey-toned countertenor Andreas Scholl, partnered here by a fine baroque ensemble from Australia. Voluptuously packaged" Recording of the Month - Gramophone Magazine (October 2000 |
BACH / PROKOFIEV / RAVEL / CHOPIN / STRAVINSKY / SCHUBERT / GRIEG / BRITTEN
Andrei Gavrilov - Complete Recordings On Deutsche Grammophon Andrei Gavrilov (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon Eloquencce / 10 CD Box Set - released 2/Dec/2022 ] Several long-deleted albums reissued in this comprehensive survey of Andrei Gavrilov's DG career: superbly engineered recordings of a pianist in the great Russian tradition. |
BRAHMS / DVORAK / HAHN / STRAUSS / etc
Morgen: Songs For Cello & Piano Andrew Joyce (cello), Rae de Lisle (piano) [ Atoll Records / CD - released 28/Feb/2020 ] The return of one of New Zealand's favourite pianists. This is a special album for Rae de Lisle, who has created it with her son-in law Andrew (NZSO's Principal Cello) and daughter Julia (Principal Viola with the NZSO). |
VERDI / BELLINI / MASSENET / PUCCINI / DONIZETTI / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Angela Gheorghiu - Arias Angela Gheorghiu (soprano) / Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, John Mauceri [ Decca / CD - released 8/Aug/1996 ] "Gheorghiu displays her Verdian skills, her formidable technique and expressive power pushed to their limits but ultimately convincing." BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 ***** |
KALMAN / LEHAR / SUPPE / STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: My Heart Alone: Favourite Operetta Arias and Duets Angelika Kirchschlager / Simon Keenlyside / Tonkunstler Orchestra / Alfred Eschwe [ Sony Classical / CD - released 1/Nov/2008 ] "What impresses is not only the natural brilliance of the singers' vocal production but also the way in which pure display is subordinated to expression of true feeling." Gramophone Magazine, Editor's Choice September 2008 |
Anja Lechner and François Couturier
Lontano (LP) [ ECM / LP - released 12/Feb/2021 ] After their highly acclaimed 2014 debut album as a duo, Moderato cantabile, Anja Lechner and François Couturier widen the scope of music even further. The duo sings in a voice of its own, be it with original compositions, free improvisations, drawing... |
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) |
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", and was meant as a... |
EDWARD GRIEG
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Grieg: Lieder [Songs] Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Bengt Forsberg (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 13/Feb/2007 ] "A 'must' for any collection of songs…Don't miss it" - Gramophone |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Offenbach: Arias and Scenes Anne Sophie von Otter (soprano) / Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 15/Oct/2002 ] Recording of the Month: Gramophone Magazine (March 2003) GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2003 - recital |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 3 & 5 (LP) Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin) / Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon Vinyl / LP - released 25/Feb/2022 ] "...no one can deny the sheer beauty that this pair lovingly conjures." ClassicalNet |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Violin Sonatas Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin) & Lambert Orkis (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 3/Apr/2001 ] Includes :- -'A Life With Beethoven' - a documentary film written and directed by Reiner E. Moritz |
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. |
TCHAIKOVSKY / RACHMANINOV / MUSSORGSKY / DELIBES / BARTOK / etc
Antal Doráti: The Mercury Masters - The Stereo Recordings Antal Doráti, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra [ Australian Eloquence Mercury Living Presence / 30 CD Box Set - released 21/Jul/2023 ] "With beautiful original album covers, a generous sampling of spectacular performances, and an immediate and bold recorded sound, there is so much to enjoy in this collection. Highly recommended." Fanfare |
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 |
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. |
J.S. BACH / C.P.E. BACH / J.C. BACH
The Bach Family: Magnificats Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen (conductor) [ Hyperion / CD - released 16/Feb/2018 ] "You would be hard-pressed to find a more illuminating disc than this latest offering from Arcangelo" BBC Music Choral & Song Choice March 2018 |
CHARLES GOUNOD
Gounod: Romeo et Juliette [Romeo and Juliet] (complete opera recorded in 2011) BLU-RAY Arena di Verona / Nino Machaidze, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Cristina Melis / Fabio Mastrangello (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Apr/2013 ] "[Machaidze] seems to be the Juliette of choice today and this video makes clear why that's the case: lovely singing and a demeanour that manages to be sensual and innocent at once." (International Record Review) |
CHOPIN / GRIEG / TCHAIKOVSKY / SCHUMANN / SAINT-SAENS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Artur Rubinstein II Artur Rubinstein (piano) / RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Symphony of the Air [ Philips / RCA / 2 CD - released 9/Oct/2006 ] Few soloists have owned composers as definitively as Artur Rubinstein could claim |