JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms Cycle [Symphonies, Concertos & Overtures] (recorded in 2015) Yefim Bronfman (piano) Julia Fischer (violin) / The Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-Most [ Belvedere / BBC Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Nov/2017 ] The Cleveland Orchestra is the aristocrat among American orchestras (The Telegraph) and its conductor, Franz Welser-Möst, rules his subjects with a velvet glove. Indeed, velvet and silk keep showing up in descriptions of the Clevelanders sound under... |
PIAZZOLLA / JOBIM / BOLLING / PORTER / TRADITIONAL / etc
Yo-Yo Ma - Crossing Borders Yo-Yo Ma (cello) with Stephane Grappelli (violin) Sergio & Odair Assad (guitars) Claude Bolling (piano) Bobby McFerrin (vocals) Mark O'Connor (violin) [ Sony Classical Masters / 9 CD Box Set - released 10/Dec/2021 ] Yo-Yo Ma's multi-faceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. This CD box set features nine of Yo-Yo's classic cross-over albums. |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Pierre Boulez conducts Berlioz (Incls 'Symphonie fantastique & Les Nuits d'ete) Yvonne Minton (mezzo-soprano) Stuart Burrows (tenor) / New York Philharmonic, London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Pierre Boulez [ Sony Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 13/Mar/2020 ] Sony Classical is now making available all of their Berlioz recordings conducted by Pierre Boulez. All at a very attractive price. The recordings have all been remastered and remixed, and the box set is available at budget price. |
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
Rachmaninoff: Complete Piano Music Zlata Chochieva, Lukas Geniušas, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Nikolai Lugansky, Alexander Ghindin, Elisa Tomellini [ Brilliant Classics / 8 CD Box Set - released 12/Mar/2021 ] This 8-CD set contains the works for piano solo by Sergei Rachmaninoff, 20-th century romantic, one of the greatest pianists of all time himself. |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Cinderella (complete ballet recorded in 2003) Zurich Ballet / Karine Seneca / Stanislav Jermakov / Marine Castel / Jozef Varga / Vladimir Fedoseyev (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques / DVD - released 1/Dec/2008 ] G - Heinz Spoerli's Zurich Ballet Cinderella production, filmed as a musical from Hollywood, turned out to be a huge success at its premiere and must rank as one of the most 'dancerly' stagings Prokofiev's popular ballet has ever received. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Oratorios: Messiah, Athalia, Esther and La Resurrezione [8 CD set] Academy of Ancient Music / Emma Kirkby / Joan Sutherland / Aled Jones / David Thomas et al [ Decca / 8 CD Box Set - released 7/Dec/2005 ] Now at budget price! Christopher Hogwood's pioneering period instrument recordings of 4 Handel oratorios. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Messiah (complete oratorio Live from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge 2009) Ailish Tynan, Alice Coote, Allan Clayton & Matthew Rose / Choir of King's College, Academy of Ancient Music, Stephen Cleobury [ Warner Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 10/Mar/2010 ] "The first choral concert transmitted live to 85 cinemas, Stephen Cleobury's interpretation ticks all the boxes, with choir and orchestra impeccably balanced, and soloists glowing." The Independent, 24th April 2009 **** |
ERIK SATIE
Erik Satie - Old Sequins and Ancient Breastplates [Historial Recordings 1926-1961] Aldo Ciccolini, Francis Poulenc, William Masselos, Manuel Rosenthal, Igor Markevitch, Pierre Bernac, etc [ Cherry Red Records / 4 CD Box Set - released 9/Dec/2022 ] A four disc Box set collection of historic Satie recordings, ranging from the 1920's onwards. Including such rarities as Henri Sauguet's 'Socrate' for solo voice and orchestra; piano sets by William Masselos and Aldo Ciccolini. |
MANUEL de FALLA
Manuel de Falla - The Spanish Soul Alicia de Larrocha (piano), Turibio Santos (guitar), Victoria de los Angeles (soprano), Jean-Claude Gérard (flute), Orquesta Nacional de España, etc [ Warner Classics / 11 CD Box Set - released 12/Nov/2021 ] Manuel de Falla is regarded as the greatest Spanish composer of the twentieth century. Established in Paris from 1907 to 1914, he met Debussy, Ravel and Dukas and steeped himself in their works. |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Orchestral Works [5 CD set] Anna Tomowa-Sintow (sop) / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan, with Lothar Koch, oboe, & Norbert Hauptmann, horn [ Deutsche Grammophon Collector's Edition / 5 CD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2012 ] Herbert von Karajan's Strauss recordings of the early 1980s, remastered in the 1990s, for the Karajan Gold Edition are a benchmark of lifetime of engagement with the composer in the concert hall and studio, and won unparalleled critical acclaim. |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY / MAURICE RAVEL
Boulez Conducts Debussy and Ravel (6 CDs special price) Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo) Krystian Zimerman (piano) / London Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Symphony, Pierre Boulez [ Deutsche Grammophon / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/Jun/2012 ] "Zimerman's pianism is self-recommending. His trills in the first movement of the G major Concerto are to die for, his passagework in the finale crystalclear, never hectic, always stylish. Boulez and the Clevelanders are immaculate and responsive"... |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: The Opera & Operettas Collection Anneliese Rothenberger, Teresa Berganza, Michel Dens, Jose Carreras, Nicolai Gedda, Gabriel Bacquier, John Aler, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, etc [ Warner Classics / 30 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2019 ] He was born in Cologne, but it was in Paris that Jacques Offenbach achieved fame. A special feature of this 30-CD collection are star-studded recordings in both French and German of his most celebrated operettas. |
W. A. MOZART / BEETHOVEN / SCHUMANN / LISZT / BARTOK / SCHUBERT
Annie Fischer: The Complete London Studio Recordings Annie Fischer (piano) Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Otto Klemperer, etc [ Warner Classics Icon / 8 CD Box Set - released 23/Aug/2014 ] 'I can find no praise too high for Annie Fischer's playing, for she makes every phrase a delight. Sawallisch partners his soloist to perfection. Everybody has here combined to produce something really outstanding among recordings of Mozart... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Symphonies (Nos 1-9) Barbara Bonney, Birgit Remmert, Kurt Streit, Thomas Hampson / City Of Birmingham Symphony Chorus / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Simon Rattle [ Warner Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2010 ] A superbly played account by one of the world's great orchestras. ***** Five Stars (Pick of the Month) BBC Music Magazine |
BRITTEN / DELIUS / ELGAR / VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / TIPPETT / HOLST
The British Line: A celebration of British Music BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, with Dame Evelyn Glennie, Thomas Hampson, Tasmin Little, Sir Bryn Terfel, etc [ Warner Classics / 16 CD Box Set - released 19/Jul/2019 ] In 1991, Hamburg-based record label Teldec Classics embarked on a fruitful partnership with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. "The British Line" was soon to become an essential series of critically acclaimed digital recordings of major... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Claudio Abbado conducts Beethoven Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, with Maurizio Pollini (piano) Cheryl Studer (soprano) Ilya Gringolts (violin), etc [ Deutsche Grammophon / 10 CD Box Set - released 17/Jul/2015 ] "One could say, briefly but not inaccurately, that this is the antithesis of Karajan. Where he was smooth, this is rugged. Where he went in for broad tempos in slow movements, Abbado moves things along." (BBC Music Five Stars) |
ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: The Nine Symphonies Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim [ Warner Classics / 9 CD Box Set - released 20/Aug/2021 ] "Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic have given us one of the finest (and certainly the best-recorded) Bruckner Sixths of all time - this represents a major landmark in Brucknerian discography." Fanfare |
SHOSTAKOVICH
String Quartets [complete] Brodsky Quartet [ Teldec Warner Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 27/Oct/2003 ] "If you do not presently own a version of these quartets, then the Brodsky would be a very good one as a first set." (Bargain of the Month MusicWeb January 2004) |
TAVENER / ALLEGRI / BARBER / FAURE / PALESTRINA / and many more
The Glory Of New College Choir Choir of New College, Oxford / Edward Higginbottom, with the Academy of Ancient Music [ Erato / Warner Classics / 8 CD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2018 ] "This is one of the most sublime choral records I have ever heard." - Organists' Review |
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / CHOPIN / DEBUSSY / SCHUMANN/ LISZT / GRIEG
Claudio Arrau - The Complete Warner Classics Recordings Claudio Arrau (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra, Alceo Galliera, Andreas Weissgerber (violin) [ Warner Classics / 24 CD Box Set - released 14/Oct/2022 ] Claudio Arrau (1903-1991) is a pianist fully deserving of the epithet 'legendary'. His rigorous intellect and sense of the sublime found expression in his transcendent technique and sumptuous, yet lucid sonorities. The recordings in this 24CD... |