GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: La Scala di Seta [The Silken Ladder] (complete opera) Claudia Urru, Meagan Sill (sopranos) Michele Angelini, Remy Burnens (tenors) Emmanuel Franco (baritone) Eugenio Di Lieto (bass) / Kraków Philharmonic [ Naxos Opera / 2 CD Box Set - released 10/Jun/2022 ] Gioachino Rossini was only 20 when he was commissioned to compose La scala di seta. It is one of four farsa comica operas which fed popular demand for this genre in Venice in the early 19th century and was wildly successful. |
COPLAND / BERNSTEIN / WALTON / THOMSON / HONEGGER / MOZART / TCHAIKOVSKY / etc
Louis Lane & Cleveland Orchestra - The Complete Epic and Columbia Album Collection Cleveland Orchestra. Louis Lane [ Sony Classics / 14 CD Box Set - released 11/Oct/2024 ] Louis Lane went on to head major orchestras in Dallas and Atlanta and to guest conduct leading ensembles all over the world. But before that, Louis Lane honed his craft while working in the shadow of one of the great masters: in 1947, legendary... |
SCHUMANN / BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / IVES / BARBER / MENDELSSOHN / etc
Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection The Cleveland Quartet, with Emanuel Ax (piano), Jack Brymer (clarinet), Barry Tuckwell (horn), Richard Stoltzman (Clarinet), Yo Yo Ma (cello) [ Sony Classical / RCA Red Seal / 23 CD Box Set - released 11/Nov/2023 ] Immediately upon their debut at the 1969 Marlboro Festival, four brilliant young American musicians calling themselves the Cleveland Quartet were hailed as a chamber ensemble of exceptional quality. |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Symphonies Complete Danish Chamber Orchestra, Adam Fischer [ Naxos / CD Box Set - released 26/Aug/2022 ] 2022 marks 25 years of close, innovative cooperation between Adam Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra. This has resulted in a number of releases, and gained international recognition. |
RUDOLF ESCHER
Escher: Orchestral, Chamber and Choral Music Concertgebouw, Riccardo Chailly / Netherlands Chamber Choir [ Brilliant Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 10/Apr/2020 ] The most extensive survey on record of a major Dutch 20th-century composer, featuring some of the country's most distinguished musicians. |
CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN
Alkan Edition [Piano, Organ & Chamber Music] Costantino Mastroprimiano, Mark Viner, Laurent Martin, Alan Weiss, Alessandro Deljavan, Costantino Mastroprimiano (pianos) / Trio Alkan, Kevin Bowyer [ Brilliant Classics / 13 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2018 ] "Two major pluses are the excellent contextual essay and the budget price. It's a steal." BBC Music |
FRANCO CAVALLONE
Cavallone: Music For Guitar Cristiano Porqueddu (guitar) [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/Mar/2021 ] Franco Cavallone (1957) is one of today's most prolific and successful composers for the guitar. He himself studied the guitar with Bruno Mattioli, a pupil of Alirio Diaz, Leo Brouwer and Angelo Gilardino. He won several international competitions,... |
DEBUSSY / RAVEL / ELGAR / SUK / BRUCKNER / etc
Libor Pesek: The Gold Collection [4 CD set] Michaela Fukačová (cello) Eva Děpoltová (soprano) / Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Pesek, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Libor Pesek [ Supraphon / 4 CD Box Set - released 20/Sep/2013 ] To mark Libor Pešek's eightieth birthday, Supraphon presents a representative selection of large orchestral recordings he made from 1981 to 1989. Compositions by Josef Suk, who has occupied a privileged position in Pešek's career, are featured... |
DENNIS JOHNSON / PHILIP GLASS / TOM JOHNSON / PETER GARLAND / TERRY RILEY / etc
Minimal Piano Collection Volume XXI‐XXVIII Jeroen Van Veen (piano) [ Brilliant Clasics / 8 CD Box Set - released 5/May/2017 ] This 8CD set bring the listener back to the roots of Minimalism, all works were written in the seventies of the 20th century, a time when the new aesthetics and perception of music, sound, repetition and time experience were creating a new chapter in... |
GLUCK / HANDEL / PURCELL / MOZART / MAHLER / BACH / etc
Dame Janet Baker: A Celebration - Great recordings on Philips, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, & Hyperion Dame Janet Baker (mezzo) with Gerald Moore, Geoffrey Parsons, Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra & others [ Decca / 21 CD Box Set - released 8/Dec/2023 ] Dame Janet Baker is an artist who enjoyed seldom-matched success in the concert and recital halls as well as in the opera house - not to mention on disc. She could confidently traverse the entire territory between the well-thumbed volumes of arie... |
HANDEL / BEETHOVEN / BACH / VERDI / ROSSINI / DELIBES / GOUNOD / etc/
Joan Sutherland: Oratorios & Recitals Dame Joan Sutherland, with Sir Peter Pears, Marilyn Horne, Kenneth McKellar, Barry Tuckwell, Richard Bonynge and others [ Decca / 37 CD Box Set - released 19/Jul/2024 ] The first set comprises Sutherland's complete Recitals and Oratorio recordings for Decca, ranging from the 1959 operatic recital recorded in Paris, with Nello Santi (has Verdi's "Santo di patria" ever rung out with greater thrill?). |
JAN PIETERSZOON SWEELINCK
Sweelinck: Complete Harpsichord and Organ Music Daniele Boccaccio [harpsichord / organ] [ Brilliant Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 10/Apr/2020 ] Daniele Boccaccio is one of Italy's foremost keyboard players. A scholar as well, he did extensive research into historic sources. He plays 3 different historic organs and a copy of a Flemish harpsichord. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Symphonies Danish National Concert Choir, Danish Chamber Orchestra, Ádám Fischer [ Naxos / 5 CD Box Set - released 19/Jul/2019 ] "I find these performances utterly fascinating, though it would be next to impossible to offer a comprehensive catalogue of the various colourful twists and turns that characterise Fischer's performances (there are far too many of them)." Gramophone |
HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS
Villa-Lobos: Complete String Quartets Danubius Quartet [ Marco Polo / 6 CD - released 9/Sep/2022 ] This year marks 200 years since the proclamation of Brazil's independence, by Dom Pedro I in September 1822. Developed in collaboration with the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The 'Music of Brazil' series presents around 100 orchestral,... |
FERRUCCIO BUSONI
Busoni: Doktor Faust Davide Livermore (director), Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Dietrich Henschel (baritone), Martin Piskorski, Marian Pop, Łukasz Konieczny, Dominic Barberi, Dan [ Naxos / 3 CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] Doktor Faust, which Busoni considered a personal creative drama and which occupied him for over twelve years, was left incomplete on his death at the age of 58. He had searched for a dramatic subject that he hoped would represent the apex and... |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: Madrigals [Books 1 - 9] Delitiæ Musicæ, Marco Longhini [ Naxos / 15 CD Box Set - released 24/Jul/2020 ] The editions used in these recordings are the most authentic and uncut, and, in keeping with 17th-century practice, employ male voices only. Praised as 'compelling, simultaneously controlled and imaginative' (American Record Guide) |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Complete Symphonies / Vocalise / Isle of the Dead / Symphonic Dances Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos / CD - released 10/Mar/2023 ] "Slatkin is with Rachmaninov, all the way. He revels in the first movement's restless shifts, pitting the brute power of full ensemble against woodwind detail and soaring cellos." (William Dart NZ Herald on Symphony No. 3) |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Complete String Quartets Diogenes Quartet [ Brilliant Classics / 7 CD Box Set - released 22/Apr/2016 ] This set presents the complete string quartets by Franz Schubert, including the completion of two unfinished movements, by Christian Starke. |
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN
Scriabin: Complete Piano Music Dmitri Alexeev (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / 8 CD Box Set - released 1/Dec/2018 ] "He emphasizes the music's lyrical beauty without sacrificing energy or forward mobility…few recordings are so intrinsically beautiful as Alexeev's." Jed Distler on Classicstoday.com. |
HEINRICH SCHUTZ
Schutz: Sacred Music Dresden Kreuzchor, Rudolf Mauersberger [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 12/Oct/2013 ] This collection is a tribute to the great Baroque composer, who received most of his training in Venice from the organist of St Mark's, Giovanni Gabrieli. |