DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: The String Quartets (Complete) Emerson String Quartet [ Deutsche Grammophon / 5 CD - released 20/May/2006 ] Winner Gramophone Awards 2000 - Chamber! |
TELEMANN / BACH / HANDEL / VIVALDI / EYCK
Baroque Edition, the Artistry of Erik Bosgraaf Erik Bosgraaf (recorder), Ensemble Cordavento [ Brilliant Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/Oct/2021 ] "That man can do anything!" exclaimed Frans Brüggen, after hearing a concert by Erik Bosgraaf in 2007. The eminent recorder player and conductor's encouragement was the starting point of an international career and rise to fame of the young player. |
MICHAEL HAYDN
Michael Haydn Collection [28 CD set] Ernst Schlader (clarinet) Johannes Hinterholzer (horn) Norbert Salvenmoser (trombone), Linde Brunmayr-Tutz (flute) Franz Landlinger (trumpet) etc [ Brilliant Classics / 28 CD Box Set - released 2/Sep/2019 ] "This is a wonderful set without a single duff disc and one which should win some new friends for Michael Haydn's music" MusicWeb Recommended Feb 2020 |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1-7 (Blu-ray) Eteri Gvazava (soprano) / Anna Larsson (contralto) / Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano) / Lucerne Festival Orchestra / Claudio Abbado [ EuroArts Blu-Ray / 4 Blu-ray Disc - released 8/Aug/2011 ] "Has there ever been a suaver, more transparent Mahler performance or one in which everything stays so beautifully in tune? ... Abbado's music-making is a celebration of the purest joy." The Gramophone Magazine |
GRIEG
Complete Solo Piano Music (12 CDs for the price of 3) Eva Knardahl, Love Derwinger (pianos) / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Kjell Ingebretsen / Norrkaping Symphony Orchestra / Jun'ichi Hirokami [ BIS / 12 CD - released 1/Oct/2006 ] Eva Knardahl's recordings of Grieg's music for solo piano - here completed with recordings by Love Derwinger of the works unpublished during Grieg's lifetime - have been a milestone ever since they were first released on LP at the end of the 1970s. |
ARENSKY / BORTKIEWICZ / KABALEVSKY / RACHMANINOV / PROKOFIEV / etc
Russian Piano Concertos Evgeny Kissin, In-Ju Bang, Felicja Blumental, Ştefan Doniga, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony etc [ Brilliant Classics / 15 CD Box Set - released 23/Mar/2018 ] There is a special quality to Russian Piano Concertos: apart from their jawdropping virtuosity and orchestral brilliance they share that common Slavonicflavor, an undefinable mixture of melancholy and passion, whether smouldering or blazing. |
FEDERICO MOMPOU
Mompou: Complete solo piano works (Rec 1974) Federico Mompou (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 17/Aug/2005 ] "These classic recordings, licensed from Ensayo, always will be treasured by those who enjoy Federico Mompou's haunting and hermetic style." (ClassicsToday 10/8 for performance and sound) |
CHRISTOPH GRAUPNER
Graupner: Complete Harpsichord Music Fernando de Luca (harpsichord) [ Brilliant Classics / 14 CD Box Set - released 25/Jun/2021 ] Christoph Graupner was born Kirchberg, Saxony. Due to an unfortunate combination of circumstances his work has fallen into almost total oblivion, yet he was one of the most important composers of his time. |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Fou Ts'ong plays Chopin Fou Ts'ong (piano) [ Sony Classical / 10 CD Box Set - released 12/Nov/2021 ] The first ever collection of Fou Ts'ong's complete Chopin Recordings for CBS Masterworks on 10 CDs. This special release includes full sets of the Ballades, Nocturnes, Études, Préludes, and Mazurkas. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Serse (complete opera recorded in 2018) Franco Fagioli (Serse), Vivica Genaux, Inga Kalna, Francesca Aspromonte / Il Pomo d ́Oro Orchestra, Maxim Emelyanychev [ Deutsche Grammophon / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Dec/2018 ] "I'd guess that a voice like Franco Fagioli's…comes as close as we can get today to the mingled brilliance, suppleness and power of the great castrati in their pomp." Gramophone Editor's Choice Feb 2019 |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Concerti grossi Op. 3 and Op. 6 Georg Kallweit, Bernhard Forck, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [ Pentatone / 3 CD Box Set - released 12/Mar/2021 ] BRILLIANT PERFORMANCES OF HANDEL'S MASTERWORKS Handel's concerti grossi Op. 3 and Op. 6 are among the most exceptional instrumental music of the baroque age, and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin brings out all the brilliance of these delightful... |
DUPRÉ / FRANCK / COUPERIN / BRUHNS / BACH / MESSIAEN
Gillian Weir: A Celebration Gillian Weir (organ) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 22 CD Box Set - released 12/Feb/2021 ] 'Dame Gillian is one of the greatest of living artists; her playing shows a perfect mixture of hand and heart, a true musician with the technique to tackle anything.' - JOHN AMIS, WRITER AND CRITIC |
BRAHMS / CHOPIN / BEETHOVEN / RAVEL / LISZT / etc
Gina Bachauer - The Mercury Masters Gina Bachauer (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, Stanisław Skrowaczewski / London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Doráti [ Mercury Living Presence Eloquence / 7 CD Box Set - released 28/Jul/2022 ] Seven classic Mercury Living Presence albums, newly remastered and compiled for the first time to celebrate the legacy of Greek pianist Gina Bachauer, who thrilled audiences and challenged stereotypes wherever she went. LIMITED EDITION. |
MILHAUD / SAINT-SAENS / ALKAN / POULENC / LALO / PIERNE / etc
French Piano Concertos Giovanni Bellucci, Martin Galling, Florian Uhlig, Rosario Marciano, François-Joël Thiollier, Marylène Dosse, etc [ Brilliant Classics / 12 CD Box Set - released 1/Apr/2019 ] A worthy collection of some of the greatest French piano concertos issued at a special price on 12 CDs. |
FRANCISCO TARREGA
Tarrega: Guitar Edition (solo works & transcriptions) Giulio Tampalini (guitar) [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 23/Sep/2015 ] Francisco Tárrega may have written little, but the works that he did compose have been a cornerstone of every guitar player's oeuvre since the composer's death in 1909. Particularly famous is his Recuerdos de la Alhambra, one of the most beautiful... |
W. A. MOZART
Glenn Gould plays Mozart Piano Sonatas Glenn Gould (piano) [ Sony Classical / 4 CD Box Set - released 10/Dec/2021 ] "(K457)..the Adagio still features his détaché phrasing, his non-legato, unvaried series of dynamics and anti-melodic determinism and lasting twelve minutes is endless. The concluding finale is an exercise in deconstruction and utterly disjunct." MW |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Glenn Gould plays Beethoven [6 CD set] Glenn Gould, piano [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2011 ] "Gould had a distinctive range of personae where the Beethoven was concerned. (his 3rd is a) studiously intense, intimately scaled studio recording Gould made with Leonard Bernstein in 1959." (Gramophone on the 3rd piano Concerto) |
J. S. BACH
Glenn Gould - The Bach Box (The Remastered Columbia Recordings) Glenn Gould (piano) [ Sony Classical Masters / 30 CD Box Set - released 7/Aug/2020 ] This stunning set is packed in a cube-shaped box and includes facsimile LP and CD Sleeves, a 240 page hardcover book featuring complete original liner notes (many penned by Gould himself) and an introductory essay by Michael Stegemann. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel Box Set: Rinaldo / Saul / Giulio Cesare (Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, 2005-2015) BLU-RAY Glyndebourne Opera / Sonia Prina, Anett Fritsch, Sarah Connolly, Danielle de Niese, Christopher Purves, Iestyn Davies / Orchestra of the Age of Enligh [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / 3 Blu-ray Box Set - released 20/Mar/2017 ] "Dantone conducts a strongly characterised performance founded on the alert playing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment." (BBC Music on Rinaldo) |
FRANCIS POULENC
Poulenc: Complete Chamber Music Graf Mourja (violin), Alexandre Tharaud (piano), Ronald van Spaendonck (clarinet), Francoise Groben (cello) [ Naxos / 5 CD Box Set - released 25/Mar/2022 ] " Acclaim for these recordings can be summed up by the comment 'you simply can't go wrong with any of the discs in this series.' (ClassicsToday.com on their original release) |