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FELIX MENDELSSOHN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mendelssohn: 'Elias', Op. 70 / 'Paulus', Op. 36 (Rec 1994) Christine Schafer (soprano) Cornelia Kallisch (alto) / Andreas Schmidt (bass) Czech Philharmonic / Helmuth Rilling [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 14/Aug/2005 ] "Is this a Bargain of the Month? That's for the Editor to decide. For my money, this is set fair to be a Bargain of the Year. Urgently recommended." (MusicWeb April 2003) |
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JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn: 48 Piano Sonatas (8CD Box Set) Daniel-Ben Peinaar (piano) [ Avie / CD Box Set - released 25/Aug/2023 ] Autumn 2020 offered Daniel-Ben Pienaar an opportunity, not because the world was in lockdown but rather for the benefit it provided. A professor at London's Royal Academy of Music, Daniel-Ben was allowed overnight access to the RAM's Angela Burgess... |
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ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Schoenberg: Moses und Aron [complete opera] David Pittman-Jennings, Chris Merritt / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Pierre Boulez [ Deutsch Grammophon / 2 CD Box Set - released 14/Sep/1996 ] Schoenberg's most comprehensive score, it represents the climax of his association with the dodecaphonic method of composition, described by Schoenberg himself as 'a method of composition with twelve notes related only to each other |
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RAVEL / RIMSKY-KORSAKOV / WAGNER / FRANCK / FAURE / BEETHOVEN / etc
Paul Paray - The Mercury Masters: Volume 1 Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray, with Marcel Dupré (organ) [ Mercury Living Presence Eloquence / 23 CD Box Set - released 17/Jun/2022 ] Covering the first five years of their partnership on Mercury, this edition celebrates the legacy of French conductor, Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Recorded from 1953 to 1957, during the golden era of the orchestra. |
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GILBERT and SULLIVAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gilbert & Sullivan: The Grand Duke (Complete) / Henry VIII-Incidental Music / Overture di Ballo D'Oyly Carte Opera Company with John Reed, Meston Reid, Kenneth Sandford / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royston Nash [ Decca Records / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/Apr/1993 ] "This represents, perhaps the ideal way to sample Sullivan's least known major score. The recorded performance has both polish and vigour. The recording is characteristically brilliant." *** Three Stars. Penguin Stereo Guide. |
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SAMUEL ADLER
Adler: One Lives But Once, A 90th Birthday Celebration Eastman School of Music, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Emily Freeman Brown [ Linn / 3 CD Box Set - released 23/Feb/2018 ] March 4th 2018 marks the 90th birthday of one of the twenty-first century's most influential and prolific composers: Samuel Adler. This three-disc boxed set provides a cohesive overview of his output and includes many premiere recordings. |
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MOZART / SCHUBERT / GLUCK / R. STRAUSS / WOLF / SCHUMANN / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - Recital Carnegie Hall 25th November, 1956 Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano), George Reeves (piano) [ EMI References / 2 CD Box Set - released 2/Jun/1988 ] Recorded at Carnegie Hall, New York |
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GABRIEL FAURE
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Faure: Melodies / Lieder Elly Ameling (soprano), Gerard Souzay (baritone) & Dalton Baldwin (piano) [ EMI Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 20/Oct/2008 ] Originally recorded in 1974 |
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EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius,Op. 38 [with Parry - Blest Pair of Sirens; I was glad] Felicity Palmer (sop) Arthur Davies (ten) Gwynne Howell (bass) / London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox [ Chandos / 2 CD Box Set - released 19/Jul/1988 ] "...Howell is an imposing vocal presence...The choral singing is as good as any I've heard on disc...The playing of the LSO is superb throughout" MusicWeb International, 25th September 2013 |
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ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
Schoenberg: Moses und Aron (complete opera recorded in 1984) Franz Mazura, Philip Langridge, Barbara Bonney / Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Georg Solti [ Decca / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/Oct/2007 ] 'Solti gives Schoenberg's masterly score a dynamism and warmth which set it firmly - if perhaps surprisingly - in the grand romantic tradition...As Aaron, Philip Langridge is lighter and more lyrical." Penguin Guide |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera (complete opera) Freddie de Tommaso, Saioa Hernández, Lester Lynch, Elisabeth Kulman / [ Pentatone SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 23/Jun/2023 ] "De Tommaso turns out to be the real deal, singing with a confidence and ease that seem astonishing for a singer who was only 28 at the time of the recording, His is a real *spinto* tenor: bright yet intensely masculine." BBC Music Opera Choice |
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W. A. MOZART
Fritz Busch at Glyndebourne - Mozart Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Audrey Mildmay, Heddle Nash, John Brownlee, Ina Souez, Sena Jurinac, Alexander Young, Richard Lewis / Fritz Busch (cond) [ Warner Classics / 9 CD Box Set - released 8/Jul/2017 ] Fritz Busch (1890-1951) was one the greatest German conductors of the first half of the twentieth century, noted for his illuminating performances and his ethical principles. |
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DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Complete Opera with libretto) Galina Vishnevskaya, Nicolai Gedda, Dimiter Petkov / Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Philharmonic, Mstislav Rostropovich [ EMI / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/May/1990 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) 'Rostropovich in his finest recording ever. With an impressive cast and Rostropovich's galvanizing commitment so strongly conveyed' - Gramophone Rosette Recording |
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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 |
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CLERAMBAULT / BRUHNS / WIDOR / VIERNE / DUPRE / BACH / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: King of Instruments: The Art of Gillian Weir Gillian Weir (organ) [ Argo / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2005 ] 'There is an aristocratic poise and restraint which illuminate Weir's readings of Clerambault's two Suites' BBC Music Magazine |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: Manon Lescaut (complete opera with libretto recorded in 1957) Giuseppe Di Stefano, Maria Callas, Franco Calabrese / La Scala Orchestra and Chorus / Tullio Serafin [ EMI / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/1985 ] "In general this is Callas at her most girlish: light-voiced, lyrical and with the power to make the dramatic climaxes thrilling." MusicWeb |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (Complete Opera recorded at the New Zealand Festival 2000) Gordon Hawkins, Vladimir Vaneev, Yaron Windmuller, Nuccia Focile / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus, Marco Guidarini [ Trust / 2 CD Box Set - released 25/Feb/2006 ] Verdi's sombre and powerful operatic masterpiece, with its themes of love, hate, treachery and reconciliation, is brought to life in this production from the 2000 New Zealand Festival, featuring the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Chapman... |
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BACH / BRAHMS / SCHUBERT / LOEWE / ORFF / WAGNER / GRIEG / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Icon: Hans Hotter - The Great Bass Bar (incls and much much more) Hans Hotter (baritone) with Birgit Nilsson, Gerald Moore, Michael Raucheisen, etc [ EMI Icon / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2009 ] "All told, then, this is an essential set for lovers of one of the most authoritative yet beautiful voices the gramophone has had the privilege to capture." (Bargain of the Month MusicWeb May 2009) |
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CHARLES IVES
Charles Ives - The Anniversary Edition Helen Boatwright (soprano), Charles Ives (piano), Gregg Smith Singers, Thomas Stewart (baritone), American Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, etc [ Sony Classical / 5 CD Box Set - released 18/Oct/2024 ] On the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Ives - acclaimed by his champion Leonard Bernstein as the "first great American composer", who, "all alone in his Connecticut barn, created his own private musical revolution". |
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WALTER BRAUNFELS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Braunfels: Die Vogel [The Birds] (complete opera ) Hellen Kwon, Endrik Wottrich, Michael Kraus, Marita Posselt, Wolfgang Holzmair, Matthias Görne / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Lothar Zagrosek [ Decca / 2 CD Box Set - released 16/Feb/2011 ] "Zagrosek's reading and the performances by his cast and orchestra are gripping and more than do justice to this wonderful score. Wottrich and Kraus are impressive in the male leads." ClassicalNet |