CESAR FRANCK
Franck: Complete Organ & Harmonium Works Joris Verdin (organ/harmonian) [ Ricercar / 5 CD Box Set - released 13/May/2022 ] César Franck gradually abandoned his career as a virtuoso pianist as he completed his training under various Parisian masters, one of whom was the organist François Benoist. Franck then served as organist in various important Parisian churches. |
MASSENET / VERDI / ROSSINI / MASSENET / BERLIOZ / DONIZETTI / TRADITIONAL / etc
Jose Carreras - The Philips Years Jose Carreras (tenor), with Montserrat Caballé, Katia Ricciarelli, Agnes Baltsa, Frederica von Stade, etc [ Philips / 21 CD Box Set - released 22/Dec/2023 ] Celebrating one of the most remarkable tenors of our time, this 21-CD set brings together the legendary Philips recital recordings of José Carreras: 17 CDs of recitals discs including Spanish and popular songs, plus highlights from complete operas. |
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / J. STRAUSS / MOZART / TCHAIKOVSKY / etc
Josef Krips Edition - Volume 2 Josef Krips, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertgebouworkest, Wiener Symphoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Zubin Mehta, Inge Borkh, Wiener Staatsoper [ Decca Eloquence / 21 CD Box Set - released 7/Jun/2024 ] Mozart was Josef Krips's yardstick in music: 'My maxim is that everything has to sound as though it were by Mozart, or it will be a bad performance.' Collected here are his Mozart symphony recordings with the Concertgebouworkest for Philips. |
CHARLES-MARIE WIDOR
Widor: The Complete Organ Works Joseph Nolan (organ) [ Signum / 9 CD Box Set - released 25/Oct/2019 ] Charles-Marie Widor was born to the organ. Raised in a family of organ-makers, he showed early talent for the instrument and would later come to embody all its might and splendour. His life heavily intertwined with that of the great French organ... |
BACH / BEETHOVEN / BARTOK / DEBUSSY / RAVEL / COWELL / etc
Joseph Szigeti - The Complete Sony Recordings Joseph Szigeti (violin) with Myra Hess, Pablo Casals, Benny Goodman, Bela Bartok, etc [ Sony Classical / 17 CD Box Set - released 26/Mar/2021 ] "Full of immediacy - and star turns - these remastered recordings make for a compelling time capsule" The Guardian |
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / STRAVINSKY / HONEGGER / Prokofiev / DEBUSSY / etc
Joseph Szigeti - The Mercury Masters Joseph Szigeti (violin) with Roy Bogas, Artur Balsam, Mieczysław Horszowski (piano), various concductors & soloists [ Mercury Living Presense Australian Eloquence / 6 CD Box Set - released 17/Feb/2023 ] Issued internationally and complete, for the first time on CD in this Limited Edition original-jackets collection, these Mercury recordings were made in New York and London during the autumn of Szigeti's career, between 1959 and 1961. |
TCHAIKOVSKY / PROKOFIEV / SCHUMANN / BRAHMS / SAINT-SAENS / WIENIAWSKI / KREISLER / etc
Joshua Bell - Complete Decca Recordings Joshua Bell (violin), with Samuel Sanders (piano), Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano), Orchestre symphonique de Montréal , Cleveland Orchestra, etc [ Decca Eloquence / 14 CD Box Set - released 15/Nov/2024 ] A new-world virtuoso with old-world musicianship: the complete Decca recordings of JOSHUA BELL, capturing the first decade of the violinist's career on record. |
J. S. BACH
Jörg Demus - The Bach Recordings on Westminster Jörg Demus (piano), with Paul Badura-Skoda (piano) [ Westminster Australian Eloquence / 11 CD Box Set - released 2/Dec/2022 ] Bach playing to refresh the spirits as well as satisfy the mind: the early recordings of consummate Viennese pianist, Jörg Demus, unfailingly lively as well as faithful. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets (the 1982 Live recordings) Juilliard String Quartet [ Sony Classical Masters / 9 CD Box Set - released 13/Nov/2020 ] The Juilliard String Quartet, which was founded in 1946 is one of the world's most prestigious string quartets in the world. In February 2011, the quartet received the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award for its outstanding contributions to music. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets (the 1964-1970 recordings) Juilliard String Quartet [ RCA / Sony Classical / 9 CD Box Set - released 20/Jul/2020 ] On the 'Sony Classical' label - In celebration of Beethoven's 250th anniversary year, Sony Classical is pleased to release the internationally renowned Juilliard String Quartet's recordings of Beethoven's String Quartets recorded from 1964-1970. The... |
WAGNER
Gotterdammerung (complete opera) [Recorded in stereo live at the 1955 Bayreuth Festival] Jutta Vulpius, Elisabeth Schartel, Maria Graf, Wolfgang Windgassen, Georgine von Milinkovic / Bayreuth Festival Chorus & Orchestra / Joseph Keilberth [ Testament / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/2007 ] "Windgassen may be more vocally secure for Solti but nowhere else is he so tender, so moving as here. Josef Greindl is a far more saturnine, charismatic Hagen here than elsewhere. But it is Astrid Varnay who is the great revelation." Recording of... |
SAMUEL BARBER
Barber: Complete Orchestral Works [6 CD set] Karina Gauvin (soparno), Thomas Trotter (organ), Stéphane Rancourt (oboe), John Gracie (trumpet) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Marin Alsop [ Naxos American Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 6/Dec/2010 ] "The RSNO positively glows in this extremely welcome and romantically rewarding and alluringly-priced set. It hardly matters that this is in fact the only such collection." (MusicWeb Sept 2010) |
SCHOENBERG / WEBERN / BERG
Second Viennese School (5 CD set incls 'Gurrelieder') Karita Mattila, Anne Sofie von Otter, Philip Langridge / Berlin Philharmonic Simon Rattle [ EMI Classics Budget Box Sets / 5 CD Box Set - released 10/Feb/2011 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2002 - Choral (for Gurrelieder) |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN / FRANZ LISZT
Beethoven/Liszt: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (Transcriptions) S464/R128 Konstantin Scherbakov (piano) [ Naxos Liszt Complete Piano Music Vol 21 / 5 CD - released 1/Dec/2006 ] "... one of the most capable, daring and interesting musicians of these days." (Peter Cossé) |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Violin Sonatas / Cello Sonatas Kristóf Baráti (violin) Timora Rosler (cello) Klára Würtz (piano) [ Brilliant Classics Quintessence / 5 CD Box Set - released 25/Sep/2020 ] Here are superb musicians from Hungary to add their own approach: on 'traditional' rather than 'period' instruments but interpretatively untrammelled by one or another performing dogma. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos [3 CDs with Blu-ray Audio / Dolby Atmos & Blu-ray video] Krystian Zimerman (piano) / London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle [ Deutsche Grammophon / 5 CD/Blu-ray Disc - released 22/Apr/2022 ] Krystian Zimerman, Sir Simon Rattle, and Ludwig van Beethoven: three exceptional musicians and five great piano concertos brought together for this landmark recording. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Complete Divertimenti & Serenades Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Amati Chamber Orchestra [ Brilliant Classics / 9 CD Box Set - released 5/Apr/2024 ] A divertimento is defined as music intended for light entertainment, 'to please the ear' rather than arouse the emotions in the phrase of one early-19th-century theorist. The word was used interchangeably at the time with serenade and cassation, and... |
MICHEL-RICHARD DELALANDE
Delalande: Symphonies Pour Les Soupers Du Roy [Symphonies for the King's Supper] La Simphonie du Marais, Hugo Reyne [ Camera Obscura / Harmonia Mundi / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/Sep/1990 ] Hugo Reyne, known until then as the 'recorder-player of Les Arts Florissants', presented the first-ever completed recording of the Symphonies pour les soupers du Roy with his ensemble La Simphonie du Marais, founded three years previously |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Vivaldi: Complete Concertos and Sinfonias for Strings and Basso Continuo L'Archicembalo [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2019 ] "this is surely an indispensable set for Vivaldians... it is a treasure trove of irresistible, life-enhancing music, as good and convenient a place as any to discover these underrated compositions." MusicWeb |
KAPSBERGER / LANDI / CAVALIERI / LA TARANTELLA
La tarantella e un po'di follie L'Arpeggiata, Christina Pluhar [ Alpha Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 14/Oct/2022 ] L'Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar have blazed new trails in the rediscovery and interpretation of Baroque music, Italian in particular. The five recordings they made for Alpha are among the biggest-ever successes in this repertory. La Tarantella,... |