LISZT / SCHUBERT / TCHAIKOVSKY / BRAHMS / CHOPIN / SHOSTAKOVICH / etc
Emil Gilels - the complete RCA and Columbia Album Collection Emil Gilels (piano) [ Sony / RCA Originals / 7 CD Box Set - released 20/Jan/2017 ] One of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, Gilels was best-known for his remarkable vitality and sensitivity to the Romantic style. |
GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN
Telemann: Tafelmusik (complete) (Rec 2003) Musica Amphion / Pieter-Jan Belder (conductor) [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD - released 26/Aug/2005 ] "There is plenty of variety and colour and moments...Characterisation of the various movements, whether Francophile or Vivaldian is acutely judged and the rewards are uniform - and lasting." (Musicweb) |
MONTEVERDI / COSTELEY / CHARPENTIER / JANEQUIN / RAMEAU / BRAHMS / etc
Nadia Boulanger - Icon: The American Decca Recordings Nadia Boulanger (harpsichord/piano/conductor) [ Deutsche Grammophon Decca Eloquence / 5 CD Box Set - released 20/Oct/2020 ] "Nadia Boulanger's control of the score is wholly magnificent, a great artist at work … wonderfully vivid" Philip Hope-Wallace, Gramophone, July 1954 (Charpentier) |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Chamber Music [Piano Quartets, String Quintets, String Sextets, etc] The Nash Ensemble, with Richard Hosford (clarinet) [ Onyx / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/Dec/2012 ] "The splendid performance of the piano quartet shows the young Brahms's intellectual power and melodic abundance to magnificent advantage." (Sunday Times) |
KIRCHNER / KILLMAYER / HARRISON / LEES / DENNY / ROSEN / etc
Fromm Music Foundation - Twentieth Century Composer Series Nathan Rubin, Ludwig Shapero (violins) George Neikrug (cello) Leon Kirchner (piano) / The New York Concert Choir & Orchestra, Juilliard String Quartet [ Sony Classical / 10 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2020 ] From January 1957 to March 1962 Columbia Masterworks in collaboration with the Fromm Music Foundation released a series of 9 highly acclaimed LPs in the Twentieth Century Composer Series with music by, then, contemporary composers. |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Complete Symphonies & Serenades Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden [ Brilliant Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 25/Sep/2020 ] "This is an unfailingly warm-hearted, full-blooded Brahmsian sound and seems to represent a genuine attempt at redirecting the modern symphony orchestra towards the sort of sound-mix Brahms himself is likely to have heard." MusicWeb |
MAHLER
Bruno Walter conducts Mahler [7 CD set] New York Philharmonic, Columbia Symphony, Bruno Walter [ Sony Classical Masters / 7 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2012 ] "This record comes to us so loaded with history and legend, and it carries its burden with such triumphant sure-footedness, that I have no hesitation in declaring it one of the greatest musical monuments of our time." (Gramophone on Symphony No 9) |
GERSHWIN / GROFE / HAYDN / BEETHOVEN / STRAVINSKY / BERNSTEIN / MAHLER
This is Leonard Bernstein: His Greatest Recordings Rudolf Serkin, Lukas Foss (pianos), Original Broadway Cast, Dietrich Fischer Dieskau (baritone) / New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein [ Sony Classical / 16 CD Box Set - released 1/Nov/2009 ] This special edition collects the conductor-composer's 15 most celebrated original albums from the 1950s and 60s on 16 CDs. The best selection of his benchmark recordings as a conductor, composer and pianist. |
LISZT / ZEMLINSKY / RAVEL / RACHMANINOV / MUSSORGSKY / etc
Nicholas Angelich: Hommage Nicholas Angelich (piano), with Martha Argerich, Quatuor Ebène, and others [ Warner Classics / Erato / 7 CD Box Set - released 29/Sep/2023 ] A musician as loved as he was admired, the pianist Nicholas Angelich died in Paris in April 2022 at the age of 51. Angelich was a modest, thoughtful man who brought tremendous integrity, depth and insight to the most demanding repertoire. His... |
LEHAR / STRAUSS II
Nicolai Gedda - My Favourite Operetta Heroes [five complete operettas] Nicolai Gedda, with Anneliese Rothenberger, Erich Kunz, Rita Streich, Lucia Popp, Grace Bumbry, etc [ Warner Classics / 10 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2015 ] The star tenor and his operetta heroes. These legendary releases on the former Electrola label document Nicolai Gedda's incomparable artistry as an operetta singer and have long enjoyed the status of benchmark recordings. Appearing alongside such... |
NOEL COWARD
Noel Coward: His HMV Recordings Noel Coward with Gertrude Lawrence, Yvonne Printemps and various accompaniments [ Warner Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 6/Mar/2016 ] In compiling this Noel Coward Archive from the HMV vaults, we have had two guiding principles: that the recordings, spanning 25 years, should be kept in their chronological order, despite the fact that Noel often recalled earlier scores while in a... |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: Piano Music (complete on 6 CDs) Noriko Ogawa, piano [ BIS / 6 CD Box Set - released 1/Jan/2012 ] "This first instalment of an ongoing cycle should be collected by all Debussy enthusiasts who have so far missed out on it" (MusicWeb Feb 2008 on Vol 1) |
JOHN DOWLAND
Dowland: Complete Lute Music Nigel North (lute) [ Naxos / 4 CD - released 5/Oct/2009 ] Arguably the finest recordings of Dowland's much-loved lute music, Nigel North's Dowland Lute Edition has gained him a garland of critical accolades: 'A collector's item' (The Times on Vol 1, 8.557586), 'a remarkable performance of wonderful music'... |
SERGEY IVANOVICH TANEYEV
Taneyev: Orchestral Works Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra & Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Sanderling, with Ilya Kaler (violin) & Gnesin Academy Chorus [ Naxos / 4 CD Box Set - released 27/May/2022 ] Sergey Taneyev was a monumental figure of late 19th-century Russian music. He was a student of Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, and became teacher to Rachmaninov and Scriabin. |
OTTORINO RESPIGHI
Respighi: The Complete Orchestral Music [8 CD set] Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Francesco La Vecchia [ Brilliant Classics / 8 CD Box Set - released 22/Aug/2015 ] The only edition of the orchestral works by Respighi, now available in a 8CD set! |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY / MAURICE RAVEL
Debussy / Ravel: Orchestral Works (Incls 'La Mer', 'Images', 'Bolero' & 'Daphnis et Chloe') Orchestre National de l ORTF, Orchestre de Paris, Jean Martinon, with Aldo Ciccolini (piano) Itzhak Perlman (violin) [ Erato / Warner Classics / 8 CD Box Set - released 25/Jul/2018 ] "If you are satisfied with performances that are lucid, imaginative, thoughtful and unselfconscious then you will be very happy with Martinon." (MusicWeb on the Debussy) |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 Oslo Philharmonic, Klaus Mäkelä [ Decca / 2 CD Box Set - released 13/Sep/2024 ] "...the account of the Sixth Symphony is beautifully controlled and paced, the Oslo strings radiant as the first movement steadily intensifies, the woodwind fabulously agile in the scherzo second, and the finale a joyous, witty romp." The Guardian |
JEAN SIBELIUS
Sibelius: Complete Symphonies Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Mäkelä [ Decca / 4 CD - released 25/Mar/2022 ] BBC MUSIC AWARD NOMINATION 2023 - Orchestral |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphonies 2, 4, 7 & 9 / Das Lied von der Erde Birgit Nilsson, Christa Ludwig & Fritz Wunderlich / Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer [ Warner Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 6/Aug/2013 ] This collection showcases Klemperer's Mahler, including works such as the Ninth Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde. |
TELEMANN / MOLTER / TORELLI / HAYDN / VIVALDI / L. MOZART / etc
Trumpet Concertos [special priced box set] Otto Sauter, Thomas Hammes, Franz Wagnermeyer, Reinhold Friedrich, Joachim Pliquett, etc (trumpets) [ Brilliant Classics / 10 CD Box Set - released 25/May/2018 ] "Many good things: music by composers generally badly served by other labels, the standard of musicianship high and sound quality generally excellent." (Bargain of the Month MusicWeb April 2011 on the original release) |