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RICHARD STRAUSS / JOHN ESTACIO / ALEXINA LOUIE
Poema 3. Comœdia Alexander Shelley, Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra [ Analekta / CD - due 20/Nov/2026 ] The third installment in the Poema series by Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra, Comœdia brings together two masterpieces by Richard Strauss alongside two newly commissioned Canadian works by John Estacio and Alexina Louie. Under the direction... |
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MODEST MUSSORGSKY
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (Blu-ray) Chorus of the Dutch National Opera, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko, Kirill Serebrennikov [ Naxos / Blu-ray - due 13/Nov/2026 ] Mussorgsky's searing portrait of a tsar consumed by fear and paranoia gains striking contemporary resonance in this acclaimed production. Stage director Kirill Serebrennikov incorporates the work of photographer Dmitry Markov, whose journeys across... |
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MODEST MUSSORGSKY
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (DVD) Chorus of the Dutch National Opera, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko, Kirill Serebrennikov [ Naxos / DVD - due 13/Nov/2026 ] Mussorgsky's searing portrait of a tsar consumed by fear and paranoia gains striking contemporary resonance in this acclaimed production. Stage director Kirill Serebrennikov incorporates the work of photographer Dmitry Markov, whose journeys across... |
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DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Neeme Jarvi conducts Shostakovich Lydia Mordkovitch (violin), Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi [ Chandos / 8 CD Box Set - due 25/Sep/2026 ] Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi was born in 1937 in Tallin, where he studied music before moving to Leningrad to study at the conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky. He returned to Tallinn and held posts with the Estonian Radio and Television Symphony... |
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ERNEST GUIRAUD / AUGUSTA HOLMÈS / FLORENT SCHMITT / MARIE JAËLL / CHARLES GOUNOD / GASTON CARRAUD / GUY ROPARTZ / CHARLES SILVER
Phantoms. French Symphonic Poems Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Pierre Dumoussaud [ Alpha Classics / CD - due 30/Oct/2026 ] "A genre of high fantasy, complete with its host of ghosts, demons, spirits and witches, usurped the place of the magical elements of Baroque opera in France during the 19th century," writes Alexandre Dratwicki in the introduction to this programme,... |
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CHARLES IVES
Ives: Emerson Concerto / Symphony No. 1 Alan Feinberg (Piano) / National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland / James Sinclair [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 22/Sep/2007 ] "Alan Feinberg is an ideal exponent of Ives's truculent and tender realism. The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland partners him well... a very strong recommendation" International Record Review |
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ROBERTO GERHARD / WILLIAM WALTON / IGOR STRAVINSKY
Gerhard: The Plague / Walton: Facade / Stravinsky: L'Histoire du soldat [The Soldier's Tale] Alec McCowen, Glenda Jackson, Rudolf Nureyev, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Paul Scofield (narrators) / National Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, etc [ Australian Deutsche Grammophon Eloquence / 2 CD - released 9/Apr/2021 ] A trio of twentieth-century classics, sardonic and timely tales, in long-unavailable Decca/Argo recordings from the 1970s. |
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THIERRY PECOU / RAMON LAZKANO / ALEX NANTE
Alexandre Tharaud: Concertos Alexandre Tharaud (piano) / Orchestre National de Lyon, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Nation de Lille [ Erato / CD - released 25/Apr/2025 ] A sequel to Alexandre Tharaud's 2020 album of contemporary piano concertos, this release presents three recent, kaleidoscopic concertos, all composed specially for the multi-faceted French musician: Cara Bali Concerto by Thierry Pécou (born in France... |
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The National
Alligator (LP) [ Beggars Banquet / LP - released 26/Sep/2011 ] The National may sound like a garage band turned down, but there's as much primal energy lurking behind Alligator as in any mop-topped group of city kids with bloodstained Danelectros in a dusty warehouse. Whil |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Under The Stars: Music from the shows Bryn Terfel (bass) Renee Fleming (soprano) with the Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera conducted by Paul Gemignani [ Decca Records / CD - released 24/Mar/2003 ] Renée Fleming and Bryn Terfel are two of the world's most popular classical stars. Their first CD together is Under The Stars, a feast of great songs from recent musical theatre. |
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Cook Islands National Arts Theatre
Drums Songs & Chants Of The Cook Islands [ Ode Records / CD ] |
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GIACOMO MEYERBEER
Meyerbeer: Grand Opera (Deluxe Packaging) Diana Damrau (soprano) / Orchestre et Choeur de l'Opéra National de Lyon, Emmanuel Villaume [ Erato Warner Classics / CD - released 6/May/2017 ] "The surprise of this disc is how much more than "grand opera" Meyerbeer actually has to offer...[Damrau] is adept at portraying a variety of characters and the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Lyon under Emmanuel Villaume offers stylish support." |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Piano Concerto Nos. 3 & 4 Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano), Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Tugan Sokhiev [ Warner Classics / CD - released 19/May/2023 ] "When I play, I am not presenting myself on the stage, but the music I am playing. It is the music that matters."- Elisabeth Leonskaja Elisabeth Leonskaja's recordings of Beethoven's Piano Concertos Nos 3 and 4, with the Orchestre National du... |
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ERKKI-SVEN TUUR
Tüür: Aeris Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Olari Elts [ ECM New Series / CD - released 20/Jun/2025 ] Aeris is the ninth ECM New Series album to feature the vibrant and highly expressive music of Erkki-Sven Tüür. |
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ENNIO MORRICONE / BERNARD HERRMANN / SONY BONO / NINO ROTO
Agents Are Forever - Recorded Live in Concert Hans Ulrik (saxophone) Tuva Semmingsen (mezzo) Christine Nonbo Andersen (soprano) / Danish National Symphony, Sarah Hicks [ Euroarts CD / CD - released 6/Nov/2020 ] Agents are Forever is performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of film music expert Hans Ek, with spectacular spy and detective film soundtracks and the very best of James Bond film music. |
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BEETHOVEN / SCHUBERT / DVORAK / TCHAIKOVSKY / KREISLER / etc
Ida Haendel - The Decca Legacy Ida Haendel (violin) with Ivor Newton (piano) Adela Kotowska (piano) National Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra [ Decca Eloquence / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/Oct/2020 ] "That special, spontaneous warmth of response … places Haendel's Tchaikovsky performance for Decca among the finest recordings ever made of this wonderful concerto." Gramophone, July 1999 |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Il Trovatore (highlights) Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Ingvar Wixell, Nicolai Ghiaurov / National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge [ Decca / CD - released 10/Apr/1988 ] Highlights from the original recording from 1977 |
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RICHARD STRAUSS / LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN / MIKHAIL GLINKA
The Princess and the Bear: Strauss (R): Duet-Concertino / Beethoven: Trio / Glinka: Trio pathétique Laurence Perkins (bassoon), with Sarah Watts (clarinet), Martin Roscoe (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sian Edwards (conductor) [ Hyperion / CD - released 27/Jul/2018 ] "[the Glinka] finds Watts and Perkins squaring off and duetting like protagonists from one of the bel canto operas that inspired it, while Roscoe accompanies them with understated subtlety." Gramophone |
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BRITTEN / AUBER / BURGMULLER / DRIGO / MASSENET / ROSSINI / etc
The Art of the Prima Ballerina [2 CD set] London Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic / Richard Bonynge [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 15/Dec/2013 ] "[Bonynge] has a nice sense of rubato, and plenty of verve when this is called for. … The recording is extremely vivid" Gramophone Magazine |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Verismo Arias Luciano Pavarotti, Orchestra National Philharmonic [ Decca / CD - released 13/Mar/2026 ] Verismo, meaning "realism," was a late-19th-century movement in Italian opera that shifted the focus from kings and myths to ordinary people living vivid, emotionally charged lives. These operas confront love, jealousy, betrayal, and longing with... |