ANTONIO VIVALDI
Vivaldi: Double Concertos Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Georg Kallweit [ Harmonia Mundi Musique d'abord / CD - released 21/Jul/2017 ] The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin transports us to the Venice of the 'red-haired priest'. "Simple excellence leading to simple enjoyment, and a composer's unique creative spark vividly expressed." Gramophone |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Isabelle Faust, Antoine Tamestit [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 17/Sep/2021 ] Johann Sebastian Bach and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin go back a long way together! This recording, made with the welcome participation of Isabelle Faust and Antoine Tamestit, follows the complete violin concertos (2019), which left a lasting... |
JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn: Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Marie Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin & Justin Doyle - RIAS Kamerchor [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 15/Nov/2019 ] "Altogether, there is much to discover in this little-known work, and the conductor Justin Doyle with his talented team of soloists and the RIAS Chamber Choice and Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik do it proud. Recommended." BBC Music Five Stars |
ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI
Scarlatti: Griselda Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs [ Harmonia Mundi / 3 CD Box Set - released 19/Jul/2019 ] Scarlatti's Griselda, premiered in Rome in 1721, received a single performance at the Teatro Capranica, and was never taken into the repertoire elsewhere, both for financial reasons and because of the changing tastes of the time. The tragic story of... |
J.S. BACH
Bach: Mass In B Minor Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor, René Jacobs [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 2/Sep/2022 ] A composition as brilliant as it is protean - the earliest sections date back to 1724, others were written in 1733 in the hope of obtaining a post in Dresden - the Mass in B minor occupied Bach until the end of his life. The work, which is more... |
WILHELM FITZENHAGEN
Fitzenhagen: Cello Concertos (with Tchaikovsky - Variations on a Rococo theme) Alban Gerhardt (cello) / Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Sebastian Weigle [ Hyperion Romantic Cello Concerto Vol 7 / CD - released 12/Sep/2015 ] The music of Wilhelm Fitzenhagen bursts into the Hyperion catalogue with two triumphant cello concertos, a couple of other original works, and his (in)famous version of the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations. Ace cellist Alban Gerhardt presides. |
SCHUMANN / VOLKMANN / GERNSHEIM / DIETRICH
Cello Concertos Alban Gerhardt (cello) / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Hannu Lintu [ Hyperion Romantic Cello Concerto Vol 2 / CD - released 1/Mar/2007 ] 'Alban Gerhardt throws himself into the fray with thrilling virtuoso abandon and the recording is out of Hyperion's top drawer' (Classic FM Magazine ) ***** |
HANS PFITZER
Pfitzer: Cello Concertos Alban Gerhardt (cello) / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Sebastian Weigle [ Hyperion Romantic Cello Concerto Vol 4 / CD - released 25/Feb/2014 ] "Gerhardt holds it all together with his sustained singing lines, while Weigle and his Berlin band provide vividly pointillist backing." (BBC Music) |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg [complete opera] Albert Dohmen, Robert Dean Smith, Edith Haller / Rundfunkchor Berlin & Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Marek Janowski [ Pentatone SACD / 4 Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] "a swift, light, comic reading of the score, more Lortzing than Tristan...Albert Dohmen sounded at home across the whole spectrum of Sachs's poetry, wistfulness and wit" (Gramophone Award Finalist 2012 - Opera) |
CESAR FRANCK / GABRIEL FAURE
Franck: Symphony in D minor / Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande Albrecht Meyer (oboe), Emanuel Pahud (flute), Dominik Wollenweber (cor anglais), Berlin Philharmoniker, Daniel Barenboim [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 31/Jan/2025 ] "Barenboim, ever the elder statesman, takes [the Franck's 'inherent grandness'] his stride. He also has the Berlin Philharmonic at his bidding and for organ-like sonorities that seem to come up through the bass lines they are the business" Gramophone |
COLIN MATTHEWS
Machines & Dreams (Incls 'Hidden Variables') Alexander Baillie / London Sinfonietta / Berlin Radio Symphony Orch. / John Carewe (cond.) / London Symphony Orch. / Michael Tilson Thomas (cond.) [ NMC / 2 CD - released 25/Mar/2008 ] "This set offers a rounded portrait of a restlessly questing composer … big architectonic pieces in performances of impressive might under Carewe." The Sunday Times 2004 |
BRAHMS / BUSONI / CHOPIN / LISZT / RACHMANINOV / MENDELSSOHN / WEBER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Alfred Brendel III Alfred Brendel (piano) / London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra [ Philips / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2000 ] "Brendel actually revels in the gorgeous fabrics of sound from the Années de pèlerinage numbers and somehow balances the muscle-flexing virtuosity of Totentanz with a respect for its novel ideas-there's both surface and substance here." |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Beethoven: Piano Concerto Nos. 3 & 4 Alicia de Larrocha (piano) / Radio-Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin, Riccardo Chailly [ Decca Eclipse / CD - released 27/Jan/1995 ] Recorded: June 1983 (No. 3); September 1984 (No. 4) |
JOHANNES BRAHMS / EDWARD ELGAR
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 / Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 [Europa Konzert 2010 from Oxford] Alisa Weilerstein (cello) / Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic], Daniel Barenboim [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 21/Dec/2010 ] 'Barenboim's approach was refreshingly un-English, a bonus in Elgar, and the sound of the orchestra in the climaxes was overwhelming.' Guardian |
JOHANNES BRAHMS / EDWARD ELGAR
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 / Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 [Europa Konzert 2010 from Oxford] BLU-RAY Alisa Weilerstein (cello) / Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic], Daniel Barenboim [ EuroArts Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 16/Feb/2011 ] "Daniel Barenboim´s programme played to the orchestra's strengths, and the sound was sumptuous." (Guardian) |
MUSSORGSKY
Boris Godunov (Complete Opera recorded in 1994) Anatoly Kocherga, Marjana Lipovsek, Samuel Ramey, Sergei Larin / Rundfunkchor Berlin & Tölzer Knabenchor, Claudio Abbado [ Sony Opera House / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Apr/2010 ] Release includes a booklet with a three language synopsis [English / French / German], full cast list and detailed track list. |
GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN
Telemann: Miriways (complete opera recorded in 2017) André Morsch, Robin Johannsen, Sophie Karthäuser / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bernard Labadie [ Pentatone / 2 CD - released 8/May/2020 ] PENTATONE presents Telemann's rarely-performed opera Miriways (1728) with a stellar cast and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin conducted by Bernard Labadie. Star vocalists such as André Morsch (Miriways), Robin Johannsen (Sophi), Sophie Karthäuser... |
CARL MARIA von WEBER / BRAHMS / KONCZ / DVORAK
Europakonzert 2017 from Cyprus [Recorded live in 2017] BLU-RAY Andreas Ottensamer (clarinet), Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic], Mariss Jansons [ EuroArts Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 29/Sep/2017 ] The Europakonzert 2017 brought the Berliner Philharmoniker to one of the most mythical places in history: Paphos, birthplace of Aphrodite. Andreas Ottensamer was the soloist with his interpretation of Weber's highly elaborate Clarinet Concerto.. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Europakonzert - 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Edition Andreas Ottensamer (clarinet) Magdalena Kožená (mezzo) Vadim Repin (violin) etc / Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic] [ EuroArts Blu-ray / 31 Blu-ray Box Set - released 21/Jan/2022 ] An absolute must-have for collectors and fans of the annually celebrated event. Many renowned conductors have chosen to perform with the Berliner Philharmoniker over a time period of 30 years. |
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Ombra mai fu Andreas Scholl, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 29/Oct/2023 ] Handel at the height of his glory. In this recital, the young Andreas Scholl and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin invited listeners to rediscover some of Handel's finest arias, from Giulio Cesare to Serse by way of Rodelinda and Alcina, not... |