VIVALDI / CAVALI / PROVENZALE / COUPERIN / RAMEAU / etc
Lea Desandre - Amazone Lea Desandre (mezzo) / Jupiter, Thomas Dunford, with Cecilia Bartoli & Véronique Gens [ Erato / CD - released 1/Oct/2021 ] "This is a stonkingly good album. It makes me wonder: what exactly are these enviously intelligent, inventive and generous musicians drinking?" Gramophone Award Finalist 2022 - Vocal & Ensemble |
BARBER / DONIZETTI / BRITTEN / MOZART / VERDI
The Inaugural Season: Extraordinary Met Performances From 1966-67 Leontyne Price, Justino Díaz, Jess Thomas, Joan Sutherland, Richard Tucker, Renata Scotto, George Shirley, Leonie Rysanek, Christa Ludwig, and many mo [ Metropolitan Opera / 22 CD Box Set - released 1/Mar/2017 ] On September 16, 1966, the new Metropolitan Opera House opened in Lincoln Center with the world premiere of Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, with Leontyne Price and Justino Díaz in the title roles. That first season in the Met's new home not only... |
WAGNER
Parsifal (Complete Opera) George London, Hans Hotter, Jess Thomas / Orchester der Bayreuther / Knappertsbusch [ Philips 50 / 4 CD - released 5/May/2001 ] "How can one find words to praise the superb playing of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and the inspired musicianship of its great conductor? Only, I think, by saying that this is how great music sounds in the hands of fine musicians when it is truly... |
STEVE REICH
The Four Sections / Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices & Organs London Symphony / Tilson Thomas / Steve Reich [ Nonesuch Records / CD - released 8/Feb/1991 ] German import (catalog 7559792202) |
JOHN ADAMS
The Gospel According to the Other Mary (complete oratorio) Kelley O'Connor, Tamara Mumford, Russell Thomas, Daniel Bubeck / Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Gustavo Dudamel [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD - released 25/Apr/2014 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD NOMINATION 2014 |
W. A. MOZART
Cosi Fan Tutti (complete opera recorded in 1994) Charlotte Margiono, Delores Ziegler, Gilles Cachemaille, Thomas Hampson / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt [ Teldec / Warner Classics The Opera Collection / 3 CD Box Set - released 21/Sep/2009 ] Classic recordings now repackaged! |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: Vespro Della Beata Vergine Margaret Marshall, Felicity Palmer, Philip Langridge, Kurt Equiluz, Thomas Hampson / Arnold Schoenberg Chor & Concentus musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnonc [ Teldec Das Alte Werk / 2 CD - released 6/Oct/2008 ] "This live recording from Graz Cathedral is gloriously bombastic but mushy at times, despite sprightly original instruments and sensitive plainsongs." (BBC Music) |
TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky Masterworks Edition [27 CD set] Martha Argerich, Claudio Abbado, Thomas, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Emerson Quartet, Mirella Freni, Gidon Kremer, Nathan Milstein, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra [ Deutsche Grammophon / 27 CD Box Set - released 20/Nov/2015 ] "Argerich has never sounded on better terms with the piano, more virtuoso yet engagingly human. Lyrical and insinuating, to a degree her performance seems to be made of the tumultuous elements themselves, of fire and ice, rain and sunshine"Gramophone |
FREDERICK DELIUS
Delius: Orchestral & Choral Works / A Village Romeo & Juliet / Songs Maureen Forrester, John Cameron, Dora Labbette / Beecham Choral Society, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Beecham [ Warner Classics / 7 CD Box Set - released 1/Mar/2017 ] "A record to treasure. The greatest recordings made in stereo by the greatest British conductor at the peak of his career." - Gramophone |
THOMAS ADES
Ades: The Exterminating Angel (complete opera recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Metropolitan Opera / Audrey Luna, Amanda Echalaz, Sally Matthews, Sophie Bevan, Alice Coote, Christine Rice, Iestyn Davies / Thomas Ades (cond) [ Erato Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 20/Feb/2019 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 - Contemporary |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Israel in Egypt (complete oratorio) Nancy Argenta (soprano) / Emily Van Evera (soprano) / Anthony Rolfe Johnson (tenor) David Thomas (bass) / Taverner Choir and Players / Andrew Parrott [ Erato / Warner Classics / 2 CD - released 18/Mar/2003 ] 'If anyone needs to assure themselves as to whether the English choral tradition is alive and well, they need only buy this CD.' Gramophone |
MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn Edition - Vol.3 [Paulus, Elias, Lieder] Michael Corboz / Thomas Hampson / Barbara Bonney / Keith Lewis / Nathalie Stutzmann / Carolyn Watkinson / Benjamin Luxon [ Teldec Warner Classics Mendelssohn Edition / 5 CD Box Set - released 18/May/2009 ] "Stutzmann's gloriously rich, true contralto tones suggest riches and depths not always suspected in these songs." (MusicWeb on the Lieder) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Aida (complete opera) Cristina Gallardo-Domas, Thomas Hampson, Olga Borodina / Wiener Philharmoniker & Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Nikolaus Harnoncourt [ Warner Classics Home of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2017 ] 'It's a fantastic cast. We know each other very well, we trust each other greatly and we like one another's work. It's a wonderful atmosphere, of course galvanised by this driving force of genius called Nikolaus Harnoncourt' Thomas Hampson |
MASSENET
Massenet: Werther (complete opera recorded in 1980) Jose Carreras, Frederica von Stadt, Thomas Allen / Orchestra Royal Opera House, Covent garden, Colin Davis [ Decca / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Feb/2012 ] "von Stade's performance can hardly be faulted. Her voice is the very incarnation of Charlotte's essential simplicity of character" (Gramophone) |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique / Overture: 'Le Corsaire' / Royal Hunt and Storm & Trojan March ('Les Troyens') (recorded 1957-59) Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Thomas Beecham [ Warner Classics Masters / CD - released 1/Feb/2012 ] Rosette Recording (highest rating) Penguin Stereo Guide - 'If you want a genuinely French Symphonie fantastique, wonderfully performed and superbly recorded, go out and get this release before it's snapped up by your neighbour.' (Gramophone) |
JOHANN STRAUSS 11
Die Fledermaus (complete operetta recorded in 2003) Glyndebourne Opera / Pamela Armstrong, Thomas Allen, Ragnar Ulfung, Hakan Hagegard / Vladimir Jurowski (cond) [ BBC / Opus Arte / Kultur DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Dec/2010 ] "Malena Ernman is a stunning Orlofsky (at the end, Lawless reveals that the prince was really a princess after all), and Håkan Hagegård and Pamela Armstrong are very satisfying as Dr. Falke and Rosalinde, respectively." ClassicalNet |
PUCCINI, VERDI, MOZART, GOUNOD / MEYERBEER / WAGNER / SAINT-SAENS / etc
The Great Placido Domingo [3 CD set] Placido Domingo (tenor) with Daniel barenboim, Jose Carreras, Mirella Freni, Thomas Hampson & others [ Warner Classics / 3 CD - released 5/Feb/2016 ] Saluting a glorious and unparalleled career that, since 1959, has embraced some 150 operatic roles and spans the the Italian, French, German and Spanish repertoires, this 3-CD collection draws on recitals and complete operas recorded over more than... |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Il Trovatore (Complete Opera recorded in 2001) Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiu, Thomas Hampson, Larissa Diadkova, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo / London Symphony Orchestra, Antonio Pappano [ Warner Classics Home of Opera / 2 CD - released 20/May/2018 ] "More and more I'm finding the real Italian in me," said British-born, American-trained Antonio Pappano shortly after making this recording of Il trovatore. |
PUCCINI
Messa di Gloria / Preludio sinfonico, Op. 1 / Crisantemi (Rec 2000) Roberto Alagna (tenor) Thomas Hampson (baritone) / London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra / Antonio Pappano [ Warner Classics / CD - released 15/Feb/2013 ] "Puccini's early Mass is not a great piece of religious music, but its virtues shine forth in Pappano's loving performance." - Five Stars BBC Music Mag (Sept 2006) |
Rosie Thomas
With Love [ Sub Pop Records / CD ] |