JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano) Bernd Weikl (baritone) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra & chorus / Sir George Solti [ Decca / CD - released 20/Aug/2009 ] "Solti also has good soloists: the very reliable Bernd Weikl and the lovely and accomplished Dame Kiri Te Kanawa." (Gramophone) |
WAGNER
Wagner: Das Rheingold (Complete opera) Kirsten Flagstad, Claire Watson, George London / Vienna Philharmonic, Sir Georg Solti [ Decca Heritage Masters / 2 CD - released 20/Sep/2009 ] It took a lot of effort for legendary producer John Culshaw to convince the powers-that-be at Decca that a state-of-the-art studio Ring should be recorded. With artists such as Kirsten Flagstad and George London in the cast, the recording of Die... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1 & 2 Lars Vogt (piano) / City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle [ Warner Classics Red Line / CD - released 12/Feb/2007 ] "This is a remarkable record, as fine a recorded account of these two concertos as we have had for many a long year." (Gramophone) |
BEETHOVEN / MOZART / BRAHMS / HANDEL / HAYDN / MENDELSSOHN / ROSSINI / etc
Roger Norrington - The Complete Erato Recordings London Classical Players, The Schutz Choir of London, Sir Roger Norrington, with Melvyn Tan (piano) & Daniel Hope (violin) [ Erato Veritas / 45 CD Box Set - released 11/Nov/2022 ] Innovator, erudite, entertaining and acclaimed conductor Sir Roger Norrington founded the Schütz Choir, became founding music director of Kent Opera and established the London Classical Players, the period-instrument orchestra. |
GUSTAV HOLST
Holst: The Planets (LP) London Philharmonic Orchestra, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Sir Adrain Boult [ Warner Classics / LP - released 19/Jun/2020 ] 'This magnificent performance of The Planets, recorded with an opulent realism, brings to a culmination Boult's supreme understanding of this work.' Gramophone |
EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Symphonies 1 & 2 / Introduction & Allegro for strings / etc London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult [ Warner Classics British Composers / 2 CD - released 23/Feb/2007 ] "(Symphony 1 is) a dedicated performance by one of the composer's finest interpreters and you'll hear some really great conducting in the other pieces, the Second Symphony above all." (MusicWeb March 2007) |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Semele (complete opera recorded in 2019) BLU-RAY Louise Alder, Hugo Hymas, Lucile Richardot / Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ EuroArts Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 29/Jan/2021 ] In Spring 2019, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, led by John Eliot Gardiner, presented a critically-acclaimed European tour of Handel's opera 'Semele', including Alexandra Palace Theatre in London. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Double Piano Concertos Lucas Jussen (piano), Arthur Jussen (piano) / Academy of St Martin in the fields, Sir Neville Marriner [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 16/Mar/2017 ] ".The Jussen boys have found perhaps the perfect collaborator in Sir Neville Marriner, who has conducted more Mozart than most; the Academy acquit themselves well." Editor's Choice Gramophone January 2016 |
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
Gluck: Orphee et Eurydice (Complete opera recorded in 2000) Theatre Musical de Paris / Magdalena Kozena, Madeline Bender, Patricia Petibon / Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists / Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 10/Oct/2009 ] When the historic Theatre du Chatelet in Paris re-opened after a period of extensive refurbishment, the first two productions mounted in the theatre were Gluck's Alceste and Orphée et Eurydice. |
J.S. BACH
Cantatas BWV 82,56 & 158 Matthias Goerne, baritone, Camerata Academica, Sir Roger Norrington [ Decca Records / CD - released 11/Dec/1999 ] Matthias Goerne's long-awaited debut solo record with orchestra |
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Schumann: Complete Symphonies and Das Paradies und die Peri Barbara Bonney, Alexandra Coku, Bernarda Fink, Neill Archer, etc / Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ Deutsche Grammophon / 5 CD Box Set - released 13/Sep/2012 ] In John Eliot Gardiner's epoch-making Schumann recordings for Archiv Produktion - all collected here, including his "wonderful" (BBC Music Magazine) reading of Das Paradies und die Peri - the composer's music is "brought to incomparable physical life... |
DARIUS MILHAUD / ARTHUR HONEGGER / ALUN HODDINOTT
Milhaud / Honneger / Hoddinott: Cello Concertos & cello works Mstislav Rostropovich (cello) / Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 25/Mar/2017 ] Special care has been taken to ensure the highest quality of sound reproduction. Wherever possible, the engineers of Art et Son studios have refined the sound, always with scrupulous respect to the original sources. The analogue recordings... |
NIKOLAI MYASKOVSKY / CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Myaskovsky / Saint-Saens: Cello Concertos Mstislav Rostropovich (cello) / Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent [ Warner Classics / CD - released 25/Mar/2017 ] Special care has been taken to ensure the highest quality of sound reproduction. Wherever possible, the engineers of Art et Son studios have refined the sound, always with scrupulous respect to the original sources. The analogue recordings... |
BARTOK
Sonata / Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs / Suite, Op. 14 / Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion / etc (Rec 1973-87) Murray Perahia (piano) with Sir Georg Solti (piano) David Corkhill and Evelyn Glennie (percussion) [ Sony Great Performances / CD - released 1/Aug/2006 ] Includes The First CD Release Of The Piano Sonata! |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony No 5 New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli [ Warner Classics Masters / CD - released 20/Apr/2013 ] "Barbirolli's famous 1969 version on any count is one of the greatest, most warmly affecting performances ever committed to disc, expansive, yet concentrated in feeling: the Adagietto is very moving … A classic version." Rosette (highest rating)... |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 / Five Ruckert-Lieder (LP) New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli, Janet Baker (mezzo) [ Warner Classics Vinyl / 2 LP - released 5/Nov/2021 ] "… an interpretation of commitment and intensity and the recording is one of the finest I have heard from EMI." Gramophone |
DOUGLAS LILBURN
Landfall In Unknown Seas / Diversions For String Orchestra New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, Sir Edmund Hillary (narrator) [ Koch International Classics / CD - released 3/May/2016 ] Diversions was selected out of hundreds of submissions by Australian and New Zealand composers in response to a call for a work to be played during the Boyd Neel String Orchestra's tour of the region in 1947. This good-natured, five-movement suite... |
SIBELIUS
Symphonies 1-7 / Night Ride and Sunrise / Scene with Cranes / The Oceanides City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Philharmonia Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle [ Warner Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 10/Jan/2015 ] The legendary partnership of Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra bears fruit in this definitive collection of the complete symphonies of Jean Sibelius. Rattle's powerful interpretations of these seminal works - the core of... |
ERIC COATES
Coates: The Music of (Incls the London Suite, The Dam Busters March & the Three Bears Phantasy) Orchestras conducted by Sir Charles Groves, Sir Charles Mackerras & Reginald Kilbey [ Warner Classics Classics for Pleasure / 2 CD - released 15/Mar/2006 ] "Many well-known Coates pieces here but you could buy this purely for the Saxo-Rhapsody recording and be more than satisfied - this IS the most beautiful orchestral piece for saxophone ever written in my opinion" (Amazon.co.uk) |
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) |