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RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Vaughan Williams: Suite For Viola And Orchestra / Flos Campi (with McEwen - Viola Concerto) Lawrence Power (viola) / BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Martyn Brabbins [ Hyperion / CD - released 25/Nov/2011 ] Editor's Choice: Gramophone Magazine December 2011 |
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GABRIEL FAURE
New.Pavane - Best of Fauré (LP) Linda Chesis (flute), Patricia Nagle (flute), Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Michel Plasson (conductor) [ Erato / LP - released 25/Sep/2024 ] Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was a seminal composer, organist, and teacher, pivotal in bridging the Romantic and modern eras in music. Born in Pamiers, France, he studied under Camille Saint-Saëns at the École Niedermeyer. Fauré's compositions are noted... |
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DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Complete Symphonies National Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Academy Symphony, Mstislav Rostropovich [ Warner Classics / 12 CD Box Set - released 19/Mar/2007 ] Composed over a period of nearly 50 years, Dmitri Shostakovich's 15 symphonies are astonishingly diverse in conception and expression, reflecting the composer's personal experiences, the history of the 20th century and the tensions and struggles of... |
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LEONARDO VINCI
Artaserse (complete opera recorded in 2012) Lorraine National Opera / Philippe Jaroussky, Franco Fagioli, Max Emanuel Cencic, Valer Barna-Sabadus / Diego Fasolis (director) [ Warner Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/May/2014 ] "This magnificent production is a complete and blissful success. Don't miss it." Those were the words of the French website Classique News when Leonardo Vinci's rediscovered Artaserse was staged by Silviu Purcãrete at the Opéra National de Lorraine... |
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GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (complete opera recorded in 1964) Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Andréa Guiot, Robert Massard, Nadine Sautereau / Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Georges Prêtre [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Remastered / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2015 ] Towards the end of Callas's career, there were many rumours that she was planning to perform Carmen on stage. This was never to be, but Carmen became her penultimate complete recording of an opera - and her only complete recording of a French opera.... |
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PUCCINI / BELLINI / ROSSINI
Maria Callas: Toujours - Paris 1958 BLU-RAY Maria Callas (soprano) / Orchestra & Chorus of the Paris National Opera [ Warner Classics Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Nov/2015 ] This Blu-ray disc is part of a collection of three that gather together concert and stage performances from the latter phase of Callas's career, 1958-1964. These are the only professional video recordings of Callas in performance on stage. |
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PUCCINI / BELLINI / ROSSINI / BIZET / VERDI / BELLINI / etc
Maria Callas: In Concert London, Hamburg & Paris BLU-RAY Maria Callas (soprano) / Orchestra & Chorus of the Paris National Opera, Symphonieorchester des NDR, Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Cove [ Warner Classics Blu-ray / 3 Blu-ray Disc - released 25/Sep/2017 ] Callas at Covent Garden (London 1962 & 1964) Callas in Concert (Hamburg 1959 & 1962) Toujours (Paris 1958) |
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GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
Sì, Sì, Sì, Sì!: Rossini Opera Arias & Duets Marie Nicole-Lemieux (contralto) / Orchestre national de Montpellier Occitanie, Enrique Mazzola, with Patrizia Ciofi (soprano) [ Erato Classics / CD - released 1/Mar/2017 ] "The Quebecois singer recalls the great Marilyn Horne in this repertoire, though her voice is more feminine in timbre, her persona perhaps more coquettish for Rosina's and Isabella's arias...The rarities are treats." Sunday Times |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Marie Oppert - Enchantée Marie Oppert (soprano) / Orchestre National De Lille, Nicholas Skilbeck, with Natalie Dessay & Melissa Errico [ Warner Classics / CD - released 4/Sep/2020 ] In her debut album on Warner Classics, Enchantée, Marie Oppert embraces both the classics of Broadway repertoire and treasured songs of French origin, in order to represent her own musical upbringing and passion. The program explores the idea of this... |
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CHARLES-MARIE WIDOR
Piano Concertos 1 & 2 / Fantaisie in A flat major Op. 62 Markus Becker (piano) / BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Thierry Fischer [ Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos Vol 55 / CD - released 1/Nov/2011 ] Charles-Marie Widor was born in Lyon to a family of organ builders and consequently became an organist of great skill and an assistant to Camille Saint-Saëns at La Madeleine in Paris at the age of twenty-four. |
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FREDERIC CHOPIN
Martha Argerich: Complete Chopin Recordings On Deutsche Grammophon Martha Argerich (piano) with Mischa Maisky (cello) Mstislav Rostropovich (cello & conductor) / London Symphony & National Symphony Orchestras [ Deutsche Grammophon / 5 CD Box Set - released 5/Jun/2016 ] This 5 CD set brings together Martha Argerich's complete studio, live and radio recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, and documents her special, intuitive and passionate relationship with Chopin's music. |
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W. A. MOZART
Clarinet Concerto (with Beethoven - Clarinet Concerto [arr Collins]) Michael Collins, clarinet, Russian National Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 15/Nov/2000 ] An extradinary version of the Beethoven Violin Concerto on Clarinet |
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MOZART / MEHUL / OFFENBACH / LEONCAVALLO / LEHAR / WAGNER / RAVEL / etc
Michael Spyres - BariTenor Michael Spyres (baritone/tenor) / Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Marko Letonja, Choeur d'hommes de l'Opéra national du Rhine [ Erato Classics / CD - released 1/Oct/2021 ] "The range of roles is astonishing, but then so are these performances...Spyres really is a tenor - and a baritone, it seems - who has the operatic world at his feet." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Vocal & Ensemble |
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SCRIABIN
Symphony No. 3 'Le Divin Poame' Russian National Orchestra / Mikhail Pletnev [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 25/May/2000 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) - The latest addition to Pletnev's catalogue of Russian music! |
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BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No 5 Mikhail Pletnev / Russian National Orchestra / Christian Gansch [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD ] "For me Beethoven is like a god. I worship him, and I admire his music. It always produces very deep emotions in me when I'm conducting it or playing it on the piano." |
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CHABRIER
Espana / Suite Pastorale / Gwendoline Overture / etc Orchestre National de France, Armin Jordan [ Warner Apex / CD - released 20/Aug/2007 ] |
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JOHANN STRAUSS II
Aschenbradel, Ritter Pasman, Le Beau Danube (Ballets) National Philharmonic Orchestra / Richard Bonynge [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 11/Jul/2002 ] "The orchestra plays with enthusiasm and the 1974 sound is strikingly vivid." *** (Three Stars) Penguin Stereo Guide |
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PUCCINI
Tosca (complete opera recorded in 1978) Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes / National Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno [ Decca Operas / 2 CD - released 24/Oct/2011 ] "The great merit of this new version of Tosca...is that the stage picture is so clear, with the words sharply audible from beginning to end...Pavarotti makes an unusually positive and bright-eyed Cavaradossi, by no means the cipher this character can |
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SAINT-SAENS / TCHAIKOVSKY / VERDI / BERLIOZ / de FALLA / MOUSSORGSKY / etc
Olga Borodina: Portrait Olga Borodina (mezzo) / Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Orchestra of Welsh National Opera / etc [ Philips Portrait of an Artist / 2 CD - released 10/Jun/2006 ] "A mezzo-soprano is usually a woman with a tragic past, a tragic life - strong women, wilful women, and these roles have strengthened me as a character" (Olga Borodina) |
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CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Complete Symphonies Olivier Latry (organ) / Orchestre National de France, Cristian Mǎcelaru [ Warner Classics / 2 CD - released 26/Nov/2021 ] In a release that marks the centenary of Camille Saint-Saëns' death in December 1921, the Orchestre National de France, conducted by its music director Cristian Măcelaru, performs the composer's five symphonies. |