TRADITIONAL / BIBER / HANDEL / JENKINS / DUMANOIR / etc
War & Peace 1614-1714 [2 CDs plus large book] Hespèrion XXI, Les Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Jordi Savall [ Alia Vox SACD / 2 CD/Book - released 12/Jul/2015 ] "I was left repeatedly amazed that Savall and his performers are so good at such a wider range of repertoire...This isn't just an impressive musical release: it's a whole cultural festival within two covers. Both for its ambitions and for its artisti |
MASSENET / AUBER / BALFE / DONIZETTI / MAILLART / BIZET / etc
Richard Bonynge - Undiscovered Recordings (Incls Massenet's Cigale Ballet) Huguette Tourangeau (mezzo) Renata Tebaldi (soprano) / English Chamber. National Philharmonic / L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Richard Bonynge. [ ABC Classics / 4 CD - released 6/Nov/2004 ] If every conductor's dream is to record his favourite music, then surely Richard Bonynge's dream came true. His forty years of recordings have left a rich legacy, full of rare and interesting repertoire, his artistic credi stamped on every one of them. |
PIZZETTI
La Pisanella - Suite / Concerto de l'estate (with works by Respighi and Rota) I Musici / L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Lamberto Gardelli / Argo Chamber Orchestra / Laszlo Heltay [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 24/Aug/2006 ] Appearing on CD for the first time, Lamberto Gardelli's Pizzetti recording has been one of the most venerated in the Decca catalogue, not only because the music is comparatively rare, but because the recording is true state-of-the-art. |
I See Hawks In LA
Hallowed Ground [ CD - released 31/Mar/2009 ] |
HANDEL
Rinaldo (Complete Opera recorded in 1977) Ileana Cotrubas, Carolyn Watkinson & Paul Esswood / La Grande Ecurie et La Chambre du Roy, Jean-Claude Malgoire [ Sony Opera House / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Feb/2010 ] "The vigour of Malgoire's direction of an opera which plainly for him is very much alive, makes this a very attractive set. The finest singing comes from Ilena Cotrubas, but the whole team is convincing. The bright but spacious recording adds to the... |
MICHAEL JARNEFELT
Jarrell: Orchestral Works Ilya Gringolts (violin), Florent Jodelet (percussion), Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Pascal Rophé [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Dec/2023 ] "The excellent Pays de la Loire Orchestra, who accompany the two concertos in exemplary fashion, take centre stage in the album's centrepiece, the Sechs Augenblicke...A very strong recording." Gramophone Editor's Choice Jan 2024 |
J.S. BACH
Trauerode BWV 198 / Jesu, der du meine Seele BWV 78 Ingrid SchmithAsen, Howard Crook, Peter Kooy, Charles Brett / La Chapelle Royale / Philippe Herreweghe (dir) [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 1/Sep/2008 ] Whatever the occasions for which they were written (a tribute to a dead queen, or a chorale cantata), the two works on this recording have one subject in common: death and the soul's salvation. Performed in 1727 in memory of the sorely mourned... |
HANDEL
Italian Cantatas Volume 5 - Rome (1707) Roberta Invernizzi (soprano), Yetzabel Arias Fernández (soprano) & Romina Basso (alto) / La Risonanza / Fabio Bonizzoni (harpsichord & direction) [ Glossa Handel Italian Cantatas / CD - released 1/Oct/2009 ] MARBECKS STAFF PICK: CD OF THE YEAR 2009 - Gramophone Magazine: Editor's Choice June 2009 - "Bonizzoni has the admirable knack of conveying the strong rhetorical elements in Handel's vivacious music, and the entire performance is beautifully... |
Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo
Strange But True [ Matador Records / CD - released 20/Oct/1998 ] |
VIVALDI
Vespers of Sorrow Jakub Burzyinski (counter-tenor) / La Tempesta [ BIS / CD - released 5/Oct/2004 ] "A superb release, not to be missed! This will be my Record of the Year!" - MusicWeb Nov 2004 |
Jakub/La Burzynski Tempesta
Vivaldi: Vespers Of Sorrow [ Bis / CD - released 1/Nov/2004 ] |
EDOUARD LALO
Lalo: Le roi d'Ys (Complete Opera recorded in 1957) Janine Micheau, Rita Gorr, Henri Legay, Jean Borthayre / Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion française, André Cluytens [ Erato The Home of Opera / 2 CD - released 25/Apr/2018 ] Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys draws on the same Breton myth of a submerged city as Debussy's La Cathédrale engloutie. A great success at its 1888 premiere at Paris's Opéra Comique, it even reached the Metropolitan Opera, New York, but its current rarity on the... |
GOUNOD / CHARPENTIER / MOZART / OFFENBACH / ROSSINI / etc
Janine Micheau - Operatic Recital Janine Micheau (soprano) / London Symphony Orchestra, Muir Mathieson, L´Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris, Alberto Erede [ Decca Most Wanted Recitals Vol. 29 / CD - released 14/Jul/2014 ] A collection which celebrates the phenomenal career of this popular international soprano |
Jean La Fenice/Tubery
Concerto Imperiale [ Ricercar / CD - released 1/May/2011 ] |
JEAN-BAPISTE LULLY
Lully: Acis et Galatée Jean-François Lombard, Elena Harsányi, Valeria La Grotta, Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli / Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Federico Maria Sarde [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 20/Oct/2023 ] Jean-Baptiste Lully's unrivalled position at the Sun King's court gave him freedom to produce numerous grand theatre works. Acis et Galatée is acknowledged as one of his masterpieces with its adroit alternation of effects and situations and its... |
PHILIPPE BOESMANS
Boesmans: On purge bébé ! Opera in One Act Jean-Sébastien Bou, Jodie Devos, Denzil Delaere, La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, Bassem Akiki [ Fuga Libera / CD - released 8/Sep/2023 ] I'd read On purge bebe ! even before I composed Pinocchio. I said to myself: 'This is a wonderful play... but it's impossible to turn it into an opera'. And if I say something like that, it means that I'm going to do it -- it's like I'm setting... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 / Overtures - Prometheus, Fidelio, Leonore 2 & 3 / Grosse Fuge Joan Sutherland, Norma Procter, Arnold Van Mill / L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Ernest Ansermet [ Decca ABC Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2009 ] "…the depth and concentration of the Ansermet shines decisively out… Ansermet's reading is taut and imposing" Gramophone |
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater in F minor (with Haydn: Symphony No. 49 in F minor 'La Passione') Jodie Devos; Adèle Charvet; Julien Chauvin / Maîtrise de Radio France; Le Concert de la Loge [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 11/Feb/2022 ] Pergolesi's Stabat Mater has enjoyed enormous fame ever since the eighteenth century - Rousseau called its first movement 'the most perfect and touching that has ever come from the pen of any composer'. |
FAURE / FRANCK
Requiem / Symphonie Johannette Zomer (soprano) Stephan Genz (baritone) / La Chapelle Royale / Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 25/May/2002 ] "It was an inspiring occasion - the young musicians were clearly entranced by one of Europe's most charismatic 'period' musicians...And, as a rare and generous coupling, Franck's Symphony is compellingly performed." Editor's Choice (Gramophone... |
TRADITIONAL
Llibre Vermell de Montserrat [Red Book of Montserrat] Jordi Savall (rabec, rebab, viella & direcció) / Hespèrion XXI & La Capella Reial de Catalunya [ Alia Vox CD + DVD / 2 CD/DVD - released 20/Dec/2016 ] The 'Llibre Vermell de Montserrat' is a collection of devotional texts containing late medieval songs and dances. |