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CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 / Pieces for solo piano Bertrand Chamayou (piano) / Orchestre National de France, Emmanuel Krivine [ Erato / CD - released 1/Dec/2018 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2019 - Recording of the Year |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS / ROBERT SCHUMANN
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 / Schumann: Introduction and Concerto Allegro Idil Biret (piano) / Polish National Radio Symphony, Antoni Wit [ Naxos / CD - released 2/Oct/2000 ] "A release well worth hearing." ClassicsToday |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS / ROBERT SCHUMANN
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Schumann: Introduction and Allegro appassionato Idil Biret (piano) / Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (Katowice); Antoni Wit, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 5/Jun/2000 ] "The two Schumann works are fine bonuses, both rendered with the same commitment and insight from soloist and orchestra. In the end, one must assess all these performances as quite extraordinary and fully competitive with the best." ClassicalNet |
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BRAHMS
Works for Chorus and Orchestra Bo Skovhus (baritone) / Danish National Choir / Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Gerd Albrecht [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 27/Jan/2004 ] 'For Anyone who finds the textual/musical idiom of Ein deutsches Requiem difficult to accommodate, this mixture of sacred and secular pieces could serve as a way into the choral music of a very great composer.' International Record Review |
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PETITGIRARD
12 Guardians of the Temple (The) / Poeme / Euphonia Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra / Ljubljana Radio Symphony Orchestra / Laurent Petitgirard [ Naxos / CD - released 4/Dec/2006 ] An eclectic musician with a compelling melodic gift, Laurent Petitgirard combines a career as a composer of orchestral and film music with that of an international conductor. This collection includes two of his most recent works, the exotically... |
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RAVEL
Daphnis and Chloe Bordeaux Opera Chorus / Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra / Laurent Petitgirard (Conductor) [ Naxos / CD - released 4/Dec/2006 ] Daphnis et Chloe, generally regarded as Ravel's masterpiece, is one of the numerous important scores that owe their existence to the famous ballet impresario Sergey Diaghilev, who commissioned new works for his Paris-based troupe. |
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MUSSORGSKY
Boris Godunov (Complete Opera - 1952 recording) Boris Christoff, Eugenia Zareska, Ludmilla Lebedeva / Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise / Issay Dobrowen [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Apr/2009 ] '..the digital transfers bring out the excellence of the original engineering. So this version really is essential listening for admirers of the work.' Gramophone |
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SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 / Variations on a theme of Corelli Boris Giltburg (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Carlos Miguel Prieto [ Naxos / CD - released 15/May/2018 ] Rachmaninov's 'Piano Concerto No. 3' is a complex, epic narrative that moves from a simple opening melody to the triumphant apotheosis at its conclusion. The composer ingeniously links motifs, melodies and at times whole sections between the... |
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DMYTRO BORTNIANSKY
Bortniansky: Creonte National Choir of Ukraine 'Dumka', National Presidential Orchestra, Herman Makarenko (conductor) [ Toccata Classics / 2 CD - released 7/Aug/2026 ] In 1776, during a spell in Italy early in his career, the Ukrainian composer Dmytro Bortniansky (1751-1825) wrote Creonte, an opera seria based on Sophocles' tragedy Antigone and poised, like early Mozart, on the cusp between Baroque and Classical... |
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SERGEI PROKOFIEV / PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Prokofiev: Cinderella / Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty (Children's Classics) Brian Cant (narrator) / National Symphony Orch of Ukraine / Theodore Kuchar (conductor) / Slovak State Philharmonic Orch. / Andrew Mogrelia (conductor [ Naxos Children's Classics / CD - released 27/Apr/2008 ] "Brian Cant has a nice, light and understated touch in his story-telling, with a bit of the Edith Evans for the Fairy Godmother and a touching wonderment to match Prokofiev's scintillating score." Daily Telegraph |
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ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Symphony No. 4 / Ten Biblical Songs Brian Rayner Cook (baritone) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi [ Chandos / CD - released 23/Jan/1988 ] Recorded in Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow on 27-29 October 1987 |
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ANTONBRUCKNER
Bruckner: Symphony No. 2 in C minor (1872 version; ed. Carragan) Ireland National Symphony Orchestra / Georg Tintner [ Naxos / CD - released 28/Oct/2007 ] "Tintner conducts a refreshingly direct Second, obviously thoroughly rehearsed and verh well recorded....this is an excellent Bruckner release." - Classic CD |
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ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: Symphony No.4 Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Georg Tintner [ Naxos / CD ] "There are not many versions as fine as Georg Tintner's on Naxos, at whatever price. With extreme pianissimos magically caught, full of mystery, this is an exceptionally spacious reading, deeply reflective and poetic." Penguin Guide |
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BRUCKNER
Symphony No 9 Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Georg Tintner [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Mar/2012 ] "Georg Tintner's unique interpretation of Bruckner's majestic Ninth Symphony is a milestone recording...a superb testament to both composer and conductor. Tintner's unerring choice of tempi, his rare grasp of Bruckner's oceanic structure, is as... |
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CHRISTOPHER ROUSE / JACQUES IBERT
Rouse / Ibert: Flute Concertos Katherine Bryan (flute) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Jac van Steen [ Linn / Hybrid SACD - released 20/May/2013 ] "Bryan certainly has complete mastery of the [Rouse's] technical and expressive demands, as she does in Ibert's Concerto of 1933...Her playing of Debussy's Syrinx, the ne plus ultra of the solo flute repertoire, is exquisitely eloquent." Gramophone |
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CHRISTOPHER MOHR
Mohr: From The Realm Of The Shadow - A music drama in three acts Soloists / Ukraine National Symphony Choir & Orchestra [ Naxos American Classics / 2 CD - released 7/Feb/2001 ] "Mohr draws on a variety of styles for his musical collage: neo-baroque, soft-rock, new age, and something I'll call ear-papering-the kind of quasi-classical stuff you hear at Olympic events or Cirque du Soleil" ClassicsToday |
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IAN CUSSON / RICHARD STRAUSS
Terra Nova - Cusson: Sinfonietta Metamoderna / Strauss, Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra, Alexander Shelley [ Analekta / CD - released 16/Jan/2026 ] Terra Nova, the second opus in the Poema series, explores themes of the search for meaning and the human experience. Alexander Shelley offers an interpretation of Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra that highlights the fragile balance between light and... |
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BIZET / BOITO / GOUNOD / ROSSINI / VERDI
Carlo Colombara: The Art of the Bass Carlo Colombara (bass) / Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Bulgarian National Symphony Orchestra & Prague Tchaikovsky Orchestra [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 15/Feb/2012 ] "It all proves to be quite entertaining, both for the rarely collected bass opera repertoire and for the fine performances of Colombara, both musical and dramatic…the cleverly staged visual elements add greatly to the total package." Fanfare |
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JOSE SEREBRIER
Serebrier: Symphony No. 3 / Symphonie mystique Passacaglia / Perpetuum Mobile / etc Carole Farley, soprano / Yi Yao, accordion / Laurent le Chennadec, bassoon / Toulouse National Chamber Orchestra / Jose Serebrier, conductor [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 30/Oct/2003 ] "Throughout this recording there is a great star quality. 5 stars out of 5"" Fono Forum |
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GUSTAV HOLST / RICHARD STRAUSS
Holst: Planets / R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra CBSO Youth Chorus & National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Edward Gardner [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 30/Jan/2017 ] For its very first album on Chandos, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain devotes its characteristic energy and musical mastery to an explosive programme that transcends daily life and earthly experience. It is helped by the enthusiastic,... |