IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: The Firebird - Complete Ballet (LP) London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Doráti [ Mercury / LP - released 25/Feb/2022 ] Revolutionary in its time, 'The Firebird' is a story in musical textures and dynamics perfectly suited to the Mercury technique. Dorati and The LSO present each nuance in perfect scale and balance. |
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Vaughan Williams:Complete Symphonies London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Hickox, Sir Andrew Davis [ Chandos Classics / 6 Hybrid SACD - released 27/May/2022 ] 'Impeccable playing' The Times |
BRITTEN / AUBER / BURGMULLER / DRIGO / MASSENET / ROSSINI / etc
The Art of the Prima Ballerina [2 CD set] London Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic / Richard Bonynge [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 15/Dec/2013 ] "[Bonynge] has a nice sense of rubato, and plenty of verve when this is called for. … The recording is extremely vivid" Gramophone Magazine |
JEROME MOROSS
Moross: Symphony No 1 / Last Judgement / Variations on a Waltz for Orchestra London Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta [ Alto / CD - released 7/Jul/2024 ] 'Dominating my Critics' Choice for 1993 are Koch 's outstanding discs of concert works by esteemed film composers … Although the disc of Moross world premieres is especially exciting, both are distinguished not only by superb sound but also by... |
MALCOLM ARNOLD
The Film Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold, Volume 1 (Incls Bridge on the River Kwai & Hobson's Choice ) London Symphony Orchestra / Richard Hickox [ Chandos Movies / CD - released 10/May/2004 ] 'This splendid CD is as much a tribute to the skills of the late Christopher Palmer who created the suites for this recording as it is to the performers and engineers and the ever-imaginative Arnold.' Gramophone |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet (Complete ballet recorded November 2008) London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev [ LSO Live SACD / 2 SACD - released 20/Jan/2010 ] DISC OF THE YEAR 2011 (BBC Music) - "Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet warrants a hi-res recording of the complete score since it is regarded by many as the greatest ballet score ever composed. The live recording is sensational in its realism." (AudAud... |
KHACHATURIAN / SHOSTAKOVICH / PROKOFIEV / BORODIN / MUSSORGSKY / TCHAIKOVSKY
Russia - Romance & Drama London Symphony Orchestra, Yuri Ahronovitch [ Alto / CD - released 20/Feb/2019 ] "Yuri Ahronovitch may have been too eccentric in large-scale symphonies, but what extraordinary character in this ideal Russian collection. Musorgsky's witchy revels and Prokofiev's strutting Three Oranges march are highlights." BBC Music Five Stars |
PAUL HINDEMITH
Hindemith: Symphony "Mathis der Maler" / Symphonic Metamorphosis on themes of Weber / Symphony "Mathis der Maler" David Oistrakh (violin) / London Symphony Orchestra, Paul Hindemith, Claudio Abbado [ Decca Eloquence / CD ] Recordings made in 1963 & 1969 |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Romeo & Juliet Suites & The Love for Three Oranges Suite Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Doráti [ Alto / CD - released 9/Sep/2022 ] "The playing of the Minneapolis Orchestra is on a virtuoso level. The crystal-clear acoustic and the ambience seem ideally suited to the melodic lines and pungent lyricism of this powerful score, to underline the sense of tragedy without losing the... |
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Maestro: Music By Leonard Bernstein London Symphony Orchestra,Yannick Nézet-Séguin [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 8/Dec/2023 ] From Director Bradley Cooper, Maestro is the towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between cultural icon Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro, at its core,... |
EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Violin concerto / Violin Sonata Renaud Capuçon (violin), Stephen Hough (piano) London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle [ Erato / CD - released 5/Mar/2021 ] GRAMOPHONE Award Nomination 2021 - Concerto |
JOHN CORIGLIANO / AARON COPLAND / LEONARD BERNSTEIN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Copland/Corigliano: Clarinet Concertos Richard Stoltzman (clarinet) / London Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Leighton Smith [ RCA Red Seal / CD - released 30/Sep/1988 ] "Corigliano's clarinet concerto is the first by an American composer to have entered the standard repertoire since Aaron Copland's clarinet concerto." Wiki |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN / W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Rudolf Serkin Rudolf Serkin (piano) / Adolf Busch Chmaber Players / London Symphony Orchestra / Chamber Orchestra of Europe [ Deutsche Grammophon / EMI / 2 CD - released 9/Oct/2006 ] Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 - 8 May 1991) was a Bohemian-born pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century. |
JOHN TAVENER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Tavener: The Protecting Veil (complete) / The Last Sleep of the Virgin) Steven Isserlis (cello) / London Symphony Orchestra, Gennadi Rhozdestvensky / Chilingirian Quartet [ Virgin Classics / CD - released 20/Feb/2009 ] "The Isserlis/Rozhdestvensky pioneering version of Tavener's Protecting Veil hardly needs any recommendation from me." (Gramophone) |
MOZART / GLUCK / CHERUBINI / HAYDN / PERGOLESI
Teresa Berganza - Eighteenth-Century Portraits Teresa Berganza (mezzo-soprano), Félix Lavilla (piano) / London Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Kammerorchester, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent [ Australian Decca Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2018 ] 'This has always been one of Teresa Berganza's most attractive records.' Opera, September 1968 (Mozart arias) |
ROSSINI / SCARLATTI / TURINA / GRANADOS / FALLA / GUERRERO / etc
Brava Berganza! - Rossini: Arias / Canciones Espanolas: Spanish Songs & more Teresa Berganza (soprano) Félix Lavilla (piano) London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson, Benito Lauret, Gerardo Gombau [ Australian Decca Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2018 ] "I called her performance of [the Falla songs] incomparable, and it still remains so, with her completely idiomatic interpretation, vitality, exemplary enunciation, beautifully clean melismata, and wide range of colour" Gramophone |
COLE PORTER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Porter: Anything Goes Kim Criswell, Cris Groenendaal, Frederica von Stade, Jack Gilford / Ambrosian Chorus & London Symphony Orchestra, John McGlinn [ EMI / CD - released 1/Jul/1989 ] Anything Goes, from 1934, was one of Porter's few notable Broadway successes and was the first of his musicals to star Ethel Merman, who went on to star in several other Porter shows. |
TCHAIKOVSKY / DELIBES / PROKOFIEV / ADAM / MINKUS / DRIGO / etc
50 X Ballet London Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, etc [ Decca / 3 CD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2014 ] From the famous Swan theme in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake to the final moments of Stravinsky's Firebird immerse yourself in the wonderful world of ballet music. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Score 2Cellos (Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser), London Symphony Orchestra [ Sony / CD - released 17/Mar/2017 ] 2CELLOS, music's most electric and dynamic instrumental duo, go to the movies for their new album Score. Bringing 2CELLOS' game-changing sound and style to the most popular melodies ever written for classic and contemporary movies and television,... |
BRAHMS / BUSONI / CHOPIN / LISZT / RACHMANINOV / MENDELSSOHN / WEBER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Alfred Brendel III Alfred Brendel (piano) / London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra [ Philips / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2000 ] "Brendel actually revels in the gorgeous fabrics of sound from the Années de pèlerinage numbers and somehow balances the muscle-flexing virtuosity of Totentanz with a respect for its novel ideas-there's both surface and substance here." |