MENDELSSOHN
Symphonies Nos 1 & 5 / Hebrides Overture Gerald Fauth (piano) Olga Gollej (piano) / Members of Leipziger Streichquartett [ MDG / CD - released 8/Nov/2007 ] When a few musicians take on the task of a whole orchestra, the composer's excellence and the arranger's fine touch are brought to light - as in the case of the splendid chamber arrangements of two symphonies and two overtures by Felix Mendelssohn... |
MESSIAEN / SAARIAHO
The Edge of Light Gloria Cheng (piano), Members of the Calder Quartet [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 17/Mar/2013 ] "Listen to Messaien's glassy chords and Saariaho's cool rhapsodies and you can almost hear him...Debussy is the daddy. Exquisitely shaped playing and bold musicianship in a compelling, haunting disc." (The Independent) |
MICHAEL HURD
Pop Cantatas John Addison (narrator) / Alexander Wells (piano) / Members of the New London Orchestra / New London Children’s Choir / Ronald Corp [ Naxos / CD - released 4/May/2011 ] "The works on this Naxos disc are lightly jazzy and must have turned generations of children on to concert music. They make confident and fearless communion with West End show-time, dance-band drum-kit and light Radio 2 style middle-of-the-road... |
TOSHIO HOSOKAWA
Flute Music Kolbeinn Bjarnason (flute) / Members of Caput Ensemble / Snorri Sigfus Birgisson [ Naxos Japanese Classics / CD - released 2/Mar/2011 ] The Berlin-based Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa conceives of music as 'a calligraphy of space and time' and regards the flute as the instrument that can most deeply realise his musical ideas, the performer's breath embodying the living power of... |
ERNEST BLOCH
Sacred Service (Avodath Hakodesh) Louis Berkman (baritone) / The Zemel Choir / members of the London Chorale and the London Concord Singers / London Symphony Orchestra / Geoffrey Simon [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 6/Mar/2005 ] 'When this recording was originally issued on LP I compared it with all previous versions of the work… finding it to be superior with regard to both performance and sound… I remain enthusiastic about this Chandos release, especially in its CD... |
LUKAS FOSS
Griffelkin (Opera in Three Acts Libretto by Alastair Reid) Marion Dry (contralto) ; Kendra Colton (soprano) Elizabeth Keusch (soprano) Yeghishe Manucharyan (tenor) / Members of Boston Children's Opera and gues [ Chandos SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 26/May/2003 ] On Hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) format, presented in full 5.1 surround sound! PLAYABLE ON ANY CD SYSTEM |
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
On Wenlock Edge / Ten Blake Songs Mark Padmore (tenor) / Britten Sinfonia (members), Jacqueline Shave [ Harmonia Mundi SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Nov/2013 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD NOMINATION 2014 |
J.S. BACH
Bach: Musikalisches Opfer Masaaki Suzuki (harpsichord), Members of the Bach Collegium Japan [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 13/Oct/2017 ] Johann Sebastian Bach's appearance on 7th May 1747 at the court of Frederick the Great is the best documented event in the composer's otherwise unglamorous career. During the proceedings, Frederick provided Bach with an exceptionally difficult theme... |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN / FRANZ SCHUBERT / LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Beethoven/Mendelssohn/Schubert: Octets Members of the Melos Ensemble of London [ EMI Classics Double Forte / 2 CD - released 1/May/2006 ] Classic chamber works at a special price |
SCHUBERT / SCHUMANN
Wanderer Fantasy (orchestrated by Joeseph James) Members of the Schubert Ensemble / English Chamber Orchestra / Orlando Jopling, Conductor [ Signum / CD - released 16/May/2007 ] Schubert's 'Wanderer Fantasy' and Schumann's 'Fantasie' are two highly remarkable works: whilst musically embodying the romantic spirit of the age in their unconventional structures and lyrically imaginative styles, they also act as self-portraits to... |
W. A. MOZART / LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart/Beethoven: Quintets For Piano And Wind Instruments Murray Perahia (piano) / Members Of The English Chamber Orchestra [ SONY CLASSICAL / CD ] One of the piano's most lyrical contemporary proponents, Murray Perahia was born in New York City. After first sitting down at the piano at the age of four, he entered Mannes College at 17, later graduating with degrees in conducting and composition. |
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES
Davies: The Lighthouse (Complete Opera) Neil Mackie (tenor), Christopher Keyte (baritone) & Ian Comboy (bass) Members of the BBC Philharmonic, Peter Maxwell Davies [ Naxos / CD - released 28/Apr/2014 ] "All three cast members excel, taking Maxwell Davies's liking for apssages of falsetto yowling in their stride; and the instrumental playing is incisively superb." (BBC Music Five Stars) |
RONALD CORP
The Ice Mountain New London Children’s Choir / Members of the New London Orchestra / Ronald Corp [ Naxos / CD - released 29/Jul/2011 ] "Corp's transparent, evocative scoring for an ensemble of seven players is one of the opera's greatest strengths. Naxos' sound is clear, well-defined, and nicely balanced, with an immediate presence." (Allmusic.com) |
ROBERT RODRIGUEZ / LOU HARRISON / KATI AGOCS
Works for Violin and Percussion Orchestra Nicolas Kitchen (violin) / Members of the New england Conservatory Percussion Ensemble, Frank Epstein [ Naxos / CD - released 28/Oct/2022 ] The unique instrumentation of the three works in this album was pioneered by the innovative Lou Harrison, whose 1959 concerto encapsulates his culturally wide-ranging aesthetic. |
JOHN TAVENER
The Veil of the Temple Patricia Rozario (soprano) / Choir of the Temple Church, Holst Singers & Members of the English Chamber Orchestra, Stephen Layton [ Signum / 2 CD - released 20/Apr/2014 ] "Performance and recording are outstanding. An essential testimony to the vitality of the musical and spiritual vision of the final creative phase of one of Britain's greatest composers." Reissue of the Month Gramophone Magazine, April 2014 |
BOHUSLAV MARTINU
Martinů: Cantatas Pavla Vykopalova, Ludmila Hudeckova, Martin Slavik, Jiri Bruckler / Members of the Bennewitz Quartet & Prague Philharmonic Choir, Lukas Vasilek [ Supraphon / CD - released 20/Dec/2017 ] "valuable messages for our or indeed any time, and superlatively performed. Unmissable" BBC Music Choral & Song Choice March 2017 |
LEOS JANACEK
Janacek: The Cunning Little Vixen (complete opera) (with Fabrice Bollon: Twelve Lilies for Leoš) Samantha Gaul (sop) Michael Borth (bar) Irina Jae-Eun Park (sop) / Cantus Juvenum Karlsruhe, Members of the Opernchor des Theater Freiburg [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 7/Jul/2023 ] Fabrice Bollon's Janáček project was developed during the COVID lockdown when the use of large orchestras was forbidden. Bollon wrote a version of The Cunning Little Vixen for twelve instruments - not a reduction but an imaginative recreation... |
JOHANN SIMON MAYR
Mayr: Alfredo il Grande (complete opera) Marie-Luise fressen (mezzo) Markus Schafer (tenor) / Simon Mayr Chorus, Members of the Bavarian State Opera Chorus, Concerto de Bassus, Franz Hauk [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 18/Feb/2022 ] Medieval England exerted a strong influence on Johann Simon Mayr, especially during his final proto-Romantic period. Alfredo il Grande was to be one of his last operas, with a narrative that takes us to a land under threat of war with the Vikings. |
FRANZ LISZT
Liszt: Prometheus; Mephisto Waltz No. 1; Mazeppa; Hamlet. (with Wagner: Siegfried Idyll) Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Members of L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Karl Munchinger [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] A quartet of Liszt tone-poem recordings, new to CD, plus a cherishable recording of Wagner's musical birthday card to his wife. Karl Münchinger founded the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in 1946, and Decca began making records with them three years... |
LENNOX BERKELEY
Horn Trio / Flute Sonatina / Viola Sonata / Quintet for Wind and Piano Susanne Stanzeleit (violin) / Stephen Stirling (horn) / Patrick Williams (flute) / Morgan Goff (viola) / Members of the New London Chamber Ensemble [ Naxos / CD - released 1/May/2010 ] Lennox Berkeley amassed over 100 works and contributed to almost every genre. Since he had the opportunity to write for some of the leading performers of the time-the Horn Trio was written for Dennis Brain-chamber music featuring wind and strings... |