FRANZ SCHREKER
Schreker: Der Schatzgräber (complete opera recorded in 2022) BLU-RAY Deutsche Oper Berlin / Elisabet Strid, Daniel Johansson, Michael Laurenz, Thomas Johannes Mayer / Marc Albrecht (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 8/Nov/2023 ] Franz Schreker's career was cut short by the events of 1933 in Germany but he achieved real fame with his operas, and the huge success of Der Schatzgräber ('The Treasure Hunter') in the 1920s was the high point of his career. In a complex and... |
FRANZ SCHREKER
Schreker: Der Schatzgräber (complete opera recorded in 2022) Deutsche Oper Berlin / Elisabet Strid, Daniel Johansson, Michael Laurenz, Thomas Johannes Mayer / Marc Albrecht (cond) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 8/Nov/2023 ] Franz Schreker's career was cut short by the events of 1933 in Germany but he achieved real fame with his operas, and the huge success of Der Schatzgräber ('The Treasure Hunter') in the 1920s was the high point of his career. |
RUED LANGGAARD
Langgaard: Antikrist (complete opera recorded in 2023) BLU-RAY Deutsche Oper Berlin / Thomas Lehman, Jonas Grundner-Culemann, Irene Roberts, Valeriia Savinskaia / Stephan Zilias (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 26/Jul/2024 ] Rued Langgaard's remarkable opera Antikrist confronts the decline and fall of Western civilisation, critiquing modern lifestyles and ways of thinking, which resonates with our times more than ever before. Never performed in the composer's lifetime,... |
ROSS EDWARDS
Edwards: Heart of Night / Bird Spirit Dreaming / Clarinet Concerto Diana Doherty (oboe), Riley Lee (shakuhachi), David Thomas (clarinet) / Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Volmer [ ABC Classics / CD - released 1/Aug/2011 ] According to Ross Edwards, classical music 'shouldn't be so esoteric, it has to actually seduce people.' He leads by example on this divine album of great Australian works for woodwind and Orchestra performed by soloists Riley Lee (shakuhachi), Diana... |
Dick Thomas
Country, Ragtime, Rockin' Hillbilly & Cowboy Music [ Jasmine / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2010 ] This is a salute to Dick Thomas, one of the unsung great voices of Country and Western music... |
MENDELSSOHN
Complete Clarinet Chamber Music Dieter Klöcker (clarinet), Sandra Arnold (clarinet), Luigi Magistrelli (basset horn),Thomas Duis (piano) [ MDG / CD - released 1/Aug/2010 ] Dieter Klöcker (clarinet), Sandra Arnold (clarinet), Luigi Magistrelli (basset horn),Thomas Duis (piano) |
J. S. BACH
Christmas Oratorio, BWV248 Dorothee Mields, Damien Guillon, Thomas Hobbs, Peter Kooij / Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 10/Apr/2014 ] G :- "For Bach´s Brandenburg Concertos we got to Cöthen Palace, and find the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in a lovely room, standing round in a semi-circle..the sense of pleasure the players radiate is strong." BBC Music Magazine |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
Gilbert & Sullivan: Princess Ida (complete operetta rec 1954) plus The Gondoliers (excerpts rec 1931) D'Oyly Carte Opera Company with Donald Adams, George Baker, Leonard Osborn, Peter Pratt, Thomas Round and Victoria Sladen / Isidore Godfrey (conductor [ Naxos Historical Great Operetta Recordings / 2 CD - released 13/Mar/2006 ] The three-act comic opera Princess Ida appeared, chronologically, between Iolanthe (1882) and The Mikado (1885) and was first performed under the baton of the composer, on 5th January 1884 at the 'electrically-lighted' Savoy Theatre. |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
Gilbert & sullivan: The Gondoliers (Complete with dialogue) D'Oyly Carte Opera Company with Gillian Knight; Thomas Round; John Reed / New Symphony Orchestra / Godfrey [ Decca Records / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2003 ] Isidore Godfrey's conducting is vividly alive and Decca provided a large and excellent orchestra. The solo singing throughout is consistently good. Thomas Round sings Take A Pair Of Sparkling Eyes very well indeed. *** Three Stars. Penguin Stereo Guide. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Die Zauberflote (complete opera recorded in 2014) Dutch National Opera / Maximilian Schmitt, Christina Landshamer, Thomas Oliemans, Brindley Sherratt, Íride Martínez / Marc Albrecht (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 20/May/2015 ] "It is sparkily conducted in light, historically aware tempi by Marc Albrecht, and acted and sung as a tightly worked ensemble piece....Subtle touches ease what we now find chauvinist and racist in the original...Ingenious. Recommended." (Gramophone) |
W. A. MOZART
Die Zauberflote [The Magic Flue] (completeopera recorded in 2014) BLU-RAY Dutch National Opera / Maximilian Schmitt, Christina Landshamer, Thomas Oliemans, Brindley Sherratt, Íride Martínez / Marc Albrecht (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/May/2015 ] "Subtle touches ease what we now find chauvinist and racist in the original...Ingenious. Recommended." (Gramophone Blu-ray of the Month May 2015) |
DYLAN THOMAS
Dylan Thomas Reads His Prose & More Poetry Dylan Thomas (narrator) [ Alto / CD - released 4/Oct/2013 ] This CD includes the works Prologue, A Refusal to Mourn the Death of a Child Killed by Fire in London, The Force that Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower…. Laugharne, If I were Tickled by the Rub of Love, etc |
SCHUBERT
Die Freunde von Salamanka, D326 Edith Mathis, Thomas Moser, Hermann Prey / Austrian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Theodor Guschlbauer [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / CD - released 20/Feb/2011 ] 'Beautiful singing by Mathis … Hermann Prey in excellent form … lovers of Schubert should not let slip the opportunity of hearing this … it is affectionately directed by Guschlbauer.' Gramophone |
REINHARD KEISER
Passion Music Eeva Tenkanan, Doerthe Sandmann, Olivia Vermeulen, Knut Schoch / Capella Orlandi Bremen, Thomas Ihlenfeldt [ CPO / CD - released 1/Aug/2010 ] CPO's rediscovery of Church Music from Hamburg (1600-1800) continues with a concert, broadcast live on Deutschlandradio Kultur, featuring rediscovered works by Reinhard Keiser. Only three oratorios by Reinhard Keiser exist in full. Many shorter... |
OLIVER KNUSSEN
Symphonies 2 & 3 / Coursing / Ophelia Dances / Trumpets Elaine Barry / Linda Hirst / Nash Ensemble / Philharmonia Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas / London Sinfonietta / Oliver Knussen [ NMC Records / CD - released 20/Feb/2012 ] Two of Knussen's major works of the 1970s - Symphony No.2, a song cycle on texts of Georg Trakl and Sylvia Plath, and Symphony No. 3, a symphonic poem about Shakespeare's Ophelia - are coupled with Coursing, Ophelia Dances and other works. |
FRANZ SCHREKER
Schreker: Der Ferne Klang (Complete Opera) Elena Grigorrescu, Thomas Harper / Hagen Opera Chorus, Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Halasz [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 12/Jan/2008 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) - "Naxos has included a detailed synopsis matching the CDs tracks. The solid performance gives a good idea of the work's visionary strengths and its prolix weaknesses." - San... |
SCHREKER
Der Ferne Klang (Complete Opera) Elena Grigorrescu / Thomas Harper / Hagen Opera Chorus / Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra / Michael Halasz [ MARCO POLO / 2 CD ] |
J. S. BACH
Cantatas: Recreation for the Soul Elin Manahan Thomas, Daniel Taylor, James Gilchrist / Magdalena Consort, Peter Harvey [ Channel Classics SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 20/May/2015 ] "The four voices are fairly matched with each other, less so with their instrumental colleagues, and Harvey leads unfailingly elegant interpretations. At each turn, however, they yield to the textual and expressive detail of The Bach Players." Gramop |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn BWV1127 Elin Manahan Thomas / English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner [ Soli Deo Gloria / CD - released 10/Oct/2005 ] Premiere recording of a newly discovered aria by Bach, unearthed in a library in June 2005 |
GABRIEL FAURE
Faure: Requiem (with Mozart-Ave verum corpus, K618, etc) Elin Manahan Thomas, Roderick Williams, Ruth Massey, Mark Dobell / The Sixteen / Academy of St Martin in the Fields / Harry Christophers [ Coro Live / CD - released 1/Apr/2008 ] The result of a brand new collaboration between two of the finest modern day exponents of classical music, this exquisite disc brings fresh life to Fauré's peerless Requiem and injects imaginative invention and poetic phrasing into two of Mozart's... |