VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: I Puritani (complete opera) Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov / Royal Opera House Covent Garden / London Symphony Orchestra / Richard Bonyng [ Decca / 3 CD - released 10/Aug/2006 ] 1001 Classical recordings to hear before you die (1801-1850) -- Building a Library First Choice - January 2005 |
ROSSINI
Semiramide (complete opera) Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, John Serge, Joseph Rouleau / London Symphony Orchestra / Richard Bonynge [ Decca Classic Opera / 3 CD - released 1/Oct/2006 ] Joan Sutherland reigns supreme as the Queen Of Babylon in this definitive recording of Rossini's great bel canto showpiece. |
DONIZETTI
Anna Bolena (complete opera) Joan Sutherland / Samuel Ramey / Susanne Mentzer / Jerry Hadley / Welsh National Opera Chorus & Orchestra / Richard Bonynge [ Decca Classic Opera / 3 CD - released 1/Oct/2006 ] The story of England's King Henry VIII, the demise of his second wife Anne Boleyn, and the rise of her rival Jane Seymour fascinated a wide 19th Century audience. With the opera Anna Bolena Donizetti brought his art to a new height and created what... |
MOZART / WAGNER / DONIZETTI / SPOHR
The Golden Age of Covent Garden Joan Sutherland (soprano) Jon Vickers (tenor) / Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Rafael Kubelik / with Richard Bonynge (piano) [ Pearl / CD - released 1/Jan/2005 ] Joan Sutherland and Jon Vickers in roles they never recorded commercially, at the very peak of their powers in 1957 and 1958. |
DONIZETTI
l'Elisir d'Amore (Complete opera) Joan Sutherland (soprano) Luciano Pavarotti (tenor) / English Chamber Orchestra. Richard Bonynge [ Decca Originals / 2 CD - released 10/Apr/2004 ] 1001 Classical recordings to hear before you die (1801-1850) - "Joan Sutherland makes Adina a more sunbstantial figure than usual, full-throatedly serious at times, at others jolly like the rumbustious marie; in the key role of Nemorino, Luciano... |
ARE YOU BEING SERVED?
Are You Being Served?: Camping In John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Webdy Richard, Frank Thornton & cast [ BBC Audio / 2 CD - released 12/Feb/2009 ] Four classic episodes of the long-running BBC TV sitcom starring John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Wendy Richard, Frank Thornton, Trevor Bannister and others, all previously unavailable on audio. The staff of Grace Brothers department store are embroiled in... |
SHAKESPEARE
Othello (A Johannesburg Market Theatre Production, 1988) John Kani / Richard Haines / Joanna Weinberg / Janet Suzman / Janet Suzman [ Arthaus Musik / DVD - released 19/Jun/2006 ] G :- "...a production that made you rethink Othello - and marvel once again at how Shakespeare can never be out of fashion" The Listener |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
Highlights from the operettas John Mark Ainsley / Thomas Allen / Rebecca Evans / Felicity Palmer / Richard Suart / Welsh National Opera / Sir Charles Mackerras [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 1/Nov/2005 ] "...this anthology is a delight." -Daily Press (Newport News, VA) |
John Metcalfe / Sophie Harris / Richard Pryce / Ralph Salmins
Metcalfe, John - Scorching Bay [ Black Box / CD - released 20/Jun/2004 ] "It is the music's eclecticism that make it "genre-defying". In this respect, John Metcalfe has impeccable credentials. Classically trained, he has an impressive record of non-classical arrangements to his credit including those for Morrissey and... |
BACH / ALBENIZ / TELEMANN / SCARLATTI / COUPERIN / GIULIANI / etc
John Williams - Five Classic Original Album Classics [5 CDs] John Williams (guitar), with John Etheridge (guitar), Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti [ Sony Music / 5 CD Box Set - released 15/Sep/2016 ] John Williams, classical guitar virtuoso, is known for his wide-ranging approach to repertory, which includes appearances playing electric rock guitar and international music. |
COLE PORTER
Cole Porter in Hollywood John Wilson Orchestra, with Anna-Jane Casey, Kim Criswell, Matthew Ford, Sarah Fox, Richard Morrison [ Warner Classics / CD - released 10/Nov/2014 ] Cole Porter is one of the best-known and most prolific composers from the world of twentieth-century jazz, having written over 800 songs, often for the Hollywood stars of his day. His dizzying wordplay combines with a sound redolent of dazzling... |
ELGAR / DELIUS / ARNE / HOLST / WOOD
The Ultimate Last Night of the Proms (rec 1996) Jonathan Carney (violin) / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Richard Cooke [ Royal Philharmonic / CD - released 10/Oct/2008 ] The Ultimate Last Night of the Proms includes legendary pieces such as Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on Greensleeves, Delius's On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and classics such as Rule, Britannia! and Jerusalem. |
ELGAR / DELIUS / ARNE / HOLST / WOOD
The Ultimate Last Night of the Proms (rec 1996) Jonathan Carney (violin) / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Richard Cooke [ Royal Philharmonic / SACD - released 10/Oct/2008 ] The Ultimate Last Night of the Proms includes legendary pieces such as Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on Greensleeves, Delius's On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and classics such as Rule, Britannia! and Jerusalem. |
RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT
Orchestral Works, Volume 1 (Incls 'songs before Sleep') Jonathan Lemalu (baritone) / Paul Watkins (cello) / Philharmonia Orchestra / Richard Hickox (cond) [ Chandos / CD - released 24/Nov/2006 ] 'It's hard to imagine a more beguiling start to this series or a more appealing introduction to Richard Rodney Bennett than this CD…I can't imagine anyone not being enraptured by this CD.' Gramophone |
Josephine Barstow, Julian Forsyth, Sheila Hancock, Richard van Allan / National Symphony Orchestra, John Owen Edwards
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Oliver! - selected highlights [cast recording] [ Showtime! / CD - released 29/Jun/1995 ] A Studio Cast recording from 1991 |
ELGAR
The Light of Life (Lux Christie) Op. 29 Judith Howarth, Linda Finnie / London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Aug/2012 ] 'Hickox's superior Elgarian credentials are immediately established in the glorious orchestral "Meditation", where his conducting demonstrates a noble flexibility, sensitivity to dynamic nuance and feeling for climax that are wholly beguiling'... |
HANDEL
Messiah (highlights recorded in 1967) Judith Raskin, Florence Kopleff, Richard Lewis, Thomas Paul / Robert Shaw Chorale & Orchestra, Robert Shaw [ Sony Classical Masters / CD - released 10/Dec/2011 ] Robert Shaw Chorale, Robert Shaw |
SCULTHORPE
Quamby Karin Schaupp (guitar) Sue-Ellen Paulsen (cello) / Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra / Richard Mills [ ABC Australian Contemporary Series / CD - released 1/Jul/2005 ] Part of the Tasmanian Symphony's Australian Composer Series, this release is the first in the series from Australia's most distinguished and prolific composer Peter Sculthorpe. Calmly lyrical and sentimental, Sculthorpe draws influences from... |
KALMAN
Csardasfurstin (Die) (The Gypsy Princess) (Complete operetta) Karl-Michael Ebner (tenor) Mojca Erdmann (soprano) Heinz Holecek (bass) Yvonne Kenny (soprano) / Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Richard Bonynge [ Naxos Opera Classics SACD / 2 SACD - released 1/Mar/2005 ] Kálmán's great contribution to the musical language of Viennese operetta was to bring to it the brilliant colours, the heady rhythms and the dynamic energy of his native Hungary - not just as an imitator, like so many other composers, but as one who... |
GERSHWIN
Rhapsody in Blue / Piano Concerto / An American in Paris Kathryn Selby (piano) / Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra / Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Richard Hayman (conductor) [ Naxos / CD - released 26/Oct/2005 ] "Kathryn Selby makes a strong showing in the Gershwin Concerto" - Fanfare |