BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 / Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 Emanuel Ax (piano) / San Francisco Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas [ San Francisco Symphony / Hybrid SACD - released 23/Aug/2011 ] "This pairing is a sure-fire winner - two of Beethoven's most venerated works, performed by musicians of acute sensibility and enviable faculties of interpretation...We expect the impossible from fresh recordings of the Fifth Symphony nowadays...but... |
CHOPIN / GLUCK / GRANADOS / HAYDN / HINDEMITH / MENDELSSOHN / etc
The Emanuel Feuermann Edition: The Complete English Columbia Recordings & Early German Parlophone Recordings Emanuel Feuermann (cello) with Michael Taube (piano), Gerald Moore (piano), Theo van der Pas (piano), etc [ Heritage / 4 CD Box Set - released 4/Oct/2013 ] The first Heritage release to re-issue material from the Pearl catalogue. This 4 CD set brings together the complete English Columbia recordings and rare, early German Parlophone recordings of Emanuel Feuermann. Feuermann is the cellist's cellist par... |
JOSEPH HAYDN / ANTONIN DVORAK
Haydn/Dvorak: Cello Concertos Emanuel Feuermann (cello) / Symphony Orchestra / Malcolm Sargent / Berlin State Opera Orchestra / Michael Taube [ Naxos Historical Great Cellists / CD - released 3/Mar/2002 ] "the beauty of Feuermann's playing impresses mightily." Audiophile Audition (Robert Moon), May, 2000 |
J.S. BACH
St Matthew Passion (complete oratorio) [with bonus DVD of performance of Messiah] Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance / King's College Choir / Directed by Stephen Cleobury [ Brilliant Classics CD/DVD / 3 CD/DVD - released 1/Apr/2011 ] 'The choir of King's College are on top form throughout…so, too, are the excellent obbligato performances from the Brandenburg Consort.' Gramophone 2003 |
J. S. BACH
St. Matthew Passion / St. John Passion / Mass in B minor / Easter & Christmas Oratorios Emma Kirkby, Catherine Bott, Michael Chance, Paul Agnew, Martyn Hill, John Mark Ainsley / various conductors [ Brilliant Classics / 9 CD Box Set - released 20/Jul/2012 ] "This boxed set is perfect for those people wishing to get to know Bach's Passions. Cleobury's performances of the St. Matthew and the St. John are good steady musical performances. Many people will be attracted to this disc by the name of King's... |
J.S. BACH
Early Cantatas :-Volume 1 Emma Kirkby (soprano) Michael Chance (counter-tenor) Charles Daniels (tenor) Peter Harvey (baritone) / The Purcell Quartet [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Feb/2005 ] 'For sheer brilliance of technique, the Purcell Quartet and friends take the biscuit.' International Record Review |
BUXTEHUDE
Membra jesu nostri / Laudate, pueri, Dominum (with Weckmann - Kommet her zu mir alle) Emma Kirkby (soprano) Michael Chance (counter-tenor) Charles Daniels (tenor) Peter Harvey (bass) / Purcell Quartet [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Nov/2010 ] "Charles Daniels's soft high tenor has a hushed devotional character...The Purcell Quartet play with reliable stylishness." (Gramophone) |
BUXTEHUDE
Sacred Cantatas - Volume 2 Emma Kirkby (soprano) / Michael Chance (counter-tenor) / Charles Daniels (tenor) / Peter Harvey (bass) / Purcell Quartet [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Aug/2005 ] "If Buxtehude cantatas are the object of your enthusiasm, this disc provides a good number of them performed by some of the best early music specialists out there. They are a homogeneous bunch of works, so listening to the disc in one sitting borders... |
J.S. BACH
Early Cantatas, volume 2 (Weimar) Emma Kirkby (soprano) / Michael Chance (counter-tenor) / Charles Daniels (tenor) / Peter Harvey (bass) / The Purcell Quartet [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Jun/2007 ] "This undirected group of soloists and instrumentalists works together with impressive cohesiveness. Without the sense - which in other kinds of performance one can never quite escape, for good or ill - of the personality and interpretative of a... |
J.S. BACH
Early Cantatas, volume 3 (Weimar) Emma Kirkby (soprano) / Michael Chance (counter-tenor) / Charles Daniels (tenor) / Peter Harvey (bass) / The Purcell Quartet [ Chandos Chaconne / 2 CD - released 1/Oct/2008 ] This 2-CD set with The Purcell Quartet and a distinguished group of soloists is the third in a series devoted to Bach's early cantatas and the second focussing on the Weimar period. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Michael Tilson Thomas Conducts Beethoven English Chamber Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, with Éva Marton (soprano) [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 13/Mar/2020 ] "Ormandy's reading generates excitement through exact accentuation as well as vibrant instrumental color and striking ensemble balances. You'd expect to hear the piano clearly at the start of the first-movement development section, but it makes a... |
MICHAEL MAIER
Atalanta Fugiens Ensemble Plus Ultra / Michael Noone [ Glossa / CD - released 18/Aug/2011 ] "The uppermost lines represent Atalanta and Hippomenes, while the cantus firmus, from a Gregorian plainsong, signifies the apples Hippomenes rolled in Atalanta's way during their race, enabling him to pass her and win her hand in marriage. Michael... |
GUERRERO
Missa Super flumina Babylonis Ensemble Plus Ultra, Schola Antiqua & His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts / Michael Noone [ Glossa / CD - released 1/Oct/2009 ] "…an enjoyable glimpse at some glittering treasures of the Golden Age of Spanish music." BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 **** |
ANONYMOUS
Chominciamento di Gioia (Beginning of Joy) - Virtuoso Dance Music from the Time of Boccaccio's Decamerone Ensemble Unicorn / Oni Wytars / Michael Posch / Marco Ambrosini [ Naxos / CD ] "A delight to listen to and shows intelligent musician ship of a very high order. "The beginning of joy", the title of the record itself, says it all." Gramophone |
ALEXANDER AGRICOLA
Fortuna Desperata Ensemble Unicorn, Michael Posch [ Naxos Early Music / CD - released 21/Sep/2011 ] "This disc would be indispensable at full price, let alone super-budget. It really is a must-have." (Gramophone Classical Music Guide) |
MUSIC OF THE TROUBADOURS
Music Of The Troubadours Ensemble Unicorn / Oni Wytars / Michael Posch / Marco Ambrosini [ Naxos Early Music / CD - released 1/Jan/2010 ] Oni Wytars Ensemble; Unicorn Ensemble, Michael Posch |
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Stabat Mater, Op. 58 Eri Nakamura (soprano), Elisabeth Kulman (contralto), Michael Spyres (tenor), Jongmin Park (bass) / Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek [ Decca / 2 CD - released 1/Jul/2017 ] "[Bělohlávek's] relaxed though steadfast approach is immediately apparent…the Prague Philharmonic Choir's contributions are disciplined and impassioned…[the solo quartet] are uniformly superb." (Gramophone) |
JOHN DOWLAND / HILDEGARD von BINGEN
The Troubadour & The Nunn Evelyn Tubb (soprano) with Michael Fields & David Thatcher [ Etcetera / CD - released 28/May/2008 ] This CD is a collection of music inspired by the sacred and secular aspects of womanhood. Evelyn Tubb is one of the outstanding sopranos of her generation, widely admired for her innovative performances. |
BRITTEN
Les Illuminations, Op. 18 / Quatre Chansons franASaises / Serenade,Op. 31 Felicity Lott (soprano) Anthony Rolfe Johnson (tenor) Michael Thompson (horn) / Scottish National Orchestra / Bryden Thomson [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 5/May/2004 ] 'These are profoundly sympathetic performances, with Lott at her best in the 14-year-old composer's precocious settings of Hugo and Verlaine. Bryden Thomson and the RSNO support attentively, and the recordings are truthful and atmostpheric in the... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
The Golden Age of The Romantic Piano Concerto [20 CD + CD Rom] Felicja Blumental, Michael Ponti, Jerome Rose, Marylène Dosse, Eugene List (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / 21 CD Box Set - released 10/Feb/2010 ] For many of the works in this collection, these recordings were the world premiers. In the 1960s and 70s the Vox Candide and Turnabout labels did much to enrich the collector's knowledge and appreciation of the bywaters of the repertoire. |