DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 13 & 15 (with Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death) Sergei Aleksashkin (bass) Men of the Chicago Symphony Chorus / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Sir Georg Solti [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2007 ] Solti came late in life to the music of Shostakovich, and in his introduction to the recording of the Thirteenth Symphony (reprinted in the booklet) explains the music's effect on him. These rare recordings have long been out of the catalogue, and... |
EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Cello Concerto / etc Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle [ Decca / CD - released 31/Jan/2020 ] Award-winning British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason returns with Elgar, a brand new album of works anchored around Elgar's Cello Concerto - arguably the best-known work in the classical canon written for solo cello. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Otello (complete opera recorded in 2009) Simon O'Neill, Gerald Finley, Anne Schwanewilms / London Symphony Chorus & London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis [ LSO Live SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 15/Oct/2010 ] "O'Neill is an unusual Otello in that he is so unequivocally a tenor, with no hint of baritone in his timbre...the playing is alert and sensitive to drama and text." Gramophone Award Finalist 2011 - Opera |
JOSEF HAYDN
Symphonies No. 31 & No. 45 'Farewell' Orchestra of St. Luke's, Sir Charles Mackerras [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 25/Aug/2003 ] "Sir Charles Mackerras' performance with the Orchestra of St. Luke's is first rate. His is a cohesive overall conception...The sound is warm, full and crystal clear." -Classical Music |
HANDEL
Water Music Sir Charles Mackerras / Orchestra of St. Luke's [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 1/Dec/2002 ] "The playing and recording are brilliant, the music breathless." -Stereo Review |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handelbars: Excerpts from Handel's Water Music, Concerti Grossi, Messiah & Royal Fireworks Sir Charles Mackerras / Orchestra of St. Luke's / Robert Shaw & others [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 14/Jul/2005 ] Featuring many of Telarc's outstanding artists, this release contains selections from both the instrumental and vocal repertoire of Handel. |
W.A. MOZART
The Best of Mozart Sir Charles Mackerras / Prague Chamber Orchestra / Robert Shaw & others [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 14/Jul/2005 ] Perhaps no other composer is more beloved than Mozart. For two centuries, the works of Mozart have enchanted even the most casual classical music listener. |
Sir Charles Thompson/The Hawk
For The Ears [ Ace Records U.K. / CD ] |
WAGNER
Parsifal (Complete opera recorded in 1985) Sir Donald McIntyre, Waltrud Meier, Phillip Joll, Warren Ellsworth, Chorus and orchestra of the Welsh National Opera / Reginald Goodall [ EMI The Opera Series / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2011 ] Parsifal was Wagner's last and many say most accomplished opera, the culmination of the development of the emotional intensity of the German Romantic movement. |
Sir Douglas Quintet
Live From Austin, TX [ New West Records / CD - released 28/Apr/2006 ] |
Sir Douglas Quintet
Live Texas Tornado [ Ace Records U.K. / CD ] |
Wagner, Ri
Die Walküre /I. Aufzug Sir Georg Solti [ ORFEO / CD - released 21/Oct/1999 ] |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Georg Solti - The Legacy 1937-1997 (2 CD set) Sir Georg Solti (conductor) with various performers [ Decca Classics / 2 CD - released 25/Oct/2012 ] This 2-CD set contains 150 minutes of many previously unpublished live recordings and unpublished studio items spanning Sir Georg Solti's entire professional career as well as his 50-year exclusive association with Decca. |
WILLIAM MATHIAS
Ave Rex, A Carol Sequence / Elegy for a Prince / This WorldeAEs Joie Sir Geraint Evans (bass-baritone) Janet Price (soprano) Kenneth Bowen (ten) / The Bach Choir / London Symphony Orchestra / New Philharmonia Orchestra [ Lyrita / CD - released 20/Aug/2008 ] "Willcocks and Atherton conduct with vigour and care for detail, and the recordings are admirably clean" Gramophone |
W.A. MOZART
My Magic Flute Sir James Galway (flute & conductor) with Lady Jeanne Galway (flute) Catrin Finch (harp) Sinfonia Varsovia [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 1/Oct/2006 ] Sir James Galway, 'the undisputed monarch of the flute' (Dallas Star-Telegram), teams up with Catrin Finch, 'the queen of harps' (Classic FM Magazine), and his wife, accomplished flutist Lady Jeanne Galway, for a joint Mozart extravaganza. |
Sir Jimmy Shand
The Accordian World of the Legendary Jimmy Shand [ CD - released 21/Apr/2010 ] |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: Symphony No 2 'Lobgesang' Lucy Crowe (soprano), Jurgita Adamonyté (mezzo), Michael Spyres (tenor) London Symphony Orchestra, Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ LSO Live SACD + BLU-RAY AUDIO / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 22/Sep/2017 ] "The 44-strong Monteverdi Choir launch into 'Die Nacht ist vergangen' with real joy as day arrives...The final choral fugue is genuinely uplifting, a splendid way to conclude Gardiner's splendid cycle" Gramophone Editor's Choice Oct 2017 |
SCHUMANN
Schumann: Symphonies Nos 1 & 3 Sir John Eliot Gardiner London Symphony Orchestra [ LSO / CD - released 21/Feb/2020 ] The second album in Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Schumann series with the London Symphony Orchestra travels from glorious fanfare to dream-like passages with the lively Spring and Rhenish symphonies. From the dramatic first trumpet-call which awakens... |
WILLIAM WALTON
Richard III: A Shakespeare Scenario / Major Barbara: A Shavian Sequence / etc Sir John Gielgud (narrator) / Academy of St Martin in the Fields / Sir Neville Marriner [ Chandos / CD - released 30/Nov/2007 ] Among the sumptuous and deeply romantic music on this disc is the substantial selection from Walton's score for Richard III; colourful and richly detailed music, the suite is conducted by Sir Neville Marriner and makes a fitting tribute to William... |
WALTON
Richard III: A Shakespeare Scenario / Major Barbara: A Shavian Sequence Sir John Gielgud (narrator) / Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields / Neville Marriner [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 1/Sep/2007 ] 'The Chandos series of William Walton Film Music is simply and obviously certain to be a great classic of recording art. It serves all the higher purposes of truly distinguished record-making: not only are all aspects of performance and recording... |