HECTOR BERLIOZ
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Berlioz: Beatrice et Benedict (Complete opera) Janet Baker, Robert Tear, Christiane Eda-Pierre, Thomas Allen, Helen Watts, London Symphony Orchestra. Sir Colin Davis [ Philips / 2 CD - released 5/May/2005 ] Dame Janet Baker and Robert Tear lead an outstanding cast in this classic recording of Berlioz' operatic setting of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, under the baton of the distinguished Berlioz conductor Sir Colin Davis. |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Ein Deutches Requiem [German Requiem] Op. 45 Janet Williams, Thomas Hampson / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim [ Warner Classics Apex / CD - released 7/Feb/2011 ] "Barenboim's Chicago reading is grippingly compulsive." Penguin Stereo Guide |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Handel: Messiah (highlights) Jennifer Vyvyan, Monica Sinclair, Jon Vickers, Giorgio Tozzi / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Thomas Beecham [ RCA Victor 60+ / CD - released 20/Jan/1993 ] "unquestionably the grandest recorded version...stupendous singing." New York Times |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia [The Barber of Seville] (Complete Opera recorded in 1992) Jerry Hadley, Bruno Praticò, Susanne Mentzer, Thomas Hampson, Samuel Ramey / Orchestra della Toscana, Gianluigi Gelmetti [ EMI Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 10/Dec/1993 ] "..an absolutely complete text (the recent critical edition by Alberto Zedda is used) shorn of the accretions of nearly 200 years, and singers of the calibre of Thomas Hampson and Samuel Ramey." Classical-Music |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Lohengrin (Complete Opera recorded in 1964) Jess Thomas, Elisabeth Grummer, Christa Ludwig, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Wiener Philharmoniker, Rudolf Kempe [ Warner Classics Home of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/2016 ] "The playing of the orchestra is absolutely glorious throughout, the choral singing is very good and, often, very beautiful, the cast is excellent and the overall interpretation provides the required theatrical immediacy and tension" (Gramophone) |
RICHARD WAGNER
Jess Thomas sings Wagner Jess Thomas (tenor) / Orchestras conducted by Walter Born, Herbert von Karajan & Wolfgang Sawallisch [ Deutsche Grammophon SBS Eloquence / CD - released 1/Sep/2013 ] "Mr. Thomas sings, and sings most sensitively, producing a steady flow of pleasing tone. He sings with intelligence and musicianship, too." (Gramophone) |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Complete Songs Marie Mclaughlin (soprano) Graham Johnson (piano) with Thomas Hampson/ [ Hyperion Complete Schubert Edition Vol 13 / CD ] 'This is an archive of glorious Lieder singing as much as it is a definitive treasury of the greatest Lieder ever composed' (The Guardian). |
DANIEL-FRANCOIS-ESPRIT AUBER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Auber: La Muette de Portici (complete opera) June Anderson, Alfredo Kraus, John Aler / Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Thomas Fulton [ EMI Classics / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] La muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici, or The Dumb Girl of Portici), also called Masaniello in some versions, is an opera in five acts by Daniel Auber, with a libretto by Germain Delavigne, revised by Eugène Scribe. |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Lohengrin (Complete opera with libretto ) Karl Ridderbusch, James King, Gundula Janowitz, Thomas Stewart / Bavarian Radio Chorus,Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Rafael Kubelik [ Deutsche Grammophon / 3 CD Box Set - released 6/Sep/2003 ] "Gundula Janowitz is an ideally innocent, vulnerable Elsa - far more so than Sharon Sweet for Davis, while Thomas Stewart and Gwyneth Jones as Telramund and Ortrud make a formidable pair of villains." (BBC Music) |
Keith Jarrett: piano, Michelle Makarski : violin. Marcia Butler : oboe. Patricia McCarty : viola. The Fairfield Orchestra / Thomas Crawford : conduct
Keith Jarrett - Bridge of Light (Elegy for Violin and String Orchestra ; Bridge of Light for Viola and Orchestra ; etc) [ ECM Records / CD ] Recorded March 1993 |
GIAN CARLO MENOTTI
Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors / My Christmas Kirsten Gunlogson (soprano) Ike Hawkersmith (treble) Todd Thomas (baritone) / Chicago Symphony Chorus / Nashville Symphony Orchestra / Alastair Willis [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Dec/2008 ] "Naxos have done well to bring such a strong performance to the catalogue at budget price. It all adds up to a fine seasonal treat to be enjoyed with a cup of mulled wine and a mince pie." (MusicWeb Jan 2009) |
BELA BARTOK
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bartok: Violin Concerto No. 2 / Rhapsodies Nos. 1 & 2 Kyoko Takezawa (violin) / London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas [ Sony / RCA Classical Masters / CD - released 1/Jun/1993 ] Born in Ōbu, Aichi, she started her training in Japan as a part of the Suzuki Method program and was part of a tour of the United States. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School (1989) where her teacher was Dorothy DeLay. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Lea Desandre - Idylle Lea Desandre (mezzo) Thomas Dunford (lute) [ Erato / CD - released 13/Oct/2023 ] "...Idylle pips it for the range of expression, control, and purity of soprano Desandre's singing, which she uses on these French love songs spanning several centuries. It's not every day you hear Satie played on the lute, either." NZ Listener 2023 |
Leon Thomas
Blues And The Soulful Truth (LP) [ LP - released 7/Oct/2022 ] Digitally remastered edition of this 1972 release. His fifth album, Blues And the Soulful Truth is often considered to be Thomas' classic album. Aimed at a crossover market, producer Bob Thiele allied the singer with James Brown's bandleader... |
Leon Thomas
Full Circle (Gatefold LP) [ Flying Dutchman / Ace Records LP / LP - released 30/Jun/2023 ] Leon Thomas was the definitive jazz vocalist of the 1970s and his albums for Flying Dutchman are all classics. Although he had started his career in Count Basie's band in the early 60s, by the latter part of the decade he had become an essential... |
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Bernstein: Candide Leonardo Capalbo (Candide), Jane Archibald (Cunegonde), Anne Sofie von Otter (Old Lady), Thomas Allen (Dr Pangloss/Narrator) LSO, Marin Alsop [ LSO / 2 CD - released 29/Oct/2021 ] Marin Alsop conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in a new recording of Leonard Bernstein's comic operetta based on Voltaire's satirical novella, in a performance that is full of dry wit, absurd humour, and stirring optimism. Marin Alsop leads... |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Handel: La Resurrezione, HWV47 (complete oratorio recorded in 1989) Lisa Saffer, Judith Nelson, Patricia Spence, Jeffrey Thomas, Michael George Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD Box Set - released 16/Jan/1997 ] Recorded at the Berkeley Festival, University of California at Berkeley, June 15 & 17, 1989 |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL, arr BEECHAM
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Handel arr. Beecham: The Gods Go A'Begging' / The Great Elopement / etc London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham [ Dutton / CD - released 20/Aug/1996 ] Digitally remastered from the original 78rpm shellac pressings |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Prokofiev: Symphonies Nos 1 "Classical" & 5 / Lieutenant Kije / Cinderella [excepts] / etc Los Angeles Philharmonic & London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas & Andrew Davis [ Sony Masterworks / 2 CD - released 1/Jul/1997 ] Originally recorded 1976, 1983 & 1992 |
ANTONIN DVORAK
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Dvorak: Requiem Lotte Hovman, Stephen Milling, Nina Pavlovski, Thomas Poulsen Kragh / Akademisk Kor, Akademisk Orkester, Morten Topp [ Scandinavian Classics / 2 CD - released 30/Jan/2002 ] Morten Topp was educated as a conductor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and studied music at the University of Copenhagen. He also trained with Arvid Janssons at the Music Academy in St. Petersburg. Topp currently lectures at the University of... |