CORNYSH / RICHAFORT / ANONYMOUS
The Tudors: To Entertain a King - Music for Henry VIII and his Court Purcell Consort of Voices, Musica Reservata, Michael Morrow & Grayston Burgess [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Nov/2015 ] "The songs … are very good music indeed, and anyone who has not yet come across Pastime with good company, or I am a jolly foster should make their acquaintance forthwith, for their tunes are full of vigour." (Gramophone) |
Randy Brecker with Michael Brecker
Some Skunk Funk [ Telarc SACD / SACD - released 4/Jul/2006 ] This is a multi-channel, dual-layer SACD-Hybrid disc, which is playable on all CD players, and offers fantastic sound quality! |
BLAKE / KEATS / WORDSWORTH / SHELLEY / BYRON / CLARE / COLERIDGE
Great Poets of the Romantic Age Read by Michael Sheen [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 24/Oct/2000 ] The Tyger… I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud… Ode to the West Wind… The Rime of the Ancient Mariner… Ode to a Nightingale… We'll go no more a-roving… The Peasant Poet 'All good poetry,' wrote Wordsworth, 'is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings'... |
OSCAR WILDE
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Abridged) Read by Michael Sheen [ Naxos Audiobooks / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Mar/2007 ] Murder, intrigue, decay of the body and soul - The Picture of Dorian Gray is far removed from the popular view of Oscar Wilde as a writer of delicate social comedy. |
RICHARD STRAUSS
4 Last Songs / 6 Lieder / Ariadne auf Naxos (excerpts) Ricarda Merbeth (soprano) / Weimar Staatskapelle / Michael Halasz [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Mar/2008 ] "Undoubtedly thrilling and the complete Brentano with a tremendous reading of Lied der Frauen lends further importance to this disc" (MusicWeb Recording of the Month Feb 2008) |
OTTORINO RESPIGHI / WILLIAM LOVELOCK / FRANCIS POULENC
Respighi/Lovelock/Poulenc: Organ Concertos Robert Boughen (organ) Michael Dudman (organ) / Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Vanco Cavdarski, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Patrick Thomas [ ABC Eloquence / CD - released 18/Aug/1994 ] Three classic works for organ and orchestra. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 'Choral' Robert Holzer (bass) Gabriele Lechner (soprano) Michael Pabst (tenor) Diane Elias (mezzo) / Zagreb Philharmonic Chorus & Orchestra, Richard Edlinger [ Naxos / CD - released 30/Jun/1990 ] The Austrian conductor Richard Edlinger was born in Bregenz in 1958 and directed his first concerts at the age of seventeen. He completed his studies at the Vienna Academy in conducting and composition in 1982. |
FRANCESCO DURANTE
Neapolitan Music for Christmas Vol. 1 Robert Mameli / Ursula Eittinger / Andreas Post / Stephan MacLeod / Koelner Akademie / Michael Alexander Willens [ CPO Records / CD - released 26/Oct/2011 ] Durante was one of the great Neapolitan church composers and teachers during the first half of the eighteenth century in Naples. He chose to focus on sacred music and his Magnificat in B flat major is doubtless the best known, most beloved, most... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello & Piano Robin Michael (cello), Daniel Tong (fortepiano) [ Resonus / 2 CD - released 6/Mar/2020 ] Cello and piano duo Robin Michael and Daniel Tong return to Resonus with this dazzling collection of the complete works for cello and piano of Ludwig van Beethoven. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Ceremonial Music for Trumpet & Organ Rolf Smedvig (trumpet) Michael Murray (organ) [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 20/Jun/2007 ] "The Fourth always seemed like suitable territory for this conductor. And so it proves. A mass of detail and colour is unearthed by his fine Atlanta orchestra." - Gramophone |
GABRIEL URBAIN FAURE
Fauré - Poulenc: Works for Piano & Orchestra Romain Descharmes (piano), Malmö Opera Orchestra, Michael Halász [ Naxos / CD - released 11/Oct/2024 ] There are fruitful contrasts in the works for piano and orchestra of these two French composers. Gabriel Fauré's Ballade in F sharp major is graceful and serene but ends with a Lisztian flourish, whereas his neglected Fantaisie, though modestly... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: The Piano Concertos Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] "Brautigam and Willens are alive to Beethoven's every indication on the page..Original, stylish and authoritative, this concerto set is a worthy and thought-provoking contribution to the recordings marking the Beethoven year" Gramophone |
W. A. MOZART
Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4 "Pasticcio Concertos" Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Oct/2016 ] "Brautigam's interpretations are individual without being wayward or eccentric, for he ignores the accepted norms of performance and starts from the score itself...on the basis of this first installment I would urge anyone to invest in this new... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 15 & 16 / Rondo in D Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 20/Feb/2015 ] "The series's central sources of strength remains Ronald Brautigam's muscular yet sensitively nuanced command of of Mozartian discourse in every aspect: for instance, his straightfoward accounts of both concerto Andantes both show strong personal ins |
W. A. MOZART
Piano Concertos Nos 18 & 22 Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 22/Feb/2014 ] "While Brautigam and Willens have sometims tended to favour tempos distinctly on the fast side, that isn't the case here: these are finely-judged performances throughout, in which every detail counts. Brautigam contributes an impressive cadenza to K |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 19 & 23 Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Feb/2013 ] Ronald Brautigam has been described as 'an absolutely instinctive Mozartian… with melodic playing of consummate beauty' (International Record Review), supported by the period orchestra Die Kölner Akademie in a partnership which more than one reviewer... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 27 Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 2/Apr/2013 ] "Brautigam's performance is certainly refreshing...swiftness is a feature of all the performances here...His articulation is a model of clarity, his passagework powerfully directed." (Gramophone) |
W. A. MOZART
Piano Concertos Nos. 5 & 6 / Three Concertos K 107 Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 15/Feb/2016 ] On the final stretch of their series of Mozart's piano concertos, Ronald Brautigam, Michael Willens and Die Kölner Akademie are working their way backwards through the composer's catalogue. Here, on the penultimate disc, they have reached the... |
W. A. MOZART
Piano Concertos Nos 8, 11 & 13 Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 25/Oct/2015 ] This is the ninth instalment in Ronald Brautigam's series of the complete piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As on previous discs, Brautigam - whose 'muscular yet sensitively nuanced command of Mozartian discourse' (BBC Music Magazine) - is... |
W. A. MOZART
Piano Concertos Nos. 9 & 12 / Rondo for Piano & Orchestra in A Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2010 ] "What's impressive about [Brautigam's] playing is not just its sprightliness, but also its expressive character...If you prefer your Mozart played on period instruments, you're unlikely to find better performances than these." (BBC Music) |