W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 14 & 21 Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens, with Carolyn Sampson (soprano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Dec/2014 ] "[This issue] proves every bit as immediate and lively in musical approach as its predecessors. Brautigam, bearing out his reputation as a musical and intellectual powerhouse, animates every note and phrase marking" (BBC Music) |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 17 & 26 "Coronation" Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kolner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Sep/2012 ] Ronald Brautigam returns with the third instalment in his series of Mozart's piano concertos and is joined again by Die Kölner Akademie conducted by Michael Alexander Willens. The present disc includes Piano Concerto No.26 in D major, K 537,... |
CARL MARIA von WEBER
Weber: Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 5/Mar/2021 ] Ronald Brautigam performs three works that bridge the Classical and the Romantic |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Ciro in Babilonia (complete opera recorded live August 2012) Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro / Ewa Podles, Jessica Pratt, Michael Spyres, Mirco Palazzi / Will Crutchfield (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 20/Feb/2013 ] "Podles makes for a feisty Ciro, her black treacle contralto imperious, even if her coloratura is now a little effortful...Pratt's Amira is excellent...The audience's matinee idol here, though, is Michael Spyres...a bari-tenor if ever there was one!" |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Ciro in Babilonia (complete opera recorded live August 2012) BLU-RAY Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro / Ewa Podles, Jessica Pratt, Michael Spyres, Mirco Palazzi / Will Crutchfield (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Oct/2013 ] "There are few better exponents of this genre of Rossini trouser roles, and this one in particular, than Ewa Podles. Formidable in her vocal range, she makes more than a cardboard character out of the part with outstanding acting and singing"MusicWeb |
HEROLD
La Fille mal Gardee (complete ballet with cheography by Frederick Ashton recorded in 1981) The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden / Lesley Collier / Michael Coleman / John Lanchberry (cond) [ Kultur / NVC Arts / Warner Music Vision / DVD - released 22/Jun/2005 ] G :- Frederick Ashton's delightful ballet has proved irresistible to audiences of all ages and The Royal Ballet's production has immediate appeal for newcomers to ballet as well as for those who return time and again to enjoy its lyrical comedy. |
BERG
Lulu (complete opera recorded in 2009) Royal Opera / Agneta Eichenholz / Michael Volle / Klaus Florian Vogt / Jennifer Larmore / Antonio Pappano (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Aug/2010 ] 2010 Grammy Award nomination - Best Opera recording |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Salome (complete opera recorded in 1992) Royal Opera House / Maria Ewing, Michael Devlin, Kenneth Riegel, Gillian Knight / Edward Downes [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 25/Nov/2015 ] "Maria Ewing is the magnetic anti-heroine in this rather stagey production by her former husband, Peter Hall. With solid support from the other principals and conductor Edward Downes, the result is worthy rather than gripping." (BBC Music) |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Salome (complete opera recorded in 2008) Royal Opera House / Nadja Michael, Thomas Moser, Michaela Schuster / Philippe Jordan (cond) [ BBC / Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Dec/2008 ] "One of the most hotly anticipated, controversial and downright exciting opera productions of this year arrives quickly onto DVD. David McVicar, one of the most in-demand opera directors at work today, produces a visceral, exciting realisation of... |
CHARLES GOUNOD
Gounod: Faust (complete opera recorded in 2019) BLU-RAY The Royal Opera / Michael Fabiano, Erwin Schrott, Irina Lungu) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 26/Mar/2021 ] "Ettinger's approach is dynamic yet supple, pointing up the alternate punch and delicacy of Gounod's admirable scoring." BBC Music Five Stars |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Michael Volle Michael Volle, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Georg Fritzsch [ Orfeo / CD - released 23/Jun/2017 ] |
MAHLER
Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth) Ruxandra Donose (mezzo-soprano) Thomas Harper (tenor) / Ireland National Symphony Orchestra / Michael Halasz, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 16/Nov/2004 ] "All in all this is an amazing bargain" - Gramophone |
RSO Saarbrücken / Stern, Michael
Ives, Charles - Symphony No.3 [ Col Legno / CD - released 18/Sep/2017 ] |
GEORG ANTON BENDA
Harpsichord Concertos Sabine Bauer (Harpsichord) / La Stagione Frankfurt / Michael Schneider [ CPO SACD / CD - released 30/Nov/2007 ] CPO presents the enthralling harpsichord concertos of Georg Anton Benda in surround sound. These magnificent works, probably composed around 1780-90, place the highest technical demands on the virtuoso soloist Sabine Bauer, and she more than rises to... |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Fierrabras (complete opera recorded in 2014) BLU-RAY Salzburg Festival / Michael Schade, Julia Kleiter, Benjamin Bernheim, Dorothea Röschmann / Ingo Metzmacher (cond) [ C Major / Blu-ray Disc - released 25/Oct/2015 ] Fierrabras of 1823 is the last of Franz Schubert's stage works. Rarely performed to this day, this heroic-romantic opera has now been staged for the first time ever at the Salzburg Festival by famous director Peter Stein. |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Salzburg Festival / Michael Volle, Roberto Sacca, Anna Gabler, Peter Sonn, Georg Zeppenfeld / Daniele Gatti [ EuroArts / Unitel Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Mar/2016 ] "Gatti seeks to match Herheim's production with initially chamber-like sonorities then a gradual upping both dynamics a colour for street brawl and singing contest." (Gramophone) |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Blu-ray) Salzburg Festival / Monika Bohinec, Anna Gabler, Roberto Saccà, Peter Sonn, Michael Volle / Wiener Philharmoniker, Daniele Gatti [ EuroArts Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 15/Jul/2022 ] "A fresh, charming and perceptive production, magical and irresistible!" (New York Times) "All narrative and poetry is nothing but the key to true dreams" (Hans Sachs). |
LEOS JANACEK
Janacek: The Cunning Little Vixen (complete opera) (with Fabrice Bollon: Twelve Lilies for Leoš) Samantha Gaul (sop) Michael Borth (bar) Irina Jae-Eun Park (sop) / Cantus Juvenum Karlsruhe, Members of the Opernchor des Theater Freiburg [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 7/Jul/2023 ] Fabrice Bollon's Janáček project was developed during the COVID lockdown when the use of large orchestras was forbidden. Bollon wrote a version of The Cunning Little Vixen for twelve instruments - not a reduction but an imaginative recreation... |
GEORGE GERSHWIN
Show Boat (Complete musical recorded in 2014) BLU-RAY San Francisco Opera / Heidi Stober, Michael Todd Simpson, Kirsten Wyatt, John Bolton / John DeMain (conductor) [ EuroArts San Francisco Opera Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2015 ] "A triumph-a stylish, fast-paced and colorful show that had the capacity audience on its feet, cheering loud and long" (Chicago Classical Review) |
DONIZETTI / BELLINI
Bel Canto Operas: Lucrezia Borgia / I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Complete operas recorded 2011/12) San Francisco Opera / Renée Fleming, Michael Fabiano, Elizabeth DeShong, Joyce DiDonato, Nicole Cabell / Riccardo Frizza (conductor) [ EuroArts San Francisco Opera DVD / 4 DVD Box Set - released 1/Oct/2016 ] "Fleming seems fired by the theatricality of a reviled female character who commands every dramatic situation she encounters...DeShong is a powerful vocal and dramatic presence as Orsini" (Gramophone) |