EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Enigma Variations (with Holst - The Planets) London Symphony Orchestra / London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult [ Warner Classics Masters / CD - released 1/Nov/2010 ] "This is a desirable reissue that cannot be faulted. Wonderful performances of two orchestral masterworks." (MusicWeb Jan 2011) |
WILLIAM WALTON
Walton: Symphony No 1 London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Colin Davis (conductor) [ LSO Live / SACD - released 19/Jun/2006 ] "A scorching performace from Sir Colin casts new light on Walton. Only one question everyone will be asking here - is it as good as Previn's? Different, but no less exciting. Davis again proves that he has lost none of his fire when it comes to the... |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony No. 9 London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti [ ABC Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 20/Jul/2017 ] "All in all, a superb issue of the symphony." Gramophone |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos 1 & 4 'Italian' London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ LSO Live SACD + BLU-RAY AUDIO / 2 CD/Blu-ray Disc - released 10/Sep/2016 ] "Gardiner's Mendelssohn is as genial as it gets." (Sunday Times) |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 107 'Reformation' / Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage / Ruy Blas London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ LSO Live SACD + BLU-RAY AUDIO / 2 CD/Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jun/2014 ] "Like all of Gardiner's live cycles of the Mendelssohn symphonies at the Barbican, this one comes across with pace, clarity and flaming-eyed conviction" (Financial Times) |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Semele (complete musical drama) Louise Alder, Hugo Hymas, Lucile Richardot, Carlo Vistoli, etc / The English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ SDG / 3 CD Box Set - released 2/Oct/2020 ] "A new recording is always welcome, especially when it comes from someone who knows his dramatical business as John Eliot Gardiner does." Gramophone Editor's Choice Sept 2020 |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Semele (complete opera recorded in 2019) Louise Alder, Hugo Hymas, Lucile Richardot / Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 29/Jan/2021 ] In Spring 2019, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, led by John Eliot Gardiner, presented a critically-acclaimed European tour of Handel's opera 'Semele', including Alexandra Palace Theatre in London, where this live recording took... |
SIR LENNOX BERKELEY
Berkeley Conducts Berkeley: Mont Juic / Serenade / Divertimenti / etc London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Lennox Berkeley, with Roger Winfield (oboe) [ Lyrita / CD ] "Berkeley was typical of the English composers whom Lyrita championed in the 1970s, and this beautifully planned collection introduces some of the most elegant and enjoyable music that he ever wrote...The recording, from the early 1970s, is first... |
LEOS JANACEK
Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen, Sinfonietta Lucy Crowe (Vixen), Gerald Finley (Forester), Sophia Burgos (Fox), London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle [ LSO Live / 2 CD - released 4/Sep/2020 ] "All in all, an outstanding release, and a rewarding celebration of this wonderful composer's art." Gramophone Editor's Choice Oct 2020 |
VICTOR HERBERT
Herbert: Cello Concertos / Operetta Spectacular Lynn Harrell (cello) / Academy of St Martin in the Fields Sir Neville Marriner / Kingsway Symphony Orchestra, Camarata [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 25/Mar/2019 ] Born in Dublin, Victor Herbert began his career as a cellist in Germany, playing for Eduard Strauss, for Brahms and Liszt, and emigrated to the US as principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera. It was in that capacity that he composed the second of... |
EDWARD ELGAR
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Elgar: Cello Concerto & Violin Concerto Lynn Harrell (cello) Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, Kyung Wha Chung (violin) London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti [ Decca The World of British Classics / CD - released 14/Apr/1994 ] Two classic performances on one budget CD |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: "Haffner" Serenade / "Serenata Notturna" Prague Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras [ Telarc / CD - released 22/Sep/2003 ] Recorded in The Hall of Artists, Prague. July, 1987 |
BELA BARTOK / LUCIANO BERIO / MAURICE RAVEL / XAVIER MONTSALVATGE
Kozená: Folk Songs Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano), Czech Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle [ Pentatone / CD - released 16/Feb/2024 ] Magdalena Kozena's fourth Pentatone album Folk Songs brings together folk-inspired song cycles from across the globe. Ranging from Berio's Folk Songs to sets by Bartok, Ravel and Montsalvatge, this collection provides a kaleidoscope of... |
CHAUSSON / DVORAK / BRAHMS / STRAVINSKY / RAVEL
Soirée - Magdalena Kozena & Friends Magdalena Kožená (mezzo), Sir Simon Rattle (piano), Rahel Rilling (violin), Wolfram Brandl (violin), Yulia Deyneka (viola), David Adorjan (cello) [ Pentatone / CD - released 13/Sep/2019 ] Soirée captures the atmosphere of informal, domestic music making. Czech star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená offers an intimate and highly personal collection of international songs together with an outstanding group of musical friends, including Sir... |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Symphony No 1 (with Balakirev - Tamara) Mark Padmore, Sally Matthews, Kate Royal, Bernarda Fink, Andrew Staples / London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle [ LSO Live SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 9/Sep/2016 ] "this release completes a superb Rachmaninov symphony cycle…it's a taut, gripping account, Gergiev often pushing the accelerator harder than Mariss Jansons and Mikhail Pletnev" Gramophone |
SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES / SIR ANDRZEJ PANUFNIK
Symphonies No. 10 Markus Butter (baritone) / London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Antonio Pappano [ LSO Live SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 20/Aug/2015 ] "It's a big, deeply reflective statement, its matter and form based on the life and work of the Italian baroque architect Francesco Borromini, some of whose words Davies sets. Pappano, the baritone Markus Butter and the LSO perform it brilliantly." |
J. S. BACH
Cantatas Matthias Goerne (baritone) / Salzburger Bachchor & Camerata Academica Salzburg, Sir Roger Norrington [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 20/May/2015 ] The bass voice (basso, encompassing both baritone and bass in our modern terminology) occupies a special place in Bach's sacred vocal music. As the two great Passion settings testify, it was the solo bass that represented the vox Christi or 'voice of... |
JOSEF HAYDN
The Seasons (Die Jahreszeiten) complete oratorio sung in German Miah Persson / Jeremy Ovenden / Andrew Foster-Williams / London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus / Sir Colin Davis [ LSO Live / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 1/Dec/2011 ] |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven - Complete Piano Concertos BLU-RAY Murray Perahia (piano) / Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner [ EuroArts / Unitel Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jun/2016 ] Murray Perahia, winner of the Grammy Award in 1989, 1999 and 2003, is often described as an aristocratof a piano, is performing Beethoven´s piano concertos 1-5 with eloquent phrasing, beautiful tone and poetic sensitivity, that became a trademark of... |