FRANCIS POULENC
Poulenc: Gloria / Stabat Mater / Organ Concert Peter Hurford (organ) / Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre National De France, Charles Dutoit [ Decca Virtuoso / CD - released 28/Aug/2014 ] "Powerful performance, especially of the Organ Concerto. Vivid recording, fine contributions from the Radio France Choir, and muscular conducting from Charles Dutoit." (BBC Music) |
HANDEL
Judas Maccabaeus (Complete oratorio) (Special price) Janet Baker / John Shirley-Quirk / Felicity Palmer / English Chamber Orchestra, Charles Mackerras [ DG Archiv / 3 CD - released 13/Apr/2006 ] "The orchestral group and continuo sound splendidly crisp. Ryland Davies and John Shirley-Quirk are most stylish, while both Felicity Palmer and Janet Baker crown the whole set with glorious singing...the recording quality is outstanding." (***... |
LEO DELIBES
Delibes: Lakme (Complete Opera recorded in 1971) Mady Mesple, Charles Burles, Roger Soyer / Opera-Comique , Alain Lombard [ Erato The Home of Opera / 2 CD - released 25/Apr/2018 ] "Mady Mesplé's very French, light girlish tone admirably suggests the virginal character and innocence of the heroine: her intonation is impeccable, her coloratura seemingly effortless" Gramophone |
DELIBES / MASSENET / DONIZETTI / OFFENBACH / SATIE / VIVALDI / etc
Mady Mesplé: A Portrait Mady Mesplé (soprano) with Nicolai Gedda, Michel Dens, Jose van Dam, & Charles Burles [ Erato / Warner Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 5/Jul/2018 ] Homage to the remarkable French soprano Mady Mesplé, these four CDs comprise opera, operetta, song and contemporary music in many of her most celebrated roles, such as Lucia di Lammermoor & Lakmé (the Flower Duet was her most famous success) |
GLUCK
Gluck: Armide (complete opera) Mireille Delunsch, Charles Workman, Laurent Naouri, Ewa Podles / Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski [ Deutsche Grammophon Archiv / 2 CD - released 20/Jul/2016 ] "'Perhaps the best of all my works', said Gluck of his Armide. But this, the fifth of his seven 'reform operas', has never captured the public interest as have Orfeo, Alceste, the two Iphigénies and even Paride ed Elena. Its plot is thinnish,... |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (complete ballet) Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit [ Decca / 2 CD - released 14/Nov/2011 ] "No one wrote more beautiful and danceable ballet music than Tchaikovsky, and this account of Swan Lake is a delight throughout." Gramophone CD Guide |
DEBUSSY
Orchestral Music (Inc La Mer, Jeux, Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune) Montreal Symphony Orchestra / Charles Dutoit [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2001 ] THe marvellously pictorial music of Debussy captured by Charles Dutoit |
MIKLOS ROZSA
Spellbound: - Classic Film Scores of Miklos Rozsa National Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Gerhardt [ RCA Red Seal / CD - released 10/Apr/2011 ] Miklos Rozsa already had a promising career as a composer in the concert hall when he started writing movie scores in the mid-1930s. By the end of that decade, he was working on the most expensive movie being made in England, and by the end of the... |
WILLIAM BYRD / JOHN DOWLAND / HENRY PURCELL / etc
Elizabethan Lute Songs / Purcell: Birthday Odes for Queen Mary Norma Burrowes (Soprano), James Bowman & Charles Brett (Countertenors) / Robert Lloyd (Bass) / Early Consort of Music / David Munrow [ Erato Veritas / 2 CD - released 1/Feb/2019 ] "The solo singing, however, is strong, and the music represents Purcell at his finest - the counter tenor duet "Sound the trumpet" (Bowman and Charles Brett) never palls." (Irish Times) |
ERIC COATES
Coates: The Music of (Incls the London Suite, The Dam Busters March & the Three Bears Phantasy) Orchestras conducted by Sir Charles Groves, Sir Charles Mackerras & Reginald Kilbey [ Warner Classics Classics for Pleasure / 2 CD - released 15/Mar/2006 ] "Many well-known Coates pieces here but you could buy this purely for the Saxo-Rhapsody recording and be more than satisfied - this IS the most beautiful orchestral piece for saxophone ever written in my opinion" (Amazon.co.uk) |
Orchestre Symphonique de Montraal / Charles Dutoit
Bizet - Symphony in C / La Jolie Fille de Perth / Patrie Overture DELETED [ Decca Records / CD - released 10/May/2000 ] The 'best' French orchestra in the world! |
BIZET
L'Arlesienne & Carmen Suites / Symphony in C / La Jolie fille de Perth Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal / Charles Dutoit [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 8/Sep/2003 ] "With playing that is both elegant and vivid, and with superb, demonstration-worthy sound, Dutoit's polished yet affectionate coupling of the L'Arlesienne and Carmen suites make a clear first choice." (Penguin Guide) |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
The Art of Charles Dutoit (with bonus DVD of music of Prokofiev) Orchestre symphonique de Montreal / Philharmonia Orchestra / Orchestre National de France / L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Charles Dutoit [ Decca Budget Boxes / 7 CD/DVD - released 1/Nov/2006 ] This 6-CD orchestral spectacular features mainly recordings with the OSM but the Orchestra National de France is also included in Poulenc, while the Philharmonia is included with a popular tone-poem by Saint-Saëns (the earliest recording included... |
PROKOFIEV
Romeo & Juliet (Complete Ballet recorded in 1995. Choreography by Rudolf Nureyev) BLU-RAY Paris Opera Ballet / Monique Loudieres, Manuel Legris, Charles Jude / Vello Pahn (cond) [ Kultur / Warners / Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Apr/2014 ] "this is an often scintillating performance, and should be seen by any lover of ballet wanting to experience Nureyev's own idiosyncratic take on one of the most iconic ballets in the 20th century repertoire." - Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-Ray.com |
CHAUSSON
Symphonie, Piano Quartet, Poemes & Concert Pascal Roge (piano) Chantal Juillet (violin) Pierre Amoyal (violin) / Quatuor Ysaye. Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal. Charles Dutoit [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2005 ] Chausson's musical output is not vast and his career was short-lived. His earliest works date from the late 1870s and his last were produced shortly before he was killed as a result of a cycling accident in 1899. |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saens: Piano Concertos Nos 1 - 5 Pascal Roge (piano) / Philharmonia Orchestra, Charles Dutoit [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2001 ] All the Saint-Saens piano concertos together at a bargain price |
SAINT-SAENS
Symphony No.3 in C minor, Op.78 'Organ Symphony' (with Poulenc - Organ Concerto) Peter Hurford (organ) / Orchestre symphonique de Montreal / Philharmonia Orchestra / Charles Dutoit [ Decca originals / CD - released 20/Aug/2006 ] 'The Organ Concerto, recorded in St Alban's Cathedral, is successful; Peter Hurford's mastery in Bach serves him well in its more darkly baroque aspects, but he is equally idiomatic in the uninhibitedly bouncy passages.' Gramophone |
BERLIOZ
Requiem op 5 [Grande Messe des Morts] Peter Schreier / Choir und Bayerische Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Charles Munch [ Deutsche Grammophon Originals / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "Munch's second recording of Berlioz's setting of the Requiem Mass resonates to a vision recognising that the devil is in the quiet detail, and that (paradoxically) intimacy triumphs." (BBC Music) |
TCHEREPNIN / RIMSKY-KORSAKOV / STRAVINSKY / SATIE / PROKOFIEV / BALAKIREV / etc
Diaghilev - Ballets Russes Pierre Boulez, André Cluytens, Igor Markevitch, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Jean Martinon, Charles Dutoit, et [ Warner Classics / 22 CD Box Set - released 11/Mar/2022 ] The Ballets russes was founded in Paris in 1909 by the visionary impresario Serge Diaghilev. Innovative and flamboyant, he had a genius for bringing together the most brilliant composers, dancers, choreographers and designers. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Otello (Complete opera recorded in 1996) Metropolitan Opera / Placido Domingo / Renee Fleming / James Morris / Richard Croft / Charles Anthony / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 16/Aug/2004 ] G - Starring Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, James Morris, Richard Croft, Charles Anthony, Metropolitan Opera Chorus, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. |