GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia [The Barber of Seville] (complete opera recorded in 1988) Cecilia Bartoli, David Kuebler, Gino Quilico, Carlos Feller / Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gabriele Ferro [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 2/Nov/2018 ] "All the singers benefit from Michael Hampe's imaginative yet uneccentric direction and from Gabriele Ferro's well-calibrated (if not exactly warm-hearted) conducting." Opera |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Idomeneo (complete opera) Christian Elsner / Kristina Hammarström / Henriette Bonde-Hansen / Raffaella Milanesi / Danish National Choir / Danish Radio Sinfonietta Adam Fischer [ DACAPO SACD / 4 Hybrid SACD - released 6/Dec/2010 ] fleet-footed orchestral playing and strong, characterful soloists...Elsner captures the conflict raging within the Lear-like Idomeneo and demonstrates some fiendish coloratura...Fischer understands this opera deeply and presents it as a convincing... |
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Humperdinck: Moorish Rhapsody / Sleeping Beauty / etc Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mark Fischer-Dieskau [ Marco Polo / CD - released 1/Jul/2009 ] Humperdinck wrote his Moorish Rhapsody in 1898 and it was first performed at the Leeds Festival in that year. "The Elegy at Sunset" (Elegie bei Sonnenuntergang), set at Tarifa, is gently evocative, something of a Moorish atmosphere created by the use... |
ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV
Glazunov: The Seasons (with Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty Suite) Czech-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ondrej Lenard [ Naxos / CD - released 2/Feb/1989 ] "Ondrej Lenárd gives a pleasing bargain account of Glazunov's delightful score, finding plenty of delicacy, while the entry of Glazunov's most famous tune at the opening of the Autumn Bacchanale is very virile indeed." Penguin Guide |
TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Ballet, Op. 71 (Excerpts) Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ondrej Lenard [ Naxos / CD ] "The playing has plenty of zest and vitality." - Gramophone |
JEAN SIBELIUS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 Op 63 / The tempest: Suite No. 1 The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leif Segerstam [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Nov/1991 ] Recorded 2-3 November 1990 |
FRIEDRICH KUHLAU
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Kuhlau: Overtures Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Michael Schonwandt [ Chandos / CD - released 20/Aug/2012 ] Kuhlau was born on 11 September 1786 just south of Lüneburg in the Uelzen district of Lower Saxony (Germany). At the age of seven, he lost his right eye when he slipped on ice and fell. His father, grandfather, and uncle were military oboists. Even... |
CARL NIELSEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Nielsen: Symphonies Nos 5 & 6 'Sinfonia semplice' Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Herbert Blomstedt [ EMI Classics Matrix / CD - released 1/Feb/1996 ] "Splendid readings and Blomstedt's lively imagination and attention to mood and instrumental detail make these recordings endlessly rewarding. They sound better than ever" (MusicWeb Sept 2004) |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
David Oistrakh Volume 1 (LP) David Oistrakh (violin) Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin [ Melodiya / LP - released 8/Oct/2014 ] "The world had one of the greatest violinists in the person of David Oistrakh", wrote the prominent conductor Eugene Ormandy. His other fellow musicians - violinists, pianists, composers and conductors - spoke about Oistrakh with as much admiration.... |
Various performances, including speeches, songs and radio broadcasts from the Second World War
La Resistance [ Le Chant du Monde / CD - released 9/Jun/2017 ] This CD is a documentation of songs, poetry and voices from France's participation in the Second World War, finishing with the liberation of Paris. Featuring music, songs, voices and speeches from the period of the occupation. NOTE: Booklet is in... |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
The Best of Debussy (Incls Clair de Lune, Arabesque No 1 & The girl with the Flaxen Hair) Peter Nagy (piano) Klara Kormendi (piano) / Kodaly Quartet / Slovak Radio Philharmonic Orchestra / etc [ Naxos / CD - released 10/May/2008 ] Claude Debussy exercised widespread influence over later generations of composers, both in his native France and elsewhere. He was trained at the Paris Conservatoire, and decided there on a career as a composer rather than as a pianist, his original... |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust, [The Damnation of Faust] Op. 24 Denés Gulyás, Maria Ewing, Robert Lloyd / Radio-Sinfonie Orchester Frankfurt, Kölner Rundfunkchor, Südfunk-Chor Stuttgart, Eliahu Inbal [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / 2 CD - released 10/Dec/2012 ] 'Inbal has a fine ear for Berlioz's orchestration, matched by sensitive recording, so that time and again details spring into dramatic life…a distinctive and intelligent performance… No lover of the work should miss hearing it.' Gramophone, July 1991 |
ANTONIO SALIERI
Salieri: Overtures Czech-Slovak Radio Symphony orchestra, Michael Dittrich [ Naxos / CD ] "Poor old Salieri, ever to be remembered-thanks to the film Amadeus - as the murderer of Mozart, rather than one of imperial Vienna's foremost composers and the teacher of Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt and even Mozart's youngest son. Good then to have... |
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Scriabin: Symphonies Nos 3 & 5 / Reverie Vladimir Krainiev (piano) / Chor des Baterischen Rundfunks, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester, Frankfurt, Dmitry Kitaenko [ RCA Classics / CD - released 2/Sep/1994 ] Recorded October 1993 (Sym 5) & January 1994 (Sym 3) |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saens: Violin Concertos No. 3 / Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso / etc Dong-Suk Kang (violin) / Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit [ Naxos / CD - released 7/Sep/2007 ] "more than just convincingly shaped; it is downright poetic... Why pay more and get less when this excellent Naxos offering is available at low cost?" - American Record Guide |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Ode for St Cecilia's Day Dunedin Consort, John Butt (Director), Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Ian Bostridge (tenor), Polish Radio Choir [ Linn Records / CD - released 12/Oct/2018 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 - Choral |
OTTORINO RESPIGHI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: The Essential Respighi [Incls 'Fountains of Rome' & 'The Birds'] Swiss Radio Orchestra, Ernst Ansermet / London Symphony Orchestra, István Kertész / Argo Chamber Orchestra, Laszlo Heltay [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 10/Apr/1995 ] "Ansermet, with his ear for detail and orchestral colour, yields up vivid results in the Fountains of Rome...Maazel's Pines of Rome is a strong, direct performance, and memorable in impact." (Penguin Guide) |
LOUIS SPOHR
Spohr: Clarinet Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 / Potpourri, Op. 80 Ernst Ottensamer (clarinet) / Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice; Johannes Wildner, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 15/Mar/2004 ] "Ottensamer's mellow, nicely turned performances" - Penguin Guide |
BORIS LYATOSHINSKY
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Lyatoshinsky: Symphony No 2 in B minor / Slavic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra Eugen Rzhanov (piano) / Ukrainian Radio and TV Symphony, Vladimir Gnedash / Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra, Fedor Glushchenko [ Russian Disc / CD - released 12/Apr/1994 ] Recorded in 1982 & 1974 |