GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (complete opera recorded in 1991) Metropolitan Opera / Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti, Juan Pons, Enzo Dara / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 8/Jun/2005 ] "Kathleen Battle sings Adina with perfect, pearl-like tone, absolute fluency and commitment, and a trill to die for." (9/8 Classics Today) |
HARRY BURLEIGH / WILLIAM Levi DAWSON / FLORENCE PRICE / WILLIAM Grant STILL
DVOŘÁK'S PROPHECY - Film 3: The Souls of Black Folk and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music Kevin Deas, Arthur Fagan, James Jeter, Roderick Cox, Joseph Horowitz, Michael Morgan, George Shirley [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 3/Dec/2021 ] If George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess embodies a glorious (and controversial) fulfilment of Dvořák's prophecy, there also exists a buried lineage of exceptional compositions by Black composers following in Dvořák's wake. |
Carole King & James Taylor
Live at the Troubadour [ Hear Music / Concord / 2 CD/DVD - released 27/May/2010 ] In November 2007, James Taylor; Carole King; and members of their renowned original band, "The Section", returned to the Troubadour (after some 36 odd years) for a three-night, six-show run to celebrate the venue's 50th anniversary... |
PURCELL
The Complete Odes and Welcome Songs James Bowman (countertenor) John Mark Ainsley (tenor) Michael George (bass) Gillian Fisher (soprano) / The King's Consort / Robert King [ Hyperion Purcell Complete Edition / 8 CD Box Set - released 20/Oct/2010 ] 'Every disc is such a treasure-house of wonderful invention that the whole set must be an irresistable temptation' (BBC Music Magazine Top 1000 CDs Guide) |
PURCELL
The Complete Sacred Music (The Complete Anthems and Services) Michael George (bass) James Bowman (countertenor) Charles Daniels (tenor) etc / New College Choir Oxford / The King's Consort / Robert King [ Hyperion / 11 CD Box Set - released 23/Mar/2010 ] 'The performances from The King's Consort and its Choir, the Choir of New College and a starry line-up of soloists have such qualities of concentration and precision in their engagement with the music' (BBC Music Magazine) |
FRANZ LISZT
St. Stanislaus (Oratorio) Kristine Jepson (mezzo-soprano) / Donnie Ray Albert (baritone) / Cincinnati May Festival Chorus / Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra / James Conlon [ Telarc Records / CD - released 13/Feb/2004 ] Telarc's recording of Franz Liszt's St. Stanislaus with the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of James Conlon is the first complete recording of the two scenes Liszt finished for his last great... |
RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett - The Mines of Sulphur (Complete Opera) Kristopher Irmiter (bass-baritone) Beth Clayton (mezzo-soprano) Brandon Jovanovich (tenor) James Maddalena (baritone) / Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra [ Chandos SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 1/Jun/2005 ] Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's Gothic opera The Mines of Sulphur is reminiscent of suspense thrillers from Edgar Allan Poe to Alfred Hitchcock. Love, longing, and dark as well as light comedy abound in this macabre tale of greed and retribution set in... |
RODNEY ROGERS / ROBERT MUCZYNSKI / CHRISTOPHER PAINTER
Facades: Contemporary works for saxophone Lara James (saxophone) Jeremy Young (piano) with Kathryn Price (cello) [ Signum / CD - released 1/Mar/2009 ] The saxophone is truly an instrument of the modern age, with many composers drawn to the unique tones and colours of which it is capable. On this disc, renowned Saxophonist Lara James, accompanied by a select group of musicians including Sinfonia... |
BARNES / GARLAND / HALL / LAWSON / LYNCH / etc
The Glittering Plain - New Works and Arrangements for Saxophone and Ensemble Lara James (saxophone) / Pavão String Quartet & Will Todd Trio [ Signum Classics / CD - released 20/Apr/2012 ] An exciting new disc from one of the UK's leading exponents of contemporary saxophone. |
JONATHAN HARVEY
Choral Works (Incls 'Ashes Dance Back') Latvian Radio Choir, Kaspars Putnins, James Wood, conductors [ Hyperion / CD - released 10/Mar/2011 ] "both Ashes and Awakening are visionary pieces, and have the makings of modern masterpieces. They require, and will undoubtedly repay, repeated listening. A magnificent disc, superbly performed and recorded, and a magnificent argument for the... |
Legends in Brass (Works of James Curnow, Cyril Jenkins, Eric Leidzen and others)
Sellers Engineering Band. Conducted by Phillip McCann & Norman Law [ Chandos Brass / CD - released 1/Dec/2004 ] Recorded in: Dewsbury Town Hall 23-25 October 1993 |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La forza del destino [The force of destiny] (Complete Opera recorded in 1976) Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Fiorenza Cossotto / John Allois Choir & London Symphony Orchestra, James Levine [ Sony Opera House / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/2012 ] "strongly cast down to the smallest comprimario roles. Admirers of Leontyne Price will undoubtedly be tempted by a set which includes her Leonora, strongly supported by Domingo (his first attempt at Don Alvaro) and Miln." (Gramophone) |
FLORENT SCHMITT
Music for Two Pianos Leslie De'Ath (piano) / Anya Alexeyev (piano) / Kimberly Barber (mezzo) / James Mason (oboe) [ Dutton Epoch / 2 CD - released 18/Oct/2011 ] The long-lived French composer Florent Schmitt (1870-1958) created many of his most impressive and influential works in the first two decades of the twentieth century, equally gorgeous in their piano versions (four hands or two pianos) as for the... |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (complete opera with libretto) Thomas Allen, Mirella Freni, Anne Sofie von Otter, Neil Shicoff / Staatskapelle Dresden, James Levine [ Deutsche Grammophon Originals / 2 CD Box Set - released 2/Feb/1988 ] "James Levine's 1984 recording is characterised by an appropriately full recorded sound and much gutsy playing from his orchestral forces." (MusicWeb) |
FAURE
Requiem, Op. 48 / La Naissance de Vanus, Op. 29 / Pavane, Op. 50; Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 Libby Crabtree (soprano) Mary Plazas (soprano) James Rutherford (bass) Pamela Helen Stephen (mezzo-soprano) / BBC Philharmonic / Yan Pascal Tortelier [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 15/Nov/2003 ] 'The Pavane and Cantique de Jean Racine both breathe the calm of the Requiem. While they are enjoyable makeweights, the disc's revelation is a wonderful performance of the rarely heard La Naissance de Venus… this piece is a little gem'. (Gramophone |
FAURE
Requiem, Op. 48 / La Naissance de VACnus, Op. 29 / Pavane, Op. 50 / Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 Libby Crabtree (soprano) Mary Plazas (soprano) James Rutherford (bass) Pamela Helen Stephen (mezzo-soprano) / BBC Philharmonic / Yan Pascal Tortelier [ Chandos / SACD - released 1/Oct/2003 ] "The Pavane and Cantique de Jean Racine both breathe the calm of the Requiem. While they are enjoyable makeweights, the disc's revelation is a wonderful performance of the rarely heard La Naissance de Venus… this piece is a little gem" Gramophone |
STEPHEN HOUGH
Mirabilis: The Music of Stephen Hough London Choral Sinfonia, James Orford (organ), Michael Waldron (conductor) [ Orchid Classics / CD - released 15/Sep/2023 ] Named by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths, Sir Stephen Hough combines a worldwide career as a pianist with those of composer and writer. ""My father said that I had memorised seventy nursery rhymes by the age of two. This sounds... |
TCHAIKOVSKY
Swan Lake, Op. 20 (complete ballet recorded in 1988) BLU-RAY London Festival Ballet / Evelyn Hart, Peter Schaufuss, Martin James / Graham Bond (conductor) [ Arthaus Monarda Arts Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Feb/2016 ] Choreography by Natalia Makarova, Sir Frederick Ashton, Marius Petipa Costumes, sets and back projections designed by Günther Schneider-Siemssen Directed for television by Thomas Grimm Natalia Makarova, one of the most important interpreters... |
MAHLER
Symphony No.5 London Symphony Orchestra / James DePriest [ Naxos / CD - released 2/Jan/2006 ] Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a work of huge emotional and structural range, was his first purely orchestral work since the First Symphony of 1888 (Naxos 8.550522), and his first orchestral work to dispense with both the human voice and overtly... |
GUSTAV MAHLER
The Mahler Project - Complete Symphonies / Kindertotenlieder / Das KLagende Lied / Songs with Orchestra / Das Lied von der Erde / Ruckert-Lieder Lorraine Hunt Lieberson / Thomas Hampson / Susan Graham / Sergei Leiferkus / James Morris / San Francisco Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas [ San Francisco Symphony / 17 Hybrid SACD - released 25/Oct/2011 ] |