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MODEST MUSSORGSKY
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (complete opera recorded in 1991) Ruggero Raimondi (Boris Godunov), Paul Plishka, Kenneth Riegel, Nicolai Gedda, Galina Vishneyevskaya / National Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropov [ Erato / Warner Classics Home of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Aug/2018 ] "Ruggero Raimondi's Boris is sung firmly and lyrically. He responds to the elegance to be found in Mussorgsky's brief, speech-inflected phrases, and some scenes, notably his final exchanges with his son, are movingly done." (Gramophone) |
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JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Rameau: Achante et Céphise (complete) Sabine Devieilhe, Cyrille Dubois, David Witczak, Judith Van Wanroij /Les Chantres du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, Alexis Kossenko [ Erato / Warner Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 5/Nov/2021 ] "...this is an invigorating and joyous revival of a musically rich opera." BBC Music Christmas 2021 Opera Choice |
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GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Italian cantatas Sabine Devieilhe (soprano) Léa Desandre (mezzo) / Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm (harpsichord, organ and conductor) [ Erato / Warner Classics / 2 CD - released 15/Nov/2018 ] "Desandre, a superb vocal actress, delivers bold musical rhetoric…You might think you know these cantatas, but this is a performance to make you think again" BBC Music Award Finalist 2020 |
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J. S. BACH / GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Sabine Devieilhe - Bach, Handel Sabine Devieilhe (soprano) / Pygmalion, Raphael Pichon, with Stéphane Degout (baritone) [ Erato Classics / CD - released 5/Nov/2021 ] Great sorrow and great joy, expressed in in sacred and secular arias and cantatas, are the themes of Sabine Devieilhe's album of Bach and Handel. Recorded with the Pygmalion ensemble and conductor Raphaël Pichon. |
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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Così fan tutte (Saltzburg Festival 2020) Saltzburg Festival / Elsa Dreisig, Marianne Crebassa, Lea Desandre, Bogdan Volkov, André Schuen / Joana Mallwitz (cond) [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 9/Apr/2021 ] "It's frankly difficult to imagine a better-cast Così today...Mallwitz really makes Mozart's score zing, keeping the Vienna Philharmonic light on their toes" Gramophone Magazine June 2021 DVD of the Month |
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J. S. BACH
Italian Concerto / Chromatic fantasy & fugue / Four duets Scott Ross (harpischord) [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 25/May/2015 ] Reissued at a special price |
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RODRIGO / TARREGA / WALTON / BRITTEN / BACH / BROUWER / etc
Great Masterworks Of the Guitar [5 CD set] Sharon Isbin (guitar) [ Erato Warner Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/2017 ] The many faces of the guitar are explored by Sharon Isbin, hailed as "the pre-eminent guitarist of our time" and twice a Grammy Award winner. Its origins in the lute are acknowledged in the four graceful suites composed by Johann Sebastian Bach,... |
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J. S. BACH
Bach: Violin Concertos Shunske Sato / Il Pomo d'Oro, Zefira Valova [ Erato / CD - released 26/Oct/2018 ] "The smaller-sized ripieno is always in step with light and dance. Where tempi are suitable throughout and the faster movements are dynamic and punchy, the passages of flourish in the slower movements are also tastefully rendered. " Nicholas Butler/M |
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HENRY PURCELL
Purcell: King Arthur (Complete Opera) Jennifer Smith, Gillian Fisher, Elisabeth Priday / English Baroque, John Elliot Gardiner [ Erato / 2 CD - released 20/Jan/2018 ] "Solo singing for the most part is excellent, with Stephen Varcoe outstanding among the men." *** Three Stars (Penguin Stereo Guide) |
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PURCELL
Hail Bright Cecilia / Come ye Sons of Art / Funeral Sentences for the death of Queen Mary Jennifer Smith, Ashley Stafford, Brian Gordon, Paul Elliott, Stephen Varcoe / Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Orchestra, John Elliot Gardiner [ Erato Veritas / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2015 ] *** Three Stars (Penguin Stereo Guide) |
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FRANCOIS COUPERIN
Francois Couperin Edition Sophie Daneman, Patricia Petibon, Guillemette Laurens, Caroline Pelon, Sandrine Piau, Frans Bruggen, Anner Bylsma, Lionel Rogg, etc [ Erato Warner Classics / 16 CD Box Set - released 15/Oct/2018 ] "Singing, accompaniment and recording are all that could be desired. The accompaniment is, appropriately, the lightest possible." MusicWeb on the Leçon de Ténèbres |
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HECTOR BERLIOZ
Hector Berlioz - The Complete Works Véronique Gens, Renaud Capuçon, Jose van Dam, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, René Schirrer, Jessye Norman, John Aler, Laurent Naouri, Nicolas Rivenq, etc [ Erato / Warner / Philips / 27 CD Box Set - released 6/Feb/2018 ] This, the first-ever complete Berlioz edition, comprises carefully selected recordings and even includes works completely new to the catalogue. |
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GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Carmelite Vespers 1707 Jill Feldman, Dame Emma Kirkby, Emily Van Evera, Margaret Cable / Taverner Choir & Players, Andrew Parrott [ Erato / 2 CD - released 20/May/2009 ] "We are used to hearing Dixit in the concert hall, so it's good to be reminded that it was written for the liturgy. Parrott includes it in his reconstruction of Handel's Carmelite Vespers of 1707" BBC Music Magazine, March 2009. |
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CHRISTMAS CAROLS
The Carol Album - Seven Centuries of Christmas Music Taverner Consort, Andrew Parrott [ Erato Classics Redline / CD - released 15/Feb/2018 ] "Every track on (this) disc proves surprising and every performance proves charming. Recorded in warmly atmospheric and very immediate digital sound, fans of recherché Christmas music will be delighted by this (recording)" AllMusic.com |
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GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Theodora (complete opera recorded in 2015) Theatre des Chams-Elysees / Katherine Watson, Philippe Jaroussky, Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Callum Thorpe / William Christie (cond) [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Feb/2017 ] Handel's Theodora, a tale of Christian martyrdom in 4th century Antioch, is a dramatic oratorio rather than an opera, but it achieved a new currency in 1996, when William Christie conducted a staging at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Christie, who... |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Aranjuez (LP) Thibaut Garcia (guitar) [ Erato / LP - released 2/Oct/2020 ] Expressing his own cultural identity, guitarist Thibaut Garcia combines Rodrigo's archetypally Spanish Concierto de Aranjuez with a declaration of l'esprit français: Alexandre Tansman's neoclassical Musique de cour, inspired by the court of Louis... |
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J. S. BACH / MANGORE / TANSMAN / VILLA-LOBOS
Bach Inspirations Thibaut Garcia (guitar) with Elsa Dreisig (soprano) [ Erato Warner Classics / CD - released 4/Oct/2018 ] "This entry by the young French guitarist Thibaut Garcia has much to recommend it, and indeed Segovia seems to have exerted a strong influence on Garcia's tone, self-possessed but sensuous." AllMusic.com |
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POULENC
Dialogues des Carmélites (Complete opera recorded in 2013) Théâtre des Champs-Elysées / Patricia Petibon, Sophie Koch, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau / Jérémie Rhorer (cond) [ Warner Erato Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 15/Dec/2014 ] "Patricia Petibon gives the performance of a lifetime as Blanche...[Plowright's] performance has a dramatic veracity that is disturbing in the extreme...Long sceptical about the piece, I was completely won over - the highest complement I can pay it." |
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FRANCIS POULENC
Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites (Complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Théâtre des Champs-Elysées / Patricia Petibon, Sophie Koch, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau / Jérémie Rhorer (cond) [ Warner Erato Classics Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 15/Feb/2015 ] "[Plowright's] performance has a dramatic veracity that is disturbing in the extreme...Long sceptical about the piece, I was completely won over - the highest complement I can pay it." The Guardian |
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MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER
Charpentier: Motets for Double Choir Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ton Koopman [ Erato Veritas / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2015 ] Koopman and his superlative handpicked soloists bring out the very best of Charpentier's polychoral artistry. This set contains the only available recording of the oratorio Josue (Joshua), with exquisite string-playing and Koopman's lively continuo... |