WOLF / SCHUMANN / SCHUBERT / BRAHMS
Helen Watts - Lieder Recital Helen Watts (contralto), Geoffrey Parsons (piano) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2019 ] Presented on CD for the first time and newly remastered, a pair of Romantic Lieder recitals by the Welsh contralto who inherited the mantle of Kathleen Ferrier. |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf / Classical Symphony / Overture on Hebrew Themes Henry Feagins / Roy Hudd / Sting / Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 26/Sep/2007 ] This brilliantly inventive visualisation of Prokofiev's beloved musical tale features Sting, Claudio Abbado, members of London's celebrated Theatre de Complicite, and some fantastic Spitting Image puppetry. "Sting's knack for getting into... |
ARIEL RAMIREZ
Ramirez: Misa Criolla / Navidad en Verano / Navidad Nuestra José Carreras (tenor) / Coral Salvé de Laredo, Sociedad Coral de Bilbao, José Luis Ocejo, Damián Sanchez [ Philips / Decca / CD - released 19/Jul/2019 ] "Ramirez' Creole Mass is a daring fusion of Catholic liturgy and Latin American folk music. This particular performance is made even better by the presence of José Carreras as lead singer. Carreras seems to have a personal feeling for this music and... |
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade / Capriccio espagnol London Symphony Orchestra, Igor Markevitch, with Erich Gruenberg, solo violin (Scheherazade) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 14/Jun/2019 ] "This is, quite simply, one of the best-played and recorded accounts of Scheherazade ever made, right from the opening moment when the LSO brass uncompromisingly blast out Sultan Schahriar's ominously threatening theme" MusicWeb |
FERDINAND HEROLD / CHARLES LECOCQ
Herold: La Fille Mal Gardee / Lecocq: Mam'zelle Angot (Complete Ballets) Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, John Lanchbery / National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 20/May/2007 ] "Here, with sound of spectacular Decca digital fidelity, Lanchbery conducts a highly seductive account of the complete ballet with an orchestra long familiar with playing it in the theatre." (Rosette Penguin Stereo Guide) |
Michele Rabbia / Gianluca Petrella / Eivind Aarset
Lost River [ ECM / CD - released 19/Jul/2019 ] Lost River is an evocative post-ambient, richly textured sonic event, and one of the outstanding beyond-category recordings of recent ECM history. Drummer Michele Rabbia and guitarist Eivind Aarset had played many duo concerts, and Rabbia had also... |
MAURICE RAVEL / HECTOR BERLIOZ
Ravel: Sheherazade / Berlioz: Les Nuits d'ete / with a recital of French songs (rec 1963) Regine Crespin (soprano) / Suisse Romande Orchestra / Ernest Ansermet [ Decca Originals / CD - released 20/Aug/2006 ] "Crespin is right inside these songs and ravel's magically sensuous music emerges with striking spontaneity. She is superbly supported by Ansermet who, aided by the Decca engineers, weaves a fine tonal web round the voice." (Penguin Guide Rosette) |
VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: Norma (the complete opera, recorded in 2006) The Bavarian State Opera / Edita Gruberova / Zoran Todorovich / Roberto Scandiuzzi / Sonia Ganassi / Markus Herzog / Friedrich Haider [ Deutsche Grammophone DVD / 2 DVD - released 29/Jan/2007 ] "Gruberova delivers her own wholly individual interpretation ... she translates Bellini's interplay of pain, love and desire into physically palpable inner and outer drama. Immensely moving." - Die Welt |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
The Vivaldi Album Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano) / Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini [ Decca / CD - released 25/Oct/1999 ] "Bartoli tackles her discoveries with infectious glee, enjoying too the beguiling instrumental palette of Il Giardino Armonico, whose pair of flageolets, duetting over muted violins and pizzicato violas and cellos, calm the torments of love" Gramopho |
ALLEGRI / PALESTRINA
Allegri: Miserere / Palestrina: Stabat Mater; Magnificat primi toni; etc The Choir of King's College, Cambridge / Sir David Willcocks [ Decca Legends / CD - released 1/Nov/2002 ] "The famous 1963 King's performance of Allegri's Miserere, with its equally arresting treble solo so beautifully and securely sung by Roy Goodman, is now reissued, impressively remastered in Decca's Legends series." *** Three Stars. Penguin Stereo... |
Duke Ellington with Charles Mingus and Max Roach
Money Jungle [ Blue Note Records / CD - released 5/Aug/2002 ] Duke Ellington surprised the jazz world in 1962 with his historic trio session featuring Charles Mingus and Max Roach. Not in a mood to simply rework older compositions, the bulk of the album focused on music he wrote specifically for the session.... |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Complete Music for Solo Piano Gordon Fergus-Thompson (piano) [ ASV Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 14/Jun/2019 ] 'Fergus-Thompson confirms his calibre and status as a distinguished, most individual Francophile …Even the most experienced Ravelians will find themselves returning to these finely recorded accounts for a special and magical enlightenment' Gramophone |
Horace Silver
Song For My Father [ Blue Note / CD - released 14/Jun/1999 ] Song for My Father is a 1965 album by the Horace Silver Quintet, released on the Blue Note label in 1965. The album was inspired by a trip that Silver had made to Brazil. The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver's father, John Tavares... |
MOZART / SCHUBERT / BEETHOVEN / WAGNER
Jonas Kaufmann Sings Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven & Wagner Jonas Kaufmann (tenor) / Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Claudio Abbado [ Decca Music Group / CD - released 11/Sep/2009 ] "His beautiful phrasing and controlled singing in the "Winterstürme" shows why he has become the most sought-after tenor of his generation, and is a highlight of this exciting new release." Gramophone Awards 2010 Finalist - Recital |
J. S. BACH
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I Keith Jarrett (piano) [ ECM New Series / 2 CD - released 14/Jun/2019 ] "These are performances in which tempos, phrasing, articulation and the execution of ornaments are convincing," wrote Gramophone of Jarrett's first recorded account of The Well-Tempered Clavier. "Both instrument and performer serve as unobtrusive... |
Kenny Burrell
Midnight Blue [ Blue Note Records / CD ] Recorded on 8 January 1963 for Blue Note Records at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey this is a beauty. From the very first track, it's clear why the album was so popular when it was released and has remained so ever since. It... |
RICHARD WAGNER / RICHARD STRAUSS
Lise Davidsen sings Wagner and Strauss Lise Davidsen (soprano) / Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen [ Decca Music Group / CD - released 20/Jun/2019 ] "These gifts are matched by the maturity, honesty and integrity of Davidsen's approach. This album only reinforces the fact that she is one of the greatest vocal talents to have emerged in recent years, if not decades." Gramophone Magazine June 2019 |
McCoy Tyner
The Real McCoy [ Blue Note / CD ] Two and a half years after his last recording as a leader for Impulse, pianist McCoy Tyner emerged to start a period on Blue Note that would result in seven albums. Having left John Coltrane's Quartet in late 1965, Tyner was entering a period of... |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: La Boheme (complete opera recorded in 1977) Metropolitan Opera / Luciano Pavarotti, Renata Scotto, Ingvar Wixell / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 22/Sep/2005 ] Puccini's masterpiece shows young love at its most heartbreaking in this rich production from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La Traviata (Franco Zeffirelli's film of the complete opera) Metropolitan Opera / Teresa Stratas, Placido Domingo, Cornell MacNeil, Pina Cei / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 6/Sep/2007 ] "Surpassingly voluptuous…a spinning wheel of colors and textures." (Variety) |
Paul Bley / Gary Peacock / Paul Motian
When Will The Blues Leave [ ECM / CD - released 19/Jul/2019 ] In 1999, a year after recording the splendid reunion album Not Two, Not One, Paul Bley's highly innovative trio with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian took to the road with concerts on both sides of the Atlantic. When Will The Blues Leave documents a... |
DONIZETTI / VERDI
An Evening With Pavarotti And Joan Sutherland (recorded at the Met in 1987) Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland with Leo Nucci and the Metropolitan Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 21/Mar/2008 ] Two of the greatest opera stars of the time, and long-term singing partners, Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland, come together to perform four famous scenes from Acts I and III of Lucia di Lammermoor, Act III of La Traviata and Act III of... |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: La Damnation De Faust [recorded in 1959] (2 CDs plus Blu-ray audio) Richard Verreau, Consuelo Rubio, Michel Roux, Pierre Mollet / Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD/Blu-ray Disc - released 19/Jul/2019 ] 2-CDs + Blu-ray Audio disc. Presenting Igor Markevitch's searing 1959 reading of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust with the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux and a cast led by the impressive Richard Verreau. |
Ron Carter, Danny Simmons
The Brown Beatnik Tomes - Live at BRIC House [ Blue Note / CD - released 19/Jul/2019 ] On one autumn night at Brooklyn's BRIC House, Carter and Simmons turned raw plucked bass lines and hotly read poetry into something that rang with meaning and felt like magic What they created that night was, and still is, called The Brown Beatnik... |
JULES MASSENET
Massenet: Manon (complete ballet recorded in 2008) The Royal Ballet / Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Jose Martin / Martin Yates (cond) [ Decca DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Feb/2010 ] This new high-definition film of MacMillan's hugely-popular ballet 'Manon' is the perfect twin to his classic 'Romeo & Juliet' (August 2009 release). Once again, the romantic male lead is taken by the charismatic Carlos Acosta. |
JOHANN STRAUSS
Strauss, (J): Der Zigeunerbaron [The Gipsy Baron] (complete operetta filmed in 1975) Siegfried Jerusalem, Ellen Shade, Ivan Rebroff, Martha Modl / Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart / Kurt Eichhorn [ Universal Classics / Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 7/Apr/2008 ] "Beautifully filmed on location in Hungary with a fine cast of singers, this production is a delight." (MusicWeb August 2008) |
Sonny Clark
Cool Struttin' [ Blue Note / CD - released 14/Jun/1999 ] Recorded in 1958, this legendary date with the still-undersung Sonny Clark in the leader's chair also featured a young Jackie McLean on alto (playing with a smoother tone than he had before or ever did again), trumpeter Art Farmer, and the legendary... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Late Quartets Opus 95, 127, 130-133, 135 Takacs Quartet [ Decca Records / 3 CD Box Set - released 12/Dec/2004 ] "Excellent recordings too: sonorous, and with well-judged sense of four-voices-in-one. It doesn't feel all risky to say that this is probably the finest modern set of these great quartets." (BBC) |
Wayne Shorter
Speak No Evil [ Blue Note Records / CD - released 9/Sep/1999 ] Possibly Don Was's favourite Blue Note album of all time! On his third date for Blue Note within a year, Wayne Shorter changed the bands that played on both Night Dreamer and Juju and came up with not only another winner, but also managed to give... |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Sosarme (complete opera recorded in 1955) Alfred Deller, William Herbert, Nancy Evans, Margaret Ritchie, etc / The Saint Cecilia Orchestra, Anthony Lewis [ ABC Decca Eloquence / 2 CD - released 9/Aug/2019 ] 'Sosarme should cause a good deal of excitement … L'Oiseau-Lyre has assembled a brilliant cast.' New York Times |
SCHNITTKE / SHCHEDRIN / RIHM
Elusive Affinity Anna Gourari [ ECM New Series / CD - released 19/Jul/2019 ] In this imaginatively shaped and sensitively played album - her third for ECM - Russian pianist Anna Gourari explores musical connections and influences extending across the arts. Three suites of contemporary music are heard here. Alfred Schnittke's... |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (complete opera recorded live in 2008) Bayreuth Festival / Michael Volle, Klaus Florian Vogt, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Anne Schwanewilms / Philippe Jordan (cond) [ Deutsche DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Jun/2019 ] "The performances of the cast are of a high standard dramatically and mostly musically. Volle now paces himself well and Lehmkuhl is a magical and unclichéd Magdalene." Gramophone |
ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: 9 Symphonies [9 CDs plus Blu-ray audio] Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra], Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon Karajan Edition CD set plus Blu-ray audio / 10 CD/Blu-ray Disc - released 19/Jul/2019 ] "It is Karajan who is best able to present a Bruckner Symphony as a single vision … some of the most consistently impressive Bruckner recordings of recent years" - Gramophone |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet (complete ballet recorded in 2007) The Royal Ballet / Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Jose Martin / Boris Cruzin (cond) [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 1/Oct/2009 ] "Rojo rises to the fierce dramatic challenges of the last act with electrifying intensity. ...and Prokofiev's score is vigorously conducted by Boris Gruzin." Gramophone DVD of the Month Feb 2010 |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Sol y Vida Elina Garanca (mezzo-soprano) / Orquesta Filarmónica De Gran Canaria, Karel Mark Chichon [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 21/Jun/2019 ] "The singing is a delight, full of vitality and warmth" MusicWeb |
EMILIO ARAGON
Aragon: Snow White (complete ballet recorded in 2005 with choreography by Ricardo Cué) Tamara Rojo & Inaki Urlezaga / Bilbao Symphony Orchestra / Emilio Aragon [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 14/Jan/2008 ] "Tamara Rojo, indisputable muse of my music, and a reference for all of us due to her sacrifice and professionalism" (Emilio Aragón) |
Eric Dolphy
Out To Lunch [ Blue Note / CD - released 3/May/1999 ] "Recorded just four months before his tragic demise, Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch (1964) represents a pinnacle moment in avant-garde jazz of the 1960s. and an album to approach with a very open mind. It is also the only full studio record that Dolphy... |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Britten: War Requiem (plus Rehearsal sequences bonus) (Rec 1963) Galina Vishnevskaya (soprano) Peter Pears (tenor) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) / London Symphony & chorus, Benjamin Britten, with Simon Preston [ Decca Originals / 2 CD - released 12/Mar/2006 ] 1001 Classical Recordings you must hear before you die (1951 - present). "This superb recording, definitive in so many ways, speaks to us as powerfully today as it ever did" (MusicWeb Bargain of the Month Sept 2006) |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Goldberg Variations George Malcolm (harpsichord) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 14/Jun/2019 ] 'Malcolm takes full advantage of his Goff instrument to avoid any suggestion of monotony … in keeping with [his] generally large-scale virtuoso conception of what is, after all, a large-scale virtuoso work.' Gramophone |
Grant Green
Idle Moments [ Blue Note / CD - released 16/Oct/2000 ] Idle Moments, a languid, seductive gem may well be Grant Green's greatest moment on record. Right from the opening bars of the classic title cut, this ingratiating and accessible album, features some of Green's most stylish straight jazz playing.... |