GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (complete opera with libretto) Piero Cappuccilli, Mirella Freni, José van Dam, Nicolai Ghiaurov / La Scala Chorus & Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon Originals / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Jul/2016 ] "one of the most beautiful Verdi sets ever made. The playing of the orchestra is brilliantly incisive as well as refined, so that the drama is underlined by extra sharpness of focus..with electrifying choral singing as well." (Penguin Guide) |
FRITZ BRUN
Brun: Complete Orchestral Works Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, Adriano [ Brilliant Classics / 11 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2019 ] "...if you have yet to explore the music of this Swiss master, this release affords a very reasonably priced way of immersing yourself into the gorgeous musical world of Fritz Brun." Fanfare |
W. A. MOZART
Fritz Busch at Glyndebourne - Mozart Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Audrey Mildmay, Heddle Nash, John Brownlee, Ina Souez, Sena Jurinac, Alexander Young, Richard Lewis / Fritz Busch (cond) [ Warner Classics / 9 CD Box Set - released 8/Jul/2017 ] Fritz Busch (1890-1951) was one the greatest German conductors of the first half of the twentieth century, noted for his illuminating performances and his ethical principles. |
OFFENBACH / BIZET / VERDI / PUCCINI / MOZART / etc
Opera auf Deutsch Fritz Wunderlich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Brigitte Fassbaender, Ernst Haefliger, Irmgard Seefried, Rita Streich, Sándor Kónya, Ingeborg Hallstein, + [ Deutsche Grammophon / 15 CD Box Set - released 22/Mar/2020 ] This collection is a real treasure trove for opera lovers and tells the astonishing story of an era when all the many municipal opera houses in the German-speaking world performed the standard opera repertoire in the local language only. |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Monteverdi: Orfeo (complete opera with libretto) Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Julianne Baird, Lynne Dawson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Nancy Argenta / Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gard [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD Box Set - released 2/Feb/1987 ] "This is an impressively musical Orfeo. With John Eliot Gardiner in charge of such a strong cast of singers and players, it could hardly have been otherwise. Most enigmatic of all is Anthony Rolfe Johnson's acting of the central role." Gramophone |
GABRIEL FAURE
Gabriel Faure - The Complete Works Gautier Capuçon, Jacqueline du Pré, Sabine Devieilhe, Nicholai Gedda, Ian Bostridge, Victoria de los Ángeles, Thomas Beecham, Michel Corboz, etc [ Erato / Warner Classics / 26 CD Box Set - released 25/Oct/2024 ] Warner Classics brings to you the Complete works of Gabriel Fauré, included are many popular and historical recordings for solo harp and piano, chamber, lyrical and orchestral works. |
FRANZ LISZT
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Liszt: Piano works [Incls 'Hungarian Rhapsodies'] Georges Cziffra (piano) [ EMI Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 20/Oct/2011 ] "Cziffra, with his superb technique, Hungarian birthright and virtuoso flair, is the ideal exponent of this music and, predictably, there are wonderful things in these performances" Gramophone on the Hungarian Rhapsodies |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Brahms: Complete works for solo piano Gerhard Oppitz (piano) [ Eurodisc / 5 CD Box Set - released 14/Jul/1990 ] "Gerhard Oppitz is a penetrating Brahmsian, bracing in the youthful works, quietly confiding in the later ones" Gramophone |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: The Essential Mozart [5 DVD set] Gil Shaham / Sharon Kam / Sandrine Piau / Dorothea Roschmann / Daniel Barenboim / and more [ EuroArts DVD / 5 DVD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2011 ] MediciArts offers a DVD box full of the most sparkling of Mozart's compositions. Performed by instrumentalists, orchestras, conductors and singers, among the best interpreters of his works, this representative selection... |
DUPRÉ / FRANCK / COUPERIN / BRUHNS / BACH / MESSIAEN
Gillian Weir: A Celebration Gillian Weir (organ) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 22 CD Box Set - released 12/Feb/2021 ] 'Dame Gillian is one of the greatest of living artists; her playing shows a perfect mixture of hand and heart, a true musician with the technique to tackle anything.' - JOHN AMIS, WRITER AND CRITIC |
CLERAMBAULT / BRUHNS / WIDOR / VIERNE / DUPRE / BACH / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: King of Instruments: The Art of Gillian Weir Gillian Weir (organ) [ Argo / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2005 ] 'There is an aristocratic poise and restraint which illuminate Weir's readings of Clerambault's two Suites' BBC Music Magazine |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: Manon Lescaut (complete opera with libretto recorded in 1957) Giuseppe Di Stefano, Maria Callas, Franco Calabrese / La Scala Orchestra and Chorus / Tullio Serafin [ EMI / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/1985 ] "In general this is Callas at her most girlish: light-voiced, lyrical and with the power to make the dramatic climaxes thrilling." MusicWeb |
J. S. BACH
Glenn Gould plays Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier Books I & II, BWV 846-893 Glenn Gould (piano) [ Sony Classical / 4 CD Box Set - released 10/Sep/2012 ] Released as part of the Glenn Gould Anniversary Edition |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel Box Set: Rinaldo / Saul / Giulio Cesare (Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, 2005-2015) Glyndebourne Opera / Sonia Prina, Anett Fritsch, Sarah Connolly, Danielle de Niese, Christopher Purves, Iestyn Davies / Orchestra of the Age of Enligh [ Opus Arte DVD / 5 DVD Box Set - released 20/Mar/2017 ] "Dantone conducts a strongly characterised performance founded on the alert playing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment." (BBC Music on Rinaldo) |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Ariadne auf Naxos (Complete Opera recorded in 1969) Gundula Janowitz, James King, Peter Schrier, Hermann Prey / Straatskapelle Dresden, Rudolf Kempe [ EMI Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Sep/1992 ] "Gundula Janowitz sings the role of Ariadne with incomparable line and style. Her knowledge of Strauss singing has never been bettered." (review) |
BACH / BRAHMS / SCHUBERT / LOEWE / ORFF / WAGNER / GRIEG / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Icon: Hans Hotter - The Great Bass Bar (incls and much much more) Hans Hotter (baritone) with Birgit Nilsson, Gerald Moore, Michael Raucheisen, etc [ EMI Icon / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2009 ] "All told, then, this is an essential set for lovers of one of the most authoritative yet beautiful voices the gramophone has had the privilege to capture." (Bargain of the Month MusicWeb May 2009) |
MAURO GIULIANI
Giuliani: Complete Original Works for Flute and Guitar Mikael Helasvuo (flute) & Jukka Savijoki (guitar) [ BIS / 3 CD Box Set - released 2/Feb/2013 ] In the beginning of the nineteenth century the guitar enjoyed a wide popularity...The most celebrated of the several composer-guitarists active at this time was Mauro Giuliani, born in 1781 in southern Italy. |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: La Finta Semplice (complete opera recorded in 1983) Helen Donath, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Robert Holl, Teresa Berganza / Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Leopold Hager(cond) [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2012 ] "Helen Donath is her usual bright-toned and fluent self and she has a fine trill; Teresa Berganza is lovely too, nuanced as always and still in creamy voice. Light and springy, even more delectable is Jutta-Renate Ihloff in the soubrette role." |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Schubert: The Great Masses (D678 & D 950) Helen Donath, Peter Schreier, Ingeborg Springer, Theo Adam, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wolfgagng Sawallisch [ Philips / 2 CD Box Set - released 16/Jun/2003 ] Schubert's six masses cover the period 1814-28 and deserve to be much better known than they are at present. |
WALTER BRAUNFELS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Braunfels: Die Vogel [The Birds] (complete opera ) Hellen Kwon, Endrik Wottrich, Michael Kraus, Marita Posselt, Wolfgang Holzmair, Matthias Görne / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Lothar Zagrosek [ Decca / 2 CD Box Set - released 16/Feb/2011 ] "Zagrosek's reading and the performances by his cast and orchestra are gripping and more than do justice to this wonderful score. Wottrich and Kraus are impressive in the male leads." ClassicalNet |