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CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Ascanio - Ballet: Andromaque / Overtures / etc Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Jun Märkl [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] "This disc is a mandatory acquisition for anyone who cares about either the composer or good French theater music." 9/9 ClassicsToday |
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Ólafur Arnalds
Some Kind Of Peace (LP) [ Mercury LP / LP - released 27/Sep/2024 ] some kind of peace was born out of the mantra: "we can't control anything that happens to us. All we can do is control how we react to what life gives us." Touches on what it means to be alive, daring to be vulnerable and the importance of rituals. A... |
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JEAN SIBELIUS
Sibelius: Tone Poems (incls En Saga, Op. 9 & Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22) Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänska & Neeme Jarvi [ BIS Complete Sibelius Edition / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/Jun/2007 ] "To hear Osmo Vänskä conducting Jean Sibelius is to change one's view of the music." Financial Times |
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MOZART / DITTERSDORF / HAYDN / VANHAL
Classical Oboe Lajos Lencses (oboe) / Budapest Strings / Franz-Liszt-Kammerorchester [ Hanssler / CD - released 19/Apr/2008 ] "Lajos Lencsés is one of the greatest oboists of our time" - wrote the French Diapason magazine in 1990, when his recording won the prestigious" Diapason d'Or" Award. |
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SAINT-SAENS / DEBUSSY / RAVEL / FAURE / BOULANGER / FARRENC / etc
LP: Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals / Piano Concerto No. 2 (with other works by French composers) Lang Lang (piano), with Gina Alice (piano), Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons [ Deutsche Grammophon LP / 2 CD - released 26/Apr/2024 ] This is a carnival of French works for all generations by world-renowned pianist Lang Lang who offers music lovers of all ages the pleasure of discovery. Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and conductor Andris Nelson,... |
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BENDA / PISENDAL / TORELLI
Concerti By Benda, Pisendal, Torelli Lara Hall (baroque violin) / NZ Barok, Peter Walls [ Atoll Records / CD - released 25/May/2018 ] This CD is the culmination of a long-held desire to record little-known 18th century concerti. Players' parts were prepared for this project from digital copies of manuscripts in the Schank II Collection (Dresden) including Pisendel's scores of his... |
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TELEMANN
Telemann - 12 Fantasias for solo violin Lara Hall (violin) [ Atoll Records / CD - released 10/Jul/2012 ] "As a performer on both the baroque and modern violin, I have two very different musical personas. With this CD I have tried to create, on a modern violin, as much of the sound world of a baroque violinist as possible with minimal concession to the... |
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KAPSBERGER / LANDI / CAVALIERI / LA TARANTELLA
La tarantella e un po'di follie L'Arpeggiata, Christina Pluhar [ Alpha Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 14/Oct/2022 ] L'Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar have blazed new trails in the rediscovery and interpretation of Baroque music, Italian in particular. The five recordings they made for Alpha are among the biggest-ever successes in this repertory. La Tarantella,... |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 5 'Emperor' Lars Vogt (piano/conductor) / Royal Northern Sinfonia [ Ondine / CD - released 1/Jul/2018 ] "Vogt's playing in the slow movement [of the Emperor] is suitably rapt, and the whole performance radiates that sense of well-being which the piece demands" BBC Music |
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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: La finta giardiniera, K196 (complete opera sung in Italian recorded in 2014) Le Concert d'Astrée / Carlo Allemano, Erin Morley, Enea Scala, Marie-Adeline Henry / Emmanuelle Haim (cond) [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Jun/2015 ] The French conductor Emmanuelle Haïm conducts here her music ensemble Le Concert d'Astrée during this performance of Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera at the Opéra de Lille (France) on March 22nd and 25th 2014. This production, directed by David Lescot |
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GREGORIO ALLEGRI / CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Anamorfosi Le Poème Harmonique / Vincent Dumestre [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 27/Sep/2019 ] "This is an album so nuanced you can almost taste it." Recording of the Month Awards Issue 2019 |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 - 9 Leipzig Radio Choir / Dresden Opera Chorus / Staatskapelle Dresden. Herbert Blomstedt [ Brilliant Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 20/Apr/2012 ] "Highlights of this cycle are many: a grand and glorious Eroica, a lithe and lyrical Second and Fourth, a pellucid Sixth with luminous wind playing, an exciting Ninth (with) a marvelously well sung finale." (ClassicsToday 10/10) |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: The Cello Sonatas (LP) Leonard Elschenbroich (cello) & Alexei Grynyuk (piano) [ Onyx / 3 LP - released 3/May/2019 ] The five cello sonatas span Beethoven's three creative periods, with the audacious op.5 sonatas dating from the early years on his time in Vienna as a piano virtuoso and aspiring composer (1792-9), the great op.69 sonata is from the period that saw... |
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FRANCESCO SACRATI
Sacrati: La finta pazza Leonardo García Alarcón; Cappella Mediterranea [ Château de Versailles Spectacles / 3 CD Box Set - released 27/May/2022 ] 1645: for the pleasure of the Queen Mother Anne of Austria, and attended by a young King Louis XIV, Cardinal Mazarin put on the first Italian opera in Paris. The Italian company, invited at great expense, performed Sacrati's La Finta Pazza. |
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MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER
Charpentier: A Christmas oratorio (Un Oratorio de Noel) Les Arts Florissants, William Christie [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 5/Nov/2021 ] Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed some of the most important works of seventeenth-century French music on the subject of the Nativity and its tutelary figure, the Virgin Mary, from dramatic oratorios in Latin to secular cantatas in the vernacular.... |
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MONTEVERDI / BONONCINI / CHARPENTIER / HANDEL / LULLY / PURCELL / RAMEAU
William Christie: The Complete Erato Recordings Les Arts Florissants, William Christie, with Sophie Daneman, Natalie Dessay, Renee Fleming, Ian Bostridge, Philippe Jaroussky, Mark Padmore, etc [ Erato / 61 CD Box Set - released 7/Mar/2025 ] William Christie is renowned for his pioneering work in the revival of Baroque music. Born in 1944, he founded the ensemble Les Arts Florissants in 1979, which has become a leading force in historically informed performance. |
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J. S. BACH
Bach: Cantatas Vol 27: Whit Tuesday BWV184 & 175 / Trinity Sunday BWV194, 176, 165 & 129 Lisa Larsson, Nathalie Stutzmann, Christoph Genz, Paul Agnew / Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner [ Soli Deo Gloria / 2 CD - released 22/Mar/2008 ] 'What this survey reveals is a deep personal affection for the repertoire and a refreshing, expressive spontaneity often missing from studio recordings but which here captures the moment of live performance.' BBC Music Magazine Awards 2009: Choral... |
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GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony no. 2 in c minor 'Resurrection' Lisa Milne / Birgit Remmert / Budapest Festival Orchestra / Ivan Fischer [ Channel Classics SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 20/Oct/2006 ] "This Budapest band have reserves aplenty, and the cumulative effect is overwhelming. As all good performances of this work must be. I listened to it three times in three days." (Gramophone Magazine Recording of the Month Awards Issue 2006) |
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RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Der Fliegende Holländer [The Flying Dutchman] (complete opera) Lise Davidsen (soprano), Gerald Finley (baritone) / Orchestra and Chorus of Norwegian National Opera, Edward Gardner [ Decca Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 23/May/2025 ] "Gardner conducts an electrifying account from Norwegian National Opera, the chorus deftly adapting to the drama, a Chicagoan edge to the brass, and well-cast leads." Gramophone Recording of the Month May 2025 |
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GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Theodora (complete oratorio) Lisette Oropesa, Joyce DiDonato, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Michael Spyres, John Chest / Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev [ Erato / 3 CD Box Set - released 18/Nov/2022 ] BBC Music Magazine Award Nomination 2023 - Choral |