SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
Rachmaninoff: Complete Piano Music Zlata Chochieva, Lukas Geniušas, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Nikolai Lugansky, Alexander Ghindin, Elisa Tomellini [ Brilliant Classics / 8 CD Box Set - released 12/Mar/2021 ] This 8-CD set contains the works for piano solo by Sergei Rachmaninoff, 20-th century romantic, one of the greatest pianists of all time himself. |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Cinderella (complete ballet recorded in 2003) Zurich Ballet / Karine Seneca / Stanislav Jermakov / Marine Castel / Jozef Varga / Vladimir Fedoseyev (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques / DVD - released 1/Dec/2008 ] G - Heinz Spoerli's Zurich Ballet Cinderella production, filmed as a musical from Hollywood, turned out to be a huge success at its premiere and must rank as one of the most 'dancerly' stagings Prokofiev's popular ballet has ever received. |
ERIK SATIE
Erik Satie - Old Sequins and Ancient Breastplates [Historial Recordings 1926-1961] Aldo Ciccolini, Francis Poulenc, William Masselos, Manuel Rosenthal, Igor Markevitch, Pierre Bernac, etc [ Cherry Red Records / 4 CD Box Set - released 9/Dec/2022 ] A four disc Box set collection of historic Satie recordings, ranging from the 1920's onwards. Including such rarities as Henri Sauguet's 'Socrate' for solo voice and orchestra; piano sets by William Masselos and Aldo Ciccolini. |
Symphonic Highlights For Capriccio's 40 Year Anniversary
[ Capriccio / 10 CD - released 20/May/2022 ] Following Capriccio's founding in 1982 as a producer of LPs and tapes, the label's first recording to turn heads was its pioneering digital Beethoven Symphonies cycle with the Dresden Philharmonic under Herbert Kegel, which was issued on CD two years... |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Oratorios: Messiah, Athalia, Esther and La Resurrezione [8 CD set] Academy of Ancient Music / Emma Kirkby / Joan Sutherland / Aled Jones / David Thomas et al [ Decca / 8 CD Box Set - released 7/Dec/2005 ] Now at budget price! Christopher Hogwood's pioneering period instrument recordings of 4 Handel oratorios. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel - Marriner: The Decca Legacy Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 19 CD Box Set - released 22/Mar/2024 ] A unique collection of L'Oiseau-Lyre, Argo, Decca and Philips albums in original covers, showcasing both the genius of Handel and the musicianship of the classic ASMF/Marriner pairing at its most stylish. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Messiah (complete oratorio Live from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge 2009) Ailish Tynan, Alice Coote, Allan Clayton & Matthew Rose / Choir of King's College, Academy of Ancient Music, Stephen Cleobury [ Warner Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 10/Mar/2010 ] "The first choral concert transmitted live to 85 cinemas, Stephen Cleobury's interpretation ticks all the boxes, with choir and orchestra impeccably balanced, and soloists glowing." The Independent, 24th April 2009 **** |
GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN
A Telemann Companion Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs & Georg Kallweit, with Dorothea Roschmann, Roman Trekel, Ruth Ziesak, etc [ Harmonia Mundi / 7 CD Box Set - released 7/Jul/2017 ] "Altogether, this tribute to Telemann can be heartily endorsed for both newcomers and feinschmeckers alike...For those who are willing to dive into the big vocal scores, this is a supreme delight." AudAud.com |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: String Quartets, Trout Quintet & String Quintet Alban Berg Quartet, Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano), Georg Hörtnagel (double bass) [ Warner Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 17/Mar/2023 ] The Alban Berg Quartett approach Schubert with classical discipline while vividly conveying the mysterious fervent power that is so instantaneously unique in the composer's works. They capture the quintessentially Viennese spirit of Schubert, as... |
MODEST MUSSORGSKY
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov, opera in seven scenes (1869 version) Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Maxim Paster, Mika Kares, Sergei Skorokhodov, Göteborg Opera Chorus [ BIS SACD / 2 CD - released 6/Sep/2019 ] "This new account, based on live performances, is beautifully sung and played, and recorded in surround sound" MusicWeb |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Alexei Lubimov Alexei Lubimov (piano) [ Alpha Classics / 7 CD Box Set - released 13/Mar/2020 ] Composers: Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827) Berg, Alban (1885-1935) Haydn, Franz Joseph (1732-1809) Ives, Charles (1874-1954) Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-91) Satie, Erik Alfred Leslie (1866-1925) Schubert, Franz Peter... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Piano variations and Bagatelles Alfred Brendel (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 14/Dec/2006 ] A truly historic document: some 40 years ago Alfred Brendel recorded Beethoven's Bagatellen and Piano variations. Here the eminent pianist already showed his idiosyncratic self. Some people consider his playing dull; others find it refreshingly... |
HANDEL
Belshazzar (complete oratorio) Allan Clayton, Rosemary Joshua, Iestyn Davies / Les Arts Florissants, William Christie [ Les Arts Florissants Editions / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Jun/2014 ] "The choir of Les Arts Florissants acquit themselves with full honours in Handel's imaginative dramatic narrative choruses" (Gramophone Magazine, December 2013) |
ANGELO GILARDINO
Gilardino: Complete Music for Solo Guitar 1965-2013 Angelo Marchese (guitar) [ Brilliant Classics / 14 CD Box Set - released 14/Aug/2015 ] Angelo Gilardino is one of the most important guitar composers of the last half century. His unique style is a blend of the old and new, folk art and contemporary music, from Mozart to Messiaen. |
HENRYK GORECKI
Antoni Wit Conducts Henryk Górecki [Incls Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) ] Anna Górecka (piano) Carol Wincenc (flute) Zofia Kilanowicz (soprano) / Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra [ Naxos / 3 CD Box Set - released 10/Apr/2014 ] "What impresses me most about this performance is its sprituality" - Gramophone on the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY / MAURICE RAVEL
Boulez Conducts Debussy and Ravel (6 CDs special price) Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo) Krystian Zimerman (piano) / London Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Symphony, Pierre Boulez [ Deutsche Grammophon / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/Jun/2012 ] "Zimerman's pianism is self-recommending. His trills in the first movement of the G major Concerto are to die for, his passagework in the finale crystalclear, never hectic, always stylish. Boulez and the Clevelanders are immaculate and responsive"... |
CHARLES LECOCQ
Lecocq: La fille de Madame Angot (complete operetta) Anne-Catherine Gillet; Véronique Gens; Mathias Vidal / Orchestre de chambre de Paris; Sébastien Rouland; Chœur du Concert Spirituel, Sébastien Rouland [ Bru Zane / 2 CD Box Set - released 22/Oct/2021 ] La Fille de Madame Angot, an opéra-comique in three acts, was premiered at the Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes in Brussels on 4 December 1872 before scoring a similar triumph in France on 21 February 1873. |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: The Opera & Operettas Collection Anneliese Rothenberger, Teresa Berganza, Michel Dens, Jose Carreras, Nicolai Gedda, Gabriel Bacquier, John Aler, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, etc [ Warner Classics / 30 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2019 ] He was born in Cologne, but it was in Paris that Jacques Offenbach achieved fame. A special feature of this 30-CD collection are star-studded recordings in both French and German of his most celebrated operettas. |
W. A. MOZART / BEETHOVEN / SCHUMANN / LISZT / BARTOK / SCHUBERT
Annie Fischer: The Complete London Studio Recordings Annie Fischer (piano) Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Otto Klemperer, etc [ Warner Classics Icon / 8 CD Box Set - released 23/Aug/2014 ] 'I can find no praise too high for Annie Fischer's playing, for she makes every phrase a delight. Sawallisch partners his soloist to perfection. Everybody has here combined to produce something really outstanding among recordings of Mozart... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Decca Conductors' Gallery Ansermet, Van Beinum, Bernard, ·Blech, Celibidache, Coates, Coppola, Desormiere, Enescu, Fitelberg, Furtwangler, Harty, Van Kempen, Kleiber, Knapperts [ Decca ABC Australian Eloquence / 21 CD Box Set - released 25/Aug/2023 ] An A-Z of 23 conductors in a feast of classic recordings from Decca's early years - 1929-1949 - including the golden age of its 'ffrr' technology. Newly remastered from the best available sources. |