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. |
JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn Symphonies L'Estro Armonico, Derek Solomons [ Sony / 18 CD Box Set - released 26/Apr/2024 ] "The sense of adventure and discovery remains palpable in so many of the recordings here, and despite the occasional misfire, nearly all of these performances stand up well to comparison with a number of period-instrument recordings that succeeded... |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (complete opera with libretto) Thomas Allen, Mirella Freni, Anne Sofie von Otter, Neil Shicoff / Staatskapelle Dresden, James Levine [ Deutsche Grammophon Originals / 2 CD Box Set - released 2/Feb/1988 ] "James Levine's 1984 recording is characterised by an appropriately full recorded sound and much gutsy playing from his orchestral forces." (MusicWeb) |
BACH / HANDEL / MENDELSSOHN / PARRY / etc
Sir Adrian Boult - The Decca Legacy, Volume 2 - Baroque & Sacred Music London Philharmonic & London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Kirsten Flagstad, Jennifer Vyvyan, Norma Procter, Kenneth McKellar, Joan Sutherland, etc [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 13 CD Box Set - released 7/Oct/2022 ] The second volume of Sir Adrian Boult's Decca legacy brings together the conductor's Messiah recordings of 1954 and 1960, plus Baroque and sacred music recitals from Kenneth McKellar, Kirsten Flagstad and Kathleen Ferrier. LIMITED EDITION. |
TCHAIKOVSKY / RACHMANINOV / PROKOFIEV / DOHNÁNYI / RIMSKY-KORSAKOV / MAHLER
Sir Adrian Boult - The Decca Legacy, Volume 3 - 19th & 20th Century Music London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Philharmoniker, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Kirsten Flagstad, Julius Katchen, etc [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 16 CD Box Set - released 7/Oct/2022 ] The third volume of Boult's complete Decca recordings features Boult the insightful accompanist and inspired Russian interpreter, featuring many long-unavailable and newly remastered Decca recordings. LIMITED EDITION. |
DVORAK / RIMSKY-KORSAKOV / MOZART / VERDI / SCHUBERT / etc/
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt Edition - Volume 2 London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouworkest, NDR-Sinfonieorchester, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, with Alfred Brendel, Henryk Szeryng, etc [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 15 CD Box Set - released 29/Sep/2023 ] Supplementary to his legendary Beethoven cycles for Decca are Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt's recordings for Philips, Mercury, Deutsche Grammophon and Accord. They date from 1944 (Sutermeister) to 1972, when he made his last recording, fittingly by Mozart. |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: Symphonies & Overtures London Symphony Orchestra, The Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Lucy Crowe (soprano) [ LSO / 4 CD Box Set - released 21/Sep/2019 ] LSO Live presents Sir John Eliot Gardiner's award-winning Mendelssohn series together in its entirety for the first time. Captured over three seasons during critically acclaimed concerts in the Barbican Hall, this set offers listeners the definitive... |
RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Symphonies Nos 1-3, Symphonic Dances London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev [ LSO Live / 4 CD Box Set - released 27/Apr/2018 ] Recorded live at the Barbican Hall, London September 2008 - February 2015 This highly anticipated box set brings together Valery Gergiev's acclaimed cycle of the complete Rachmaninov symphonies, which were recorded alongside the London Symphony... |
DELIBES / ADAM / TCHAIKOVSKY / MINKUS / OFFENBACH / MASSENET / etc
Richard Bonynge - Complete Ballet Recordings L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, English Chamber Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge [ Decca / 45 CD Box Set - released 18/Dec/2020 ] 48 CDs compiled by Cyrus Meher-Homji, a long-time friend of Richard Bonynge, including familiar scores by Tchaikovsky & Delibes alongside works revived by Maestro Bonynge throughout his career. |
CHOPIN / PROKOFIEV / LISZT / BRAHMS / RACHMANINOV / RAVEL / etc
Lorin Hollander: Complete RCA Collection Lorin Hollander (piano), with Erick Friedman (violin) & Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony [ RCA Red Seal / Sony Classical / 8 CD Box Set - released 17/Jun/2022 ] Sony Classical is now pleased to present a new 8-disc box set offering Lorin Hollander's complete RCA discography for the first time on CD with original LP sleeves and labels and a booklet with full discographical notes. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic: Complete Decca Recordings Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta [ Decca / 38 CD Box Set - released 29/May/2020 ] This 38-CD collection provides proof of just how catholic Mehta's tastes were. The foundation of his music making continues to lie in the central European masterworks and he has never lost sight of that tradition. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Chandos Anthems - complete Lynne Dawson (soprano), Ian Partridge (tenor) Patrizia Kwella (soprano) James Bowman (alto) / The Sixteen Choir & Orchestra, Harry Christophers [ Chandos Chaconne / 4 CD Box Set - released 2/Feb/1994 ] The Sixteen are a United Kingdom-based choir and period instrument orchestra; founded by Harry Christophers, they started as an unnamed group of sixteen friends in 1977, giving their first billed concert in 1979. |
HANS LEO HASSLER
Hassler: Complete Organ Music Manuel Tomadin (organ) [ Brilliant Classics / 11 CD Box Set - released 25/Feb/2022 ] Another labour of love from the Italian organist Manuel Tomadin, adding to his much-praised catalogue of collections by masters of the German and Italian Baroque. |
FRANCESCO PAOLO TOSTI
Tosti: The Song of a Life, Volume 3 Marco Severin (baritone) Delphine da Pontello (soprano) Giulia De Blasis (soprano) Alessandro Luciano (tenor) / Marco Moresco, Isabella Crisante (pian [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2019 ] Based on 33 years of scholarship and promotion by the Istituto Nazionale Tostiano and a lifetime of studies on the part of Francesco Sanvitale, this volume lives up to its predecessors in bringing to wider attention the work of a born songsmith, at... |
FRANCESCO PAOLO TOSTI
Tosti: The song of a life, Complete Vocal Chamber Music, Vol 4; Maria Bagalà (soprano), Glenn Morton (piano), John Viscardi (baritone), Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi (soprano), Isabella Crisante (piano), etc [ Brilliant Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 14/Feb/2020 ] "this is a great tribute to the legacy of the greatest composer of Italian songs...it is an invaluable treat to have them collected - I doubt there will ever be a similar project again - and at Brilliant Classics's give-away price." MusicWeb |
W. A. MOZART / CHOPIN / SCHUMANN
Maria Joao Pires: Complete Concerto Recordings Maria Joao Pires (piano) / Orchestra Mozart, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado, etc [ Deutsche Grammophon / 5 CD Box Set - released 20/Jul/2020 ] This collection brings together all of Maria João Pires' concerto recordings for Deutsche Grammophon from between 1990 and 2011. It displays the great Portuguese pianist in the music of three composers who have always been close to her heart -... |
SPIRITUALS / VERDI / BRAHMS / SCHUMANN / HAYDN / SCHUBERT / etc
Marian Anderson - Beyond the Music - Her complete RCA Victor recordings [15 CDs with large book] Marian Anderson (contralto) [ Sony Classical / 15 CD/Book - released 27/Aug/2021 ] "Special mention must be made of this set's presentation, which stands among the glories of the CD era not just for its musical comprehensiveness, but also for its artful design." Opera |
MANUEL de FALLA
De Falla Collection Marta Senn, Cecilia Angell, Fernando de La Mora, Timora Rosler, Benita Meshulam, Jutta Czapski, Klára Würtz, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venez [ Briliant Classics / 5 CD - released 17/Oct/2021 ] Regarded as the greatest Spanish composer of the twentieth century, Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) developed an interest in native Spanish music - in particular Andalusian flamenco - while studying with Felipe Pedrell in Madrid in the late 1890s. |
NICOLO PAGANINI
Paganini: Complete Edition (40 CDs) Massimo Quarta (violin/director), Salvatore Accardo (violin), Franco Mezzena (violin), Franco Traverso (horn), Rino Vernizzi (bassoon), Luigi A. Bianc [ Dynamic / 40 CD Box Set - released 28/Sep/2018 ] It is practically impossible to speak of the violin without mentioning Paganini. He represented a veritable milestone in the history of the instrument, in that what came before him is without doubt different from what came after him. Paganini was... |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Arianna in Creta (complete opera) Mata Katsuli (soprano) Mary-Ellen Nesi (mezzo) Irini Karaianni (mezzo) (Marita Paparizou (mezzo) Petros Magoulas (bar) / Orchestra of Patras / George [ MDG / 3 CD Box Set - released 15/Jul/2006 ] "One of Handel's underrated works ... never less than interesting ... a strong performance where vivid, dramatic values are to the fore" (MusicWeb June 2006) |