RACHMANINOV / BRAHMS / BEETHOVEN / SCHUMANN / RAVEL / GERSHWIN
Helene Grimaud: The Romantic Piano Helene Grimaud (piano) with various orchestras & conductors [ Warner / Erato Classics / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2018 ] "Grimaud has never quite fulfilled the blazing promise of her early career, but her fiery personality ensures there is not a dull moment in concertos by Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Schumann and Ravel." (BBC Music) |
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / GERSHWIN / RAVEL / RACHMANINOV / etc
Helen Grimaud: Artist Box Set Helen Grimaud (piano) with various orchestras & conductors [ Erato / Warner Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 3/Jul/2006 ] "Hélène Grimaud, the 'wolf woman', is perhaps the most fascinating artist of our time." (Le Figaro) |
DARIUS MILHAUD
Darius Milhaud: Une Vie Heureuse - anniversary edition Various artists incls Dawn Upshaw, Jane Bathori, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jeanne Loriod (onde Martenot) Yvonne Loriod (piano) Quatuor Bernède, etc [ Warner Classics Erato / 10 CD Box Set - released 16/Nov/2014 ] Distinctively French, yet cosmopolitan in his personal and artistic horizons, Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) was adventurous, prominent, and prolific. A pupil of Dukas and d'Indy, he became a member of Les Six and a distinguished teacher in the USA and... |
PENDERECKI / DUFAY / PART / DE MONTE / SCHUTZ / BACH / etc
Magnificat Hilliard Ensemble, Ambrosian Singers, Rheinische Kantorei, Choir of King's College, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, etc [ Erato Warner Classics / 7 CD Box Set - released 22/Aug/2017 ] Song of Mary: The Evangelist Saint Luke describes how the pregnant Mother of God intones a prayer of thanks which in Latin begins with the words "Magnificat anima mea Dominum", and in the King James version "My soul doth magnify the Lord". This... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Renaissance Music from England, Italy, Spain & Mexico The Hilliard Ensemble [ Warner Erato / 6 CD Box Set - released 1/Sep/2016 ] The Hilliard Ensemble is one of the world's finest vocal chamber groups, and is probably unrivalled for its formidable reputation in the fields of both early and new music. |
OCKEGHEM / DESPREZ / LASSUS
The Hilliard Sound: Renaissance Masterpieces The Hilliard Ensemble [ Erato / Warner Classics / 3 CD - released 20/Aug/2014 ] A pure and perfect sound - without any vibrato, but full of warmth. No one who has ever heard the Hilliard Ensemble will forget the impression. The farewell of this award-winning world-class vocal chamber group will be sad news to many classical... |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Piano Pieces Op 116-119 Helene Grimaud (piano) [ Erato / CD - released 1/Jun/2004 ] "The very opening Capriccio of Op.116 really is presto energico, and Grimaud makes the most of the tricky, syncopated accents. The recording is good" MusicWeb (March 2004) |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: String Quartets Nos. 1-16 (complete, inc. Grosse Fuge) Hungarian Quartet [ Erato / 7 CD - released 26/Mar/2017 ] "[in the finale of the Fifth Qtet] and elsewhere the playing, which is often admirably precise, has great humanity and emotional force. The Beethoven performances are animated, expressive and, in terms of part-playing, beautifully balanced." Gramopho |
TOMASO ALBINONI
Tomaso Albinoni: The Collector's Edition I Solisti Veneti, Claudio Scimone / Ensemble Strumentale Albalonga, Annibale Cetrangolo, with Pierre Pierlot & Pietro Bongonovo (oboes) [ Warner Classics / Erato / 16 CD Box Set - released 29/Jan/2021 ] The 'Adagio' (re)composed by Remo Giazotto had been enjoying huge popularity for ten years when Claudio Scimone and his chamber orchestra joined the Erato family and began to investigate the authentic Albinoni catalogue. |
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
Gluck: Ezio (complete opera) Sonia Prina, Ann Hallenberg, Max Emanuel Cencic / Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis [ Erato Classics / 2 CD - released 5/Sep/2011 ] Alan Curtis, described by the New York Times' as "one of the great scholar-musicians of recent times", conducts a brilliant cast including Sonia Prina, Ann Hallenberg, Max-Emanuel Cencic and Topi Lehtipuu in the original, 1750 version of Gluck's... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
The Perlman Sound Itzhak Perlman [ Erato / Warner Classics / 3 CD - released 28/Aug/2015 ] 31 August 2015 sees the seventieth birthday of Itzhak Perlman, the supreme violinist of his time, adored by audiences around the world. The most obvious manifestation of that genius is the famous Perlman Sound - lustrous, warm and generous. |
CAVALLI / BONONCINI / HANDEL / MATTEIS / SCARLATTI / HASSE / etc
Jakub Józef Orliński - Facce d'Amore Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor) / Il pomo d'oro, Maxim Emelyanchev [ Erato Classics / CD - released 8/Nov/2019 ] Gramophone Awards 2020 Shortlisted - Recital International Opera Awards 2021 - Winner (Solo recital) |
EDOUARD LALO
Lalo: Le roi d'Ys (Complete Opera recorded in 1957) Janine Micheau, Rita Gorr, Henri Legay, Jean Borthayre / Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion française, André Cluytens [ Erato The Home of Opera / 2 CD - released 25/Apr/2018 ] Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys draws on the same Breton myth of a submerged city as Debussy's La Cathédrale engloutie. A great success at its 1888 premiere at Paris's Opéra Comique, it even reached the Metropolitan Opera, New York, but its current rarity on the... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss (R.): Orchestral Lieder / Metamorphosen Gundula Janowitz (soprano) / Academy Of London, Richard Stamp [ Erato Classics Redline / CD - released 15/Oct/2018 ] "Janowitz's voice is inherently light...her relatively uncomplicated, 'classical' approach, brings dividends of its own in terms of clarity of expression and phrasing. And then, there is the sheer elation of that extraordinary, golden high register" |
SCHUMANN / BERLIOZ / DUKAS / ROUSSEL / FALLA / POULENC / etc
Icon: Jean Martinon - The Late Years Various orchestras conducted by Jean Martinon, with Lily laskine. Itzhak Perlman, Marie-Claire Alain, etc [ Erato / Warner Classics / 14 CD Box Set - released 20/Sep/2015 ] 2016 marked the 40th anniversary of Jean Martinon's death. This 14-CD collection focuses on Martinon's activity with the Orchestre National de l'O.R.T.F between 1968 and 1975 and on repertoire - much of it French |
J. S. BACH
Bach Imagine Jean Rondeau (harpsichord) [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 26/Feb/2015 ] IMAGINE is the first Warner Classics release from the dynamic young French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, who sees it as "an exploration of all the possibilities that lie in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and in the harpsichord". |
FRESCOBALDI / ROSSI / STROZZI / JOHN BULL / PICCHI / etc
Melancholy Grace Jean Rondeau (harpsichord) [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 7/May/2021 ] "[A] sense of breath and space pervades the album, and coming in at over 80 minutes, it's shed the feeling that it's a recording at all: Rondeau presents something closer to meditation." Gramophone Editor's Choice July 2021 |
DOMENICO SCARLATTI
Scarlatti: Sonatas Jean Rondeau (harpsichord) [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 5/Nov/2018 ] "Rondeau's readings of these sonatas give a sense of drama, particularly those marked Allegro. There is a real drive with moments of reprieve, all to great dramatic effect but in a considered manner. Highly recommended." Nicholas Butler/Marbecks |
THE BACH FAMILY
Dynastie: Bach Concertos Jean Rondeau (harpsichord) with Sophie Gent, Louis Creac'h (violin) Fanny Paccoud (viola) Antoine Touche (cello) Thomas de Pierrefeu (contrabass) etc [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 16/Mar/2017 ] "This spirited and eloquently ornamented playing serves the music of JS Bach and three of his sons uncommonly well" BBC Music Five Stars Concerto Choice March 2017 |
BEETHOVEN
Complete Piano Sonatas Jean-Bernard Pommier (piano) [ Erato / Warner Classics / 10 CD Box Set - released 17/Apr/2006 ] Warners Boxed Sets - collector's editions at a special price |