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SERGEI PROKOFIEV / HEITOR VILLA‑LOBOS / FRANCIS POULENC
Prokofiev - Villa-Lobos - Poulenc ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Simone Menezes [ Fuga Libera / CD - due 25/Sep/2026 ] The classicism that emerged in Vienna with Mozart and Haydn was later revisited by Prokofiev in Russia, Poulenc in France, and most unexpectedly, Villa-Lobos in Brazil. Each composer reimagined this tradition through a sparkling, modern, and... |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (Complete opera recorded in 1996) Lyon Opera / Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Scaltriti, Simone Alaimo, Elena Dan / Evelino Pido (cond) [ Decca / RM Associates DVD / DVD - released 20/Sep/2003 ] "Frank Dunlop's witty, unvarnished view of Donizetti's country comedy, updated to the 1930s, is delightful to see, wondrous to hear." Gramophone |
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JOSEF HAYDN
Haydn: Die Schopfung [The Creation sung in German] Simone Kermes, Dorothee Mields, Steve Daviislim / Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble / Thomas Hengelbrock [ Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 30/May/2008 ] "Thomas Hengelbrock directs a clear and unfussy reading. He has an excellent grasp of each of the different elements of the score, which he communicates extremely well to his forces and thence to the listener." MusicWeb |
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VINCI / BONONCINI / HASSE / STING / ALBINONI / etc
Simone Kermes - Inferno e Paradiso Simone Kermes (soprano), Amici Veneziani [ Sony Classical / CD - released 15/May/2020 ] Simone Kermes releases her latest album, which features arias by baroque composers that have long numbered among her favorites, including Handel, Hasse, and Caldara. |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera recorded at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus 2015) BLU-RAY Baden-Baden Festspielhaus / Olga Peretyatko, Atalla Ayan, Simone Piazzola, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Tom Fox / Pablo Heras-Casado (cond) [ C Major Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Dec/2016 ] Staged by Rolando Villazón Star tenor and director Rolando Villazón's staging of La Traviata at the Festspielhaus in Baden Baden is "visually spectacular" (The Huffington Post) and made for "an enthusiastic reception for the premiere" (Stuttgarter... |
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HANS PFITZNER
Pfitzner: Palestrina (complete opera) Christopher Ventris / Peter Rose / Michael Volle / Falk Struckmann / Christiana Karg / Bavarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Simone Young [ Euroarts DVD / 2 DVD - released 15/Jun/2010 ] "Simone Young directs a flowing and nicely paced account. Christopher Ventris is sensitive, achieving exhausted nobility as the composer, and Falk Struckmann provides a rounded portrayal of the subtle Borromeo." (Gramophone) |
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GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: La Cenerentola [Cinderella] (complete opera recorded in 2009) Metropolitan Opera / Elina Garanca, Lawrence Brownlee, Simone Alberghini / Maurizio Benini (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 12/Dec/2014 ] "Garanca is something special. The voice, pure, warm, ample in power and range, she has achieved a mastery in Rossini's florid style, using no quick fixes...Benini's conducting is sure in its feeling for wit and elegance, and the orchestra respond" |
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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Requiem (LP) Simone Kermes, Stephanie Houtzeel, Markus Brutscher / MusicAeterna / New Siberian Singers, Teodor Currentzis [ Alpha Classics / 2 LP - released 23/Aug/2019 ] Mozart's Requiem is a supreme masterpiece of the history of music and a work inextricably bound up with the Mozartian legend. Now Alpha's recording of it under the direction of Teodor Currentzis is given a new lease of life in a vinyl reissue. A... |
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Nina Simone
Black Gold (LP) [ Music On Vinyl / LP - released 12/May/2011 ] In 1969, the High Priestess Of Soul, Nina Simone, descended onto the stage of the Philharmonic Hall in New York to record her new live album, Black Gold. It became a legendary performance with the first recording of the Civil Rights song "To Be... |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (highlights) Simone Alaimo (bass), Roberto Frontali (baritone), Alessandra Ruffini (soprano), Vincenzo la Scola (tenor), Mariangela Spotorno (soprano) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/May/2000 ] Gaetano Donizetti was the leading composer of Italian opera in the short period between the early retirement of Rossini and death of Bellini and Verdi's first success with Nabucco in 1842. He was born in Bergamo in 1797 and had his early musical... |