KURT WEILL
Berliner Requiem / Concerto pour violon et instruments a vent Alexandre Laiter / Peter Kooy / Elisabeth Glab / La Chapelle Royale, Ensemble Musique Oblique, Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi Musique d'abord / CD - released 1/Sep/2007 ] 'Herreweghe and his group have extricated true beauty and elegance, in this Berliner Requiem. A resounding success.' - CD Classics |
BERNARDINO de RIBERA / JUAN NAVARRO / SEBASTIEN de VIVANCO / TOMAS LUIS de VICTORIA
De Ribera & Navarro: Masters of Spanish Renaissance Amystis Ensemble / Ministriles de la Reyna, José Duce Chenoll [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 11/Mar/2022 ] The Amystis ensemble of singers and instrumentalists have won a following for their exploration of lesser-known sacred and secular masterpieces from the Spanish Golden Age of the 16th century. |
Ana de la Vega (flute) / English Chamber Orchestra, New Dutch Academy / Simon Murphy (direction)
Baroque Bohemia & Beyond VIII: Stamič, Richter, Mysliveček [ Alto / CD ] [Mysliveček] "She is a charming, persuasive advocate ... The ECO, too, offer fine support and with a range of tone colours, match de la Vega's recreative imagination. Pentatone has captured these performances in particularly clear sound ... De la... |
FRANZ IGNAZ BECK
Beck: L'Isle deserte, Opéra comique in one acte Ana Maria Labin, Samantha Gaul, Theodore Browne, Fabian Kelly, La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider [ CPO / CD - released 24/Sep/2021 ] Franz Ignaz Beck is one of the most fascinating composers of the eighteenth century, a musical visionary as well as a »genuine European« with roots in Mannheim. His opera L'isle déserte, long regarded as lost, has resurfaced in a score manuscript in... |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra, André Cluytens [ Testament / CD - released 4/Feb/2002 ] |
WOLF-FERRARI
Wind Concertinos Andrea Tenaglia (oboe) William Moriconi (cor anglais) Giuseppe Ciabocchi (bassoon) / Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Francesco La Vecchia [ Naxos / CD - released 2/Nov/2011 ] Although Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari is known mainly for his operatic compositions (La vedova scaltra is available on Naxos CD 8660225-26 and DVD 2110234-35), he wrote a number of sublimely expressive and lyrical orchestral works, devoting the majority of... |
BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Op 123 Rosa Mannion (sop) Birgit Remmert (alto) James Taylor (tenor) Cornelius Hauptmann (bass) / La Chapelle Royale / Champs-Elysees / Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 20/May/2010 ] 'Philippe Herreweghe has the measure of this stubborn masterpiece...No-one has ever got it quite right - until now.' - Classic CD |
AUBER
La Muette De Portici (complete opera) Diego Torre, Oscar de la Torre, Angelina Ruzzafante, Wiard Witholt / Anhaltische Philharmonie, Anthony Hermus [ CPO / 2 CD - released 29/Jul/2013 ] "[de la Torre's] singing exudes a notable confidence above the stave...[Hermus] and his excellent orchestra bring an appropriate vitality and dramatic fire to the proceedings." (International Record Review) |
FRANCESCO CAVALLI / CHRISTOPH GRAUPNER / FRANZ TUNDER etc
Celebration of Life in Death Anna Prohaska; La Folia Barockorchester; Robin Peter Müller [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 25/Feb/2022 ] Constantly in search of eclectic and meaningful programmes, the soprano Anna Prohaska here celebrates 'life in death'. An ambitious programme, conceived with Robin Peter Müller and his ensemble La Folia, which takes us on a journey across the... |
PUCCINI
Puccini Romance Antoinette Halloran (soprano) Rosario La Spina (tenor) / The Queensland Orchestra / Stephen Mould [ Universal Classics / ABC Classics / CD - released 15/May/2008 ] FEATURES THE STAR OF THE NZ OPERA'S PRODUCTION OF LA BOHEME! |
VERDI
La Traviata (complete opera recorded in 1955) Antonietta Stella (soprano) Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor) Tito Gobbi (baritone) / Milan La Scala Orchestra / Tullio Serafin [ Naxos Historical / 2 CD - released 1/Dec/2007 ] Having already recorded La Traviata for CETRA Maria Callas was contractually barred from taking part in this 1955 recording of the opera, which featured, instead, the emerging Italian soprano Antonietta Stella, who went on to become an acclaimed... |
PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY / FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY
Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky - Violin Concertos Arabella Steinbacher (violin), Charles Dutoit, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande [ Pentatone / CD - released 1/Jun/2015 ] This release arguably features the two greatest concertos ever written for the violin: performed by one of the most brilliant violinists of her generation, together with one of the finest orchestras, and under the baton of one of the world's foremost... |
JOACHIM RAFF
Orchestral Works Volume 2 (incls Symphony No 5) Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Neeme Järvi [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Mar/2014 ] "Järvi's performance is an absolutely splendid one - both markedly more propulsive and, to my ears, more excitingly cogent than any other I have encountered, yet with no loss in terms of technical sophistication or affectionate glow...Collectors with |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Ich habe viel Bekammernis Cantatas BWV21 & BWV42 Barbara Schlick (sop) Garard Lesne (counter-tenor) Howard Crook (tenor) Peter Kooy (bass) La Chapelle Royale / Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 27/Mar/2020 ] Superbly constructed, the cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis is incontestably one of Bach's finest works. The masterly arrangements of the material endows it with an emotional cohesion and a dramatic intensity worthy of the Passions and the Mass in B... |
J. S. BACH
Bach Edition [10 CD set incls Brandenburg Concertos, B Minor Mass, Art of the Fugue] Barthold Kuijken (flute) Lucy van Dael (violin) Elly Ameling (sop) / La Petite Bande / Collegium Aurem / etc [ Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / 10 CD Box Set - released 20/Feb/2013 ] Sigiswald Kuijken is both a fine violinist and an excellent conductor, with his group La Petite Bande. He has long specialized in Bach, recording cantatas, orchestral works, and a set of the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. |
Bauer/La Stagione Frankfurt
Abel: Piano Concertos [ Cpo / CD - released 31/Mar/2003 ] |
BRIAN FERNEYHOUGH
Choral Works (Incls Missa Brevis) BBC Singers / Lontano / Odaline de la Martinez (cond) [ Metier / CD - released 20/Jun/2008 ] The BBC Singers under Odaline de la Martinez perform brilliantly. They are fearless in their ability to transform Ferneyhough's vocal lines into music. The disc expects a lot of both singers and listeners." (MusicWeb june 2007) |
MASCAGNI
Cavalleria Rusticana (complete opera recorded in 1940, conducted by the composer) + opera overtures Beniamino Gigli / Lina Bruna-Rasa / Gino Bechi / Giulietta Simionato / La Scala Orchestra and Chorus / Pietro Mascagni [ Naxos Historical Great Opera Recordings / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] The fiftieth anniversary of the first staging of Cavalleria rusticana was the occasion of particular celebration, represented by the present recording under the composer’s direction. |
PURCELL / FINGER / BLOW / CROFT / DRAGHI
London (Circa 1700): Purcell & his Generation Benjamin Perrot and Florence Bolton, La Rêveuse [ Mirare / CD - released 1/Feb/2019 ] At the end of the Seventeenth Century, London became a city full of promise, the stuff that dreams were made of: theatres and concerts were packed every night and the music publishing market was flourishing. This great European capital at the... |
Niccolò Jo
Te Deum D-Dur; Messe D-Dur Berry, Benacková, La Pierre, Meer; Prager Kammerchor, Virtuosi di Praga, Griffiths [ ORFEO / CD - released 15/Mar/2001 ] |