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W. A. MOZART
Die Zauberflote [The Magic Flue] (completeopera recorded in 2014) BLU-RAY Dutch National Opera / Maximilian Schmitt, Christina Landshamer, Thomas Oliemans, Brindley Sherratt, Íride Martínez / Marc Albrecht (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/May/2015 ] "Subtle touches ease what we now find chauvinist and racist in the original...Ingenious. Recommended." (Gramophone Blu-ray of the Month May 2015) |
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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Don Giovanni (complete opera recorded in 2009) Thomas Hampson, Robert Holl, Edita Gruberova, Roberta Alexander, Barbara Bonney, / Royal Concertgebouw orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt [ Warner Classics The Home of Opera / 3 CD - released 2/Sep/2016 ] "No interpretation of this endlessly fascinating work will ever hold all the answers, but this one provides a good deal of them in its lean, direct and perceptive way." Gramophone |
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SCHUBERT
Die Freunde von Salamanka, D326 Edith Mathis, Thomas Moser, Hermann Prey / Austrian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Theodor Guschlbauer [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / CD - released 20/Feb/2011 ] 'Beautiful singing by Mathis … Hermann Prey in excellent form … lovers of Schubert should not let slip the opportunity of hearing this … it is affectionately directed by Guschlbauer.' Gramophone |
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REINHARD KEISER
Passion Music Eeva Tenkanan, Doerthe Sandmann, Olivia Vermeulen, Knut Schoch / Capella Orlandi Bremen, Thomas Ihlenfeldt [ CPO / CD - released 1/Aug/2010 ] CPO's rediscovery of Church Music from Hamburg (1600-1800) continues with a concert, broadcast live on Deutschlandradio Kultur, featuring rediscovered works by Reinhard Keiser. Only three oratorios by Reinhard Keiser exist in full. Many shorter... |
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OLIVER KNUSSEN
Symphonies 2 & 3 / Coursing / Ophelia Dances / Trumpets Elaine Barry / Linda Hirst / Nash Ensemble / Philharmonia Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas / London Sinfonietta / Oliver Knussen [ NMC Records / CD - released 20/Feb/2012 ] Two of Knussen's major works of the 1970s - Symphony No.2, a song cycle on texts of Georg Trakl and Sylvia Plath, and Symphony No. 3, a symphonic poem about Shakespeare's Ophelia - are coupled with Coursing, Ophelia Dances and other works. |
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FRANZ SCHREKER
Schreker: Der Ferne Klang (Complete Opera) Elena Grigorrescu, Thomas Harper / Hagen Opera Chorus, Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Halasz [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 12/Jan/2008 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) - "Naxos has included a detailed synopsis matching the CDs tracks. The solid performance gives a good idea of the work's visionary strengths and its prolix weaknesses." - San... |
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J. S. BACH
Cantatas: Recreation for the Soul Elin Manahan Thomas, Daniel Taylor, James Gilchrist / Magdalena Consort, Peter Harvey [ Channel Classics SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 20/May/2015 ] "The four voices are fairly matched with each other, less so with their instrumental colleagues, and Harvey leads unfailingly elegant interpretations. At each turn, however, they yield to the textual and expressive detail of The Bach Players." Gramop |
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J. S. BACH
Bach: Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn BWV1127 Elin Manahan Thomas / English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner [ Soli Deo Gloria / CD - released 10/Oct/2005 ] Premiere recording of a newly discovered aria by Bach, unearthed in a library in June 2005 |
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GABRIEL FAURE
Faure: Requiem (with Mozart-Ave verum corpus, K618, etc) Elin Manahan Thomas, Roderick Williams, Ruth Massey, Mark Dobell / The Sixteen / Academy of St Martin in the Fields / Harry Christophers [ Coro Live / CD - released 1/Apr/2008 ] The result of a brand new collaboration between two of the finest modern day exponents of classical music, this exquisite disc brings fresh life to Fauré's peerless Requiem and injects imaginative invention and poetic phrasing into two of Mozart's... |
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JOHN BRUNNING
Brunning: Swan Songs Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano), Daniel Grimwood (piano) [ Signum / CD - released 9/Nov/2019 ] Composer, musician and broadcaster John Brunning is perhaps best known for his choral work Pie Jesu. The piece was initially recorded by the vocal group 'All Angels', and there has since been around a dozen recordings including an acapella... |
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DOWLAND / CAMPIAN / HUMFREY / PURCELL
Ravish'd with Sacred Extasies Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano) David Miller (lute & theorbo) [ Coro / CD - released 10/Nov/2010 ] "If you think of lute songs as secular repertory, think again...Elin Manahan Thomas and lutenist David Miller illuminate this music's subtleties, infusing their reading with warmth and intimacy...this is a lovely contribution to recorded lute song."... |
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EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Starlight Express, Op. 78 Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone) & Simon Callow (narrator) / Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis [ Chandos SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] "Davis secures absolutely first-rate results from the Scottish CO. Elin Manahan Thomas's light and slivery soprano could hardly be more suited to the parts of the Laugher and Jane-Anne, while Roderick Williams is in glorious voice throughout."... |
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BACH / HANDEL / TELEMANN / SCARLATTI
Let The Bright Seraphim Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano) / The Armonico Consort, Christopher Monks [ Signum Records / CD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] "The tone is immediately set by Crispian Steele-Perkins' trilling trumpet on Bach's "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen", which also features quite thrilling counterpoints between him and soprano Elin Manahan Thomas" (The Independent) |
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ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Sullivan: The Beauty Stone (complete opera) Elin Manahan Thomas, Toby Spence, Rebecca Evans, Alan Opie, Stephen Gadd, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Richard Suart / BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Rory [ Chandos Classics / 2 CD - released 15/Nov/2013 ] "It has never been recorded by professional singers before, and Rory Macdonald seems to have prepared with academic scrupulousness...it's very strongly cast, too, but there's no sense of an important rediscovery here." (Guardian) |
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EDGARD VARESE
Orchestral Works Vol 2 (Incls 'Ameriques' & 'Ionisation') Elizabeth Watts (soprano) Maria Grochowska (flute) Thomas Bloch (Ondes MArtenot) / Polish National Orchestra / Christopher Lyndon-Gee [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Jun/2008 ] "An excellent disc, which serves as a welcome introduction to the work of this largely under-valued composer. Varèse's music divulges a creative genius who was undoubtedly a long way ahead of his time, and one can only listen in awe at his work. The... |
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JOSEF HAYDN
Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) Elsie Morison (soprano) Alexander Young, Michael Langdon / Beecham Choral Society / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Thomas Beecham [ EMI Gemini / 2 CD - released 12/Nov/2004 ] In 1798 Haydn's oratorio Die Schöpfung (The Creation) received its première; such was the enthusiasm that a sequel was duly requested. The subject was to be the four seasons of the year rather than the seven days of creation - which still allowed the... |
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BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 / Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 Emanuel Ax (piano) / San Francisco Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas [ San Francisco Symphony / Hybrid SACD - released 23/Aug/2011 ] "This pairing is a sure-fire winner - two of Beethoven's most venerated works, performed by musicians of acute sensibility and enviable faculties of interpretation...We expect the impossible from fresh recordings of the Fifth Symphony nowadays...but... |
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BARTOK / BEETHOVEN / MOZART / SHOSTAKOVICH / HAYDN / etc
The Emerson String Quartet: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon Emerson String Quartet, with Carol Wincenc (flute), Mstislav Rostropovich (cello), Thomas Hampson (baritone) & Menahem Pressler (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon / 52 CD Box Set - released 10/Sep/2019 ] This 52 CD collection charts the New York-based ensemble's musical breadth, encompassing virtually all of the important repertoire for their formation, and features complete cycles by Shostakovich, Beethoven and Bartók; plus String Quartets by Haydn,... |
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J.S. BACH
Wedding Cantata, Hunt Cantata & Ich habe genug Emma Kirkby (soprano) David Thomas, Jennifer Smith / The Parley of Instruments [ Hyperion Dyad / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2001 ] 'Still by far the best version. The stronger sense of occasion is boosted by Peter Holman's inspired topping and tailing with sinfonias' (International Record Review) |
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SAINT-SAENS / STEPHEN GOSS / FRANCK
Piano Concertos Emmanuel Despax (piano) / Orpheus Sinfonia, Thomas Carroll [ Signum / CD - released 25/Nov/2013 ] Emmanuel Despax is a rising star on the UK and international piano scene, who has performed at the Wigmore and Cadogan Halls in London and with orchestras including the CBSO. His debut concerto recording, with the Orpheus Sinfonia under Thomas... |