ERNEST BLOCH
Concerto symphonique in B minor / Scherzo fantasque / Hiver-Printemps Halida Dinova (piano) / Symphony Orchestra of the State Academic Cappella of St Petersburg; Alexander Tchernushenk [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 7/Jul/2003 ] This is an important collection of Bloch's rarely recorded music for piano and orchestra. |
VERDI / BELLINI / GOUNOD / MASSANET
Operatic Arias for Bass Hao Jiang Tian (Bass), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Alexander Rahbari (Conductor) [ Naxos / CD - released 9/May/2006 ] A veteran of the world's most prominent opera stages, Tian has established a particularly close relationship with New York's Metropolitan Opera, where he has appeared every season since 1991. |
HANDEL
Judas MacCabeus (recorded in 1971) Heather Harper, Helen Watts, Alexander Young, John Shirley-Quirk / Wandsworth School Boys Choir / English Chamber Orchestra / Johannes Somary [ ALTO / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2009 ] "The solo singing is excellent with Alexander Young a ringing tenor, and Helen Watts singing the opening aria in Act III exquisitely. Very good recording... the effect is wholly natural - and a sense of commitment throughout from all departments." -... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Isolation Songbook Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano), Michael Craddock (baritone) / Alexander Soares (piano) [ DELPHIAN / CD - released 26/Mar/2021 ] The feeling which many of us experienced in spring 2020 as, country by country, the world went into lockdown - a sense of life gone into standstill - was especially acute for musicians, deprived suddenly of both their livelihoods and the human... |
JOHANN STRAUSS 11
Jabuka (Das Apfelfest) (Complete operetta) Helmut Josef Etti, Alexander Eschig, Veronika Groiss, Max Sahliger / European Johann Strauss Orchestra / Christian Pollack [ Naxos Opera / 2 CD - released 1/Dec/2007 ] With its strikingly fresh and original melodies, great ensembles and some of the finest choruses Strauss ever wrote, Jabuka was a huge success at its première in Vienna in October 1894. |
GLINKA / RUBINSTEIN / GLAZUNOV / KOSENKO / GLIERE / CUI
Russian Romantics Hideko Udagawa (violin) & Alexander Panfilov (piano) [ Northern Flowers: St. Petersburg Musical Archive / CD - released 15/May/2018 ] [2nd] "a natural inheritor of Scriabinesque exoticism, Szymanowski brings out the best in Scriabin's most imaginative interpreters, which is why Gergiev proves such a convincing interpreter … excellent playing from the LSO" [4th] |
ROBERT SCHUMANN / JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms & Schumann - Chamber Music with piano Hrachya Avanesyan (violin) Boris Brovtsyn (violin), Alexander Chaushian (cello), Diemut Poppen (viola), Yevgeny Sudbin (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 29/Dec/2017 ] "Each of the movements has tempi that is lively but never rushed, brought forth in a crystal clear recording. The slow movements really linger and break the heart." Nicholas Butler |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Sonatas Nos.1 to 3 for Violin and Piano Ilya Kaler (violin) / Alexander Peskanov (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 5/Jun/2002 ] "This is warm, deeply felt music-making, Brahms' lines eloquently formed and propelled. The warm, true sonics are ideal." - Scott Cantrell Dallas Morning News |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Sonatas for fortepiano & violin - Vol.2 Isabelle Faust (violin) Alexander Melnikov (fortepiano) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 7/Feb/2020 ] "True spontaneity is elusive in the recording studio. Faust and Melnikov give the illusion, at least, that they are responding to and recreating the music on the spot. Roll on Vol 3." Gramophone Editor's Choice March 2020 |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Sonate D.574 / Rondo op.70 / Fantasie D.934 Isabelle Faust (violin) / Alexander Melnikov (piano) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD ] "violinist Isabelle Faust and pianist Alexander Melnikov play each variation on 'Sei mir gegrusst' as if they're discovering it for the first time. Their sense of wonder can be heard right from the start of the Fantasy…delectable." CD Review, BBC Radio |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Piano Trios Nos. 6 & 7 "Archduke" Isabelle Faust (violin) Alexander Melnikov (piano) Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 20/Feb/2014 ] BBC Music Magazine WINNER 2015 - Chamber GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD WINNER 2014 |
BEETHOVEN / SCHUBERT / BARTOK / MARTINU
Violin Concertos & Sonatas [2 CD set] Isabelle Faust (violin) with Alexander Melnikov & Ewa Kupiec (piano) / Prague Philharmonia [ Harmonia Mundi Initiales / 2 CD - released 20/Aug/2011 ] "Isabelle Faust makes an intelligent, passionate debut as a major soloist in my book. These Beethoven readings have waked me from my dogmatic slumbers. A sensational album, I dare say." (AudAud.com on the Beethoven) |
ALEXANDER BORODIN
Borodin: Prince Igor (complete opera recorded in 1951) Alexander Melik-Pashayev, Bruno Reibold, Evgeniya Smolenskaya / Bolshoi Theatre Chorus, Bolshoy Opera, Alexander Melik-Pashayev [ Naxos Historical / 3 CD - released 2/May/2005 ] The leading rôles are taken by the cream of the Bolshoy's singers at this time. Yaroslavna, Prince Igor's wife, is sung by the soprano Evgeniya Smolenskaya (1919-1989). After making her début in 1945 at Stalingrad she joined the Bolshoy in 1947,... |
ROSLAVETS
Complete Music for Cello and Piano Alexander Ivashkin (cello), Tatyana Lazareva (piano) [ Chandos / CD - released 29/Jul/2013 ] |
GIYA KANCHELI
Simi / Mourned by the Wind Alexander Ivashkin (cello) / Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Valeri Polyansky [ Chandos / CD - released 9/May/2005 ] |
PAUL SCHOENFIELD
Refractions / 6 British Folk Songs / Peccadilloes James Tocco (piano) / Yehuda Hanami (cello) / Alexander Fiterstein (clarient) / Paul Schoenfield (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jun/2010 ] Paul Schoenfield's music attracts listeners with its combination of exuberance and seriousness, familiarity and originality, lightness and depth, often with sly twists. Six British Folk Songs was written in 1985 as a tribute to the cellist Jacqueline... |
MIASKOVSKY / ELGAR
Cello Concertos Jamie Walton (cello) / Philharmonia Orchestra / Alexander Briger [ Signum / CD - released 20/Feb/2009 ] "This is probably the best performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto that I have heard. Walton cannot be beaten. I shall treasure this recording - literally: I shall hoard it against a musically rainy day." The Elgar Society Journal |
WALTON / SHOSTAKOVICH
Cello Concertos Jamie Walton (cello) / Philharmonia Orchestra, Alexander Briger [ Signum / CD - released 20/Feb/2011 ] "Jamie Walton's warm and beautifully focused way with the work excels in its own right." (BBC Music) |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Schumann: Introduction and Allegro appassinato Jenö Jandó (piano) / Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic, Alexander Rahbari [ Naxos / CD ] "satisfying and thoroughly sympathetic and musical" Classic CD |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24 / La mort de Cleopatre Janet Baker, Nicolai Gedda, Gabriel Bacquier / Chœurs de 'Opera de Paris, Orchestre de Paris & LSO / Georges Pretre & Alexander Gibson [ EMI Gemini / 2 CD - released 1/May/2007 ] "Prêtre's "Damnation de Faust"...does have some of the finest singers of the day. Nicolai Gedda and Gabriel Bacquier both turn in excellent professional performances. Dame Janet Baker was evidently determined to stretch herself no matter what the... |