BEETHOVEN
Complete Works for Cello & Piano Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) & Alexander Melnikov (piano) [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 15/Oct/2014 ] "not to be missed...The playing here combines breadth and urgency with, for example, a touching tenderness in the simplicity of the slow introduction to the C major Sonata Op 102 No 1...It all adds up to a valuable set for admirers both of Queyras an |
ELLEN TAAFE ZWILICH
Millennium Fantasy / Images / Peanuts Gallery Jeffrey Biegel (piano) / Read Gainsford (piano) / Heidi Louise Williams (piano) / Florida State University Symphony Orchestra / Alexander Jiménez [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 6/Dec/2010 ] "The sonics are also excellent: bright, clean, and well-balanced. A splendid disc, then, in all respects, and a mandatory acquisition if you're interested in good contemporary music." (10/10 ClassicsToday) |
Joey Alexander
Countdown [ Motema / CD - released 13/Jan/2017 ] Joey Alexander's jaw-dropping ability and beyond-his-years artistry brought him to some of the grandest stages, from performing at the Grammys and the White House, to appearing on the Today Show and 60 Minutes. Just over a year from his debut, the... |
Joey Alexander
My Favorite Things [ Motema Music / CD - released 30/Sep/2016 ] Born on June 25, 2003 on the island of Bali, pianist Joey Alexander originally learned about jazz from his dad, who exposed his son to a variety of classic albums from his extensive collection. At the age of six, Joey began teaching himself to play... |
JOHANN WILHELM WILMS
Wilms: The Piano Concertos, Vol. 1 Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Jun/2022 ] Born in the vicinity of Cologne, only two years after and some sixty km distant from Beethoven, Johann Wilhelm Wilms was once a musical force to be reckoned with. In Amsterdam, where he lived from the age of 19, his music was actually performed more... |
MICHAEL HURD
Pop Cantatas John Addison (narrator) / Alexander Wells (piano) / Members of the New London Orchestra / New London Children’s Choir / Ronald Corp [ Naxos / CD - released 4/May/2011 ] "The works on this Naxos disc are lightly jazzy and must have turned generations of children on to concert music. They make confident and fearless communion with West End show-time, dance-band drum-kit and light Radio 2 style middle-of-the-road... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
The McCormack Edition Volume 10 - Victor Talking Machine Company (1923-1924) & Gramophone Company Ltd. (1924) John McCormack (tenor) with Alexander Schmidt (violin), Alfred Lennartz (cello), Edwin Schneider (piano) [ Naxos Historical Great Singers / CD - released 20/Nov/2013 ] John McCormack found extraordinary success as a concert hall artist, being declared in 1918 'the most popular singer in the world' and at one stage selling more records than Caruso. |
SCOTT JOPLIN
Piano Rags (Incls 'Maple Leaf Rag') Alexander Peskanov (piano) [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "In this warmly recorded selection, Peskanov approaches Joplin with the sophisticated mien of the classically trained." (Gramophone) "The music is treated with respect and admiration, not simply tossed off like so many notes. … If one has any... |
TCHAIKOVSKY / PROKOFIEV
Piano Concertos Terence Judd (piano) / Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Alexander Lazarev [ Chandos / CD - released 21/May/2001 ] |
BEETHOVEN
Symphony No.10 / Symphony in C Major for Piano, Cello and Violin Op. 56 Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio / English Chamber Orchestra / Sir Alexander Gibson; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Walter Weller [ Chandos Collect / CD - released 7/Aug/2003 ] *** Three Stars. Penguin Stereo Guide |
TCHAIKOVSKY / RACHMANINOV
Piano Trio in A minor, Op.50 / Trio alagiaque No.1 in G minor Kempf Trio (Freddy Kempf, piano; Pierre Bensaid, violin; Alexander Chaushian, cello) [ BIS / CD - released 1/Dec/2002 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1851-1900) - "The recording is very well balanced...the effect overall is convincingly realistic, and the acoustic seems equally suitable for both works." (Gramophone July 2003) |
SHOSTAKOVICH
Piano Trios Nos 1 & 2 (with Schnittke - Piano Trio) Kempf Trio (Freddy Kempf, piano; Pierre Bensaid, violin; Alexander Chaushian, cello) [ BIS / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2009 ] "Anyone who doubts the spiritual desolation wrought by Soviet communism need only listen to this disc...The Shostakovich is impressively intense" The Telegraph, 12th February 2010 *** |
OLIVERO / MANSURIAN / KOMITAS / STEINBERG
Neharot - Works for Viola and Ensembles Kim Kashkashian (viola) / Tigran Mansurian (piano) / Munich Chamber Orchestra / Alexander Liebreich (conductor) [ ECM Records / CD - released 28/Sep/2009 ] |
BEETHOVEN
Fidelio (complete opera recorded live in 1941) Kirsten Flagstad / Rene Maison / Julius Huehn / Alexander Kipnis / Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera / Bruno Walter [ Naxos Historical Immortal Performances / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2000 ] |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY / SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A minor / Rachmaninov: Trio Élégiaque; Klara Wurtz (piano), Dmitri Makhtin (violin) & Alexander Kniazev (cello) [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 1/Oct/2018 ] A classic pairing: two masterpieces of Russian chamber music in a new recording by three distinguished interpreters of Romantic-era repertoire. It was writing for this combination of instruments in the unlikely context of the slow movement of his... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Overtures Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 19/Jan/2024 ] "The Kölner Akademie is in period instrument guise, and the sound is of ten suitably thrilling and zippy" BBC Music |
E.T.A. HOFFMANN
Symphony in E flat major & Overtures Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ CPO / CD - released 25/Mar/2015 ] E. T. A. Hoffmann is one of the great writers of German romanticism. This month, CPO release his two overtures Undine and Aurora and his Symphony in E flat major. The Symphony is hailed as one of his greatest works, and this gem shines in this... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Serenades - 'Haffner' Kölner Akademie / Michael Alexander Willens, with Alexander Janiczek (violin solo) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 28/Feb/2020 ] "Rhythms are nicely pointed, the phrasing elegant but never precious, and the ensemble sonority never turns crude in pursuit of "authenticity."...The engineering, as so often with BIS, is ideal." ClassicsToday |
PUCCINI
Turandot (complete opera) Lando Bartolini / Giovanna Casolla / Bilbao Choral Society / Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra / Alexander Rahbari (Conductor) [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 1/Oct/2006 ] "Calling all 'Nessun dorma' fans who've never listened to the Puccini opera it climaxes...both [stars] exhibit considerable force and character, taking commendable charge of a uniformly fine cast” - The Observer |
TCHAIKOVSKY
Cherevichki (The Slippers) (complete opera recorded in 2009) Larissa Diadkova / Maxim Mikhailov / Vladimir Matorin / Olga Guryakova / Vsevolod Grivnov / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Alexander Polianichko [ Opus Arte Royal Opera House Collection DVD / DVD - released 19/Dec/2010 ] |