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J.S. BACH
St John Passion (Complete Oratorio) Colin Baldy (bass) Matthew Beale (tenor) John Bernays (bass) Choir of New College Oxford / Collegium Novum / Edward Higginbottom [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 20/May/2003 ] Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (June 2003) |
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J. S. BACH
Bach: 'Meins Lebens Licht' Cantatas BWV 45 & 198 / Motet BWV 118 Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe (director) / Dorothee Mields (soprano), Alex Potter (alto), Thomas Hobbs (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass) [ PHI / CD - released 26/Mar/2021 ] 'O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, is tailor-made for Herreweghe. No one else peels back those tactile homogeneous phrases with quite such luminosity and deep-seated finesse as Collegium Vocale.' Gramophone Award Finalist 2022 - Choral |
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HANDEL / MOZART
Timotheus oder die Gewalt der Musik Roberta Invernizzi (soprano), Werner Güra (tenor) & Gerald Finley (bass) / Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt [ Sony Classical / 2 CD - released 27/May/2013 ] "The 'authentic' movement resulted in so many anaemic, small-scale recordings that Timotheus, performed in such a way as Handel all too rarely is these days." (Gramophone Disc of the Month - September 2013) |
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FRANCOIS COUPERIN
Couperin: Les Concerts Royaux, 1722 Concert des Nations / Jordi Savall (bass viol & direction) [ Alia Vox / Hybrid SACD - released 12/Feb/2005 ] Couperin left the instrumentation of each piece up to the performing musicians. For each of these four Concerts, Jordi Savall has chosen a distinctive line-up of instruments to achieve the best expression and the utmost definition of their individual... |
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FRANCOIS COUPERIN
Couperin: Les Nations, 1726 Jordi Savall (bass viol & direction), with Monica Huggett, Chiara Banchini & Ton Koopman [ Alia Vox SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 1/Sep/2018 ] "The performances by Savall and his excellent continuo players are very fine indeed." Classical-Music.com |
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Cookie & his Cupcakes, Ben E. King, Fats Domino, Little Willie John, Brook Benton, Ray Charles, Fontella bass, LaVern Baker, etc
Please Release Me - The Soulful Side of Country [ Jasmine Records / CD - released 8/Nov/2016 ] The unexpected success of Ray Charles' million selling Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music LP, in the Spring of 1962, led to a flood of soul and R&B artists recording C&W songs. Including Ben E. King, Clyde McPhatter, William Bell, Arthur... |
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LORD BERNERS
Berners: Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement (Sung in English) Cynthia Buchan (mezzo), John Winifred (ten), Ian Caddy, Thomas Lawlor (bass-baritone), Anthony Smith (bar) / BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; RTÉ Sinf [ Naxos / CD - released 22/Apr/2022 ] "..very satisfying: everyone sings and plays with obvious enjoyment. Again, Berners' temperament was obviously attuned to its times and his music partakes of the then prevailing mood of light-headedness and nonchalance." British Music Society |
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MICHAEL TIPPETT
A Child of Our Time (Oratorio) Cynthia Haymon soprano, Cynthia Clarey alto, Damon Evans tenor, Willard White bass, London Symphony Chorus. London Symphony Orchestra. Richard Hickox [ Chandos Classics The Hickox Legacy / CD - released 1/Aug/2015 ] "Hickox's version establishes its place against severe competition largely through the exceptionally rich recording and its distinctive choice of soloists, a quartet of black singers." (Three Stars Penguin Stereo Guide) |
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SIR ARTHUR BLISS
Bliss: Mary of Magdala Dame Sarah Connolly (Mezzo-soprano), James Platt (Bass), BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] Bliss composed The Enchantress in 1951, the year of his sixtieth birthday, for Kathleen Ferrier. The text is a free adaptation of the Second Idyll of Theocritus, made by Henry Reed, and well suited to Bliss's love of classical Greek... |
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ALICE TEGNER / GUSTAF NORDQVIST
Sång, vår sång! (Song, our song) Danderyds Vokalensemble, Ida Falk Winland (soprano) Anders Ölund (organ), Stenhammar Quartet, Katarina Lindgren (double bass) [ BIS / CD - released 13/May/2016 ] Born only 20 years apart, Alice Tegnér and Gustaf Nordqvist wrote songs that generations of Swedes have sung and loved deeply. Tegnér's songs for children were published in a series of volumes that found their way into every school and many homes in... |
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CHARLES IVES
Ives: Songs, Vol. 3 Daniel Trevor Bircher (baritone) Patrick Carfizzi (bass) Ian Howell (counter tenor) Sumi Kittelberger (soprano) Douglas Dickson (piano) [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 20/Sep/2008 ] When, in 1922, Charles Ives published a volume entitled 114 Songs, he was indirectly drawing attention to the fact that the genre had played a central part within his output. |
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VERDI
Messa da Requiem Daniela Nedialkova (sop) Ivanka Ninova (mezzo) Roumen Doikov (ten) Emil Ponorsk (bass) / Choir & Orchestra of the Sofia Opera, Ivan Marinov [ Brilliant Classics Musica Sacra / CD - released 20/Sep/2009 ] 'I have paid a lot of money to hear this work over the years, often with 'name' conductors and soloists. Not many have given me as much pleasure as this performance.' Musicweb International review |
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HANS WERNER HENZE
Henze: Works for Double Bass Daniele Roccato (double bass) / Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Ludus Gravis Ensemble, Tonino Battista [ Wergo / CD - released 20/Mar/2020 ] "Top-notch recording and performances of rarely heard Henze." MusicWeb |
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HENRY DEHLINGER
Dehlinger: At That Hour - Art Songs by Henry Dehlinger Danielle Talamantes (soprano), Kerry Wilkerson (bass-baritone), Henry Dehlinger (piano) [ AVIE / CD - released 16/Oct/2020 ] San Francisco-native Henry Dehlinger, a prodigiously talented pianist and singer, turned his hand to full-time composition in 2015. The skill and splendour of his music belies the relatively brief number of years he has committed pen to paper to... |
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GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Gideon (Complete oratorio arr. J. C. Smith) David Cordier (counter-tenor) Barbara Hannigan (soprano) Stephan MacLeod (bass) Linda Perillo (soprano) / Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra [ Naxos English Choral Music / 2 CD - released 21/Jul/2004 ] After the death of Handel in 1759, the London public was still eager for more music from a composer who had been so dear to them. John Christopher Smith responded to this demand and to his own purposes in collaborating with Handel's former... |
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SAMUEL ADLER
Cantos, Close Encounters & Five Snapshots David Fulmer (violin), Randolph Kelly (viola), Amir Eldan (cello), Kurt Muroki (double bass), Ricardo Iznaola (guitar), June Han (harp) [ Naxos / CD - released 16/Apr/2013 ] The winner of many prestigious awards for composition, Samuel Adler is also Professor emeritus at the Eastman School of Music. |
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J. S. BACH
Bach, (J.S.): Solo Cantatas for Bass BWV56, 82 & 158 David Greco (bass) / Luthers Bach Ensemble, Tymen Jan Bronda [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 2/Sep/2019 ] A trio of Bach's devotional masterpieces from a vibrant young Dutch early-music ensemble and an exciting Australian baritone. |
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SOFIA GUBAIDULINA
Gubaidulina: Complete Guitar Works David Tanenbaum (guitar), with Marc Teicholz (guitar II), Jodi Levitz (viola), Scott Pingel (bass) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2015 ] Sofia Gubaidulina has found a soulfulness and freedom in the guitar which speaks to her musical language of expressive mood and often mysterious but precise sonorities. In both Repentance and Sotto Voce she combines guitars with lower stringed... |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 [German Requiem] David Wilson-Johnson (bass-baritone), Felicity Lott (soprano) / London Symphony Chorus & London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox [ Chandos Richard Hickox Legacy / CD - released 28/Jul/2017 ] This reissue is a moving experience in itself, and not only for returning to the catalogue a superlative recording of Brahms's masterpiece, not the best known at the time of its release in 1991, but also for the exceptional soloists, majestically... |