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EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA
Rautavaara: 12 Concertos (Collector's Edition) Elmar Oliveira (violin) Marko Ylönen (cello) Esko Laine (double bass) Reija Bister, Marielle Nordmann (harp) Patrick Gallois (flute) [ Ondine / 4 CD Box Set - released 10/Nov/2009 ] This first-ever edition of Einojuhani Rautavaara's complete twelve concertos (written and recorded to this date) follows on the great success of the release of his eight symphonies, in a special box set. |
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TRADITIONAL
Lux Emma Ahlberg Ek (five stringed violin), Emilia Amper (nyckelharpa, vocals), Fredrik Gille (percussion), Olle Linder (double bass, vocals), Bridget Mar [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 25/Nov/2016 ] In 2012, Emilia Amper's solo début disc Trollfågeln ('The Magic Bird', BIS-2013) was a revelation. Not only to those who had never before heard the silvery sound of the nyckelharpa ('keyed fiddle'), but also for the way Emilia on it combined her... |
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COUPERIN / de LALANDE
Lecons de Tanabres Emma Kirkby and Agnas Mellon (sopranos)Charles Medlam (bass viol) Terence Charlston (organ) [ BIS / CD - released 1/Dec/2007 ] The five Leçons de Ténèbres gathered here are performed by two of the finest sopranos in the field of early music, Emma Kirkby and Agnès Mellon, who here makes her first appearance on BIS. They are given expert support by Charles Medlam |
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BUXTEHUDE
Membra jesu nostri / Laudate, pueri, Dominum (with Weckmann - Kommet her zu mir alle) Emma Kirkby (soprano) Michael Chance (counter-tenor) Charles Daniels (tenor) Peter Harvey (bass) / Purcell Quartet [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Nov/2010 ] "Charles Daniels's soft high tenor has a hushed devotional character...The Purcell Quartet play with reliable stylishness." (Gramophone) |
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BUXTEHUDE
Sacred Cantatas - Volume 2 Emma Kirkby (soprano) / Michael Chance (counter-tenor) / Charles Daniels (tenor) / Peter Harvey (bass) / Purcell Quartet [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Aug/2005 ] "If Buxtehude cantatas are the object of your enthusiasm, this disc provides a good number of them performed by some of the best early music specialists out there. They are a homogeneous bunch of works, so listening to the disc in one sitting borders... |
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J.S. BACH
Early Cantatas, volume 2 (Weimar) Emma Kirkby (soprano) / Michael Chance (counter-tenor) / Charles Daniels (tenor) / Peter Harvey (bass) / The Purcell Quartet [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Jun/2007 ] "This undirected group of soloists and instrumentalists works together with impressive cohesiveness. Without the sense - which in other kinds of performance one can never quite escape, for good or ill - of the personality and interpretative of a... |
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J.S. BACH
Early Cantatas, volume 3 (Weimar) Emma Kirkby (soprano) / Michael Chance (counter-tenor) / Charles Daniels (tenor) / Peter Harvey (bass) / The Purcell Quartet [ Chandos Chaconne / 2 CD - released 1/Oct/2008 ] This 2-CD set with The Purcell Quartet and a distinguished group of soloists is the third in a series devoted to Bach's early cantatas and the second focussing on the Weimar period. |
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MANUEL DE FALLA
La Vida breve (complete opera) Enrique Baquerizo (tenor) / Manuel Cid (tenor) / Alfonso Echeverria (bass) / Alicia Nafe (mezzo-soprano) / Asturias Symphony / Maximiano Valdes [ Naxos Opera Classics / CD - released 2/Jun/2004 ] Manuel de Falla is universally acknowledged as the central personality of twentieth-century Spanish musical culture. Born in 1876 in Cádiz, Andalusia, he aspired as a young boy to be a writer but by the mid-1890s had decided to concentrate on music. |
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ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Stabat Mater, Op. 58 Eri Nakamura (soprano), Elisabeth Kulman (contralto), Michael Spyres (tenor), Jongmin Park (bass) / Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek [ Decca / 2 CD - released 1/Jul/2017 ] "[Bělohlávek's] relaxed though steadfast approach is immediately apparent…the Prague Philharmonic Choir's contributions are disciplined and impassioned…[the solo quartet] are uniformly superb." (Gramophone) |
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GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI / ALDO TARABELLA
Pergolesi: La Serva Padrona / Tarabella: Il Servo Padrone Erika Liuzzi (soprano), Paolo Pecchioli (bass), Donato Di Gioia (bass) / Vincenzo Galilei Orchestra, Flavio Emilio Scogna [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 1/Sep/2018 ] Giovanni Battista Pergolesi owes much of his fame to La Serva Padrona, a comic intermezzo designed to be performed between the acts of an opera seria. In it, a maid and a servant conspire to convince their master to marry the maid. When Aldo... |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (recorded Nov 2018) Erin Wall (soprano) Annika Schlicht (mezzo) Attilio Glaser (ten) René Pape (bass) / World Orchestra for Peace & Würth Philharmoniker, Donald Runnicles [ C Major DVD / DVD - released 1/Jul/2019 ] In 2018, marking the exact 100th anniversary of the Armistice ending World War 1, the all-star World Orchestra for Peace gave two UNESCO designated performances of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Symbolically one in each of the UK and Germany - for the BBC... |
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RAUTAVAARA
Angel of Dusk: Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra / Symphony No 2 / Pelimannit (Fiddlers) Esko Laine (double-bass) Tapiola Sinfonietta / Jean-Jacques Kantorow [ BIS / CD - released 1/Aug/2006 ] Editor's Choice Gramophone |
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TONU KORVITS
Kõrvits: Hymns to the Nordic Lights, Orchestral Works Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Risto Joost (conductor), Meelis Vind (bass clarinet) [ Ondine / CD - released 21/Feb/2020 ] Tõnu Kõrvits (b. 1969) is together with Arvo Pärt and Erkki-Sven Tüür among the most interesting Estonian composers of our time. This album by the Estonian NSO and Risto Joost consists of orchestral works written between a period of ten years, from... |
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J.S. BACH
The very best of Bach: Excerpts from orchestral, concertos, vocal and choral works Eteri Andjaparidze (piano) Bela Banfalvi (violin) Emilia Csanky (oboe) Lucy van Dael (violin) Nicholas Gedge (bass-baritone) and many others [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 8/Dec/2005 ] Presented in a stylish slipcase with a modern take on John Minnion's composer cartoons, with detailed track listings and accessible texts on the composer's life and an overview of their most famous works. |
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RAMEAU
Que les mortels servent de modele aux dieux Eugénie Warnier (soprano), Arnaud Richard (bass) / Ausonia / Frederic Haas [ Alpha / CD - released 20/Aug/2009 ] May the mortals be a model for the gods |
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EVAN PARKER
Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: Toward the Margins Evan Parker (soprano saxophone) / Barry Guy (double-bass) / Paul Lytton (percussion, live-electronics) / Philipp Wachsmann (violin, viola, live elect) [ ECM Records / CD - released 5/Sep/2008 ] British saxophonist Evan Parker was one of the first musicians to record for ECM, appearing on the label's fifth album in 1970 as a member of the Music Improvisation Company |
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BEETHOVEN
Flagello conducts Flagello Ezio Flagello (bass-baritone) / London Philharmonic Orchestra & I Musici di Firenze & Ambrosian Singers, Nicolas Flagello [ NAXOS HISTORICAL / CD - released 1/Jun/2012 ] |
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Ezio Pinza (bass) with various orchestras
Some Enchanted Evening [ Naxos Nostalgia / CD - released 6/Mar/2005 ] Today, the concept of a "crossover artist" who sings classical as well as pop may almost be a cliché. But 55 years ago, when former Metropolitan Opera star Ezio Pinza was cast in the lead of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, it made front-page... |
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EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius,Op. 38 [with Parry - Blest Pair of Sirens; I was glad] Felicity Palmer (sop) Arthur Davies (ten) Gwynne Howell (bass) / London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox [ Chandos 241 Hickox Legacy / 2 CD - released 19/Jul/2013 ] 'It's one of the best digital versions, and sonorous renderings of Parry's Blest Pair of Sirens and I was glad complete a recommendable mid-price package.' Gramophone |
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W. A. MOZART
Fernando Corena: Arias for Bass Fernando Corena (bass) / Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 20/Sep/2015 ] "'Corena sings with a fine, resonant, clean tone. His production is easy and completely natural, and his diction, phrasing and general musicianship are most praiseworthy" (Gramophone) |