EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Dream of Gerontius (complete oratorio) Paul Groves, Bryn Terfel, Alice Coote / Halle Choir & Orchestra / Mark Elder [ Halle / 2 CD - released 1/Nov/2008 ] Gramophone Award WINNER 2009 - Choral - "It has been well worth the wait for this recording...they have done Elgar proud with this distinguished recording which I have found to be a very moving experience." (MusicWeb Recording of the Month Nov 2008) |
Richard Nunns / Mark Lockett
Redaction [ Rattle Records / CD - released 26/Jun/2015 ] Redaction, featuring renowned taonga pūoro exponent Richard Nunns, one of our longest serving and most consistently adventurous artists, was conceived first and foremost as an art-project. |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Gloriana (complete opera recorded in June 2013) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House / Susan Bullock, Toby Spence, Patricia Bardon, Mark Stone, Kate Royal / Paul Daniel (conductor) [ Opus Arte Royal Opera House Collection Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 25/Nov/2013 ] "At its moments of greatest drama and pathos this 2013 production is undeniably effective." (MusicWeb) |
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare: The Tempest (recorded live in 2017) BLU-RAY Royal Shakespeare Company / Simon Russell Beale, Joe Dixon, Mark Quartley, Jenny Rainsford, Simon Trinder [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 15/Aug/2017 ] In a unique partnership with Intel, the Royal Shakespeare Company's production uses today's most advanced technology in a bold reimagining of Shakespeare's magical play, creating an unforgettable theatrical experience. Simon Russell Beale returns to... |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Siegfried Simon O'Neill (tenor), Gerhard Siegel, Iain Paterson, Martin Winkler, Hallé, Sir Mark Elder [ Hallé / 4 CD - released 7/Jun/2019 ] The Hallé completes its highly regarded Ring cycle, with the live recording of its acclaimed Bridgewater Hall performance under Sir Mark Elder. "Roaring jubilation and radiant beauty from Elder and the Halle….Elder is a superb Wagnerian, acutely... |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: The Piano Concertos Stephen Hough (piano) / Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Mark Wigglesworth [ Hyperion / 2 CD - released 15/Dec/2013 ] "[Hough's] performances here show his usual thoughtfulness, elegance and brilliance...The reverberations of the entire orchestra are equally slow to die. The conductor Mark Wigglesworth scrupulously prepared his musicians and their medium-weight soun |
EDGAR MEYER / TRADITIONAL
Appalachia Waltz Yo-Yo Ma (cello) Edgar Meyer (bass) Mark O'Connor (violin) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 20/Jul/2012 ] Yo-Yo Ma joins double-bassist Edgar Meyer and fiddler/violinist Mark O'Connor |
PIAZZOLLA / JOBIM / BOLLING / PORTER / TRADITIONAL / etc
Yo-Yo Ma - Crossing Borders Yo-Yo Ma (cello) with Stephane Grappelli (violin) Sergio & Odair Assad (guitars) Claude Bolling (piano) Bobby McFerrin (vocals) Mark O'Connor (violin) [ Sony Classical Masters / 9 CD Box Set - released 10/Dec/2021 ] Yo-Yo Ma's multi-faceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. This CD box set features nine of Yo-Yo's classic cross-over albums. |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Semiramide (complete opera) Albina Shagimuratova, Daniela Barcellona, Mirco Palazzi, Barry Banks, Gianluca Buratto / Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Sir Mark Elder [ Opera Rara / 4 CD Box Set - released 5/Oct/2018 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 TOP THREE - Opera |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Il Paria (complete opera) Albina Shagimuratova, René Barbera, Misha Kiria, Marko Mimica / Britten Sinfonia, Sir Mark Elder [ Opera Rara / 2 CD Box Set - released 15/Jan/2021 ] "The music is splendid, well worth discovering...Shagimuratova is superb...Barbera is breathtakingly wonderful...Elder conducts with his customary zeal. Subtlety, too." Gramophone |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Works for Trumpet Alison Balsom (trumpet) with Colm Carey (organ), Alina Ibragimova (violin), Alistair Ross (harpsichord & chamber organ) & Mark Caudle (viola de gamba) [ Warner Classics / CD - released 25/Sep/2006 ] Gramophone described her Bach album as "splendid stuff" and the pieces "showcase Balsom's phenomenal technique and gleaming expressiveness" |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Messiah (Complete oratorio) Andreas Scholl, Barbara Schlick, Sandrine Piau, Mark Padmore, Nathan Berg / Les Arts Florissants / William Christie [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 6/Dec/2019 ] |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: The Gadfly (complete score of the 1955 film) Bachchor Mainz, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Mark Fitz-Gerald [ Naxos Film Music Classics / CD - released 10/Feb/2018 ] Set in mid-nineteenth-century Italy during a turbulent period of pre-Unification political unrest, The Gadfly drew from Shostakovich one of his most dazzling and popular film scores, heard hitherto on record only in a suite arranged and... |
GEORGE BENJAMIN
A Mind of Winter / Antara BBC Symphony, Mark Elder / London Sinfonietta, George Benjamin [ Nimbus Records / CD - released 20/Oct/2007 ] "I love Mars Bars, I hate Wagner and I want to record your music!" With this memorable introductory gambit delivered to George Benjamin on New Year's Eve 1979, the founder of Nimbus, Count Alexander Numa Labinsky, began a twenty year exclusive... |
BELLINI / GLINKA / LOEWE / MENDELSSOHN / NIEDERMEYER / etc
Decades: A Century of Song - Volume 2, 1820-1830 John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Luis Gomes (tenor), Robin Tritschler (tenor) Anush Hovhanissyan (soprano) Sarah Connolly (mezzo) Christopher Maltman (bass) [ Vivat / CD - released 23/Jun/2017 ] "The second instalment in a perceptively assembled and uncommonly interesting survey of art songs" MusicWeb International, May 2017 |
HENRY PURCELL
Purcell - Miscellany Catherine Bott (soprano), Mark Bennett (trumpet) / The Purcell Quartet [ Chandos Chaconne / CD - released 19/Sep/1996 ] Pièces vocales et instrumentales : Fairy Queen (extraits), Sonate pour trompette, Ouvertures, Suites... |
Chet Atkins / Mark Knopfler
Neck And Neck (LP) [ Music On Vinyl / LP - released 3/Jul/2014 ] Originally released in 1990, two generations of leading and groundbreaking guitarists combined their efforts to create this legendary album. American Country music legend Chet Atkins and British singer-songwriter, guitarist and Dire Straits front man... |
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / BRAHMS / McIVOR / MOZART / BRITTEN / LALLOUTTE / etc
How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings The Choir of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick, Mark Shepherd [ Guild / CD - released 2/Feb/1998 ] A choir founded in 1123 at the England parish church St. Mary in the town of Warwick. |
EMMANUEL CHABRIER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Chabrier: Briseis, ou Les Amantes de Corinthe Joan Rodgers, Mark Padmore, Simon Keenlyside, Michael George / Chorus Of Scottish Opera / BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Jean-Yves Ossonce [ Hyperion Helios / CD - released 1/Sep/2012 ] PENGUIN GUIDE ROSETTE GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE 'For those who heard Chabrier's incomplete magnum opus at last year's Festival this recording will need no recommendation... Fabulously rewarding' (The Scotsman) |
J. S. BACH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bach: Leipziger Weihnachtskantaten [Christmas Cantatas from Leipzig] / Magnificat in E flat Carolyn Sampson, Mark Padmore, Ingeborg Danz, Peter Kooy, etc / Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD Box Set - released 6/Jan/2008 ] The Christmas cantatas have in common the use of a church chorale as their conceptual starting point, and their intimate performing forces. In Bach's output they constitute a kind of meditation on the meaning of the feast of Christmas. |