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GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: La Boheme (complete opera recorded in 1956) Victoria de los Angeles / Jussi Bjorling / Robert Merrill / Lucine Amara / RCA Victor Orchestra / Sir Thomas Beecham [ Naxos Great Opera Recordings / 2 CD - released 11/Apr/2007 ] Featuring Victoria de los Angeles and Jussi Björling in glorious form, the 1956 set ranks alongside the Callas De Sabata Tosca (Naxos 8.110256-57) as one of the greatest studio recordings of an opera ever made. |
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GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (Complete Opera recorded in 1958 & 1959) Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda, Janine Micheau / French National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham [ Warner Classics The Home Of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2019 ] "This classic Beecham set was originally welcomed in Gramophone with a glowing review from Philip Hope Wallace: 'I send up a loud "Ole".' It certainly stands the test of time, sparkling, swaggering and seducing in a way that is uniquely Beecham's. |
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GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (Complete Opera recorded in 1959) Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda, Janine Micheau / French National Radio Symphony Orchestra / Sir Thomas Beecham [ ALTO / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Nov/2010 ] "This superb Carmen wipes the floor with any other version I know. The instinctive rightness of the whole conception is simply marvellous." (Gramophone) |
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BIZET / VILLA LOBOS / DEBUSSY / RAVEL / ROSSINI / PUCCINI / etc
Victoria de los Angeles - The Warner Classics Edition Victoria de los Angeles (soprano) with Nicolai Gedda, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Alicia de Larrocha, Gerald Moore, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Thomas Beecham [ Warner Classics / 59 CD Box Set - released 20/Oct/2023 ] A singer who inspired the greatest admiration and affection, Victoria de los Ángeles was, in the words of Opera magazine, "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century". |
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LUDWIG van BEEHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6 "Pastorale" Wiener Philharmoniker [Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra], Sir Simon Rattle [ Warner Classics Masters / CD - released 13/Feb/2012 ] "These are not interpretations set in stone, deeply as Rattle has obviously thought them through; and his encouragement of the brilliant VPO woodwind and horn soloists to challenge each other in imagination and individuality adds to the impression of... |
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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Hamlet (BBC Third Programme Live Broadcast, 1948) (Abridged) Sir John Gielgud, Andrew Cruickshank, Hugh Griffith, Marian Spencer & cast [ Naxos Audiobooks / 3 CD - released 31/Jul/2006 ] This outstanding historical recording made in 1941 for radio is widely regarded as one of the finest Hamlet performances ever, and one of John Gielgud's greatest moments. Though he went on to record it for commercial release, nothing matched this... |
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LALO / SAINT-SAENS
Cello Concertos Zara Nelsova (cello) / London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult & Ernest Ansermet [ Testament / CD - released 10/Mar/2012 ] Recorded 1954-55, mono |
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BARTOK
Piano Concertos: No. 1 & No 2; The Miraculous Mandarin Suite Zoltan Kocsis (piano) / Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. Gyargy Lehel / Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. Sir Neville Marriner [ Capriccio SACD / SACD - released 1/Sep/2005 ] "A generally enjoyable disc" (MusicWeb Aug 2005) |
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TRADITIONAL
Christmas with the Academy Academy & Chorus of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] The story of the birth of Jesus more than two thousand years ago has been the source of inspiration for countless poets and musicians, as well as practitioners of other forms of art. The infant, born of a virgin in a lowly cattle shed, because there... |
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JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn: Symphonies Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 15 CD Box Set - released 22/Jan/2021 ] With the delightful original LP cover illustrations, this 'original jackets' presentation collects together for the first time the 33 Haydn Symphonies recorded by Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. |
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Admiral Sir Cloudseley Shovell
Don't Heart it Fear it! [ Rise Above / CD - released 13/Jul/2012 ] |
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DEL TREDICI
Final Alice-Grand concerto for voice and orchestra Barbara Hendricks (soprano) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Sir Georg Solti [ ABC Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 20/Apr/2008 ] Commissioned for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and dedicated to Sir Georg Solti, Final Alice is scored for gargantuan forces and is based on the last two chapters of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It has been described by the composer as a "grand... |
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REINGOLD GLIERE
Gliere: Symphony No.3 In B minor 'Il'ya Murometz' BBC Philharmonic, Sir Edward Downes [ Chandos / CD - released 2/Feb/1991 ] "If not the symphony's first outing on disc, it remains the best...Chandos's recordings still sound glorious and the orchestra's manifest engagement with the music shines through." Gramophone |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 (with Elgar: Enigma Variations) BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult [ ICA Classics / CD - released 30/Jun/2011 ] "this Brahms 1 is superbly paced: hard-driven yet flexible, virile yet richly expressive. The opening's 6/8 - relentless, tragic - has, rightly, the same pulse as the ensuing allegro (where Boult, unusually, observes the repeat). In Elgar, Boult... |
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RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Walküre (LP) Birgit Nilsson, Hans Hotter, Régine Crespin, James King, Christa Ludwig, Gottlob Frick / Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti [ Decca / 5 Vinyl Box Set - released 4/Aug/2023 ] For these new editions, a decade since the last remastering, a completely new set of high-definition 24 bit/192kHz transfers of the original master tapes have been utilized. |
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RICHARD WAGNER
Birgit Nilsson Sings Wagner Birgit Nilsson (soprano) / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Leif Segerstam / London Symphony, Sir Colin Davis [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Sep/2008 ] "Even allowing for the fact that these were demonstration records when they first appeared, the sound on this CD is astonishing in its lifelike presence and its warmth." Gramophone |
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RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Götterdämmerung (LP) Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gottlob Frick, Gustav Neidlinger, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti [ Sony Classical / 6 Vinyl Box Set - released 4/Aug/2023 ] "The greatest recording of all time": Gramophone Magazine 1999 · BBC Music Magazine 2011 |
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NICOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade Op 35 / Capriccio Espagnol Op 34 London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 25/Jan/2003 ] "It also demands a performance which combines virtuosity with excitement, sensuous ardour with subtlety of feeling and above all is seemingly spontaneous. Mackerras meets all these requirements admirably in a reading of great power and romantic... |
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JANACEK
The Makropulos Case (complete opera in English) Cheryl Barker (soprano) Neal Davies (bass-baritone) John Graham-Hall (tenor) / English National Opera / Sir Charles Mackerras [ Chandos / 2 CD - released 1/Feb/2007 ] "This electrifying performance has been captured in sound that is exceptionally clear and full-bodied, and it also has great immediacy. I very much welcome a recording in English." (International Record Review March 2007) |
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TRADITIONAL
50 Favourite Christmas Carols Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks, Sir Philip Ledger, Stephen Cleobury [ Warner Classics / 2 CD - released 3/Dec/2007 ] A collection of all the great carols performed by the world-famous King's college choir. |