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KALMAN
Csardasfurstin (Die) (The Gypsy Princess) (Complete operetta) Karl-Michael Ebner, tenor / Mojca Erdmann, soprano / Heinz Holecek, bass / Yvonne Kalman / Marko Kathol, tenor / Yvonne Kenny, soprano / Hellmuth Klum [ Naxos Opera Classics / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2005 ] "A sweet 'n' spicy confection that shows operetta at it's delicious best" - Editor's Choice gramophone Magazine March 2005 |
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KALMAN
Csardasfurstin (Die) (The Gypsy Princess) (Complete operetta) Karl-Michael Ebner (tenor) Mojca Erdmann (soprano) Heinz Holecek (bass) Yvonne Kenny (soprano) / Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Richard Bonynge [ Naxos Opera Classics SACD / 2 SACD - released 1/Mar/2005 ] Kálmán's great contribution to the musical language of Viennese operetta was to bring to it the brilliant colours, the heady rhythms and the dynamic energy of his native Hungary - not just as an imitator, like so many other composers, but as one who... |
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GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Clovis et Clotilde / Te Deum Katarina Jovanovic (soprano) / Philippe Do (tenor) / Mark Schnaible (bass) / Orchestre National de Lille / Jean-Claude Casadesus [ Naxos / CD - released 27/Jan/2011 ] "There are many moments to cherish, notably Clotilde's prayer, starting on an exquisitely delicate pianissimo." Gramophone Magazine, February 2011 |
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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Complete Masses Vol. 2 Katharina Konradi (soprano) Sarah Romberger (mezzo) Martin Mitterrutzner (tenor) Mikhail Timoshenko (bass) / Cologne Radio Choir & Orchestra, Christop [ Naxos / CD - released 25/Nov/2022 ] This second album of Mozart's complete Masses pairs one work of exceptional dimensions and ambition with a miniature example. The 'Great' Mass in C minor is one of Mozart's most spectacular. |
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J.S. BACH
Bach: Aus der Tieffen: Early Cantatas BWV131, BWV182 & BWV4 Katharine Fuge (soprano), Carlos Mena (alto), Hans Jorg Mammel (tenor), Stephan Macleod (bass) / Ricercar Consort / Philippe Pierlot [ Mirare / CD - released 1/May/2009 ] The Ricercar Consort have already been awarded a Radio 3 disc of the Week and a Gramophone Editor's Choice for their Bach recordings for Mirare. Here they present three sacred cantatas, among the earliest written by the young Johann Sebastian in his... |
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J.S. BACH
Monument for the Queen of Poland BWV198 Katharine Fuge (soprano), Carlos Mena (alto), Jan Kobow (tenor), Stephan Macleod (bass) / Ricercar Consort / Philippe Pierlot [ Mirare / CD - released 22/Aug/2006 ] "A compelling and profoundly musical testament to a beloved ruler." Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine September 2007 |
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HANDEL
Messiah: Live from the Auckland Town Hall Katherine Wiles, soprano, Kate Spence, Mezzo-soprano, Shaun Dixon, tenor, James Harrison, bass, Pipers Sinfonia. Peter Watts [ Auckland Choral / CD - released 14/Nov/2003 ] "Among the choir's strengths were upward leaps of pinpoint accuracy, entries that breathed their way in pianissimo, yet with clarity of articulation that revelled in the Town Hall's acoustics, and a big full throated sonority for the high points" |
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J. S. BACH
Bach: Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11 / Arias (with Handel-arias) Kathleen Ferrier (contralto) with Ena Mitchell (soprano) William Herbert (tenor) William Pasons (bass) / Cantata Singers / Reginald Jacques [ Naxos Historical Great Singers / CD - released 1/Sep/2008 ] 'No summit of solemnity was inaccessible to her, and it was particularly music of spiritual meaning that seemed her most personal domain.' Thus wrote the distingushed conductor Bruno Walter about the contralto Kathleen Ferrier, whose highly... |
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DVORAK
Piano Quintet / String Quintet Kathryn Stott (piano) & Laurène Durantel (double bass) / Škampa Quartet [ Supraphon / CD - released 1/Mar/2013 ] "…bright, idiomatic performances of both these attractive quintets, making an excellent coupling. The relatively fast speeds chosen by the Skampa seem to enhance the rhythmic resilience of these performances, with the light, bright recording... |
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Keith Jarrett (piano) / Charlie Haden (double bass)
Last Dance (LP) [ ECM / 2 LP - released 2/Oct/2014 ] Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden broaden the scope of their duo project to showcase jazz classics like Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" and Bud Powell's spritely "Dance Of The Infidels". Love songs, however, are to the fore in this selection, with... |
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ALBERT KETELBEY
Ketèlbey conducts Ketèlbey Vol. 3 [Incls. In a Camp of the Ancient Britons] Various orchestra, Albert Ketèlbey, with Allin Norman (bass) & Morgan Kingston (tenor) [ Naxos Historical British Light Music / CD - released 5/May/2003 ] Recorded 1909-40 |
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HOROWITZ / DVORAK / FARWELL / FISHER
Dvořák & America Kevin Deas (narrator), Zhou Qian (violin) Edmund Battersby (piano) Benjamin Pasternack (piano) Kevin Deas (bass-baritone) / PostClassical Ensemble [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Jul/2014 ] "Few of us bother to read Longfellow's poem anymore, but hearing it wedded to Dvorák's music really does create a powerful and, somehow, nostalgic atmosphere of perhaps a more innocent age. I found it quite moving, and the rest of the performances ve |
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JEAN SIBELIUS
Kim Borg Sings Lieder Kim Borg (bass) Erik Werba (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon Spotlight / CD - released 10/Sep/2008 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2008 - Historic Reissue - Finnish bass Kim Borg (1919-2000) was celebrated in opera roles stretching from Mozart's Don Giovanni and Beethoven's Don Pizarro to Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Strauss's Baron Ochs at venues... |
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RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (complete opera recorded in 2022) Klaus Florian Vogt (tenor) Eva Heidi Stober (soprano) Johan Reuter (bass-baritone) / John Fiore (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / 2 Blu-ray - released 24/Nov/2023 ] Triumphantly premiered in 1868, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg evokes the singing guilds of mid-16th-century Nuremburg, a focal point of the Northern European Renaissance. |
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FERNEYHOUGH
Complete Music for Solo Flute Kolbeinn Bjarnson (piccolo, flute, bass flute) [ Bridge / CD - released 1/Jul/2011 ] |
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DVORAK
Requiem / Symphony No. 8 Krassimira Stoyanova (soprano), Mihoko Fujimura (alto), Klaus Florian Vogt (tenor) & Thomas Quasthoff (bass) / Royal Concertgebouw, Mariss Jansons [ RCO Live SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 20/Jun/2010 ] "...it's a real performance [of the Symphony] and a worthy makeweight for a magnificent reading of the Requiem, which is a real feather in Jansons's cap" Editor's Choice Gramophone Magazine, July 2010 |
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RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett - The Mines of Sulphur (Complete Opera) Kristopher Irmiter (bass-baritone) Beth Clayton (mezzo-soprano) Brandon Jovanovich (tenor) James Maddalena (baritone) / Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra [ Chandos SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 1/Jun/2005 ] Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's Gothic opera The Mines of Sulphur is reminiscent of suspense thrillers from Edgar Allan Poe to Alfred Hitchcock. Love, longing, and dark as well as light comedy abound in this macabre tale of greed and retribution set in... |
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KALEVI AHO
Minea / Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra / Symphony No.15 Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä, Jaakko Kuusisto, Eero Munter (double bass), Dima Slobodeniouk [ BIS SACD / CD - released 16/Nov/2013 ] 'My apotheosis of the dance' is how Kalevi Aho describes his Symphony No.15. With two dance movements and rhythm a central element, the score calls for numerous percussion instruments, including non-Western ones |
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KURTAG
Kurtagonals Laszlo Hortobagyi (synthesizers, computers) Gyorgy Kurtag, Jr (synthesizers) Miklos Lengyelfi (bass efects)) [ ECM Records / CD - released 20/Jul/2009 ] An ECM debut for György Kurtág jr, in a strikingly unusual context. The son of the great Hungarian composer is himself an influential figure in new music, particularly in the electronic and electro-acoustic domain. |
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TOMMASO BERNARDO GAFFI
La forza del divino amore Leona Peleskova (soprano) Marivi Blasco (soprano) Sergio Foresti (bass) / Ensemble 'Pian & Forte', Antonio Frigé [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Aug/2004 ] Bernardo Gaffi's La forza del divino amore (The Power of Divine Love) is an intriguing rarity, and receives its premiere recording here. |