|
JOHN CAGE
Aria Nicholas Isherwood (bass-baritone & percussion) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Jun/2015 ] Nicholas Isherwood made his début as Lucifer in Stockhausen's Donnerstag aus Licht at Covent Garden, at the age of 25, and has since collaborated closely with composers such as George Crumb, Hans Werner Henze, György Kurtág and Iannis Xenakis. His... |
|
JOHANN MATTHESON
Christmas Oratorio Nicki Kennedy, Anna Crookes (sopranos), Ursula Eittinger (mezzo), Andreas Post (tenor), Stephan MacLeod (bass-baritone) / Die Kölner Akademie [ CPO / CD - released 10/Feb/2011 ] For a long time Johann Mattheson was relatively unknown among composers of the 18th Century. |
|
HENRI DUPARC
Complete Songs of Duparc Malcolm Martineau (piano), Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Nicky Spence (tenor), Huw Montague Rendall (baritone), William Thomas (bass) [ Signum / CD - released 20/May/2022 ] "There's a terrific and consistently persuasive grandeur and sweep in much of Martineau's playing…This is a fine and fascinating addition to his discography" - Gramophone Award Finalist 2023 - Song |
|
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Great Singers Live: Nicolai Ghiaurov (recorded 1966-69) Nicolai Ghiaurov (bass) / Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Georges Prêtre / Alfredo Antonini [ BR Klassik Great Singers Live / CD - released 1/Aug/2011 ] Nicolai Ghiaurov's unmistakable timbre brought him the title "Re dei bassi" - "King of Basses". In live recordings from two Sunday Concerts by the Münchner Rundfunkorchester he can be heard in key roles from the bass repertoire as well as rarely... |
|
SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND
Fagerlund: Autumn Equinox Niek de Groot (double bass) / Lapland Chamber Orchestra [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 14/Feb/2025 ] The title of Sebastian Fagerlund's Octet 'Autumn Equinox' derives from its links with his opera Autumn Sonata, based on the Ingmar Bergman film. Some of the moods and musical material of the opera appear in the octet, as a kind of reflection. With... |
|
Nienke Oostenrijk soprano; Margriet van Reisen contralto ; Marcel Reijans tenor ; Hubert Claessens bass ; The Netherlands Concert Choir ; Residentie O
Verhulst - Mass, Op. 20 for 4 solo voices, choir and orchestra [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 25/Feb/2003 ] 'A large scale Mendelssohn-style mass receives a delightful performance from native performers.' Gramophone |
|
SHOSTAKOVICH / TCHAIKOVSKY
Nobuyuki Tsujii at White Nights [recorded 2012] Nobuyuki Tsujii (piano) Olga Sergeyeva (soprano) & Yuri Vorobiev (bass) / Mariinksy Theatre Orchestra, Valery Gergiev [ EuroArts / Unitel DVD / DVD - released 10/Apr/2014 ] The blind up-and-coming Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii - an astonishing virtuoso on his instrument - performs with the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. In 2009 he hit the Top Ten of the Japanese Charts... |
|
FRANZ ANTON HOFFMEISTER
Double Bass Quartets Nos. 2, 3 & 4 Norbert Duka (double bass) / Erno Sebestyen (violin) / Helmut Nikolai (viola) / Martin Osertag (cello) / Phillip Moll (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 14/Mar/2011 ] "Throughout the Hoffmeister his intonation is a cut above our expectations, his unnamed instrument producing a most appealing tone. The challenges of the Schubert is probably one step too far, but that equally applies to many cello recordings. He is... |
|
WILLIAM BYRD / JOHN DOWLAND / HENRY PURCELL / etc
Elizabethan Lute Songs / Purcell: Birthday Odes for Queen Mary Norma Burrowes (Soprano), James Bowman & Charles Brett (Countertenors) / Robert Lloyd (Bass) / Early Consort of Music / David Munrow [ Erato Veritas / 2 CD - released 1/Feb/2019 ] "The solo singing, however, is strong, and the music represents Purcell at his finest - the counter tenor duet "Sound the trumpet" (Bowman and Charles Brett) never palls." (Irish Times) |
|
ALEXANDER KNAIFEL
Knaifel: Lukomoriye Oleg Malov (Piano), Tatiana Melentieva (Soprano), Piotr Migunov (Bass), Lege Artis Choir, Boris Abalian (Conductor) [ ECM / CD - released 20/Apr/2018 ] The fourth New Series album from the St Petersburg-based composer Alexander Knaifel may be his most wide-ranging to date, voyaging from the sacred to the secular and back again via several inspired detours. It includes two Prayers to the Holy Spirit,... |
|
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 13 'Babi Yar' Oleg Tsibulko (bass) / Russian National Orchestra, Kirill Karabits [ Pentatone / CD - released 14/Aug/2020 ] "This beautifully engineered studio recording under Kirill Karabits has all the necessary adrenaline to keep the listener fully engaged." BBC |
|
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI
Penderecki: Canticum Canticorum Salomonis / Kosmogonia / etc Olga Pasichnyk (soprano) Rafal Bartminski (tenor) Tomasz Konieczny (bass) Jerzy Artysz (narrator) / Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Nov/2012 ] |
|
Olga Pasichnyk, soprano, Robert Pomakov, bass, European Union Baroque Orchestra
Handel - Apollo e Dafne (Cantata) / The Alchemist (Incidental music) [ Naxos / CD - released 14/May/2002 ] "Roy Goodman accomodates and creates for his two singers a good basis for inspired singing" Pizzicato, January 2002 |
|
STRAVINSKY
The Rite of Spring / The Nightingale Olga Trifonova (soprano) / Robert Tear (tenor) / Paul Whelan (bass-baritone) / London Symphony Orchestra / Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Craft [ Naxos Stravinsky Edition Vol 3 / CD - released 9/Nov/2005 ] “Composing The Rite, I had only my ear to help me. I heard and I wrote what I heard.” — Igor Stravinsky |
|
GOFFREDO PETRASSI
Partita & Divertimento Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Francesco La Vecchia, Carlo Putelli (tenor), Davide Malvestio (bass), Nuovo Coro Lirico Sinfonico Romano [ Naxos / CD - released 25/Mar/2013 ] Goffredo Petrassi was one of the most important Italian composers of the twentieth century. Beginning with the previously unrecorded Divertimento in C, this release focuses on Petrassi's compositions of the 1930s and 40s. |
|
TAN DUN
Tan Dun: Buddha Passion Shenyang (bass-baritone) Zhu Huiling (soprano) Yining Chen (pipa), etc / Orchestre National de Lyon, International Choir Academy Lübeck, Tan Dun [ Decca / 2 CD - released 1/Sep/2023 ] "This is an attractive work, instantly and uncomplicatedly gratifying. Where the Water Passion wrestles and distils and provokes, the Buddha Passion affirms and entertains. Is it enough? Perhaps. Is it really a Passion? I'm not so sure." Gramophone |
|
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater Patrizia Bovi (soprano), Pino de Vittorio (tenor), Bernard Arrieta (bass) / Chantres de la Chapelle, Vincent Dumestre [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 20/Nov/2015 ] This recording stands out insofar as it restores the context of the sun-drenched, dramatic processions through the streets of Naples.: the singing and playing of professional musicians mingled with ritual dances and other singing. |
|
GIOVANNI PLATTI
6 Flute Sonatas, Op. 3 Paul Wahlberg (flute) / Knut Erik Sundquist (double bass) / Hans Knut Sveen (clavichord) [ Naxos / CD - released 6/Jun/2007 ] "These sonatas by Platti fully deserve to be played on the concert platform and one can only be grateful that they have been recorded by these artists." (MusicWeb July 2007) |
|
ARVO PART
Part: Passio (St John Passion) Robert Macdonald (bass) & Mark Anderson (tenor) / Tonus Peregrinus, Antony Pitts [ Naxos / CD - released 10/Mar/2003 ] "Tonus Peregrinus and Naxos have done Pärt proud. If this is your first Passio, rest assured that all the essentials are there...if you want a top-grade specimen of quality music from the past 40 years, you won't find better." Gramophone |
|
KETELBEY
Orchestral Works Vol 1 (incls In a Monastery Garden) Peter Dawson (bass-baritone) Orchestra / Albert Ketelbey (conductor) [ Naxos British Light Music / CD - released 5/Jun/2002 ] "Much here is charming" |