EDUARDAS BALSYS
Eduardas: Violin Concerto No. 1 / Dramatic Frescoes / Reflections of the Sea Dzeraldas Bidva (violin), Indre Baikstyte (piano), Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Modestas Pitrenas [ Ondine / CD - released 2/Apr/2021 ] This new album introduces to international audience the music of Eduardas Balsys (1919-1984), a key figure in Lithuania's music from the 1950s until his death in 1984. This album release by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R,): Symphony No. 2, Op. 12 / Romanze in F major / Six Songs, Op. 68 Eileen Hulse (soprano) Raphael Wallfisch (cello) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / Neeme Jarvi (conductor) [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 12/Oct/2004 ] 'Järvis Strauss series is an important set of recordings that will hold an honoured place alongside Chandos Prokofiev and Bax cycles.' Fanfare |
ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Sullivan: The Beauty Stone (complete opera) Elin Manahan Thomas, Toby Spence, Rebecca Evans, Alan Opie, Stephen Gadd, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Richard Suart / BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Rory [ Chandos Classics / 2 CD - released 15/Nov/2013 ] "It has never been recorded by professional singers before, and Rory Macdonald seems to have prepared with academic scrupulousness...it's very strongly cast, too, but there's no sense of an important rediscovery here." (Guardian) |
GIACOMO MEYERBEER
Meyerbeer: L'étoile du nord (complete opera) Elizabeth Futral, Darina Takova, Agnete Munk Rasmussen, Patrizia Cigna, Juan Diego Flórez / National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Vladimir Jurowski [ Naxos / 3 CD Box Set - released 13/May/2022 ] After composing a spectacular series of grand operas for the Paris Opéra, Meyerbeer turned to two comic operas with spoken dialogue. One of these was L'Étoile du Nord ('The North Star'). |
ALVARS / ALBRECHTSBERGER / SAINT-SAENS
Harp Concertos Elizabeth Hainen (harp) / Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra / Rossen Milanov [ Avie Records / CD - released 2/May/2011 ] "a complete harpist who knows and uses her instrument's strength and brilliance and strikes its fire" - Miami Herald |
JANACEK
Jenufa (Complete opera in English) Elizabeth Vaughan; Nigel Robson; Dame Josephine Barstow / Orchestra and Chorus of Welsh National Opera. Sir Charles Mackerras [ Chandos / 2 CD - released 1/May/2004 ] "There are few opera composers whose language seems totally to defy time and remain as startlingly new and potent 100 years on. Janá?ek is one of them and his Jen<=fa of 1904 is as powerful today as it must have been a century ago. In the hands of... |
EDGARD VARESE
Orchestral Works Vol 2 (Incls 'Ameriques' & 'Ionisation') Elizabeth Watts (soprano) Maria Grochowska (flute) Thomas Bloch (Ondes MArtenot) / Polish National Orchestra / Christopher Lyndon-Gee [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Jun/2008 ] "An excellent disc, which serves as a welcome introduction to the work of this largely under-valued composer. Varèse's music divulges a creative genius who was undoubtedly a long way ahead of his time, and one can only listen in awe at his work. The... |
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT
Airlines (LP) Emmanuel Pahud (flute) / Orchestre National de France, Florentino Calvo, Myriam Lafargue, Alexandre Desplat [ Warner Classics / LP - released 28/Aug/2020 ] With Airlines, supreme instrumentalist, flautist Emmanuel Pahud, takes the music of an Oscar-winning film composer, Alexandre Desplat, into new realms. The album is entirely devoted to world premiere recordings - of original concert works and of... |
ADOLPHE ADAM
Adam: Le Corsaire (complete ballet recorded August 2014) English National Ballet / Alina Cojocaru, Vadim Muntagirov, Erina Takahashi / Gavin Sutherland (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 20/May/2015 ] Set in the exotic surroundings of the Ottoman Empire and with a narrative encompassing abduction, murder and shipwreck, Le Corsaire is a swashbuckling pirate drama that delights for its spectacular nature and which includes some of the most bravura... |
ADOLPHE ADAM
Le Corsaire (complete ballet recorded August 2014) BLU-RAY English National Ballet / Alina Cojocaru, Vadim Muntagirov, Erina Takahashi / Gavin Sutherland (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/May/2015 ] Set in the exotic surroundings of the Ottoman Empire and with a narrative encompassing abduction, murder and shipwreck, Le Corsaire is a swashbuckling pirate drama that delights for its spectacular nature and which includes some of the most bravura... |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Xerxes [Serse] (opera recorded 1988) English National Opera / Ann Murray, Lesley Garrett, Valerie Masterson / Sir Charles Mackerras [ Arthaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 7/Aug/2011 ] "a landmark in the reassessment of Handel's genius...Mackerras understood Handel's music intimately...Murray's Xerxes is unfailingly elegant, whether serenading a plant in the shadow of Roubiliac's statue of Handel, or pausing over a demitasse." |
DVORAK
Rusalka (complete opera recorded in 1986) English National Opera / Eilene Hannan / John Treleaven / Rodney Macann / Ann Howard / Phyllis Cannan / Mark Elder (cond) [ Arthaus / DVD - released 4/Sep/2003 ] G :- Dvorak's three act opera is based on two fairy tales and tells the story of a water-nymph, Rusalka, yearning to become human because she has fallen in love with a mortal. |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Death in Venice (Complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY English National Opera / John Graham-Hall, Andrew Shore, Tim Mead / Edward Gardner (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/May/2014 ] "Graham-Hall is a real stage-animal, convincing us utterly of his descent into obsession...every colour, timbre and texture of this richly imaginative score comes blazing through under Gardner's baton". (Gramophone Award Nomination 2015 - Opera) |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
The Rape of Lucretia (complete opera recorded in 2001) English National Opera / Sarah Connolly, Christopher Maltman, Catherine Wyn-Rogers / Paul Daniel (conductor) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 25/Nov/2013 ] Sarah Connolly's 'outstanding' (The Guardian) portrayal of the wronged Roman noblewoman, written originally for Kathleen Ferrier, lies at the heart of David McVicar's powerfully stark production for English National Opera as 'an everyday sort of... |
SHOSTAKOVICH
Cello Concertos Nos 1 & 2 Enrico Dindo (cello) / Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda [ Chandos / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Jan/2012 ] "His playing here is remarkably rich, obtaining deep and richly expressive tones from a Rogeri instrument from 1717. The cello sound is forward, bordering on the surrealist as with so many concerto recordings these days, but not intolerably massive... |
GUILLAUME CONNESSON
Cosmic Trilogy / The Shining One Eric le Sage (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / Stephane Deneve [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Jan/2010 ] "If there's another living composer who combines fantasy with shimmering orchestral virtuosity as brilliantly as Guillaume Connesson, I've yet to hear him." (Daily Telegraph) |
ERKKI-SVEN TUUR
Oxymoron / Salve Regina / Ardor / etc Pedro Carneiro (marimba) Leho Karin (violoncello) Marrit Gerretz-Traksmann (piano) / Estonian National Symphony Orchestra / Olari Elts [ ECM / CD - released 17/Nov/2007 ] "The performances all seem to be of the highest quality, and two artists deserve special mention: Pedro Carneiro for his unbeliveable feats of prestidigitation as marimba soloist in Ardor, and Leho Karin for the sustained intensity she brings to the... |
Estonian National Opera/Lintu
Pylkkinen: Mare And Her Son [ Ondine / 2 CD - released 9/May/2005 ] |
EUGEN SUCHON
Baladická suita / Metamorfózy / Symfonietta rustica Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi [ Chandos / CD - released 15/Apr/2015 ] Although his music is rarely performed nowadays, Eugen SuchoĆ was the most influential and respected Slovak composer of the twentieth century. Three of his greatest symphonic works are performed here by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and... |