FREDERIC CHOPIN & OTHERS
The Chopin Project - Essential Camille Thomas (cello), with Julien Brocal & Julien Libeer (piano), Daniel Hope (violin) & Jane Birkin [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 17/Jun/2023 ] The Chopin Project is Camille Thomas's most ambitious project to date. It's a journey in three chapters to discover Chopin's life through the sound of the cello. This album is an essential selection from the entire series. |
Charles Lloyd / Bill Frisell / Thomas Morgan
Trios: Chapel [ Blue Note / Verve Records / CD - released 24/Jun/2022 ] Charles Lloyd has long been a free spirit, master musician, and visionary. For more than 6 decades the legendary saxophonist and composer has loomed large over the music world, and at 84 years old he remains at the height of his powers and as... |
MAX BRUCH / FELIX MENDELSSOHN / HENRI VIEUXTEMPS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bruch: Violin Concerto No 1 / Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto / Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto Cho-Liang Lin (violin) Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas [ Sony Music / CD - released 15/Feb/1994 ] "Cho-Liang Lin is accompanied most sensitively by Slatkin and the Chicago orchestra, and this reading is totally compelling in its combination of passion and purity, strength and dark, hushed intensity. The recording is excellent." *** Penguin Guide |
J. S. BACH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bach, J. S.: Motets / Easter Oratorio BWV 249 Christine Brenk (soprano) Anne Greiling (alto) Frank Bossert (tenor) Thomas Pfeiffer (bass) / Kammerorchester Pforzheim / Ensemble vocal de Lausanne [ Brilliant Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Jul/2007 ] It is uncertain how many motets Johann Sebastian Bach composed, because some have been lost, and there are some doubtful attributions among the surviving ones associated with him. There is a case for regarding the six motets catalogued BWV 225-230 as... |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C D.944 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Schippers [ Vox Prima / CD - released 27/Jun/1987 ] Recorded in 1978 |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto / Octet for Strings Daniel Hope (violin) / Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Thomas Hengelbrock [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 19/Sep/2007 ] "The playing is consistently fine and the pairing of the concerto with the octet - with a few songs thrown in for good measure - makes for enjoyable listening. It is worth hearing this original version of the concerto, if only for interest's... |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: The Yeomen of the Guard (complete operetta recorded in 1958) Denis Dowling, Richard Lewis, Elsie Morison, Alexander Young, Marjorie Thomas / Glyndebourne Festival, Sir MalcolmSargent [ EMI / 2 CD Box Set - released 10/Feb/1987 ] "This is a very operatic Yeomen which certainly suits the work and gives the soloists an opportunity to shine. Sir Geraint Evans makes a better Jack Point than a Ko-Ko and 'When a wooer goes a-wooing' is very moving." Mel (Marbecks) |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen [Highlights] Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Thomas Stewart, Josephine Veasey, Gundula Janowitz, Jon Vickers, Jess Thomas / Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon SBS Eloquence / 2 CD - released 11/Dec/2013 ] Highlights from Herbert von Karajan's mighty 'Ring' cycle. The disc includes extended highlights from the four 'Ring' operas and allows us to sample Karajan's choice of different singers for the same character in different operas - Fischer-Dieskau's... |
JOHANN SIMON MAYR
Mayr: Messa di Gloria Dorota Szczepánska, Anna Feith, Freya Apffelstaedt, Maia Grazia Insam, Markus Schäfer, Fang Zhi, Thomas Stimmel, Elia Merguet, Simon Mayr Chorus [ Naxos / CD - released 23/Apr/2021 ] Mayr's Masses were in demand across Europe, and their composition is rooted in the Italian tradition of the messa concertata which demands division into separate vocal numbers. The Mass in E minor has long been recognised as an outstanding example of... |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Christmas Oratorio, BWV248 Dorothee Mields, Damien Guillon, Thomas Hobbs, Peter Kooij / Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe [ EuroArts Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 28/Feb/2014 ] "Some of the intimacy derives from the small forces...but it's mainly to do with the relaxed (though never sluggish) tempos...The solo team is outstanding." (BBC Music Magazine, Feb 2014) |
DYLAN THOMAS
Dylan Thomas reads his own poetry (Incls 'Fern Hill: Lament' & 'Child's Christmas in Wales') Dylan Thomas [ ALTO / CD - released 20/Jan/2010 ] |
Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas & Uhuru Yenzu
Hitsville Revisited (LP) [ Mr Bongo / LP - released 17/May/2019 ] Hard-to-obtain, vintage highlife from three true giants of the sound; Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas & Uhuru Yenzu. Originally released in 1982. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Don Giovanni (complete opera recorded in 2009) Thomas Hampson, Robert Holl, Edita Gruberova, Roberta Alexander, Barbara Bonney, / Royal Concertgebouw orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt [ Warner Classics The Home of Opera / 3 CD - released 2/Sep/2016 ] "No interpretation of this endlessly fascinating work will ever hold all the answers, but this one provides a good deal of them in its lean, direct and perceptive way." Gramophone |
GRACE WILLIAMS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Williams: The Dancers / Two Choruses / Ave Maris Stella / Six Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems Eiddwen Harrhy (soprano) Helen Watts (contralto) Caryl Thomas (harp) / Richard Hickox Singers, City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 17/Mar/1999 ] "The recorded sound is excellent. .. I found this a fascinating disc. Anyone interested in fine choral writing and singing - or in exploring a new pathway in music - should seek it out. And I predict we will be hearing more of Grace Williams." A.R.G. |
BACH / HANDEL / TELEMANN / SCARLATTI
Let The Bright Seraphim Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano) / The Armonico Consort, Christopher Monks [ Signum Records / CD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] "The tone is immediately set by Crispian Steele-Perkins' trilling trumpet on Bach's "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen", which also features quite thrilling counterpoints between him and soprano Elin Manahan Thomas" (The Independent) |
Elina Duni with Rob Luft & Fred Thomas
Lost Ships [ ECM / CD - released 13/Nov/2020 ] Elina Duni and Rob Luft's programme of songs of love and exile has been gathering momentum since 2017, when the Albanian-Swiss singer and the British guitarist began their collaboration. Along the way the duo has been augmented by distinguished... |
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor and other sacred choral works The Elora Festival Singers / Thomas Fitches (organ) / Noel Edison [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jan/2002 ] "This is a first rate collection" - ClassicsToday |
GEORG FREDERIC HANDEL
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Handel: Messiah (Highlights) Elsie Morison, Richard Lewis, Marjorie Thomas, James Milligan, Huddersfield Choral Soc., M Sargent [ EMI Classics for Pleasure / CD - released 20/Nov/2006 ] "Throughout, Sargent's pacing, even when slow, is seemingly spontaneous and has the confident hallmark of authority which stems from conducting and admiring Messiah for 40 years." (Gramophone) |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Handel: Messiah (highlights) Emma Kirkby (sop) Margaret Cable (alto) James Bowman (countertenor) Joseph Cornwell (ten) David Thomas (bass) / Taverner Choir and Players / Parrott [ Virgin Virgo / CD - released 19/Oct/2004 ] Highlights from the classic recording including 'Behold the Lamb of God', 'He was despised' and 'I know that my Redeemer liveth' |
JONES / DOWLAND / JOHNSON / d'INDIA / LAWES / etc
Pastoral Dialogues Emma Kirkby (soprano) David Thomas (bass) Anthony Rooley (lute) [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 10/Apr/2011 ] This collection gathers together some of the most delectable of 17th century duets both from England as well as from Italy. Any Emma Kirkby recording is an event, and this reissue, making its first appearance on CD, will be no exception. |