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JON LEIFS
Edda, part 1 - The Creation of the World Gunnar Guobjarnsson (tenor) Bjarni Thor Kristinsson (bass-baritone) / Schola Cantorum / Iceland Symphony Orchestra / Hermann Baumer [ BIS / SACD - released 1/Oct/2007 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD FINALIST 2008 - Choral -- "It's been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. As for the music itself, it will come as a very pleasant surprise to those familiar with Leifs' other works. The influence of Icelandic... |
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J. S. BACH
Cantatas (Vol 51) BWV195, BWV192, BWV157 & BWV120a Hana Blazikova (soprano) Christoph Genz (tenor) Peter Kooij (bass) / Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Aug/2012 ] Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki return to their cantatas cycle with four cantatas composed for specific events. These sacred occasional pieces are independent works and did not form part of his cantata cycles for the Sundays and feast days... |
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J.S. BACH
Cantatas (Vol 46) BWV102, BWV45, BWV17, BWV19 Hana Blazikova (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor) Peter Kooij (bass) / Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS / Hybrid SACD - released 1/May/2010 ] "The Japanese ensemble is at its very best in the sprung and textural luminosity of Herr, deine Augen, whose juxtaposition of dance and remorseful chromatic inflection bursts with character. A high-water mark in the series as we approach the home... |
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J. S. BACH
Cantatas (Vol 50) BWV49, BWV145, BWV149, BWV174 Hana Blazíkova (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor) Gerd Türk (tenor) Peter Kooij (bass) / Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Dec/2011 ] "Hana Blazikova delivers a clarion brightness...very much in the elegant Collegium Bach Japan vein: luminosity and purity of sentiment prevailing above an overlaid or projected personality...rugged fervour and brilliance spring off the page here.... |
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J.S. BACH
Cantatas (Vol 47) BWV27, BWV36, BWV47 Hana Blazíkova (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor) Peter Kooij (bass) / Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Oct/2010 ] "Suzuki and company continue their excellent work in this superb series, easily the best- sounding of the complete, fuller-chorus versions currently going, done in excellent surround sound. Not much else to say here except keep it coming!" (AudAud.com) |
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KURT WEILL
Das Berliner Requiem (with works by Hindemith, Stravinsky & Milhaud) Hilde Venken (sop) Ivan Goossens (ten) Jacob Bloch Jespersen (bass) / I Solisti del Vento / Flemish Radio Choir / Paul Hillier [ Glossa SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 20/Jun/2010 ] "The performance [of Stravinsky's Octet] here is beautifully executed with a delightful and exuberant finale." BBC Music Magazine, June 2010 **** |
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ALFRED SCHNITTKE
Faust Cantata / Passacaglia for large orchestra / etc Inger Blom (mezzo) Mikael Bellini (counter tenor) Louis Devos (tenor) Ulrik Cold (bass) Malma Symfonikar / Malma SymfoniOrkester / Leif Segerstam [ BIS / CD - released 1/Apr/1989 ] Alfred Schnittke was born on 24 November 1934 in Engels, on the Volga River, in the Soviet Union. |
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ROSSINI
Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri [The Italian Girl in Algiers] (highlights in English) Jennifer Larmore (mezzo-soprano), Barry Banks (tenor), Alan Opie (baritone), Alastair Miles (bass) / Philharmonia Orchestra / Brad Cohen [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Apr/2009 ] The latest instalment in the lauded Chandos Opera in English label is Rossini's The Italian Girl of Algiers. One of Rossini's most wonderful comic operas, it has a plot full of wit, warmth and endearing craziness and music bubbling with fun and laughter. |
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SCHUBERT
Trout Quintet / A minor Quartet John O'Conor (piano) / Cleveland Quartet with James Vandermark (double bass) [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 1/Sep/2002 ] "plenty of controlled emotion." -Fanfare |
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DEBUSSY
Pelleas and Melisande (Complete Opera in English recorded in 1981) John Tomlinson (bass) Sarah Walker (mezzo) Robert Dean (baritone) / English National Opera / Mark Elder [ Chandos / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Jan/2012 ] This live BBC broadcast of Claude Debussy's ground-breaking opera Pelléas and Mélisande was recorded at the Coliseum in 1981. The unique performance is now available on CD for the first time, as part of Chandos' Opera in English historical series,... |
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VERDI / PUCCINI / BIZET / MASSENET / LEONCAVALLO / BRAHMS / etc
Jonas Kaufmann - The Tenor Jonas Kaufmann (tenor) / Various orchestras, with Antonio Pirozzi (bass), Kristine Opolais (soprano), Helmut Deutsch (piano) [ Sony Music / CD - released 15/Apr/2022 ] The Tenor is a compilation of some of the most hummable, accessible classical vocal works to bridge the gap between what people might hear for a moment in their daily lives and listening to a full operatic work. The collection includes arias from... |
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FAURE / DURUFLE
Requiems Judith Blegen (soprano) James Morris (bass) / Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Robert Shaw [ Telarc / CD - released 17/Jan/2008 ] Grammy Award Winner for Best Engineered Recording, Classical |
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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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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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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. |
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FAURE
Requiem, Op. 48 / La Naissance de VACnus, Op. 29 / Pavane, Op. 50 / Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 Libby Crabtree (soprano) Mary Plazas (soprano) James Rutherford (bass) Pamela Helen Stephen (mezzo-soprano) / BBC Philharmonic / Yan Pascal Tortelier [ Chandos / SACD - released 1/Oct/2003 ] "The Pavane and Cantique de Jean Racine both breathe the calm of the Requiem. While they are enjoyable makeweights, the disc's revelation is a wonderful performance of the rarely heard La Naissance de Venus… this piece is a little gem" Gramophone |
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LULLY / CHARPENTIER
Moliere A L'Opera Luanda Siquera (soprano), Jean-Francois Lombard (tenor), Jerome Billy (tenor), Virgile Ancely (Bass) / Les Paladins, Jerome Correas (Conductor) [ Glossa / CD - released 7/Oct/2016 ] With 'Molière à l'opéra' Jérôme Correas and Les Paladins bring their much-admired combination of Baroque stylishness and varied vocal techniques to comédies-ballets composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully and Marc-Antoine Charpentier during the reign of... |
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ANTONIO CALDARA
Caldara: The Cervantes Operas: Arias & instrumental pieces María Espada (soprano), Emiliano González Toro (tenor) & João Fernandes (bass) La Ritirata, Josetxu Obregón (artistic direction) [ Glossa / CD - released 25/Sep/2016 ] Arias from the operas Don Chisciotte in Corte della duchessa (Vienna, 1727) and Sancio Panza Governatore dell'isola Barattaria (Vienna, 1733) with instrumental interludes included in the original operas, composed by Nicola Matteis... |
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RICHARD FUCHS
In A Strange Land: the songs of Richard Fuchs Margaret Medlyn (mezzo) Jenny Wollerman (soprano) Richard Greager (tenor) Roger Wilson (bass) Bruce Greenfield, Richard Mapp (pianos) [ Roll Over Productions / CD - released 1/May/2011 ] This is the first CD of Richard Fuchs' music, released more than 60 years after his death. Fuchs was a German Jewish late-Romantic composer. His music was banned by the Nazis. |
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J. S. BACH
St John Passion BWV245 Markus Schafer / Thomas Oliemans / Peter Kooij (bass) / Orchestra of the 18th Century, Frans Bruggen [ Glossa / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2011 ] "This is a most moving performance. It is beautifully conducted by Franz Brüggen, unfolding with a natural expressiveness that is never short on drama but avoid the slash-and-burn vigour of some other period-instruments versions..This is a very... |