|
RICHARD STRAUSS
Salome (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House / Nadja Michael, Michael Volle, Michaela Schuster, Thomas Moser / Philippe Jordan [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2010 ] "Nadia Michael… is an attractive Salome, moving like a dancer, as physically unafraid as she is vocally… Michael Volle is an imposing, rich-toned Narraboth" (Gramophone) |
|
EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 & other shorter works Natalie Clein (cello) / Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Vernon Handley [ EMI Classics / CD - released 1/Dec/2007 ] "At first what can seem somewhat too introverted is revealed on closer listening as something altogether darker than we are used to in this work. Nothing's comfortable about this reading, nor should it be." Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine... |
|
TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 20 (The Royal Swedish Ballet) Nathalie Nordquist, Anders Nordström, Marketta Kaila, Christian Rambe Royal Swedish Ballet, Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra, Michel Quéval [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 8/Nov/2002 ] This stunning production by The Royal Swedish Ballet, produced by Ross MacGibbon, stars Nathalie Nordquist as Odette/Odile and Anders Nordström as Prince Siegfried. Choreographer Peter Wright stages Swan Lake as a romantic Gothic tragedy. This... |
|
ESENVALDS / MacMILLAN / MUSGRAVE / TIPPETT / WHITACRE
Cantos Sagrados National Youth Choir of Scotland, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Christopher Bell [ Signum / CD - released 8/May/2020 ] "It's a supremely effective work impeccably delivered by these young and agile singers. The choir's superb technique is even more evident in the two Eric Whitacre works." Gramophone Editor's Choice August 2020 |
|
SMETANA
The Bartered Bride (Complete Opera) Neal Davies / Yvonne Howard / Susan Gritton / Geoffrey Moses / Philharmonia Orchestra / Royal Opera Chorus / Sir Charles Mackerras [ Chandos / 2 CD - released 1/Oct/2005 ] "A crisp, witty translation gives added sparkle to a terrific performance" - Editor's Choice Gramophoen Magazine November 2005 |
|
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / TCHAIKOVSKY / VERDI / WAGNER / etc
Paul van Kempen - the Complete Philips Recordings Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic], Paul van Kempen [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 10 CD Box Set - released 7/Feb/2020 ] "Beethoven is represented by an Eroica that is truly among the greatest of the period - of any period, I'd say...testimony to a genuinely great conductor who up until now has rarely been acknowledged as such." Gramophone reissue of the Month June '20 |
|
ARNOLD BAX
Symphony No. 6 / Irish Landscape / Overtures New Philharmonia Orchestra, Norman Del Mar / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley [ Lyrita / CD - released 1/Aug/2007 ] "Bax’s violent and phantasmal Sixth Symphony is the central work here and is also essential Bax in performance and recording terms...The Del Mar/Lyrita Bax 6 is violent and phantasmal - essential Bax in performance and recording terms. The other... |
|
50 BEST BALLET
50 Best Ballet (music from Swan Lake, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Nutcracker, etc) New Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, etc [ EMI Classics / 3 CD Box Set - released 28/Mar/2011 ] This 3 CD set contains an unrivalled collection of 50 favourite Ballet Classics, performed by some of the world's leading artists. Includes excerpts from 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Swan Lake', 'Sleeping Beauty', 'Coppelia' & 'Spartacus'. |
|
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / ELGAR / DELIUS / HOLST / BAX
O, to be in England: Music for a green and pleasant land New Zealand Symphony Orchestra / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / The English Northern Sinfonia [ Heritage of Music / Gift of Music / CD - released 20/Jun/2011 ] A fine collection of moving and wistful orchestral works which celebrate the English landscape and its natural beauty. English composers have always excelled at pastoral music with a hint of nostalgia: from 'the lark ascending' to the strains of... |
|
EDWARD ELGAR / GERALD FINZI
Elgar / Finzi: Violin Concertos Ning Feng (violin) / Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlos Miguel Prieto [ Channel Classics / CD - released 1/Dec/2018 ] 'Ning Feng delivers all these demanding works with the fire, ice, and sugar, in different measures, that they require. His technique is beyond cavil, of course, but he also plays with a purity and sweetness of tone rare among the current crop" AudAud |
|
OLA GJEILO
Ola Gjeilo: Winter Songs Ola Gjeilo (piano) The Choir of Royal Holloway / 12 Ensemble, Rupert Gough [ Decca / CD - released 1/May/2018 ] "Seasonal songs and carols, in ear-caressing, borderline schmaltzy arrangements for choir, string and piano…The effect is generally soothing, if cumulatively soporific." (BBC Music) |
|
RODERICK WILLIAMS
Roderick Williams: Sacred Choral Works Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir, Ralph Allwood, Jonathan Eyre [ Signum Classics / CD - released 15/Dec/2017 ] On their premiere recording, the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir, directed by celebrated choral conductor Ralph Allwood, perform the works of British Choral Award winner Roderick Williams. Based in Greenwich, East London the choir... |
|
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
The Golden Age of the Cornet Ole Edvard Antonsen (cornet) / The Royal Norwegian Navy Band (Kongelige Norske Marines Musikkorps) / Ingar Bergby [ BIS / SACD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] The Royal Norwegian Navy Band is one of five professional military bands in Norway. With its 32 full-time musicians this highly popular ensemble performs both in Norway and abroad. |
|
GUBAIDULINA
Offertorium, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra / Rejoice! Sonata Oleh Krysa (violin) / Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra/ James DePreist; Torleif [ BIS / CD - released 1/Feb/1993 ] Great music of Sofia Gubaidulina |
|
TCHAIKOVSKY / KHACHATURIAN / PROKOFIEV / ADAM / STRAVINSKY / DELIBES
The Most Beautiful Ballets [incls 'Swan Lake' & 'Romeo & Juliet'] The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Mark Ermler & Barry Wordsworth [ Sony Classical Masters / CD - released 10/Apr/2012 ] "..the players have responded with both refinement and red-blooded commitment not just to the conductor but to the free, warm acoustic of All Saints' Church, Tooting." (Gramophone on Swan Lake) |
|
ROYAL BALLET GALA
Royal Ballet Gala (Incls 'Nutcracker Suite', 'La Boutique fantasque' & 'Les Sylphides') Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Ernest Ansermet [ Decca ABC Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 20/Jun/2008 ] "This is the stuff of which dreams are made. The Royal Ballet Gala is one of the finest RCAs recorded in London's Kingsway Hall. The chunks of great ballet music are well served by orchestra, conductor and engineer." Audiophilia Online Magazine |
|
ADOLPHE ADAM
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Adam: Giselle [complete ballet] Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Richard Bonynge [ Decca / 2 CD - released 19/Apr/2012 ] "Richard Bonynge's performance on Decca restores Adam's original and is a bit more strongly characterised, while the Decca sound has a slightly sharper and brighter profile." (Three Stars penguin Guide) |
|
PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Ballet at the Opera (from Eugene Onegin, Oprichnik, The Maid of Orleans, etc) Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis [ SBS Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/May/2009 ] "An unhackneyed sample of the operatic-balletic Tchaikovsky culled from the well known and the neglected operas - brilliant performed and recorded." (MusicWeb Aug 2007) |
|
SHOSTAKOVICH / JOPLIN / BRIAN ELIAS
Three Ballets - Concerto / Elite Syncopations / The Judas Tree (recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Royal Ballet / Sarah Lamb, Carlos Acosta, Yuhur Choe, Stephen McRae, Leanne Benjamin / Robert Clark, Dominic Grier, Barry Wordsworth (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray Royal Opera House Collection / Blu-ray Disc - released 19/Dec/2010 ] "There has never been a choreographer that I can think of who could produce three such contrasting works, and you sit watching in wonderment at the fertile imaginings of his mind. " Telegraph |
|
SHOSTAKOVICH / JOPLIN / BRIAN ELIAS
Three Ballets - Concerto / Elite Syncopations / The Judas Tree Royal Ballet / Sarah Lamb, Carlos Acosta, Yuhur Choe, Stephen McRae, Leanne Benjamin / Robert Clark, Dominic Grier, Barry Wordsworth (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 19/Dec/2010 ] "There has never been a choreographer that I can think of who could produce three such contrasting works, and you sit watching in wonderment at the fertile imaginings of his mind. " Telegraph |