GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle Marina Rebeka, Sara Mingardo, Francesco Meli, Alex Esposito / Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Sir Antonio Pappano [ EMI Classics / 2 CD - released 12/Apr/2013 ] The Sunday Times wrote, "Pappano lives the text like the great opera conductor he is, bringing consolation as well as fire and brimstone to Rossini's heady spiritual brew." |
Archie Semple / The Archie Semple - Alex Welsh Big Four
Night People & Easy Living [ Dutton / CD - released 26/Nov/2012 ] |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Semiramide (complete opera) Alex Penda, Marianna Pizzolato, Lorenzo Regazzo, Andrea Mastroni / Poznan Camerata Bach Choir, Virtuosi Brunensis, Antonino Fogliani [ Naxos / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Nov/2013 ] "this new Semiramide rivals Pesaro standards thanks to Fogliani's ever-alert and lively conducting. His cast includes singers who challenge this long and wonderful opera's most famous interpreters on disc...this is an unmissable bargain." (Sunday Ti |
J. S. BACH
Bach: 'Meins Lebens Licht' Cantatas BWV 45 & 198 / Motet BWV 118 Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe (director) / Dorothee Mields (soprano), Alex Potter (alto), Thomas Hobbs (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass) [ PHI / CD - released 26/Mar/2021 ] 'O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, is tailor-made for Herreweghe. No one else peels back those tactile homogeneous phrases with quite such luminosity and deep-seated finesse as Collegium Vocale.' Gramophone Award Finalist 2022 - Choral |
de ABREU / BONFA / AZEVEDO / BARROSO / VEROSO / etc
Tico-Tico: Brazilian Melodies Daniel Barenboim (piano) with Robert Kassinger, Larry Combs, Emmanuel Pahud, Milton Nascimento, Alex Klein, Cyro Baptista, Nikolaj Znaider [ Warner Classics Inspiration / CD - released 23/Oct/2020 ] The exceptional musician Daniel Barenboim not only unites classical works such as the famous Bachianas Brasileiras by Villa-Lobos with Milhaud's Saudades do Brasil and popular Brazilian hits such as Jobim's Wave or Tico-Tico by Abreu. |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS / FRANCIS POULENC
Saint-Saëns: Le carnaval des animaux [The Carnival of the Animals] / Poulenc: Double Concerto Alex Vizorek (voice) Duo Jatekok (pianos) / Orchestre National de Lille; Lucie Leguay; [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 27/Aug/2021 ] Alex Vizorek revisits Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals. The French composer never imagined that his bestiary would become one of the most famous works in musical history, a staple repertory piece on a par with Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. |
W. A. MOZART
Die Zauberflote [Magic Flute] (Complete, recorded live in 2011) BLU-RAY La Teatro alla Scala / Günther Groissböck, Saimir Pirgu, Albina Shagimuratova, Genia Kühmeier, Ailish Tynan, Alex Esposito / Roland Böer (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Apr/2012 ] "This is a wonderful performance...I was more moved and enchanted by this than by any other Magic Flute I have seen on DVD." (BBC Music DVD & Blu-ray Choice - April 2012) |
SAINT-SAENS
Cello Works (including the concertos and sonata No 1) Jamie Walton (cello) / Daniel Grimwood (piano) / Philharmonia Orchestra / Alex Briger (conductor) [ Quartz Music / CD - released 15/Feb/2006 ] This wonderful new album from the rising star of the cello world is both a showcase for Jamie Walton's extraordinary talent and, at the same time, a demonstration of the breadth and beauty of Saint-Saens' writing for this instrument. |
Jonsi & Alex
Riceboy Sleeps [ Parlophone / CD - released 3/Aug/2009 ] Known primarily for his haunting falsetto and other-worldly presence as the singer in Sigur Rós, Jon Thor (Jónsi) Birgisson has - together with his partner Alex Somers - produced this solely acoustic offering. |
W. A. MOZART
Die Zauberflote [Magic Flute] (Complete, recorded live in 2011) La Teatro alla Scala / Günther Groissböck, Saimir Pirgu, Albina Shagimuratova, Genia Kühmeier, Ailish Tynan, Alex Esposito / Roland Böer (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 20/Apr/2012 ] "It is very much 'producer's opera' and it will annoy some people. I found it fascinating...Lively musical direction, incorporating Rene Jacobs's superfluous keyboard interjections. Don't miss this visually enchanting and thought-provoking... |
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Alcina (complete opera) Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski, Magdalena Kožená, Erin Morley, Alois Mühlbacher, Anna Bonitatibus, Elizabeth DeShong, Valerio Contaldo, Alex [ Pentatone / 3 CD - released 2/Feb/2024 ] "..a tour de force performance in the title role from the mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená. She keeps the emotional import of the words she sings absolutely front and centre of her delivery." The Guardian |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Mass in B minor, BWV232 Maria Keohane, Joanne Lunn, Alex Potter, Jan Kobow, Peter Harvey / Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen [ CPO SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 12/Aug/2016 ] "which is full to the brim with insightful musicianship and has a refreshing avoidance of contrived formulas, comfortably joins Parrott, Junghänel & John Butt as the finest examples of this kind of perspective on performing Bach's monumental oratorio |
ROREM / HOVHANESS / QUATE / CRESTON
American Saxophone Music Neil Hornsby (Guitar) / Jeremy Limb (Piano) / Alex Mitchell (Saxophones) [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 14/Sep/2006 ] Although it was the brainchild of a Belgian inventor, Adolphe Sax, the saxophone is commonly thought of as the quintessential American instrument, not least for the pivotal rôle it has played in jazz during key stages of the music's evolution. |
Original Soundtrack / Composed and Produced by Alex Heffes
The Last King of Scotland [ Universal Music / CD - released 27/Feb/2007 ] Available on European import, this soundtrack soundtrack combines Ugandan music with a large scale orchestral score. |
Paquito d'Rivera, Diego Urcola, Alex Brown, Oscar Stagnaro, Mark Walker, Arturo Stable
Jazz Meets the Classics [ Paquito Records / CD - released 5/Aug/2014 ] The mixture of jazz, classical and Afro-Latin traditions into a cohesive whole is wonderfully executed by the leader and his phenomenal sextet. |
FRANZ SCHUBERT / W. A. MOZART
Claudio Abbado conducts Mozart & Schubert (recorded 2012) BLU-RAY Rachel Harnisch, Roberta Invernizzi, Sara Mingardo, Javier Camarena, Paolo Fanale & Alex Esposito / Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Claudio Abbado [ Accentus Music Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 6/Sep/2016 ] A "touching and magnificent reunion" (Der Standard). The public and press enthusiastically celebrated the long-awaited return of Claudio Abbado to the Salzburg Festival in 2012. The conductor brought with him Mozart's youthful Mass K. 139, the... |
ROSSINI
Rossini: Mosè in Egitto (complete opera recorded in August 2011) Riccardo Zanellato, Alex Esposito, Dmitry Korchak, Sonia Ganassi / Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Roberto Abbado & Graham Vick [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 2/Feb/2013 ] This thought-provoking, modern-day interpretation of Rossini's "Mosè in Egitto" sets the scene for superior music-making at the prestigious Rossini Festival in Pesaro. For conductor Roberto Abbado, the transposition of the action to the present day... |
ROSSINI
Rossini: Mosè in Egitto (Recorded live at the Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro, August 2011) Riccardo Zanellato, Alex Esposito, Dmitry Korchak, Sonia Ganassi/ Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Roberto Abbado & Graham Vick [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Feb/2013 ] This thought-provoking, modern-day interpretation of Rossini's "Mosè in Egitto" sets the scene for superior music-making at the prestigious Rossini Festival in Pesaro. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Don Giovanni (complete opera recorded in 2014) Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Mariusz Kwiecien, Alex Esposito, Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Véronique Gens , Antonio Poli / Nicola Luisotti (cond [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 1/Sep/2014 ] "anyone who misses Mariusz Kwiecien's performance here will regret it...never have I seen a final scene so aggressively personal, so mad, so viciously without repentance" (International Record Review) |
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare: Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 (recorded live in 2014) Royal Shakespeare Company / Antony Sher, Alex Hassell, Jasper Britton / Simon Godwin (director) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/May/2015 ] Containing Shakespeare's Henry IV parts 1 and 2, this double set features outstanding Royal Shakespeare Company productions available in a specially priced set. |