W. A. MOZART
Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito (complete opera recorded in 2005) Paris National Opera / Susan Graham / Hannah Esther Minutillo / Catherine Naglestad / Ekaterina Siurina / Christoph Pregardien / Sylvain Cambreling [ Kultur / Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 2/Feb/2009 ] G :- "Mortier has done everything in his power to present the opera in this long-lasting form. However, the only justification for adding this to you collection is the outstanding singing of Susan Graham" (MusicWeb March 2006) |
MAURICE RAVEL / BENJAMIN ATTAHIR
Ravel: Valse & Rapsodie Espagnole / Attahir: Adh-Dhor Patrick Wibart / Orchestre National de Lille / Alexandre Boch [ Alpha / CD - released 8/Nov/2019 ] Alexandre Bloch juxtaposes two French composers on this disc. First of all, Maurice Ravel, with the Rapsodie espagnole, his first major work for orchestra alone, written at the age of thirty-two, and La Valse, premiered thirteen years later and which... |
ALEXANDER ARUTIUNIAN / MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG / DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH
Arutiunian/Weinberg/Shostakovich: Trumpet Concertos Paul Merkelo (trumpet) / Russian National Orchestra, Hans Graf, with Jae-Hyuck Cho (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 14/Oct/2022 ] The trumpet has had many concertos written for it by composers from the Soviet era and beyond. Appealing in its unabashed melodies and colourfully nostalgic feel, Arutiunian's Trumpet Concerto became popular in the West... |
LENNOX & MICHAEL BERKELEY
Berkeley, Michael - Concerto for Organ and Orchestra; Viola Concerto / Berkeley, Lennox - Voices of the Night, Op. 86; Symphony No. 2 Paul Silverthorne, viola; Thomas Trotter, organ; BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Richard Hickox [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 27/Jan/2004 ] 'The fourth volume of the invaluable Chandos Berkeley series repeats the successful formula of the previous issues... like the others in this series, this is a disc to return to for ever-increasing rewards.' International Record Review |
TAKEMITSU
Dreamtime / Orion and Pleiades / Star-Isle / A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden Paul Watkins (cello) / BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Tadaaki Otaka [ BIS / CD - released 1/Jul/1996 ] Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) was a Japanese composer, who explored the compositional principles of Western classical music and his native Japanese tradition both in isolation and in combination. Takemitsu was largely self-taught in music. He was... |
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI
Penderecki: Te Deum / A Polish Requiem / etc Izabela KlosiA´nska (soprano) Agnieszka Rehlis (mezzo-soprano) Adam Zdunikowski (tenor) / Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra / Antoni Wit [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Oct/2007 ] "dedicated performances" Gramophone Magazine (praise for the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra) |
MAURO GIULIANI / JOAQUIN RODRIGO
Giuliani/Rodrigo: Guitar Concertos Pepe Romero (Guitar) Angel Romero (Guitar) / Academy of St Martin in the Fields / Orchestre National de l'Opera de Monte-Carlo / with Catherine Miche [ Pentatone SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 18/Aug/2006 ] "The sound quality is as good as I have come to expect from the Pentatone RQR releases, and is a slight improvement over the original Philips LP in terms of its transparency and spatiality...Highly recommended." --SA-CD.net |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Rediscovered: British Clarinet Concertos by Dolmetsch, Maconchy, Spain-Dunk, Wishart Peter Cigleris (clarinet), Deian Rowlands (harp) / BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ben Palmer (conductor) [ Signum Classics / CD - released 26/Mar/2021 ] Peter Cigleris performs with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a programme of four 'rediscovered' clarinet concertante works of the first half of the 20th Century. Composed between 1930 and 1947, the works span a time of change in the musical... |
MINKUS
Don Quixote (complete ballet recorded in 2010) Peter De Jong / Karel De Rooij / Anna Tsygankova / Matthew Golding / Dutch National Ballet / Holland Symfonia / Kevin Rhodes [ Arthaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 1/Jul/2011 ] Don Quichot - an audience favourite of prestigious companies worldwide - is a dazzling display of high spirits, virtuosity and Spanish temperament. The fl amboyant leaps, dizzying pirouettes and crisp pointe work that are standard features of the... |
MINKUS
Don Quixote (complete ballet recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Peter De Jong / Karel De Rooij / Anna Tsygankova / Matthew Golding / Dutch National Ballet / Holland Symfonia / Kevin Rhodes [ Arthaus Musik Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jul/2011 ] Don Quichot - an audience favourite of prestigious companies worldwide - is a dazzling display of high spirits, virtuosity and Spanish temperament. The fl amboyant leaps, dizzying pirouettes and crisp pointe work that are standard features of the... |
ARTHUR BLISS
Piano Concerto / Piano Sonata / Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra Peter Donohoe (piano) / Martin Roscoe (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / David Lloyd-Jones, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 27/Jan/2004 ] "Eager and polished performances that do Bliss absolutely proud." Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (February 2004) |
JOHN GARDNER
Piano Concerto No. 1 / Symphony No. 1 / Midsummer Ale Overture Peter Donohoe (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / David Lloyd-Jones [ Naxos British Piano Concertos / CD - released 3/Oct/2007 ] This recording should help to re-establish [Gardner's] reputation with two relatively early works written in the post-war years, the Symphony No. 1, "a superbly crafted work... by a subtle and imaginative orchestrator" (Paul... |
ALAN BUSH
Africa Piano Concerto / Symphony No. 2 / Fantasia on Soviet Themes Peter Donohoe (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Martin Yates [ Dutton Epoch / CD - released 20/Aug/2014 ] Alan Bush's stern face usually hid a tuneful heart, and in Dutton Epoch's second disc of orchestral music by this composer, the RSNO presents the popular, programmatic Nottingham Symphony evoking Sherwood Forest, Clifton Grove, Castle Rock and the... |
WITOLD MALISZEWSKI
Symphony No 3 / Piano Concerto in B flat minor Peter Donohoe (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Martin Yates [ Dutton Epoch SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/May/2016 ] Witold Maliszewski (b. 1873) died in 1939 and thus his musical career spanned the great days of pre-Revolutionary Russia as well as the Soviet Union before the Second World War. He became associated with the publisher Belaieff and thus with a wide... |
WALTER BRAUNFELS
Symphony No 3 / Piano Concerto in B flat minor Peter Donohoe (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Martin Yates [ Dutton Epoch SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/May/2016 ] Dutton Epoch's first two volumes of music by Walter Braunfels were a revelation to many to whom the composer was just a name. This third volume concentrates on music written between 1910 and 1946. It is surprising that the glorious four-movement... |
MALCOLM ARNOLD
Philharmonic Concerto / Symphony No.7 / etc Peter Donohoe (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Martyn Yates (conductor) [ Dutton Epoch SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Feb/2015 ] With three major works by Malcolm Arnold from the mid-1970s, Dutton Epoch surveys his music written in Ireland. The focus of the programme is Arnold's Seventh Symphony, dissonant and exhilarating by turns in the first movement and ending with Irish... |
EDVARD GRIEG
Greig: Peer Gynt - Incidental music Peter Mattei, Camilla Tilling, Ellerhein Girls' Choir. Estonian National Male Choir. Estonian National Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Jarvi (conductor) [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 4/Aug/2005 ] "Jarvi junior follows in father's footsteps with a worthwhile disc of Peer Gynt" (Gramophone) |
JEAN SIBELIUS
Sibelius: Première Recordings (1932-34) The Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, Finnish National Orchestra, Georg Schnéevoigt, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky [ Naxos Historial Great Conductors / CD - released 16/Apr/2013 ] Three historically significant première recordings of Sibelius symphonies are brought together on this reissue for the first time. |
JERRY GOLDSMITH
Goldsmith Conducts Goldsmith: includes The Blue Max, Gremlins & Lionheart The Philharmonic Orchestra / National Philharmonic Orchestra / Jerry Goldsmith [ Silva Screen Records / CD - released 15/Dec/2007 ] "Goldsmith's music has seldom sounded better than in this stunning reissue, which unleashes the unrealised depth and power of the original recording in dazzling surround sound. Superior in both performances and sound to recent releases of Goldsmith's... |
TAKEMITSU
A String Around Autumn / I Hear the Water Dreaming / Riverrun Philip Dukes (viola) / BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Tadaaki Otaka [ BIS / CD - released 1/Sep/2002 ] Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Jan 2003) |