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MAURICE RAVEL / FRANCIS POULENC / GABRIEL FAURE
Réveiller - Violin Sonatas Bella Hristova (violin), Michael Houstoun (piano) [ Rattle Records / CD - released 26/Sep/2024 ] Réveiller is an exploration of some of the most exquisite French works for violin and piano, featuring sonatas by Ravel, Poulenc, and Fauré. Each piece evokes a unique character, blurring the lines between dreams and reality. |
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Bill Laurance and Michael League
Keeping Company [ ACT / CD - released 1/Nov/2024 ] Bill Laurance and Michael League, longtime friends and collaborators, have released their second duo album "Keeping Company," which contrasts with the larger scale of Snarky Puppy. The album showcases an intimate musical partnership, with Laurance... |
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SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES
Maxwell Davies: Sacred Choral Works Michael Bonaventure (solo organ) / Choir of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Matthew Owens [ Delphian / CD - released 12/Jun/2006 ] In the 1960s few would have predicted that Peter Maxwell Davies would eventually write a set of Evening Canticles; yet religious texts have always been of fundamental importance to the composer, as this disc vividly demonstrates by bringing together... |
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COMEDY CLASSICS
The Bricklayer:- 17 Comedy Classics Various Artists incls Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, Gerard Hoffnung, Peter Sellers, Bob Newhart, Shelley Berman & others [ ALTO / CD - released 18/Nov/2011 ] Featuring Gerard Hoffnung, Peter Sellers & Sophia Loren, Tony Hancock, Flanders & Swann, Tom Lehrer, Peter Cook & Bob Newhart. |
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FAURE / WALFORD DAVIES / WALTON / TIPPETT / PURCELL / GIBBONS / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: The Canterbury Tradition Choir Of Canterbury Cathedral, David Flood, with Michael harris (organ) [ York Ambisonic / CD - released 2/Feb/2013 ] David Flood was the organist and master of the cathedral choristers at Canterbury Cathedral, a position he held for 32 years from 1988 to 2020. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. In 1978, he was appointed assistant organist at... |
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GEOFFREY BURGON
Cathedral Music of Geoffrey Burgon (Incls Nunc dimittis) Choir of Chichester Cathedral, with Michael Laird (trumpet) & Jeremy Suter (organ) [ Hyperion / CD - released 1/Feb/2013 ] GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE |
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GORDON SHI-WEN CHIN
Chin: Double Concerto / Formosa Seasons Cho-Liang Lin (violin) / Felix Fan (cello) / Kansas City Symphony Orchestra / Michael Stern [ Naxos / CD - released 4/Mar/2007 ] "Formosa Seasons" is based on a series of Haiku-like poems, and is dedicated to the celebrated Taiwanese-American violinist Cho-Liang Lin. |
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MENDELSSOHN
Symphonie Nr.2 "Lobgesang" Christiane Karg, Christina Landhamer, Michael Schade, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Pablo Heras-Casado [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/Mar/2014 ] Symphony, cantata, or oratorio? The Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise), commissioned by the city of Leipzig from its Kapellmeister Mendelssohn to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the invention of printing in 1840, has elements of all three... |
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HANS PFITZNER
Pfitzner: Palestrina (complete opera) Christopher Ventris / Peter Rose / Michael Volle / Falk Struckmann / Christiana Karg / Bavarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Simone Young [ Euroarts DVD / 2 DVD - released 15/Jun/2010 ] "Simone Young directs a flowing and nicely paced account. Christopher Ventris is sensitive, achieving exhausted nobility as the composer, and Falk Struckmann provides a rounded portrayal of the subtle Borromeo." (Gramophone) |
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JOSEPH BOULOGNE SAINT-GEORGES
Saint-Georges: Symphonies concertantes / Symphony in G major Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, Michael Halász [ Naxos / CD - released 24/Sep/2021 ] Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges was a brilliant swordsman, athlete, violin virtuoso and gifted composer, with a claim to being the most talented figure in an age of remarkable individuals. He was an early and important exponent of the... |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies No 1 / Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral' Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra / Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Richard Edlinger (cond), Michael Halasz (cond) [ Naxos / CD - released 30/Jun/2008 ] "there are few to match him [Edinger] for his immediacy of communication" - Penguin Guide |
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FRIEDRICH KUHLAU
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Kuhlau: Overtures Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Michael Schonwandt [ Chandos / CD - released 20/Aug/2012 ] Kuhlau was born on 11 September 1786 just south of Lüneburg in the Uelzen district of Lower Saxony (Germany). At the age of seven, he lost his right eye when he slipped on ice and fell. His father, grandfather, and uncle were military oboists. Even... |
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LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA
Dallapiccola: Il Prigioniero Anna Maria Chiuri, Michael Nagy, Stephan Rugamer, Adam Riis / Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Jul/2020 ] GRAMOPHONE Award Nomination 2021 - Opera |
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VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / MENDELSSOHN / WOOD / PARRY / STAINER / MOZART / etc
Songs of Praise (Includes Let all the world in every corner sing Praise My Soul and Hear My Prayer Darius Battiwalla, organ / Michael Thompson, tenor; Halifax Choral Society; John Pryce-Jones, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 12/Oct/2003 ] With this instruction the Book of Common Prayer of 1622 motivated several centuries of English composers to focus their creativity into the huge collection of short choral works that are the English Anthems. |
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W. A. MOZART / JOSEF HAYDN
Mozart: Ouverture Spirituelle / Haydn: The Seasons (recorded live in 2012 & 2013) Dorothea Röschmann, Michael Schade Sylvia Schwartz, Elisabeth von Magnus / Vienna Philharmonic, Concentus Musicus, Nicolaus Harnoncourt [ EuroArts / Unitel DVD / 2 DVD Box Set - released 22/Sep/2016 ] "this is a splendid, inspiriting performance of a life-giving work. It's superbly executed by a 60-strong VPO...Boesch is a robust, genial Simon in the earlier parts of the oratorio." (Gramophone on the Haydn) |
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ENGELBURT HUMPERDINCK
Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel (Complete opera recorded live in 2006) Dresden State Opera / Antigone Papoulkas / Anna Gabler / Hans-Joachim Ketelsen / Irmgard Vilsmaier / Iris Vermillon / Michael Hofsletter [ EuroArts / DVD - released 10/May/2007 ] G :- "The staging tells the story clearly and believably but the trendy ideas come too thick and fast for comfort. Singing is generally good if not outstanding. Hansel (Antigone Papoulkas) and Gretel (Anna Gabler) are diminutive figures with... |
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PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Concert Fantasia Eldar Nebolsin (piano) / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Michael Stern [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Sep/2016 ] "Nebolsin hardly puts a foot wrong, and Michael Stern secures rhythmically vibrant playing from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra" BBC Music Magazine |
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ROBERT SCHUMANN / EDVARD GRIEG
Schumann & Grieg: Piano Concertos Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano), Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Michael Sanderling [ Warner Classics / CD - released 15/Mar/2024 ] "Leonskaja's live performances of the Schumann and Grieg piano concertos have been cause for wonder...There are other ways of performing these works, but these interpretations are utterly consistent and totally enlightening." BBC Music February 2024 |
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GOUNOD / PUCCINI / STEIBELT / MASSENET / MOZART / ROSSINI / etc
Miroir(s): Opera Arias Elsa Dreisig (soprano), Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie Pyrénées Méditerranée, Michael Schønwandt [ Erato Warner Classics / CD - released 20/Mar/2019 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 TOP THREE - Recital |
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J. S. BACH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Johnn Sebastian Bach II Emma Kirkby, Anthony Rolf Johnson, Alfred Brendel, Trevor Pinnock, Anne Sofie von Otter, Michael Chance, Simon Preston, John Eliot Gardiner [ Deutsche Grammophon Panorama / 2 CD - released 2/Feb/2000 ] "Gardiner's version of the St Matthew Passion brings an intense, dramatic reading which now makes a clear first choice, not just for period-performance devotees but for anyone not firmly set against the new authenticity." Penguin Guide |