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ALEXANDER GOEHR
Goehr: Marching to Carcassonne Oliver Knussen / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Peter Serkin (piano), London Sinfonietta [ NAXOS / CD - released 13/Feb/2013 ] Alexander Goehr is a central fi gure of the post-war Manchester School of composers with Birtwistle and Maxwell Davies. His work is recognized today for its assimilation of intellectual rigour with transparent expressiveness and richly haunting... |
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LEONARD BERNSTEIN
The Sound of Leonard Bernstein Wayne Marshall (piano) London Sinfonietta, Bournemouth Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony / Simon Rattle, André Previn, Paavo Järvi, Andrew Litton [ Warner Classics / 3 CD - released 30/Mar/2018 ] "The recordings are good or very good throughout - all digital in provenance...I don't think many purchasers would regret buying this CD." (MusicWeb) |
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JULIAN SLADE
The Boyfriend / Salad Days Orginal London Casts 1954 [ Naxos Nostalgia Musicals / CD - released 30/Jul/2013 ] "Sandy Wilson's pastiche of a 1920s musical comedy and Julian Slade's whimsical fantasy of student life were both huge hits in the 1950s. Their charm and period flavour are recalled on these original cast recordings." (BBC Music) |
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ROGERS and HAMMERSTEIN
The King And I (recorded 1951 & 1954) Original Broadway Cast / Original London Cast (Yul Brynner, Valerie Hobson, Robert Merrill, Gertrude Lawrence, Herbert Lom & others [ Naxos Nostalgia Musicals / CD - released 11/May/2006 ] This disc also features selections from an RCA 'cover' recording made with popular vocalists of the period, released before the show opened on Broadway and features an Overture that was put together expressly for the purpose. |
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WILLIAM ALWYN
Concerto Grosso No.2 / Autumn Legend / Lyra Angelica Osian Ellis (harp) Geoffrey Browne (cor anglais) / London Philharmonic Orchestra / William Alwyn (conductor) [ Lyrita / CD - released 1/Apr/2007 ] "Following up the welcome reissue of all five of Alwyn’s symphonies, come these two discs of shorter pieces, again with the composer a most persuasive interpreter. Alwyn himself with fair justice counted [Lyra Angelica] his most beautiful work … and... |
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BRITTEN
Britten - Sinfonia da Requiem / Gloriana Suite / Sea Interludes Osian Ellis, harp / Keiron Moore, oboe / Alexander Taylor, viola / London Symphony Orchestra / Steuart Bedford, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 18/Jun/2005 ] Benjamin Britten occupies an unrivalled position in English music of the twentieth century and a place of the greatest importance in the wider musical world. |
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VARIOUS
Encores and Transcriptions, Vol. 2 (Rec 1927-1930) Pablo Casals (cello) with Nicolai Mednikoff, piano, Blas Net, piano, Otto Schulhoff, piano. London Symphony Orchestra / Pablo Casals, conductor [ Naxos Great Cellists / CD - released 1/Feb/2005 ] "As before his novel and revolutionary vibrato usage comes under close scrutiny and that vocalized legato which he occasionally spun out with such daring elasticity demonstrate why he was the premier cellist of his generation...Collectors need not... |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN / JOHANNES BRAHMS
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4 / Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn (recorded in 1927-29) Pablo Casals Orchestra of Barcelona / London Symphony Orchestra / Pablo Casals [ Naxos Historical Great Conductors / CD - released 13/Sep/2007 ] These recordings are notable for their unfussy and direct approach to Beethoven that reveal the music in honest, unvarnished and expressive terms. |
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BERNSTEIN
Kaddish (Symphony No. 3); Chichester Psalms; Missa Brevis Pablo Strong, treble; Ann Murray, mezzo-soprano; Simon Baker, counter-tenor; Jamie Bernstein narrator; The London Oratory School Schola; BBC Singers; [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 8/Mar/2004 ] 'Jamie Bernstein has reworked the narration written by her father, adding to the work's frenetic complexity, which registers powerfully in this recording. Fans of heart-on-sleeve Berntsein will enjoy bold versions of his Chichester Psalms and Missa... |
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RAVEL / FAURE / POULENC / IBERT
Music by Ravel, Faure, Poulenc and Ibert Pascal Roge (piano) / London Chamber Orchestra / Christopher Warren-Green [ Signum LCO Live / CD - released 8/Sep/2011 ] "The latest of the LCO Live series offers an engaging and varied programme of French Romanticism...The centrepiece of the programme is Poulenc's "Piano Concerto", the opening section of which alone seems to incorporate more disparate styles than most... |
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HOWARD BLAKE
The Passion of Mary / 4 Songs of the Nativity Patricia Rozario / Robert William Blake / David Wilson-Johnson / London Voices / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Howard Blake [ Naxos / CD - released 11/May/2010 ] "Choirs looking for new repertoire need look no further. Here are two works which can communicate easily and make a real impression on the audience. This music is far too good to miss." (MusicWeb Bargain of the Month May 2010) |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Il Duello Amoroso Patrizia Kwella (soprano) Gillian Fisher (soprano) Catherine Denley (contralto) The London Handel Orchestra, Denys Darlow conductor [ Hyperion Helios / CD - released 1/Aug/2003 ] 'enjoyable performances ... well worth exploring' - Gramophone |
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JOHN TAVENER
Lament for Jerusalem Peter Crawford (Counter-tenor) Angharad Gruffydd Jones (Soprano) / Choir of London, Choir of London Orchestra / Jeremy Summerly (Conductor) [ Naxos / CD - released 12/Apr/2006 ] Sir John Tavener describes the Lament for Jerusalem as a mystical love song. The Lament brings together Christian, Judaic, and Islamic texts and is sung in Greek and English. The musical structure is that of a lattice whose proportions are carefully... |
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BRITTEN / BUSH / SEIBER
Noel Mewton-Wood & Peter Pears Peter Pears (tenor) Noel Mewton-Wood (piano) / London Symphony Orchestra, Basil Cameron [ Testament / CD - released 1/Mar/2014 ] "Recording captures the vitality and dexterity the pianist brought to the revised version of Britten's Piano Concerto in 1946" (Financial Times) |
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HANS WERNER HENZE
Violin Concerto No. 2 / Il Vitalino raddoppiato Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin) / Parnassus Ensemble London, Hans Werner Henze, with Omar Ebrahim (speaker) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/May/2015 ] Henze's Violin Concerto No. 2 occupies a space between the theatre and concert stages. A dramatic work with a rôle for a speaker, it comes from the period of his interest in 'action music' and is scored for a large experimental chamber orchestra.... |
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RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade Philharmonia Orchestra, London, Enrique Bátiz [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jan/1993 ] |
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SIBELIUS
Incidental Music (Incls 'Karelia Suite' & 'King Christian II Suite') Philharmonia Orchestra / Enrique Batiz / London Symphony Orchestra / Loris Tjeknavorian [ Regis Records / CD - released 20/Aug/2007 ] "Tjeknavorian is a serious and thoughtful [Sibelius] interpreter...we [do not] find him trying to score interpretative points or playing to the gallery" (Gramophone) |
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MAHLER (COMPLETED BY DERYCK COOKE)
Symphony No. 10 (1964 Proms premiere of the completed version and 1960 lecture/performance on BBC radio) Philharmonia Orchestra / London Symphony Orchestra / Berthold Goldschmidt / [ Testament / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Dec/2011 ] "What it must have been to experience the finale's flute melody for the first time outside a BBC studio! Goldschmidt gives this exquisite moment all the time in the world...Strongly recommended." (Gramophone) |
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PROKOFIEV
Symphony No.5 in B flat major, Op.100 (with works by Rossini & Vivaldi) (Recorded 1955/57/74) Philharmonia Orchestra / London Symphony Orchestra / Orchestra Alessandro Scarlatti / Thomas Schippers [ Medici Masters / CD - released 26/Oct/2007 ] "Overall this is a fascinating memento of a talent cut short too soon. Impossible to say how Schippers' career would have developed, but there is sufficient evidence of real musicality and real individuality on this disc to make us regret what might... |
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HARRISON BIRTWISTLE
Ancora - Triumph of Time Philharmonic Orchestra, Elgar Howarth(Conductor), London Sinfonietta [ NMC / CD - released 25/Mar/2008 ] "It is good to have [these] excellent recordings of two of the composer's major orchestral works resurrected from their Collins Classics grave by the ever-welcome new-music specialist label NMC." The Daily Telegraph 2004 |