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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: String Quintets K. 515 & 516 Quatuor Van Kuijk; Adrien La Marca [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 25/Sep/2020 ] "Time and again, they seem to me to catch this music exactly where it speaks most powerfully: balanced perfectly - poignantly - between laughter and tears." Gramophone Editor's Choice Awards Issue 2020 |
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ALBINONI / CALDARA / CORRELLI / TARTINI / TORELLI / VIVALDI
The Italian Job: Baroque Instrumental Music from the Italian States Rachel Chaplin and Gail Hennessy (oboes) Peter Whelan (bassoon), La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler (violin / director) [ Avie / CD - released 24/Feb/2017 ] "the whole underpinned by a scholarly attittude to programming and performance style which is yet worn with a light grace." Gramophone Award WINNER 2017 - Baroque Insrumental |
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GRAUN / HASSE / HANDEL / LEGRENZI / VIVALDI / etc
Cleopatra - Baroque Arias Regula Mühlemann (soprano) / La Folia Barokorchester, Robin Peter Müller [ Sony Classical / CD - released 21/Sep/2017 ] "Mühlemann makes everything sound easy. But it's not just virtuosity, as the beauty of her voice also stops you in your tracks." BBC Music |
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GOUNOD / FRANCK / ADAM / FAURE / BERLIOZ / BOULANGER / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Sanctus - Sacred Songs Roberto Alagna (tenor) / City Of Toulouse Choir, Les Petits Chanteurs À La Croix Potencée, City Of Toulouse Orchestra, Michel Olasson [ EMI Music / CD - released 1/Dec/1996 ] Recorded : Toulouse, Eglise Notre-Dame de la Daurade, 2-6.V.1996 |
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MOZART / GLUCK / CIMAROSA / BOLOGNE
Samuel Mariño - Sopranista Samuel Mariño (soprano) / La Cetra Barockorchester, Andrea Marcon [ Decca / CD - released 27/May/2022 ] "The words "radiant" and "pure" come to mind, with "thrilling" perhaps jumping in when the throat opens wide and the notes blaze away, fierce as the unfiltered rays of the summer sun." The Times |
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ARRIGO BOITO
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Boito: Mefistofele (Complete opera recorded in 1995) Samuel Ramey, Vincenzo La Scola, Michele Crider / Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Alla Scala, Milano, Riccardo Muti [ RCA Victor Red Seal / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/Aug/1996 ] "Ramey was already a splendid Mefistofele...but here he is even more in command of the role, and has the advantage of Muti's masterly conducting. Crider is an affecting Margherita and La Scola a mellifluous Faust." Peformance & Sound: 5 (out of 5) |
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W.A. MOZART
Mozart: Mass in C Minor KV427 Sandrine Piau, Anne-Lise Sollied, Paul Agnew, Frederic Caton / Accentus / La Chambre Philharmonique / Emmanuel Krivine [ Naive / CD - released 20/Dec/2005 ] MARBECKS STAFF RECORDING OF THE YEAR 2006 - "Krivine offers a hard-edged reading, almost Bach-like in both its devotional austerity and its emphasis on the score's complex counterpoint...the choral singing and playing are admirably clear" (The... |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Macbeth (Complete Opera with libretto) Shirley Verrett, Piero Cappuccilli, Placido Domingo / Milan La Scala Chorus; Milan La Scala Orchestra / Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon Originals / 2 CD Box Set - released 5/May/2000 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1801-1850) - "scrupulously prepared, executed and recorded." (Gramophone) |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (highlights) Simone Alaimo (bass), Roberto Frontali (baritone), Alessandra Ruffini (soprano), Vincenzo la Scola (tenor), Mariangela Spotorno (soprano) [ Naxos / CD - released 1/May/2000 ] Gaetano Donizetti was the leading composer of Italian opera in the short period between the early retirement of Rossini and death of Bellini and Verdi's first success with Nabucco in 1842. He was born in Bergamo in 1797 and had his early musical... |
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MONTEVERDI / PURCELL / CESTI / MERULA / DOWLAND
Love Simone Kermes (soprano) / La Magnifica Comunità, Enrico Casazza [ Sony / CD - released 1/Jul/2016 ] "The evidence of [Kermes's] close sympathy with the players of La Magnifica Comunità is everywhere abundant…the sum total, powerfully original and committed in imaginative endeavour and fulfilment, is an inward-looking artistic vision" BBC Music |
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JULES MASSENET / GIACOMO PUCCINI / CHARLES COUNOD / JACQUES OFFENBACH / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Sonya Yoncheva - Paris, mon amour Sonya Yoncheva (soprano), with Etienne Dupuis (baritone), Celso Albelo (tenor) Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Frederic Chaslin [ Sony Music / CD - released 1/Jul/2018 ] "one of the most effortlessly and gorgeously sung accounts of [Sempre libera] I know...her sensual singing of unhackneyed arias by Massenet, Gounod, Messager and Lecocq announces one of the loveliest lyric sopranos before the public today." The Times |
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JACQUES OFFENBACH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffman [The Tales of Hoffmann] (highlights) Joan Sutherland, Placido Domingo, Gabriel Bacquier, Huguette Tourangeau / L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Richard Bonynge [ Decca / CD - released 19/Jan/2004 ] Here are 70 minutes of the best music from Offenbach's wonderful opera performed by a stunning cast!! Joan Sutherland is at her best as the heroines, Placido Domingo is at his freshest, and Gabriel Bacquier sings richly as the villains. Huguette... |
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ARTHUR HONEGGER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Honegger: Le Roi David Suzanne Danco, Marie-Lise de Montmollin, Pauline Martin / L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet [ Decca / CD - released 1/Jan/1990 ] The DECCA ANSERMET LEGACY has been systematically releasing the vast recorded legacy of Ernest Ansermet, a key Decca artist in the 1950s and 1960s. It has become one of the most sought-after and praised of all reissue series. |
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GABRIEL FAURE
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Faure: Requiem / Pelleas et Melisande / Masques et Bergamasques Suzanne Danco (soprano), Gerald Souzay (tenor) / L'Union Chorale de la tour de Peilz / L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande [ Decca Eloquence / CD - released 16/Aug/2006 ] 'Ansermet's version [of the Requiem] is technically immaculate' … 'sympathetic and stylish performances [of the orchestral works], highly regarded in their day and still sounding well' Penguin Guide |
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MAURICE RAVEL / CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Ravel: Sheherazade, etc / Debussy: La Mer & Petite Suite (recorded 1947-48) Suzanne Danco (soprano) / L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire, Ernest Ansermet [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 10/Oct/2018 ] 'Some of the subtlest songs in the modern repertoire, marvellously interpreted and beautifully recorded.' High Fidelity, August 1955 (Shéhérezade) |
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JULES MASSENET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Massenet: Thais (complete opera recorded in 2004) Teatri La Fenice / Eva Mei (soprano), Michele Perusi (bass-baritone), William Joyner (tenor) & Christophe Fel (bass) / Marcello Viotti (cond) [ Dynamic DVD / DVD - released 28/Oct/2004 ] Venice's prestigious Teatro La Fenice's production of this enthralling opera, full of captivating music and dramatic development. The title role, in this excellent production, is sung by an Eva Mei in great vocal form, who gives an interpretation... |
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IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress (complete opera recorded in 2007) Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels / Andrew Kennedy / William Shimell / Laura Claycomb / Kazushi Ono (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 21/Mar/2008 ] G - Recorded live at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels on 26 and 28 April 2007. |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Generation Harmonia Mundi 1: The Age Of Revolutions 1958-1988 Various Artists including Les Arts Florissants, La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale, Deller Consort, London Baroque, etc [ Harmonia Mundi / 16 CD Box Set - released 10/May/2018 ] Harmonia Mundi was born in 1958: sixty years and several thousand recordings later, the company continues to affirm its identity and its singularity with insolent vitality! |
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MONSIGNY / EDELMANN / J.C. BACH / GLUCK
Rivales Sandrine Piau (soprano) / Véronique Gens (soprano), Le Concert de la Loge, Julien Chauvin [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Apr/2022 ] 'Le Concert de la Loge provides support that is virile and tender, as appropriate. And the two singers are magnificent.' Gramophone Award WINNER 2023 - Voice & Ensemble |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini - Messa di Gloria / Orchestral works William Johns (tenor) Philippe Huttenlocher (bass) / Chœur Symphonique Et Orchestre De La Fondation Gulbenkian De Lisbonne, Michel Corboz [ Erato Collection / CD - released 24/Mar/1974 ] Puccini composed the Mass as his graduation exercise from the Istituto Musicale Pacini. It had its first performance in Lucca on July 12, 1880. However, the Credo had already been written and performed in 1878 and was initially conceived by Puccini... |