|
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Chamber Music with flute Emmanuel Pahud (flute) with Daniel Barenboim, Daishin Kashimoto, Amihai Grosz, Sophie Dervaux & Silvia Careddu [ Warner Classics / CD - released 11/Dec/2020 ] Warner Classics' final release for Beethoven's 250th anniversary year is a charming programme of chamber music with flute. The four works, all dating from the earlier years of the composer's career, were recorded in June 2020. |
|
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: La Resurrezione Lucy Crowe (Angel), Sophie Bevan (Mary Magdalene), Iestyn Davies (Mary Cleophas), Hugo Hymas (John the Evangelist), The English Concert [ Linn Records / 2 CD - released 8/Jul/2022 ] "Bicket and his stellar cast embrace Handel's radical approach, turning sacred figures into intensely dramatic ones. Handel gave instruments their own actor-like parts, which The English Concert deliver ravishingly." BBC Recording of Month July 22 |
|
J. S. BACH / GEORG PHILLIPP TELEMANN / TOMASO ALBINONI
Bach/Telemann/Albinoni: Concerti Ensemble Masques; Olivier Fortin; Sophie Gent; Kathleen Kajioka [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 4/Jul/2025 ] "We have wanted to record Bach's violin concertos with Sophie Gent ever since she joined Ensemble Masques in 2003", says Olivier Fortin, harpsichordist and founder of the ensemble that explores Baroque music with such passion. "Sophie is an... |
|
TOMMIE HAGLUND
Haglund: Flaminis Aura Ernst Simon Glaser, cello Gothenburg Symphony / David AfkhamTrio ZilliacusPerssonRaitinen; Julia Kretz-Larsson, violinMalmö Symphony Orchestra [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 30/Jun/2017 ] This composer portrait opens with Tommie Haglund'sfirst score for full orchestra -the cello concerto Flaminisaura. Composed in 2001 and rewarded 13 years later with Sweden's most important composition prize, the work is in a single movement with a... |
|
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Vivaldi: L'oracolo In Messenia (complete opera recorded in 2012) Julia Lezhneva, Ann Hallenberg, Vivica Genaux, Romina Basso, Franziska Gottwald, Xavier Sabata / Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi [ Virgin Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 24/Sep/2012 ] "Biondi has assembled an impressive cast, with outstandingly fine contributions from [Hallenberg and Genaux]. It is Julia Lezhneva (Trasimede), though, who steals the show with dazzling coloratura and immense tonal precision." BBC Music |
|
NICOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve (complete opera recorded in 2021) Frankfurt Opera / Julia Muzychenko, Enkelejda Shkoza, Alexey Tikhomirov, Anthony Robin Schneider / Sebastian Weigle (cond) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 11/Nov/2022 ] Composed using his own libretto, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov created this magical opera based on the short story by Nikolay Gogol 'The Night before Christmas' in which Vakula the handsome blacksmith wants to marry the rich farmer's daughter Oksana, who... |
|
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA
The Sound of Piazzolla Gidon Kremer, Julia Zenko, Haracio Ferrer, Alison Balsom, Martha Argerich, Emmanuel Pahud, Daniel Barenboim, Artemis Quartet, etc [ Warner Classics / 2 CD - released 5/Jul/2017 ] "Violinist Gidon Kremer and a tight ensemble of colleagues show keen empathy for this symbolist allegory of an ambiguous, archetypal journey of the soul." --Thomas May on Maria de Buenos Aires |
|
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Saul (complete opera recorded in 2015) BLU-RAY Glyndebourne Opera / Christopher Purves, Iestyn Davies, Lucy Crowe, Sophie Bevan, Paul Appleby / Ivor Bolton (cond) [ Opus Arte Critics' Choice Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 26/Jul/2024 ] "Christopher Purves is utterly consumed by his role as Saul...Iestyn Davies is vocally outstanding as David, with his customary melting melismas." Opera |
|
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict (complete opera recorded in 2016) Glyndebourne Opera / Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Paul Appleby, Philippe Sly, Sophie Karthäuser, Lionel Lhote / Antonello Manacorda (cond) [ Opus Arte / BBC DVD / DVD - released 15/Aug/2017 ] "This is Pellyland, a deeply satisfying comic world with its own style conjured up for Glyndebourne by one of the most assured opera directors at work today" Five Stars BBC Music Opera Choice Sept 2017 |
|
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict (complete opera recorded in 2016) BLU-RAY Glyndebourne Opera / Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Paul Appleby, Philippe Sly, Sophie Karthäuser, Lionel Lhote / Antonello Manacorda (cond) [ Opus Arte / BBC Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 15/Aug/2017 ] "This is Pellyland, a deeply satisfying comic world with its own style conjured up for Glyndebourne by one of the most assured opera directors at work today" Five Stars BBC Music Opera Choice Sept 2017 |
|
JAMES MCCARTHY / WILL TODD
McCarthy: Codebreaker / Todd: Ode to a Nightingale Hertfordshire Chorus, BBC Concert Orchestra, Julia Doyle (soprano), David Temple (conductor) [ Signum / 2 CD - released 6/Oct/2017 ] Hertfordshire Chorus continue to build on their reputation for commissioning and performing some of the very best in contemporary choral music. |
|
WILLIAM BYRD
The Early Byrd Sophie Yates (virginals) / I Fagiolini / Fretwork [ Chandos Chaconne / CD - released 1/Aug/2013 ] |
|
J. S. BACH
Bach, J S: St John Passion, BWV245 James Gilchrist, Neal Davies, Sophie Bevan, Iestyn Davies, Benedict Kearns / Academy of Ancient Music & King's College Choir Cambridge, Stephen Cleobu [ King's College SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 15/May/2017 ] "The Academy of Ancient Music retains it standing as one of the best period music ensembles in the world, King's College nonpareil among contemporary sacred music bands, and the recording gorgeously captured in a venue most of us are quite familiar." |
|
THE BACH FAMILY
Dynastie: Bach Concertos Jean Rondeau (harpsichord) with Sophie Gent, Louis Creac'h (violin) Fanny Paccoud (viola) Antoine Touche (cello) Thomas de Pierrefeu (contrabass) etc [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 16/Mar/2017 ] "This spirited and eloquently ornamented playing serves the music of JS Bach and three of his sons uncommonly well" BBC Music Five Stars Concerto Choice March 2017 |
|
MENOTTI
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra / Muero porque no muero Cantata / etc Jennifer Koh (violin), Julia Melinek (soprano) / Spoleto Festival Orch., Hickox [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 29/Jan/2002 ] 'Koh is outstanding, the orchestra first-class.' International Record Review |
|
LEO WEINER
Weiner: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 Júlia Pusker, Ditta Rohmann, Csaba Klenyán, István Kassai [ Naxos / CD - released 28/Jan/2026 ] Leó Weiner's legacy as an educator influenced generations of Hungarian musicians for a half century. His early work as a composer was internationally acclaimed for its new engaging sound, resulting from a unique synthesis of German and French... |
|
LEO WEINER
Weiner: Orchestral Works (Complete), Vol. 4 - Violin Concerto No. 1 / Serenade Júlia Pusker (violin) / MÁV Symphony Orchestra, Budapest, Valéria Csányi [ Naxos / CD - released 21/Nov/2025 ] Leó Weiner was one of the most important of all Hungarian pedagogues as well as being a distinguished composer. The success of his Serenade, written when he was 21, was immediate - its light, intimate and richly melodic qualities, some of which... |
|
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E flat major 'Symphony of the Thousand' (recorded live in 1991) Júlia Várady, Jane Eaglen, Trudeliese Schmidt, Jadwiga Rappé, Kenneth Riegel, Hans Sotin / London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt [ LPO Live / 2 CD - released 22/Jun/2011 ] "...Tennstedt is overwhelming. Try topping the orchestral peroration, offstage trumpets stretching the "Veni, Creator Spiritus" motif from the interval of a fifth beyond the octave to a heaven-storming ninth." Gramophone Top Ten Mahler Symphonies |
|
LEHAR
Die Blaue Mazur [The Blue Mazurka] (complete operetta) Johanna Stojkovich, Julia Bauer, Johan Weigel, Jan Kobow / Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester / Frank Beermann [ CPO / 2 CD - released 20/Feb/2009 ] "CPO must be praised for their enterprising exploration of the lesser known Lehár operettas and this recording of Die blaue Mazur is a worthy addition to the catalogue with some really outstanding singing." (MusicWeb June 2009) |
|
BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Johanna Winkel (soprano), Sophie Harmsen (mezzo-soprano), Sebastian Kohlhepp (tenor), Arttu Kataja (bass), Hofkapelle Stuttgart, Stuttgart Chamber Cho [ Naxos / DVD - released 25/Sep/2020 ] Beethoven's Missa solemnis is the one work the composer admired above all his compositions. It was written for his great patron and friend Archduke Rudolf of Austria at around the same time that he embarked on his Ninth Symphony and as the writer... |