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DOWLAND
Collected Works The Consort Of Musicke / Anthony Rooley with Emma Kirkby, Glenda Simpson, John York Skinner, Martyn Hill & David Thomas [ Decca Budget Boxes / 12 CD Box Set - released 1/Aug/2012 ] '...this box cannot be recommended too highly' The Penguin Guide To Compact Discs |
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FRANZ LISZT
Liszt: Missa Choralis & Via Crucis Corydon Singers, Thomas Trotter, organ, Matthew Best [ Hyperion / CD - released 10/Nov/2000 ] 'I find the Corydon singers' performance of 'Via Crucis' utterly compelling and truly memorable…an essential Passiontide recording'(Organists'Review) |
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AARON COPLAND
Copland: Old American Songs / Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson / Billy the Kid Thomas Hampson, Dawn Upshaw /Saint Paul Chamvber Orchestra, Hugh Wolff [ Teldec Apex / CD - released 6/Jun/2005 ] BARGAIN OF THE MONTH MusicWeb October 2005 "Copland is in the first rank of those whose skill has created an American music, quite distinct from that of their own roots. A great disc." (MusicWeb Oct 2005) |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: A German Requiem [Ein Deutsches Requiem] Dorothea Roschmann (soprano) Thomas Quasthoff (baritone) / Berlin Radio Choir / Berliner Philharmoniker / Sir Simon Rattle [ Warner Classics / CD - released 1/Apr/2007 ] 'This strikes me as probably the best new version of the Requiem I've heard in quite some years' Disc of the Month BBC Music Magazine (April 2007) |
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Edita Gruberova, John Aler, Thomas Hampson, Berlin Philharmonic, Ozawa
Orff - Carmina Burana [ Philips 50 / CD - released 20/Jan/2001 ] Classic recordings digitally remastered and reduced in price |
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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Don Giovanni (complete opera recorded in 2009) Thomas Hampson, Robert Holl, Edita Gruberova, Roberta Alexander, Barbara Bonney, / Royal Concertgebouw orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt [ Warner Classics The Home of Opera / 3 CD - released 2/Sep/2016 ] "No interpretation of this endlessly fascinating work will ever hold all the answers, but this one provides a good deal of them in its lean, direct and perceptive way." Gramophone |
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JOSEF HAYDN
Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) Elsie Morison (soprano) Alexander Young, Michael Langdon / Beecham Choral Society / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Thomas Beecham [ EMI Gemini / 2 CD - released 12/Nov/2004 ] In 1798 Haydn's oratorio Die Schöpfung (The Creation) received its première; such was the enthusiasm that a sequel was duly requested. The subject was to be the four seasons of the year rather than the seven days of creation - which still allowed the... |
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J.S. BACH
Wedding Cantata, Hunt Cantata & Ich habe genug Emma Kirkby (soprano) David Thomas, Jennifer Smith / The Parley of Instruments [ Hyperion Dyad / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2001 ] 'Still by far the best version. The stronger sense of occasion is boosted by Peter Holman's inspired topping and tailing with sinfonias' (International Record Review) |
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J. S. BACH
Orchestral Suites Nos 1 - 4 (with works by J.L. Bach, Fasch, Telemann & Zelenka) Freiburger Barockorchester, Thomas Hengelbrock [ Erato Veritas / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2015 ] This set is a tribute to the Orchestral Suite (Ouvertüren), a major genre during the German Baroque era. It assembles works from Johann Bernhard and Johann Ludwig Bach - much admired by their cousin Johann Sebastian Bach - and Zelenka, Fash and... |
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GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Gioachino Rossini Edition (50 CD set) Gabriel Bacquier, Montserrat Caballé, Nicolai Gedda, Maria Callas, Cecilia Bartoli, Joyce DiDonato, Rockwell Blake, Beverly Sills, Thomas Hampson, etc [ Warner Classics / 50 CD Box Set - released 25/Oct/2018 ] The Rossini Edition is the most comprehensive edition devoted to Rossini ever produced. |
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GABRIEL FAURE
Gabriel Faure - The Complete Works Gautier Capuçon, Jacqueline du Pré, Sabine Devieilhe, Nicholai Gedda, Ian Bostridge, Victoria de los Ángeles, Thomas Beecham, Michel Corboz, etc [ Erato / Warner Classics / 26 CD Box Set - released 25/Oct/2024 ] Warner Classics brings to you the Complete works of Gabriel Fauré, included are many popular and historical recordings for solo harp and piano, chamber, lyrical and orchestral works. |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi - Simon Boccanegra (Original 1857 Version) German Enrique Alcantara, Eri Nakamura, William Thomas, Ivan Ayon-Rivas / The Halle, Opera North Chorus, Sir Mark Elder [ Opera Rara / 2 CD Box Set - released 21/Mar/2025 ] The original version of Simon Boccanegra, first performed in 1857, is a masterpiece of concision and spare vocal delivery, having many important differences from the later 1881 version, including one of Verdi's most innovative central finales. |
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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro [the Marriage of Figao] (complete opera recorded in 1994) Thomas Hampson, Anton Scharinger, Barbara Bonney, Charlotte Margiono / Royal Concertgebouw / Nikolaus Harnoncourt [ Warner The Teldec Opera Collection / 3 CD Box Set - released 21/Sep/2009 ] "A version that gets the best of both interpretative worlds, new and old." (Five Stars Penguin Stereo Guide) |
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JOHN DOWLAND
Dowland: The Art of Melancholy Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Thomas Dunford (lute) [ Hyperion / CD - released 15/Apr/2014 ] Of all English songwriters, John Dowland has enjoyed the most powerful afterlife, his voice unmistakably present in any version of his songs. The preeminent marriage of music and poetry, the nuanced shades of wit and melancholy and the extraordinary... |
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CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: Madrigals of Love and Loss James Gilchrist (tenor) Katherine Watson (soprano) & Anna Dennis (soprano) Thomas Walker (tenor) / Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen [ Hyperion / CD - released 10/Feb/2014 ] 'These are not easy pieces, but the opening ballet swings along with panache, and there is some excellent tenor solo singing in the first section … the two sopranos in the duet Ohimè, dov'è il mio ben show poise and taste' (BBC Music Magazine) |
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WAGNER
Tannhauser (complete opera) Rene Pape, Peter Seiffert, Thomas Hampson, Jane Eaglen / Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim [ Warner Classics The Home of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2016 ] Recording of the Month - Gramophone Magazine (May 2002) |
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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 |
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RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Lohengrin (Complete Opera recorded in 1964) Jess Thomas, Elisabeth Grummer, Christa Ludwig, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Wiener Philharmoniker, Rudolf Kempe [ Warner Classics Home of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/2016 ] "The playing of the orchestra is absolutely glorious throughout, the choral singing is very good and, often, very beautiful, the cast is excellent and the overall interpretation provides the required theatrical immediacy and tension" (Gramophone) |
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J. S. BACH
St Matthew Passion (complete oratorio) Johannes Chum (tenor) Hanno Muller-Brachmann (bass) Thomas Quasthoff (bass) / Gewandhausorchester / Riccardo Chailly [ Decca Music Group / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/Oct/2010 ] "Here's Bach's great Easter Passion straight from Bach's heartland, Leipzig, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, St Thomas's Boys Choir, and an ease of delivery that can come only when you breathe in the composer every day. Conducting, Chailly... |