GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Roberto Alagna - Verdi Arias Roberto Alagna (tenor) / The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ EMI Music / CD - released 1/Dec/1998 ] "In answer to all those nay-sayers concerning Alagna's talents, the tenor here shows, in the most demanding programme imaginable, that there is little if anything wrong with his technique and a great deal right with his sense of Verdian style" Gramop |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Motets RIAS-Kammerchor & Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs [ Harmonia Mundi Musique d'abord / CD - released 21/Jul/2017 ] BBC Radio 3: Building a Library Highly Recommended - June 2005 |
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / DVORAK / WAGNER / etc
Icon: Rudolf Kempe: The Genius of the Podium Rudolf Kempe conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, etc [ Warner Classics Icon / 11 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/2011 ] The German conductor Rudolf Kempe (1910-1976) began his musical career playing the oboe in various symphony orchestras. The programme begins with recordings of four Beethoven Symphonies that Kempe made with the Munich Philharmonic in 1971-72. |
WAGNER
Der fliegende Holländer Rundfunkchor Berlin & Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Marek Janowski [ Pentatone / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 19/Sep/2011 ] Here is charm, wit and even kitsch alongside the spooky but never overdone drama. The recording is also first-rate in warmth, immediacy and clarity. |
EMIL NIKOLAUS von REZNICEK
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Reznicek: Ritter Blaubart [Knight Bluebeard] (complete opera recorded in 2002) David Pittman-Jennings, Arutjun Kotchinian, Robert Wörle, Celina Lindsley / Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Michail Jurowski [ CPO / 2 CD - released 2/Jun/2003 ] "..the musical result is impressive, and the performance here under Michail Jurowski utterly convincing. All the soloists are more than equal to the task, some of it as demanding as anything Wagner ever made of his singers." MusicWeb |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Brahms: Symphony No. 4 / Haydn-Variations / Nanie Rundfunkchor Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 1/Nov/2008 ] ".Haydn Variations is more searching, more illuminating than any other modern version I know. Each variation is richly characterized-the fifth, for example, is delivered in a tough, insistent fashion, while the sixth has a graceful, wistful quality." |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Symphony No 1 / Gesang der Parzen Rundfunkchor Berlin / Berliner Philharmoniker / Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 10/Oct/2006 ] "After a spacious introduction, Abbado launches into a warm, dramatic reading, rhythmically well sprung and finely shaded, with the full power of the great climaxes broughtout in the finale, from the rapt pianissimo of the opening onwards." |
BEDRICH SMETANA
Smetana: Festive Symphony / The Bartered Bride & Overture and Dances Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Darrell Ang [ Naxos / CD - released 15/May/2018 ] Bedrich Smetana's 'Festive Symphony' was composed in 1854 when hopes for Emperor Franz Joseph becoming King of Bohemia were high. The splendid sounds of Smetana's only formal symphony pre-echo later masterpieces such as 'Ma Vlast,' but his use of the... |
WAGNER
Das Rheingold (complete opera) Tomasz Konieczny, Christian Elsner, Iris Vermillion, Günther Groissböck, Timo Riihonen / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester & Rundfunkchor Berlin, Marek Janow [ Pentatone SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 10/May/2014 ] "The best reason for getting this set is the Loge of Christian Elsner...Elsner does not miss a trick in catching all the elements of this complex character, but he never sings less than beautifully." (BBC Music) |
FELIX WEINGARTNER
Weingartner: Die Dorfschule, Op. 64 (complete opera recorded in 2012) Simon Pauly, Clemens Bieber, Fionnuala McCarthy, Jana Kurucova, Kathryn Lewek, Stephen Bronk / Das Orchester der Deutschen, Oper Berlin, Jacques Lacom [ CPO / CD - released 20/Nov/2018 ] Following the publication of Carl Orff's Gisei, cpo now release its sister work: Felix Weingartner's one-act Die Dorfschule (The Village School) a work also based on the plot of Terakoya. Weingartner's masterfully crafted realization of the ancient... |
SMETANA / RAVEL / DVORAK / TCHAIKOVSKY / STRAVINSKY / etc
Discover Symphonic Music Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Gewandhaus-Orchester Leipzig, Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, etc [ Berlin Classics / CD - released 9/Jun/2017 ] This Discover album is full of melodies that everyone is aware of subconsciously and everyone is sure to know. Melodies that are fundamental, that have influenced every hookline in rock. ... |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Nabucco (complete opera with libretto) Piero Cappuccilli, Placido Domingo, Evgeny Nesterenko / Berlin Opera Chorus & Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD Box Set - released 1/Jan/2013 ] Giuseppe Sinopoli remains, twenty years after his death an enigmatic figure. Recognised for his keen ear for orchestral colour, his powerful intellect and emotional engagement, his performances and recordings offer luminous textures and deep insight... |
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI
Septem verba a Christo (in cruce moriente prolata) Sophie Karthäuser, Christophe Dumaux, Julien Behr, Konstantin Wolff / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Rene Jacobs [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 10/Feb/2013 ] "this hybrid cycle of seven early-18th-century cantatas based on the Seven Last Words is deeply impressive...The mood ranges wide, from fiery, coloratura-laden anger to a touching lyricism." Sunday Times |
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Bach: Dialogue Cantatas for soprano & bass Sophie Karthäuser (soprano), Michael Volle (bass), Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin & RIAS Kammerchor [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 25/May/2018 ] "The Akademie orchestra and the RIAS Kammerchor round off a fine well-balanced recording. Highly recommended." Nicholas Butler/Marbecks |
TCHAIKOVSKY
The Nutcracker (complete ballet recorded in 2014) Staatsballett Berlin / Iana Salenko, Marian Walter, Michael Banzhaf / Robert Reimer (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 1/Jan/2012 ] At long last, the State Ballet Berlin has The Nutcracker back in repertoire, one of the most popular ballets ever. Vasily Medvedev and Yuri Burlaka, two choreographers and connoisseurs of the tradition, have developed a version based on the original. |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms The Symphonies Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim [ Deutsche Grammophon / 4 CD Box Set - released 1/Dec/2018 ] ""The blend of clarity, intimacy and power the engineers have been able to achieve here fits the lustre and glow of these Staatskapelle performances like a glove" Editor's Choice Gramophone |
ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E major Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim [ Accentus Music DVD / DVD - released 10/Apr/2016 ] BBC Music Magazine August 2014 - Orchestral Choice |
ANTONIN DVOARK
Dvořák: Complete Symphonies Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner [ Brilliant Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 4/Oct/2019 ] In this complete edition of the Dvorák Symphonies, Otmar Suitner unites in an exemplary way the various characteristics of his conducting - formal awareness, idiomatic familiarity and an always onward-pressing, unsentimental temperament. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K492 (Complete opera recorded in 2015) BLU-RAY Staatsoper Berlin / Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Dorothea Röschmann, Anna Prohaska / Gustavo Dudamel (cond) [ Accentus Music Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Nov/2018 ] "Nothing is harder to put on stage than lightness. And humor is the sharpest weapon of the desperate. That is why it is an obligation, indeed a must, to enjoy this Figaro by Jürgen Flimm at the Staatsoper to the fullest." (ARD Radio) This production... |
CARL ORFF
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Orff: Carmina Burana Sylvia Greenberg, James Bowman, Stephen Roberts / RSO Berlin und Chor, Riccardo Chailly [ Decca / CD - released 2/Feb/1984 ] "...in recognition of the stunning range and brilliance of the Decca recording as presented on CD with bass drum at the very start shatteringly real-sounding in its specific focus." Gramophone |