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JOACHIM RAFF
Orchestral Works Volume 2 (incls Symphony No 5) Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Neeme Järvi [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Mar/2014 ] "Järvi's performance is an absolutely splendid one - both markedly more propulsive and, to my ears, more excitingly cogent than any other I have encountered, yet with no loss in terms of technical sophistication or affectionate glow...Collectors with |
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EDVARD GRIEG / ROBERT SCHUMANN
Grieg/Schumann: Piano Concerto Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (piano) / Milan La Scala Orchestra, Alceo Galliera, Antonio Pedrotti [ Naxos Historical / CD - released 1/Oct/2012 ] Michelangeli was a peerless aristocrat of the piano. He had made his recording début for HMV in Milan in 1939, and in 1942 went into studios in the same city to record two major concertos for German Telefunken. Schumann's Piano Concerto is played... |
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J. S. BACH
Bach: Ich habe viel Bekammernis Cantatas BWV21 & BWV42 Barbara Schlick (sop) Garard Lesne (counter-tenor) Howard Crook (tenor) Peter Kooy (bass) La Chapelle Royale / Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 27/Mar/2020 ] Superbly constructed, the cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis is incontestably one of Bach's finest works. The masterly arrangements of the material endows it with an emotional cohesion and a dramatic intensity worthy of the Passions and the Mass in B... |
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MASCAGNI
Cavalleria Rusticana (complete opera recorded in 1940, conducted by the composer) + opera overtures Beniamino Gigli / Lina Bruna-Rasa / Gino Bechi / Giulietta Simionato / La Scala Orchestra and Chorus / Pietro Mascagni [ Naxos Historical Great Opera Recordings / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] The fiftieth anniversary of the first staging of Cavalleria rusticana was the occasion of particular celebration, represented by the present recording under the composer’s direction. |
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PURCELL / FINGER / BLOW / CROFT / DRAGHI
London (Circa 1700): Purcell & his Generation Benjamin Perrot and Florence Bolton, La Rêveuse [ Mirare / CD - released 1/Feb/2019 ] At the end of the Seventeenth Century, London became a city full of promise, the stuff that dreams were made of: theatres and concerts were packed every night and the music publishing market was flourishing. This great European capital at the... |
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ANTONIO FARINA
Farina: Venere e Marte - Seventeenth-Century Neapolitan Dialogues Valeria La Grotta (soprano), Mauro Borgioni (baritone), I Musici del Gran Principe, Samuele Lastrucci (director) [ Glaux Records / CD - released 13/Mar/2026 ] At the close of the seventeenth century, Farina, Minei, and Netti created some of the most popular pieces of their day. Their dialogues for soprano and bass offer a colorful palette of emotions. This recording presents the first modern performance of... |
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IGOR STRAVINSKY
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms / Symphony in C / Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments Boris Berman (piano) / Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Neeme Jarvi, Choeur de Chambre Romand, Choeur pro Arte de Lausanne [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 30/Jun/1993 ] "(This recording) contains some superb performances by an orchestra with a long Stravinsky tradition, and Järvi's dedication to this composer has produced some of his finest efforts." ClassicsToday |
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MUSSORGSKY
Boris Godunov (Complete Opera - 1952 recording) Boris Christoff, Eugenia Zareska, Ludmilla Lebedeva / Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise / Issay Dobrowen [ Brilliant Classics Opera Collection / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Apr/2009 ] '..the digital transfers bring out the excellence of the original engineering. So this version really is essential listening for admirers of the work.' Gramophone |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem op.45 [A German Requiem] Christiane Oelze / Gerald Finley / La Chapelle Royale / Collegium Vocale Gent / Orchestre des Champs-AlysACes / Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 25/Mar/2008 ] 'Herreweghe's innate sense of Brahms's musical lines is evident everywhere as he sculpts this works. Herreweghe's combined choirs respond magnificently to his direction.' - Stereophile |
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CLEMENTI
Clementi: Piano Concerto in C major Bruno Canino (piano) / Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Francesco La Vecchia [ Naxos / CD - released 28/Jul/2014 ] These four works are among the few surviving examples of Muzio Clementi's early orchestral music. The two Symphonies, Op. 18 follow Classical models but are full of the surprise modulations and dynamic contrasts to be found in his piano sonatas. The... |
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RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO
Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci (Complete opera recorded in 1954) Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Rolando Panerai / Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala Milan, Tullio Serafin [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Remastered / CD - released 10/Nov/2014 ] While Pagliacci's regular companion piece, Cavalleria rusticana, figured prominently in Callas's early career, Leoncavallo's one-acter had no place in her stage repertoire. But as Gramophone wrote of this recording: 'When Callas [as Nedda] and Gobbi... |
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VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: Norma (complete opera recorded in 1960) Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, Franco Corelli, Nicola Zaccaria / Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala Milan, Tullio Serafin [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Remastered / 3 CD - released 18/Nov/2014 ] Callas first sang Bellini's Norma in 1948, when she was just 25. She went on to perform the role of the heroic, but vulnerable Druid priestess - the ultimate embodiment of bel canto - more frequently than any other. In this second studio recording... |
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GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Il Turco In Italia (complete opera recorded in 1954) Maria Callas, Nicola Rossi-Lemen, Nicolai Gedda / Milan La Scala Orchestra; Philharmonia Orchestra [ Naxos Historical / 2 CD - released 2/Jan/2006 ] Callas's Fiorilla is the tenth complete opera recording she made, the only one for EMI [Columbia/Angel] that she undertook of a then unknown work, and which she would later sing at La Scala, Milan. |
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Camaron De La Isla
Legends of Flamenco [ Arc / CD - released 1/Aug/2013 ] |
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BACH / MONTEVERDI / GESUALDO / VICTORIA / GABRIELI / etc
The Sacred Flame: European Sacred Music of the Renaissance and Baroque Eras The Cambridge Singers / La Nuova Musica / John Rutter [ Collegium / CD - released 1/May/2009 ] "A new recording by John Rutter and his Cambridge Singers is always welcome...You'll be happy with the performances, which throughout this recording are at the high level we always expect from this choir and director." (10/10 ClassicsToday.com) |
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TELEMANN
Wind Concertos Volume 1 Camerata Köln & La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider [ CPO / CD - released 20/Apr/2011 ] The Camerata Köln and La Stagione Frankfurt under Michael Schneider interpret these works with freshness, verve, and depth. |
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FRANCISCO SOTO DE LANGA
Soto De Langa: 20 Laude Spirituali Capilla Musical de la Iglesia Nacional Espanola de Roma|Alessandro Quarta [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 15/Jul/2022 ] Born in the context of the popular devotion of the peoples of the Mediterranean during the late Middle Ages, the spiritual lauda became well established in the central part of Italy, where a strong oral tradition is still preserved today. They were... |
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J.S. BACH
Cantatas Vol 2: Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir BWV 29 & 6 others Carolyn Sampson (sop) Charles Brett (alto) Mark Padmore (ten) Peter Kooy (b) / La Chapelle Royale / Collegium Vocale Gent / Philippe Herreweghe (dir) [ Harmonia Mundi Herreweghe Bach Edition / 3 CD - released 1/Apr/2010 ] "The soloists are outstanding, with Carolyn Sampson and Mark Padmore in especially communicative form… Outstanding work; Herreweghe's occasional oratorios are beginning to achieve some kind of critical mass, a very fine series of Bach recordings... |
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Paul Moravec
Paul Moravec: Useful Knowledge Cecilia Brauer (glass harmonica), Randall Scarlata, Amy Burton, Simon Mulligan (piano), La Fenice & Trio Solisti [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Feb/2012 ] Moravec's tribute to Benjamin Franklin, Useful Knowledge, is a soliloquy-come-fantasy that celebrates Franklin's pioneering rationality with music of dextrous imagination. |
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RAMEAU
Les Grands Motets La Chapelle Royale / Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi Musique d'abord / CD - released 1/Aug/2001 ] Music from the age of Enlightenment |