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ESSENTAIL BALLROOM CLASSICS
Essential Ballroom Classics [2 CD set] Manuel amd his orchestra, Gran Orquesta de Profesores Solistas, London Sinfonietta, The John Wilson Orchestra, Wiener Johann Strauss Orchestra, etc [ EMI Essential / 2 CD - released 1/Dec/2012 ] Over two hours of captivating dance music |
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JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Hungarian Dances For Violin And Piano (with works by Joachim) Marat Bisengaliev (Violin) John Lenehan (Piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 21/Oct/2007 ] "These are enlivening, not to say intoxicating performances of familiar music in a new and yet brilliantly effective guise." - Hi Fi News - October 1996 |
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John Scofield, with Steve Swallow & Bill Stewart
Swallow Tales [ ECM Records / CD - released 15/May/2020 ] Guitarist John Scofield celebrates the music of his friend and mentor Steve Swallow in an outgoing and spirited recording. John was a 20-year-old student at Berklee when he first met and played with the bassist, and they have continued ever since. |
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FRANCESCO PAOLO TOSTI
Tosti: The song of a life, Complete Vocal Chamber Music, Vol 4; Maria Bagalà (soprano), Glenn Morton (piano), John Viscardi (baritone), Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi (soprano), Isabella Crisante (piano), etc [ Brilliant Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 14/Feb/2020 ] "this is a great tribute to the legacy of the greatest composer of Italian songs...it is an invaluable treat to have them collected - I doubt there will ever be a similar project again - and at Brilliant Classics's give-away price." MusicWeb |
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DONIZETTI
Anna Bolena (complete opera recorded live in 1957) Maria Callas, Giulietta Simionato, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni / Ambrosian Singers & London Symphony Orchestra, John McGlinn [ EMI Classics / 2 CD - released 20/Feb/2012 ] Live Recording - La Scala, 1957 |
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FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 'Scottish' / Hebrides Overture, Op. 26 (with Schumann - Piano Concerto) Maria João Pires (piano) / London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ LSO Live SACD + BLU-RAY / 2 Hybrid SACD/DVD - released 10/Nov/2014 ] "a reading formed by life experience…Pires is supported by conductor and orchestra magnificently...I've never heard so much of the orchestral colour and detail in any other Schumann recording … My anticipation that this might be a special recording h |
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HARRISON BIRTWISTLE
Gawain (complete opera) Marie Angel / Anne Howells / Richard Greager / John Tomlinson [ NMC / 2 CD - released 5/Sep/2014 ] Birtwistle's fascination with myth and ritual has influenced many of his works and this opera, its libretto by David Harsent, is based on the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, with a plot featuring castles, eerie nocturnal... |
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FRANCIS POULENC
Poulenc: Piano Concerto & Concert champêtre Mark Bebbington (piano), Jan Latham-Koenig, John Roberts (oboe), Jonathan Davies (bassoon) / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [ Resonus / CD - released 6/Mar/2020 ] GRAMOPHONE Award Nomination 2021 - Concerto |
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J.S. BACH
St John Passion [complete oratorio] Mark Padmore, Peter Harvey, Joanne Lunn / English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner [ Soli Deo Gloria / 2 CD - released 20/Apr/2011 ] "A splendid new account of the St. John Passion, which all devotees of Bach's vocal music should try to hear." (Recording of the Month MusicWeb May 2011) |
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PETERIS VASKS
Symphony No 3 / Cello Concerto Marko Ylanen (cello) / Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra / John Storga¥rds (conductor) [ Ondine SACD / SACD - released 28/Nov/2006 ] "Recording quality captures the wide and deep dynamics easily.Possibly one of the best discs of the year and certainly on the shortlist...Worth the wait" (SA-CD.Net) |
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TONY BANKS
Banks: 18 Pieces for Orchestra Martin Robertson, Charlie Siem, Tony Banks, Frank Ricotti, John Barclay, Skaila Kanga [ Naxos / 3 CD Box Set - released 13/Sep/2024 ] Famous for his role as the keyboard player in rock band Genesis and as a solo artist, Tony Banks was always fascinated by the idea of writing orchestral music. |
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WAGNER
Tristan und Isolde (Complete opera) Martina Dike, mezzo-soprano / John Erik Eleby, bass / Hedwig Fassbender, mezzo-soprano / Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra / Leif Segerstam [ Naxos Historical Opera / 3 CD - released 26/Aug/2005 ] "If you were judging this recording only on the soloists (the excellent German soprano Hedwig Fassbender and the lackluster Wolfgang Millgram) it wouldn't be in the running but what lifts it above average is the wonderful playing of the Swedish Opera... |
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JACQUES OFFENBACH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Offenbach: Orpheus In The Underworld (operetta in English) Mary Hegarty, David Fieldsend, Jill Pert, Richard Suart, Rosemarie Arthars, D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, John Owen Edwards [ Sony music / 2 CD Box Set - released 20/Jan/1994 ] ".. the whole production has a real lived-in feel and, in Mary Hegarty's flighty Eurydice, a nymphet - sorry, nymph - virtually to die for. " BBC Music |
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HOWELLS / HUBERT PARRY / EDISON / GOSS
Psalms For The Spirit Matthew Larkin (Organ) / St John's Choir Elora / Noel Edison (Director) [ Naxos / CD - released 4/Dec/2006 ] Psalms have always played a central part in Christian, as in Jewish worship. With the shift of emphasis in worship in England after the Protestant Reformation, Psalms, in one form or another, metrical or unmetrical, assumed even greater importance. |
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MAX RICHTER
Richter: Three Worlds: Music From Woolf Works (2 LP) Max Richter, Louisa Fuller, Natalia Bonner, John Metcalfe, Ian Burdge, Chris Worsey [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 LP - released 2/Mar/2018 ] Max Richter explores time and memory in his latest Deutsche Grammophon album, Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works Virginia Woolf's sharp eye for the detail of life guided her work as a writer, its presence felt in everything from pioneering... |
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John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Blues for the Lost Days (Green Coloured LP) [ Music On Vinyl / LP - released 5/Aug/2022 ] John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers are an English blues rock band led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall. While never producing a hit of their own, the band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues... |
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John Mayall
A Special Life [ Forty Below / CD - released 13/Jun/2014 ] As 2013 came to a close and with his 80th birthday mere weeks away, the godfather of British blues quieetly entered a North Hollywood studio with his band, special guest CJ Chenier and co-producer / engineer Eric Corne. He walked out with one of the... |
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JOHN McCORMACK
18 Favourites Vol.1 John Mccormack (tenor) with various accompaniments [ Naxos Nostalgia / CD - released 30/Nov/2007 ] 18 Favourites by the Irish master tenor |
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J.S. BACH
Cantatas Vol 20: BWV18, BWV84, BWV92 & BWV126; BWV144, BWV181 Miah Persson / Wilke te Brummelstroete / James Gilchrist / Gillian Keith / Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner [ Soli Deo Gloria / 2 CD - released 10/May/2009 ] "The standards of performance and presentation are as high in this latest instalment of Gardiner's cantata cycle as they have been in previous issues. The series continues its impressive progress." (MusicWeb April 2009) |
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ATKINS, I / COOPER, G / CROTCH / CUTLER, E / ECCARD / HALLEY / HANFORTH / HARVEY, J / MACMILLAN / PAULUS / POULENC / ROSE, B / STAINER / STANFORD
Psalms and Motets for Reflection Michael Bloss (organ), Choir of St John’s, Elora, Noel Edison [ Naxos / CD - released 25/Mar/2013 ] This release, builds not only on centuries of ecclesiastical tradition: superb recordings under the directorship of Noel Edison have also become something of a fixture and highlight of our choral catalogue. This beautifully balanced new programme... |