The National
Alligator (LP) [ Beggars Banquet / LP - released 26/Sep/2011 ] The National may sound like a garage band turned down, but there's as much primal energy lurking behind Alligator as in any mop-topped group of city kids with bloodstained Danelectros in a dusty warehouse. Whil |
RAVEL / DEBUSSY / FAURE
Anne Queffelec [3 CD set] Anne Queffelec (piano) with Pierre Amoyal (violin) / Orchestre National de Monte-Carlo [ Erato / Warner Classics / 3 CD - released 20/Aug/2014 ] A collection of Anne Queffélec's Erato recordings of French repertoire which in which she expresses great musicality, allowing us to rediscover her fine recordings of Ravel's Miroirs, Debussy's Etudes and Fauré's Violin Sonatas (with Pierre Amoyal),... |
EARL KIM
Kim: Violin Concerto / Dialogues / Cornet Cecylia Arzewski (violin) / Ireland RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Scott Yoo [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 15/Aug/2019 ] Earl Kim was born in 1920 in Dinuba, California and studied with Arnold Schoenberg, Ernst Bloch, and Roger Sessions. He was a professor at Princeton from 1952 to 1967 and at Harvard from then until 1998, and was the recipient of numerous awards and... |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 / Pieces for solo piano Bertrand Chamayou (piano) / Orchestre National de France, Emmanuel Krivine [ Erato / CD - released 1/Dec/2018 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2019 - Recording of the Year |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 / Variations on a theme of Corelli Boris Giltburg (piano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Carlos Miguel Prieto [ Naxos / CD - released 15/May/2018 ] Rachmaninov's 'Piano Concerto No. 3' is a complex, epic narrative that moves from a simple opening melody to the triumphant apotheosis at its conclusion. The composer ingeniously links motifs, melodies and at times whole sections between the... |
GUSTAV HOLST / RICHARD STRAUSS
Holst: Planets / R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra CBSO Youth Chorus & National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Edward Gardner [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 30/Jan/2017 ] For its very first album on Chandos, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain devotes its characteristic energy and musical mastery to an explosive programme that transcends daily life and earthly experience. It is helped by the enthusiastic,... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Idomeneo (complete opera) Christian Elsner / Kristina Hammarström / Henriette Bonde-Hansen / Raffaella Milanesi / Danish National Choir / Danish Radio Sinfonietta Adam Fischer [ DACAPO SACD / 4 Hybrid SACD - released 6/Dec/2010 ] fleet-footed orchestral playing and strong, characterful soloists...Elsner captures the conflict raging within the Lear-like Idomeneo and demonstrates some fiendish coloratura...Fischer understands this opera deeply and presents it as a convincing... |
GUSTAV HOLST
Holst: The Planets, Op.32 / The Mystic Trumpeter (with Matthews - Pluto: The Renewer) Claire Rutter (soprano) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra, David Lloyd-Jones [ Naxos / CD - released 5/Jun/2002 ] "an expansive, richly recorded performance" (Sunday Telegraph) |
Cook Islands National Arts Theatre
Drums Songs & Chants Of The Cook Islands [ Ode Records / CD ] |
PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky - None But The Lonely Heart [Incls Violin Concerto] Daniel Lozakovich (violin) / National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Vladimir Spivakov [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 29/Nov/2019 ] "the entire album is hugely enjoyable and offers ample proof that the violinist, still in his teens, is no mere flash in the pan." Gramophone Editor's Choice March 2020 |
LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA
Dallapiccola: Il Prigioniero Anna Maria Chiuri, Michael Nagy, Stephan Rugamer, Adam Riis / Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Jul/2020 ] "The cast, meanwhile, combine lyricism with declamation… It's an outstanding, essential album, every second of it." Gramophone Recording of the Month August 2020 |
DAVID OISTRAKH
David Oistrakh - The Great Recordings (incls concertos & sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Tartini, etc) David Oistrakh (violin) / Philharmonia Orchestra / Cleveland Orchestra / Orchestre National de la Radioffusion Francaise / Berliner Philharmoniker [ Warner Budget Boxes / 17 CD Box Set - released 20/Sep/2008 ] Warner Classics are proud to be able to present this 17-CD set of some of the finest recordings by David Oistrakh, one of the truly great violin virtuosi of the past 100 years. |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: Pelleas et Melisande (complete opera) Mireille Delunsch, Gerard Theruel, Armand Arapian, Gabriel Bacquier / Lille National Orchestra & Nord-Pas-de-Calais Chorus, Jean-Claude Casadesus [ Naxos / 3 CD Box Set - released 26/Jul/1999 ] "An outstanding bargain" Penguin Guide |
GIACOMO MEYERBEER
Meyerbeer: Grand Opera (Deluxe Packaging) Diana Damrau (soprano) / Orchestre et Choeur de l'Opéra National de Lyon, Emmanuel Villaume [ Erato Warner Classics / CD - released 6/May/2017 ] "The surprise of this disc is how much more than "grand opera" Meyerbeer actually has to offer...[Damrau] is adept at portraying a variety of characters and the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Lyon under Emmanuel Villaume offers stylish support." |
SHOSTAKOVICH
An introduction to Shostakovich (Incls 'Piano Concerto No 2' & 'Symphony No 5') Dmitri Shostakovich Jnr (piano) / I Musici de Montreal / Scottish National Orchestra / Neeme Jarvi / Maxim Shostakovich [ Chandos Intro / CD - released 1/Aug/2006 ] 'Neeme Järvi's understanding of the bleak world inhabited by Shostakovich's symphonies continues to impress. Chandos's sound is superb as always.' American Recird Guide |
MODEST MUSSORGSKY
Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina (complete opera recorded in 1969) Drago Starc, Dušan Popović, Miroslav Čangalović, Melanija Bugarinović / Belgrade National Opera Chorus, Kreshimir Baranovich [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Aug/2018 ] A first release on CD for the first recording in stereo (and entirely complete) of Mussorgsky's tragic chronicle of faith, rebellion and repression in 17th-century Russia. |
ARVO PART
Part: In Principio Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Tallinn Chamber Orchestra / Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tonu Kaljuste [ ECM Records / CD - released 1/Jun/2009 ] "This is a superbly constructed recital of some of the most recent music of Estonian composer Arvo Part." (Five Stars AudAud.com) |
From the National Gallery, London
Exhibition on Screen: Vermeer and music - the Art of Love and Leisure [ Seventh Art Productions DVD / DVD - released 10/Feb/2015 ] Johannes Vermeer is a fascinating painter whose life and works are explored here in amazing detail. Filmed in London's National Gallery, New York's Met and other galleries in the USA and the Netherlands, this stunning film delves into a breath-taking... |
GILBERT AND SULLIVAN
G & S: The Pirates of Penzance (complete operetta) John Mark Ainsley, Rebecca Evans, Donald Adams, Richard Suart / Richard Suart / Orchestra & Chorus of Welsh National Opera, Charles Mackerras [ Telarc Records / CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] "Sir Charles Mackerras directs a riveting performance with an exceptional cast. The numbers race along without any dragging tempos - witness the Pirate Kings song and 'How beautifully blue the sky'." Mel@Marbecks |
KARL JENKINS
Jenkins: The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace National Youth Choir of Great Britain, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Jenkins [ Decca / CD - released 25/May/2019 ] The result of a special millennial commission from the Royal Armouries and the latest in a six century old tradition of "Armed Man" masses that take the fifteenth century French song "L'Homme Armé" as their starting point. |