STRAVINSKY
Le sacre du printemps / Symphony in Three Movements / Agon Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Vladimir Ashkenazy [ Decca 20th Century / CD - released 4/Jun/2012 ] "The engineering is consistently fine. Worth considering, then, even if most collectors will have alternatives, for The Rite at the very least." (Arkivmusic.com) |
VIVALDI
Viva! Simone Kermes sings Vivaldi Simone Kermes (soprano) / Venice Baroque Orchestra, Andrea Marcon [ Deutsche Grammophon Archiv / CD - released 22/Apr/2012 ] "Kermes's distinctive voice has an appealing smoothness and roundedness of tone…an intensely dramatic personality at work…super-precise coloratura…Kermes's technique is something to marvel at" (Opera Magazine) |
BEETHOVEN
Symphonies 6 & 8 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 14/Jul/2014 ] "flexible, warmly played, beautifully detailed." (Arkivmusic) |
BEETHOVEN
Fidelio (complete opera recorded in 1990) Jessye Norman, Reiner Goldberg, Kurt Moll, Pamela Cobur / Staatsopernchor Dresden & Staatskappelle Dresden, Bernard Haitink [ Decca Opera! / 2 CD - released 10/Mar/2011 ] "..the rugged strength characteristic of Haitink's Beethoven is consistently contrasted against the most refined, transparent textures, with the Staatskapelle Dresden playing beautifully." (Gramophone) |
BRAHMS
Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 [SOLD OUT!!!] Mstislav Rostropovich (cello) & Rudolf Serkin (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon Originals / CD - released 5/Sep/2014 ] "With playing of this calibre, with both artists wonderfully attuned to each other's responses, every nuance tells and Brahms's bold melodic lines soar out from the speakers to capture the listener's imagination, and provide an enthralling musical |
FRITZ KREISLER
Hommage to Fritz Kreisler - 22 favourite miniatures Alfred Campoli (violin) Eric Gritton (piano) and Norihko Wada (piano) [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 25/May/2005 ] "Campoli's performances are full of flair" (Penguin Guide) |
FREDE GROFE
Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite / Mississippi Suite (with Gershwin-Porgy and Bess Symphonic Picture) Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati / Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, Howard Hanson [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Nov/2007 ] "never more beautifully recorded … the performance is totally memorable and the sound quite superb" [Porgy and Bess] Penguin Guide to CDs |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: Petrushka (complete ballet) [with Bartok - Miraculous Mandarin] Wiener Philharmoniker [Vienna Philharmonic], Christoph von Dohnanyi [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Feb/2011 ] "Sonically this stands among Decca's best recordings from this source. A sensational reissue, and a bargain to boot." (ClassicsToday) |
VINCENZO BELLINI / GIOACHINO ROSSINI / GAETANO DONIZETTI
Cecilia Bartoli - An Italian Songbook Cecilia Bartoli (soprano) with James Levine (piano) [ Decca Originals / CD - released 15/Feb/2009 ] In 2007/08, Bartoli devoted her time to studying and recording the early 19th-century repertoire - the era of Italian Romanticism and bel canto - and especially the legendary singer Maria Malibran. |
DEBUSSY
La Mer / Nocturnes / Jeux / Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Charles Dutoit [ Decca 20th Century / CD - released 4/Jun/2012 ] " Dutoit is one of the world's foremost interpreters, and his approach to Debussy's orchestral works is lively and vibrant, as demonstrated in his effervescent readings of La mer, Jeux, and Nocturnes." (AllMusic.com) |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Der Rosenkavalier (Complete Opera) Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, Janet Perry & Kurt Moll / Wiener Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon Opera! / 3 CD - released 1/May/2012 ] "underrated. It has strong vocal performances...and it's gloriously played by the Vienna Philharmonic...this is a set well worth having alongside more fleet-footed versions." (International Record Review) |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake / Nutcracker / Sleeping Beauty (Ballet Suites) Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich. [ Deutsche Grammophon The Originals / CD - released 5/May/2001 ] 'Rostropovich's trypich of Tchaikovsky ballets is very special. The remastering, always outstanding. Now approaches demonstration standard. 69 minutes of sheer joy.' - Rosette (highest rating) Penguin Guide |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Impromptus [complete] Daniel Barenboim (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon Galleria / CD - released 14/Jul/2014 ] Barenboim has received many awards and prizes, including an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, France's Légion d'honneur both as a Commander and Grand Officier, the German Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz and Willy Brandt Award,... |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
Gilbert & sullivan: The Gondoliers (Complete with dialogue) D'Oyly Carte Opera Company with Gillian Knight; Thomas Round; John Reed / New Symphony Orchestra / Godfrey [ Decca Records / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2003 ] Isidore Godfrey's conducting is vividly alive and Decca provided a large and excellent orchestra. The solo singing throughout is consistently good. Thomas Round sings Take A Pair Of Sparkling Eyes very well indeed. *** Three Stars. Penguin Stereo Guide. |
JOHN CAGE
Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano John Tilbury (prepared piano) [ Decca 20th Century / CD - released 28/Aug/2014 ] Sonatas and Interludes, composed in 1946-48, is John Cage's most important work for prepared piano. John Cage described the work as an attempt to express in music the "permanent emotions" of Indian tradition: the heroic, the erotic, the wondrous,... |
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake / Rococo Variations / Symphony No. 6 'Pathetique' L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, with Maurice Gendron, cello [ Decca ABC Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/May/2009 ] The 2CD Tchaikovsky/Ansermet sets represent his complete Tchaikovsky recordings for Decca. Many will find fascinating his own sequencing of numbers from Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. Refined, yet passionate, many of the pieces on these... |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker [plus Sleeping Beauty: Aurora's Wedding] Orchestre symphonique de Montreal, Charles Dutoit [ Decca Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] A favourite ballet all round the year, but a perennial at Christmas-time, Tchaikovsky's evergreen Nutcracker has never perhaps received as luxurious a recorded performance as that of Charles Dutoit and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. |
VERDI
Requiem Mass / Quattro Pezzi Sacri [Four Sacred Pieces] Ruggero Raimondi, Cheryl Studer, Marjana Lipovsek, José Carreras / Wiener Philharmoniker [Vienna Philharmonic], Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon Duo / 2 CD - released 10/Apr/2012 ] "Recorded live at a concert in the large hall of the Musikverein in Vienna in November 1991, this performance of Verdi's dramatic Requiem is really commanding. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the chorus of the Vienna State Opera respond appropr |
BERIO
Sequenzas I-XIII Soloists of the Ensemble Intercontemporain [ Deutsche Grammophon Duo / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2012 ] |
PROKOFIEV
Piano Concertos Nos. 1 - 5 (Complete) Alexandre Toradze (piano) / Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 7/May/2012 ] "There are few more arresting and powerful accounts in the catalog, and Toradze plays with a forcefulness and authority that's suggestive of Martha Argerich." ClassicsToday |