ANTONIO VIVALDI
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons / Flute Concertos Jean-Pierre Rampal (flute) / Members of the Orchestre National de France, I Soloisti Veneti, Lorin Maazel (violin/director), Claudio Scimone [ Sony Classical Masters / CD - released 4/Apr/2011 ] Vivaldi's most popular work is accompanied by three Flute Concertos performed by Jean-Pierre Rampal. |
JOSEPH CANTELOUBE
Chants d'Auvergne (Selection) Veronique Gens (soprano) / Lille National Orchestra, Jean-Claude Casadesus, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 2/Apr/2005 ] "This recording is so distinctive that I've little doubt it will be the definitive Chants d'Auvergne for many years to come. Gens raises Naxos's artistic image by her brilliance, and this recording will sell, and sell, and sell ......" - Anne Ozorio |
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (Complete Opera recorded in 1958 & 1959) Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda, Janine Micheau / French National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham [ Warner Classics The Home Of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2019 ] "This classic Beecham set was originally welcomed in Gramophone with a glowing review from Philip Hope Wallace: 'I send up a loud "Ole".' It certainly stands the test of time, sparkling, swaggering and seducing in a way that is uniquely Beecham's. |
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (Complete Opera recorded in 1958 & 1959) Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda, Janine Micheau / French National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham [ Warner Classics Legendary Opera Recordings / 3 CD Box Set - released 23/Sep/2016 ] "a spacious recording in which the atmospheric off-stage effects are vividly caught. What is so individual is the way that Beecham points rhythms to captivate the ear, as well as his persuasive moulding of phrases." (Gramophone) |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Victoria De Los Angeles - On Wings Of Song Victoria De Los Angeles (Soprano) / Sinfonia of London, Spanish National Orchestra, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos [ EMI Studio / CD - released 2/Feb/1988 ] Recordings from 1962, 1964 & 1965 mostly at the Abbey Road Studios, London |
SAINT-SAENS
Symphony No. 3 'Organ' / Danse macabre, Op. 40 / etc Vincent Warnier (organ) / Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Jan/2015 ] To celebrate the inauguration of the newly restored former organ of the Palais du Trocadéro and Palais de Chaillot in Paris, the Orchestre National de Lyon and their organist-in-residence, Vincent Warnier, present two major works for organ and... |
HAVERGAL BRIAN
Brian: Symphony No. 1, The Gothic Vladimir Dolezal (tenor) / Eva Jenisova (soprano) / Peter Mikulas (bass) / Dagmar Peckova (alto) / Slovak National Opera / Lenard [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 12/Jun/2004 ] "Now it's reissued at bargain price, no one who claims the slightest interest in 20th-century British music has any further excuse to be without this thrilling, astonishing work." Calum MacDonald, BBC Music Magazine, 08/04 |
ERNEST CHAUSSON
Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer & Symphonie, Op. 20 Véronique Gens; Orchestre National de Lille; Alexandre Bloch [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Mar/2019 ] Ernest Chausson is a most unusual figure in French music, positioned at the crossroads where the romanticism of Berlioz and Franck meet the language of Wagner and the symbolism of the young Debussy. His Poème de l'amour et de la mer is a unique score... |
WE'LL KEEP A WELCOME
We'll Keep A Welcome-The Welsh Album Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone) / Welsh National Opera / Gareth Jones [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 29/Jun/2000 ] With The Orchestra of Welsh National Opera / Gareth Jones |
JOHN ALDEN CARPENTER
Carpenter: Adventures in A Perambulator / Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, John McLaughlin Williams, conductor [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 14/May/2001 ] You have to hand it to Naxos. Here--on one very-nicely-performed program (played with gusto, polish, and complete sympathy by those specialists in American repertoire, the Ukraine National Symphony!!) and recorded in clean, bright, engaging sound." |
WILLIAM PERRY
Jamestown Concerto for cello and orchestra (with works by Schuman & Thomson) Yehuda Hanani (cello) / RTE National Symphony Orchestra / William Eddins (conductor) [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 1/Dec/2008 ] "William Perry's Jamestown Concerto was written in 2007 for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, VA, in 1607. It is programmatic, very tuneful, and adroitly scored, sounding more than a little bit like movie music...the recorded sound... |
The National
Cherry Tree EP [ 4AD / CD - released 26/Feb/2021 ] 2021 re-mastered repress. Released a year before The National broke through with their third album Alligator, 2004's Cherry Tree EP is a thrilling record which - thanks to its collection of delicate ballads and anthemic crowd-pleasers - sums up what... |
The National
Live In Brussels [ 4AD / CD - released 13/Jul/2018 ] To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their acclaimed album Boxer, The National chose to perform the record from beginning to end at a very special show in Brussels, Belgium on 9 November 2017. The National have established themselves as... |
PUCCINI / GOUNOD / MASSENET / MASCAGNI / VERDI / BERLIOZ
Nessun Dorma Pene Pati (tenor) / Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Emmanuel Villaume [ Warner Classics / CD - released 20/Sep/2024 ] Taking its title, Nessun Dorma, from the greatest tenor hit of them all, Pene Pati's second album balances favourite numbers with operatic rarities - one of them in world premiere recording. In addition to Puccini, the Italian composers are Verdi,... |
Tal National
Zoy Zoy [ Fat Cat Records / CD - released 1/May/2015 ] By the time Tal National reached international acclaim with 2013's 'Kaani', the band's first release outside of Niger, they had spent more than a decade crisscrossing their native country, usually on dirt pathways through the Sahara, playing epic... |
ERIK SATIE
Best of Satie Aldo Ciccolini, Anne Queffelec (piano) / Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House [ Warner Classics Inspiration Series / CD - released 20/Jun/2015 ] Meditative piano sounds and glitter of Parisian cabaret. Satie was one of the most interesting figures of early 20th century Paris moving in the same artistic circles as Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Man Ray. He was known for his droll sense of... |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Cantatas Aleksei Tanovitski (bass) & Kostiantin Andrejev (tenor) / Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Narva Boys Choir & Estonian Concert Choir, Paavo Järvi [ Erato / Warner Classics / CD - released 20/Jun/2015 ] "Järvi's Estonians perform with fervour and the Razin makes the issue worthwhile." (Sunday Times) |
CHRISTINE / YVAIN / SIMONS / HAHN / MORETTI / MESSAGER
Croisette - Operettas des Annes Folles Amel Brahim-Djelloul, Patricia Petibon, Marion Tassou, Pauline Sabatier, Rémy Mathieu, Laurent Naouri, + / Orchestre National de Cannes, Benjamin Levy [ Erato / CD - released 23/Sep/2022 ] Taking its name from la Croisette, the beachside boulevard in glamorous Cannes on the Côte d'Azur, this album evokes the fun-loving 1920s. It takes a trip around opérettes, French musical comedies of the era, composed by Maurice Yvain, Henri... |
SHOSTAKOVICH
Symphonies Nos 13 Babi Yar; 14 & 15 Anatoli Kotscherga / Ljuba Kazarnovskaya / Sergei Leiferkus / National Male Choir of Estonia; Gateborgs Symfoniker / Neeme Jarvi [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD - released 4/Aug/2003 ] "This is the most entertaining modern recording of what is usually counted a forbidding work." (Gramophone on Symphony No 13) |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY/ MAURICE RAVEL / GABRIEL FAURE
Anne Queffelec [3 CD set] Anne Queffelec (piano) with Pierre Amoyal (violin) / Orchestre National de Monte-Carlo [ Erato / Warner Classics / 3 CD Box Set - 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),... |