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,... |
GIACOMO PUCCCINI
Puccini: La Bohème Celine Byrne (soprano), Anna Devin (soprano), Irish National Opera, Sergio Alapont (conductor) [ Signum Classics / 2 CD - released 25/Mar/2022 ] The Paris of love and art. A poet, a painter, a musician and a philosopher. Living hand to mouth in a freezing garret. Christmas cheer and a heart won by girl next door. The tragedies of love and poverty. Puccini's best-loved opera is touching,... |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: Maitre Peronilla (complete operetta) Chantal Santon-Jeffery, Markus Poschner, Antoinette Dennefeld, Tassis Christoyannis, Véronique Gens / Orchestre National de France [ Bru Zane / 2 CD/Book - released 28/Feb/2020 ] "Markus Poschner conducting the Orchestre National de France and the French Radio Choir encourages the bubbles to rise to the surface in a never-ending stream." BBC Music Magazine May 2020 Opera Choice |
VERDI
Otello (Complete Opera in English) Charles Craig (tenor) Neil Howlett (baritone) / English National Opera / Mark Elder [ Chandos Opera in English / 2 CD - released 28/Apr/2002 ] A live recording of ENO's 1983 production, directed by Jonathan Miller |
PROKOFIEV
The Love for Three Oranges (recorded live in 2005) Charles Workman / José Van Dam / Philippe Rouillon / Barry Banks / Béatrice Uria-Monzon / Opéra National de Paris / Sylvain Cambreling [ ArtHaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 26/Oct/2011 ] Conducted by 20th century specialist Sylvain Cambreling and sung in the original French version by superb singer-actors, this production presents a stage performance set in perfect harmony with Prokofiev's inventive music. |
DELIBES
Coppelia (complete ballet recorded in 2001) Charline Giezendanner / Mathieu Ganio / Pierre Lacotte / École De Danse And Opéra National De Paris / David Coleman [ Arthaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 1/Jul/2011 ] On the programme this evening is Coppélia, or the girl with the enamel eyes by Léo Delibes. The excitement among the girls is great because today they will be performing in the (reproduced) scenery and costumes which at the premiere on 25 May 1870... |
JANACEK
Katya Kabanova (complete opera sung in English) Cheryl Barker (soprano) Gwynne Howell (bass) Kathleen Wilkinson (mezzo) Owen Webb (baritone) / Welsh National Opera Chorus & Orchestra / Carlo Rizzi [ Chandos / 2 CD - released 1/Oct/2007 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD FINALIST 2008 - Opera - 'This English-language performance captures the visceral impact of Janacek's great tragedy with unerring immediacy. Vividly recorded with magnificent orchestral playing, the drama is delivered with a... |
GEORGE DYSON
Quo Vadis: a cycle of poems Cheryl Barker (soprano) Jean Rigby (mezzo-soprano) Philip Langridge (tenor) / BBC National Chorus of Wales ; BBC National Orchestra of Wales ; Richar [ Chandos Classics / 2 CD - released 26/May/2003 ] 'All four soloists are in superb voice, each of them strong, firm and characterful; and both choruses sing with fresh, incandescent tone... the result will delight all devotees of the English choral tradition.' - Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine... |
JANACEK
The Makropulos Case (complete opera in English) Cheryl Barker (soprano) Neal Davies (bass-baritone) John Graham-Hall (tenor) / English National Opera / Sir Charles Mackerras [ Chandos / 2 CD - released 1/Feb/2007 ] "This electrifying performance has been captured in sound that is exceptionally clear and full-bodied, and it also has great immediacy. I very much welcome a recording in English." (International Record Review March 2007) |
ANDERSON / COPLAND / CORIGLIANO / IVES / SCHUMAN / etc
Leonard Slatkin - The American Collection Evelyn Glennie (percussion), Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf (narrator) Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin [ RCA Red Seal / Sony Music Masters / 13 CD Box Set - released 25/Apr/2018 ] "It is certainly one of the best symphonies by an American composer, possibly one of the greatest symphonies of the 20th century." [Corigliano Symphony 1] |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges & Ma Mère l'Oye Choeur Britten, Jeune Choeur symphonique, Maitrise de l'Opera National de Lyon & Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Oct/2015 ] Ravel's opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges captures an imaginative child's world in which the creatures and objects around him come to life. |
RAVEL
Complete orchestral works (Incls Daphnis et Chloa, Alborada del Gracioso & Pictures at an Exhibition [Mussorgsky orch. Ravel]) (Rec 1987-88) Choeur et Orchestre National de France. Eliahu Inbal [ Brilliant Classics / 4 CD - released 18/Aug/2005 ] "The recordings were made by Yoshiharu Kawaguchi who clearly espoused the then new digital medium for its ability to portray the merest breath through to stunning ear-assaulting climaxes." (MusicWeb Oct 2003) |
FRANCIS POULENC
Poulenc: Organ Concerto / Concert champêtre Philippe Lefebvre (organ) Elisabeth Chojnacka (harpsichord) / Lille National Orchestra, Jean-Claude Casadesus [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jun/2016 ] "The wind and percussion of the Lille orchestra get a chance to demonstrate their quality in accomplished playing of the spry dances of the Suitefrançaise. This is an eminently recommendable disc." (Gramophone Classucal Music Guide) |
CHAUSSON / RAVEL / HONEGGER / DEBUSSY / FAURE
French Violin Masterpieces Christian Ferras (violin) Pierre Barbizet (piano) / Belgian National Orchestra [ Decca Legends / CD - released 1/Nov/2002 ] "..the remastering has done justice to the recordings and the memory of a fine artist." (Amazon.co.uk) |
FRANK MARTIN / KAZIMIERZ SEROCKI / ERNEST BLOCH / JAN SANDSTROM
A Trombone Odyssey Christian Lindberg (trombone) / Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra / Leif Segerstam [ BIS / CD - released 1/Feb/1992 ] "Lindberg has added another rung to the ladder." (American Record Guide) |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Op. 35; Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor Op. 23 Christian Tetzlaff (violin) Nikolai Lugansky (piano) / Russian National Orchestra. Kent Nagano [ Pentatone SACD / SACD - released 6/Jul/2005 ] "In Multi Channel you can feel the sound waves reverberating through the hall!" ---SA-CD.net |
Chœur de Radio France, Maîtrise de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Solistes de l'Orchestre National de France
Thierry Escaich: Cris [ Formations musicales de Radio France / CD - released 12/Mar/2021 ] For its 28th edition in 2018, the Festival Présences of Radio France paid tribute to Thierry Escaich -one of the greatest French living composers. Composer, but also organist and improviser, Thierry Escaich does not dissociate the three aspects of... |
LAVAILLAT
La Petite Danseuse De Degas Clairemarie Osta / Dorothée Gilbert / Mathieu Ganio / Corps De Ballet & Orchestre De L'Opéra National De Paris / Koen Kessels [ ArtHaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 8/Aug/2011 ] "An inspired and visually ravishing creation. This ballet deserves to go from success to success." (Recording of the Month MusicWeb Aug 2011) |
GUSTAV HOLST
Holst-The Planets / Mystic Trumpeter Clare Rutter, soprano / RSNO Ladies Chorus / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / David Lloyd-Jones, conductor [ Naxos SACD / SACD - released 2/Apr/2004 ] On Hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) format, presented in full 5.1 surround sound! PLAYABLE ON ANY CD SYSTEM - The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is considered to be one of the UK's leading symphony orchestras. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish... |
GERSHWIN / BERNSTEIN / RODGERS / MORTIER
Summertime: Music For Clarinet Quartet The Clarinet Quartet Of The Belgian National Orchestra [ NAXOS / CD ] Terence Thompson's witty jazz suite City Scenes starts with a light-hearted Stroll in the City, delicately sketched. Blowing the Blues provides a leisurely interlude, before the cheerful and lively Hot Potato Boogie, a blues derivative, with its... |