CHARLES-MARIE WIDOR
Piano Concertos 1 & 2 / Fantaisie in A flat major Op. 62 Markus Becker (piano) / BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Thierry Fischer [ Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos Vol 55 / CD - released 1/Nov/2011 ] Charles-Marie Widor was born in Lyon to a family of organ builders and consequently became an organist of great skill and an assistant to Camille Saint-Saëns at La Madeleine in Paris at the age of twenty-four. |
RAVEL
Symphonies Concertantes / Violin Concerto in D Major MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig / Lyon National Orchestra / Jun Markl [ Naxos / CD - released 1/May/2009 ] "This is totally recommendable - especially at the price" (MusicWeb June 2009) |
PERRY
William Perry: Music for Great Films of the Silent Era Michael Chertock (piano), Helen Kearns (soprano) / RTÉ National Symphony, Paul Phillips [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Nov/2011 ] |
ERNO DOHNANYI
Dohnanyi: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 Michael Ludwig (violin) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / JoAnn Falletta [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Aug/2008 ] "These are excellent pieces that ought to be in the modern performance repertory. If you don't know these works, you owe to yourself to hear this disc." -- ClassicsToday 10/10 |
Michael Nesmith & The First National Band
Loose Salute [ Music On Vinyl / LP - released 14/Jan/2022 ] Michael Nesmith is best known as a member of the successful American pop and rock band The Monkees. After their break-up, he started performing with the seminal country-rock group the First National Band, and later as a solo artist. His second album... |
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI
Penderecki: Symphony No 8 Michaela Kaune (sop) Agnieszka Rehlis (mezzo) Wojtek Drabowicz (bar) / Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir & Orchetsra / Antoni Wit, conductor [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Nov/2008 ] "…The recording quality on this disc is first class…Tenor Minkiewicz easily negotiates his tricky lines in the Dies irae, and hits the right level of hysteria. All the soloists are excellent, and the Warsaw National Philharmonic under Wit provides... |
BERLIOZ
L'Enfance du Christ Op 25 (Complete oratorio) Michele Lagrange ; Orchestre National de Lille-Region Nord ; Choeur Regional Vittoria de l'Ille de France ; Jean-Claude Casadesus, conductor [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 4/Feb/2003 ] Hector Berlioz was born in 1803 at La Cote-St-Andre in the departement of Isere, the eldest son of a doctor of some local distinction. |
KHACHATURIAN
Violin Concerto / Concerto-Rhapsody Mihaela Martin (Violin) / National Symphony Orchestra Of Ukraine / Theodore Kuchar [ Naxos / CD - released 23/Nov/2007 ] "Well-trained musicians from the Ukraine's National Symphony and heartfelt playing from the Romanian-born violinist Mihaela Martin." -- Music Week, January 24, 2004 |
PROKOFIEV / BEINTUS
Peter and the Wolf / Wolf Tracks Mikhail Gorbachev / Sophia Loren / Bill Clinton / Russian National Orchestra / Kent Nagano [ PentatoneSACD / SACD - released 21/Oct/2003 ] Screen legend Sophia Loren and former presidents Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev are narrators on the latest CD from the Russian National Orchestra (RNO). |
PROKOFIEV
Symphony No. 5 in B flat / Ode to the End of the War, Op. 105 Russian National Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski [ Pentatone SACD / SACD - released 20/Oct/2007 ] He died on the same day as Stalin. Not only did March 5, 1953 see the ending of the life of the Soviet dictator who despised mankind, but also of the life journey of Sergei Prokofiev, which had travelled its winding path for more than 60 years and... |
BEETHOVEN
Piano Concertos 2 and 4 Mikhail Pletnev (piano) / Russian National Orchestra / Christian Gansch [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 20/Apr/2008 ] Pletnev is one of the truly unique and universal artists on DG: Like Beethoven himself, Pletnev is a pianist, a conductor, and a composer. The Beethoven project is very close to his heart: "For me Beethoven is like a god. I worship him, and I admire... |
TALBOT / EINAUDI / SHORE / SCHUMANN
Miloš : The Moon & The Forest Miloš Karadaglić (guitar) / BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ben Gernon, National Arts Centre Orchestra Alexander Shelley [ Decca / CD - released 7/May/2021 ] 'Premiere recordings of two dazzling new concertos which offer new perspectives on the relationship between guitar and orchestra, performed with considerable conviction and élan.' Gramophone Editor's Choice June 2021 |
BEHZAD ABDI
Abdi: Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle (Complete opera) Mohammad Motamedi, Hossein Alishapour, Babak Sabouri, Eshaq Anvar / Credo Chamber Choir, Ukraine National Symphony, Vladimir Sirenko [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 13/Aug/2021 ] The music of Iranian composer Behzad Abdi fuses dastgāh (the Iranian modal system) with Western classical forms. He wrote Iran's first national opera, Rumi, and Hafez also exemplifies his approach to the medium. |
Murray Gold (The BBC National Orchestra of Wales Conducted by Ben Foster)
Doctor Who - Series 6 [ Silva Screen Records / 2 CD - released 12/Dec/2011 ] Murray Gold's exhilarating music for the sixth series of 'Doctor Who' across two discs and sixty six tracks! |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Cinderella (Recorded live at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, 2012) BLU-RAY Dutch National Ballet / Anna Tsygankova, Matthew Golding, Larissa Lezhnina, Megan Zimny Gray / Ermanno Florio (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 15/Oct/2013 ] Christopher Wheeldon's acclaimed new Cinderella for the Dutch National Ballet is an imaginative interpretation of a muchloved classic. Inspired by the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Wheeldon gives the characters renewed depth and complexity,... |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: Orphee aux Enfers / La Belle Helene (complete operettas recorded in 1998 & 2000) Natalie Dessay / Felicity Lott / Yann Beuron / Laurent Naouri / Opéra National de Lyon / Les Musiciens du Louvre / Marc Minkowski [ ArtHaus Musik DVD / 2 DVD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2012 ] Arthaus presents an Offenbach Box Set (Orphée aux Enfers & La belle Hélène) featuring Marc Minkowski - the preeminent Offenbach conductor of our day but also a team of wonderful singer-actors (Natalie Dessay & Felicity Lott). |
National
Little Drottningholm Music [ Proprius / CD - released 18/Jul/2002 ] |
LUDWIG MINKUS
Don Quixote (complete ballet recorded in 2007) National Ballet of Cuba / Viengsay Valdes / Romel Frometa / Dayron Frometa / Giovanni Duarte (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques / DVD - released 20/Aug/2008 ] Alicia Alonso, founded this improbable ballet company in 1948, with the support of Fidel Castro, and 60 years later, the octogenarian former prima ballerina, whose sight started to fail aged 20, is still the director. |
National Bordeaux/Petitgirard
Ravel: Daphnis Et Chloe [ Naxos / CD - released 30/Oct/2006 ] |
National Dance Theatre Of The
Traditional Music from East Siberia [ Arc / CD - released 1/Aug/2013 ] Traditional folk music from Yakutia, Eastern Siberia, Russia. The music is played on authentic instruments and includes a shamanic ritual. |