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Albéric
MAGNARD (1865-1914)
Symphonies 1-4 
BBC Scottish
SO/Jean-Yves Ossonce rec. 1997
HYPERION DYAD CDD22068 [67:15 + 73:16] 
[JQ]
A
compelling proposition ... see Full
Review
RECORDING
OF THE MONTH Gustav
MAHLER (1860-1911) Das
Lied von der Erde Klaus
Florian Vogt, Christian Gerhaher, Montréal SO/Kent
Nagano rec. 2009 SONY
CLASSICAL 88697508212 [61:28] [PPLL]
One
of the quintessential recordings … full expressive power ... see Full
Review
Marin
MARAIS (1656-1728) Pièces
de viole Jerôme
Hantaï (bass viol); Alix Verzier (bass viol); Pierre Hantaï (harpsichord)
rec. 1996-2000 VIRGIN
VERITAS 6932132 [72:16
+ 63:08] 
[MS]
Thoughtful
and highly articulate ... see Full
Review
Bohuslav
MARTINŮ
(1890-1959)
Complete Piano Music 5 Polkas, Waltzes
Giorgio Koukl (piano) rec. 2008
NAXOS 8.572175 [50:43]
[JW]
Most
engaging ... see Full Review
Giuseppe
MARTUCCI (1856-1909) Symphony No.1 etc.
Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma/Francesco La Vecchia
rec. 2007-8
NAXOS 8.570929 [69:38][IL]
Worth
seeking out D’Avalos ... see Full
Review
Brahms and his Contemporaries - Vol. III Giuseppe
MARTUCCI (1856-1909) Cello Sonata Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Six Songs for Cello and Piano Theodor
KIRCHNER (1823-1903) Eight Pieces for Cello and Piano
Johannes Moser (cello); Paul Rivinius (piano) rec. 2008
HÄNSSLER CLASSIC CD93.208 [72:38][MC] 
Amiable
music, rock-solid technique and rich timbre ... see Full
Review
Colin
MATTHEWS
(b. 1946) Alphabicycle
Order for children's choir, narrator and orchestra (2007) [31:12]
Horn Concerto (2001) [22:27]
Richard Watkins (horn); children's choir: Henry Goodman (narrator) Hallé
Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder (Concerto); Edward Gardner (Alphabicycle)
rec. BBC Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester, 12 July
2004 (Alphabicycle); Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 10-11 July
2007. DDD
HALLE CD HLL 7515 [53:53]
[RB]
Stimulating,
dark and surreal ... see Full
Review
RECORDING
OF THE MONTH David MATTHEWS (b.
1943) The
Music of Dawn, Concerto in Azzurro, A Vision
and a Journey Guy
Johnston (cello) BBC PO/Rumon Gamba
rec. 2007 CHANDOS CHAN10487 [70:53] [HC]
Vital,
carefully prepared and fully committed ... see Full
Review
Felix
MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
String Quartets, Opp. 12 & 13
Juilliard String
Quartet rec. 1998
SONY CLASSICAL SK60579
[55:24][SV] 
An
essential "rightness" - a remarkable unanimity ... see Full
Review
Olivier
Messiaen
(1908-1992)
Complete Organ Works - Vol. IV Including L’Ascension
& La Nativité du Seigneur
Timothy Byram-Wigfield (organ) rec. 2008
DELPHIAN DCD34078 [79:02 + 79:36]
[BW]
An
attractive set, but Bate and Weir remain first choices ... see Full
Review
Nikolai
MIASKOVSKY (1881-1950) Symphonies
22-25 St Petersburg
State Academic SO/Alexander Titov rec. 2008 NORTHERN FLOWERS
NF/PMA9966 & 9971 [69:21 & 76:15] [RB]
Titov
the philosophic poet – great in 23 ... see Full
Review
Nikolai
MYASKOVSKY
(1881-1950) Silence
op. 9 (1910) Sinfonietta in B minor op. 32 no. 2 (1927-31)
Divertissement op. 80 (1948)
Russian Federation Academic SO/Evgeny Svetlanov rec. 1991-93, DDD
volume 16 in the Myaskovsky Edition
ALTO ALC 1042 (Olympia OCD 746) [75:05]
Nikolai
MYASKOVSKY (1881-1950) Alastor Op. 14 symphonic
poem (1912) Lyric Concertino in G Op. 32/3 (1928-29) Sinfonietta
Op. 68/2 (1946)
Russian Federation Academic Symphony Orchestra/Evgeny Svetlanov rec.
1991-93, DDD volume 17 in the Myaskovsky Edition
ALTO ALC1043 (Olympia OCD747) [77:20]
[RB]
The
satisfying culmination of the Myaskovsky cycle ... see Full
Review
Joni
MITCHELL (b.
1943) The
Fiddle and the Drum The
Alberta Ballet
rec. 2007 ARTHAUS MUSIK 101347 
[115:26] [BBr]
Give
this a try – it's really worth it ... see Full
Review
Federico
MOMPOU
(1893 – 1987) Música
callada Books 1-4
Haskell Small (piano) rec. July, November and December 2007, Westmoreland
Congregational United Church of Christ, Bethesda, Maryland
MSR CLASSICS MS 1282 [74:15] 
[GF]
Evasive
but fascinating … the living guide who knows this destination best ...
see Full
Review
Robert
MORAN (b. 1937) Mantra etc. Grassauer
Bläserensemble/ Alexander Herrmann rec. 1997-2008 INNOVA
714 [66.00][WH]
Will
appeal to those with jaded palates ... see Full
Review
Wolfgang
Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) Piano
Concerto No. 20 with various cadenzas Michael
Rische (piano); WDR SO
Köln/Howard Griffiths rec. 2008 HÄNSSLER
PROFIL PH09006 
[55:45][JS]
I
greatly enjoyed Rische’s playing ... see Full
Review
RECORDING OF
THE MONTH Wolfgang
Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) & Johannes
BRAHMS (1833-1897) Clarinet Quintets Karl-Heinz
Steffens (clarinet) Guy Baunnstein, Christoph Streuli (violins)
Ulrich Knörzer (viola) Richard Duven (cello) rec. 2005/6 TUDOR
7137 [70:44] [KS]
Don’t
walk, run to add this nearly perfect disc to your collection.
... see Full
Review
BARGAIN
OF THE MONTH Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) Violin
Sonatas Jaap
Schröder (violin); Lambert
Orkis (fortepiano)
rec. 1989/90 VIRGIN VERITAS
693 2182 [73:59
+ 72:06] [CC]
A
lovely set of discs ... see Full Review
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) Adagio and fugues
(after Bach) see BACH
Modest
MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881) Boris
Godunov Orchestre
National de la Radiodiffusion Française/Issay Dobrowen rec.
1952 BRILLIANT
CLASSICS 93926 [3 CDs: 64:40 + 68:23 + 45:23][J-PJ]
Will
please seasoned listeners who know their Mussorgsky well ...
see Full
Review
Johann
Baptist Georg NERUDA (c.1707 – c.1780) Trio
Sonatas Sergio
Azzolini (bassoon) Parnassi musici DDD CPO
777 383-2 [65:18] [JV]
Highly
entertaining music by a little-known master from Bohemia ...
see Full
Review
BARGAIN
OF THE MONTH Carl NIELSEN (1865-1931)
Violin Concerto see SIBELIUS
Arne
NORDHEIM
(b. 1931) The Nordheim Tapes: Electronic
Music from the 1960s
rec. 1960-70 AURORA
ACD5051 [47:03 + 57:25]
[CR]
Crafted
with expertise … deserves to be heard ... see Full
Review
George
ONSLOW (1784-1853) Piano Trios
- Volume 2
Trio Cascades rec. 2004
CPO 777231-2 [57:50][BBr]
This
wonderful, and very interesting, composer ... see Full
Review
Nicolò
PAGANINI
(1782-1840) 24
Caprices Tanja Becker-Bender
(violin) rec. 2007 HYPERION
CDA67763 [79:42][RB]
Very
musical ... see Full
Review
Giovanni
Pierluigi da PALESTRINA
(1525-1594) Assumpta
est Maria [7:19] Missa Assumpta est Maria [29:42] Ave
Maria [3:33] Beata est, Virgo Maria [2:56] Hodie gloriosa
semper Virgo Maria [4:57] Regina coeli [6:22] Magnificat
Septimi toni [12:53]
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge/Timothy Brown rec. 1996
EMI ENCORE 2 08120 2 [68:24] 
[KS]
Fluid
singing, a fine sense of balance, wonderfully resonant, an aural delight
... see Full Review
Ernst
PEPPING (1901-1981) Symphony
No. 2 Heinz SCHUBERT (1908-1945) Hymnisches Konzert
Berlin PO/Wilhelm
Furtwängler rec. 1942-3
RUSSIAN COMPACT DISC RCD25016 [75:46][RB]
Powerhouse
performances athletically affirmative in reach and conviction ... see
Full
Review
John PITTS (b.1976)
Seven Airs and Fantasias etc.
Steven Kings (piano and prepared piano) rec. 2008
CD.TP/IPM08 [77:49][JW]
Toes – prepare
to tap ... see Full Review
Ildebrando PIZZETTI (1880-1968)
Rondò veneziano, Preludio a un altro giorno, Tre Preludii
Sinfonici, La Pisanella
BBC Scottish SO/Osmo Vänskä rec. 1998
HYPERION HELIOS CDH55329 [75:27]
[RB]
Respighian
romantic magnificence .... not for ascetic souls ... see Full
Review
Vicente
PRADAL (b.1957)
El Diván del Tamarit Various
artists rec. 2008 VIRGIN
CLASSICS 5190332 [44:36][GPu]
Passionate
and colourful, setting some of Lorca’s most powerful poems ... see Full
Review
Josquin
des Prés (c.1440-1521)
Missa
Malheur me bat, Missa Fortuna desperata,
The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips rec. 2008. DDD.
GIMELL
CDGIM 042 [75:27]
[BW]
Perhaps
even better than Gimell’s earlier Josquin offerings ... see Full
Review
Sergei
PROKOFIEV
(1891-1953)
Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet,
Piano Sonata No. 7 , Visions Fugitives
Ayako Uehara (piano) rec. 2007
EMI CLASSICS 50999 5 17852 2 [74:37]
[KS]
Studied
maturity and emotional depth. A true intellectual virtuoso. ... see
Full
Review
Giacomo
PUCCINI (1858-1924) La
Rondine Svetla
Vassileva, Fabio Sartori, Puccini Festival Ch & O/Alberto
Veronesi rec. live 2007 NAXOS
2.110266 [110:54] [IL]
Avoid
... see Full Review
Giacomo
PUCCINI (1858-1924) Suor Angelica
Victoria de los Angeles,
Fedora Barbieri, Rome Opera Ch & O/Tullio Serafin. rec. 1956/7
REGIS RRC1306 [66:46]
[CC]
Splendid
isolation - well worth the low investment ... see Full
Review
Giacomo
PUCCINI (1858–1924)
Arias Karine
Babajanyan (soprano) Budapest SO/Pier Giorgio Morandi rec. 2007
EMI CLASSICS 2677312 [66:31]
[GF]
Eminently
promising ... see Full
Review
Henry
PURCELL
(1659-1695) Dido
and Aeneas (1689) Kirsten Flagstad (soprano) Thomas Hemsley
(baritone) Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano) rec. 1952 Richard
WAGNER (1813-1883)
Götterdämmerung (1869-1874) - Act III Scene 3 – Brünnhilde’s
Immolation [19:48]
Kirsten Flagstad (soprano) Philharmonia Orchestra/Wilhelm Furtwängler
rec. London, 1948
NIMBUS PRIMA VOCE NI 7956 [76:35]
[JW]
Many
good things in this third commercial recording of Dido … see Full
Review
Henry
PURCELL (1659-1695) King
Arthur The
English Consort/Trevor Pinnock rec.
1991 BRILLIANT
CLASSICS 93928 [54:23 + 38:52][JS]
Very
well recorded, idiomatically performed ... see Full
Review
Henry
Purcell
(1659-1695) Complete
Odes and Welcome Songs
soloists The King’s Consort/Robert King rec. 1986-1992Separate CDs,
each with notes and texts, in a slip-case.
HYPERION CDS44031-8 [8 CDs]
[BW]
Little
is likely to outshine this in Purcell year ... see Full
Review
Sergei
RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) Symphony
2, The Isle of the Dead, Piano
Concerto 3, Symphonic Dances St
Petersburg PO/Mariss Jansons, London SO/André Previn,
Leif Ove Andsnes (piano), Oslo PO/Paavo Berglund rec. 1974-93 EMI
CLASSICS 2376162 [75:56 + 76:46] [BBr]
The
Previn performances are fine ... see Full
Review
Sergey
RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) Piano
Trio “Élégiaque” see BEETHOVEN
Robert
RAINES
Echoes of Sarah, Ménage, The Return
of Odysseus Florida
SU Flute Ensemble/Matt Thomas, Moravian PO/Vit Micka rec. 2006-8
MSR CLASSICS MS1299 [51:31]
[CR]
Made
me want to listen again … surely a good sign ... see Full
Review
BARGAIN
OF THE MONTH Maurice RAVEL
(1875-1937) Daphnis
et Chloé (1912) [55:49] Shéhérazade - ouverture de féerie
(1899) [15:33] MDR Rundfunkchor,
Leipzig Orchestre National de Lyon/Jun Märkel rec. 2008. DDD
NAXOS 8.570992 [71:37]
[JPJ]
Does
not disappoint … see Full Review
Maurice
RAVEL
(1875-1937) L'enfant et les sortilèges (1925)
[44:22] Ma Mère L’Oye [28:29] 
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle rec. 2008,
EMI CLASSICS 2 64197 2 [72:58] 
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937) L'enfant
et les sortilèges (1925) [45:49] Shéhérazade
(1903) [18:30]
Nashville Symphony Orchestra/Alastair Willis Julie Boulianne (mezzo)
(Shéhérazade) rec. 2006/7
NAXOS 8.660215 [64:19] 
[WH]
Strengths
in each but the one to have is the Maazel DG ... see Full
Review
Antonín
REICHA (1770-1836) Wind
Quintets Vol. 11 Westwood
Wind Quintet rec. 2007 CRYSTAL
RECORDS CD271 [72:04] [RB]
Jocose
and imaginative harmoniemusik ... see Full
Review
Carl
REINECKE (1824-1910)
Wind Octet; Von
der Wiege bis zum Grabe; Wind Sextet
Members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra rec.
1992
NAXOS 8.570777 [67:52][SV]
Pleasing,
in an early-Romantic way ... see Full
Review
Julius REUBKE (1834-1858) Sonata on the 94th
Psalm see LISZT
Henri-Joseph
RIGEL
(1741-1799) Symphonies
Concerto Koln/Barry Sargent rec. 2008
BERLIN CLASSICS 0016432BC [69:08]
[RB]
Resonantly,
delightful in physical impact and rippling with life ... see Full
Review
Nikolai
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908) Scheherazade Alexander
BORODIN (1833-1887) Prince Igor: Polovtsian
Dances Aram KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978) Extracts
from Masquerade, Spartacus & Gayaneh London
PO/Takuo Yuasa, Royal PO/Sir Thomas Beecham
London SO/Aram
Khachaturian CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE
2282802 [77:09] [SV]
A
smorgasbord of complementary items … see Full
Review
Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999) Concierto
de Aranjuez, Concierto de estío, Concierto en modo galante,
Zarabanda lejana y villancico, Concierto Serenata, Concierto
pastoral, Concierto heroico London
SO, Royal PO/Enrique Bátiz rec. 1981-85 EMI
CLASSICS 2376812 [77:23 + 79:06] [BW]
An
almost-ideal introduction to Rodrigo ... see Full
Review
Nikolai
ROSLAVETS (1881-1944) Violin
Concertos 1 & 2 Alina
Ibragimova (violin) BBC Scottish SO/Ilan Volkov rec. 2008 HYPERION CDA67637 [57:41] [RB]
Incense-heavy,
ecstatic and romantic ... see Full
Review
Gioachino
ROSSINI (1792–1868) Il
barbiere di Siviglia Maria
Callas, Luigi Alva, Tito
Gobbi,
Philharmonia Ch & O/Alceo Galliera
rec. 1957 EMI GREAT RECORDINGS
OF THE CENTURY 3920462 [66:09 + 63:52] [OW]
Deserves
classic status ... see Full Review
Anton
RUBINSTEIN (1829-1894) Cello
Sonatas Jiří Bárta
(cello); Hamish Milne (piano) rec. 2008 HYPERION
CDA67660 [70:55] [MC]
A
splendid partnership delivers a resounding success ... see Full
Review
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