A delectable – and ever popular – collection of sacred songs sung by four of the most famous female singers of our time. Includes the Bach/Gounod ‘Ave Maria’ and the Schubert ‘Ave Maria’, favourite soprano arias from Bach’s sacred works and inspiring movements from the sacred works of Bruckner, Stradella and Dvorak.
Rapt and refreshing performances of these English works by Neville Marriner. They have nobility, a sense of occasion, menace where required and above all, a perhaps unequalled deftness, most notable in ‘Mercury, The Winged Messenger’.
Verismo at its peak. This fireball of a performance of Mascagni’s opera features Mario Del Monaco in his prime.
The world’s foremost exponent of the guitar, John Williams, is featured here in some of his earliest recordings, where he strums effortlessly, Suites by Bach, a tiny Gavotte by Scarlatti (senior) and a transcription of a keyboard sonata by Scarlatti (junior).
Two celebrated recordings in the Decca catalogue, in performances of pathos, sweep and grandeur. Mehta’s ‘Enigma’ has been ranked as among the very finest in a highly competitive catalogue.
Re-released to mark the centenary of Noel Coward’s birth, this has for long been a ‘cult’ Coward album the world over. Its special significance to Australia, besides the obvious participation of Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge, is its inclusion of other Australian singers in some of the ensemble pieces, among them Margreta Elkins and Morag […]
Besides Verdi, Puccini was the other great nineteenth-century Italian opera composer. This anthology brings together favourite arias and ensemble pieces from his operas. All the most famous are represented – ‘Bohème, Butterfly, Tosca, Gianni Schicchi…’ And of course the performers are the greatest operatic stars you can think of having all on a single CD!
This is surely one of the most elegant, heart-warming recordings of ‘The Marriage of Figaro’, capturing the singers – and the conductor – at the peak of their profession. A choice collection of highlights.
Has there ever been a more quicksilver version of the ‘Trout Quintet’? We doubt it! Ingrid Haebler’s effortless pianism and Artur Grumiaux’s airy playing are a match made in heaven. As is the combination of Jack Brymer and the Allegri Quartet in one of Mozart’s most sublime pieces, the Clarinet Quintet in A major.
Highlights from the dream-cast recording of ‘Così’, with the ultimate Mozart orchestra, ‘the VPO’, at the helm under the direction of Böhm – one of the most perceptive Mozarteans of our time.
Three of Respighi’s most colourful and popular orchestral works in truly legendary performances. Both ‘Pines’ and ‘Fountains’ are massive orchestral scores evoking the named sights of Rome. ‘The Birds’ is based on music by Respighi’s Baroque predecessors and is a delightful, tuneful evocation of an earlier time in gleaming orchestrations.
With its beautiful slow movement, ‘Adagietto’, used in the film ‘Death in Venice’, this symphony achieved immortality and the widest listening public. But the rest of it too is wonderful stuff – dramatic, searing, thrilling. This is also one of its most dramatic performances and a benchmark in the discography of this work.
