Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - September 2024
This month's heavyweights include Roberto Alagna's collected opera recordings on Warner Classics, a celebration of Christoph von Dohnányi's time in Cleveland, Markus Poschner's complete Bruckner symphonies from Vienna/Linz, and an anthology of live recordings from the International Festival Martha Argerich in Hamburg.
This anthology of the French tenor's complete opera recordings on Warner Classics includes the five-act French version of Verdi's Don Carlos (with Karita Mattila, Waltraud Meier, Thomas Hampson and José van Dam), Puccini's Il Trittico, Tosca and La rondine (all conducted by Antonio Pappano and starring Alagna's then-wife Angela Gheorghiu), Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, Massenet's Werther, Manon and La Navarraise, and Donizetti's Lucie de Lammermoor (with Natalie Dessay in the title-role and Ludovic Tézier as Henri).
Available Format: 33 CDs
Released to mark Dohnányi's 95th birthday, this 40CD set celebrates his long-standing relationship with the Cleveland Orchestra, which he served as Music Director from 1984 until 2002. The repertoire includes Wagner's Das Rheingold and Die Walküre (with Robert Hale, Gabriele Schnaut, Alessandra Marc and Anja Silja), symphonies by Bruckner, Schumann, Dvořák and Mahler, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, and works by Harrison Birtwistle, Carl Ruggles, Ruth Crawford Seeger and Edgard Varèse.
Available Format: 40 CDs
Bruckner: The Complete Symphonies
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Markus Poschner
Including the 'Student Symphony' and 'Die Nullte' as well as the original Scherzo of Symphony No. 1 and the alternative versions of Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8, Poschner's bicentenary Bruckner cycle has been described as 'impeccable' (BBC Music Magazine on 'Die Nullte') and 'fresh and invigorating but also deeply felt' (Gramophone on Symphony No. 7), whilst Classics Today declared that his account of Symphony No. 8 (in the 1890 Nowak version) is 'without a doubt one of the finest versions of this epic symphony available'.
Available Format: 18 CDs
Made for EMI Classics and Electrola between 1956 and 1993, the recordings here include a complete Ring Cycle (with Hildegard Behrens, Robert Hale, René Kollo, Julia Varady & Kurt Moll) and Die Meistersinger, Strauss's Capriccio, Intermezzo, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Elektra, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and several rarities: Orff's Die Kluge and Der Mond, Weber's Abu Hassan, and Schubert's Die Zwillingsbruder.
Available Format: 31 CDs
This collection of live recordings from the International Festival Martha Argerich in Hamburg sees Argerich herself joining forces with Mischa Maisky in Beethoven and Shostakovich, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Maisky in Mendelssohn, Maria João Pires in Mozart, and Nelson Goerner, Alexej Gerassimez and Lukas Böhm in Bartók. The programme also includes Brahms's Viola Sonata No. 2 from Gerard Causse and the late Nicholas Angelich, Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death from Michael Volle and Daniel Gerzenberg, and Falla's Suite Populaire Espagnole from Tedi Papavrami and Maki Okada.
Available Formats: 7 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Piano Library: Westminster & American Decca Edition
Jörg Demus, Edith Farnadi, Raymond Lewenthal, Nina Milkina, Egon Petri, Carlo Zecchi, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Youra Guller, Clara Haskil (piano)
Made between 1950 and 1963, this anthology from the Westminster and American Decca archives includes late-career recordings from Benno Moiseiwitsch (in Beethoven, Schumann and Mussorgsky) and Egon Petri (in Beethoven, Liszt and Busoni), and early-career fruits from Jörg Demus and Nina Milkina. The set also features Scarlatti sonatas from Clara Haskil, Liszt's Soirées de Vienne and Strauss waltz paraphrases from Edith Farnadi, and Beethoven, Scriabin and Alkan from Raymond Lewenthal.
Available Format: 22 CDs
Produced in New York, Philadelphia and Hollywood between 1939 and 1941 (the year before Feuermann's death aged just 39), these recordings include the Brahms Double Concerto with Jascha Heifetz, Strauss's Don Quixote with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, Beethoven's 'Archduke' Trio, Schubert's Piano Trio in B flat and Brahms's Piano Trio No. 1 with Heifetz and Arthur Rubinstein, and a recital with Franz Rupp featuring Mendelssohn's Piano Sonata No. 2 and works by Handel, Beethoven, Schubert and Fauré.
Available Format: 7 CDs
Baroque Piano Collection
Andrea Vivanet, Yuan Sheng, Klara Wurtz, Alessandro Deljavan, Denys Proshayev, Scipione Sangiovanni, Paolo Zentilin, Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy, Andrea Molteni, Fernanda Damiano, Melani Mestre (piano)
This selection of Baroque keyboard works played on the modern piano includes JS Bach's Goldberg Variations, Italian Concerto and Six Partitas, sonatas by Lodovico Maria Giustini, Baldassare Galuppi, Domenico Scarlatti and Manuel Espona, keyboard suites by Handel and Rameau, and toccatas & fantasias by Sweelinck.
Available Format: 12 CDs
