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Guillaume
de MACHAUT (c.1300-1377) Lay
de la fonteinne; Lay de consolation 
The Medieval Ensemble of London/Peter Davies, Timothy Davies rec. 1982
L'OISEAU-LYRE 478
0026 [48:51][MS] 
An
entertaining and uplifting disc … see Full
Review
Gustav MAHLER (1860-1811)
Symphony 10 Wiener
Philharmoniker/Daniel Harding rec. live 2007 DEUTSCHE
GRAMMOPHON 477 7347 [78.00] [SV] 
A
triumph, and one not to be missed ... see Full
Review
Gustav
MAHLER (1860-1911) Symphony
6 Tonhalle O,
Zurich/David Zinman
rec. 2007 RCA RED SEAL 88697
364652 [23:15 + 57:49] [DM]
Starts
well but goes awry ... see Full
Review
Jules
MASSENET (1842–1912) Werther
Badische Staatskapelle/Daniel Carlberg
rec. 2007
ARTHAUS 101317 
[140:00][GF] 
Like
a visit to a doll’s house ... see Full
Review
Felix
MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) A
Midsummer Night’s Dream Pacific
Northwest Ballet, BBC Concert O/Stewart Kershaw rec.
1999 OPUS
ARTE OABD7003D 
[94:00]
[JWe]
Get
a Blu-ray player and buy this ... see Full
Review
Olivier MESSIAEN (1908-1992)
Chamber Works
Matthew Schellhorn (piano); Soloists of the Philharmonia Orchestra rec.
2008 SIGNUM SIGCD126
[66:38][AOz]
Messiaen’s
pure and sincere vision ... see Full
Review
Olivier
MESSIAEN (1908-92) La Nativité du
Seigneur (1935) [62:55] Le Banquet Céleste (1928)
[6:55] Apparition de l’Église Éternelle (1932) [10:00] Jennifer
Bate (organs of Beauvais Cathedral and Sainte Trinité) rec.
St Pierre de Beauvais Cathedral, August 1980 (Nativité and Apparition)
and Sainte Trinité, Paris, no date – 1987?) (Banquet). DDD. REGIS
RRC1086 [71:50] [BW]
An
excellent and timely reminder of the power of Messiaen’s music
... see Full Review
Olivier
MESSIAEN (1908-1992) Trois
petites liturgies de la présence divine, Couleurs de la cité céleste,
Hymne pour grand orchestre Radio
France PO/Myung-Whun Chung DEUTSCHE
GRAMMOPHON 4777944 [68:14] [AOz]
Extremely
bright and vivid, muscular and strident ... see Full
Review
Ernest
John MOERAN (1894-1950) Sinfonietta Vincent
d’INDY (1851-1931) Jour d'été à la montagne Lord
BERNERS (1883-1950) The Triumph of Neptune Royal
PO,
BBC SO/Thomas Beecham
rec. 1946-51 SOMM BEECHAM24 [77:02]
[RB]
Historical
sound but vivid performances bursting with character ... see Full
Review
Claudio
MONTEVERDI (1567-1643)
Vespro della Beata Vergine
La Petite Bande/Sigiswald Kuijken rec. 2007
CHALLENGE CLASSICS CC72311 
[53:43 + 32:22][MS]
Scaled
down, placid, serene, delightful, immediate and colourful ... see Full
Review
Wolfgang
Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) Piano
Concertos Nos. 10 & 27; Rondo in A minor
Artur Schnabel (piano); London Symphony Orchestra/John Barbirolli &
Adrian Boult rec. 1934-46
NAXOS 8.111294 [65:13][JW] 
A
safe bet purchase ... see Full
Review
Wolfgang
Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) Don
Giovanni Salzburg Festival Orchestra and Chorus/Wilhelm Furtwängler
rec. 1953 MUSIC &
ARTS CD1129 [3 CDs: 59.13 + 57:23 + 62.41]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Don Giovanni Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Karl
Böhm rec. 1957 WEST HILL
RADIO ARCHIVES WHRA6011 [3 CDs: 75:37 + 79:03 + 20:46][RMo]
Comparison
between these two sets is illuminating ... see Full
Review
Modest
Petrovich MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881) Pictures
at an Exhibition orchestrations
compiled by Leonard Slatkin Franz
LISZT (1811-1886) Piano Concerto No. 1
Peng Peng (piano); Chorus and Orchestra of the Nashville Symphony/Leonard
Slatkin rec. 2007 NAXOS
8.570716 [57:14][AS]
An
interesting collection ... see Full
Review
RECORDING OF THE MONTH Pierluigi
da PALESTRINA (c.1525-1594) Live in Rome - Celebrating
Palestrina’s 400th Anniversary
The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips
GIMELL GIMDP 903
[81:34 + 51:20][BW]
The
CD is excellent, the DVD even better ... see Full
Review
Krzysztof
PENDERECKI (b.1933) Works
for Cellos and Orchestra Concerto Grosso 1 Largo,
Sonata Ivan Monighetti, Arto Noras,
Rafał Kwiatkowski (cellos) Warsaw Ntl PO/Antoni Wit rec. 2007 NAXOS
8.570509 [74:08] [BW]
An
attractive addition to Naxos’s repertoire of Penderecki ... see Full
Review
Peter
PHILIPS (1560/1-1628) The
English Exile Colin
Booth (harpsichord) rec. 1999 Soundboard
sbcd992 [65:25] [BW]
Insightful
performances, well recorded ... see Full
Review
Ignaz Joseph PLEYEL (1757-1831) Clarinet
Concertos 1 & 2, Sinfonia Concertante for two clarinets Dieter Klocker, Sandra
Arnold (clarinets) Sudwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim/Sebastian
Tewinkel rec. 2007 CPO 777
241-2 [68:22] [RB]
Most
listeners will succumb immediately ... see Full
Review
Sergey PROKOFIEV
(1891-1953) Scythian Suite, Suite from
‘The Steel Dance’, Alexander Nevsky
Linda Finnie (mezzo) Scottish National O & Ch/Neeme Järvi rec. 1987/8
CHANDOS CHAN10482X
[73:45] [TH]
Intelligent
couplings, budget price and well over 70 minutes ... see Full
Review
RECORDING
OF THE MONTH Tandem Sergei
PROKOFIEV (1891-1953) Sonata for 2 violins Arthur
HONEGGER (1892-1955) Sonatine for 2 violins Eugène
YSAŸE (1858
- 1931) Sonata for 2 violins Frédéric
Angleraux,
Raphaël Oleg (violins)
rec. 1999 No label/number [58:05]
[MC]
Beautifully
produced and performed … A tremendous success ... see Full
Review
Giacomo
PUCCINI
(1858-1924) La Boheme (Highlights)
Rolando Villazón, Anna
Netrebko, Bavarian Radio Ch & O/Bertrand de Billy rec. live, 2007
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
477 7474 [54.44] [RJF]
A
marketing job and rather short measure ... see Full
Review
Giacomo
PUCCINI (1858–1924)
Il Tabarro etc.
Tito Gobbi
(baritone); Rome Opera House
Chorus & Orchestra/Tullio Serafin rec. 1955
NAXOS HISTORICAL 8.111307 [73.25][RH]
For
dramatic truth this can hardly be bettered ... see Full Review
Giacomo
PUCCINI (1858–1924)
Puccini Romance Arias and duets
Antoniette Halloran (soprano) Rosario La Spina (tenor) Queensland O/Stephen
Mould rec. 2007 ABC
CLASSICS 476 6404 [65:47] [GF]
Hardly
an issue that shakes the hegemony in the Puccini stakes ... see Full
Review
Henry
PURCELL (1659-1695) Man is for the Woman Made see
SCHUBERT
Sergei
RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) The
Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom Corydon
Singers/Matthew Best rec. 1993/4 HYPERION
HELIOS CDH55318 [77:39] [IL]
Intensely
moving performance of great Russian sacred music ... see Full
Review
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937) String
Quartet see DEBUSSY
Laura
ROSSI The
Battle of the Somme (2008) Philharmonia
O/Nic Raine rec. 2008 VIRTUOSA
RECORDS VRCD001 [67:27] [GD]
Considerable
appeal to the classical music collector ... see Full
Review
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2 A-B] [Part 3
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[Part 6 Misc A-L]
[Part 7 Misc M-Z]
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