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MusicWeb Recommended Recordings 2007

DISCS OF THE YEAR 2007

Alphabetical Listing

PART 7
Misc. M-Z

[Click here for the most recent reviews (last five days)]
Click for alphabetical listings by composer:
[Part 1 New] [Part 2 A-B] [Part 3 C-L]
[Part 4 M-R] [Part 5 S-Z]
[Part 6 Misc A-L] [Part 7 Misc M-Z]
[Recommended recordings]

 

Price symbols (used in reviews from Friday 14th onwards)
Superbudget £5.99 or less Budget £6-7.99 Medium £8-10.99 Full price £11+


Gabriela Montero (piano) Baroque - Music by Alejandro SANZ (b.1968), Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741), Johann PACHELBEL (1653-1706), Georg Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759), Gabriela MONTERO, Tomaso ALBINONI (1671-1750) and Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750) Gabriela Montero (piano) rec. 2007 EMI CLASSICS 5148382 [52:39][JW]

Enjoyable and unusual fare ... see Full Review

Misa Pastorela de Callosa de Segura Camerata Amicitia; Coro de la Fundación Pajares Salinas/Balbina Serna Huertas rec. 2006 RTVE MUSICA 65270 [42:43] [GPu]

Both a valuable document and very pleasant listening, strongly recommended to the musically  curious … see Full Review

Music for Tudor Kings: Henry VII & Henry VIII Hilliard Ensemble, New London Consort/Phil Pickett ALTO ALC1015 [77:15][MG]

Well balanced performances illuminate an area still not well represented on disc … see Full Review

Musical Kaleidoscope: Volume 2 rec. various locations, 1946-1956 GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD 5140 [78:18] [JS]

A few enjoyable and memorable pieces but all too many merely ordinary. ... see Full Review

Odyssey Includes Joaquin TURINA (1882-1949) Sevillana Carlo DOMENICONI (b. 1947) Koyunbaba Nikita KOSHKIN (b. 1956) Merlin’s Dream Yuquijiro YOCOH Sakura Alejandro Nunez ALLAUCA (b 1943) Koribeni No. 2 Alexander-Sergei Ramirez (guitar) rec. March 2003 DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4742082 [ZT]

An entertaining, diverse programme, coupled with outstanding musicianship and technical mastery … see Full Review

The Organ of Buckingham Palace Ballroom Music by Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750, Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958), Felix MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY (1809-1847), Théodore DUBOIS (1837-1924)    and Noel RAWSTHORNE (b.1929)  Joseph Nolan (organ) rec. 2006 SIGNUM SIGCD114 [48.24][CB]

Reducing the first recording of such an important instrument to commercially acceptable gift-shop fodder ... see Full Review

Organ Fireworks XII Dietrich BUXTEHUDE (c.1637–1707) Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne, Prelude and Fugue Petr EBEN (1929–2007) Hommage à Buxtehude Niels Wilhelm GADE (1817–1890) Tone Piece Joseph RHEINBERGER (1839–1901) Fantasia on ‘Tonus Peregrinus’ Louis VIERNE (1870–1937) Carillon de Westminste Marcel DUPRÉ (1886–1971) Prelude and Fugue Johannes BRAHMS (1833–1897) Academic Festival Overture (arr. Lemare) Sigfrid KARG-ELERT (1877–1933) Passacaglia and Fugue on B.A.C.H. Christopher Herrick rec. 2007 Hyperion CDA67612 [BW]

Another excellent recording in this excellent series ... see Full Review

Luciano Pavarotti - The EMI Recordings EMI CLASSICS 5 13937 2
[7 CDs: 62:32 + 30:28 + 64:32 + 35:32 + 76:46 + 48:36 + 39:13] [GF][ST]

Pavarotti’s many admirers will need no encouragement but it should also be of interest to a larger public.[GF] Fascinating and always entertaining … any lover of Pavarotti’s remarkable voice should have it [ST]... see Full Review

Paysages Jules MASSENET (1842-1912) Scènes Alsaciennes (1881) [23:20] Gustave CHARPENTIER (1860-1956) Impressions d’Italie (1891) [35:58] Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) Suite Algérienne Op 60 (1879) [18:13] Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice/Marco Guidarini rec. March 2007, Diacosme Hall, Nice, France. TALENT DOM 2929 106 [77:46] [JS]

For a combination of good craftsmanship with real inspiration one has to go no further than the Saint-Saëns ... see Full Review

In Perfect Peace Göteborg Brass Band/Dr Nicholas Childs rec. 2005-7 DOYEN DOYCD233 [63:19][TP]

A distinctive sound that we will not hear again ... see Full Review

Michael Rabin (violin) Henryk WIENIAWSKI (1835-1880) Violin Concerto No 2 in D minor Op.22 (1870) [23:49] ¹ Moto Perpetuo Op.11 [3:18] ² Niccolò PAGANINI (1782-1840) Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op.6 (c. 1817-1818) [29:13] ¹ Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) Introduction et Rondo capriccioso (1863) [9:37] ² Grigoras DINICU (1889 – 1949) Hora Staccato (1906) arranged Jascha Heifetz [1:55] ² Pablo de SARASATE (1844-1908) Zigeunerweisen – Gypsy Airs Op.20 (1878) [9:24] ² Michael Rabin (violin) Philharmonia Orchestra/Eugene Goossens ¹ Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra/Felix Slatkin ² rec. Studio No.1, Abbey Road, London, May 1960 (Concertos) and Samuel Goldwyn Studios, Hollywood, September 1959 (remainder) MEDICI MM023-2 [77:56] [JW]

Fireworks lit with sensitive panache … you cannot fail to be won over by Rabin’s assured brilliance ... see Full Review

Romances for Saxophone and Orchestra Joanna BRUZDOWICZ Largo for soprano saxophone and string orchestra (1991) [3:58] David MORGAN Three Vignettes for alto saxophone and string orchestra (2005) [27:35] Subaram RAMAN (b. 1986) Aria for alto saxophone and string orchestra [8:11] Wojciech KILAR (b.1932) Vocalise (1997) [4:24] Heitor VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959) Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 (Aria only) for saxophone and cellos [6:54] Alan HOVHANESS (1911-2000) Concerto for saxophone and string orchestra op. 344 (1980) [24:31] James LEATHERBARROW Don Quixote in Love for soprano saxophone and orchestra (2004) [9:58] Eugene BOZZA (1905-1991) Aria (1936) [4:47] Greg Banaszak (soprano and alto saxophones) Beethoven Academy Orchestra/Piotr Borkowski rec. 7-9 July 2006, Krakow Concert Hall, DDD CENTAUR CRC 2889-90 [49:59 + 39:16] [RB]

Melodic tonal music for saxophone and orchestra ... see Full Review

Andrés Segovia - 1950s American Recordings Volume 3 Includes works by Jean-Delphin ALARD (1815–1888) Francisco TÁRREGA (1852–1909) Isaac ALBENIZ (1860–1909) Julián AGUIRRE (1868–1924) Joaquín MALATS (1872–1912) Manuel PONCE (1882–1948) Oscar ESPLÁ (1886–1976) Andrés Segovia (guitar) rec. 1952-6 NAXOS 8.111091 [GF]

I can’t imagine anything on this disc more idiomatically played ... see Full Review

Joseph Schmidt (tenor) Arias and Songs (1929-1936 recordings) Joseph Schmidt (tenor) rec. 1929–1936 NAXOS 8.111318-19 [79:21 + 79:27][GF]

Joseph Schmidt may not be a name in the same carat as Caruso, Gigli, Melchior but his art is on their level ... see Full Review

Sonate e Concerti – Chamber Music of the 18th Century William CORBETT (1680-1748) Sonata Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750) Sonata Gottfried FINGER (c.1660-1730) Sonata Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741) Concerto attrib. Johann Joachim QUANTZ ? (1697-1773) Concerto Johann Christian BACH (1735-1782) Quintet Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (1671-1751) Concerto Leipziger Bach-Collegium/Ludwig Güttler rec. 2007 CARUS 83.415 [58:33] [BW]

Thoroughly enjoyable music in stimulating performances to please all but hardened trumpet-haters ... see Full Review

Trombone Concertos by Leopold MOZART (1719-1787), Christian GOUINGUENÉ (b. 1941), Johann Michael HAYDN (1737-1806) and Alexandre GUILMANT (1837-1911) Armin Rosin (trombone); Kammerorchester/Philippe Entremont rec. 1976-9 WARNER APEX 2564617932 [53:50][JS]

Worth having for the Guilmant and Michael Haydn ... see Full Review

Unrivaled! Legendary Musicians in rare film footage with sound Emanuel Feuermann (cello), Josef Hofmann (piano), Mindru Katz (piano), Felix Weingartner conducts the Paris Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Marian Anderson (contralto), Art Tatum (piano), George Gershwin (piano) CEMBAL D’AMOUR DVD123 [58:25][JW]

Inquisitive, visually minded souls should seek out these films ... see Full Review

 

BOOK REVIEWS

Michael William BALFE A Unique Victorian Composer Basil Walsh Publ. Irish Allied Press ISBN 978 0 7165 2947 7 pp.296 £32.75/33.25/33.75 postage paid

When I picked up this book I felt that I already knew a lot about Balfe. How wrong I was. ... see Full Review

Alun HODDINOTT - A Source Book compiled by Stewart R. Craggs ISBN 978-0-7546-0895-0 ASHGATE October 2007 248pp £55 [JF][RB]

A sturdy and reliable foundation for the future of Hoddinott’s music in the years to come ... see Full Review

 


[Click here for the most recent reviews (last five days)]
Click for alphabetical listings by composer:
[Part 1 New] [Part 2 A-B] [Part 3 C-L]
[Part 4 M-R] [Part 5 S-Z]
[Part 6 Misc A-L] [Part 7 Misc M-Z]
[Recommended recordings]


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