Recordings

15394 1
Karl Böhm conducts Le nozze di Figaro, Royal Festival Hall 1954 [ICA Classics]
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Well, this is a fascinating listen for many reasons. Firstly, a mention should be made about the provenance of the source, which derives from the domestic archive of Richard Itter,...
15378 1
Murray Perahia plays Beethoven – Hammerklavier & Moonlight Sonatas [Deutsche Grammophon]
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Murray Perahia opens the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata serenely and softly (well he does if you go to track five, otherwise the unassuming listener gets the bold opening of the ‘Hammerklavier’, a...
15377 1
The Gesualdo Six – English Motets [Hyperion]
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Founded in 2014 by Owain Park, The Gesualdo Six are young male singers largely drawn from Oxbridge College choirs. This impressive debut recording is a compilation of English Renaissance polyphony...
15356 1
Andrew Davis conducts Arthur Bliss – The Beatitudes [BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra; Chandos]
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The consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in 1962, replacing the fifteenth-century building destroyed during World War Two, was marked by the commissioning and premieres of works from three of...
15400 1
Thomas Dausgaard conducts Brahms – Symphony 2, Haydn Variations [Swedish Chamber Orchestra; BIS]
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Thomas Dausgaard is rather impatient and restless with the first movement of the Symphony; all over in seventeen minutes including the exposition repeat. The lean timbres of the Swedish Chamber...
15355 1
Krystian Zimerman plays Schubert – Piano Sonatas D959 & D960 [Deutsche Grammophon]
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A snug fit albeit with never the suggestion of tempos being adjusted to accommodate these large-scale Piano Sonatas (Schubert’s penultimate and ultimate) on a single disc; nor is there any...
15354 1
Handel’s Last Prima Donna: Giulia Frasi in London – Ruby Hughes/OAE/Laurence Cummings [Chandos Chaconne]
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This release follows the now tried and tested formula of a programme which demonstrates the character and abilities of a star singer from the past, through the roles originally written...
15349 1
Sir Thomas Beecham & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [ICA Classics]
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Taken from concerts at different times and in different venues it is not surprising that these radio recordings preserved by Richard Itter, sixty or more years in age, are variable...
15339 1
Edward Gardner conducts William Walton – Sonata for String Orchestra, Partita, and James Ehnes plays the Viola Concerto [Chandos]
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Too fast! That’s an observation I could make several times here. As welcome as William Walton’s music always is, these performances, however skilled and however produced and recorded to the...
15338 1
Jacqueline du Pré, Mstislav Rostropovich, Galina Vishnevskaya, Jean Martinon, Carlo Maria Giulini – 1962 [ICA Classics]
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The latest (April) batch of the “Itter Broadcast Collection” series from ICA Classics includes Karl Böhm conducting The Marriage of Figaro in 1954 and a four-CD Beecham collection (reviews of...
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