Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - September 2017
Another bumper month for veteran pianists, with large-scale birthday tributes to Paul Badura-Skoda (90 next month) and Vladimir Ashkenazy (who turned 80 in July), plus the most comprehensive incarnation yet of Glenn Gould's legendary 1955 Goldberg Variations, and a collection of Sviatoslav Richter's Beethoven recordings on Profil Medien.
For those of you who are organised enough to be thinking about Christmas presents already, there's also the perfect gift for opera-lovers in the form of a gorgeous collection of recent Covent Garden productions on DVD or Blu-ray (including David McVicar's beautiful Magic Flute, which several people have already been enquiring about following last night's big-screen showing of its latest revival), and two celebrations of great conductor-orchestra relationships - Sir Georg Solti's complete recordings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and a boxed set marking the tenth anniversary of Vladimir Jurowski's appointment as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
@[DG~4797589]("Captured between 1951 and 1987, these 70 CDs encompass almost all the recordings ever made by the quartet (founded 70 years ago and disbanded 40 years later), including their complete Beethoven cycle and substantial quantities of Brahms, Mozart, Haydn and Schubert. Distinguished guests include cellists William Pleeth and Robert Cohen, clarinettist Gervase de Peyer and pianist Clifford Curzon." "Amadeus Quartet: The Complete Recordings on DG + The Decca & Westminster Recordings")
A 7-CD box celebrating the Russian conductor’s ten-year anniversary as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra – all 22 recordings make their first appearance on CD, and include repertoire staples such as Brahms’s German Requiem and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe as well as rarities by Dargomyzhsky, Denisov, Kancheli, Taneyev, Zemlinsky and more.
Available Formats: 7 CDs, MP3, FLAC
This beautifully-documented set presents Gould’s legendary Goldbergs restored from the original ¼-inch analogue tapes and remastered using 24 bit / 96 kHz technology, as well as the final album on both CD and heavyweight 180g vinyl and a supplementary CD of Gould discussing the performances with American journalist Tim Page. Also includes a 280-page hardback book with previously-unreleased photographs from the sessions and a complete score of the work.
Available Format: 7 CDs + Vinyl Record + SACD
A 20-CD set of legendary chamber-music and orchestral performances, including Kirsten Flagstad’s farewell concert, Stravinsky and Walton conducting their own works, the Borodin Quartet in Borodin and Shostakovich, and Britten and Menuhin collaborating in Schubert and Debussy. Other featured artists include Arturo Toscanini, Myra Hess, Claudio Arrau, Andrés Segovia, Sir Thomas Beecham and Artur Rubinstein.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
15 outstanding productions from the past ten years, including the UK premiere of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, Kasper Holten’s Król Roger and Don Giovanni, Damiano Michieletto’s ‘Cav and Pag’, Richard Eyre’s much-loved Traviata with Renée Fleming and Joseph Calleja, and Francesca Zambello’s Carmen with Anna Catarina Antonacci and Jonas Kaufmann. Also includes a special edition hardback book with new articles and a lavish selection of production photographs.
Available Format: 22 DVD Videos
This 12-CD set includes the First and Third Piano Concertos, Diabelli and Eroica Variations, eighteen piano sonatas, and the complete cello sonatas with Mstislav Rostropovich.
Available Formats: 12 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
