Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - December 2017
Our Boxing Day picks include a bumper box of baroque masterworks by leading specialists such as Le Concert Spirituel, Café Zimmermann, MusicAeterna and Café Zimmermann, an impressive Shostakovich cycle from Tatarstan, and collected editions of two well-received series on Hänssler: Gerhard Oppitz's complete Schubert piano works and Thomas Fey's Mendelssohn symphonies with the Heidelberger Sinfoniker.
Les maîtres du Baroque
Le Concert Spirituel, Gli Incogniti, Pygmalion, Cafe Zimmermann, MusicAeterna, Vincent Dumestre, Teodor Currentzis, Hervé Niquet
A compendium of baroque gems in top-notch performances, including Vivaldi’s Gloria from Le Concert Spirituel and Hervé Niquet, The Four Seasons from Gli Incogniti and Amandine Beyer, JS Bach’s Mass in B minor by Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon, and the Brandenburg Concertos by Café Zimmermann.
Available Format: 18 CDs
Fey’s acclaimed Mendelssohn cycle (including the string symphonies as well as those for full orchestra) now appears in one 6-disc set; Volume Four was Radio 3’s ‘Building a Library’ first choice for the Reformation Symphony, whilst Volume Three won praise from International Record Review for its ‘ bracing exuberance’.
Available Formats: 6 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Five complete live recordings of ‘La Divina’ from the 1950s: Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor, Norma, La Traviata, and Cherubini’s Medea, plus a selection of ‘rarities and oddities’ (including Callas performing a duet with her dog!) spanning her entire performing career.
Available Formats: 12 CDs, MP3, FLAC
This box brings together all twelve volumes of German pianist’s Schubert series, which has won praise from critics for its ‘musical and sonorous beauty’ (International Record Review), ‘full, deep tone…and meticulous voicing’ (Gramophone), and ‘affectionate interpretations’ (BBC Music Magazine).
Available Formats: 12 CDs, MP3, FLAC
A 10-CD collection spanning almost three centuries of concerti; includes favourite examples of the genre by Vivaldi, Telemann, Haydn and Hummel, plus comparative rarities by composers such as Francesco Manfredini, Johann Melchior Molter and Richard Mudge.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Released in anticipation of the conductor’s 75th birthday on 14th January, this 5-CD set features complete performances of Brahms’s Fourth Symphony, Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, Strauss’s Alpensinfonie and Vier letzte Lieder (with Anja Harteros), Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and Varèse’s Amériques.
Available Formats: 5 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Baroque Recorder Concerto - An Anthology
La Stagione Frankfurt, Cappella Academica, Camerata Köln, Michael Schneider
Vivaldi, Telemann and Alessandro Scarlatti each receive a dedicated disc on this 6-CD collection from German recorder virtuoso Michael Schneider; the remaining three CDs are devoted to concertos of the German, Italian and English baroque respectively, including works by Vinci, Tartini, Hasse, Graupner, Robert Woodcock, John Baston and William Babell.
Available Format: 6 CDs
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
