Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - May 2018
This month’s picks include a mammoth centenary tribute to Birgit Nilsson, the complete works of Leonard Bernstein from Deutsche Grammophon, two boxes celebrating the sixtieth birthday of Harmonia Mundi, and collections focusing on Esa-Pekka Salonen, Joseph Keilberth, Sir Neville Marriner, Rafael Kubelik, and Michala Petri.
Decca commemorate the centenary of the great Swedish dramatic soprano’s birth (which falls on Thursday) with a 79-CD box of 27 complete opera recordings, including Un ballo in maschera, Elektra and Salome under Sir Georg Solti, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Don Giovanni under Karl Böhm, and both conductors’ Ring Cycles, plus DVDs of Elektra at the Metropolitan Opera from 1980 and the acclaimed 1964 documentary The Golden Ring.
Available Format: 79 CDs + 2 DVD Videos
Joseph Keilberth: The Postwar Telefunken Recordings
Bamberger Symphoniker, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Joseph Keilberth
Released to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the German conductor’s death (which falls on 20th July), this 22-CD box includes the complete Brahms symphonies, Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel, and Don Juan, Mozart’s Haffner, Jupiter, Prague and Linz symphonies, and music by Reger, Hindemith, Smetana, Schubert, Bruckner and Dvořák.
Available Formats: 22 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Generation harmonia mundi Vol. 1: The Age of Revolutions
Deller Consort, Les Arts Florissants, Collegium Vocale Gent and others
Harmonia Mundi celebrate their sixtieth birthday with two limited-edition boxed sets, of which this first volume focuses on recordings made between 1958 and 1988: highlights include Purcell’s King Arthur, Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, Pergolesi’s Stabat mater, Schütz and Brahms motets, and collections of Italian madrigals and music from ancient Greece.
Available Format: 16 CDs
Generation harmonia mundi Vol. 2: The Family Spirit
Les Siècles, Freiburger Barockorchester, Pygmalion, Trio Wanderer and others
As well as numerous gems from the back catalogue (such as Andreas Scholl in Vivaldi) this retrospective on the label's past three decades also includes several very recent recordings such as Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Isabelle Faust, and François-Xavier Roth’s historically-informed account of Ravel's Ma mère l'Oye with Les Siècles, which was one of our April Recordings of the Week.
Available Format: 18 CDs
Sir Neville Marriner: The Stuttgart Recordings
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Sir Neville Marriner
This collection of recordings from the 1980s provides some fascinating glimpses of Marriner in Romantic and twentieth-century repertoire: includes the complete Schumann symphonies, Tchaikovsky’s orchestral suites, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Strauss’s Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel and Metamorphosen, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Piano Concerto and An American in Paris, and music by Honegger, Britten, Barber, Bernstein and Copland.
Available Formats: 15 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Debussy: His First Performers
Claude Debussy (piano), Alfred Cortot (piano), Pierre Monteux, Arturo Toscanini and others
The composer himself performs La soirée dans Grenade and partners Mary Garden (the creator of Mélisande) in three Ariettes Oubliées on this 10-CD collection of recordings made between 1904 and 1963; also includes Walter Gieseking in Suite Bergamasque, Images and the first book of Préludes, Toscanini conducting La mer, and Poulenc joining mezzo Claire Croiza for Il pleure dans mon coeur.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
