Latest News: Classical, Warner Classics (label)
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Recording of the Week,
Rossini’s William Tell 11th July 2011
Gerald Finley is the sharp-shooting Swiss hero on Antonio Pappano’s absorbing account of Rossini’s opera, with John Osborn sounding effortless in the taxing high role of Arnaud, and Malin Byström an expressive Mathilde.
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Recording of the Week,
New DVDs from Glyndebourne 23rd May 2011
South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo is endearing and compelling in the title-role of Billy Budd (directed by Michael Grandage), whilst Gerald Finley is an elegantly rakish Don Giovanni in Jonathan Kent’s 1950s staging.
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Recording of the Week,
Rachmaninov's Second Symphony 28th March 2011
Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia bring unrivaled passion and commitment to the 1907 symphony in this live recording made in Rome in 2009.
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Recording of the Week,
Kate Royal: A Lesson in Love 14th February 2011
The British soprano and Malcolm Martineau present an eclectic programme of German, French, American and Italian songs tracing a young girl’s first love-affair, including music by Debussy, Liszt, Wolf, Schumann and Bolcom.
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Recording of the Week,
Simon Rattle's new Mahler 2 7th February 2011
24 years after his landmark recording of the ‘Resurrection’ Symphony with Dame Janet Baker and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Rattle returns to the piece with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Kate Royal and Magdalena Kožená.
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Recording of the Week,
The Three Baroque Tenors 25th October 2010
Ian Bostridge explores music which was tailor-made for John Beard, Francesco Borosini and Annibale Po Fabri, including arias by Handel, Arne, Boyce, Caldara and Alessandro Scarlatti and accompanied by The English Concert.
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Recording of the Week,
Thomas Adès 1st March 2010
Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker (who commissioned the piece) in Tevot, premiered in 2007, and the composer himself conducts the violin concerto Concentric Paths, with its dedicatee Anthony Marwood as soloist.
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Recording of the Week,
Rattle conducts Brahms 31st August 2009
The ‘incredible warmth and beauty of sound’ which Rattle coaxes from the Berliner Philharmoniker in the four symphonies echoes the achievement of their Gramophone award-winning recording of Ein deutsches Requiem in 2007.
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Recording of the Week,
A&R and Kate Royal's Midsummer Night 11th May 2009
The British soprano and Kathleen Ferrier Award winner’s second recording for EMI Classics includes opera arias by Walton, Stravinsky, Britten, Korngold and Dvořák, all on a nocturnal theme.
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Recording of the Week,
Angela Gheorghiu in Puccini's Madama Butterfly 2nd March 2009
The Romanian soprano assumes the role of the tragic teenage geisha for the first time, with Jonas Kaufmann as the American naval officer who abandons her, and Antonio Pappano conducting.
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Recording of the Week,
Time to re-evaluate Miaskovsky 2nd June 2008
A 16-CD of the Russian composer’s complete symphonies and orchestral works gives Chris a chance to explore the remarkable legacy of the ‘father of the Soviet symphony’.
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Recording of the Week,
Nigel Kennedy 14th April 2008
The maverick violinist impresses in ‘rhythmically driven and playful’ Beethoven, but fails to convince in a Mozart concerto which sees him take up an electric violin for the cadenza…
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Recording of the Week,
Ingrid Fliter 31st March 2008
The Gilmore Award-winning Argentine pianist makes her EMI debut with an all-Chopin recital which showcases her ‘contrasts of tonal colours, dynamic range and lyricism’.
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Recording of the Week,
Natalie Clein and the Elgar Cello Concerto 24th September 2007
The 1994 BBC Young Musician of the Year records the concerto which propelled her to victory with Vernon Handley and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Recording of the Week,
Kate Royal 3rd September 2007
The English soprano’s debut album on EMI includes songs by Strauss, Rodrigo, Granados and Canteloube, plus extracts from works by Ravel, Stravinsky and Debussy.
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Recording of the Week,
Haydn - the most underrated great composer 30th July 2007
An ‘uplifting, overwhelming, charming and comforting’ account of Haydn’s most popular oratorio, sung in a new English adaptation, with soloists including Miah Persson and Mark Padmore.
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Recording of the Week,
Strauss's Four Last Songs 19th March 2007
A new recording of Strauss’s late reflections on mortality from EMI’s new signing, Swedish dramatic soprano Nina Stemme, stands comparison with the very best.
