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Berlioz's Les Troyens from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
7th Oct 2013
Sir David McVicar’s 2012 production packs some serious magic thanks to Es Devlin’s breathtaking sets and fiercely committed performances from Eva-Maria Westbroek, Bryan Hymel and Anna Caterina Antonacci in the three main roles.
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Berlioz: Les Troyens (DVD)
Bryan Hymel (Énée), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Didon), Anna Caterina Antonacci (Cassandre), Fabio Capitanucci (Chorebe), Hanna Hipp (Anna), Brindley Sherratt (Narbal), Ed Lyon (Hylas), Ji-min Park (Iopas) Royal Opera House, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir David McVicar
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New Verdi releases from Jonas Kaufmann and others
16th Sep 2013
The German tenor brings ‘nuanced psychological drama* to a collection of portraits including a foretaste of Otello, whilst Thomas Hampson is profoundly moving as a ‘care-worn and conflicted’ Simon Boccanegra.
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Arias for countertenor/male soprano from Fagioli, Hansen, and Jaroussky
9th Sep 2013
Argentine sopranist Fagioli scales the high Cs in a jaw-dropping recital of arias penned for the notorious star castrato Caffarelli, whilst Jaroussky explores music written by for his rival Farinelli by their mutual singing-teacher Nicola Porpora.
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Dame Janet Baker celebrates her eightieth birthday
19th Aug 2013
Curated to mark the great English mezzo's birthday, this 20-disc set from EMI includes classic recordings of music by Berlioz, Elgar, Mahler and Schubert as well as previously-unreleased material including Monteverdi and Scarlatti with Raymond Leppard.
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Verdi arias from Anna Netrebko
12th Aug 2013
The Russian soprano marks the composer’s bicentenary with arias and scenes from Don Carlo, Macbeth, Il trovatore, Giovanna d’Arco and I vespri siciliani in a recital which reveals a voice reaching glorious full bloom.
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Dame Janet Baker at 80
25th Jul 2013
In the lead-up to her eightieth birthday, the great English mezzo reflects on her career.
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Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration Concert
22nd Jul 2013
The American summer festival celebrates its three-quarter century in eclectic fashion, with Haydn from Emanuel Ax, Bernstein from the Boston Pops Orchestra, Ravel from Andris Nelsons, and excerpts from The Great American Songbook from James Taylor.
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Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration (DVD)
Peter Serkin (piano), Yo-Yo Ma (cello & director), Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Emanuel Ax (piano), James Taylor (vocals & guitar) Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Boston Pops Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, David Zinman, Keith Lockhart, Andris Nelsons, Stefan Astbury, John Williams
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Handel Chandos Anthems from Stephen Layton and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge
8th Jul 2013
Transparent textures and stylish but unfussy phrasing are the order of the day in these buoyant accounts of the anthems which Handel composed during his year-long musical residency at the home of James Brydges, the Paymaster General during the War of Spanish Succession.
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Cecilia Bartoli sings Bellini’s Norma
20th May 2013
Giovanni Antonini recreates Bellini’s masterpiece as it would have been heard at its 1831 premiere, with period instruments, a light soprano Adalgisa, and a high mezzo in the formidable title-role – Bartoli, radiating neurotic intensity and raw pathos as the infanticidal Druid priestess.
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Ian Bostridge sings Britten songs
29th Apr 2013
The tenor brings formidable musical intelligence to the Michelangelo Sonnets, Who are these children?, Winter Words and the Hölderlin Fragments (with Antonio Pappano), and is joined by guitarist Xuefei Yang for Songs from the Chinese.
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Pappano conducts Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle
22nd Apr 2013
So theatrical that you can practically smell the greasepaint, Rossini’s ‘old man’s folly’ receives luxury treatment from the conductor and his Roman orchestra, with Marina Rebeka, Sara Mingardo, Francesco Meli and Alex Esposito making up a full-blooded operatic solo quartet.
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Julia Lezhneva: Alleluia
1st Apr 2013
The young Russian soprano makes her solo debut on Decca with cantatas by Handel, Mozart, Porpora and Vivaldi which showcase her scintillating coloratura, tonal clarity and warmth, and radiant middle register; Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini accompany with panache.
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Moeran Cello Concerto from Guy Johnston
25th Mar 2013
Eloquent yet never saccharine, the British cellist is a wonderful ambassador for Moeran’s 1945 concerto, written for his wife-to-be Peers Coetmore and shot through with glimpses of Britten, Vaughan Williams and Walton.
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JS Bach: St John Passion from Polyphony and Layton
18th Feb 2013
The crowd-scenes crackle with terrifying energy and Ian Bostridge’s volatile Evangelist brings great narrative momentum, whilst Iestyn Davies and Richard Tunnicliffe’s eloquence in ‘Es ist vollbracht’ is worth the price of the set alone.
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Wagner from Jonas Kaufmann and others
11th Feb 2013
Gergiev conducts an electrifying Walküre starring René Pape as Wotan, Nina Stemme as his rebel daughter, and Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Kampe as the Walsung Twins; Kaufmann’s solo album of opera scenes and the Wesendock-Lieder, meanwhile, is the best thing he’s ever done.
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James Gilchrist on Britten
1st Feb 2013
The English tenor discusses his new recording of the Serenade for tenor, horn and strings with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, out now on Channel Classics.
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I was glad: Sacred Music by Stanford & Parry
28th Jan 2013
Robert King and his Consort present lavish orchestrations (on period instruments) of Parry’s Te Deum, I was glad, Blest Pair of Sirens and Jerusalem, and four of Stanford’s canticle settings, with Carolyn Sampson and David Wilson-Johnson as soloists.
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Little Britten
14th Jan 2013
Cellist Matthew Barley marks the centenary of the composer’s birth with a recital centring on the Third Cello Suite, whilst Edward Higginbottom and The Choir of New College Oxford bring a vital, pleasingly rough-round-the-edges approach that recalls Britten’s own children’s choirs to the scared choral music.
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Looking ahead to 2013 - Verdi, Britten and Wagner
24th Dec 2012
Previews of boxed sets and new recordings marking next year’s three significant anniversaries, including The Rape of Lucretia from Oliver Knussen (starring Ian Bostridge and Angelika Kirchschlager), Wagner scenes from Jonas Kaufmann, and a comprehensive Verdi collection from EMI Classics.
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Alexandre Tharaud: Le Boeuf sur le toit
26th Nov 2012
The French pianist and friends (including Natalie Dessay, Madeleine Peyroux, Juliette and Bénabar) get together for a joyous compendium of music by regular visitors to the eponymous Parisian nightclub during the 1920s, including Ravel, Milhaud, and Clément Doucet.
