Next Friday sees the release of one of the most ambitious collections in recording history – a lavish compendium of the complete works of JS Bach curated by Deutsche Grammophon, with the co-operation of thirty other labels and produced in collaboration with the Leipzig Bach Archive. Smaller-scale October boxes include archive collections of Gregor Piatigorsky and Wilhelm Kempff, comprehensive surveys of the music of Hummel and François Couperin, and a budget reissue of René Jacobs’s treasurable accounts of the three Mozart/Da Ponte operas on Harmonia Mundi.
Spanning just over half of the Bavarian orchestra’s history (from a 1953 Knappertsbusch Eroica to Stravinsky and Rimsky Korsakov from Gergiev, recorded earlier this year), this 17-CD box includes Mozart from Zubin Mehta and Günter Wand, Reger and Brahms from Eugen Jochum, Prokofiev from Sergiu Celibidache, and Schubert from Christian Thielemann.
Available Format: 17 CDs
A 20-CD survey of Hummel’s output across all genres, including the opera Mathilde von Guise, the Missa Solemnis and Te Deum, seven discs of chamber music, and the concertos for piano, violin, mandolin, bassoon and trumpet. Also includes the complete piano sonatas from Costantino Mastroprimiano – you can read David’s interview with him about the project here.
Available Formats: FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
A 16-disc collection including the Leçons de Ténèbres with Sophie Daneman and Patricia Petibon, the complete keyboard music in a newly-released recording from veteran French harpsichordist Laurence Boulay, and remastered historical performances from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Lynn Harrell, Pinchas Zukerman and Georges Cziffra.
Available Formats: FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
