End-of-year heavyweights include Erich Kleiber's complete recordings for Decca, Italian pianist Alessandro Marangoni's survey of Rossini's 'sins of old age', a boundary-crossing anthology of Yo-Yo Ma albums, and a thirtieth-anniversary celebration of the Praga label, featuring Czech chamber music from the Prazák and Kocian Quartets and Russian repertoire from Evgeny Mravinsky and the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.
Originally conceived as a 100th birthday celebration (Gitlis himself reviewed and approved all of the remasterings in the last years of his life), this collection now stands as a memorial to the great Israeli violinist, who died last December aged 98. Repertoire includes Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata with Martha Argerich, Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio 'In Memory of a Great Artist' with Steven Isserlis and Nelson Goerner, and concertos by Sibelius, Beethoven, Viotti, Paganini and Brahms.
Available Format: 9 CDs
Frescobaldi: Complete Unpublished Works for Harpsichord and Organ
Roberto Loreggian (harpsichord/organ)
Loreggian has impressive form with Frescobaldi's music, having already recorded the complete published keyboard works for Brilliant Classics. On this collection of unpublished toccatas, canzonas, correntes, sonatas and ricercares (discovered in manuscript collections across Europe) he showcases the special qualities of two superb Italian instruments: the modern Zanin organ of the Chiesa di Santa Caterina in Treviso and the sixteenth-century organ of the Basilica palatina di Santa Barbara in Mantova.
Available Formats: Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Made for RCA in the late 1990s and early 2000s, this collection of Chopin recordings from the Tunisian-born French pianist (who took fifth prize at the XI International Chopin Piano Competition in 1985) includes the piano/sextet version of the Piano Concerto No. 1, the solo piano version of the Andante spianato & Grande Polonaise, the Four Ballades, the Piano Sonata No. 3, and the complete mazurkas.
Available Format: 7 CDs
This anthology brings together nine acclaimed albums which testify to the American cellist's passion for thinking outside the classical box: the Cole Porter disc Anything Goes (featuring Stéphane Grappelli), Claude Bolling's Suite for Cello and Jazz Piano Trio, the Bobby McFerrin collaboration Hush, Appalachia Waltz, Appalachia Journey, the Piazzolla album Soul of the Tango, Obrigado Brazil, Silk Road Journeys, and Japanese Melodies.
Available Format: 9 CDs
Dmitri Alexeev's Scriabin series (begun in 2008) has been widely praised, with Fanfare recently musing that 'I would not be surprised to hear that Alexeev kept scores of Scriabin under his pillow' and Gramophone noting that 'his temperamental affinity...comes paired with sovereign command of colours and intonations (in the Russian sense of musical eloquence)'.
Available Formats: 8 CDs, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Haydn: Great Choral Works
Bach Collegium Stuttgart, Gachinger Kantorei Kammerchor Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling, Frieder Bernius
As well as complete CD recordings of The Creation (conducted by Helmuth Rilling, with soloists Christiane Schäfer, Michael Schade and Andreas Schmidt), The Seasons, The Seven Last Words of Christ, the 4 Responsoria de Venerabili and the Ave Regina, this set includes a bonus DVD of The Seasons, filmed in the early 1990s for German TV.
Available Formats: CD + DVD Video, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Made between 1935 and 1959, this collection of recordings from the French pianist and teacher includes Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and late piano sonatas, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 (with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Wilhelm Furtwängler), Debussy's La boîte à joujoux with Pierre Bertin, Roussel's Three Pieces Op. 49, and Dukas's Variations, Interlude et Finale sur un Thème de Rameau.
Available Formats: 5 CDs, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
