This month's heavyweights include Michael Tilson Thomas's complete recordings on Deutsche Grammophon and Argo, a 150th anniversary anthology of music by Charles Ives (in recordings by artists including Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy and John Kirkpatrick), a twentieth-birthday box from Belgian early music ensemble Vox Luminis, and a celebration of Sir Colin Davis's relationship with the Concertgebouworkest.
Including many first-ever digital transfers, this collection comprises newly remastered albums of 21 pianists from the analogue era. A young Vladimir Ashkenazy is captured live at the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, and Belgian pianist Michel Block (whose low placing provoked juror Arthur Rubinstein to award him a special prize in his name) is caught at the same competition five years later. There are also DG debut albums from David Lively, Alexander Lonquich and Ewa Poblocka (all still performing today), and recitals from three pianists who died whilst their stars were still in the ascendant: Dino Ciani, Youri Egorov and Steven De Groote, none of whom reached their fortieth birthdays.
Available Format: 22 CDs
Warner Classics marks the fiftieth anniversary of Oistrakh's death with this set of his complete catalogue on the HMV and Columbia (remastered in HD from the original sources) plus a thirty discs of rare audio and video recordings including a number of world premiere releases; the latter have been unearthed by veteran film-maker and violinist Bruno Monsaingeon, whose 1996 documentary David Oistrakh: Artist of the People? rounds off the collection.
Available Format: 61 CDs
This sequel to BR Klassik's 2019 Portrait set (released to mark the Dutch conductor's ninetieth birthday) features Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (with Sally Matthews, Gerhild Romberger, Mark Padmore and Gerald Finley), Bruckner's Te Deum and Symphonies Nos. 4, 7 and 8, Dvořák's and Mahler's Symphonies No. 7, and Shostakovich's Symphonies Nos. 8 and 15. Haitink first conducted the orchestra in 1958, and maintained a close relationship with them for the next six decades.
Available Format: 9 CDs
This collection commemorating the centenary of Gabriel Fauré's death includes solo piano works from Jean-Philippe Collard, Éric Heidsieck and Jean Hubeau, the cello sonatas from Paul Tortelier, accounts of the Requiem from Michel Corboz and David Hill, the Suite de Pelleas et Melisande from Michel Plasson, and mélodies from Dame Janet Baker, Gérard Souzay, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Nicolai Gedda and Régine Crespin.
Available Format: 26 CDs
The most comprehensive collection of music by Luigi Boccherini currently available, this set features a selection of symphonies from the New Berlin Chamber Orchestra and Michael Erxleben, the cello concertos from Enrico Bronzi and the Accademia i Filarmonici di Verona, the violin sonatas from Igor Ruhadze and Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya, string quartets and the Stabat Mater from Ensemble Symposium, and the guitar quintets from Eros Roselli and La Magnifica Comunità.
Available Format: 52 CDs
Limited to 1000 copies, this 17-LP, 180-gram vinyl edition was designed by American artist Robert Longo and includes introductory notes for each symphony as well as in-depth essays by Stephen Johnson and Barbara Vinken. The featured conductors are Daniel Harding (No. 1), Andris Nelsons (No. 2), Gustavo Dudamel (Nos. 3 & 5), Yannick Nézet-Séguin (No. 4), Kirill Petrenko (No. 6), Sir Simon Rattle (Nos. 7 & 8), Bernard Haitink (No. 9), and Claudio Abbado (the Adagio from No. 10).
Available Format: 17 Vinyl Records
