CD Review - 09/08/2008

Andrew McGregor introduces some of the best recordings. Including: Ste COLOMBE: Concert à deux violes égales (“Le retrouvé)* from disc Tombeau pour M de Colombe et autres portraits (c/w STE COLOMBE: Prélude (du manuscrit de Tournus); MARIN MARAIS: Tombeau pour Mr. De Ste Colombe; J.B FORQUERAY: La Laborde; La Rameau; La Leclair; DENIS GAUTIER: Tombeau de Gautier; J.B Forqueray: La Forqueray; J.P RAMEAU: La Rameau; VIEUX GAUTIER: Les Larmes de Boesset, Courrante; J.B FORQUERAY: La Couperin; J.P RAMEAU: La Forqueray; MARIN MARAIS: Tombeau pour Mr Lully; La Marianne) Ensemble Spirale: Marianne Muller (viola da gamba/director)*, Emily Audouin (bass viola da gamba)*, Violaine Cochard (harpsichord), Claire Antonini (theorbo and lute), Charles Edouard Fantin (guitar and lute) Zig Zag Territoires ZZT080302 (CD) GERSHWIN: Porgy and Bess (Live recording – Titiana Palast, Berlin, 21st September 1952) Leontyne Price (Bess), William Warfield (Porgy), Cab Calloway (Sporting Life), John McCurry (Crown), Joseph James (Jake), Helen Colbert (Clara), Howard Roberts (Robbins), Helen Thigpen (Serena), Leslie Scott (Jim), Moses Lamar (Frazier), William Weasey (Undertaker), Walter Riemann (Detective), Helen Dowdy (Strawberry woman), Ray Yates (Crab man), Eva Jessye Choir, RIAS Unterhaltungsorchester, Alexander Smallens (conductor) Guild Historical GHCD231314 (2 CDs, Mid Price) LEOPOLD GODOWSKY: Symphonic Metamorphosis on Die Fledermaus from disc Strauss Transcriptions and other waltzes (c/w Symphonic Metamorphosis on Künstlerleben after Johann Strauss II; from Walzermasken; from Triakontameron; Symphonic Metamorphosis on Wein, Weib und Gesang; The Last Waltz – Oscar Strauss, idealised version by Godowsky) Marc-André Hamelin (piano) Hyperion CDA67626 (CD) SALIERI: De profundis clamavit from disc Musik der Wiener Hofkapelle (Music of the Viennese Court Chapel) (c/w JOSEPH LEOPOLD VON EYBLER: Omnes de Saba venient; JOHANN VON HERBECK: Pueri concinite; ANTONIO SALIERI: Veni Sancte spiritus; MOZART: Sub tuum praesisium KV 198; MICHAEL HAYDN: Alleluja in die resurrectionis; JOHANN JOSEPH FUX: Laudate Pueri ‘Sit nomen domini’; JOSEPH LEOPOLD VON EYBLER: Terra tremuit; SCHUBERT: Totus in corde langueo Op. 46 D136; MOZART: Regina Coeli KV 276; SCHUBERT: Auguste iam celestium D488; MOZART: Ave Verum Corpus KV 618; BENEDIKT RANDHARTINGER: Cantate Domino) Lenneke Ruiten (soprano), Johannes Martin Kränzle (baritone), Daniel Behle (tenor), Christina Georg (mezzo-soprano), WDR Rundfunchor und orchester Köln; Helmuth Froschauer (conductor) Phoenix Edition 112 (CD) MOZART: Symphony No. 35 in D major K. 385 “Haffner” (c/w Symphony No. 29 in A major K. 201; Symphony No. 33 in B flat major, K. 319; Symphony No. 38 in D major, K. 504 “Prague”; Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 “Jupiter”) Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado (conductor) Archiv Produktion 477 7598 (2 CDs, Mid Price) WAGNER: The Mastersingers of Nuremberg (from a live BBC Broadcast, 10th February 1968 at Sadler’s Wells Theatre) Margaret Curphey (soprano), Ann Robson (mezzo-soprano), Alberto Remedios (tenor), Gregory Dempsey (tenor), Norman Bailey (bass-baritone), Noel Mangin (bass), Derek Hammond Stroud (baritone), Stafford Dean (bass), Sadlers Wells Chorus & Opera Orchestra, Reginald Goodall (conductor) Chandos CHAN3148 (4 CDs, Mid Price) WAGNER: Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle) (recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in September and October 1957) Das Rheingold: Hans Hotter, Otakar Krauss, Erich Witt, Kurt Böhme; Die Walküre: Birgit Nilsson, Hans Hotter, Sylvia Fisher, Ramón Vinay; Siegfried: Wolfgang Windgassen, Hans Hotter, Peter Klein, Birgit Nilsson; Götterdämmerung: Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Kurt Böhme, Hermann Uhde Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Rudolf Kempe (conductor) Mono Recording Testament SBT131426 (13 CDs, Budget) RAMEAU: Castor et Pollux (suite) (c/w JEAN-FÉRY REBEL: Les Élémens) L’Orfeo Barockorchester, Michi Gaigg (conductor) Phoenix Edition 110 (Hybrid SACD)