Anna Oz (1996)

Schutz’s Weinachtshistorie is a magnificent Christmas counterpart to the Passion, and one can perhaps understand that during his lifetime the composer would only permit musicians of a certain standard to perform it in its entirety. The present recording is in most respects excellent. The choir are on very good form, bright, perfectly tuned (listen to Intermedium II, “The Multitude”, for example, or the vigorous characterization of the Magi in Intermedium IV), the instrumental contributions are discreet but vigorous when necessary, and the soloists all good. Paul Agnew is, I feel, a little matter of fact at the beginning, but seems to warm up as the work progresses (always a dangerous thing to say since, for all one knows, the work may have been recorded entirely in reverse order, but that is the impression given).

‘Faramondo’ was produced in 1738 at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket after the collapse of the rival Opera of the Nobility. This means that, unlike some of his Covent Garden operas which were produced whilst his rivals performed at the King’s Theatre, ‘Faramondo’ was written for a superb cast which included the bass Antonio Montagnana sang the role of King Gustavo and the castrato Carestini (making his London debut) in the title role. Writing for such fine singers means that Handel takes for granted the ability to sing virtuoso passages. In fact, singers would have expected to be able to display their talents in the requisite number of arias. These arias were crafted (or fine tuned) once the cast was known, so that they take advantage of the best points of a singer’s voice. King Gustavo’s arias takes good advantage of Montagnana’s amazing range and all the singers would have expected the divisions to lie in the best part of their voices.

The Complete Lost Lennon Tapes is a 22-CD bootleg box set, released by Walrus Records. The main goal of this set was to condense everything from the existing Lost Lennon Tapes bootleg series, which had only been released on vinyl, onto CDs…

Between 2020 and 2023, Anna Fedorova released all of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concertos together with the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen and Modestas Pitrenas on Channel Classics Records. BBC Music Magazine gave five star reviews for Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1, Preludes, and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini as well as Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 4, noting that "Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova is clearly not only a fine human being … but also a remarkable artist".

This is a release where contemporary pop grooves predominate, while her 1993 release, Maracanã, was a very delicate and swinging Brazilian music album. Jobim tunes coexist with songs by Caetano Veloso, Jorge Benjor, and Gilberto Gil, with international hits by Bacharach and Stevie Wonder providing additional support. Echoes of contemporary street music such as hip-hop can be caught here and there over a pervasive fusion treatment immediately reminiscent of the '70s. Anna Caram is a good singer. She chose to interpret a dance repertoire interspersed with romantic bossas in a straightforward pop album with no instrumental solos.