Boris Christoff, Nicolai Gedda, Kim Borg, Eugenia Zareska, Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française & Issay Dobrowen Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht's six suites of piano pieces entitled La Nursery are among the most unjustly neglected masterworks of French impressionism. All but the third and fourth suites first appeared in 1905 and undoubtedly provided direct inspiration for Claude Debussy's Children's Corner, composed in 1908 and likewise included as filler on this fine ATMA Classique disc featuring Canadian pianist Lise Boucher. These solo versions of Inghelbrecht's signature work have not appeared on compact disc before – the earliest versions of these works were intended as teaching pieces and were scored out for piano four-hands.

Édouard Lalo - Le Roi d'Ys - French Broadcasting Orchestra, André Cluytens (2018) {Erato-Warner Classics rec 1957, Mono}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 506 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 254 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 15 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957, 2018 Erato / Parlophone / Warner Classics | 0190295734855 | Mono
Classical / Romantic / Opera

Lalo’s Le Roi d’Ys draws on the same Breton myth of a submerged city as Debussy’s La Cathédrale engloutie. A great success at its 1888 premiere at Paris’s Opéra Comique, it even reached the Metropolitan Opera, New York, but its current rarity on the world’s stages makes this classic 1957 recording still more treasurable. The performers’ Gallic credentials are impeccable, even though both Rita Gorr and André Cluytens were natives of Flanders. Like soprano Janine Micheau and tenor Henri Legay, Cluytens enjoyed close links to the Opéra Comique, spending six years as its music director.

Yves Nat made most of his recordings near the end of his life, after he had been diagnosed with a fatal disease, long after he had ended his concert career. Knowing these factors, you might hope to hear some superb interpretations even if the pianist’s technique may be compromised. The surprise is that Nat’s playing on most of his recordings is so immensely powerful.

Heitor Villa-Lobos - par lui-même (1991) {6CD Box Set EMI Classics CDZF 7672292 rec 1954-1958}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.36 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 0.98 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 81 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1954-58, 1991 EMI France / EMI Classics | CDZF 7 67229 2
Classical / Orchestral / Early 20th Century / Contemporary Classical

This 6-CD set of "Villa-Lobos par lui-même" ("Villa Lobos performed by himself") presents the complete recordings made for Pathé between 1954 and 1958 and conducted by, or (in the case of the occasional Bachianas Brasileiras or Chôros scored for piano or duet) made under the supervision of the composer. As many of his contemporaries who made Paris their second home (Enescu comes to mind), Villa-Lobos shared his life between his native Brazil and Paris. Thus it has an important historical value.

With more than 7 hours of tender music by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Debussy, Puccini and more, performed by greats like Luciano Pavarotti, Andre Previn and Jose Carreras, this set can complete any romantic evening at home. And if we can't play upon your heart strings, 100 classics for this low price is quite a deal.

Boris Godunov is a work that, with its long, continuous scenes and monumental structure, does not lend itself easily to a highlights disc, especially if the intention is to give a fair cross-section of the opera. The producers of this compilation, drawn from a complete recording originally issued by Erato, wisely concentrate the choice on a few substantial chunks, covering most of Boris’s part. To this they add a couple of snippets that can stand on their own, out of context.

Claudio Abbado uses Mussorgsky's text in a condition almost as complete as Mstislav Rostropovich's but avoiding some overlap from variant readings. He brings to his conducting the same vitality and scrupulous attention to small details that are familiar from his work in Italian opera. His cast is good throughout and particularly strong in the leading roles. This is a Boris to live with, one that gets better with repeated hearings.