Penguin Guide To Recorded Classical Music

Maisky takes the dual role of soloist and conductor on this single disc issue. It receives a well-deserved Penguin Rosette in The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2009. I wasn't familiar with the works on this CD before buying it. I'm an avid classical music CD collector and not too shabby amateur pianist (heavy emphasis on the amateur) and am currently listening to a course on Papa Haydn by Robert Greenberg from "The Great Courses" (formerly The Teaching Company), in addition to personally working on a Haydn Piano Sonata. As such, I've got a new found appreciation for this composer.

This 7 CD box set features the first complete cycle of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies recorded by Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, including symphonies previously released on the LPO’s label and new recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3, Francesca da Rimini and Serenade for Strings.

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.

This is one of the mere handful of great recordings of the Sibelius violin concerto. Not that there aren't many contestants in the field; in fact, it seems that almost every modern violin virtuoso wants to record the Sibelius, and perhaps this isn't surprising, since it's one of the Big Five (along with the Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and Tchaikovsky) major violin concertos.

The Canticum Zachariae dates from 1687, and its lovely six-part Benedictus shows Charpentier in characteristically fluent lyrical and contrapuntal form. The four-part Mass—the first of the composer’s eleven settings—which opens simply, extends to six voices in the Sanctus, with the spirited Hosanna extended to double choir. But it is the short Agnus Dei, serenely beautiful, that haunts the memory.

In many ways Jordi Masó’s excellent Naxos collection is not upstaged by the competition. Moreover this is to be the first of a continuing series. He gives us the complete Canciónes y danzas (except for No. 13, which is for guitar), plus the engagingly diverse, but at times almost mystical Charmes, and his playing is imbued with gentle poetic feeling. Masó’s pianistic sensibility is never self-aware, always at the service of the composer, and the music’s soft-hued colours are perceptively graduated. The unostentatious innocence of the Scènes d’enfants is beautifully caught. Excellent recording makes this a disc to recommend even if it cost far more than it does.