Orchestra

Chick Webb was a jazz and swing drummer and bandleader who enjoyed huge success and popularity during the 1930s before his career was tragically cut short by his death from spinal tuberculosis in 1939 at the age of 34. He was renowned for introducing the teenaged Ella Fitzgerald to the scene as his featured vocalist. With a much-admired powerful virtuoso drumming technique, he was a highly influential figure, paving the way for the likes of Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson. This 98-track 4-CD collection comprises most of his releases under his own name on the Brunswick, Vocalion, Columbia, Okeh and Decca labels, plus early recordings with the Jungle Band. It contains a significant number of recordings featuring Ella Fitzgerald, who performed on several of his 17 career hits, all of which are included here, most notably the No. 1 A-Tisket, A-Tasket.

RCO - Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vol 2, 1950-1960 (2003) {14CD Box Set Q Disc 97018, Limited Edition}
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© 1950-60, 2003 Radio Netherlands Music / Q Disc | 97018
Classical / Orchestral / Symphony

Again we are indebted to NM Classics for another volume (the second) in their Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra series. This one covers the period 1950-1960 and contains many unusual treasures as well as a number of performances that have already been issued: the fine Daphnis and Chloe with Monteux which currently is available on both Audiophile Classics and Music & Arts, Bruno Walter's Mozart, Mahler and Strauss all of which are available on Music & Arts, and the Brahms concerto with Monteux/Milstein, available on Audiophile Classics and Arioso (as well as a discontinued Tahra set). However, there are many fascinating items here including a number of major additions to Eduard van Beinum's discography. We have Beinum conducting music of Dutch composers Hans Henkemans (1913-1995), Anthony van der Horst (1899-1965), and Matthijs Vermeulen (1888-1967).

RCO - Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vol 3, 1960-1970 (2005) {14CD Box Set RCO 05001, Limited Edition}
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© 1960-70, 2005 Radio Netherlands Music / RCO LIve | RCO 05001
Classical / Orchestral

Despite rumors some months ago that the RCOA series might be discontinued (fortunately unfounded), here we have Volume III, a 14-CD set that contains much of interest, but surely—for this collector—doesn't live up to its potential. For me, ideally that would concist of some of the outstanding performances of great symphonic music played by this magnificent orchestra, recorded in the extraordinary acoustics of the Concertgebouw with the usual Radio Nederland sonic expertise. During the decade represented in this set (1960-1970) the Concertgebouw Orchestra's programming often emphasized contemporary music and that surely is reflected in this album. We have well over five hours of music by Martin, Varèse, Berg, Webern, Henze, Lutoslawski, Nono and Dallapiccola as well as Dutch composers Ketting, Escher, and Vermeulen, and Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz's Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion, an 18-minute three-movement work of imagination and vivid scoring.

Bernard Haitink - Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - Live - The Radio Recordings (1999) {14CD Box Set Q Disc 97014}
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© 1999 Q Disc | 97014
Classical / Orchestral

This huge set is "an initiative of Radio Netherlands (the Dutch World Service) and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra…" presented to Bernard Haitink on his seventieth birthday as a tribute to his consummate musicmaking." Haitink, born in Amsterdam in 1929, became joint chief Conductor of the Concertebouw in 1961, along with Eugen Jochum, and was its chief conductor from 1963 to 1988. Like his predecessor, Eduard van Beinum, Haitink also was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, from 1967 to 1979, and in 1978 became musical Director of the Glyndebourne Opera. Ten years later he became musical director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Haitink guest conducted most of the major orchestras of the world and has received numerous awards for his services to music. In January 1999 Haitink was named "Honorary Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra."

The Electric Light Orchestra's ambitious yet irresistible fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements, and futuristic iconography rocketed the group to massive commercial success throughout the 1970s…