Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - April 2019
This month’s boxes include Carlo Maria Giulini’s complete recordings on Deutsche Grammophon and Decca, bicentenary editions of Berlioz and Offenbach, an anthology of French piano concertos on Brilliant Classics, and collections of live recordings by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Mstislav Rostropovich.
Offenbach: The Operas & Operettas Collection
Michel Plasson, Willy Mattes, John Eliot Gardiner, Manuel Rosenthal, Sylvain Cambreling et al
Released to mark the composer’s bicentenary this June, this 30-CD box includes complete performances of Orphée aux Enfers, Les contes d’Hoffmann, La Vie Parisienne and La belle Hélène in both French and German, plus highlights from rarities such as Les Brigands, Pomme d’Api, Monsieur Choufleur and Mesdames de la Halle, and Six Fables de La Fontaine.
Available Format: 30 CDs
Gabriel Tacchino is the soloist in the complete Saint-Saëns concertos, and Michael Korstick in the complete Milhaud (originally issued on CPO in 2007 and praised as ‘expertly played’ by Gramophone); also includes works by Alkan, Boieldieu, Chaminade, d’Indy, Françaix, Hahn, Lalo, Massenet, Pierné, Poulenc, Ravel, Roussel and Tailleferre.
Available Formats: 12 CDs, MP3, FLAC
10 CDs of live concerto and recital performances from Vatican City, London, Rome, Buenos Aires, Warsaw, Prague, Milan, Lugano and Turin, recorded between 1941 and 1962; the repertoire includes concertos by Beethoven, Schumann, Grieg, Liszt and Rachmaninov, and solo works by JS Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel and Mompou.
Available Formats: 10 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Recorded in the mid-1990s, these performances of Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, and Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass features the young Max Cencic (then a member of the choir) as soprano soloist; the set also includes a selection of Bruckner motets, Bach’s cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, and a bonus CD of Christmas songs.
Available Formats: 7 CDs, MP3, FLAC
The earliest recordings here (including music by Vitali, Reger and Hindemith, in which Peinemann is partnered by her father Robert) date from 1952, when the German violinist was just 15; the set also features the Pfitzner, Sibelius, and Dvořák Violin Concertos, Suk’s Four Pieces Op. 17, and sonatas by JS Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Schumann.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Rostropovich was already a renowned artist in the Soviet Union but largely unknown in the West when these recordings were made; the set includes several works which Rostropovich premiered, such as Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, and Kabalevsky’s and Prokofiev’s Cello Sonatas (both performed here with the composers at the piano). Also includes music by Falla, Milhaud, Villa-Lobos, Schumann, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov.
Available Formats: 4 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
