Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - April 2020
This month’s heavyweights include retrospectives from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Concerto Köln, a whistle-stop tour of the recording history of the Choir of King’s College Cambridge, a bumper organ anthology from Brilliant Classics, and the first complete set of Sweelinck’s keyboard music from a single performer.
Beethoven Rediscovered
Yury Martynov (piano), Arthur Schoonderwoerd (fortepiano), Alexei Lubimov (piano), Olga Pashchenko (fortepiano) Anima Eterna, Cristofori, Jos van Immerseel
The mainstay of the 17-CD collection Beethoven is Jos van Immerseel’s set of the complete symphonies, which was described as ‘a stimulating, exhilarating experience’ when it first appeared in 2008; the box also includes Yury Martynov’s cycle of the symphonies in Liszt’s transcriptions, Alexei Lubimov’s Moonlight, Waldstein and Tempest Sonatas, and the piano concertos (performed on fortepiano) from Arthur Schoonderwoerd and Cristofori.
Available Format: 17 CDs
A Choral Journey Through the Ages
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge; Sir David Willcocks, Sir Philip Ledger, Sir Stephen Cleobury
Spanning four decades of recording history and four centuries of music, this 14-CD box of newly remastered recordings includes Byrd’s ‘Great’ Service, a complete Messiah, the Fauré Requiem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Howells’s Hymnus Paradisi, and works by Górecki, John Tavener and Arvo Pärt. The set concludes with a complete Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.
Available Format: 14 CDs
Guido Cantelli: The Complete Warner Recordings
Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Philharmonia Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Guido Cantelli
Released to mark the great Italian conductor’s centenary next month, this 10-CD set of newly remastered recordings dating from 1949-1956 includes music by Tchaikovsky, Casella, Debussy, Franck, Ravel, Brahms and Schubert as well as a new audio documentary by Jon Tolansky and rehearsals of Beethoven’s Fifth and Seventh symphonies.
Available Format: 10 CDs
Seven Days Walking was inspired by the Italian composer’s regular hikes along the same Alpine trail in the winter of 2018. Day One was released on CD last March and topped the UK Classical Chart, with subsequent volumes appearing digitally at monthly intervals; following the complete vinyl release last summer, the entire ‘journey’ is now available on CD for the first time.
Available Format: 7 CDs
Presented in chronological order, the repertoire on this bumper 50-CD anthology ranges from music by the Bach and Gabrieli families to Messiaen, Ponchielli and Pärt, and features instruments from cities including Antwerp, Mantua, Venice, Turin and Leipzig; performers include Massimo Gabba, Emanuelo Cardi and Giovanni Morandi.
Available Format: 50 CDs
The first complete survey of the Dutch composer’s keyboard music by a single performer: Boccaccio (who has done substantial research into authentic fingering and ornamentation practices) plays three Dutch organs dating from Sweelinck’s lifetime, as well as a modern copy of a 1679 harpsichord by the Flemish instrument-maker Jan Couchet.
Available Format: 6 CDs
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