Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - April 2021
April heavyweights include French organist Jeanne Demessieux's complete recordings on Decca, Christian Thielemann's Bruckner cycle with the Staatskapelle Dresden on Blu-ray, the complete songs of Paolo Tosti, and anthologies celebrating André Previn, Joseph Szigeti, Eugene Ormandy and Peter Maag.
Recently described by The Times as ‘an indispensable resource for organ aficionados’, this 8-CD collection is released to mark the centenary of the French organist’s birth, and includes a previously unpublished BBC radio broadcast as well as her complete recordings for Decca. Works by Franck and JS Bach make up the lion’s share of the repertoire, with Demessieux performing on the organs of St Mark’s North Audley St, Victoria Hall in Geneva, La Madeleine, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, and Bristol Beacon (then known as Colston Hall).
Available Format: 8 CDs
The recordings on this 95-CD anthology were made between 1971 and 1987, with nine discs newly remastered in 192kHz/24-bit from the original tapes. Previn’s relationships with the London and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras are well represented, as is his career as a classical and jazz pianist; Jon Tolansky’s documentary André Previn – a Memoir is included on a bonus CD.
Available Format: 96 CDs
This set brings together the Swiss conductor’s complete discography for Decca, plus recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and Westminster. Highlights include a substantial selection of Mozart (to whose music his first seven Decca recordings were dedicated), a much-lauded disc of Rossini overtures (1960), Verdi’s Luisa Miller (1975) with Luciano Pavarotti as Rodolfo, and Paer’s Leonora (1978). Featured soloists include Ticho Parly in Wagner scenes, Barry Tuckwell in Mozart, and Fou Ts’ong in Chopin and Schumann.
Available Format: 20 CDs
Comprising the complete monaural American Columbia discography of Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, this newly-remastered set features 152 recordings which have never been previously available on CD, with repertoire including works by Copland, Howard Hanson, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, Virgil Thomson and Richard Yardumian which Ormandy premiered during his four-decade tenure in Philadelphia. Soloists include Robert Casadesus, Gregor Piatigorsky, Joseph Szigeti, Oscar Levant, and Rudolf Serkin.
Available Format: 120 CDs
Originally released between 2012 and 2017, Alsop’s Prokofiev recordings from Brazil have been described as ‘an outstanding achievement’ (BBC Music Magazine on Symphony No. 5) and ‘interpretations that radiate a genuine Prokofiev spirit’ (The Telegraph on Symphony No. 4 and The Prodigal Son), whilst Gramophone observed that ‘it is the broad, unforced naturalness of these readings which stakes out a distinctive territory’.
Available Format: 6 CDs
This anthology brings together all of the recordings which the Hungarian-born violinist made for Columbia between 1938 and 1956, with highlights including the Brahms concerto with Eugene Ormandy, the Beethoven concerto with Bruno Walter, Bach and Brahms from the Casals Festival in Prades, and a disc of music by his friend and compatriot Bartók (with Benny Goodman, and the composer at the piano).
Available Format: 17 CDs
Issued as a companion to Jochum’s complete orchestral recordings for Philips, this set features Bach’s Mass in B minor (1958), St Matthew Passion (1967), St John Passion (1968) and Christmas Oratorio (1973), Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, and Rudolf Mengelberg’s Magnificat. Soloists include Agnes Giebel, Elly Ameling, Brigitte Fassbaender, Peter Pears, Ernst Haefliger, Walter Berry, and Gottlob Frick.
Available Format: 13 CDs
Thielemann’s Dresden Bruckner cycle prompted the Hamburger Abendblatt to hail him as ‘the unrestricted ruler on his ancestral territory, German Romantic repertoire’ and Kurier to describe him as ‘a magician of the Bruckner sound’. Symphonies Nos. 5-8 were recorded at the Semperoper Dresden, No. 2 at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Nos. 1 and 3 at the Philharmonie Munich, and Nos. 4 and 9 at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.
Available Format: 9 Blu-rays
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