Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - November 2021
November heavyweights include two anthologies celebrating the legacy of American violinist Ruggiero Ricci, Stephen Hough's collected early recordings for Erato, Quatuor Ébène's complete Beethoven quartets on DVD (captured last year at the Philharmonie de Paris), and Sweelinck's complete vocal works from the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam and Harry van der Kamp.
Including a previously unpublished set of the Brahms Violin Sonatas with Julius Katchen from 1954, this set brings together all of the solo, chamber and concerto recordings which Ricci made for Decca between 1950 and 1974; other highlights include his debut recording of the Tchaikovsky concerto with Sir Malcolm Sargent in 1950, the Beethoven concerto with Sir Adrian Boult, a Paganini album with Anthony Collins, and mono and stereo recordings of the complete Paganini caprices.
Available Format: 20 CDs
The nine albums on this set were recorded for Decca's American division between 1960 and 1970, and are issued collectively for the first time here; highlights include a 1964 recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons (in which Ricci plays a different Stradivarius for each concerto, with the string ensemble featuring another ten instruments by the great instrument-maker), and Ricci's first complete set of the Bach solo sonatas and partitas.
Available Format: 9 CDs
Recorded between 1987 and 1998 (and released to mark the pianist's sixtieth birthday), this set includes the Brahms concertos with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Mozart's 'Elvira Madigan' and 'Jeunehomme' concertos with the Hallé and Bryden Thomson, two all-Liszt recitals, Britten's music for solo piano, and two collections of showpieces by virtuoso composer-pianists.
Available Format: 9 CDs
Filmed last autumn at Philharmonie de Paris following the Ébène's Beethoven Around the World project (which saw them perform the complete Beethoven quartets in Philadelphia, Vienna, Paris, Tokyo, São Paulo, Melbourne and Nairobi to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth), these interpretations won a Victoire de la Musique Award and were described by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as 'the new reference recording' for the cycle.
Available Format: 6 DVD Videos
Released to coincide with the Spanish composer's 145th birthday last week, this 11-CD set spans almost a century of recording history, including the composer's own recordings of a selection of his solo piano works; other highlights include the Siete Canciones populares españolas and El Amor Brujo with Victoria de los Angeles, Noches en los jardines de España with Gonzalo Soriano as soloist, and Alicia de Larrocha in the Fantasía Bética.
Available Format: 11 CDs
This extensive collection of live recordings documents the Jansons's sixteen-year spell as Chief Conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Bavarian Radio Chorus; repertoire includes complete cycles of the Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler symphonies, Stravinsky's Firebird, Rite of Spring and Petrushka, Strauss tone-poems, and Jörg Widmann's Con Brio, commissioned by the orchestra in 2008.
Available Format: 68 CDs + 2 DVD Videos
The Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam completed their mission to recorded all of the Dutch composer's vocal music back in 2009, with Gramophone describing the project as 'a labour of love' and The Guardian praising the group's 'exact balance and crystal-clear textures; the complete set is now issued to mark the 400th anniversary of Sweelinck's birth.
Available Format: 17 CDs
Released to mark what would have been the French harpsichordist's eightieth birthday, this collection features nine albums which appear on CD for the first time; the repertoire includes two volumes of Scarlatti sonatas, early Mozart sonatas with the violinist Gerard Poulet, two albums devoted to the music of Duphly and Balbastre, and works by Mondonville, Chedeville, Francoeur and Leclair.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC