Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - October 2022
October heavyweights include two boxes celebrating Sir Adrian Boult's legacy on Decca (one focusing on British music, the other on Baroque and sacred repertoire), an anthology of Italian chamber-ensemble I Musici's analogue recordings from 1955 to 1979, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's complete Lieder recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, and a César Franck bicentenary edition from Warner Classics.
Released to mark the bicentenary of Franck's birth in December, this collection features all of his major works (among them the Symphony in D, the Prélude, Fugue et Variation for organ, and the symphonic poems Les Éolides and Les Djinns) plus transcriptions of Panis Angelicus, the Violin Sonata and the Ave Maria, and five discs of historical recordings from artists including Georges Thill, Jascha Heifetz and Beniamino Gigli.
Available Format: 16 CDs
The Swiss conductor Michel Corboz signed to the Erato in 1964, and in the early part of his long relationship with the label did much to raise the profile of composers such as Carissimi, Lalande, Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Monteverdi, all of whom were relatively sparsely represented on record at the time. Highlights from this collection include the latter's L'Orfeo and Vespro della beata Vergine, Cavalli's Ercole amante, Carissimi's Abraham et Isaac and Jephte. A second, smaller boxed set focusing on classical through to twentieth-century repertoire will appear next year.
Available Format: 74 CDs
Remastered from the original tapes (for recordings from the LP era) or the best available source (for 78s), these recordings were made between 1921 and 1962 and include four world premiere releases: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30 Op. 109, a Chopin étude, and two pieces by Liszt. Repertoire includes the complete Beethoven piano concertos and Chopin études, Weber's Konzertstück in F minor, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, and Busoni's Fantasia da Camera super Carmen.
Available Formats: 24 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
With highlights including four previously unpublished recordings of music by Holst (the Somerset Rhapsody, Marching Song, Country Song and the Scherzo from an unfinished symphony), Humphrey Searle's Symphony No. 1, the 1954 recording of Vaughan Williams's Job and Boult’s later recording of his Ninth Symphony (complete with speeches by both Boult and Vaughan Williams), this limited edition set is the most complete survey ever issued of the conductor's British music recordings for Decca.
Available Format: 16 CDs
This second of three Boult collections on Decca features the Messiah recordings from 1954 and 1960, Acis and Galatea with Joan Sutherland and Peter Pears in the title-roles, plus Baroque and sacred music recitals from Kenneth McKellar, Kirsten Flagstad and Kathleen Ferrier - the latter recorded a year before the contralto's early death in 1952, but given here with the stereo accompaniment which Boult and the LPO set down eight years later.
Available Format: 13 CDs
Made between 1955 and 1979, this anthology of recordings from the conductorless Italian chamber orchestra includes Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (with founder-member Felix Ayo as soloist), concerti grossi by Corelli, Torelli, Albinoni, Geminiani and Handel, the Brandenburg Concertos, Wassenaer's Concerti Armonici (previously attributed to Pergolesi), Mendelssohn String Symphonies, Rossini's Sonate a quattro, and Schubert's Rondo for violin and strings.
Available Format: 83 CDs
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Complete Lieder Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)
Deutsche Grammophon commemorate the tenth anniversary of the great German baritone's death with this set of his collected recital recordings for the 'Yellow Label', Philips and Decca, made between 1949 and 2003. As well as near-complete surveys of works for male voice by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Liszt and Strauss, the anthology also features duets, vocal ensembles, symphonic works and melodramas, and is rounded off with the audio interview From my life.
Available Format: 107 CDs
The 25th Kreuzkantor Rudolf Mauersberger (who took up the role in in 1931) dedicated much of his energy to performing the complete surviving works of Heinrich Schütz at a time when reliable editions of his music were few and far between. This set features several of his pioneering recordings as well as those made by his successors Martin Flämig and Hans Grüß, and includes the Psalms of David, the Cantiones sacrae, the Historia der Aufferstehung Jesu Christi, the Kleine geistliche Konzerte and the three Passions (Matthew, Luke, and John).
Available Format: 10 CDs
This anthology takes its title from the early music ensemble's popular album of traditional music from the Kingdom of Naples (which BBC Music Magazine recently declared 'hypnotises the listener into a state of enchantment'). Also included are Kapsberger's La Villanella, Cavalieri's Rappresentazione di Anima e di Corpo, Stefano Landi's Homo fugit, and All'Improvviso - a programme of 'Ciaccone, Bergamasche e un po' di Folie' from 2004, with jazz clarinettist Gianluigi Trovesi as special guest.
Available Format: 6 CDs
Compiled to celebrate the Russian composer's 75th birthday, this collection of Vladimir Martynov's sacred vocal works and instrumental includes Christmas Music, the Requiem, Stabat Mater, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Night in Galicia, Dance with the Dead Friend (for piano & orchestra), Come in! (for violin & orchestra). Artists include the composer's close friends Alexei Lubimov and Tatiana Grindenko, plus the Sirin Choir, OP POSTH Ensemble, and Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble.
Available Format: 7 CDs
Of the twelve conductors featured on this 10-CD set, seven were occasional visitors who nonetheless left their mark on the two orchestras which merged to form the SWR Symphonieorchester in 2016: Wilhelm Furtwängler, Leopold Stokowski, Hans Knappertsbusch, Karl Böhm, Kirill Kondrashin, Carlos Kleiber and Kurt Sanderling. The remainder were more regular fixtures: Hans Rosbaud and Michael Gielen both held the position of Chief Conductor at Baden-Baden, whilst George Prêtre and Roger Norrington (the latter a former Principal Conductor) shared the title of Ehrendirigent of the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR.
Available Format: 10 CDs
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
