Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - April 2023
April heavyweights include two anthologies on Eloquence celebrating the ninetieth birthday of 'Dutch Nightingale' Elly Ameling, a fiftieth-anniversary compilation of The English Concert's recordings with founder Trevor Pinnock, Sir John Eliot Gardiner's collected recordings on Erato, Virgin and Warner, and Rachel Podger's complete Vivaldi recordings on Channel Classics.
Back in 1971, Gramophone described Ameling as 'the most perfect Bach soprano now before the public', and this anthology brings together all of the Bach recordings which she made for Philips and Decca: highlights include the early St Matthew Passion with Karl Münchinger, cantatas with Ernest Ansermet, Helmut Winschermann and Raymond Leppard, two Christmas Oratorios (from 1966 and 1972), and the rare recording of two of the Missae breves BWV 235 and 236.
Available Format: 20 CDs
Sir John Eliot Gardiner: The Complete Erato Recordings
English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
To coincide with his eightieth birthday this month, this set assembles all of the recordings which Gardiner made for Erato, Warner Classics and Virgin between 1976 and 1995; as well as landmark accounts of major works by Bach, Handel and Purcell, the collection includes rarities such as Gluck's La rencontre imprévue & Don Juan, Leclair's Scylla et Glaucus, Messager's Fortunio, and Offenbach's Les Brigands.
Available Format: 64 CDs
The English Concert celebrates its fiftieth birthday this year, and this collection comprises all of the recordings made with their founder Trevor Pinnock on Archiv Produktion; an early Bach album receives its CD premiere, with other stand-outs including milestone accounts of Boyce's symphonies and Corelli's Concerti grossi Op. 6, and generous selections of works by Purcell, Vivaldi, Handel, CPE Bach, Haydn and Mozart.
Available Format: 100 CDs
This is the second of two anthologies celebrating the legacy of the Swiss-born conductor (a set of his Baroque & Renaissance recordings was released in October), with repertoire ranging rather wider than the title might suggest: Stravinsky's Les Noces, Poulenc's Gloria, Frank Martin's Golgotha and Honegger's Une cantate de Noël are all included, alongside earlier works such as Rossini's Petite messe solennelle, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Paulus, and the Mozart, Brahms, Fauré, Verdi, Suppé and Duruflé requiems.
Available Format: 36 CDs
Rachmaninoff: Pianist and Conductor
Sergey Rachmaninoff (piano), Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski
The first half-dozen discs on this 9-CD collection are given over to the solo recordings which Rachmaninoff made for Victor between 1920 and 1942, with repertoire including his own Études-Tableaux, Oriental Sketch and Preludes plus music by Bach, Daquin, Scriabin, Moszkowski, Debussy and others. Discs 7-9 feature the composer as soloist in his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and four piano concertos, and as conductor in The Isle of the Dead, Symphony No. 3 and Vocalise.
Available Format: 9 CDs
Released in the wake of Podger's triumph at this month's BBC Music Magazine Awards (where Tutta sola was crowned Recording of the Year), this set brings together the Vivaldi recordings which she made for Channel Classics between 2003 and 2018 - including award-winning accounts of L'estro armonico, Le Quattro Stagioni, La Cetra, and La Stravaganza. The latter recording was named Gramophone's Baroque Album of the Year in 2003, thanks to Podger's blend of 'sheer digital dexterity [and] exquisitely fine detail'.
Available Format: 7 CDs
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
