classical music: Benjamin Luxon

classical music: Benjamin Luxon

classical music:

Benjamin Luxon

Vaughan Williams: The Collector's Edition

Benjamin Luxon, Brian Etheridge, ...

EMI Classics, 2008

Great Value, Fine Performances
For lovers of Ralph Vaughan Williams' music, the prospect of obtaining most of his works on 30 CDs for $50 or less should be irresistible. It's a great way to fill in the gaps in your collection, or to become acquainted with RVW's less familiar works. Among the ...

Elgar: The Collector's Edition (30 CDs)

Derek Hammond-Stroud, Peter Glossop, ...

Emi Classics, 2007

Great Bargain of Elgar Masterworks and Forgotten Gems!
Like Sony's Stravinsky set, this Elgar set from EMI seems to want to challenge the Brilliant Classics label by providing lots of music for little money. This costs more than the Stravinsky, but you get 30 cds here as opposed to the 22 in the Stravinsky set. On the ...

Britten: Holy Sonnets, Billy Budd, etc. / Britten, Glossop, Pears, et al

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Benjamin Luxon, ...

Decca, 1989

TAKING OUR SALVATION ANY WAY IT COMES
The strained economic situation of the classical music industry is working in many ways to our advantage as consumers. Britten's settings of Blake and Donne would never have been issued bundled together with Billy Budd in the vinyl era I'm quite sure. These days if we ...

Joseph Haydn Operas 1

Pablo Loerkens, Franz Joseph Haydn, ...

Philips, 2006

Dorati's benchmark recordings of Haydn's operas, vol. 1
This bargain box is the first of two sets that collects Antal Dorati's recordings of Haydn operas. The first set collects the recordings from the late seventies (1976-78). These recordings, as is the case with Dorati's other Haydn recordings - the symphonies in ...

Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro / Te Kanawa, Cotrubas, von Stade, Luxon, Skram, Fryatt; Pritchard, Glyndebourne ...

Kiri te Kanawa, Ileana Cotrubas

Arthaus Musik, 2004

Brilliant!
This DVD is a treasure. Perhaps one of the best productions ever. Terrific cast, great direction, wonderful music interpretation, great acting and singing. I am personally quite taken with some of the Met productions I've seen, but this is right up there with them, and ...

Korngold - Die tote Stadt / Leinsdorf

Erich Leinsdorf, Carol Nebrett, ...

RCA, 1991

The forgotten gem
Die Tote Stadt by Korngold should be produced more often. It has one of the most haunting arias ever written,"Glueck, das mir verblieb." As one critic wrote, "I don't know if Marietta's Lied is a great aria or not, but you will never get it out of your head." ...

The British Music Collection: George Butterworth

Benjamin Luxon, George Butterworth, ...

Decca, 2004

All the BUTTERWORTH that's fit to print...
In fact, this is all the Butterworth that's left to us in the world--period: these few art songs, and a couple 'o three orchestral pieces. He had just begun to compose thoroughly when he went off to Flanders and was slain on the battlefield in 1916. Prior to his ...

Joseph Haydn: The Esterháza Operas - Volume 2

Michael Devlin, Pablo Loerkens, ...

Deutsche Grammophon, 2006

Dorati's benchmark recordings of Haydn's operas, vol. 2
This bargain box is the second of two sets that collects Antal Dorati's recordings of Haydn operas. The second set contains the recordings from the late seventies and early eighties (1979-81). These recordings, as is the case with Dorati's other Haydn recordings - ...

Johann Strauss - Die Fledermaus / Domingo, Te Kanawa, Prey, Royal Opera Covent Garden

Kiri Te Kanawa, Hermann Prey

Warner Music Group Germany, 2003

Die Fledermaus
Although the performance dates from the 1980s the DVD is visually and technically quite satisfactory. The DVD I ordered suffered from two or three brief interruptions. It was a gift to a relative and I wasn't able to determine whether the problem was with the disc or ...

Britten: Billy Budd

Peter Pears, Peter Glossop

Decca, 2008

Stereo Sound Lack
Britten: Billy Budd This recording was originally made in 1966 on the BBC. It has been carefully reconstituted in B&W and mono. Color and stereo would be nice, but the overall quality is such that their absence is not important. Personally I believe the B&W format ...

Britten Conducts Britten: Operas 2

Benjamin Britten, Charles Mackerras, ...

Decca, 2005

Britten's lesser operas?
Of course it's all a matter of taste. I find most of Britten's operas first class with no exception. 'Gloriana' is an under-recorded jewel, full of melody and emotion. 'Turn of the Screw' a masterpiece of claustrophobic sense. 'Rape of Lucretia' full of chamber ...

Vaughan Williams: Songs of Travel; House of Life No1-6

Benjamin Luxon, Ralph Vaughan Williams, ...

Chandos, 1992

Wonderful songs, not so well sung
I am not very fond of Benjamin Luxon. I think his voice is a bit too heavy for English art songs, and his interpretations of the text rarely agrees with mine. However, he has excellent taste in music so if you like his voice you should definitely buy this CD.

Britten: The Rape of Lucretia; Phaedra

Benjamin Britten, Steuart Bedford, ...

Polygram Records, 2003

DREADFUL LIBRETTO: GREAT OPERA
Lucretia is probably the worst libretto Britten ever set. Its awkward combination of the classical with the Christian, the slips into dated vernacular or the high-flown and pretentiously poetic, all conspire to set it on a level with Tippett at his most embarrassing. ...

Fauré: Requiem; Cantique de Jean Racine; Duruflé: Requiem; Quatre Motets

Christopher Keyte, Benjamin Luxon, ...

Polygram Records, 1995

Duruflés Requiem and original intentions.
Both Duruflé and Fauré wrote their Requiems for choir and organ first. The orchestrations were afterthoughts bending to the excesses of public appeal and publishers demands. Both works can be wonderful with orchestra and on this CD you will find, as usual with St. ...

Mozart: Great Mass in C minor; Adagio and Fugue for Strings

Benjamin Luxon, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, ...

Deutsche Grammophon, 2006

Drama and Beauty in a Quality Recording
This is a beautiful performance of the "Great" Mass in C minor, which compares favorably to the more famous Requiem Mass. If you are surprised that this has no reviews, this is because this is a recent reissue of a product no longer in print sold here on Amazon under ...