classical music: Donald Runnicles

classical music: Donald Runnicles

classical music:

Donald Runnicles

Strauss: Four Last Songs; Death and Transfiguration; Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde

Richard Wagner, Donald Runnicles, ...

Telarc, 2006

Magnificent Vocalism and Conducting
This very fine recording serves as a true introduction to the art of Christine Brewer who is one of today's leading dramatic sopranos. She is ably assisted here by Donald Runnicles conducting a superb sounding Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Of great interest is the fact ...

Telarc Classical SACD Sampler 2 [Hybrid SACD]
Antonio Hart, Alastair Miles, ...

Telarc, 2003

Born in Atlanta

Jennifer Larmore, Georges Bizet, ...

Elektra / Wea, 1996

Enchanting
Jennifer Larmore's strong, intense voice is at times overwhelming because it positively fills the room. Best played at the highest volume your neighbours can tolerate, this lush, gorgeous, and bewitching compilation of Larmore's treatment of many opera standards is ...

Orff: Carmina Burana [Hybrid SACD]

Earle Patriarco, Carl Orff, ...

Telarc, 2001

10 stars and counting!
Wow! Holy cow! What a performance! What a recording! Did I tell you that I L-O-V-E this recording? For those of you who refer to Orff's semi-minimalist work as "Carmina Bore-anna," try this recording on for size. This is the most exciting performance of this ...

Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice (Berlioz version) / Larmore, Upshaw, Hagley, Runnicles

Christoph Willibald Gluck, Jennifer Larmore, ...

Teldec, 1996

The greatest recording of Gluck's masterpiece
I love this work since I heard this recording. I had Solti's with Horne and Lorengar in italian and Gardiner's with Von Otter and Hendricks but it didn't call my attention. When I heard Jennifer Larmore singing Orphee I fell in love instantly and since then this is one ...

Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi / Larmore, Hong, et al

Vincenzo Bellini, Donald Runnicles, ...

Elektra / Wea, 2000

A New Standard for I Capuletti e i Montecchi
This recording sets a new standard forthis opera, and should emerge as the best recorded accounting of this opera. While the recent RCA recording is lovely, I found myself wanting to hear slightly more dramatic voices in the roles of Romeo, and Giulietta. In this ...

Telarc SACD Sampler: The Absolute Sound

Brett Polegato, Earle Patriarco, ...

Telarc, 2006

Good for what it is, however narrow.
The Absolute Sound has been a premiere audiophile rag for decades. If you are one, you already know them. If not, then there is only a small chance their magazine will be useful to you. They have another publication for home theatre, "Perfect Vision" which has far ...

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

Richard Wagner, Donald Runnicles, ...

Warner Classics, 2006

The Emergence of the Isolde for our Time
Christine Brewer may not be a household name even among committed Wagnerians...yet...but her careful, thoughtful emergence into the impossibly difficult role of Isolde in TRISTAN UND ISOLDE is well documented in this release of the entire opera, a recording dating back ...

Britten - Peter Grimes (The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series)

Anthony Dean Griffey, Patricia Racette

Emi Classics, 2008

Runnicles leads an impressive reading of Grimes
The Met's HD production of "Peter Grimes" packs a lot of power and brings the brooding musicality of Benjamin Britten's 1945 operatic masterwork to life. The cast is uniformly fine vocally and dramatically, though people who remember Jon Vickers in his full-voiced ...

Korngold: Die tote Stadt

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Donald Runnicles, ...

Orfeo D'or, 2005

A strong live performance is let down by the central role
For decades the only reliable recording of Korngold's swooningly gorgeous Die Tote Stadt has been the one under Erich Leinsdorf on RCA. It boasts a good cast, but Leinsdorf's conducting is stiff and without the ravishing touch that sends Korngold's lush music into ...

Puccini - Turandot / Conductor: Donald Runnicles, Starring: E. Marton & M. Sylvester - San Francisco Opera, ...

Eva Marton, Michael Sylvester

Image Entertainment, 2001

Among the Greatest Production Designs in the HIstory of Opera
This DVD captures a truly excellent performance of Puccini's most ambitious and musical complex opera. But the true importance of this DVD is that it captures David Hockney's amazing sets--among the most original and important in the history of Opera. I have seen the ...

Ben Heppner - German Romantic Opera

Ludwig van Beethoven, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, ...

RCA, 1998

MAGNIFICENT.
What a magnificent album: Ben Heppner could easily be called the finest Wagnerian heldentenor singing today. I was fortunate enough to hear him in the title role of Wagner's "Lohengrin" at the Metropolitan Opera House a few seasons ago in a startling production by ...

Strauss: Four Last Songs; Death and Transfiguration; Wagner: Prelude & Liebestod from Tristan & Isolde ...

Richard Wagner, Donald Runnicles, ...

Telarc, 2006

Runnicles, ASO, Wagner & Strauss: Operatic Drama & Color
Many times a shopper cannot make too much out of the program sequence on a particular CD/SACD - marketing departments throw things together without an informed view of the music. In this case, however, there is a uniting theme that lifts you up and carries the ...

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 [Hybrid SACD]

Alastair Miles, Ludwig van Beethoven, ...

Telarc, 2003

How About a six channel recording?
Many SACDs are rehashed four channel recordings or only have higher resolution stereo. This is a well recorded, well played full six channel recording.

Mozart: Requiem

Eric Owens, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, ...

Telarc, 2005

A Fine Introit to Mozart's 250th Birthday Year
As the festivities are being planned for the worldwide celebration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th Birthday every orchestra is scheduling performances of the master's major works. And what is more fitting an homage to the genius of Mozart than his Requiem KV 626. ...