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Corrette: Symphonies Des Noëls, Concertos Comiques / Arion, Et Al

Early-music.com

$18.99 Nov 18, 2008

CORRETTE Symphonies des noëls: No. 2 in D; No. 4 in D; No. 5 in a; No. 6 in A. Concertos comiques: No. 4, “Le quadrille”; No. 7; No. 19, “La Turque”; No. 24; No. 25, “Les sauvages et la Furstemberg” • Arion (period instruments) • EARLY-MUSIC.COM 7768 (67:32)

What a delightful disc this is! These examples of light, humorous music still amuse us nearly 300 years after they were written. Michel Corrette may have been more important for his work in fields other than composition. He published 15 methods to instruct students in all of the common instruments. He was active as a publisher of his own works and the music of others. But he also was very active as a composer of, among other things, cantatas, ballets, motets, organ pieces, harpsichord sonatas, and symphonies. He was the first composer in France to compose concertos for wind instruments and for organ.

Today Corrette is probably best remembered for his 25 Concertos comiques , published between 1733 and 1760. The concertos are based on well-known songs and popular tunes. Corrette performed these delightful works during the intermissions of performances of the Opéra-comique at the St. Laurent and St. Germain fairs. The Symphonies des noëls are suites of variations based on popular noëls, which are “profane airs, dance tunes, drinking songs, and New Year’s pieces” according to one description. The melodies are immensely pleasing, and Corrette’s variations testify to his enjoyment in working with them.

The music is performed by seven members of the Canadian period-instrument group Arion. Their tempos are lively but not rushed. The performers are obviously very talented and expert.

This recording was issued on the Atma label in 1999; it does not seem to have been reviewed in Fanfare . Two of the Noëls and Concerto comique No. 25 are available elsewhere, but there is no other collection that allows us to hear so many of these splendid works. I cannot imagine anyone whose spirits would not be lifted immediately on hearing this disc. My only regret is that Arion did not follow up with recordings of the other works from these two collections. Highly recommended.

FANFARE: Ron Salemi

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Corrette: Symphonies Des Noëls, Concertos Comiques / Arion, Et Al
Early-music.com Nov 2008
CD
$18.99

Fair With Her Firstborn - Carols And Polyphony For Christmas

Loft

$18.99 Jan 01, 2009

Includes carol(s) by Richard Rodney Bennett. Ensemble: Tudor Choir. Conductor: Doug Fullington.
Includes traditional chant(s).
Includes work(s) by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Robert Fayrfax, Sir William Walton, John Sheppard, Gustav Holst, Peter Warlock.

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Fair With Her Firstborn - Carols And Polyphony For Christmas
Loft Jan 2009
CD
$18.99

Kevin Puts: Concerto for Orchestra, Silent Night Elegy & Vir

Delos

$20.99 Sep 19, 2025

Delos is thrilled to embark on a new journey with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and it's Music Director Stephane Deneve. What better statement of intent for their first album on the label than releasing the world premiere recording of three works by native St. Louisan and Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy®-winning composer Kevin Puts? Dedicated to the SLSO and Stephane, Concerto for Orchestra was written in response to the horrific school shooting that occurred in Uvalde in 2022. Silent Night Elegy is drawn from Kevin's acclaimed opera, which adapts Joyeux Noel, the award-winning film that tells the story of the spontaneous ceasefires along the Western Front on the first Christmas Eve of World War I. Inspired by Guillaume de Machaut, Virelai was commissioned for the opening concert of Stephane's tenure as Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. This album celebrates the SLSO's dynamic partnership with Stephane and demonstrates the orchestra's commitment to artistic excellence and inclusive musical experiences.

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Kevin Puts: Concerto for Orchestra, Silent Night Elegy & Vir
Delos Sep 2025
CD
$20.99

Rameau chez la Pompadour / Camboulas, Ensemble Les Suprises

Alpha

$20.99 Sep 23, 2022

The famous Marquise de Pompadour, favorite of King Louis XV for nearly twenty years, reigned over the arts at court. Rameau, whom she particularly admired, was omnipresent. He received a specific commission for the Théâtre des Petits Appartements, where the Marquise herself sang in the midst of a troupe of amateurs and professionals: the result was Les Surprises de l’Amour, from which the ensemble Les Surprises takes its name. Under the expert direction of Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas, the group presents here the very first recording of this ballet in its original 1748 version, including the prologue entitled Le Retour d’Astrée, and couples it with another commission for one of the court’s annual residences at Fontainebleau: Les Sybarites (1753), an acte de ballet whose principal couple is reminiscent of the King himself and his favorite. A first-rate vocal line-up brings these two works back to life: Marie Perbost, Eugénie Lefebvre, Jehanne Amzal, Clément Debieuvre, David Witczak, Philippe Estèphe.

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Rameau chez la Pompadour / Camboulas, Ensemble Les Suprises
Alpha Sep 2022
CD
$20.99

Vaughan Williams: Mass In G, Choral Music / Edison, Et Al

Naxos

$19.99 Jan 01, 2002

This is a first rate collection of some of Vaughan Williams' best choral works, both a cappella and with organ accompaniment. Fans of this composer definitely will want to have this disc, whose main attraction is the rarely recorded Mass in G minor. Why this stark and very moving work has received such scant attention on disc is a mystery, but it remains a unique and timeless masterpiece whose bold, bare harmonies and unadorned, chant-like melodies invoke the atmosphere of ancient worship while serving as a kind of musical embodiment of the imposing cathedral structures and spaces in which that worship took place. A good performance of this piece for a cappella double choir and a quartet of soloists first demands excellent singers and an ensemble that's well-balanced and especially solid on the bass end. The nature of the writing, including modal melodies and harmony, parallel fifths, and wide-spaced voicings, gives even the best choirs "intonational" fits; pacing is extremely important in order to keep key, dense-textured sections from bogging down.

None of these challenges proves troublesome at all for the Elora Festival Singers, which during the past 20 years has become one of Canada's--and the world's--finest choirs. Director Noel Edison obviously cares about balances and clarity of line, and also shows concern for his singers (and listeners) by maintaining sensible, effective tempos. However, in one significant place, the crucial, final Agnus Dei movement, I found Edison's tempo just too fast to allow the layers of vocal lines to build sufficient tension and create the energy to achieve the intended, truly powerful climax. Nevertheless, you never get the sense that Edison gets any less than he asks for, especially since the other works on the program are performed with equal intensity and technical confidence. (In the mass, he's also got a terrific quartet of soloists, who not only deliver the notes and maintain the mood in their individual passages, but also make a well-matched ensemble.) It's a real treat to hear the motets sung so well (just listen to that lovely opening to Lord, Thou hast been our refuge, and to the shimmering, jazzy dissonances in the Prayer to the Father of Heaven), and the setting of the beautiful hymn Come down, O Love divine (Down Ampney) makes an appropriate close, a tribute to this composer's immeasurable contribution to the English hymn repertoire. Placing O vos omnes immediately before the mass allows us to easily hear the similarities between these two compositions, written around the same time.

Now, for the slightly bad news: the recording levels make trouble for full enjoyment of these inherently full-bodied, rich-textured works. True, the acoustics of Toronto's illustrious Church of St. Mary Magdalene are somewhat tricky to tame, but if you adjust the volume high enough to comfortably hear softer passages--the beginning of the motet Lord, Thou hast been our refuge, for instance--the louder sections (the entrance of the organ and the work's conclusion), are just too loud. This is true for the mass as well; it seems that the engineers decided that a more distant listening perspective was preferable to a closer one that would have posed its own balance problems. Nevertheless, I eventually was able to find a satisfying middle ground that my ears quickly adjusted to, allowing me to put aside my sonic concerns enough to devote several more hours to this one disc. And I will certainly return to it again, because the performances are that good.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

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Vaughan Williams: Mass In G, Choral Music / Edison, Et Al
Naxos Jan 2002
CD
$19.99

LES CONTES DE NOEL

Frémeaux

$20.99 Jan 15, 2021

It's Christmas Eve and everyone is busy with the preparations. But, preferring solitude to these happy holidays, Ebenezer Scrooge refuses the invitations. For this grumpy old man who everyone is careful to avoid, Christmas comes down to one simple word: "Foolishness!" But that night, Christmas spirits decide otherwise. Plunged in spite of himself between past, present and future, the old scrambler receives a lesson in life. This mythical, wonderfully sensitive tale gives Christmas all it's magic. "By a just, noble and legitimate distribution of the things of this world, if sickness and sadness are contagious, there is nothing that is communicated so irresistibly as laughter and good humor." Christmas Tales - Charles DICKENS

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LES CONTES DE NOEL
Frémeaux Jan 2021
CD
$20.99

A Christmas Celebration / Bell, Halle Choirs

Halle

$20.99 Sep 09, 2016

For TRACKLIST/PERFORMERS SUMMARY, please expand note below:

One of the best parts of the Halle Christmas celebration is the inclusion of the entire Halle family- the Halle and Halle Choir, as well as Halle’s Youth Choir and Children’s Choir. This lovely collection of popular, rare, and newly discovered holiday gems will bring festivity to all of your holiday gatherings. Compositions include works from film composers such as John Williams and Nigel Hess, as well as choral superstars like John Rutter and John Gardner. Especially notable is the orchestral showpiece Noel!, which was written specifically for Halle and conductor Stephen Bell by Roderick Elms, and is receiving here its world premiere recording. “A lovely festive celebration and a reminder of what Christmas is all about” (Oldham Chronicle)

-----

TRACKLIST/PERFORMERS:

A Christmas Overture - Nigel Hess
O Holy Night Adam - arr. Battiwalla *
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day - John Gardner ^
In Dulci Jubilo - arr. Pearsall *^
Noel - Roderick Elms
Somewhere in my Memory - John Williams ~
Fairytale Sleighride - Adam Saunders
Angels’ Carol - John Rutter *
Waltz, Winter Bonfire - Sergei Prokofiev
Personent Hodie - arr. Gustav Holst *
The Holy Boy - John Ireland
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree - Elizabeth Poston ^
A Christmas Carnival - Richard Bissill
In The Bleak Midwinter - Harold Darke/Christina Rossetti *^
Dance of the Tumblers - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Christmas on the Beach at Waikiki - Marta Keen arr. Alwyn Green ~
Sleighride - Leroy Anderson
We wish you a Merry Christmas *^

Conductor
Stephen Bell

Soloists/Artists
Hallé Choir *
Hallé Youth Choir ^
Hallé Children's Choir ~

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A Christmas Celebration / Bell, Halle Choirs
Halle Sep 2016
CD
$20.99

20 Best Irish Songs

ARC Music

$20.99 Jan 27, 2015

Noel McLoughlin the Limerick, Ireland-born singer, guitarist and string player spent his early years in Ireland playing traditional folk music with various groups in countless sessions, festivals, concerts, etc. In the 1970s he joined several Irish folk bands, among others Cromlach (later Celtic Tradition) with whom he recorded his first album in 1984. Afterwards, he concentrated on performing mainly as a soloist, playing guitar and singing Irish and Scottish folk songs, touring throughout Europe and the USA. Since 1989 he has recorded numerous albums of the most popular Irish and Scottish songs and ballads. After many international tours and broadcasts as a soloist, he now prefers to tour with a small group, with occasional solo performances. The incredible success of his recordings is due to Noel’s impressive but soft voice. A best-selling ARC Music artist, this is the long awaited brand new recording of old and new Irish songs by one of the most acclaimed singers of Irish and Scottish folk.

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20 Best Irish Songs
ARC Music Jan 2015
CD
$20.99

Charpentier: Baroque Christmas

SDG

$20.99 Sep 26, 2025

Recorded in the middle of a European tour in December 2024, this release marks the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists debut of acclaimed French conductor Christophe Rousset. Rousset brings his Gallic elegance and refinement to Charpentier's Baroque Christmas music - the motet In Nativitatem and the Messe de minuit pout Noel, along with the instrumental noels, or Christmas carols, that form the basis of Charpentier's unique mass.

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Charpentier: Baroque Christmas
SDG Sep 2025
CD
$20.99

Mix & Match

Franck: Complete Organ Works / Hans-Eberhard Roß

Audite Musikproduktion

$36.99 Sep 25, 2012

FRANCK COMPLETE ORGAN WORKS • Hans-Eberhard Roß (org) • AUDITE 21413 (6 CDs: 411:46)

When it comes to the organ, I think it’s safe to say that César Franck is the most important composer since Bach, and here we have a survey of Franck’s organ music so complete that it would take an entire page to list the entire contents of these six discs in standard Fanfare headnote format. In fact, there’s not another collection in existence this complete—not Jean Guillou’s, Marie-Claire Alain’s, Anthony Newman’s, or anyone else’s—since whole discs full of items here are flagged as being premiere recordings, premiere recordings for organ, premiere complete recordings, or premiere complete recordings for organ. So, I have decided to describe the set’s contents on a disc-by-disc basis. Let me forewarn the reader, though, that this is a release dedicated to the doggedly determined among lovers of organ music in general and Franck’s organ music in particular.

Organist Hans-Eberhard Roß performs all 142 pieces on a single instrument, the Goll organ at St. Martin’s Church in Memmingen, Germany. I haven’t been able to find any detailed information on the organ builder, but the enclosed booklet gives the following specifications for the organ: built in 1998, it has four manuals plus pedal, controlling 62 registers. The recordings were made between 2004 and 2005 and were originally released in three two-disc sets in SACD. The boxed-up, six-disc set that came to me for review was on standard, two-channel CDs.

One criticism I will lodge about the presentation is this: the track listings for every piece give the date it was composed, the date it was published, and which of nine editions Roß uses. This last bit of information about the editions may be of interest to the musicologist or scholar studying Franck’s organ works, but more interesting to the general listener, I think, would have been a concordance of stops and registrations used for each piece, something I’ve seen in the notes to other organ recordings, and something that ought, I think, to be material to an undertaking of this seriousness.

Disc 1 starts off with a first-time recording of Pièce en mi bémol ; i.e., Piece in E?. Of course, you’d have to listen to it to know if it was major or minor, but I’ll save you the effort. It’s more or less both, opening with a chord progression that eerily anticipates the ear-curling pronouncement at the beginning of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto. This is followed by another early work, Pièce pour Grand Orgue . It’s not asterisked as a premiere recording but is nonetheless absent from current listings except for this version. Several more early works fill the first disc, all dating from between 1854 and 1856. There are five pieces by Franck originally written for harmonium and transcribed for organ by Louis Vierne, and this is their first time on record. Also a first on record is a first version of a Fantaisie in C Major. Its second version, apparently not a first on record, is also included on the disc. Roß, himself, has transcribed the harmonium piece, Quasi Marcia , op. 22, and plays it here for the first time on organ.

If it’s mainly a CD of Franck’s big organ hits you want, you would be happy with just disc 2. They’re all there in one place: the Fantaisie in C Major, op. 16, the Grand Pièce Symphonique , op. 17, the Prélude, Fugue, et Variation , op. 18, the Pastorale , op. 19, Prière , op. 20, and Final, op. 21.

Disc 3 contains no fewer than 39 short pieces collected under the heading of Posthumous Pieces for Harmonium or Organ with Pedal for L’Office Ordinaire . This spills over onto disc 4, which contains another seven pieces that are part of the same collection. The fourth disc is then filled out by Three Pieces for Grand Organ , a Petit Offertoire , and an Untitled piece, that last two of which were both originally for harmonium. The entire contents of discs 3 and 4, with the exception of the Three Pieces for Grand Organ , are flagged with three asterisks (***), referencing the fact that they are heard here for the first time complete on organ.

Disc 5 and almost all of disc 6 are occupied by Franck’s answer to Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier , the sets of Pieces for Organ or Harmonium. The number seven must have held some mystical significance for Franck because there are nine sets of these pieces, each containing seven numbers, beginning with 7 Pieces in C Major and C Minor , progressing to 7 Pieces in D?-Major and C?-Minor , then to 7 Pieces in D Major and D Minor , which he subtitles, Pour le temps de Noël , and so on. The cycle stops after the 7 Pieces in A?-Major and G?-Minor , leaving the keys of A, B?, and B unexplored. There’s nothing mysterious or supernatural about the reason; Franck died before he was able to finish the project. The entirety of the Pieces for Organ or Harmonium is also thrice asterisked, meaning this is its first complete recording on organ. The final disc in the set concludes with the 3 Chorales for Grand Organ.

At first, I was a bit skeptical of how Franck’s organ music would sound on a modern, German-built instrument. It’s difficult to disassociate these works from the Cavaillé-Coll organs that inspired them. Much of this music, in fact, was composed during Franck’s tenure as organist and maître de chapelle at Sainte-Clotilde between 1858 and 1872. Of the three-manual plus pedal Cavaillé-Coll organ installed in the church, Franck is quoted as saying, “If you only knew how I love this instrument . . . it is so supple beneath my fingers and so obedient to all my thoughts.”

Concluding the 63-page booklet note by Martin Weyer (translated by Viola Scheffel) is a lengthy apologia in defense of playing these works on a Goll organ. The author twists himself in knots talking about the historical period-instrument movement and then tries to turn the argument on its head by explaining why this modern Goll instrument is an appropriate substitute for a Cavaillé-Coll organ and Franck’s music. “Upon hearing the instrument,” Weyer contends, “one will discover a lot of similarities to the sort of instrument that Franck found inspiring.” One could counter that many an organist has recorded Franck’s organ works on authentic Cavaillé-Coll instruments, and that if organist Hans-Eberhard Roß had betaken himself to France to make these recordings, he could have done likewise. But, as far as I’m concerned, the point is irrelevant. Roß is a consummately accomplished player who uses the richly variegated palette of the Goll organ to paint Franck’s pieces in an amazing array of tonal color combinations both bright and subtle, and the acoustic of Memmingen’s St. Martin church, perfectly captured by Audite’s engineers, is ideal. Franck and Cavaillé-Coll are nodding their heads in approval.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

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Franck: Complete Organ Works / Hans-Eberhard Roß
Audite Musikproduktion Sep 2012
CD
$36.99

Christmas Bells - Organ Music from Belfast Cathedral

Resonus Classics

$18.99 Nov 05, 2021

For this recording Organist Matthew Owens presents a diverse recital of some of the greatest Christmas music ever written for the instrument. Traditional tunes, whether Lutheran chorales, plainchant, French noëls, or medieval carols, have provided the inspiration for much Christmas organ music throughout the years, with much of this program made up of pieces based on such tunes, from J.S. Bach’s Canonic variations on Vom Himmel hoch to Louis-Claude Daquin’s Noël Suisse. This recital also draws on more contemporary sources and presents several world premiere recordings including Howard Skempton’s Christmas Bells and Gary Davison’s Seven Versets on Divinum Mysterium, both of which were written specially for this recording.

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Christmas Bells - Organ Music from Belfast Cathedral
Resonus Classics Nov 2021
CD
$18.99

Jean-Pierre Rampal – The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings

Sony Masterworks

$99.94 ~~$199.98~~ Save 50% Dec 03, 2021

Before Jean-Pierre Rampal appeared on the music scene in the 1950s, wind players were rarely hired as soloists with orchestras. This legendary French flute virtuoso broke through that barrier with his astonishing talent, flair, and commanding stage presence, attaining the kind of visibility previously enjoyed only by pianists and violinists. He regularly filled the world’s largest concert halls for his recitals and chamber performances. Rampal was the father figure of the flute renaissance in the 20th century which restored the instrument to the exalted position it held during the 18th century.

He also became one the world’s most recorded artists, commanding all the essential repertoire of his instrument but equally embracing previously unknown works, his own discoveries, jazz, pop, folk and contemporary works. Virtually anything written for the flute or plausibly adapted for it was grist for his mill. In his autobiography Rampal referred to the discography that brought him numerous prizes and awards as being so enormous that not even he could keep track of it. In 1969, he began recording for CBS, and in 1979 he signed an exclusive contract with the label.

To mark his 100th birthday, Sony Classical released in a 56-CD box set the first complete edition of Jean-Pierre Rampal’s recordings for CBS, RCA, and Sony Classical.

SET CONTENTS:

DISC 1: Mozart: Flute Quartets
DISC 2: Bach Family
DISC 3: Bolling: Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano
DISC 4/5: Rampal and Lagoya in Concert
DISC 6: Vivaldi/Telemann
DISC 7: Bolling: "Picnic Suite"
DISC 8: Mozart: Flute Quartets K. 285 & K. 298/Divertimento K. 334
DISC 9: Carnaval de Rampal (Showpieces)
DISC 10: Schubert: Sonata In A Minor/Moscheles: Sonata concertante
DISC 11: Pastorales De Noel
DISC 12: Dvořák, Feld, Martinů: From Prague With Love
DISC 13: Japanese Melodies, Vol. III
DISC 14: Haydn: Divertimentos
DISC 15: Sonatas of J.S. Bach and sons
DISC 16: Jean-Pierre Rampal plays Scott Joplin
DISC 17: Weber: Sonatas for Violin and Piano
DISC 18: Bach: Concerto for Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo
DISC 19: Vivaldi: Six Concertos for Flute
DISC 20: Fascinatin' Rampal: Jean-Pierre Rampal plays Gershwin
DISC 21/22: Bach: Sonatas and Partita for Flute
DISC 23/24: Haydn: Concertos
DISC 25: The Flute at The Court of Frederick The Great
DISC 26: Night at The Opera: The Magic Flute
DISC 27: Chants de Noel / Children’s Songs
DISC 28: Mozart: Sonatas
DISC 29: Bolling: Suite No. 2 For Flute and Jazz Piano Trio
DISC 30: Mozart: The Flute Quartets
DISC 31: Telemann: Overture/Concertos
DISC 32: Telemann, Kuhlau, Bach, Mozart, Doppler
DISC 33: Kuhlau: Flute Quintets
DISC 34: Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp/Sinfonia concertante
DISC 35: Carulli: Flute Concerto and more
DISC 36: Concertos for Two Flutes
DISC 37/38: C.P.E. Bach: The Complete Flute Concertos
DISC 39: Mozart: Flute Concertos
DISC 40: Music for Flute and Harp
DISC 41: Mozart,Telemann, J.C. Bach, Reicha
DISC 42: Vivaldi: 6 Double Concertos
DISC 43: Rameau: Pièces de clavecin en Concerts
DISC 44: Italian Flute Concertos
DISC 45: Mozart: Divertimento, K.334/Adagio And Rondo, K.617/Andante, K.616/Quintet, K.557
DISC 46: Haydn: London Trios
DISC 47: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
DISC 48: Kathleen Battle and Jean-Pierre Rampal in Concert
DISC 49: Pla: Catalan Flute Music of the 18th Century
DISC 50: Boccherini: Flute Quintets
DISC 51: Collaborations
DISC 52: Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 36 & 38 – Jean Pierre Rampal, conductor
DISC 53: Carulli/Haydn: Guitar Concertos – Jean Pierre Rampal, conductor
DISC 54: Bolling: Suite for Chamber Orchestra and Jazz Piano Trio – J.P. Rampal, conductor
DISC 55: Romantic Harp Concertos – J.P. Rampal, conductor
DISC 56: Mozart: March/Serenade K. 250 “Haffner” – J.P. Rampal, conductor

REVIEW:

Flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal brought the instrument to new prominence, proving its enormous potential in a wide range of repertoire. Sony’s new collection, ‘The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings’, opens to a benchmark 1969 recording of the Mozart flute quartets where Rampal joins forces with Isaac Stern, Alexander Schneider, and Leonard Rose, and ends with more Mozart – and more Stern – for a keenly played 1994 version of Mozart’s Haffner Serenade. Especially noteworthy are three Kuhlau flute quintets where Rampal joins forces with the Juilliard Quartet: this is superior music, beautifully performed and recorded.

Contemporary repertoire is represented in the first instance by a colorfully inventive and well-performed Penderecki Concerto under the composer’s own direction, surely the best ‘modern’ piece in the set. Rampal enjoyed a fruitful musical relationship with the French jazz pianist, composer and arranger Claude Bolling. Of those pieces included in the set, I’d gravitate first to the Suite for chamber orchestra and jazz piano trio, with its classical resonances; on the other hand, programs devoted to Scott Joplin rags and Gershwin (including a musically pointless abbreviation of An American in Paris) are best left in the box. I’m all for creative crossover but the Gershwin in particular misfires, musically. Still, to be landed with just two ‘duffs’ in a collection of 56 CDs is pretty good going.

As you can imagine, some of the featured repertoire appears more than once but there are sufficient differences in approach between alternative recordings to justify spending time comparing. What’s most interesting is the typically wide range of music on offer, some of it of exceptional quality.

Overall, this is a most enjoyable set, sturdily boxed, with original jacket sleeves that include readable spines, and a hardcover 220-page accompanying book that will give you informative annotations and all the discographical information you need. As diverting collections go, this is certainly one to consider.

-- Gramophone (Rob Cowan)

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Jean-Pierre Rampal – The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings
Sony Masterworks Dec 2021
CD
~~$199.98~~ $99.94

DECCA LEGACY

ELOQUENCE AUSTRALIA

$35.34 Oct 09, 2020

A tribute to the late Ida Haendel, comprising her complete Decca Recordings (1940-1997), newly remastered, as well as her performances at the 1982 Huberman Festival. Lavishly illustrated, Original Jackets, Limited Edition. On her death in July 2020, obituaries worldwide paid glowing tributes to the effervescence of the violinist Ida Haendel, in both her playing and her person. Both with and without her bow, she captivated listeners and fellow musicians such as the cellist Steven Isserlis: 'She spoke through her violin, proved herself through it, lived within the music she made. She was a marvel, an icon; each note she played was the result of total conviction - and as a consequence was totally convincing. She had been groomed from the beginning to be a star - and a star she was.' It is those prodigious early years that enjoy belated attention in this new box of Haendel's collected Decca recordings. Her first recordings date from 1940, when Haendel, in her early teens, was accompanied by a fellow Polish emigre Adele Kotowska in showpieces and encores. Her reputation in the UK had been secured by accomplished debuts at Wigmore Hall and the Queen's Hall Proms. Decca confidently invested in her promise, and were rewarded with albums that were consistently acclaimed for the violinist's warmth and depth of tone and virtuoso temperament, but also liveliness of musical response to a wide variety of repertoire, from a Schubert sonatina to violinistic fireworks by Kreisler and Sarasate. Haendel was soon paired with an equally brilliant young pianist, Noel Mewton-Wood, for a spry reading of Beethoven's Eighth Sonata, and then with Ivor Newton for more demanding modern repertoire such as Stravinsky's Divertimento and Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances. Her recording career continued to flourish after the war with several well-received concerto discs of Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens and Dvorak: all made for 78s and long unavailable until the new remasterings by Mark Obert-Thorn in the present collection. However, despite the excellent reviews, Haendel's father elected to sign a contract with EMI and she ceased recording for Decca in September 1947. Haendel's return to the label had to wait almost 40 years, but a 1996 recital with Vladimir Ashkenazy of modern classics from eastern Europe - Szymanowski, Bartok and Enescu - had critics and listeners alike marveling at her longevity and undimmed technical command. As well as a live account of the Sibelius Concerto from Israel in 1982 and a spoken memoir from the producer Evans Mirageas, this tribute is significantly enhanced by a previously unpublished late recording: Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending, from 1997, with the London Philharmonic and Sir Roger Norrington, originally intended for release within a Vaughan Williams symphony cycle. A work new to Haendel's relatively slender discography, this will attract the attention of violin-lovers everywhere.

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DECCA LEGACY
ELOQUENCE AUSTRALIA Oct 2020
CD
$35.34

SOUNDPOEMSET THE FIRST SEA M
Centaur Records Jan 1994
CD
$18.99

First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings

BLUE NOTE RECORDS

$23.99 Dec 10, 2021

Click here to view the Vinyl version.

Two CDs. A previously unreleased live recording of drum legend Art Blakey with a classic line-up of the Jazz Messengers, trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt. It was captured on January 14, 1961, at Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo during the band's first-ever tour of Japan. Co-produced by Zev Feldman and David Weiss, the audio was newly transferred from the original 1/4" tape reels. First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings.

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First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings
BLUE NOTE RECORDS Dec 2021
CD
$23.99

Charpentier: Pour un reposoir - Noëls sur les instruments -

Ricercar

$20.99 Nov 19, 2013

The greater part of the CD is taken up by the Noels pour les Instruments that Charpentier set for instrumental ensemble and organ. Ricecar's interpretation of this work is based on the original manuscript and respects the marked instrumentation as well as Charpentier's own specifications for organ registrations. They also recorded the original versions of the above-mentioned Christmas carols, complete with their many verses as they appeared in French collections published at the beginning of the 18th century. This recording of Christmas music can be enjoyed throughout the year!

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Charpentier: Pour un reposoir - Noëls sur les instruments -
Ricercar Nov 2013
CD
$20.99

From the First Night of the Proms 1943
SOMM Recordings May 2008
CD
$20.99

O Holy Night - Christmas Carols from St John’s

Signum Classics

$19.99 Aug 15, 2025

The second album from the Choir of St John's with their new music director - Christopher Gray. At the centre of the programme are the atmospheric Quatre Motets pour le temps de Noel by Francis Poulenc, and the heartfelt Three Carol-Anthems by Herbert Howells who directed the Choir here at St John's during the Second World War. Other items include the beautiful carol John Rutter wrote for the Choir in 1985, There is a flower, and the haunting Peace on earth by Master of the King's Music, Errollyn Wallen. "My aim with this album has not been to break new ground with repertoire, but to ensure that classics remain fresh for the current generation" - Christopher Gray

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O Holy Night - Christmas Carols from St John’s
Signum Classics Aug 2025
CD
$19.99

My Choice

Winter & Winter

$20.99 May 21, 2021

Noël Akchoté, composer/guitarist from Paris, unites supposedly incompatible material on the album "My Choice": Zarah Leander's Nazi-era hit "Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt", Serge Gainsbourg's irony about Nazi refuge in South America "SS in Uruguay", Ornette Coleman's groundbreaking "Street Woman", Kylie Minoque's "Red Blooded Woman" and Paolo Conte's "Via Con Me" and one is amazed, because his choice is genius. It's wonderful, it's wonderful, it's wonderful! Everything comes together to form a new whole. "The strand always grows from it's middle, both sides - I don't believe in styles, nor genres. All proves that the original musical gesture remains the exact same since it first happened. I got hit by Jazz at earliest age because they had all to invent, another Blank Page. As many white pages as individuals, eternally. Because you can't, because it's too high, you will perpetually - Dare, fear, burn & adore. Reproduce. All arts are timing, so are lives. All arts are at present when coming near by. A frame is a length, a text a tone, a sound a height. The biggest lesson one can achieve is to really integrate the fact that by playing, writing, directing, performing, it will always be you and only doing so. Therefore only You can beat yourself at your own games."

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My Choice
Winter & Winter May 2021
CD
$20.99

The Restored Hazel Wright Organ - The First Recording / Ball

Gothic

$20.99 Nov 04, 2022

Few pipe organs in history have received as much attention as the iconic “Hazel.” David Ball’s performance takes full advantage of this “King of Instruments’” potential. “It is always an honor to sit in front of Hazel’s console and play,” said David Ball, Cathedral Organist and Head of Music Ministry. “I am continuously in awe of the sheer power and breadth of this amazing instrument.” Juilliard-trained organist David L. Ball serves as Cathedral Organist and Head of Music Ministry at Christ Cathedral in the Diocese of Orange, California (formerly Crystal Cathedral).

David is a recognized and well-lauded performer—The New York Times declared his appearance in Juilliard’s FOCUS! Festival “a rousing performance.” David completed both the Bachelor and Master of Music at The Juilliard School in New York City, studying under Mr. Paul Jacobs. As Christ Cathedral Organist, David’s musical contributions underpin the Cathedral’s vast array of weekly services and events, accompanying the Diocesan, Cathedral, and Children’s Choirs and supporting the parish’s diverse congregation.

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The Restored Hazel Wright Organ - The First Recording / Ball
Gothic Nov 2022
CD
$20.99

Calmus Christmas Carols / Calmus Ensemble Leipzig

Carus

$20.99 Dec 08, 2009

To give familiar melodies a fresh, rich and colorful new look and thus to present them in an attractive new light is the essential direction which the Calmus Ensemble Leipzig followed for this Christmas CD. The arrangements of well-known Christmas songs in this collection make use of structures from both classical as well as popular music from a variety of eras, always taking only the best of both worlds. It is hoped that the listener will not only be delighted, but will also be pleasantly surprised. That listening to this international Christmas album brings continually good feelings and that one listens with much joy and pleasure is due not only to the fine arrangements, but also to the lively interpretation and the perfect sound of the Calmus Ensemble Leipzig, which knows how to create an entirely genuine, uninhibited Christmas feeling.

Complete Track List:
1 Ludwig Böhme Maria durch ein Dornwald ging 04:23
2 Bob Chilcott Nova! nova! 02:39
3 Ludwig Böhme O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf 02:37
4 Ludwig Böhme Gaudete! 03:06
5 Philip Lawson Hark! The herald angels sing 03:16
6 Morten Schuldt-Jensen Away in a manger 01:56
7 Gregor Meyer Noel nouvelet 02:35
8 Gregor Meyer La Peregrinacion 03:19
9 Joe Roesler Tu scendi dalle stelle 03:52
10 Hannu Lepola Sylvian joululaulu 05:29
11 Sebastian Krause Es ist ein Ros entsprungen 03:10
12 Fredo Jung Weihnachten / Im Balladenton 02:21
13 Max Reger Schlaf, mein Kindelein 03:18
14 Claus Bantzer Was soll das bedeuten 03:02
15 Wolfram Buchenberg Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht 03:02
16 Ludwig Böhme O Tannenbaum, du trägst ein grünes Kleid 02:49
17 Ludwig Böhme Jingle bells 02:40
18 Ludwig Böhme Thank God it's Christmas 03:16
19 Harald Banter Leise rieselt der Schnee 01:58

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Calmus Christmas Carols / Calmus Ensemble Leipzig
Carus Dec 2009
CD
$20.99

The First Beauty / Oslo Chamber Academy

LAWO Classics

SACD

$18.99 Dec 11, 2015

These works for wind octet - by Klein, Kvandal, and Yun - are regarded as cornerstones of the recent literature. Oslo Chamber Academy is a new ensemble featuring some of Scandinavia's leading wind soloists. Oslo Philharmonic's solo oboist, David Friedemann Strunck, is the founder and artistic director of the ensemble.

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The First Beauty / Oslo Chamber Academy
LAWO Classics Dec 2015
SACD
$18.99

THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM
Telarc Sep 1998
CD
$19.99

Festive Sounds / Inkinen, German Radio Philharmonic

SWR

$10.49 ~~$20.99~~ Save 50% Aug 11, 2023

For many people Christmas time has come when the broadcasting stations start playing the specific music everybody knows and hears each year. However, not always music performed around Christmas has originally been composed for Christmas too. Especially our earliest and therefore most emotional memories are closely related to this festivity. The music we associate with these emotions does not necessarily have to be Christmassy, but should intensify and reflect those feelings. In December 2022 the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under chief conductor Pietari Inkinen performed a festive concert in the main broadcasting studio of the Saarländischer Rundfunk in Saarbrücken. Entitled "Festklänge" (Festive Sounds), the concerto was a compilation of Christmas music and music associated with Christmas, featuring the soprano Sarah Romberger and the mezzo-soprano Elsa Benoit as soloists. It contains next to Hely Hutchinson's excerpts from Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel as well from Tchaikovskys' The Nutcracker.

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Festive Sounds / Inkinen, German Radio Philharmonic
SWR Aug 2023
CD
~~$20.99~~ $10.49

Delius: On Hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring, Etc

Naxos

$19.99 Mar 01, 2004

This is an excellent Delius collection, as interesting for the repertoire as for the high quality of the performances. There are some real novelties here, including the American Rhapsody (later to become Appalachia in its expanded version) and the first recordings of Three Small Tone Poems, only one of which--Summer Evening--is at all well known. Sleigh Ride appears under its original title, Winter Night, as the centerpiece of the triptych, while Spring Morning wasn't even published until the late 1980s. So what we wind up with is three quarters of a Delian Four Seasons, with Spring Morning a wholly characteristic essay in the composer's early "Grieg meets Debussy" style.

As for the remaining items, The Walk to the Paradise Garden receives a beautifully flowing, ecstatic reading from Lloyd-Jones, while Two Pieces for Small Orchestra ("On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring" and "Summer Night on the River") benefit from fine wind playing and tempos that never let the music meander excessively. A Song before Sunrise and Delius' last completed (with Eric Fenby's help) orchestral work, Fantastic Dance, complete this well-planned, career-spanning collection. Naxos' sonics rank with the finest work on the label, as is usually the case with its Glasgow recordings. Strongly recommended both for the novelties as well as for the more popular items.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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Delius: On Hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring, Etc
Naxos Mar 2004
CD
$19.99