Tag Archives: IRR

Roguish Mozart from Pip Eastop in Mozart’s horn concertos

Mozart: Horn Concertos 1-4; Horn Quintet in E flat major K407 Pip Eastop; Eroica String Quartet; The Hanover Band/ Anthony Halstead (Hyperion CDA68097) Modestly, the booklet biography of Anthony Halstead for this release makes reference only to his conducting or … Continue reading

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A beguiling Scheherazade from Istanbul

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade Sascha Goetzel/ Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra (Onyx) Peter Oundjian/ Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Chandos) Full of Eastern promise, Scheherazade weaves her sinuous way into my affections once again, with new recordings from Istanbul and Toronto. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Arabian Nights-inspired orchestral … Continue reading

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An essential “Babi Yar” from Kirill Kondrashin on Praga

Shostakovich: Symphony No.13 ‘Babi Yar’; Prokofiev: October Kirill Kondrashin/Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra (Praga) Even for Dmitri Shostakovich, few works had such a controversial genesis as his Thirteenth Symphony, “Babi Yar”. It was originally intended as a one movement cantata, based on … Continue reading

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Netrebko’s Tatyana the main draw in new Met Opera Onegin

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin Metropolitan Opera/Valery Gergiev (DG) Anna Netrebko’s Tatyana has been a long time coming. Ever since I first saw her, with her elfin, Audrey Hepburn looks, perched on a balcony as Natasha in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, she … Continue reading

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A superb live Don Carlo from Karajan in Vienna

Verdi: Don Carlo Herbert von Karajan/Wiener Staatsoper (Orfeo) When comparing all the interpretations of Verdi’s Don Carlo(s) on disc (November 2011), I awarded Herbert von Karajan’s 1978 EMI set the title ‘most frustrating studio account’. Wonderfully cast, it suffered at … Continue reading

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