pcg
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Wagner: Siegfried (Decca)
Triumph! Rejoice! Victory! Solti’s Ring, at last, as Wagner intended! [PCG]
Cavalli: L’Egisto (Château de Versailles Spectacles)
A welcome sound première recording for one of Cavalli’s more dramatically involving operas [PCG]
Cavalieri: Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo (Naxos)
Cavalieri’s pioneering work given a modern interpretation with mixed results [PCG]
Rachmaninov: Symphonies (Naxos)
Slatkin’s cycle emphasises the composer’s structural mastery [PCG]
Blow/Purcell: Operas (Opus Arte)
A delightful baroque double bill in an enjoyable period production and setting [PCG]
Handel: Semele (Opus Arte)
A modern take on a Handelian opera which for once makes dramatic sense, and is good fun as well [PCG]
Szymanowski: Hagith (Polish Ministry of Culture)
A reissue of a unique and valuable recording undermined by catastrophic failures of presentation [PCG]
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta/Stravinky: Mavra (Bayerische Staatsoper)
A marriage made in hell does no favours to either partner – perhaps we might hope for a divorce? [PCG]
Wagner: Golden Ring (Decca)
A sampler for the newly remastered Decca/Solti Ring demonstrates that the improvements are more than simply cosmetic [PCG]
Verdi: Rigoletto (Opus Arte)
An imaginative and involving production, but flawed by some intrusive and insensitive vulgarities [PCG]
Joyce: Caravan Suite (Naxos)
An interesting compilation of music by the “English waltz king” who outlived his era by half a century [PCG]
Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 6 & 9 (Pristine)
Pristine remastering of the first Boult cycle of Vaughan Williams symphonies reaches a triumphant conclusion [PCG]
Hedges: Kingston Sketches (Naxos)
Another enjoyable reissue in the Naxos series of British light music [PCG]
Pfitzner: Das Christ-Elflein (Orfeo)
Probably the most recommendable of the three recordings of Pfitzner’s Christmas tear-jerker despite its drawbacks [PCG]
Handel: Acis and Galatea (Decca)
A thoroughly welcome reissue that enshrines many of the virtues Handelian performance in the ‘pre-authentic’ era [PCG]
Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 7 & 8 (Pristine)
Another triumph for Pristine’s re-masterings of the Boult/Decca cycle [PCG]
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