GMG CDs, DVDs & Downloads of the Year 2007

[Brian]

My own nominees:


(agreeing with Mark here!)



...and the contenders for Spot #3 are (in no particular order):
- Yevgeny Sudbin's Scriabin recital
- Jordi Maso's "Catalan Piano Album"
- the Fine Arts Quartet's Glazunov disc
- the world premiere recording of "Triptychon" by Manolis Kalomiris
- Grieg's Orchestral Music, Volume 3 (Symphony, Old Norwegian Romance) from the Malmo Symphony and Bjarte Engeset

[Peregrine]

My purchase of the year:

[marvinbrown]

My purchase of the year:

  Peregrine, what Verdi operas are included in that box set??  I tried looking under amazon.co.uk but could not find any information (for some reason). 

  marvin

[Peregrine]

  Peregrine, what Verdi operas are included in that box set??  I tried looking under amazon.co.uk but could not find any information (for some reason). 

  marvin

Full versions of Trav, Ballo, Aida, Otello, Falstaff. Plus a Requiem and other bit n' bobs...overtures etc.

[marvinbrown]

Full versions of Trav, Ballo, Aida, Otello, Falstaff. Plus a Requiem and other bit n' bobs...overtures etc.

  Nice...and I had to go and buy each of these operas separately  .

  marvin

[Peregrine]

  Nice...and I had to go and buy each of these operas separately  .

  marvin

Oh dear...it's an amazing value box and remastered over the Toscanini collection recordings AFAIK.

[Don]

What I'll most remember from my 2007 purchases are the six recordings of Tanyev string quartets and quintets on Northern Flowers.

[Brian]

Time to revive this thread!

For my school newspaper I am choosing the best classical CDs of the year, to be reviewed in a special column. (We classical types only get the megaphone every so often.  ) My goal is to have a fairly good mixture of time periods, as well as a blend of the really-famous with some more obscure selections that I can easily "sell" in a couple sentences. (For instance, the Naxos recording of Kalomiris orchestral music is great because Greek classical music is such a cool and novel idea [and the music is gloriously late-romantic - we have a big Brucknmahler contingent here], whereas Glazunov's String Quintet is harder to make students run out and buy, or even keep reading.) Here's my tentative list - suggestions welcome, though keep in mind that at this point I have too many discs on the list :

FOR-SURES
Tchaikovsky/Medtner: First Piano Concertos (Yevgeny Sudbin, John Neschling, BIS; undoubted CD of the year)
Rachmaninov: Preludes (Eldar Nebolsin, Naxos; this was both recorded and released in winter 2007 - rec. January, for sale by March - fastest turnaround I've ever heard of)
Mozart: Don Giovanni (Rene Jacobs, Harmonia Mundi)

PROBABLYS
Kalomiris: Triptychon, Symphony No. 3 (Byron Fidetzis, Naxos)
Weiss: Lute Sonatas Volume 8 (Robert Barto, Naxos)

MAYBE-MAYBE-NOTS
Catalan Piano Album (Jordi Maso, Naxos)

HAVE-YET-TO-LISTEN-TO-THEMS
Mendelssohn: Piano Trios (Trio Wanderer, Harmonia Mundi)
Rolando Villazon: Gypsy Something-or-other (Villazon, Domingo, EMI?)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 (Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Atma)
Lise de la Salle: Mozart, Prokofiev (de la Salle, Naive France)

"Credit where it's due" time: I've gotten a couple good ideas from this thread, a couple from Mark, one from Sarge Rock, and one from Dave H.

[Keemun]

I nominate this recording, which is most excellent. 

[PerfectWagnerite]

[Harry]

I nominate this recording, which is most excellent. 

And I heartily agree with that!

[Harry]

Two nominations: First this wonderful complete Piano music from Max Reger, this was and still is a absolute highlight for me.
Second was the more than excellent Scriabin box, with the Complete piano works. She made me hear and see, where the soul of Scriabin's music can be found.

[Harry]

Kalomiris: Triptychon, Symphony No. 3 (Byron Fidetzis, Naxos)

Yes Brian, that for me was also, a lovely surprise.....

[yashin]

I would go with the DVD of Handel's Giulio Cesare with Andreas Scholl and Inger Dam Jensen.  Superb in a word.

Other one would be the long welcomed release of the DVD Strauss's Die Frau Ohne Schatten - conducted by Sawallisch.

[BorisG]

I am adding this to my 2007 favorites. So far, I think each has featured a piano. I cannot remember another year with such exclusivity.

To this recording. I wrestled with the thought of more Saint-Saens piano concerti. I have listened to multitudes, purchased many, and discarded all. Rubinstein, Roge, and others.

Too, there was some thought for the not new collaboration of Thibaudet and Dutoit. Although it has produced some good recordings, none did itfor me as standard bearer.

This disc's big seller was the pairing of 2 & 5, my preferred Saint-Saens piano concerti, and the first time on a single CD. 5 is presented first, then the filler Franck's Symphonic Variations, then 2.

The distinctive emotions for each piece are accurately read, but there is also detail that previously escaped me. The band Suisse Romande has never sounded better.

I thank Decca for filling a void.

[sidoze]

not much for me this year. Probably my favourite classical find was this:



at his peak and in good stereo sound

other than that, two jazz CDs by the William Parker quartet





doesn't get much better than that

[karlhenning]

Delighted that you like this one!

[BorisG]

More late additions. I am optimistic that these two on order will be added to my 2007 favorites.



Onward to 2008, as I study January releases.

Happy New Year, fellow collectors.

[Todd]

I'm more or less settled on the below list since I won't be buying any more discs for the rest of the year.  (I've still not made it through all of the Levinas LvB cycle, but even incomplete it is excellent.) 



The Best of the Best
Beethoven – Complete Piano Concertos; Russell Sherman / Vaclav Neumann / CzPO (Pro Arte/Vanguard)
Ravel – Piano Music; Abbey Simon (Vox)
Szymanowski – Complete Piano Music; Sinae Lee (Divine Art)


The Best of the Rest
Albeniz – Iberia, etc; Michel Block (EMI)
Balada – Guernica, et al; (Naxos)
Beethoven – Complete Piano Sonatas; Michaël Levinas (Accord / UMG)
Beethoven – Complete Piano Sonatas; Akiyoshi Sako (Camerata)
Beethoven – Piano Sonatas 8, 15, 27, 30; Biss (EMI)
Enescu – Oedipe; Foster (EMI)
Falla – Piano Music; Esteban Sanchez (Ensayo)
Faure / Franck – Violin Sonatas; Yabe / Yokoyama (Sony)
Liszt – Transcendental Studies; Yukio Yokoyama (Sony)
Mahler – 9; Barenboim (Warner)
Mozart – Complete Piano Sonatas; Michael Endres (Oehms)
Mussorgsky – Boris Godunov; Dobrowen (EMI)
Nancarrow – Chamber Works; Continuum (Naxos)
Nancarrow – Player Piano Studies (Wergo)
Ravel – Piano Music; Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (MDG)
Schubert – Complete Pianos Sonatas; Michael Endres (Capriccio)
Schumann – Novelleten; Michel Block (Pro Piano)
Shostakovich – Complete String Quartets; Beethoven Quartet (Doremi)
Szymanowski – Complete Songs for Voice and Piano (Channel Classics)

[sidoze]

The Best of the Best
Ravel – Piano Music; Abbey Simon (Vox)

It's really nice to see Abbey Simon mentioned. He studied in the same class as Bolet and Sidney Foster (another unjustly lost one). None recorded much or often, but all 3 sound unique and are wholeheartedly expressive musicians.

The Best of the Rest
Mozart – Complete Piano Sonatas; Michael Endres (Oehms)

Schubert – Complete Pianos Sonatas; Michael Endres (Capriccio)

I haven't heard of this pianist. Do you know if he's recorded any heavy romantic music (more or less all I'm interested in right now, which is why I ask)?