Brilliant Badura-skoda and Barbirolli
This month’s round-up also sees 50 years of Collegium Vocale Gent
Paul Badura-skoda amassed so many period keyboard instruments that he had to purchase the property next door in order to house them all. In Ludwig van Beethoven – The Complete Piano Sonatas (Arcana A203) we get to hear six or seven of the instruments from his collection, each having been crafted during the composer’s lifetime. The box, featuring recordings made in Vienna from 1978-89, is a celebration both of Beethoven – in his 250th anniversary year – and the great Austrian pianist, who died at the end of last year.
With Sir John Barbirolli – The Complete
RCA and Columbia Album Collection (Sony Classical 19075988382) we are gifted almost all of the conductor’s recordings made with the New York Philharmonic from 1938-42. It documents a bittersweet tenure for the young British conductor, who took over from Toscanini in 1936 and remained in his shadow. His recordings with the orchestra were celebrated, though, and the varied programme here includes everything from Purcell and Byrd to Respighi, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky.
It’s 50 years since Philippe Herreweghe founded the Collegium Vocale Gent, and with Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvoˇrák & Victoria (Phil LPH 033) he presents six discs of recordings. You might think that’s short shrift for five decades of music-making, but it was only in 2010 that Herreweghe launched Phi Records and this takes in some of their very best recordings for the label. It truly represents the choir’s versatility, taking us from Bach’s Leipzig Cantatas to Dvoˇrák’s Requiem – over two discs.
Baroque (Brilliant Classics 95886) is a typically exhaustive release from the budget label, which gathers together works by 14 composers from Albinoni to Vivaldi. Concertos, in all their guises, are the main focus here with a multitude of works by JS Bach filling four discs. Performers include Concerto Köln, L’arte Dell’arco, Musica Amphion, Violini Capricciosi and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and it’s all housed in a rather elegant white box. The clean lines and empty spaces on the packaging are rather less Baroque than the contents.
The box documents a bittersweet New York tenure for Barbirolli