A hoard of Vaughan Williams gems
Our round-up also includes Piazzolla and Mitropoulos collections
Dimitri Mitropoulos was a legendary figure in both European and American musicmaking, and Sony’s massive Complete Recordings for RCA and Columbia (Sony Classical 19439888252) is the definitive statement on the conductor’s vast recorded legacy. Presented across 69 discs are his greatest recordings, made with the New York Philharmonic and the Minneapolis Symphony (now the Minnesota Orchestra), plus his complete set of opera recordings at The Met. Exhaustive, thrilling and illuminating, Sony has really triumphed.
It’s a big year for Vaughan Williams, whose 150th anniversary is being celebrated with numerous releases. A Vaughan Williams Anthology (Naxos 8.508021) is a specially curated collection of the very best the Naxos catalogue has to offer by the composer. Its eight discs feature recordings from as recent as 2015 and as far back as 1993, including four symphonies peformed by the Bournemouth Symphony and chamber works from the Maggini Quartet. Jennifer Pike plays The Lark Ascending, just one of the high points to be found in this treasurable set.
The Hallé Orchestra continues the celebration with The Complete Symphonies (Hallé CD HLD 7557). This high-quality, five-disc collection is released in early June, following the end of the orchestra’s threemonth VW festival with the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester. It brings together its acclaimed recordings from 2010-21 of all nine symphonies, conducted by Mark Elder at the city’s Bridgewater Hall, Hallé St Peter’s and the BBC’S studio in Salford.
Coming hot on the heels of another big composer anniversary, Astor Piazzolla – The American Clavé Recordings (Nonesuch 75597915280) brings three classic album recordings together for the first time, marking the composer’s 101st anniversary. Recorded in the 1980s with his New Tango Quintet, Tango: Zero Hour, La Camorra and The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night really established the Argentinian composer in the US, and offer up some truly superlative performances.
Sony’s Mitropoulos set is exhaustive, thrilling and illuminating