rmo

Ralph Moore

Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 (Fontec)

Another potentially engaging recording, fatally compromised by the conductor’s ill-disciplined vocal intrusion [RMo]

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Music for Strings (Chandos)

Superb playing and engineering; any reservations will centre upon the desirability of the programme [RMo]

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Bruckner: Symphony 8 (Tobu Recordings)

A wholly viable interpretation of indestructible integrity [RMo]

Verdi Aida PACO197

Verdi: Aida (Pristine Audio)

Pristine’s typically successful remastering into Ambient Stereo helps appreciate afresh the virtues of this classic recording [RMo]

R Strauss: Orchestral Works (RCA)

A welcome re-issue of three justly famous Strauss recordings in superb sound [RMo]

Corelli Concerti Grossi-Murphy Alto ALC1473

Corelli: Concerti Grossi (Alto)

Vital, elegant, discreetly period accounts of some delightful music [RMo]

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Hina Spani (soprano) Complete Recordings (Marston)

The complete recorded output of a great but neglected soprano – with a fine bonus [RMo]

Prokofiev: Symphony & Suites (RCA)

Bland interpretations further compromised by compressed digital sound – stick to classic, vintage accounts [RMo]

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Verdi: Aïda (Pristine)

Pristine illuminates afresh a vintage account of a perennial favourite, always very listenable but now even better [RMo]

Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings (BIS)

A wholly successful compilation of deeply melancholy and Romantic melodies for those with a sweet tooth [RMo]

Joan Sutherland (soprano) Personal Choices (Alto)

Stellar singing but scanty recording information and some tracks are in poor sound [RMo]

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Renée Fleming (soprano) Greatest Moments at the Met (Decca)

These live recordings form a tribute to one of the great voices of the past quarter-century [RMo]

Vaughan Williams symphonies ALC1470

Vaughan Williams: Symphonies (Alto)

A fine pairing from two English conductors and orchestras, immersed in the idiom but in their very different ways [RMo]

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Sibelius: Symphonies 3 & 5 (Alpha)

Another winner in this series of Sibelius symphonies, suites and tone poems [RMo]

Beethoven concertos BIS2581

Beethoven: Piano Concertos (BIS)

Astonishing virtuoso playing in a highly empathic partnership – the best modern accounts I know [RMo]

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Mahler: Symphonies 1-9 (BR Klassik)

Clarity, flexibility, detail and beautiful playing here but inconsistent as a set; some symphonies are superlative, others lack excitement [RMo]

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Van Cliburn in Moscow (RCA)

Fine performances somewhat compromised by indifferent sound [RMo]

Beethoven quartets CDR90000215

Beethoven: String Quartets Vol. 3 (Cedille)

Serene accounts characterised by beauty of tone and homogeneity of phrasing [RMo]

Mahler symphony OC1717

Mahler: Symphony 2 (Oehms Classics)

A fine, flexible, sensitive reading somewhat hampered by a lack of sheer weight in the orchestra [RMo]

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Berlioz: Harold en Italie (Erato)

Essentially unsatisfying accounts of two favourite Berlioz works [Rmo]

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Bach: Goldberg Variations (Warner)

Spirited, mercurial playing, compromised by a poor recording from Warner [RMo]

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Wagner: The Golden Ring (Decca)

A glorious sampler heralding a complete project which promises the best sound yet for this greatest of Wagner recordings [RMo]

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Bernstein conducts Stravinsky (DG)

A flawlessly played, atmospherically interpreted and beautifully presented collection of Stravinsky’s three major ballets with interesting bonuses [RMo]