Best of the Year Discs for 2015

by | Feb 8, 2016 | Best of the Year

          * = The 12 Multichannel Discs of the Month

CLASSICAL (incl. HI-RES), CLASSICAL REISSUES, CLASSICAL VINYL & PURE AUDIO BLU-RAY

JOHN LUTHER ADAMS: Become Ocean – CD+DVD – Seattle Sym./ Ludovic Morlot – Cantaloupe CA21101 (DVD video: PCM 2.0 and DD 5.1)

* KALVEVI AHO: 19 Preludes, etc. – Sonja Frakl, p. – BIS-2106

*American Chamber Music (HERRMANN/GERSHWIN/WAXMAN/COPLAND) – Nash Ens. – Hyperion CDA68094

BACH: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Preludes & Fugues, 1-12 – Mordecai Shehori, p. – Cembal d’amour CD 176

“The Bach Project: Volume 1” – Various works – Todd Finkley, organ – MSR Classics MS 1561

“From Bach” = Music by many composers & performers – Music@Menlo Live 2013 (8 CDs)

BARTOK:  Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta; The Miraculous Mandarin –  London Sym. Orch. /Sir Georg Solti – Decca twofer CD 000710902 or HDTT hi-res download

* BEETHOVEN: Sym. No. 5 & Sym. No. 7 – Pittsburg Sym./Honeck – Fresh/Reference Recordings FR-718

James Brawn in Recital, Volume 2 – “The Time Traveller  and His Muse”- MSR Classics MS 1502 (2 CDs)

* BRUCKNER: Sym. No. 4 “Romantic” – Pittsburgh Sym. /Honeck – Reference Recordings FR-713

DEREK CHARKE: Tundra Songs – Centrediscs CMCCD 2101

CHOPIN: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Etc. – Oleg Marshav/South Denmark Philharmonic – Danacord DACOCD 701-702 (2 CDs)

“Patagon” = Works of CINDY COX – Alexander String Q. – Foghorn Classics CD2015

HENRI DUTILLEAUX: Metaboles; Violin Concerto; Sym. No. 2 – Seattle Sym. Media SSM1007

* GABRIELI: 16 Works; WILLIAMS – Nat. Brass Ens. – Oberlin Music OC 15-04

* GORDON GETTY: The Little Match Girl, etc. – PentaTone PTC 5186 480

“Heroique – French Opera Arias” – Bryan Hymel, tenor/ PKF Prague Philharmonia/ Villaume – Warner Classics 0825646179503

BERNARD HERRMANN: Music from Citizen Kane etc. – Nat. Philharmonic Orch. / Charles Gerhardt – RCA Red Seal 88697 81264 2 or HDTT 4.0 hi-res download

IBERT: Le Chavalier errant; Les Amours de Jupiter – Orch. Nat. de Lorraine/ Jacques Mercier – Timpani 1C1230

GIYA KANCHELI, “Chiaroscuro” – ECM New Series 2442ER092252

LISZT: Piano Sonata in B Minor; Mazeppa; Mephisto Waltz – Felix Ardanaz, piano – Orpheus OR 3906-1828

BRUNO MADERNA: Requiem – Capriccio C5231

MAHLER: Symphony No. 9 – Budapest Festival Orch./ Ivan Fischer –  Channel Classics SACD 36115

WILLIAM MAYER: A Death in the Family (opera) – Soloists/David Gilbert – Albany TROY 395 (2 CDs)

MESSIAEN: Des Canyons Aux Ètoiles – Christoph Eschenbach – London Philharmonic LPO-0083 (2 CDs) 

SIR HUBERT PARRY: I was Glad & other choral works – Westminster Abbey Choir / Onyx Brass / Daniel Cook (organ) / James O’Donnell – Hyperion CD CDA 69089 or hi-res 24-96 download from Hyperion

“Tintinnabuli” = PART: Seven Magnificat Antiphons, etc. – Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips – Gimell CDGIM 049

POULENC: Chamber Music – The Iowa Ensemble – MSR Classics MS 1540

PROKOFIEV: Sym. No. 5; Schthian Suite – Andrew Litton – BIS SACD 2124

RAVEL: “Orchestal Works” – Pentatone SACD PTC 5186 204

RAVEL: Trio; ERNEST CHAUSSON: Trio – Trio Solisti – Marie Bachmann – v./ Alexis Pia Gerlach – cello/ Adam Naiman – p. – Bridge 9440

Preludes – John Roney, solo piano – Effendi FND 138

Trifonov (piano) at Carnegie Hall = Works of SCRIABIN, LISZT, CHOPIN & MEDTNER – DGG 479 1728

SHOSTAKOVICH: The Symphonies (Complete) – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/ Vasily Petrenko – Naxos 8.501111 (11 CDs)

Quartets by SMETANA & JANACEK – Takacs String Q. – Hyperion CDA67997

* The Steinmeyer Organ in Nidaros Cathedral – Magne Draagen, organ – LAWO Classics LWC1075

* STRAVINSKY: Concerto for Piano & Winds, etc. – Bavouzet, p./Sao Paulo Sym./ Yan Pascal Tortelier – Chandos

ANNA THORVALDSDOTTIR: “In the Light of Air” – Sono Luminus DSL-92192 (CD)

* VIVALDI: L’Estro Armonico – Rachel Podger – Channel Classics CCS SA 36515 (2 SACDs)

* WAGNER: Complete Mature Operas – PentaTone (32 SACDs+1 DVD)

JULIA WOLFE: Anthracite Fields – Cantaloupe Music CA21111


JAZZ, POP, FOLK, WORLD MUSIC (Incl. HI-RES)

Joey Alexander – My Favorite ThingsMotema MTA-CD-171

Mose Alison – American Legend – Ibis Recording 1754

The Complete Bee Hive Sessions – (12 CD box set) – Mosaic MD-261

Dan Brubeck Quartet – Live from the Cellar: Celebrating the Music and Lyrics of Dave and Iola Brubeck – Blue Forest BFR DB 15001

John Clayton/Hank Jones – Parlor Series Vol. II : The Negro Spirituals Dialogue – ArtistShare AS0140

Leonard Cohen – Can’t Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour – Sony Music/Legacy 507416

Al Cohn & Jimmy Rowles – Heavy Love – Elemental/Xanadu

The Complete Dial Modern Sessions (9 CDs) – Mosaic MD9-260

Bob Dylan – The Best Of Cutting Edge 1965/1966/The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – Columbia/Legacy 88875124431 (3 Vinyl + 2 CD Box Set)

Duke Ellington – Ellington At Newport – Columbia’ Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MOFI-035 Vinyl

Bill Evans – The Complete Fantasy Recordings – Fantasy/Concord FAN- 37012-02 (9-CD Box Set)

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman – Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDSACD 2140  

Charlie Haden & Gonzalo Rubalcaba – Tokyo Adagio – Impulse B0023543-02

Fred Hersch Solo – Palmetto Records PM 2180

The Piano Guys – Wonders – Portrait/Sony Masterworks 88843 08780 2

Maria Schneider – The Thompson Fields – ArtistShare ASO 137

Simon And Garfunkel – The Complete Columbia Albums Collection – Sony/Legacy 88875049671 (6-Disc Vinyl Box)


MUSIC & MOVIE BLU-RAYS & DVDs (Incl. 3D)

Aguirre, the Wrath of God – Dir.: Herzog – Blu-ray, Shout Fantory! SF 15684

Martha Argerich & Daniel Barenboim, pianists, in MOZART, SCHUBERT & STRAVINSKY, Blu-ray, EuroArts/Unitel 2059994

MAGNE AMDAHL:  Astrognosia (1991); Aesop (2012) – Dennis Storhøi/ Norwegian Radio Orch./ Ingar Heine Bergby – 2L Pure Audio-only Blu-ray 2L-110-SABD + multichannel SACD

Big Hero 6, (Animation) Blu-ray – Walt Disney 124656

Fitzcarraldo, Dir:. Herzog – Blu-ray – Shout Factory! SF15578

HANDEL: Rinaldo, from the Ludwigsburg Palace Theatre – Singers with the Lautten Compagney Berlin and Compagnia Marionettistica Carlo Colla e Figli/ Wolfgang Katschner – Arthaus Musik 102207 (Blu-ray and DVD) 

House of Wax, Vincent Price – Blu-ray 3D, Warner Bros.

Kiss Me Kate, Howard Keel & Kathryn Grayson, 3D and 2D Blu-ray – Warner Bros.

The Magics of Music + Castelfranco Veneto Recital (2015) – Two films by Christopher Nupen with pianist Daniil Trifonov – Studio: Allegro Films A19CND (DVD)

MAHLER: Symphony No. 7 cond. by Chailly, Blu-ray (2015) Performers: Gewandhaus Orch./ Riccardo Chailly Studio: Accentus Music ACC10309 (9/1/15) 

Porco Rosso, (Animation by Miyazaki) Blu-ray – Disney Home Ent.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders – Dir.: Jires – Blu-ray, Criterion Collection 761

Zarafa (French animation) – Blu-ray, Cinedigm

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