Positive Feedback ISSUE 40
november/december 2008

Notes of an Amateur - December, 2008, Part 2
by Bob Neill

I am both a reviewer and lover of lists. I am also curious which of the many new recordings I've reviewed this year I truly believe I'll listen to again, often. So I set myself a limit of twelve and then squeezed in another. And then I decided to do what other reviewers don't do, which is list a handful of recordings I discovered this past year that we actually recorded in years past. I consider them news too. If I had a bigger ego, I'd call this a ‘Best of' list. Let's just say it's my Best of list.

Baker's Dozen of Favorite Classical Recordings for 2008, New Releases, January - November

Elliott Carter, String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5. Pacifica Quartet, Naxos 8.559362
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue35/amateur5.htm

Schubert Edition/Matthias Goerne Volume 1, with Elisabeth Leonskaja, piano. Harmonia Mundi HMC 901988.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue37/amateur1.htm

Volume 2, with Helmut Deutsch and Eric Schneider, piano (2 discs). HMC 902005. 

www.positive-feedback.com/Issue40/amateur1.htm

Handel, Organ Concertos, Opus 4 . Academy of Ancient Music, Richard Egarr, organist and director. Harmonia Mundi HMC 807446.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue37/amateur1.htm

Beethoven, Piano Sonatas, Volume 4. Paul Lewis. Harmonia Mundi HMC 901909.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue37/amateur2.htm

Bach, Cantatas, Volumes 3, 5 and 27. English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor. Soli Deo Gloria.

Volume 3: SDG 141: www.positive-feedback.com/Issue37/amateur2.htm;

Volume 27: SDG 138: www.positive-feedback.com/Issue37/amateur3.htm;

Volume 5: SDG 147. www.positive-feedback.com/Issue40/amateur2.htm

Mahler, Symphony No. 8. Pierre Boulez. Staatskapelle Berlin. Deutsche Gramophone DGG 477 6597.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue37/amateur3.htm

Éric Tanguy, Concertos for Cello. Anne Gastinel, cello. Orchestre National de France, Alain Altinoglu, conductor. naïve records V 5078
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue39/amateur.htm

Vasks, Piano Trio: "Episode for Canto Perpetua." Piano Quartet. Trio Parnassus. MDG 903 1513.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue39/amateur3.htm

Vivaldi, Cello Concertos II, Christophe Coin, Cello; Il Gardino Armonico, naïve 30457.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue40/amateur1.htm

Bruckner 9, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal. ATMA Classique SACD2 2514.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue40/amateur2.htm

Newly Discovered Favorites

Britten, Suites for Cello. Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello. Harmonia Mundi. HMN 911670.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue35/amateur2.htm

Pierre Bouteiller, de vanitate mundi. Suzie LeBlanc, soprano; Stephen Van Dyck, tenor, Les Voix Humaines. ATMA classique. ACD2 2259.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue36/amateur4.htm

Schumann: Cello Concerto, Works for Cello and Piano. Anne Gastinel, cello; Claire Désert, piano. Orchestre Philharmonic de Liège, Louis Langrée. naïve V 4897.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue39/amateur4.htm

Sainte-Colombe, Concerts for Two Violes. Volumes 1-4. Les Voix Humaines. ATMA classique. ACD2 2275, 2276, 2277, and 2278.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue37/amateur1.htm

Mozart, Lieder, Suzie Leblanc, soprano; Yannick Nézet-Séguin, fortepiano. ATMA classique ACD2 2327.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue36/amateur1.htm

The Spirite of Musicke: Suzie LeBlanc; Les Voix Humaines (Susie Napper & Margaret Little), violas da gamba. ATMA classique. ACD2 2136.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue36/amateur3.htm

Bach, Cello Suites. Anne Gastinel. naïve V5121
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue39/amateur2.htm

Joseph Haydn, Concertos for Cello. Anne Gastinel, cello; Moscow Soloists, Yuri Bashmet, conductor. naïve V 4820.
www.positive-feedback.com/Issue39/amateur4.htm