Culturekiosque

101 Best
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Janet Baker, Richard Lewis, Kim Borg
Hallé Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli, conductor
EMI

Barbirolli and Boult were the supreme interpreters of their generation in a wide variety of music, but this recording of Elgar's masterpiece remains unsurpassed for Baker, Lewis and the slightly accented English of Borg, less disturbing than some of the accents one puts up with in other languages.

Enescu: Oedipe
José van Dam, Gabriel Bacquier, Marcel Vanaud, Nicolai Gedda, Gino Quilico, Brigitte Fassbaender, Barbara Hendricks, Marjana Lipovsek
Philharmonic Orchestra of Monte Carlo
Lawrence Foster, conductor
EMI

A composer coming into fashion 40 years after his death, a title role so exhausting that the interpreter won't dare sing it on stage, everyone else coming on for a cameo - Oedipe is a masterpiece that should be heard at least once. A forthcoming production should indicate the stageworthiness of this neglected work of a neglected composer.

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