CD-Charts Position 11
Average Rating:

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Elgar/Payne - Symphony No 3 (LSO Davis)

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
by: London Symphony Orchestra

Release Date May 13, 2002
The major interest in the Payne elaborations, the very few recordings of such a high profile completion, the element of hypothesis over the intended and the unwritten, and the window this offers on the composer and his time, all make it interesting that this recording has not inspired greater consumer response.

This review, of the Elgar 3 actually in the box set of all three symphonies, every one recommended, can only praise this handsomely recorded, produced, and presented LSO in-house issue. As "own label" numbers increase and gain approval, LSO is at the forefront given these standards (as with the Haitink Beethoven cycle, and the Davis Dream of Gerontius). Budget buying has always been an art, but gems do lurk amongst the commendable ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 12
Average Rating:

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Sibelius: The Complete Symphonies, Vol.1

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
by: Boston Symphony Orchestra Colin Davis

Release Date May 05, 1995
Four Sibelius Symphonies on a moderately priced double CD must be good value for money. Anyone wishing to amass a full set could do little better than to begin here. One advantage of doing so is that the remaining Symphonies (Nos. 3, 6 & 7) are available on a sister album, generously bundled together with the Violin Concerto, Finlandia, Tapiola and The Swan of Tuonela. But this is the album that contains what are the great man's three most popular (I will not presume to say 'best') symphonies, so it is perhaps the place to begin.

The First and Second Symphonies are 'big' romantic symphonies, having elements in common with, say, Tchaikovsky or Borodin, as well as with the later and more individualistic Sibelius. The Fifth is equally ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 13
Average Rating:

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Sibelius: Symphonies Nos 3, 6 & 7/Violin Concerto,

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
from: Duo

Release Date May 05, 1995
The third symphony has one of the most emotional moments in classical music, namely the slow movement. This in itself makes the entire set worth while. The symphony as a whole is not as immediately memorable as the glories of the second or fifth, but you don't want to miss out on the experience.

The sixth and seventh are somewhat unconventional in style and structure, and therefore are rather more difficult to grasp. In particular, the abrupt ending of the seventh is somewhat bewildering. You also have to be paying attention to be able to work out where the sixth finishes and the seventh begins. Definitely ones for the less casual classical music fans, the more you hear them the more sense they make. You can see the influence on the "modern" ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 14
Average Rating:

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Berlioz: Les Troyens

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
from: LSO Live

Release Date July 09, 2001
This recording ought to have been five stars. The singers are superb, most of the conducting sensitive.

But it just doesn't pay attention to the staging, and this ruins a lot of the big dramatic moments.

Take the end of Act I. Berlioz has set up a brilliant tragedy of a doomed people, about to find out what's in the Trojan Horse. A triumphal march plays - a repeat from before - subtly makde more ombinous, with Cassandra pleading for something to be done. Abruptly the triumphal march breaks off...

And there's the problem. It doesn't break off abruptly. The staging - and this is said as much in the libretto published with the CD - calls for a clear, sudden break off of the march to indicate the Greeks flooding out of the Trojan ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 15
Average Rating:

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Elgar-Symphony No 1 (LSO Davis)

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
by: London Symphony Orchestra

Release Date February 11, 2002
This is a wondrous performance and a real rethink of the work. It is somehow bigger than my previous favourites and displaces most of them in my affections. Of the versions I know well (Boult, Solti, Handley) only Handley stands up as a different but equally great account (although "equally great" may not be right - the Davis performance seems bigger but Handley is equally stirring but less monumental). The weakness in the Davis account is surely the second movement where Davis's rethink does seem to risk dullness at times (is this why two reviewers here hates this disk?). The great strength is surely the third, slow, movement which has never seemed so poignant. But it is not a matter of parts - it is the whole that satisfies. Even if you have a version ... or more ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 16
Average Rating:

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Mozart: Da Ponte Operas

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
from: Philips

Release Date November 10, 1997
This is a wondrous performance and a real rethink of the work. It is somehow bigger than my previous favourites and displaces most of them in my affections. Of the versions I know well (Boult, Solti, Handley) only Handley stands up as a different but equally great account (although "equally great" may not be right - the Davis performance seems bigger but Handley is equally stirring but less monumental). The weakness in the Davis account is surely the second movement where Davis's rethink does seem to risk dullness at times (is this why two reviewers here hates this disk?). The great strength is surely the third, slow, movement which has never seemed so poignant. But it is not a matter of parts - it is the whole that satisfies. Even if you have a version ... or more ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 17
Average Rating:

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The Legendary Dame Janet Baker

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
from: Philips

Release Date July 12, 1999
This is a wondrous performance and a real rethink of the work. It is somehow bigger than my previous favourites and displaces most of them in my affections. Of the versions I know well (Boult, Solti, Handley) only Handley stands up as a different but equally great account (although "equally great" may not be right - the Davis performance seems bigger but Handley is equally stirring but less monumental). The weakness in the Davis account is surely the second movement where Davis's rethink does seem to risk dullness at times (is this why two reviewers here hates this disk?). The great strength is surely the third, slow, movement which has never seemed so poignant. But it is not a matter of parts - it is the whole that satisfies. Even if you have a version ... or more ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 18
Average Rating:

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Favourite Violin Concertos

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
by: Arthur Grumiaux Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra New Philharmonia Orchestra Colin Davis Bernard Haitink Jan Krenz

Release Date July 05, 1994
This is a wondrous performance and a real rethink of the work. It is somehow bigger than my previous favourites and displaces most of them in my affections. Of the versions I know well (Boult, Solti, Handley) only Handley stands up as a different but equally great account (although "equally great" may not be right - the Davis performance seems bigger but Handley is equally stirring but less monumental). The weakness in the Davis account is surely the second movement where Davis's rethink does seem to risk dullness at times (is this why two reviewers here hates this disk?). The great strength is surely the third, slow, movement which has never seemed so poignant. But it is not a matter of parts - it is the whole that satisfies. Even if you have a version ... or more ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 19
Average Rating:

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Mozart: Choral Works

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
from: Philips

Release Date November 16, 1993
This is a wondrous performance and a real rethink of the work. It is somehow bigger than my previous favourites and displaces most of them in my affections. Of the versions I know well (Boult, Solti, Handley) only Handley stands up as a different but equally great account (although "equally great" may not be right - the Davis performance seems bigger but Handley is equally stirring but less monumental). The weakness in the Davis account is surely the second movement where Davis's rethink does seem to risk dullness at times (is this why two reviewers here hates this disk?). The great strength is surely the third, slow, movement which has never seemed so poignant. But it is not a matter of parts - it is the whole that satisfies. Even if you have a version ... or more ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 20
Average Rating:

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Best of Weber

CD-Charts > Music > Davis- Sir Colin
from: Duo

Release Date April 19, 1999
This is a wondrous performance and a real rethink of the work. It is somehow bigger than my previous favourites and displaces most of them in my affections. Of the versions I know well (Boult, Solti, Handley) only Handley stands up as a different but equally great account (although "equally great" may not be right - the Davis performance seems bigger but Handley is equally stirring but less monumental). The weakness in the Davis account is surely the second movement where Davis's rethink does seem to risk dullness at times (is this why two reviewers here hates this disk?). The great strength is surely the third, slow, movement which has never seemed so poignant. But it is not a matter of parts - it is the whole that satisfies. Even if you have a version ... or more ... Read More: