The Complete Warner Classics Edition (CD63)

CD1

1. HANDEL - Music for the Royal Fireworks / HANDEL, HARTY - Water Music Suite; JACOB - Fanfare for “God Save the King”

CD2-3

1. HANDEL - Messiah

CD4

1. HANDEL - Music for the Royal Fireworks

CD5-6

1. HANDEL - Water Music / Concerto grossi, Op. 3

CD7

1. ALBINONI / TELEMANN / HERTEL - Trumpet Concertos

CD8

1. A Mozart Concert (Les Petits Riens / Dances / Marches)

CD9

1. MOZART - Piano Concertos 20 & 23

CD10-12

1. MOZART - Flute Concerto K.313 / Sinfonia Concertante K.297b / Symphonies 36, 38, 40 & 41

CD13

1. MOZART - Arias

CD14-16

1. MOZART - Idomeneo

CD17-21

1. BEETHOVEN - Symphonies

CD22

1. BEETHOVEN / MENDELSSOHN - Violin Concertos

CD23-24

1. SCHUBERT - Symphonies 5, 8 & 9

CD25

1. Favourite Ballet Music

CD26

1. BERLIOZ - Overtures & Orchestral Excerpts / Russian Overtures & Orchestral Exceprts

CD27

1. MENDELSSOHN - Symphony No. 4 / A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

CD28

1. CHOPIN - Les Sylphides / PONCHIELLI - Dance of the Hours / MEYERBEER - Les Patineurs / TCHAIKOVSKY - Waltzes

CD29

1. VERDI/MACKERRAS - The Lady and the Fool

CD30

1. VERDI - Opera Overtures & Ballet Music / DELIBES - Lakmé, Ballet Music

CD31

1. Great Opera Duets

CD32

1. WAGNER - Götterdämmerung: Highlights

CD33

1. OFFENBACH - Gaîté Parisienne / J. STRAUSS II - Graduation Ball / Perpetuum mobile / Unter Donner und Blitz / Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka

CD34

1. CHABRIER - España / Fête polonaise / DELIBES - La Source / GOUNOD - Faust, Ballet Music / MESSAGER - Les Deux Pigeons

CD35

1. MUSSORGSKY - Pictures at an Exhibition / A Night on the Bare Mountain / BORODIN - Prince Igor, Overture & Polovtsian Dances

CD36

1. TCHAIKOVSKY - Piano Concerto No. 3 / LITOLFF / WEBER / SAINT-SAËNS / TURINA - Piano Concertante Works

CD37

1. TCHAIKOVSKY - 1812 Overture / GLINKA / WAGNER - Overtures & Orchestral Excerpts / MUSSORGSKY - A Night on the Bare Mountain / R. STRAUSS - Till Eulenspiegel / Don Juan.

CD38-39

1. DVOŘÁK - Symphonies 7, 8 & 9 / Symphonic Variations.

CD40-41

1. DVOŘÁK - Romance / Legends / Nocturne / String Serenade / JANÁČEK - Capriccio / Concertion

CD42

1. DVOŘÁK - Slavonic Dances / SMETANA / The Bartered Bride, Polka & Furiant / BRAHMS - Hungarian Dances 5 & 6 / BARTÓK - Romanian Folk Dances / ENESCU - Romanian Rhapsody No. 1

CD43

1. SULLIVAN - Pineapple Poll / Savoy Opera Overtures

CD44

1. SULLIVAN - Pineapple Poll

CD45

1. SULLIVAN - Pineapple Poll Suite / VERDI, MACKERRAS - Lady and the Fool Suite

CD46

1. JANÁČEK - Sinfonietta / 4 Opera Overtures

CD47

1. ELGAR - Falstaff / Enigma Variations

CD48

1. SULLIVAN - Cello Concerto / HERBERT - Cello Concerto No. 2 / ELGAR - Romance Op. 62

CD49

1. PUCCINI - Arias

CD50-51

1. MAHLER - Symphonies 1 & 5

CD52

1. MAHLER - Des Knaben Wunderhorn / REGER - An die Hoffnung / BERG - Frühe Lieder

CD53

1. DELIUS - Double Concerto / Cello Concerto

CD54

1. RACHMANINOFF - Symphony No. 3 / Symphonic Dances

CD55

1. HOLST - The Planets / The Perfect Fool

CD56

1. WOLF-FERRARI / DONIZETTI / FALLA / SMETANA / WEINBERGER - Overtures & Orchestral Excerpts

CD57

1. BRIAN - Symphonies 7 & 31 / The Tinker’s Wedding

CD58

1. STRAVINSKY - The Rite of Spring / Fireworks / Circus Polka

CD59

1. Favourite Music of Eric Coates / BURKHARD / REZNIČEK - Overtures / COPLAND - El Salón México / A Quiet City / Rodeo, Hoe Down / WIRÉN - Serenade for Strings, Scherzo & March

CD61

1. The Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Christmas Album

CD62

1.  Folk Songs of the British Isles / Peter Dawson Sings

CD63

1. A Little Nonsense / Sing the Songs of Britain

 

The Complete Recordings on HMV, Pye, Columbia Graphophone, Classics for Pleasure, EMI Classics, Virgin Classics & Erato

Sir Charles Mackerras (1925-2010) was a towering figure in the world of classical music, renowned for his versatility, meticulous scholarship, and electrifying performances. Born in Australia, he spent much of his illustrious career in Britain, becoming a principal conductor of the English National Opera and a frequent guest conductor with leading orchestras and opera companies worldwide.

Mackerras was particularly celebrated for his interpretations of Janáček, Dvořák, and Mozart, often bringing a revelatory freshness to familiar scores through his deep understanding of period performance practices and original manuscripts. His discography is vast, encompassing a wide range of repertoire and earning him numerous awards. Beyond his conducting prowess, Mackerras was also an astute musicologist, preparing critical editions of several operas. His legacy is one of unwavering dedication to musical integrity and an infectious passion that inspired countless musicians and audiences alike.

This set covers a substantial part of the recorded legacy of Sir Charles Mackerras, ranging over half a century, from his debut on record in 1951 (Pineapple Poll), to one of his finest later opera recordings (Idomeneo), embracing a repertoire that goes far beyond any conventional notions of his specialities. Rightly considered an authority on Handel, Mozart, Sullivan, Czech music (especially Dvořák and Janáček), and with a comprehensive opera repertoire, this set also celebrates his impressive credentials in Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Mahler, in British and Russian music, in ballet and in lighter orchestral pieces, as well as demonstrating his skill as an arranger – not only in his ballets Pineapple Poll and The Lady and the Fool but also on some delightful vocal albums.

Along with his energetic and stylish musicianship, what was the key to Mackerras’s extraordinary consistency across a career that spanned sixty years, with a vast and varied repertoire? Perhaps Dame Janet Baker – one of Sir Charles’s favourite collaborators – put it best in an interview with the Guardian to mark his 80th birthday:

“His whole raison d’être, his whole driving force, the whole point of his life, is to pay tribute to the score. Nothing else matters …. He has extraordinary concentration on the work in hand. All great conductors have this to a degree, but with Charles it’s as though for that moment he exists for nothing else”