Classical & Jazz Music

Podcast of the Week

Zygmunt Noskowski: Symphony No. 3

Although he had famous students (i.e. Szymanowski) and teachers (Moniuszko), few listeners know much, if anything, about Zygmunt Noskowski. And yet, for most of the 19th century, he was the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland. His Third Symphony and his symphonic poem Steppe, Op. 66 blend sweeping Romanticism with Polish folk spirit. The symphony's seasonal journey is lush and lyrical, starting with spring and ending with the optimistic outlook to the next. Steppe evokes Poland's vast landscapes with Borodinesque colors. Under Antoni Wit, these overlooked gems shine anew and make for intriguing listening for lovers of melodic symphonic music.

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Staff Pick of the Week

The Maltese Touch: Guitar Quintets

On this release titled The Maltese Touch, guitarist Simon Schembri and Parisii Quartet present three works which, alongside virtuosity of execution, also display a wide range of emotions and contrasts. The guitar concerto op. 30 by Mauro Giuliani was arranged for guitar and string quartet by the composer himself. Luigi Boccherini who was for many years in the service of the Bourbon court and other nobility in Madrid dedicated his composing the specific native sound scapes, that his adopted country Spain offered. Thus he arranged a number of his earlier string quintets for guitar and string quartet like the Quintet in D major, G. 448 “Fandango”. The piece Nazca by the French guitarist and composer Erik Marchelie was written in 1988 and refers to the enigmatic drawings on the desert floor of the Peruvian desert.

Special Highlight of the Week

American Classics - Romeo Cascarino

Romeo Cascarino was a fine but almost completely unknown midcentury American composer in the great Copland-Barber-Bernstein tradition who wrote delicious music obviously meant to be enjoyed rather than edified. His inspirations may be a little musty (Greek mythology, 19th-century romantic poetry) but they provide ample raw material for rich music that runs the emotional gamut from, say, C to V. (The wildest extremes are absent from his gracious music.) He’s not Beethoven, but by not trying to be profound, he manages to avoid writing the kind of pedantic, grey music that makes the music of many midcentury Americans more dutiful than beautiful. The music on this CD is beautiful from beginning to end, some of it exceptionally so. Its clarity, wit, and unabashed lyricism put me in mind of Francis Poulenc, although the sound is more 1950s Leonard Bernstein (including the more symphonic theater music), with a splash of the more overt populism of some Copland or, say, Morton Gould. Some of it is so tasty I found myself listening to it two or three times in one sitting.

New Releases

Robert Schumann: Piano Works, Vol. 2
$27.99
His 17th album with Signum Classics, the Welsh pianist, Llyr Williams, brings a profound musical intelligence to his work as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. His second album of Robert Schumann works explores a selection...

Format: CD

Release Date: October 10, 2025
Gounod: Piano Works
$19.99
During his time in Italy and later in Leipzig, Charles Gounod was drawn by the balance of sonic beauty and proportion to be found in the music of Palestrina and J.S. Bach. He developed an...

Format: CD

Release Date: October 10, 2025
Carrara: Voci da Hebron
$19.99
Cristian Carrara is one of the most original Italian composers of his generation. The opera Voci da Hebron ('Voices from Hebron') is set during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Carrara's expressive depiction of this scenario is one...

Format: CD

Release Date: October 10, 2025
Michael Finnissy: Organ Works
$25.99
Ahead of the 80th birthday of one of Britain's most singular compositional voices, this double album presents the complete organ works of Michael Finnissy a body of music as rich in intellectual depth as it...

Format: CD

Release Date: October 10, 2025
Frano Parac: Judita
$19.99
On December 1, 2024, Ivan Repusic, chief conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra, conducted a concert performance of Frano Parac's opera Judita at Munich's Prinzregententheater. This two-act, seven-scene opera is about the siege of a...

Format: CD

Release Date: October 10, 2025

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Over 300 titles featuring music by British composers are on sale now at ArkivMusic!

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Almost 300 titles featuring trios are on sale now at ArkivMusic!

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Over 100 titles featuring the music of Antonín Dvořák are on sale now at ArkivMusic!

Composer Antonín Dvořák followed Smetana as the leading exponent of Czech musical nationalism, firmly within the Classical traditions of Central Europe. He composed nine symphonies — of which the best known must be Symphony No 9, From the New World — as well as a variety of other orchestral works, chamber music, and more.

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Over 1,500 titles featuring the piano are on sale now at ArkivMusic!

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On Sale

Guarneri Quartet - The Complete RCA Victor Album Collection
$99.99 Regular price ~~$199.98~~
In the early 1960s, four young musicians who had been playing chamber music at Rudolf Serkin’s Marlboro School and Festival in Vermont were encouraged to form a string quartet. In July 1964, the Guarneri Quartet...

Format: CD

Release Date: March 28, 2025
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Jean-Pierre Rampal – The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings
$99.94 Regular price ~~$199.98~~
Before Jean-Pierre Rampal appeared on the music scene in the 1950s, wind players were rarely hired as soloists with orchestras. This legendary French flute virtuoso broke through that barrier with his astonishing talent, flair, and...

Format: CD

Release Date: December 03, 2021
MYTHOLOGIES
$69.98
3 LP clamshell. Mythologies is Thomas Bangalter's first composition for orchestra, conceived upon request of choreographer Angelin Preljocaj for the ballet of the same name. Performed by the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine under the direction...

Format: Vinyl

Release Date: August 25, 2023
Ballet for Children / The Royal Ballet
$64.99
Joby Talbot ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND Ballet in 2 Acts Alice – Lauren Cuthbertson Jack / Knave of Hearts – Sergei Polunin Lewis Carroll / White Rabbit – Edward Watson Mother / Queen of Hearts...

Format: DVD

Release Date: November 13, 2012