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

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Lukaszewski: Nocturnes
$19.99
Award-winning Polish composer, Pawel Lukaszewski, is one of today's most distinctive creators of contemporary sacred music. The Nocturnes for piano, based on some of his own sacred pieces, are inspired by the cosmos, with each...

Format: CD

Release Date: August 08, 2025
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Boito: Nerone
$29.99
Arrigo Boito is remembered today for his only completed opera Mefistofele. The score for Nerone was left unfinished at the composer's death - a performing version was completed by the composers Vincenzo Tommasini and Antonio...

Format: CD

Release Date: August 08, 2025
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Petrassi: Concertos for Orchestra Nos. 7-8 & Sonata da camer
$19.99
In the early 1960s Goffredo Petrassi's idiom was almost indistinguishable from that of the Italian avantgarde. Completed in 1964, the Seventh Concerto evolves with mounting tension and a sense of underlying menace. The Eighth Concerto...

Format: CD

Release Date: August 08, 2025
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The Munich Guitar Society Manuscripts
$19.99
In 2009, a large collection of guitar music from the Gitarristische Vereinigung Munchen ('Munich Guitar Society') was rediscovered in an attic in Munich. The collection included many significant works for guitar that have been hidden...

Format: CD

Release Date: August 08, 2025
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Shades of Mourning
$16.99
I am writing these words while the Middle East, my place of birth, my roots, is bleeding. There are no words that can describe the pain, loss and suffering I see in the land and...

Format: CD

Release Date: August 08, 2025
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Soler: Keyboard Sonatas Nos. 99-111
$19.99
Antonio Soler enjoyed high prestige at Spain's royal palace, the Escorial, where his contributions to keyboard technique, harmonic innovation and his Spanish musical identity served to bridge the stylistic gap between the late Baroque and...

Format: CD

Release Date: August 08, 2025

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Guarneri Quartet - The Complete RCA Victor Album Collection
$129.99 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
EUROPE 1966
$124.98
Europe 1966 is a box set consisting of live performances from free jazz visionary Albert Ayler. Each of the 4 LP's highlights some of the most magnificent moments on this European tour, showcasing Ayler and...

Format: Vinyl

Release Date: April 22, 2023
LIVE IN LOS ANGELES: 1978-1981 (BOX SET)
$124.98
Live in Los Angeles is a four LP box set from Tribe Records co-founder Phil Ranelin, celebrating a trio of LA club performances from 1978-1981 which remain especially significant to the visionary trombonist. Backed by...

Format: Vinyl

Release Date: January 26, 2024
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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