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

Roberto Devereux
$24.99
Roberto Devereux is the fourth and finest of Donizetti's works dedicated to the Tudor period of English history, and is considered by many to be the ultimate masterpiece amongst his Italian operas. The tragic narrative...

Format: Blu-Ray

Release Date: August 15, 2025
Interwoven paths
$16.99
Why should things be more fair in musical history than elsewhere? Here, too, the wall that stands between fame and obscurity is very thin and, moreover, rather arbitrarily erected. But it can be unsurmountably high....

Format: CD

Release Date: August 15, 2025
For the Record
$21.99
Acclaimed guitarist Craig Brann joins forces with tenor saxophone virtuoso Greg Tardy for an electrifying new release on SteepleChase. This album showcases Brann's signature melodic storytelling and Tardy's expressive phrasing, creating a dynamic interplay between...

Format: CD

Release Date: August 15, 2025
Pierre Monteux - A 150th Anniversary Tribute
$18.99
SOMM Recordings marks the 150th Anniversary of the great French-American conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) with his live performances of Claude Debussy's Images pour orchestre and Igor Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. These 1961 broadcasts, featuring the...

Format: CD

Release Date: August 15, 2025
Renata Tebaldi - The Alternative Repertoire, 1956-1969
$32.99
Renata Tebaldi's discography is one of the most complete and perfect ever recorded by a singer. A whole series of roles that the great soprano never staged or released in disco, were recorded in studio...

Format: CD

Release Date: August 15, 2025

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On Sale

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
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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
V2: RENDEZ-VOUS
$78.99
After the tremendously successful first Rendez-Vous with Martha Argerich, this second volume will certainly thrill music lovers from all around the world again. For this new edition, Martha Argerich partners with high-profile musical friends such...

Format: CD

Release Date: October 22, 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