4 CDs of award-winning performances, the great Russian baritone Sergei Leiferkus sings the songs of his compatriot Mussorgsky. “Absolutely riveting,” wrote Gramophone’s reviewer, praising the singer’s “amazing variety of tone colour and textual inflexion” and pianist Semion Skigin “a wonderfully responsive partner.”

REVIEW:

Although Sergei Leiferkus does not have the most powerful baritone in the world, his insight, intelligence, intuition, authority, and soulfulness more than compensate. And in the Russian art song repertoire, he hardly has any competitors. His recordings of Glinka and Tchaikovsky are flat out magnificent. But decades from now, when art song aficionados speak of Leiferkus, it will be his recordings of the songs of Mussorgsky that are mentioned in hushed whispers and reverential tones.

Not since Boris Chirstoff's sublime survey of the complete Mussorgsky songs has another singer of comparable stature scaled the heights Leiferkus reaches in the first volume of the songs. His The Songs and Dances of Death are among the most terrifying, moving, and truthful ever recorded. His The Puppet-Show is dreadfully, nastily witty and his Forgotten is heartbreaking. His Darling Savishna is drop-dead funny. And his concluding Mephistopheles' Song of the Flea is grotesquely hilarious. In all ways, this is one of the best art song recitals in years. Except for one thing. There is not much good to say about his recording of The Nursery. Sung throughout in his head voice, as Mussorgsky requires, Leiferkus' interpretation of the songs through his tone is frankly agonizing to hear. He minces, he mutters, he mumbles, he does everything except chew the scenery. This is still a highly recommend recording, but just skip Leiferkus' The Nursery.

-- AllMusic.com (James Leonard)

Andris Nelsons, today simultaneously Principal Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, was discovered by Orfeo for the album. Christiane Delank, the long-standing artistic director of the label had taken him on to conduct the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the recordings of the two violin concertos by Dmitri Shostakovich with Arabella Steinbacher and realized that in him one of the great conductors of his generation was maturing, a development that took place at breath-taking pace. When he was entrusted with conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, she won him over for the ambitious projects of a complete recording of the symphonies by Tchaikovsky (the first three symphonies were recorded, but no longer released following Nelsons’ departure to Boston) together with symphonic poems and other orchestral works by Richard Strauss and works by Stravinsky and Shostakovich. So, Orfeo had the privilege of documenting on album the Birmingham period, the first major international stage in Andris Nelsons’ career.

Excerpts of reviews from previously released volumes included in this set:

Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra; Don Juan; Till Eulenspiegel / Nelsons:

Don Juan has all the sparkle and the flood of testosterone that you might expect, dissolving into a string theme that is radiant with extrovert ambition. This is a reading full of passion and drive. Nelsons refuses to linger where some others do but keeps the adrenaline rushing throughout.

– MusicWeb International

Tchaikovsky: Francesca Da Rimini, Symphony No 4 / Nelsons:

In the last movement of the symphony Nelsons is just as blistering in tempo and febrile excitement as Svetlanov, and I never thought I would hear a living conductor equal that kind of intensity. These are great performances by a great conductor.

– Fanfare

Stravinsky: The Firebird, Symphony Of Psalms / Nelsons

Nelsons' interpretation of The Firebird has much in common with Boulez's New York recording for Sony--hyper-detailed (those three harps really tell), yet never at the expense of excitement. Emphasis on clarity also flatters the Symphony of Psalms, particularly in the central fugue. His fleet tempos come close to Stravinsky's own and project the quick outer movements with plenty of punch. This is a very good performance by any standard, and the sonics are impressively natural. If the coupling suits, then don't hesitate.

– ClassicsToday

Ranging from the 18th century to the music of our time, this collection of critically acclaimed recordings explores the significant contribution to solo piano repertoire made by a wide variety of women composers. These rare and important pieces include the works of the celebrated pianist Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy and of Hélène de Montgeroult, whose sonatas are distinctive additions to the Classical and early Romantic periods. Maria Szymanowska’s deft dances contrast with the fearsome demands of Teresa Carreño, herself a great virtuoso. Vítězslava Kaprálová was the most important female Czech composer of the 20th century, while Agathe Backer Grøndahl was one of Norway’s most respected composer-pianists. Tanya Ekanayaka continues the lineage in her own diverse and hybrid pieces.

Volumes included:

Carreño: Rêverie & Selected Music for Piano
Szymanowska: Complete Dances for Solo Piano
Kaprálová: Complete Piano Music
Pioneers: Piano Works by Female Composers
Brillon de Jouy: The Piano Sonatas Rediscovered
Ekanayaka: The Planets & Humanity - Piano ReflectionsMontgeroult: Complete Piano Sonatas
Backer Grøndahl: Piano Works

REVIEWS:

French pianist Nicolas Horvath reveals more of the music of Hélène de Montgeroult, the pianist, composer, and teacher whose background influence on such seminal figures as Chopin and Schumann – and quite possibly Brahms – is only now being acknowledged. Horvath makes appealingly light work of her nine keyboard sonatas, several recorded for the first time.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Nicolas Horvath clearly enjoys de Jouy’s work, and delivers readings which are spirited and lyrical, playful and reflective, easing into the minor mode (in which most of the sonatas were composed) as though at the daybreak of Romanticism. In this particular recording, I was struck by the clarity of sound, which made it easier to hear the evenness and responsiveness of Horvath’s touch.

-- Fanfare

Venezuelan pianist-composer Teresa Carreño had a dramatic, colorful career that is hard to believe. Of the works presented in this fascinating recording, all but one are world premieres. This music has a gentle melancholy. Several of these miniatures have Chopinesque harmonies and perfumes. The album ends on an upbeat note, the composer’s Opus 1, a highly accomplished waltz full of scintillating episodes written for Gottschalk. The latter must have been knocked out by this charmer.

Alexandra Oehler plays with sensitive phrasing and skillful voicing. Her refined musical sensibility is just right for this repertory. The recording, like the music, is warm and inviting.

-- American Record Guide

"Completed in Wahnfried on November 21, 1874. I say nothing further!!” With these words written at the bottom of his Götterdämmerung score, Wagner thus finished his composition of the entire Ring Cycle. The Frankfurt Opera also concluded Vera Nemirova’s highly praised production of the work in January, thus raising the bar.

REVIEWS:

Tempos and forward-movement are well-judged…The characters play off one another, diction is close to flawless; we can hear the sarcasm in Hagen as well as the craziness in Alberich…

The quiet evil with which the second act begins…is about as creepy as anything I’ve ever heard, with the high strings nervously stuttering and the winds and brass roiling—not to mention those trills on the Wagner tubas as the scene changes! Wagner’s solos for winds are as suddenly noticeable as Mozart’s. You are never bombarded by sound save for the truly big moments: the end of the prologue, the scene with the vassals, Siegfried’s Funeral March, and the final cataclysm, making these moments all the more powerful.

The cast is worthy. Lance Ryan…remains a bright-voiced hero…both of his high Cs are amazing…in general he is in solid voice. He is very moving in his death scene, phrasing handsomely and with a quiet resignation that is unbeatable on recordings.

Susan Bullock continues the Cycle as Brünnhilde…Every word counts: her conviction in the Waltraute scene; her horror when a stranger breaks through the fire; her reaction to Siegfried’s entrance for the Wedding Scene…and a fine Immolation Scene…suffice it to say that as far as wedding the words and music, she’s second to none, and her enunciation is spotless.

Gregory Frank[’s]…voice is big and dark enough…and he has an audible sneer that can send chills down the spine. His hatred, jealousy, and cunning are omnipresent, and he’s a fine phony in the first act.

Jochen Schmeckenbecher’s Alberich is about as unnerving as any you will ever hear in his scene with Hagen. Anja Fidelia Ulrich is a good, alluring Gutrune. The three Norns are excellent (Mahnke is the second; Meredith Arwady is the first; and the deliciously-named Angel Blue is the third); the Rhinemaidens are very expressive…

The chorus…is another of this set’s glories. Along with Weigle’s non-intrusive, clear-as-a-bell story-telling and the stunning playing of the Frankfurt Opera, this set is a winner. It’s among the most committed sets around. The sonics are spectacular.

-- ClassicsToday (Robert Levine)