J. Strauss Jr.: Famous Overtures / Walter, Slovak State
Naxos
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%Apr 01, 1999
The waltzes of Johann Strauss II (‘The Waltz King’) remain de rigueur concert fare for the annual New Year’s Eve celebrations occurring throughout the world. Opera overtures number far less in his oeuvre but are of equal attraction and popularity. Bookending this nine-track Naxos CD overture selection conducted by Alfred Walter are the openers to Die Fledermaus and Die Zigeunerbaron, with the Eine Nacht in Venedig overture among the seven additional Viennese delights on offer.
The Leipzig Collegium Musicum, Vol. 1 - Music before Bach
PENTATONE
CD
$19.99Jul 31, 2026
The Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum, under the direction of Reinhard Goebel and outstanding soloists such as Max Volbers on recorder and Clemens Röger on horn, present the first instalment in the series The Leipzig Collegium Musicum, Vol. 1: Music before Bach, offering a vivid exploration of a formative musical world. The term Collegium Musicum refers to an assembly of musicians who gathered regularly, under direction, to study and perform vocal and instrumental works, an idea that flourished in many cities, yet found particular resonance in Leipzig. By the early 18th century, this landscape of competing ensembles and personalities stood on the threshold of transformation, as musical life gradually evolved towards the later institutional structures that would shape the city's enduring legacy. In practice, however, these societies existed within a complex and often unsettled environment, where overlapping groups, shifting roles, and competing interests made the musical scene difficult to define and reconstruct with certainty. This programme offers a glimpse into that dynamic and, at times, elusive world, where music was shaped as much by collaboration and exchange as by individual voices. The works presented reflect a period before Bach's arrival in Leipzig, when compositional language was still evolving and stylistic boundaries were fluid. Drawing on influences from across Europe while asserting their own character, these pieces reveal a rich interplay of invention, contrast, and expressive immediacy. Composers such as Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Friedrich Fasch, and Georg Melchior Hoffmann were part of this environment, where musical ideas were shared, adapted, and developed through collective practice.
Douglas Moore's opera Giants in the Earth receives it's world premiere recording with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra under the music direction of Delta David Gier. Set on the stark, uninhabited Dakota plains, the drama follows Beret and Per Hansa, whose deep love is tested by isolation and the harsh realities of pioneer life. Moore's text-driven vocal lines flow with natural expression, weaving short, expressive ariosos into a seamless melodic tapestry. Central to the story, Beret's ornate Norwegian chest serves as altar, refuge, and symbol of home, underscoring the opera's themes of memory, tradition, and human longing. Moore's tonal score contrasts strength and fragility through vocal ranges, building tension toward Beret's fateful choices amid blizzards and loss. Every nuance is vividly realized, from intimate lyrical passages to the opera's devastating climax. This landmark recording illuminates the emotional intensity, psychological depth, and lyrical beauty of a work long awaited in full, making it an essential addition for lovers of American opera. The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra excavated, engraved, and revived the opera in Sioux Falls on April 26, 2025.
Franz Schubert's chamber music occupies a vital place in the Western classical canon, demonstrating both his lyrical genius and emotional depth. Though he is widely known for his lieder and symphonies, his chamber works represent some of the most profound and innovative compositions of the early Romantic era. The String Quintet in C major, D. 956, written just weeks before Schubert's death in 1828, stands as one of the towering achievements in chamber music. Scored for two cellos instead of the more common two violas, the work is known for it's rich, warm textures and emotional contrasts. The slow movement, in particular, is a masterclass in stillness and poignancy, often cited as one of the most sublime moments in all of chamber music. Schubert's string quartets trace his compositional development and deepening expressiveness. The Death and the Maiden quartet (D. 810) is especially significant, combining dramatic intensity with variations on his earlier song of the same name. The juxtaposition of lyrical beauty with stark fatalism reflects Schubert's own grappling with mortality and human vulnerability. His piano trios blend lyricism and formal sophistication. The trios are notable for their expansive melodies, rich harmonic language, and a sense of narrative continuity that hints at the symphonic. The violin sonatas (often referred to as "sonatinas") are earlier works, more modest in scope but filled with charm and grace. While not as emotionally profound as his later chamber works, they already display Schubert's melodic gift and innate sense of dialogue between instruments. The Trout Quintet (D. 667) is perhaps Schubert's most popular chamber work. It's unusual instrumentation featuring piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass and the famous set of variations on his song "Die Forelle" make it instantly appealing. Yet beyond it's surface charm, the work demonstrates Schubert's brilliance in crafting color and contrast, blending joy and depth seamlessly. Altogether, Schubert's chamber music reveals a composer capable of exploring the most intimate corners of the human soul. These works remain essential listening, offering profound insight into the expressive potential of small ensembles. Excellent performances by the Diogenes Quartet, the Amsterdam Piano Trio and the Berlin Philharmonic Octet.
Denis Kozhukhin presents a new album of Haydn: Sonatas, offering a fresh and illuminating journey through the composer's keyboard repertoire. Haydn's keyboard sonatas brim with invention, drama, and wit, matching the brilliance of his symphonies and quartets. Revisiting this repertoire, Kozhukhin reveals their expressive depth and sparkling originality in a recital of striking contrast and character. From the genial Allegro of the early D Major Sonata, Hob XVI:4, to the restless intensity of the C minor Sonata, Hob XVI:20, each work reflects Haydn's inexhaustible inventiveness and subtle mastery of keyboard textures. A prize-winner of prestigious competitions, including the Leeds International Piano Competition (2006) and the Queen Elizabeth Competition (2010), Denis Kozhukhin has established himself as one of the most acclaimed pianists of his generation. He presents another chapter in his exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE, following albums such as Grieg and Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos (2016, Gramophone Editor's Choice), Brahms: Ballades and Fantasies (2017, 5 stars in Diapason), Ravel & Gershwin and Richard Strauss' Burleske (2018), Grieg: Lyric Pieces & Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte (2019, Gramophone Recording of the Month), Cesar Franck's Symphonic Variations (2020), and Somnia (2025, Gramophone Critic's Choice for 2025 Top Recordings).
Richard Strauss summed up his two-act opera Intermezzo as a 'bourgeois comedy with symphonic interludes'. The soprano role of Christine with it's shimmering cantilenas represents Strauss's wife Pauline, while the successful Kapellmeister Robert Storch serves as Richard Strauss himself in a domestic drama that was avant-garde for it's time but now resonates with the accessibility of today's reality shows. This production from the Deutsche Oper Berlin was acclaimed for it's lush orchestral sound and superbly characterful cast led by a formidable central performance from Maria Bengtsson.
Anyone familiar with Apollo's Fire will recognise the exceptional baroque orchestra's engaging and entertaining principal cellist Rene Schiffer. Featured on dozens of the Apollo's Fire recordings, Rene steps into the spotlight for his solo debut recording with a meticulous rendering of that pillar of the baroque repertoire, J. S. Bach's Six Suites for Solo Cello. Deploying different instruments - a 1768 Benoit Fleury cello for the first four suites, an anonymous late 18th century violoncello piccolo with an added string for the fifth (in his own arrangement) and sixth - and multiple tunings, Rene's distinctive interpretations are in harmony with his comprehensive and probing liner notes which abound with theories and intellectual insights.
This second volume of Septura’s brass chamber music series takes us back to the 17th century and the music of Baroque opera, in four contrasting works by Rameau, Blow, Purcell and Handel. The astounding variety in content, colour and character of the originals demands especially inventive arrangements, and these pieces are vividly brought to life by incorporating stylistic elements from ‘period performance’. The exhilarating result is a stunningly virtuosic set of new Baroque works for brass.
This album is a reissue of the Chandos label's 1988 recording of Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B minor and the Konzertstück for Cello and Orchestra by Dohnányi, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras, with Raphael Wallfisch the featured soloist.
The Cello Concerto in B minor by Dvorák has become one of his most popular works, and perhaps the most popular concerto ever written for the instrument. He was asked to write this piece by a friend of Wagner, the cellist Hanuš Wihan. Initially reluctant, Dvorák stated that the cello was indeed a fine orchestral instrument but totally insufficient for a solo concerto. Fortunately, he changed his mind upon hearing Victor Herbert’s Second Cello Concerto performed in concert, in 1894. The resulting Cello Concerto is richly inventive, full of deep feeling, and perfectly fitted to the cello. Dvorák combined his experience as an orchestral player with an understanding of the cello’s distinct textural qualities to produce a grand and emotionally intense work, one of his finest achievements.
Ernst von Dohnányi was highly acclaimed as a pianist-composer, and widely regarded during his lifetime as a successor to Liszt. As a composer, however, he had more in common with Brahms than with Liszt, despite his Hungarian heritage, and his creative output was not limited to the piano. His Konzertstück in D major is in fact a full-scale cello concerto, in three interconnected parts. A lyrical rhapsody, it begins quietly, the cello emerging out of the orchestra and seeming to sing, until parting with a sense of regret at the end.
Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 4-5 July 1988 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Janet Middlebrook (Assistant)
Bruno Walter, like many another revered conductor, was also a composer. Let's not forget Weingartner, Klemperer, Furtwängler and Leslie Heward to mention only a few. I am also sure there were and are plenty of revered composers who were also conductors. Walter's conducting heritage has had its meed of recognition especially on CBS-Sony (39-CD box issued in 2012) but also on Decca with Ferrier and Patzak in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.
His work as a composer came to an end when exposed at close quarters - conducting premieres in many cases - to the full glory to the music of his friend Mahler. Before that withering blast had taken its toll he wrote two symphonies, Das Siegesfest for solo voices, chorus and orchestra, various songs and one each string quartet, piano quintet, piano trio and violin sonata. The violin sonata has had quite a few recordings - Graffin (Hyperion), Wallace (VAIA) & Shahan (Talent) - but it was CPO's contribution of the red-blooded hour-long Symphony No. 1 in D Minor with Leon Botstein that knocked me sideways. Mahler had dismissed the work out of hand, it seems. I have been waiting with enforced patience for CPO to follow up with Walter's Second Symphony. Incidentally I should also mention, curiosity value or not, Walter's two-piano arrangement of Mahler's Resurrection (Naxos).
The Violin Sonata is very much a sonata for violin and piano with neither player ancillary to the other. It's in a romantically high flown yet not over-boiled style with some indebtedness to Brahms. Earnest it may be but this is no obstacle to Walter prefacing the middle movement's dolce-dolce writing with what amounts to a gawky troll tango. It's a clever touch and carried off in a very seemly way. While there is ardor in spades in the first movement, the 'Moderato' finale flirts with some florally static salon-style pages before, in its last few moments, asserting itself. Interesting but not transfixing. The other three recordings of the Sonata come with works by other composers. This Naxos disc introduces listeners to Walter's four-movement Piano Quintet; a first recording as far as I can see. This is an exultant work with plenty of joyous activity for each of the five musicians. It is demonstrative, tense and brimming with intense cantabile. Here the finale makes for a convincing conclusion; more so than the equivalent movement in the Sonata. It should appeal to those who are already captivated by the quintets by Vierne and Medtner. Both performances are more than capable with the listener gaining the feeling that the players know the music well enough to enjoy putting it across rather than having to concentrate on forming the notes.
The notes, in German and English, are accompanied by a well selected photograph of the young, confident, and pursed-lipped Walter adorning the booklet cover.
Nearly all of Daniel Purcell’s surviving solo harpsichord music consists of arrangements, the only clear exception being the short Toccata, a brief essay in the style of the preludes from Henry Purcell’s harpsichord suites. The Suite is a simple but effective arrangement of movements from the composer’s own suite
Haydn: Armida / Bartoli, Pregardien, Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien
Das Alte Werk
CD
$16.99Jun 25, 2013
REVIEW:
Armida brings out the best in Cecilia Bartoli as a performer. Her tone is ravishingly beautiful when it needs to be - you need go no further than her first aria, a gorgeous prayer for Rinaldo, to find evidence of that - but when she is required to turn on the vocal fireworks, as for Armida’s great aria of fury in Act 2, she does so with thrilling precision and passion. She is at her finest in the final act when Armida’s power is on the wane, heartbreaking in the great aria Ah, non ferir, then spitting fury as she goes off to exact her revenge.
Patricia Petibon gives Bartoli a real run for her money as the second lady. The voice is of a very different quality to Bartoli’s - sweeter and more innocent, less knowing - but it is every bit as delicious, from the gently winsome quality of her first aria to the intentionally strident and very impressive hysterics of her aria at the beginning of Act 2. She also makes a most beguiling nymph in the third act.
When Bartoli and Prégardien come together, however, things improve enormously, and their Act 1 duet, when he tries to convince her of his faithfulness, is a real treat, both beautiful in its opening section and then exhilarating in its coloratura. Markus Schäfer gives a very attractive turn as Clotarco and Scot Weir’s Ubaldo is fine. Oliver Widmer’s Idreno is not pleasant, though, sounding disagreeably unfocused in his opening aria with little improvement later.
I’m not normally a fan of Harnoncourt in music of this period - I find his Mozart infuriating - and generally I find Concentus Musicus Wien to be so abrasive as to be devoid of pleasure in much of their playing. However, I actually found their style to be pretty effective here. It is a martial opera, after all, and the harsh edge on the brass, as well as in some of the other orchestral tuttis, helps to evoke the atmosphere of war. The string playing doesn’t always sound thin and pinched, either, and they are the finest thing about the scene in Act 2 where Rinaldo’s indecision is invested with the intensity of a mad scene.
Harnoncourt does occasionally pull the tempo around a bit, as though he can’t quite help himself, but he still shapes the work with conviction, and it’s worth remembering that this was a rather neglected opera when this performance took place, so he probably felt the need to inject a certain something into his interpretation so as to make contemporary audiences sit up and take notice that little bit more. I can turn a blind eye to most of it if it means being reacquainted with Haydn’s music in such a successful way. The corking Trio that ends the second act is completely thrilling, bringing out the finest dramatic instincts of the singers, orchestra and conductor.
Both CDs are ingeniously packaged in a single case and the booklet contains an interesting essay by David Wyn Jones. At a price like this there is no need to hesitate.
Beethoven: Unknown and Rarely Played Works / Various
Berlin Classics
CD
$20.98$41.99Save 50%Jan 03, 2020
The Beethoven year is about to begin and the first contributions by various artists to the anniversary are already being published The focus will be on the evergreens that will attract the attention of the public As a versatile and extremely productive artist, Beethoven has also created a number of works that are virtually unknown today This extensive 9 album edition is dedicated exactly to these works and its tracklisting reads like a sparkling treasure chest Rarely heard arias in various languages, Contredanses, minuets, Ländlers the Piano Concerto No 0 music for a knight's ballet, fun loving and sometimes not entirely youth free canons Over 10 ½ hours full of works by Ludwig van Beethoven, which were written throughout his life and cast a new, unusual glance on his musical oeuvre and his perhaps sometimes not so serious character.
Jennifer Pike was the youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2002. She has given performances throughout the UK and around the world and, now aged twenty-three, is widely regarded as one of the finest violinists in Britain. The pianist Tom Poster who performs alongside her is well known for his artistry and versatility, equally in demand as a soloist and as a chamber musician. This recital features violin sonatas by Brahms and Robert Schumann as well as Three Romances by Clara Schumann. Robert Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1 is very much a ‘Duo’, the two instrumentalists performing in equal partnership. It was written in 1851 at quite a stressful time in Schumann’s life. There is certainly an air of robustness, even roughness, in the baroque-style finale. By contrast, in Brahms’s Violin Sonata No. 1, the violin is always the principal voice, the piano never a competitor but rather a subtle accompanist. Brahms wrote the work in memory of his godson Felix Schumann who had died of tuberculosis at the tragically young age of twenty-four. Clara Schumann’s Three Romances was her only work for violin and piano, but whilst the violin is allowed to sing throughout, the complexity of the piano part testifies to its having been composed by a pianist of the first rank.
Reviews
Performance (Brahms) **** (R & C Schumann) ***** Recording *****
“...this is a refreshingly projected performance which boasts an almost ideal fluidity in terms of manipulation of tempo and nuance in the first movement [Brahms]... warm-hearted performances of the Clara Schumann Romances ... the distinction of the performances is never in doubt.”
Welsh pianist Llyr Williams is widely admired for his profound musical intelligence and the expressive and communicative nature of his interpretations. The complete 8 album collection of Llyr Williams’ Schubert series – previously released as individual digital volumes over 2019 to 2020. These recordings were made following a critically-lauded recital series at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama by Williams. Together they showcase the detailed examination given by Williams to these pieces, which is “warm, yet detailed” (Piano International). The accompanying booklet includes background notes on each piece, as well as an essay by US composer William Bolcom on his completion of Schubert’s unfinished Sonata in C major, D. 840. “These precious five minutes alone are worth a whole string of concerts” (Le Devoir) “ease into melting loveliness” (Classical Source) “Remarkable artistry and authority” (The Guardian)
REVIEW
In live performances such as these, one would expect a certain amount of casualness and distraction, a tendency to slur over passages, rush an accelerando to impress the audience and miss the occasional staccato dot or complete grace note. That is not the case. Williams brings to each work, no matter how slight or monumental, the same integrity and an honoring of the composer’s voice. Technically, I can’t help but be impressed, even amazed, by the strength of his playing and the consistency of pressure on each finger. Yet, there is an overarching individual expressiveness that conveys, as few others can, the unique wistfulness of the Schubert “sound”, the composer’s yearning for recognition and, later, for health, and knowing full well what little time he had in which to accomplish so much. I have never before heard the essential Schubert discerned and revealed at this level of perfection.
This substantial set dedicated to the vocal music of Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) features the great cycle undertaken (to date) by Krijn Koetsveld and the singers of Le Nuove Musiche: all nine books of madrigals, the music in Monteverdi collections such as the Selva Morale e Spirituale (1641), the posthumous Messa a quattro voci ed salmi (1650), and the individual works by Monteverdi compiled in the collections of others, the so-called Fragments. To this is joined the cycle of operas directed by Sergio Vartolo and sung by casts of Italian early music specialists, including the first recording of the five-act version of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria.
These thoroughly researched, historically informed interpretations demonstrate Monteverdi’s pioneering and transformative role in the emergence and development of staged, dramatic vocal music. Also featured are the grand Vespers – sacred music in the Gregorian plainchant tradition but on an operatic scale – in a fantastic recording with fine Italian soloists and authentic period instruments including the early brass of La Pifarescha. Federico Bardazzi and Ensemble Felice make scrupulous interpretative decisions about the order of movements, interpolating the choral motets within the prescribed sequence of psalms to great effect. Finally, there are Monteverdi’s youthful three-part canzonettas, written when the composer was 17. They are rather simpler than the madrigals, both to sing and to appreciate, but their musical worth is amply demonstrated by the largely female voices of Armoniosoincanto joined by a mixed period-instrument ensemble of flutes, violas, theorbo and harpsichord. They impart just the right light-hearted mood and dramatic impact to the playful, folkloric secular strophic poetry.
CONTENTS:
Monteverdi: Il primo libro de madrigali, 1587
Monteverdi: Il secondo libro de madrigali, 1590
Monteverdi: Il terzo libro de madrigali, 1592
Monteverdi: Il quarto libro de madrigali, 1603
Monteverdi: Il quinto libro de madrigali, 1605
Monteverdi: Il sesto libro de madrigali, 1614
Monteverdi: Il settimo libro de madrigali, 1619 'Concerto'
Monteverdi: Il ottavo libro de madrigali, 1638 'Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi'
Monteverdi: Il nono libro de madrigali, 1651
Monteverdi: O ciechi il tanto affaticar, SV 252
Monteverdi: Voi ch'ascoltate
Monteverdi: È questa vita un lampo
Monteverdi: Spuntava il dì, SV 255
Monteverdi: Chi vol che m’innamori
Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi III alla francese, SV267
Monteverdi: Gloria a 7, SV 258
Monteverdi: Crucifixus, SV 259
Monteverdi: Pianto della Madonna 'Iam moriar, mi fili' (sopra il Lamento dell'Arianna), SV 288
Monteverdi: Et resurrexit, a quattro
Monteverdi: Et iterum
Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum in sancta Eius
Monteverdi: Salve Regina, SV 285
Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum
Monteverdi: Beatus vir (from Selva Morale e Spirituali)
Monteverdi: Sanctorum meritis (Primo)
Monteverdi: Dixit [Dominus] Primo
Monteverdi: Ab aeternum, SV 262
Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi Domine, SV266
Monteverdi: Memento Domine David
Monteverdi: Laudate pueri Primo
Monteverdi: Salve Regina, SV 284
Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum omnes gentes II
Monteverdi: Magnificat Primo
Monteverdi: Gloria (1641)
Monteverdi: Dixit Dominus secondo a8 SV 192
Monteverdi: Deus tuorum militum sors et corona
Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi, Domine
Monteverdi: Iste confessor
Monteverdi: Beatus vir (second setting)
Monteverdi: Ut queant laxis, hymnus sancti Joannis
Monteverdi: Laudate pueri (Secondo)
Monteverdi: Deus tuorum militum sors et corona
Monteverdi: Credidi propter quod locutus sum, SV 275
Monteverdi: Jubilet a voce sola in dialogo
Monteverdi: Magnificat (Secondo)
Monteverdi: Salve Regina
Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum
Monteverdi: Canzonette
Monteverdi: Vespro della beata Vergine (1610)
Monteverdi: Cantate Domino
Monteverdi: O beatae viae
Monteverdi: Currite populi
Monteverdi: Ego flos campi
Monteverdi: Venite, venite
Monteverdi: Christe, adoramus te
Monteverdi: O quam pulchra es
Monteverdi: Salve Regina
Monteverdi: Fuge, anima mea
Monteverdi: Sancta Maria
Monteverdi: Domine, ne il furore
Monteverdi: Ego dormio
Monteverdi: Ecce sacrum paratum
Monteverdi: Salve Regina
Monteverdi: O bone Jesu, o piissime Jesu
Monteverdi: En gratulemur hodie, SV 302
Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum omnes gentes
Monteverdi: Adoramus te, Christe
Monteverdi: Messa a 4 voci da Cappella (1650)
Monteverdi: Dixit [Dominus] Primo
Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi, Domine
Monteverdi: Nisi Dominus a 6, SV201
Monteverdi: Laudate pueri
Monteverdi: Laetatus sum
Monteverdi: Lauda Jerusalem a 3, SV202
Monteverdi: Beatus vir (from Selva Morale e Spirituali)
Monteverdi: Magnificat Primo
Monteverdi: Missa 'In illo tempore' (1610)
Monteverdi: Dixit Dominus II
Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi Domine II, SV194
Monteverdi: Nisi Dominus a 6, SV201
Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum, SV197a
Monteverdi: Laetatus sum
Monteverdi: Laetaniae della Beata Vergine a 6 voci
This refreshed Chopin Edition from Brilliant Classics retains many of the definitive recordings from its predecessor of 2015, but boasting some exciting updates. The Concertos and piano concertante music are consolidated in a bright new cycle from Czechia, recorded last autumn by Siberian superstar Ekaterina Litvintseva and the KFPar under Mardirossian. Schmitt-Leonardy’s sonatas are joined by No. 1 – recorded late in 2015, and therefore just missing inclusion in the previous edition – bringing the complete cycle under his fingers. Alwin Bär’s own Scherzi performances are reunited with his iconic 1998 recording of the Barcarolle, Fantasy and Berceuse. The Études are featured in a stunning complete cycle recorded in 2014 by the phenomenal Chopinist and 2023 OPUS KLASSIK double-nominee Zlata Chochieva. Finally the complete Nocturnes are given over to another noted young Chopin interpreter: the 2018 Geza Anda winner Claire Huangci, who recorded the set two years earlier, in 2016.
REVIEW:
In 2015 Brilliant Classics issued a complete Chopin edition culled from both original productions and licensed recordings from other labels, and featuring a variety of musicians. The label’s revised 2023 Chopin edition retains roughly two-thirds of the contents, while substituting about six CDs worth of alternative performances. Is it “new and improved”? Mostly yes. Here is a rundown of the contents:
Discs 1 & 2: The 2015 Chopin box featured Eva Kupiec in the two concertos (amazingly conducted by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski), with Abbey Simon in the other concerted works. Here we have less individual yet elegantly transparent performances of the entire Chopin piano/orchestra oeuvre with Ekaterina Litvintseva, supported by Vahan Mardirossian leading the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice.
Discs 3 & 4: The well-played chamber works with violinist Duccio Ceccanti, cellist Vittorio Ceccanti, and pianist Simone Gragnani are held over from 2015. So are Anna Haase’s slightly tremulous yet heartfelt Polish songs, superbly accompanied by Lucius Rühl.
Disc 5: Zlata Chochieva’s Etudes count among my top five recommendations in these works, wisely replacing Alessandro Deljavan’s mannered and overloaded readings.
Disc 6: As before, we have Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy’s intelligently paced and imaginatively detailed Ballades and Impromptus.
Disc 7: Folke Nauta’s broad and sonorous readings of the standard seven Polonaises are back, along with his rather underplayed Andante spianato e Grande polonaise.
Disc 8: The youthful Polonaises plus unimportant minor works like the Bourées, the Largo in E-flat, and the Fugue again turn up in Alessandra Ammaro’s splendid and mindfully virtuosic renditions.
Disc 9: The label replaces Fred Oldenburg’s good, workmanlike recording of the First sonata with a superior version from Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy, while retaining the latter’s wonderful Second and Third sonatas. Recently I compared his recording of the Second sonata’s strange Finale next to those of Horowitz and Rubinstein, and actually found Schmitt-Leonardy’s creative inflections more engaging (sound clip).
Disc 10: In place of Ivan Moravec’s Four Scherzos (originally issued by Dorian), we have Alwin Bär’s scintillating 1998 cycle, coupled with his equally compelling Fantasy in F minor and Barcarolle, along with a rather fussy Berceuse.
Disc 11: A hodgepodge of performances. I raved in detail about Schmitt-Leonardy’s reference-worthy Op. 28 Preludes when they first came out. Paolo Giacometti shines in the C-sharp minor Prelude Op. 45, Oldenburg serves up the Three Ecossaises quite well, while Marian Mika plays two versions each of the Waltz in F minor Op. 70 No. 2 and the Funeral March Op. 72 No. 2 using alternative texts.
Discs 12 & 13: Rem Urasin’s Mazurka cycle evokes the high rhetoric and subjectivity of pianists like Jean-Marc Luisada and Andrew Rangell, minus their eccentricity. Just don’t expect lightness, humor, or snappy embellishments.
Discs 14 & 15: Claire Huangci’s rippling and graceful pianism in the Nocturnes differs from the seasoned drama of the Earl Wild cycle that appeared in the 2015 box. The Duo Pianistico di Firenze’s Rondo Op. 73 and Variations in D fill out CD 15.
Disc 16: Alessandro Deljavan works overtime trying to emulate the great Romantic pianists, yet his lurching phrasings and contrived voicings throughout the Waltzes often belabor the obvious and fail to ring true. The piano itself sounds poorly regulated, and doesn’t always hold its tuning.
Disc 17: Frank van de Laar basically picks up the slack, playing the Rondos, the Variations brilliantes Op. 12, the Bolero Op. 19, the Allegro de concert Op. 46, and the Tarantella Op. 43 with plenty of finesse and good taste, if not quite matching Vladimir Ashkenazy’s ebullience.
For its attractive price tag and overall consistency (have Rubinstein’s Waltzes and Mazurkas handy, though!) Brilliant Classics’ 2023 Chopin Edition holds its own alongside similar multi-artist complete Chopin collections on other labels featuring bigger names. It should appeal to general music lovers just getting started with Chopin’s music who wish to take a deep dive into the composer’s oeuvre.
Sir Roger Norrington Conducts Berlioz / Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
SWR
CD
$16.99$33.99Save 50%Apr 08, 2022
During his thirteen years as chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra of SWR Sir Roger Norrington conducted and recorded an important part of Berlioz's core repertoire. The present boxed set brings together on seven CDs the Requiem, the opera Benvenuto Cellini (concert performance), the oratorio L'Enfance du Christ, the overture Les Francs-juges and of course the Symphonie fantastique.
Norrington's style has caused a stir internationally with what has come to be termed ‘The Stuttgart Sound’: a synthesis of historically-informed performance practice with the technical capabilities of a modern orchestra. Whether in Mozart, Haydn, Bruckner, or Berlioz, Norrington seeks to capture the performance experience of the time, adjusting the orchestra’s size and seating plan to create an authentic sound without vibrato.
Hector Berlioz had to surmount a variety of challenges before he was able to pursue his musical vocation. His father, a respected physician in the provincial South of France, was not readily willing to come to terms with his son's intention to quit his medical studies and turn instead to music. He therefore made all further financial support subject to Hector's climbing up the musical ladder at lightning speed. Alas, it didn't work so easily. Berlioz's road to success was tedious and marked by adversity and struggle, his personal life tumultuous. The uniqueness and originality of his musical style are no longer disputed, but this insight came at the end of a decades-long process.
