The PROSPERO label presents here Nikolaus Harnoncourt's legendary Zurich farewell concert of November 2011. After 36 years of opera and concert activities at Lake Zurich, the maestro bid farewell to his orchestra and his audience with Mozart's Wind Serenade K. 361 and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The conductor originally intended to work on the Gran Partita at the performance venue, the Zurich Tonhalle. However, as he was already in poor health, the meticulous rehearsals typical of the maestro were moved to his home in St. Georgen in Upper Austria. The musicians of the Philharmonia Zurich (formerly the Zurich Opera House Orchestra), who were able to experience how the interpretation was fine-tuned there, still talk today with shining eyes about this intensive and immensely enriching collaboration. So it is not surprising that the orchestra gave literally 'everything' at the farewell concert for one of the most important of his guild, in order to give it's conductor a worthy musical farewell. Swiss radio raved at the time about a "breathtaking moment of the concert year 2011". One critic even spoke of the "craziest performance of Beethoven's Fifth ever heard in the Tonhalle Zurich". This concert event is now available in a sonically carefully restored 'splendid edition'. As a hardcover book with 44-page booklet, including many illustrations and never-before-published visual material. As a special musical bonus, the edition contains a rehearsal recording of Beethoven's Fateful Symphony.

On their previous Supraphon recordings, harpist Katerina Englichova and oboist Vilem Veverka sufficiently proved their outstanding performance qualities as well as informed interest in such mutually remote music worlds as the Baroque and the 20th century modernism. The present recording - their first made in dues - reflects more than twelve years of their performing together in concerts. The not-so-common combination of oboe and harp provides an endless scale of timres and the resulting impression is marked both by frailness and confident virtuosity. Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin" is the crucial piece on the album and represents the composer's memories of his friends lost in the First World War. Little musical gems written by Ravel and Debussy resound here in sensitive arrangements which have enriched the compositions by new timbre qualities. "Primavera" composed by Lubos Sluka was composed explicitly for the Englichova - Veverka duo and appears here in premiere recording.

In her first chamber music album Claire Huangci- together with Solenne Païdassi, violin Adrien Boisseau, viola and Tristan Cornut, cello- devotes herself to two works by Maurice Ravel and Ernest Chausson. As the debut album of Trio Machiavelli and Adrien Bosseau as support for Chausson, this album is a calling card that is worth seeing. Claire Huangci, the young American pianist of Chinese descent and 2018 Geza Anda Competition first prize and Mozart prize winner, has succeeded in establishing herself as a highly respected artist, captivating audiences with her “radiant virtuosity, artistic sensitivity, keen interactive sense and subtle auditory dramaturgy” (Salzburger Nachrichten). Her unusually diverse repertoire, in which she also takes up rarely performed works, is illustrative of her remarkable versatility.

In this time of philological research about executive and instrumental typologies of Renaissance of Baroque, is timely the production of Mandolino nel Novecento, that is a Neapolitan mandolino having four iron strings. The question is: what can we play with this instrument? The ensemble Mereuer proposes two solutions: the first one is the transcription (Debussy, Piazzolla, Katchaturian), so they continue the tradition of early twentieth century in which the performance was the only way to know these songs with the plectrum group. The other one is the performance of musical pieces with the compositions of Angulo and Mereu, but most of all the ''Serenata Passacaglia'' that Ennio Morricone has composed for the Ensemble.

Under the name Wanderer - the iconic figure of Romanticism - the guitar duo formed by Giacomo Copiello and Michele Tedesco makes its debut with a recording containing an exceptionally romantic repertoire. The performers' careful choice of instruments offers the listener a varied range of historic guitars sounds: early 20th century instruments for the transcribed repertoire of Brahms, Schubert and Franck while the works of Mertz are played on the traditional 19th century romantic instruments they were originally intended for.

Also available on Blu-ray

Mozart’s Singspiel Die Zauberflöte seamlessly alternates seriousness and jollity, and combines philosophical ideas with a fairytale world of wondrous animals and magical musical instruments. Fusing music, technology and stagecraft, this exciting production gives Die Zauberflöte a refreshing treatment both thrilling and simple. Following overwhelming stage success, McBurney’s unique production received five-star reviews in the Dutch press: ‘a feast for the eyes and ears’ (Het Parool) and ‘Delicious!’ (Trouw) ‘‘...inventively staged...’’ (Daily Telegraph)
Running time: 156 minutes
Subtitles: English/German/French/Dutch/Japanese/Korean
Picture Format: 16:9, NTSC
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 Region: All Region

Evgeny Svetlanov's was a masterly conductor of of Russian and non-Russian composers of the late-Romantic era. The Brahms is both powerful and mellifluous, superbly played by the LSO. The Debussy has tension from the start, combining colour, sensitivity and transparency. The bonus consists of Janet Baker singing the final song from Chausson's Poeme de l'amour et de la mer. The Brahms and Debussy are previously issued. Recorded at Royal Festival London, 1975.

The performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.1 in April 2002 with the BBCSO was the last concert he gave before his death two months later. Svetlanov's studio made Tchaikovsky recordings with the USSR Symphony Orchestra for Melodiya in the 1960's were the cornerstones of the catalogue at the time and he brings an unqualified authority to the Barbican concert recorded here. Svetlanov's account of Stravinsky's Firebird is superbly detailed and imaginative with the Philharmonia in tremendous form. The digital sound recorded in the Barbican for both performances is totally natural and warm. These live recordings are issued for the first time on CD.

Sir John Barbirolli was one of the most versatile conductors of his generation, associated with composers and works of every era. These historic recordings, never before released, present works he previously had not recorded, - like the Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings - or were under-recorded - like Schubert's Symphony No. 4.