Little is known about the life of German violinist and composer Johann Jakob Walther. It is said that he was a violinist in the orchestra of Cosimo III from 1670 to 1674, and afterwards was concertmaster at the court of Dresden. Forty of Walther’s compositions are extant, and are contained in two volumes: Scherzi da Violino solo con il basso continuo, published in 1676, and Hortulus chelicus, published in 1688. This release features his Hortulus Chelicus, which scholars believe was composed between 1650 and 1688. In this collection, Walther wrote at a new, higher technical playing level for the violin. The musicians featured on this recording perform on period instruments- Baroque violin, harpsichord, and Baroque cello.
In 2015, Sony Classical reissued Die Walküre and Siegfried from the first digital recording of the Ring. “It has stood the test of time remarkably well”, observed ClassicsToday.com when the complete set, originally released in 1983, was last reissued. “The Staatskapelle Dresden plays spotlessly for Marek Janowski … An excellent ‘Ring’ experience.” Now the remaining two music dramas from this acclaimed cycle are again available separately. Gramophone in 1997 praised the “marvellously clean, spacious digital recording” and “Janowski’s fast, lyrical, wholly cogent reading [which] has the Dresden Staatskapelle playing with the utmost beauty from start to finish – try the start of Act 3 of Götterdämmerung – and with lean power when that’s called for … Voices and players are in an ideal relationship, which is not say that such [orchestral] passages as the Rhine Journey and Funeral March want anything in visceral excitement … Matti Salminen is a commanding, often subtle Hagen … The smaller parts, especially Rhinemaidens led by Lucia Popp, are well taken …
This release continues Carlo Grante's series of Domenico Scarlatti's complete keyboard works. This series is the only one ever recorded with the same pianist playing all of the works.
"...beautifully played, and recorded, the first box in Music & Arts' series is profoundly impressive." - Jonathan Woolf, Music Web International
"Carlo Grante is one of the most astonishing artists I have ever known and worked with." - Fabio Luisi, The Metropolitan Opera's Principal Conductor
When the naïve David Balfour sets out on his quest for a long-lost relative, a terrifying chain of events is set in motion. He is plunged into a world of infamy and violence from which there seems no escape, until, that is, he meets the enigmatic and valiant Highlander, Alan Breck.
The two duos are, of course, the real thing. These readings are the first on original instruments to have come my way; and very persuasive they are too. So often in recordings of these works the violinist, usually an international virtuoso, is much the more assertive player, hardly encouraging his partner to shake off the violist's natural reticence. Here, though, Vera Beths and Jurgen Kussmaul are beautifully matched, enabling one to savour fully Mozart's wonderful ingenuity in overcoming the medium's potential monotony of texture. Listen, for instance, to the duo's raillery in the variation finale of K424, or in the first movement development of K423, with its sequences of arpeggios tossed gleefully between the voices (from 3'41"). These are essentially gentle, intimate readings, with generally leisurely tempos that allow room for much delicately expressive detail; and I enjoyed the touches of rhythmic flexibility in movements like the opening of K423 and the Andante of K424. Occasionally, as in the finale of K424, flexibility can verge on waywardness; and to my ears the coda theme of K423's Adagio (from 2'41") sounds halting and selfconscious rather than expressively intense, as the players presumably intended. But these are rare misjudgements. Beths and Kussmaul form a true, selfless partnership and are recorded in an intimate, natural acoustic.
When Sony Classicals new complete Brahms cycle with Zubin Mehta conducting the Israel Philharmonic was first released, the Baltimore Sun reviewer referred to a marriage of passion performances fine enough to recommend to any listener who wants his Brahms in a single collection. The Symphony No. 1 receives a heroic, turbulent performance in which Mehta and the fine orchestra of which he was long ago appointed music-director-for-life keep raising the thermostat until in the final movement they all but blow the roof off. The Symphony No. 2, which receives a similarly passionate performance, may be even better. Nos. 3 and 4, the reviewer goes on to say, are also beautiful. This major new reissue also contains the Haydn Variations and Tragic Overture.
King & Country: Shakespeare's Great Cycle of Kings [Blu-ray]
Opus Arte
Blu-Ray
$99.99Apr 29, 2016
Gregory Doran directs King and Country: Shakespeare's Great Cycle of Kings- the complete cycle of Richard II, Henry IV, Pts. 1 & 2, and Henry V. David Tennant plays the title role in Richard II, with Antony Sher and Jasper Britton as Falstaff and Henry IV respectively in Henry IV, Pts. 1 & 2. Alex Hassell follows his performance as Prince Hal in Henry IV, Pts. 1 & 2 as Henry V in the final play in the tetralogy.
"A definitive production of a great play" - Daily Mail on Richard II
"Gregory Doran's productions are a triumphant achievement." - Times on Henry IV, Pts. 1 & 2 Sound Format: 2.0LPCM, 5.1 DTS Subtitles: EN/FR/GE (Except Henry V with EN only) Region: 0 (Worldwide) Running Time: 663 mins
Wagner’s Siegfried is the third opera in the cycle that makes up Der Ring des Nibelungen. It premiered during the first complete performance of the cycle in August 1876 at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Rene Kollo performs in one of his greatest recorded performances in the title role of Siegfried. German conductor Marek Janowski is a brilliant interpreter of Wagner, having conducted the first digitally recorded Ring cycle between 1980 and 1983.
This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.
Also available on standard DVD This incredible box set presents the best of Russian opera. Included in the set are Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, and Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Recorded in renowned opera houses such as Teatro Regio, Torino, and De Nederlandse Opera, these performances are not to be missed.
Sound Format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, IT, ES, NE Running Time: 919 mins
This incredible box set presents the best of Russian opera. Included in the set are Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, and Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Recorded in renowned opera houses such as Teatro Regio, Torino, and De Nederlandse Opera, these performances are not to be missed.
Featuring some of the earliest operas in existence, this box set features Baroque Opera Classics. The set contains Handel’s Deidamia, Cavalli’s La Didone, and Ercole Amante,Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria, Rameau’s Zoroastre, and Scarlatti’s Dove e Amore e Gelosia. These recordings from De Nederlandse Opera, Le Theatre de Caen, Pergolesi Spring Festival, Jesi, Ancona, and DNO are not to be missed.
Our complete recording of Felix Weingartner's symphonic works is now finally available at a top price in a box. The press has confirmed that our edition of these symphonies is »a must for all those interested in top-class symphonic music« (Partituren). Marko Letonja and the Basel Symphony Orchestra set out on this adventurous journey of discovery with great devotion and virtuosic skill. Felix Weingartner was not only an internationally acclaimed conductor and a highly influential figure in Basel's music world; he also bequeathed to posterity an extensive compositional oeuvre marked by timeless freshness.
This live recording of Wagner’s great opera Tristan und Isolde was recorded in August of 1958.; Wolfgang Windgassen, who champions the role of Tristan, was known for his powerful voice and successful performances in Wagner operas. He is often considered the most accomplished Wagner tenor of the twentieth century.; Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson was also a Wagner specialist, along with works from Strauss. Her voice is remembered for its force and brilliance in the upper register.
Recorded over the course of two and a half years, this four disc set showcases a comprehensive body of esteemed countertenor Valer Sabadus's repertoire. Valer Sabadus, despite his young age, has already joined the ranks of the world's best vocalists. Sabadus's wide-ranging repertoire extends from early Baroque works by the great masters, to contemporary pieces riddled with unique harmonies and vocal techniques. The breadth of his abilities is shown through his versatility and adaptability. This CD set includes works from Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Henry Purcell, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others.
When his ship is wrecked in a storm, Robinson Crusoe finds himself stranded on a desert island with no one to help him and no chance of rescue. Scared and alone, he tries to make a life for himself, building shelters, hunting food, taming animals, crafting boats and making clothes. But just as his life appears to be settled, he sees someone else's footprint on the beach and a different struggle for survival begins, this time against cannibals and pirates. Published in 1719, the novel was an immediate success and continue to fascinate new generations.
Shakespeare provided lifelong inspiration for the towering operatic genius that was Giuseppe Verdi, but just three of the Bard’s plays ever emerged fully-fledged from the composer’s pen. This trio of landmark productions, featuring a veritable constellation of singers, conductors and directors, are united here under the banner of Verdi’s Shakepeare Operas: Macbeth, which lifted the young composer out of his hard-working ‘galley years’, propelling him to international fame and universal acclaim, and Otello and Falstaff, his final two crowning operatic achievements. Simon Keenlyside and Liudmyla Monastyrska are imposing as the Thane and his Lady in Phyllida Lloyd’s sumptuous production of The Scottish Play for The Royal Opera, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, while José Cura interprets the Moor in a profound, intense staging by Willy Decker at Barcelona’s Liceu. By the end of his dramatic opera career, Verdi claimed he had ‘earned at last the right to laugh a little’, and Richard Jones’s Glyndebourne Festival production of Falstaff radiates humour, tinged with bitterness and wisdom and brought to life by an international ensemble cast with Christopher Purves in the title role under the inspiring baton of Vladimir Jurowski.
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Catalan (Otello), Japanese (Macbeth)
Benjamin Schmid was born in Vienna and grew up in Salzburg. In 1992 he won the Carl Flesch Competition in London, where he was also awarded the Mozart, the Beethoven and the Audience prize. Since then he has performed on the world's major stages with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra London and many more. Probably one of the most versatile of today's violinists, Schmid combines his qualities as a soloist, the extraordinary broad range of repertoire - in addition to the usual works he also plays the Violin Concertos by Harmann, Gulda, Korngold, Muthspiel, Szymanowski, Lutoslawski and Schonberg - with remarkable skill in jazz improvisation.
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