Storyville Records proudly presents the previously unreleased live double album, Michel Petrucciani Trio, Jazz Club Montmartre - CPH 1988, by the legendary French pianist Michel Petrucciani, due for release on November 15, 2024. Recorded during a memorable performance at Copenhagen's Jazzhus Montmartre on July 3rd, 1988, the album captures Petrucciani in the company of two jazz icons, Gary Peacock on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. While the trio only came together for a brief European tour in the summer of 1988, the chemistry they shared on stage was undeniable. The trio, propelled by a studio session the previous autumn, radiates synergy, as they explore six of Michel's original compositions with a sense of grace and spontaneity. On this recording, listeners will rediscover Petrucciani's unique lyrical universe, as well as his reverence for modern jazz icons, paying tribute to Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and Paul Bley with special arrangements of classics like Someday My Prince Will Come, Mr. K.J. and Turnaround. From the explosive energy of She Did It Again to the introspective beauty of Autumn Leaves, Petrucciani's virtuosic playing reveals a rare sense of urgency, joy, and an unrelenting passion for life. As Gary Peacock and Roy Haynes were at the height of their careers-Haynes playing with Chick Corea and Peacock with Keith Jarrett-they were drawn to Petrucciani, recognizing the greatness of his artistry. Together, they formed a trio, bound by a shared intuition and respect for one another, and this performance at Montmartre is a testament to that fleeting moment of jazz brilliance. This concert took place at the midpoint of Petrucciani's meteoric career, 12 years after his Paris debut and 11 years before his untimely passing. Despite the physical challenges posed by glass bone disease (osteogenesis imperfecta), Petrucciani's fierce determination, boundless love for music, and infectious laughter inspired all who knew him. Now, more than 35 years after that magical evening in Copenhagen, we invite listeners to close their eyes and step back in time. July 3rd, 1988... it could have been last night, or it could be tomorrow morning!

Rare Italian Madrigals Composers from the upper drawer number several well-known names (music quality increasing a lot over the century), among them principally Giaches de Wert (1535-1596), Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613), Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), and, not least, Luca Marenzio (1553-1599), to whom the present CD is entirely devoted. In his rather short lifespan, he managed to write about 500 madrigals between 1580 and 1599. In those two decades, his music developed immensely, reaching it's climax in the last ten years of his life. Though continuing to satisfy his great popular following with loads of small, lighthearted songs, Marenzio excelled also in writing ambitious madrigal cycles, of which two are recorded here: Baci soavi e cari (five 6-part madrigals describing several aspects of kissing) and, maybe his magnum opus, Capitolo - Se quel dolor (ten 6-part madrigals delving into one of the period's favourite subjects: melancholia).

This thoughtfully conceived, beautifully executed, and boldly multi-idiomatic new album is a state-of-the-art insight into the unique soundworld of the contemporary marimba. It is also a portrait of the imaginative virtuosity of one of the instrument's finest practitioners engaging in the worlds of both contemporary classical music and jazz with equal devotion and insight. Her choices on this project display the creative boldness that has defi ned her entire career.

Ukrainian classical music is not even two centuries old, and for most of that time has had to contend with active attempts at suppression by a bullying neighbour. But Ukrainian composers have stood their ground, not least by taking inspiration from the folk-music that has long thrived in Ukraine's mountains and fields. In this first of a series of Postcards from Ukraine the Ukrainian-Australian violinist Markiyan Melnychenko presents a programme of largely unknown miniatures for violin and piano, all based on, or inspired by, that folk-culture. Alternately sparkling and soulful, these violin showpieces make the case for a more thorough examination of the riches still to be discovered in Ukraine's musical heritage.

The first album of Postcards from Ukraine gave a potted history of Ukrainian music in the form of a series of miniatures for piano and violin, and the second presented four outstanding chamber works by important Ukrainian composers. This third instalment brings six new arrangements of Ukrainian folksongs, for violin and piano, by Markiyan Melnychenko, integrating them into a programme of folksong- and dance arrangements by some of his best-known virtuoso predecessors.

Anyone interested in Romantic music will inevitably come across the name Carl Reinecke. Countless aspiring composers from Germany and Scandinavia went to him to learn their craft. To those who wanted to make it in the city of the famous Gewandhaus Orchestra, he was an institution. Reinecke the composer enjoyed great success during his lifetime. However, as a preservationist of musical traditions, he was quickly forgotten after his death. The inevitable course of musical development swept him out of the way. This was not due to the quality of his music. Not only does his compositional technique stand up to scrutiny, but also his music as a sonic experience. This is particularly true of his three symphonies, all of which are now available in our catalogue with the release of the powerful Second in C minor

Claudio Monteverdi was a musical revolutionary who championed the new style of music that replaced intricate Renaissance counterpoint with the more theatrical music of the early Baroque. Yet he was a master in both these styles, as this selection.

This collection draws together many of the much-loved and most-requested shorter choral works by John Rutter. Gathered from across the Collegium catalogue, 'Be Thou My Vision' includes all of the church anthems and other sacred pieces for which Rutter is justly famous, representing for the first time a handy compendium of the best-loved Rutter works in their definitive performances by the Cambridge Singers, directed by the composer. 'The recordings of Rutter conducting his own music with the Cambridge Singers remain gleaming beacons of irrepressible music-making.' - BBC Music Magazine

These brilliant, hard-driving performances bring back (happy) memories of Russian orchestras of the 1960s and a style of playing that has all but disappeared. The performances aren't subtle, but then neither is the music, and my how Theodore Kuchar and Co. deliver the goods! The playing isn't perfect: in Pictures, Gnomus sounds a touch frantic, and the trumpets smear their rhythms in Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle; but incidental imperfections count for little next to Kuchar's "pedal to the metal" approach. Listen to the plangent wind sonorities in the second Promenade, to the pounding attack on The Hut on Fowl's Legs, or to the totally uninhibited brass and percussion at the conclusion of The Great Gate of Kiev. This is the real deal, an impression only confirmed by scorching accounts of both versions of A Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky's original and Rimsky-Korsakov's better-known rewrite). The other two short pieces, the Hopak and Golitsin's Exile, simply put the icing on the cake. Don't let the cheap price, the not-terribly-well-known performers, or the brevity of this review prevent you from trying out this really exciting and very well recorded disc (probably the best sonics from this source thus far). You'll be missing a real treat if you do. [6/7/2003]

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Since it's inception in 2001, the Vivaldi Edition has explored the fantastic diversity of the work of the Prete Rosso. Presented by Giulio Prandi's Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri, this seventy-second volume is once again dedicated to sacred music. Two exceptional works, the Dixit Dominus, RV 807 and the Magnificat, RV 611, here frame rare motets such as Sanctorum meritis, RV 620 and Vos invito, barbarae faces, RV 811. Preserved at the Saxon State Library, the Dixit Dominus belonged to a lot ordered from a Venetian publisher in the mid-1750s by the Saxon court which, threatened by the Prussian army, had been forced to flee Dresden for Warsaw. Illustrating the highly pictorial text of Dixit Dominus, Vivaldi favours a lively and sparkling aesthetic, full of figurations. For example, pairs of repeated sixteenth notes depict the gentle lapping of a stream (De torrente in via bibet) while the impressive final fugue embodies the majesty of Christian communion. Also forged in an ingenious and hushed counterpoint, the second motet of this programme, Confitebor tibi, Domine, presents three solo voices, something rare for Vivaldi. Hymn from the liturgy of the martyrs, Sanctorum meritis, RV 620 then introduces Vos invito, barbarae faces, whose text enjoins the believer to fight against the forces of evil. This program finally offers the final version of the Magnificat in G minor (RV 611) in which the Red Priest specifically dedicated to a few singers of the Ospedale della Pieta certain sections, radically transformed since the first version of the 1710s. This results in little less ensemble parts, and more arias for the soloists, almost a foretaste of Classicism. Faithful to his quest for clarity and joy that had been highlighted by moving recordings devoted to Jommelli and Rossini, Giulio Prandi, for this first collaboration with the na�ve label, glorifies the luminous, aristocratic sobriety of Vivaldi. Unexpected and invigorating. 25 July 2024

Mixing iconic choral works with music by some of today's most exciting composers, this varied programme is centred around themes of rest. Joel Thompson's virtuosic new work is a particular highlight: written in 15 parts, A Prayer for Deliverance perfectly showcases Tenebrae's core values of passion and precision. The second half features Herbert Howells' Requiem - surely one of the most moving works in the English choral repertoire. Associated with the untimely death of Howells' young son Michael, the work remained unknown until it was finally published just three years before Howells' own death in 1983.

John Rutter/Steven Osborne/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - "Reflections". This new recording is the first orchestral album from one of Britain's most beloved composers, Sir John Rutter. Released just ahead of Rutter's 80th birthday in September 2025. Known around the world for his choral music, the album includes the first recording of Rutter's rarely heard piano concerto, Reflections, performed by pianist Steven Osborne and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer himself. In addition to the piano concerto, the album includes the orchestral works Celebration Overture, Four Miniatures for Orchestra, Cityscapes, and Elegy. Rutter's music is performed across the globe, and he has received many honors, including a CBE in 2007 and a knighthood in 2024 for services to music. Being knighted by King Charles III, a strong supporter of the arts, was a particularly special moment for Rutter. CD Digisleeve.

SONDHEIM Sweeney Todd • Ulf Schirmer, cond; Mark Stone ( Sweeney Todd ); Jane Henschel ( Mrs. Lovett ); Gregg Baker ( Anthony Hope ); Rebecca Bottone ( Johanna ); Jonathan Best ( Judge Turpin ); Adrian Dwyer ( Beadle Bamford ); Diana DiMarzio ( Beggar Woman ); Ronald Samm ( Pirelli ); Pascal Charbonneau ( Tobias ); Bavarian R Ch; Munich R O • BR 900316 (2 CDs: 123:59) Live: Munich 5/6/2012


Composer-librettist Stephen Sondheim maintains that Sweeney Todd is not an opera, and so does the annotator for the present release. Nevertheless, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (its full title), since it premiered on Broadway in 1979, has been revived by several opera companies, including the New York City Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, and the Chicago Lyric Opera. Why? Musically, it is highly sophisticated, and operatic voices are not wasted on it. Furthermore, with its larger-than-life dramatic themes, including mistaken identity, lust, vengeance, obsession, madness, and murder, how more operatic could a theatrical work be?


There have been several recordings of this work, including the unforgettable original cast recording on RCA with Len Cariou in the title role, and Angela Lansbury in the role of Mrs. Lovett, his cheerfully amoral partner in crime. That version will never be eclipsed, but each new recording adds a welcome new perspective. The one reviewed here, recorded in the Munich’s Prinzregententheater, is the most operatic yet, even more than the one with the New York Philharmonic which features singers such as Heidi Grant Murphy (Johanna), John Aler (Beadle Bamford), and Paul Plishka (Judge Turpin). This time around, we have legitimate operatic singers in all of the main roles; only DiMarzio appears not to be a “classical” musician per se. In other words, here we have an ensemble of acting singers, as opposed to singing actors such as Cariou, Lansbury, George Hearn, Patti LuPone, and Michael Cerveris, who all have made major contributions to this opera’s . . . I mean, musical’s performance history.


It turns out fairly well. I was immediately pulled in by Ulf Schirmer’s conducting, which is tense, taut, and stylish. In fact, you might not hear a better conducted Sweeney Todd anywhere. The Bavarian Radio Choir also adds much to the success of this performance. Although their diction is less clear than that of English-speaking ensembles who have recorded this music, their dramatic involvement is high, as is their musicianship.


This is an actual performance. Apparently the time, funds, or energy to correct the inevitable live lapses was unavailable, and thus we have oddities such as Henschel at one point rechristening Beadle Bamford as “Beadle Rumford.” A few memory lapses are covered professionally, but will leave those who know the show well asking, “What did (s)he just sing?” These issues are minor, though.


I’m more concerned about two other points. One is the lack of (black, very black) humor in this production. For example, I can’t understand why, in “A Little Priest,” the wonderfully uncomfortable pun about a meat pie made from a general (“With or without his privates?”) has been removed. This is a grim show, still there is much about it that can be very funny, and allowing it to be so makes the gore and horror even more effective. As the original Mrs. Lovett, Angela Lansbury was charming and endearing; she might bake you into a meat pie, but you couldn’t stay angry with her for long! Henschel can’t inspire that kind of affection, and she makes it clear that her murderous instincts were present even before opportunity allowed them to come out. The other thing that concerns me is the way in which some of the big dramatic moments are almost thrown away. Todd’s aborted murder of Judge Turpin (interrupted by Anthony’s untimely arrival) should be a big moment, but it isn’t. Similarly, soon after, in Todd’s “Epiphany,” we should feel his mind crack and his murderous rage insanely swell to encompass all of mankind, not just the Judge, but Mark Stone is not that fine an actor, the direction is too hurried, and one of the show’s most Brechtian moments doesn’t come off. The last segment of the show, with its string of murders and its Grand Guignol effects, moves forward jerkily, sometimes grinding to a halt, and sometimes not pausing long enough to make its points. On Broadway, Harold Prince would have fixed these miscalculations, but, at least as I am hearing them on CD, they were not addressed in Munich’s Prinzregententheater.


All of the singing itself is very fine. One curiosity is a baritone Anthony; Gregg Baker’s voice is darker than Mark Stone’s. Anthony is supposed to be an inexperienced sailor, newly arrived in London, and the early scenes between him and Todd feel strange, because the voice relationships have been inverted from the original production. I really missed hearing a tenor’s voice soar into “Johanna,” one of Sondheim’s most rapturous love songs. Also, the multinational cast presents a variety of accents. In 1979, Cariou had almost no accent at all, while Lansbury made the most of hers. Here, we have the reverse: a cockney Todd in Baker, and a Mrs. Lovett of no particular nationality or region in Henschel. Someday, there will be a production of this work in which everyone gets on the same page with dialects.


So, if you want an operatic Sweeney Todd , or a fresh look at it, this new recording will satisfy. It has many enjoyable moments, but a few unfortunate ones as well. If you do not know this show at all, however, the Broadway cast recording—still in print, thank goodness!—is the only place to begin. This show is one of the masterpieces of American musical theater, and absolutely needs to be heard.


FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle

The reissue of the recordings made in 1978 and 1988 pays tribute to the unforgettable Czech tenor Vilém Pribyl’s superb performance of three extraordinary Czech song cycles. The artist dazzled several generations of music-lovers in Bedrich Smetana’s and Leoš Janácek’s operas. His professional career was mainly connected with Brno, where he lived and worked for three decades. Moreover, Pribyl performed as a guest at the National Theatre in Prague, and he also impressed audiences in Edinburgh, London (Royal Opera House), as well as in France, Italy and the USA. The three song cycles are deemed to be the best works in the genre created by Smetana, Dvorák and Janácek. They are fundamentally different in terms of inspiration. While in his short cycle Evening Songs Smetana sumps up his lifelong endeavours and experiences, Dvorák’s Biblical Songs represent the composer’s intimate prayer and thanksgiving. In The Diary of One Who Disappeared, Janácek’ depicts the story of a village boy who madly falls in love with a beautiful gypsy girl. The benchmark historical albums are as enchanting today as they were decades ago. An engrossing recording of three Czech mature song cycles, as performed by Vilém Pribyl.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD
Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 is an incomprehensible wonder of music history, rigorously peculiar, disturbingly new, and timelessly modern. “Wie ein Naturlaut” (Like a sound of nature) is indicated above the first notes of the symphony. It is both the prelude and the key to his symphonic cosmos as a whole. Mahler captures this music of the world, transforms it into a symphony in the old, comprehensive sense of the word and uses it to create his masterpiece of harmony. Composed over the course of just a few months at the beginning of 1888 in Leipzig, this symphony is a true musical awakening. Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig bring Mahler’s sounds of nature to life in a riveting performance. This production was recorded live in January 2015 at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. As a bonus, this release also includes an exclusive interview with Riccardo Chailly.

Claudio Abbado conducts the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela with Anna Prohaska in works by Prokofiev, Berg, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky.

Also available on Blu-ray



Gustav Mahler
SYMPHONY NO. 4

Christina Landshamer, soprano
Gewandhaus Orchestra
Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Recorded live at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, 26–27 April 2012

Bonus:
- The Welte-Mignon Piano Player Device
- Mahler plays Mahler – Symphony No. 4 in G major: IV. Sehr behaglich
- Riccardo Chailly on interpreting Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the Gewandhaus Orchestra

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French, Japanese
Running time: 61 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Note: This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

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Also available on standard DVD

The Philharmonics:
Tibor Ková? first violin, Shkëlzen Doli second violin, Thilo Fechner viola, Stephan Koncz cello, Ödön Rácz double bass, Daniel Ottensamer clarinet, František Jánoška piano

Guests: Walter Auer flute, Christoph Traxler harmonium

The Philharmonics, the ensemble founded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, fill the Café Sperl with some of the most authentically Viennese sounds imaginable – the Strauss waltzes that Schoenberg, Berg and Webern arranged and performed in May 1921 to raise funds for their pioneering “Society for Private Musical Performances”. This is music the players have in their blood, and they maintain the echt atmosphere with Godowsky’s tribute to the city, “Alt-Wien” and a clutch of Kreisler gems, rounding the programme off with a new piece by the ensemble’s leader Tibor Ková?, based on traditional Jewish melodies and Mahler themes, “Yiddische Mame”.

Recorded live at Café Sperl in Vienna, 9 March 2011

BONUS: How Schoenberg came to arrange waltzes by Strauss

Picture format: 1080i Full-HD
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles (Bonus): English, French
Running time: 64 mins (concert) + 10 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25)

R E V I E W:



J. STRAUSS II Emperor Waltz. Roses from the South. A Night in Venice: Lagunenwalzer. Wine, Women, and Song. The Gypsy Baron: Treasure Waltz. KREISLER Marche miniature viennoise. Schön Rosmarin. Caprice viennois. KOVÁC Yiddische Mame. GODOWSKY Alt-Wien • The Philharmonics • ACCENTUS ACC 10228 (Blu-ray: 64:20) Live: Vienna 3/9/2011

In 1921, as a fund-raiser for the Society for Private Musical Performances, Schoenberg and his two most famous disciples arranged four Strauss waltzes for piano, harmonium, and string quartet. Four years later, Schoenberg returned to the source, adapting the Emperor Waltz for a similar ensemble, with the harmonium replaced by flute and clarinet. (Richard Burke, in Fanfare 22:4, suggests that it was “supposedly for use as an encore” after Pierrot Lunaire .) I’d love to have been at the first performance of the original four, featuring Berg on harmonium, Schoenberg on second violin, and Webern on cello (not to mention Eduard Steuermann on piano and Rodolf Kolisch on first violin), but removed from that star-studded context, the arrangements don’t hold up especially well. In his review of a recording featuring the Berlin String Quartet and friends (one that, like many forays into this repertoire, left out the low-inspiration Lagunenwalzer ), James H. North insisted that the “awkward arrangements” were “of little interest.” And while Richard Burke found more to admire, I can’t agree with him that the distinctive personalities of the three arrangers can be heard in these workaday adaptations. Certainly, there’s nothing here to match the quirkiness of Webern’s take on the six-voice Ricerar from The Musical Offering —nor the full-throated romanticism surging through Schoenberg’s arrangements of Bach’s organ music or Brahms First Piano Quartet. Nor, despite the Second Vienna School’s supposed affection for the Waltz King, is there anything here as delectable as the fantasies and transcriptions penned by such turn-of-the-century piano virtuosos as Godowsky, Rosenthal, and Rachmaninoff.

Still, as background music, this repertoire has its virtues—and this Blu-ray, featuring The Philharmonics (an ensemble made up of members of the Vienna Philharmonic), treats it precisely in that manner, offering up whipped-cream live performances from Vienna’s Café Sperl, with an audience numbering a dozen or so people, most of whom are more involved in their books, magazines, gossip, and flirtations than in the music. Certainly, this low-key approach makes more sense than the cleaner, more modernist (but also stiffer) manner favored by the members of the Boston Symphony on what is probably the most familiar recording of this material (see 26:2).

The Philharmonics interleave the Strauss waltzes with other popular Viennese confections—as well as first violinist Tibor Ková?’s medley that mixes Mahler with familiar Jewish songs. They’re all played with the same congenial spirit. As for the production: The notes are confusing—especially with respect to responsibility for the Kreisler and Godowsky arrangements; the bonus track, a discussion by Dr. Christian Meyer, director of the Schoenberg Center, is illuminating, but completely disorganized; sound and video are clean, although you’re apt to wonder why you’d want to watch an event that even the original audience wasn’t paying much visual attention to. Still, if you’ve got a Blu-ray player in the right part of your house, this is a fine accompaniment to your Sunday brunch.

FANFARE: Peter J. Rabinowitz

This is an extraordinary journey through the most preeminent of classical symphonies. With an ensemble of only 12-16 top-quality musicians, the Pocket Philharmonic Orchestra explores Beethoven's musical origins. All the great conductors and orchestras have shown where Beethoven led: how his ideas paved the way for later masters like Schumann, Bruckner and Mahler. What hasn't been shown yet is where Beethoven was: where his musical language came from, how he shifted standards and developed techniques in a completely new and revolutionary way. The Pocket Philharmonic has a new approach to this idea: instead of a full chamber or symphony orchestra, the ensemble performs as a chamber ensemble in a symphonic manner – symphonic chamber music, or chamber music symphonies, so to speak. "This is the most vivid performance of the Eroica you have ever heard" said the critics. “It makes the revolution in his music audible. "An outstanding listening experience."

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
• Monteverdi: Lauda Jerusalem a 5, SV203
• Monteverdi: L'Orfeo
• Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
• Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

All three of the works in this program reveal a young composer on the threshold of greatness, serving as his passport to the vast new world of orchestral music prevailing at the beginning of the 20th century. Inspired by the tone poems of Richard Strauss, Bartók’s Kossuth dramatically commemorates the struggle for Hungarian independence in 1848 with an alluring and provocative orchestration. The Two Portraits set moods of love and painful heartbreak into stark contrast, while the First Suite is a showcase of symphonic effects which caused a sensation in Vienna at its première in 1905.

Per il Luigi is the 17th volume of the complete Haydn 2032 collection and presents a number of Haydn's earliest symphonies; these had been composed to display the talent of the musicians who had joined the Esterhazy court orchestra during the same period as Haydn himself. The centre of the programme is the Symphony No. 13 in D major from 1763, whose orchestration includes four horns and whose final movement features a prefiguration of the famous theme of Mozart's 'Jupiter' symphony, to be composed twenty-five years later. The violin concerto in C major is marked fatto per il Luigi in Haydn's catalogue of works and was dedicated to Luigi Tomasini (1741-1808), a violin virtuoso born in Pesaro and a friend of Haydn. Two centuries later, the young Baroque violin virtuoso Dmitri Smirnov now brilliantly champions this repertoire with the Kammerorchester Basel under Giovanni Antonini.

Tracks:

DISC 1
1 Adjutant's Call - C.M.T.C. March 2:16     
2 Sound Off, into Trombones Triumphant 0:38     
3 Officer's Center - Officer of the Day March 2:27     
4 Inspection Waltz 3:56   
5 Bugles and Drums 2:22       
6 First Call 0:12     
7 Reveille 0:24   
8 Assembly 0:12     
9 Mess Call 0:14       
10 Attention 0:09       
11 Officers Call 0:10     
12 Drill 0:11     
13 Fatigue 0:14   
14 Carry On 0:08     
15 Recall 0:12     
16 Church 0:38     
17 Adjutant's Call 0:13     
18 Retreat (Solo) 0:25       
19 Retreat 0:29   
20 To the Colors 0:39     
21 Tattoo 0:56   
22 Taps (Solo) 1:01   
23 Taps 0:57     
24 Echo Taps 1:06     
25 Taps with Brass Accompaniment 1:22     
26 First Sergeant's Call 0:09     
27 Charge 0:10     
28 Roast Beef of Old England   0:58     
29 Yankee Doodle   1:23       
30 York Marsch   2:20     
31 President of the United States  0:50   
32 Vice-President of the United States 0:39   
33 Congressional Honors 0:45       
34 4 Ruffles and Flourishes and General's March (arr. F. Kepner) 0:26     
35 3 Ruffles and Flourishes and General's March (arr. F. Kepner) 0:25     
36 2 Ruffles and Flourishes and General's March (arr. F. Kepner) 0:23       
37 1 Ruffle and Flourish and General's March (arr. F. Kepner) 0:22     
38 4 Ruffles and Flourishes and Flag Officer's March (arr. W.H. Santelmann) 0:24     
39 3 Ruffles and Flourishes and Flag Officer's March (arr. W.H. Santelmann) 0:23     
40 2 Ruffles and Flourishes and Flag Officer's March (arr. W.H. Santelmann) 0:20     
41 1 Ruffle and Flourish and Flag Officer's March (arr. W.H. Santelmann) 0:19       
42 1 Ruffle and Flourish - Last 32 of Stars and Stripes Forever 0:39   
43 The Stars and Stripes Forever 0:37     
44 Trio to the National Emblem 1:20   
45 2/4 Drum Cadence 0:42     
46 6/8 Drum Cadence 0:44     
47 The Star Spangled Banner 1:22     
48 The Air Force Song (arr. R.R. Bennett) 0:37     
49 The Air Force Song (arr. J. Wasson) 3:10   
50 The U.S. Air Force Blue March (arr. L. Ludlow) 0:59     
51 Lord Guard and Guide, "The Air Force Hymn" 1:06   
52 Lord Guard and Guide, "The Air Force Hymn" (arr. F. Werle) 1:06     
53 The Air Force Dirge (arr. G. Cray) 5:18         
54 U.S. Army Song (arr. Lake) 0:37     
55 God of Our Fathers 1:31     
56 The U.S. Navy Song (arr. P. Yoder) 0:36       
57 Eternal Father, strong to save, "Melita" (arr. C. Smith) 1:07         
58 The Marines' Hymn (arr. D. Hunsberger) 0:38     
59 The Marines' Hymn (arr. Farmer) 1:28   
60 U.S. Coast Guard Song (arr. W.C. Schoenfeld) 0:36   
61 Armed Services Medley 3:34     
62 The Stars and Stripes Forever 3:26     
63 Gary Owen March (arr. J. McFulton) 2:30     
64 Semper Fidelis 2:46   
65 Heave Ho! My Lads, Heave Ho! 2:11   
66 The Song of the Seabees 3:15 
67 American Legion March 2:17     
68 American Red Cross 2:26     

DISC 2
1 Liberty Fanfare 0:25   
2 Emperata Overture 0:22     
3 Ceremonial Fanfare 0:44       
4 3 Jubilant Fanfares: No. 1. Fanfare Jubilante 0:29     
5 Aloft! 0:28     
6 America The Beautiful (arr. C. Dragon) 3:15     
7 Battle Hymn of the Republic (arr. S. Nestico) 4:33     
8 God Bless America (arr. E. Leidzen) 2:17       
9 My country 'tis of thee, "America" 1:09     
10 This Is My Country (arr. F. Werle) 1:59   
11 God Bless the USA (arr. for wind ensemble) 3:08   
12 Wind Beneath My Wings 3:32     
13 Hero for Today 3:32     
14 The Last Full Measure of Devotion (arr. M. Davis) 5:03   
15 Americans We 2:48     
16 National Emblem 2:58     
17 The Washington Post March 2:38     
18 Chimes of Liberty 3:11     
19 Hail to the Spirit of Liberty 3:31   
20 Hands Across the Sea 2:47     
21 Auld Lang Syne 1:41         
22 Military March No. 1 in D major, Op. 39, "Pomp and Circumstance" (Land of Hope and Glory) (arr. C. Grundman) 5:36   
23 Amazing Grace (arr. W. Walker) 1:38       
24 Amazing Grace (arr. F. Ticheli) 4:43     
25 Eternal Father, strong to save, "Melita" (arr. C. Smith) 1:56     
26 God of Our Fathers 1:31     
27 Nearer my God to Thee (arr. P. Rawlins) 2:42

REVIEW:

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s first two releases for Ondine under Christoph Eschenbach (Bartók and Tchaikovsky) were extremely good, no doubt about it, but this Mahler Sixth is really extraordinary. Part of its success must stem from the fact that the best German conductors usually do misery especially well, finding the dark side of just about everything. If you don’t believe me, check out Kurt Sanderling’s startlingly deep and edgy rendition of Poulenc’s Concert Champêtre on Supraphon. So you can just imagine what can happen with a piece like Mahler’s Sixth. Anyone fortunate enough to have heard Eschenbach’s performances of this work with the NDR Orchestra in Hamburg will know that he has a special feeling for its harrowing intensity and expressionistic instrumental palette. Toss in the collective virtuosity of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the result is, to put it mildly, pretty special.

As a coupling, the early piano quartet movement is more appropriate than you might at first think. First of all, it shares the same key as the symphony, and second, it’s useful to have it along as part of an all-Mahler program, allowing collectors to round out their collections without having to search for an acceptable all-chamber-music program. The engineering also represents the best in this series so far, with virtually no audience noise, tremendous presence in both stereo and multichannel formats, and extremely natural balances between orchestral sections. I know that Mahler Sixes seem to be a dime a dozen these days, but this one, a first for Philadelphia, belongs among the elite few (Bernstein I and II, Chailly, Levi, T. Sanderling, and Gielen). It’s just bloody thrilling.

— ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

During the Biedermeier period, the piano gained huge popularity as a domestic instrument, and piano concertos were increasingly arranged for chamber music ensembles. Ignaz Lachner’s superb arrangements of Mozart’s piano concertos are well known, but his brother Vinzenz Lachner’s arrangements of Beethoven’s concertos are a rarity, though equally as valuable. This volume completes the cycle of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos in Vinzenz Lachner’s transcriptions for piano and string quintet.