Few personalities of our time unite so many diverse talents with such passion, generosity and charisma as the immensely gifted American composer, pianist, conductor and music communicator Leonard Bernstein, world citizen and all-round star. His death in October 1990 did nothing to diminish his legacy, still deeply felt to this day. Lenny, as he loved to be known, shaped the musical culture of America. His boundless energy and talent was his gift to the world, despite moments of self-doubt and ambivalence. The spectrum of his creative activity ranges from the famous musical West Side Story with it's pulsating Broadway rhythms to grave, complex works that embrace his Jewish faith or political sensitivity. He once framed his convictions thus: "What have we artists got to do with oil and commerce, with survival and honour? The answer is everything."

The great Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005) was acclaimed for his interpretations of the Romantic and early 20th-century repertoire. He recorded a lot for EMI Classics, including landmark versions of Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's Messa da Requiem, Brahms' 4th Symphony, Rossini's Overtures, or the Debussy's masterpieces which are featured on this vinyl. Known for his profound musical insight and sensitivity, Giulini's conducting style emphasized clarity and emotional depth. His recordings, particularly of works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Verdi, are regarded as definitive interpretations. Giulini's legacy endures through his masterful performances and enduring influence on generations of musicians. "La Mer was a Giulini signature piece, and this is his finest recording of it, capturing the music's capricious sense of flow, perfect in transitions, and with climaxes that preserve the music's clarity and balance without ever sounding excessively restrained. " CLASSICSTODAY. COM

Gramophone states, "A unique statement, one that can't fail to make an impression. Recorded in the sumptuous acoustic of the Jesuitenkirche in Vienna, there's a detectable flavor of southern European oratorio, ebulliently theatrical, immediate and free-breathing (...). This is the most culturally alert reading in years and a truly original and illuminating experience." This recording won a Grammy Award of Best Choral Performance and a Diapason d'or de l'ann�e in 2001, and it's one of the 100 Greatest Recordings from Gramophone: an absolute landmark of Bach's masterpiece, the Saint Matthew Passion.

Fresh and spontaneously joyful, this is a delightful version of what is probably the most over-duplicated work in the catalogue. Throughout the performances one welcomes the fiery magnetism of Chung. Editor's Choice of Gramophone Magazine when the Four Seasons album was originally released in 2001. Kyung-Wha Chung, an artist of passionate intensity and probing intellect, who communicates a vivid sense of spontaneity in her playing. Is one of the great violinists of the last 50 years.

A starry but congenial trio, Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma and Daniel Barenboim interact with each other and with the Berlin Philharmonic in Beethoven's extraordinary Triple Concerto. Released for the first time on vinyl.

Otto Klemperer brings his customary nobility of conception to Die Zauberfl�te, with it's symbolic drama, and is joined by an exceptional cast. Gundula Janowitz sings Pamina with sublime beauty and the young Lucia Popp is brilliant as the Queen of the Night, the role that first made her reputation."Not the least extraordinary thing about this wonderful blend of the sublime and the humane is that it draws from all musicians the best of which they are capable... This issue is specially commended to those who are after the mystery and elevation of The Magic Flute." Gramophone

July 16, 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the spectacularly successful concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles of three men acclaimed as the world's greatest tenors: Jose Carreras, Pl�cido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti. Their performance, which took place before the 1994 World Cup, featured a star-studded live audience and was broadcast in 100 countries to an estimated 1.3 billion viewers.

Maria Callas is credited with changing the history of opera. Known as La Divina, she continues to fascinate as a supreme artist, but also as a woman and an icon of style. Her interpretations were as compelling for their dramatic truth as for their musical integrity. Her voice, with it's extraordinary range, was as distinctive as her infallible sense for a phrase. A magnetic presence, she brought operatic heroines to vivid life, magically shaping and colouring her tone, and making insightful use of the text of the libretto.

SPRINGSONG

The idea behind Carlos Cipa's new album is easy to describe: one room, one piano, one pianist/composer. Taking one's time. Approaching with the greatest possible impartiality. Simply improvising, at first only from, for, and with oneself. But what at first might seem a simple concept becomes more complex at a closer look. With it's quiet, contemplative solo-piano sounds, Ourselves, as we are, is a "deeply vulnerable collection. In the age of fake authenticity, remakes... this approach is perhaps one of the few remaining ways to create art: to reveal our true selves. Radically personal. Radically intimate. Radically honest. Ourselves, as we are.

In 2002, Dong Hyek Lim arrived on the scene at just 18 years old 'in a blaze of pianistic glory' (Gramophone) with a debut album championed by his mentor Martha Argerich, which was awarded the prestigious Diapason d'Or in France. The South Korean virtuoso went on to take third prize in the 15th International Chopin Piano Competition, and recorded a remarkable Chopin album in 2004 including the 3rd Piano Sonata and some Mazurkas. In 2008 followed an album of Bach's Goldberg Variations coupled with the Bach-Busoni Chaconne. The French magazine Le Monde de la Musique awarded it a 'Choc', while Gramophone wrote that: "There's no question that he's a very impressive pianist... [who gives] the sense of profound pleasure in the music... And he's not afraid to experiment with what he can do in this music... An artist to watch."

Brahms's four symphonies lie at the very core of the Berliner Phiharmoniker's repertoire and reputation. With the combination of Sir Simon Rattle's vision and iconoclastic approach, and the orchestra's remarkable technique and unique sound, these performances mark a milestone in the history of Brahms recordings.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. It is 40 years since Maria Callas died (16th September 1977), but she lives on as the epitome of the operatic diva. She has never lost her place among the top-selling classical artists. To mark this anniversary, Warner Classics releases this compilation. This collection benefit from the superb new remastering and conveys Callas' compelling genius as a singing actress with a new truthfulness and immediacy: Maria Callas Live and Alive! The passion and charisma of Maria Callas, performing live on the stages of the world's greatest opera houses and concert halls, can now be experienced as never before - thanks to new audio remastering from the best available sources. These are performances that played a crucial part in creating the legend of Callas, La Divina, and which keep her thrilling art very much alive.

THRIVE was composed over the last couple of years, during a period of uncertainty and fear. I have always been convinced that it is in times of adversity that we remember what is essential to us. THRIVE is the inner strength that pushes us to fight in moments of doubt or sorrow. The impulse deep inside us that incites us to search for the best, to look up, to fight to overcome difficulties and reach a kind of fulfilment. This album is for those who feel, consciously or unconsciously, the need to build something else, to seek out new horizons. For those who wish to turn their backs on the things that oppress us and aggress us, on meaningless demands. This is a personal battle at a time when collective awareness is settling in: the planet is spiralling; a vortex. We must change; we can evolve. Many of us want this, and music can be a catalyst. The piano has always helped me find this momentum, and composing for strings has opened up new horizons for me. By taking inspiration from a theme, a melody, or a few notes by the greatest classical composers, I also wanted to show that there is always a personal path. I hope that this album will accompany you or inspire you to find your own way of life, there is always hope. Within us, we all have this ability; this power to transform a difficulty into an opportunity. The greater the challenge, the greater the reward. THRIVE!

The German-born conductor Otto Klemperer, a towering figure in the musical history of the 20th century, died at the age of 88 on July 8th 1973, so 2023 will mark the 50th anniversary of his death. His complete recordings on Warner Classics catalogue are being made available for the first time in 2 huge separate boxes; the first volume with the Symphonic Works, Concertos & Lieder (95CD) will be released in June 2023. All recordings are remastered in HD 192/24 from original sources. By the mid-1960s, the 80-year-old Otto Klemperer had recorded the nine symphonies, the Violin Concerto, Fidelio and the Missa solemnis, but not the piano concertos, which he had performed with such legendary figures as Schnabel, Claudio Arrau, Edwin Fischer, Wilhelm Backhaus and, in Moscow in 1936, the young Emil Gilels. In 1967, he recorded Mozart's Concerto K503 with the 24-year-old Daniel Barenboim, the prodigiously talented pianist and conductor, whose recordings of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas were already taking the world by the ears. There was an immediate rapport between the two musicians, out of which came a Beethoven concerto cycle like no other the gramophone had yet given us. Barenboim has said of Klemperer: 'He approached the essence of what he wanted directly and without hesitation. He was not interested in sound as such but in correctness of execution of tempo, dynamics, and orchestral balances, over which he took immense care.' He was, says Barenboim, an uncompromising musician and human being. No orchestra ever doubted the inner strength that emanated from him. At the time the recordings of the piano concertos were made, Backhaus was still alive, as was Arrau, but neither could have challenged, provoked, and delighted the Grand Old Man - or offset his vivid but essentially monumental approach to the concertos - quite as Barenboim did. It was an inspired pairing in which distinct styles of music-making confront one another, yet are movingly and joyously linked in what appears to be (and to some extent was) an improvised act of live music-making.