This new release will transport the listener into the court of King Charles II. Known as the “Merry Monarch,” King Charles II restored his court’s cultural life with his ensemble of violin, viola da gamba, theorbo, and harp, which was gathered with the intent of entertaining the king.; Only the Harp Consorts by William Lawes are the remaining compositions for this instrumental combination. This program, based around the Consorts, also includes works by Byrd, Simpson, Playford, Dowland, and Locke.; This is the CD debut of Il Caleidoscopio Ensemble, who perform on these period instruments.

Ottorino Respighi is best known for his exuberant and expansive orchestral works, such as the Roman Trilogy, but he was also an important composer of chamber and salon music. His musical education began with him learning violin and piano as a child, and for the first 20 years of his career as a composer he only wrote for these instruments. He was an accomplished violinist, and his mastery of the instrument manifests itself in the idiomatic violin-writing heard in the works on this disc.

Respighi's violin sonatas demonstrate the astonishingly wide range of his musical interests and the influences on his style: from early music, through German Romanticism, to impressionist tone colours. They are also a showcase for his remarkable gift for melody. The D minor Sonata dates from Respighi's early period and contrasts lively and energetic outer movements with a gentle yet passionate Adagio. The B minor Sonata, composed 20 years later, is a grander, more intense and dramatic work, and is testimony to the mature Respighi's command of chamber music. The two violin sonatas are complemented by the Six Pieces for violin and piano: these elegant and charming works show the lighter side of Respighi.

These works are performed by award-winning violinist Fabio Paggioro and acclaimed pianist Massimiliano Ferrati, who has been praised by the Corriere della Sera for his "highly refined sound [that] turns to magic".

Other information:
- Ottorino Respighi, gone into music history as a sorcerer of colourful orchestration, wrote a substantial oeuvre of chamber music works. A virtuoso violinist himself, he wrote two violin sonatas, which offer vintage Respighi: an eclectic use of various styles, from modal early music, through romantic pathos, to impressionistic colour experiments.
- Both sonatas require the highest technical and musical command from both players, and violinist Fabio Paggioro and pianist Massimiliano Ferrati do them full justice: committed and passionate music making!
- Contains liner notes and artist biographies.
- Fabio Paggioro performs on a Vincentus Postiglione violin (Naples, 1899).

Classical Music

Along with his prestigious position of first organist of the San Marco in Venice, composer Claudio Merulo (1533-1604) also composed outstanding keyboard music, masses, motets, and madrigals. Merulo’s Motets are featured on this new release. These works show his innovation with their linguistic freedom not typical of the High Renaissance motets. Conducted by Mauro Marchetti, the Italian Modus Ensemble is accompanied by historical instruments: the viola da gamba, violone, theorbo, and organ.

Though Couperin was a contemporary of J.S. Bach his fashionable life at Versailles could serve to make that great German seem quite stodgy. Always at the forefront of taste Couperin's trendsetting is nowhere more evident than in his Les Nations an overtly French set of trio pieces played stylishly here by Musica ad Rhenum with Jed Wentz.

Built by Arp Schnitger and his sons in 1721, the organ featured in this recording resides in the St. Michael Church in Sqolle, the Netherlands. Over the last few decades the organ has been restored to its full glory. The pieces chosen for this release come from the Husumer Orgelbuch (Husum Organ Book). This book is a collection of works for organ by North German masters. A notable Italian organist, scholar, and teacher, Manuel Tomadin won the Grand Prix of the Schnitger Organ Competition in 2011. He wrote all of the liner notes included in this release’s booklet, which includes extensive information on the organ.

Bach's earliest songs were based on Anacreontic poems, somewhat humorous texts with pastoral characters and settings, which generally dealt with the themes of love and drinking! Examples collected on this recording include Das Privilegium, Belinde and Die K�sse. However, Bach saved his real efforts and inspiration for settings of religious and moral poetry, which appealed to him on a more personal level. Featured on this CD, Pr�fung am Abend, Osterlied and Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur display imaginative combinations of recitative and aria, brilliant accompaniments, and a sensitive match between words and music. As Bach's career progressed, his approach to the genre developed. After moving to Hamburg in 1768, he published a collection of relatively simple, strophic psalm settings in response to public demand. Following this, his last collection of sacred songs, from 1780-1781, almost pre-figure Romanticism in their dramatic text settings. Collecting together a selection of songs from each stage of C.P.E. Bach's career, this new recording is a fascinating cross-section of his contribution to this genre. Not only do the songs, Odes and psalm settings demonstrate the variety of styles that Bach turned his hand to throughout his career, they highlight his supreme skill at combining words and music.

While usually associated with sacred music, the organ was also used during the Renaissance and early Baroque periods in noble mansions and courts for the purpose of secular music. This fantastic anthology peeks into the secular organ repertoire from royal courts across five countries. Francesco Cera is a celebrated Italian organist. He performs on a 1772 “Organo ottavino.” Liner notes include information on all pieces, as well as a photo of Cera’s organ.

The Late-Romantic composer Hugo Wolf's lieder are among the most exquisite jewels in the art-song crown, noted for their attention to poetic detail and superior craftmanship. Soprano Christine Oelze are tenor Hans Blochwitz are accompanied by Rudolf Jansen in the Italian Songbook cycle, while baritone Siegfried Lorenz, accompanied by Norman Shetler, is heard in a choice selection of 15 Morike lieder. Liner notes include the sung texts and music details.

This disc is the first in an exciting new collaborative series between Brilliant Classics and the International Barrios Guitar Competition. 2011 First Prize Winner Elise Neumann presents a fine recital of solo guitar works, spanning a period from the 1920s to the 1960s and featuring workings by Barrios, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Ponce, and Asencio. Neumann's virtuosic and exquisitely sensitive playing brings a sense of space and light to these selections, showing her to be a star in the making.

Herbert Blomstedt's Beethoven cycle with the Staatskapelle Dresden is one of the great ones, as much for the magnificent playing of this finest of all German orchestras as for Blomstedt's effortlessly musical interpretations. The only possible weak link here might be the first movement of the Fifth, which lacks the sheer intensity that, say, Carlos Kleiber brings to it. On the other hand, Blomstedt's more emotionally balanced conception is so well realized that I'm inclined to give him credit for bringing off an unconventional interpretation, particularly as the remainder of the symphony lacks for nothing in excitement or sheer power.

Highlights of this cycle are many: a grand and glorious Eroica, a lithe and lyrical Second and Fourth, a pellucid Sixth with luminous wind playing, an exciting Ninth sporting fantastically buoyant strings in the Scherzo and a marvelously well sung finale, and a transcendentally great performance of the Seventh, with rip-roaring horns and perfect pacing throughout. The recordings, made in Dresden's Lucaskirche in the late 1970s and early '80s, put a silvery sheen around the players (winds especially) and strike an excellent balance between clarity and warmth. At the Brilliant Classics price, you can't afford not to own this set. [6/23/2002]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
reviewing this set previously released as Brilliant 99927

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Beethoven's nine symphonies -- composed between 1800 and 1824 -- are true cornerstones of the classical canon. Marking an irrefutable turning point in the history of music, they transformed audiences' expectations of the symphony and influenced the genre's future development through their experimental, dramatic and expressive weight. Conductors have long been drawn to the profundity of these works: a complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies is viewed as one of the ultimate challenges in the repertoire, and the performances in this set are undoubtedly among the greatest to have been recorded, illuminating the skill of the Staatskapelle Dresden and Herbert Blomstedt, one of the most distinguished conductors of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The symphonies trace Beethoven's development as a composer, from the earlier works that document his emergence from the Viennese tradition, through to his experimental and critically divisive late style. Particularly famed for its landmark status in the history of music is the 'Eroica' Symphony (No.3), notable for its innovative approach to sonata form and embodiment of Beethoven's 'heroic' style. Also included are the legendary Symphony No.5, known for its distinctive opening motif and rigorous large-scale structure, the dramatic 'Pastoral' Symphony, and the sophisticated Seventh Symphony. The collection is, of course, concluded by the monumental Symphony No.9 -- known as the 'Choral' Symphony because of its ground-breaking, transcendent finale, sung here by the Dresden State Opera Chorus and a group of acclaimed soloists.

Over 30 years after their initial release, these recordings have remained one of the ultimate Beethoven symphony cycles, a testament to the quality of the performances and Blomstedt's interpretations. Brought together in a set of excellent value, this 5-disc collection is a must-have addition to the libraries of classical music fans, old and new.

Other information:
- Recordings made in Lucaskirche, Dresden, 1975--1980

Classical Music

Consisting of 11 numbers, the Oster Oratorium begins with two purely instrumental movements taken from an earlier concerto. The third, a duet, was later transformed into a chorus and may have actually originally been the concluding allegro of the same concerto, is succeeded by a selection of different suite-based dance forms. Richly orchestrated and complete with trumpets and drums, this uplifting work, the first of 3 oratorios by Bach, is superbly performed.

Alessandro Scarlatti: Alto Cantatas / Martellacci, Sasso / Composer: Alessandro Scarlatti / Conductor: Giorgio Sasso / Orchestra/Ensemble: Insieme Strumentale di Roma / Number of Discs: 1 / Length: 1 Hours 7 Mins. The author of around 800 cantatas, Alessandro Scarlatti was the most prolific composer of this particular chamber genre during the Baroque period. In this engaging release we are introduced to two examples, both 'with instruments' and written for solo contralto, the voice type to which the Sicilian dedicated a mere 10 per cent of his cantata output. Perch� tacete, regolati concenti is the first, a work that corresponds to the typically 17th-century themes of unrequited or unhappy love, with both the character and the music expressing the feeling of grief that underpins the text. The prose is actually quite weak in comparison to the quality of the music, and it may be that Scarlatti wrote it himself: he was, after all, described in the wording of his admission to the Arcadia as a �professor or poetry�. It is in any case an early composition; the second cantata, Filen, mio caro bene, we know was written later, on account of its style as well as Arcadian subject matter (which by then was in vogue: the work is set in a natural context). Complementing these works are a couple of concertos and sonatas by the composer, each set in a minor key. An all-Italian cast are at hand to perform the program, with alto Gabriella Martellacci � who has appeared as a guest performer with such prestigious orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia � taking the lead in the cantatas. Recorded: October 2012, Basilica dei Santi Bonifacio e Alessio, Rome, Italy. For a long time, Alessandro Scarlatti merely was �the father of� the more celebrated Domenico Scarlatti (the composer of 555 keyboard sonatas), but in recent years his genius as composer of an immense vocal oeuvre is widely recognized. Alessandro wrote some 800 cantatas for solo voice and instrumental ensemble, dramatic works on secular texts, dealing mainly with unrequited love, and the resulting grief and melancholy, exquisitely expressed in beautiful cantabile lines. The two Cantatas on this new recording (which also contains concertos and an instrumental sonata) are sung by the famous Italian alto Gabriella Martellacci, a household name in the Early Music scene, a regular guest with ensembles like Concerto Italiano (Rinaldo Alessandrini) and Modo Antiquo (Federico Maria Sardelli).

Here, for the first time on CD, are the complete 24 capricci for solo violin by Locatelli. This release might be considered a followup to the complete Locatelli Edition on Brilliant Classics. The capricci are through-composed cadenzas, as featured in the violin concertos, Op. 3 "L'arte del violino". They are highly virtuosic, demanding the greatest technical skills from the performer. The cparicci are so substantial that they can stand on their own. Eighty years later, Nicolo Paganini would write capricci as well, thus establishing a new musical form.

Russian violinist Igor Ruhadze received his musical training in Moscow before specializing in historically informed performance practice, and he is fully equipped to tackle these dazzling works, "breathtakingly performed" as Gramophone writes.