WAGNER: LOHENGRIN NELSSON, HO

"Walter's glowingly radiant reading...orchestral textures are clear and yet warm. Desi Halban's contribution is refreshingly individual, dramatic as well as touching, and she is comparably impressive in the songs."

-- Penguin Guide [2003/4] Review of Sony 64450

SCHUBERT: STRING QUARTETS D 81

DEBUSSY: PRELUDES FOR PIANO BO

BRAHMS: STRING QUARTET NO 3, C

BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO NO 2 B

SCHUMANN: FRAUENLIEBE UND LEBE

ROSSINI, SUPPE: OVERTURES BER

Feltsman sweeps through the 24 Preludes with genuine poetic bravura. ...[T]here is a daring and Romantic fire in the playing which only add to the agony of his plight...

-- Allan Ulrich, Los Angeles Times [7/27/1986]

For those who specifically want a CD of trio sonatas by J. S. Bach & Sons and who prefer stylish playing on modern instruments to the extremes of unabashed Romanticizing or outand-out authenticity, this may be an attractive prospect. As MM observed, the Sonata by Carl Philipp Emanuel is particularly fine, and the unfinished Larghetto of Wilhelm Friedemann's is distinctly haunting.

Jean-Pierre Rampal's flute sound falls gratefully on the ear, more so than the harpsichord continuo or than Isaac Stern's violin. The latter has a slightly fierce, synthetic quality which negates the many sensitive touches in the playing. On CD at least balance is less sympathetic to the flute in the J. S. and C. P. E. works than in Johann Christoph Friedrich's Sonata, whose galante charms are helped along by an attractive fortepiano continuo.

-- Gramophone [11/1985]

Szell proves a convivial, alert partner in the First Concerto, providing deft touches that lift this account above the ordinary. Listen, for instance, to the syncopated brass figure beneath the apotheosis of the last movement's second subject. If Graffman eschews the demonic brilliance of Horowitz, his reading is all about Tchaikovsky.

-- Gramophone [1/2006, reviewing Sony 94737]

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Graffman's clear and straightforward pianism stands out for its bigness, presence, and authority. I especially love his feathery scintillation in the slow movement's scampering central interlude, and the lyrical reserve he brings to the opening movement's extensive unaccompanied solos.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com [reviewing Sony 94737]

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: THE ENCORE

BARTOK: CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA

This recording is no longer available on cassette.

Mozart: Serenade No. 13 in G Major, K. 525 "Eine kleine Nach

WEILL: THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS,

STRAVINSKY: RITE OF SPRING ZU

Having admitted to only qualified enthusiasm for Dame Kiri's recent CD albums of popular repertoire and folk-songs, it is a pleasure to recommend this programme of Verdi and Puccini arias without reservation. The beautiful voice has never sounded better and the clear well-balanced recording allows us to hear the expressive pointing of meaning and characterization to perfection. Orchestral sound too is excellent, though slightly set back in relation to the ideally perspectived voice.

-- John Borwick, Gramophone [5/1985]

With a collection of titles, if the programme is well played and recorded one can only come up with the usual line of "go ahead if this is the selection you want". Three out of the four overtures here are early ones and for myself, I must say that the mellow blend of the orchestration of the Prelude to Die Meistersinger was a considerable relief after the brashness of Rienzi. But that the playing is fine cannot be denied. The Philharmonia violins sing the "Prize Song" with a softly expressive silkiness of tone that is most beautiful. The quiet blend of the wind at the start of Tannhduser is equally good to hear, while when the "Pilgrims' Hymn" returns towards the end all bombast is avoided by the soft and deft violin figuration being so delicate that the woodwinds can also play softly, as well as quite swiftly. Maazel does allow the greatest expansiveness later on, as the music demands. Nor is there any lack of brilliance or zest in such a piece as the Dutchman Overture or in the final polacca of Rienzi; though there is a top B just before the final molts put stretto (bar 344) where violins and woodwind do take a split second to become unanimous (not such a niggling criticism as it may seem, since the note is quite long and is an important one at the top of a climax).

-- Gramophone [3/1980]

SCHUBERT: SYMPHONY NO 9 GREAT

HAYDN: SONATA FOR PIANO NO 50

Includes work(s) for orchestra by various composers.

ORIGINAL RAGTIME CLAUDE BOLLI

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO 3, KINDERT

NIELSEN: SYMPHONY NO 1, LITTLE