Mozart: Divertimento for Violin, Viola & Cello in E-Flat Maj

This recording/performance is also available on MiniDisc.

At the beginning of the 18th century Italian instrumental music reached France and began to make its decisive impact. Michele Mascitti was a protagonist of this remarkable change. The young violinist moved from Naples to Paris where he spent most of his long life and managed to publish nine collections of instrumental music between 1704 and 1738. The extraordinary success and popularity of Mascitti’s works allowed him to live for many years as a free-lance musician and to be applauded and admired in the artistic circles of the French capital. His music brings us back to the fashionable and refined atmospheres of the Parisian aristocratic salons and to the galanterie so beautifully illustrated in the paintings of the time. The violin sonatas recorded for the first time in this album blend the brilliant and passionate expressivity emanating from the Neapolitan legacy with the elegance and grace of the French instrumental tradition and offer an exquisite example of the new union of tastes.

BERNSTEIN FAVORITES- OPERA FOR

Like Brahms and Reger, Hans Gal expressed some of his last musical thoughts in the form of a Clarinet Quintet, this one written when it's composer was 87 years old. In these three scores, Gal produced some of the loveliest music in the clarinet repertoire. Creating a family affair, the album was produced by Hans Gal's grandson, Simon Fox-Gal.

BERNSTEIN FAVORITES- ORCHESTRA

Bach: 14 Canons & Orchestral Suites Nos. 2 & 3

Classical Music

Fortepiano (Viennese action) was restored by J. van den Hamel, Antwerp 1996 and tuned by Claire Chevallier.

MOZARTIANA- PIANO TRANSCRIPTIO

Classical Music

Glenn Gould & Chamber Music

What a wonderful title. The absurdist libretto of Schnittke's opera by the former 'dissident' writer Victor Erofeyev is based on his own short story and is partly a satire on Soviet life under Communism ('Vova' was Lenin's nickname, and Howard Haskin — the creator of the role — was made up to look like the former leader). Clearly, for Schnittke and other post-Soviet artists, there are still scores to setde with the past. Whether that will tell against the opera's long-term success remains to be seen.

At its worst it recalls a superior cabaret act, Schnittke's frequent recourse to parody as part of his 'polystylistic' approach sounding a touch glib. But other moments suggest wider resonances. The opera was premiered in Amsterdam last April, when this recording was made. Rostropovich, who was instrumental in the project from an early stage, conducts a brash but vital performance (he also plays the cello and piano) and the cast enters fully into the spirit of the piece. The sound has a curiously hollow quality.

-- George Hall, BBC Music Magazine

Crossley's playing of ''Brouillards'' (the first Prelude of Book 2) successfully evokes the disturbing fog of a winter night in which objects appear suddenly and menacingly. I actually think the marking Modere suggests a quicker tempo—Gieseking takes 2'44'' as against Crossley's 3'33'', but there again, the admirably sensitive Gordon Fergus-Thompson takes a minute longer than Crossley!... This Debussy is beautifully textured, with fine control of fingers and pedals; indeed, it is most sympathetically presented and the recording, made at The Maltings, Snape, is satisfyingly atmospheric, with a glowing sound rather than a brilliant one... This applies equally to the Estampes and Children's Corner. In the former work. ''Pagodes'' is a touch deliberate, but has lovely sounds; indeed, Crossley's tonal beauty is consistent...

-- Christopher Headington, Gramophone [9/1993]

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Classical Music

Schubert: Piano Trio no 2 in E flat major recorded 10/1951 in monophonic.
Busch: Divertimento for 13 Instruments, recorded 08/1982 in stereo.

MOZART: SYMPHONIES 35 & 39 SZ

Classical Music

RACHMANINOV: PIANO CONCERTO NO

The disc features Antal Zalai, praised by Igor Oistrakh as 'an exceptional violinist who has a perfect technique, beautiful large tone, real musical finesse and maturity as well as a noble personality'. Joining him is Jozsef Balog, one of the most celebrated pianists of his generation and winner of the 2005 Annie Fischer Award.

Charpentier was Lully and Lalandes’ equal for the exceptional quality of his music. For the Duchess of Guise he created works of infinite beauty, which Louis XIV particularly admired, including the Idylle en musique Les Arts Florissans (1685). Gaétan Jarry and his young musicians give back living vitality to this allegory of the artistic golden age of the “greatest king of the world” who had just settled his court in Versailles, With himself in the guise of Apollo or as the Sun King. Founded in 2007, the Marguerite Louise ensemble is made up of passionate musicians from a variety of backgrounds, from leading schools (CNSM in Paris, CNSM in Lyon, Conservatoire in Amsterdam, Center for Baroque Music in Versailles, Schola Cantorum in Basel) or already performing with prestigious ensembles (Les Arts Florissants, the Elements, the Spiritual Concert, the Concert d'Astrée). All seek to revive these little motets very intimate, quite symptomatic of the piety of the Sun King and his court at the end of the "Grand Siècle".