Two CDs. Mozart & Flute in Paris brings together nine captivating works, all with their origins in Paris, which feature a solo flute. Emmanuel Pahud is joined by his colleagues from 'wind supergroup' Les Vents Fran�ais - oboist Fran�ois Leleux (here also conducting the Orchestre de chambre de Paris), clarinettist Paul Meyer, bassoonist Gilbert Audin and horn-player Radovan Vlatkovic - and by Belgian harpist Anneleen Lenaerts. "The pieces on this album represent different golden ages of the flute," says Pahud. The earliest, dating from 1778 are two concertante works that Mozart wrote while visiting Paris. The newest, premiered in 2014 by Pahud and the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, is Dreamtime by Philippe Hersant. The intervening period is represented by pieces by Saint-Sa�ns, Faur�, Chaminade and Poulenc, composers whose music embodies France's special relationship with the flute.

STABAT MATAR

VERTIGO

Nigel Kennedy is releasing his second book, titled When I'm 64. This 3CD compilation has the track listing done by Nigel himself, with excerpts from his book in the booklet.

KEYBOARD MUSIC 7

Beethoven: Fidelio (2 CD) ARTIST: Otto Klemperer The Home of Opera series offers treasures from the world's greatest opera catalogue, presenting some of the most important and admired recordings of complete operas produced by Warner Classics/EMI Classics over the last 60 years. Otto Klemperer Christa Ludwig Jon Vickers Gottlob Frick Walter Berry Ingeborg Hallstein

The Alban Berg Quartett was a string quartet founded in Vienna, Austria in 1970, named after the composer Alban Berg. It was widely considered to be the most famous string quartet in world during their era. They retired in 2008. This 2 CD set includes Beethoven String Quartets Nos: 7-11 ARTIST: Alban Berg Quartett TITLE: Beethoven: String quartets 7-11 (2CD)

The incomparable violinist Jascha Heifetz lends his prodigious talents to four performances of three famous film composers of the middle of the 20th century. Enjoy the work of Korngold, R�zsa and Waxman like never before in Heifetz's deft hands.

MUSIC FOR A WHILE - IMPORVISATIONS ON PURCELL

ERATO STORY - LES SURPRISES DE L AMOUR

In the space of three ballets, a previously unknown Russian composer revolutionized the music of his time. With The Firebird and Petrushka, respectively fairytale and folktale, and of course The Rite of Spring, a telluric invocation with it's insanely innovative harmonies and rhythms, Stravinsky dynamized the Late Romantic orchestra, taking it to literally unheard-of places. Among the very first musicians to perform these works on the instruments that witnessed their birth, François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles inaugurated a far-reaching rediscovery of these seminal pieces, giving today's listeners an opportunity to appreciate to the full their audacity and their harsh, savage power.

 

REVIEW:

 

This is a labour of love for conductor François-Xavier Roth. His research into the famous Ballet Russes shows that not only was that organisation they involved intimitely with Stravinsky's three famous ballets recorded here (Le sacre du printemps, Petrushka and L'oiseau de feu), but the Ballets Russes also enjoyed a wide repertoire. To hear some of that repertoire here - in the form of Les Orientales, which contains music by Glazunov, Christian Sinding, Anton Arensky and Grieg - and all performed with a period authenticity (for Stravinsky!) is nothing short of revelatory. Roth conducts his group Les Siècles with gusto but also with the skill of a master restorer - the thickest textures in Le sacre and Petrushka become crystal clear; his rhythms are lighter than many listeners will be used to, taking us back to the dance while adding an extra layer of buoyancy to the performances.

 

– Classical Music Explorer (Colin Clarke)

Berlioz: Harold en Italie Les Nuit D'ete - A new aesthetic calls for new forms: such is the challenge the composer set for himself in the two works presented here. In Les Nuits d'�t�, Berlioz pioneered - well before Mahler and Ravel - the song cycle for voice and orchestra. In Harold in Italy, scored for large orchestra and solo viola, he experimented with the symphonic genre. These period-instrument performances by Francois-Xavier Roth and Les Si�cles feature violist Tabea Zimmermann and vocalist St�phane Degout, heard here in the composer's own version of Les Nuits d'�t� for baritone.

One of today's most distinguished pianists, Russian master Arcadi Volodos shows off his incredible skills in this collection of solo-piano standbys given new life.

JOYCE & TONY: LIVE FROM WIGMORE HALL

The two splendid works on this album were the result of Manuel de Falla's encounter with the husband-and-wife team of dramatists Mart�nez Sierra-Lej�rraga. El amor brujo takes us to the very heart of the flamenco repertory and the brilliant pantomime, El sombrero de tres picos, whose sets and costumes were originally designed by Picasso, are magnificently actualized by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under the direction of maestro Pablo Heras-Casado. Mahler Chamber Orchestra & Pablo Heras-Casado

Something special happens when she starts to sing - something that sets off a thrill..." wrote Opera News of Vivica Genaux. This collection of three recitals showcases the virtuosity, elegance and expressivity of the Alaska-born mezzo-soprano in repertoire that has proved central to her career: Vivaldi, Handel, Rossini and Donizetti and - a composer she has championed - Johann Adolph Hasse. The recitals in this box were recorded in 2003 (Rossini/Donizetti), 2006 (Handel/Hasse) and 2009 (Vivaldi: Pyrotechnics). It was in Rossini that Vivica Genaux first made her name, particularly as Rosina in Il barbiere de Siviglia. Writing about this Rossini arias album, Time Out New York hailed Genaux "the most exciting singer in the world. Sinewy but lithe, her voice encompasses a wine-rich chest register, juiced up with just enough testosterone to keep things interesting, as well as luminous high notes that would do many a soprano proud." The first Baroque role that Vivica Genaux sung was in Handel's Ariodante, but she went on to make a particular specialty of the music of Hasse. Reviewing this album, Gramophone wrote: "Three well-crafted arias from Hasse's Arminio are ideal fare for Genaux's pinpoint accuracy and florid ornamentation." Of the album 'Pyrotechnics', Vivaldi expert Fr�d�ric Delamea wrote: "The dazzling arias in this program - some of which have never been recorded or, indeed, performed in concert - illustrate the different phases and forms of Vivaldian pyrotechnics, exploring every emotion and the most diverse dramatic situations, and continually varying instrumentation, tonality and tempo.

2020 release. Eleven Words is a simple, yet complex piano solo album by David Foster. Primarily known for writing and producing megastars' huge, chart-topping hits, David steps back to his roots, seated at the grand piano and delivers emotional and meaningful piano melodies.

CELLO CONCERTOS

Following the success of her albums of Romantic and Late Romantic repertoire, Vilde Frang has recorded Mozart's Concertos Nos. 1 and 5 Turkish and the Sinfonia Concertante K364, enabling music lovers to hear the Norwegian violinist perform Classical repertoire on disc for the first time. The impetus for this album was a 2012 orchestral tour of Asia conducted by Jonathan Cohen in which Vilde performed Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5. The vibrancy of their musical collaboration was something both artists were keen to repeat and commit to disc. Vilde Frang is joined by Jonathan's Cohen's chamber orchestra, Arcangelo, and by violist Maxim Rysanov in the Sinfonia Concertante.

CARMEN FANTASY

HARMONIA MUNDI - Stravinsky: The Soldiers Tale (English Version) - Isabelle Faust / Alexander Melnikov / Dominique Horwitz, Isabelle Faust, Lorenzo Coppola, Javier Zafra, Reinhold Friedrich, J�rgen van Rijen, Wies de Boeve, Raymond Curfs 2021 release.

VERITAS X2 SERIES is the leading range of early music recordings on the market. This new batch of ten essential reissues introduces into the Veritas range, for the first time, key recordings from the historic Erato catalogue. John Eliot Gardiner is at his best in this milestone recording showcasing the full splendor of Handel's music. Among the first historically-informed versions of these beloved choral works, the Dixit Dominus initially sold more than 500,000 copies around the world.

PIETA

This coupling is a popular one, and with good reason. The Sextet marks the beginnings of Dvorák in “Slavonic” mode, with a second movement “Dunka” and a “Furiant” for a scherzo, while the String Quintet comes from his “American” period, with all that this entails as regards melody, harmony, and rhythm. Both works are drop-dead gorgeous, and so beguiling that you’ll never notice the remarkable sophistication and craft that went into their creation.

There have been several excellent releases featuring this music, most notably the Panocha Quartet’s versions on Supraphon, now found in that label’s boxed sets of Dvorák’s complete chamber works. The Jerusalem Quartet and friends doesn’t play with the Panocha’s silky smoothness of timbre, but that’s not a criticism, merely a reflection of a different school of playing and aesthetic sensibility. Their more grainy (but never harsh) sound has its own appeal, especially in the Sextet’s exotic slow movement, its scherzo, and everywhere in those open-air, “hoedown” passages that pepper the Quintet. And in terms of intonation and ensemble balance, these players rank second to none.

Interestingly, both works include sets of variations. In the Sextet it’s the finale, and in the Quintet, the third movement Larghetto. It was Donald Francis Tovey who first pointed out Dvorák’s skill as a writer of variations, calling his movements and larger pieces in the form “perfect.” They are also highlights of these performances, in which the musicians seize with relish every opportunity to display their individual excellence. Their playing offers a very satisfying, wide range of color, combined with the necessary intelligent pacing and attention to long-range coherence. Beautifully engineered to boot, this release stands with the finest. It’s a joy.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

Following a Schubertian venture that has revealed, over the past few years, his immense stature as an interpreter of the lied, Matthias Goerne has now selected twenty or so of the little gems lovingly fashioned by Schumann in the year of his marriage (1840) or in the darker Düsseldorf period (1849-52). This anthology proves to be nothing less than a mise en abyme: an entire world seems to creep in between the fragrant flowers of the bouquet of ‘Myrtles’ and the nocturnal atmosphere of the ‘Six Poems and Requiem’. Yes: a whole world!