The Meistersaal Sessions are a 6-part series of chamber music theme concerts with the Freigeist Ensemble at the legendary Meistersaal Berlin, conducted by Joolz Gale. The series starts with arrangements of Sch�nberg, Strauss and Mahler. Each of the four sessions in this album features one musical work that represents the roots of Freigeist Ensemble's oeuvre. Linking the musical worlds of Berlin and Vienna, these early compositions by Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg are all featured in a chamber music format. Winner of the OPUS Klassik 2021, Freigeist Ensemble is a courageous collective of supersonic soloists from German symphony orchestras that repackages symphonic music for new audiences. It's mission is to revolutionize the style, sound and setting of classical concerts. Recent winner of the OPUS Klassik, Joolz Gale is a versatile British conductor who not only offers a historically-informed approach to baroque, classical and early romantic repertoire but also an extensive knowledge of early 20th-century choral and symphonic repertoire.

A Limited Edition, Original Jackets collection showcasing the artistry of the magnificent American soprano, Kathleen Battle. Kathleen Battle enraptured opera audiences of the 1980s and 1990s. Here was a lyric soprano combining unsurpassable beauty of tone with a keen musical intelligence, a way with words and a communicative warmth that drew listeners to Strauss and spirituals alike. She has the easy phrasing of a great jazz singer combined with the breath, breadth and precise projection of a trained voice. James Levine coached her at the Metropolitan Opera, and when he accompanied her at the 1984 Salzburg Festival and DG recorded the recital as Battle's debut solo album, nothing less than a phenomenon was launched. She had been admired as a gifted singer since the age of eight, and a 1985 article in Time magazine declared that she was 'the greatest lyric coloratura soprano in the world'. Her performances at the Met of Susanna, Despina, Pamina and other lyric roles in the great Mozart operas, conducted by Levine, established her as one of the world's leading interpreters of this repertoire. Recorded near the end of her DG association, Battle and Levine recorded arias from those roles for an album which became a radiantly beautiful souvenir of an era when they formed an artistic team as celebrated and accomplished in their way as Schwarzkopf and Karajan or Nilsson and Solti. However, Battle had already recorded for several labels, and this Eloquence box uniquely brings together selected albums she made for Angel (the US branch of EMI - those which have repatriated to Universal Music Group) with the DG recitals. They include an imaginatively programmed guitar recital with Christopher Parkening and excerpts from a Messiah led by Sir Andrew Davis in Toronto. These Handel arias feature on a new compilation within the album, 'Kathleen Battle sings Sacred Music', which also features excerpts from her appearances in Levine's DG recordings of The Creation by Haydn and the C minor Mass by Mozart, as well as Poulenc's Gloria and the 'Pie Jesu' from Faur�'s Requiem. Two further albums showcase excerpts from more complete albums: one of Handel and Mozart arias, including the celebrated Semele recording with John Nelson, and another of operatic and concert arias, including a staggering 'Grossm�chtige Prinzessin' (Ariadne, with Levine) and the touching songs from the Ozawa recording of Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Featuring a new essay on the soprano and the background to her meteoric career by David Patrick Stearns, the set will be an essential acquisition for all lovers of lyric soprano artistry.

Hans Christian Andersen, the film, was produced in the spring of 1952 and released on 25 November in New York, with general release following in December that year. It was one of the top ten grossing films of the year, but was not well received in Andersen's hometown of Odense, when it was released in Denmark in September 1953. It was nominated for six Academy Awards: Best Color Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Set Decoration (Color), Best Costume Design (Color), Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (Walter Scharf), Best Song ('Thumbelina'), and Best Sound Recording. Decca (US) recorded the soundtrack in August that year and the songs were originally released as a series of four 78rpm singles, with two songs per disc, a 45rpm album, and a ten-inch LP. Danny Kaye took the lead, and when the album was reissued (on Decca and MCA) on a twelve-inch LP, four further tracks were added: Tubby the Tuba as well as it's less-well-known sequel, Tubby the Tuba at the Circus, and two additional songs written by Kaye's wife, Sylvia Fine. Now, for the first time on a Universal Music label, the original tapes have been retrieved from the archive and newly remastered for release on Eloquence.

This album reveals the multiple facets of love according to Liszt - carnal, spiritual and divine all at once - from the prophetic masterpieces of his youth to the vast canvases of maturity. B�n�diction de Dieu dans la solitude and the Sonata in B minor mark his crowning achievement, anticipating the piano music of the modern era. Tanguy de Williencourt displays all the ardour and faith these remarkable works call for.

A sound alchemist, Maurice Ravel recreated his own works for piano in orchestral versions that soon brought them universal acclaim. Jean-Fran�ois Heisser, a disciple of Vlado Perlemuter, is now part of a Ravelian genealogy imbued with elegance and emotion. Conducted from the piano, in collusion with the musicians of the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine (OCNA), the Piano Concerto in G major revives the Mozartean tradition so dear to the composer.

The Quatuor Ellipsos tells us a family story through four iconic works firmly ingrained in the collective unconscious: Carmen, Casse-Noisette, West Side Story and Rhapsody in Blue. Like a small-scale symphonic orchestra, in a spirit bordering on that of chamber music, they invite three great pianists, Marie-Jos�phe Jude, Charles Heisser and Jean-Fr�d�ric Neuburger. With the coruscating arrangements we are immersed into the innumerable timbres of their saxophones in association with the piano.

Classical Music

Classical Music

EMI Classics is proud to release a 2-CD album chronicling the best so far from acclaimed crossover boy choir Libera, including all the hits from their previous albums, as well as three brand new tracks and two tracks previously unavailable on CD! The band has established a dedicated U.S. fan base following appearances at the 2007 Kennedy Center Awards and the 2008 Papal Mass in New York, as well as their first U.S. tour in the Spring of 08. This album is the perfect introduction for people looking to learn what the buzz on this exciting group is all about!

Christmas with The King's Singers New music, old music, music from the Renaissance and Baroque, spirituals, folksongs, jazz and pop... The Beatles, David Bowie, swing, classical avantgarde, waltzes by Strauss, and musical theatre songs. Which genre of music are the King's Singers actually yet to interpret? Which style have they not yet captured within their unique global reach and within their transparent and intimate six-voiced sound world? One thing is for sure - when the King's Singers came together at the end of the 1960s in Cambridge, no one would have believed the success story that lay ahead of them. Some musical experts were scathing: a male-only vocal sextet was most likely to be found in the pop sector. But trained voices are surely better suited to a professional career either in the opera world or in mixed professional choirs. After all, the founding members came from the famous King's College Choir - one of the oldest surviving vocal institutions with nearly 500 years of history to it's name. It is with this tradition behind them that the King's Singers display the typical British musical virtues in which seriousness and humour, self-discipline, and a dash of satire all mix together so wonderfully. This is especially evident in their Christmas repertoire. Christmas carols are a special national treasure for Brits and are therefore the focus of festivities. The six voices' festive destinations also include the continent, such as Spain and Germany. "Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen" by the German early Baroque master composer Michael Praetorius has become a Christmas standard. The world famous carol "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" ("Silent Night") comes from the German-speaking world too, written for Christmas Eve in a village near Salzburg in 1818. The simple, classical melody radiates a little of the spirit of Mozart, who was born in Salzburg. What a pity there is no musical contribution to these Christmas festivities from Mozart, the King's Singers may have thought! Perhaps that's how they came up with the idea for an amusing and cheeky Christmas medley of melodies from the great classical composer, reinforced by the harpsichord playing of English conductor Richard Hickox and the singing of guest star Kiri Te Kanawa. � Oliver Buslau, 2017 Translation: texthouse

Unique Russian Choral music

John Williams Reimagined is a project of film score producer Robert Townson, who imagined an album where John Williams famous film themes are scored for a chamber trio of flute: Sara Andon, cello: Cécilia Tsan and piano: Simone Pedroni. A double album with hits, spanning a period of more than 50 years of terrific film music from Jane Eyre to the recent The Fabelmans and including, ET, Star Wars, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park.

SCHUBERT: DIE WINTERREISE

SHOSTAKOVICH: VOCAL CYCLES FOR BASS 1

SCHUBERT: DIE SHONE MULLERIN

GLAZUNOV: COMPLETE SONGS & ROMANCES

New on CD, new repertoire from Leningrad studios

Rare choral pieces by Taneyev_ Tchaikovsky's Student and follower

Brand new, first time on CD, notable repertoire from Leningrad in the 1970s

Never on CD; another NEW Compilation from Leningrad Studios

John Zorn - HERMETIC ORGAN VOLUME 11 - FOR TERRY RILEY / This newest edition of The Hermetic Organ is a beautiful and evocative tribute to one of Zorn's biggest mentors, the pioneer West Coast visionary, Terry Riley. Performed at San Francisco's historic Grace Cathedral during the epic concert series presented by Fred Barnes at the Great American Music Hall in September 2023 for Zorn's 70th birthday, this is one of the most touching and personal of all Zorn's organ recitals. Present in the audience were a large number of the composer's closest and oldest friends, and as a result the music has a deep spiritual edge. Looming over much of this music is the spirit of Terry Riley, one of Zorn's early influences, and one of his dearest friends. Magical!

Recorded at the Grote Kerk in Den Bosch as part of Zorn's 70th birthday celebration at November Music in Den Bosch, this exciting performance pays tribute to one of Zorn's seminal influences-the 15th century painter Hieronymus Bosch. Performing on two different organs simultaneously, running from one to the other, this is one of the most bizarre installments in the entire Hermetic Organ series. The CD begins with a rare private performance of Zorn alone in the church exploring and stretching the organ's capabilities. For the evening performance, A Pilgrimage Through Hell, Zorn's dear friend and colleague of over thirty years John Medeski joins as his organ assistant, and the two of them literally pull out all the stops!

TOGETHER IN VEGAS

Songbook is the title of French clarinetist Pierre G�nisson's new album, recorded with pianist Bruno Fontaine, and several surprising guests. Featuring a laid-back mix of repertoire taken from the American Songbook and from French popular repertoire. Terrific lineup of artists includes Monica Bellucci on "I Got You Under My Skin", Lambert Wilson on "My Funny Valentine", Thibaut Garcia on Salvador's "Syracuse" and on "Smile", Youn Sun Nah in "La Javanaise", Kimberose on "What A Wonderful World".

Songbook is the title of French clarinetist Pierre G�nisson's new album, recorded with pianist Bruno Fontaine, and several surprising guests. Featuring a laid-back mix of repertoire taken from the American Songbook and from French popular repertoire. Terrific lineup of artists includes Monica Bellucci on "I Got You Under My Skin", Lambert Wilson on "My Funny Valentine", Thibaut Garcia on Salvador's "Syracuse" and on "Smile", Youn Sun Nah in "La Javanaise", Kimberose on "What A Wonderful World".