Classical Music

Selections recorded December 27-29, 1984 and December 18-19, 1986.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Dinner Classics: The Sunday Brunch Album, Vol. 1

Selections on this disc were recorded in October 1994 and January 1995.

Recording information: Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead, London.

Takako Nishizaki is one of Japan's finest violinists. After studying with her father, Shinji Nishizaki, she became the first student of Shinichi Suzuki, the creator of the famous Suzuki Method of teaching children to play the violin. Subsequently she went to Japan's famous Toho School of Music and to Juilliard in the United States, where she studied with Joseph Fuchs. The first concerto, Spring, opens with the cheerful song of the birds that welcomes the season, followed by the gentle murmur of streams fanned by the breeze: there is thunder and lightning, and then the birds resume their song, represented by the solo violin assisted by two other solo violins. The second movement shows the goat-herd asleep, while the viola serves as a watch-dog, barking regularly in each bar against the murmur of the foliage. A pastoral dance brings more activity, to the sound of the bag-pipe, interrupted by a section for the solo violin that seems to breathe the sultry heat of coming summer. Autumn opens with the dance and song of the country-people, in work that has much of the artifice of the traditional pastoral convention. The last of the seasons, Winter, brings cold winds, the stamping of feet and chattering teeth. The slow movement shelters by the warmth of the fireside, while the rain falls outside, and the last movement of this eventful history shows people walking carefully on ice, slipping and falling and running in case the ice breaks. The winds are at war, but there is sport to be had.

The only noise captured on this 20-track collection is breathtaking renditions of Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Verdi and more legendary composers.

Bach & Vivaldi: Concertos

VIVALDI: Violin Concertos Op. 4, Nos. 7-12

VIVALDI: Violin Concertos Op. 4, Nos. 1-6

VIVALDI: Concertos for Strings

VIVALDI: Cello Concertos, Vol. 4

VIVALDI: Cello Concertos, Vol. 1

Organ

Selections recorded June 30 to July 2, 1989.

Vivaldi: Four Seasons (The) / Wind Concertos

Classical Music

Classical Music

BAROQUE GUITAR FAVOURITES