Relive a whole life in songs, filled with the ups and downs of love, full of poetic moments, power, eroticism and a dash of melancholia. Timothy Sharp has a particularly strong affinity for the songs of Richard Strauss that he developed in his studies with Hans Hotter, on of Strauss's favorite singers, and friend.Together with Jan Roelof Wolthuis he tries to expose not only the grandeur but also the quiet, lyrical moments in the songs, that tell the story of a young man who grows old as the disc, a collection featuring some of the most beautiful and important Strauss songs, progresses.

Classical Music

Classical Music

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Richard Strauss’s opera at the Salzburg Festival, staged by Romeo Castellucci at the Felsenreitschule, was nothing short of a sensation! Debuting in the title role, Asmik Grigorian propelled herself to international stardom with her mesmerizing singing and acting abilities. The exceptional soprano recently won the International Opera Award as best singer. To witness Maestro Franz Welser-Most performing together with the Wiener Philharmoniker and an outstanding cast “makes you think you are hearing the piece in its most perfect incarnation yet” (Financial Times). “Asmik Grigorian sweeps all in her wake in the title role of Strauss’s opera. […] Here is a Salome to end all Salomes. […] In total, it is stunning…" (Financial Times) “thrilling” (Spiegel Online) “A breathtakingly dense, musically epoch-making […] Salome, which brought the house down!” (Neue Zurcher Zeitung)

Although it plays second fiddle on the international stage to the universally popular operetta Die Fledermaus, the glorious musical score of Die Zigeunerbaron by Johann Strauss II (“The Waltz King”) is no less brilliant than his most famous work. Videoland, purveyor of the finest in filmed middle-European operetta, here offers up a performance of The Gypsy Baron staged during the 2011 Seefestspiele Moerbisch Austria Festival. Starring Daniel and Harald Serafin, Evelin Novak, Lucien Krasznec and Wolfgang Bankl, with legendary mezzo Brigitte Fassbaender in charge of production.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

STRAUSS II, J.: On Stage with Johann Strauss, Vol. 1

STRAUSS II, J.: On Stage with Johann Strauss, Vol. 2

In a career that spanned a period from the 1820s until his death in 1849, the older Johann Strauss established an unrivalled position for himself among composers and performers of dance music in Vienna.

Eduward Strauss was overshadowed by his more famous elder siblings Johann II and Josef but his music from the 1870s and 1880s easily stands comparison with theirs, and in the dance genres of the quick polka and the gallop he was in a class of his own. These world premiere recordings of ‘handsome Edi’s’ music include the beguiling waltz Freie Gedanken or “Free Thoughts” written for the ‘Hesperus’ Artists’ Association, and the charming polka-mazurka Schmeichelkatzchen (‘Little Flatterer’), which was popular enough with Viennese audiences to be reprised throughout that season. Volume 1 of this edition was considered ‘energetic and beautiful’ by the American Record Guide.

Throughout his life, Eduard Strauss's compositions were unfavorably compared with those by his elder brothers, Johann II and Josef, yet many of his works, especially those dating from the 1870's and 1880's, easily stand comparison with those crafted by his two famous siblings. Moreover, in two particular dance genres - the quick polka and the galop - Eduard was in a class of his own. As the Strauss authority Professor Franz Mailer stated: ''Posterity must make restitution to Eduard Strauss.'' It is to be hoped that, at the very least, this present recording will encourage a reassessment of ''handsome Edi's'' unique musical genius.