Mozart's piano trios mark a decisive moment in the evolution of chamber music, elevating the genre to new artistic heights. This critically acclaimed complete recording by the world-class ensemble Trio Parnassus captures that transformation with intellectual rigour and musical sensitivity. Both celebrated masterpieces and lesser-known fragments are presented in this thoughtfully curated edition, setting a benchmark for quality and artistic vision.

A rare gem of a recording originally released on the Barclay label - first-ever CD & digital releases. Mozart's Die Zauberflote with an incredible cast led by Kiri Te Kanawa, Peter Hofmann, Edita Gruberova, Kathleen Battle, Kurt Moll and Jose Van Dam. 2 CD multipack with 100 page perfect bound book with original text and libretto in German, French & English.

KEYBOARD MUSIC 7

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.

Mozart was a master at capturing the spirits of the instruments for which he wrote. This skill is perfectly exemplified here in the lighter-than-air Flute Concerto No.2, the sprightly and playful Bassoon Concerto and the interplay of the four soloists in the Sinfonia Concertante. These three exceptional works come to life in this studio recording with featuring soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski.

REQUIEM

GRAN PARTITA

All tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology.

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

Also available on Blu-ray

The unforgettable "masterful use of light and silhouettes" (Milano Post) with which Giorgio Strehler interpreted the charm of Mozart’s Singspiel was conceived for the Salzburg Festival, where it was staged in 1965 under the baton of then 29 year old Zubin Mehta, and then regularly revived at La Scala from 1972 onwards. At twenty years since the death of the great director, who from 1951 staged some by-now legendary operas at La Scala, Teatro alla Scala proposed anew this celebrated staging and called to the podium the man who conducted it the first time – Zubin Mehta. "Extraordinary, a wonder …" (Corriere Della Sera). The stage set with magnificent palace architecture and a sea view at centre is a veritable feast for the eyes, which is equally true for the elaborately and lovingly designed costumes. The viewer feels like he‘s being transported into the oriental aura. The fact that the current performance is conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta, now over 80 years old, builds a bridge to Strehler‘s Salzburg production, which dates back more than half a century, and at the same time provides a touching detail of this timelessly monumental performance.

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REVIEW:

This new release gives Zubin Mehta the honour of having four commercial recordings of Mozart’s Turkish opera. There is a CD of his 1965 Salzburg performance (Orfeo C392952I). VAI issued a video of the 1967 Salzburg revival (DVDVAI4521), and there is a rather colourful 2002 production from Florence (review). One might almost think that this is the opera that Maestro Mehta is most identified with. I suspect that many opera lovers would think first of his recordings Turandot with Pavarotti and Sutherland and Il Trovatore with Domingo and Price.

Mehta’s association with Entführung was first given international prominence at the 1965 Salzburg Festival in a brand-new production by Giorgio Strehler. He was the 32-year-old hotshot maestro of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, seen as a rising star throughout the world. At the time of this 2017 performance he was 84, and had a long and varied career behind him. His direction on this evening is mellow and flowing. A great deal of consideration is given to the singers in their florid arias. His reading has warmth and charm, which I often find lacking in revivals of this opera. In comparison, the 1965 Entführung on CD has somewhat more excitement and edge to the reading. Yet throughout Mehta’s tempi have altered only slightly, and always there is warmth and care.

Mauro Peter as Belmonte has an elegant and burnished tenor sound, with something of a baritonal quality to his tone. His is a committed and impassioned portrayal which does not quite outshine some of his predecessors in the role. His stage presence is quite natural, and makes for a very appealing portrayal.

Lenneke Ruiten gives a tour-de-force reading of Konstanze. Her woodwind-like tone has grown in size since her Pentatone recording of Mozart arias in 2009 (PTC5186376). Her music is presented in a grand manner, with passionate expression. She is very impressive in executing the difficult coloratura roulades. I would go as far as stating that her assumption of Konstanze stands among the finest ever recorded. We can only be grateful that her performance was captured at the peak of her artistry. She also looks quite lovely, and her acting is on a level similar to her singing.

Maximillian Schmitt as Pedrillo has a very enthusiastic and charming stage presence. That helps him dispatch much of the humourous action that is relegated to Pedrillo; in this he does not disappoint. Vocally, he has an impressive-sounding top range for “Frisch zum Kampfe”, but tonal unsteadiness tends to creep into the mid- and low registers of his voice.

Sabine Devielhe is an adorable Blonde. Her natural stage presence shines through the soubrette traditions of this role. Her voice is diamond-bright, and she gives us an incredibly winning version of “Welche Wonne welche lust”.

Tobias Kehrer gives an adorable portrayal of Osmin. In this production he is more of a buffo rather than a threatening presence. This is matched by his vocal means of a rather soft-grained sound combined with a deeper, more impressive low range. Like many who have sung Osmin, he is challenged by the coloratura sections of “O wie will ich triumphieren”.

This production is a new staging of the 1965 Giorgio Strehler production for Salzburg. It was restaged by Mattia Testi in honour of the 20th anniversary of Strehler’s death. Strehler was a producer whose work in opera has become something of a legend over the years. Early in his carreer, he discovered the technique of Chiaroscuro lighting which was used in Renaissance paintings and early silent films. The complex lighting structure makes the rear of the stage more brightly lit than the front. On film, it can produce some truly wonderful cinematic images. It also has the ability to do this on stage but sadly in live performance it does not register well for home viewing. Even the exacting standards of today’s HD cameras are not up to the challenge of conveying the action which occur in the shadows at the front of the stage. Strehler’s Entführung production used this effect heavily.

In much of his later stage work, Strehler toned down the degree of use, as DVDs of his Nozze di Figaro from Paris and Don Giovanni from La Scala demonstrate. It is rather a pity that so much of the singing occurs in the dark part of the stage, which leaves us with soloists who are seen only in silhouette. In the opera house the audience are partly able to make out some of the singers’ expressions but that is not the case for home viewing. This mars what is in effect a very charming staging of Mozart’s opera. There are a few truly inspired moments where the shadow effect actually enhances the story, like when Pedrillo is tempting Osmin with the Cypriot wine. The imagery here is truly unforgettable for a moment that normally paces without much notice. The sets and costumes are spare but quite beautiful and elegant. Sound and picture quality of this Blu-ray are superlative, aside from the above-noted comments. Ultimately, while I am grateful to have this recording, the lighting issue will prevent it from being anyone’s first choice for this opera. Even so, the particularly fine singing of the female leads and Mehta’s warm and winning reading of the score should absolutely be heard.

– MusicWeb International (Mike Parr)

The world-famous singer, conductor and the holder of 14 Grammy Awards Pl�cido Domingo came up, as conductor and artistic director, with a unique 'Don Giovanni' at the Estates Theatre Prague, where the opera had it's premiere 230 years ago. The production boasts an original classic scene, traditional costumes designed by Theodor Pi tek, the Oscar winner for 'Best costume design' for the Amadeus movie and authentic stage direction matching the performance features from 1787. The production is conceived as a replica of the legendary staging by the National Theatre Opera from 1969. The opera shines under the direction of Jir� Nekvasil, which is further enhanced by stars of the Czech opera scene, handpicked by Maestro Domingo himself. Also adding vitality to the production are four winners of the renowned, international vocal competition, Operalia, which Domingo himself founded in 1993: Irina Lungu, Dmitry Korchak, Julia Novikova, and Simone Alberghini.

A classic story of love under the microscope is given a contemporary perspective in this performance of Mozart’s “school for lovers”. Così fan tutte is a compassionate examination of young love, full of wit and wonderful music which ensure its lasting popularity. Così fan tutte was Mozart’s final collaboration with the Italian librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, and Jonathan Miller’s production, created for The Royal Opera, brings out the timelessness of this exploration of the human condition. Jonathan Miller’s Royal Opera production of Cosi fan tutte was a staple of the repertory for nearly twenty years. He died in 2019.

The focus of Lorenzo Da Ponte’s libretto for Così fan tutte is on female infidelity, two partner-swapping couples and a wager. Its enigmatic ambiguity and lightness of touch, its razor’s edge balance between irony and empathy, detachment and involvement, and on-stage reality and illusion is structured with perfect Classical symmetry. More than any other opera it explores the depths and darker impulses of the experience of love. This production by director Sven-Eric Bechtolf was given in Florence with a staging that ‘holds a balance between philosophy and humour’ (bachtrack.com).

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Also available on standard DVD

“He was out to create something ‘unheard-of’,” observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had offer as he commenced his Mozart/Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we “had never before heard like this” (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, “master” of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an “enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!” (news.at). During an intensive phase of rehearsal and preparation, he was in search of a Mozart hermeneutic resting on historical sources and yet anchored in our own time, in order to stage the whole Da Ponte “trilogy” – Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte – in a matter of a mere six weeks. “The culmination of Harnoncourt’s involvement with [Mozart’s Da Ponte operas] – “A Mozart drawn from historical sources and yet anchored in our own time.” (Die Presse)

Le nozze di Figaro is Lorenzo Da Ponte's and Mozart's first of their three jointly created operas about attempts at interpersonal relationships: a turbulent comedy with erotic entanglements, which was not a harmless comedy even in Mozart's day. Director Martin Kusej moves the drama of love and jealousy to a mafia-like urban milieu where conflicts are fought out with pistols. Young French conductor Raphael Pichon, "original sound expert" (Der Tagesspiegel) and for the first time on the podium of the Wiener Philharmoniker, leads a young ensemble of singers around clan boss Almaviva ("vocally flawlessly brilliant: Andre Schuen", Hamburger Abendblatt). "Kusej's staging is musical, Pichon's conducting theatrical; the two work together to a degree that is far more rare than it should be. Every detail has been carefully thought through, and the symbiosis is breathtaking." (Financial Times) "Martin Kusej's new Figaro is slick, dark and grimly entertaining." (Financial Times) "One will rarely, if ever, hear 'Le nozze di Figaro' so well balanced on stage, with such a homogeneous ensemble of such class, with such a precise Mozart sound." (Frankfurter Rundschau)

From the headlong rush of the overture, Mozart’s timeless comedy is a breathless journey through one very eventful day in the life of an 1830s château. Figaro and his bride Susanna conspire to foil the unwanted advances of Count Almaviva, while the Countess has her heart stolen by a cross-dressing pageboy. Mozart’s music unfolds with beautiful solos and ensembles to amplify the deep emotions behind the seemingly farcical surface. Music Director of The Royal Opera Antonio Pappano brings his specialist perspective to Mozart’s effervescent score. A young and predominantly Italian cast, including Ricardo Fassi, Giulia Semenzato and Germán E. Alcántara, perform this revival of David McVicar’s sumptuous and hugely popular period staging.

SYMPHONIES NOS. 40 & 41

Leif Ove Andsnes is a leading pianist of his time, known for his exceptional musicianship and subtil touch, his considerable technical flair being unfailingly put at the service of his interpretations. He was a pioneer for being the first home-trained superstar pianist to have emerged from Norway. This box is the story of a 20-year partnership that has yielded a rich seam of recorded treasures, first for Virgin and then for EMI. Running through this cornucopia of 34 albums (36 CDs), we find recurring themes: Grieg (Andsnes even recorded some Lyric Pieces on the composer's own piano at Troldhaugen), Nordic music in general, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Schubert.

Mozart: Divertimento, K. 334, Al desio di chi t'adora, K. 57

This is playing of distinction. With all 13 players being of the highest quality and Mehta at his sympathetic best, everything unfolds impressively, with a sense of joy in the music-making.

A big work, this, written for the kind of wind ensemble that became popular during the 1780s at the Austrian imperial court and its aristocratic imitators. In fact, the usual combination was of pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons, but here Mozart adds two more horns, a pair of bassett horns and a double-bass; the effect is thus even more massive, although his mastery of texture is such that it never feels overblown and a contemporary described this piece as "herrlich und gross, trefflich und her", which the insert-note here translates as "glorious and grand, excellent and sublime".

Since the 13 players here are of the highest quality and Mehta is a sympathetic conductor, everything unfolds impressively, and there is a sense of joy in the music-making. Over and over, I find this playing natural, easy without slickness and expressive (sometimes even passionate) without mannerism. To experience the blend of weight and grace that the music and performance offer, listen to the first Minuet, the second of the five movements. The tempo is just right and the shaping of phrases (not least in the delicately scored first trio and the bouncy secondone) elegant. Altogether, this is playing of distinction. As for the sound of the Adagio which follows, the music which awed Salieri in Shaffer's play Amadeus, this is no less poised. Indeed, here is an excellent performance that is complemented by a clear and atmospheric recording made in the Berlin Philharmonie. Strongly recommended and earning first place among current versions.

-- Gramophone [9/1995]

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 26

Jascha Heifetz was larger than life, but was he too big for Mozart? The stern patrician of the violin, with his intense, laser-beam intonation and diamond-hard tone, would seem ideally suited for the big romantic concertos for which he was famous, but any fears that he would be mismatched with Mozart will be allayed immediately upon hearing his serene entry in the first movement of the "Turkish" Concerto, not to mention the delicate interplay that follows, by turns witty and sensuous. For the only time in his career, Heifetz is both conductor and soloist, making this the most involving of his recordings of the work.
Unlike many virtuosos of his time, Heifetz had no qualms about appearing publicly in chamber ensembles. And, with violist William Primrose and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, he formed a sort of permanent yet flexible supergroup that gave regular concerts in Los Angeles throughout the 1960s. These players, along with violist Virginia Majewski and legendary Hollywood session violinist Israel Baker, are heard in the G minor String Quintet, a work with intimations of the 19th century, here given a taut, urgent, almost Beethovenesque performance.

MOZART: SINFONIA CONCERTANTE,