This newest volume from Delos features many of the performers who have gained global acclaim for the previous installments: Marianna Tarassova, Konstantin Pluzhnikov and Fyodor Kuznetsov. Famous Cycles Five contains the 'From Jewish Folk Poetry' series and 'Suite to Words by Michelangelo Buonarroti' and illustrates the evocative and moving themes that would impact the composer all his life: suffering, parting and loss. This critical newest installment, like the previous offerings, will be the focus of a major global publicity and marketing campaign.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Music is often called the 'universal language,' because it's truths precede words and transcend words. Music speaks to the entire being, and as such engages the senses, the emotions and the spirit. Great music thus becomes a magic potion in a child's early brain development, an ever-renewable source of enrichment.' - Amelia S. Haygood, Psychologist and Delos Founder.

This recording includes two pieces composed for Andrew von Oeyen by distinguished composer David Newman - including a world premiere recording. Von Oeyen also showcases the finest piano masterpieces by Debussy and Stravinsky in this stunning performance that captures von Oeyen at his best.

Celebrate with Delos International this exciting new release from the world-renowned Master of the cello Janos Starker. In partnership with Maestro Gerard Schwarz and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Starker brings the sublime music of Haydn to the classical listening consumer. Recorded at Queens Hall in Edinburgh, these expressive classical period chamber jewels - Concerto No.1 in C Major and No.2 in D Major - traverse many emotions and themes and could have been composed for, and dedicated to, the technical mastery of Starker. Starker has been christened 'the king of cellists' and is recognized throughout the world as one of the greatest virtuso cellists and musicians of our era. Born in Budapest in 1924, and currently a Distinguished Professor at Indiana University's School of Music, Starker is as noted for his scholarship as his expansive and inspiring performances. Haydn's Cello Concertos No.1 & 2 featured on this timely release serve as 'Greatest Hits' for the cello and belong in each collection, and all classical sections. This exceptional offering brings Delos' technical reputation, the artistry of Starker & Schwarz, and this saleable repertoire into an unbeatable trio.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

"Dmitri Hvorostovsky's ongoing collaboration with Delos has explored many worthwhile sides of the Siberian baritone's far-reaching musical interests." - Opera News

Moscow Nights features the cream of postwar Russian popular songs, and highlights inspiring performances by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the traditional Russian instrumental ensemble Style of Five.

Maestro Orbelian describes the Moscow Nights program of 17 songs, composed during the post World War II period of the 1950s & 1960s, as songs the entire nation sang. Hvorostovsky says that for the new album he and Orbelian chose from the "best material throughout the Soviet time. I'm convinced that it has great musical and historical value, as well as wonderful memories for me, from my childhood." This unique release also includes a very special bonus track: an archival tape of 11-year old Hvorostovsky followed by the present-day Hvorostovsky singing the same song.

Classical Music

PIAZZOLLA Buenos Aires. Oblivion. BACALOV Triple Concerto; 1 Theme from Il Postino • Giséle Ben-Dor, cond; Santa Barbara SO; Juanjo Mosalini (bandoneón); Luis Bacalov (pn 1 ); Virginia Tola (sop 1 ) • DELOS DE 3345 (58:20 )


This CD appears under the soubriquet The Soul of Tango . Its main plus is the world premiere recording of Astor Piazzolla’s Buenos Aires (at any rate, it is advertised as the premiere recording). Subtitled “Three Symphonic Movements,” this was among the first of Piazzolla’s serious works—for want of a better term. Composed in 1953, it had a number of performances, one under Igor Markevitch, and the piece subsequently won a major competition. That success spurred Piazzolla to relocate to Paris in order to study with Nadia Boulanger, aiming to become a strict modern composer. The revered French mentor told Piazzolla to stick to his tango-based music, but as we can hear in this performance, his orchestral skill and radical re-imagining of the tango in a broader context were already in place before he received Madame’s sensible advice.


Formally the work is straightforward, consisting of an opening Moderato, a lyrical slow movement, and a frenzied, rhythmic finale. The orchestration contains two bandoneóns (Piazzolla’s own instrument). While that distinctive timbre dominates, and the instrument even has solo passages in the second and third movements, it is mainly used as an important strand in the texture. Buenos Aires is more sinfonietta than concerto.


The other major work on this disc is the Triple Concerto by Luis Bacalov (b. 1933), an Argentine-born composer now living in Italy, best known for his film scores and a choral work, Misa Tango, that Domingo and Myung-Whun Chung recorded for DG. As well as substantial cadenzas for bandoneón and piano (the latter played here winningly by the composer), Bacalov’s concerto incorporates two settings of his own poetry, depicting impressions of “beloved” Buenos Aires. The composer is skilled at creating atmosphere and knows his way around an orchestra with the best of them, yet the 30-minute concerto has too many disparate elements to allow it to come together as a whole. The subtly rhythmic opening promises much, but is brought to a halt almost straight away by a free piano cadenza. Similarly, the soprano’s arioso postlude to the final movement seems tacked on. While every episode in this piece contains at least one attractive idea, one needs to think of it overall in terms of a tapestry rather than a classically structured concerto.


The bonus tracks are both haunting: Juanjo Mosalini’s sad sound is equally idiomatic in this arrangement of Piazzolla’s tango Oblivion , and in Bacalov’s European-tinged theme from Il Postino . (The composer won the Academy Award for that movie score in 1996.)


Performances and recording are first-rate. This is Ben-Dor’s territory, and she knows exactly when to move things along and when to languish. Recommended, primarily for Piazzolla’s breakthrough opus.


FANFARE: Phillip Scott