Classical Music

Classical Music

In this third volume of the great Genoan violinist Renato de Barbieri, IDIS collects two recordings never published on CD: Respighi’s Sonata in B minor for Violin and Piano and the Concert “I Profeti” of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, recorded live in 1960. The performance of Respighi’s Sonata compares favorably to the most celebrated editions of the work, even that by Jascha Heifetz.

Classical Music

Classical Music

In 1979 the Trio of Trieste began an artistic partnership with the violist Piero Farulli, one of the most glorious of Italian performers, famed for his more than thirty years as a member of the legendary Quartetto Italiano. The Trio's partnership with Mr. Farulli lasted for more than ten years, and in that time staging a series of successful live concerts throughout Italy and Europe, with some thankfully recorded. This IDIS CD, a first-time release, joins together two of the most successful performances played by this brilliant ensemble: the Brahms Quartet op 60 and the Quartet op 47 of Schumann.

Two years before the end of World War II, Wilhelm Furtwangler conducted a memorable and touching performance of Brahm's German Requiem in Switzerland. After careful and complex digital remastering, that performance is now available on CD.

Daniel Barenboim began his career as "child prodigy" with great technical qualities. The young pianist had studied first with Claudio Arrau, then with Edwin Fischer. He recorded this, his first LP, featuring three famous Beethoven sonatas, in 1958, when just sixteen. It can be seen as a sort of challenge: show to the public that a young pianist could compete with the most famous soloists of the time. We can easily tell that the young Barenboim met that challenge; his talent, interpretations and performance technique underlining the beginning of a long artistic and human story still being told.

The great piano virtuoso Claudio Arrau (1903-91) joined a transcendental technique with the gift of intellectual analysis, making him a superb Liszt performer as well as one of the most admired 20th c. performers of classical and romantic repertoire. "His" Beethoven had no comparison for clarity of musical logic. Arrau's Schumann perfectly joined strong passionate intensity with a sense of rigor regarding musical structure. All these elements are present on this CD that gathers two live Swiss recitals, captured by Italian Swiss Radio, from 1959 and 1963 during the apex of his career.

Glenn Gould maintained a very peculiar relationship, a sort of love and hate, with Beethoven's music, which he performed out of any traditional scheme or system. This CD presents two live Gould rarities, the first one being the Piano Concerto No.5 in E-flat, op. 73 "Emperor", recorded live in Buffalo, NY on 6 November 1960 with the conductor Josef Krips. The second live recording on this CD, taking place only two weeks earlier, concerns Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat, op. 19, conducted by Paul Paray, in an original and personal performance by both these artists. This very significant addition to the discography of Glenn Gould furthers the image of this eclectic, fascinating and singular artist.

John Christopher Williams, OBE (born 24 April 1941) is an Australian virtuosic classical guitarist renowned for his ensemble playing as well as his interpretation and promotion of the modern classical guitar repertoire. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award in the Best Chamber Music Performance category with fellow guitarist Julian Bream for Julian and John (Works by Lawes, Carulli, Alb�niz, Granados). Guitar historian Graham Wade has said: "John is perhaps the most technically accomplished guitarist the world has seen." This third instalment in the IDIS John Williams Beginning of a Legend series includes works recorded in the studio in 1961, when John was only 20 years old. Works include compositions by Ponce and Torroba as well as traditional songs for voice and guitar.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

As well as for EMI and DG, the two labels harboring the lion’s share of his discography, Herbert von Karajan also worked and recorded for Decca for a time in the 1950s and 1960s, exclusively with the Vienna Philharmonic, bringing the orchestra to a peak in performance following the inflicted personnel ravages that dimmed its luster. The unforgettable Brahms First Symphony was recorded in 1960, the Tragic Overture in 1964. The very sensitive and gentle performance of the Haydn Variations was realized in 1955 with the Philharmonia Orchestra. All recordings were newly re-mastered in 2015.