Opera Explained: ROSSINI - Tancredi (Smillie)

Opera Explained: Verdi - Aida

Life and Works: Liszt

Life and Works: SCHUBERT (Siepmann)

Opera Explained: GLUCK - Orfeo ed Euridice (Smillie)

Opera Explained: DONIZETTI - L'elisir d'amore (Smillie)

Edouard Manet (1832-83) has been called the father of modern painting. In the 1860s he was the leader of a group of young artists who later became known as the Impressionists, though his own work resists any simple label. On this CD, the world of Manet is given a musical perspective with a carefully chosen selection of pieces by the finest composers of his time. Inside, Hugh Griffith provides explanatory notes on his life and musical environment. What music did Edouard Manet listen to as he led art towards impressionism and beyond? Chopin, Rossini, Offenbach, Bizet, Lalo and their contemporaries. It is only too easy to forget how pioneering is the mind of the visual artist in terms of form - and how far behind is music. Debussy (born 1862) only began to emerge as a composer towards the end of Manet's life. Hugh Griffiths also chooses music by the lesser-known Alfred Bruneau, making a unique and revealing compilation. 1 CD with full-color, illustrated, explanatory booklet.

A TO Z OF CONDUCTORS

Cavalleria rusticana is the short opera that has all the elements of a grand opera compressed into a single highly dramatic time span. The story of love, lust, blood-feud and betrayal played out against the pageantry of the Easter celebrations in a Sicilian village delivers an emotional wallop because of the youthful vigor and musical wealth of it's great score which includes the glorious Easter Hymn and the deeply moving Intermezzo. Mascagni was never to repeat his youthful success but this brief work is enough to ensure his immortality. 1 CD with 12-page booklet.

Life and Works: Mozart

The A–Z of Singers surveys over 300 of the greatest recorded vocalists, from Theo Adam to Teresa Zylis-Gara, voices captured by the earliest of recording processes up to today’s contemporary, cutting-edge technology. The publication’s clear, concise text lists the artists alphabetically with career summaries, notable recordings, a biography and a critical appraisal of each of their recorded legacies. The four CDs present author-selected recordings by 69 artists. An informed, interesting, precise and appealing reference work designed for singing enthusiasts and scholars alike.

Life and Works: DVORAK (Siepmann)

Art & Music: Caravaggio - Music of His Time

Life and Works: Brahms

This recording was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for "Best
Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra)."
On that famous night in 1924 when George Gershwin made music history with the premiere of 'Rhapsody in Blue,' he was not the headliner; Zez Confrey was. A recording star of the early '20s, Confrey had already had big hits with the song "Stumbling" and the piano solo "Kitten on the Keys," but his popularity would soon wane, and though there is no doubt that he was no Gershwin, his clever, hyperkinetic jazz-flavored concoctions had real quality, and it is a shame that they fell into obscurity.
Confrey's rescuer comes in the form of Georgian-American pianist Eteri Andjaparidze, who plays these pieces with a wonderful sense of good spirit and technical polish. She really lights into the high-voltage numbers like "Dizzy Fingers" or "Kitten," which is exactly the point, and yet is suitably flexible and expressive in the MacDowell-inspired nostalgia of "Three Little Oddities" or the reflective "Moods of a New Yorker." Considering the rarity of Confrey's music in the catalog, this Naxos disc is a most pleasant surprise.