Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Recorded in: Oslo Philharmonic Hall 2,3 November 1984 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Ralph Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Dag Kristofferson

Recorded in: Goldsmith's College, New Cross, London 6-8 April 1993 Producer(s) Nicholas Anderson Sound Engineer(s) Richard Lee

Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 5

Recorded in: Church of Ste Madeleine, Outremont, Montreal 5,6 August 1985 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Philip Couzens [Assistant]

Recorded in: Orchestra Hall, Chicago 15, 16 18 & 20 February 1990 Producer(s) Ralph Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Mitchell Heller

Classical Music

The music on Called to Serve celebrates the zeal and memories of missionary work and has a wonderful selection of church hymns and music that inspires and lifts in ways that few collections of songs can.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

MADE IN GERMANY

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

Recorded in: All Saints' Church, Tooting, London 11, 14 January 1993 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Ben Connellan (Assistant)

Recorded in: All Saints' Church, Tooting, London 8-9 June 1995 & 13 September 1995 Producer(s) Ralph Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Peter Newble

Mahler: Symphony No. 3

Rachmaninov: The Rock / The Isle of the Dead - Scriabin: Pro

Selection includes Vaclav Talich speaking about Mozart to a young audience.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology.

This compilation presents a selection of the recordings that were the fruit of the cooperation between the conductor and the orchestra. Sawallisch's programs in Prague repeatedly included pieces by Mozart and Beethoven, as well as major works by Czech composers (Smetana, Janacek, Martinu, Kalabis, Eben, etc.). Sawallisch's relationship to Czech music is probably best described by the following quotation from a contemporary review: 'He apprehends and interprets music by Czech composers as though he himself had been brought up in their language.' the precious Czech Radio live recordings are released by Supraphon for the very first time to mark the 90th anniversary of the late conductor's birth.

2 CD's + 2 Bonus Media Videos.

Classical Music

It was not so much the hunger for self-education and thirst for knowledge about past eras, distant lands and their customs which were the reason for corresponding themes and locations in Romantic opera, but more a type of escapism from the all too mundane and oppressive aspects of everyday life. The overtures in particular provided plenty of space for vivid imagination, as their purpose was to direct the fantasy of the listener in a particular direction without having to focus specifically on the concrete rigidities of the plot as subsequently depicted on the opera stage. The Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen under the direction of Ola Rudner present a selection of lesser known examples of Romantic overtures on this recording.

Karel Ancerl's incomparable recording of Janácek's resplendently barbaric Sinfonietta remains not only the finest available version of the work, but also is the best recorded, particularly in this incredibly vivid new transfer. Although it was captured as long ago as 1961, no other version so effectively conveys the panoramic splendor of the trumpet-led opening across the stereo spectrum, no other offers such clarity in passages such as the finale's hair-raising wind writing, and no other balances the orchestra against the massed brass of the closing pages so naturally and cleanly. Technically it's quite an achievement, and Martinu's Parables sound equally fine--only The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca show their age in comparison, though the sound is still quite good.


As to the performances--well, what is there to say? They are simply the last word in excitement, accuracy, passion, color, and expressive immediacy. The Sinfonietta erupts form the speakers like a primal force. What other performance propels the second-movement ostinatos so forcefully, or builds the third movement's central climax with such explosive energy? Who else observes the various tempo changes in the brief fourth movement so effectively, wringing every drop of variety from its many repetitions of its opening trumpet tune? And who else drives the finale to positively expressionistic extremes of tension, making the return of the opening fanfares a moment of apocalyptic grandeur? Much as I love this work, and enjoy other performances (including Kubelik, Neumann, Jilek, and Mackerras), this is one of those rare occasions where you really can point your finger to a single version and say, "This is the best."


The same holds true for the two Martinu works, though of course they have been less frequently recorded and so comparisons are less thick on the field. As noted above, the sound in The Parables, one of Martinu's late masterpieces that easily could pass for one of his symphonies, is no less splendid than the Janácek, and the work itself is a shimmering, sensuous delight. The opening of the third movement, with its buzzing strings and flecks of xylophone, is quite unforgettable. Ancerl conducts both this piece and The Frescoes (dedicated to Kubelik, who recorded the work for EMI) with the same authority as the Janácek, and although all three of these performances have been kicking around in various couplings for some time, the sonic improvement certainly warrants acquiring this new edition. The playing will simply have you sitting on the edge of your seat. Stunning!
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) by Carl Stamitz. Ensemble: Czech Philharmonic Collegium. Conductor: Ondrej Vrabec. Soloist: Gabriela Demeterová.

Rather than parachuting in any headline-catching international soloists, the Kansas City Symphony has enlisted its concertmaster and principal cello as protagonists in two of the Saint-Saëns works. Noah Geller is soloist in the Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, and he is joined by cellist Mark Gibbs in the once rarely heard but now almost ubiquitous La muse et le poète. Backed by airy orchestral textures, Geller exudes lyrical warmth and a perky rhythmic spirit in the first work, and in the second he uses the violin’s wily flights of fantasy to engage Gibbs’s poetic cello in an intimate dialogue.

Then comes the big beast of the programme, but, as always, the crucial test is not so much the volume of the organ but the way in which the orchestral context of the symphony as a whole is established. Here Michael Stern impressively injects impetus into the first section’s sinewy fabric, alert to instrumental colour and the contrapuntal discipline and intrigue of the writing. The organ, making its muted first entry in the Adagio, is a 5,548-pipe Casavant Frères instrument, an integral part of Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts where the recording was made, as indeed is Jan Kraybill who plays it. Stern crafts a proper, stately Adagio but an Adagio with momentum and shapely contours, and he ignites real fire in the Allegro moderato of the symphony’s second part. When the tempo changes to presto, the piano’s arpeggios and scales are prominent enough to make their point without leaping out at you, just as the organ in the finale asserts its grandeur without overwhelming the orchestral palette.

Even in a competitive market, this version has a distinct edge.

– Geoffrey Norris, Gramophone

When it rains, it pours. This is the third recording of Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony in nearly as many months, and like the previous ones, it’s remarkably good. The Kansas City Symphony under Michael Stern withstands comparison to any of the competition. My only quibble with the interpretation comes in the first movement, where Stern’s concern for precision of rhythm, otherwise admirable, seems to preclude that last bit of intensity at the tops of those crescendos that propel the principal theme onward into the second subject.

Otherwise, this is an unusually vivacious and texturally transparent reading, recorded with welcome clarity in an acoustic that never permits detail to get obscured by excessive reverberation. The balance between organ and orchestra in the finale, even when everyone is blasting away, could not be more perfect. In the serene Adagio too, which flows with impressive poise, the soft tones of the organ add just the right touch of color to support the strings and solo woodwinds. In the scherzo, Stern keeps the rhythm taut, and he doesn’t drag out the quiet coda to the point where one’s patience begins to run thin. In the finale everyone really does pull out all of the stops, literally and figuratively, bringing the work to a thrilling conclusion.

The fillers are welcome, and not the usual stuff. Le muse et le poète is a rarely heard late tone poem with parts for solo violin and solo cello, more than ably taken by orchestra principals Noah Geller on violin and Mark Gibbs on cello. Geller also plays an excellent, sunny Introduction and Rondo capriccioso. And let’s not forget organist Jan Kraybill in the symphony. I do wish, though, that Reference Recordings had included a stop list in the booklet. The instrument has some interesting timbres and I would have liked to know what resources it calls upon to make them. Audiophiles will want to hear this for the superb sonics, but the musical values are just as strong..

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com