Discover Bach includes some of this great Baroque composer’s best known works, such as Ave Maria, Air, Brandenburg Concerto, Cello Suites, Goldberg Variations, and many more.; The Discover Series from Berlin Classic aims to make classics popular, firing people up about the music presented, regardless of musical taste.; Rather than focusing on complete works, this series focuses on individual pieces that have rewritten our musical history.

The album entitled Message from G that was released in 1979 on the MPS label embodies more than any other the visionary creativity of the composer and pianist Friedrich Gulda. On the album, he traces the paths of the great masters- Bach, Mozart and Debussy, whose work he plays- works which then provide him with the most diverse of inspirations for his own compositions, long before classical music opened up to other influences. “My aim in remastering “Message from G” was not to change anything in the recordings of the three concerts of 1978; not to adapt them to today’s listening habits or to modify them; on the contrary, the aim was to capture that special beauty of musicality and tone and to achieve a sound as close to the original recordings as possible. To that end, the master tape was comprehensively reworked: on the one hand by careful selection and the finest calibration of the tape equipment and the subsequent signal chain, and on the other hand by making very sensitive adjustments to the frequency range and the amplitude level. The theoretical basis for this was, among other things, an original vinyl disc that I used frequently for comparison purposes. We worked exclusively with analogue technology to produce the re-release…” (Producer’s comment, Christoph Stickel, July 2015)

Baritone Christian Gerhaher and soprano Mojca Erdmann perform Hugo Wolf's dramatic and poetic song cycle, "Italian Songbook." Highly appealing to listeners yet challenging for singers and hence rarely heard, Wolf's 46 songs stand as exquisite gems that also embrace a larger story arc, creating a highly memorable dramatic experience. Gerold Huber is the skilled piano accompanist and all three musicians are highly acclaimed.

Drawn from the worldwide catalog holdings of Sony Classical, which includes both the Columbia/CBS and RCA Victor label imprints, the SONY Classical Originals, SONY Classical Masters Singles and Box Sets, and SONY Opera House series offer an extensive selection of highly desirable and collectible EU (Germany) pressed import editions, smartly-designed and graphically-pleasing, featuring the most sought-after recordings by the world’s preeminent, legendary artists both past and present, with many titles newly re-mastered in 24bit High Resolution Audio.

Barber's sophistication and elegance suggest a European composer, but his melodies and restless experimentation made him uniquely American. Vladimir Horowitz, Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Leontyne Price and Leonard Slatkin are heard as you behold landmark performances of Barber's Violin Concerto; Symphony No. 1; Piano Sonata; String Quartet; Concerto for Violin and Orchestra ; three versions of his famous Adagio for Strings ; the first authorized CD release of a 1935 recording of Dover Beach for baritone and string quartet (with Barber himself as baritone soloist), and more!

Kurt Masur 85th Anniversary (Live)

Tea for Two

Drawn from the worldwide catalog holdings of Sony Classical, which includes both the Columbia/CBS and RCA Victor label imprints, the SONY Classical Originals, SONY Classical Masters Singles and Box Sets, SONY Opera and Opera House series offer an extensive selection of highly desirable and collectible pressed import editions, smartly-designed and graphically-pleasing, featuring the most sought after recordings by the world's preeminent, legendary artists both past and present, with many titles newly re-mastered in 24bit High Resolution Audio.

MOZART GREAT HITS

DEBUSSY GREAT HITS

The young person's guide to the orchestra (though not presented as such) and anyone's guide to orchestration coupled together: and if you like the idea, I can scarcely imagine it being better done. You may think Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky too sophisticated—but you can hardly deny its invention and skill.

Both works are played with very great virtuosity, to the extent that you are likely to get much pleasure from hearing a superb orchestra showing off, and also, in the appropriate places, playing with much sensitivity. In the Mussorgsky, "The Old Castle" is most beautifully played; "Tuileries" is only an allegretto non troppo, no more, and is all the more attractive for it, while "Bydlo" isn't drearily slow. But there is brilliance in plenty: in the terrific vitality of "Gnomus", in the lightness of the "Dance of the Chickens in their Shells", in the characterisation of "Goldenberg and Schmuyle", and in the market at Limoges. The brass in "Catacombs" is exceptionally well judged and Ozawa makes a link into the next piece that is not marked but is very effective.

The piece is not, as usual, complete on one side but that doesn't matter with a concoction of this kind. My test copy did a bad groove jump in the loudest part of "The Great Gate of Kiev" but that will no doubt not be a general flaw. This was the stereo—the mono played perfectly well: all the same, these pieces, both Mussorgsky and Britten gain very greatly from the spaciousness of stereo. The Britten is almost equally well done —certainly the playing is of the greatest virtuosity. I would have liked the theme 'cleaner' and more Purcellian, for even though it is fully orchestrated by Britten, I feel sure he wants the character of its composer kept: and in the final fugue, when the brass bring back Purcell's theme, very grandly, Britten's fugue theme gets swamped in both stereo and mono, which misses the whole point of the writing.

But in general the recording is very good indeed and I have the greatest admiration for the Chicago orchestra's playing under Ozawa.

T.H., Gramophone [9/1968] Reviewing Original LP

MENDELSSOHN GREAT HITS

BRAHMS GREATEST HITS (ECO-FRIE

DVORAK GREAT HITS

As the predecessors of Sony Classical, CBS Masterworks had not a catalogue of "authenticity-minded" recordings (the pioneering efforts of Raymond Leppard and Jean-Claude Malgoire notwithstanding), Sony made a distinctive new start and engaged indubitably one of the most experienced producers in the field of early music, Wolf Erichson. If the successes secured by such musicians as Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Frans Brüggen in the 1960s were the most visible signs to a wider audience of thorough-going change in the interpretation of music from medieval to baroque times, there was no doubt in assigning a part of the general success to the work of the production teams behind the recordings. Wolf Erichson was involved in producing recordings for many artists through his work for Das Alte Werk series. Success followed him since the early 1970s, when he founded the SEON production company. Later, Sony Classical’s SEON line brought the pioneers of period intruments and vocal performances such as Frans Brüggen, Amer Bylsma, the Kuijkens, Gustav Leonhardt, and Konrad Ruhland on the international market at a budget price. Recordings made on SEON enjoyed both popular and critical acclaim. Later, producer Wolf Erichson, supervised Sony's VIVARTE label, which was a label devoted solely to producing historical music using modern recording technologies. Music critic Tom Manoff said these digital recordings of the VIVARTE series are among the best he has ever heard. The upcoming VIVARTE collector’s boxed sets feature attractive repertoire selection out of the legendary catalogue of ancient music. The CDs appear in their original coupling and cover at a special price. Some VIVARTE sets also include selected recordings from the SEON catalogue to round up the collections of selected titles.

ROMEO AND JULIET

Desert Song, Sigmund Romberg’s classic musical with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, is brought to life in this 1959 Living Stereo recording. The cast features Giorgio Tozzi – a mainstay at the Metropolitan Opera at the time – Kathy Barr and Peter Palmer (Lil’ Abner). Legendary maestro Lehman Engel provided brand new arrangements as well as serving as musical director for the recording. Long unavailable in any format, this is the first release of the 1959 Studio Cast recording of Desert Song in the digital era.

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Thirty years ago the operetta stage reached one of its highest points when Sigmund Romberg's The Desert Song thundered across the stages of the world, thrilling audiences with its wonderful combination of romantic love songs and full-throated male singing ensembles. And when the dashing Red Shadow swept the love-struck Margo into his arms and carried her over the burning sands, he held every woman within hearing in the palm of his hand.

In the album you hold in your hands, two great voices of today, Giorgio Tozzi and Kathy Barr, sparkling modern orchestral arrangements by Lehman Engel, and the finest recording techniques are all blended to bring you a new RCA Victor production of The Desert Song which does full justice to the beloved Romberg melodies.

The rich, warm voice of Chicago-born, Milan-trained Giorgio Tozzi captures the excitement of “The Riff Song,” the dedicated love of “One Alone” and the beguil­ing romance of “The Desert Song.” You have only to listen to understand why Giorgio Tozzi is winning new laurels at the Metropolitan Opera each year.

Beautiful young Kathy Barr is the Margo of our production. She sings the difficult and demanding role, including the lovely “Romance” and “The Sabre Song,” with all of the vocal wizardry which has won her the applause of musical comedy and night club audiences from San Francisco to Monte Carlo.

Then there is the glorious singing ensemble to provide rich tones for the full-stage musical numbers, the likes of which are not being written any more. All in all, The Desert Song is a lovely recapture of a time gone by, told in the musical language of today by a pair of singing stars whose voices were made for each other. So put the disc on your player, lean back, and fall once more under the spell of The Desert Song.

– Leonard Louis Levinson, 1958, from the original liner notes for LOP-1000

GOULD IN CONCERT: LIVE IN SALZ

TCHAIKOVSKY GREAT HITS

Gould plays Rennaissance & Baroque

Direct from the Metropolitan Opera’s archives, this complete performance of Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment is taken from the historic Saturday afternoon broadcasts and is newly re-mastered from the original source.

• Soprano Lily Pons is at her most charming and vivacious in the role of Marie, the heroine of Donizetti’s beloved opera comique. The cast also includes Salvatore Baccaloni and Irra Petina
• Gennaro Papi, a former assistant under Arturo Toscanini, conducts this performance which includes an added aria from the French version of Lucia di Lamermoor
• 2 CDs taken from the December 28, 1940 Broadcast

After his highly variable Mahler cycle, it's very good to be able to report that David Zinman is back in top form for Brahms. For the most part, these are splendid performances, beautifully played and recorded. The very opening of the First symphony sets the tone: rich, emphatic, but not exaggerated. Textures are clear, bass lines unusually audible. Zinman handles some of Brahms' most intransigent bits of orchestration, such as the opening of the Third symphony, with its perpetually syncopated accompaniment, with effortless mastery. The inner movements of all four symphonies are without exception perfectly paced, including the slow movements of the Second and Fourth symphonies.

Are there a few quibbles? Naturally. The introduction to the First symphony's finale lacks mystery, while the coda of the Second symphony's finale would have benefited from slightly more prominent brass and a surge of additional energy from the podium. On the other hand, the finale of the Third never has sounded better, the coda tremendously fulfilling, while the Fourth's passacaglia is really imposing, but also energetic. Here the trombones truly make their presence felt. In short, this set stands with the best, and I suspect its stature will only grow over time.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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Brahms had a special connection with Zurich. He attended the opening of the Tonhalle, the city’s famous concert hall, in 1895 and was the only living composer to be featured on the ceiling painting; it’s reproduced in the booklet for this set, part of the altogether splendid packaging. The latter-day descendants of the orchestra for that opening concert have here given us a cycle of symphonies with which I am sure the composer would have been very pleased.

The first thing that strikes you is the beauty and colour of the playing. Both times I’ve heard them live, it’s the Tonhalle strings that have impressed me most, rich and rounded, oozing with character. This makes them ideal for Brahms. The mellow beauty of the Second’s first movement suits them perfectly, but they also develop a distinctive sheen, even a slight hard edge, for the more high energy moments, such as the opening movement of the First or the invigorating downward sweep that opens the Third. There is also some sensational wind playing and some first rate solos, such as the oboe in the First and the clarinet in the slow movements of the Third and Fourth. The playing alone would be worth the asking price, but it’s Zinman’s dynamic conducting that holds the set together. His reading of each symphony carries a clear sense of a transformational journey which, for me, went beyond the ordinary. The transition from darkness to light in the First is obvious, but Zinman breaks it down still further so that there is ebb and flow in each movement: in the first movement’s Allegro, for example, there is an almost tangible feeling of the drama and tension of the first subject being tamed by the gentler lyricism of the second. The Second carries a steady trajectory towards the celebration of the finale, but Zinman takes this movement just a touch slower than many so that the ebullience is contained within a certain set of rules. The Third also seems to go on a steady path from the exhilaration of the opening to an increasing sense of melancholy which is almost - but not quite - solved by the finale. Only in the first two movements of the Fourth was that sense of direction a little lacking. The tension and energy ups dramatically with the Scherzo and the final Passacaglia becomes so intense as to be almost unbearable.

It helps that these live recordings were all taped within two days, so we have here an unusually coherent reading of Brahms’ symphonic oeuvre. Sections of the press have damned this set with faint praise, calling it a safe middle-of-the-road Brahms cycle, but for me it’s much more than that: it’s an intelligent, well argued reading of this great cycle which stands comparison with any Brahms set that has come my way in recent years. Zinman is very much in the traditional mould of Brahms interpreters, eschewing the approaches of Harnoncourt or Gardiner, but he argues convincingly that there is still a place for this in our 21st century and he certainly carried me along with him. The sound, by the way, is excellent, rich and bloomy with plenty of clarity for the inner voices.

Incidentally, for those who are interested in such things, Zinman observes all the exposition repeats. Live as these recordings are, the audience is exceptionally well behaved and there is not a hint of a cough throughout. Applause, and there must have been much, is also absent. My only quibble is that the CDs give us barely any time to digest one movement before the next begins, surely an unnecessary compression of space when there is so much spare time on each disc.

-- Simon Thompson, MusicWeb International

Inner City: Songs by Helen Miller, lyrics by Eve Merriam, story by Lawrence Kasha, Joseph Kipness and Tom O'Horgan.

Linda Hopkins, Tony Award 1971 for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Masterworks Broadway describes Inner City as "the musical that rocked Broadway with its distinctly untraditional take on modern urban life." The raucous 1971 show was conceived and staged by Hair director Tom O’Horgan the same season he directed the Broadway premiere of Jesus Christ Superstar. Based on Eve Merriam’s best-selling book The Inner City Mother Goose, it recounts children’s tales with a contemporary urban vibe and has a lively, R&B-influenced score by Helen Miller and lyricist Eve Merriam. Inner City introduced Linda Hopkins, who took home a Tony as Best Featured Actress in a Musical, along with Delores Hall, Larry Marshall, and Allan Nichols. Historic note: one of the production’s associate producers was Harvey Milk, before he left New York for San Francisco.

Featured songs:
1. Fee Fi Fo Fum/Now I Lay Me
2. Hushaby/My Mother Said
3. Nub of the Nation
4. Urban Mary/City Life/One Misty Moisty Morning
5. If Wishes Were Horses
6. Deep in the Night
7. Jeremiah Obadiah/Riddle Song
8. Shadow of the Sun
9. Boys and Girls Come Out to Play/Lucy Locket/Wisdom/The Hooker (“You Make It Your Way”)
10. Law and Order
11. The Dealer (“You Push It Your Way”)
12. Kindness/As I Went Over/Apartment House/There Was a Little Man/Who Killed Nobody?
13. It’s My Belief
14. Street Sermon
15. The Great If/On This Rock/The Great If (Reprise)

Note: The absence of audio in the left channel for eight seconds at the beginning of Track 10 ("Law and Order") has been retained from the original LP and cassette masters of this recording.

"Those little foxes at Masterworks Broadway debut 3 must-have CDs, long lost from the era of vinyl... Masterworks Broadway continues to explore the rich history of Broadway hits (and misses) with the CD debuts of three classic cast recordings: Regina, Song of Norway and Make A Wish." -- Alan Petrucelli, Pittsburgh Stage and Screen Examiner [7/28/10]

1951 original cast recording. Book by Preston Sturges and Abe Burrows. Songs by Hugh Martin.

If any playgoer could “make a wish” he could hardly wish for more than this flawless blend of music and comedy whipped up by Preston Sturges and Hugh Martin from an original play by Ferenc Molnár. Hugh Martin supplies the music and lyrics that transform the comedy into a musical, and Preston Sturges contributes the uninhibited pen that has made him a Hollywood legend. Nanette Fabray stars in the show.

Make a Wish was originally called The Good Fairy during its Broadway run, which starred Helen Hayes. Under the same title, it took a trip to the West Coast, where Margaret Sullavan had the title role. It served later, in revised form, as a motion picture vehicle for Deanna Durbin. All these versions offer convincing evidence that the original Molnár story is as enduring as it is humorous. The story is the tale of a young, pretty orphan girl, “Janette” (Nanette Fabray), who “graduates” from the orphanage and goes out into the glittering world of Paris. She encounters a middle-aged gentleman (Melville Cooper), whose bank account is usually more impressive than his morals. However, the gentleman is so touched by the young girl’s naïve charm that he decides to do what he can to help her. There are complications with an idealistic young lawyer and a whole gallery of humorously colorful characters, but virtue and the young heroine win in the end. Before the end comes, the audience invariably has a roaring good time.

Lauren Bacall might have been the unlikeliest candidate ever for Broadway-diva musical stardom - you had to love her to love her singing - but she absolutely nailed it. And twice. Her first musical, Applause (1970), had given her glorious second act to a film career that was as uneven as it was memorable. Her second, Woman of the Year, only reaffirmed that triumph when it opened at the Palace Theater on March 29, 1981. Based on the classic Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn film, Woman of the Year features music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb with an all-star cast including Harry Guardino and scene stealer Marilyn Cooper. The New York critics loved not only Bacall and Cooper but also Kander and Ebb's songs. In the New York Post, Clive Barnes wrote that the "melodious score by John Kander and the witty lyrics by Fred Ebb mark their best collaboration yet for the musical theater, and that includesCabaret." The New York Times's Frank Rich wrote, "From the moment we hear the cheering overture ... it's clear that the score is flush with melodic ballads and show-biz brio." The show won Tonys® for Bacall, Cooper, Kander and Ebb and Peter Stone, who wrote the book.

Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb

TRACKS:
1 OVERTURE 3:00 Orchestra & Company
2 WOMAN OF THE YEAR 3:47 Lauren Bacall, Ensemble
3 THE POKER GAME 2:41 Harry Guardino, Ensemble
4 SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAPERS 2:41 Harry Guardino
5 WHEN YOU’RE RIGHT; YOU’RE RIGHT 4:54 Lauren Bacall, Roderick Cook
6 SHUT UP GERALD 1:27 Lauren Bacall, Roderick Cook, Harry Guardino
7 SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW? 2:36 Harry Guardino, Ensemble
8 ONE OF THE BOYS 4:10 Lauren Bacall, Rex Everhart, Ensemble
9 TABLE TALK 2:46 Lauren Bacall, Harry Guardino
10 IT ISN’T WORKING 3:51 Roderick Cook, Daren Kelly, Grace Keagy, Ensemble
11 I TOLD YOU SO 2:10 Daren Kelly, Grace Keagy
12 I WROTE THE BOOK 3:48 Lauren Bacall, Ensemble
13 HAPPY IN THE MORNING 2:52 Lauren Bacall, Eivind Harum, Ensemble
14 SOMETIMES A DAY GOES BY 4:06 Harry Guardino, Ensemble
15 THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER 5:26 Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Cooper
16 WE’RE GONNA WORK IT OUT 2:21 Lauren Bacall, Harry Guardino