Austrian-born conductor Hans Rosbaud (1895-1962), noted champion of contemporary and Austro-German late romantic-era music, features here with an orchestra he came to be associated with and much-identified late in his career, the Southwest Radio-Symphony, Baden-Baden, in these mid-1950’s performances of four of Anton Bruckner’s monumental symphonies. +Includes the early Second, the lesser-known Fifth, the sublime Seventh, and the last fully completed, and towering, symphony, the Eighth.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 & The Nutcracker Suite

A symphony in two movements, Richard Danielpour's "Celestial Night" is inspired by both the hustle of New York City and the serenity of the New Hampshire countryside. The first movement is an exciting and occasionally frightening experience, carried by the hearty choruses of the brass section, and is followed by a more serene second movement. The pairing of these two brings out a sense of wonderment in some achingly beautiful melodies.
The accompanying pieces also deal with the importance of New York in Danielpour's worldview. "Toward the Splendid City" was composed entirely away from the city, and Danielpour gave it his favorite memories. Nostalgia for the Beatles and the Big Apple account for the compositional style. Commissioned by the New York City Ballet, Urban Dances also celebrates the city that never sleeps. Originally conceived as a 24-hour cycle in the life of New York, the dance suite is an evocative example of work from a composer who loves New York almost as much as he loves music.

With a collection of titles, if the programme is well played and recorded one can only come up with the usual line of "go ahead if this is the selection you want". Three out of the four overtures here are early ones and for myself, I must say that the mellow blend of the orchestration of the Prelude to Die Meistersinger was a considerable relief after the brashness of Rienzi. But that the playing is fine cannot be denied. The Philharmonia violins sing the "Prize Song" with a softly expressive silkiness of tone that is most beautiful. The quiet blend of the wind at the start of Tannhduser is equally good to hear, while when the "Pilgrims' Hymn" returns towards the end all bombast is avoided by the soft and deft violin figuration being so delicate that the woodwinds can also play softly, as well as quite swiftly. Maazel does allow the greatest expansiveness later on, as the music demands. Nor is there any lack of brilliance or zest in such a piece as the Dutchman Overture or in the final polacca of Rienzi; though there is a top B just before the final molts put stretto (bar 344) where violins and woodwind do take a split second to become unanimous (not such a niggling criticism as it may seem, since the note is quite long and is an important one at the top of a climax).

-- Gramophone [3/1980]

Strauss: Don Quixote

"• Wilhelm Furtwängler is considered as one of the most important Bruckner conductors of all times. • With this box you can approve this easy. • All important live recordings of the Maestro collected in one Box set. • Includes his legendary war performances plus the unique No. 7 (appraised from all reviewers as one of the best recordings of the score) recording from Rom. • 6 CD Box"

VIVALDI: 6 DOUBLE CONCERTOS S

AVE MARIS STELLA RUHLAND, NIE

GREATEST HITS OF 1720 RICHARD

ON THE BEAUTIFUL BLUE DANUBE

Classical Music

FLUTE CONCERTOS E MINOR

HAYDN: SYMPHONIES 22, 78 & 82

Prokofiev’s great ballet scores for Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella have become firm favourites in both the concert hall and the repertory of ballet companies worldwide – ‘The Montagues and Capulets’ from Romeo and Juliet, for example, features regularly at major sporting events, something Prokofiev probably never envisaged!

The earliest of the ballets featured here is Romeo and Juliet, commissioned in the mid-1930s, soon after Prokofiev returned to the USSR from self-imposed exile. Drawn from the main events of the ballet, the music of Suite No.2 ranges from the grand, formal music of the ball and sounds of a popular holiday to the tragedy and despair of the story’s end, illuminating Prokofiev’s commitment to communicating the depths and intricacies of Shakespeare’s play.

Cinderella followed Romeo and Juliet in the 1940s, with a score of rich and sophisticated music that rewards audiences of adults and children alike.The Suite No.1 features some of the ballet’s best-loved music, including ‘Cinderella’s Waltz’ and the brilliant Mazurka.The Stone Flower was the last of Prokofiev’s Soviet ballets, dating from 1948, and is based on a folk tale from the Urals. Although it will perhaps be the least familiar of the works on this disc, its score contains music of great beauty, with soaring tunes that are as memorable as anything in the two ballet scores that preceded it.

OTHER INFORMATION:
• Recording made in 1997.
• Includes booklet notes.

Already during his lifetime Handel's "Messiah" became his most frequently performed work, achieving virtually cult status. The many outstanding choruses in this oratorio are among the most beloved, well known pieces in the history of choral music. This new release contains all of the choruses from the internationally acclaimed recording conducted by Frieder Bernius. The special sound and musical refinement displayed by his ensembles - the Stuttgarter Kammerchor and the Barockorchester Stuttgart - which, according to the MDR Figaro (April 2009) breathe "liveliness and new energy" into the work, make it a most musically exciting listening experience.

The Isaac Stern Collection: The Early Concerto Recordings, V

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30 & Rhapsody on a T

Classical Music

BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONIES NOS 7, 8

HAYDN: SONATA FOR PIANO NO 50

Classical Music

Classical Music

THE ROYAL EDITION - DEBUSSY: I