Classical Music

This is the newest release in the popular series the Musical Advent Calendar. Featuring the best professional and amateur ensembles of the SWR, this release includes the most famous Christmas songs.

Rossini's penultimate opera, premiered in 1828 at the Op�ra National de Paris, is a musical comedy about a love triangle set during the Crusades. At the Op�ra Comique it's plot is transported to the time of the works' creation with France's military expeditions to Algeria. It is staged by a first-rate creative team: Stage director Denis Podalyd�s and costume designer Christian Lacroix provide stunning visuals, whilst conductor Louis Langr�e leads the Orchestre des Champs-�lys�es, the Ch�ur Les �l�ments and a stellar cast of soloists in this delightful fool's game. Mezzo-soprano Ga�lle Arquez shines with her "superlative technique" (Le Monde) and Julie Fuchs's Ad�le performance elicits "more than just admiration, namely enthusiasm in the etymological sense of the word: inspired by the divine" (Le Monde). "A masterpiece!" (T�l�rama), "Pure pleasure!" (Les �chos). Le Comte Ory at the Op�ra Comique is "a true musical and theatrical celebration where everything sparkles!" (Bachtrack)

Footprint Records is proud to present a very special Christmas gift: the album 'A Christmas Wish,' performed by the Gothenburg Youth Choir under the choral direction of Anne Johansson. The Gothenburg Youth Choir, one of Sweden's most acclaimed, consists of boys and girls between the ages of 16 and 25. Anne Johansson, who has dedicated her professional life to teaching secondary-school children to sing, is an authority on young voices. The album contains arrangements of traditional Christmas songs from Sweden and France, as well as compositions by Benjamin Britten, Max Reger, and others- it is the perfect accompaniment to the Yuletide season. The Gothenburg Youth Choir wishes you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

Miguel Llobet was one of the great innovators for guitar of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Guitarist Robert Phillips has made a rigorous study of these works and performs them intensively. Internationally respected scholar, educator and performer, and contributing writer for Guitar Player magazine, many of his transcriptions and editions have been published. '... a dynamic performer who breathes life into the music he approaches... ' - Guitar Extra.

As is well known, Liszt wrote transcriptions of all nine Beethoven Symphonies. Here Frederic Chiu gives brilliant performances of Nos. 5 and 7. With a vibrant concert schedule, a legacy of 27 albums, and a stream of accolades from around the globe, pianist Frederic Chiu occupies a special place in the world of classical music. His non-traditional approach including interdisciplinary collaborations, integration of new technologies and emphasis on audience engagement distinguish Mr. Chiu as a maverick and innovator, a 21st Century artist.

Under the title I vanni occulti, ensemble Al Ayre Espanol, led by maestro Eduardo Lopez Banzo offers us it's personal vision of Handel's Sonatas Op. 2. The phrase comes from the oratorio Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Dillusion, 1707). The reference to this aria is not anecdotal, because Sonata No. 1 in this Op. 2 contains references to this music- an aspect that, hardly surprisingly, constitutes a characteristic element of the composition technique of the maestro from Halle. Over the course of his life, Handel composed 20 trio sonatas, 12 of which were published in London in two different collections: six sonatas were published in 1733 as Op. 2 and another seven printed in 1739 as Op. 5. In a disguised allusion to the vanitas allegory and the fleeting passage of time, Al Ayre Espanol presents, just three years after it's recording of Op. 5, an introspective version of Op. 2, which completes and, at the same time, complements the group's first rendition of Handel's trio sonatas. The two recordings form a single project that offers the listener a passionate and impassioned, southern and Mediterranean version of this exquisite chamber music. This version is marked by the emergence, with particular expressive intensity, of the two aesthetic poles present in the chamber music universe of Handel: the most contained lyricism combined with the most explosive fury.

Pianist Angela Brownridge made her concert debut at Wigmore Hall when she was only twelve years old. Since then she has toured the world, recorded three albums prior to this one, and has performed at the BOZAR Brussels, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Concertgebouw A’dam. Brownridge has been compared to some of the legends, including Rachmaninov and Cherkasky. The New York Times called her “one of the world’s finest pianists” and a “true genius… Her performances were passionate, rhapsodic, and totally compelling. She is a marvelously exciting artist, and a wonderfully assertive pianist with a strong sense of musical structure.” For this release, Brownridge has chosen staples in the piano repertoire, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas no.’s 3, 23, and 30. Her interpretation of no. 23, “Apassionata,” has garnered her critical accolades.

Classical Music

Daniel Rowland writes: "I remember so well the moment I first heard Marcelo play, in the beautiful and historic Holywell Music Room in Oxford, in the autumn of 2009. Marcelo's version of a magical Piazzolla touched me deeply and I was utterly captivated and fascinated by it: by the depth, the honesty, the raw emotions, the almost unbearable tenderness, the sense of longing, of loss, the fiery passion... That day I decided to dive deeply into the world of tango, and to learn this language from Marcelo. We started playing together, and very soon became a quintet, with superb artists, brilliant musicians, virtuosos, friends, and like minded, inquisitive, musical spirits. Marcelo grew up in Buenos Aires and met Piazzolla as a child, when Astor's legendary quintet would rehearse at his parents home. Piazzolla would tell Marcelo: 'Marcelito, come and stand behind me as we rehearse and follow my printed score, and listen to what I actually play' - often these two things where very different! This is surely the most direct, and incredible insight into the master's interpretation of his music that one could possible dream of! We in the quintet very strongly feel this unique connection between Piazzolla and Marcelo, it is a great inspiration. I'm sure that Piazzolla like the young Marcelito so much because he saw not only a serious, of course very talented your artists with a huge tango-heart, but also someone who would push the boundaries of tango, keep innovating and daring to experiment, while respecting the tradition."

"This is the fourth production on the Sinfonieorchester Basel's in-house label, established in 2012. Renowned American conductor and pianist Dennis Russell Davies has been the orchestra's principal conductor since 2009. Honegger's Second Symphony (‘Symphonie liturgique’), completed in 1941 and premiered by Paul Sacher in 1942, follows the dramatic and emotional symphonic tradition of Beethoven, but in its form and spirit, hues towards the style of Haydn or Mozart."

Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4

• A 10-CD box set of Romantic music in honor of the 80th Birthday Sir Roger Norrington (March 16th, 2014) • Contains the most famous works by Romantic composers • Interpretations featuring what has been called the "Stuttgart Sound"

The Olkusz organ, dating to 1611, is among the most valuable instruments surviving on the organ map of Poland. The music of the old masters presented on this disc reveals the extraordinary beauty and richness of this true jewel among historic Polish organs. Organist Marek Kudlicki has been actively engaged in artistic activities around the world for years, with concerts throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Pasquale Anfossi, the child of a Ligurian family with musical traditions, was schooled at the famous conservatory of S. Maria di Loreto in Naples, studying the violin and compositions. Of course, Naples has always cultivated a love of opera, and it was only natural that the young Anfossi developed an interest in this area. He wrote for the opera stages of Naples and Rome, in the opera seria as well as opera buffa conventions. His renown as an opera composer steadily grew across Europe. His oeuvre comprises 60 operas in the dramatic and comical conventions, 20 oratorios, and an assortment of liturgical and instrumental works. There are several moments within the present oratorio which are particularly memorable Some of these we owe to the choruses, beginning with the melancholy lament of the Roman people- simple and suggestive- which opens the composition. There is also the idyllic choir of Angels for two sopranos and an alto, with mild, enchanting melodies and a soft sound, whose euphonic chords occasionally disperse into dialogues in evocation of heavenly bliss.