The year 2014 marks the centennial of the birth of Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini, who passed away in 2005. The release of this 6CD set marks this occasion by offering several Giulini-led performances of works with which he was most identified, including Brahms' Symphony No. 1 and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. Also included is complete recording of Rossini's Barber of Seville, with Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi.

The German daily newspaper Die Welt described a performance by the Boulanger Trio as “irresistible”, and Wolfgang Rihm wrote in a letter: “To be interpreted like that is surely the dream of every composer.” Founded in Hamburg in 2006, the 3 women now live in Berlin.

� Excerpted from a Q&A with the late Colin Davis... Q: Sir Colin, Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius is very popular in the UK but heard less often in Germany. Why do you think that is? A: That is hard to explain. As a young man, Elgar was quite famous in Germany. The work was performed in Dusseldorf. � Richard Strauss attended, and acknowledged the work's significance. � Perhaps Gerontius is less well known because the text appears to have come straight from the Vatican. � This work also addresses the issue of dying. If you think what it must be like on your deathbed, you start to dream - that is Gerontius' dream.

Symphony No. 2 Brahms's Second Symphony is often called his "Pastoral". It was written during a happy holiday in Portschach in 1877. Brahms wrote to his friend in Vienna, the critic Eduard Hanslick: "The Worthersee is virgin ground. Melodies fly around there, so that you have to take care not to step on them." The work was premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Hans Richter in December 1877. It was a great success and the third movement had to be repeated. Jukka-Pekka Saraste became principal conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 2010/11 season. The orchestra and the conductor can already look back at many years of working successfully together. His recordings with WDR Symphony Orchestra for Profil Edition Gunter Hanssler have earned him high critical praise, and include Schoenberg's Pelleas and Melisande, Stravinsky's The Firebird, Brahms' Symphonies No. 1 and 3 as well as Mahler's 5th Symphony.

Is it not a bit out of proportion to announce yet another album world premiere for a singer with such a vast discography as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau? No, it truly is not. That is because the “undoubtedly most important singer- alongside Maria Callas and Enrico Caruso- of the twentieth century” (according to Die Welt newspaper) had originally forbidden a release of this live recording. The most likely reason is that this recording made on February 26, 1989 in the Deutsche Oper in Dusseldorf and featuring his fourth wife, soprano Julia Varady, born in 1941, included songs that the baritone, who was to retire from active performance in 1992, planned to record in the studio. There are therefore really no feasible artistic grounds why this splendid Lieder matinee performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Robert Schumann Society should remain “unheard-of” on any sound carrier. And so these are Fischer- Dieskau/Varady gems which we can now enjoy long after the event. Even when it comes to the repertoire there are works rarely encountered. “Romantic Duets” may well sound like a run of the mill selection of this artform, yet the composers of the Romantic era whose works are represented here were far more productive when it came to solo Lieder.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Composers include Robert Anderson, C. Coleman, Fanel Cornelius, Thomas A. Dorsey, Robert Fryson, G. Haenssler, Brendan Keeley, Robert McGimsey, Lars Morlid, Kenneth Morris, Lukas Di Nunzio, Peter Sandwall, Felicia Taylor, Ken Taylor, Leon Taylor and Lee Weisman. Lyricists include James Waddell Alexander, Robert Anderson, Anonymous, Bible - Old Testament, C. Coleman, Thomas A. Dorsey, G. Haenssler, Lars Morlid and also includes such artists as Choralerna, the Golden Gate Quartet, Mahalia Jackson, Soul Affair, Tullamore Gospel Choir, Brendan Keeley and more.

Classical Music

Great Voices of the Century is a wonderful collection featuring the greatest voices of the century as well as the greatest works by Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Strauss, Bizet, Puccini from the operas Le Nozze di Figaro, the Magic Flute, Carmen, Don Giovanni, and La Boheme.

Classical Music

Classical Music

G�nter Wand (1912-2002) left us dozens of gramophone records: complete symphonic cycles and impressive live recordings of his concerts with the NDR Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic. The archetypical anti-star all his life and for that very reason under-appreciated, this conductor only attained international recognition in his old age as an unequalled interpreter of classical music. Accordingly, most of these multiple-award-winning benchmark recordings date from his later years. Wand's music-making moved those who heard it with it's impeccable balance of perfection coupled with faithfulness to the original, emotional fulfilment, intellectual control, utmost sensitivity and spiritual penetration. He described his mission as "serving music", a cause to which this totally unpretentious man remained committed for seventy years. He rose to be one of the true "greats" of the twentieth century, a figure standing head and shoulders above our restless times, his name synonymous with the highest musical quality.

A typical child of his time, in all he did Pleyel recognized and took advantage of the changes brought about in musical culture by music printing and increasing industrialization around 1800. Capable of composing in a sophisticated manner (even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart praised his string quintets), he was also well aware of the tastes of the general public. Pleyel was able to write very effectively and agreeably without sacrificing quality. Using altogether conventional harmonies, he cleverly employed changes of register (which were incomparably more effective on historical pianos than on modern ones). His piano writing suits the hands extremely well, remains clear in form and loses itself in all too frequent repetitions of pleasing motifs and phrases. Pleyel wrote catchy, colorful music and knew when to end a piece.