Romantic Era
3839 products
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Sehnsucht (Longing)
$20.99CDProfil
Apr 17, 2026PH25055 -
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Fruhlingsrauschen - Piano works by Schubert, Grieg, Mendelss
$20.99CDHaenssler Classic
Apr 17, 2026HC25034 -
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The Final Sonata
$20.99CDHaenssler Classic
Mar 13, 2026HC25030 -
Jinhyung Park Piano Recital
$19.99CDNaxos
Apr 10, 20268574672 -
The Morkov Projekt
$20.99CDHaenssler Classic
Mar 13, 2026HC25028 -
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Liszt: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 66 - Mozart & Donizetti Op
$19.99CDNaxos
Jun 27, 20258574667 -
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Brahms: Symphonies 2 & 4
$21.99SACDChandos
Jan 02, 2026CHSA 5248 -
Chopin: Preludes, Ballades & Scherzos
$19.99CDNaxos
Sep 26, 20258574660 -
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Bruckner: Symphony No. 4
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms / Harnoncourt, Chamber Orchestra of Europe
| This set is a testament to a remarkable collaboration between the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929-2016) and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) and its release this year marks the Orchestra’s 40th anniversary. These recordings also trace the relationship between Harnoncourt and the Styriarte Festival which started in 1987 and lasted for over 30 years. The COE became Harnoncourt’s orchestra of choice for the classics played on modern instruments. He had been the pioneer of the exploration of period- appropriate style from the early 1950s with the Concentus Musicus Wien, and followed this by exploring how modern instruments could respond in the classics by adapting to the style without having to change the instruments they were playing. Harnoncourt wanted the players to take risks and perhaps fail rather than play safe. In rehearsal, he often told the performers that great music was always on the edge of catastrophe! |
Bizet: Djamileh; Vasco de Gama; Cantates; Musique chorale; M
Massenet: Griselidis
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3 "Polish" & Festival Coronation March / Järvi
With this final volume of their Tchaikovsky cycle, Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich complete their exploration of the Russian composer's symphonies. Symphony No. 3, also known as the "Polonaise" (1875), is notable as Tchaikovsky's only symphony composed in the major mode. It is followed by another Polish-inspired piece, the Polonaise that opens the third act of Eugene Onegin (1879), his opera based on Alexander Pushkin's novel of the same name. The program ends with a work commissioned by the city of Moscow for the coronation of Tsar Alexander III, the Festival Coronation March (1883).
Review
This is the fifth release in the survey of the Tchaikovsky numbered symphonies by Paavo Järvi and the Zurich Tonhalle-Orchester (it is not known if the Manfred symphony will follow). The series has been well received but I have not heard all the recordings and was disappointed by the orchestra’s lack of familiarity and feeling for this Russian Romantic music in the First Symphony. However, I should advise that this latest release shows more emotional affinity with Tchaikovsky and the standard of performance and recording in general makes this a very fine series, so this latest release should be an obligatory purchase for those who have already acquired the other CDs in this cycle.
I much admire Järvi’s Beethoven and Schumann symphonic cycles with his Bremen Kammerorkester and his interesting talks on the music included with the series. Apart from being an outstanding orchestral trainer, he is a distinguished interpreter of a wide repertoire and his surveys of that will be of great interest in coming seasons. He has that magical touch displayed by his father Neeme Järvi - the talent to get the best out of any ensemble, a gift not granted to every conductor.
Uniquely, Tchaikovsky’s Third is the only symphony in a major tonality and is perhaps the most popular of the composer’s early symphonies, particularly for its dance-like movements heralding the composer’s great ballets. Yet with its five movements it is often argued that it is more of an orchestral suite than a real symphony. If I had some misgivings about Järvi’s handling of the First Symphony, my doubts are dismissed by the opening bars of this ‘Polish’ symphony. From the start, it is clear that he has a feeling for this music. He brings out all the glorious Romanticism of the opening movement, Moderato assai (Tempo di marcia funebre), with the marvellous shift to allegro brillante, in which the woodwind and the brass departments of the orchestra reveal superb musicality. I particularly like the playing of the bassoonist Matthias Racz and the clarinettist Michael Reid in this movement, and the glorious strings are beautifully cushioned against the colourful wind playing.
The second movement, Alla tedesca (German style) is based on an Austrian/Moravian folk theme. It offers stunning playing between strings and woodwind in the waltz of the third, middle movement and the Scherzo is delightful; Järvi gives us all the magical charm of Tchaikovsky’s score, while in the Finale, yet another beautiful dance adorns the polonaise that allowed August Mann to give its name to the symphony in one of his Proms concerts at the Crystal Palace in London. In all, this is an excellent interpretation and performance of Tchaikovsky’s symphony embellished by a superb recording.
Another polonaise decorates the dance from Eugene Onegin, which is just as well performed, as is the other ‘filler’, the rarely performed Festival Coronation March with the theme of the Danish National Anthem quoted in the Russian Anthem ‘God Save the Tsar’. The booklet notes are in English and German with informative articles on the music, the conductor and orchestra, and a useful list of orchestra members. This disc is an essential addition to those collecting Järvi’s Tchaikovsky cycle, and very much worth considering as a one-off purchase.
--MusicWeb International (Gregor Tassie)
Sehnsucht (Longing)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 & Italian Capriccio / Järvi, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra
Fruhlingsrauschen - Piano works by Schubert, Grieg, Mendelss
Schumann, Vol. 3
Verdi: La traviata / Sierra, Meli, Nucci, Mehta, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Giuseppe Verdi was well on the way towards renown and prosperity when he took up the story of Violetta, a famed courtesan whose intensely romantic and colorful but tragically brief life marked the emergence of realism into Italian opera. Verdi and Alexandre Dumas intended this melodrama to have a contemporary setting, and David Livermore’s stunning production maintains this wish by placing his elegant and powerful cast firmly into the 20th century. This alchemy of masterful acting, vivid bel canto voices and the vitality of Zubin Mehta’s conducting results in a triumphant and unforgettably poignant operatic experience.
The Final Sonata
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem
Jinhyung Park Piano Recital
The Morkov Projekt
Wagner: The Flying Dutchman Overture; Schubert: Symphony No.
Franck: Hulda / Madaras, Liège Royal Philharmonic
The injustices of history are made to be redressed. Here a cast of international singers, under the dynamic direction of Gergely Madaras, devotes itself with conviction to the task of reviving one of the forgotten glories of French Romantic opera. Hulda, completed in 1885, was never staged in César Franck’s lifetime. This gory medieval legend recounts the multiple acts of vengeance its heroine inflicts on the Aslak clan, which slaughtered her family, and on her unfaithful lover Eiolf. The ferocious performance of American soprano Jennifer Holloway in the title role is matched by the sinister presentiments of her French colleague Véronique Gens and the tender outbursts of Dutch soprano Judith van Wanroij. Although the imaginary Norwegian setting brings Wagner to mind, Franck continues the tradition of French grand-opéra while adopting the contemporary Verdian idiom. The intensity of the action is reflected in harmonic and instrumental experiments that place Franck in the forefront of the modernists of his time. The inventiveness of the ballet is matched only by the splendour of the choral writing. How could such a masterpiece have languished in oblivion for so long? Quite simply, because it was deliberately buried by Franck's pupils, who preferred to keep for themselves the glory of personifying the French operatic revival.
Liszt: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 66 - Mozart & Donizetti Op
Brahms: The Piano Trios / Geringas, Zilberstein, Irnberger
Dvořák: Cello Works / Nouzovský, Vavrínek, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice
The three compositions on this album were all created at turning points in Dvořák’s life, when radical changes in his situation impacted his creative career. His Serenade for Strings was composed in 1875, the year the impoverished musician became a successful composer almost overnight. Each of its five movements is a variation on ternary (A–B–A) form. The resourcefulness with which Dvořák invents novel ways of returning from the middle section to the opening motive and key is astounding.
Silent Woods has much to do with Dvorak’s relocation to America. He was engaged to establish and direct a new National Conservatory in New York. Based on his now established ability to blend Czech folk music with large-scale classical forms, it was hoped he would do the same in his new post with American folk music. In 1892, before leaving his home for the US, Dvorak gave something of a farewell tour of Czech cities, writing the cello version of Silent Woods for performance on these recitals. Ten years later, Dvorak created the version for cello and orchestra recorded here. At the conclusion of his time in New York and on his return to Bohemia, Dvorak was focused particularly on writing his Cello Concerto. At first believing the cello an unsuitable instrument for concertante music, his mind changed on hearing a concerto by American composer Victor Herbert; Dvořák’s masterpiece took on definitive form in 1895.
Schubert: Symphonies nos. 1 & 4 [Vol. 3] / Gardner, City of Birmingham Symphony Orch.
For the third volume in their cycle of Schubert’s symphonies, Edward Gardner and the CBSO turn to the first and fourth symphonies. Composed in 1813, when Schubert was just sixteen, the First Symphony admirably demonstrates the young composer’s grasp of symphonic form and technique, and whilst the influences of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven are clearly audible, the spirit of Schubert’s own distinctive voice is certainly in evidence.
Composed three years later, in 1816, the ‘Tragic’ Fourth Symphony is scored for larger forces and is much more ambitious in outlook – Schubert seemingly anxious to create a more substantial work. He took more trouble to unify his thematic material across the four movements, and the symphony is clearly closer to the style of his later works. The Overture to his opera ‘Fierrabras’ completes the album, which was recorded in Birmingham Town Hall
Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn: Choral Works & Cantatas Duets, Son
Weber: Complete Chamber Music for Clarinet / Bandieri, Fossi, Quartetto Savinio
Brahms: Symphonies 2 & 4
Chopin: Preludes, Ballades & Scherzos
Paganini: 43 Ghiribizzi for Guitar
Schubert: Lebensfreude - Overtures / Schellenberger, German Symphony Orchestra Berlin
Saint-Saëns: Cello Sonatas / Favalessa, Semeraro
Prior to the turn of the 20th century, Camille Saint-Saëns enriched the cello repertoire with two important compositions: his Cello Concerto No.1 in A minor (Op.33 ) and his Cello Sonata No.1 in C minor (Op.32). The first Cello Sonata was composed in the autumn of 1872, and its first public performance – with J. Reuschel on cello and the composer at the piano – was given on 26 March 1873 at the Salle Érard in Paris. The work is divided into three movements: the first and third have a tragic character, while the second offers an oasis of quiet serenity. The work opens with a dramatic Allegro in sonata form. The second movement stems from an organ improvisation performed by Saint-Saëns at Saint-Augustin. The final movement takes up the tumultuous and agitated character of the first and ends in an unrelenting race. Some 30 years separate the Cello Sonata No.2 in F (Op.123) from its predecessor. The fruit of laborious work, it was completed in early 1905. The Sonata is structured in four movements, the first in sonata form with contrasting heroic and lyrical characters throughout. The second movement is a Scherzo with eight variations, each with its own identity while maintaining a link to the theme, one of them in the form of a fugue. The third movement is, in Saint-Saëns’ words, ‘a romance that will delight cellists’, and he wrote of its concluding section, ‘the Adagio will bring tears to sensitive souls’. The sonata ends with a playful, light Rondo in which both piano and cello engage in technical virtuosity and imitative games.
Offenbach: Le voyage dans la lune / Dumoussaud, National Montpellier Occitan Orchestra
Jules Verne was the inspiration for Offenbach’s opéra-féerie, premiered in 1875. The Parisian craze for this type of musical extravaganza stemmed from its impressive stage effects: for Le Voyage dans la Lune, two ballets and some twenty sets took the audience from the Earth to the Moon, successively recreating the Paris Observatory, a working blast furnace and the crater of an erupting volcano. The piece is studded with zany characters and imaginary places: a lunar landscape, a glass palace, mother-of-pearl galleries, etc. The producers even borrowed a dromedary and an ostrich from the zoo at the Jardin d’Acclimatation! To accompany this theatrical display, Offenbach composed a series of colorful, picturesque hit numbers, wittily and energetically performed here by a team of enthusiastic soloists. The Chœur et Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie are placed under the subtle and precise direction of Pierre Dumoussaud.
REVIEWS:
The Bru Zane Opéra français CD-book series has reached volume 32 with Jacques Offenbach’s music theatre work Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon). This first complete recording is part of Bru Zane’s contribution to a co-production directed by Olivier Fredj being taken to a number of theatres and opera houses in France. I applaud the entirely sensible decision to abridge the extensive spoken dialogue of this studio recording of Le Voyage (as it is often abbreviated) just enough to keep the narrative coherent.
From the first bar to the last this recording of Le Voyage is very much to my taste, entirely holding my attention. Clearly judiciously chosen, the cast of mainly native French speakers gives an ebullient performance that communicates the sheer infectious joy of music making. This may be a light music work but it doesn’t take long to realise that the cast treats the performance of this opéra féerie with utmost sincerity. What a treat it is to encounter such a motivated cast that communicates such spirit and hilarity.
Both Violette Polchi and Sheva Tehoval are in splendid form, their voices combining so well. They are clearly savouring the charming text as the royal couple express their love for each other. Projecting his large personality, [bass-baritone] Matthieu Lécroart excels in couplets so good-humoured and entertaining the role could have been written for his voice.
Tenor Raphaël Brémard takes the roles of Microscope, the brainy scientist who designed the project to reach the Moon, and Un Acheteur and Un Marchand. He is most effective as Microscope which, although a significant role, consists largely of dialogue; there is some singing but nothing in the way of major solos. As Prince Quipasseparla, tenor Pierre Derhet demonstrates his fine comedy voice in his major solo with chorus known as the Rondo de Quipasseparla. Derhet negotiates the tricky text with witty expression as the prince boasts of how he collects women of all types.
[The] thirty-strong Chœur Opéra national Montpellier Occitanie, prepared by chorusmaster Noëlle Gény, is in splendid voice throughout, adding to the success of the recording. The Orchestre national de Montpellier Occitanie is conducted by Pierre Dumoussaud who keeps the score on the move, bolstered by the enthusiasm and energy of the players.
Released as part of the Bru Zane Opéra français series of CD-books, Le Voyage enjoys the usual high-end presentation that one has come to expect from this label. This 212-page hardback book is a bilingual edition (French and English) with a full cast and track listing, a detailed synopsis and the abridged French libretto with English translation. There are four detailed and informative essays: Alexandre Dratwicki Shooting for the Moon with Offenbach, Jérôme Collomb Offenbach and the ‘féerie’, Alexandre Dratwicki A journey... through the press and Jean-Claude Yon Jacques Offenbach and Jules Verne: abortive encounters. In addition, there are several reproductions of artworks, drawings and posters of the early productions and also current performer photos.
With Offenbach’s opéra féerie - Le Voyage dans la Lune Bru Zane has come up trumps. This unashamedly light music comes across as a fast-moving and immensely entertaining fantasy romp. Surely the number of spectacular scenes makes Le Voyage best appreciated in a full staging; nonetheless, the excellence of the performances on this recording drew me in completely.
-- MusicWeb International
