Stephen Kovacevich TITLE: Beethoven: The 32 Piano Sonatas, Bagatelles (9CD) "Nobody plays this music more authoritatively and eloquently," wrote London's Sunday Times of Stephen Kovacevich in Beethoven. "He is in his element, responding wholeheartedly to the extreme physicality that Beethoven brought to music... but the wit and delicacy of the playing are also remarkable."Kovacevich himself has spoken of his love for the "fun and virtuosity" of the composer's early sonatas, while in the often challenging later works he sees a "subtext of radiance and some sort of inherent faith in life."

Classical Music

There's a wealth of character in his playing, which is deeply poetic and dignified (BBC Music Magazine of MC3102 Chopin Ballades & Impromptus) "Kvapil is considered the finest exponent of Czech piano music... A performer with such a specialized repertoire can be unfairly 'tagged'... and Kvapil's release of three Beethoven piano sonatas will certainly correct that idea." (International Record Review of MC 147 Beethoven Sonatas 10, 17, 21)

Kvapil is considered the finest exponent of Czech piano music.. a performer with such a specialized repertoire is often unfairly 'tagged' with the erroneous reputation of not playing anything else, and Kapil's present release of three Beethoven piano sonatas will certainly correct that idea.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Czech Grand Master Radoslav Kvapil who made his name bringing to the Western World the vast wealth of Czech piano works from Vorisek and Dussek through to Dvorak and Janacek, here presents recent studio recordings of this cornerstone of the piano repertoire. He brings a unique insight from a lifeti me of performing.

Classical Music

SYMPHONY 8

PIANO CONCERTOS

2 CD 1 CD-ROM.

Classical Music

Conductor Daniel Barenboim presents: Complete iconic life work of Wagner's Operas in a 34 CD Box set. Complete with track listing and synopsis for each opera, with web links for the libretto of each opera.

With this latest release on EMI Classics from Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker the team returns to the 19th-century Germanic repertoire on which the orchestra's heritage has been based since it's formation 125 years ago. Following in the historic footsteps of Klemperer, Celibidache, Tennstedt, Fischer-Dieskau, Schwarzkopf and many other distinguished EMI artists, Simon Rattle brings to the label Brahms's most substantial yet intimate large-scale work.

Classical Music

Paganini: 24 Caprices (2015) Itzhak Perlman - Each of Paganini's 24 Caprices presents the violinist with a specific technical challenge. Emerging triumphant in consistent and spectacular fashion, Itzhak Perlman - always a perceptive musician - also tells a captivating story with every piece. With amazing album cover art.

2014 Maria Callas re-mastered series reissue. With this Abbey Road 24-bit 96kHz re-master, engineers returned to the original master tapes, bringing new clarity & brilliance to her legendary studio recordings. Callas only sang Gilda in Rigoletto in one run of performances, in Mexico City in 1952, and she recorded the role three years later. She moves beyond the girlish tone and sparkling coloratura of the character's first scenes to create a figure of tragic stature as events unfold. 'Once heard, this rendering is never likely to be forgotten, ' was Gramophone's judgment on her interpretation, and the same could apply to Tito Gobbi's, embodying every aspect of the accursed court jester.

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto No. 2/Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 (2015) Itzhak Perlman, Bernard Haitink, Concertgebouw Orchestra. More than a decade after his first recording of the Mendelssohn and Bruch concertos, Perlman returned to them with Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, bringing new insights and an even more acute feeling for their Romantic contrasts and drama.

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto & S�r�nade m�lancolique (2015) Itzhak Perlman, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy In Perlman's words, Tchaikovsky "wears his heart on his sleeve" and his violin concerto is a work of "unabashed Romanticism". While bringing sensitivity and substance to his interpretation, Perlman never slips into sentimentality and he leads an exhilarating dance in the finale.

Brahms: Violin Concerto (2015) Itzhak Perlman, Carlo Maria Giulini, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Heroic, dramatic, reflective and joyous, Brahms's Violin Concerto - written for the great Joseph Joachim, a close friend of the composer - is one of the monuments of the Romantic repertoire. In a performance of epic sweep, Itzhak Perlman and Carlo Maria Giulini do full justice to it's ambitions.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The violinist Midori has been a celebrated performer for more than 35 years, this recording of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, complemented by his two Romances for violin and orchestra, marks the composer's 250th birthday in December 2020. Midori plays with the Lucerne Festival Strings in a recording made in Switzerland shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic had caused the cancellation of a planned concert performance and international tour. "Beethoven guided my colleagues and me," says Midori, "his work focusing and inspiring us, our concentrations heightened, enveloped together in our musical efforts... I am reminded that he was a man of strong beliefs... who took firm stands on many major issues of his day... Beethoven's determination still provides a model for humankind."

Classical Music

2014 Maria Callas re-mastered series reissue. With this Abbey Road 24-bit 96kHz re-master, engineers returned to the original master tapes, bringing new clarity & brilliance to her legendary studio recordings. As she demonstrated in both Il barbiere di Siviglia and Il turco in Italia, Callas, the great tragedienne, could also turn her skills to comedy. As it happened, the 1956 La Scala production of Rossini's most popular opera did not prove a great success with audiences, but it's stars - Callas, Tito Gobbi and Luigi Alva - reassembled in London the following year for this recording. Callas sang the role of Rosina at it's original mezzo-soprano pitch and her version of 'Una voce poco fa' - punctuated by an unforgettable 'ma' ('but') in the cabaletta - is a miracle of both elegance and wit.

2014 Maria Callas remastered series reissue. With this Abbey Road 24-bit 96kHz remaster, engineers returned to the original master tapes, bringing new clarity & brilliance to her legendary studio recordings. Towards the end of Callas's career, there were many rumours that she was planning to perform Carmen on stage. This was never to be, but Carmen became her penultimate complete recording of an opera - and her only complete recording of a French opera. With Georges Pretre, one of her favored conductors, and the ever-stylish Nicolai Gedda as her Don Jose', she captured every facet of the role. As Gramophone said when the set was first released: 'Hers is a Carmen to haunt you. '

Classical Music

Classical Music

Emphasizing it's reputation as probably the greatest of all violin concertos, Perlman has described Beethoven's masterpiece as "classical and transparent", saying "You can't hide behind it". In this live recording, made with with Daniel Barenboim and the Berliner Philharmoniker, his playing is as fearless and authoritative as it is beautiful.

Classical Music