There's no such thing as a "definitive" recording, but if there were, this one would come close to that imagined ideal. Its special qualities haven't dimmed a bit in the four decades since it was recorded, and every interpretive decision comes across with the inevitability of fate itself. First, you get the first-movement exposition repeat (very unusual for its time), then there's the very slow (but still very flowing) Largo, gorgeously played and far from the trudge-fest that Bernstein would make of it in his lousy later recording for DG. The scherzo goes like the wind, the fastest ever, and the finale offers simply the last word in excitement. If you don't own this performance in some form, then you don't know the "New World".

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

Included in Capriccio’s introductory 4-CD set, Liszt: Orchestral Pieces, released in honor of his 200th year in 2011, besides the famous Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos. 1-6 and Les Préludes are also less-frequently played Lisztian orchestral works such as the Dante-Symphony and the symphonic poems Hungaria and Orpheus. A trio of fine orchestras – the Vienna Philharmonic among them—and conductors add considerable luster to an already lustrous offering.

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 - Capriccio Italien: Classic Lib

A monumental set of 33 variations built from a simple waltz theme by Anton Diabelli. A stunning performance of a legendary masterwork by one of the great pianists of our time. Pianist Gabriel Chodos has been a revered New England Conservatory faculty member for a quarter-century.

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 / Choral Fantasy / BRAHMS: Double

Mendelssohn, Felix: St. Paul [Oratorio]

BRAHMS, J.: Violin Concerto / TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I.: Symphony No

DVORAK, A.: Rusalka (Trotschel, H. Schindler, Keilberth) (19

Beethoven: Triple Concerto - Piano Concerto No. 3

Bizet: Carmen

A beautifully programmed collection anchored by the strength of Ragna Schirmer's piano. Clara and Robert Schumann borrow from each other's compositions in the early years of their great love affair in two sets of playfully intimate variations. Twenty years later, the theme is woven anew into two more sets of variations: a revisiting on the theme by Clara Schumann and one by her friend Johannes Brahms. Performing on an original Blu�thner grand piano of 1856, Ragna Schirmer's long association with the music of both Clara and Robert deepens the sense of rediscovery of these rarely recorded works for the listener.

Kurt Masur 85th Anniversary (Live)

Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg frequently examine the tense relationship between original work and arrangement as a result of their formation. On Illumination the acclaimed duo has dedicated a whole programme to arrangements for two pianos, throwing new light on some really great works and highlighting the versatility of Romantic composers. "It is easy to make an impression as a piano duo using virtuoso effects. But that alone is not enough," they say. "We have the impression that we have compiled a sort of cyclical programme: Debussy pays tribute to the older French master Saint-Sa�ns, who in turn honours his esteemed colleague Liszt, who in his turn dedicated his B minor Sonata to Schumann, whose works are now in the safe hands of Debussy."

Venezuelan-American cellist Carmine Miranda is a renowned international soloist and recording artist. He studied first at the Carabobo State Music Conservatory in Venezuela, then at the Latin-American Academy of Violoncell, the Simon Bolivar Conservatory of Music, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. For this release, Miranda has chosen cello concerti by Schumann and Dvorak. When Miranda was only twenty two and twenty three years old, he recorded Bach’s Six Cello Suites, as well as Alfredo Piatti’s 12 Caprices for Solo Cello. He was one of the youngest in the world to ever record these works. “It’s natural, then, that Miranda’s performance of the Schumann Cello Concerto sounds like a love letter—attention is paid to moments of delicacy and tenderness.” (Huntley Dent, Fanfare Magazine)

Beethoven: Mass In C / Elegiac Song / Calm Sea And Prosperou

This album marks a milestone in the extensive discography of the Hagen Quartett – myrios classics is honoured to present their first recording of a Brahms string quartet. The quartet op. 67 is paired with Brahms’ piano quintet op. 34. Here, the Hagen Quartett is joined by their regular collaborator, pianist Kirill Gerstein. The unprecedented three-decade career of the Hagen Quartet began in 1981. Its early years, marked by a series of prizes in chamber music competitions and an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon that was to produce around forty-five albums over the following twenty years, enabled the group to work its way through the virtually un- limited quartet repertoire from which the distinctive profile of the Hagens has emerged. Collaborations with artistic personalities such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt and György Kurtág are as important to the Hagen Quartet as its concert appearances with performers including Maurizio Pollini, Mitsuko Uchida, Sabine Meyer, Krystian Zimerman, Heinrich Schiff and Jörg Widmann. The group’s concert repertoire and discography feature attractive and intelligently arranged programmes embracing the entire history of the string quartet, from its pre-Haydn beginnings right through to Kurtág. The Hagen Quartet also works closely with composers of its own generation, whether by reviving existing works or by commissioning and premiering new pieces.

Imaginary Pictures

Schumann, Knussen & Liszt: Piano Works

An die Geliebte

Salzburg Marionette Theatre's condensed two-hour version of The Ring of the Nibelung was premiered in cooperation with the Salzburg State Theatre in March of 2012. Performing to the legendary recordings by Georg Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic, the unrivaled puppetry of the Salzburg Marionettes guides spectators through Wagner's epic masterpiece. This simplified version, which showcases the best known scenes, is perfect for Wagner beginners and younger audiences.

While hunting at night, Prince Arindal encounters the beautiful fairy Ada. Both fall in love immediately. Arindal decides to be always at Ada's side in the fairy realm. The fairy king warns, however, if Arindal should ever leave Ada alone for longer than a year she will turn to stone. But the Prince must leave Ada. Will he be back on time? Wagner's opera Die Feen (The Fairies), a charming fairy tale about the magic of love and music, is featured here in a special adaptation for children by the Wiener Staatsoper.

Starring The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Solveig Kringelborn, Swedish Radio Choir.

DARK HOURS (Mystic Moments of Classical Music)

Brahms: Violin Sonatas

Hans Graf will become the fifteenth Music Director of the Houston Symphony, beginning with opening night of the 200l-2002 season. He debuted with the Houston Symphony in March 2000 conducting Emanuel Ax in Adams‘ Century Rolls, with Schubert‘s The Great also on the program. A week later, he led the orchestra and Houston Symphony Chorus in an expanded weekend series of Orft‘s Carmina Burana. He made an appearance as a guest conductor with two subscription programs in May 2000. The Austrian-born Graf is in his sixth season as Music Director of Canada‘s Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and his third season with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine in France. Believing “there is something to learn from musicians and orchestras everyday,“ Graf guest conducts all over the globe. In the United States, he frequently makes appearances in Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Dallas, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. He has conducted Mostly Mozart at the Lincoln Center, the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Tanglewood and the Cleveland Orchestra in Blossom Center. Internationally, Graf often conducts in the major concert halls of Scandinavia, France, Italy, England, Japan and Australia. He has appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, as well as the St. Petersburg and Israel Philharmonics. He has been part of major European festivals including Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Savonlinna (Finland‘s Opera Festival), Bregenz, Vienna and Salzburg (for thirteen successive seasons). An opera proponent for its “wonderful musical power and sense of human expression,“ Graf first conducted the Vienna State Opera in 1981 and has since appeared at major opera houses in Berlin, Munich, Paris and Rome. His extensive opera repertory includes several premieres.

Composer Tristan Murail is without doubt one of the most significant figures in European contemporary music circles, known best perhaps for his being a close follower of Messiaen (his teacher was Jeanne Loriod) and one of the prime instigators of the field of spectral music. Murail says this: ‘Early on, every young composer is confronted with an already existing musical universe. Should he accept it, play according to established and consensual rules, or instead, try to stretch or even break away from them?” His answer is generally, to develop new soundworlds arising out of the old and to concentrate not on the serialism fashionable when he was young, but the essential musical sound, investigating new playing techniques and creating a genre practically his own. Marilyn Nonken’s recording of his complete piano music, issued in 2005, remains one of the regular best sellers in the Metier catalog. This new album reflects on his encounters with Schumann and culminates in his re-interpretation of Kinderszenen where his restrained arrangement stays close (but not too close) to the original – it is also a first class set of performances by a stunning cellist. Marie Ythier is a remarkably fine cellist for whom this is the 5th album. She plays repertoire form all periods, but is particularly interested in new music. She has collaborated with many leading composers, holds several teaching posts and has received numerous prizes. Her playing is assured and deft, equally at home in the Romantic and the avant-garde.

Matthias Kirschnereit and the hr-Sinfonieorchester under Michael Sanderling have compiled a compelling, captivating programme of music from the last days of the Classical era, on the cusp of the Romantic. This half-way house in the best possible sense accommodates the compositions of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Carl Maria von Weber and Felix Mendelssohn. On his latest album, the soloist makes the boldness of this musical venture audible: I was attracted by the fact that these rare jewels were created at a time of change, of new horizons. With over 40 album releases to his credit, the German pianist cannot be praised too highly for his inventiveness and initiative in exploring unfamiliar terrain. It was this spirit of discovery that led him to a fascinating program centered on Hummels Piano Concerto in A minor op. 85, flanked by Webers Konzertstück in F minor op. 79 and Mendelssohns Capriccio brilliant in B minor op. 22: all of them works whose fabric pulses with inner relationships, allusions and cross-references, united too by the fact that they are rarely to be heard on the concert platform. There is so much thrilling music that has fallen from favor. I was looking for a new combination, reflect Matthias Kirschnereit. Michael Sanderling is a conductor he has often worked with, and in this case Sanderling was his first choice: These works, which represent just as great a challenge for the orchestra, require a high degree of precision, virtuosity and elegant musical discourse. The teamwork with Sanderling and the symphony orchestra of Hesse Radio can only be described as an act of providence. This session rounded off the Corona year with an exhilarating highlight. And so may this music, which conjured up the spirit of a new era with defiant optimism two centuries ago, give us too a future to look forward to in our own times.

This is Volume 3 in Centaur's cycle of the complete piano sonatas of Hummel, performed by Antonio Pompa-Baldi. This cycle is setting a very high bar for complete Hummel sonata cycles. Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi won the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999 and embarked on a career that continues to extend across five continents. He also won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn Competition, as well as a bronze medal at the 1998 Marguerite Long Competition in Paris. The New York Times described his playing as “meltingly beautiful.” Pompa-Baldi founded the Todi International Music Masters Festival, of which he is artistic director and faculty member, and sits on the juries of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world.