Around 1800 Vienna was, alongside Paris, one of the European centers for guitar performance. The instrument was well suited for the idiom of Viennese classicism and ideal for domestic music-making and it was promoted by figures such as the virtuoso Mauro Giuliani and the composer/publisher Anton Diabelli. But Beethoven, the towering giant of musical Vienna, seems to have been unmoved by the charms of the guitar – while instead composing for its sibling, the mandolin. Duo Halász, the husband and wife team of Franz and Débora Halász have now rectified this, by appropriating Beethoven’s four extant pieces for mandolin and piano (WoO?43 and 44) as well as adapting some other early compositions, including the Serenade in D major for flute and piano and the Variations on Mozart’s ‘Se vuol ballare’ for violin and piano. In doing so they follow the example of an eminent guitarist and contemporary of Beethoven, namely Ferdinando Carulli, whose 1825 arrangement of the Variations on Mozart’s ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ closes the programme. Franz and Débora Halász have made a number of recordings for BIS, together and separately, to critical acclaim, including a Latin Grammy Award for their disc Alma Brasileira with chamber works by Radamés Gnattali.

Beethoven’s letters show an extensive and prolonged correspondence with Scottish publisher and keen amateur musician George Thomson, who made it his task to collect and publish folk song settings, commissioning the likes of Pleyel, Koželuch and Haydn. The Opp. 105 and 107 collections, written for piano with optional flute or violin parts, are filled with delightfully decorative but virtuoso writing. This recording offers versions with improvisation and ornamentation by flutist, conductor and former Rampal student Patrick Gallois, based on the performance practices of the early 18th c.

Nino Gvetadze finally takes on Robert Schumann’s music, a repertoire we think she is especially fit to. She chose three great works from the golden years 1838-9. Three different works, but all with strong autobiographical connections. Nino is one of Challenge pivotal artists and this is her third release on Challenge, after the successful Chopin (CC 72768) and Scott (CC 72819). BBC Music Magazine: There's always a sense of a musing, meditative intelligence exploring their layers of meaning in the very act of playing, as if she is spontaneously creating the Music under her fingers.

Dvorak: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8

For their fourth Fuga Libera-project, the Russian orchestra Musica Viva recorded one very famous, and one forgotten piece by Antonín Dvorak. The well-known piece is the Serenade for Strings in E major, written by Dvorak in 1875. It is believed that Dvorak took up this small orchestral genre because it was less demanding than the symphony, but allowed for the provision of pleasure and entertainment. The other piece is the Cello Concerto in A major. Unlike its brother, the B minor Concerto Op. 104, this concerto has been more than overlooked. It was left un-orchestrated by Dvorak, existing only in piano-score form. It was only after his death that a few composers orchestrated this dazzling piece of music. Cello virtuoso Alexander Rudin, and Musica Viva let us taste from this magnificent forgotten treasure...

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About the Gryphon Trio, the Los Angeles Times wrote "This is a piano trio that plays with strength and unanimity... big, bold, almost orchestral performances." Winner of two Juno prizes, the trio now presents it's excellent new album, Immortal and Beloved. Two of the three works heard on this recording - the "Archduke" Trio, Op. 97 (1811) and An die ferne Geliebte ("To the distant beloved"), Op. 98 (1816) - are composed by Beethoven. The third work, Letters to the Immortal Beloved (2012) by Canadian composer James K. Wright, is inspired by three passionate love letters written by Beethoven during the summer of 1812. With the participation of the reputed baritone singer David John Pike, this is a fascinating release.

Greek pianist George-Emmanuel Lazard's' superb debut release for Linn features two of the most famous works in the solo piano repertoire, both performed in breathtaking style. Originally released in 2006 'Liszt: Sonatas and Etudes' has been re-issued as part of Linn's ECHO series which offers a second chance to enjoy the best of the label's award-winning catalogue. Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor is one of the seminal works of the romantic piano repertoire and one of the most technically challenging pieces any pianist can undertake. Continuing this virtuosic theme, and demonstrating his great ambition as a pianist of the highest calibre, Lazard's also presents Liszt's Grandes �tudes de Paganini. This six-part composition, based on themes originally composed for violin by Niccol� Paganini, again places huge demands on the technical and interpretive abilities of the performer. As well as receiving a multitude of five star reviews upon it's release 'Liszt: Sonatas and Etudes' was chosen as one of '5 Essential Works by Franz Liszt' in 2012 by BBC Music Magazine. Born in Greece, George-Emmanuel Lazard's has a flourishing international career that has taken him from the United States and Mexico to Europe, Russia, Egypt, and the Middle East. During the past 20 years he has performed in some of the most prestigious venues worldwide including Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, St Petersburg Philharmonia Hall, Palais des Beaux Arts, Festspielhaus, Cologne's Philharmonie, Stockholm's Konserthuset, Cite de la Musique in Paris, Vienna's Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Athens Megaron and Palace of the Arts in Budapest to name but a few. His appearances have received great critical acclaim; audiences and critics alike recognize him as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Lazard's has received a plethora of honorary awards and scholarships including being named an ECHO Rising Star.

Gabriel Fauré’s chamber works, long overshadowed by his popular Requiem (Naxos 8.550765), are regaining their rightful place. This new release from the Kungsbacka Piano Trio follows their recording of Fauré’s First Piano Quartet and other chamber works (8.573042), described by Gramophone as ‘a delectable way into Fauré’s chamber music’. The program features the less frequently heard original version, with clarinet, of the Piano Trio, the Second Piano Quartet, which includes an evocation of the bells of Cadirac near the composer’s home, the Romances sans paroles, described by Marcel Proust as ‘intoxicating’ and one of Fauré’s most famous works, the Berceuse from the Dolly Suite.

Beethoven's String Trios are masterly in form and content and, with Mozart's only string trio, the Divertimento K. 563, are among the most significant works in the entire genre. Beethoven's first, Op.

This material represents some of the earliest televised concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and three of their eminent music directors, Charles Munch, Erich Leinsdorf and William Steinberg. This historical footage has been restored using the greatest care and state-of-the-art techniques. It is of exceptional musical interest and historical value, and has been described by critics as a "rare treat" (Gramophone) and "welcome documentations" (BBC Music Magazine).

Picture format: NTSC 4:3 Sound format: LPCM Mono (DVD 1) / LPCM Stereo (DVD 2) / Enhanced Mono (DVD 3, 4, 5) Region code: 0 (worldwide) Menu language: English Running time: 6 hours 14 mins No. of DVDs: 5

This set contains the following 5 DVDs:

CHARLES MUNCH
RAVEL Ma Mère l’Oye – Suite; DEBUSSY Ibéria, La Mer (1958 & 1961)

ERICH LEINSDORF
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9 "Great"; SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4; WAGNER Parsifal – Good Friday Music (1962, 1963 & 1964)

BEETHOVEN Egmont Overture; TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5; MOZART Serenade No.9 "Posthorn" – Minuet I (1963 & 1969)

WILLIAM STEINBERG
HAYDN Symphony No. 55; BEETHOVEN Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 (1962, 1969 & 1970)

BRUCKNER Symphony No. 8 (2nd revised edition) (1962)

Faure' two cello sonatas are compact, beautifully written works whose musical language, with it's many subtle changes of tonality and gift for melody, has been described as conveying 'the power of tranquil thought'.

Lakme, Delibes greatest opera, is performed by Opera Australia in all it's oriental glory. Starring the exquisite coloratura soprano Emma Matthews as the innocent girl priestess Lakme, and superb tenor Aldo Di Toro as the love-struck Gerald, the story tackles religion and cross-cultural love against a backdrop of British rule in India in the mid-19th century. French conductor Emmanuel Joel-Hornak brings out the full depth of the lush, dramatic score, with familiar high points being the beautiful renditions of the well-known Flower Duet and Bell Song. Dominica Matthews adds her rich voice as Mallika and Stephen Bennett is darkly dominating as Brahmin priest Nilakantha, Lakme's father, while Roxane Hislop is a consummate Mistress Bentson.

This album is one of a pair of distinctive Saint-Sa�ns recordings, made with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. It features several rarely-recorded works, alongside the premiere recording of Saint-Sa�ns's arrangement for tenor and orchestra of the iconic Danse macabre - which was originally a song for voice and piano to a poem Henri Cazalis before it's expansion into a celebrated tone poem. Australian conductor Geoffrey Simon is resident in London and has appeared there with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, and English Chamber Orchestra. Internationally he has appeared with the Adelaide, Atlanta, Israel, Moscow, and American Symphonies, among others. He is Music Director Emeritus of the Northwest Mahler Orchestra in Seattle, with which he has conducted the Mahler symphonic cycle and Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony. He is Consultant for Classical Special Projects for Arts Global, and has served as a jury member for Young Concert Artists, PianoTexas, Australian Cello Awards and Royal Over-Seas League.

Verdi’s Messa da Requiem – an “opera in ecclestiastical robes”, as conductor Hans von Bülow called it – recorded in October 1980 at Stiftskirche Herzogenburg with Julia Varady, Alexandrina Milcheva, Alberto Cupido, Nicola Ghiuselev, ORF Choir and ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leif Segerstam. The Messa da Requiem is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass (Requiem) for four soloists, double choir and orchestra by Giuseppe Verdi. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist whom Verdi admired. The first performance, at the San Marco church in Milan on 22 May 1874, marked the first anniversary of Manzoni's death. The work was at one time referred to as the Manzoni Requiem. Considered too operatic to be performed in a liturgical setting, it is usually given in concert form of around 90 minutes in length. Musicologist David Rosen calls it 'probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed since the compilation of Mozart's Requiem'.

This is an audio-only (i.e., with no video content) Blu-ray disc playable only on Blu-ray players.

Using the new Polish National Chopin Edition, acclaimed pianist Eldar Nebolsin and Poland’s national orchestra conducted by the renowned Polish conductor Antoni Wit, here present fresh interpretations of Chopin’s great works for piano and orchestra. The Second Piano Concerto was written before the first and completed in 1830, the year in which the composer set out for Vienna and then Paris. Chopin’s Variations on Là ci darem la mano, bear witness to his admiration for Mozart, instilled by his earliest teacher, the Bohemian Wojciech ?ywny. The Grande Polonaise brillante in E flat, Op. 22, was written in Vienna, and later augmented with the introductory Andante spianato.

Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Alpha continues to explore its catalogue and this year again offers a wide variety of combinations. After a box assembling the gems of the Baroque era (Masters of the Baroque - Alpha 372), the piano is now given pride of place. The box set Masters of the Piano brings together 10 albums in which great contemporary interpreters (Nelson Goerner, Alexander Lonquich, François-Frédéric Guy, Eric Le Sage, Edna Stern, Anna Vinnitskaya) retrace three centuries of creation on the piano, from Bach to Shostakovich, by way of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Debussy. The piano will also be at the heart of a 7-release box set devoted to Alexei Lubimov’s recordings. Fortepiano, piano, prepared piano . . . the Russian musician has distinguished himself in every repertoire. Finally, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, the Beethoven Rediscovered box highlights 16 albums that offer a chance to rediscover his symphonies, concertos and sonatas on period instruments, the fortepiano, etc.

Past praise of the previously released volumes included in this set:

Beethoven/Liszt: Complete Symphonies / Martynov

Yury Martynov is one of the few pianists around with the technical resources, musical grasp and conviction to recreate this legacy persuasively. In doing so, he amply demonstrates its continued usefulness and vitality. It seems safe to say that he has given us the Beethoven-Liszt cycle for our time, and one unlikely soon to be superseded.

– Gramophone

Beethoven: Piano Concertos No 1 & 2 / Schoonderwoerd, Ensemble Cristofori

Passagework is never rattled off mechanically, always expressively shaped. The slow movements are both memorably beautiful. The recording is close, in a richly resonant acoustic; everything is extremely vivid, with Schoonderwoerd’s breathing often audible, though not distractingly. Mandatory listening for anyone with the slightest interest in Beethoven performance practice.

– Fanfare

Includes work(s) by Richard Wagner. Conductor: Leif Segerstam.

Captured at the BBC's Glasgow Studios in 1987 for their Music in Camera series, Ashkenazy demonstrates his versatility and musical skill through the extreme contrasts of the Impromptus, the lyrical, song-like grace and virtuosic flair of the Wanderer Fantasy, and the elegant yet exciting rendition of Schumann's innovative Piano Sonata No.1.

Multi-award winning pianist Sarah Beth Briggs earned multiple plaudits for her previous Avie recordings- a Gramophone Critics' Choice for her pairing of concertos by Hans Gal and Mozart, and a Gramophone Editor's Choice for her Briggs Piano Trio's pairing of works by Gal and Shostakovich. For her first solo recital recording for Avie, Sarah turns to some of the greatest collections of Romantic miniatures, largely inspired by one woman: Clara Schumann, wife of Robert Schumann and muse to Johannes Brahms. The twelve short dance movements of Schumann's early and enigmatic Papillons set the scene, giving way to autumnal, late Brahms- his Op. 117 Intermezzi and Op. 118 Klavierstucke. The album ends as it begins, with youthful Schumann and his lovingly crafted Kinderszenen, written over half a century earlier.

Also available on Blu-ray

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Anton Bruckner expanded the concept of the symphonic form in ways that have never been witnessed before or since. Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin follow the harmonic development of Bruckner’s Symphonies Nos. 4-9, revealing the breathtaking musical panorama of these exceptional masterpieces. According to Der Tagesspiegel, this unforgettable Bruckner cycle sets new standards and guarantees the Staatskapelle Berlin and their principal conductor “a place in the Bruckner pantheon.”

Anton Bruckner
THE MATURE SYMPHONIES
(6-DVD Box Set)

Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, WAB 104, “Romantic” (1881 version, ed. R. Haas)
Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, WAB 105 (1878 version, ed. L. Nowak)
Symphony No. 6 in A Major, WAB 106 (ed. L. Nowak)
Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107 (1885 version, ed. L. Nowak)
Symphony No. 8 in C Minor, WAB 108 (ed. R. Haas from 1887 and 1890 versions)
Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, WAB 109

Berlin Staatskapelle
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonie, 20–27 June 2010

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 7 hrs 8 mins
No. of DVDs: 6 (DVD 9)

The Aris Quartett, one of the most exciting ensembles on the international scene, won several ARD awards in 2016. The second GENUIN release confirms the amount of publicity the quartet has received. Two existential chamber music works can be found there, which in their unconditionality and unheard-of expressiveness demand everything from the listener. The Aris Quartett plays Shostakovich's famous 8th string quartet and Schubert's Death and the Maiden with an uncompromising style that pulls you out of your chair: spooky nocturnal pieces, deeply sad lamentation and a demonic dance macabre - world class! "One of the most sensational ensembles of the younger generation." (ARTE) "The future of the classical music scene." (Aspekte) "On the verge of an international career." (NDR Kultur)

With the reopening of the Stadtcasino, the music city of Basel gets back it's unique sound jewel. In August 2020, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, resident orchestra of the Stadtcasino Basel, celebrated it's return to the music hall, which was completed in 1876 according to plans by Basel architect Johann Jakob Stehlin. Acoustically the historic music hall is one of the world's best concert halls. The extension of the Stadtcasino was commissioned from the prominent architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron with their headquarters in Basel and who have already designed several famous buildings and concert halls, most recently the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. The program of the concert on August 26, 2020, was entirely dedicated to the reopening and under the impression of a newly forming music world after the Corona lockdown. The present recording was made as a co-production with SRF, which recorded the symphony orchestra's first concert in it's home venue, the Stadtcasino Basel. The lavish booklet presents numerous photographs of the opulent concert hall as well as an essay by Elke Heidenreich, who has been associated with the orchestra for years. The concert began with Beethoven's overture "The Consecration of the House, " with which the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna was opened in 1822. With Debussy's orchestration of the 3rd Gymnop�dies, a wealth of delicate timbres floated weightlessly into the restored concert hall. Satie described his music as "musique d'ameublement", a music of furnishing, which may also be understood allegorically as the tonal furnishing of the music hall. In the orchestral song "Morgen" by Richard Strauss, soprano Christina Landshamer presented herself as artist in residence. Finally, Dvorak's 9th Symphony "From the New World" was symbolic of the very special start to a new chapter in music with the Basel Symphony Orchestra under the baton of principal conductor Ivor Bolton.

Chopin’s youthful Piano Concerto No. 1 is dominated by the brilliant piano part that the teenage performer-composer wrote to showcase his extraordinary virtuosity. Its ravishing Romanza (‘reviving in one’s soul beautiful memories’, as the composer described it) is framed by an opening movement rich in dramatic lyricism and a vivacious Rondo. The Fantasia on Polish Airs, Op. 13 and Krakowiak are similarly vehicles for Romantic reverie and bravura which pay tribute to the music of Chopin’s homeland. Eldar Nebolsin’s recording of Liszt’s piano concertos was ranked ‘among the finest’ by Gramophone.

Joachim Raff was an autodidact. Having grown up in Switzerland, he first tried his hand with moderate success in numerous places as a composer of salon pieces. Franz Liszt became aware of the young man's talents and hired him as a kind of private secretary. In Weimar Raff orchestrated some of Liszt's early symphonic poems and gained his appreciation. This first recording by the Leipzig String Quartet shows that this was no accident. Raff's first two quartets are large-format works which reveal great ambitions. By the time Raff composed his first quartet in 1855, he was already beginning to emancipate himself from Liszt and the narrow circle of his friends. The "Neudeutsche Verein" had just been founded when Raff left him for Wiesbaden, in financially uncertain circumstances but artistic independence. And indeed, Raff's music cannot be pigeonholed either in the "New German" or the "Brahmsian" category - perhaps the reason why he was admired by such diverse colleagues as Richard Strauss, Peter Tchaikovsky or even Franz Liszt. His first quartet op. 77 was premiered by the famous Hellmesberger Quartet, who had already offered the podium to Franz Schubert and the late Beethoven. The second quartet op. 90 was also quickly adopted by the Viennese. The turning away from a harmonically fixed formal scheme is a trend-setting move; chromaticism and free harmony gain the upper hand over schoolmasterly counterpoint. Self-marketing was not Raff's thing. Rather prim in his private life, he rarely performed publicly, though he was an excellent pianist. He also gave his work away rather than negotiate reasonable fees. As founding director of the Hoch'sche Conservatory in Frankfurt he nevertheless enjoyed great recognition among his contemporaries. To rekindle this in our time, the new recording of the Leipzig String Quartet is a highly welcome beginning.

A grasshopper, a milkmaid’s pail, a shepherd, a fox, a country mouse, a cobbler... These are just some of the diverse and varied characters from the famous Fables that Jacques Offenbach decided to set to music in 1842, some 150 years after they were written by Jean de La Fontaine. With their vivid texts featuring talking animals and stock characters, the Fables offered an allegorical and didactic way of alluding to the court and the mores of the time. Offenbach chose six of the 240 Fables of la Fontaine to set as mélodies. Here the conductor Jean-Pierre Haeck presents them in his own orchestration performed by the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen and the mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes, who excels in this repertory. To complete the programme, the singer performs numbers from Offenbach’s opéra-bouffe Boule-de-neige and the orchestra plays movements from the ballet Le Papillon, offering listeners a recording as refined as it is witty.

The Lord's Prayer is the most universal prayer in Christendom, prayed by believers of all denominations. What would be more natural, then, than to bring together several settings of this prayer on a CD with the outstanding Salzburg Bach Choir? the CD was recorded in a relatively modern church in the Salzkammergut (Salzburg Province, Austria), equipped with interior wooden ceilings and walls, resulting in a very special acoustic. Alois Glassner, choral conductor and Professor of Music, University of Vienna, has been the choir's artistic director since 2003.

Classical Music

Grieg: Orchestral Music, Vol. 1: Piano Concerto - Symphonic