This set includes 10 spoken word tracks (45'02") featuring Michael Tilson Thomas's description of the repertoire in the two accompanying discs.
Born in 1900, Aaron Copland was perfectly positioned to represent his country in the 20th century, at least the first three quarters of it, and no other composer's career has so completely traversed the many byways of American classical music, folk, pop and jazz and European modernism. Copland's wilder side is most clearly heard in early works such as the Piano Concerto where jazz and Stravinsky converse in an urban setting, while the famous ballets of the 1930s and 40s transform folk tunes with inexhaustible wit and grace to create what is widely considered the ultimate expression of rural America.
With the discs COPLAND THE MODERNIST and COPLAND THE POPULIST Michael Tilson Thomas assumed the mantle of Leonard Bernstein as the leading interpreter of Copland's music, and in this special edition box set he emulates Lenny even further as an insightful lecturer-demonstrator on the bonus disc entitled THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC, which also features a performance of the familiar 'Fanfare for the Common Man.' There could hardly be a better or more thoughtful introduction to Copland than this.

Includes liner notes by Andre Bishop.

This CD contains both DDD and ADD recordings.

SYMPHONY FOR RICHARD III ENNI

SIBELIUS: SYMPHONIES NO 2 & 6

LIGETI: CELLO CONCERTO, PIANO

This selection contains both ADD and DDD recordings.

Rubinstein Collection, Vol 21 - Brahms: Sonata No. 3 in F M

Two Chopin best-sellers and five albums with material new to CD headline RCA Red Seal's newest singles breakouts of the critically- acclaimed Arthur Rubinstein Collection.

BEETHOVEN, MOZART: CONCERTOS

God Bless America

Includes work(s) by Engelbert Humperdinck, Alexander Borodin, Franz Schubert. Ensemble: Boston Pops.

Nikolaj Znaider's star shines brightly in the constellation of up-and-coming violinists of the next generation. Since winning the Queen Elizabeth Competition 1997, Znaider's career has steadily mounted with international performances and critically-acclaimed recordings of violin concertos of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Glazunov and others. His new release on RCA, entitled Bravo!, sets a smaller stage with a collection of showpieces for solo violin, accompanied on most tracks by Israeli pianist Daniel Gortler.

Znaider's playing throughout is limber and precise, his immaculate technique inherited from Juilliard violin maven Dorothy De Lay, the teacher of Itzakh Perlman and Cho-Liang Ling, among others. Znaider fairly burns through the imposing demands of Eugène Ysaÿe's "Ballade" Sonata, but it's the refreshing lyrical parsimony in the slow stuff that demands notice. The two transcriptions of Chopin Nocturnes echo the kind of dry romanticism of the earliest violinists of the recorded era. In the famous Rachmaninoff Vocalise the effect of that reserve is magical; Znaider spins an endless thread of emotive melody that refuses to wear its heart on its sleeve. As with any good encore, you're grateful for the bonbon but left wanting another. What a boon to be able to simply repeat the track; an action we found ourselves repeating again and again with Znaider's Bravo!.

David Simmons, WQXR

Music and lyrics by Michael John Lachiusa.
Principal cast includes: Audra McDonald (Marie Christine L'Adrese); Anthony Crivello (Dante Keyes); Jennifer Leigh Warren, Andrea Frierson-Toney, Mary Bond Davis (prisoner); Vivian Reed (mother); Donna Dunmire (serpent); Lovette George (Celeste); Rosena M. Hill (Ozelia); Keith Lee Grant (Jean L'Adrese); Darius de Haas (Paris L'Adrese); Kimberly JaJuan (Lisette); Andre Garner (Joachim, Monsieur Archambeau); Jim Weaver (Osmond, Monsieur St. Vinson); Joy Lynn Matthews (Beatrice); Powers Pleasant, Zachary Thornton, Joshua Walter (children); Shawn Elliot (Charles Gates); Peter Samuel (bartender, Esau Parker); Michael Babin (bar patron); Michael McCormick (Leary); Mark Lotito (McMahon); Janet Metz (Olivia Parker); Kim Huber (Grace Parker).
Recorded at the Hit Factory, New York, New York on December 6, 1999.
Includes liner notes by Ira Weitzman.

RCA RED SEAL: SOLOISTS