1715: The famed Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari constructs what will become one of his most legendary violins. Among its first owners is Giuseppe Tartini, he of the "Devil's Trill" sonata.

c. 1817: The violin is bequeathed to Polish virtuoso violinist Karol Lipinski who inspired many works for the instrument.

2008: After passing through many countries and collections, the "Lipinski" Strad arrives in the hands of Frank Almond, through an anonymous donor.

2013: Frank Almond releases "A Violin's Life", an album that traces the provenance of the "Lipinski" Strad, with music by Schumann, Tartini, Julius Rontgen, and Lipinski himself.

January 2014: Following a concert, walking towards his car, Frank Almond is tasered by an assailant and the "Lipinski" Strad is stolen. An FBI pursuit results in the recovery of the "Lipinski" Strad a few weeks later. International media coverage goes viral, including international TV coverage, a feature in Vanity Fair, NPR, BBC, and much more.

May 2016: Frank Almond releases "A Violin's Life, Vol. 2", featuring more music associated with the "Lipinski" Strad, including works by Beethoven, Amanda Maier-Rontgen, and Eduard Tubin, poised to create another classic release.

The "Lipinski" Strad lives on.

The two-act comic opera L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) by Gaetano Donizetti was written hurriedly in only six weeks. It has endured massive success in its life, and remains one of Donizetti’s most performed works. The recording featured here is from 1952, and features the Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Roma della RAI, conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni. Soloists featured here include Alda Noni, Cesare Valletti, Sesto Bruscantini, Afro Poli, and Bruna Rizzoli.

Wagner’s Siegfried is the third opera in the cycle that makes up Der Ring des Nibelungen. It premiered during the first complete performance of the cycle in August 1876 at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Rene Kollo performs in one of his greatest recorded performances in the title role of Siegfried. German conductor Marek Janowski is a brilliant interpreter of Wagner, having conducted the first digitally recorded Ring cycle between 1980 and 1983.

Mozart’s Don Giovanni is a staple of operatic repertoire. The two-act opera is tenth on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide. Don Giovanni is based on the legends of Don Juan, a fictional womanizer and seducer, and has a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. This release is a recording from 1985, conducted by Rafael Kubelik. One of the last century’s most revered conductors, Kubelik only made a few complete opera sets, and this opera is the only Mozart among them. Alan Titus performs as Giovanni. Opera magazine praises him as he “generates lively spirit in his scenes with Rolando Panerai, a Leporello into in 60s but still able to inflect his lines with verbal point as well as expressive colour: the Catalogue aria is quite masterful in its slightly seedy relish.”

Cellist Laura Metcalf enjoys a thriving career performing as a soloist, orchestral musician, and performing in the ensembles Break of Reality and Sybarite 5. Joined by pianist Matei Varga, this release is Laura’s debut solo recording. Following this release, Laura has scheduled a series of concerts which will begin in New York City in April. The program for this album features works by Martinu, Enescu, Poulenc, and more.

For the first time on CD, this rare recording of Chopin’s piano concerto is one of Grigory Sokolov’s only productions in a concerto role, accompanied by an orchestra. This original Eurodisc session recording with Münchner Philharmoniker has been newly remastered from the original tapes. Grigory Sokolov is regarded as one of the world’s leading pianists, dedicated to his art, and adored by his audience in sold-out concerts. Few pianists of recent years have become quite such a legend in their own lifetime. Sokolov created a huge worldwide fanbase solely by playing concerts, as he refused do studio recordings. The only recordings available are live recording of concerts.

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REVIEW:

An extraordinary document, with Sokolov’s integrity and humanity illuminating every bar.

– Gramophone

Featuring the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, this new release includes compositions by Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725). La Gloria di Primavera, the work featured on this album, has been called a “feast of vocal invention, supplemented by wondrous instrumental writing…” The performances on this album were recorded live in Berkeley, California, at First Congregational Church in October of 2015.

Also available: Handel in Italy, Vol. 2 / Cunningham, London Early Opera

All of the pieces chosen for this new release center around the theme of evening time. Mark Williams and his Choir of Jesus College Cambridge have released four prior albums with Signum, all of which have gained critical praise. The programme of this album blends ancient and modern, featuring works from Thomas Tallis, William Harris, Gustav Holst, and many more.

Since its premiere in Prague in 1890, Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony has become one of the composer’s most-performed works. Josef Suk, Dvořák’s son-in-law and student-is obviously influenced by Dvořák, but displays his compositional skills in his own right in his Serenade for Strings. Consistently praised for his interpretation of Slavic music, Mariss Jansons conducts the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in this live recording.

REVIEW

This disc contains three very fine performances and I thoroughly enjoyed it all. The BR Klassik recording is very good indeed. I’ve come to expect clarity and very pleasing, natural sound from this label and this latest disc is another excellent example of their work.

--MusicWeb International (John Quinn)

Bela Bartok, while most widely known for his orchestral works, was also an established composer of chamber music. His music for violin has become some of the most important in the instrument’s repertoire. The three works featured on this recording have been transcribed for viola by Vidor Nagy. Vidor Nagy, accompanied by Peter Nagy and Divertimento Budapest, brilliantly performs these technically challenging works.

The precursor to this album made a Critic’s Choice of the Year in Gramophone (2013). The program presented includes works by Benjamin Britten, William Mathias, Arnold Cooke, and Gerald Finzi. Michael Collins brilliantly walks the line between being a soloist and conductor, as he serves as both in this recording. The accompanying ensemble here is the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

This live recording of Quincy Jones and his Orchestra was taken in Ludwigshafen in 1961. The orchestra had an all-star roster, including Freddie Hubbard, Benny Bailey, and Sahib Shihab. The program includes classics such as Summertime and Stolen Moments.

This album, featuring violinist Tianwa Yang and the Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players, contains one of Igor Stravinsky’s small-scale theatrical works, The Soldier’s Tale (1918). Stravinsky wrote this work in collaboration with author Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, and artist Rene-Victor Auberjonois. The work is based in a Russian folk tale by Alexander Afanasyev, and is scored for two speakers, a narrator, and a septet, as well as a non-speaking dance role. Pamela Berlin directs this production, and Joann Falletta is the conductor of the instrumentalists.

In a program packed full of great drama and theatricality, Harry Christophers and the Handel and Haydn Society present a new live recording devoted to the master of the symphony. This disc showcases Haydn's Symphony No. 7 "Le midi" which is amongst the most striking of his early symphonies and one of the very first the composer wrote as Kapellmeister to Prince Paul Anton Esterh�zy. It is set alongside the much later Paris Symphony No. 83 "La poule", named as such because of it's famous clucking dotted note motif. Completing the program is the Violin Concerto in C major performed by HH's fiery and expressive Concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky. Handel and Haydn Society is America's oldest continuously operating arts organization. It's Bicentennial celebration began with the 2014-2015 Season and continues into the 2015-2016 Season. Harry Christophers has been Artistic Director since 2008.

Fryderyk Chopin transformed the scherzo into an autonomous, independent work, rather than a part of a symphony or sonata as it was previously part of during the Classical era. Expanding this genre gave it a newer, more romantic and dramatic expression. The composer's polonaises give us a glance into his Polish patriotism. The polonaise is the most important national dance of Poland, and Chopin composed 18 over his lifetime. Polish pianist Raphael Alexandre Lustchevsky performs these works brilliantly. He has won multiple international awards, and has performed with some of the world's leading orchestras, such as the Krakow Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Oman Philharmonic.

The piano concertos of Fr�d�ric Chopin are amongst the greatest and best-known orchestral works of the 19th century. It is thus no wonder that every pianist would like to play them and, of course, record them as well. Joseph-Maurice Weder, winner of the SWISS AMBASSADOR'S AWARD 2013 in London, has achieved this in the unusual ensemble of the piano sextet. Chopin Concertos with Joseph-Maurice Weder and the Berlin Camerata. During the 19th century, the practice of transcribing orchestral works for smaller ensembles was widespread- in the age prior to recordings, this was an indispensible way of helping compositions achieve their breakthrough with the public.

This third installment in a series documenting the works of Maurice Ravel includes his longest work, Daphnis et Chloe, as well as Valses nobles et sentimentales. The works are performed here by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR). Founded in 1945, the ensemble is one of the most significant musical ambassadors for Germany. The SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart are also counted among the top ensembles in Germany. They frequently perform concerts on their home stages, and are often invited abroad.

The stage works of Maurice Ravel are as delicate and poised as one could imagine. In the Spanish-shaded L’heure espagnole, Ravel gives new vitality into the opera buffa by making the comedic element human, and giving the plot poignancy. Ravel wrote clear vocals, harmonic magic, and radiant orchestration. He imbues Cervante’s famous character with blue-blooded Spanish swagger, while still giving him a sort of heroic kindness and openness.

Paul Moravec has become one of the most acclaimed and admired composers of our time. His compositions stand out for their melodic poise, lyrical passion, and rich harmonic language. His Violin Concerto was grandly received and stands as one of his most important accomplishments. With its sensuous, romantic elegance and jubilant finale, it has earned a position as one of the most outstanding American compositions in this genre. The plaintive Shakuhachi Quintet integrates the shakuhachi, a classical bamboo flute, with the Western string quartet. Equilibrium was written specifically for this album. It recalls the B-A-C-H motive that is also heard in the Violin Concerto. Evermore was composed as a wedding gift for Maria Bachmann.

Violinist Krzysztof Jakowicz alongside the Witold Lutoslawski Chamber Philharmonic in Lomiza bring us this album filled with beautiful violin works from composers Jarzebski, Vivaldi, Bach, Pachelbel, Haydn, and Lutoslawski. Krzysztof Jakowicz (b. 1939) is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he studied under Professor Tadeusz Wronski. He is known as one of the most exceptional violinists of our day, and has made numerous recordings for various labels. The Lomza Chamber Philharmonic was founded in 1977 as the Lomza Chamber Orchestra. The ensemble has given more than one thousand concerts across Poland and overseas, and has received countless awards for their achievements and contribution to the musical culture of Poland. They were renamed Chamber Philharmonic in 2008.

CPO's previous release with the soloists and ensembles of the Boston Early Music Festival was awarded two prestigious prizes. The recording of Charpentier’s opera La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs received the Grammy Award for the Best Opera Production in February 2015 and recently won the Klassik-Echo 2015, again for the Best Opera Recording of the Year. Prior to this double success, other productions by cpo and BEMF had been nominated for Gramophone Awards. In the category of the Best Opera Production these were Ariadne by Johann Georg Conradi and Thésée and Psyché by Jean-Baptiste Lully. In addition, Thésée and Psyché received nominations in the category honoring Baroque Vocal Works.

Now the American ensemble joins forces with successful soloists like Aaron Sheehan and Teresa Wakim for our production of Handel’s opera Acis and Galatea in the version of 1718, which was composed for the landed estate of the Earl of Carnarvon and does not recycle music from the earlier version. Both Acis and Galatea and the cantata Sarei troppo felice heard here represent decisive turning points in Handel’s career. The Italian cantata came at the beginning of the one and half decades spent by Handel in the service of patrons. Acis and Galatea marks the highpoint of this phase and therefore, like the cantata before it, clearly renders recognizable the musical means available to him in the private ensembles of his employers. Moreover, Acis and Galatea contains the musical and textual seeds of the English oratorio, which after 1742 completely supplanted opera compositions.

Tanja Becker-Bender, one of Germany's most distinguished violinists, already has a number of critically acclaimed CDs of absorbing repertoire to her credit. Her collaboration with the Hungarian pianist Peter Nagy over many years has borne musical fruits of remarkable quality, as this Bartok recording so impressively demonstrates.

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REVIEW:

These players don’t seem to be among those who conceive Bartók’s music primarily as a rigorous exploration of dissonance; and their moving it from center stage, though hardly underplaying its jagged power (as in the Solo Violin Sonata), allows it to speak naturally and, in general, cogently. Highly recommended to admirers of the composer’s paradigm-shattering synthesis.

– Fanfare

Percy Grainger called the saxophone ‘the world’s finest wind-tone tool, the most voice-like’, and wrote for it a series of fascinating but hitherto little-explored works. These arrangements are special in that, unusually, Grainger largely abandoned his idea of ‘elastic scoring’ and noted specific instrumental configurations. The selections include the music of J.S. Bach, British and Norwegian folksongs, old polyphonic instrumental and vocal music, as well as two original compositions, each indelibly stamped with Grainger’s experiences as pianist, folk-song collector, and proponent of early music.

Born in 1934, the Czech jazz composer Milan Dvořák, no relation to his better-known classical composer namesake, has been active since the 1960s leading big bands and swing ensembles and remains active today. This is the debut recording of his 45 Jazz Piano Etudes which combine transcriptions of popular songs with classical influences and features the pianist Milan Franěk.