SUMMER BLOWOUT SALE 2026
Over 1,000 titles from top classical labels are on sale now at ArkivMusic!
Celebrate summer with a collection of music filled with color, charm, and discovery. From the shimmering worlds of Debussy and Ravel to the folk-inspired melodies of Dvořák and Grieg, the vibrant landscapes of Respighi and Copland, and the timeless brilliance of Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, and Vivaldi, this sale brings together recordings perfect for the season. Browse titles spanning beloved classics, orchestral favorites, chamber music, and contemporary discoveries, and find something new to enjoy all summer long.
Shop now before the sale ends at 9:00am ET, Tuesday, July 28th, 2026.
1004 products
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Suite No. 4 / Philharmonia Orchestra
CHILL WITH TCHAIKOVSKY
MOZART, W.A.: Marriage of Figaro (The) [Opera] (Karajan) (19
Janáček: Jenufa (Sung in English)
CHILL WITH HANDEL
Piano Español / Jorge Federico Osorio
Bruckner: Symphony No 3 / Wildner, Westphalia New Po
Wildner's conviction is immediately apparent in the first movement: Listen as he builds the opening's two great climaxes with arresting force, then infuses the following lyrical second subject with an ingratiating warmth. Fine as the first movement is, it's actually the Adagio and Finale that benefit most from Wildner's probing conducting, as both movements sound with a rare formal coherence married to dramatic impact. As a bonus, the first disc of this double set also includes the composer's intermediate version (1876) of the Adagio.
Bruckner's 1889 revision of the symphony is controversial for its sometimes ungainly melding of his early and late styles, as well as for the cuts--reportedly influenced by Franz Schalk--that gouge out large portions of the finale. However, Wildner miraculously smooths out the symphony's rough edges by adopting swift tempos (the first movement now has lost nearly four minutes), streamlined phrasing, and light textures; he also imparts an early-romantic, almost Mendelssohnian feel that makes this last version sound paradoxically like the earliest, contemporaneous with the Second Symphony.
The Westphalia New Philharmonic members perform with the same enthusiasm and expertise they displayed in their recording of the Ninth Symphony. And though the strings still don't match the richness of their world-class competition, the brass project more boldly and surely than before, and the orchestra as a whole cultivates an authentic yet distinctive Bruckner sound. Naxos' recording offers impressive clarity and dynamic range, though the dry hall acoustic doesn't provide much warmth. No matter--the heat generated by Wildner and his players more than compensates. [2/21/2004]
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com
Vaughan Williams: The Poisoned Kiss / Hickox, Bbc National
This is the premiere recording of Vaughan Williams's opera The Poisoned Kiss. This romantic extravaganza contains some of the composer's finest music, and a sense of fun runs through the delightful score. Vaughan Williams began writing The Poisoned Kiss, his fourth opera, in 1927. He was also working on Sir John in Love and had begun sketching the first scenes of Job. he was at the height of his musical powers, yet The Poisoned Kiss has remained unperformed, unrecorded and unknown. The reason for this neglect lies mainly in the rather dated text and the lengthy sections of spoken dialogue (some of which is omitted in this recording). It did not help that the composer and the librettist were uncertain about the balance between comedy and drama in the opera, a dilema that led to major revisions of the work by Vaughan Williams in 1936 and again in 1956-57. In the final version the composer's lyricism dominates the humour and we are treated to an extraordinary wealth of expressive and heart-felt music whcih does not deserve to be ignored. Recorded in: Brangwyn Hall, Swansea 3-6 January 2003 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Matthew Walker (Assistant)
CHILL WITH VIVALDI
Chill With Mozart
Includes work(s) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Chill With Satie
Includes work(s) by Erik Satie.
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky, Pushkiniana, Etc / Yablonsky
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Sung in English)
BEETHOVEN, L. van: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 8 (De Sabata) (1946
Bartók, Martinů, G. Klein: Orchestral Works / Eschenbach, Philadelphia Orchestra
REVIEW:
This release...offers an excellent musical programming concept, with all three works captured live in performances that are absolutely stunning and fully competitive with the best available. Both the Bartók and Martinů pieces were composed during their respective composers’ exile in America, while Gideon Klein’s Partita (an arrangement for string orchestra of his String Trio), is the result of “internal exile” in the Terezín concentration camp. All three men found ways to continue making music despite displacement, personal misfortune, and against the background of the rise of Nazism and the onset of war. More to the point, the program works because it offers plenty of purely musical contrast and variety.
Martinů’s Memorial to Lidice, a town wiped out by the Nazis as an act of retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, is a harrowing but ultimately hopeful orchestral elegy that receives the most gut-wrenching performance yet recorded. Eschenbach is about 50 percent slower than Ancerl (or anyone else), but he uses the extra time to excellent effect, revealing every luminous detail of Martinů’s orchestration and building the music to a shattering climax, with Beethoven’s Fifth balefully intoned by the horns. Klein’s Partita has much in common with Bartók’s Divertimento, with its folk-inflected thematic material. Its central movement is a very attractive set of variations on a Moravian theme, and it’s clear from this performance that the Philadelphia tradition of great string playing is very much alive and well. Eschenbach leads a performance both warm and incisive, revealing a major work in the process.
The Philadelphia Orchestra already has at least two recordings of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra to its credit, both with Eugene Ormandy--a fine early stereo version on Sony, and a mediocre early digital remake on RCA. This newcomer clearly is finer than either of those, as exciting a rendition as any available. Eschenbach thankfully eschews the excessive slowness that has marred his recent Mahler performances and lets the various sections of the orchestra display their considerable prowess in what remains one of the repertoire’s great showpieces. Listen to the rush of excitement in the transition to the first-movement allegro, or to the beautiful balance between woodwinds and harps in the second subject; notice the brilliant brass fugato that initiates the recapitulation, and the driving coda. It’s the real deal, from the very first note.
The sonics are markedly superior to what Sony, RCA, and EMI used to get in any of the various venues that they used, at least in stereo. The microphones are close to the players, the better to reduce the occasional noise from the audience (the occasional light cough isn’t at all bothersome), but the orchestra can take the exposure, and the sonic impact is pretty thrilling. I’m pleased (and honestly relieved) to be able to recommend it to you in the strongest possible terms.
-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)
Hamburger Kopfe: Conrad Hansen Plays
Opera Explained: Rossini - The Barber of Seville
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker
WAGNER, R.: Opera Highlights (Italian Wagner Singers, Vol. 2
Sweet & Low-down: Piano Music Of George Gershwin
CHOPIN: Fantasia on Polish Airs / Andante spianato / Krakowi
Lully: Grand Motets Vol 3 / Hervé Niquet, Concert Spirituel
The three Grands Motets are interspersed with Lully's settings of O dulcissime Domine and Laudate pueri Dominum. The two women's voices in O dulcissime Domine interweave magically over a continuo accompaniment. The highlight, however, is the first motet, Exaudiat te Dominus. The opening is lively and joyous, contrasting with the sad, heart-felt setting of Domine salvum fac. Le Concert Spirituel bring out the contrasts in the Dormierunt section of Notus in Judaea Deus well, and respond to the grandiose passages in the Benedictus. It is only in this latter piece that the generally crisp and rhythmic articulation flags.
The curious should not hesitate. The recording is in general good, although the harpsichord sounds dull. Full texts and translations are included.
-- Colin Clarke, MusicWeb International
