The UberBach album is a collection of compositions by the Munich-based composer Arash Safaian on themes by Johann Sebastian Bach. Safaian starts off with various pieces by Bach- chorales, orchestral works, organ and clavier music- and works with them to create five concertos for piano, vibraphone and chamber orchestra. Arash Safaian’s musical partner is the internationally acclaimed pianist Sebastian Knauer. Sebastian Knauer writes of this project: “When I heard the first example of UberBach, I was enthusiastic about the project at once. The virtuosity of the piano part, the melodiousness of the compositions and the closely woven sound made a deep impression on me. I imagined I was listening to Bach and yet it sounded too modern for the original.” He called his long-time musical partner, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the very next day and organized the recording. Arash Safaian is an artist, composer, and producer. He is the son of artist Ali Akbar Safaian, an important representative of Iranian modernism. Born in Teheran, he grew up in Bayreuth, where he was exposed to Richard Wagner’s operas at an early age. Alongside his interest in music, painting and sculpture shaped his childhood and youth. He has made his mark as a composer with orchestral works, ensemble pieces, film music and operas. He currently lives and works in Munich.

This third volume of our Michael Gielen Edition is devoted to music by Johannes Brahms, with all the recordigns taken from the archives of the Southwest German Radio. These recordings were made between April 1989 and January 2005. Michael Gielen enjoyed a felicitous involvement with Brahms' chamber music, particularly the late piano works where, in Schoenberg's words, the "progressive Brahms" is most evident. Maybe that's why Brahms' first piano quartet, orchestrated by Arnold Shcoenberg, sounds so ravishingly sharp under Gielen's direction. The solemnity of Schicksaslied calls for sincere commitment on the part of the conductor. Working as one, the Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden and Freiburg and Michael Gielen achieve an interpretation of this work that is both balanced and comforting.

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REVIEW:

Gielen proposes we listen to Brahms for the sake of his musical arguments rather than for the lustrous sounds that he's capable of conjuring, an approach that seems eminently sensible, and a valid alternative to various fleshier interpretive options.

– Gramophone

This new LP from Ingrid Fliter has been eagerly awaited since her previous vinyl release, Chopin: Preludes, which sold out within a year. This 45 rpm Supercut, 180g vinyl provides the authentic sound of an LP with less noise and a clean Hi-Fi response. The repertoire that Fliter has chosen is near and dear to her heart- the evergreen classic, Robert Schumann’s piano concerto. Ingrid rises to the needs that this romantic work requires, leaning into the shifting harmonic textures and technical difficulties of the work. Ingrid came into the public eye in 2006 when she won the Gilmore Artist Award, one of only a few pianists to have received the honor. She is known for her effortless technique and her enthusiasm on stage. Each of her performances is charming and poetic. This also marks the recording debut of Antonio Mendez, a young conductor whose star is on the rise. He conducts the world renowned Scottish Chamber Orchestra, who have recorded extensively on Linn.

The Mediterranean Sea, the cradle of many great cultures and travel route between Orient and Occident, is the point of departure of this enthralling album by the Pera Ensemble. On this release, the Pera Ensemble has dedicated itself to the Early Baroque - the period of transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period itself. The program consists entirely of Italian music adapted together with Ottoman music. This album contains numerous world premiere recordings.

Classical Music

Sven Helbig is one of the new composer generation for whom there are no longer any barriers between the classical world of the orchestra, experimental art and pop music. He composes choral, orchestral and chamber music for many different stages. Helbig's Pocket Symphonies are a coherent cycle of 12 compositions for orchestra and piano quartet in which the composer pursues the idea of creating symphonic pearls in the form of songs.

Two great German music traditions are fused together on this electro-acoustic album from Berlin-based composer Johannes Motschmann: the classics, and electronic music. Using analogue synthesizers, the Yamaha CP-70, and an old Wurlitzer piano, these dark and melancholic tracks mesh rhythmically with massive percussion and violin sounds. All of the components of these tracks, from percussive sounds to violin tracks, were recorded in the same acoustical space. This allows the handmade electrosounds to be perceived in their full, natural qualities. Boris Bolles helped to mix and master these works, as well as provide some of the violin tracks. Johannes Motschmann received his musical education at the University of Music Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden, then at the University of Music in Karlsruhe, and finally at the Hochschule fur Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. He studied piano, composition, and electronic music with such scholars as Jorg Herchet, Wilfried Jentzch, Clemens Kuhn, and Wolfgang Rihm. Motschmann’s compositions have been performed by Ensemble Modern, the NDR Radio Philharmonic, and the SWR Symphony Orchestra.

This outstanding five-disc set includes the first 8 of Beethoven’s symphonies, as well as his “Coriolan” and “Egmont” Overtures. All of these works are performed by the Filarmonica della Scala, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini. Giulini studied at Italy’s finest conservatory at the time, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Giulini gained a reputation as a masterful conductor of opera. He was also a noted interpreter of Beethoven.

REVIEW:

This is a throwback to an older style of Beethoven playing…The sound is massive, full, and beautifully blended… [The performances] have a wonderfully spacious quality, and the slowish tempi allow the inner parts to sound with unusual clarity.

-- BBC Music Magazine

This outstanding collection contains 6 discs and features some of the most memorable performances by The Royal Opera. The works included in this set include Verdi’s Aida, Otello, and Stiffelio, Strauss’s Salome, Gounod’s Romeo Et Juliette, and Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto. These discs bring together incredible conductors Paul Daniel, Edward Downes, Charles Mackerras, and Georg Solti with world-class stage directors Elijah Moshinsky, Nicholas Joel, Peter Hall, and Graham Vick. These recordings, all taken between 1992 and 1994, are preserved here in Standard Definition and 4/3 picture format.

The protean and prolific Jeroen van Veen turns his attention to Erik Satie’s complete piano works for a 9-CD boxed set that ties in with the composer’s 150th birthday year. In a way, the collection is completer than complete. It includes all of Satie’s published and unpublished works for solo piano and piano duo, piano arrangements of theater scores as Le fils des étoiles, Darius Milhaud’s transcription of Cinéma (the Entr’acte from the ballet Relache), plus van Veen’s duet arrangement of the first and third Gymnopédies in Debussy’s versions (replete with added arpeggios, percussive effects, and such). Van Veen also restores Parade’s opening Choral from the orchestral version that Satie omitted from his four-hand edition.

As if that weren’t enough, the final disc is given over to Vexations, the little piece Satie asks you to play 840 times in succession. Van Veen goes through it 47 times in 79 minutes, enough to make the point without having to endure 840 repetitions. However, should you feel shortchanged, Brilliant Classics has released a companion 18-disc set containing van Veen’s “complete” 23-hour-and-52-minute Vexations performance, but that’s another story, and another review.

As a Satie interpreter, van Veen shares with Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Aldo Ciccolini a kind of classical reserve without which the music can sound silly on the surface. However, he lacks these pianists’ brashness and dry wit in such ironically upbeat fare as the eight little pieces for Le piège de Méduse or Sur un casque from Descriptions automatiques. In slower selections such as the Gymnopédies and the Gnossienness, van Veen often favors dangerously drawn-out tempos, while playing down the expressive variety in larger multi-movement collections like the Sports et divertissements and the Douze petits chorals.

Still, van Veen’s beautiful and texturally varied sonority, his long-lined sensibility, and his intense focus draw you in. Sample the Nocturnes’ sustained, almost otherworldly serenity, or the subtle spacing of notes throughout the Véritables préludes flaques, and you’ll hear how completely and masterfully van Veen conveys his intentions, abetted by superb, full-bodied sonics. Sandra van Veen joins her husband for the piano duo selections, which stem from an earlier Brilliant Classics release that received a 10/10 rating from yours truly. The pianists’ airtight synchronicity, wide palette of articulations, and dapper stylishness remain reference-worthy.

In sum, while one might question van Veen’s conceptions of certain works as minimalist prototypes, the man’s awesome control and seriousness of purpose cannot be ignored. His fascinating and riveting pianism is well worth Brilliant Classics’ attractive budget price.

– ClassicsToday (Jed Distler)

All of Ludwig van Beethoven’s works for violin and piano are gathered on this new album from Thomas Albertus Irnberger and Michael Korstick. Michael Korstick is a recognized internationally as a Beethoven specialist, and the duo have been hailed as “the current champions in the Beethoven Ring.” (W. Shaper, Radio Bremen. This four-disc collection includes detailed information on the compositional background, written by T. A. Irnberger.

Also available on DVD

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD
This incredible box set presents the best of Russian opera. Included in the set are Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, and Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Recorded in renowned opera houses such as Teatro Regio, Torino, and De Nederlandse Opera, these performances are not to be missed.

Sound Format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS
Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, IT, ES, NE
Running Time: 919 mins

When his ship is wrecked in a storm, Robinson Crusoe finds himself stranded on a desert island with no one to help him and no chance of rescue. Scared and alone, he tries to make a life for himself, building shelters, hunting food, taming animals, crafting boats and making clothes. But just as his life appears to be settled, he sees someone else's footprint on the beach and a different struggle for survival begins, this time against cannibals and pirates. Published in 1719, the novel was an immediate success and continue to fascinate new generations.

American Originals is the latest release from the Cincinnati Pops conducted by John Morris Russell and features iconic American songs interpreted by a diverse array of acclaimed musical collaborators including Rosanne Cash, Dom Flemons, Over the Rhine, Joe Henry, Aoife O'Donovan and the Comet Bluegrass All-Stars. The first-ever Cincinnati Pops album to be recorded live in concert, American Originals breathes new life into the first chapter of the Great American Songbook and the music of Stephen Foster. The 94th Cincinnati Pops album includes inspiring new renditions of My Old Kentucky Home, O Susannah, Camptown Races, Aura Lee, Slumber My Darling, Hard Times, and Beautiful Dreamer, among other classic tunes. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, "The fresh arrangements and unique talents who performed them set each in a new light."