� In it's latest project, the Chorus sine nomine, one of Austria's leading choirs, under it's founder and director Johannes Hiemetsberger has turned to a very special work: the Miserere by Gregorio Allegri in an arrangement for saxophone and three choirs a cappella by Vladimir Ivanoff. � The setting of the 51st Psalm from the 1630s, which is uniquely captivating due to it's simplicity, was a fixed component of the liturgy of Easter week in the Sixtine Chapel in Rome for over 250 years and soon achieved cult status because of the high penalties on it's 'pirate copy'. � Here, the three-choir ensemble is in a subtle equilibrium with the young saxophonist Michael Krenn and meets any trace of sentimental mush with the respect due. � Recorded in the splendid Viennese acoustic of the Otto Wagner designed Church am Steinhof, built in the first decade of the 20th c. on the grounds of the then Lower Austrian State Asylum.

This release from the “Storyville Vinyl Remasters” series focuses on a classic late-career recording from pianist Bud Powell. Recorded at the Jazzhus Montmartre in 1962, Bouncing with Bud proved that Powell was still capable of giving performances as brilliantly fluid as his finest from the 1940s. Updated notes have been added to the inner sleeve and a free download of the album is included.​

One of, if not the foremost ballet company in the world, the Bolshoi Ballet dates its history to 1825, and its pre-history to the original company founded in 1776. Over the course of the entire 20th century the company vaulted to the pre-eminent status it has for the most part retained to this day.Its historic legacy in names and achievements of its brilliant dancers, choreographers and productions has long since become the stuff of legend, a legacy that continues today as this 4DVD Bel Air Classiques amply proves. The four productions, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, Adam’s Giselle and Asafiev’s The Flames of Paris, all filmed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 2010, feature some of the greatest of recent or current company dancers: Svetlana Zakharova, Natalia Osipova, Nina Kaptsova, Maria Allash, Svetlana Lunkina, David Hallberg and Artem Ovcharenko.

•THE NUTCRACKER: 103 MINS | AUDIO: 2.0 PCM, 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL | 1 DVD 9 NTSC 16:9
• THE SLEEPING BEAUTY: 138 MINS | AUDIO: 2.0 PCM, 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL | 1 DVD 9 NTSC 16:9
• GISELLE: 109 MINS | AUDIO: 2.0 PCM, 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL | 1 DVD 9 NTSC 16:9
• THE FLAMES OF PARIS: 103 MINS (BALLET) & 21 MINS (BONUS) | AUDIO: 2.0 PCM, 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL | 1 DVD9 NTSC 16:9

Prolific recording artist with a growing discography of over 100, often groundbreaking CDs, to his name, Brilliant Classics mainstay and promoter par excellence of Minimal Music Jeroen van Veen now finds himself and the music he champions so effectively the focus of six concurrent Brilliant Classic audiophile, 180g 33 1/2 rpm double-LP releases, amongst the label’s first forays into the re-awakened vinyl market. The six albums, each devoted to the piano works of a single composer, feature the music of Phillip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Simeon Ten Holt, Ludovico Einaudi, Yiruma and Erik Satie.

THE NUTCRACKER SESSIONS

This Frankfurt Opera production of Lohengrin, recorded in 2013, features the Frankfurter Opern und Museumsorchester led by conductor Bertrand de Billy and the Chor und Extrachor der Oper Frankfurt Chor directed by Matthias Köhler. Tenor Michael König (Lohengrin) is a regular guest at the Frankfurt Opera, previously heard as Tamino (The Magic Flute) and Florestan (Fidelio), amongst other roles. Soprano Camilla Nylund has starred as Elsa in Bayreuth and Finland and will soon tackle the role in Vienna as well.

This live La Forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi from Firenze, Italy in June 1956 stars a young and dynamic tenor Giuseppe di Stefano near the beginning of a brilliant, decades-long stage career and Renata Tebaldi, a lyric soprano blessed with one of the most gorgeous and forthright voices in 20th century opera, and in all likelihood in operatic history. The mezzo-soprano Fedora Barbieri is always a welcome presence in Italian opera recordings of this period. Gabriele Santini conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Comunale di Firenze.

Classical Music

Johann Sebastian Bach’s stature as a composer of extraordinary talent and widespread influence is so firmly established in Western culture that it is difficult to believe that only 150 years ago his works lay in veritable obscurity, unknown to all but a small group of scholars. It is largely thanks to Mendelssohn, who essentially effected a revival of the composer’s music through his rediscovery and promulgation of the St Matthew Passion, besides other pieces, that his works are today regarded as pinnacles of music expression. That they are among the most performed and widely attended is in no doubt; in Holland alone, thousands of singers and musicians are involved in dozens of performances of the St Matthew Passion in Holy Week, with hundreds of thousands listening in churches and concert halls, or gathered around the radio, to what has been described as ‘the Gospel according to Bach’.

Bringing together all of his works, this dynamic 142-CD set offers a resounding impression of this great spirit of our Western culture, presenting dynamic performances – many period-based, many acclaimed by the international press – that are divided according to genre, thus making for a highly user-friendly compendium. The set draws on all periods of his career, tracing the development of a style that was much influenced by contemporary and past fashions but which was always adapted to Bach’s own purpose, often far surpassing the models on which he drew. The German composer travelled a great deal from city to city, and the different circumstances of his various positions are reflected in the great range of works comprising his output: while his early years are dominated by much keyboard music, on account of the numerous organist posts he held during this period, later positions at various courts accorded him more personal and artistic freedom – in Cöthen, for example, Prince Leopold’s passion for music-making and his renowned resident orchestra resulted in a string of unforgettable works including the great Brandenburg Concertos, the Solo Cello Suites and the Well-Tempered Clavier Part 1, beside many others.

Bach was a master of all genres, whether sacred, secular, instrumental or vocal, and his oeuvre is a rich mixture of severe Baroque craftsmanship and expressive Romanticism. Thomas Zehetmair, Kristof Barati, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, René Jacobs, Peter Schreier and Lucia Popp are just a handful of the first-class performers and ensembles gracing this set. It is a collection not to be passed up.

R E V I E W S:

"Brilliant Classics embarked on a daring project in the year 2000, the year of the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's death: this budget label decided to release a complete set of Bach's works...some 65% of the 155 CDs in this set were newly recorded (the remainder was licensed from other labels), including Bach's almost 200 sacred cantatas...I highly recommend this set. I have recordings of all of Bach's works and yet I was delighted and surprised as I listened to the many pearls that I discovered here...if you like Bach's music, you owe it to yourself to get this - at its super-bargain price, even those recordings you don't like will not cause too much disappointment, but the quality of the excellent ones is such that you will certainly be delighted...If only to have the 60 CDs of sacred cantatas, and to discover what is an incredible collection of moving and memorable music, this set is worth having. Treat yourself to 160 CDs of Bach, then, take a few weeks off to enjoy this music." -- Kirk McElhearn, MusicWeb International, reviewing the original version of this set

"Brilliant's 2006 recordings of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, performed by Pieter-Jan Belder and the Netherlandish original instruments ensemble Musica Amphion, have been reissued several times as two separate discs, though the original release containing all six concertos maintains a separate existence as a budget release. This volume contains the Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049, the Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050, and the Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051, all played in clean and colorful period style and recorded in a resonant church acoustic that gives the music a fresh, lustrous ambience. Because this, like other titles in Brilliant's catalog, has the drab appearance of a poorly produced cost-cutter release, some collectors may pass it by, but that would be a mistake since these are exceptional performances that can give many of the better-known authentic renditions a run for the money. As leader of the group and performer on recorder and harpsichord, Belder offers intelligent and expressive interpretations that closely follow accepted Baroque practices, and though he and his fellow musicians aren't widely known outside the circle of listeners interested in early music, they can be respected for their musicianship and scholarly credentials. While these Brandenburgs may not be everyone's favorite performances in the end, they deserve attention from experienced listeners and newcomers alike." -- Blair Sanderson, AllMusic.com, reviewing the Brandenburg Concertos

"In their fusion of grand rhetoric, sharp technique, and obvious musical intelligence, Baráti’s readings of this bedrock literature recall both the most majestic and the most thoughtful ones from an earlier era. Urgently recommended, especially to those who honor that tradition and who lament its coming to a premature and unfortunate end." -- Robert Maxham, FANFARE, reviewing the Sonatas and Partitas for Violin

"Jaap ter Linden's traversal of the Bach cello suites is exceptionally fine; right across these discs, his playing never falters. His painstakingly researching interpretations are vividly spontaneous, yet unusually acerbic and philosophically probing." -- Classic CD, reviewing the Cello Suites

Responding to overwhelming popular demand, Chandos is releasing Verdi and Variations as a 12” LP for the first time. This new venture is Chandos’ first LP production in many years. The works on the record are performed by Canadian ensemble I Musici de Montreal under the direction of the late, lamented Yuli Turovsky. Despite Giuseppi Verdi’s curt dismissal of his one and only chamber work as of ‘no importance’, it nevertheless received a fantastic reception at its premier and was hailed as a masterpiece. The present recording is a string orchestra arrangement by Yuli Turovsky. The other two works represent two composer’s unique takes on Verdi’s music. Antonio Pasculli’s Grand Concerto on Themes from Verdi’s I vespri siciliani was designed to showcase the composer’s considerable virtuosity as an oboist; it is here played by Philippe Magnan. Marc-Oliver Dupin’s Fantasia on Arias from La Traviata (1995), revisits the ‘fantasy’ genre in a set of six contrasting and highly entertaining variations.

Claudio Merulo (1533–1604) enjoyed great renown in his time. +
His famous Toccate expresses most vividly his considerable skill in the practice of intavolare diminuito. + These world premiere recordings present the entire corpus of Merulo’s Toccate: the 9 Toccate contained in the First Book of Toccate d’intavolatvra d’organo (1598), the 10 Toccate contained in the Second Book of Toccate d’intavolatura d’organo (1604) and the 7 manuscript Toccate drawn from the Nuova intavolatura d’organo tedesca.

2016 will mark the centenary of the German late-Romantic composer Max Reger’s death. + Between 2013–1016, OehmsClassics will present in commemoration, and in co-production with the Bavarian Broadcasting Company (BR Klassik), a boxed set of 4 CDs per year building toward a complete accounting of Reger’s organ music. + As on 2013’s Complete Works for Organ Vol. 1: Early Works (OC 851), Munich-born Organist Bernhard Buttmann, director of church music at St. Sebald, Nürnberg since 2002, performs.

This 5-disc set features four outstanding 20th century conductors, William Steinberg (1899-1978), Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960), Igor Markevitch (1912-83) and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (b. 1931) thrillingly directing several Great Choral Classics of the 19th century, including Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Verdi’s Requiem. Sopranos Galina Vishnevskaya and Dame Janet Baker, among other stellar singers, feature prominently in these performances.

The third volume of the Musical portraits series is dedicated to André-Modeste Grétry (1741-1813). This 5CD box set includes highlights of several operas (La caravane du Caire, L'amant jaloux, Le jugement de Midas), his Six Quartets, op. 3 (Paris, 1773) and some partial adaptations of his operas (by Mozart and Franck, among others). These works demonstrate Grétry‘s fine melodic sensibility, harmonic panache and accomplished artistry.

Lorin Maazel and the Philharmonia Orchestra perform Mahler’s Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. This four-disc box is the second set in a series that will encompass Mahler’s Nine Symphonies, featuring live orchestral recordings from London’s Royal Festival Hall of Maazel and the Philharmonia’s much-lauded Mahler Cycle.