{"title":"The Best-Selling Box Sets","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor the collector who can never have too much music, explore \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eArkivMusic’s best-selling box sets\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—expansive collections made for discovering, revisiting, and getting lost in the music.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFeaturing works by \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChávez, Monteverdi, Mahler\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and more, alongside celebrated performances from \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLeonard Bernstein, the Juilliard String Quartet, Lorin Hollander\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and others, these listener favorites make an impressive gift—or the perfect addition to your own collection.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"grace-the-music-of-michael-tilson-thomas","title":"Grace - The Music of Michael Tilson Thomas (Luxury boxset)","description":"In celebration of his 80th birthday, this four-disc set spans more than five decades of Michael Tilson Thomas' compositional career. It features 18 works, from premiere recordings to remastered archival recordings available for the first time. The deluxe collection also includes an extensive booklet containing composer's notes, original essays, and a timeline of archival photos chronicling MTT's life as a pianist, conductor, composer, recording artist, and teacher. All proceeds from GRACE: The Music of Michael Tilson Thomas will be donated to brain cancer research at the University of California, San Francisco Brain Tumor Center.","brand":"PENTATONE","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012436414698,"sku":"8717306263559","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4363550-3236470.jpg?v=1786643918"},{"product_id":"franck-complete-orchestral-works","title":"Franck: Complete Orchestral Works \/ Liège Royal Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOrchestral music played a key role in the output of César Franck throughout his career. He accorded an important and innovative place to the symphonic poem, a new genre of the Romantic era: Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne actually dates from 1846, two years before Franz Liszt’s composition of the same name! As a virtuoso pianist himself, Franck also produced a number of concertante works, from early pieces written for his own performance – a few brilliant sets of variations and a youthful concerto – to the famous Symphonic Variations (1885). The Symphony in D minor of 1887 was one of the cornerstones of the renewal of the genre in France, coming between Saint-Saëns’s Third Symphony (1886) and Chausson’s Symphony (1899). The Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège presents here the first genuinely complete survey of this orchestral and concertante repertory, assembling recordings from recent years and some new productions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\" id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell11_12_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\"\u003eThe year 2022 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of César Franck. His orchestral music is not so often heard these days, so this comprehensive collection of performances from his home-town orchestra is quite timely. It would, however, have proved very welcome at any date for the Liège players not only play very well but also deliver the scores idiomatically and with real conviction. This box set usefully and enjoyably reminds us that there is plenty of pleasurable listening to be explored beyond the D minor symphony. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- MusicWeb International\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fuga Libera","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012441657578,"sku":"5400439007918","price":42.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4069335-2813670.jpg?v=1786694795"},{"product_id":"schumann-complete-works-for-piano-881488220742","title":"R. Schumann: Complete Works for Piano \/ Uhlig","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor over 60 years, repeated efforts have been made to capture on recording Robert Schumann’s Complete Works for Piano solo, a fascinatingly broad and varied spectrum ranging from highly virtuosic pieces for the concert hall and valuable literature for teaching purposes. This attractive and yet challenging assignment was not always approached with the necessary intellectual rigor, quite apart from any purely artistic shortcomings, and so none of these sets can justly be deemed “complete”. Schumann had published a string of works in two more or less divergent versions, so that it is highly questionable whether an edition can be labelled “Complete Recordings” if it only contains one of those versions or worse still, makes a misguided attempt to combine two of them. Meanwhile, works that were published at remote locations or remained unpublished have hitherto been taken into account only in exceptional cases.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first true complete recording of Robert Schumann’s works for piano solo on 17 albums (in 15 volumes), played by Florian Uhlig, seeks for the first time to offer imaginative compilations containing all original works for pianoforte written between 1830 (Abegg Variations op. 1) and 1854 (Ghost Variations) according to the newest critical editions and\/or first editions. Several of these albums also contain premiere recordings, often of fragments that were amenable to completion. After the project was completed in 2021, it was evident from a further critical inspection of the five Studien- und Skizzenbücher held in the University and State Library in Bonn, and from the volumes of the complete piano works for two hands that have so far appeared in this comprehensive and groundbreaking edition, that there is a string of either very short complete or longer fragmentary pieces dating from about 1830 to 1837 that are worthy of attention.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Haenssler Classic","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012448964842,"sku":"881488220742","price":85.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4140700-2910072.jpg?v=1786668897"},{"product_id":"wagner-parsifal-1955-knappertsbusch-bayreuth-festival-orchestra","title":"Wagner: Parsifal \/ Vinay, Mödl, Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003eWieland Wagner's production of Parsifal was performed at the Bayreuth Festival every year from 1951 to 1973. This makes it the longest-running production of Parsifal on the Bayreuth programme following the world premiere of 1882, which ran until 1933. Wagner’s opera opened the first post-war festival on the 30th of July, 1951, the day after the former Bayreuthian Wilhelm Furtwängler had performed Beethoven's 9th Symphony.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHans Knappertsbusch led Wagner’s Parisfal at the Bayreuth Festival in 1951 and 1952, and then annually from 1954 through 1964. For some reason his August 16, 1955 performance has never surfaced on CD until now, and it’s one of Kna’s stronger Parsifals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTempos are generally faster and more fluid than in the commercial 1951 recording. Compare the Act 1 Prelude’s Grail theme and the Transformation music, the Act 2 Flowermaiden’s scene, and the Act 3 Good Friday Spell in both recordings, and you’ll hear what I mean. Furthermore, Act 1’s recalcitrant bells had been replaced by 1955 with an electronic version that was reliable in intonation yet made less sonorous and majestic an impact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne can argue that 1955’s cast is the most consistently satisfying out of all the Kna Bayreuth Parsifals, with no weak links. Ludwig Weber reprises his distinctive and lieder-like Gurnemanz from 1951. Hermann Uhde’s heavy voice is better suited to Titurel’s gravitas here than Klingsor’s malevolence in 1951. 1955 features Gustav Neidlinger’s Klingsor, which is as riveting a piece of vocal acting as his legendary Alberich in Das Rheingold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRamón Vinay sings rather than barks the title role, and the unforced lyricism of his top notes seems to spur on Martha Mödl to deliver her best all-around Act 2 Kundry. True, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s Amfortas abounds with sibilantly snarling consonants, but he’s in fresher, more agile voice than in his 1972 studio Amfortas under Georg Solti.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday (Jed Distler)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Profil","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012458270954,"sku":"881488230024","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4207070-3144978.jpg?v=1786634344"},{"product_id":"mozart-violin-concertos","title":"Mozart: Violin Concertos","description":"Beloved worldwide, Chloe Chua returns to PENTATONE with Mozart's complete violin concertos - a project that began when she was just 15 years old.    The album features Mozart's Rondo in B-Flat Major, K. 269 and Rondo in C Major, K. 373 as well as the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola \u0026amp; orchestra in E-Flat Major, K. 364. The latter also features the outstanding young Chinese violist Ziyu He, winner of the 2016 Yehudi Menuhin Competition at just 16. In this performance, he showcases his remarkable artistry alongside Chloe, herself   a former winner of the same prestigious competition. The soloists are accompanied by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Hans Graf, for whom the relationship with the violin star is particularly special.     For Chloe, Mozart's music holds a special place in her heart and she has embraced the challenge of following in the footsteps of so many legendary violinists. In these refined and fresh interpretations, her deep connection to the music - written by Mozart when he was around her age - is unmistakable. Even without a trained ear, one can appreciate her extraordinary technique, elegance, and effort to capture the vitality of these beloved works.     This album continues Chloe's exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE, complementing the already released and acclaimed Butterfly Lovers \u0026amp; Paganini (2024) and Vivaldi Four Seasons and Locatelli Harmonic Labyrinth (2023).","brand":"PENTATONE","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012463022314,"sku":"8717306264204","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4426950-3394382.jpg?v=1786679244"},{"product_id":"beethoven-quartets-vol-1-late-string-quartets-635212073322","title":"Beethoven: Quartets, Vol. 1 - Late String Quartets \/ Calidore Quartet","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Calidore Quartet begin their new cycle of Beethoven's complete String Quartets with the Late Quartets, a 3-volume set of Opp. 127, 130, 131, 132, 133 \u0026amp; 135. Performances of the Calidore String Quartet are renowned for their “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct” (New York Times). Their unique “balance of intellect and expression” (Los Angeles Times) is complemented by the feeling that “four more individual musicians are unimaginable, yet these speak, breathe, think and feel as one” (Washington Post). After over a decade of performances and residencies in the world’s most esteemed venues and festivals, the release of numerous critically acclaimed recordings and lauded with significant awards, the Calidore String Quartet is recognized as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of a vast repertory; from the cycles of quartets by Beethoven and Mendelssohn to works of celebrated contemporary voices like Grygory Kurtag, Jörg Widmann and Caroline Shaw.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Signum Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012467183850,"sku":"635212073322","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4169814-2935177.jpg?v=1786636325"},{"product_id":"gustav-mahler-symphonies-1-9","title":"Gustav Mahler: Symphonies 1–9","description":"PENTATONE's release of the Czech Philharmonic's complete Mahler Cycle under Bychkov brings together one of Europe's most historically resonant orchestras with a conductor internationally recognised for his structural command and interpretive integrity. The orchestra occupies a distinctive place within Mahler's geographical and cultural landscape - Mahler was born and brought up in Bohemia and completed his First Symphony shortly after spending a year in Prague. Mahler symphonies have been central to Bychkov's programming with the Czech Philharmonic since 2018, when he opened his tenure as Chief Conductor and Music Director with performances of Mahler Symphony No. 2.    Symphonies Nos. 1-5, released by PENTATONE beginning in April 2022, have received universal acclaim. The recordings have been selected as Gramophone Editor's Choice and BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Month. As The Sunday Times writes, \"This is turning out to be one of the truly great Mahler sets.\"","brand":"PENTATONE","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012482617578,"sku":"8717306264907","price":99.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4488831-3518055.jpg?v=1786632033"},{"product_id":"pieter-wispelwey-the-complete-channel-classics-recordings","title":"Pieter Wispelwey - The Complete Channel Classics Recordings","description":"This boxed set brings together all the recordings that cellist Pieter Wispelwey (a disciple of Dicky Boeke and Anner Bylsma) made for Channel Classics between 1990 and 2009: 35 recordings in 20 years and an impressive diversity of repertoire. The great masterpieces of the solo repertoire, from the Bach Suites, recorded twice - an essential reference! - to those of Britten, not forgetting Reger, Kodaly, Crumb, Hindemith and Gubaidoulina, alongside all the great concertos (Haydn, Dvorak, Schumann, Elgar, Schumann, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Lutoslawski) and also a magnificent anthology of chamber music, including sumptuous Beethoven and Brahms ensembles. This anthology also allows us to appreciate the Dutch cellist's taste for instruments, on the one hand, and to rediscover his collaborations year after year with a few well-chosen partners, such as Paul Komen, Paolo Giacometti, Dejan Lazic, and the conductor Ivan Fischer, on the other.","brand":"Channel Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012492382442,"sku":"723385762423","price":82.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4368225-3232770.jpg?v=1786665625"},{"product_id":"the-complete-beethoven-piano-concertos-ohlsson-runnicles-grand-teton-festival","title":"Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos \/ Ohlsson, Runnicles, Grand Teton Festival Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003eGreat Performances, Great Sound and World-Renowned Artists! Reference Recordings is proud to present The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos played by Grammy-winning Garrick Ohlsson, performing with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson is especially noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. He is the only American to win first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis new recording represents a pinnacle in his career. The Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra consists of top talent from across the country, including more than 220 musicians from 90 orchestras and 65 institutions of higher learning, many performing together each summer for over 25 years. The Festival, founded in 1962, also welcomes yearly some of the most sought-after soloists and visiting artists in classical music today. Under the baton of world-renowned conductor Sir Donald Runnicles, these musicians come together to gather inspiration from the mountain setting and to provide spectacular music for Festival audiences. This album was recorded during live performances in July 2022, produced by Victor Muenzer, and engineered by Kevin Harbison.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGarrick Ohlsson and Donald Runnicles accomplished the ambitious feat of recording all five Beethoven piano concertos over five consecutive days in July 2022. You wouldn’t know that from these unpressured and poised performances, at least for the most part. The Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra may be a pick-up aggregation, yet Runnicles obtains world-class results by way of clear-cut balances between orchestral strands, and virtually immaculate unanimity of ensemble attacks and releases.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOhlsson’s 74-year-old fingers operate at unambiguous full capacity. Runs and trills are as accurate, assured, and directional as ever; themes are thoughtfully characterized and articulated with variety. Unlike many pianists who rattle off the “Emperor” concerto’s introductory cadenza like a day at the races, Ohlsson’s shapely phrasing draws attention to the composer rather than to himself. I’m especially taken with Ohlsson’s vocally informed legato and rapt sustaining power in all five slow movements, where he strikes a happy medium between his one-time mentor Claudio Arrau’s rhetorical inflections and Wilhelm Kempff’s luminous intimacy (the pianist’s hauntingly calibrated left-hand tremolos in No. 3’s Largo seem to emerge from afar). The assiduously dovetailed rapid exchanges between soloist and orchestra in No. 4’s Rondo either result from painstaking rehearsal or profound mental telepathy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo be sure, all is not perfect: Tempos bog down in No. 1’s Allegro con brio from the development section on, while No. 2’s underplayed Rondo Finale lacks the bracing angularity that Schnabel, Kapell, Gould, and Fleisher brought to this music. The Creatures of Prometheus Overture that follows the “Emperor” on Disc 3 begins with a crisp, hard-hitting introduction, then settles into auto-pilot for the main section. If the Ohlsson\/Runnicles Beethoven cycle falls short of the freshness and individuality distinguishing recent contenders like Zhang\/Stutzmann, Barnatan\/Gilbert, and Hough\/Lintu, these superbly engineered recordings still offer much to savor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf all pianists before the public today, Ohlsson’s technique is among the most honest. Every note is present and accounted for, nothing ever fudged, all within an exquisitely calculated proportionality. His approach is, above all, lyrical. This is a bouquet of Beethoven concertos like no other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- Gramophone\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have several Reference Recordings in my collection and I’m always bowled over by their impeccability, where everything is recorded and mastered to perfection. For me, they’re the crème de la crème when it comes to recorded sound. This new release is no exception. The engineers have done a sterling job in placing the solo piano ideally in the sound picture. The three discs (Hybrid SACDS with Stereo SACD, 5.0 Surround SACD and Stereo CD layers) come nicely presented in the traditional fatbox format, and are well-annotated. There’s no doubting that this will be one of my Recordings of the Year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- MusicWeb International\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Reference Recordings","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46012506734826,"sku":"030911275129","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4201737-2975006.jpg?v=1786682767"},{"product_id":"haydn-2032-vol-1-10-the-symphonies","title":"Haydn 2032, Vol. 1-10: The Symphonies \/ Antonini, Il Giardino Armonico, Kammerorchester Basel","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis ten-album set celebrates the release of the first ten volumes of the HAYDN2032 series, which aims to record all 107 Haydn symphonies by the 300th anniversary of his birth in 2032. This highly ambitious project under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini is shared between two ensembles, Il Giardino Armonico and Kammerorchester Basel. Its first volumes have received the most prestigious awards, including the Gramophone Award, the Diapason d’Or, the ‘Choc’ de Classica of the year and the Preis der Deustchen Schallplattenkritik. Produced in collaboration with the Joseph Haydn Foundation in Basel, this series pays tribute to one of the key composers in the history of music, whose inventiveness and emotional richness are nevertheless underestimated all too often. Antonini places his enthusiasm and sense of colour at the service of this music, which he sees as ‘a kaleidoscope of human emotions’.\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Alpha","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012529410282,"sku":"3760014197741","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4041594-2799789.jpg?v=1786671627"},{"product_id":"mozart-string-quartets-complete-7-cd-set-4260085535231","title":"Mozart: Complete String Quartets (7 CDs) \/ Armida Quartet","description":"\u003cp\u003eAll Mozart String Quartets complete. The Armida Quartett is seen today as one of the best quartets coping with the giant W.A. Mozart. Rave reviews from Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. The Box has been recorded and released in close cooperation with the famous Henle publisher.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CAvi-music","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012529770730,"sku":"4260085535231","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4179721-2953533.jpg?v=1786635919"},{"product_id":"meyerbeer-robert-le-diable-minkowski-bordeaux-aquitaine-national-orchestra","title":"Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable \/ Minkowski, Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cem\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eNotable Recording of 2022!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrench grand-opéra specialist Marc Minkowski has at last recorded \u003cem\u003eRobert le Diable\u003c\/em\u003e, a jewel of the genre. A triumph at its premiere in November 1831, it captivated contemporaries, and its influence stretched as far as Verdi and Wagner. An imposing international cast brings this repertory cornerstone to life: John Osborn portrays a Robert at once valiant and tender, Amina Edris reveals her full resources in the perilous role of Alice, while idiomatic performances by Nicolas Courjal, Erin Morley and Nico Darmanin complete a line-up offering the most vivid contrasts of tessitura. Against the backdrop of a medieval legend, this fantastical work depicts a confrontation between Good and Evil, pitting against each other a group of protagonists torn between desire and duty. A foundational score of musical Romanticism – performed more than 750 times in the nineteenth century at the Paris Opéra alone – is now gradually emerging from oblivion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn these days of cash-strapped opera houses and risk-averse labels, recordings of the grander grand operas are rarities. Flawless ones are even rarer, making this breathtaking and ground-breaking new Palazzetto Bru Zane recording of Meyerbeer’s\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRobert le Diable\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ea cause for celebration. In Marc Minkowski’s experienced hands, Meyerbeer’s gothic saga fairly flies off the page, every bar fizzing with energy and with set pieces that burst over our heads like fireworks. Add an outstandingly talented cast, headed by John Osborn as Robert and Erin Morley as Isabelle, and you have a set with award-winner written all over it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-- Limelight\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bru Zane","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012548743402,"sku":"8055776010069","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4122944-2885600.jpg?v=1786632793"},{"product_id":"cherubini-les-abencerages-ou-letendard-de-grenade-8055776010076","title":"Cherubini: Les Abencérages or The Standard of Grenada \/ Vashegyi, Orfeo Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003eCherubini’s \u003cem\u003eLes Abencérages\u003c\/em\u003e, premiered in 1813, heralds the spectacle and extravagance of Romantic grand opera. From the Alhambra gardens to the battlefield, the action skillfully intertwines political conspiracies with a love story. Underpinned by the energy and timbres of period instruments, this recording demonstrates the work’s modernity and its musical qualities. Anaïs Constans valiantly tackles the demanding role of Noraïme, while Edgaras Montvidas displays his lyric tenor voice in a series of sublime airs whose beauty was already hinted at by none other than Roberto Alagna in a recital disc released in 2003. Around this couple, a plethoric cast of soloists (Dolié, Sargsyan, Williams, Martin, Lavoie, etc.) achieves the same high standards of French diction and style. The Hungarian conductor György Vashegyi, flanked by the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, reveals here another key milestone of French Romantic opera.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnstaged in Paris for over two centuries\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLes Abencérages\u003c\/em\u003e, a kind of ‘missing link’ in the history of French opera, has been disinterred by Bru Zane. The overture with its two warring themes – romantic passion versus battlefield chivalry – announce a changed sensibility where the political is properly personal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGyörgy Vashegyi and the Orfeo Orchestra find Beethoven – drums and trumpets and driving rhythms – in Cherubini’s score, and hints at the start of Act III of the Romanticism to come with Mendelssohn. While Étienne de Jouy’s libretto is set in the exotic Alhambra of late-15th century Moorish Grenada, its spectacle and masterly use of the chorus suggests the coming French Grand Opéra. Its story presents two warring factions within the last Spanish caliphate ready to be reconciled through the warrior Almazor’s marriage to Princess Norïme. That is until the villainous Vizier Alémar starts to plot!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCherubini’s vocal line is free of Italian decorative thrills. Anaïs Constans handles Norïme’s high tessitura with grace, and Edgaras Montvidas’s Almanzor is a worthy heir to Louis Nourrit, the tenor who created the role in 1813. His farewell when exiled from Grenada having ‘lost’ the kingdom’s sacred standard on the battlefield is properly affecting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYet it’s the Purcell Choir who steal the vocal honours, with magnificent singing by the women in Act I as they prepare for the wedding, and the men rattling their vocal sabres handsomely as the plot thickens in Act II. For all that, the musical history is perhaps more striking than the opera itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-- \u003c\/span\u003eBBC \u003cem\u003eMusic\u003c\/em\u003e Magazine\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bru Zane","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012549497066,"sku":"8055776010076","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4140900-2907693.jpg?v=1786636155"},{"product_id":"compositrices-new-light-on-french-romantic-women-composers","title":"Compositrices - New Light on French Romantic Women Composers","description":"\u003cp\u003eWomen composers had great difficulty in making their voices heard and gaining recognition during their lifetimes. Even today, they are all too rarely heard in the concert hall or the opera house. That situation obviously cries out for a change in attitude, but then come the questions: all right, let’s programme women composers, but which ones, and which of their works? In this eight-CD set featuring several hundred performers, the Palazzetto Bru Zane offers its initial answer as far as nineteenth-century France is concerned. The selections range over chamber music, orchestral works, piano pieces and songs. They highlight twenty-one female creators, from already identified personalities like Hélène de Montgeroult, Louise Farrenc, Pauline Viardot, Marie Jaëll and Mel Bonis to such completely unknown figures as Charlotte Sohy, Madeleine Jaeger, Marthe Grumbach, Jeanne Danglas, Hedwige Chrétien and Madeleine Lemariey. From now on, there will be no excuse for ignoring Romantic women composers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bru Zane","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012550971626,"sku":"8055776010090","price":53.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4179715-2958639_c1ec9026-1c5e-4b3e-bb40-4245b346d62e.jpg?v=1786682883"},{"product_id":"franck-hulda-madaras-liege-royal-philharmonic","title":"Franck: Hulda \/ Madaras, Liège Royal Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe injustices of history are made to be redressed. Here a cast of international singers, under the dynamic direction of Gergely Madaras, devotes itself with conviction to the task of reviving one of the forgotten glories of French Romantic opera. Hulda, completed in 1885, was never staged in César Franck’s lifetime. This gory medieval legend recounts the multiple acts of vengeance its heroine inflicts on the Aslak clan, which slaughtered her family, and on her unfaithful lover Eiolf. The ferocious performance of American soprano Jennifer Holloway in the title role is matched by the sinister presentiments of her French colleague Véronique Gens and the tender outbursts of Dutch soprano Judith van Wanroij. Although the imaginary Norwegian setting brings Wagner to mind, Franck continues the tradition of French grand-opéra while adopting the contemporary Verdian idiom. The intensity of the action is reflected in harmonic and instrumental experiments that place Franck in the forefront of the modernists of his time. The inventiveness of the ballet is matched only by the splendour of the choral writing. How could such a masterpiece have languished in oblivion for so long? Quite simply, because it was deliberately buried by Franck's pupils, who preferred to keep for themselves the glory of personifying the French operatic revival.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bru Zane","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012552413418,"sku":"8055776010113","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4211073-2990327.jpg?v=1786676147"},{"product_id":"massenet-ariane-bruzane","title":"Massenet: Ariane \/ Campellone, Munich Radio Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003e‘It would be difficult to find a simpler and more poignant subject’, Massenet remarked during the composition of Ariane, a vast score in five acts premiered at the Paris Opéra in October 1906. The libretto by Catulle Mendès is part ancient drama, part symbolist poem, and sets Phaedra and Ariadne, two sisters in love with Theseus, in violent conflict with each other. This epic work does not shrink from relating the combat against the Minotaur, from showing a ship tossed by the raging billows, nor even from transporting the audience to the Underworld where Persephone reigns. Despite its flamboyant orchestration, its grandiose scenography and its triumphant premiere, Ariane remains one of the few Massenet operas never recorded until now. The young Egyptian soprano Amina Edris takes the title role with ardour and passion, surrounded by a cast well versed in the specificities of the French style. The Bavarian Radio Chorus provides dedicated support in the epic scenes, under the baton of Laurent Campellone, a great champion of Massenet.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bru Zane","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012553199850,"sku":"8055776010120","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4235471-3144017.jpg?v=1786633192"},{"product_id":"scriabin-complete-piano-music-dmitri-alexeev","title":"Scriabin: Complete Piano Music \/ Alexeev","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe history of Scriabin’s piano music is like a condensed history of piano music, for his style changed perhaps more than any other composer during his life. It has been said that young Scriabin kept Chopin’s music under his pillow, and the early Preludes and Mazurkas certainly breathe the same heightened air of ardour and yearning. His journey from the traditional tonal harmony of these Chopinesque beginnings to his atonal ‘Mystic chord’ (based on fourths) is, however, a masterfully smooth one, best appreciated when taking the sum of his work into account. Born in 1947, long resident in London as a professor at the Royal College of Music, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDmitri Alexeev entered the Moscow Conservatory at six years of age. A string of EMI recordings in the 80s established his reputation worldwide, but they included scant representation of one of his most ardent passions, the music of Scriabin, beyond the concertante Prometheus conducted by Riccardo Muti. Alexeev’s touch emulates the contemporary accounts of Scriabin’s own playing, which did not rely on power because of his slight build. Rather, he ‘captivated the listener through his ability to enhance his sound with an extraordinary range and gradation of color…his fingers seemingly plucked the sound from the piano keys…as if his hands flew over the keyboard barely touching it.’ Made between 2008 and 2019 in London and in the purpose-built Music Room at Champs Hill, home to many superlative modern chamber-music albums, these recordings won broad critical acclaim on their original publication. Their reissue at super-budget price makes an obvious first port of call for any listener looking to immerse themselves in the rich, heady world of Scriabin’s piano writing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell7_12_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\" class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003eSingle-artist sets such as this are rarely satisfactory with their inevitable troughs and peaks. Here, for two reasons, is an exception: first, for any pianist to play the complete solo piano works of Scriabin (except for works without opus numbers) is a tremendously challenging undertaking; second, the pianist in question is one of today’s keyboard giants. Dmitri Alexeev must rank as one of the most under-the-radar great pianists currently active. Having won the Leeds Competition in 1975 (the first Russian to do so, beating Schiff and Uchida in the process) and enjoyed a high-profile international career for the following decades, Alexeev devotes much of his time to teaching (at the Royal College of Music) and sitting on competition juries. But great pianist he remains.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- Gramophone\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012555690218,"sku":"5028421959139","price":41.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4037967-2782295.jpg?v=1786694536"},{"product_id":"bizet-djamileh-vasco-de-gama-cantates-musique-chorale-m","title":"Bizet: Djamileh; Vasco de Gama; Cantates; Musique chorale; M","description":"No, Georges Bizet was not only the composer of Carmen, the French opera most frequently performed around the world. In a career spanning less than twenty years, he produced works in every genre: orchestral music, piano pieces, cantatas, operas, songs and more besides. He showed an early mastery of orchestration, and was soon able to give free rein to his taste for orientalism and folklore. This portrait offers a chance to discover works that were never performed during his lifetime, indeed some which had to wait until 2024 for their premiere. Of particular note is the 'ode-symphony' Vasco de Gama, which illustrates the Romantic taste for vast historical epics, and Le Retour de Virginie, a cantata for the Prix de Rome presented by the composer to his teacher in 1855. Piano music and melodies remind us that Bizet was also a sought-after salon composer, whose talent posterity has consecrated in songs like La Coccinelle and Les Adieux de l'hôtesse arabe.","brand":"Bru Zane","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012558737642,"sku":"8055776010205","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4397850-3315121.jpg?v=1786660947"},{"product_id":"vaughan-williams-complete-symphonies-richard-hickox-andrew-davis","title":"Vaughan Williams: Complete Symphonies \/ Hickox, A. Davis, LSO, Bergen Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eTo celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Vaughan Williams, we are proud to reissue this outstanding symphony cycle. Started in 1999 by Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra, this was the first Vaughan Williams symphony cycle to be recorded in Surround Sound and released on Hybrid SACD. Tragically, Richard Hickox died before he was able to complete the project – a task that was undertaken by Sir Andrew Davis and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. This reissue is priced at 6 discs for the price of 2, and features almost an hour of bonus material – broadcast interviews with Sir Adrian Boult and Sir John Barbirolli, and reminiscences from both Ursula Vaughan Williams and the composer himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePraise for previously released recordings included in this set\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVaughan Williams: Symphony No. 2 \/ Hickox, London Symphony\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRichard Hickox gives us the chance to hear VW's original, hour-long canvas – and riveting listening it makes too! Sprawling it may be, but this epic conception evinces a prodigal inventiveness, poetry, mystery, and vitality that do not pall with repeated hearings. An essential purchase for anyone remotely interested in British music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- Gramophone (\u003cstrong\u003e2001 Recording of the Year\u003c\/strong\u003e)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 \/ Hickox, London Symphony\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003eThis is an exceptionally powerful yet deeply moving account of the Fifth. Aided by glowing, wide-ranging engineering, Hickox's is an urgently communicative reading. The first and third movements in particular emerge with an effortless architectural splendour and rapt authority, the climaxes built and resolved with mastery.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003e-- Gramophone\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVaughan Williams: Symphony No. 8, \"Sinfonia Antartica\" \/ Davis, Bergen Philharmonic\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003eThe Bergen Phil finds a clear affinity with the Sinfonia Antartica...There’s an inexorability about this performance and a strong tragic undertow that makes it a compelling listen throughout. Davis authoritatively builds up the tension without any fussiness.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003e-- The Sunday Times (UK)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46012564472042,"sku":"0095115530320","price":43.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4092642-2845983.jpg?v=1786814889"},{"product_id":"klara-wurtz-celebration","title":"Klara Wurtz Celebration","description":"Klara Wurtz Celebration","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012573909226,"sku":"5028421975221","price":69.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4413298-3378428.jpg?v=1786660204"},{"product_id":"respighi-orchestral-works-orchestre-philharmonique-royal-de-liege-sao-paulo-symphony-orchestra","title":"Respighi: Orchestral Works \/ John Neschling","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis 7-SACD collection includes recordings made by Brazilian-born conductor John Neschling of the orchestral works of Ottorino Respighi, alongside Puccini the best-known Italian composer of the first half of the twentieth century. Widely praised by the press, including BBC Music Magazine, which described them as ‘the finest-ever survey of the composer’s orchestral output undertaken by a single conductor’, these recordings reveal Respighi’s extraordinary range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis transcriptions of works from the baroque period bear witness to his great musical refinement and are an example of the way in which people dared to adapt to current tastes at the beginning of the 20th century. His original compositions, whether symphonic poems, ballets or symphonic works, often call for a large orchestra, sometimes with the addition of numerous percussion instruments, piano, organ and even, in Pines of Rome, a phonograph, present a synthesis of the musical traditions of his native Italy and contemporary romantic, impressionist and neo-classical trends while remaining resolutely closed to modernist developments and atonality. Respighi’s lavish sound palette and the spirit that fills his scores were to find an echo in Hollywood film music, and John Williams considers him to be one of his most important influences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePast praise of the previously released recordings included in this set\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRespighi: The Birds; Ancient Airs \u0026amp; Dances\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese performances are uncommonly airy. Much of this music is suffused with an autumnal melancholy, and Neschling and his orchestra capture that very well. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- Fanfare\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRespighi: Metamorphoseon, etc.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of the performances here are expert, but conductor John Neschling deserves particular credit for keeping things movement purposefully forward in the first two long, and mostly slowish, movements of the Belkis suite. The same work’s vulgar (let’s not kid ourselves) concluding Danza orgiastica also sounds more musical than usual–less like a back-alley gang bang–but with no loss of energy. The Liège orchestra plays with great bravura, and BIS’s SACD sonics, typically, are just terrific. In short, a very worthy entry in this ongoing series.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRespighi: Roman Trilogy \/ Neschling, Sao Paulo Symphony\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\" id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell0_12_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\"\u003eThe São Paulo Symphony Orchestra is a superb ensemble by any standards, and displays their virtuosity in the three Respighi symphonic poems.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- SA-CD.net\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46012583051498,"sku":"7318599925202","price":79.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4253129-3143309.jpg?v=1786638759"},{"product_id":"louis-couperin-complete-harpsichord-music-massimo-berghella","title":"L. Couperin: Complete Harpsichord Music \/ Berghella","description":"\u003cp\u003ePerformers and listeners alike have long gravitated to Louis Couperin's music more than to that of any other member of the French keyboard school of the time, probably because of its fascinating and surprising harmonic language. There are 129 pieces catalogued as authentic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn making this new recording of all 129 pieces, Massimo Berghella has chosen to take the Preludes as starting points for ‘suites’ – 17 in all – which gather up the remaining dance movements into coherent sequences cast in the same key as the relevant Prelude.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmong the most distinguished active Italian harpsichordists, Massimo Bergella studied with Kenneth Gilbert at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. He has a 30-year-long career as a teacher himself, as well as a performance diary and discography that has taken him across Europe for recitals, broadcasts and recordings. Of a previous album of d’Anglebert, La Nazione remarked that Berghella ‘grasps the reconstructive necessity of the scores, performing them in all their poetic complexity.’\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brilliant Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012584853738,"sku":"5028421962382","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4412833-3337368.jpg?v=1786693224"},{"product_id":"beethoven-the-5-piano-concertos","title":"Beethoven: The 5 Piano Concertos \/ Haochen Zhang, Stutzmann, Philadelphia Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs one of the finest pianists of his era and an improviser of genius, Ludwig van Beethoven’s preferred vehicle for musical exploration was the piano. With his five piano concertos composed between 1788 and 1809, he not only achieved a brilliant conclusion to the Classical piano concerto, but also established a new model for the Romantic era: a sort of symphony with obbligato piano which was to remain a reference point well into the twentieth century. After the first two concertos, which still closely follow the models of Haydn and Mozart, Concerto No. 3 marks a profound stylistic change. In the piano part, Beethoven pushes the instrument to its limits, leading commentators to remark that he was writing for the piano of the future. This trend continued and reached its fullness in the Fourth and Fifth Concertos, which today rank among the great composer’s most admired works.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2009, Haochen Zhang was the youngest pianist ever to receive the Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Since then he has captivated audiences worldwide with a unique combination of deep musical sensitivity, fearless imagination and spectacular virtuosity. He now performs the five Beethoven concertos supported by the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra under its principal guest conductor, the charismatic Nathalie Stutzmann.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn a crowded pool of complete Beethoven piano concerto recordings, young Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang makes an impressive splash with his traversal of one of the most imposing cycles in the entire repertoire. With French conductor Nathalie Stutzmann leading the Philadelphia Orchestra, Zhang deftly handles Beethoven’s fiendish runs and cadenzas throughout these five imposing works. Most memorable are the 3rd and 4th concertos, which have the most balance between urgency and delicacy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- The Flip Side\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BIS","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46012612968682,"sku":"7318599925813","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4129113-2896823.jpg?v=1786635907"},{"product_id":"beethoven-the-piano-concertos-and-choral-fantasy-rudolf-serkin-kubelik","title":"Beethoven: 5 Piano Concertos \u0026 Choral Fantasy \/ Serkin, Kubelik, BRSO","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThese Bavarian Radio recordings, first released in 2005, constitute Rudolf Serkin's third and final edition of the Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos, and were the only performances to be recorded in the concert hall, not in the studio. As such, they fittingly complete both his discography and his artistic legacy as one of the 20th century’s indisputably great pianists. This jewel case presentation, complete with booklet notes in German and English, is a re-release of the original 3-album box set that went out of stock following healthy sales.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFor at least a half century Beethoven’s piano concertos played a central role in Rudolf Serkin’s repertoire. Yet out of all the Serkin Beethoven concerto cycles on disc, the present one, recorded over the course of three concerts in October and November of 1977, offers the most consistent artistic and sonic satisfaction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe slightly distant yet attractively robust engineering conveys a cogent sense of concert hall-realism, and not just to the benefit of Rafael Kubelik’s superb Bavarian musicians. It also reveals Serkin’s elusive, difficult-to-record sonority in more flattering, three-dimensional light than the gaunt, often monochrome impression one gleans from his Columbia Masterworks sessions. As a result, the concentration and inner tension Serkin brings to the slow movements comes off with more warmth and sustaining power.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAlthough Serkin at 74 may not have been the impetuous, fiery virtuoso in the first three concertos’ finales that he was in his 40s, when he recorded them for CBS Masterworks, his technique nevertheless is still assured, alert, and responsive, and far more energized than in his relatively careful and labored collaborations with Ozawa.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHowever, Serkin must have drunk from the fountain of youth before hitting the stage for the Choral Fantasy (Kubelik, too, for that matter). The performance radiates inspiration from start to finish, highlighted by Serkin’s ardent yet cannily structured opening cadenza, the chamber episodes’ zestful give and take, plus massed choral and orchestral tuttis that at once communicate elemental power and textural clarity. Let’s hope this major addition to Serkin’s discography will encourage Sony not to leave its own complete Serkin edition hanging.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFor all fans of the pianist and\/or the conductor, this release is a must. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e--ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis recording of Serkin from 1977 highlights a 20th-century great who brought musical purpose and intellectual rigour to every detail. Serkin ranks among the greatest of 20th-century pianists; his repertoire ranged from Bach to Reger, but Beethoven was always at its very heart. In the autumn of 1977, in the Herkulessaal in Munich, he played all five Beethoven concertos as well as the Choral Fantasy in a series of concerts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Rafael Kubelík, another musician who, like Serkin, always put himself at the service of the music. Recordings of those performances were first released on disc in 2005...their reissue now makes available again what is in every respect a historic musical document.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSerkin was never interested in ingratiating himself through honeyed phrases or silken tone. Instead in these interpretations there is musical purpose and intellectual rigor in every detail. Whether it’s the almost combative muscularity he brings to the piano’s first entry in the third concerto, or the instant authority of his torrential opening to the Emperor, it sets the tone for all that follows, constantly drawing equally intense responses from Kubelík and his superb orchestra. The accounts of the slow movements are just as remarkable; there’s a hymn-like calm to the Largo of the third, a consoling sweetness to the fourth’s exchanges between the soloist and the orchestra. All are in short, remarkable performances, not only among the finest available on disc, but further reminders of just how peerless a Beethoven interpreter Serkin was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e--The Guardian \u003c\/em\u003e(Andrew Clements)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orfeo","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012626534634,"sku":"4011790647036","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4046162-2792268.jpg?v=1786650228"},{"product_id":"beethoven-complete-string-quartets-dover-quartet","title":"Beethoven: Complete String Quartets \/ Dover Quartet","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNamed one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBBC Music Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, the Grammy-nominated\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eDover Quartet’s critically acclaimed traversal of Beethoven’s Complete String Quartets is now available as a specially priced 8-disc boxed set (price of 3 CDs), releasing December 8.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“It’s hard to imagine a group better suited to recording these works than the Dover Quartet,” wrote New York’s WQXR of the Vol. 1 Op. 18 quartets, often cited as the epitome of the classical string quartet as developed by Haydn and Mozart, while foreshadowing Beethoven’s future innovation. “Beethoven would find it hard to believe that his quartets could be played with such perfection of execution, such beauty of tone, such nuance of expression, and such keen understanding of his music’s meaning and intent” (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFanfare\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eVol. 2, the Dover Quartet delivered “the most profoundly penetrating performances of Beethoven’s middle string quartets” (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFanfare\u003c\/em\u003e), including the three Op. 59 “Razumovsky” Quartets, infused with Russian folk tunes; the graceful “Harp,” Op. 74, named for its plucked string figures; and the intense Op. 95 “Serioso,” a forward-looking experiment that Beethoven originally intended “for a small circle of connoisseurs.”\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOnly Strings\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003esaid, “The Dover performances sparkle and thrill. Their virtuosity is immediately apparent.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eComprising Beethoven’s very last compositions — the five monumental, revolutionary Late Quartets and imposing\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGrosse Fuge\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— Vol. 3 “culminates their excellent recordings of all of Beethoven’s string quartets” (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThird Coast Review\u003c\/em\u003e). Remarkable and often daunting works that upended the concept of the string quartet, they are often considered the ultimate expression of Beethoven’s artistry. “This is a monumental achievement by one of the best string quartets playing today” (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eClassical CD Reviews\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Dover Quartet has followed a “practically meteoric” (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eStrings\u003c\/em\u003e) trajectory to become one of the most in-demand chamber ensembles in the world since sweeping all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition. In addition to serving as the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Dover Quartet holds residencies with the Kennedy Center, Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University (it’s longest residency, dating back to 2015), Artosphere, and Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cedille","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012635939050,"sku":"735131100526","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4257603-3143348.jpg?v=1786646255"},{"product_id":"bax-complete-symphonies-orchestral-works-lloyd-jones-rsno","title":"Bax: Complete Symphonies; Orchestral Works \/ Lloyd-Jones, RSNO","description":"\u003cp\u003eSir Arnold Bax wrote his seven symphonies between 1921 and 1939, embracing a prolific period that drew inspiration from a variety of sources. From the dramatic impact of the Second Symphony through to the seascapes of the Fourth and hints of Sibelius in the later works, Bax’s powerful symphonic world is one of surprising and at times stormy vigor contrasting with the most intense lyrical expressiveness and serenity. The selection of additional orchestral works evoking nature and atmospheric landscapes fascinates and rewards in equal measure, providing an essential overview of Bax’s music in critically acclaimed recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eListeners should come away mightily impressed by David Lloyd-Jones's clear-headed conducting of this intoxicating repertoire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- Gramophone\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePast praise of previously released individual volumes included in this set\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSymphony No. 1 - In the Faery Hills - Garden of Fand\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\" id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell0_10_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\"\u003eThis first disc in the Naxos Bax series offers warmly idiomatic readings of two early symphonic poems, as well as the \u003ci\u003eFirst Symphony\u003c\/i\u003e…finely detailed. In the two symphonic poems, more specifically inspired by Irish themes, Lloyd-Jones draws equally warm and sympathetic performances from the Scottish Orchestra, bringing inner clarity to the heaviest scoring. First-rate sound\u003c\/span\u003e...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- Penguin Guide\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSymphony No. 4, Nympholept, Picaresque Comedy Overture\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell0_10_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\" class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003eThe RSNO handle the difficulties of these scores well, with some wonderful solo playing from oboes and horns. The conductor David Lloyd-Jones allows those refulgent textures time to breathe, without letting the music sprawl.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- Times of London\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003eSymphony No. 5 - The Tale the Pine-Trees Knew\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLloyd-Jones's intelligent, meticulously observant and purposeful direction pays handsome dividends, and that a well-drilled RSNO in turn responds with sensitivity and enthusiasm. In short, another terrific coupling within what is turning out to be one mightily rewarding enterprise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- Gramophone\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012642230506,"sku":"747313701438","price":54.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4160933-2928711.jpg?v=1786635743"},{"product_id":"alfven-complete-symphonies-suites-rhapsodies-niklas-willen","title":"Alfvén: Complete Symphonies; Suites; Rhapsodies \/ Willén","description":"\u003cp\u003eHugo Alfvén’s music has always been close to the hearts of the Swedish people, and ranks among some of the most significant and representative of the spirit of the country. Alfvén is known as a cheerful entertainer in compositions such as Den forlorade sonen (‘The Prodigal Son’), but his symphonies reveal a different, more elegiac and often more dramatic side. The success of Alfvén’s symphonies fundamentally changed Sweden’s musical climate and, with a substantial collection of further orchestral music representing his gloriously rich and varied style, these recordings sweep us into the remarkable world of Scandinavian landscape and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePast praise for previously released volumes included in this set\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSymphony No. 5; Andante Religioso \/ Willén, Norrköping Symphony\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Norrköping Symphony plays with confidence and fervor. Alfvén was nothing if not expansive, and if his formal touch was never all that deft, he did know how to fill up time with arresting ideas, glowingly scored. A serenely lovely Andante religioso makes a perfect encore, one that puts the finale of the symphony’s straining for heroic effect in its proper perspective in the gentlest and most affecting way. Naxos’ sonics for this production are also excellent. Very enjoyable indeed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Prodigal Son, Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 11 \/ Willén, Ireland NSO\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eListen as Niklas Willén teases the skittish polka from “The Prodigal Son” ballet suite, or steers his players through the vehement fugue that rounds out his Symphony No. 2, and you’ll appreciate why this release commands unreserved praise. These works come to life in Willén’s hands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWillén’s reading of the Symphony's Andante conjures a huge range of textures and sonorities, with the dark-hued horns and sombre lower winds particularly impressive. The players give all they have in music that’s probably new to them, and that extra effort is just one of the factors that makes these performances so compelling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (\u003cstrong\u003e10\/10\u003c\/strong\u003e; David Hurwitz)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSymphony No. 3; Skerries; Dalecarlien Rhapsody \/ Willén, RNSO\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you haven’t heard these charming, folk-music-inspired gems of late Romantic music, then here’s an excellent place to start. The Symphony also sounds consistently fresh and lively, though it’s hard to shake the impression that the composer was happier writing programmatic works in free form than in indulging the more intellectual rigors of symphonic development. In Willén’s sympathetic hands, however, none of its four movements outstays its welcome. In any event, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra plays with confidence and evident enjoyment, and the recorded sound is very good.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012643049706,"sku":"747313701537","price":54.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4144552-2920398.jpg?v=1786665650"},{"product_id":"a-vaughan-williams-anthology","title":"A Vaughan Williams Anthology","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRalph Vaughan Williams is one of Britain’s most illustrious composers, and this specially curated selection of works demonstrates the sheer breadth of his achievement. As a major 20th century symphonist he is represented by four of his nine symphonies, all in critically acclaimed recordings (‘A clear top recommendation’ wrote \u003cem\u003eGramophone\u003c\/em\u003e of \u003cem\u003eA Sea Symphony\u003c\/em\u003e). Popular orchestral works such as the celebrated \u003cem\u003eTallis Fantasia\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Lark Ascending\u003c\/em\u003e are also included. Vaughan Williams’ chamber works are performed by the Maggini Quartet, his greatest contemporary champions; while the sublime \u003cem\u003eMass in G minor\u003c\/em\u003e shows the composer’s high standing in the English choral tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell5_12_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\" class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003eMore Vaughan Williams—and very welcome, too. While admirers may favour other performances, every take here on the composer’s exquisite scores is more than competitive. This curated selection of works is a measure of RVW’s achievements. As a major 20th-century symphonist he is represented by four of his nine symphonies, all in much-praised recordings, while winning orchestral works such as the celebrated Tallis Fantasia and The Lark Ascending are also included. Vaughan Williams’ chamber works are performed by the Maggini Quartet, his greatest contemporary champions; while the sublime Mass in G minor is a solid addition.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- Classical CD Source (Barry Forshaw)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012643770602,"sku":"747313802135","price":28.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4069370-2824367.jpg?v=1786640165"},{"product_id":"saint-georges-lamant-anonyme-haymarket-opera-company","title":"Saint-Georges: L'Amant Anonyme \/ Haymarket Opera Company","description":"\u003cp\u003eHaymarket Opera, Chicago’s premier early opera company that presents historically informed performances played on 18th-century classical era instruments, performs on this world-premiere recording of L’Amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–1799). Premiered in 1780, L’Amant Anonyme was the most successful of Bologne’s six operas and is the only one to survive to the present day. Based on a play by the composer’s patroness Félicité de Genlis, who was a respected writer of the era, the work is an opéra comique in two acts composed in the then-popular style that mixed sung parts with spoken dialogue. The stellar cast is headlined by 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World soprano Nicole Cabell in the lead role of Léontine, opposite Chicago-native tenor Geoffrey Agpalo as her secret admirer Valcour. The cast also includes David Govertsen (Ophémon), Erica Schuller (Jeannette), Michael St. Peter (Colin), and Nathalie Colas (Dorothée). Company founder and artistic director Craig Trompeter leads the performance, conducting a 19-member contingent of the period-instrument Haymarket Opera Orchestra.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing Haymarket Opera Company’s live performances of L’Amant Anonyme, the Chicago Tribune wrote, “Haymarket gave as delightful a production of this neglected bonbon as one could imagine,” and praised Cabell’s “expertly, convincingly shaded … radiant soprano” and Agpalo’s “hall-filling, bel canto sensibility … his tenor plush, fluid, and lip-smackingly sweet.” The Chicago Classical Review wrote, “Anonymous Lover carried a contemporary freshness and energy born of the caring ministrations of a strong ensemble of period instrumentalists, singers and dancers.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJoseph Bologne, also known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was among the 18th century’s most extraordinary musical figures. He rose to fame among the European aristocracy as a virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor; and was noted as one of the greatest swordsmen of his day and led numerous military campaigns as a high-ranking officer. Bologne was born in Guadeloupe to George Bologne, his Caucasian French father, and Nanon, his enslaved African mother. When his father was unjustly accused of murder, he fled to France to avoid the younger Bologne being sold into slavery. Booklet essay titled “Silenced No More: Composer Joseph Bologne and the French Operatic Tradition” by Marc Clague, Professor of Musicology and Associate Dean at The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, provides historical context and insight into Bologne’s life and the opera. Full libretto in original French and English translation included.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cedille","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012644884714,"sku":"735131921725","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4169757-2935327.jpg?v=1786636052"},{"product_id":"jose-iturbi-the-rediscovered-rca-victor-recordings","title":"The Rediscovered RCA Victor Recordings \/ José Iturbi","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis collection stands as a valuable time capsule from which one comes away with a fuller understanding of Iturbi’s prominence in American wartime and postwar culture.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe complete RCA Victor Recordings by José Iturbi from 1933 to 1953, include his piano duo recordings with sister Amparo Iturbi as well as Amparo Iturbi’s solo recordings on 16 CDs, restored and remastered from the original lacquer discs and analogue tapes using high-resolution 24 bit\/192 kHz mastering technology with about 95% of the recordings appearing on CD for the first time and 23 pieces previously unreleased. As well as a new, captivating essay by Grammy-nominated singer, pianist, and music anthropologist Michael Feinstein on the life and work of José Iturbi and a photo book with previously unseen photos and facsimiles from the Iturbi Archives in Hollywood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was a time when classical music was a natural part of Hollywood. From the moments with Jascha Heifetz in They Shall Have Music (1939) to the unrivaled performances of Oscar Levant and Isaac Stern in Humoresque (1946). In its Golden Era, Hollywood adorned itself with the Who's Who of classical music. Today, alongside icons such as Marylin Monroe and James Dean, the names of Leonard Bernstein, Maria Callas and Arturo Toscanini, as well as Rudolf Serkin, Joseph Szigeti, or José Iturbi were immortalized on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. This edition is a loving homage to Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s, made possible through the generous support of the José Iturbi Foundation and the Hollywood Museum Board of Directors, who contributed to the lavish restoration of many previously lost unpublished recordings. The publication was also made possible by contributions of singer, pianist, and music archivist Michael Feinstein, the Ambassador for the Great American Songbook.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1940s and 1950s the “World’s Most Popular Classical Pianist” mantle fell comfortably upon José Iturbi (1895-1980). His recognition as a radio personality led to a movie career that yielded ten feature films between 1943 and 1951 where the pianist mostly starred as himself. Yet for all of Iturbi’s renown, he was hardly a poseur. He worked with Wanda Landowska in Paris, and gave Stravinsky’s Piano Rag Music its world premiere, as well as the first complete Carnegie Hall performance of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe also conducted. When Eugene Ormandy assumed the Philadelphia Orchestra’s music directorship in 1936, his chief rival for the position was Iturbi, who wound up taking charge of the Rochester Philharmonic that same year. Once Hollywood beckoned, however, Iturbi became the brunt of intellectual critics, who basically wrote him off as a sell-out and an artistic lightweight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTime, of course, brings perspective, and Sony\/BMG’s lavishly produced 16-CD collection containing Iturbi’s complete RCA Victor recordings invites a fairly thorough examination of the musician behind the personality, plus an opportunity to reassess a largely forgotten body of recorded work. A 188-page coffee table book contains photos in abundance, with all original-jacket artwork represented, including the most politically incorrect cover art ever to grace Dvorák’s “New World” symphony. We get complete session and release discographies, an Iturbi filmography, plus a brilliant in-depth biographical essay by Michael Feinstein, who co-produced this collection with Robert Russ.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s a pity that the session discography is not cross-referenced to corresponding CD tracks, not to mention the absence of a discography by composer. This makes it difficult to navigate the contents with ease, especially in works that Iturbi recorded more than once. For example, it took some sleuthing on my part to discover that Discs 5 and 11 each contained the Liszt Liebestraum No. 3, Schumann Arabeske, Debussy Reverie, and Chopin Polonaise in A-flat Op. 53, and that the performances were not identical.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith few notable exceptions, Iturbi’s solo recordings mostly consist of short, encore-length pieces. He’s especially at home in Spanish music: Iturbi’s accentuation, phrasing, and timing throughout Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance define perfection, while he shapes Granados’ Spanish Dance No. 2 (“Oriental’) with sensitivity and tenderness. Classical selections also stand out for Iturbi’s bracing articulation. True, the outer movements of his Mozart K. 331 and 332 sonata recordings are overly facile and insufficiently inflected when measured alongside contemporaneous Mozartean rivals like Schnabel, Gieseking, Fischer, and Haskil. Yet the sheer evenness and poised symmetry of Iturbi’s finger-work easily explains why pianists like Julius Katchen and William Kapell praised his Mozart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIturbi also revels in the Haydn C major Theme and Variations’ sly wit. By contrast, introspection and sobriety characterize Iturbi’s measured unfolding of Beethoven’s Andante favori. Similar gravitas elevates Paderewski’s Minuet in G to near-masterpiece status. Iturbi’s virtuosic glitter befits his dashing Saint-Saëns Allegro appassionato more than in his glib Liszt Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIturbi’s Chopin hits and misses. His Mazurkas lack the ardency and rhythmic snap that distinguishes a Second Scherzo that gets better as it progresses. Also note the pianist’s dotting the duple rhythms in the A-flat Polonaise’s main theme that Horowitz, Rubinstein, and Lhevinne play straight on their rival RCA versions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe later recordings reveal Iturbi’s pianism losing some of its erstwhile luster and subtlety, possibly exaggerated by the close microphone placement and twangy patina typical of late 1940s\/early 1950s piano recordings stemming from RCA’s Hollywood recording studio. For example, the two Debussy Arabesques recorded in New York in 1939 have a supple elegance missing in their glassy-sounding 1950 Hollywood counterparts (sound clips). The blustery, hard-toned, and harshly engineered Liszt Concerto No. 1, Mendelssohn Concerto No. 1, and Beethoven Concerto No. 3 were non-starters in their day, with the piano way up in the mix, relegating the crackerjack RCA Symphony musicians to doormat status. Still, the Mendelssohn’s outer movements feature some of Iturbi’s most scintillating pianism on disc.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile Iturbi’s two-piano distribution of the solo part of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is surprisingly effective and discreet, he and his pianist sister Amparo turn in a crass, alternately whipped up, and sappily sentimentalized interpretation. Works of Mozart, Debussy, and Milhaud better represent their dazzling ensemble rapport, but again, the boxy, claustrophobic engineering undermines their efforts. Similar dryness typifies Amparo’s idiomatic solo recordings of Spanish repertoire. Still, it’s nice to have her rare 1954 Granados Goyescas back in circulation, although it pales alongside Alicia de Larrocha’s far more nuanced and texturally differentiated interpretation from the following year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe collection also showcases Iturbi’s work on the podium. His 1940 Rochester Philharmonic versions of the Mozart D minor and Beethoven C minor concertos are more judiciously balanced than his orchestrally superior 1952 RCA Victor Symphony remakes. Each contains lively and engaging outer movements that flank wooden, hard-toned slow movements.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIturbi’s 1951 Liszt Hungarian Fantasy with the Valencia Symphony Orchestra has a snarling rawness that differs from the sheen and suavity of the 1952 Arrau\/Ormandy and late 1940s Solomon and Moiseiwitsch editions. As with many second-tier American orchestras in the 1940s, the Rochester Philharmonic boasted strong strings but less proficient winds and brass. Consequently, Iturbi’s Mendelssohn “Scottish” Symphony took a back seat to Mitropoulos’ powerful 1941 Minneapolis version, while the aforementioned Dvorák New World lacked the Szell\/Czech Philharmonic recording’s flavorful ensemble discipline.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe prize of Iturbi’s Rochester discography is a snazzy and brilliantly turned-out Morton Gould “Latin American” Symphonette, which is surprisingly well-engineered for its 1944 vintage. Another delightful curiosity is William J. Reddick’s Espanharlem, a brief orchestral work whose quick changing moods and jazzy underpinnings wouldn’t be out of place in a Carl Stalling Bugs Bunny cartoon soundtrack. There’s also a previously unpublished recording conducted by Werner Janssen of Iturbi’s orchestral composition Soliloquy. The piece amounts to 14 and a half minutes’ worth of rambling 1940s film music clichés filtered through third-rate Lecuona. Why Iturbi is credited as piano soloist when there’s no piano to be heard is anyone’s guess!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNotwithstanding the artistic unevenness of Iturbi’s recorded output he always had the self-respect to keep his technique in world-class repair, unlike his rival classical pianist turned media personality Oscar Levant. Still, music lovers who don’t want to go the whole hog, so to speak, are directed to APR’s 2016 three-disc solo Iturbi compilation. I also hope to see Iturbi’s post-cinema EMI recordings restored. However, beyond purely musical considerations, Sony\/BMG’s collection stands as a valuable time capsule from which one comes away with a fuller understanding of Iturbi’s prominence in American wartime and postwar culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCONTENTS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMozart\u003c\/strong\u003e: Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra No. 10 in E flat, K365\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMozart\u003c\/strong\u003e: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLiszt\u003c\/strong\u003e: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S124\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMendelssohn\u003c\/strong\u003e: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBeethoven\u003c\/strong\u003e: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGershwin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Rhapsody in Blue\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChambers, J C\u003c\/strong\u003e: All American\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGould, M\u003c\/strong\u003e: Symphonette No. 4 'Latin-American'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReddick\u003c\/strong\u003e: Espanharlem\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIturbi\u003c\/strong\u003e: Soliloquy\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMozart\u003c\/strong\u003e: Sonata for 2 pianos in D major, K448\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChabrier\u003c\/strong\u003e: Trois Valses Romantiques\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIturbi\u003c\/strong\u003e: Spanish Dance\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: En blanc et noir\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMilhaud\u003c\/strong\u003e: Scaramouche, suite for two pianos, Op. 165b\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNepomuceno\u003c\/strong\u003e: La siesta\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante\u003c\/strong\u003e: Guadalquivir\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante\u003c\/strong\u003e: Sevillana\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLiszt\u003c\/strong\u003e: Liebestraum, S541 No. 3 (Nocturne in A flat major)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: Rêverie\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBeethoven\u003c\/strong\u003e: Für Elise (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO59)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSchumann\u003c\/strong\u003e: Arabeske in C major, Op. 18\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: Deux arabesques, L. 66\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFalla\u003c\/strong\u003e: Dance of Terror (from El amor brujo)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRachmaninoff\u003c\/strong\u003e: Prelude Op. 3 No. 2 in C sharp minor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLiszt\u003c\/strong\u003e: Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este, S. 163 No. 4)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFalla\u003c\/strong\u003e: Ritual Fire Dance (from El amor brujo)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSaint-Saëns\u003c\/strong\u003e: Allegro appassionato, Op. 70\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlbéniz\u003c\/strong\u003e: Malagueña (No. 3 from Espana, Op. 165)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Étude Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor ‘Revolutionary'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: Estampe No. 3 - Jardins sous la pluie\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSchumann\u003c\/strong\u003e: Romance in F sharp major, Op. 28 No. 2\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Prelude Op. 28 No. 9 in E major\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Prelude Op. 28 No. 10 in C sharp minor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 in D flat major ‘Raindrop'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Nocturne No. 9 in B major, Op. 32 No. 1\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLópez-Chavarri\u003c\/strong\u003e: El viejo castillo moro\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIturbi\u003c\/strong\u003e: Cancion de cuna\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGranados\u003c\/strong\u003e: Orientale (No. 2 from 12 Danzas españolas)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Mazurka No. 6 in A minor, Op. 7 No. 2\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Mazurka No. 7 in F minor, Op. 7 No. 3\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Mazurka No. 24 in C major, Op. 33 No. 3\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Mazurka No. 27 in E minor, Op. 41 No. 2\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Mazurka No. 25 in B minor, Op. 33 No. 4\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: Children's Corner\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRavel:\u003c\/strong\u003e Jeux d'eau\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGuastavino\u003c\/strong\u003e: Gato\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMozart\u003c\/strong\u003e: Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra No. 10 in E flat, K365\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMozart\u003c\/strong\u003e: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBeethoven\u003c\/strong\u003e: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGershwin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Rhapsody in Blue\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRavel\u003c\/strong\u003e: Pavane pour une infante défunte\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBach, J S:\u003c\/strong\u003e Passacaglia in C minor, BWV582\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMozart\u003c\/strong\u003e: Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K331 'Alla Turca'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMozart:\u003c\/strong\u003e Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major, K332\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Impromptu No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 66 'Fantaisie-Impromptu'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Waltz No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 'Minute Waltz'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin:\u003c\/strong\u003e Mazurka No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 7 No. 1\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlbéniz\u003c\/strong\u003e: Sevilla (from Suite Española, Op. 47)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGranados\u003c\/strong\u003e: Goyescas: Quejas ó La Maja y el Ruiseñor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eScarlatti, D\u003c\/strong\u003e: Keyboard Sonata K27 in B minor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eScarlatti, D\u003c\/strong\u003e: Keyboard Sonata K159 in C major 'La caccia'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eParadies\u003c\/strong\u003e: Toccata in A\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIturbi\u003c\/strong\u003e: Pequena danza espanola\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBeethoven\u003c\/strong\u003e: Andante Favori in F, WoO 57\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlbéniz\u003c\/strong\u003e: Cantos de España (5), Op. 232, No. 4\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLazăr, F\u003c\/strong\u003e: Piano Sonata No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 15: III Tempo di Marcia funebre\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSaint-Saëns\u003c\/strong\u003e: Caprice arabe, Op. 96\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: L'isle joyeuse\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante:\u003c\/strong\u003e Danze andaluse (for 2 pianos): No. 2 Sentimento\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: Deux arabesques, L. 66\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBach, J S\u003c\/strong\u003e: Fantasia in C minor, BWV906\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGranados\u003c\/strong\u003e: Danza española, Op. 37 No. 10 'Melancólica'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGould, M\u003c\/strong\u003e: Boogie Woogie Etude\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGould, M\u003c\/strong\u003e: Blues\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFalla\u003c\/strong\u003e: Ritual Fire Dance (from El amor brujo)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFalla\u003c\/strong\u003e: Dance of Terror (from El amor brujo)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLiszt\u003c\/strong\u003e: Liebestraum, S541 No. 3 (Nocturne in A flat major)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChopin\u003c\/strong\u003e: Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSchumann\u003c\/strong\u003e: Arabeske in C major, Op. 18\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDebussy\u003c\/strong\u003e: Rêverie\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHaydn\u003c\/strong\u003e: Theme and Variations in C major, Hob.XVII:5\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePaderewski:\u003c\/strong\u003e Minuet in G major, Op. 14 No. 1\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBeethoven\u003c\/strong\u003e: Für Elise (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO59)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSchumann:\u003c\/strong\u003e Träumerei (from Kinderszenen, Op. 15)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRavel\u003c\/strong\u003e: Pavane pour une infante défunte\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRachmaninoff:\u003c\/strong\u003e Humoresque in G major, Op. 10 No. 5\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante:\u003c\/strong\u003e Danses andalouses\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTchaikovsky\u003c\/strong\u003e: The Seasons, Op. 37b: June (Barcarolle)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTchaikovsky\u003c\/strong\u003e: The Seasons, Op. 37b: November (Troika)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMussorgsky\u003c\/strong\u003e: Une Larme (A Tear)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMendelssohn\u003c\/strong\u003e: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 'Scottish'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDvořák:\u003c\/strong\u003e Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 'From the New World'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLiszt\u003c\/strong\u003e: Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 14 in F minor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFalla\u003c\/strong\u003e: El sombrero de tres picos: Dance of the Neighbours (Seguidillas)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFalla\u003c\/strong\u003e: El sombrero de tres picos: Danza del molinero (farruca)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFalla\u003c\/strong\u003e: El sombrero de tres picos: Final Dance (Jota)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePalau Boix\u003c\/strong\u003e: Marche burlesque\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePalau Boix\u003c\/strong\u003e: Hommage a Debussy\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIturbi\u003c\/strong\u003e: Seguidillas\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCuesta\u003c\/strong\u003e: Danza valenciana in A major\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFalla\u003c\/strong\u003e: Siete Canciones populares españolas\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTurina\u003c\/strong\u003e: Homenaje a Lope de Vega, Op. 90: I. Cuando tan hermosa os miro\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGranados\u003c\/strong\u003e: Danza española, Op. 37 No. 8 'Sardana'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGranados\u003c\/strong\u003e: Danza española, Op. 37 No. 12 'Arabesca'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGranados\u003c\/strong\u003e: Danza española, Op. 37 No. 9 'Romántica'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTurina\u003c\/strong\u003e: Mujeres Españolas, Series 1, Op. 17: 2. La andaluza sentimental\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTurina\u003c\/strong\u003e: Mujeres Españolas, Series 1, Op. 17: 3. La morena coqueta\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante\u003c\/strong\u003e: Pochades andalouses: Canto flamenco\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante\u003c\/strong\u003e: ochades andalouses: Danse gitane\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante\u003c\/strong\u003e: Pochades andalouses: Aniers sur la route de Seville\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante\u003c\/strong\u003e: Pochades andalouses: Tientos\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlbéniz:\u003c\/strong\u003e Granada (from Suite española No. 1, Op. 47)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlbéniz\u003c\/strong\u003e: Córdoba (No. 4 from Cantos de España, Op. 232)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCuesta\u003c\/strong\u003e: Danza valenciana in G major\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLecuona\u003c\/strong\u003e: Malagueña\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGriffes\u003c\/strong\u003e: The White Peacock\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante:\u003c\/strong\u003e Guadalquivir\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInfante\u003c\/strong\u003e: Pochades andalouses: Ritmo\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMozart\u003c\/strong\u003e: Sonata for 2 pianos in D major, K448: Allegro molto\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGranados\u003c\/strong\u003e: El Pelele\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGranados\u003c\/strong\u003e: Goyescas (piano suite)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRavel\u003c\/strong\u003e: Valses nobles et sentimentales\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChabrier\u003c\/strong\u003e: Scherzo-valse (No. 10 from Pièces pittoresques)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChabrier\u003c\/strong\u003e: Idylle (No. 6 from Pièces pittoresques)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChabrier\u003c\/strong\u003e: Bourrée Fantasque\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSchubert\u003c\/strong\u003e: Valses Sentimentales, D 779 Op. 50 (Excerpts)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSchubert\u003c\/strong\u003e: 12 Valses Nobles, D 969 Op. 77: selection\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLópez-Chavarri\u003c\/strong\u003e: Danza de las labradoras Valencianas\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eShostakovich\u003c\/strong\u003e: Prelude for piano, Op. 34 No. 2 in A minor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eShostakovich\u003c\/strong\u003e: Prelude for piano, Op. 34 No. 14 in E flat minor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eShostakovich\u003c\/strong\u003e: Prelude for piano, Op. 34 No. 24 in D minor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFauré\u003c\/strong\u003e: Impromptu No. 3 in A flat major Op. 34\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMozart:\u003c\/strong\u003e Piano Sonata No. 13 in B flat major, K333\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012662939882,"sku":"194398365022","price":62.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4179980-2960733.jpg?v=1786635676"},{"product_id":"sir-colin-davis-conducts-mozart-serenades-overtures","title":"Sir Colin Davis Conducts Mozart","description":"\u003cp\u003eSony Classical is pleased to announce a new batch of reissues from the CBS\/Sony and RCA Victor\/BMG back catalogues. This latest instalment of the popular series showcases Mozart and Chopin along with conductor Robert Craft’s pioneering Webern recordings and the global journeys of that irrepressible musical explorer Yo-Yo Ma.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSir Colin Davis was indisputably one of the greatest Mozart conductors of the last century, both in the opera house and in the recording studio. In Munich in the early 1990s, near the end of his tenure as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, he recorded several of the popular serenades and wind concertos (“Davis is completely at home in this music and brings to it grandeur and delicacy in good measure and judicious balance” – Gramophone). And in 1998, as the Dresden Staatskapelle’s first-ever conductor laureate, he recorded twelve opera overtures (“Beautifully turned string playing, wonderful contributions from the wind section, and transparent textures: it all represents splendid ‘big band’ Mozart in the modern tradition” – Classics Today). These superb RCA recordings are now reissued in a 4-album box set.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eColin Davis’s RCA Mozart CDs from the 1990s, mostly with the Bavarian RSO, tend towards more relaxed tempos than on his earlier analog recordings, a live coupling of the Posthorn Serenade and the Bassoon Concerto recorded at the Mozartfest in Würzburg in June 1992 claiming among its many virtues textural opulence (Eberhard Marschall’s bassoon is among the richest in tone that I’ve ever heard) and, as Christopher Headington noted in these pages (9\/94), an unhurried finale ‘despite the Presto marking that tempts less experienced conductors’. You might additionally note Davis’s Toscanini-like vocalizing at the start of the Andantino, a romantic reading that works wonderfully well. Also included are similarly affecting accounts of Eine kleine Nachtmusik, the Wind Serenades Nos 10-12, the Clarinet Concerto (with a mellifluoussounding Karl-Heinz Steffens), and the one CD featuring the Dresden Staatskapelle, an hour’s worth of overtures. I’d never clocked on previous occasions the strong similarity between the very brief \u003cem\u003eBastien und Bastienne\u003c\/em\u003e Overture and the opening of Beethoven’s \u003cem\u003eEroica\u003c\/em\u003e Symphony. As Mozart orchestral compilations go, this is among the best, one that you should return to with constantly renewed pleasure. The recordings are full-bodied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e--Gramophone\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012666937578,"sku":"194399129227","price":11.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4044292-2871860.jpg?v=1786693893"},{"product_id":"crossing-borders-a-musical-journey-yo-yo-ma","title":"Crossing Borders: A Musical Journey \/ Yo-Yo Ma","description":"\u003cp\u003eSony Classical is pleased to announce a new batch of reissues from the CBS\/Sony and RCA Victor\/BMG back catalogues. This latest instalment of the popular series showcases Mozart and Chopin along with conductor Robert Craft’s pioneering Webern recordings and the global journeys of that irrepressible musical explorer Yo-Yo Ma.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe supremely versatile \u003cstrong\u003eYo-Yo Ma\u003c\/strong\u003e has been aptly referred to as a musical omnivore. In addition to all the significant classical works written for his instrument, the eclectic cellist has passionately embraced the music of Latin America and Asia as well as American bluegrass and jazz. Seven of his most adventurous and acclaimed musical journeys have been collected by Sony Classical in a CD box entitled “\u003cem\u003eCrossing Borders\u003c\/em\u003e”. They include \u003cem\u003eAppalachia Waltz\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eAppalachian Journey\u003c\/em\u003e with Mark O’Connor and Edgar Meyer (Grammy 1998: “Best Classical Crossover Album”); \u003cem\u003eSoul of the Tango – The Music of Astor Piazzolla\u003c\/em\u003e (Grammy 1997: “Best Classical Crossover Album”); \u003cem\u003eObrigado Brazil\u003c\/em\u003e – traditional songs and compositions by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Pixinguinha (Grammy 2000: “Best Classical Crossover Album”); \u003cem\u003eSilk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eJapanese Melodies\u003c\/em\u003e; \u003cem\u003eAnything Goes\u003c\/em\u003e: the cellist playing mostly Cole Porter with Stephane Grappelli; and, last but not least: Hush, his famous collaboration with Bobby McFerrin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eReview excerpts of previously released volumes included in this set\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAppalachian Journey \/ Yo-Yo Ma, O'Connor, Meyer\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Mark O’Connor\/Yo-Yo Ma\/Edgar Meyer power trio took a while to follow up their 1996 hit Appalachia Waltz, yet, no doubt about it, Appalachian Journey was worth the long wait. I love the gnarly funk of the opening cut, “1B”, with hard swinging fiddle and cello lines anchored by Meyer’s earthy, off-center pedal points. The less driving, more reflective reels, and lyrical Duet for Cello and Bass fuse bluegrass, wistful folk tunes, and stark Copland-esque landscapes into organic wholes that sound better with each rehearing. The deliciously virtuosic Caprice for Three proves that players of this caliber can channel their super-chops toward listening out loud. Guest vocal stints by James Taylor and Alison Krauss add the spice of variety to the mix, along with a potential wider audience. And why not? The arrangements are judiciously varied, perfectly paced, and exploit the violin\/cello\/string bass configuration in ingenuous ways. One wonders how this trio might approach certain pieces over a looser, more extended improvisational time frame. I hope we won’t have to wait another three and a half years to find out. If you’re in a blue mood, this disc will provide an antidote with long-range positive side effects. Fun, fun stuff.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (\u003cstrong\u003e10\/10\u003c\/strong\u003e, Jed Distler)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObrigado Brazil \/ Yo-Yo Ma\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe music on this enchanting, flavorful CD varies from classical to samba to bossa nova; the combinations range from guitar, flute, and cello to female voice (the remarkable Rosa Passos), cello, guitar, percussion, piano, and bass; to simple cello and piano; to cello and two guitars. The overriding element is rhythm; each selection has a beat which is both infectious and sensual, but the contexts are splendidly varied. It's impossible to get bored or tired listening to this creative CD; it's unique--just like Yo-Yo Ma himself--and endlessly surprising. It may not be quite what we'd call \"classical\" music, but it is many kinds of music, and they all will delight. The other musicians are as impressive on their instruments as Ma is with his cello, and that's saying a great deal.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (Robert Levine)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSilk Road Journeys - When Strangers Meet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSilk Road Journeys is an invigorating, eye-opening ride. To be sure, some pieces fare better than others, but as with any unforgettable trip, you tend to forget the occasional bumps you hit along unknown roads. Our guides are a generally stellar selection of master artists, including the luminary pipa player Wu Man and kemencheh and setar player Kayhan Kalhor. These two musicians in particular can go head-to-head in virtuosity with Yo-Yo Ma any day. Complemented by cleanly articulated sound, Sony Classical has produced a real keeper in its Yo-Yo Ma catalog, but the cellist makes his collaborators the true focus of this album.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n-- ClassicsToday.com (\u003cstrong\u003e10\/10\u003c\/strong\u003e)\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012668412138,"sku":"194399162026","price":14.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4044365-2846025.jpg?v=1786693268"},{"product_id":"glenn-gould-plays-mozart-sonatas","title":"Glenn Gould plays Mozart Piano Sonatas","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSony Classical is pleased to announce a new batch of reissues from the CBS\/Sony and RCA Victor\/BMG back catalogues. This latest instalment of the popular series showcases Mozart and Chopin along with conductor Robert Craft’s pioneering Webern recordings and the global journeys of that irrepressible musical explorer Yo-Yo Ma.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBetween 1966 and 1974, Glenn Gould paid repeated visits to Columbia’s New York studio to record the piano sonatas of Mozart. Often revelatory, sometimes quirky, but always stimulating, these controversial readings tell us as much about the performer’s own endlessly fascinating musical mind and his conflicting attitudes to Mozart as they do about the composer’s genius at the keyboard. But no other classical sonatas – not even Beethoven’s – were paid the tribute of an integral recording by Glenn Gould. His delight in playing them can be heard throughout this set. Sony Classical is now reissuing the 18 sonatas and two fantasias in a remastered 4-album box.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eE\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003every time I return to Glenn Gould’s set of the Mozart piano sonatas, I’m both aghast and, in some weird way, inspired. Take K310, where the central Andante cantabile rises to an awesome central climax, played staccato, but where the first movement is less Allegro maestoso than Allegro frenetico! Or there’s that strangest of beasts (in Gould’s hands), K331, the opening theme taken so slowly that it sounds as if a (very) young Glenn is tackling it for the first time, head buried in the music, humming away. Yes, things do return to a semblance of normality, though the finale is less ‘alla turca’ than a proud ‘cock o’ the walk’ Turkish trot. Then there are the two Fantasias, K397 in D minor taken at a deathly slow tempo filled with pregnant pauses, a spooky enactment with dark shadows lurking around every corner. Gould’s approach to Mozart in many respects courts extremes but I challenge you to sample any of it and not want to return, if only for a handful of spot checks. It may be outlandish but it’s also utterly fascinating.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e--\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGramophone \u003c\/em\u003e(Rob Cowan)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012670705898,"sku":"194399178928","price":11.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4334904-3207687_699e2c7a-7b67-463b-a8b3-604f28a6db71.jpg?v=1786814945"},{"product_id":"artur-rodzinski-the-complete-cleveland-orchestra-recordings","title":"Artur Rodziński: The Complete Cleveland Orchestra Recordings","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFollowing Sony Classical’s 16-CD release of Artur Rodziński’s New York Philharmonic recordings, here is the label’s eagerly awaited 13-disc collection of his complete recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra, which Rodziński headed from 1933 to 1943. The fiery, volatile Polish conductor (1892–1958) – whose lean, propulsive style emulated that of his idol Toscanini – earned a reputation as a builder of great orchestras: he led and developed the Los Angeles Philharmonic before taking up his position in Cleveland. In 1935, he brought nationwide attention to the midwestern orchestra when he conducted it in the US première of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. During his tenure in Cleveland, Rodziński moulded its orchestra into a brilliant ensemble which his successor, George Szell, would then elevate to international pre-eminence. Meanwhile, Rodziński was also active in Europe, becoming the first naturalized American to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival. There Toscanini admired his work and in 1938 picked him to train his new NBC Symphony Orchestra. In Cleveland between 1939 and 1942, Rodziński conducted a number of important recordings for Columbia Masterworks, all of them contained in this new set. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWith dedicatee Louis Krasner as soloist, he made the first studio recording of the Berg Violin Concerto. His other acclaimed 78-sets include the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (“among the finest statements ever given this incorrigibly popular score” – High Fidelity), Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, the Fifth Symphony of Tchaikovsky (“Remarkable here is the tension of the second movement and the heroic close to the first” – Gramophone) as well as those of Sibelius and Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet (“Unsullied excitement” – Gramophone), Debussy’s La Mer and the orchestral “scenario” from Jerome Kern’s Show Boat – plus a previously unreleased recording of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein. Until now, most of these albums have only been released on 78s and reissued on LP. Thus Sony Classical’s meticulously transferred and mastered 13-disc collection of Rodziński’s Cleveland recordings fills a large gap in this still widely admired conductor’s CD discography.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012673130730,"sku":"194399287729","price":31.97,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4253409-3140450.jpg?v=1786639644"},{"product_id":"lorin-hollander-complete-rca-album-collection","title":"Lorin Hollander: Complete RCA Album Collection","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe American pianist Lorin Hollander was only 14 years old in 1958 when he recorded his first album for RCA, a personal selection of “22 Favorites” entitled \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDiscovering the Piano\u003c\/em\u003e. Its success led to a sequel the following year. Over the next eight years he produced an acclaimed series of releases for the Red Label, establishing an international career which would eventually encompass more than 2,500 appearances as a pianist, conductor and passionate advocate for arts education. Hollander has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras and collaborated with conductors such as Bernstein, Szell, Ormandy, Leinsdorf, Previn, Haitink, Ozawa and Mehta. Sony Classical is now pleased to present a new 8-disc box set offering Lorin Hollander’s complete RCA discography for the first time on CD.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eA child prodigy, he was born in New York City into a musical family – his father was associate concertmaster of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Toscanini. Lorin began playing the piano at the age of three and within two years had memorized the complete first book of the \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWell-Tempered Clavier\u003c\/em\u003e. At eleven, he made his Carnegie Hall début playing Mozart’s C major Concerto K 467. His list of distinguished teachers and mentors includes Eduard Steuermann, Olga Stroumillo, Leon Fleisher, Max Rudolf and Rudolf Serkin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSony’s Lorin Hollander box begins with those two early albums of “favorites” by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Brahms, Grieg, Rimsky-Korsakov, Falla, Granados, Rachmaninoff and Paderewski. In 1963, with Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony, he premièred and recorded the Fantasy and Variations\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/em\u003efor Piano and Orchestra by Norman Dello Joio. RCA Victor’s release, a coupling with the Ravel G major Concerto, became Hollander’s international record début and found critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHigh Fidelity \u003c\/em\u003ein the US wrote that “the eighteen-year-old pianist’s amazing digital skill and bravura are just what are demanded for the Fantasy and Variations”, while \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGramophone \u003c\/em\u003ein the UK, was grateful for “our first taste on records of the music of Norman Dello Joio, the 50-year-old New York composer who was at one time a pupil of Hindemith. The piano part is immensely athletic: Hollander scuttles up and down the keyboard with great efficiency, and the orchestra is equally on its toes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHollander recorded further virtuoso concertos in 1964 and 1965. The Prokofiev Fifth, also with Leinsdorf and the BSO, was hailed as “a super-brilliant performance” by \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHigh Fidelity\u003c\/em\u003e. Of the Khachaturian Piano Concerto coupled with Bloch’s \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eScherzo fantasque\u003c\/em\u003e – made in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under André Previn – \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHigh Fidelity \u003c\/em\u003ewrote enthusiastically: “The \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eScherzo fantasque\u003c\/em\u003e has many of the jagged dissonances and virile qualities of Bloch’s writing in the early Twenties. It is fiercely virtuosic and thus ideally suited to the percussive, tigerish Mr. Hollander. In the Khachaturian … Hollander’s work is also first-rate technically … I find the performance excellent.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTwo solo albums from 1965 and 1966 rounded out Hollander’s RCA discography, Mussorsky’s \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePictures at an Exhibition\u003c\/em\u003e, coupled with works by Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff, and a coupling of Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata, the Schumann \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eArabeske\u003c\/em\u003e, a Brahms Intermezzo and Myra Hess’s beloved Bach transcription “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. The set concludes with a curiosity, recorded for Columbia’s “Modern American Music Series” in 1973: the concert work for soprano and chamber ensemble fashioned by American composer Leon Kirchner from his opera \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLily.\u003c\/em\u003e Kirchner plays the piano part and conducts an ensemble featuring Lorin Hollander on celesta, clarinettist Richard Stoltzman, violinist James Buswell and violist Nobuko Imai. The soprano soloist is Diana Hoagland.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSET CONTENTS \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDISC 1:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Rimsky-Korsakoff (arr. Rachmaninoff): Flight of the Bumblebee\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Granados: Spanish Dance in E Minor, Op. 5, No. 5 \"Playera - Andaluzia\"    \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e• \u003c\/strong\u003eSchubert: Momento Musical In F Minor, Op. 94, No. 3 \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Mendelssohn: Venetian Boat Song, No. 6\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Chopin: Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12 \"Revolutionary\"\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Paderewski: Menuet célèbre in G Major   \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Falla: Ritual Fire Dance\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Liszt: Liebestraum No. 3 \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Chopin: Für Elise (Albumblatt)   \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Chopin: Prelude in C Minor, Op. 28\/20   \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Brahms: Waltz in A-Flat Major, Op. 39\/15  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Debussy: Claire de lune    \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Chopin: Waltz in C Sharp Minor, Op. 64\/2\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Beethoven: Minuet No. 2 in G Major\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545: I. Allegro \"Sonata Facile\" \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Mozart (arr. Hollander): Minuet (From \"Don Giovanni\")  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Bach: Two-Part Invention No. 13 in A Minor, BWV 784    \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Schumann: Album für die Jugend, Op. 68: X. Fröhlicher Landmann, von der Arbeit zurückkehrend.   \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Schumann: Album für die Jugend, Op. 68: II. Soldatenmarsch. Munter und straff\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Schumann: Träumerei  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Grieg: Anitra's Dance\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Chopin: Etude in G-Flat, Op. 25, No. 9 \"Butterfly\"  \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDISC 2:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Chopin: Polonaise in A-Flat Major, Op. 53\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 31  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.6 in D-Flat Major, S.244\/6  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No. 3, S.216  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Brahms: 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117\/2 \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Brahms: Rhapsody in G Minor, Op. 79\/2  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 3\/2   \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDISC 3:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Dello Joio: Fantasy and Variations for Piano and Orchestra \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major   \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLorin Hollander, piano \/ Boston Symphony Orchestra \/ Erich Leinsdorf, conductor\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDISC 4:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19 \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e[Erick Friedman, violin]\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e   \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 in G Major, Op. 55    \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLorin Hollander, piano \/ Boston Symphony Orchestra \/ Erich Leinsdorf, conductor\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDISC 5:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Khachaturian: Piano Concerto in D-Flat Major, Op. 38   \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Bloch: Scherzo fantasque, B. 78 \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLorin Hollander, piano \/ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra \/ Andre Previn, conductor\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDISC 6:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Rachmaninoff: Prelude In C-Sharp Minor, Op. 3\/2  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Prokofiev: Toccata, Op. 11\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDISC 7:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Beethoven: Sonata No. 17 in D Minor, Op. 31\/2 \"The Tempest   \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Bach, J. S. (arr. Hess): Choral: \"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring\"   \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Brahms: Intermezzo in B-Flat Minor, Op. 117\/2 \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Schumann: Arabeske, Op. 18  \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDISC 8:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Kirchner: Lily (1973)  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDiana Hoagland, soprano \/ Columbia Chamber Soloists \/ Leon Kirchner, pianist\/conductor\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e•\u003c\/strong\u003e Kirchner: String Quartet No. 2 (1958) \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLenox String Quartet\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012673851626,"sku":"194399287828","price":23.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4096206-2851777.jpg?v=1786642456"},{"product_id":"sandor-vegh-conducts-camerata-salzburg","title":"Sándor Végh Conducts the Camerata Salzburg","description":"\u003cp\u003eSándor Végh, the “arch musician”, was one of those few conductors who possessed that musical \u003cem\u003eje ne sais quoi\u003c\/em\u003e. Whatever he touched – especially with his Salzburg Camerata \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e–\u003c\/span\u003e it was always musical, light, exciting. Showing that in music the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that phrasing and sparkle go a long way, he made even the least of Mozart’s\u003cem\u003e Gebrauchsmusik\u003c\/em\u003e sound like works of flaming genius. This box proves, if it needed proving, that these skills applied to other music, too, from the rest of the First Viennese School to the Second Viennese School and beyond. His Schubert Symphonies are pure classical joy, his \u003cem\u003eTransfigured Night\u003c\/em\u003e late-Romantic gorgeousness-become-manifest, his Bartók an idiomatically \u003cem\u003esimpatico\u003c\/em\u003e dreamboat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\" id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell5_12_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\"\u003eIt is twenty-five years since Sándor Végh’s death and this commemorative box set forms a fitting tribute to him, ranging across music from the Classical era to the mid-20C. Capriccio here presents eight composers on six discs providing six and a half hours of music as testimony to his versatility and artistry.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- MusicWeb International\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven with such frequently recorded works as those compiled in this edition—they are reissues, of course—one cannot help but be interested in these interpretations, which show a variety of works that Sándor Végh enjoyed conducting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Schubert symphonies are particularly well performed, with Végh conducting them in a spiritedly upbeat manner and with incisive rhythm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlso noteworthy are the recordings of Haydn’s Seven Last Words, Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night, and the works by Bartok and Stravinsky. This begins with a convincing choice of tempo, the ideal breath impulse, the emphasis and is furthered by the care of the tone, the spontaneous way in which the music is played together and an exemplary transparency.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- Pizzicato\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Capriccio","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012678832362,"sku":"845221074221","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4098047-2852793.jpg?v=1786675790"},{"product_id":"carlos-chavez-the-complete-columbia-album-collection","title":"Chávez: The Complete Columbia Album Collection","description":"\u003cp\u003eSony Classical is pleased to announce an important reissue of works by Carlos Chávez, one of the most influential figures in the history of Mexican music. Most of these recordings, which span the years 1938 to 1980, are conducted by Chávez himself and have never appeared before on CD.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCONTENTS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBuxtehude\u003c\/strong\u003e: Ciacona in E minor, BuxWV160\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Danza a Centeotl (from the Ballet 'Los cuatro soles')\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: El venado\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Huapango de Vera Cruz\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: La bamba\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: La paloma azul\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Los Cuatro Soles\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Pirámide (Ballet in four acts)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Soli I\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Soli II\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Soli IV\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Sones Mariachi for Small Mexican Orchestra\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Symphony No. 1 ‘Sinfonía de Antígona'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Symphony No. 2 ‘Sinfonía India'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Symphony No. 3\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Symphony No. 4: ‘Sinfonía Romántica'\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Symphony No. 5\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Symphony No. 6\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Violin Concerto\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Xochipili\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChávez\u003c\/strong\u003e: Yaqui Music de Sonora\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012681060586,"sku":"194399774120","price":23.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4218787-3014538.jpg?v=1786640618"},{"product_id":"bruckner-symphonies-nos-0-9","title":"Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. \"0\"–9 \/ Poschner, Linz Bruckner Orchestra, ORF VRSO","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnton Bruckner 200 (1824-2024)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReleased to coincide with Bruckner's 200th birthday in 2024, this 18-CD set brings together the entire recorded cycle of Bruckner's symphonies in the Capriccio label's The Complete Versions Edition. Markus Poschner's acclaimed recordings of Bruckner's symphonies feature all of the versions identified as having significant revisions and changes in the authoritative Neue Anton Bruckner Gesamtausgabe (New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition), making this the most comprehensive Bruckner Symphonies cycle available today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012688597226,"sku":"747313180431","price":89.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4353061-3216460_136f6af9-01fc-4e73-b692-0488058a8835.jpg?v=1786636462"},{"product_id":"bruckner-11-symphonies-thielemann-vienna-philharmonic","title":"Bruckner: 11 Symphonies \/ Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eSony Classical releases the full cycle of Bruckner’s symphonies recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann on 11 CDs. The box set, featuring the composer’s nine numbered symphonies, his ‘Study Symphony’, his ‘Nullified’ symphony, and a 172-page booklet. This release constitutes the first complete recording of the Austrian composer’s symphonies from the orchestra under a single conductor. Christian Thielemann enjoys a strong rapport with the Vienna Philharmonic and has established himself as one of his generation’s most esteemed interpreters of the Romantic Austro-German repertoire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePast praise for previously released CDs included in this set\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003eBruckner: Symphony No. 4 \/ Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003eThis new Bruckner Fourth deserves a strong recommendation. It is a reading of undeniable power and presence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003e-- Fanfare\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003eBruckner: Symphony No. 8 \/ Thielemann, Vienna Ohilharmonic\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003eOverall, there’s an aliveness to the music, inspired by the concert setting, which adds another reason this Bruckner Eighth is so satisfying. If you want to hear Thielemann at his best, conducting a stupendous orchestra, that’s precisely what we have here.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003e-- Fanfare\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBruckner: Symphony No. 9 . Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003eThielemann's interpretation has intimacies hard to find in other versions, and a vulnerability movingly communicated in the Vienna Philharmonic’s super-empathetic playing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"c-product-review--quote\"\u003e-- BBC Magazine\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012696527082,"sku":"196587601720","price":79.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4332598-3148019.jpg?v=1786636760"},{"product_id":"leonard-bernstein-10-album-classics-11-cd","title":"Leonard Bernstein - 10 Album Classics","description":"\u003cp\u003eSony Classical is pleased to present a special edition of Leonard Bernstein’s American Columbia recordings from the 1950s and 1960s. Some of the conductor-composer’s most celebrated interpretations and works are collected here on these carefully chosen 10 original albums on 11 CDs. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is, of course, the still-astonishing album that launched Leonard Bernstein’s international reputation as the most dynamic and charismatic conductor of his era, Stravinsky’s \u003cem\u003eRite of Spring\u003c\/em\u003e recorded in January 1958 – two months after his appointment as the youngest music director in the New York Philharmonic’s history. Reviewing a 2013 reissue, \u003cem\u003eClassicsToday.com\u003c\/em\u003e declared: “It has an excitement, spontaneity, and primal fury that no other version quite matches.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Bernstein recording that launched the “Mahler Renaissance” in the 1960s is also here: his Third Symphony with the New York Philharmonic, which has arguably never been surpassed. And while we’re talking about Third Symphonies, Bernstein’s “Eroica” still sounds “wonderfully vibrant” (\u003cem\u003eGramophone\u003c\/em\u003e) a half century after its first release. There is also his reading of Dvořák’s most popular symphony – “There’s no such thing as a ‘definitive’ recording [of the “New World”], but if there were, this one would come close to that imagined ideal” (\u003cem\u003eClassicsToday\u003c\/em\u003e) – and two from Haydn’s magnificent “Paris” set: “It’s debatable whether there have been better performances” (\u003cem\u003eClassicalNet\u003c\/em\u003e).  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBernstein himself conducts and plays Gershwin’s \u003cem\u003eRhapsody in Blue\u003c\/em\u003e (“The one indispensable recording of this familiar work, paired with an equally fine \u003cem\u003eAmerican in Paris\u003c\/em\u003e” – \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e). Bernstein the pianist also accompanies Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, at the peak of his matchless career, in an acclaimed album of Mahler lieder. The ballets \u003cem\u003eRodeo \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eBilly the Kid\u003c\/em\u003e by Bernstein’s mentor and friend Aaron Copland are included: “Even the composer couldn't make [them] dance the way Bernstein does” (\u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e).  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBernstein the composer is also generously represented. The original Broadway cast recording of \u003cem\u003eCandide\u003c\/em\u003e from 1956 is included, as is the definitive version of his most famous work: the original Broadway cast recording of \u003cem\u003eWest Side Story\u003c\/em\u003e from 1957. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe re-masterings in this new collection are the best ever issued of these thrilling recordings by one of the last century’s greatest musicians, selected from the Grammy® award-winning \u003cem\u003eLeonard Bernstein – The Composer\u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eLeonard Bernstein – Remastered\u003c\/em\u003e editions. Sony Classical’s new 11-CD Leonard Bernstein box set is the perfect introduction to the work of this American genius. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePast praise of previously released recordings included in this set\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMahler: Symphony No. 3 \/ Lipton, Bernstein, NYP\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis was the finest performance of Mahler’s Third when it was first issued back in 1962, and in some ways it has never been surpassed. Bernstein catches the riotous vulgarity of the first movement march music like no other conductor–not even his own digital remake reaches the level of sheer abandon he whips up here, and he also has the best of all fifth movements (bright and cheery, with dazzlingly prominent percussion).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (\u003cstrong\u003e10\/10\u003c\/strong\u003e; David Hurwitz)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDvořák: Symphony No. 9 \/ Bernstein, NYP\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere’s no such thing as a “definitive” recording, but if there were, this one would come close to that imagined ideal. Its special qualities haven’t dimmed a bit in decades since it was recorded, and every interpretive decision comes across with the inevitability of fate itself. First, you get the first-movement exposition repeat (very unusual for its time), then there’s the very slow (but still very flowing) Largo, gorgeously played and far from the trudge-fest that Bernstein would make of for DG. The scherzo goes like the wind, the fastest ever, and the finale offers simply the last word in excitement. If you don’t own this performance in some form, then you don’t know the “New World”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (\u003cstrong\u003e10\/10\u003c\/strong\u003e; David Hurwitz)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012700295402,"sku":"196587913427","price":24.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4211175-2991122.jpg?v=1786680285"},{"product_id":"anshel-brusilow-conducts-chamber-symphony-of-philadelphia","title":"Anshel Brusilow Conducts The Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia was founded in 1965 by Anshel Brusilow, then concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Brusilow, who studied conducting and played under Pierre Monteux, George Szell and Eugene Ormandy, auditioned more than 1,000 musicians for the 36 full-time positions and conducted the ensemble from 1966 until 1968, when it was disbanded for want of adequate philanthropic support in the city for a second orchestra. But over the course of two-and-a-half 34-week seasons it had already performed more than 200 concerts and made six albums for RCA Victor.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSony Classical is now issuing all these LP recordings by the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia on CD for the first time. The original LP releases were praised by High Fidelity, which called the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia “an orchestra of rare quality”. Reviewing its début release, Brahms’s D major Serenade, the US classical music magazine opined: “Brusilow could hardly have chosen a better work to show off the capabilities of his new orchestra – every first-chair woodwind and brass player has his chance to shine (and each does shine, brilliantly).” The Brahms was followed by a series of choice couplings: Tchaikovsky’s “Mozartiana” Suite with Arensky’s Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky (“Brusilow is thoroughly at home in this literature, and his players respond beautifully to his direction” – High Fidelity); symphonies by Haydn and Cherubini; a French programme of Ravel, Ibert and Françaix (“Perhaps a reflection of the Monteux influence … this record … carries true stylistic conviction in matters of phrasing, texture, and timbre” – High Fidelity); and Richard Strauss’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme as well as Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe orchestra also premièred and recorded a new sacred choral work by Richard Yardumian, the Philadelphia-based composer championed by Eugene Ormandy. Come, Creator Spirit for mezzo-soprano, chorus (or congregation) and orchestra was the first mass setting by an established American composer in the English vernacular following the Vatican Council’s 1963 decision. The work was lauded for its integrity, spiritual fervor, and power to communicate the essence of devotion in all its nuances from praise to supplication.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012701049066,"sku":"196587920722","price":23.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4253410-3140454.jpg?v=1786649259"},{"product_id":"joplin-the-complete-works-for-piano-dick-hyman","title":"Joplin: The Complete Works for Piano \/ Dick Hyman","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNo better Joplin cycle exists, and its first complete appearance on CD is long overdue.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBetween January and April 1975, the classically trained, multi-award-winning jazz pianist and composer Dick Hyman – whose astounding résumé includes playing with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman, writing and arranging for Count Basie, and scoring most of the films of Woody Allen – went into RCA’s Studio A in New York City and set down the definitive recording of ragtime legend Scott Joplin’s piano works. In 1988, an hour-long selection from the five LPs was released on CD. Now at last, Sony Classical is issuing Hyman’s entire Joplin album on three well-filled silver discs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis really is Joplin’s complete piano output. It even includes the six short exercises that form his 1908 School of Ragtime, with their printed prefatory remarks read by the 92-year-old Eubie Blake, a friend of Joplin and a distinguished ragtime player in his own right. Also here are Joplin’s less familiar marches and waltzes. And there’s a bonus: the set contains Hyman’s own twelve delightful improvisations on themes by Joplin, which he designed to demonstrate the composer's influence on the development of jazz harmony and melody. When the LPs were first released, Gramophone’s jazz critic wrote that “the eminently musical quality of Hyman’s playing is in evidence throughout the collection; he has the ability to characterize perfectly each piece and somehow to pinpoint every little harmonic subtlety and melodic felicity without in any way detracting from the conception as a whole.... He pays as much attention to matters of tempo, texture, phrasing and dynamics as though he were doing the twenty-four Chopin Preludes. Two for instance I particularly enjoyed were Cascades with its rippling lightness of touch and Scott Joplin’s New Rag in which Hyman’s cleanness of articulation and rhythmic exuberance are a joy. … Joplin well deserves this very handsome and well-recorded tribute.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCONTENTS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMaple Leaf Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOriginal Rags\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSwipesy\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePeacherine Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Easy Winners\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSunflower Slow Drag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Entertainer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eElite Syncopations\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Strenuous Life\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Breeze from Alabama\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePalm Leaf Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSomething Doing\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWeeping Willow\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Chrysanthemum\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Cascades\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Sycamore\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Favorite\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLeola\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Ragtime Dance\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEugenia\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLily Queen\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGladiolus Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNonpareil\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHeliotrope Bouquet\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSearch-light Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRose Leaf Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFig Leaf Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePine Apple Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSolace\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSugar Cane\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStoptime Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEuphonic Sounds\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCountry Club\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWall Street Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFelicity Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eParagon Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSilver Swan Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKismet Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMagnetic Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReflection Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAntoinette\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCleopha\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMarch majestic\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCombination March\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRosebud\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGreat Crush Collision\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSchool of Ragtime (Exercises Nr. 1-6)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBethena (Concert waltz)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBinks' Waltz\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePleasant Moments\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAugustan Club Waltz\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHarmony Club Waltz\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNew Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e+Dick Hyman-Improvisation on Peacherine Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Entertainer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eElite Syncopations\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Breeze from Alabama\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSomething Doing\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGladiolus Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHeliotrope Bouquet\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFig Leaf Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStoptime Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNew Rag\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePleasant moments\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe ragtime genre came into full flower from the mid-1890s through the end of World War I, spearheaded by Scott Joplin (1868-1917), whose 1899 composition Maple Leaf Rag became the template and standard bearer for classic through-composed rags. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw newfound interest in Joplin as a serious composer, starting with the New York Public Library’s publication of Joplin’s collected works. Joplin’s 1902 rag The Entertainer figured prominently in the soundtrack for the 1973 Academy Award-winning film The Sting, launching a floodgate of Joplin releases. Even classical artists as unlikely as Itzhak Perlman, James Levine, and E. Power Biggs hitched their stars to the Joplin bandwagon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHowever, the most comprehensive, intelligently produced, respectful, and artistically satisfying collection of Joplin’s complete piano works came from RCA Victor in a five-LP boxed set, featuring pianist Dick Hyman. No better Joplin cycle exists, and its first complete appearance on CD is long overdue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe music is presented by genre, with the rags arranged in loose chronological order by composition, followed by marches and waltzes. Also included is Joplin’s charming “School of Ragtime” Etudes complete with Joplin’s introductory remarks read by composer\/pianist and Joplin colleague Eubie Blake, who was 92 when he faced the microphone to speak. Hyman also offers the Grand Crush Collision march both in its original text and in his own ragtime transformation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAlthough Hyman’s pianism embraces the entire history of jazz piano, his effortless virtuosity is firmly rooted in classical training. As Rudi Blesh aptly stated in his brilliant and insightful original booklet annotations, the pianist “takes ragtime seriously without becoming solemn and portentous, more as one must do in approaching, say, much of Mozart.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTwo further qualities make Hyman’s Joplin stand out: his intelligent tempo choices, and his ideal fusion of classical projection and jazz time keeping. Take Joplin’s 1899 hit Maple Leaf Rag, for example. Hyman’s vigorous pace, dynamic contrasts, and clear articulation convey pure joy with a soupçon of brashness, so unlike Joshua Rifkin’s effete and rhythmically stiff traversal. The Cascades’ descending runs are as crystalline and transparent as Rubinstein’s Chopin. By contrast, Hyman’s measured tempo and ear-catching inflections of phrase in Elite Syncopations give shape and breathing room to Joplin’s polyphony.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNote, too, Hyman’s lovely legato touch and subtly lilting rubatos in Weeping Willow, Gladiolus Rag, and Solace, while Something Doing is pure lightness and effervescence. The pianist’s characterful animation keeps the episodic Bethena concert waltz afloat and moving. And although Hyman clearly respects Joplin’s texts, the pianist is not above filling out the texture with discreet octave reinforcements in the left hand, as he does in the difficult Euphonic Sounds, a rag that foreshadows elements of stride piano. Because Hyman approaches each piece on its own terms, one gleans more variety and expressive scope from Joplin’s oeuvre than we experience from most other Joplin interpreters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe original LP edition devoted the tenth side to twelve of Hyman’s improvisations on Joplin themes, which here are spread across the three CDs, most likely for timing considerations. They are sheer delights, from The Entertainer’s bi-tonal coda to a brief and unbuttoned Peacherine Rag that brilliantly burlesques Art Tatum’s 1940 recording of Harold Arlen’s Get Happy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eA Breeze From Alabama is pure, unadulterated barrelhouse and boogie-woogie, while in Joplin’s New Rag Hyman can’t resist interpolating Juventino Rosas’ Over the Waves–better known as the summer camp ditty “George Washington Bridge”. In short, Dick Hyman and Scott Joplin unquestionably belong to the coterie of symbiotic performer\/composer pairings that include Schnabel\/Beethoven, Gould\/Bach, Gieseking\/Debussy, Larrocha\/Albéniz, and Hamelin\/Alkan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFull disclosure: I met Dick Hyman nearly 60 years ago when I was eight years old, and he has been a friend, a colleague, and a musical father figure to me ever since. We even played two pianos together in several concerts. I vividly remember hearing Dick preparing these Joplin pieces at the time of the 1975 sessions, and marveled at his absolute commitment to the material, his focus and his flexibility in the process of getting all of the music under his awesome fingers. Thanks to Sony\/BMG for reissuing and gorgeously remastering an important recording project that belongs in every serious collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (10\/10; Jed Distler)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012701835498,"sku":"196587923624","price":24.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4389407-3299547.jpg?v=1786675628"},{"product_id":"julliard-string-quartet-plays-schoenberg","title":"Julliard String Quartet plays Schoenberg","description":"\u003cp\u003eArnold Schoenberg, one of the most influential musical figures of the 20th century, was born in Vienna in 1874. Sony Classical is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the great composer’s birth with the reissue of 20 CDs of recordings from CBS\/American Columbia. The company was a pioneer in documenting Schoenberg’s achievements and already demonstrated that commitment during his lifetime (he died in 1951). In 1940, with the composer conducting, Columbia Masterworks produced the first recording of one of his most captivating and revolutionary works, Pierrot lunaire; and in the 1950s and 60s, the label undertook a ground-breaking multi-volume series entitled “The Music of Arnold Schoenberg”. But arguably no recordings have done more to further the cause of Schoenberg’s orchestral and vocal works than those of Pierre Boulez, while none have done more to promote his chamber music than those by the Juilliard Quartet. Sony Classical now presents all of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/arkivmusic.com\/products\/pierre-boulez-conducts-arnold-schoenberg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pierre Boulez Conducts Arnold Schoenberg\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003eBoulez’s Schoenberg for CBS\/Columbia in a 13-CD box\u003c\/a\u003e, and all of the Juilliard’s in a 7-disc set.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012706390250,"sku":"196588272028","price":23.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4348987-3203273.jpg?v=1786649485"},{"product_id":"the-complete-rca-victor-recordings-william-steinberg-boston-symphony-orchestra","title":"William Steinberg \u0026 The BSO - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen William Steinberg was appointed music director of the Boston Symphony in 1969 as successor to Erich Leinsdorf, he attained the pinnacle of his career. No previous conductor had headed two top-ten US orchestras simultaneously. It was a condition of his Boston position that he could continue to work in Pittsburgh with the orchestra that he had headed since 1952.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBorn as Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne on 1 August 1899, he studied at the local conservatory with the conductor Hermann Abendroth and the pianist Lazzaro Uzielli, a Clara Schumann pupil. On graduating in 1920 he became Otto Klemperer’s assistant at the Cologne opera house. In 1929 he was appointed music director in Frankfurt. Relieved of his post by the Nazis in 1933, he conducted concerts in Frankfurt and Berlin under the auspices of the Jewish Cultural League before emigrating to Palestine in 1936 to take over the Palestine Orchestra (now Israel Philharmonic Orchestra). At Toscanini’s invitation he went to the United States in 1938 to assist in forming and training the new NBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1945, he assumed the music directorship of the Buffalo Philharmonic, where he liked to refer to himself as “Buffalo Bill”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Steinberg\/Boston collaboration with RCA was unfortunately ill-fated and short-lived. Not because of the repertoire, but plummeting sales and spiraling costs plaguing the American recording industry in general persuaded RCA to let its contract with the Boston Symphony lapse after 52 years’ association. Gramophone magazine’s Peter Quantrill claimed in 2018 that Steinberg was “the most under-recorded of great conductors in the second half of the last century.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2004, the critic Richard Freed wrote of the Schubert Ninth (CD 1) and Bruckner Sixth (CD 2) Symphonies: “Both [are] vital and inspiring performances, free of the monumentalizing all too often inflicted on such music: they are among the best entries in his discography and among the finest recordings of the works.” According to John L. Holmes in Conductors on Record, they were also Steinberg’s favorites among his own recordings. Mendelssohn’s own orchestration of the Scherzo from his Octet and Stravinsky’s Scherzo fantastique and Scherzo à la russe, coupled on CD 3 with formidable virtuoso renderings of orchestral showpieces by Dukas, Richard Strauss and Saint-Saëns, were originally prepared for release on LP LSC-3155 but remained unpublished – until now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis survey of RCA Boston Symphony recordings during the Steinberg era is rounded off with 1970 tapings of Dvorák’s “New World” Symphony and Carnival Overture (CD 4) from the same recording period by Arthur Fiedler, former BSO violinist and longstanding conductor of the Boston Pops. His recordings of mainly light repertoire for RCA generated total sales of well over 50 million. Nevertheless, it was his ambition to record a major symphony, and here RCA belatedly granted his wish, placing the full Boston Symphony Orchestra at his disposal for the first and only time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAll recordings in the set have been newly transferred and remastered from the 3-track (CD 1), 4-track (CDs 2, 3 [1-6], 4) and 2-track (CD 3 [7-9]) analog tapes using 24 bit \/ 192 kHz technology.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012707799274,"sku":"196588298820","price":39.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4302794-3148020.jpg?v=1786713453"},{"product_id":"pierre-boulez-conducts-arnold-schoenberg","title":"Pierre Boulez Conducts Arnold Schoenberg","description":"\u003cp\u003eArnold Schoenberg, one of the most influential musical figures of the 20th century, was born in Vienna in 1874. Sony Classical is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the great composer's birth with the reissue of 20 CDs of recordings from CBS\/American Columbia. The company was a pioneer in documenting Schoenberg's achievements and already demonstrated that commitment during his lifetime (he died in 1951). In 1940, with the composer conducting, Columbia Masterworks produced the first recording of one of his most captivating and revolutionary works, Pierrot lunaire; and in the 1950s and 60s, the label undertook a ground-breaking multi-volume series entitled \"The Music of Arnold Schoenberg.\" But arguably no recordings have done more to further the cause of Schoenberg's orchestral and vocal works than those of Pierre Boulez, while none have done more to promote his chamber music than those by the Juilliard Quartet. Sony Classical now presents all of Boulez's Schoenberg for CBS\/Columbia in a 13-CD box, and all of the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/arkivmusic.com\/products\/julliard-string-quartet-plays-schoenberg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Julliard String Quartet plays Schoenberg\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003eJuilliard's in a 7-disc set\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012710191338,"sku":"196588315022","price":55.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4348988-3201832.jpg?v=1786636200"},{"product_id":"ives-the-anniversary-edition","title":"Ives: The Anniversary Edition","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Ives - acclaimed by his champion Leonard Bernstein as the \"first great American composer\", who, \"all alone in his Connecticut barn, created his own private musical revolution\" - Sony Classical presents the most authoritative recording collection ever released of works by this eccentric, prophetic genius.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 5-CD box set Charles Ives - The Anniversary Edition is a unique and provocative introduction only released previously 50 years ago on LP by Columbia Masterworks under the art direction of Henrietta Condak to celebrate Ives's centenary.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe first disc examines \"The Many Faces of Charles Ives\" through eight diverse works recorded between 1964 and 1970: Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic in The Fourth of July and The Unanswered Question; General William Booth Enters into Heaven, one of Ives's towering achievements, and The Circus Band are performed by the Gregg Smith Singers; baritone Thomas Stewart sings the moving song In Flanders Fields; organist E. Power Biggs plays Ives's Variations on \"America\"; composer Gunther Schuller conducts The Pond for chamber orchestra; and the Largo cantabile Hymn is performed by the New York String Quartet and double bass player Alvin Brehm. CD 2, \"The Celestial Country\", offers Ives's early cantata by that name, composed in 1897-99 for his conservative Yale composition teacher Horatio Parker. It is sung by the Gregg Smith Singers (accompanied by the Columbia Chamber Orchestra), who also perform arrangements of four of Ives's most powerful patriotic songs with the American Symphony Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski conducting. \"The Things Our Fathers Loved\", CD 3, contains 25 of Ives's songs, delivered by the soprano Helen Boatwright, who specialized in American song. She is partnered by John Kirkpatrick, who studied and worked closely with Ives and is still regarded as the most authoritative interpreter of his piano music. Gramophone in 1974 praised this famous recording as \"the finest selection ever to appear\" on LP of \"what may well turn out to be considered his most important, characteristic and consistently inspired body of music.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012717105386,"sku":"196588859724","price":47.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4366441-3236429.jpg?v=1786709508"},{"product_id":"rachmaninoff-complete-symphonies-slatkin-detroit-symphony-orchestra","title":"Rachmaninoff: Complete Symphonies \/ Slatkin, Detroit Symphony Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003eSergey Rachmaninoff's symphonic career had a rocky start with the premiere of his First Symphony, now recognized as one of the Russian symphonic works of the late 19th century. Both the powerful First Symphony and the gloriously melodic Second, with its lush harmonic Adagio second movement, are haunted by the Dies irae chant melody. Rachmaninoff considered his Third Symphony to be one of his finest works, alongside the exquisitely and virtuosic Symphonic Dances. The enduring attraction of these symphonies is enhanced by the 'impressive, highly desirable interpretations' (Gramophone) in this acclaimed edition conducted by Leonard Slatkin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePast praise for previously released volumes included in this set\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3, Symphonic Dances\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\" id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell17_12_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\"\u003eThe more garish aspects of the Symphonic Dances, with its Dies irae quotation morphing into a Russian Alleluia, and the percussion parts generally, are kept under control, while the symphony’s glorious melodies, the last stand of the Romantic era in 1936, are allowed to flower luxuriantly. A crack Russian or British orchestra might be smoother in places, but there is a confident musicality here that is immensely appealing, and it has everything to do with a group of young players who realize that they are under the gun and have what it takes to succeed, under seasoned leadership. Highly recommended.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003eRachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead \u0026amp; Symphony No. 1\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis recording of the First Symphony is arguably the finest since Ashkenazy’s with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for Decca. Slatkin grinds out the opening bars with real menace, and he conceals the first movement’s episodic construction with flowing tempos and smartly managed transitions. The climax of the development section uses the glockenspiel part that seems to come and go in various recordings, but not the rest of the percussion that we find, say, with Litton on Virgin. Through it all the Detroit Symphony plays splendidly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe crepuscular scherzo has an attractive lilt, while the Larghetto is just that: a small Largo, not one of Rachmaninov’s more hot and heavy statements in the mode of Symphony No. 2. Kudos to Slatkin for catching the movement’s gentle melancholy so well. As for the finale, it begins with plenty of the requisite panache, and culminates with a dark, powerful, and threatening coda that, if not quite as screamingly intense as Ashkenazy’s (the tempo is a bit quicker), comes as close as makes no difference. The trombones really put on a show here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs for The Isle of the Dead, Slatkin’s performance doesn’t languish as some others do, and it’s all to the good. You really feel the five-in-a-bar rhythm in this performance, the lapping of the waves against the shore. The climaxes have tremendous impact, and the final appearance of the Dies irae sends a shiver down the spine. The work is all the more gripping for having such a strong rhythmic profile, and like the symphony it’s beautifully played (and recorded). Slatkin always has performed Rachmaninov as well as just about anyone alive today, and this cycle, quietly and with little fanfare as it has gradually appeared, sustains his reputation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012732178666,"sku":"747313327836","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4179792-2961142.jpg?v=1786677061"},{"product_id":"banks-18-pieces-for-orchestra-7-6-5","title":"Banks: 18 Pieces for Orchestra - 7 • 6 • 5","description":"Famous for his role as the keyboard player in rock band Genesis and as a solo artist, Tony Banks was always fascinated by the idea of writing orchestral music. His success incomposing for films led to the acclaimed Seven - A Suite for Orchestra. The intense orchestral sound pictures in Seven, Six and Five rank among some of Banks's most accomplished works, marrying experimentation with form and structure, and a trademark melodic character which powerfully conveys both melancholy and joy.    Originally released on individual discs as 8.57414, 8.572986, 8.557466","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012732965098,"sku":"747313330034","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4353062-3264320.jpg?v=1786636475"},{"product_id":"handel-alcina-minkowksi-les-musiciens-du-louvre","title":"Handel: Alcina \/ Kožená, Morley, Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre","description":"\u003cp\u003eMarc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre return to Handel with a complete recording of his opera Alcina. The title role is interpreted by Magdalena Kožená, who reunites with Les Musiciens and maestro Minkowski after a series of acclaimed baroque recordings. She is joined by an excellent casts of soloists, consisting of Erin Morley (Morgana), Anna Bonitatibus (Ruggiero), Elzabeth DeShong (Bradamante), Alois Muhlbacher (Oberto), Valerio Contaldo (Oronte) and Alex Rosen (Melisso). This studio recording transports the listener to Alcina’s enchanted island, and shows Handel at the peak of his power: the score is dramatic, lush and colourful as well as introspective and profound where the story requires it. Since its foundation in 1982, and under the baton of its founder and musical director Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre have developed into one of the world’s best period-instrument ensembles, with a vast discography. The ensemble returns to Pentatone after having presented Mozart’s Mass in C Minor in 2020. Alcina is star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožena’s fifth album as part of her exclusive collaboration with Pentatone, after having presented the baroque cantatas recital album Il giardino dei sospiri and the songs in chamber-musical setting project Soiree in 2019, as well as Nostalgia together with Yefim Bronfman (2021) and Folk Songs with the Czech Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle (2023). The other soloists all make their Pentatone debut.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/b\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere are relatively few recordings of Alcina out there, even though Handel’s Tempest-like opera of infatuation, rescue and enchantment is one of his most popular on stage. This new one scores highly, partly for the dramatic relish with which the conductor Marc Minkowski and his Musiciens du Louvre dispatch the music, but principally for a tour de force performance in the title role from the mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e— Guardian (UK)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PENTATONE","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012741222634,"sku":"8717306260848","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4290297-3144856.jpg?v=1786649572"},{"product_id":"scriabin-150th-anniversary-piano-works","title":"Scriabin: 150th Anniversary - Piano Works \/ Sofronitski","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAs pianist Andrei Hoteev puts it, Vladimir Sofronitzki's interpretations included an \"improvisatory style\", which corresponds with what musicologist Sigfried Schibli has noted as a characteristic of Scriabin's own playing, going on to say Scriabin \"developed his own style of playing the piano\" with \"alertly varied rhythms and dynamics...combined with a delicate touch and spontaneous agogics.\" Indeed, Sofronitzki's Scriabin performances have often been praised for their idiomatic, \"poetic\" rubato together with a flair for musical architecture and rhythmic precision. In his desire for fidelity to the original, Sofronitzki's highly sensitive use of the pedal reflects his striving to abide by the composer's expressive markings as closely as possible. His affinity with Scriabin's oeuvre may derive from the fact that both the composer and the pianist himself were influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Having spent his childhood in Warsaw, where his family had settled when he was two years old, Sofronitzki came to be regarded as setting new standards for Chopin interpretation - an artistic focus that goes back to his first piano tuition in the Polish capital. In 1949, the centenary of Chopin's death, Sofronitzki performed all his piano works on five successive days at the great hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe flow of melody and the highest transparency of musical events were top priorities for Vladimir Sofronitzky, whom Emil Gilels called the greatest piano player in the world and of whom the famous Heinrich Neuhaus said, « He plays like a god and looks like a god. » Let’s look closely at these two statements: Gilels speaks of the piano player not of the pianist. Consciously or unconsciously? And Neuhaus speaks of the god. God, is that power? Mightiness? Because Sofronitzky’s playing is powerful. It is dramatic and sonorous. This is Sofronitzky’s individualism: his feelings are those of sovereignty, of control. Poetry and tenderness are not his thing. And so the recordings of this edition impress me more than they touch me.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHowever, those who are intoxicated by consummate piano technique will be happy with this. In addition to the Etudes, Mazurkas, Preludes, Impromptus, Nocturnes and Poèmes, this box includes the legendary near-complete recording of the piano sonatas with Vladimir Sofronitzky. Only the first three movements of the 1st Sonata and the 9th Sonata, which the pianist never recorded out of respect for Scriabin, are missing and replaced by recordings by other pianists. Sofronitzky’s interpretations are phenomenal: he literally chisels the music into sculptures, relentless, accented, yet often very restrained and labored for nuance. Nevertheless, it is the enormously powerful playing that dominates and captivates the listener[.]\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e-- Pizzicato\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThese are historical recordings from 1946 to 1962, played primarily by Sofronitski; all the others are listed as guests. Profil celebrates Scriabin’s 150th birthday with a nearly complete collection of his solo piano works. This remastered collection has cleaned things up to today’s standards.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"Historical Recordings 1946-1962\" is correct for all the recordings here except Scriabin’s tracks. There is not a bad performance in this collection. A few choices were made that I didn’t agree with, but, by and large, this is spectacular Scriabin...I was amazed at the musical concentration Sofronitsky summoned to play such beautifully shaped phrases on such an instrument. Anyone who enjoys Scriabin’s piano music will find exceptional performances on each disc here.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e-- American Record Guide\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Profil","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012747677930,"sku":"881488220063","price":37.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4069401-2812439.jpg?v=1786691006"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/collections\/ChatGPT_Image_Sep_29_2026_01_56_34_PM.png?v=1790708259","url":"https:\/\/arkivmusic.com\/collections\/the-best-selling-box-sets.oembed?page=3","provider":"ArkivMusic","version":"1.0","type":"link"}