An overall glance at the history of opera shows that in many ways, the growth of multinational record companies after the end of the Second World War has had far-reaching effects. Up till then the national singing schools controlled the scene and nothing could have been more logical than for Italian, German, Russian and French singers to perform mainly in their own language. The language an opera was staged in depended on where the opera was being performed. For example: Boris Godunov wasput on in Russian at the Bolshoi, in Italian at the Scala, in French at the Opera, in German at the Staatsoper in Vienna, in English at Covent Garden and in English or Italian at the Met, depending on which company was performing. This release, despite it's 1962 recording, follows that same tradition of singing the presented opera in the language of the country in which it is being performed. In this case, Italian.

This is an extraordinary journey through the most preeminent of classical symphonies. With an ensemble of only 12-16 top-quality musicians, the Pocket Philharmonic Orchestra explores Beethoven's musical origins. All the great conductors and orchestras have shown where Beethoven led: how his ideas paved the way for later masters like Schumann, Bruckner and Mahler. What hasn't been shown yet is where Beethoven was: where his musical language came from, how he shifted standards and developed techniques in a completely new and revolutionary way. The Pocket Philharmonic has a new approach to this idea: instead of a full chamber or symphony orchestra, the ensemble performs as a chamber ensemble in a symphonic manner – symphonic chamber music, or chamber music symphonies, so to speak. "This is the most vivid performance of the Eroica you have ever heard" said the critics. “It makes the revolution in his music audible. "An outstanding listening experience."

The unique quartet Carsten Dahl Experience was formed back in 2008 at a concert in Copenhagen Jazzhouse with high ambitions of musical interaction. As Dahl states: "My intentions aimed towards an orchestra where it could be possible to fly. We should be able to play on both a highly abstract level and compositionally tight, and to move within all spaces at once." All the Carsten Dahl Experience releases are now put together in this extraordinary box set. On the occasion of Carsten Dahl's 50th birthday in October, we also release a new live show as an album, taken from a sublime concert in Tobaksgaarden in Assens on 18th of September 2016. Here you will experience the four playmates: Carsten Dahl (piano), Jesper Zeuthen (sax), Nils "Bosse" Davidsen (bass) and Stefan Pasborg (drums), romping about in boundless experiments. The recordings contain brand new songs that represent the open and creative flow which these musicians always procure. The concert has an all-out magical vibe to it, and the unique tones of the Danish jazz superstars enchant the audience. Luckily, the music is now preserved for all to enjoy on CD. The “Live” release is also part of a box set released by Storyville, containg all five albums by the Carsten Dahl Experience. Look forward to fly off the ground with four highly intuitive musicians who communicate their musical visions with great intensity and a telepathic nerve.

Julius Zarebski gained recognition with his masterpiece the quintet for piano and strings that he completed in 1885. He had just enough time to finish it in Brussels before he died when he was 32 years old. Born four years after Chopin died, Julius Zarebski was trained in Vienna where he studied the work of Mozart, Beethoven, and especially Brahms. His writing reflects the influences of these composers, but even more so the influence of his idol- Liszt. Under the anecdotal, benign appearance of his brief piano works, one of the most singular geniuses of Romanticism weaves a sumptuous work, revolutionary in its own way more by discourse than by harmony. Behind these virtuosic pieces, Zarebski invents a new pianistic language that would herald in the age of Szymanowski. This release contains his complete extant works.

Tomas Cotik, violin and Tao Lin, piano, continue their series of recordings for Centaur with this new release. Their Schubert recordings have been released to great acclaim. Here they brilliantly perform the complete Mozart Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Hailed by Michael Tilson Thomas as “an excellent violinist,” Tomas Cotik is internationally recognized as a soloist, chamber musician, and professor. A much sought-after recording artist, Dr. Cotik is currently involved in more than fourteen album recordings for Naxos and Centaur records, which have received over a hundred reviews and the highest praises from some of the best-known publications. Committed to passing on his passion for music, Dr. Cotik taught at the University of Miami, Florida International University, and West Texas A&M University. He was appointed assistant professor of Violin at Portland State University in 2016. Described by critics as possessing “Keen musical intelligence and excellent facility” (Miami Herald) as well as “opulent and romantic tone” (Fanfare), Chinese-American concert pianist and Steinway artist Tao Lin has performed in Asia, North America, and Europe. A versatile musician, he is equally at home as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.

This impressive four-DVD set features four documentaries that revolve around the lives and careers of four of history’s finest conductors. The first is “I Am Lost to the World,” a documentary about Carlos Kleiber, that includes several musical excerpts conducted by Kleiber. The second is “Journey of a Lifetime,” which focuses on Sir Georg Solti. The film includes interviews with Valerie Solti, Valery Gergiev, and more. “Larger Than Life” revolves around Leonard Bernstein, and includes interviews with his children and other music giants like Stephen Sondheim and Gustavo Dudamel. Finally, “Maestro for the Screen,” is about the life of Herbert von Karajan and shows the fascinating development of Karajan’s language for filming orchestral productions and starts with the very first concert production in 1957 in Japan, followed by the impressive cooperation with director Henri Georges Clouzot in 1965 to Karajan’s own film company Telemondial.

Since 1992, the year Aka Moon was formed, a series of albums has marked the history of the legendary jazz trio, which this set of twenty albums now gives you a chance to relive. To discover or rediscover this unique music is a very special experience, an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The twentieth album in the box is a previously unreleased recording: Light Ship Trio. (Outhere)

In this set, Luc Ferry tells how the greatest thinkers of antiquity, Plato, Aristotle or the Stoics, took over the legacy of Greek mythology to achieve a magnificent doctrine of wisdom, a secular spirituality that will cross centuries and who still speaks to us today. Essentially, it is a question of showing that the good life lies in the setting in harmony of oneself with the harmony of the world, this harmonious, just, beautiful and good cosmic order which forms in the eyes of the Ancients as a model to follow for the organization of the city. With the thought of Epicurus, sophists and atomists, we also see how a counter-culture, a "counter-philosophy" is being put in place, which already contests the idea of a harmonious cosmos and which, at once, proposes another conception of the good life.

On May 8, 1373, 30-year-old Julian of Norwich, sick and near death, had a series of visions of Christ. In these 16 visions she learnt about God's loving nature. God in Julian's visions was not angry and wrathful. Instead, the three properties of God were presented as life, love and light, and all of His creation was good, including his servant, man. In Julian’s version, Man is not to blame for his sin; instead it is something that he must experience and overcome in his spiritual journey with God. The version of Christian theology presented in Revelations of Divine Love – the first published book in English attributed to a woman – was highly liberal and incredibly progressive for its time. The book contains some of the most profound spiritual writing ever written and remains a perennial favourite among Christians.

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied. It is often referred to as the Ring Cycle, Wagner's Ring, or simply The Ring. Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. The four parts that constitute the Ring cycle are, in sequence, Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried and finally, Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods). This production, featuring the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and the Den Jyske Operas Kor conducted by Francesco Cristofoli was recorded live on September 6, 1987.

This release has been sourced from the Richard Itter archive. After twelve years of negotiation, ICA Classics has signed an exclusive long term agreement with the Lyrita Recorded Edition who are responsible for Richard Itter Trust. The collection is very important for collectors because it has never before been released. Despite there being a large number of Otto Klemperer recordings on the market, these Richard Itter tapes of live broadcasts from the Royal Festival Hall and the BBC’s Studios in Maida Vale between 1955 and 1956 have never, as far as is known, been released before. Klemperer was always more exciting when caught live and had added urgency as compared to his studio accounts, particularly at this time before his health deteriorated in later years. His Philharmonia concerts were hugely successful in the mid 50s when Walter Legge was looking to replace Herbert von Karajan who was in the process of leaving for the Berlin Philharmonic. As Richard Osborne states in his notes: “The winter of 1955-56 marked a new dawn for Klemperer.”

-----

REVIEWS:

Klemperer’s Mozart may sound a bit heavy-handed and brusque. On the other hand, the performances are refreshingly direct, projecting exemplary clarity of texture with the wind instruments really cutting through the orchestral tuttis to impressive effect. Likewise, the performance of Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 is really compelling, a good sense of structural cohesion working in tandem with great expressivity and rhythmic precision.

– BBC Music Magazine

Viewed overall, what we have here is the Klemperer we already know and love but granted wings and, trust me, you can tell the difference almost straight away.

– Gramophone

After exploring the evolution of Italian and French music in the seventeenth century, Jerôme Lejeune devotes a new volume in his History of Early Music to Germany. During this century in which the Lutheran musical tradition developed further, Germany lived through a particularly enthralling period, bringing the musical world a highly original language, but also assimilating Italian and French models with talent and imagination; all of this unquestionably prepared the way that leads to Johann Sebastian Bach. As in the other volumes of this collection, the recorded examples are selections taken from the works that are the most representative of their period. The Ricercar catalogue is particularly well-provided with examples of German music of the seventeenth century.

Contents of Blu-ray Discs

High Definition Concert Recordings: Harmonielehre, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, City Noir, Lollapalooza, Scheherazade.2, The Wound-Dresser, and The Gospel According to the Other Mary.
Bonus: John Adams in Conversation with Sarah Willis and John Adams in Conversation with Peter Sellars
Documentary: A Portrait of John Adams as the Berliner Philharmoniker's "Composer in Residence"
John Adams is considered the musical voice of America. His tonal language is at once unmistakable and of infinite variety. Minimalism mixes with imaginative orchestration and a jazz-inflected spirit to create a cosmos full of energy and colour that constantly reveals new facets. In a unique transatlantic partnership, John Adams has accompanied the Berliner Philharmoniker for a whole season as composer in residence. The orchestra performed a wide variety of his works, from the oratorio “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” and the famous “Harmonielehre” to more unfamiliar treasures. The concerts were conducted by chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle and outstanding guests: Gustavo Dudamel, Alan Gilbert and Kirill Petrenko. In the course of this partnership, John Adams himself also made his debut as conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s landmark series of Beethoven’s complete sonatas is now available as a complete set and at a very special price. Bavouzet has taken this programme to the most prestigious venues around the world and continues to perform it. Gramophone has nominated him several times for its Artist of the Year award, arguing that ‘Bavouzet’s chronological journey through the Beethoven sonatas has not been surpassed in the last 30 years. Yes, it’s that good.” Repackaged as a box of nine individual albums, and each including the original booklets with their usual personal ‘performer’s note,’ this is a must have.

Past praise of previously released sets that make up this complete edition:

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 2

His lean, pinpointed sonority, rhythmic directness, freedom from mannerisms, and strong linear awareness convey both a strong sense of classical style and expressive economy. Bavouzet’s dynamic range is not particularly large, yet his subtle variety of articulations, thoughtful accentuation, and very discreet use of the sustain pedal give the playing a distinctive profile that recalls other intimate, Apollonian Beethoven stylists like Wilhelm Kempff, Walter Gieseking, and Robert Casadesus.

– ClassicsToday.com

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 3

The meticulous workmanship and musical intelligence informing Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s previous Beethoven cycle installment are equally apparent throughout this third and final volume. Many pianists would be happy to claim Bavouzet’s authority and mastery

– ClassicsToday.com

Throughout the world Christmas is celebrated – and everywhere, singing Christmas carols is part of the celebrations. This limited special edition offers over 100 of the most beautiful German and international carols: For the first time, the “Weihnachtslieder” (German Christmas Carols) as well as the “Weihnachtslieder aus aller Welt” (Christmas Carols of the World) of the prize-winning LIEDERPROJEKT are being issued together in an incredible four-release set. The LIEDERPROJEKT is a charity project produced by Carus and Southwest German Radio. For every album set sold, 2 EUR will be donated to projects which promote singing with children.

The Royal Opera Collection brings together eighteen outstanding productions from The Royal Opera, spanning all-time classics and contemporary masterpieces. Featuring some of the world’s finest performers and leading directors, The Collection demonstrates the breadth of The Royal Opera’s work including Le nozze di Figaro, Carmen, Turandot, La traviata, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, and the Multiple award-winning Written on Skin. A special edition book is also included, containing new articles about The Royal Opera, richly illustrated with stunning photographs.

This release includes the entirety of Wanda Luzzato’s recorded legacy. The tracks have been dutifully restored and remastered for a better listening experience. The songs on this release are previously unreleased recordings. MusicWeb writes: “Valuable recorded documents from the Wanda Luzzato Archive. - I would encourage all violin afficionados to explore this compelling collection. I’m most impressed by Rhine Classics presentation. Everything about this production spells quality. [...] Luzzato commands a formidable technique. Her tone is sweet and pure and comes over as silvery in some recordings… Intonation is for the most part pristine. She seems to be greatly influenced by Heifetz in her use of expressive slides and position changes. Emilio Pessina’s expert restorations and remasterings are to be commended.”

In these recordings, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Berliner Philharmoniker present a brilliant and multifaceted interpretation of Franz Schubert’s eight symphonies. This Schubert is colorful and dramatic – and represents a unique synthesis in which the famous sound of the Berliner Philharmoniker is as evident as Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s familiarity with the transparency and sound speech of historical performance practice. The CD hardcover edition enables playback with either the best CD sound or – when used as an SACD – in high-resolution audio quality and in surround sound. Founded in 1882, the Berliner Philharmoniker has consistently been ranked as one of the best orchestras in the world. In 2006, ten European media outlets voted the ensemble number three on a list of “Top Ten European Orchestras,” and in 2008 it was voted the world’s number two orchestra in a survey by Gramophone.

Francisco Correa de Arauxo’s surviving music is contained entirely in his Facultad organica of 1626. Published in Alcala under the composer’s own direction, this constitutes one of the largest and most significant works in the entire history of the organ. His compositions embody a wide range of characteristics, some rational and well structured, others mystical and even eccentric. Correa no doubt intended his works to be played in meantone temperament- the normal tuning system at the time for organs, and the one heard on these recordings. Robert Bates is an award winning, internationally known recording artist, recitalist, composer, and a specialist in early French and Spanish Organ music. His recordings include “Viaticum,” containing eight of his own compositions as well as “Complete Organ Works of Jehan Titelouze.” His live performance for the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists is available as “In Recital at Lagerquist Hall.” Professor at the Moores School of Music, Houston, Texas, Professor Bates previously served as University Organist at Stanford University where he received his Ph.D. in Musicology.

Aldo Ferraresi was one of the most celebrated Italian concert violinists of all time, who has recently, unfortunately, fallen into relative obscurity. Born in Ferrara to a mandolin player, he began his studies at the age of five at the Frescobaldi Institute of Music in Ferrara. When he was twelve, he was admitted to the Parma Conservatory. Later, he would receive a degree in violin from the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. His recording heritage is presented here for the first time. The recordings on this album span a period of time from 1960-1973, during Ferraresi’s later life. Several world-renowned conductors are featured on the release, including Aram Khachaturian, William Walton, and Carlo Zecchi. The presented repertoire is mostly romantic, but also includes classics from Mozart as well as newer concertos from Benjamin, Khachaturian, and Shostakovich.

The artistic heritage of Antonio Vivaldi, acknowledged for his talent as far as the mastery of instrumental music is concerned, has waited for years for a correct evaluation in the opera music field as well. On the other hand, a musician who in 1739, at 61 years of age, was able to boast of having composed no less than 94 operas had a legitimate right to describe himself first and foremost an opera composer. Nowadays, unfortunately, only 23 of his opera scores have been preserved and not all are complete; as the scholar Reinhard Strohm writes, “We’re only able to document approximately 60 operatic performances between 1713 and 1739, in which the composer was personally involved in various ways. For these performances, he may have chosen the complete score, revised music by other composers, chosen and instructed the singers, rehearsed and conducted the performance, influenced revisions of his music by others, or worked in any combination of these possibilities. If we give a wide meaning to the word, Vivaldi was just as much an opera ‘impresario’ as an opera composer. This wasn’t at all common in Italy at that time and even less so for a priest. The least we can deduce from this situation was Vivaldi’s profound artistic passion for musical theatre.” Composed in 1724 for Rome’s Capranica Theatre, Giustino is a cornerstone work, situated on the ridge between the Red Priest’s old and new styles; precise indication of this importance is given by the fact that the customary borrowing from oneself, current usage in that period, is considerably reduced by Vivaldi for this work. Rather than to save time, since the inclusion of pre-existent episodes in the libretto and the score nevertheless involved laborious revision, this careful selection of the borrowing was used by Vivaldi to gather together a good part of his best previous music to impress the public: Giustino, as Strohm again states, is a sort of “Vivaldi anthology.” In fact, the borrowed pieces are often to be ranked among the best he’d ever written.

In this hapless state I looked myself over and saw that I was now no bird, but an ass.... In this ancient picaresque adventure, Lucius, an insatiably curious young man, finds himself transformed into a donkey after his fascination with black magic and witchcraft goes awry. While trapped in his new body, he becomes the property of thieves, farmers, cooks, soldiers and priests, and observes the hypocrisy and ineptitude of Imperial Roman society. The Golden Ass is considered the only novel to survive the Roman period, and the earliest novel to survive complete in the Western literary tradition. It is brimming with slapstick humor and sexual escapades, and foreshadows later works by Boccaccio, Rabelais, Cervantes and Chaucer, upon whom it was a direct influence.

Phineas Finn, a handsome young man of 23, comes to England to make his fortune in parliamentary politics. But despite all his aspirations, Finn is haunted by ethical questions as his personal convictions conflict with his duty towards his party. Loyalty versus honor, love versus money, and privacy versus prominence: our eponymous hero faces a variety of dilemmas as he navigates his way through the House of Commons. The second installment of Trollope’s celebrated Palliser series, Phineas Finn is a delightful and humorous look at the complexity of human relationships and the politics surrounding the Second Reform Bill of the 1860s.

Alongside those with Simone Young and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, OehmsClassics is now offering the third Bruckner cycle here with Ivor Bolton. This time it includes ''only'' the Symphonies Nos. 1 and 9. In its April 2017 issue, the renowned Gramophone Magazine wrote the following about the Second Symphony: ''The overall impression is one of vividness and transparency, aided by the exemplary recording...Among single-disc offerings of the 1872 edition, Bolton's recording is hard to beat.''

Past praise of previously issued recordings included in this set:

Bruckner: Symphony No 3 / Bolton, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra:

There is a compelling sweep to Bolton’s interpretation, replete with an atmospheric and detailed recording. And the ending could hardly be more final, more unequivocal, just as Bruckner surely intended.

– MusicWeb International

Bruckner: Symphony No 6 / Ivor Bolton, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg

An excellent recording overall. The focus on detail really justifies many of Bruckner's compositional decisions. More grandiose recordings make the work out to be more like the monumental Eighth or Ninth. It is always going to suffer by comparison with them, so in many ways Bolton's approach - to treat the often delicate textures with more care and attention - better represents its more modest aspirations.

– MusicWeb International

Of the modern novelists, Fyodor Dostoevsky is among the greatest Russian writers of the nineteenth century. In ''Les Carnets du sous-sol'', he tells the story of a reclusive man who, from his basement, observes the world in a low angle. The narrator spits out his words with bitterness, his obstinate refusal of happiness, pours out his anxieties and his hatred towards humanity. Written in 1864, there is a condensed version of the barbaric fury that is the work of the author and the basis of the great novels to come: ''Crimes and Punishments'', ''The Player'', or ''The Brothers Karamazo''. Produced by Maya Heuse of Editions Theeleme, Hubert-Felix Thiefaine, with his constant and solemn expression of emotion and bitterness, succeeds in transmitting to the listener all the melancholy, sincerity and violence of the novel. It depicts all the poetry of this work, which one would describe as a proto-punk, by its disillusionment, it sdisenchanted vision of the world, and which, as the author indicated, was intended as the narrative of a ''generation in survival''.