This release contains rarities of the repertoire of the twentieth century in the rare stereo interpretatiosn by Leopold Stokowski of the late 1950's for Capitol Americana and Philips. These recordings haven't been available for decades and have a preserved, extraordinary sound quality. The release testifies to the eclecticism of the conductor, who was certainly not only the Maestro fo Fantasia by Disney, but was one of the more experimental performers of a music that, in the middle of the twentieth century, appeared difficult and hard to sell.

While speaking on Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, Op.21, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky posited that his colleague “does not strive after profundity, but carefully avoids routine, seeks out new forms, and thinks about musical beauty more than observing established traditions.” Acclaimed violinist Moonkyung Lee endeavors to emulate this approach on her Navona debut Tchaikovsky – Works for Violin and Orchestra, in which she presents several performances of beloved Tchaikovsky alongside the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Miran Vaupotić. Lee finds particular success in this regard with her performance of Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.35, elevating several of the work’s unorthodoxies to the foreground. Her bow breathes new life into the unusual cadential sections in the first movement, its song-like Canzonetta second movement, and the Russian folk-infused finale. The album also includes a performance of the Méditation, a piece originally written as a middle movement for the violin concerto before its inclusion as the first movement of the Souvenir d’un lieu cher (Memory of a dear place), Op.42. Its nostalgic emotions are quintessential Tchaikovsky, and its subsequent popularity has led to presentations as a standalone piece. Lee chooses to perform an arrangement for violin and orchestra made by Glazunov in 1896. Finally, the violinist seizes the Sérénade mélancolique in B-flat minor, Op.26, Tchaikovsky’s first work for violin and orchestra. Like the Méditation and the violin concerto, it is filled with the intense emotion intrinsic to so much of his music. Lee singles out the end of the piece as particularly magical, lauding the moment “when the fragmented theme is reiterated by the clarinet and the solo violin in absolute stillness.”

Without doubt, Linus Roth is a serious and thoughtful musician with a technical gift that allows him to be unfazed by even the most demanding writing. The Shostakovich gets a strongly individual and brooding reading; indeed, this is as fine a concerto recording as I have heard in recent times. The Tchaikovsky is just about as good. The sound is excellent. The orchestra surrounds the soloist without hemming him in, orchestral detail is weighty without being synthetically highlighted. The wide range of tone Roth draws from his "Dancla" Stradivarius is beautifully caught.

– MusicWeb International

James Matheson composed his Violin Concerto specifically for violinist Baird Dodge, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Having lived in many places, Matheson feels as if Los Angeles "claimed him as their own". While in Los Angeles, Mathson has served as the director for the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program, mentoring a number of young people, as they navigate the perilous, sometimes lonely and often exhilarating career into which their talents propel them. "Although this recording celebrates the wonderful music of James Matheson, Baird Dodge was the secret force that enabled the whole enterprise to reach fruition. The Violin Concerto was written for him. He played the premiere performance that is memorialized here. A streamed recording of that performance was briefly available on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra website was what convinced me to pursue Jim for our first commissioning project. Baird is a key player in Color Field, the wonderful quartet who perform Jim's piece brilliantly in this recording. Baird and I enjoy the serendipity involved in projects like this, the collision of happy and odd events, often over a loong period of time, that magically result in a wonderful work of art. But serendipity by itself is not enough. A "special sauce" is needed to bring it all together. From my view, Baird is just that. Thank you, Baird" - J. Schlichting

This fascinating release of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 stands apart from any other recording of the work. This is the first time that the magnificent piece has been recorded in HD and 5.0 surround sound, offering the most outstanding sound quality available today. Christian Thielemann leads the Wiener Philharmoniker in this moving interpretation. “Thielemann’s reading of the Beethoven symphonies stands heads and shoulders above the countless and mostly undistinguishable versions on offer.” (Die Presse) This performance is accompanied by an hour-long documentary featuring the conductor and Germany’s foremost music critic, Professor Joachim Kaiser. The film provides insights into Beethoven’s thinking, as well as interpretal comparisons from conductors like Karajan, Bernstein, and Jarvi.

Herbert von Karajan broke boundaries in many aspects of conducting, among those being that he was the first conductor to become interested in filming his performances to preserve his cultural heritage. This exceptional documentary begins with his first concert productions, taken in Japan in 1957. Following those first recordings is his cooperation with director Henri-Georges Clouzot, then Karajan’s own film company Telemondial. Karajan’s language for orchestral film productions is seen here through all of its stages. This documentary also includes interviews with Karajan and his collaborators.

Jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott, also known as Little Jimmy Scott, was famous for his unusual timbre and his interpretation of ballads and love songs. He was successful during the golden age of jazz, then fell into obscurity during the 1960s. He launched a well-received comeback during the 1990s. Jimmy suffered from a rare condition called Kallmann’s Symdrome, which stunted his growth and prevented him from reaching puberty, which left him with a high, undeveloped countertenor voice. I Go Back Home is a feature documentary which tells the story of Jimmy Scott and the producer Ralf Kemper who launched his comeback. This outstanding soundtrack includes timeless favorites performed by Jimmy Scott as well as newly composed numbers.

Classical Music

For this album, renowned classical guitarist Christoph Denoth joins with the London Symphony Orchestra under conductor Jesus Lopez Cobos to bring us a beautiful recording of compositions by Lorenzo Palomo (b. 1938), Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999), and Joquin Malats (1872-1912). The title track of the album, Palomo's Nocturnos de Andalucia, was composed for Pepe Romero. The full suite for guitar and orchestra was premiered in Berlin on January 27, 1996, with Romero performing. Christoph Denoth began his concert career at age 15. He regularly performs with chamber ensembles, such as the Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain and the Offenburger Streichtrio. He also performs solo concerts internationally. Joquin Malats' Serenata Espanola is arranged for this recording by Christoph Denoth and Jonathan Rathbone, and is the world premiere recording.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Freedom Above All Else an Audio Biography by Jorg Handstein is racked by revolution, wars, fears and hopes and music, too. "In instrumental music, art is independent and free" that is the proud claim of the Romantic movement, and Ludwig van Beethoven implements this new artistic ideal thrillingly in his works. In the 10-part audio biography "Freedom Above All Else", J�rg Handstein tells the story of Beethoven's life. The panoramic backdrop of great historical events makes the highly personal story of this radical individualist all the more gripping. A major role is played by the music, which constantly follows new paths and is powerful, profound, eccentric, poetic, sensual and philosophical. This audio experience is rounded off by excellent actors, most notably Udo Wachtveitl as the narrator and Cornelius Obonya as Beethoven, and they are joined by several of the most renowned musicians of our time. On a total of four CDs, Beethoven's life and aspirations can be vividly shared and experienced, and his music with it's many subtleties is woven into this highly exciting biography. His thoughts, feelings, everyday experiences and entire epoch are brought to life here - with everything based strictly on the original sources, but performed and narrated in a lively and inspired manner throughout. Vividly related ten-part audio biography on 4 CDs. Celebrated narrators including Udo Wachtveitl and Cornelius Obonya Complete recordings of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Mariss Jansons, and the Piano Sonata in F minor performed by Alexej Gorlatch.

From a 2012 live performance in Tokyo's Suntory Hall the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) conducted by Mariss Jansons embarks on a program presenting the 7th and 8th symphonies of Beethoven along with Jörg Widmann’s 2008 piece “Con Brio” commissioned by Jansons with the stipulation to use these Beethoven symphonies as basis and influence. Thus this deeply symbiotic collection unfolds, played with flair and great integrity within the fantastic acoustics of the hall.

Two well-known masterpieces of Russian music complement each other perfectly on the latest release of Mariss Jansons and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Recorded November 2014 (Mussorgsky) and April 2015 (Stravinsky) at concerts in the intimate dimensions of Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz and in the Philharmonie im Gasteig. With the 1947 revised version of Stravinsky's “Petrushka”, a revision ultimately preferred by Stravinsky himself and here featuring the piano of the prolific Lukas Maria Kuen, along with the 1922 orchestral version of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" memorably and engagingly transcribed by Maurice Ravel elevating the piece to the pantheon of one of the most familiar of all classical works.

A notable addition to the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Beethoven symphony cycles, chief conductor Mariss Jansons transforms the cycle concept in several regards with these live performances recorded in Tokyo's Suntory Hall renown for it's dazzling acoustics. Beethoven's first two symphonies are interlaced with commissions from contemporary composers Misato Mochizuki (born Tokyo, 1969) and Johannes Maria Staud from Austria (born 1974), both of whom were asked to contribute their own musical reflections on Beethoven's symphonies. Praised during the Japanese tour for his "new, modern and transparent-sounding Beethoven", Jansons proves both the enduring endless power of early Beethoven including the continuing inspiration that contemporary composers draw from.

BR‐Klassik presents the 2014 live recording from Munich's Philharmonie im Gasteig of the semi‐staged performance of Tchaikovsky's late masterpiece “Pique Dame”, or “The Queen of Spades”. In its long history as a concert orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra has also devoted itself on numerous occasions to opera, under such eminent conductors as Rafael Kubelik and Leonard Bernstein. Chief conductor Mariss Jansons also maintains this tradition, for example with concert performances of Russian operas such as “Eugene Onegin”. With great connoisseurship, Maestro Jansons assembled a group of singers for this performance, sung in the original Russian, who are all native speakers of the language, and very familiar with the work, including Misha Didyk as Herman, Tatiana Serjan as Lisa, and Alexey Markov as Prince Yeletsky.

The BRSO under Mariss Jansons extended the Beethoven symphony cycle concept on record in 2012 by presenting the symphonies, recorded live, with accompanying first recordings of specially commissioned works from composers contributing their own musical reflections on these masterworks. Available until now exclusively in its award-winning Beethoven-Jansons 6CD box set, BR-Klassik here releases individually Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 accompanied by Raminta Šerkšnytės’ Fires, the work’s title referencing the "con brio" tempo marking of the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth.