Beethoven: Fidelio (Recorded 1961)

STRINGS, PERCUSSION & CELESTA

SYMPHONY NO. 5 DON JUAN

Overtures

Robert Schumann: Works for Piano (Recordings 1956-1959)

Verdi: Rigoletto

INTORNO ALL'ORATORIO DI SAN FILIPPO NERI

Ponchielli: La Gioconda, Op. 9

Tibor Varga was six years old when he made his first public appearance. At ten, he took on his first solo role with an orchestra, giving his interpretation of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor op. 64. In 1934, at the age of 13, Varga made his first recordings (His Master’s Voice). At fourteen he took on his first concert tours taking him all around Europe and later all over the world. Discovered by Jenö Hubay, he was enrolled at the age of 10 at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he began to study with Franz Gabriel and Leo Weiner. Attracted by the conceptions of Joachim and Auer, he also maintained a long personal and musical friendship with Carl Flesch. As for Bartók, he invited the young violinist to turn the pages at his concerts and also accompanied him on the piano in a Sonata by Brahms. After that, his rise to stardom took off. This release features the famed violinist performing works by Beethoven, Mozart, Bruch, and Tchaikovsky, recorded in the 1950s and 1960s.

As we all know, Walter Gieseking was the first pianist to record the entire piano works of Mozart. This series was produced by the British Columbia and it consisted of no less than 16/20 LPs which have represented a reference point of Mozart’s chamber music discography. From this edition, we have taken all these “minor” but absolutely fundamental pieces (minuets, Variations, Fantasies, Rondos) that today are difficult to find together in one release. French-German pianist Walter Gieseking was largely self-taught. He was born in France and travelled with his family throughout Europe until he enrolled at the Hannover Conservatory where he studied under Karl Leimer until his graduation in 1916. In 1915 he made his debut in Hannover. He was drafted into the German army in 1916, but escaped combat by performing in his regimental band. After the war he undertook the life of a working musician, accompanying singers and instrumentalists, playing in chamber music ensembles, and working as an opera coach.He later became an advocate of new music, performing works by Arnold Schoenberg, Ferruccio Busoni, and Paul Hindemith. One of the most extraordinary pianists of his time, he never practiced, except in his mind. He would study the score, imagine playing it, and then perform it flawlessly.

Classical Music

MOZART JUBILEE EDITION

MAGIC FLUTE

Verdi: Aïda

SYMPHONY NO. 1

FAUST

Classical Music

KARAJAN: COLUMBIA YEARS

MISSA SOLEMNIS

This new release features the rare and hard to find famous recording of the Brandenburg Concertos in 1963 by I Musici together with the most important soloists of the time. I Musici, also known as I Musici di Roma, is an Italian chamber orchestra from Rome formed in 1951. They are well known for their interpretations of Baroque and other works, particularly Antonio Vivaldi and Tomaso Albinoni. Among their engagements, the original chamber orchestra completed acclaimed tours of Southern Africa 1956, and again in 1967, with a few replacement performers. In the 1970s, I Musici recorded the first classical music video and, later, the group was the first to record a compact disc for the Philips label. One of their founding members and first violin, Felix Ayo, was still an active violinist as of 2017.

Sviatoslav Richter's discography is one of the most disorderly and complex. Organizing an "organic" collection of studio recordings, was the task of this 2-album box. In this way it is possible to access the teaching of this eclectic pianist, caught in his golden years, in the most complex repertoire of the Polish composer. Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet pianist of German extraction (German father). He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century and is sometimes proposed as the greatest of all. He was well known for his vast repertoire, effortless technique and poetic phrasing. Despite his huge discography, Sviatoslav Richter hated the process of recording. Glenn Gould called him one of the most powerful musical communicators of our time, and it was in concert that Richter's musical genius found it's full expression.

Classical Music

Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Recorded 1962)

With the famous Symphony No. 6, this album contains a lesser-known part of Tchaikovsky's repertoire - the Sérenade mélancolique, with the extraordinary Leonid Kogan playing the solo violin - the Variations Rococo, with Danil Shafran playing the cello and especially the Suite No. 3 for Orchestra, a composition wrongly forgotten by the common discography of the Russian composer. This release is a tribute to one of the biggest Russian conductors of the 20th century, gathered at the top of his career.

Bernstein Conducts Berlioz