HANDEL: WATER MUSIC DIETER KO

Weber: Clarinet Concerto No. 1, Clarinet Concertino, Clarine

The Heroick Mr. Handel

VOCAL MUSIC OF WAGNER, SCHUMAN

Schumann & Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos - Dvorák: Silhouette

Scriabin: Le poème de l'extase, Piano Concerto in F-Sharp Mi

BACH: VIOLIN CONCERTOS, CONCER

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 20a & The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 6

The Virtuoso French Horn

Fauré: Élégie, Op. 24 - Lalo & Saint-Saëns: Cello Concertos

This release combines well known Sousa marches with Sousa’s less performed but equally enjoyable dances. Erich Kunzel’s direction is spirited and commanding, interpreting these works with the lilt and vigour of a band while maintaining the orchestral sound. Erich Kunzel was known as the “Prince of Pops.” In his long career he performed with a number of leading pops and symphony orchestra, particularly the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, heard here, which he led for 32 years. He first took over the ensemble at their founding in 1977. With the ensemble, he made nearly 90 recordings, most of which would go on to become bestsellers.

Sergey Prokofiev's spectacular music for Ivan the Terrible is arguably one of his finest film scores. This classic recording of the oratorio arranged by Abram Stasevich conducted by Leonard Slatkin is filled with Prokofiev's irrepressible energy and eloquent melodic power. Ivan, the first 'Tsar of all the Russias' is portrayed in the film not as the bloodthirsty tyrant his nickname suggests, but as a sorrowful and lonely man, betrayed by his friends, deprived of love, and determined at all costs to preserve a unified Russia under constant attack from abroad and treasonous intrigues at home.

These ever-popular works by Mendelssohn are performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by its music director (1969-84) Sergiu Comissiona. Originally released on the Vox label in the mid-1970s these recordings have been newly remastered in high definition from the original master tapes.

Romanian-born conductor Sergiu Comissiona galvanised the Baltimore Symphony into an orchestra of national prominence, releasing several albums on Vox. This classic recording of Mendelssohn's 'Scottish' Symphony is coupled with a previously unreleased recording from 1977 of excerpts from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Remastered in high definition from the original tapes.

Classical Music