Bruch, Dvorák, & Goldmark: Violin Concertos - Kreisler: Tran

Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major - Wagner: Overtures

Classical Music

Classical Music

Includes work(s) for piano by Ludwig van Beethoven. Soloist: Alfred Brendel.

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" - Haydn: Symphony No. 101

Piano Sonatas 2,3,7,8 "Pathetique" 11,12 "Funeral March," 24. Brendel's monumental cycle continues with this delightful collection.

Beethoven: The Complete Violin Sonatas

Includes work(s) for piano by Johann Sebastian Bach, Christoph W. Gluck, Camille Saint-Saëns, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven. Soloist: Guiomar Novaës.

This 1954 recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concerti, with the Chamber Orchestra of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jascha Horenstein, was the very first recording of those concerti performed on original instruments. In modern performances, it is usual to substitute flutes for the period records cellos for viole da gamba, violins for violino piccolo, etc. Joseph Duron was chief engineer for the project.

This appealing collection brings together some well-known gems from the Vox catalogue in one enticing package. The Johanos/Dallas recordings of Ives' Holidays Symphony and Copland ballet suites (Billy the Kid and Rodeo) have long been admired for their idiomatic naturalness both of performance and sound. Elie Siegmeister's Western Suite fits right in, being a thoroughly Copland-esque bit of Americana, albeit more heavily orchestrated and less rhythmically lithe, and its issue on a single disc probably missed most collectors. Abravanel's performance catches the music's liveliness, while the playing as such remains a bit rough-and-ready. Lukas Foss leads a suitably grand recording of A Lincoln Portrait dating from 1970, ably narrated by Dennis Rooney, and Erich Kunzel provides the icing on the cake in the form of Morton Gould's American Salute (a.k.a. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home") and a selection of Sousa bonbons that goes beyond the usual marches to include a waltz, tango, polonaise, and foxtrot. A marvelous bargain by any measure.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Brendel Plays Liszt, Vol. 2

Piano Sonatas 1,5,6,9,10,13,14 "Moonlight," 15 "Pastoral," 25. Performed by the noted Beethoven interpreter Alfred Brendel.

Piano Sonatas 27,28,29 "Hammerklavier," 30,31,32. Alfred Brendel concludes his famous recordings of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas.