MOZART: PIANO CONCERTOS 19 & 2

Rudolf Firkusny

Classical Music

SYMPHONIES NOS. 3 & 4

The evolution from Renaissance to Baroque musical style partly reveals itself in the process by which forms begin as vocal genres and end as instrumental ones. The ensemble (or instrumental) ricercar was a counterpart of the motet and is often characterized as a textless motet; the canzona began its life as an Italian keyboard or lute transcription of a French polyphonic song, a chanson, hence ‘canzona francese;’ English madrigals originally were transplanted Italian works. This transition is illustrated on this release by trumpet player Edward Carroll and organist Edward Brewer alongside the New York Trumpet Ensemble as they perform works by J.J. Mouret, R. Valentine, J. Wilbye, G. Gabrieli, and more.

Classical Music

Classical Music

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.

This album from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sergiu Comissiona presents two works by Mendelssohn: the Symphony No. 4 “Italian,” and the Symphony No. 5 “Reformation.” The title Italian designates the symphony Mendelssohn began writing during a visit to Italy in 1930-31 and completed in Berlin on March 13, 1833, a few weeks after his 24th birthday. When he conducted the first performance two months later, at a Philharmonic concert in London, the work was very well received. Mendelssohn withheld the score from publication for several years in order to make revisions. The final version was not performed until the second anniversary of his death. The Reformation Symphony was begun in Wales in 1829, a few weeks after Mendelssohn made his first sketches for the Scotch Symphony during his very productive first visit to Britain. While the Scotch was set aside for more than 12 years, the Reformation was completed in 1830, for Mendelssohn intended it for presentation in the celebration of the tercentenary of the Augsburg Confession in June of that year. The event did not take place, however, and the Symphony was not performed until 1832 when it was introduced in Berlin. The score, however, remained unpublished until after his death.

This release from the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Leonard Slatkin conducting presents two dark works by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The first is the choral symphony The Bells Op. 35. Written in 1913, the words are taken from the poem ‘The Bells’ by Edgar Allan Poe. Symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont translated the poem loosely into Russian. The Bells is joined on this release by the tone poem Isle of the Dead Op. 29. This work was inspired by a black and white reproduction of Arnold Bocklin’s painting of the same name, which Rachmaninoff viewed in Paris in 1907. The common thread that can be heard throughout both of these pieces is the use of the Gregorian plainchant, the Dies Irae, used as an allusion to death.

Brendel Plays Liszt, Vol. 2

Classical Music

Percussion instruments have only recently become the last members of the symphonic family to be used fully and sensitively by composers, long after strings, woodwinds and brasses have been effectively exploited. Creative interest in the symphonic percussion section began in earnest in the late 1940s and has not yet abated, with rather impressive musical results thus far achieved. It is safe to say that the skillful use of a liberated percussion section has changed the very sound of contemporary symphonic music. One of the by-products of this welcome development has been the emergence of the percussion ensemble as an independent performing entity throughout the US and all over the world. These ensembles have programmed new works by some of our most gifted composers and they are responsible for adding a new dimension to America’s listening experience. The four composers whose works have been adapted to create this program are all quite different from one another, yet, they have been approached as a single musical organism, with the hope that, even after transfer to the same sound source, they would coexist with one another without giving up or cancelling outany of their respective original characteristics of style, color, or content.

VOX presents an irresistible 6-CD set taken from Alfred Brendel's remarkable 36 album discography with the company. Made during the early years of his unique career, these recordings rightly established him as one of the foremost pianists of the century. The repertoire covered the complete works of Beethoven, most of Schubert's solo pieces, several Mozart concerti, some of the cornerstones of Franz Liszt's output and many other works. This set is fascinating because his early interpretations are different from his current ones and they show a towering artistic maturity shining through a young man's buoyant fiery energy.

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.

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.

This classic recording of Wagner's preludes and overtures with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Jerzy Semkow, the orchestra's music director from 1975 to 1979. Digitally mastered in high definition from the original analogue tapes.

REVIEW:

This Wagner CD is one of Jerzy Semkow's finest recordings he made with the orchestra during his tenure as its music director. The program opens with a brilliant Meistersinger Overture, heard in all its glory. The Rienzi Overture is no less inspiring. Semkow gives it verve and power, with an opulent sound at a brisk tempo. This gives the music an unusual fire. The Lohengrin Preludes and the evocative Easter Magician are also excellent. The album concludes with a sonorous Ride of the Valkyries, where the phenomenal sound engineering once again ensures a first-class listening experience. Wagner’s music shines in a thousand colors.

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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.

Composed after the onset of Smetana’s incurable deafness, Má vlast (‘My Fatherland’) is an unprecedented cycle of six related symphonic poems that evoke ancient Czech legends and celebrate the majestic beauty of the country’s landscapes. Heard here in critically acclaimed performances by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Walter Susskind, this Vox Audiophile Edition recording was first released in 1975 and is newly remastered from the original tapes.

The Elite Recordings for Vox by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.

Leonard Slatkin’s Vox recordings of Rachmaninoff’s orchestral works revealed him to be a great advocate for this composer’s music – a position he still holds to this day. These recordings with the St. Louis Symphony achieved classic status upon release in the early 1980s. This is the seventh issue with these artists in the Vox series of Rachmaninoff’s orchestral works newly remastered from the original tapes.

The Elite Recordings for Vox by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.

These classic Vox recordings feature two former music directors of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in their prime - Walter Susskind (Smetana) and Jerzy Semkow (Rimsky-Korsakov). Newly remastered from the original tapes.

Maurice Abravanel’s recordings of Grieg’s orchestral music with the Utah Symphony set the benchmark for these works in the mid-1970s. Newly remastered from the original tapes, these classic Vox recordings now sound better than ever.

The Elite Recordings for Vox by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.

Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra are joined by Grant Johannesen in this classic Vox recording of Grieg's Piano Concerto. The programme is completed with the overture In Autumn, the Two Lyric Pieces and the Old Norwegian Melody with Variations. Newly remastered from the original tapes.

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski’s legendary association with the Minnesota Orchestra yielded many classic recordings – and this selection of orchestral works by Ravel is one of them. Recorded in 1974 these Vox recordings have been newly remastered from the original tapes.

REVIEW:

A Polish conductor and an American orchestra play Ravel as if they were French. The Vox recordings from 1974 have been remastered from the original tapes and sound absolutely magnificent in their new freshness as far as the sound image and transparency are concerned.

Skrowaczewski begins with an elegant and finely differentiated, incredibly colorful version of the Valses Nobles et sentimentales. He gives the ballet Ma mère l’oye a wonderfully magical, sensual and suggestive character. Drama, crackling tension, subtle excitement and lyricism mingle in a dreamlike interpretation.

The two Daphnis et Chloé suites are no less outstanding and evocative. Here, too, the Minnesota Orchestra plays at the highest level of interpretation and technique, committed and, in the finale, ecstatic, following the highly inspired conductor. The St. Olaf Choir also deserves praise.

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Edvard Grieg’s ambitiously scaled Symphonic Dances use a compelling selection of regional melodies and jaunty rhythms to brilliant effect. Elsewhere, his music ranges from the eloquent drama of Sigurd Jorsalfar to the deeply felt intimacy of the Two Elegiac Melodies and the popular Lyric Suite. These classic Vox recordings by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra were originally issued in 1976 and have been newly remastered from the original tapes.

The Elite Recordings for Vox by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.