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Bach: Secular Cantatas Vol 1 / Suzuki, Sampson, Et Al

BIS

$21.99 Oct 01, 2004

"While recordings of Bach’s Coffee Cantata abound, the same cannot be said for his spaciously proportioned Wedding Cantata, ‘O holder Tag’. Scored for soprano with flute, oboe d’amore and strings, this last-mentioned piece is unquestionably one of the most vocally challenging of all Bach’s solo voice cantatas, requiring stamina and virtuosity over and above all Bach’s other usual demands. Carolyn Sampson has these challenges well within her grasp and no one is likely to be disappointed by her restrained and delicately poised singing... Comparably successful are the fourth aria, a deliciously pervasive polonaise, and the spirited finale, though throughout the cantata elegance of phrase and transparency of texture take precedence over nuptial high spirits. The Coffee Cantata is a delight from start to finish. Sampson is an almost perfect Liesgen, the willful, headstrong but affectionate daughter of dyspeptic though ultimately indulgent father, Schlendrian. As in the other work, the emphasis in Suzuki’s performance is on refinement of detail rather than animated dialogue. But the little domestic contretemps comes over charmingly and with just enough theatre to hold our attention. Stephen Schreckenberger makes clearer tonal sense of his aria ‘Mädchen, die von harten Sinnen’ than any other bass I know and Sampson’s sublime ‘Heute noch’ is lightly articulated and wholly enchanting."

-- Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine

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Bach: Secular Cantatas Vol 1 / Suzuki, Sampson, Et Al
BIS Oct 2004
CD
$21.99

EAST COAST JAZZ SERIES 8
BETHLEHEM JAPAN Mar 2013
CD
$10.45

100 NEW BEST PIANO / VARIOUS
IMPORTS Apr 2014
CD
$26.49

VIRTUOSO: PIANISTS OF THE SYDNEY INT'L PIANO

ELOQUENCE AUSTRALIA

$60.91 Jun 18, 2021

Described by The Australian as 'a boon for lovers of the piano and those keeping an ear on exciting musical talent', the Sydney International Piano Competition (The Sydney) has become a fixture on the classical music landscape. This unique retrospective chronicles more than 100 fascinating performances. They were recorded by 77 pianists during seven events over two decades (1992-2016). Over it's 14 hours, the eleven CDs in this Limited Edition encompass music by more than 55 composers from Agnew to Zaderetsky and the anthology is organized in seven categories: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Twentieth Century, Transcriptions & Encores, Australian Piano Music and Piano Concertos. Anyone who has followed The Sydney will recognize the excitement, the fever pitch as this great quadrennial festival of pianism heads towards the final rounds. This set provides the listener then with a cornucopia of pianism. You can hear lyrical grace in so many of the Scarlatti sonatas, and particularly Rustem Khairutdinov's 1992 performance of the D minor, Kk.9. Poise and rapt stillness informs Roberto Cominati's 1996 Debussy (Images - Book II), and the clarity of voicing is carried through in his performance of Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto, where, you're swept away with the excitement, but hear all the notes! Excitement is to be found on virtually each disc in the set, but particularly in the 'Transcriptions & Encores' volume, as well as in the Rachmaninov and Sancan performances by Olivier Cazal, Yuki Takao's Hexentanz (Macdowell), and Tatiana Kolesova's Petrushka pieces. The anthology also gives us the opportunity to experience Australian piano music as interpreted by a range of pianists from, among others, countries like Russia, Canada, China, the United States, Sweden and Japan (and, of course, Australia). Many are called, few are chosen, as the saying goes, but the philosophy in putting together this collection was purely the merit of an individual performance, no matter which stage it's performer reached in the event. Therefore, it matters little as to where individuals participating in this competition may be now. Fate and time have their own plans for participants and their future paths. But playing that is as good, unique and memorable as that here represented is worthy of preservation. As a snapshot of some outstanding playing across several Sydney winters, this collection is sure to entertain those unfamiliar with the performers and bring back memories for those who were there. The booklet includes full recording details, and introduction by The Sydney's chairman Virginia Braden, and notes by Piers Lane (Artistic Director of The Sydney), and Cyrus Meher-Homji, who initiated a long-running series of recordings from The Sydney from 1992 onwards and curated this boxed set.

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VIRTUOSO: PIANISTS OF THE SYDNEY INT'L PIANO
ELOQUENCE AUSTRALIA Jun 2021
CD
$60.91

Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner, Gershwin: Orchestral Works / Rögner, MDR Sinfonieorchester

Genuin

$20.99 Jan 07, 2022

As a servant to his craft, Heinz Rögner was influenced by the musical traditions of his hometown of Leipzig. GENUIN, together with MDR, is dedicating a 4-album box set to the great conductor, featuring concert recordings from the Gewandhaus from 1994 to 2001. Originally from a humble background, the musician worked predominantly in Berlin and Leipzig but was also exceptionally well known and popular in Japan. This album box provides us with superb recordings of Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert and Anton Bruckner, as well as Reger's Mozart Variations and Gershwin's An American in Paris. The MDR Symphony Orchestra and the MDR Chamber Philharmonic perform at their best!

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Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner, Gershwin: Orchestral Works / Rögner, MDR Sinfonieorchester
Genuin Jan 2022
CD
$20.99

VIRGIN LAND

KING JAPAN

$14.49 Mar 21, 2025

Japanese pressing. 60 masterpieces from the prestigious American jazz label CTI Records (including sub-labels KUDU and SALVATION) are now being released all at once. All titles come with a luxurious booklet that reprints the liner notes from the original Japanese LP releases. King. 2025.

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VIRGIN LAND
KING JAPAN Mar 2025
CD
$14.49

HERE TIS
UNIVERSAL JAPAN Nov 2024
CD
$18.49

Bruhns: Cantatas and Organ Works, Vol.1 / Suzuki, Yale Institute of Sacred Music

BIS

SACD

$21.99 Feb 04, 2022

When he died, Nicolaus Bruhns was just 31 years old, and only twelve of his vocal works and five organ compositions have survived. On the strength of these, he is nevertheless considered one of the most prominent North German composers of the generation between Buxtehude and Bach.

Buxtehude was in fact Bruhns's teacher, and thought so highly of him that he recommended him for a position in Copenhagen. There he worked as a violin virtuoso and composer until 1689, when he returned to Northern Germany to become organist in the main church of Husum. It was here that most if not all of the extant works were performed. According to Bach's obituary, Bruhns was one of the composers that he took ‘as a model’, and he is therefore naturally of interest to Bach specialist Masaaki Suzuki.

On this first of two discs made in collaboration with the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Suzuki directs – from the organ – a group of singers and musicians, in six of the vocal works: so-called ‘sacred concertos’ scored for 1-3 soloists and various combinations of strings with basso continuo. Suzuki’s performances of two organ pieces by Bruhns – the larger of the two preludes in E minor, and the fantasia on the chorale Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland – appear here as well.

REVIEWS:

These performances by famed Bach conductor Masaaki Suzuki were recorded in 2016 and 2017 at Yale University in the U.S. but not released until 2022. Bruhns is closer to Buxtehude (and there's even the flavor of Heinrich Schütz) in these chamber cantatas than he is to Bach. Suzuki directs these pieces from the organ and gets wonderful results from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music choir; if it originally had an American sound, Suzuki smooths it out. His soloists are not quite the equal of those he assembled in Japan, but they are idiomatic and fully equal to the music, perhaps consistent with what the composer would have heard. A wonderful Baroque release commended to anyone with the slightest interest in Bach and his world.

-- AllMusic.com

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Bruhns: Cantatas and Organ Works, Vol.1 / Suzuki, Yale Institute of Sacred Music
BIS Feb 2022
SACD
$21.99

Discover - Film Music

Naxos

$10.99 ~~$21.99~~ Save 50% Dec 16, 2008

With 49 tracks spanning two CDs, DISCOVER-FILM MUSIC is an informative package designed to lure the casual listener into the larger world of film music. Disc One largely consists of major Hollywood releases, including KING KONG, BEN HUR, STAR WARS, and SPIDER-MAN. Disc Two explores the more classical-centric foreign film scores, originating in Britain, Europe, and Japan. The set is accompanied by a 72-page booklet / learning guide, composed by British film music lecturer John Riley.

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Discover - Film Music
Naxos Dec 2008
CD
~~$21.99~~ $10.99

Bach: Duets for 2 Flutes / Gallois, Seo

Naxos

$13.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 30% Jan 11, 2019

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach’s oldest son, enjoyed a reputation as one of Germany’s finest organists, but his career was one of mixed fortunes and he died in poverty. The dating of his Six Duets is the subject of speculation, but their level of technical sophistication is quite remarkable. Each instrument is given equal status in music that is full of the kind of joyous brilliance, passion and free-mindedness of spirit that transcends virtuosity and the stylistic boundaries of W.F. Bach’s period. Patrick Gallois belongs to the generation of French musicians leading highly successful international careers as both soloist and conductor. From the age of 17 he studied the flute with Jean-Pierre Rampal at the Paris Conservatoire, and at the age of 21 was appointed principal flute in the Orchestre national de France. Today, he has a wide repertoire both as a conductor and a flautist, with a predilection for contemporary music. Kazunori Seo was born in Japan in 1974. He began his music studies first with his parents, and then in Paris at the Paris Conservatoire where he was awarded the Premier Prix in flute in 1998. A prizewinner of international competitions, he has gained recognition as one of the world’s outstanding flautists through numerous appearances as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.

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Bach: Duets for 2 Flutes / Gallois, Seo
Naxos Jan 2019
CD
~~$19.99~~ $13.99

Tatiana Nikolayeva, Vol. 2: Bach Piano Concertos

Doremi

$60.99 Oct 19, 2018

Tatiana Nikolayeva was one of the most illustrious and respected pianists of the 20th century. Born in Bezhitz, Russia in 1924, she began to play the piano at age three. She soon became a student of Alexander Goldenweiser (1875–1961), the leading piano pedagogue in Russia. From 1947 she toured extensively in the USSR. Her recognition outside of the USSR was boosted as she became the 1st prize winner of the 1950 Leipzig Bach competition. There she met Shostakovich who served on the Jury. They became friends and associates. Shostakovich considered her the ideal interpreter of his piano works and wrote for her the 24 Preludes & Fugues, Op. 87 which she premiered in 1952. Nikolayeva frequently toured Europe, America, and Japan. She had an unusually large repertory including most of the keyboard works of Bach and Beethoven. She was also a highly esteemed composer with several symphonies, chamber music and a piano concerto to her credit. In 1959 she began teaching at the Moscow conservatory, becoming a professor in 1965. She suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at a concert she gave in San Francisco on November 13, 1993. Tatiana Nikolayeva, the great pianist, composer and teacher died on November 22, 1993. This album features Tatiana performing the Bach Piano Concertos, works for which she was widely known.

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Tatiana Nikolayeva, Vol. 2: Bach Piano Concertos
Doremi Oct 2018
CD
$60.99

LINGER AWHILE
UNIVERSAL JAPAN Feb 2023
CD
$24.49

Dunas - Live in Copenhagen

Storyville Records

Vinyl

$39.99 Nov 21, 2025

Rosa Passos is considered one of the most important and loved Brazilian singers. Many music fans view her as the queen of modern bossa nova and samba, and she's equally loved in South America, Japan, USA and Europe. Whether she's playing with Kenny Barron or Yo Yo Ma she easily sells out Carnegie Hall in New York. She also enjoys touring with her quartet at jazz festivals and jazz clubs around Europe. Rosa Passos is part of the golden generation of Brazilian musicians that includes Joao Bosco, Joyce Moreno, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Maria Bethania, Milton Nascimento, Ivan Lins and many other great artists. Rosa Passos is especially loved for her elegance and soft touch. Her musicality is an inspiration to singers all over the world. Her music speaks to everyone, you don't need to know about jazz or music to understand and enjoy - there is something universal to her vocal and approach that instantly makes the listener go along on the journey Rosa sets out for. It's always beautiful and if you close your eyes you can feel the Brasilian soul and see the beaches for your inner eyes. On July 7th, 2001 Rosa Passos played two sets at the famous Copenhagen Jazzhouse, one of the best jazz clubs in Europe for more than 25 years. The concerts took place as part of a bigger summer tour of Europe, with Rosa Passos playing all the important jazz festivals. In 2001 she was still unknown to the audience in Copenhagen, but Steen Rasmussen, a Danish pianist who was there, remembers: "Her playing was flawless and sophisticated - and it swung like crazy. It was already the best music I'd ever heard. Then she began to sing - and I was almost in a trance. That voice, that phrasing, that swing, that empathy, that way she accompanied herself - and that low volume. I could tell everyone present felt the same. Rosa Passos had changed all our lives forever" The experience speaks to the impact Rosa Passos has on people when they have the honor of experiencing her talent first-hand. She's intimate and powerful at the same time, and the tunes she plays, a mixture of her own compositions and Bossa Nova-classics, support her means of expression in the best way possible. This recording from Jazzhouse presents her and her band at her best. The sound is crisp, and the presence allows for the pure expression to shine through, and makes you wish that you had been there to experience this very special night in Copenhagen. "Imagine you are rocking a baby to sleep. For me, that's Bossa Nova" - Rosa Passos

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Dunas - Live in Copenhagen
Storyville Records Nov 2025
Vinyl
$39.99

Mascagni: Iris / Krieger, Berliner Operngruppe

Oehms Classics

$31.99 Mar 19, 2021

Pietro Mascagni (1863–1945) was one of those composers famous for a single work, the remainder of their oeuvre being practically unknown. His opera Iris is based on the libretto by Luigi Illica, who also wrote the libretti for Puccini operas such as La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. It was Illica who gave birth to the idea of an opera about Japan. Exotic subjects, i.e. those set in distant lands, were in vogue throughout Europe, and the Far East in particular was very present at the time. It was Mascagni’s express wish to write ‘original’ music to this specific material, something hitherto unheard-of. This recording with the choir and orchestra of the Berliner Operngruppe under Felix Krieger is a live recording of the Berlin premiere of the original version from the Konzerthaus Berlin. The Berliner Operngruppe celebrated its 10th anniversary.

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Mascagni: Iris / Krieger, Berliner Operngruppe
Oehms Classics Mar 2021
CD
$31.99

Montalbetti: Chamber Music - Harmonieuses Dissonances / Various

Alpha

$20.99 Apr 24, 2020

Harmonieuses Dissonances: that is the title of the string quartet that closes this second album of music by Eric Montalbetti, but above all it is a statement of the very subject of the works assembled here: they start out from heterogeneous elements, like the diversity of the people we know, or of our moods and thoughts, and aim – through encounters, comparisons, organization or a search for common ground – to find the meaning of a life that we hope will, in the end, be harmonious. Since the first album of his music, Solos, appeared in 2016, Eric Montalbetti has been fortunate enough to hear seventeen of his scores come to life thanks to some wonderful musicians in France, Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Japan and Korea. Two duos (including a Hommage a Matisse), a piano trio and a string quartet, were premiered and have now been recorded by Christian Tetzlaff and Alexandre Vorontsov, Delphine Haidan and Pierre Genisson, the soloists of the Ensemble intercontemporain and the Quatuor Les Dissonances.

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Montalbetti: Chamber Music - Harmonieuses Dissonances / Various
Alpha Apr 2020
CD
$20.99

Hisaishi, Mitake, Yamada & Yoneyama: Kaiju Project

Challenge Records

$16.99 Jul 19, 2024

The Kaiju Project is a Japanese inspired jazz group formed by the half Japanese-Austrian pianist Aseo Friesacher. Their initial idea was to bring old folk songs into a new modern context, but in addition to their compositions, this group has found their very own musical direction: a perfect blend of traditional Japanese music and meditative-creative jazz.

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Hisaishi, Mitake, Yamada & Yoneyama: Kaiju Project
Challenge Records Jul 2024
CD
$16.99

Weinberger: Fruhlingssturme / De Souza, Komische Opera Berlin

Naxos AudioVisual

DVD

$37.99 Nov 06, 2020

Also available on Blu-ray

Czech-born composer Jaromír Weinberger, best known for his opera Schwanda the Bagpiper, was forced to flee to America in order to escape Nazi terror. Frühlingsstürme, staged in 1933 but soon closed down by the Nazi government, was the last operetta of the Weimar Republic. It is filled with cultural complexity, combining serious operatic style with light comedy, and presents a thrilling story involving a doomed love affair set against war between Japan and Russia. This lavish production is staged by the award-winning Australian director Barrie Kosky.

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Weinberger: Fruhlingssturme / De Souza, Komische Opera Berlin
Naxos AudioVisual Nov 2020
DVD
$37.99

FEELIN THE SPIRIT
UNIVERSAL JAPAN Nov 2024
CD
$32.99

TAKEMITSU: QUATRAIN; A FLOCK DESCENDS INTO THE

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

Vinyl

$55.99 May 01, 2026

Takemitsu: Quatrain; A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden Avantgarde Series Limited Edition / Boston Symphony Orchestra/Seiji Ozawa - Toru Takemitsu's Quatrain (1975) and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977) exemplify his synthesis of Western avant-garde techniques and Japanese aesthetics. In Quatrain, scored for clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and orchestra, Takemitsu evokes the Japanese concept of ma (the space between things) through fluid shifts of timbre and atmosphere. He likened the work to an emaki, a picture scroll unfolding scene by scene, where each musical idea is independent yet interwoven. Both pieces merge modernist innovation with deeply rooted Japanese sensibility. By embracing his cultural heritage within the structures of Western art music, Takemitsu reshaped the avant-garde, bridging modernism and postmodernism, and offering works that still sound strikingly fresh and timeless today. Avantgarde Series features original artwork and a newly designed, beautifully crafted collector's sleeve with new liner notes by Bradford Bailey. Limited, numbered and pressed on 180grAm vinyl.

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TAKEMITSU: QUATRAIN; A FLOCK DESCENDS INTO THE
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON May 2026
Vinyl
$55.99

IN CONCERT: CARNEGIE HALL - SUMMERTIME 2001

KING JAPAN

$14.49 Mar 21, 2025

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IN CONCERT: CARNEGIE HALL - SUMMERTIME 2001
KING JAPAN Mar 2025
CD
$14.49

Pictures / Yuko Batik

Gramola Records

$15.99 ~~$20.99~~ Save 25% Jun 10, 2016

With this release of works by Mussorgsky, Liszt, and Beethoven, pianist Yuko Batik explores human imagination and fantasy. One of the most important examples of programmatic music, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition impresses upon the listener the visions that would befall a viewer watching gallery paintings. The techniques required to play this work on a single instrument display Batik’s virtuosity. Yuko Batik travels globally performing in concert halls in Austria, Hungary, Bosnia, Turkey, Japan, Italy, and Germany.

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Pictures / Yuko Batik
Gramola Records Jun 2016
CD
~~$20.99~~ $15.99

LIVE IN NEW YORK
SOLID Mar 2024
CD
$19.49

Puccini: Madama Butterfly / Pappano, Jaho, Puente, Royal Opera House [Blu-ray]

Opus Arte

Blu-Ray

$39.99 Oct 26, 2018

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Puccini’s Japanese tragedy Madama Butterfly is given a ravishing production by The Royal Opera. Its alluring imagery of Japan from the 19th-century European Imagination heightens the intense clash of East and West. When the American naval officer Pinkerton seduces the young ‘Butterfly’ Cio-Cio-San, he seems to promise every happiness – but his cruel abandonment leads to her tragic self-sacrifice. Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera and renowned for his interpretations of Puccini, conducts an exceptionally fine cast with the Royal Opera Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Powerful performances show why Madama Butterfly remains one of the all-time operatic favourites. ‘‘Always at his best in Puccini, Antonio Pappano conducts with passionate sincerity.’’ (The Guardian 5 Stars) ‘‘An opera that ranks among the very greatest of the 20th century.’’ (The Daily Telegraph 4 Stars) ‘‘Ermonela Jaho is the best Cio-Cio-San London has seen in years’’ (Independent 4 Stars)
-----

REVIEWS:

The Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho is one of the great singing actresses of our time. Hers is not a sumptuous soprano, but the colors she brings to her portrayal are astonishing. Her Flower Duet with Elizabeth DeShong's feisty, sympathetic Suzuki is quite beautifully sung. Pappano - arguably today's greatest Puccianian conductor - draws ardent playing from the orchestra, superbly detailed in its commentaries.

– Gramophone

Pappano is particularly alert to Puccini borrowing traditional Japanese melodies; at times he makes you hear this score, as well as the drama on stage, as a tug of war between East and West. It’s Sharpless and Suzuki who steal the show – a consul with a tender conscience from Scott Hendricks and Elizabeth DeShong as a maid who could melt the stoniest of hearts.

– BBC Music Magazine

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Puccini: Madama Butterfly / Pappano, Jaho, Puente, Royal Opera House [Blu-ray]
Opus Arte Oct 2018
Blu-Ray
$39.99

Mahler: Symphony No 2 / Ozawa, Saito Kinen Orchestra
Sony Masterworks Feb 2008
CD
$24.99

R.KORSAKOV: SCHEHERAZADE
IMPORTS Mar 2014
CD
$16.49