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TANEYEV: A CAPPELLA CHORAL WORKS
NORTHERN FLOWERS Feb 2022
CD
$16.63

Once Love Was A Song - Songs with Lyrics by Lars Forssell

Sterling Records

$27.99 Jun 06, 2025

Lars Forssell's lyrics are both lyrical and down-to-earth and often deal with love experiences, exposure and vulnerability. They can be provocative, politically pronounced, mix light and dark and can be both shimmeringly beautiful and agonizingly black. Evert Taube had great significance for tango in Sweden during the 20th century. Lars Forssell was a close friend of the family and played an important role in how the view of Evert Taube changed from a slightly odd troubadour to the role of popular national poet. Sven Bertil Taube and Lars Forssell went to Argentina together in 1988 and experienced Argentine tango. When they got home, they recorded a tango LP. I have chosen some of these songs with Lars's ingenious lyrics. Our last cafe depicts how painful it is to be abandoned. In Lost Birds we meet the deceived man and the broken love. In Again, the lost love is portrayed. Belgrano is nostalgic and invites us to "play the piano of the past".

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Once Love Was A Song - Songs with Lyrics by Lars Forssell
Sterling Records Jun 2025
CD
$27.99

High Heels - Favourite Light Classics / Iain Sutherland Concert Orchestra

ALTO

$11.01 Aug 02, 2024

Iain Sutherland was awarded the Gold Badge of Merit by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for Lifetime Achievement and his unique contribution. His others, also in superb sound: ALC1192- The Merrymakers - 20 British Light Classics, ALC 1392 - Sailing By - 25 more British Light Classics, ALC1206- Manhattan Playboys - 20 American Light Classics, ALC 1250 Orient Express - 20 Europe & Beyond Light Classics, ALC 1324 'Blue Tango' - Very Best of Leroy Anderson

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High Heels - Favourite Light Classics / Iain Sutherland Concert Orchestra
ALTO Aug 2024
CD
$11.01

Verdi: Macbeth / Conlon, Domingo, Los Angeles Opera [Blu-ray]

Sony Masterworks

Blu-Ray

$9.99 ~~$19.98~~ Save 50% Aug 04, 2017

Also available on standard DVD

This is L.A. Opera's latest production of Giuseppe Verdi's ''Macbeth'' featuring Placido Domingo in the title role alongside the Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk as Lady Macbeth. The opera is staged by Darko Tresnjak, who won a Tony Award for his direction of the Broadway music ''A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.'' ''Placido Domingo commands the stage and the music he sings...He was genuinely impressive.'' (Los Angeles Times) ''When I was a young tenor, I loved playing romantic or heroic leading roles. When I began to add baritone parts to my repertoire six years ago, I was particularly interested in playing fathers, as I could draw from my own experience as a family man. Macbeth is a completely different kind of role for me. He is a murderer, but I think that he is also something of a victim, drawn into his crimes by the witches and by Lady Macbeth.'' (Placido Domingo)

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Verdi: Macbeth / Conlon, Domingo, Los Angeles Opera [Blu-ray]
Sony Masterworks Aug 2017
Blu-Ray
~~$19.98~~ $9.99

Boito: Mefistofele / Patané, Ramey, Domingo, Martón
Sony Masterworks Jun 2008
CD
$34.99

ANGELICA
CAMJAZZ Sep 2009
CD
$16.63

Rossini: Piano Music Vol 6 - Peches De Vieillesse Vol 4 / Alessandro Marangoni

Naxos

$13.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 30% May 27, 2014

Rossini’s operas have remained amongst the most popular in the repertoire but over the last decade of his life he turned largely to piano music. The Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age) occupy thirteen volumes, and the deliciously informal and comic fourth is called Quatre hors d’oeuvres et quatre mendiants. Its theme is food, and Rossini lavishes all his abundant abilities of characterisation in his descriptive passages, not least the introduction of a parakeet.

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Rossini: Piano Music Vol 6 - Peches De Vieillesse Vol 4 / Alessandro Marangoni
Naxos May 2014
CD
~~$19.99~~ $13.99

ANGOLA PRISON WORKSONGS / VARIOUS
ARHOOLIE RECORDS Oct 1997
CD
$16.56

REINHARDT, Django: Django Reinhardt and The Singers with Jea
Retrieval Dec 2012
CD
$11.99

DJANGO A LA CREOLE - LIVE!

Frémeaux

$20.99 Mar 01, 2014

Both the public and the critics have been won over by Django A la Creole, the group led by Evan Christopher, no doubt the greatest jazz clarinettist on today’s New Orleans scene. Reaching the end of a hugely successful world tour, the band decided to record a live album that would show the rapport they’d created with audiences thanks to the extraordinary colour and savour of their music. And here it is. Soaring swing, soft and elegant Creole excursions, sidesteps into bossa nova… its taste explodes in your mouth like a great wine. The music is intimate and generous, and the band goes way beyond gypsy swing and the jazz of New Orleans: the concept here is to take music outside the notion of genres. In fact, Django A la Creole is a genre of its own: a fantastic universe of sound somewhere between the Old World and the New. Combining solid roots with crossbred identities and the simple pleasure of playing, this is music we can all share. Augustin BONDOUX

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DJANGO A LA CREOLE - LIVE!
Frémeaux Mar 2014
CD
$20.99

Erik Satie, Poete - musicien

Frémeaux

$20.99 Jan 23, 2026

Bien qu'Erik Satie soit principalement reconnu pour son oeuvre de compositeur et pianiste, ses ecrits poetiques sont a l'image de sa musique : souvent courts, empreints d'un humour absurde et d'une grande sensibilite melancolique. La voix profonde et le timbre captivant de Francois Marthouret, se mele ici aux harmonies delicates du piano de Christiane Gugger. La complicite sensible entre l'acteur et la pianiste, souligne toute la musicalite et l'inattendu de ces ecrits iconoclastes signes par l'un des plus grands precurseurs de son epoque Augustin BONDOUX / Patrick FReMEAUX Although Erik Satie is primarily known for his work as a composer and pianist, his poetic writings reflect the same qualities as his music: often brief, tinged with absurd humor and deep melancholic sensitivity. The deep voice and captivating tone of Francois Marthouret blend here with the delicate harmonies of Christiane Gugger's piano. The sensitive rapport between the actor and the pianist highlights the musicality and unpredictability of these iconoclastic writings by one of the greatest pioneers of his time. Augustin BONDOUX / Patrick FReMEAUX GNOSSIENNE N°2 ET JE SUIS Ne a HONFLEUR - GNOSSIENNE N°4 - JE REGRETTE - GNOSSIENNE N°3 - LA JOURNeE D'UN MUSICIEN - VALSE-BALLET. SPORTS ET DIVERTISSEMENTS - CHORAL INAPPeTISSANT - LA BALANcOIRE - LA CHASSE - LA COMeDIE ITALIENNE - LE ReVEIL DE LA MARIeE - COLIN MAILLARD - LA PeCHE - LE YACHTING - LE BAIN DE MER - LE CARNAVAL - LE GOLF - LA PIEUVRE - LES COURSES - LES QUATRE COINS - LE PICNIC - LE WATER-CHUTE - LE TANGO - LE TRAiNEAU - LE FLIRT - LE FEU D'ARTIFICE - LE TENNIS. MUSIQUE SUR L'EAU - FANTAISIE-VALSE - ECHANGE D'IDeE - OGIVE N°1 - LES PeRIMeS - GNOSSIENNE N°5 - LE VERTIGE - SEUL a LA MAISON. LETTRE a DEBUSSY - 20 JUILLET 1903 - 14 AOÛT 1903 - 17 AOÛT 1903. AVANT-DERNIeRES PENSeES - IDYLLE a DEBUSSY - AUBADE a PAUL DUCAS - MeDITATION a ALBERT ROUSSEL. MICHELET ET LES ANIMAUX - PIeCE FROIDE N°2 - L'ARTISTE ET L'ENNUI - GNOSSIENNE N°1 - MESDAMES MESDEMOISELLES MESSIEURS - JE TE VEUX LETTRE a SUZANNE VALADON 11 MARS 1893 - SON BINOCLE.

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Erik Satie, Poete - musicien
Frémeaux Jan 2026
CD
$20.99

Mix & Match

Milken Archive - Schoenfield: Viola Concerto, Etc

Milken Archive

$10.99 Aug 01, 2004

Paul Schoenfield (b. 1947) writes music that is easily grasped but not easily forgotten. A quote from the booklet note states that his works “do for Hassidic music what Astor Piazzolla did for the Argentine tango.” If what is meant by this is that Schoenfield’s music is animated by a strong rhythmic component informed by certain Klezmer-like dance elements, I guess I would go along with the characterization. But there is nothing dance-like about the extraordinarily sorrowful and moving “Soliloquy” of the Viola Concerto. Here is a major new concerted work for viola and orchestra (and how many of them are there?) that is sure to be snapped up by every viola player of note. The piece was written in 1997–98 expressly for Robert Vernon, concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, who gave its premiere performance in 1998, and who plays it here on this CD. Clearly, the work has it origins in Israeli and Eastern European folk song and dance, as well as Hassidic liturgical sources. This is especially evident in the last movement, titled “King David Dancing before the Ark,” a kind of Jewish saltarello, but the overall impression of this concerto is not of a lightweight, pops-concert piece. I believe it is an important new contribution to the viola literature. Vernon is in top form.

The Four Motets, each indicated only by a tempo marking, are settings of four of the seven verses from Psalm 86: “Incline Your ear, O Lord, answer me, for I am poor and needy.” These may be the most beautiful pieces William Byrd ever wrote. I jest of course, but the writing bears a strong resemblance to the Church style of Byrd and Tallis, with just enough 20th-century “irregularities” in voice leading and harmonic progression thrown in to assure you that you haven’t entered a time-warp. Benjamin Britten was quite masterful at writing this type of choral music too.

Schoenfield’s opera, The Merchant and the Pauper, is based on a tale by the great 18th-century Hassidic Rabbi, Reb Nahman. As usual, Neil Levin, author of the encyclopedic notes, and artistic director behind the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music project, goes on for pages of microscopic-print about who Reb Nahman was and the role he played in the evolving Jewish mythology and mysticism that are central to the Hassidic movement. Suffice it here to say that he was a highly controversial figure, as were many of his tales that—through allegory, riddles, and symbolism—drew many fervent believers. The plot of the Merchant and the Pauper presents an original twist on a familiar theme. The Pauper’s wife is kidnapped, but safely returned by the Merchant. The wives of both Pauper and Merchant give birth, the former to a daughter, the latter to a son. In gratitude to the Merchant for the rescue of his wife, the Pauper promises his newborn daughter’s hand in marriage to the Merchant’s son. Meanwhile, as the daughter blossoms into womanhood, her beauty increases, as do the Pauper’s wealth and fortunes. Soon, power and greed corrupt the Pauper, who now no longer wishes his daughter to marry the Merchant’s son. To prevent the marriage, he goes to great lengths to ruin the Merchant, and eventually to have the Merchant’s son abducted, put into a sack, and thrown into the sea (shades of Rigoletto). But this story has a happy ending for all except the Pauper. The son escapes, to be reunited with the Merchant’s daughter in “everlasting joy” (right!), and through the magic of fantasy the Pauper is once again returned to “pauperdom” and the Merchant to “merchanthood.” The story is no sillier than many an opera libretto. What matters is the music. On that score, I can say that even in these relatively short chunks excerpted from act II Schoenfield demonstrates a real flair for the stage and dramatic writing. There is some gorgeous music here, and all of the participants are excellent.

Another winner from this tremendously important project. I recommend it enthusiastically.
Jerry Dubins, FANFARE

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Milken Archive - Schoenfield: Viola Concerto, Etc
Milken Archive Aug 2004
CD
$10.99

PAVAROTTI: THE LOST CONCERT - LIVE AT LLANGOLLEN

MERCURY STUDIOS

Blu-Ray

$25.99 Nov 21, 2025

Luciano Pavarotti -"Pavarotti: The Lost Concert - Live at Llangollen 1995" [Blu-ray] Marking the 40th anniversary of winning a singing competition as part of a choir from his hometown of Modena in 1955, Luciano Pavarotti returns to North Wales to give a special gala concert at the 1995 Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. Joining him that evening is the BBC Philharmonic, the modern-day Corale Gioachino Rossini, Modena and, for the finale, Japanese soprano Atzuko Kawahara. The program combines popular operatic arias & choruses, Neapolitan songs, one of Pavarotti's own compositions, orchestral overtures & interludes, and a special duet for the finale. The final moments of an unforgettable event are made even more emotional by the singer's departing words. "You don't know what this is for me, what it is for me to try to concentrate for myself tonight, in what I am doing, with my music - while a million of memories come to my mind. For forty years, I was looking for this day... thank you for the beautiful night that you gave to me." Blu-ray with 20-page booklet.

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PAVAROTTI: THE LOST CONCERT - LIVE AT LLANGOLLEN
MERCURY STUDIOS Nov 2025
Blu-Ray
$25.99

Mix & Match

DJANGO-SHIFT

WHIRLWIND RECORDINGS

$16.35 Aug 28, 2020

For 'Django-shift' Rez Abbasi chose seven of Django Reinhardt's original pieces and two classic tunes that he was greatly associated with. The arrangements were soon created for a contemporary trio format, with Neil Alexander on organ and electronics and Michael Sarin on drums. The results give a fascinating and original insight into an often-overlooked attribute of Django's genius, his compositions. Rez Abbasi has established an enviable reputation over the course of his fourteen album releases as leader: not simply as one of the finest guitarists of his generation, but also as a musical alchemist with the ability to parlay his continent-crossing range of influences into consistently fresh and innovative compositions and reframings of the tradition. His deep musicality has been applied with equal conviction to contemporary New York acoustic jazz, the Qawwali and Indian Classical traditions of South Asia and the heady fusion sounds of the 1970s. Diminishing / Heavy Artillery / Django's Castle / Anniversary Song / Cavalrie / Hungaria / Douce Ambiance / Swing 42 / September Song

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DJANGO-SHIFT
WHIRLWIND RECORDINGS Aug 2020
CD
$16.35

Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Bruch / Maxim Rysanov, Muhai Tang, Swedish Chamber Orchestra
BIS Jul 2011
SACD
$21.99

Rossini - Complete Piano Music Vol 1 / Alessandro Marangoni

Naxos

$14.99 ~~$29.99~~ Save 50% Apr 29, 2008

Gioachino Rossini’s remarkable life and career is well known: the opera composer who, with the world at his feet, appeared to retire at the age of 37. He had around 17 years of huge success with operas such as Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and after completing his last opera Guillaume Tell, he had another 39 years of ‘silence’. The second period of his life was in fact anything but silent, and Rossini would later turn up with pieces such as the Stabat Mater and the wonderful Petit messe solennelle.

More private were the creations which became collected as the Péchés de vieillesse or ‘Sins of Old Age’, which are contained in fourteen volumes. Some of these are for voice and piano, others, such as volume IX, include pieces with strings, harmonium and horn, the solo piano works from which appear at the end of this programme. Album de Chaumière or ‘The Cottage Album’ is the no doubt ironically twee title given to volume VII, the first of the albums for solo piano. This consists of 12 pieces ranging from titles such as Petite polka chinoise to works of a grander scale such as Une pensée à Florence. Rossini’s attitude with these works is frequently ironic and often deceptive. Confronted with a title such as Prélude inoffensif, one might expect something other than the extended lyrical aria which in fact appears. The generally light character of many of the pieces is interspersed with more searching, funereal atmospheres such as that in Un profound sommeil, and Un cauchemar – literally ‘A Nightmare’. In these pieces we are not so very far removed from the symbolic cries of the owl in Leoš Janá?ek’s ‘On a Overgrown Path.’ On the complete opposite there are parody-like pieces such as the bombastic Marche which closes Vol. VII.

Alessandro Marangoni is a young pianist and a rising star whose reputation will in no way be harmed with these recordings. Whatever one thinks of these ‘Sins of Old Age’ they are certainly a fascinatingly enigmatic and eclectic mixture of Rossini in all moods. Fans of the Petit messe solenelle must certainly investigate these pieces, as the thick piano chords and bouncy bass lines which crop up in that work are certainly not absent here. Fans of Rossini’s operas are also kept well fed with rich melodic invention, if performed instrumentally rather than vocally. This Naxos recording is very good, with a rich, deep piano sound, if captured in a rather dry and tubby acoustic. The impression is one of a front room soirée rather than a concert hall performance, which isn’t such a bad thing for these pieces. I do however feel that a slightly more sympathetic space might have helped Alessandro Marangoni when trying to give a more legato feel, or in varying the colour and mood. The pieces come across a little on the lumpy side sometimes, and the contrast between some of the works is less startling than might otherwise have been the case.

This new series will have to compete with the recordings by Stefan Irmer on MDG, and although there is no information on the instrument used in the Naxos recording – other than that it is a Steinway & Sons from the Angelo Fabbrini collection, it gives the impression of being an older instrument, a quality it would then share with the MDG recordings. The bass has a pleasant rounded quality, and the usual Steinway brightness only really shines through in the upper registers at higher volume. Any reservations I may have can be accounted for as a matter of personal taste, so nothing I say should stop anyone from dropping into their local retailer and bagging this remarkable release forthwith. This is going to turn into another of Naxos’s eminently collectable sets, and on this showing will prove to be worth it at almost any price.

-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International

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Rossini - Complete Piano Music Vol 1 / Alessandro Marangoni
Naxos Apr 2008
CD
~~$29.99~~ $14.99

RECTANGLES AND CIRCUMSTANCE

NONESUCH

Vinyl

$29.99 Jun 14, 2024

Vinyl LP pressing. 2024 release. Nonesuch Records releases Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and So Percussion. The album follows their 2021 Grammy Award-winning Nonesuch debut, Narrow Sea, and their first record as a band, 2021's Let the Soil Play It's Simple Part, with Shaw on vocals backed by So-Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting. Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift) co-produced with them on both Let the Soil... and Rectangles and Circumstance. Sliwinski says. "For this album, Caroline, Eric, and I sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped it's expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake... The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson."

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RECTANGLES AND CIRCUMSTANCE
NONESUCH Jun 2024
Vinyl
$29.99

Mangold: Septet; Serenade; Quartet

MDG

SACD

$24.99 Jan 26, 2024

Carl Amand Mangold - never heard of him? Then it's high time you did! There is a great spirit of originality in the music by this mid-19th century genius. With their reputation for surprising audiences with unknown masterpieces by unjustly forgotten composers, the multi-award-winning Berolina Ensemble perform a selection of Mangold‘s chamber music recorded in MDG’s innovative 2+2+2 technology on Super Audio CD.

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Mangold: Septet; Serenade; Quartet
MDG Jan 2024
SACD
$24.99

Mozart: Works for Tangent Piano and Violin

Musicaphon

$8.49 ~~$16.99~~ Save 50% May 01, 2020

Throughout his life, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart repeatedly devoted himself to the genre of the accompanied piano sonata. He wrote the earliest works at the age of eight, to perform them either with his sister on the harpsichord and himself on the violin or with his father, the famous violin teacher, and sitting at the harpsichord himself. Leopold Mozart himself assured his son in a letter that he would count him among the best violin players in Europe - the composer himself preferred to see himself as a piano virtuoso and (of course) above all as a 'compositeur' who had a lot to say. The works recorded here also move within this area of tension. If the violin still plays a clearly subordinate role in the youth sonatas to the brilliant harpsichord part, which also leads in the cantabile slow movements, this distribution of roles changes over the time in favor of the violin. In the 'middle' phase of Mannheim, the renunciation of the violin would mean a painful loss, and in the later Vienna sonatas there is finally a true partnership between the two instruments with equal rights. The joyful virtuoso part is still reserved for the piano.

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Mozart: Works for Tangent Piano and Violin
Musicaphon May 2020
CD
~~$16.99~~ $8.49

20th Century Harpsichord Concertos / Vinikour, Speck, Chicago Philharmonic

Cedille

$19.99 Jun 14, 2019

Acclaimed, multiple Grammy-nominated harpsichordist Jory Vinikour partners with renowned conductor Scott Speck and the award-winning Chicago Philharmonic for an exciting program of modern harpsichord concertos. Featuring the premiere recording of American composer Ned Rorem’s neoclassical 1946 Concertino da Camera, the album also includes English composer Walter Leigh’s charming, brief Concertino for Harpsichord and Strings, Czech composer Viktor Kalabis’s substantial, tour de force Harpsichord Concerto, and contemporary composer Michael Nyman’s wild Concerto for Amplified Harpsichord and Strings — a real sonic blockbuster. Recognized as one of the outstanding harpsichordists of his generation, Jory Vinikour has cultivated a highly-diversified career that takes him to the world’s most important festivals, concert halls, and opera houses as recitalist and concerto soloist, partner to many of today’s finest instrumental and vocal artists, coach, and conductor.

REVIEW:

For imaginative choice of repertoire married to sterling performances, this has got to be one of the outstanding discs of 2019. Yes, there are great 20th-century harpsichord concertos besides those of Poulenc, Martin, Falla, and Martinu. Jory Vinikour has chosen four. Let’s get right to the music, which spans a 60+ year period, from the Walter Leigh Concertino of 1934 to Michael Nyman’s virtuosic Concerto for Amplified Harpsichord and Strings of 1995. The Leigh is charming, busy, neoclassically English, and nine minutes of pure joy. Nyman’s concerto is considerably more substantial and full of surprises. The various sections play continuously, organized around a central tango followed by a thrilling cadenza for the soloist that Vinikour plays marvelously.

In between these two works, we have the world-premiere recording of Ned Rorem’s early Concertino da Camera for harpsichord and seven instruments, already recognizably his own voice in its French elegance and distinctively beautiful harmonies. The most substantial and serious work, however, is Viktor Kalabis’ Concerto Op. 42. Written for his wife, the legendary Czech harpsichordist Zuzana R?ži?ková, the piece is a deeply intimate, often troubled work that haunts the memory. The harmonic palette is acerbic but always expressive, and the writing for strings in combination with the solo keyboard is just exquisite–perfectly judged and finding an amazing range of color despite the limited forces employed. Again, Vinikour plays with great sensitivity and feeling, especially in the central Andante.

The accompaniments provided by the Chicago Philharmonic under Scott Speck are ideally calibrated, while the engineering balances the harpsichord(s) perfectly against the larger ensembles. Vinikour also deserves a shout-out for selecting instruments that invariably suit the music, and sound attractive in their own right. You can play the entire 75-minute disc without ever tiring of the solo timbres. As I already said, this is surely one of the discs of the year.

– ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

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20th Century Harpsichord Concertos / Vinikour, Speck, Chicago Philharmonic
Cedille Jun 2019
CD
$19.99

GO MONGO

DESCARGA

Vinyl

$25.99 Apr 18, 2025

This release presents the complete original Mongo Santamaria LP Go, MonGo! Notable on this album is the presence of reedman Pat Patrick, who would work extensively with Horace Henderson and, especially, with Sun Ra, and also of pianist Chick Corea, then 21 years old, who made with this album his official recording debut THE COMPLETE ALBUM + 1 BONUS TRACK 180-GRAM VIRGIN VINYL LIMITED EDITION OF 500 COPIES

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GO MONGO
DESCARGA Apr 2025
Vinyl
$25.99

RECTANGLES AND CIRCUMSTANCE

NONESUCH

$14.85 Jun 14, 2024

2024 release. Nonesuch Records releases Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and So Percussion. The album follows their 2021 Grammy Award-winning Nonesuch debut, Narrow Sea, and their first record as a band, 2021's Let the Soil Play It's Simple Part, with Shaw on vocals backed by So-Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting. Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift) co-produced with them on both Let the Soil... and Rectangles and Circumstance. Sliwinski says. "For this album, Caroline, Eric, and I sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped it's expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake... The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson."

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RECTANGLES AND CIRCUMSTANCE
NONESUCH Jun 2024
CD
$14.85

Mozart: String Quartet K 464, Etc / Huang, Brentano Quartet

Aeon

$8.99 Apr 01, 2009

MOZART String Quartet No. 18. String Quintet in D, K 593 1 • Brentano Str Qrt; Hsin-Yun Huang (va) 1 • AEON 747 (62:25)

Chamber music enthusiasts not yet familiar with the Brentano String Quartet have a rare treat in store. Soon after joining forces in 1992, the quartet won the Cleveland Quartet and Naumburg prizes. Today they continue a rigorous schedule of international tours. As with all the finest quartets, Brentano’s members—violinists Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, violist Misha Amory, and cellist Nina Maria Lee—are individually gifted players of the first rank. Their latest release is an unusual pairing of one of Mozart’s quartets dedicated to Haydn with the D-Major viola Quintet.

From the initial statement of the primary thematic material in the A-Major Quartet, the Brentano is at pains to give each line its individual expressive shape and proportion. Every gesture is imbued with meaning; every harmonic progression has a sense of inevitable forward momentum. The variations of the extended slow movement unfold as a series of vividly individual characters. The rich polyphonic textures of the Allegro non troppo finale, reflecting Mozart’s involvement with Bach’s music at the time, emerge in luminous colors and with breathtaking clarity.

Since one rarely encounters a string quartet followed by a quintet in either performances or recordings, hearing K 593 on the heels of the A-Major Quartet is astonishing: what an amplification of texture Mozart creates with the addition of another mezzo voice. The slow introduction to the opening Allegro is touching in its tenderness and uncertainty. In the Adagio, the dead-center intonation makes the chains of suspensions almost heart-rending. The Minuet, one of Mozart’s finest, is filled with contrast: savor, for instance, the delicacy of the pizzicatos in the Ländler-like trio. The joyous finale fairly bursts with ebullient vitality.

Technical values of the sound engineering, made at the Academy of Arts and Letters, one of New York City’s preferred recording venues, are extraordinarily high. All the nuances of the Brentano’s lean but fruity sound are evident. Antoine Mignon’s notes are evocative and well translated. Ultimately, of course, the performances are what matters. This is playing that, while employing modern instruments, is fully cognizant of the ways and means of 18th-century bows and gut strings. Vibrato is never applied reflexively, but appropriately functions as but one element of an arsenal of expressive devices. Put another way, this is a modern ensemble that has internalized the lessons of period-instrument practice, and with stunning results. These are intellectually cogent performances that never lose sight of the music’s inherent kinesthetic pleasures. Very highly recommended.

FANFARE: Patrick Rucker

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Mozart: String Quartet K 464, Etc / Huang, Brentano Quartet
Aeon Apr 2009
CD
$8.99

Martinu, Gliere, Jaffe & Schulhoff: Entangled Strings

Brilliant Classics

$11.99 ~~$14.99~~ Save 20% Feb 07, 2025

A unique recital of 20th-century chamber music, essentially melodic but expressively rich, woven seamlessly together by a Spanish-based duo. In the 20th century, many composers embraced the unique combination of the violin and cello, producing a diverse and captivating repertoire. Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger take the listener on an engaging journey from Reinhold Gliere's post-romantic Huit Morceaux for violin and cello (1909), Bohuslav Martinu's folk-influenced Duo No.1 (1927) to Erwin Schulhoff's avant-garde Duo (1925) and Don Jaffe's moving autobiographical suite, The Last Days (2000). These compositions showcase the immense artistic possibilities offered by the juxtaposition of the violin's virtuosity with the cello's depth of sound. Similarly, the duo repertoire of the 20th century shows the evolution of musical language as composers introduced special playing techniques, unconventional harmonies, and rhythmic complexity, pushing the boundaries of tradition. While Gliere, Martinu and Schulhoff are all established names, these works for violin and cello have not received the attention they deserve. They are all products of their composers' full maturity, and perhaps it is only a reluctance on the part of performers and listeners to embrace the possibilities of the violin-cello combination that has prevented them becoming much better known. In each case, the composers demonstrate that no piano is required to anchor the string instruments, when the imagination is fired up, the melodies are firmly shaped and the dialogue engaging. The case of Don Jaffe is different: born in 1933 in Riga, of Jewish descent, he eventually became renowned as one of the foremost cello teachers in the former Soviet Union. However, finding postwar Soviet culture hardly less anti-Semitic than the Nazi regime, he emigrated to Israel and later moved to Germany. He only began composing late in life: this four-movement duo draws on the composer's experience of observing a close friend's painful battle with a terminal illness. Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger are colleagues in the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia; as Orphelion, they have toured festivals across Europe and in India, Japan, and South America. - In the 20th century, several composers embraced the combination of the violin and cello, producing a diverse and attractive repertoire for this ensemble. From Reinhold Gliere's (1875-1956) post-romantic Duos for violin and cello "Huit Morceaux", Bohuslav Martinu's (1890-1959) folkloristic Duo Nº.1 to Erwin Schulhoff's (1894-1942) avant-garde Duo (1925) and Don Jaffe's (b. 1933) autobiographic "The final days", these compositions show the artistic possibilities offered by the rich combination of the violin's virtuosity with the cello's depth of sound. Similarly, the duo repertoire of the 20th century shows the evolution of musical language as composers introduced special playing techniques, unconventional harmonies, and rhythmic complexity, pushing the boundaries of tradition. - Played by the ensemble Orphelion, consisting of Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger.

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Martinu, Gliere, Jaffe & Schulhoff: Entangled Strings
Brilliant Classics Feb 2025
CD
~~$14.99~~ $11.99

ANGOLA PRISONERS BLUES / VARIOUS
ARHOOLIE RECORDS Jul 1996
CD
$12.77