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Fairytale Operas

Opus Arte

Available as Blu-Ray

~~$52.99~~ $39.99

Mar 22, 2019

Fantastic storylines abound in opera, but these grand musical settings of much-loved fairytales embrace the imaginary, giving free rein to dreams. The Royal Opera's acclaimed Hansel and Gretel combines the directors' characteristic wit and knack for dark comedy with the story's enduring charm. Glyndebourne's recounting of the quick-witted fox's escape into nature balances the opera's whimsy and mysticism. Opera North's enchanting staging of Jonathan Dove's 21st opera is a wittily inventive feast for the eyes and ears, shining new light on Collodi's original tale, by turns magical and dark. "What an inspired and exciting opera this is. Gorgeous characters, a busy story rich in incident and an exhilarating mix of music. Delight follows delight." (The Stage - The Adventures of Pinocchio) "Not only was the production a great one to attend as a first opera, but the [video] is perhaps as good an introduction to opera as one could hope for, a success on almost every front." (Musicweb International - Hansel und Gretel) "Lucy Crowe's glowingly sung Vixen... Tom Pye's Hockneyish designs are evocative of a world of childish wonder, with animal costumes which cleverly suggest human characteristic." (The Daily Telegraph - The Cunning Little Vixen)

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Fairytale Operas

~~$52.99~~ $39.99
Blu-Ray

Opus Arte

Mar 22, 2019

OA BD7246BD

Schubert & Schumann: Fantasias for Piano

Genuin

Available as CD

~~$20.99~~ $15.99

May 13, 2016

This new release of compositions by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann is pianist Natalia Ehwald’s debut album. Natalia rises to the challenge of these two very contrasting works- Schubert’s reflective sonata in G major and Schumann’s vociferous Kreisleriana. She brings out both the forward expression in the pieces, and the moments of deep introspection. Natalia Ehwald has been praised by competition jurors and critics alike. She is the first prize winner and Menuhin Foundation special prize winner at the Robert Schumann Competition for young pianists in Zwickau.

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Schubert & Schumann: Fantasias for Piano

~~$20.99~~ $15.99
CD

Genuin

May 13, 2016

GEN 16413

Ermanno Wolf-ferrari: Die Neugierigen Frauen

CPO

Available as CD

~~$36.99~~ $25.99

Jun 09, 2015

Premiering in Munich in 1903, Le donne curiose numbered among the greatest and earliest successes of the German-Italian composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. No Wagnerian pathos or turn-of-the-century bombast here: Wolf-Ferrari’s merry work is based on a Carlo Goldoni comedy in the spirit of a newly discovered rococo. Le donne curiose formed the basis of his world renown as a composer whose dramatic talent was always overshadowed by the subtle humor of his buffo operas. Ulf Schirmer again presents a convincing case on his behalf (previous release: Wolf-Ferrari, Orchestral Works: cpo 777 567-2).

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Ermanno Wolf-ferrari: Die Neugierigen Frauen

~~$36.99~~ $25.99
CD

CPO

Jun 09, 2015

777739-2

Rossini: Armida / Zedda, Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Opera Vlaanderen [Blu-ray]

Dynamic

Available as Blu-Ray

~~$36.99~~ $27.99

Jan 13, 2017

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

Also available on standard DVD
Opera Vlaanderen of Antwerp continues its Rossini Cycle under the musical direction of conductor Alberto Zedda (87), with the rarely performed opera Armida. Armida is clearly a tenor opera par excellence, as we have four tenors here among the main roles. Enea Scala , Robert McPherson, Dario Schmunck and the young Adam Smith. Director Mariame Clément and her usual set designer Julia Hansen will also return to Opera Vlaanderen after the successfull Giasone by Cavalli released by Dynamic. They are now taking a critical look at the world of the Crusaders. Clément sees Armida as the incarnation of the concept of ‘love’, which in itself is magic and for which noble and heroic knightly ideals are cast aside. However, it is a love that turns into a destructive frenzy.

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Rossini: Armida / Zedda, Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Opera Vlaanderen [Blu-ray]

~~$36.99~~ $27.99
Blu-Ray

Dynamic

Jan 13, 2017

DYN-57763

Opera in German, Vol.1: Rudolf Schock in Five Italian Operas / Various

Profil

Available as CD

~~$44.99~~ $33.99

Jun 12, 2020

Till well into the 1960s it was common practice to perform operas in the language of the country where they were being performed. What now seems strange to us, with our reverence for the original, was taken for granted then – except perhaps by those who knew not only the music but the language originally set to it and were annoyed by more or less inappropriate translations. Today we have long since grown used to being distracted from the action on stage by subtitles, or surtitles, and thus being at least able to follow the crude, implausible or totally incomprehensible plot of this or that opera by reading the libretto. Whatever the language, the artistic value of the performance depends very much upon its exponents. And that was where the German-speaking nations of the 1950s and 1960s, when the recorded-music market had not yet succumbed to globalization, had a lot to offer. The proof is in the five complete recordings – complete, that is, but fo the cuts so often made in those days – that make up this box set. The cast lists read like a Who’s Who of contemporary vocalists. We can count ourselves lucky to have these audio documents – edited to the highest possible technical standards – at our disposal. They offer us a reunion with a great series of irreplaceable and unforgettable soloists.

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Opera in German, Vol.1: Rudolf Schock in Five Italian Operas / Various

~~$44.99~~ $33.99
CD

Profil

Jun 12, 2020

PH20012

Magical Christmas Fantasies - Piano Music / Caroline Fischer

Genuin

Available as CD

~~$20.99~~ $15.99

Jan 05, 2024

The internationally renowned pianist Caroline Fischer has put together an evocative holiday gift with her new GENUIN CD. For the recording, she sought out old and new Christmas melodies, well-known and unknown, and combined them to form a harmonious whole. Included are treasures such as Otto von Walden’s tender fantasy on “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” and Gustav Lange’s enchanting version of “Silent Night” – some of these windfalls have been recorded on CD for the first time. Thoughtfully curated and recorded to the highest standard, the only thing really missing is the wrapping paper!

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Magical Christmas Fantasies - Piano Music / Caroline Fischer

~~$20.99~~ $15.99
CD

Genuin

Jan 05, 2024

GEN 23849

Arban: Fantasies on Verdi Operas / Cavallo, Fontana

Dynamic

Available as CD

$24.99

Jun 23, 2017

Jean-Baptiste Arban was a French cornetist, conductor, composer, pedagogue and the first famed virtuoso of the cornet a piston or valved cornet. He was influenced by Niccolo Paganini's virtuosic technique, and his famous method book for trumpet continues to be the first choice for all students of trumpet, cornet and other brass instruments in music schools. His most famous works for the cornet are 14 Fantasias on Verdi operas, recorded here for the first time by the cornetist Angelo Cavallo and the pianist Michele Fontana. They are brilliant, highly effective pieces, in which the most popular themes of Verdi's operas are masterfully interwoven with great instrumental virtuosity.

Arban: Fantasies on Verdi Operas / Cavallo, Fontana

$24.99
CD

Dynamic

Jun 23, 2017

DYN-CDS7784.02

Ziehrer, C.M.: 3 Wunsche (Die) [Operetta]

CPO

Available as CD

$36.99

Jul 28, 2009

Classical Music

Ziehrer, C.M.: 3 Wunsche (Die) [Operetta]

$36.99
CD

CPO

Jul 28, 2009

777404-2

Telemann: Cantatas, Fantasies for viola da gamba / Eckert, Hamburger Ratsmusik

CPO

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $13.99

Aug 13, 2021

The Musicalisches Lob Gottes in der Gemeine des Herrn may be regarded as the impressive high point of Telemann’s printed annual cycles. The present recording of three cantatas from this annual cycle tends more to chamber musical design. It interprets the compositions as intimate sacred music for which an ensemble with eight members completely suffices in performance respects – something corresponding to the reality in performance practice in most German church music ensembles in the eighteenth century. In view of the intimate interpretation of these cantatas, the intermezzi interspersed in them from the Twelve Fantasies for Viola da Gamba Solo have the effect of a meditative deepening of the religious subject matter. The four fantasies selected are elaborated with fine art and are just as richly arrayed musically as are the church compositions.

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Telemann: Cantatas, Fantasies for viola da gamba / Eckert, Hamburger Ratsmusik

~~$18.99~~ $13.99
CD

CPO

Aug 13, 2021

555387-2

FANTASIAS FOR VIOLA DA GAMBA

Centaur Records

Available as CD

$17.99

Oct 15, 2021

Musicians have long known about the existence of Telemann's Fantasias for viola da gamba, but until very recently no surviving copies had ever been located. Fortunately a single print edition was identified by two musicologists in the Lower Saxony State Archive in Germany. In 2016 these important pieces were at last presented to the world in a modern edition which includes a complete facsimile of the original print. John Dornenburg has made numerous recordings for Centaur Records. After many years based in San Francisco, he is now based in the U.K.

FANTASIAS FOR VIOLA DA GAMBA

$17.99
CD

Centaur Records

Oct 15, 2021

CRC3892

S. Wagner: Schwarzschwanenreich (Realm of the Black Swan) / Bach, Lukic, Thuringian SO

Marco Polo

Available as CD

$29.99

May 10, 1995

*** Please note: while the booklet includes a synopsis and notes in English, the printed libretto is in German only. ***

Schwarzschwanenreich ("Realm of the Black Swan") is that dark chamber of the human psyche in which a woman is driven by guilt and shame to kill her own illegitimate child. She is execrated by a cruel, intolerant society, and even the love of a good man cannot save her from the flames, although it does reconcile her to her fate.

Siegfried Wagner had all the basic skills needed to conceive a viable operatic plot and put together a serviceable libretto. The plot can obviously be linked with that of many operas whose heroines are in some sense outsiders, from Euryanthe to Elektra, and in 1910, when Schwarzschwanenreich was written, it could almost have been taken as a bid to wrest the high ground of expressionistic melodrama from such wild radicals as Schoenberg, not to mention the more conventional Zemlinsky or Schreker. Wresting the high ground was not Siegfried Wagner's way, however, and the leisurely lyricism of the opera's Prelude, harmonically constrained and rhythmically flaccid, gives notice that he prefers the happy endings of fairy tales to the harsh resolutions of tragedy. As with his first opera, Der Beirenhiriuter, the livelier scenes work best. There's a shameless rip-off of Hagen's vassalsummoning (GOtterddmmerung) in Act 1, and some strong moments of confrontation and recrimination later on, but even these tend to run out of steam, and attempts to modulate to a more elevated tone are at best bland and at worst banal.

Most of the Thuringian team throw themselves uninhibitedly into the piece. Kerstin Quandt is too restrained a villainess, but Beth Johanning and Walter Raffeiner, as the unfortunate heroine and her honest but ineffective lover, work through moments of vocal bluster to achieve some robustly ardent characterization. The recording strikes a reasonable balance between voices and orchestra, and the conductor sustains as high a level of dramatic engagement as the patchy score permits. The libretto included is in German only, but there is a detailed English synopsis.

-- Gramophone [11/1995]

S. Wagner: Schwarzschwanenreich (Realm of the Black Swan) / Bach, Lukic, Thuringian SO

$29.99
CD

Marco Polo

May 10, 1995

8223777-78

Mendelssohn: The Dream - Franck: Symphonic Variations - Liszt: Marguerite and Armand / Plasson, Royal Opera House [Blu-ray]

Opus Arte

Available as Blu-Ray

~~$39.99~~ $29.99

Aug 24, 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
This exciting release presents three contrasting ballets by The Royal Ballet’s Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton: The Dream (1964) is an enchanting adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to music by Mendelssohn. Symphonic Variations (1946) is an early Ashton masterpiece, and a breathtaking, abstract work on the beauty of pure movement. Marguerite and Armand (1963), here danced by former Royal Ballet Principal Zenaida Yanowsky and Guest Artist Roberto Bolle, is a tragic love story of great lyric beauty. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House is conducted by Emmanuel Plasson. Each of these performances received stellar reviews. "First-rate dancing in an Ashton triple bill that offers comedy, serenity and demi-monde ardour. In one of her final performances as principal, Zenaida Yanowsky gives a tremendously intense and intelligent performance as the tragic courtesan" (The Stage) "A passionate tribute to an all-time genius The Royal Ballet is bringing this season – and its 70th-birthday celebrations – to a close with a perfectly chosen trio of works by its founder choreographer Frederick Ashton (1904-1988), works that remind us just how brightly and variously his genius blazed." (The Daily Telegraph)

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Mendelssohn: The Dream - Franck: Symphonic Variations - Liszt: Marguerite and Armand / Plasson, Royal Opera House [Blu-ray]

~~$39.99~~ $29.99
Blu-Ray

Opus Arte

Aug 24, 2018

OA BD7240D

FANTASTIQUE

Coviello

Available as SACD

$21.99

Aug 28, 2015

Hector Berlioz was a great admirer of German music, relishing in particular the intellectual depth he found in Beethoven’s symphonies. + Carl Maria von Weber provided Berlioz with an equal level of inspiration, his orchestration of von Weber’s Aufforderung zum Tanz directly expressing his reverence of the German composer. + Combining Beethoven’s wealth of ideas with the innovative and “characteristic” sound effects he encountered in von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz, Berlioz created in the Symphonie Fantastique an eminently personal work clearly departing from his musical role models.

FANTASTIQUE

$21.99
SACD

Coviello

Aug 28, 2015

COV91508

Offenbach: Fables de la Fontaine / Deshayes, Heck, Rouen Haute-Normandie Opera Orchestra

Alpha

Available as CD

~~$20.99~~ $15.99

Oct 11, 2019

A grasshopper, a milkmaid’s pail, a shepherd, a fox, a country mouse, a cobbler... These are just some of the diverse and varied characters from the famous Fables that Jacques Offenbach decided to set to music in 1842, some 150 years after they were written by Jean de La Fontaine. With their vivid texts featuring talking animals and stock characters, the Fables offered an allegorical and didactic way of alluding to the court and the mores of the time. Offenbach chose six of the 240 Fables of la Fontaine to set as mélodies. Here the conductor Jean-Pierre Haeck presents them in his own orchestration performed by the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen and the mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes, who excels in this repertory. To complete the programme, the singer performs numbers from Offenbach’s opéra-bouffe Boule-de-neige and the orchestra plays movements from the ballet Le Papillon, offering listeners a recording as refined as it is witty.

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Offenbach: Fables de la Fontaine / Deshayes, Heck, Rouen Haute-Normandie Opera Orchestra

~~$20.99~~ $15.99
CD

Alpha

Oct 11, 2019

ALPHA553

A Dream Play; For to Stay is to be Nowhere

Wergo

Available as CD

$35.99

Apr 17, 2026

Ein Traumspiel" (A Dream Play) - Aribert Reimann's first opera - is finally available on CD, in the production by the Hof Theater that was enthusiastically acclaimed by critics and opera audiences alike. Vocal music is a central element of Aribert Reimann's compositional output, and literature plays an equally central role for him as a source of dramatic impulse, inspiration, and subject matter - as well as providing an opportunity for creative friction and musical transformation. Reimann's compositions for the voice - from unaccompanied solo pieces to opera - are almost always settings of literary texts. The visually stunning "Traumspiel" captivates from the very first note with it's melodic diversity and intensity. Aribert Reimann succeeds in bringing the underlying theme of August Strindberg's play, compassion, to life in a sensual way, and at the end gives Indra's daughter a gift package of human worries, sufferings, and complaints, tied up with masterful music, to take with her to the afterlife to the god Indra. In addition to August Strindberg, Reimann was also inspired by the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, although he takes a completely different musical approach to Rilke's first "Duino Elegy": in his composition "Denn Bleiben ist nirgends" (For to Stay is to be Nowhere), he combines the text, recited by a speaker, with a symphony orchestra playing in a broad, expansive style to create a melodrama. Herein, the music corresponds to Rilke's poetic text that - according to Reimann in his notes on the work - "justifies the development of an independent piece of music and is not simply the point of departure for subsidiary background music." The result is "a constant exchange, in which the expressive impulses sometimes come from the language and are taken up by the music, or vice versa, until each becomes the instrument of the other.

A Dream Play; For to Stay is to be Nowhere

$35.99
CD

Wergo

Apr 17, 2026

WER73812

Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Solo Flute / Lazarevitch

Alpha

Available as CD

~~$20.99~~ $15.99

Mar 24, 2017

The reserve collections of the Bibliothèque Royale of Brussels hold the sole printed copy of Telemann's Twelve Fantasies for solo flute...These fantasias considerably enrich the slender corpus of Baroque works for flute without bass, alongside two other gems, the Partita of J.S. Bach and the Sonata in A minor of C.P.E. Bach. A cycle for solo flute of this kind, arranged by tonalities and rising gradually from the key of A to that of G, is unique in the repertory...These fantasias, each with its own mood, are miniatures consisting of a succession of three or four movements in the same key. All of them have in common the concision, the formal brevity and the rapid alternation of their movements. Telemann plays on effects of contrast and surprise by switching between opposing characters and tempi. The open form of the fantasia offers teh composer an ideal field of freedom and expression for his inexhaustible imagination. A fervent champion of the reunion des gouts embracing German, Italian, French and Polish tastes, telemann covered all the genres, national styles and compositional idioms of his time. - Francois Lazarevitch

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Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Solo Flute / Lazarevitch

~~$20.99~~ $15.99
CD

Alpha

Mar 24, 2017

ALPHA267

Mignone: Fantasias Brasileiras Nos. 1-4

Naxos

Available as CD

$19.99

Sep 12, 2025

Francisco Mignone became a leading figure in the Brazilian music scene after his return in 1929 following lengthy studies in Europe. His four Fantasias Brasileiras for piano and orchestra are part of his nationalist phase, with the first in the cycle initiated by soloist Joao de Souza Lima, who asked Mignone for a work with Brazilian flavour. These works share a festive and exuberant style to which the composer would return in his Burlesca e Toccata, which requires acrobatic virtuosity from the soloist in music that surprises by juxtaposing atonality with popular themes.

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Mignone: Fantasias Brasileiras Nos. 1-4

$19.99
CD

Naxos

Sep 12, 2025

8574594

CARMEN: FANTASIE

IMPORTS

Available as CD

$16.49

Sep 16, 2016

CARMEN: FANTASIE

CARMEN: FANTASIE

$16.49
CD

IMPORTS

Sep 16, 2016

IMT5065822.2

Thalberg: Fantasies on Operas by Verdi, Rossini & Bellini / Nicolosi

Naxos

Available as CD

~~$19.99~~ $13.99

Jun 10, 2022

A student of Hummel, Sigismond Thalberg was one of the great virtuoso pianist-composers of the 19th century, who enjoyed a celebrated rivalry with Liszt that was largely fomented by the press. Thalberg’s influence on fellow pianists was enormous and his operatic paraphrases and fantasies, designed for his own use in concert performances, proved exceptionally popular. Even Liszt himself performed several of them. Berlioz praised Thalberg as the creator of ‘a new art’ and the thrilling examples here, taking the best-known themes from great Italian operas, reveal bravura embellishments and ingenious elaborations.

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Thalberg: Fantasies on Operas by Verdi, Rossini & Bellini / Nicolosi

~~$19.99~~ $13.99
CD

Naxos

Jun 10, 2022

8555503

Rossini: La gazzetta / Forte, Schultsz, Opera Royal de Wallonie

Dynamic

Available as DVD

~~$36.99~~ $27.99

May 27, 2016

Also available on Blu-ray

Based on a play by Carlo Goldoni, Rossini’s La Gazzetta revolves around a man who strangely tries to find a husband for his daughter by placing an ad in the newspaper. The Opera Royal de Wallonie closed its 2014 season with this opera buffa. This production was directed by Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, and includes for the first time a Rossini quintet, which was discovered in 2012 and has been given its rightful place in Act One. Subtitles are available for this production in Italian, English, French, Germany, Japan, and Korea.

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Rossini: La gazzetta / Forte, Schultsz, Opera Royal de Wallonie

~~$36.99~~ $27.99
DVD

Dynamic

May 27, 2016

DYN-37742

Wagner: Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg

MYTO Historical

Available as CD

$16.99

Apr 01, 2009

DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG

Wagner: Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg

$16.99
CD

MYTO Historical

Apr 01, 2009

MYTO022068

Telemann: Cantatas and Fantasias / Pahn, Laake, Held, Lohff

Haenssler Classic

Available as CD

~~$20.99~~ $15.99

Feb 04, 2022

Every Sunday Telemann had to perform a church cantata and several Passion recitals, as well as one Passion oratorio every year. For the festive season he was required to deliver a composition for each and every holy day. In the 15 years he was there, during which he also directed the opera, he composed about 20 operas, as well as other music for large ensembles. In spite of his immense productivity, the quality of his work remained unaffected, and he was still able to create beautiful gems such as the Moral Cantatas and the solos for baroque flute, violin and viol. The cantatas served the musical cultivation of the Hamburg bourgeoisie and reflected a contemporary concern; the improvement of morals and the search for the joys of life as a consequence of modesty, reason, tolerance and a moral rectitude with regard to other people, in the sense of the philosophy of Enlightenment.

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Telemann: Cantatas and Fantasias / Pahn, Laake, Held, Lohff

~~$20.99~~ $15.99
CD

Haenssler Classic

Feb 04, 2022

HC21008

Il Bajazet

Dynamic

Available as DVD

~~$36.99~~ $27.99

Apr 18, 2025

Bajazet was a work of Vivaldi's late maturity, a dramatic tale that recounts the capture of the Turkish sultan Bajazet by the all-conquering Tartar, Tamerlane. It is a pasticcio, a well-established form, in which Vivaldi incorporated arias by some of the greatest young composers of his time - Johann Adolf Hasse, Geminiano Giacomelli and Riccardo Broschi, brother to the famous castrato Farinelli - to form a generous buffet of musical fireworks. Still, Vivaldi's recitatives, choruses and arias form the backbone of the opera, and constitute the majority of the music, producing a work of kaleidoscopic invention.

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Il Bajazet

~~$36.99~~ $27.99
DVD

Dynamic

Apr 18, 2025

DYN-38056

SCHUMANN: ARABESKE KREISLERIANA & FANTASIE

HYPERION

Available as CD

$18.49

Sep 03, 2021

The emotional sweep of these marvelous works, reflecting the vicissitudes of Schumann's complex personal life at the time, calls for a pianist wholly responsive to their fervent Romanticism. The artistry of Stephen Hough proves ideal.

SCHUMANN: ARABESKE KREISLERIANA & FANTASIE

$18.49
CD

HYPERION

Sep 03, 2021

HYP68363.2

The Art of Fantasy

Ramee

Available as CD

$20.99

Sep 28, 2018

Alfonso Ferrabosco the Younger, viol player at the court of Elizabeth I and Charles I, was the most innovative and influential composer of viol consort music of his generation. Following the steps of his father, composer Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder, he continued the specifically English "In Nomine" tradition for viol consort into the seventeenth century while adding his own special touch in the "In Nomine through all parts" in using the cantus firmus in all voices with various rhythms and transpositions. His greatest achievement was the development of an imitative counterpoint perfectly adapted to the viol. The particular character of Ferrabosco's music was determined by his love for architecture and symmetrical forms which were integrated in all possible ways into his Fantasies: flexible motives, augmentations and diminutions of themes and a clear harmonic structure. On this release, the Hathor Consort explores his works.

The Art of Fantasy

$20.99
CD

Ramee

Sep 28, 2018

RAM1806

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