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Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93 & R. Strauss: E

SOMM Recordings

$20.99 Feb 20, 2026

Sir Thomas Beecham had a long association with the works of Richard Strauss, to the extent that Strauss once told him, "What you have done for my works in England cannot be sufficiently appreciated." SOMM Recordings pays tribute to this collaboration between two musical giants of the early twentieth century-and throws in an early nineteenth-century powerhouse for good measure-with the release of Beecham Conducts R. Strauss and Beethoven. This is the 33rd edition of SOMM's long-running and acclaimed series The Beecham Collection, and it marks the 70th anniversary of two remarkable recordings from 1956. Once again, audio engineer Lani Spahr brings his depth of musicality and technical expertise to these newly restored masterworks. In addition to his determined efforts to put Strauss's operas on the London stage-beginning with conducting the British premiere of Strauss's opera Elektra in 1910-Beecham was enthusiastic about Strauss's tone poems. Ein Heldenleben, in particular, became something of a calling card for him. In 1947, he made a studio recording of the tone poem with the recently established Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A few weeks after his death in 1961, his 1958 stereo recording of Ein Heldenleben was released. The present live recording comes from an all-Strauss concert given at the Royal Festival Hall on 17 October 1956. The first half of the programme included MacBeth, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and the Dance of the Seven Veils, which SOMM released in 2023 (ARIADNE 5021). The second half, heard here, was devoted to Ein Heldenleben. Strauss's eighth tone poem is considered somewhat autobiographical despite his insistence that the hero was "not a single poetical or historical figure, but rather a more general and free ideal of great and manly heroism." It traces the dramatic arc of the hero's life through his adversaries and his companion; at battle and in peace; and it closes with his retirement from this world. Contemporary critics of Beecham's rapturously received 1956 performance were fulsome in their praise, one noting that "the epilogue was played with such tenderness as to bring tears to the eyes," and another that "this is how Strauss can sound when conducted with musical sensibility deepened by experience." Beecham's relationship with Ludwig van Beethoven was rather more ambivalent. Although he performed several of Beethoven's symphonies regularly, his recordings were more sporadic and he never completed a full cycle. SOMM is fortunate and proud to present here Beecham's exciting, fleet-footed interpretation of the Eighth Symphony, recorded at the Festival Hall on 12 December 1956. His performance brings energy and a sense of fun to the work, which musicologist Nigel Simeone describes as the "wittiest of the Beethoven symphonies."

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Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93 & R. Strauss: E
SOMM Recordings Feb 2026
CD
$20.99

Mix & Match

Rubbra: Symphonies 2 & 6 / Hickox, Bbc No Of Wales
Chandos Aug 1996
CD
$21.99

Liechtenauer: 4 Masses, Op. 2

CPO

$18.99 Feb 14, 2025

We know relatively little about the composer and church musician Paul Ignaz Liechtenauer. His father was an organ builder and organist in Vienna, and Liechtenauer himself served as Kapellmeister in Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein until 1711. By 1715, he had taken up the position of organist at the Cathedral of Osnabruck, soon after assuming the title of "Capellmeister" and gaining a reputation for his liturgical music that was widely acclaimed. Four of the six masses he published in 1741 as Opus 2 are now featured on the latest CD by the Kolner Akademie, which, under the direction of it's founder, Michael Alexander Willens, once again astonishes us. There is a touch of local patriotism in this release: classic production osnabruck is located less than ten kilometers from the high church where the composer served for over 40 years.

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Liechtenauer: 4 Masses, Op. 2
CPO Feb 2025
CD
$18.99

Olsson: Credo Symphoniacum - Pastorale - Prelude and Fugue i
Proprius Jan 1994
CD
$20.99

Strauss: Symphonia Domestica; Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade / Mehta, LPO

LPO

$17.99 Mar 27, 2020

Recorded live in concert at Royal Festival Hall in 1988 and 1992 under the baton of Zubin Mehta, these recordings of Richard Strauss's Symphonia Domestica and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade are now available from the London Philharmonic Orchestra archives.

-----

REVIEW:

The key to appreciating the Symphonia Domestica's gentleness and its small details, as American audiences did from early on, is to simply take the work at face value, and this is accomplished admirably here by conductor Zubin Mehta. Even better, is the pairing: Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Op. 35, might seem poles away from the Symphonia Domestica in its contrast of eastern exoticism to Strauss' bourgeois world, but Mehta asks hearers to listen again. Both works are delicately orchestrated, a bit folkish in places, and they alternate action with big melodies in a similar way, and what melodies they are. A fine pairing of favorites from the London Philharmonic's in-house label.

– All Music Guide (James Manheim)

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Strauss: Symphonia Domestica; Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade / Mehta, LPO
LPO Mar 2020
CD
$17.99

S4: MOZART IN THE JUNGLE

Sony Masterworks

$11.98 Feb 16, 2018

MOZART IN THE JUNGLE SEASON 4AMAZON ORIGINAL SERIES SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 16, 2018Including Works By David Majzlin, Nico Muhly, Laura Karpman and Caroline ShawSony Music proudly announces the release of the Mozart in the Jungle Season 4 Soundtrack from the Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning hit series. Based on the critically acclaimed memoir Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs & Classical Music by Blair Tindall, the Amazon Original Mozart in the Jungle draws back the curtain at the New York Symphony, where artistic dedication and creativity collide with romance and relationships.Starring Gael García Bernal (Neruda) and Lola Kirke (Gemini), Mozart in the Jungle continues the story of the talented musicians who perform and live with passion under the baton of its spirited conductor, Rodrigo. Along with Bernal and Kirke, Mozart in the Jungle also stars Saffron Burrows (Night of the Lotus), Malcolm McDowell (American Satan), Bernadette Peters (Smash), and Hannah Dunne (Caring). Season four includes guest stars Debra Monk, Masi Oka, Michael Emerson, and John Cameron Mitchell. In the upcoming season, new melodies arise as Rodrigo and Hailey take their relationship public. Hailey struggles to prove herself as a conductor, while Rodrigo fights to keep his inspiration alive. Thomas joins a start-up orchestra in Brooklyn that challenges Gloria.The fourth season features works by Emmy®-nominated composer and music producer David Majzlin, Nico Muhly, GRAMMY award and four-time Emmy-award winner Laura Karpman, as well as original works by composer and conductor Caroline Shaw, the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for music who also makes a cameo this season, among others.TRACKLIST1 Ludwig van Beethoven (arr: Laura Karpman)Thomas's Egmont for Harley, Hubcaps and OrchestraThe Hollywood Studio Orchestra2 David MajzlinAn Important Woman David Majzlin Quintet3 Anna Amalia von Sachsen-Weimar-EisenachErwin Und Elmire: Entr'acte Weimar StaatskapellePeter Gulke, conductor4 Isabella Leonarda12 Sonatas, Op. 16, Sonata Quarta: II. Presto Capella Strumentale Del Duomo Di Novara5 Nico MuhlyÉtude 3 Nadia Sirota, viola6 Ralph Vaughan WilliamsSongs of Travel: 4. Youth and Love Bryn Terfel, bass baritoneMalcolm Martineau, piano7 Maurice RavelMiroirs, M.43: IV. Alborada del gracioso Dallas Symphony OrchestraEduardo Mata, conductor8 Franz Liszt (arr: Laura Karpman)Thomas's Prometheus for Piano, Tibetan Bowls and OrchestraThe Hollywood Studio Orchestra 9 Giuseppe VerdiOverture to La forza del destinoOrchestra Filarmonica della ScalaRiccardo Muti, conductor10 Fanny Mendelssohn-HenselDie Nonne Paul Cantelon, piano11 Isabella Leonarda (arr: Dylan Neely)Sonata Prima: VI. Vivace The Hailey Rutledge Ensemble12 Caroline ShawEntr'acte (On the Sidewalk) The Hailey Rutledge EnsembleCaroline Shaw, conductor13 Georg Philipp Telemann (arr: Dylan Neely)Fantasia No. 2 for Oboe & Violin: I. Grave Keiko Tokunaga, violinArthur Sato, oboe14 Caroline ShawHi The Hailey Rutledge EnsembleCaroline Shaw, conductor15 Thomas Adès Asyla, III: Ecstasio London Symphony OrchestraThomas Adés, conductor

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S4: MOZART IN THE JUNGLE
Sony Masterworks Feb 2018
CD
$11.98

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons / De Vriend, Van Zweden, Comattimento Consort

Challenge Classics

$10.99 Jan 06, 2017

It is remarkable that listeners in later ages hardly ever share the preferences of a composer’s contemporaries. This is also true to a certain extent in the case of Antonio Vivaldi. The twelve concertos op. 8, Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione of which The Four Seasons are the first four, were only printed four times. The first edition, published in Amsterdam by Michel Charles le Cene, appeared in 1725, and it was reprinted three times by the Paris publisher Le Clerc. L’Estro’s popularity was equaled by Il Cimento only in France. This great success in France was undoubtedly due partly to the fact that French theoreticians often were less skeptical about the onomatopoeic potential of music than for instance their English colleagues. We do not know how Vivaldi himself regarded these theoretical questions. There are hardly any quotations extant from the Venetian master in which he airs his views on composition of aesthetics. Even the relation between the score of The Four Seasons and the four “explanatory sonnets” that Vivaldi had printed along with the first edition, is not quite clear. Did Vivaldi, in writing the Four Seasons, base himself on a specific programme? From the countless special effects the score offers it appears that this must have been the case. Yet the fact that some sonnet lines have no parallel in the music suggests the programme was not as well-defined as the sonnets would lead us to believe. One of the world’s most sought-after conductors, Jaap van Zweden has been Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 2008, and Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012.

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Vivaldi: The Four Seasons / De Vriend, Van Zweden, Comattimento Consort
Challenge Classics Jan 2017
CD
$10.99

Gipps: Orchestral Works / Gamba, BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Chandos

$21.99 Sep 07, 2018

The unjustly neglected and often dissident music of Ruth Gipps is with this album finding all the resonance it deserves by Rumon Gamba and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, having already championed many British composers from the twentieth century with their series devoted to British Tone Poems and Overtures from the British Isles. While, not surprisingly, there are echoes of the most popular composers of the time – Sibelius, Walton, and Vaughan Williams – the music is notable for its personal voice, confident conception, and vivid writing for the orchestra. Gipps herself actually felt her best works were those for orchestra. In a programme of contrasting impressions and emotions, Symphonies Nos 2 and 4, the former inspired by the Second World War, offer an approachable tuneful idiom. They are complemented by the lyrical, shorter Song for Orchestra and the early tone poem Knight in Armour, premiered at the last Night of the Proms in 1942.

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Gipps: Orchestral Works / Gamba, BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Chandos Sep 2018
CD
$21.99

BERLIOZ: SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE

Oehms Classics

$9.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 50% Jun 25, 2013

OehmsClassics is delighted to announce the future cooperation with Andres Orozco-Estrada and his Tonkunstler-Orchestra Niederosterreich. This recording of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 with the Tonkunstler Orchestra is the first CD being issued.

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Sale

BERLIOZ: SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE
Oehms Classics Jun 2013
CD
~~$19.99~~ $9.99

Penderecki: Orchestral Works Vol 4 / Antoni Wit, Polish Rso
Naxos Mar 2003
CD
$19.99

CHICAGO SYMPHONIES

TUM RECORDS

$66.97 Nov 12, 2021

(4-CD box set) The Chicago Symphonies is a magnificent four-CD boxed set by Wadada Leo Smith's Great Lakes Quartet. Each disc includes one of the four symphonies composed by Wadada Leo Smith for this quartet. The first three symphonies, "Gold Symphony," "Diamond Symphony" and "Pearl Symphony," are performed by Wadada Leo Smith with saxophonist/flutist Henry Threadill, bassist John Lindberg and drummer Jack DeJohnette whereas the fourth, "Sapphire Symphony - The Presidents and Their Visions of America," features Smith with saxophonist Jonathon Haffner, Lindberg and DeJohnette. The idea of a symphony composed for a quartet was first presented by Don Cherry on his classic recording Symphony For Improvisers in 1966 but Wadada Leo Smith has brought this idea to the present day and broadened it to include social and political into the creative space. The Chicago Symphonies celebrate the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the historical development of creative music in Chicago starting with Louis Armstrong and through Sun Ra onto the AACM as well as, in the case of "Sapphire Symphony," Abraham Lincoln and Baraka Hussein Obama

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CHICAGO SYMPHONIES
TUM RECORDS Nov 2021
CD
$66.97

V5: COMPLETE WORKS PIANO TRIO

Challenge Classics

SACD

$20.99 May 22, 2020

In 1799, after having made a name for himself with major compositions, but before finishing his first symphony, Beethoven wrote a work for mixed strings and winds. This piece, the Septet op. 20, would become one of his most popular compositions, with a large number of arrangements, including the one for piano trio on this album. The form is clearly related to the divertimenti by Mozart, with six movements that alternate fast and slow tempos. The appearance of the Triple Concerto on the final disc in this series might surprise some listeners, as it is the only work with orchestra, but this composition has more in common with chamber music than with concertos. It was written in 1805, and it's instrumentation is highly exceptional if not unprecedented altogether. In tone, it is rather a stark contrast from Beethoven's other concertos, which generally contain easily recognizable melodies and strikingly rhythmic material, neither of which are found to a great degree here. Furthermore, the opposition of soloist and orchestra, a central aspect of many solo works with orchestra written up until that point that was the engine behind much of the drama, is also absent, with the orchestra taking a largely subservient role to the three soloists. So, although the work was called a 'Grand Concerto Concertant' when it was published, it really has very little in common with other works with a similar title. The question is whether this piece is a concerto at all, or whether it could be more fruitfully played and judged as a different kind of experimental piece in a more collaborative genre. This disc takes the latter approach, and by contextualizing it in a series of piano trios, it presents this work as Beethoven's most richly instrumented chamber music.

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V5: COMPLETE WORKS PIANO TRIO
Challenge Classics May 2020
SACD
$20.99

Blomstedt Conducts & Rehearses Brahms

BR Klassik

$19.99 May 15, 2026

The distinguished Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt, long associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra as a regular guest, conducted Johannes Brahms' Variations in B-flat major on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Op. 56a, in concerts on February 13 and 14, 2014 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. This new BR-KLASSIK CD presents not only the live recording of this compelling interpretation but also a live orchestral rehearsal recording from February 10, 2014. The latter forms part of BR-KLASSIK's acclaimed series Conductors at Rehearsal, offering a glimpse into their artistic work with the orchestra. Brahms composed the Variations on a Theme by Haydn in Tutzing during the summer of 1873. The work was premiered on November 2, 1873 in Vienna, conducted by the composer himself. A short while later, Brahms introduced an alternative version for two pianos (Op. 56b), which premiered in 1874, also in Vienna. The Variations are based on the melody of the so-called "Chorale St. Antoni, " taken from the second movement of a Divertimento in B flat major (Hob. II:46) that was most likely mistakenly attributed to Joseph Haydn. The chorale may not even have been written by the composer of the Divertimento and could originally have been a pilgrimage song honouring St. Anthony of Padua in western Hungary (present-day Burgenland). Regardless of their origins, Brahms' Variations (theme with nine variations and finale) stand as one of the composer's most important and most celebrated orchestral works, and remain a cornerstone of the Romantic repertoire. The detailed rehearsal recordings on the CD provide a deeper insight into this magnificent work. Listeners can experience first-hand how the conductor's wishes, ideas and instructions are implemented, how his explanations and his temperament change the resulting sound, and what thoughts lie behind the interpretation of the work. Thanks to this series, which is now also available on CD, the unique artistic partnership between Herbert Blomstedt and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra can be documented. Blomstedt's seemingly inexhaustible source of energy - music itself - is palpable in every word and every bar. ? Herbert Blomstedt conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in concerts on February 13 and 14, 2014 ? Live recording of Johannes Brahms' famous Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a ? Includes "Conductors at Rehearsal": live recording of the orchestra rehearsal on February 10, 2014 for the Munich concerts ? Electrifying live atmosphere from the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz

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Blomstedt Conducts & Rehearses Brahms
BR Klassik May 2026
CD
$19.99

Mix & Match

Glazunov: Raymonda / Anissimov, Moscow Symphony Orchestra

Naxos

$29.99 Mar 18, 1996

Alexander Anissimov was a conductor unfamiliar to me (some may have heard his much-praised Tchaikovsky Cherevichki at Wexford). He keeps the Moscow Symphony Orchestra on their toes: the strings are keener of articulation than their Bolshoi or Kirov counterparts while balances and dynamics are all observed in an end result of greater sophistication than you might expect from this source (with handsome sound to match). Anissimov excels in the grand symphonic unfolding of the first two numbers and the two Entr’actes, over which he takes more time and care than Fedotov [conducting Kirov].

-- Gramophone [8/1996]

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Glazunov: Raymonda / Anissimov, Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Naxos Mar 1996
CD
$29.99

Rosner: Music for Symphonic Wind Band

Toccata

$20.99 Mar 07, 2025

Arnold Rosner (1945-2013) was a New Yorker through and through, but his musical language reached across time and cultures, clothing the modal harmony and rhythm of pre-Baroque polyphony in rich Romantic colours, thus producing a style that is instantly recognisable and immediately appealing. Having written his Eighth Symphony for symphonic wind band, he took a liking to the idiom, composing seven more works for this archetypical formation of American university life, none of them recorded before now. Their inspiration is eclectic - they range from descriptive tone-poems via the recreation of an Indian raga and other folk-based pieces to more formal structures - but Rosner's unerring balance of dignity and energy is common to all of them and stamps them with a sound that is uniquely his.

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Rosner: Music for Symphonic Wind Band
Toccata Mar 2025
CD
$20.99

Nicolo Paganini: Quartets for Strings and Guitar Nos. 3, Op.

Dynamic

$16.99 Nov 21, 2025

Of Paganini's fifteen quartets with guitar only six were published during his lifetime. They represent his finest body of chamber compositions as can be heard in the three quartets for violin, viola, guitar and cello, Op. 4. Of them, No. 3 in A major is a masterpiece, with French-styled inspiration, rich lyricism and piquant invention, while the virtuosic, almost concerto-like No. 8 in A major embodies his quatuor brillant writing, with it's Rossinian resonances. No. 12 in A minor is the most 'symphonic' of the three, containing formal originality, one of the most moving of Paganini's slow movements, and his most serious-minded finale.

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Nicolo Paganini: Quartets for Strings and Guitar Nos. 3, Op.
Dynamic Nov 2025
CD
$16.99

Mix & Match

Bernstein: West Side Story / Schermerhorn, Nashville Symphony

Naxos

$19.99 Oct 01, 2002

This new West Side Story, the first American-based recording to appear since DG's star-studded 1985 composer-conducted version, blessedly avoids that earlier production's operatic pretensions, returning instead to the work's Broadway roots by using young, theatrically trained singers with some genuine acting ability. Even with that, it's probably wishful thinking to expect that this cast (fine as it is) can recreate the vibrant, raw freshness and scintillating brilliance of the original. Mike Eldred's Tony comes off best; singing with a more mature sound than Larry Kert, he nonetheless creates a sense of heightened expectancy and wonder in "Something's Coming". As Maria, Betsi Morrison struggles to maintain an authentic-sounding Puerto Rican accent, but she sings beautifully throughout, especially in "Tonight" and "I Have a Love". I'm afraid Marianne Cook's Anita is no match for Chita Rivera's, but she communicates the character's feelings convincingly enough. The remainder of the ensemble consists of good, solid, legit voices, but a lot has changed on Broadway since 1957: the overall style of singing, with its occasionally overemphatic declamation (as in "A Boy Like That" and "Cool") makes clear how years of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals have influenced American performers.

This recording utilizes Bernstein's score in its original form, before it underwent the necessary revisions to make it more suitable to the needs of musical theater at the time. Actually, it sounds pretty much the same, the most obvious distinctions being a few missing bars near the end of the Prologue and the different vocal arrangement for "America".

Kenneth Schermerhorn was studying with Bernstein during the creation of West Side Story and briefly was considered as a possible conductor for the premiere. Finally getting his chance nearly 50 years later, Schermerhorn conducts the score with an authority and enthusiasm that reveals his intimate knowledge and personal conviction, even if at times his tempos drag (as in "I feel pretty" and "Gee Officer Krupke"), though not as much as the elderly Bernstein's. Then there's the somewhat obsessive concern with full note values at the expense of rhythmic flow (as in the "Jet Song", and in "Quintet", with its heavy articulation on the word "tonight") that occasionally robs the music of its spontaneity.

Throughout, the Nashville Symphony plays with an ideal blend of symphonic elegance and jazzy swagger that shows why this work is such a wonderful classic. Only the multimiked and obviously studio-bound recording, with its artificially close voices, slightly disappoints. Yet despite this and the above-noted concerns, this production faithfully recreates the magical and enthralling world that is West Side Story, and anyone coming to this piece afresh is in for a rare and special experience. [11/4/2002]
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

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Bernstein: West Side Story / Schermerhorn, Nashville Symphony
Naxos Oct 2002
CD
$19.99

Fischer, J.C.F.: Overture (Suite), Op. 1, Nos. 4 and 7 / Mus
Antes Edition Nov 2004
CD
$24.99

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons / Bosgraaf, Ensemble Cordevento

Brilliant Classics

$13.99 Jan 28, 2014

Vivaldi's Four Seasons is one of the world's most popular and widely recorded collections of music, a set that instantly became an international hit after it was first published at part of the composer's Op.8 in 1725. No doubt it was its imitative directness -- extra musical occurrences/phenomena evoked in an extremely suggestive manner and even written into the score, such as 'the barking dog' or 'the drunkards' sleep' etc. -- that caused such as sensation in its time, effortlessly bridging the gap between the salons of the highborn and the alehouses of the lowly. Today nothing has changed: the concertos are performed both by great violin virtuosos and famous hard rockers; they are works that are constantly being presented in new guises through the re-imagining and re-working of the musical score.

Such is the standpoint adopted on this recording by Erik Bosgraaf, who has chosen here to adapt the violin part for recorder, explaining how 'the violin part can be played on the recorder with surprising ease, without many changes. In some ways it works even better than concertos Vivaldi wrote specifically for the recorder!' Years ago Bosgraaf performed The Four Seasons with a symphony orchestra; for the present album, however, he wanted to approach his ideal as closely as possible using Cordevento, a small baroque ensemble he founded himself, knowing all the musicians through and through. Bosgraaf's aim is to make the four legendary concertos sound as if they had been written for the recorder in the first place -- and the results are laudable, with the contrasts between the wind instrument and the accompanying strings revealing previously unheard stratifications and details. As the soloist himself puts it, 'Listen to Vivaldi with fresh ears and enjoy!'

Other information:
- Recorded 25--28 June 2013, Kruiskerk Burgum, The Netherlands.
- Erik Bosgraaf is considered one of the most innovative and versatile recorder players of his generation. His concerts are happenings, and offer fascinating combinations of classical and experimental music. His importance for the emancipation of the recorder (still often considered a stuffy and even childish instrument) is enormous.
- Bosgraaf's version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons (of course originally for violin and orchestra) is not a mere transcription for another instrument, but a recreation of a work of startling originality and power: listen to the furioso rendering of the Summer Storm!
- Bosgraaf's earlier recordings for Brilliant Classics have met with enthusiastic acclaim in the international press; this new album will strengthen his reputation as one of today's most fascinating out-of-the-box artists.
- Contains detailed notes in English, German and Dutch on the music and matters of interpretation.
- Contains the Four Seasons' sonnets.

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Vivaldi: The Four Seasons / Bosgraaf, Ensemble Cordevento
Brilliant Classics Jan 2014
CD
$13.99

MENDELSSOHN: SYM NO.3

WARNER CLASSICS

$17.49 Jul 25, 2025

Shani retains the joy without over-forcing the music's physical impact... The Rotterdam Philharmonic possesses an appealing inner glow and warmth that radiates a strong sense of collegiate endeavour. (BBC Music Magazine) The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and it's chief conductor Lahav Shani open this Mendelssohn album with Mendelssohn's Symphony No 3, the 'Scottish', that was inspired by his first visit to Great Britain in 1829. The overture Meeresstille und gluckliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage), first heard in 1828, was inspired by two short poems by Goethe. The album closes with 3 of Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte Op.19b, orchestrated by maestro Shani.

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MENDELSSOHN: SYM NO.3
WARNER CLASSICS Jul 2025
CD
$17.49

Mendelssohn: String Quartets No 1 & 2 / Juilliard Quartet

Sony Masterworks

$17.99 May 31, 2007

MENDELSSOHN String Quartets: No. 1 in E?, op. 12; No. 2 in a, op. 13 • Juilliard Str Qrt • SONY SK 60579 (55:29)

Can a chamber group have a musical identity that endures despite changes in personnel, the way an orchestra can? On the basis of the CD at hand, I'd have to say so. With the retirement of violinist Robert Mann in 1997 after 51 years (!), the Juilliard String Quartet has now, finally, turned over all its original players. Joel Smirnoff, for 11 years the group's second violinist, has moved confidently into Mann's chair, and Ronald Copes joined the quartet to take Smirnoff's old position. But listening to this excellent new disc of two Mendelssohn works, then to the Juilliard's late 70s recording of a Haydn op. 20 quartet (with the current violist and cellist, Samuel Rhodes and Joel Krosnick) and then to Beethoven's op. 18, no. 1, from a decade before (with an earlier bottom half of the quartet), I hear the same characteristic blend of refinement and soulfulness, the evolution of the lineup notwithstanding. Encountering the reconstituted Juilliard in the flesh was a highlight of last year's concert season for me; chamber music fans clearly have a lot to look forward to.

The E?-Major quartet gets a fairly relaxed reading, though the playing is certainly never slack. There's a natural ebb and flow to tempos in the opening movement and, in the second, a wonderful variety of textures is realized. In the central Allegretto of the movement, the Juilliard achieves a Midsummer Nights Dream sort of fleetness. The Andante is indeed espressivo without becoming overwrought. The swirling tarantellalike finale is presented with an understated virtuosity, before a peaceful closing. The A-Minor work is played with a greater level of emotional intensity. Dynamic contrasts are effective—the Juilliard can turn on a dime—and Smirnoff's leadership in the opening Allegro is both fervent and accurate. We hear flawless balances in the Intermezzo, and beautiful shaping of the simple thematic materials. The quartet is, again, wonderfully light on its feet with the quicksilver middle portion of the movement. For the concluding movement, Smirnoff satisfies in his solo passages with assured, beautifully contoured playing, and the ending, in which Mendelssohn quotes from his song Frage, as he does at the very beginning of the work, is quite moving.

Sony's string sound is warm and sweet, without a touch of stridency. The recording, made at the Giandomenico Studios in Collingswood, New Jersey, is close-up and involving, but still breathes. The packaging is attractive, with photos of the musicians in a parklike setting, and informed, well-written notes that point up the influence of Beethoven on these youthful compositions.

Among recent versions of the Mendelssohn quartets, those from Vienna's Artis Quartet, on Accord, have received high marks in Fanfare. I like them, too: The Artis offers direct, energetic performances, taking consistently faster tempos than the American players. The Juilliard may please a bit more in the slow movements. I'd not want to be without either. Listeners on a budget can consider the three discs of Mendelssohn's music for string quartet from Naxos, performances by the Aurora Quartet (four musicians from the San Francisco Symphony) that received a laudatory notice from John Wiser in Fanfare 18:2. Although their readings of ops. 12 and 13 are thoroughly convincing, they don't, for me, rise to the level of either the Artis or the Juilliard, and the sonics are less pleasing.

The Sony disc is heartily recommended. The Juilliard Quartet is back.

-- Andrew Quint, Fanfare [5-6/1999]

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Mendelssohn: String Quartets No 1 & 2 / Juilliard Quartet
Sony Masterworks May 2007
CD
$17.99

Memorial Concert For Claudio Abbado

Accentus Music

DVD

$31.99 Jan 27, 2015

Also available on Blu-ray

MEMORIAL CONCERT FOR CLAUDIO ABBADO

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55, “Eroica”: II. Marcia funebre*

Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759, “Unfinished”: I. Allegro moderato

Friedrich Hölderlin: Brod und Wein

Alban Berg: Violin Concerto

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D Minor: VI. Adagio

Isabelle Faust, violin
Bruno Ganz, narrator

Lucerne Festival Orchestra
*Claudio Abbado, conductor
Andris Nelsons, conductor

Recorded live at the Concert Hall of KKL Luzern, August 2013
(Beethoven) and 6 April 2014 (all except Beethoven)

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, English, French, Japanese, Korean
Running time: 98 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

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Memorial Concert For Claudio Abbado
Accentus Music Jan 2015
DVD
$31.99

C. Schumann & Chaminade: Concerti & Piano Works - Donna Voce

Music and Arts Programs of America

$16.99 Feb 07, 2025

Ukrainian-American pianist Anna Shelest continues her exploration of works by women composers in Donna Voce Volume 3 - Clara Schumann & Cecile Chaminade: Concerti & Piano Works. Featured are Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7 and Cecile Chaminade's Concertstuck for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 40 with Neeme Jarvi conducting the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Anna Shelest also performs works for solo piano by each composer and is joined by her husband Dmitri Shelest in Chaminade's Pieces Romantiques, Op. 55 for piano four hands. Featuring Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7 and Cecile Chaminade's Concertstuck for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 40 with Neeme Jarvi conducting the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Anna Shelest also performs works for solo piano by each composer and is joined by her husband Dmitri Shelest in Chaminade's Pieces Romantiques, Op. 55 for piano four hands.

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C. Schumann & Chaminade: Concerti & Piano Works - Donna Voce
Music and Arts Programs of America Feb 2025
CD
$16.99

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

SIBELIUS: SYM NO. 5 & STRAVINSKY: THE FIREBIRD

MUNCHNER PHILHARMONI

$17.49 Jul 15, 2022

The Munich Philharmonic and Sergiu Celibidache share an exceptional legacy. He started his work as principal conductor in 1979 and remained in this position for as long as 17 years. Sergiu Celibidache played an integral part in making the Munich Philharmonic what it is today: an orchestra of worldwide renown. On it's MPHIL label, the Munich Philharmonic is opening up it's vast archives, giving listeners the opportunity to enjoy one of the richest collections of recordings by legendary artists. Because of the Celibidache era and it's part in forming the core essence of the orchestra, the MPHIL label has placed a particular focus on archive recordings under the baton of Sergiu Celibidache. In spring 2022, it is a recording with Sergiu Celibidache with the Symphony No. In E-Flat Major Op. 82 by Jean Sibelius from 1988 as well as Igor Strawinsky's »The Firebird« from 1982. In Sibelius 5th Symphony, Thor swings his hammer, and the listener can feel cosmic forces at work in this music, something on which Sibelius himself commented when writing in 1914: "God opens the door for a moment and his orchestra is playing the Fifth Symphony." In this recording, Celibidache galvanizes the Munich Philharmonic in an interpretation of tremendous power and vision, Stravinsky's Firebird Suite is an opulent fairy tale. What makes this a great listening experience, is Celibidache's extraordinary understanding of the rhythmic dances that pulse throughout this score and the folkish elements that are spontaneously mastered. For the first time on the MPHIL label, this recording is being released digitally in mSpatial Dolby Atmos format: mSpatial, developed by msm-studios (Munich), transforms a vintage stereo recording into an authentic immersive (e.g. Dolby Atmos) listening experience. The procedure virtualizes the original hall acoustics of the recording venue, based on algorithms using on-site acoustic measurements. Sergiu Celibidache never accepted recordings of his concerts as real, valid music. For him, music only happened in the very moment in time when it was performed, and only for the audience present in the concert hall during that concert. The late Maestro's postulation of simultaneous time is lost forever. However, mSpatial gets the listener closer than ever to the second aspect of his credo by creating a virtual immersive acoustic in the listener's environment, which is true to the original acoustic experience in the concert hall where the performance happened.

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SIBELIUS: SYM NO. 5 & STRAVINSKY: THE FIREBIRD
MUNCHNER PHILHARMONI Jul 2022
CD
$17.49