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SaleElegy - String Orchestra Music / Taddei, Borzak, Roma Tre Orchestra
Brilliant Classics · Apr 2023CD$13.99$10.99 -
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Grandi: Vulnerasti Cor Meum / Jacobs, Schola Cantorum Basel
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi · Jun 2008CD$17.99 -
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Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 / Haitink, Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks
BR Klassik · Nov 2010CD$19.99 -
DVORAK: CELLO CONCERTO
WARNER CLASSICS
CD
$10.49
Oct 06, 2017
Jackie was always the most exciting cellist," Yo-Yo Ma, Jacqueline du Pre's fellow-cellist, has said. "It would be hard to think of another that took as many risks as she did... always for expressive reasons. There is no other artist who can transfer that sense of excitement onto vinyl." Here, with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, du Pre performs perhaps the most widely-loved of all cello concertos, Dvorak's lyrical and stirring epic.
RAVEL: DAPHNIS ET CHLOE
LSO LIVE
SACD
$20.99
Feb 28, 2025
While living in Paris at the turn of the century, Maurice Ravel was commissioned to write a ballet by the impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, Serge Diaghilev. The result was music of fluid, delicate beauty - a languid drama of danger and desire. The plot of Daphnis et Chloe is adapted from a second-century Greek erotic pastoral, and tells the captivating story of love and longing between the humble goatherd Daphnis and shepherdess Chloe. When Chloe is abducted by pirates, Daphnis calls upon higher powers to aid his pursuit. These forces of nature are mirrored in the score through Ravel's characteristic lush orchestration and vivid melodies. Interjections from a wordless chorus - sung in this performance by award-winning British ensemble, Tenebrae - perfectly capture the celestial might of the God, Pan, as he comes to the lovers' rescue. Known for it's rich harmonic textures and expansive scoring, Daphnis et Chloe is one of Ravel's largest and most loved orchestral masterpieces. Join the London Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor, Sir Antonio Pappano, on this dreamlike musical journey through Greek mythology, where passion, nature and divinity intertwine.
Haydn 2032, Vol. 17 - Per il Luigi (LP)
Alpha
Vinyl
$39.99
Oct 23, 2026
Per il Luigi is the 17th volume of the complete Haydn 2032 collection and presents a number of Haydn's earliest symphonies; these had been composed to display the talent of the musicians who had joined the Esterhazy court orchestra during the same period as Haydn himself. The centre of the programme is the Symphony No. 13 in D major from 1763, whose orchestration includes four horns and whose final movement features a prefiguration of the famous theme of Mozart's 'Jupiter' symphony, to be composed twenty-five years later. The Violin Concerto in C major is marked fatto per il Luigi in Haydn's catalogue of works and was dedicated to Luigi Tomasini (1741-1808), a violin virtuoso born in Pesaro and a friend of Haydn. Two centuries later, the young Baroque violin virtuoso Dmitri Smirnov now brilliantly champions this repertoire with the Kammerorchester Basel under Giovanni Antonini.
RUNNING OUT OF TIME
DELMARK
CD
$15.70
Mar 22, 2005
Born and raised on Chicago's south side, violinist SavoirFaire cut his improvisational teeth at local jazz sessions. His first performance was at age 5 on stage at Chicago Symphony Center's Orchestra Hall as one of 25 special Suzuki students. SavoirFaire continued his musical path receiving scholarships to study with renowned teachers, winning local talent shows and the prestigious Interlochen award. Classically trained, his skill and oneness with his instrument has allowed him to grace the stages of Chicago's world-renowned jazz performance venues. Through swinging jazz, avant-garde free excursions, hip-hop, lush balladry, Latin-tinged movements and cascading Indo-African styled improvisations, this CD expresses SavoirFaire's commitment to the evolution of jazz.
Elegy - String Orchestra Music / Taddei, Borzak, Roma Tre Orchestra
Brilliant Classics
CD
$10.99
$13.99
Save 20%
Apr 21, 2023
Hidden behind the late 19th century’s great symphonies, sumptuous ballets, and concertos with moving climaxes is something much more thoughtful and contemplative. This secret landscape comes courtesy of a few precious pieces for string orchestra by three Russian composers, all active at approximately the same time.
The extremely simple theme in 3/4, from Glazunov’s Theme and Variations in G Minor, Op. 97, has the feel of a solemn, ancient dance, simultaneously nostalgic and sombre. In another example of Glazunov’s crystal-clear yet expressive writing, the string orchestra provides the backdrop and conversation partner for a solo instrument that was a rarity in concertos at the time: the saxophone. Overall, despite the explosive counterpoint in the work’s final movement, it is a dreamy composition, never overly dramatic, and subdued and melancholy in places: almost elegiac, in other words.
The two elegies Tchaikovsky composed for string orchestra are highly refined works that reveal another side to the famous composer. In the same period that Tchaikovsky was writing his elegies, between 1880 and 1885, the composer and chemist Alexander Borodin was drafting his second Quartet. The third movement, a Nocturne, is one of Borodin’s finest works. It was therefore not only written at the same time as Tchaikovsky’s elegies, but also shares their gracefulness.
REVIEW:
Sieva Borzak (b. 1997) serves as the Conductor-in-Residence of the Roma Tre Orchestra, a collegiate ensemble that, when founded in 2005, became the first of its kind in central Italy.
The young musicians play with an artistic maturity and sensitivity well beyond their age; and the entire program bathes the listener in the timeless and contemplative romantic soundscape of the pre-Soviet school. Even so, this remains a student ensemble; and moments of stunning beauty are sometimes followed by shaky intonation and patchy teamwork. Taddei has all the tools for a solo career, executing the Glazounov concerto with splendid poise, expressive phrasing, and superb technique; but his free-blowing set-up always seems on the edge of spreading, even if his control is very good. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating preview of what the next generation of Italian talent has to offer.
-- American Record Guide
LIFTED
BLUE NOTE RECORDS
CD
$15.49
Apr 29, 2022
2022 release. Trombone Shorty returns with Lifted, his first album in 5 years and the follow-up to his Blue Note debut, Parking Lot Symphony. Capturing the energy of his live shows, the album combines classic New Orleans sounds (funk, gospel, street rhythms, Mardi Gras Indian chants and second lines) with modern lyrics, melody and beats to create something fresh and unique - part Jimi Hendrix, part James Brown, and all New Orleans. Featuring guest appearances by Lauren Daigle and Gary Clark, Jr.
Bliss: The Composer Conducts
SOMM Recordings
CD
$29.99
Jul 04, 2025
Sir Arthur Bliss (1891 - 1975) was an excellent conductor of his own music, but he sadly made only a limited number of commercial recordings. SOMM celebrates the 50th anniversary of Bliss's death with a 2-CD set of important archive performances, all but two of which he didn't record commercially, making them of particular interest. These live performances, mostly recorded at the BBC Proms and not previously made available, are skilfully remastered by long-time SOMM collaborator and executive producer, Lani Spahr, whose recent 6-volume "Bruckner from the Archives" received no less than two Editor's Choices from Gramophone magazine. At the invitation of Edward Elgar, Bliss wrote a new work for the Three Choirs Festival in 1920. He was inspired by a book on heraldry to compose a full-scale symphony incorporating symbolic meanings associated with primary colours. Hence, the four movements of A Colour Symphony are Purple, Red, Blue, and Green. The performance issued here is with Bliss conducting his 70th birthday concert at the Proms in 1961. For his 75th birthday concert at the Proms in 1966, Bliss conducted his Piano Concerto, commissioned by the British Council in 1939. Following this birthday concert, Bliss wrote that he felt "indeed positively youthful; perhaps that rejuvenation was accentuated by the exuberantly fine performance that John Ogdon gave of my Piano Concerto." That "exuberantly fine performance," along with Bliss's brief speech of thanks, are included in this set. Bliss and his younger brother served during World War I, and Kennard was killed at the Battle of the Somme. In 1930, haunted by nightmares of the war and grief about his brother, Bliss composed Morning Heroes, dedicating it "to the memory of my brother Francis Kennard Bliss and all other comrades killed in battle." The work is a symphony for orator, chorus, and orchestra, with poetry ranging from The Iliad to Walt Whitman and Wilfred Owen. Lady Bliss considered the pre-eminent orator of this work to be Donald Douglas, featured here with Bliss in 1968-surprisingly, the only performance to date of Morning Heroes at the Proms. The much-revised Concerto for Two Pianos is presented in a version for two pianos and three hands, which Bliss arranged after Cyril Smith suffered a stroke that paralysed his left arm. This performance with Bliss leading Cyril Smith, Phyllis Sellick, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra is from the 1969 Proms. Two shorter works complete this Bliss anniversary tribute. Mêlee Fantasque from 1921, influenced by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, is a precursor to many ballet scores Bliss would produce. The Phoenix, subtitled "Homage to France August 1944," is noted in the score as symbolizing "the imperishable life and the transcendent beauty of France." The extraordinarily vast repertoire of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau over his 45-year career comprised lieder, operas, cantatas, and oratorios. He sang these in German, Italian, French, Russian, English, Hebrew, Hungarian, and Latin, from eras that spanned the Baroque to the latter part of the 20th century. Particularly, it was the controlled power and beauty of his voice, and the dramatic intensity and poetry of his interpretations, that led him to excel in the genre of German lieder. In this form he exerted a virtually unprecedented stylistic and interpretative influence-not only on the musical world of his day, but also on generations of performers to come. SOMM's centenary tribute opens with four songs by Ferruccio Busoni, all being works that were written late in the composer's career. They come from a programme that Fischer-Dieskau gave with Gerald Moore in 1962. At the 1971 Helsinki Festival, Fischer-Dieskau presented a recital with Irwin Gage, which was devoted entirely to songs with texts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The recital, described by a contemporary critic as "a landmark event," featured compositions by contemporaries of Goethe, who lived from 1749 to 1832, such as the Countess Anna Amalia, Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt, and Goethe's friend Carl Friedrich Zelter. The more familiar composers represented on this Goethe-inspired recital were active during the first part of the 20th century. They include Richard Strauss, Max Reger, and Ferruccio Busoni. This tribute to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau also includes six songs from a programme of works by Gustav Mahler, which was presented with his long-time collaborator, Karl Engel. Three of the songs are from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, based on texts of German folk poems, and three are from the collection of five Ruckert-Lieder, after poems written by Friedrich Ruckert. The musical component of this collection closes with a concert performance of three songs by Zoltan Kodaly, sung in Hungarian by Fischer-Dieskau. The composer proves himself an outstanding interpreter of his own music in conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. In the two interviews included on the bonus CD, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau discusses his early years, his teachers, the development of his career, and a small but revealing cross-section of his enormous repertoire.
Richard Strauss: A Hero's Life
OUR Recordings
CD
$21.99
Feb 06, 2026
The "Tondichtung", or tone poem, was a popular European genre from the mid-19th to early 20th century. German composer Richard Strauss excelled in this form, producing ten works. A tone poem is a single-movement orchestral piece meant to evoke moods, stories, or scenes without following a strict narrative. Strauss's Don Juan, Op. 20 (1888), was inspired by Nikolaus Lenau's poetic take on the Don Juan legend, portraying him as a man seeking the perfect woman and ultimately succumbing to despair. Strauss's orchestral work mirrors this, opening with energetic themes of Don Juan's adventures, featuring lyrical passages for his loves, and concluding with dark chords symbolizing his demise. In 1898, Strauss composed Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), a six-section tone poem inspired by Beethoven's Eroica, reflecting his own life and career. Themes depict the hero, his adversaries, companion, battles, peace, and eventual retirement. Critics debated Strauss's self-portrait as arrogant or humorous, but the work remains a testament to artistic struggle and triumph. Austrian conductor Hans Graf, Chief Conductor and Quantedge Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) since 2020, is known for his curiosity, creative programming, and commanding presence. An acclaimed guest conductor worldwide, he has won multiple awards including the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis and recorded works by Mozart, Stravinsky, and Berg. Founded in 1979, the SSO is Singapore's flagship orchestra, performing year-round and achieving global recognition, including rankings by Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. Under Graf, the orchestra has released over 50 recordings and revived rare works by composers like Kozlowski, Klenau and Ogerman. The SSO forms part of the Singapore Symphony Group, which also encompasses choruses, youth orchestras, and major music festivals.
MEISTERSAAL SESSIONS / VOL. 1: ROMANTIC CHAMBER
EUROARTS
CD
$16.42
Dec 27, 2024
The Meistersaal Sessions are a 6-part series of chamber music theme concerts with the Freigeist Ensemble at the legendary Meistersaal Berlin, conducted by Joolz Gale. The series starts with arrangements of Schonberg, Strauss and Mahler. Each of the four sessions in this album features one musical work that represents the roots of Freigeist Ensemble's oeuvre. Linking the musical worlds of Berlin and Vienna, these early compositions by Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg are all featured in a chamber music format. Winner of the OPUS Klassik 2021, Freigeist Ensemble is a courageous collective of supersonic soloists from German symphony orchestras that repackages symphonic music for new audiences. It's mission is to revolutionize the style, sound and setting of classical concerts. Recent winner of the OPUS Klassik, Joolz Gale is a versatile British conductor who not only offers a historically-informed approach to baroque, classical and early romantic repertoire but also an extensive knowledge of early 20th-century choral and symphonic repertoire.
Made in Germany
Divine Art
CD
$18.99
Aug 07, 2026
Divine Art is delighted to present Made in Germany, from Texas-based Olmos Ensemble, the first in an exciting series of albums catalogued by country, presenting rarely performed and unrecorded works for mixed chamber instrumentation. Originally formed by the principal players of the San Antonio Symphony, Olmos Ensemble has established itself as one of the premier chamber music organizations in Texas, and features leading musicians from across the United States. Made in Germany will be released as they open their 32nd Season. Each album in the series will feature a works of varied instrumentation, creating a unique collection of recorded chamber repertoire that only an ensemble like Olmos - through their remarkable access to top musicians around the United States - could bring together. The Ensemble's concert programming has won great acclaim for it's focus on showcasing neglected works by female composers, and Olmos is thrilled to bring this to their recordings as well, with each album in the series featuring works by women composers, including many premieres. Made in Germany features three composers of German origin: Richard Strauss, Rudolf Tillmetz, and Ruth Schonthal. The album includes the first recording of Laszlo Varga's highly regarded arrangement of Strauss' Don Quixote for six instruments: clarinet, French horn, violin, viola, cello and piano, which includes every core member of Olmos Ensemble apart from flute. As the original primary voices in the larger orchestrated work (all but piano), these six instruments work wonderfully together in recreating the thrilling tale of Don Quixote. Also included is the first professional recording of Rudolf Tillmetz's only chamber work, the Nocturne for Flute, Horn, and Piano, Op. 31. One of the few Romantic-era trios for this unusual instrumentation, the piece reflects the salon music tradition of late 19th-century Germany, emphasizing lyrical writing and equal interplay between instruments, and although not widely known is a valuable work in the horn and flute chamber music repertoire. German-born Jewish composer, Ruth Schonthal fled Nazi persecution early in her life, first moving to Mexico and later America to study with Paul Hindemith. Completing the album is a rare recording of her late-career Theme and Variations for Solo Flute, which distills her lifelong commitment to melodic expressiveness and emotional narrative into a unique work for solo flute. Future albums in this series will focus on the Czech Republic, America, Italy and Austria. 'We are excited to record music that has never before been paired together on an album and present to the classical music loving public a unique set of all-encompassing recordings that will range from solo works through nonets and possibly larger. With the group consisting of people living in entirely different parts of the US, Olmos Ensemble is unique in it's ability to maintain 31 (and soon 32) seasons of existence, all while presenting lesser known works in addition to insightful interpretations of the great standards.' Members of Olmos Ensemble on this recording are: Artistic Director Mark Teplitsky, Assistant Principal Flute of the Naples Philharmonic, previously second flute at Houston Symphony; violinist Eric Gratz, a soloist, concertmaster, chamber musician, and Artistic Director of the American Chamber Music Society in Chicago; Ilya Shterenberg, Acting Principal Clarinet of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (Canada), and Principal Clarinet of several orchestras across the US; cellist Julian Schwarz, first prize winner at the inaugural Schoenfeld International Competition 2013 and a founding member of the Frisson Ensemble; Jeff Garza, principal horn of the Oregon Symphony and the Bellingham Festival of Music; violist Colin Brookes, a founding member of the award-winning Ulysses Quartet, and award-winning soloist; soloist and chamber musician Elizabeth Dorman (piano), a regular guest Keyboard at the San Francisco Symphony, and faculty member of the San Fransisco Conservatory of Music.
Grandi: Vulnerasti Cor Meum / Jacobs, Schola Cantorum Basel
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
CD
$17.99
Jun 30, 2008
All the items on this CD are gems. Grandi, who may have been a pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli, had great melodic gifts and good ear for dramatic presentation of his texts.
Alessandro Grandi might have been a pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli. He spent the initial part of his musical career singing (falsetto soprano) and directing music at establishments in Ferrara, culminating in his appointment as director of music at Ferrara cathedral in 1616. In 1617 he moved to Venice and became a singer, under Monteverdi's direction, at St. Mark's, going on to become Monteverdi's deputy in 1620. He and Monteverdi are reputed to have been in open rivalry and Monteverdi is supposed to have prevented Grandi from presenting large-scale works of his own. Grandi seems to have made a virtue of necessity and produced a ravishing string of solo motets and concerti spirituali. In 1627 he moved on to become director of music in Bergamo. He published 11 volumes of motets, many of them very popular, 3 volumes of psalms and 5 masses. His motets with symphonies, involving obbligato violins, had an influence on Schütz.
In the 1620's sacred music underwent a significant change, out went the polychoral techniques of the Gabrielis and in came the new concerted style. A more intimate style with a few solo voices and instruments, with a greater emphasis on virtuosity. Monteverdi used this style in his later church music, but it was fully developed by his colleagues and followers such as Alessandro Grandi.
Grandi had an advantage over colleagues such as Monteverdi and Gabrieli in that he was a singer. His art revolves around the expression of the text, using the music to bring out the prosody of the words. His earliest motets were published in 1610 and they are admirably lacking in youthful inexperience. 'O quam pulchra es' uses three voices in an almost madrigalian setting of words from the Song of Songs.
Grandi's works crop up in the catalogue mainly in surveys of Monteverdi's contemporaries. Despite his importance in early 17th century Italian music, record companies have mainly cast him in Monteverdi's shadow, so it is pleasant to welcome this CD back. It has an enviable line up of singers with the young Andreas and Elisabeth Scholl alongside René Jacobs and Maria Cristina Kiehr.
The motets all receive fine performances. This vocal chamber music requires a good interplay between performers and those on this record are generally admirable. Jacobs sings two of the solo motets, 'Salve Regina' with its cornet obliggati and 'O quam tu pulchra est'. Whilst I was able to admire his artistry greatly, not everyone will like his distinctive resinous tone. But these are two of the most affecting motets on the record and Jacobs' way with the words is hauntingly persuasive. Though all the artists on the disc are excellent, Jacobs proves to be the most penetratingly responsive to the text.
The admirable cornettists are Jean Tubery, and William Dongois and their playing combines discretion and subtlety along with virtuoso effect. They appear on two further tracks. 'Transfige', a solo motet well sung by Gerd Türk with his mellifluous, bright, if slightly unvarying tenor voice and 'Bone Jesu verbum patris', a lovely duet charmingly sung by Elisabeth and Andreas Scholl, who blend exquisitely. The two cornets beautifully balance the two vocalists and show off Grandi's expertise with the new structural developments in sacred music.
Dramatic and structural interest are rarely absent from these lovely works. Solo voices are counterbalanced by two violins in three of the motets. 'Osculetur me', in which Andreas Scholl brings to bear his creamy alto voice; 'Virgo prudentissima' sung with a brilliant urgency by Elisabeth Scholl; 'Vulnerasti cor meum' sung by the bright toned Maria Cristina Kiehr who gets the bulk of the soprano solos.
In the multi-voiced motets, some are in the more traditional style of the late 16th century, like the 5-voiced setting of Job's lament, 'Versa est'. But others reflect Grandi's more recent concerns. 'Heu mihi! - Quid ploras?' is a conversation between the despairing sinner (hauntingly sung by Gerd Türk) and God (sung by Andreas Scholl, Otto Rastbichler and Ulrich Messthaler). 'Quemadmodum desiderat' is another dialogue, this time between two voices (Maria Christina Kiehr and Ulrich Messthaler). a lover and beloved, which ends with a hymn to the Virgin!
The motet 'Plorabo die ac nocte' uses a text which links the lamentations of Jeremiah with a pain-filled Marian lament. The text is sung by each soloist in turn. But, in an effect reminiscent of a Greek chorus, all soloists join together at the end of each solo. But the most remarkable is possibly 'Missus est Gabriel'. This setting of the annunciation uses St. Luke's Gospel, allocated to Evangelist (Ulrich Messthaler, singing with a wonderfully dark tone), Angel (Gerd Türk) and Virgin (Andreas Scholl). But this mini-oratorio increases the drama by adding an off-stage chorus (sopranos Maria Cristina Kiehr and Elisabeth Scholl) who constantly sing the praises of the virgin, providing a chorus which comments on and interrupts the main dialogue.
All the items on this CD are gems. Grandi had great melodic gifts and good ear for dramatic presentation of his texts. A singer himself, his vocal lines are always effective and grateful. All the singers on this recording are admirable and it manages to showcase the talents of a remarkable group of young singers and instrumentalists.
Grandi's motets deserve to be better known, but his works have been difficult to come by in performing editions. This seems to be the only CD in the catalogue devoted solely Grandi's works, so it is pleasing to see its return and the artists are also to be commended for their musicological research. It is a shame that the CD booklet does not manage to print the texts of the motets. Grandi was such a text based composer that one misses the opportunity of following the words in translation. Not all of these texts are well known and not everyone has the requisite Latin.
This is a lovely CD to listen to in one sitting or simply to dip into. I can highly recommend it.
-- Robert Hugill, MusicWeb International
reviewing this title reissued as DHM 77857
Alessandro Grandi might have been a pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli. He spent the initial part of his musical career singing (falsetto soprano) and directing music at establishments in Ferrara, culminating in his appointment as director of music at Ferrara cathedral in 1616. In 1617 he moved to Venice and became a singer, under Monteverdi's direction, at St. Mark's, going on to become Monteverdi's deputy in 1620. He and Monteverdi are reputed to have been in open rivalry and Monteverdi is supposed to have prevented Grandi from presenting large-scale works of his own. Grandi seems to have made a virtue of necessity and produced a ravishing string of solo motets and concerti spirituali. In 1627 he moved on to become director of music in Bergamo. He published 11 volumes of motets, many of them very popular, 3 volumes of psalms and 5 masses. His motets with symphonies, involving obbligato violins, had an influence on Schütz.
In the 1620's sacred music underwent a significant change, out went the polychoral techniques of the Gabrielis and in came the new concerted style. A more intimate style with a few solo voices and instruments, with a greater emphasis on virtuosity. Monteverdi used this style in his later church music, but it was fully developed by his colleagues and followers such as Alessandro Grandi.
Grandi had an advantage over colleagues such as Monteverdi and Gabrieli in that he was a singer. His art revolves around the expression of the text, using the music to bring out the prosody of the words. His earliest motets were published in 1610 and they are admirably lacking in youthful inexperience. 'O quam pulchra es' uses three voices in an almost madrigalian setting of words from the Song of Songs.
Grandi's works crop up in the catalogue mainly in surveys of Monteverdi's contemporaries. Despite his importance in early 17th century Italian music, record companies have mainly cast him in Monteverdi's shadow, so it is pleasant to welcome this CD back. It has an enviable line up of singers with the young Andreas and Elisabeth Scholl alongside René Jacobs and Maria Cristina Kiehr.
The motets all receive fine performances. This vocal chamber music requires a good interplay between performers and those on this record are generally admirable. Jacobs sings two of the solo motets, 'Salve Regina' with its cornet obliggati and 'O quam tu pulchra est'. Whilst I was able to admire his artistry greatly, not everyone will like his distinctive resinous tone. But these are two of the most affecting motets on the record and Jacobs' way with the words is hauntingly persuasive. Though all the artists on the disc are excellent, Jacobs proves to be the most penetratingly responsive to the text.
The admirable cornettists are Jean Tubery, and William Dongois and their playing combines discretion and subtlety along with virtuoso effect. They appear on two further tracks. 'Transfige', a solo motet well sung by Gerd Türk with his mellifluous, bright, if slightly unvarying tenor voice and 'Bone Jesu verbum patris', a lovely duet charmingly sung by Elisabeth and Andreas Scholl, who blend exquisitely. The two cornets beautifully balance the two vocalists and show off Grandi's expertise with the new structural developments in sacred music.
Dramatic and structural interest are rarely absent from these lovely works. Solo voices are counterbalanced by two violins in three of the motets. 'Osculetur me', in which Andreas Scholl brings to bear his creamy alto voice; 'Virgo prudentissima' sung with a brilliant urgency by Elisabeth Scholl; 'Vulnerasti cor meum' sung by the bright toned Maria Cristina Kiehr who gets the bulk of the soprano solos.
In the multi-voiced motets, some are in the more traditional style of the late 16th century, like the 5-voiced setting of Job's lament, 'Versa est'. But others reflect Grandi's more recent concerns. 'Heu mihi! - Quid ploras?' is a conversation between the despairing sinner (hauntingly sung by Gerd Türk) and God (sung by Andreas Scholl, Otto Rastbichler and Ulrich Messthaler). 'Quemadmodum desiderat' is another dialogue, this time between two voices (Maria Christina Kiehr and Ulrich Messthaler). a lover and beloved, which ends with a hymn to the Virgin!
The motet 'Plorabo die ac nocte' uses a text which links the lamentations of Jeremiah with a pain-filled Marian lament. The text is sung by each soloist in turn. But, in an effect reminiscent of a Greek chorus, all soloists join together at the end of each solo. But the most remarkable is possibly 'Missus est Gabriel'. This setting of the annunciation uses St. Luke's Gospel, allocated to Evangelist (Ulrich Messthaler, singing with a wonderfully dark tone), Angel (Gerd Türk) and Virgin (Andreas Scholl). But this mini-oratorio increases the drama by adding an off-stage chorus (sopranos Maria Cristina Kiehr and Elisabeth Scholl) who constantly sing the praises of the virgin, providing a chorus which comments on and interrupts the main dialogue.
All the items on this CD are gems. Grandi had great melodic gifts and good ear for dramatic presentation of his texts. A singer himself, his vocal lines are always effective and grateful. All the singers on this recording are admirable and it manages to showcase the talents of a remarkable group of young singers and instrumentalists.
Grandi's motets deserve to be better known, but his works have been difficult to come by in performing editions. This seems to be the only CD in the catalogue devoted solely Grandi's works, so it is pleasing to see its return and the artists are also to be commended for their musicological research. It is a shame that the CD booklet does not manage to print the texts of the motets. Grandi was such a text based composer that one misses the opportunity of following the words in translation. Not all of these texts are well known and not everyone has the requisite Latin.
This is a lovely CD to listen to in one sitting or simply to dip into. I can highly recommend it.
-- Robert Hugill, MusicWeb International
reviewing this title reissued as DHM 77857
DEBUSSY & STRAUSS
MELBOURNE SYMPHONY
SACD
$13.74
May 31, 2024
Debussy & Strauss is the first album to be released on the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's own record label, in partnership with LSO Live. For this debut recording, the MSO and conductor Jaime Martin are joined by outstanding Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg, the MSO's 2023 Artist in Residence. Together, they present two song cycles from opposite ends of life, exploring loves with vastly different essences. Debussy and Strauss inhabit such different musical worlds that it comes almost as a surprise to see them side by side and recognize they were members of the same generation. The fact that Debussy was more overtly modern in his work while Strauss was much longer lived-still writing halfway into the 20th century-reminds us that music history is a tangle of human lives and not a neat progression of movements and styles. Debussy's Ariettes oubliees (Forgotten Songs) is a 24-year-old's depiction of first love, the kind of thing that feels unbearably important at the time, but inevitably stumbles toward breakup and fades into the past. Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) is an 84-year-old's last word on a nearly 55-year marriage that ended only in death.
Widor: Le doux Appel
Affetto Records
CD
$18.99
Jan 17, 2025
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937), one of the most influential French organists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, jokingly referred to himself as the substitute organist of the church of St. Sulpice, Paris, despite his 64-year tenure there. While best known for his ten organ symphonies, Widor composed in a wide variety of sacred and secular genres: chamber music, orchestral works, ballet, operatic music, works for piano, and most importantly for this recording, melodies. In his day, Widor won respect as a composer, organist, professor, and cultural ambassador of France. In 1890 he became Cesar Franck's immediate successor as Professor of Organ at the Paris Conservatoire, and, in 1896, he succeeded Theodore Dubois as Conservatoire Professor of Composition. Widor's students in organ and composition included such distinguished names as Marcel Dupre, Louis Vierne, Charles Tournemire, Darius Milhaud, Albert Schweitzer, and Edgard Varese. Widor composed over 100 songs which have been overshadowed by his immensely popular organ works. His genius with melody, comprehensive piano writing, and discerning poetic text settings distinguish him as a gifted song composer unusually sensitive to the capabilities of the voice. Throughout his extensive career, Widor was concerned with achieving the best possible musical result in his compositions and continually developed, revised, and republished his works. A publishing custom of the time was to group sets of six songs in a single opus number; however, the songs of each of Widor's sets are not necessarily related by poet or theme. The songs were not intended to be presented as a cohesive cycle. With that in mind, the songs in this recording are not presented by chronological opus numbers. Widor's melodies exhibit a wide variety of musical influences, from the works of the German lieder composers to French vocal genres, such as the bergerette and opera lyrique. His songs range from straight-forward strophic settings to intricate through-composed forms. Widor's harmonic language can find beauty in purely diatonic sonorities while others take advantage of the more remote modulations. Elements of Orientalism, popular in his day, color the exotic musical language and mood of several songs. Widor's songs represent his quest for a perfect marriage of music and text. His melodies feature the poetry of such beloved and respected literary figures as Victor Hugo, Theodore de Banville, Rene-Francois Sully-Prudhomme, Paul Bourget, and Pierre-Jules Theophile Gautier. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Widor - thrillingly - was inspired to include poems by women whose work he admired among his song settings. Some of them are contained in this album's offerings. To quote Widor biographer John Near, "We experience very great charm when happy fortune permits us to hear a page of Mr. Widor, harmoniously vying with Victor Hugo, Sully Prudhomme, or Paul Bourget."
Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition; Liszt: Piano Concerto No 1
Naxos
CD
$9.99
$19.99
Save 50%
Sep 30, 2008
An eclectic collection, colourful and often arresting.
Mussorgsky’s Pictures were originally composed for the piano. In that form he created a spacious canvas necessitating something of a symphonic sound from the piano. This proved exquisitely demanding and only a few brave pianists, including Prokofiev, dared to scale its fearsome crags. Maurice Ravel, to whom we owe its renown, was paid 10,000 francs to orchestrate it for Serge Koussevitzky. But as one might look at and interpret a picture in many different ways so then different sonic paint brushes might offer alternative views and insights? Thus Leonard Slatkin’s notion to bring together an eclectic selection of arrangements, some quite outlandish, might seem fresh and appealing?
D. Wilson-Ochoa is the Nashville Symphony’s Principal Music Librarian and former horn player. His neat opening ‘Promenade’ [1] was arranged, using woodwinds, at first, then pizzicato strings. This walking bass/cello line leads into the orchestral build-up, to give the impression of the visitor arriving at the gallery with mounting excitement and anticipation of seeing its treasures. Sergey Gorchakov’s portrait of Gnomus [2] is simpler, more sober and menacing than Ravel’s; his colours darker. Walter Goehr’s ‘Promenade’ [3] is calmly introspective as the visitor passes thoughtfully on; it features sensitive use of solo strings, double woodwind and muted brass. Emile Naoumoff’s entrancing arrangement of Il vecchio castello [4] has, at its heart, a glistening piano solo with woodwinds and cellos sounding the lilting Italian Sicilienne – absolutely gorgeous. Van Keulen’s ‘Promenade’ [5] is a much grander walk while his Tuileries [6] is a perky arrangement full of childish mischief and high spirits. Wind and brass are delicately mixed - woodwinds supported by muted trombones and trumpet – to create an appealing pastel. Conductor/pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy makes an impact with four horns in unison. Low strings and heavy percussion are used to underline the heaviness of Bydlo his picture of the Polish cart on enormous wheels [7].
Carl Simpson’s ‘Promenade’ [8] is brief and straightforward but with an unexpected cheeky cheep anticipating – Ballet of the unhatched chicks [9]. Lucien Cailliet was a student of Vincent D’Indy, His arrangement exerts his imaginative faculties to the full, out Ravel-ing Ravel. He makes exuberant use of wood-block, rattle and a flutter-tonguing blast from the trumpet. Sir Henry Wood’s vision of the Two Jews … [10] markedly underlines the differences between the two: the rich one glowering and overwhelming and the cowering pauper. The next ‘Promenade’ [11] (and the one that Ravel left out) is by Lawrence Leonard. It’s grand too , in terms of its rich harmonies and orchestrations; carrying on the self-regarded magnificence - one might say - of the rich Jew. Leo Funtek’s picture of French women arguing around a market square in Limoges, Le marché [12] makes for a snappy riot of colour. Funtek surmounts its challenges of articulation through its brief 1:26 of presto writing. The Catacombae [13] of John Boyd, demonstrates his experience with wind, brass and percussion. It is a haunted subterranean vision and is more menacing than Ravel’s portrait. It leads seamlessly into Ravel’s own arrangement of Con mortuis in lingua mortua [14]. As David Nice says, “the French master’s subtle halos and shadows remain uniquely evocative.’ That wonderful orchestrator, Leopold Stokowski, adds his characteristically vivid colouring to The hut on fowl’s legs (Baba-Yaga) [15]. This is a satanic portrait using four trumpets and eight horns supported by shrill whistling upper woods, to evoke Baba-Yaga’s terror-filling flight.
The concluding The Bogatyr Gate at Kiev [16] is the most substantial picture. Douglas Gamley paints this massive gate in resplendent colours using to fine effect the chorus of the Nashville Symphony and an organ. What magnificence - magnificence to rival 1812!
Liszt’s first surviving piano concerto was sketched out in 1832, when the composer was 21. It was only orchestrated 17 years later, with the help of the young composer Joachim Raff. Its first performance in 1853 at Weimar was conducted by Berlioz. Revisions followed in 1857. Its three movements are cyclically connected. This striking live recording of Peng Peng’s articulate and polished reading is sturdy in the portentous episodes and sensitively shaded in the quieter and more introspective passages. Slatkin gives sterling support.
Rob Mathes’s arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra under its conductor Leonard Slatkin. It was conceived as a eulogy on the tragedy of 9/11. This performance - part grandiloquent, part restrained - is affecting.
Instead of the familiar Ravel orchestrations of Mussorgsky’s Pictures here is an eclectic collection of alternatives, always colourful and often arresting.
-- Ian Lace, MusicWeb International
Mussorgsky’s Pictures were originally composed for the piano. In that form he created a spacious canvas necessitating something of a symphonic sound from the piano. This proved exquisitely demanding and only a few brave pianists, including Prokofiev, dared to scale its fearsome crags. Maurice Ravel, to whom we owe its renown, was paid 10,000 francs to orchestrate it for Serge Koussevitzky. But as one might look at and interpret a picture in many different ways so then different sonic paint brushes might offer alternative views and insights? Thus Leonard Slatkin’s notion to bring together an eclectic selection of arrangements, some quite outlandish, might seem fresh and appealing?
D. Wilson-Ochoa is the Nashville Symphony’s Principal Music Librarian and former horn player. His neat opening ‘Promenade’ [1] was arranged, using woodwinds, at first, then pizzicato strings. This walking bass/cello line leads into the orchestral build-up, to give the impression of the visitor arriving at the gallery with mounting excitement and anticipation of seeing its treasures. Sergey Gorchakov’s portrait of Gnomus [2] is simpler, more sober and menacing than Ravel’s; his colours darker. Walter Goehr’s ‘Promenade’ [3] is calmly introspective as the visitor passes thoughtfully on; it features sensitive use of solo strings, double woodwind and muted brass. Emile Naoumoff’s entrancing arrangement of Il vecchio castello [4] has, at its heart, a glistening piano solo with woodwinds and cellos sounding the lilting Italian Sicilienne – absolutely gorgeous. Van Keulen’s ‘Promenade’ [5] is a much grander walk while his Tuileries [6] is a perky arrangement full of childish mischief and high spirits. Wind and brass are delicately mixed - woodwinds supported by muted trombones and trumpet – to create an appealing pastel. Conductor/pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy makes an impact with four horns in unison. Low strings and heavy percussion are used to underline the heaviness of Bydlo his picture of the Polish cart on enormous wheels [7].
Carl Simpson’s ‘Promenade’ [8] is brief and straightforward but with an unexpected cheeky cheep anticipating – Ballet of the unhatched chicks [9]. Lucien Cailliet was a student of Vincent D’Indy, His arrangement exerts his imaginative faculties to the full, out Ravel-ing Ravel. He makes exuberant use of wood-block, rattle and a flutter-tonguing blast from the trumpet. Sir Henry Wood’s vision of the Two Jews … [10] markedly underlines the differences between the two: the rich one glowering and overwhelming and the cowering pauper. The next ‘Promenade’ [11] (and the one that Ravel left out) is by Lawrence Leonard. It’s grand too , in terms of its rich harmonies and orchestrations; carrying on the self-regarded magnificence - one might say - of the rich Jew. Leo Funtek’s picture of French women arguing around a market square in Limoges, Le marché [12] makes for a snappy riot of colour. Funtek surmounts its challenges of articulation through its brief 1:26 of presto writing. The Catacombae [13] of John Boyd, demonstrates his experience with wind, brass and percussion. It is a haunted subterranean vision and is more menacing than Ravel’s portrait. It leads seamlessly into Ravel’s own arrangement of Con mortuis in lingua mortua [14]. As David Nice says, “the French master’s subtle halos and shadows remain uniquely evocative.’ That wonderful orchestrator, Leopold Stokowski, adds his characteristically vivid colouring to The hut on fowl’s legs (Baba-Yaga) [15]. This is a satanic portrait using four trumpets and eight horns supported by shrill whistling upper woods, to evoke Baba-Yaga’s terror-filling flight.
The concluding The Bogatyr Gate at Kiev [16] is the most substantial picture. Douglas Gamley paints this massive gate in resplendent colours using to fine effect the chorus of the Nashville Symphony and an organ. What magnificence - magnificence to rival 1812!
Liszt’s first surviving piano concerto was sketched out in 1832, when the composer was 21. It was only orchestrated 17 years later, with the help of the young composer Joachim Raff. Its first performance in 1853 at Weimar was conducted by Berlioz. Revisions followed in 1857. Its three movements are cyclically connected. This striking live recording of Peng Peng’s articulate and polished reading is sturdy in the portentous episodes and sensitively shaded in the quieter and more introspective passages. Slatkin gives sterling support.
Rob Mathes’s arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra under its conductor Leonard Slatkin. It was conceived as a eulogy on the tragedy of 9/11. This performance - part grandiloquent, part restrained - is affecting.
Instead of the familiar Ravel orchestrations of Mussorgsky’s Pictures here is an eclectic collection of alternatives, always colourful and often arresting.
-- Ian Lace, MusicWeb International
A Dream Play; For to Stay is to be Nowhere
Wergo
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.
Debussy, Ravel & Falla (Live)
ICA Classics
CD
$12.99
$16.99
Save 25%
Jan 24, 2025
The Romanian conductor Constantin Silvestri (1913-1969) began his distinguished career in 1930 with the Bucharest Radio Symphony Orchestra, leading to the directorship of the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra in 1945. In 1956 Silvestri moved to Paris and a year later he made his UK debut with the London Philharmonic. This led to a major contract with EMI, under which he conducted the Philharmonia, the Paris Conservatoire and the Vienna Philharmonic orchestras in a wide selection of repertoire including Bartok, Debussy, Dvorak, Elgar, Franck, Hindemith, Liszt, Ravel, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. These 'Spanish'-themed recordings are rarities and belonged to Silvestri's private collection, only discovered after his death. Silvestri's live performances of Debussy's Iberia, Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los jardines de España) and The Three Cornered Hat (Le tricorne) are new additions to his large discography, either commercial recordings or live broadcasts. The wide-ranging recording captures Silvestri's hugely dynamic, colourful and expressive conducting of these popular Spanish-influenced works
FADING
HYPERION
Vinyl
$41.99
Mar 27, 2026
The Gesualdo Six is an award-winning British vocal ensemble comprising some of the UK's finest consort singers, directed by Owain Park. Praised for their imaginative programming and impeccable blend, the group formed in 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsories in Cambridge and has gone on to perform at numerous major festivals around the world. Owain Park was born in Bristol in 1993. As well as directing the Gesualdo Six, he is Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers and works with ensembles including Southbank Sinfonia, Chamber Choir Ireland, Ensemble la Sportelle and Capella Cracoviensis. In 2024, he conducted the BBC Singers in a selection of Bruckner motets at the BBC Proms, which served as a prelude to the Berlin Philharmonic's performance of Bruckner's Symphony No 5. He also conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in works by Anne Dudley and Iain Farrington as part of the 'BBC Singers at 100' celebrations at the Barbican. Pressed on 180g vinyl.
LIFTED
BLUE NOTE RECORDS
Vinyl
$31.99
Apr 29, 2022
Trombone Shorty returns with Lifted, his first album in 5 years and the follow-up to his Blue Note debut Parking Lot Symphony, featuring special guests including vocalist Lauren Daigle & guitarist Gary Clark Jr. An album that captures the energy of his legendary live shows, Lifted combines classic New Orleans sounds (funk, gospel, street rhythms, Mardi Gras Indian chants & second lines) with modern lyrics, melody & beats to create something fresh & unique. Part Jimi Hendrix, part James Brown and all New Orleans, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews is the bandleader and frontman of Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, a hard-edged funk band that employs brass-band beats, rock dynamics & improvisation in a jazz tradition.
FANTASIE NEGRE: THE PIANO MUSIC OF FLORENCE PRICE
LORELT
CD
$16.70
Jun 04, 2021
Musicologist and pianist, Samantha Ege, celebrates the work of trailblazing composer Florence Price on her highly romantic and expressive new album Fantasie Negre: The Piano Music Of Florence Price. Released on 5 March 2021, the physical release coincides with the digital launch on International Women's Day (8 March 2021). The album includes the first full recording of all four Fantasie Ne`gre showpieces, following the rediscovery of Price's Fantasie Ne`gre No.3. Ege, a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford whose work seeks to highlight composers from underrepresented backgrounds, said: "As a young pianist, discovering Price made me feel visible. She belonged to a long legacy of black composers who channelled their African heritage into classical forms. "The classical mainstream must now work to realise the future that she no doubt hoped to see, one where the concert hall welcomes black classical artists, not only posthumously." Price (1887-1953), is best known for her Symphony No.1 in E minor, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933. She was the first African-American woman to have her music presented by a major US orchestra. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas and taught by her mother, Price graduated from the New England Conservatory aged 19. While there, she presented herself as Mexican as her black racial identity could preclude her success. Race riots and routine lynchings forced Price's family to move to Chicago's South Side after her studies, where she found a vibrant community of African-American musicians and composers. Much of Price's work, characterised by their blend of European Romantic idioms and those drawn from African American traditional music, came perilously close to being lost following her death - a collection of her manuscripts were rediscovered in a dilapidated house in St. Anne, Illinois, in 2009. Sadly, Price faced continued barriers due to her race and gender, working as a composer and teacher until her death in Chicago in 1953.
CYCLES 7-16
VILLAGE GREEN
Vinyl
$26.49
Jan 19, 2018
Cycles 7-16 is a natural progression from Matt Dunkley's deubt solo album, Six Cycles, released on Village Green in 2016. Like the debut, it was recorded in Berlin with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg. With this album, however, Matt endeavoured to push himself further, to expand his writing horizons. As well as being almost double the length, Cycles 7-16 boasts a broader sonic palette than it's predecessor, such as the full symphony orchestra on 'Cycle 12' and the seven solo pianos used on 'Cycle 14'. On others, Matt returns to his classical roots, using a string chamber orchestra on 'Cycle 11' and 'Cycle 16'. Inspiration came from myriad sources. Touring and travelling over the last two years, influences came from spending time in different cities and places. The wintry, tense 'Cycle 7' was inspired by an early morning in Berlin, while 'Cycle 15' was written whilst on a conducting trip to Norway. Cycles 7-16 will be released on 12-inch vinyl, CD and as a digital download on 19th January 2018. 1 Cycle 7 2 Cycle 8 3 Cycle 9 4 Cycle 10 5 Cycle 11 6 Cycle 12 7 Cycle 13 8 Cycle 14 9 Cycle 15 10 Cycle 16
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 on Period Instruments
Alpha
CD
$20.99
Aug 28, 2026
Following the critical and public success of Mahler's Symphony No. 9, Philipp von Steinaecker and the Mahler Academy Orchestra continue their recording of Mahler's symphonies on period instruments with the Fifth Symphony. For this recording, the new Breitkopf & Hartel Urtext edition was used, which includes the composer's numerous corrections. The Mahler Academy Orchestra is part of the Gustav Mahler Academy in Bolzano, founded by Claudio Abbado. It brings together young professional musicians and experienced instrumentalists from Europe's leading orchestras. Under the artistic direction of Philipp von Steinaecker and with an ensemble of instruments carefully replicating that of the Vienna Philharmonic around 1900, they return to the roots of Mahler-era performance practice and shed new light on these masterpieces. The Gustav Mahler Academy's originalklang project is a co-production of the Busoni-Mahler Foundation in Bolzano and the Euregio Kulturzentrum Gustav Mahler Toblach Foundation. It is held under the patronage of Marina Mahler, the composer and Alma Mahler's granddaughter, for whom the famous Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony was written after her meeting with Gustav in 1901.
Mahler: Symphony No. 5
Alpha
CD
$20.99
Mar 14, 2025
This recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich under it's Music Director Paavo Jarvi, is the first in a complete cycle of Mahler symphonies. Jarvi has of course conducted Mahler's works many times in his career, but has waited for the right moment to record the complete cycle in the studio: the right moment not only in his life as a musician but also in his relationship with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich; the maturity and power revealed in the orchestra's recordings for Alpha Classics have been hailed by the music press since 2019. "Mahler truly opened up a new universe with the Fifth, in which he initiated an incredibly personal style of music-making." says Paavo Jarvi. "It is the very nature of it's opening - a military funeral - and of it's tragedy, in conjunction with the very idea of beginning a symphony in this way, which signals that something completely different is in store for us".
Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 / Haitink, Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks
BR Klassik
CD
$19.99
Nov 16, 2010
This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 is the work Bruckner scholar and composer Robert Simpson considered to be the greatest of all Bruckner symphonies. Here is a recent live concert performance led by Bruckner expert Bernard Haitink. There are people who collect Bruckner 5ths; a lyrical, fascinating masterpiece and one of the few pieces by Bruckner that employs contrapuntal development as well as fascinating harmonic sophistication. The piece is also graced with arrestingly beautiful melodies.
Symphonies
CPO
CD
$36.99
Jul 03, 2026
The fact that Johann Sebastian Bach was able to take up the post of the cantor of St. Thomas in 1723 is thanks to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. He refused to release his court Kapellmeister Christoph Graupner to Leipzig. He declared the appointment of the magistrate there to be invalid and increased the salary of his subordinate. In this way, he was able to long admire the diversity of the man who wrote outstanding works in all areas of composition. For example, in orchestral music, he sought out unusual experiments with unique results by combining seemingly disparate instruments and ignoring formal conventions. Would he have been as successful with the honourable councillors on the river Pleisse as he was under the aegis of his aristocratic employer? After hearing a two-and-a-half-hour selection of Graupner's works, we must thank His Excellency for not letting him go three hundred years ago
