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C.P.E. Bach: Fantasias / Häkkinen

Brilliant Classics

$10.99 ~~$13.99~~ Save 20% May 26, 2023

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was widely known for his passionate, incomparable improvisations on the clavichord, most characteristically in the form of free fantasia. His compositions were unique in style, full of contrasts, and universally admired by several generations; the Vienna Classicists, even Beethoven and Schubert, considered him their musical father. Declamatory, improvisatory style is of course the epitaph of all 18th-century music – exemplified in Johann Sebastian Bach's Chromatic Fantasia BWV903, with its central recitative and broken chords audaciously passing through distant harmonies. Johann Nikolaus Forkel, author of the first Bach biography and part of C.P.E. Bach’s literary circles, transmitted a refined version in his manuscript (P 212) and subsequent edition that may derive from a revised original version once in possession of the Bach sons. C.P.E. Bach’s Fantasia in C minor (published in 1753) bears distinct similarities to his father’s Fantasia chromatica, and it has been suggested that it may in fact have been a tombeau to the elder Bach. The deep personal nature and connection between the two works is explicit. For Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and the ‘Bachists’, the most expressive and intimate compositions were reserved for the clavichord. It was in the clavichord that one might ‘find the soundboard of your heart. … Have no regrets when alone under the moonlight you improvise, or refresh your soul on a summer night, or when you celebrate a spring evening; ah! then pine not for the strident harpsichord. See, your clavichord breathes as gently as your heart.’ (Ch.F.D. Schubart: Musikalische Rhapsodien III, 1786) Charles Burney, who visited C.P.E. Bach in Hamburg in 1772, described the composer improvising at his legendary clavichord, built by Gottfried Silbermann: ‘He grew so animated and possessed that he not only played but looked like one inspired. His eyes were fixed, his lower lip fell, and drops of effervescence distilled from his countenance.’ The original 18th-century instruments heard on this recording – from Regensburg, Stockholm and Vienna – demonstrate possibilities the like of which would have been known to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in Berlin and Hamburg and ultimately derive from the Saxon school of G. Silbermann.

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C.P.E. Bach: Fantasias / Häkkinen
Brilliant Classics May 2023
CD
~~$13.99~~ $10.99

Telemann: Inauguration Cantatas 1721; Fantasias

CPO

$18.99 Jun 07, 2024

Georg Philipp Telemann Inauguration Cantatas 1721 On 21 September 1721, Georg Philipp Telemann, the newly installed cantor of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg, directed his first regular sacred music service. At the same time, he presented the faithful with a set program. A cantata was performed both before and after the sermon. At the conclusion of the service, an excerpt from a work to be performed later in it's entirety was presented - a "cliffhanger" whose continuation was undoubtedly highly anticipated by the congregation in light of the variety of music on offer. The Hamburger Ratsmusik revives this historic inaugural service here, and Simone Eckert breaks up the already extremely varied sequence of works by including four viola da gamba fantasias to complete the twelve works begun on earlier productions.

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Telemann: Inauguration Cantatas 1721; Fantasias
CPO Jun 2024
CD
$18.99

Strauss Family: Favourite Dances

Marco Polo

$9.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 50% Oct 30, 2012

T he Strauss family was one of music's greatest dynasties. In this glittering disc, we hear such classics as the Radetzky March of Johann Strauss I, and his son, Johann Strauss II's overture to Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron), one of the enduring masterpieces of the Viennese concert repertoire. The irresistibly exciting Unter Donner und Blitz (Thunder and Lightning) offers thunderous delight, whilst Ander schenen blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue Danube) is one of the most unforgettable melodies ever written. Strauss the Elder's second son, Josef, was an outstanding composer in his own right, as demonstrated by the frenzy of excitement that is the Jokey-Polka (Jockey-Polka). After positions as Chief Conductor of Prague State Opera and First Permanent Conductor of Leipzig Opera, Johannes Wildner was the General Music Director of the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia (Germany) for ten years from 1997. His years of experience as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra have given his conducting a distinctive stamp.

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Strauss Family: Favourite Dances
Marco Polo Oct 2012
CD
~~$19.99~~ $9.99

Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
Opus Arte Nov 2010
CD
$32.99

Ferrara: Fantasia Tragica - Notte di Tempesta

Naxos

$19.99 Jul 26, 2011

Franco Ferrara' gifts were prodigious. Born in Palermo he was a fine pianist, an even better violinist, playing under Toscanini, and later a conductor whose public performances were curtailed by illness, but whose private classes were famous.

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Ferrara: Fantasia Tragica - Notte di Tempesta
Naxos Jul 2011
CD
$19.99

Sigismund Von Neukomm: Three Orchestral Fantasies; Sinfonie Heroique / Willens, Die Kolner Akademie

CPO

$18.99 Oct 30, 2012

Sigismund Neukomm (b. 1778) is best known today as a footnote in Haydn biographies, as one of the composer’s students and associates in his last years. But he lived until 1858, traveling all over Europe, from France, to Russia, to London, and even residing for a number of years in Brazil. It was in Rio de Janeiro in 1817 that he composed his Grande Sinfonie heroïque. The music is faux Haydn: just about about the only thing “heroïque” about it is the drumroll at the start. Check out the tune that begins the finale; it’s as if Beethoven had never existed.

The remaining works on the program represent an interesting illustration of musical aesthetics in the early 1800s. They represent Neukomm’s response to the problem of writing orchestral music that does not sound like Haydn and that employs “free” forms. Indeed, the “Dramatic Fantasia on some passages of Milton’s Paradise Lost,” composed in 1833 for the London Philharmonic Society, might be deemed a symphonic poem, though its general pleasantness reveals a composer lacking true fire in his belly. Still, the music is enjoyable, and the two earlier fantasies composed in 1806-8 reveal a composer clearly trying to find an individual identity while working in Haydn’s (still living) shadow.

The performances are very successful. I have had some pretty harsh things to say about Die Kölner Academy and Michael Willens (and he has replied in kind), particularly on account of their lousy Mozart piano concerto recordings on BIS. This is probably their most successful disc to date. Yes, the “period” string playing still lacks timbral allure, but the winds play characterfully, especially in the Milton fantasia, and the passages for full orchestra sound lively and bold. The fact that the music has no competition on disc also helps, as does the excellent engineering. Interesting stuff, this.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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Sigismund Von Neukomm: Three Orchestral Fantasies; Sinfonie Heroique / Willens, Die Kolner Akademie
CPO Oct 2012
CD
$18.99

Waltzes By Johann Strauss Arranged By Schoenberg, Berg & Webern / The Philharmonics

Accentus Music

DVD

$27.99 Oct 25, 2011

Also available on Blu-ray

The Philharmonics:
Tibor Ková? first violin, Shkëlzen Doli second violin, Thilo Fechner viola, Stephan Koncz cello, Ödön Rácz double bass, Daniel Ottensamer clarinet, František Jánoška piano

Guests: Walter Auer flute, Christoph Traxler harmonium

The Philharmonics, the ensemble founded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, fill the Café Sperl with some of the most authentically Viennese sounds imaginable – the Strauss waltzes that Schoenberg, Berg and Webern arranged and performed in May 1921 to raise funds for their pioneering “Society for Private Musical Performances”. This is music the players have in their blood, and they maintain the echt atmosphere with Godowsky’s tribute to the city, “Alt-Wien” and a clutch of Kreisler gems, rounding the programme off with a new piece by the ensemble’s leader Tibor Ková?, based on traditional Jewish melodies and Mahler themes, “Yiddische Mame”.

Recorded live at Café Sperl in Vienna, 9 March 2011

BONUS: How Schoenberg came to arrange waltzes by Strauss

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles (Bonus): English, French
Running time: 64 mins (concert) + 10 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

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Waltzes By Johann Strauss Arranged By Schoenberg, Berg & Webern / The Philharmonics
Accentus Music Oct 2011
DVD
$27.99

PIANO SONATA FANTASIA
Urania Records Jan 2004
CD
$18.99

Pasculli: Fantasie sui temi di Giuseppe Verdi / Grazia, Ussardi, Parmeggiani, Orchestra Senzaspine

Tactus

$21.99 Jan 03, 2020

The endless genre of operatic fantasy, which explodes and spreads without embankments in the musical culture of the entire Italian nineteenth century, has already been extensively explored in various Tactus productions dedicated both to chamber and sacred music. This time, however, the main protagonists are the oboe and the English horn, fascinating orchestral instruments that, thanks to the great virtuoso from Palermo, Antonino Pasculli, take part in that great musical activity - attended by myriads of Italian and European composers - that unconditionally suffered the charm of Italian melodrama. In this case they are the immortal melodies of Giuseppe Verdi - one of the most successful opera composers of all time - inspiring the fantasies of Pasculli, in the interpretation (both acrobatic to the oboe and cantabile and expressive to the English horn) of the master Paolo Grazia accompanied by the Orchestra Senzaspine conducted by the masters Matteo Parmeggiani and Tommaso Ussardi.

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Pasculli: Fantasie sui temi di Giuseppe Verdi / Grazia, Ussardi, Parmeggiani, Orchestra Senzaspine
Tactus Jan 2020
CD
$21.99

Contemporaries Of The Strauss Family, Vol. 1

Marco Polo

$19.99 May 12, 2015

The music of the Strauss family is justifiably famous, but many other talented composers were producing popular music of comparable quality in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawn from a unique collection of original archive material compiled by The Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain, much of which has been reconstructed or orchestrated by John Georgiadis, this first volume of two presents world première recordings of works by many undeservedly forgotten central European light music composers.

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Contemporaries Of The Strauss Family, Vol. 1
Marco Polo May 2015
CD
$19.99

OVERTURES, POLKAS, VALSES
Zig-Zag Territoires Jun 2009
CD
$20.99

MEISTERSAAL SESSIONS / VOL. 1: ROMANTIC CHAMBER

EUROARTS

$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.

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MEISTERSAAL SESSIONS / VOL. 1: ROMANTIC CHAMBER
EUROARTS Dec 2024
CD
$16.42

Godowsky, L.: Godowsky Edition (The), Vol. 7 - Johann Straus

Music and Arts Programs of America

$18.99 Jan 01, 2012

Transcription is the genre most generously represented in Godowsky's compositional output, and the one for which he is best known; he made piano transcriptions (and études), of various kinds, from works by Bach, Schubert, Chopin, and others. But he also left another body of works whose originality and coherence continue to surprise: his piano paraphrases. This album features virtuosic re-compositions by several 19th and 20th century composers, some quite faithful to the originals, others deviating drastically from their sources. Carlo Grante's first six volumes of the Godowsky Edition have received world-wide acclaim.

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Godowsky, L.: Godowsky Edition (The), Vol. 7 - Johann Straus
Music and Arts Programs of America Jan 2012
CD
$18.99

Moonlight Fantasies
Azica Records Mar 2011
CD
$18.99

Johann & Carl Stamitz / Hall, Camerata Chicago, Et Al
Centaur Records Nov 2007
CD
$18.99

Don Juan/Ein Heldenleben

Gramola Records

$24.99 Apr 04, 2025

Since it's foundation in 1989, the "Richard Strauss Days" in Garmisch-Partenkirchen have changed in many ways. What has remained unchanged, however, is the special atmosphere of Strauss' adopted home in Southern Bavaria, where the composer not only spent around 40 years of his life, but also created a large portion of his works. Creating an authentic artistic atmosphere with a "workshop character", enabling the audience to enjoy Strauss' works at the place of his inspiration - surrounded by the natural Alpine landscape - is not only the aim of this festival, but also a unique feature of it. To mark the 75th anniversary of Richard Strauss' death, the "Richard Strauss Days" have started a new edition in cooperation with Gramola to document the festival in live recordings. Remy Ballot, Conductor in Residence since 2023, presented the tone poems "Don Juan" and "Ein Heldenleben" with the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra in 2024 as a brilliant first chapter of this edition.

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Don Juan/Ein Heldenleben
Gramola Records Apr 2025
CD
$24.99

Bach: Keyboard Works, Vol. 2 - 8 Fugues, Fk. 31 - Fantasias

Naxos

$19.99 Apr 29, 2008

The eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach was hailed as the greatest organist in his time. Living in a time of transition, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach forged his own highly original style, combining the traditional writing learned from his father.

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Bach: Keyboard Works, Vol. 2 - 8 Fugues, Fk. 31 - Fantasias
Naxos Apr 2008
CD
$19.99

DANCE FANTASIES

Antes Edition

$24.99 Jul 14, 2017

Great piano composers did not confine themselves to writing piano sonatas. Many of them wrote dances, too: minuets, sarabandes, gavottes and particularly waltzes. The tradition of great composers writing and arranging dances starts with Bach and Rameau, encompasses Mozart, Schubert, Brahms and Tchaikovsky and ends with Maurice Ravel, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, whose Waltz No. 2 is regularly played on German classical radio stations. The only problem was that these dances were too easy for the virtuoso pianists, which is why some of these artists turned unassuming minuets waltzes and polkas into glittering virtuosic pieces which could be played only by professional pianists. One of the greatest pianists of all time was also a great arranger of music, Leopold Godowsky. This American virtuoso of Polish extraction arranged hundreds of pieces by other composers, especially works by Chopin and the waltz king Johann Strauss, and turned them into sparkling studies and encores, that test the technique and stamina of even the most accomplished player. The Viennese pianist and Beethoven pupil Carl Czerny, for generations the specter of all piano students and today remembered for his etudes, is also the composer of a charming arrangement of Franz Schubert’s bittersweet mourning waltz. Catherine Gordeladze, a native of Tiflis, Georgia, today lives and works out of Frankfurt, Germany. Ms. Gordeladze studied the piano in her native Georgia, Frankfurt and Weimar and is the winner of prestigious prizes and competitions. She has been playing with renowned orchestras in major concert venues all over the world. The artist gives piano recitals in many countries and is also much sought after as a chamber music partner. In her award-winning albums, which have been praised by critics and the public alike, the pianist concentrates on challenging virtuoso pieces apart from the mainstream repertoire.

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DANCE FANTASIES
Antes Edition Jul 2017
CD
$24.99

Fantasy & Romance

Delos

$18.99 Feb 12, 2016

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) had a special fondness for the cello. He studied the cello as a child, and picked the instrument up again as a young adult after an accident injured his hand and he was unable to perform as a concert pianist.; Although Schumann held the cello dear, he only composed two works that still remain: Op. 129 Cello Concerto, and the Five Pieces in Folk Style which is performed on this album.; Although many of the compositions on this recording were not originally scored for cello, cellists, in their eagerness to perform Schumann’s music, have made lovely arrangements and transcriptions.

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Fantasy & Romance
Delos Feb 2016
CD
$18.99

Strauss II: Die Fledermaus

Bayerische Staatsoper Recording

Blu-Ray

$36.99 Oct 18, 2024

Johann Strau's Die Fledermaus (The Bat) has been part of the Bayerische Staatsoper's repertoire since 1895 and has always been performed there by star-studded casts. In December 2023, the curtain rose on a spectacular new production of this piece. Director Barrie Kosky gave the "operetta of all operettas" a new look: a society, an entire city dances towards the abyss in a colourful, lavish set (stage design: Rebecca Ringst, costumes: Klaus Bruns). The setting is Vienna, the city of the golden operetta era, where Die Fledermaus premiered in 1874. A volcano boils beneath the glamour of feather boas and tutus. Not only for Gabriel von Eisenstein, the bat's revenge becomes a nightmare when, during a glittering masked ball at the residence of Prince Orlofsky, a fake marquis and a fake chevalier, an alleged Hungarian countess and plenty of budding artists meet for a raucous party. Glasses are clinking, relationships are shaken, there are lies, there is love, and dancing (choreography: Otto Pichler). The people celebrate while they still can, true to the motto: "Happy is the one who forgets". General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski - in his third new Munich production together with Barrie Kosky - brings new aspects of the score to the fore. Diana Damrau makes her role debut as Rosalinde, Georg Nigl interprets her husband Gabriel von Eisenstein, Katharina Konradi appears as Adele and Martin Winkler as Frank; other roles feature Markus Bruck (Dr. Falke), Sean Panikkar (Alfred), Kevin Conners (Dr. Blind) and Miriam Neumaier (Ida). The actor Franz Josef Strohmeier and the tap dancer Max Pollak, among others, play the six-fold frog.

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Strauss II: Die Fledermaus
Bayerische Staatsoper Recording Oct 2024
Blu-Ray
$36.99

Symphony 5 In C Minor 67 / Die Fledermaus Overture

NKB Record

$18.99 May 03, 2019

This recording, unlike the previous two albums, was made in the newly renovated Slovak Philharmonic Hall. Reflecting the bright and festive atmosphere of this hall, this performance changes the heavy impression of anguished "Destiny" which has prevailed until now. The progression of this symphony, starting with the first movement which inspires violent anxiety, to a reversal in the warm and friendly second movement, to the wrenching third movement, and finishing with the strong resoluteness of the fourth movement, is testimony to the lifetime of Beethoven. The two works of Johann Strauss let you enjoy the good old Vienna atmosphere, appropriate to the home of this orchestra. Without aggressive pressure, with a characteristic generous and spacious tempo, this performance dispels the stern image which tends to follow this work around.

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Symphony 5 In C Minor 67 / Die Fledermaus Overture
NKB Record May 2019
CD
$18.99

JEWELS OF ROMANCE

ANDRE RIEU

$15.99 Nov 17, 2023

Andre Rieu/Johann Strauss Orchestra - "Jewels Of Romance" / Prepare to be enchanted by Andre Rieu's new album, Jewels of Romance, a wonderful collection of musical treasures. The album is set to captivate audiences worldwide with it's magnificent melodies and timeless romanticism. CD/DVD.

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JEWELS OF ROMANCE
ANDRE RIEU Nov 2023
CD
$15.99

Dancing in Vienna

SOMM Recordings

$14.99 ~~$18.99~~ Save 20% Aug 15, 2025

SOMM Recordings celebrates the wealth of popular concert music produced in Vienna in the 19th and early 20th centuries with a release called Dancing in Vienna, an exhilarating collection of waltzes to set your feet tapping. The Philharmonic Concert Orchestra is led by the versatile Scottish conductor, Iain Sutherland, whose previous, wide-ranging collaborations with SOMM have received enthusiastic critical response: "strong and trenchant, often exhilarating, never sentimental, " Gramophone; "getting pretty much everything right, every nuance and subtle rhythm, " Amazon USA. Einzi Stolz, widow of one of the last masters of Viennese light music, Robert Stolz, wrote to Sutherland, "You have a Viennese heart with the golden arm for Viennese music." Robert Stolz's rousing march, Greetings from Vienna, opens this collection, which also includes his Viennese Cafe Waltzes. Dominating the light music programmes of Vienna for almost a century was the Strauss family-Johann I and his three sons Johann II, Josef, and Eduard. They composed dances and conducted their own orchestras for all the grand balls and concerts almost every day of the week in Vienna, as well as all over the world. Among the works by Johann Strauss II included here is his famous Emperor Waltz, commissioned in 1889 for a state visit by Emperor Franz-Joseph I of Austria-Hungary to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. Reflecting the rise of popular Hungarian gypsy music at the time is his Salute the Magyars polka, along with the Trisch Trasch, Thunder and Lightning, and Champagne polkas, and the overture to his operetta masterpiece, Die Fledermaus. Johann II was the most famous of the family of musicians, though he once said of his younger brother, Josef Strauss, that he was "the more gifted of us two; I am merely the more popular..." From Josef Strauss we have the Chatterbox Polka, Dragonfly Polka-Mazurka, Jockey Polka (incorporating the international trumpet call marking the opening of the racing season), the Feuerfest! Polka to celebrate the Wertheim company's 200, 000th fireproof safe, and the beloved Pizzicato Polka, on which he collaborated with popular brother. The youngest of the Strauss brothers, Eduard Strauss, was better recognized as a dance music conductor than as a composer. Still, this release includes his Clear Track Polka, heralding the opening of a new railway company in 1869. Johannes Brahms greatly admired the melodic genius of Johann Strauss II. Their respect was mutual, and Strauss often included his good friend's Hungarian Dances on his programmes. This present collection includes Nos. 1, 5, and 6 from Brahms's collection of 21 dances. The lesser-known composer, author, and musical administrator Richard Heuberger is represented on this CD of Dancing in Vienna by the overture to his light opera, The Opera Ball.

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Dancing in Vienna
SOMM Recordings Aug 2025
CD
~~$18.99~~ $14.99

FANTASIAS, TOCCATAS & VAR.

Linn Records

$20.99 Nov 08, 2019

Following his acclaimed Linn debut, One Byrde in Hande, Richard Egarr turns to the music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck for his new recording of fantasias, toccatas and variations. As well as being a notable composer Sweelinck was a skilled improviser and keyboard virtuoso whose knowledge of the stylistic innovations of his English contemporaries, such as Byrd and Morley, was evident in his work. Egarr performs on a harpsichord designed after Ruckers (1638); it's strict ¼-comma meantone tuning highlights the amazing chromaticism present in Sweelinck's music. This is particularly evident in the famous Fantasia Crommatica, a highly improvisatory, boundary-pushing work that showcases many of Sweelinck's innovations in keyboard composition. Within his lifetime Sweelinck was most celebrated for his variations on the popular tune Mein junges Leben hat ein Endt; Egarr relishes the intricate counterpoint which builds from the simple theme into a masterpiece of inexhaustible invention and limitless variety. A selection of fantasias and toccatas complete the programme in which Egarr's passion for the harpsichord and Sweelinck's music are enthusiastically conveyed.

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FANTASIAS, TOCCATAS & VAR.
Linn Records Nov 2019
CD
$20.99

Strauss in St. Petersburg / Jarvi, Estonian National Symphony

Chandos

$10.99 ~~$21.99~~ Save 50% May 19, 2017

This is a double-anniversary release, offering a rare collection of lively works to celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra as well as the eightieth birthday of its principal conductor, Neeme Järvi. Cheerful marches and dances here trace the career of Johann Strauss II as it manifested itself in his much acclaimed seasons in St Petersburg, at the ‘Russian summer’ concerts in the Vauxhall pavilion in Pavlovsk, where he appeared for eleven seasons (1856 – 65 and 1869), ten of them consecutively. It is an unmissable start to a year-long celebration for Neeme Jarvi that will include concerts, promotions, and subsequent album releases.

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Strauss in St. Petersburg / Jarvi, Estonian National Symphony
Chandos May 2017
CD
~~$21.99~~ $10.99