Search results: Search results

1002 results

Products

Sibelius, J.: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6 / The Swan of Tuonela
Berlin Classics May 2003
CD
$16.99

Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 / Norrington, Southwest Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart

SWR

$20.99 Oct 14, 2022

Among the early 20th century composers involved in the transition from romanticism to modernism, Carl Nielsen was particularly conspicuous for his originality which deviated from everything known and was perceived at the time as downright provocative. Today we see in Carl Nielsen’s six symphonies – all as strikingly different from one another – consistent genre contributions of unique and outstanding importance. Yet Nielsen’s international breakthrough only began in the 1950s and today his works are still far from being commonplace in our concert halls. The Symphony No. 4 was considered by the composer himself as one of his best works and it is until today one his most performed ones. The Symphony No. 2 was inspired by paintings in a pub, showing grotesquely exaggerated depictions of the four human character archetypes. Listeners shouldn’t be surprised that there’s a lot more humor at play here than is apparent in most other works.

The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1945 and in the following seven decades became one of the most important musical ambassadors of Germany. World-renowned conductors, as well as some of the world’s greatest soloists, have been guests, including: Carlos Kleiber, Kurt Sanderling, Maria Callas, Yehudi Menuhin, Alfred Brendel, and Lang Lang. Sir Roger Norrington has worked at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and at the English National Opera, with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Concertgebouw Orchester as well as many renowned British and American orchestras.

View Full Page

Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 / Norrington, Southwest Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart
SWR Oct 2022
CD
$20.99

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 In F Minor, Op. 36, Th 27
Orfeo Sep 2011
CD
$20.99

American Classics - Schuman: Symphonies No 4 & 9 / Schwarz

Naxos

$19.99 May 17, 2005

"These two symphonies - the fourth premiered in 1942 in Cleveland, the ninth in 1969 in Philadelphia - are full of arresting moments, both emotionally and in terms of orchestral effects. . . These pieces are layered with dark mysteries that make you want to hear them again and again. Also, the recording quality drawn from Seattle's Benaroya Hall is outstanding." - David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday, May 29th, 2005

"...Though separated by decades, the two war symphonies are exceptional -- exemplary showcases of "The American Sound" in symphonic music (i.e. athletic, modal, spacious, dramatic, starkly songful). They are soundscapes full of mass sonority, vigor and seriousness. The performances and recordings are brand new and superb." - John Simon, Buffalo News, Sunday, May 22nd, 2005

Click Here for the complete Naxos American Classic Series

View Full Page

American Classics - Schuman: Symphonies No 4 & 9 / Schwarz
Naxos May 2005
CD
$19.99

Schumann: Symphonies No 2 & 4 / Zacharias, Orchestre De Chambre De Lausanne

MDG

SACD

$24.99 May 01, 2012

SCHUMANN Symphonies: No. 2; No. 4 • Christian Zacharias, cond; Lausanne CO • MDG MGD 940 1745-6 (SACD: 64:51)

This is the first time I have ever heard these symphonies played gracefully by a chamber orchestra. What makes them so beautiful is that Christian Zacharias does not employ his orchestra’s limitation of size as an excuse for delivering spiky phrasing and rude noises. (Roger Norrington! Beware of Dog!) What I encounter instead in these performances is the delicacy of Schumann’s piano suites and the fine ear of a pianist who knows this music must dance. In fairness, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra is not that small—perhaps 50-strong here—but usually the temptation would be to overcompensate with smaller-dog tensile energy.

Happily we find instead kinder, gentler versions of big-orchestra Schumann. This approach works best in the inner movements of both symphonies, but also especially well in the danceable opening allegro of the Fourth. Taken a bit faster than usual, the Adagio of the Second Symphony could actually propel a couple gracefully around the room. In the outer movements we get similar tea-dance spirit, but at the slight expense of something larger and more exciting. This is such smooth, euphonious cozy Schumann; it is almost Dvo?ák.

Schumann, of course, was obsessed by the sound of disembodied trumpets during the composition of his Second Symphony. And there is more metaphysical fear and Wagnerian mystery to be captured in its introduction than heard here. Christoph Eschenbach evoked this hauntingly in his Bamberg cycle for Virgin in the early ’90s. And Ernest Ansermet, just up the road in Geneva, didn’t do badly with it, either. Small forces have difficulty with the stasis of mood and mystery. In particular, tremoli with a large complement of strings can evoke the infinite nature of things. But in reduced numbers, they demystify and can pester like flies at a picnic.

So I shall not argue that Zacharias has exhausted the possibilities found in these symphonies, just that the beauty of his approach will surprise you, in delicious but unobtrusive surround sound. If there is perhaps more grit, force, and sheer amorous passion to be found in the Second Symphony, well, Clara Schumann would certainly have thought so. As a small symbol in her diaries reveals, she and Schumann had sex virtually every day for 10 years! I always suspected girls loved Schumann!

FANFARE: Steven Kruger

View Full Page

Schumann: Symphonies No 2 & 4 / Zacharias, Orchestre De Chambre De Lausanne
MDG May 2012
SACD
$24.99

Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 4-6

Signum Classics

$41.99 May 27, 2014

Lorin Maazel and the Philharmonia Orchestra perform Mahler’s Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. This four-disc box is the second set in a series that will encompass Mahler’s Nine Symphonies, featuring live orchestral recordings from London’s Royal Festival Hall of Maazel and the Philharmonia’s much-lauded Mahler Cycle.

View Full Page

Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 4-6
Signum Classics May 2014
CD
$41.99

Mahler: Symphonies 4 & 9 / Seefried, Walter, Vienna Philharmonic
Andromeda Jan 2012
CD
$10.99

Saint Saens: Symphony No. 3 Piano Concerto No. 4 / Les Siecles

HARMONIA MUNDI

$18.49 Dec 10, 2021

Camille Saint-Saëns, virtuoso pianist, organist and conductor, was also a great admirer of Liszt. His Symphony No.3, which adds both his chosen keyboard instruments to the orchestra, and his Piano Concerto No.4 utilize the codes of the old master, the better to transcend them. As partner of Les Siècles since 2017, harmonia mundi felt it was a must to reissue these fiery readings of two masterpieces in the great French Romantic tradition, for which François-Xavier Roth invited two eminent soloists.

View Full Page

Saint Saens: Symphony No. 3 Piano Concerto No. 4 / Les Siecles
HARMONIA MUNDI Dec 2021
CD
$18.49

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7 / Blunier, Beethoven Orchester Bonn

MDG

SACD

$18.99 ~~$24.99~~ Save 25% Apr 07, 2017

The Beethoven Orchestra of Bonn concludes its complete recording of the symphonies of the composer whose name it bears with an absolutely rousing performance. The spirited Seventh Symphony brings together everything that General Music Director Stefan Blunier has demanded of his musicians from the very beginning of this cycle: emotional depth, gripping rhythms, frenetic energy, and powerful tension holding the audience in suspense even after the last chord has faded away. Prior to this work, however, the Bonn musicians show the Fourth Symphony in an entirely new light: no longer a bashful “wallflower,” it shines in its own special way between its two more famous neighbors.

View Full Page

Sale

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7 / Blunier, Beethoven Orchester Bonn
MDG Apr 2017
SACD
~~$24.99~~ $18.99

Mozart: Symphonies IV – Nos. 4, 5, 6, 10, & 12

Genuin

$20.99 Mar 07, 2025

A child prodigy on tour: Instead of bringing home holiday snapshots, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart returned with brilliant compositions, transforming the music and experiences he encountered on his travels into something uniquely his own. The Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen, under the vibrant direction of Johannes Klumpp, now brings Mozart's symphonic travel memories to life for us. This thrilling new GENUIN release is the fifth instalment in a series of highly praised Mozart recordings. Critics consistently highlight the ensemble's "outstanding technical skill" and praise "the conductor and orchestra as ideal interpreters of Mozart"!

View Full Page

Mozart: Symphonies IV – Nos. 4, 5, 6, 10, & 12
Genuin Mar 2025
CD
$20.99

SYMPHONIES NOS. 4 AND 5
Zig-Zag Territoires Feb 2010
CD
$8.99

Genzmer, H.: Piano Concerto No. 3 / Symphony No. 4 / Prolog
Thorofon Mar 2000
CD
$24.99

Kalliwoda: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4; Concert Overture

CPO

$18.99 Oct 26, 2010

...Johann Kalliwoda was a tremendously interesting and talented composer, and both symphonies offer a fund of very attractive ideas. The Fourth Symphony, with its introductory funeral march, scoring that includes three trombones, and its delicious 6/4 scherzo, is perhaps more noteworthy in this respect, but both pieces--and the overture (in a turbulent F minor)--offer plenty of listening satisfaction. - David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

View Full Page

Kalliwoda: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4; Concert Overture
CPO Oct 2010
CD
$18.99

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 - Complete Symphonies, V

Alpha

$29.99 Nov 28, 2025

Alain Altinoglu and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra have begun to record the complete symphonies of Shostakovich, starting with his Fourth and Fifth symphonies. Shostakovich dared to express human suffering, passion, fear and catastrophe in his music, but always asking the same nagging question: what is man? In this sense, these two symphonies open with a question - an idea of martyrdom that was to become one of the central ideas of his later symphonies and, of course, of his Lady MacBeth of Mzensk. Both symphonies are dated between 1935-1937 when Shostakovich was in his thirties; this was one of the darkest and most difficult phases of his life, marked as it was by the repercussions of some of his writings and the arrest of many people close to him, including members of his family.

View Full Page

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 - Complete Symphonies, V
Alpha Nov 2025
CD
$29.99

Mix & Match

Sibelius: Oceanides (The), Op. 73 / Symphony No. 4 In A Mino
BIS Jan 1985
CD
$21.99

The Royal Edition - Nielsen: Symphonies 2 & 4 / Bernstein
Sony Masterworks Feb 2008
CD
$17.99

SYMPHONY 4

LSO LIVE

SACD

$20.99 Sep 16, 2022

The air shimmers and glows, and somewhere in the mists, a solitary horn gives a lonely call. The stuff of fairytales? The truth is, it's impossible to write about Bruckner's majestic Fourth Symphony without letting the imagination soar; he never wrote anything more colorful, or more poetic. In Germany, they call it the 'Romantic' symphony, and it's easy to hear why. Sir Simon Rattle loves Bruckner's Fourth, and on this new recording from LSO Live, he conducts the work in all it's splendor: music that never gets any less stirring, and has never sounded so fresh. He is aware, too, that Bruckner's inspiration burned so brightly that he ended up with more ideas than he could actually use. "There is much wonderful music which remains almost entirely unplayed" he says. On this album he steps inside Bruckner's workshop, bringing to light some of the music that didn't make the final cut. This edition of the symphony and it's discarded Scherzo and Finale by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs was published in 2021. The world premiere performance with Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO is a must-listen for lovers of Bruckner's music, and gives us a glimpse into the composer's untold musical thoughts.

View Full Page

SYMPHONY 4
LSO LIVE Sep 2022
SACD
$20.99

Butterworth: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 4 (Live)

Lyrita

$16.99 Jun 10, 2016

English composer Arthur Butterworth (1923-2014) began his musical career as a choirboy at the young age of 7. Eventually, Butterworth studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music, where he studied trumpet, conducting, and composition under Richard Hall. Arthur Butterworth wrote over 150 scores for various mediums. This two-disc release features his Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 4, and Symphony No. 1. No.'s 1 and 2 are performed here by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and No. 4 is performed by the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra.+ Especially notable is the 4th Symphony, whose premiere performance is featured in this recording.

View Full Page

Butterworth: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 4 (Live)
Lyrita Jun 2016
CD
$16.99

The 18th Century Symphony - Kraus: Complete Symphonies Vol 4
Naxos Nov 2002
CD
$19.99

SYMPHONY 4 / SERENADE FOR STRINGS
ALTO Sep 2010
CD
$11.01

Brahms: Symphonies 1 & 4 / Jansons, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

BR Klassik

$29.99 Jun 26, 2012

Impressive Brahmsians.

This disc follows close on the heels of these artists’ recording of the Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 on BR Klassik (SACD) 900111. Both Symphonies were recorded in the splendid acoustic of the Herkulessaal and audience applause has been retained at the conclusion of each symphony. In May 2011 I experienced at first hand just how empathetic the relationship is between Jansons and the Bavarian RSO. I eagerly await the opportunity to attend one of their Munich concerts.

Brahms was aware that by writing symphonies he was encroaching on the territory ruled by Beethoven. In fact Brahms had written to Hermann Levi that he could feel the presence of Beethoven marching behind him. Many Brahms supporters, notably Eduard Hanslick, were happy to acknowledge the close relationship of the First Symphony to the music of Beethoven. Hans von Bülow went further, referring to the C minor symphony as “Beethoven’s tenth”. Brahms was 43 and at the height of his maturity when his Symphony No. 1 was completed in 1876 although the gestation period had been protracted, making sketches for the score, it seems, over twenty years earlier.

The grave and leaden thuds of the threatening drums that open the first movement Un poco sostenuto - Allegro are implacably convincing. Impressive too is the beautiful oboe playing of the rising motif at 2:16. Throughout this movement an assured Jansons successfully provides generous quantities of beauty, sadness and even menace. Compared to many rivals it took me a while to get used to his rather measured pace. One senses that he is rather holding back his forces. Although Rattle comes close with the BPO in truth no one I have heard on record has managed to provide an opening of such raw power. It approaches that of Klemperer and the Philharmonia. There is a burnished autumnal countryside feel to the E major Andante sostenuto. One could imagine walking at the edge of an eerily tranquil and shadowy forest whilst anticipating the ominous onset of severe weather. In the midst of such glorious playing I was struck how much the rising melody for solo violin at 6:05 reminded me of a section in Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Warm and magnificently lyrical melodies abound in the short Un poco allegretto e grazioso right from the swaying opening measures. Its manner is reminiscent of Mendelssohn. This is fresh music of the great outdoors and is evocative of cool early morning dew over a backdrop of wonderful Alpine scenery. Jansons conveys a sense of intense activity in the closing Adagio - Allegro non troppo ma con brio as if lying on a verdant grassy bank gazing up at the tones and shapes of a swiftly changing sky. I loved the inspiring and highly memorable chorale melody. The writing really evokes the finale to Beethoven's ‘Choral’ Symphony.

It was in 1884 and 1885 that Brahms worked on his Symphony No. 4 at the Austrian summer resort of Mürzzuschlag in the Styrian Alps. Hans von Bülow, who had conducted a rehearsal of the score enthused that the symphony was “stupendous, quite original, individual, and rock-like. Incomparable strength from start to finish.” It’s esteem has endured and remains for many Brahms’s most popular symphony. Walter Niemann found an intense degree of sadness in the fourth movement and wanted to describe the score as Brahms’s ‘Elegiac’ symphony.

A comforting mood of warm serenity and joy suffuses the swaying opening Allegro non troppo. In splendid performances such as this I am reminded of the verse, “perfectly cultivated earth. Honey of dawn, sun in bloom” from the poem Glimmer by Paul Éluard (1895-1952). Commencing with a striking horn-call in Jansons’s hands the E major Andante moderato feels like a dreamscape attaining beguiling heights of fantasy and grandeur. I love the good humour and vigour of the Scherzo as Jansons takes the music forward with majestic strides. In the dark key of E minor the final movement marked Allegro energico e passionato is a heroic drama constructed out of a theme and variations in the form of a chaconne often described as a passacaglia. Here Brahms introduces contrasts of the broadest imagination including chorale-style variations featuring horns and trombones. I especially enjoyed the lovely and moving passage for solo flute at 3:05-3:56 as well as the following woodwind interplay and the fierce and defiant hammer-blows.

Jansons and the Bavarian RSO provide highly accomplished performances even if they are unable to match the pervasive aura of heart-searching and the strong sense of excitement provided by Klemperer/Philharmonia and Rattle/BPO. The warm and well balanced sound quality from live concerts at the Herkulessaal, Munich is impressive.

It has been a ‘rite of passage’ for conductors to record a complete cycle of the Brahms symphonies and I have several splendid sets in my collection. My benchmark is the set of evergreen performances from Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia. These are aristocratic, powerful and expressive. They were recorded with the great producer Walter Legge at his favoured venue: London’s Kingsway Hall in 1956/57 and can be heard on EMI Classics 5 62742 2 (c/w ‘Haydn’ Variations; Alto Rhapsody with Christa Ludwig, mezzo-; Academic Festival and Tragic Overtures). The digitally re-mastered sound is quite superb. With impeccable credentials Klemperer is a marvellous and experienced Brahmsian who made a studio recording of the Brahms First Symphony with the Staatskapelle Berlin as early as 1928. I often play the sterling performances of the Symphonies 1-3 conducted by Eugen Jochum with the London Philharmonic Orchestra from the Kingsway Hall, London in 1956 on EMI Classics 5 69515 2. Re-mastered at the Abbey Road studios, for its age, Jochum’s sound is excellent too. For an accompanying single version of the fourth symphony I would add Carlos Kleiber’s commanding 1980 Musikverein, Vienna reading with the Vienna Philharmonic digitally recorded on Deutsche Grammophon 457 706-2. Of the modern digital sets I greatly admire the 2008 accounts from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle on EMI Classics 2672542. They were recorded live in the Philharmonie at single concert performances with some additional patching. In my review I described them as, “urgently spontaneous performances conveying a Romantic power of immense intensity.”

Jansons and his Bavarian Radio colleagues are impressive Brahmsians. Any serious collector should be happy to hold this set of Brahms’ symphonies.

-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

View Full Page

Brahms: Symphonies 1 & 4 / Jansons, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
BR Klassik Jun 2012
CD
$29.99

Leshnoff: Symphony No. 4; Guitar Concerto / Guerrero, Nashville S.O. ft. Violins of Hope

Naxos

$19.99 May 02, 2019

Distinguished by The New York Times as “a leader of contemporary American lyricism,” composer Jonathan Leshnoff is renowned for his music’s striking harmonies, structural complexity and powerful themes. Leshnoff’s works have been performed by more than 60 orchestras worldwide, including commissions from Carnegie Hall, the Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City, and Nashville Symphony orchestras, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the IRIS and Philadelphia orchestras. Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 4 is a powerful new work written for the Violins of Hope, a collection of restored instruments that survived the Holocaust. The composer draws inspiration from an ancient Jewish mystical text, Heichalos, to explore spiritual and ethical questions at the heart of the Jewish experience. This world premiere recording also features his energetic Starburst and his Guitar Concerto, a stunning virtuoso showcase for soloist Jason Vieaux.

REVIEW:

There is much to like about this music, but it is not perhaps as much a look ahead as a glance, effectively, at the past, a summing up and reaction to where we have been in music that nonetheless finds original ways to revisit forms by now long established. This however is by no means institutional music, but rather a living, breathing thing. Each work stands alone as an offering for our appreciation and pleasure. Nicely done!

– Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review

View Full Page

Leshnoff: Symphony No. 4; Guitar Concerto / Guerrero, Nashville S.O. ft. Violins of Hope
Naxos May 2019
CD
$19.99

Franz Ignaz Beck: Symphonies Op. 4, Nos. 4-6 & Op. 3, No. 5

Naxos

$9.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 50% Dec 09, 2014

The court at Manneheim, one of Europe’s great 18th-century musical centers, provided myriad opportunities for creative development. Having absorbed the ideas of his teacher, Johann Stamitz and other luminaries, Beck wrote a series of symphonies notable for their dramatic contrasts, breadth and sweep, the progressive inclusion of the woodwinds and a willingness to explore expressive intensity. His progressive use of woodwind instruments in the Symphony in G major, Op. 4 No. 5 is among the notable developments to be heard in this second recording of Beck symphonies by Marek Štilec and the Czech Chamber Philharmonic.

View Full Page

Sale

Franz Ignaz Beck: Symphonies Op. 4, Nos. 4-6 & Op. 3, No. 5
Naxos Dec 2014
CD
~~$19.99~~ $9.99

Badings: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 / Bochumer Symphoniker, Porcelijn

CPO

$18.99 Jan 08, 2016

This new Henk Badings recording further confirms his rank as a great twentieth-century Dutch composer with an important and independent individual voice in European music. Although he composed his fourth symphony during the war years, absolutely nothing related to World War II or its atmosphere is to be found in it. It is instead a work adhering to the classical structure and displaying unaffected naturalness and quick musical wit, especially in its fast movements. In 1949 Badings composed his fifth symphony as a commissioned work for the sixtieth anniversary of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1955 a reviewer for the daily De Tijd wrote that this symphony resembled film music inasmuch as it clearly dealt with illustrative elements. This was not intended as a negative judgment but instead was born of admiration for the composer’s suggestive style. In any case, today this music impresses the listener with its surprising freshness and vitality.

View Full Page

Badings: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 / Bochumer Symphoniker, Porcelijn
CPO Jan 2016
CD
$18.99

Lyatoshynsky: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 / Kuchar, Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra

Naxos

$13.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 30% Nov 11, 2014

Boris Lyatoshynsky was the foremost Ukrainian composer of the twentieth century and his five symphonies are the cornerstone of the symphonic music of his country. The Fourth Symphony of 1963 met with immediate acclaim for its imaginative orchestration, while the Fifth Symphony is memorable for its use of Ukrainian folkloric material. This is the third of three discs comprising the complete Lyatoshynsky symphonies.

View Full Page

Sale

Lyatoshynsky: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 / Kuchar, Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra
Naxos Nov 2014
CD
~~$19.99~~ $13.99