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ROBERTO DEVEREUX
VIDEO ARTISTS INT'L Jun 2001
DVD
$37.49

Boito: Nerone

Urania Records

$32.99 Jan 16, 2026

Despite being a work of great importance for the history of Italian opera, Nerone has almost no discography, except for the late Hungaroton edition (with Hungarian interpreters). Fortunately, in 1975, the Italian Rai of Torino produced this precious live edition under the Gavazzeni conduction, without any noise from the audience and with a perfect stereophonic recording. This is the best available performance of an opera that deserves the utmost attention, and which for years has not been available until today, thanks to the restoration by Urania Records.

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Boito: Nerone
Urania Records Jan 2026
CD
$32.99

Weiss: Sonatas For Lute Vol 4 / Robert Barto
Naxos Aug 2001
CD
$19.99

Machaut: Remede de Fortune / Les Délices & Blue Heron

Blue Heron Renaissance Choir

$21.99 Nov 04, 2022

A New Yorker Notable Recording of 2022!

A feast of poetry, song, and visual art animated by a surprisingly Zen-like philosophy, Guillaume de Machaut’s Remede de Fortune tells the tale of a woebegone lover who is counseled by Lady Hope on how to be happy and persevere in the face of the ups and downs dished out by Fortune and her Wheel.

Machaut was at once the greatest poet and composer of 14th-century Europe, and the Remede is a narrative poem or dit, around 4000 lines long, with interpolated lyrics set to music. This live recording of a concert production of the Remede—a collaboration between two outstanding American ensembles, Blue Heron and Les Délices—includes all seven musical items from the Remede as well as a selection of other motets, songs, and dances, which take the place of the narration, express the emotions and thoughts of the Lover, and convey Hope’s teachings in lyric form.

Four singers are joined by a delightful ensemble of medieval instruments (recorder, douçaine, fiddle, lute, harp, hurdy-gurdy, and percussion) in performances which are both spirited and deeply informed by the study of historical performance practices. The album booklet contains complete texts and translations, an interspersed synopsis of the story, and numerous full-color reproductions of the pictures that grace the lavishly illustrated first manuscript copy of the Remede, prepared c. 1350 under Machaut’s supervision.

REVIEW:

What is “Remede de Fortune?” Nothing less than a multi-media work of art – created in 1350. Guillaume de Machaut was one of the greatest poets of his time. And one of the greatest composers. But Remede is more than just a combination of Machaut’s words and music. Machaut personally supervised the creation of an illuminated book.

The early music vocal group Blue Heron staged a live performance of “Remede” with Les Délices. Their performance includes all the music contained in the story. The narration was replaced with motets, songs, and dances of the period. It’s a great performance and one that can be enjoyed on several levels. I first listened to the recording cold. The recording works as a pure listening experience. There’s enough variety between the combination of instruments and voices to hold interest.

Blue Heron is still one of the finest vocal ensembles around, and they didn’t disappoint. The music was sung with pure, clear tones of incredible expressive beauty. Les Délices provided subtle accompaniment, supporting the vocalists without detracting from them. The release comes with the complete text for Remede (and thankfully English translation). It also includes several full-color reproductions of the artwork. So one could, as in Machaut’s time, follow along with the text and art as the music played.

It was an extraordinary work of art, and it’s an extraordinary realization. Highly recommended.

-- WTJU 91.1 FM

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Machaut: Remede de Fortune / Les Délices & Blue Heron
Blue Heron Renaissance Choir Nov 2022
CD
$21.99

Robertson: Vallarta Suite / Armore, Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra

Navona

$16.99 Aug 11, 2017

New Zealand born, Canada based composer John Robertson’s album VALLARTA SUITE showcases the continuation of classic orchestral traditions into the present day. The album’s three works testify to Robertson’s flexible compositional voice, which expresses playful, grand, and romantic materials within a welcoming style based on nineteenth century, and early twentieth century precedents. Performed expertly by the Jánacek Philharmonic Orchestra, VALLARTA SUITE is defined by beautiful melodies, confident orchestration, and classic musical forms. The album’s anchors are its multi-movement works, Vallarta Suite, op. 47, and Symphony No. 2, op. 63. Vallarta Suite is a musical postcard to the Mexican city of Puerto Vallarta and, like George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture or Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A London Symphony, uses a variety of contrasting textures and materials to illustrate its geographical subject. For example, the work’s third movement, “Excursion para hacer compras (Shopping excursion)”, is the most concise and literal example of Robertson’s portrayal of Puerto Vallarta. Here, a series of playful and syncopated themes encourage the listener to imagine strolling through the city’s markets. The work’s other movements, namely, “Las Ballenas (The Whales)” and “La Noche en la Zona Romantica (The Night In The Romantic Zone)”, are more abstract and varied in their materials and form. “Las Ballenas”, for instance, is less thematic than other movements, but leans heavily on the orchestra’s brass to express the stately grace of whales. The two other works on VALLARTA SUITE present much more traditional music structures. Strut In – a March, as the title suggests, is Robertson’s take a classic March, and, as one might expect, features jaunty themes and more percussion than is typical to the rest of the album. Unlike Sousa, Robertson crafts a longer, more dramatic structure for his march, and, in particular, uses a wide range of textures to build towards the arrival of its culminating and triumphant melodic material. Robertson’s Symphony No. 2 stands out on VALLARTA SUITE as the only piece that is not wholly defined by a reference to a specific musical style or non-musical reference. Robertson excels in the more abstract setting of the Symphony, the first movement, in particular, is a tremendously crafted voyage of thematic and textural energy. The work’s final movement, “Passacaglia”, suggests, as well, that Robertson always has an eye to the past, as its title refers to a type of instrumental music that originated in the Renaissance. Marked by its grand orchestration, the “Passacaglia” serves as an intense and brilliant finale to the Symphony and VALLARTA SUITE, as a whole. Consider the potential differences between the works based on extra-musical references (i.e. Vallarta Suite and Strut In) and the Symphony, which is more of a statement of ‘absolute music’. There is great consistency in Robertson’s treatment of melodic themes, rhythm, and orchestration across the album, which may act as evidence in assessing his overall compositional style

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Robertson: Vallarta Suite / Armore, Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra
Navona Aug 2017
CD
$16.99

John Joubert, Robert Simpson, Christopher Wright: British Cello Concertos

Lyrita

$20.99 Nov 01, 2014

At the heart of this CD is the cellist Raphael Wallfisch. He not only performs these pieces with the utmost musicianship but they were also all written for him. Since the BBC NOW play with their customary skill under William Boughton, about as well established an expert on his native British music as one could wish to have, this CD is home and dry. The Hoddinott Hall is one of the best acoustics in the country and Lyrita's engineers have, as usual, produced a splendid sound. I did wonder about the slight left-placement of the cello but that is where soloists usually sit so it may simply reflect reality.

Joubert's work is, as the title states, in two movements. Each lasts a little over 11 minutes. Considering it is scored for only double woodwind, horns and strings, it displays a wide range of instrumental colours and is not only impressively coherent but also makes a very pleasurable sound. There is plenty of energy in the work. This is not a pastoral idyll one can allow to just wash over you. Joubert keeps one firmly engaged throughout and reminded me that I have neglected my sole Joubert CD prior to this, the First Symphony, also on Lyrita.

The late Robert Simpson was a very important symphonist and composer of string quartets. His musical structures require close attention from his listeners. This concerto, one of a mere handful, is typical of his later style. It was in fact his last orchestral piece. It consists of a theme and eleven variations played without a break and lasting very nearly half an hour. It is by turns lyrical and dramatic, ending quietly. Though the orchestra is large the textures are always clear and I found myself gripped by his typically involved musical argument right up to the 'calm resignation' of the coda, described thus in the excellent notes by Paul Conway.

Finally Christopher Wright has come to my attention only recently, having heard an extract from his lovely Violin Concerto of 2010 (Dutton CDLX 7286), so I was not surprised to discover that his Cello Concerto is also a fascinatingly individual creation full of lovely sounds but also of much energy and momentum.

We do not hear many different cello concertos in the concert hall. Those by Elgar, Dvorak, Schumann and Shostakovich are deservedly the most frequently performed. The three recorded on this CD are of a quality and approachability to match such as Saint-Saëns, Hindemith, Martinu and Walton. They should most certainly not be allowed to lapse into obscurity.

- Dave Billinge, MusicWeb International

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John Joubert, Robert Simpson, Christopher Wright: British Cello Concertos
Lyrita Nov 2014
CD
$20.99

Albergati: Corona de pregi di Maria, Op. 13 - Vittoria: Anti
Tactus Jan 2009
CD
$21.99

Complete Crumb Edition Vol 8 / Robert Shannon

Bridge Records

$18.99 Sep 28, 2004

Complete Crumb Edition, Volume 8 George Crumb: Makrokosmos, Volumes I and II, for Amplified Piano (1972-73); Robert Shannon, piano; Otherworldly Resonances (2002), for Two Amplified Pianos (premiere recording), Quattro Mani

The latest volume in BRIDGE'S award-winning survey of George Crumb complete works presents a new recording of a major Crumb cycle and the premiere of a new composition for two pianos. Makrokosmos I and II have come to be regarded as landmark compositions in the piano repertoire, requiring the pianist to display a virtuoso's control of both the keyboard and the inside of the piano. In addition, the performer is asked to whistle, speak, and sing, while simultaneously playing some of the most dramatic and fantasy-filled piano music of the late twentieth century. Robert Shannon, a leading exponent of Crumb's music, gives the 67 minute cycle of 24 "zodiac" pieces a spectacular reading. The duo piano team, Quattro Mani, has also had a long association with Crumb's music, and can be heard playing Crumb's music on BRIDGE 9105, a disc that received ‘Best of Year' honors from Fanfare, and highest ratings from France's Repertoire, and the USA's ClassicsToday.com. In 2002, Crumb composed "Otherworldy Resonances", a 10 minute quasi-passacaglia for Quattro Mani. Based on a hypnotic four-note motif, this 10 minute composition marks Crumb's return to writing piano music after a hiatus of nearly 15 years. Both of these recordings, as with the rest of this series, were supervised by the composer.

R E V I E W S

Fanfare magazine
Bridge’s essential Crumb series takes on one of the monuments in the composer’s canon with this release. The Makrokosmos I and II (1972–73) are two sets of 12 piano pieces each (based on the Zodiac), and are perhaps the definitive catalog of Crumb’s re-imagining of the instrument. All the trademark innovations of “extended techniques” are here, from rattling paper threaded through the strings, to interior pizzicatos, to glissando harmonics, to—well, the list just goes on and on. Every movement has surprises; each is a unique, mysterious landscape. There are also highly theatrical gestures, which involve the performer vocalizing with chants, whistles, shouts, whispers, and musically mimetic sounds. I’ll admit that while I believe Crumb is one of the most important American composers of the second half of the 20th century and the creator of some of the most beautiful and imaginative music of our time, these pieces remain somewhat problematic for me. At times, the desire to expand the expressive palette goes so far over the top as to verge on kitsch. This goes especially for the vocalizing, which can sound a little like the soundtrack of those live-action haunted houses that spring up on Halloween. Also, the music is so episodic that it can be hard to feel a formal motivation that is more than the astrological program.

That off my chest, I’ll say that for most of the time I can still sit back and enjoy Crumb’s fertile inventiveness, his desire to stretch boundaries and communicate directly, and the sheer sonic expansiveness of the whole set. One does have a sense of constant surprise and delight that an entire orchestra of colors is extracted from this single instrument. There’s also a genuine tenderness amidst the Grand Guignol moments, a nostalgia for the passage of past beauties (such as when a wisp of Chopin’s Fantasie-Impromptu suddenly emerges and submerges from the depths) that is strangely allied to that of another composer, Valentin Silvestrov. One more point to mention is that the second set seems much more focused and organic than the first. It seems to move faster, even though it is only four minutes shorter in this rendition.

Otherworldly Resonances (2002) is yet another of the wonderful pieces emerging from Crumb’s recent prolificity. His style hasn’t changed much at all—the techniques, the gestures, the melodic and harmonic formulas all remain similar to what they were two to three decades ago—but somehow the music has found a new calm and balance, and has become a little more abstract without losing any luster or poetry. Crumb, one of the most genuinely modest of great artists, would probably be the first to admit he’s not found something new after his great discoveries of the 1960s and 1970s. But that really doesn’t matter, because these new works are strong, individual, and memorable. In them, the composer seems able to accept who he is, and to share his gifts generously. This two-piano work is a compact epilogue to the grand cycles of Makrokosmos III (“Music for a Summer Evening”) and “Celestial Mechanics” (Makrokosmos IV), but extremely effective for its deliberately narrowed focus. A simple four-note ostinato is passed between the keyboards and surrounded with a constantly mutating garland of events—flashes of lightning, lullabies, delicate ornaments. The result is genuinely hypnotic. It should be simplistic, but instead it touches on something more profound.

All the performances are outstanding, but I must give special notice to Robert Shannon, who plays the Makrokosmos with a level of passion and authority that’s breathtaking. His precision and confidence in the inside-the-keyboard techniques makes this fiendishly difficult material sound quite natural, and will help future players codify the music’s performance practice and redefine virtuosity (and I say this with all respect and admiration for the pioneering premiere recordings of the works by their dedicatees, David Burge and Robert Miller; Shannon simply represents the next step of a new generation). His dazzling passagework in the fast sections reminds us how exciting fast Crumb can be, and that the composer is not all laid-back, glacial vistas.

In the end, an important release of enduring music. Where it bumps up against my aesthetic is probably more my issue than the music’s—it is a landmark of the literature, and I suspect it will be around for quite a while after I’m gone.

Robert Carl, FANFARE

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Complete Crumb Edition Vol 8 / Robert Shannon
Bridge Records Sep 2004
CD
$18.99

Arena di Verona Box

C Major Entertainment

Blu-Ray

$249.99 Aug 07, 2026

Turandot / Tosca / Love Duets - Sonya Yoncheva & Vittorio Grigolo Turandot: 'Netrebko does not merely sing it: she interprets it. What emerges is a character much more human and ultimately truer than usual' (La Stampa) Tosca: 'spectacle of monumental opulence' (Online Merker). 'A Tosca to relish!' (Artesnews. It) "standing ovation Tosca at the Arena di Verona" (Operalife). Love Duets - Sonya Yoncheva & Vittorio Grigolo: 'A concert evening about love, lust and passion. Sonya Yoncheva has the full and vibrant timbre of a true lyrical soprano' (L'Arena) 'Vittorio Grigolo is undoubtedly a charismatic artist and always attentive to the interpretation of the characters' (operclick)

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Arena di Verona Box
C Major Entertainment Aug 2026
Blu-Ray
$249.99

Roberts & Arlen: My Choice

Winter & Winter

$20.99 Apr 01, 2022

Hank Roberts presents: On his debut album "Black Pastels" he put together the most innovative musicians of the N.Y. Jazz scene: Tim Berne, Ray Anderson, Robin Eubanks, Dave Taylor, Bill Frisell, Mark Dresser and Joey Baron. He wrote jazz history with the group "Miniature" and the song "Jersey Devil", and the Knitting Factory became a meeting point for the avant-garde scene. With Mark Feldman and Mark Dresser he formed the chamber music string trio Arcado and with Django Bates he played "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and opened up never-before-heard worlds of sound.

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Roberts & Arlen: My Choice
Winter & Winter Apr 2022
CD
$20.99

Robert Schumann: Love Fugue
Winter & Winter Jan 2000
CD
$20.99

Roberts: Portraits, Distillations & Soundgames

Toccata

$20.99 Mar 04, 2022

Timothy Roberts, born in Hampstead, north London, in 1953, has been a mainstay of the early-music scene in Britain and further afield for decades. He is best known as a keyboard player, but in recent years composing has been of growing importance to him. Hardly surprisingly, his music refracts the Baroque and Classical worlds in which he is active, usually with a playful but respectful twist.

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Roberts: Portraits, Distillations & Soundgames
Toccata Mar 2022
CD
$20.99

Weiss: Lute Sonatas Vol 6 / Robert Barto

Naxos

$19.99 Jun 21, 2005

The connection between Johann Sebastian Bach and Sylvius Leopold Weiss goes beyond their having virtually identical dates. The two men were friends and in his young adulthood, Bach admired the more famous Weiss very much and in my opinion wrote much of his music, if not for Weiss, at least with Weiss or someone like him in mind.

Weiss was the Paganini of his day, his virtuosity amazed and overwhelmed listeners and challenged composers. Bach re-wrote much of his music, probably more than we are aware of because we only have a small number of surviving manuscripts of earlier versions. As a young man, Bach would expect to hear his music played by lutenists and clavichordists, but as these instruments fell out of favor, he could see that this was less and less likely, so he rewrote pieces to make them more suitable for harpsichord, and finally fortepiano, performance. After poring through some German essays on the subject, I am convinced Bach probably did not play the lute himself, but was interested in achieving lute sonority on harpsichords, and had at least one such “lute-harpsichord*” [*Scholars are still unsure just what that instrument was.] in his possession when he died. Recently there have been recordings of the first book of the Well Tempered Klavier which used clavichord, harpsichord, organ, and fortepiano for the various preludes and fugues, but my feeling is that one should also include some performances on the lute as well. By the time of the second volume, it is my opinion that this is a fortepiano work, and that explains why Bach rewrote many of the earlier pieces for inclusion therein, not to make them “better” but to make them more suitable for performance on the fortepiano. Professor Richard Jones particularly needs to study this point. When Weiss died in the same year as Bach, the lute as a solo virtuoso instrument virtually died with him.

Bach wrote an astonishing quantity of the finest preludes and fugues ever done but he also wrote dance pieces for his keyboard suites and his works for solo instrument. Most Bach enthusiasts pay very little attention to these dance pieces, but what is interesting is that Weiss’ pieces in similar forms are very similar in style to Bach’s and heard on the lute they are delightful. Performance of these smaller works of Bach on the lute would probably make them much more comprehensible, and in fact we have just such an instance with Paul Galbraith’s performance of the Sonatas And Partitas for solo violin on his six string guitar. It is the smaller dance pieces which gain most from this arrangement — indeed they become interesting enough to be listened to all by themselves. And that is what we hear on this recording listening to similar dances by Weiss.

A recent biography of Bach by Martin Geck enlarges the spotlight, giving much information about the surrounding circumstances in which Bach lived, deepening our understand of Bach as a man who lived in a culture and reacted to it. Another crippling legacy of Victorian musicology falls; instead of seeing all the musicians around Bach as mere imitators, and hence safely to be ignored, we see instead that they formed a musical culture in which Bach was immersed and with which he interacted profitably. A familiarity with Weiss, who spent his professional life at Dresden, 60 miles from Leipzig, is valuable to an understanding of Bach. For a long time this has been all but impossible as the music of Weiss was unknown and unplayed, presumed lost; but now we have this excellent series.

Recording perspective on Volume 6 is closer than on Volume 2 and finger slide noises are more evident. The introduzione to Sonata No.45 has a fugato section that is somewhat reminiscent of Handel’s “Harmonious Blacksmith” followed by a very Bachian courante. The sprightly bourrée is more syncopated than most Bach. The sarabande is appropriately stately, touching but not sad. The menuet is, again, sprightly with musical leaps not usually heard in a menuet. The presto is just that, but not a fugue as it would be with Bach, but rather reminiscent of the allegro from Bach’s BWV 998, a lute work, likely influenced by Weiss. If someone told you this movement was by Bach — unusually playful Bach to be sure — you would have no reason to doubt it.

The suites are apparently numbered in order of composition, so following No.45, a late work, we come to No.7, a much earlier work, beginning not with a prelude or an introduzione, but directly with a stately and thoughtful allemande, followed by a fast and rather Bachian (but not fugal) courante. The gavotte is graceful, with typical leaps, the sarabande particularly lovely and affecting. The menuet is dramatic, the gigue is as rollicking and Bachian as it can get without being a fugue. Altogether this earlier work keeps its unique personality but is not in any sense lacking in quality. Suite No.23, a work from the middle years, begins with a arpeggiated chordal prelude which leads at once into an entrée, an embellished aria; and on with the usual set of dances, finishing with a swinging saltarella — which could pass for a hornpipe — and is probably the most interesting work on the disk, showing Barto’s skill in saving the best for last, which is also true of Volume 2, the last movement on which is possibly my single favorite work by Weiss.

Throughout Mr. Barto plays with lyricism, rhythmic integrity, expression, sweetness of tone and clarity of voice — that is, amazing skill. Overall he’s every bit as good as Lindberg, perhaps with a little more drama and softness, whereas Lindberg pushes the limit on dexterity and precision. I think I like Barto’s lute, which has many of the qualities of an alto guitar, more than Lindberg’s lute which tends to “run out of breath”, but that could have more to do with the recording engineer.

-- Paul Shoemaker, MusicWeb International

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Weiss: Lute Sonatas Vol 6 / Robert Barto
Naxos Jun 2005
CD
$19.99

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Robert Schumann: Works for Piano (Recordings 1956-1959)
Urania Records Oct 2010
CD
~~$32.99~~ $16.49

The River / Ethel & Robert Mirabal

Innova Recordings

$16.99 Jun 24, 2016

This release is a celebration of the successful relationship between ETHEL and Native American musician, instrument builder, and Grammy Award-winner, Robert Mirabal. The River is a live performance, which immerses the listener in a seamless flow of music, narrative, and ritual. Ethel and Mirabal created this program exclusively for this recording, calling upon traditional Native American traditions and exploring the bounds of contemporary artistry. ETHEL, which was founded in New York City in 1998, earned a reputation for being one of America’s most adventurous string quartets. They quickly immersed themselves in the culture of young artists who blended together conservatory musicianship with boundary pushing, genre-bending compositions. Robert Mirabal is a best-selling artist, and in addition to the instruments he builds and the music he composes, he is an accomplished painter, playwright, and poet. In addition to three Grammy awards, he has also received a National Endowment for the Arts Award.

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The River / Ethel & Robert Mirabal
Innova Recordings Jun 2016
CD
$16.99

Solitude -Robert & Clara Schumann: Piano Works / Benjamin Kim, Niek Baar

Channel Classics

$20.99 Sep 08, 2023

The album Solitude features music of Robert Schumann and Clara Schumann. Dutch violinist Niek Baar and American pianist Ben Kim tell us: “Robert Schumann brought us together as duo partners and as friends. His writing, obsessively swinging between fiery turmoil and tender longing, gave us a common language to communicate with one another”. On this recording, Robert Schumann's Violin Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 are paired with Clara Schumann's 3 Romances, Op. 22. Listening to her romances, we note that Clara quotes Robert's Violin Sonata No. 1. This romantic gesture underlines the artistic bond between Clara and Robert Schumann.

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Solitude -Robert & Clara Schumann: Piano Works / Benjamin Kim, Niek Baar
Channel Classics Sep 2023
CD
$20.99

Roberts: Last Cicada Singing

Cold Blue Music

$5.49 ~~$10.99~~ Save 50% Oct 01, 2009

Composer Christopher Roberts’s four serene yet deeply emotive pieces for solo qin (a Chinese zither-like instrument) are quiet, sparce, slightly eerie, almost Feldmanesque. Performed by the composer, who learned the qin while living and teaching for many years in Taiwan. This is a 30-minute CD EP/single. “So Confucius walks into a bar, just in time for Bill Evans’s last set, and after closing time pulls out his qin for a few solos … That’s the vibe that Christopher Roberts captures in these intimate nocturnal musings where crystalline harmonics dance among gutsy bass slides while elegant harmonies whisper their most private thoughts. A truly haunting recording.” [John Schneider, Host of KPFK’s Global Village] “The most Chinese of instruments, the qin has roots in the ancient literati tradition…. Having studied its classical tradition in Taiwan, the quixotic Roberts (also a double bassist) also brings his own traditions of jazz, blues, and solo improvisation to the table. While starting somewhere near its traditional core, Roberts bends his instrument in new directions entirely, turning it westwards even as he faces east.” [Gramophone magazine] “‘Exotic’ is a relative term. Gorecki's music is exotic compared to Lloyd Webber’s, Ligeti’s music is exotic compared to Gorecki’s, and Christopher Roberts’ music is exotic compared to nearly any music you are likely to think of.… Last Cicada Singing integrates Eastern and Western music so well, finding their common ground in calm reflection of natural sounds and processes. Sit back, relax, contemplate.” [Malcolm Tattersall, Music & Vision] “You-are-there-grade realism. The recording is Christopher Roberts’ hauntingly beautiful and stunningly well-recorded Last Cicada Singing [Absolute Sound magazine] “Mesmerizing sounds...quiet, sparse, serene music.” [Michael Barone, Minnesota Public Radio]

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Roberts: Last Cicada Singing
Cold Blue Music Oct 2009
CD
~~$10.99~~ $5.49

Robert J. Martin: Embrace the Wind!

Ravello Records

$18.99 Aug 12, 2016

With his Ravello release Embrace the Wind, composer Robert J. Martin communicates the wonder that humanity has for wind through a cycle of string quartets rooted in images and emotions played out across histories as diverse as ancient phoenicia and modern wind farms. The cycle uses contrasting sonorities and melodic material that range from thorny to lush to portray the influence of wind on culture and civilization, from the joy of a child's pinwheel to the power of giant wind turbines. Martin uses strings to portray wind in unique ways. The strings moan like wind, imitate mechanical toys, howl, bite, lull us with gentleness and show us the sweetness of our world.

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Robert J. Martin: Embrace the Wind!
Ravello Records Aug 2016
CD
$18.99

Roberto Piana: Piano Works

Centaur Records

$18.99 Jun 02, 2017

This is an amazing program of piano works by contemporary Italian composer Roberto Piana, brilliantly played by Italian pianist Antonio-Pompa-Baldi, who now has nearly 20 albums on the Centaur label. This album consists of two major works: 25 Preludi Pittorici, and Piano Sonata. Antonio Pompa-Baldi is an award-winning concert pianist and a beloved professor of music at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Maestro Pompa-Baldi’s talent is powered by boundless technical prowess and a genuine love of music. We hope this website gives you a worthy preview of his art. “Pompa-Baldi demonstrated both brilliance and structural insight… He also showed himself to be an ensemble player of considerable sensitivity, seeming to relish the partnership of other instruments.” (The Boston Globe)

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Roberto Piana: Piano Works
Centaur Records Jun 2017
CD
$18.99

Adam Roberts: Book of Flowers

New Focus Recordings

$20.99 Nov 21, 2025

Composer Adam Roberts' Book of Flowers is a celebration of the large scale collection of character pieces, participating in a tradition that traces from Schumann to Chopin to Debussy to Crumb. Performed by piano virtuoso Conrad Tao, Roberts explores an expansive range of expression and techniques on the keyboard, fashioning many short components into work of epic scope.

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Adam Roberts: Book of Flowers
New Focus Recordings Nov 2025
CD
$20.99

Mix & Match

Schubert: Male Choruses / Robert Sund, Orphei Drängar
BIS May 2000
CD
$21.99

Weber: Overtures / Kantorow, Tapiola Sinfonietta

BIS

SACD

$21.99 Jun 01, 2011

Although celebrated as the father of German Romantic opera, Carl Maria von Weber is today generally known for one opera alone: Der Freischütz. Most of his other works for the stage - including the incidental music for several plays - are nowadays rarely performed. But their overtures have survived the test of time and are popular fillers at orchestral concerts, imbued as they are with Weber's particular mix of Romantic drama and lyricism and Classical lightness of touch. Striking is also the inimitable, colourful instrumentation, which is given free reins in these scores for librettos and plays that are set in China and Arabia, and among Spanish gypsies and knights in 12th-century France. The present disc includes ten of these gems, from the overture to Weber's first surviving opera Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn - composed at the age of fifteen - to that of Oberon, written in London for Covent Garden less than two months before his death from tuberculosis, aged 39. The team of Jean-Jacques Kantorow and the Tapiola Sinfonietta have recorded numerous discs for BIS, by composers as diverse as Saint-Saëns, Mozart, Shostakovich and Rautavaara. Acclaimed releases have also been dedicated to the music of Weber, most recently his symphonies on a disc which was described as 'without doubt among the finest additions to the Weber discography in recent years' by the reviewer of the German magazine Fono Forum. His French colleague in Diapason was equally enthusiastic, remarking upon the dramatic qualities of the recording: 'Kantorow stages a theatre of sounds in which each instrument is an actor...'

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Weber: Overtures / Kantorow, Tapiola Sinfonietta
BIS Jun 2011
SACD
$21.99

Berg: Wozzeck / Albrecht, Dutch National Opera, Netherlands Philharmonic [Blu-ray]

Naxos AudioVisual

Blu-Ray

$34.99 Nov 09, 2018

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

Also available on standard DVD

Based on real events and drawing on Georg Büchner’s revolutionary play, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck turns a grimly tragic narrative of violence and murder into one of the most powerful and original operas of the 20th century. Berg’s uncompromising portrayal of brutality and madness generated much controversy, but the significance of Wozzeck was soon recognised; its compelling lyrical expansiveness, large-scale dramatic gestures and remarkable musical structures producing music of overwhelming emotional intensity. The Financial Times declared this to be "a beautiful, moving, engrossing production… this is a consummate Wozzeck, blending clarity, lyricism, compassion and crushing force."

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REVIEW:

Marc Albrecht embeds Wozzeck within a lineage of lyrically sprung, dance-driven operas from Weber’s Oberon to Der Rosenkavalier, taking in Lortzing and Die Fledermaus along the way. The singing is accomplished with style, especially the astonishingly secure Captain of Marcel Beekman and the engagingly sinister comic turn of Willard White as the Doctor. Even were it not among the most beautifully played and sung accounts on record and film, this Wozzeck would command attention for Krzysztof Warlikowski’s staging.

– Gramophone

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Berg: Wozzeck / Albrecht, Dutch National Opera, Netherlands Philharmonic [Blu-ray]
Naxos AudioVisual Nov 2018
Blu-Ray
$34.99

Weber: Overtures / Neeme Järvi, The Philharmonia

Chandos

$21.99 Aug 01, 1992

Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 29-20 April 1989 and 30 April 1990 Recorded in: All Saints' Church, Tooting, London 19 October 1990 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Ben Connellan (Assistant) Jeffrey Ginn (Assistant) Peter Newble (Assistant)

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Weber: Overtures / Neeme Järvi, The Philharmonia
Chandos Aug 1992
CD
$21.99

Johann Bernhard Bach: Ouvertures / Joubert-Caillet, L'Acheron

Ricercar

$20.99 Oct 28, 2016

Johann Bernhard Bach (1676-1749) is a relatively unknown member of the Bach family. He is more widely known by association to his famous first cousin once removed, Johann Sebastian. A disciple of Pachelbel, Johann Bernhard was in the service of the court of Eisenach and left us only instrumental music. His four Ouvertures for orchestra constitute the obvious link between French music of the Grand Siecle and the compositions that Johann Sebastian would write in Weimar and Cothen. This release is an interesting missing link to be rediscovered.

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Johann Bernhard Bach: Ouvertures / Joubert-Caillet, L'Acheron
Ricercar Oct 2016
CD
$20.99