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Mozart: Piano Concertos No 24 and 25 / Brautigam, Willens, Die Kolner Akademie
BIS Sep 2011
SACD
$21.99

Richter: Requiem… / Valek, Czech Ensemble Baroque

Supraphon

$31.99 Mar 10, 2015

Franz Xaver Richter’s origins are associated with Moravia, but his working life was anything but parochial. Skills acquired in Vienna and Italy raised his employability and saw him engaged in several palaces in Germany in the 1730s and 1740s. He is known to have travelled widely before becoming Kapellmeister of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg, dying just before the French Revolution saw the abolition of those ancient institutions in which he had worked for decades.

The mixture of styles in Richter’s work can be heard throughout this programme, from the Pergolesi-like opening of the Synfonia and use of orchestral sonorities from Mannheim to the operatic virtuosity of his vocal writing. Superb playing from the Czech Ensemble Baroque delivers a purity of sound which is pretty much the ideal for our idea of how this music should have sounded in the 18th century – it would certainly he hard to imagine the composer having much to complain about.

The Synfonia con fuga is assumed to come from Richter’s time in Mannheim, and as a ‘church sinfonia’ in everything but name its inclusion here suits very well indeed. The work is more than just a filler, with its vibrant inventiveness and colourful sequences it goes beyond galant frippery while stopping short of C.P.E. Bach’s striking waywardness.

Both De Profundis and the Messa de Requiem are from Richter’s 20-year tenure in Strasbourg, and both works are highly representative of the opulence possible during one of the most significant periods in the cities history. His church ensemble was at that time the second largest in France, and the richness in sound from these works is very fine indeed. Psalm 129, De Profundis clamavi was commissioned for funeral masses, and the symbolism of its C minor key of mourning, resolving finally into a more hopeful C major in the final Requiem aeternam are just two elements in an impressive and often highly expressive work.

The Messa de Requiem was reportedly composed for the composer’s own funeral, and the booklet notes open with a quote from Christian Friedrich Schubart, describing how Richter passed away with the score in his hand. This may or may not be true, but we can hardly disagree with the claim that it “encapsulates the quintessence of his legacy.” With added trumpets and timpani this is the kind of larger scale requiem which it is not hard to imagine in a line leading towards the grand examples by the likes of Verdi. Set pieces such as the operatic soprano solo Quid sum miser and dramatic Confutatis maledictis of the Dies irae are innovative sounding in this context, and the work’s transitional feel is heightened by their contrast with more antique contrapuntal music which Richter took from Johann Joseph Fux much earlier in his career and held onto throughout.

This is a substantial Requiem, and within its high-Classical idiom has plenty of heartfelt and beautifully poignant moments. The power of the work is rendered with the utmost refinement and musicality by all concerned, with all soloists very strong, and soprano Lenka Cafourková ?uricová deserving of mention as the topping to a very unified and superbly balanced musical cake. Supraphon has made this into nicely presented release, the booklet containing all Latin texts and translations into English, German, French and Czech. If seeking beyond the more familiar choral music of Haydn and Mozart results in unearthing these kinds of glories I for one would welcome digging ever deeper into the archives of the obscure and unpublished.

-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International

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Richter: Requiem… / Valek, Czech Ensemble Baroque
Supraphon Mar 2015
CD
$31.99

Bach: Works for Harpsichord / Skowroneck

Tyxart

$20.99 May 22, 2020

J.S. Bach's 6 English Suites (BWV 806-811) were written around 1715 during Bach's time at the court in Weimar (1708-1717). In spite of their title, most of the English suites begin with a large-scale polyphonic Prelude in the style of the Italian concerto grosso, whereas most of the dance movements are written in the French manner. The Prelude of the sixth suite (BWV 811) featured on this album is preceded by a slow introduction, which gives the piece some extra length and weightiness. The Gigue of this suite is particularly challenging because of its frequent organ points that are sustained by long trills, to be played against other voices in the same hand. Technically, this texture can be seen as a precursor of the so-called "Beethoven trill". The Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E-flat major (BWV 998), written about twenty years after the English Suites, were conceived for "lute or harpsichord". Written in the soothing key of E-flat major, these pieces evoke a pastoral mood. The final selection on this recording (Suite) is Gustav Leonhardt 's (1928-2012) G minor arrangement of the second Violin Partita in D minor (BWV 1004). This transposed version makes exquisite use of the harpsichord's sonoraus potential. The famous Ciaccona, well known from a number of famous transcriptions for piano, concludes this suite. The harpsichord played on this recording was made in 1976 by Martin Skowroneck (1926-2014) after an original two-manual harpsichord from 1728 by Christian Zell. The instrument's plectra are made of bird's quill.

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Bach: Works for Harpsichord / Skowroneck
Tyxart May 2020
CD
$20.99

7 MOVEMENTS

RUBICON

$20.17 Jan 27, 2023

In her intriguing new album, viola da gambist Johanna Rose places a prelude by Sainte-Colombe (father) in front of the six movement Bach suite in D minor, and finished the D major Bach suite with a chaconne by Sainte-Colombe. The third 'suite' is an all family affair with music by both father and son, fashioned into a suite by Rose.

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7 MOVEMENTS
RUBICON Jan 2023
CD
$20.17

Solo Cello / Nina Kotova

Delos

$18.99 Apr 21, 2023

Nina Kotova astounds listeners with this dazzling album for cello alone. “Solo Cello,” her third album for Delos, reveals her spectacular technique, heartfelt passion and profound comprehension of the extraordinary program she has chosen.

Along with a brilliant rendition of J. S. Bach’s C Major Suite for Solo Cello, the Baroque era is represented by Handel and Marin Marais, both with musical fireworks that leave the listener breathless. Works from the 20th century include Hindemith’s Sonata for Solo Cello (four of the five movements were written in one night!); Alfred Schnittke’s haunting tribute to a cellist, Klingende Buchstaben (Sounding Letters); and Gaspar Cassadó’s charming and challenging Suite per Violoncello Solo.

The repertoire for this album is a fascinating combination of well-known and little-known compositions for solo cello. The two transcriptions (of works by Marais and Handel) sound like they were written for solo cello.

REVIEW:

There is an attractive gutsiness to the tone of Nina Kotova’s cello playing...it is a beautiful sound but one with the tinge of a life lived to it. Her manner of playing is similarly unabashed. If anything, her passionate, unbridled playing steps up a gear in Hindemith’s bristling Cello Sonata. I have always downgraded Hindemith as a bit dry, one for the musicologists. Not a chance with Kotova’s feverish advocacy.

...I found the sound a real pleasure. With a lot of cello writing concentrated on the upper strings, it is nice to hear the depths of the instrument’s sound so ripely presented.

I have a suspicion that this recording reflects a regular concert programme of Kotova’s. The way the pieces work together has the feel of practical experience and, unlike many recital discs which hang together on account of a clever idea or theme, this one makes good musical sense and sends the listener home (so to speak) satisfied. This is the sound of a seasoned musical talent in her absolute prime playing with confidence, sensitivity and flair in carefully and imaginatively chosen repertoire that suits her musical personality perfectly. What more could a listener ask for?

-- MusicWeb International

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Solo Cello / Nina Kotova
Delos Apr 2023
CD
$18.99

John Williams - The Guitarist

Sony Masterworks

$17.99 Jun 15, 2007

This recording is also available as a mini disc.
This CD includes a multimedia portion.
THE GUITARIST could be described as a record of brooding reflection and pastoral solitude with echoes of ancient Greece a recurrent motif. It also demonstrates that one can plan a wonderfully varied yet coherent guitar recital without recourse to the usual Bach transcriptions and Spanish chestnuts.
No one is better equipped to do this than John Williams. As much an ambassador of the guitar as a player, he puts his commitment to new music for the instrument to good use here, the major dividend being the 'Koyunbaba' of Italian composer Carlo Domeniconi. Inspired by Turkish themes and landscapes, the four-movement suite employs an unusual C sharp minor tuning to haunting, original effect.
The 'Stele' of Australian Phillip Houghton are moody evocations of the Greek coastline and ancient monuments to gods, demons and sailors lost at sea, while the 'Epitafios' of Mikis Theodorakis eulogize the more recently departed with the direct simplicity of folk music. Rounded off with a suite of medieval tunes and a particularly successful arrangement of Satie's third 'Gymnopedie,' THE GUITARIST leads one down a darker, less traveled road full of drama and beauty.

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John Williams - The Guitarist
Sony Masterworks Jun 2007
CD
$17.99

Thielemann Conducts Faust - Liszt, Wagner

C Major Entertainment

DVD

$13.49 ~~$26.99~~ Save 50% Oct 25, 2011

Also available on Blu-ray

THIELEMANN CONDUCTS FAUST

Richard Wagner: A Faust Overture

Franz Liszt: A Faust Symphony, S108/R425
Endrik Wottrich, tenor
Dresden State Opera Chorus
Dresden Staatskapelle
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Recorded live from the Semperoper Dresden, 2011.

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Japanese
Running time: 90 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

R E V I E W:

3542380.az_LISZT_Faust_Symphony_WAGNER.html

LISZT A Faust Symphony. WAGNER A Faust Overture • Christian Thielemann, cond; Endrik Wottrich (ten); Dresden St Op Ch; Staatskapelle Dresden • C MAJOR 707708 (DVD: 90:00) Live: Semperoper, Dresden 02/21–22/2011

Now here’s a good release, entering an uncluttered field with repertoire that coincides neatly with an anniversary and that fits its performers like a glove. Where I recently argued that Christian Thielemann just about makes a (flawed) case for himself in the congested world of Beethoven symphonies, his credentials for Wagner and Liszt are far less controversial. A retro knight of big-boned, smoothly contoured orchestral playing, he is here heard to great effect in repertoire that is shamefully underrepresented. I also cannot fault the pairing of a young Wagner’s aborted attempt at a symphony with Liszt’s epic achievement on the same subject. Before Cosima, what linked Wagner and Liszt were their respective attempts to set Goethe’s Faust to music. Wagner intended this, written during his Paris years, to be merely the first movement of a Faust symphony, before Der fliegende Holländer and his Saxony post got in the way. So it remained an overture, and it was Liszt who would carry on some of Wagner’s initial intentions, such as a second movement based on the character of Gretchen. Liszt himself conducted Wagner’s piece in 1852, but despite a final revision in 1855 (the version given here) and a sketch for Gretchen’s theme, Wagner’s “symphony” remains a tantalizing what-if, giving clearance for the older composer to work on his vast set of Faustian character portraits. As Tobias Niederschlag’s admirable notes point out, Lizst’s late addition of tenor and chorus (always a bit of an afterthought in my view) to his tonal portraits can be seen as a nod to Beethoven’s Ninth, a sign of the massive ambition on display.

Given its fractious birth, Wagner’s A Faust Overture tends, not surprisingly, to be dismissed as a rather nothingy, juvenile work, but Thielemann and the Dresdeners really do make a fine case for it. Despite the full string textures and grandly played climaxes, Thielemann wisely doesn’t linger or pull things about for effect, as he sometimes does, and the Dresdeners’ dark, burnished sound helps underline the familiar traits of mature Wagner, without preventing it from being an intense, nimble account of a work that deserves to be better known. Yes, there are hangovers of Weber in the tuttis, and obvious foreshadows of the Holländer overture, but also there is a germ of Wagner’s later epic arches of texture and melodic development. The dying chords of Tristan und Isolde , for instance, can surely be heard in the finals bars of this piece.

With those mournful broken woodwind phrases in the “Nostalgia” opening, Wagner must have had Liszt’s symphony at the back of his mind during Tristan’s development. Although grotesque humor doesn’t feature in Wagner’s opera, both pieces share that introverted sense of Weltschmerz that naturally brings out the best from Thielemann. Faust’s feverish obsession is brilliantly conveyed in the frenzied string writing, but Thielemann doesn’t let the symphony as a whole become the empty showpiece that some of Liszt’s vast tapestries can become. The second movement (Gretchen) is, likewise, very well controlled, with the love theme played with sincerity, but no less heartfelt than many more drawn-out versions, and with much exquisite solo playing from the orchestra.

I still have the occasional feeling of extreme control-freakery, as on Thielemann’s recent Beethoven, but here his quirks and homogenized sound fit the repertoire brilliantly, and although as typically plush and molded an experience as I had predicted from this team, this DVD confounds a lot of my prejudices about him. Most surprising is how swift Thielemann is, with the Liszt falling roughly between young (Sony audio) and old (Euroarts DVD) Leonard Bernstein in basic length, and similar in scale to Barenboim’s audio version. Likewise I wouldn’t have predicted how well Thielemann creates a sense of fun on the podium; the ironisch comes out well in the opening of the grotesque Mesphisto episode, spritely in tone, in complete contrast to the opening two sections. I would almost say light and fleet-footed, but after some comparison with 1960s Bernstein, or a terrific YouTube clip of Dmitri Mitropoulos rehearsing the same section, Thielemann cannot yield all of his steeliness. Choral singing is excellent, although I can think of more alluring sounds than the rather pinched, clunky tones of tenor Endrik Wottrich, in rather tense form here. DVD competition is scarce, but Kenneth Riegel on Leonard Bernstein’s 1976 Boston DVD is better. For true vocal allure, if weird German, Plácido Domingo on Barenboim’s Warner CD is the obvious choice.

I do wish concert DVDs would come with the option of having an mp3 of the audio only. I, for one, would love the Wagner overture on my iPod. But C Major’s presentation is still very fine, with good booklet notes and logical DVD menuing. Pity that there are no extras (Thielemann’s Beethoven symphonies on the same label came with a 60-minute discussion of each work), but camerawork is unobtrusive and the sound is very clear and balanced, possibly at times allowing that Dresden acoustic to give quieter moments a rather cold demeanor. Perhaps, because of that last point, I find myself preferring the Bernstein DVD, boisterous and all-embracing despite much slower tempi throughout. But it is not a clear victory, especially considering modern picture, sound, and so fine a Faust Overture performance as a filler. So, yes, unlikely readers who only want one version: Get the Thielemann.

FANFARE: Barnaby Rayfield

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Thielemann Conducts Faust - Liszt, Wagner
C Major Entertainment Oct 2011
DVD
~~$26.99~~ $13.49

Music in Exile - Chamber Works by Paul Ben-Haim

Chandos

$21.99 Jun 25, 2013

BEN-HAIM Piano Quartet in c, op. 4 1. Two Landscapes for Viola and Piano, op. 27 2. Five Pieces for Piano: Canzonetta (No. 4), op. 34 3. Improvisation and Dance for Violin and Piano, op. 30 4. Clarinet Quintet, op. 31a 5 • 1 Benjamin Bowman (vn); 1,2,5 Steven Dann (va); 1,5 Bryan Epperson (vc); 1 David Louie (pn); 2-4 Dianne Werner (pn); 4,5 Erika Raum (vn); 5 Joaquin Valdepeñas (cl); 5 Marie Bérard (vn) • CHANDOS 10769 (77:05)

Here is a long overdue collection of chamber works by Israeli composer Paul Ben-Haim (1897–1984). Only the C-Minor Piano Quartet on this disc is noted as a premiere recording, but to the extent that recordings of any of the other pieces heard here exist, they’re few and far between. Among the five works on the disc, only the Improvisation and Dance shows up in the Fanfare Archive, in a 30:6 review of a Hyperion CD containing several violin and piano works by Ben-Haim, performed by Hagai Shaham and Amon Erez. Otherwise I’m not finding any other current listings for the pieces on this disc. Perhaps I just didn’t look hard enough.

Ben-Haim’s bio, briefly, is as follows: He was born Paul Frankenburger in Munich, studied composition under Friedrich Klose (a former Bruckner student), and served as assistant conductor to Hans Knappertsbusch and Bruno Walter. In 1933, Ben-Haim emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine, settled in Tel Aviv, Hebraized his name (which means “son of life,” not “to life,” as it’s sometimes incorrectly translated), and became an Israeli citizen in 1948 when the country declared its independence.

The Piano Quartet, composed in 1921 by the young Frankenburger while still in Munich, is easily described. It’s the next piano quartet Brahms would have written had he lived another 24 years. Everything about the piece—the gestural language, the melodic material, the thematic development, and the piano patterns and figurations—evokes the spirit of Brahms, except for one thing. The harmonic context, with its somewhat more liberal application of dissonance, parallelism, and freer approach to progression, suggests that Ben-Haim had received some exposure to Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, and, according to the note, Richard Strauss and Max Reger. Nonetheless, for all its youthful susceptibility to the musical influences that would have been part of Frankenburger’s German world, his Piano Quartet is a masterful and powerful work, at times turbulent and tragic, and at other times meltingly poignant. In three large movements, it’s a big, late romantic work of nearly 30 minutes’ duration. The performance of it by the ARC Ensemble’s players is nothing short of magnificent. But it’s such a compelling work, I can’t imagine it not being taken up by others and becoming part of the standard piano quartet repertoire.

By the time Ben-Haim came to compose the Two Landscapes for viola and piano, respectively titled “The Hills of Judea” and “The Spring,” in 1939, he’d been living in Israel for six years, and his style had already radically changed as a result of adapting to his surroundings and embracing his Jewish culture. We now hear in these two short musical sketches the familiar sounds of nomads in the desert and the exoticisms we tend to associate with the Hebraic melos.

Alone among the pieces on this disc, the Improvisation and Dance , also composed in 1939, is the one that has enjoyed a bit more exposure on disc. As noted above, it was included on Hyperion’s CD (67571), coupled with works by Bloch, and it can be heard in an all-Ben-Haim program of works on a Centaur CD (2766), which also contains the composer’s arrangement of the last movement of his Clarinet Quintet, op. 31a (on this disc) as the Pastorale variée for Clarinet, Harp, and String Orchestra, op. 31b. Ben-Haim dedicated The Improvisation and Dance for Violin and Piano to Zino Francescatti. Whether he ever recorded it or not, I don’t know, but Francescatti did record Ben-Haim’s G-Major Sonata for Solo Violin in 1958, a recording that has circulated on more than one label, but is currently available on an Orfeo CD (711081).

The Improvisation movement is a kind of free-flowing dolente thing, marked Molto rubato , and evoking that image, once again, of a camel caravan wending its way across the desert dunes. The Dance movement, as you’d expect, is an animated, spirited, strongly accented rhythmic piece that sounds like a bunch of riled-up shtetl Klezmerim going after a marauding mob of Bartók’s Rumanian peasants.

In 1944, Ben-Haim composed a set of five piano miniatures, published as Five Pieces for Piano, op. 34. Considering that the timing of the disc is a generous 77 minutes, it’s churlish to complain that Dianne Werner gives us only one of the pieces from the group, No. 4, titled “Canzonetta,” but you can hear the entire set, for free no less, in a number of YouTube performances by half-a-dozen different pianists. The style Ben-Haim adopts for these pieces is best characterized as Impressionistic.

Originally written in 1941, the Clarinet Quintet was revised in 1965, and, as mentioned above, Ben-Haim rescored its last movement, a set of variations, for clarinet, harp, and string orchestra, assigning it the same opus number, but with a “b” appended. Like the Piano Quintet that opens the disc, the Clarinet Quintet is a large three-movement work lasting over 27 minutes, but unlike the much earlier Quartet, the Quintet is in a dissonant, occasionally almost atonal language that’s more difficult to penetrate in just one or two hearings. But the score’s romantic impulses do break through to the surface now and then, reminding us once again of Ben-Haim’s musical roots.

On that subject, there remains some controversy regarding Ben-Haim’s bona fides as an authentic Israeli composer. Not all commentators and critics accept Ben-Haim as either a true Israeli composer or even a particularly significant composer. An in-depth online paper by Ronit Seter in Volume 9 (2011) of Israeli Studies in Musicology Online (biu.ac.il/hu/mu/min-ad/11/Seter-Hirshberg_Ben-Haim.pdf) cites a number of sources that advance the opinion that Ben-Haim, not entirely unlike Ernest Bloch, was essentially a European romantic who colored his works with Hebraic-sounding melodies and harmonies without making a real effort to explore the more modern “art” music of some of his Israeli contemporaries, like Josef Tal, for example. What I read in this, however, is sour grapes. The crux of the criticism seems to me to be not that Ben-Haim wasn’t Jewish or Israeli enough, but that he wasn’t modern enough—that he retained his romantic roots far into the 20th century, resisting the various avant-garde movements, and that he continued to compose music that’s beautiful and deeply moving.

That can certainly be said of the works on this disc. The players that make up the ARC Ensemble give deeply committed performances of every one of them, and Chandos’s usual wide-range and deep sound stage add excellent dimensionality to the recording. Urgently recommended.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

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Music in Exile - Chamber Works by Paul Ben-Haim
Chandos Jun 2013
CD
$21.99

Messa da Requiem

C Major Entertainment

DVD

$40.99 Sep 24, 2013

C Major continues it's Tutto Verdi edition with his Messa da Requiem. This film includes a 52-minute bonus documentary introducing US to Verdi's beautiful homeland, the region of Parma; from the little village where Verdi was born, to the estate close to Parma where Verdi always came back to and chose to spend most of his life.

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Messa da Requiem
C Major Entertainment Sep 2013
DVD
$40.99

Mison: The Five Sevillian Flute Sonatas / Ruibérriz de Torres

Brilliant Classics

$6.99 ~~$13.99~~ Save 50% Jul 28, 2023

Recent scholarship on Luis Misón (Mataró, 1727–Madrid, 1766) demonstrates the growing interest among the musicological community in studying the life and work of one who is an essential composer in the history of Spanish music. Musical historiography has extolled Misón's contribution to the genre of the tonadilla escénica, a genre widely appreciated in his time and which must have had a notable influence on his instrumental music, about which less is known. His talent as a flautist was appreciated within the noble circle of the House of Alba, where musical academies were held in which Misón actively participated and for which he composed 12 sonatas for transverse flute and bass dedicated to the Duke of Alba. These pieces were located in the archives of the House of Alba and described in 1927 by José Subirá (1882–1980), but unfortunately they disappeared during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). The discovery of the five hitherto unknown Sonatas for Flute and Bass by Misón represents a substantial contribution to the Spanish chamber music repertoire of the second third of the 18th century for this instrument, given the scarcity of pieces written by Hispanic composers contemporary to Misón in which the flute is definitely the real protagonist. Moreover, they are sonatas which, from a technical point of view, pose interesting challenges to the flautist, something that highlights Misón's mastery of the flute, in accordance with surviving documentation of the period.

Ortega explains that José Teixidor (c.1751–c.1811), vice-master of the Royal Chapel from 1778, considered his works to be no lesser than those of the best-known foreign composers and said of him that he was an unequalled performer on the transverse flute. The sonatas are found in five musical manuscripts preserved in the Lebrija Palace in Seville, a stately home dating from the 16th century, which in 1901 became the property of Regla Manjón y Mergelina (1851–1938), Countess of Lebrija. With regard to the sources, it seems unlikely that any of the five are autograph. (Although up to five different copyists have been identified, there is nothing to suggest that any of them could be Misón, himself.) Generally speaking, the sonatas are characterised by the importance of melody, regular phrases and steady rhythms, as can be seen in the elaborate seisillos of the Allegro moderato of the Sonata [No.3] in G major. Overall, the basso continuo line is simple – excepting the B section of the Allegro of the Sonata [No.4] in G major (undated) – allowing the role of the flute to stand out prominently. This recording is the culmination of a long process of recovery of Spanish 18th-century musical heritage that deserves to be disseminated, studied and enhanced. After more than two centuries of silence, Misón's music is heard again.

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Mison: The Five Sevillian Flute Sonatas / Ruibérriz de Torres
Brilliant Classics Jul 2023
CD
~~$13.99~~ $6.99

Festival - Classical Music in Switzerland

Sony Masterworks

$41.97 ~~$83.98~~ Save 50% Sep 07, 2018

Traditionally, Switzerland has an important and impressive heritage regarding festivals for classical music, among them the famous Lucerne Festival, rooting back to the so-called "Concert de Gala" in the gardens of Richard Wagner's villa at Tribschen in 1938 conducted by Arturo Toscanini. This release features the fascinating variety and the many facets of the classical festival scene in Switzerland. The selection of the works takes the importance of big names and well known works into account, but also presents modern or even avant-garde approaches or less well known chamber music works.

The world’s leading orchestras, conductors and soloists, outstanding concert venues like the KKL Culture and Convention Centre by the renowned architect Jean Nouvel in Lucerne, a breathtaking landscape: there are many reasons for falling in love with the Swiss music festivals. The Swiss festivals now draw more than 500,000 classical music enthusiasts to the shores of Lake Lucerne or the Verbier mountains every year. And the numbers of visitors is growing from year to year. With this release, you will understand why.

CONTENTS:

DISC 1:
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37
Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Roger Norrington, conductor

Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-Flat Major, K. 543
Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Le Cercle de L'Harmonie / Jérémie Rhorer, conductor

DISC 2:
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, "Jupiter"
Le Cercle de L'Harmonie / Jérémie Rhorer, conductor

DISC 3:
Elgar: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47
Schumann Quartett
CHAARTS Chamber Artists
Felix Froschhammer, concert master

Kancheli: Chiaroscuro for Violin and Orchestra
Sebastian Bohren, violin
CHAARTS Chamber Artists
Andreas Fleck, conductor

Schumann:
Dein Angesicht, Op. 127 No. 2
Lehn' deine Wang' an meine Wang', Op. 142 No. 2
Es leuchtet meine Liebe, Op. 127 No. 3
Mein Wagen rollet langsam, Op. 142 No. 4
Ian Bostridge, tenor
Saskia Giorgini, piano

Ralph Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge: V. Bredon Hill
Ian Bostridge, tenor
Casal Quartett

Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z. 629: O Let Me Weep
Regula Mühlemann, soprano
Robin Müller, violin
CHAARTS Chamber Artists

DISC 4:
Brahms: Piano Trio No.1, Op. 8
Jonian-Ilias Kadesha, violin
Vashti Hunter, cello
Joonas Ahonen, piano

Blum: Luzerner Kreisel
Silke Gäng, mezzo-soprano
Oliwia Grabowska, piano

Gesualdo: Madrigals, Libro 6: II. Beltà poi che t'assenti
Davos Festival Kammerchor

Dalbavie: Palimpseste für Flöte, Klarinette, Violine, Viola, Violoncello und Klavier
Àgnes Vass, flute
Joonas Ahonen, piano

Dickkopf: Paris
Davos Festival Männerchor

DISC 5:
Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61
Lily Francis, violin
Festival Orchestra / Willem de Bordes, conductor

Enescu: Romanian Rhapsodies, Op. 11: No. 1 in A Major
Jonian-Ilias Kadesha, violin
Festival Orchestra / Daniel Bard, concert master

DISC 6:
Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 5 in D Major, Op. 70 No. 1 "Ghost"
Candida Thompson, violin
Xenia Jankovic, cello
Paolo Giacometti, piano

Enescu: Octet in C Major, Op. 7
Daniel Bard, violin

DISC 7:
Bach: Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227
Britten: Hymn to St. Caecilia
Gabrieli Consort & Players
Paul McCreesh, conductor

DISC 8:
Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
Elgar: They Are at Rest
Gabrieli Consort & Players
Paul McCreesh, conductor

DISC 9:
Haydn: Symphony No. 6 in D Major, Hob. I:6 "Le Matin"
CHAARTS Chamber Artists
Gregory Ahss, concert master

Sollima: Fecit Neap 17
Giovanni Sollima, cello
CHAARTS Chamber Artists
Gregory Ahss, concert master

Schönberg: Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4
Felix Froschhammer, violin
Gregory Ahss, violin
Lawrence Power, viola
Razvan Popovici, viola
Maximilian Hornung, cello
Andreas Fleck, cello

DISC 10:
Webern: Sechs Stücke für großes Orchester, Op. 6
Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy / Susanna Mälkki, conductor

Neuwirth: Trurliade - Zone Zero
Victor Hanna, percussion
Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy / Susanna Mälkki, conductor

Rihm: Gruss-Moment für Pierre Boulez
Ligeti: San Francisco Polyphony
Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy / Matthias Pintscher, conductor

DISC 11:
Shostakovich: From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79
Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op 40
Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19
Bloch: From Jewish Life, IEB 6
Sol Gabetta, violin
Bertrand Chamayou, piano

DISC 12:
Mahler: Symphony No. 5
UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra / James Levine, conductor

DISC 13:
Bach: Concerto for 4 Keyboards in A Minor, BWV 1065
Martha Argerich, piano
Evgeny Kissin, piano
James Levine, piano
Mikhail Pletnev, piano

Haydn: Symphony No. 88 in G Major, Hob. I:88
Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra / András Schiff, conductor

Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19
Lynn Harrell, cello
Yuja Wang, piano

Ysaye: Sonata for 2 Violins in A Minor, Op. posth.
Joshua Bell, violin
Leonidas Kavakos, violin

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Festival - Classical Music in Switzerland
Sony Masterworks Sep 2018
CD
~~$83.98~~ $41.97

World Orchestra For Peace - Valery Gergiev At The Abu Dhabi Festival

C Major Entertainment

DVD

$26.99 Aug 30, 2011

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5. ROSSINI William Tell: Overture. PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, “Classical” • Valery Gergiev, cond; World O for Peace • C MAJOR 707008 (DVD: 104:00) Live: Abu Dhabi 1/4/2011

& SOLTI’S VISION—THE WORLD ORCHESTRA FOR PEACE: THE FIRST 15 YEARS 1995–2010

The World Orchestra for Peace was founded by Sir Georg Solti in 1995, incorporating players from around the globe. Solti’s successor as its conductor is Valery Gergiev, who leads the present concert at the Abu Dhabi Festival, the orchestra’s first appearance in the Arab world. The DVD contains a pleasant bonus feature about the history of the orchestra and its workings. One thing that this documentary makes clear is the affection between Gergiev and his players. With what essentially is a pick-up orchestra, Gergiev hones an ensemble of beauty and refinement, with a powerful sonority. I concur with the audience in Abu Dhabi; this concert is a resounding success.

The William Tell Overture receives beautiful playing from the solo cello, flute, and English horn, plus an incisive response by the trombone choir. The interpretation is unhackneyed—one hears Gergiev’s skill as an opera conductor in setting an atmosphere. His hands flutter to create tension. The Lone Ranger music possesses a fine edge and is very exciting; I couldn’t help but conduct along with it. Gergiev takes the first three movements of the “Classical” Symphony at a leisurely pace. He begins the first movement by making circles with his right hand, suggesting the long line of the music. Gergiev’s gestures remind me of a remark Leonard Bernstein made to Glenn Dicterow: “I’m not a time beater. I’m an inspirer.” The solo bassoon in this movement is suitably puckish. The second movement here reveals the strongest influence of Haydn, with exquisite playing. The Gavotte in Gergiev’s hands is like a slow, heavy-footed Russian dance. Gergiev’s tempo for the finale is quick but not breathless. In the witty exchanges between orchestral choirs, the 20th century greets the 18th.

In Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, Gergiev molds the rich sound of the orchestra with the curve of his arms. I heard Gergiev say in an interview with Gilbert Kaplan that Furtwängler is one of his idols, which helps explain the never-capricious freedom of tempo in this performance. The opening clarinet solo is dark and mellifluous. Inexorable fate dominates Gergiev’s conception of the first movement. Nothing is sugary here. Its coda has an unusually slow, slightly menacing tempo. The horn solo that opens the second movement is dusky and dreamlike. In the darkness and heaviness of this movement, the conductor provides a foretaste of Shostakovich’s slow movements. Gergiev here gets the maximum expressiveness out of his body, perhaps wishing he could do even more. He doesn’t signal an end to the slow movement, just letting it fade away. The waltz offers a nervous respite from the previous movement. The finale is not march-like or triumphal. Gergiev paints it on a huge canvas, even down to beautiful tuba playing. The final peroration seems Byronic in its suggestion of despairing heroism. In sum, this is an individual and striking Tchaikovsky Fifth, gorgeously played.

In the encore, Johann Strauss Jr.’s Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, the orchestra creates a completely different atmosphere, echt Viennese. The violin playing is especially lithe and sparkling. The sound engineering in stereo is very good, with just a hint of congestion in climaxes. I was unable to try out the surround-sound option. The director does a fine job, alternating not overbearing views of Gergiev with sensitively judged close-ups of the orchestra’s players. I enjoyed just listening to the DVD’s sound while lying down as much as I did viewing its picture. If you are looking for CDs of the primary works, I would recommend Sir Colin Davis for the Rossini, Masur and the London Philharmonic or Rostropovich in the Prokofiev, and in the Tchaikovsky Antal Doráti and the London Symphony or Leonard Bernstein on Deutsche Grammophon. Gergiev really presents a seminar on the conductor’s art on this DVD. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see how a major artist achieves his results.

FANFARE: Dave Saemann

------

Gioacchino Rossini: Guillaume Tell: Overture
Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25, “Classical”
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
Johann Strauss II: Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Op. 214

World Orchestra for Peace
Valery Gergiev, conductor

Recorded live from the Abu Dhabi Festival, 2011.

Bonus:
- Solti’s Vision: The World Orchestra for Peace – The First 15 Years 1995–2010.

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German
Running time: 83 mins (concert) + 21 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

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World Orchestra For Peace - Valery Gergiev At The Abu Dhabi Festival
C Major Entertainment Aug 2011
DVD
$26.99

Le nozze di Figaro

C Major Entertainment

DVD

$51.99 Nov 07, 2025

Barrie Kosky, one of the most innovative opera directors of our time, creates a new interpretation of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera with a very young ensemble: Andre Schuen and Hanna-Elisabeth Muller in the roles of Count and Countess Almaviva, Peter Kellner as Figaro, Patricia Nolz as Cherubino. Susanna's role is interpreted by both Ying Fang (acting) and Maria Nazarova (singing), as Ying Fang could not sing due to a vocal cord illness. Philippe Jordan conducts the Orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper and together they "deliver an ideal mixture of elegant lyricism and concentrated expression - each and every one" (Wiener Zeitung) // "Beauty and pointedness are combined in the noblest way. " (Der Standard) // "A triumph of Barrie Kosky's directorial brilliance - hilarious yet deeply engaging and thought-provoking. " (klassik-begeistert. De)

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Le nozze di Figaro
C Major Entertainment Nov 2025
DVD
$51.99

Dupré: Organ Music / Alessandro Perin

Brilliant Classics

$10.99 ~~$13.99~~ Save 20% Apr 23, 2021

The output of Marcel Dupré (1886-1971) is so vast and various that only scholars and fellow organists can expect to grasp its scale. Most listeners require a discerning ear to pull out some of the many highlights. The Italian organist Alessandro Perin has done so here, without confining himself to Dupré’s ‘greatest hits’, the characteristic pile-ups of chorale harmonies and torrents of semiquavers in toccatas and variations that find their natural home on the instruments of Cavaille-Coll as an apotheosis of the French Gothic organ style. Instead, Perin’s selection is more diverse. It begins with the Suite Op.39: four pieces originally written as part of a collection of 12 Studies, though they bear no trace of didacticism. Rather, there is a Lisztian quality of invention to their virtuosity, from the glittering cascades of the opening Allegro agitato to the driving counterpoint of the finale. The four settings of the Ave maris stella chant are progressively more ornate, from a simple statement of the chant over a walking bass, through an intricate Bachian chorale prelude, to a final, brilliant toccata. The ‘old Christmas carol’ featured in Op.20 variations is known in English as Now the green blade riseth: in one of his most justly celebrated works, Dupré treats the theme to a dazzling array of transformations, stretching the organist’s technique to the limit. At the height of the Second World War, Dupré composed the Evocation in memory of his father, and gave its first performance at the Cathedral in Rouen in 1941. Exactly what is being evoked is left to the listener to decide, though only the tender second-movement elegy casts its gaze back with fondness; the strident progress of the first movement seems to reflect the troubled times, and the finale has its own struggles to overcome in a final blaze of C major triumph.

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Dupré: Organ Music / Alessandro Perin
Brilliant Classics Apr 2021
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The Original Three Tenors - In Concert, Rome 1990 / Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti, Mehta [Blu-ray]

C Major Entertainment

Blu-Ray

$17.99 ~~$35.99~~ Save 50% Sep 24, 2021

This very special release includes the legendary concert of the Original Three Tenors - José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, conducted by Zubin Mehta at the Terme di Caracalla, Rome 1990 on the eve of the Football World Cup in Italy, watched by 1.6 billion spectators worldwide. For the first time available on Blu-ray, digitally remastered! This edition includes the new documentary The Three Tenors - From Caracalla to the World featuring recent interviews with José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Zubin Mehta, Pavarotti‘s widow Nicoletta Mantovani, Lalo Shifrin, Brian Large, Mario Dradi, Paul Potts, Sir Bryn Terfel, Norman Lebrecht, Didier de Cottignies and many more. Previously unpublished backstage material shows the tenors unadorned and offers a fascinating insight into what takes place beyond the spotlight in Rome, 1990 and the sequel in Los Angeles, 1994. The film takes a completely new look at the concert legends. For the first time, they talk about José Carreras‘ struggles with leukemia, their rivalries and friendships, their spectacular contract poker and life as an opera star.

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The Original Three Tenors - In Concert, Rome 1990 / Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti, Mehta [Blu-ray]
C Major Entertainment Sep 2021
Blu-Ray
~~$35.99~~ $17.99

'La Sophie' - Popular Harpsichord Music / Sophie Yates

Chandos

$21.99 Aug 01, 1996

Recorded in: St Bartholemew's Church, Orford, Suffolk 11-13 December 1995 Producer(s) Gary Cole Sound Engineer(s) Gary Cole Richard Smoker (Assistant)

REVIEW

Yates shows lots of vivacity as well as the crisp neatness we have come to expect of her. The finale of the Italian Concerto, for example, simply bubbles with joyousness, as does the exuberant bravura A major Sonata by Scarlatti. She is admirably precise in the Rameau gavotte and variations, direct and simple in Le coucou, brings real brio to the Courante of the Handel suite (she treats its Allemande rather freely); her performance of the unusually shaped C major Sonata by Scarlatti – a quiet pastoral followed by rural bagpiping and then noisy revelry – is excellent. But to me one of the highlights of her recital is Duphly’s superb melancholy rondeau: I have heard it played with greater gravitas, but it is entirely convincing in her hands; and the much-employed low register of her Goujon-type harpsichord sounds very fine.

--Gramophone

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'La Sophie' - Popular Harpsichord Music / Sophie Yates
Chandos Aug 1996
CD
$21.99

Mozart: 45 Symphonies / Adam Fischer, Danish National Chamber Orchestra

Dacapo Classical

$53.99 Jan 28, 2014

MOZART Symphonies Nos. 1, 4–31, 33–36, 39–41. Symphonies, K 19a, 42a, 45a–b, 73l–n, 73q, 111b • Ádám Fischer, cond; Danish Natl CO • DACAPO 8.201201 (12 CDs: 716:42)

I mentioned in my review of a single disc from this series, which included symphonies Nos. 28–30 (Fanfare 34:4), that I didn’t think that Ádám Fischer’s performances captured “Mozart’s drama as well as they capture his elegance,” but added the caveat that it’s difficult to gauge an entire series of symphonies by one CD. Alas, in later reviewing the disc including symphonies Nos. 31, 33, and 34, I had the opposite feeling, that Fischer was making a “race to the finish line” and playing the symphonies too quickly. Now, as it so happened, I reviewed those two discs about two years apart, and so did not have the first still on hand to compare to the second, or to think about the differences in approach. But now I have the full set of 45 symphonies to review, and my feelings have changed. Now I am inclined to agree with Patrick Rucker, who gave a rave review to the single disc of symphonies Nos. 15–18 in Fanfare 31:1 (a disc reviewed, I believe, before I joined the magazine staff), stating that he was “grasping for superlatives.”

The difference? Listening to the entire series in chronological sequence. By doing so, I noted that, despite an overall theatrical approach to these symphonies (in the liner notes, Fischer admits that he tends to think of orchestral music “operatically,” i.e., finding a dramatic theme or thread in the music that he then tries to bring out), he does make distinctions between the earlier and the later symphonies. Reducing his approach to a few basics, he plays the earlier symphonies with equal drama and electricity but with far fewer changes in dynamics and fewer rubato touches. In addition, I was able to download the scores of four of the symphonies—two of the most famous late works (40 and 41) and two early symphonies (Nos. 5 and 15, chosen pretty much at random)—and although these are not up-to-date, verified, Urtext scores like the ones Fischer worked from, they do include dynamics markings. And, as any number of conductors of the past have mentioned, they do not tell you what to do between the forte here and the piano four or six bars later (or vice versa). You are expected to follow your own good taste in approaching them.

Perhaps another deciding factor for me was in hearing Philippe Herreweghe’s more dynamic performances of symphonies Nos. 39 and 41 and, believe it or not, Bruno Walter’s historic performances of symphonies Nos. 39–41. Despite Walter’s slower tempos (and richer string sound), he actually elicited much more nuance and detail from those symphonies than did Jaap ter Linden, whose set I gave a good review to and suggested at the time that it was a fine historically-informed set of the Mozart symphonies. But, to be honest, what really sold me on Fischer’s approach were his performances of the early, lesser-known, oft-neglected, and unnumbered symphonies. Each and every one of them sounded as if it was just bursting with excitement, yet not too much that it overpowered the music on the printed page.

Moreover, what struck me in the single disc of symphonies 31, 33 and 34 as too fast now, suddenly, made sense in context. And, for the several Toscanini-bashers out there, I found it almost comical to note that Fischer takes the Finale of the “Jupiter” Symphony at virtually the same tempo that they consider “too fast.” The difference, of course, is that musicians of the 1940s and 50s weren’t used to playing Mozart this swiftly, and so they tended to sound pressed, whereas Fischer’s Danish National Chamber Orchestra skips through the music deftly and nimbly, like snow rabbits dashing across the landscape. It’s the comfort level of the executants that makes the difference, then, not the “wrong” tempo.

A good example of Fischer’s approach is CD 3, where he presents no less that four symphonies in a row that are all in the key of D Major (K 73l, m, n, and q). It would have been very easy for him, and the orchestra, to simply slip into an all-purpose style for these works, which of course would make them sound pretty much the same, yet he continually varies his approach from work to work. I do, however, caution the listener to approach this set one CD at a time. That is what I did, listening on consecutive nights to only one CD per evening, and it worked out pretty well. You get a better feel for the magnitude of Fischer’s achievement that way, and you are being fairer to both him and the Danish orchestra, whose players helped prod him on to take chances with the music and do things differently from the norm. After all, this was a seven-year project for them. These symphonies did not just get all rehearsed and recorded within a year or two.

I should also point out the work that went into Symphony No. 15, one of the four I obtained scores of. In the notes, Fischer asserts that if this work had not been by Mozart, who wrote so many symphonies and so many of good quality, it would probably be a much better known work, possibly a repertoire staple. Just reading the score, the music does look promising but certainly not brilliant. The first movement, for instance, is in a quick 3/4 time, featuring a jagged melody with the usual wide-ranging melodic leaps. From the first bar, the dynamics marking is forte, which changes to piano at bar 13, then back to forte at bar 22, piano again at bar 25, forte on the first beat of bar 30 with a sudden fp on the second beat (a half note played by the oboes, trumpets, and first violins, while the second violins play 16ths and the violas, cellos, and basses play eighth notes). It’s all pretty cut-and-dry, you might say, and this is how most conductors play it. Fischer adds a little burst of extra volume at the top of bar 5, when the agitated strings play against long-held notes by oboes and trumpets, and there are all sorts of little gradations of sound in various places, including slight crescendos to emphasize the musical drama. More interestingly, none of this sounds particularly fussy; if you didn’t have the score in front of you, or if you hadn’t heard any number of flat-response historically-informed performances, you’d think that this is simply the way the music goes. Toscanini once said it isn’t the f here or the p there that’s difficult to gauge, but what to do in between. Sadly, Toscanini paid little attention to most of Mozart’s symphonies because, except for the last three, he found most of them boring: “Is always beautiful, but always the same!” In Fischer’s performances, nothing is “always the same.” In the Andante of this Symphony, for instance, there are no dynamics markings at all, yet Fischer plays it at a moderate mp with further gradations down to p or pp and back again. By such means does he create and sustain interest.

The notes also explain the reason why the music sounds so vibrant and alive: His string players all use steel strings, which gives the music a consistently “edgy” quality that reveals, as Fischer put it, Mozart’s “earthily honest side.” The more you think about it, the more this makes sense, since Mozart was strongly influenced by both Haydn and C. P. E. Bach, both of whom exploited an earthy, dramatic quality in their symphonies.

Probably the most difficult aspect of the earlier symphonies to overcome was the monotony of orchestration. Clarinets, horns, and other instruments only begin to appear in Mozart’s symphonies later on; earlier, the composer had to rely on his ingenuity of counter-rhythms and occasional harmonic changes to sustain interest, and unlike Haydn, Mozart almost invariably sought the widest possible popularity for his music (perhaps one of the reasons why Toscanini found it “always the same”). Yet, as the notes also point out, in Mozart’s day no one bothered to listen to music more than three years old as a rule. It was all about what was new, not what had come before. No one gave a hoot back then about “historical performance practice” because they didn’t want it and wouldn’t have listened if you gave it to them.

I still feel that occasional movements, such as the Andantes of the “Paris” Symphony and No. 39, are a shade too fast for my taste, but in the context of Fischer’s overall musical conception what he plays works very well. I can now accept what I hear in those later symphonies because my tolerance was built up through what he did with the numerous early works. In short, I have taken this symphonic journey with Fischer, the only difference being that I did it in 12 nights rather than in seven years.

I have now replaced the Jaap ter Linden set of Mozart symphonies on my shelf with this one. I strongly urge you to give them a listen and see if you don’t agree.

FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

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Mozart: 45 Symphonies / Adam Fischer, Danish National Chamber Orchestra
Dacapo Classical Jan 2014
CD
$53.99

Balakirev: Complete Works for Solo Piano / Walker

Grand Piano

$51.99 Sep 10, 2021

These recordings of Balakirev’s complete solo piano works by the much-lauded pianist Nicholas Walker have been hailed as ‘the reference set’ by the American Record Guide. Originally released between 2013 and 2020, these critically acclaimed performances are now collected together for the first time in a 6 album box set. Includes world premiere recordings. Hailed by the London Evening Standard as a 'prodigy, of awesome technical fluency backed by exceptional artistry', Nicholas Walker possesses a rare combination of talents combining sensitivity with 'the flair of a full scale virtuoso and a sparkling intelligence' (BBC Music Magazine). Nicholas Walker teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he devised the celebrated keyboard skills course, the advanced level of which not only helps students to be proficient in all aspects of practical musicianship, but offers them the chance to learn how to improvise in various forms, such as minuets, variations, sonatinas and Mozart-type cadenzas, in addition to devising and performing a virtuoso transcription of their own.

CONTENTS:

Balakirev: Piano Sonata in B flat minor
Balakirev: Piano Sonata No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 5
Balakirev: Piano Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 3 'Grand Sonata'
Balakirev: Waltz No. 1 in G - Valse di Bravura
Balakirev: Nocturne No. 1 in B flat minor
Balakirev: Waltz No. 2 in F minor
Balakirev: Waltz No. 3 in D - Valse Impromptu
Balakirev: Nocturne No. 2 in B minor
Balakirev: Waltz No.4 in B flat
Balakirev: Nocturne No. 3 in D minor
Balakirev: Waltz No. 5 in D flat major
Balakirev: Nocturne in G sharp minor (early version of Nocturne No. 1)
Balakirev: Fantasiestuck
Balakirev: Chant du pêcheur
Balakirev: Waltz No. 7 in G sharp minor
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 1 in A Flat
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 2 in C sharp minor
Balakirev: Sonatina (Esquisses) in G
Balakirev: Berceuse
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 3 in B minor
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 4 in G flat minor
Balakirev: Dumka
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 5 in D
Balakirev: Rêverie in F major
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 6 in A Flat
Balakirev: Piece in F sharp minor
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 7 in E flat minor
Balakirev: Capriccio
Balakirev: Scherzo No. 1 in B minor
Balakirev: Novelette
Balakirev: Pustinya
Balakirev: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor
Balakirev: Fandango-Etude
Balakirev: Spanish Serenade
Balakirev: Caprice Brilliant Sur La Jota Aragonesa
Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25: La fuite en Egypte - Overture
Balakirev: Scherzo No. 3 for Piano in F sharp major
Balakirev: Spanish Melody
Taneyev, S: Valse-Caprice No. 1 in A flat
Taneyev, S: Valse-Caprice No. 2 in D flat major
Glinka: Ivan Susanin (A Life for the Tsar): Overture
Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila: Chernamor's March
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Romanza (transc Balakirev)
Balakirev: Impromptu on the themes of two Preludes by Chopin
Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31
Liszt: Mazurka brillante, S221
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2: Allegretto
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130: Cavatina
Balakirev: Gondellied
Balakirev: Tarantelle in B
Balakirev: Polonaise Brillante
Balakirev: La fileuse
Balakirev: Au Jardin
Glinka: Kamarinskaya
Balakirev: Symphonic Poem 'Tamara'
Balakirev: Polka in F sharp minor
Balakirev: Elegy on the Death of a Mosquito
Balakirev: La Danse De Sorcières (Witches Dance)
Glinka: Ne Govori: Lyubov' Proydyot (Do Not Say: Love Passes Away)
Balakirev: Tyrolienne
Zapol'sky: Reverie
Balakirev: Toccata
Balakirev: The Lark
Balakirev: Islamey - Oriental Fantasy

Past praise of previously released volumes included in this set:

Balakirev: Complete Piano Works Vol 1

Walker presents the works in reverse chronological order, thereby giving us the best and best-known work first. It is a masterly performance, fully on a par with or exceeding ones I have reviewed in recent years: Hinrose (Mirare 181, Nov/Dec 2012), Driver (Hyperion 67806, July/Aug 2011), and Hellaby (Cameo 2081, Sept/Oct 2009). Besides Kentner’s great recording (Naxos 111223, not available in US), I also enjoy Earl Wild’s (Ivory 73005, May/June 2004). Walker finds inner voices and emphasizes some different aspects of the harmony and form, making for a new and well thought out interpretation. He has the full technical capability to handle all of the demands of this score

– American Record Guide

Balakirev: Complete Piano Works Vol 3

This third volume of Balakirev’s complete piano works is built around his seven Mazurkas, joyous and colourful pieces with an unmistakable Slavic tone. This series continues to establish Walker as the new reference for Balakirev’s music.

– Musiq3

Balakirev: Complete Piano Works Vol 5

This one is particularly fascinating for transcription junkies, beginning with the spectacular (and spectacularly difficult) Reminiscences on Glinka’s A Life for the Czar, famous from Earl Wild’s 1969 recording. Walker is quite his equal—and that is saying something—and is also beautifully recorded in a realistic, sympathetic acoustic. Indeed, Walker’s playing throughout this absorbing disc is a pleasure to hear, with a sophisticated tonal palette and eschewing any superficial virtuosity: ‘bravura with integrity’ is how I would describe it. Why don’t we hear more of him?

–Gramophone

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Balakirev: Complete Works for Solo Piano / Walker
Grand Piano Sep 2021
CD
$51.99

ELISABETH JACQUET DE LA GUERRE: JUDITH & SEMELE

EVIDENCE CLASSICS

$20.17 Dec 30, 2022

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre was a virtuoso harpsichordist, as well as the author of many pioneering works. She left an abundant output of cantatas, both secular and sacred. Here the soprano Mailys de Villoutreys, Heloise Gaillard and her Ensemble Amarillis pay tribute to her with the cantatas Judith and Semele, inspired by two women who embody virtue and courage on the one hand, temerity and pride on the other. Whether intimate or more operatic, both works highlight the composer's innate sense of drama. This recording also includes some of her instrumental works. The Suite in G major, from her Pieces de clavecin of 1707, is a pioneering work, representing the new genre of accompanied harpsichord music. Her Trio Sonata No.4, in a totally new instrumentation, shows the influence of Corelli, while the art of ornamentation in this, one of her finest achievements, is purely French.

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ELISABETH JACQUET DE LA GUERRE: JUDITH & SEMELE
EVIDENCE CLASSICS Dec 2022
CD
$20.17

Bach: Italian Concerto; French Overture; 4 Duets; Aria & 10 Variations In Italian Style

Piano Classics

$21.99 May 26, 2015

The second album in Yuan Sheng's complete survey of Bach's keyboard works bring together two major masterpieces, the much loved Italian Concerto and the substantial French overture, one of the most monumental and deeply searching Suites by Bach, in the tragic key of B minor. As a complement Sheng presents the 4 Duets and the delightful Aria and 10 variations in Italian Style. Yuan Sheng is one of the foremost pianists of China, his international career brings him to all continents. Equally at home on period instruments and the modern piano he has a keen ear for style. His Chopin 3 CD set (PCL0049) for Piano Classics received excellent reviews, as did his Goldberg Variations (PCL0042): "Unfailing intuition for the right balance. Fascinating" (Piano News), "Every nuance filled with colour and expression" (The Classical Music Guide), "models of clarity, balance and proportions" (New York Times).

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Bach: Italian Concerto; French Overture; 4 Duets; Aria & 10 Variations In Italian Style
Piano Classics May 2015
CD
$21.99

Charles Gounod: Faust

C Major Entertainment

Blu-Ray

$45.99 Feb 20, 2026

In occasion of it's 200th season opening, Teatro Real presents a spectacular new production of Gounod's Faust, directed by Àlex Ollé (La Fura dels Baus). Set in a futuristic laboratory, Goethe's timeless themes of knowledge, desire, and redemption are reimagined through the lens of artificial intelligence and human emotion. Star singers including Piotr Beczala, Marina Rebeka, and Luca Pisaroni lead the cast in this gripping drama. Under the baton of Dan Ettinger, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Real deliver a thrilling performance that, as Bachtrack wrote, "takes it's cue from Goethe but doesn't shy away from theatrical imagination." // "Beczala's voice was brilliant, dark and even powerful with ringing high notes as he proved with his ringing high C in Salut demeure chaste et pure." (Operawire)

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Charles Gounod: Faust
C Major Entertainment Feb 2026
Blu-Ray
$45.99

Idil Biret - Best of Mozart

Idil Biret Archive

$45.99 Nov 28, 2025

Idil Biret who arrived in Paris at the age of seven and a half, unable to read music but playing Mozart's C major concerto as she will never play better. It was played by a great artist who happened to be a little girl who could not read music. One played her a piece of music once or twice and she knew it all. (Nadia Boulanger, Paris 1973)

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Idil Biret - Best of Mozart
Idil Biret Archive Nov 2025
CD
$45.99

Legendary Treasures - Michael Rabin Collection Vol 3 - Violin Concertos

Doremi

$20.99 Mar 09, 2010

Creston:
Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 78
(World Premiere) November 17, 1960
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti
Engel, Carl:
Sea-Shell
arr. Zimbalist. Australian tour, Sydney Town Hall. July 1952
Glazunov:
Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 82
March 3, 1968
Radio-Orchester Beromester, Zurich, Erich Schmid
Godowsky:
Triakontameron No. 11 'Alt Wien'
arr. Heifetz
Kreisler:
Tambourin Chinois, Op. 3
Mendelssohn:
Song without Words, Op. 19b No. 1 in E major 'Sweet Remembrance'
arr. Heifetz. Australian tour, Sydney Town Hall. July 1952
Mozart:
Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K218
February 9, 1960
The Denver Symphony Orchestra, Saul Caston
Paganini:
Caprice for solo violin, Op. 1 No. 9 in E major 'The Hunt'
January 20, 1970, New York WQXR Radio (The listening room)
The Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra, Donald Voorhees
Caprice for solo violin, Op. 1 No. 21 in A major
Caprice for solo violin, Op. 1 No. 11 in C major
Caprice for solo violin, Op. 1 No. 16 in G minor
Prokofiev:
The Love for Three Oranges: March
arr. Heifetz. Australian tour, Sydney Town Hall. July 1952
Ravel:
Tzigane
Saint-Saëns:
Etude en forme de valse Op. 52 No. 6

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Legendary Treasures - Michael Rabin Collection Vol 3 - Violin Concertos
Doremi Mar 2010
CD
$20.99

Anton Rubinstein: Symphony No. 2, "Ocean" - Ballet Music fr

Delos

$18.99 Apr 24, 2012

... a work written by a young, ebullient, but quite mature talent, and distinguished, beyond it's broad scope and youthful freshness, by a remarkably unified conception. Thus did Russian master P.I. Tchaikovsky describe the long-neglected "Ocean" Symphony (Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 42 - Original Version) by Anton Rubinstein, his composition teacher at (and the founder of) the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His "Ocean" symphony is a bold and highly original programmatic work that convincingly evokes the struggle of man against the elemental forces that rule the seas. Echoes of composers like Mendelssohn and Schumann are heard in the work, no doubt the result of Rubinstein's European training and exposure - yet there remains a certain Russian pathos and earthiness. Also heard here is a colorful suite of dances from Rubinstein's oriental-flavored opera, Feramors. Igor Golovschin and his Russian State Symphony Orchestra provide skillful and idiomatically true performances.

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Anton Rubinstein: Symphony No. 2, "Ocean" - Ballet Music fr
Delos Apr 2012
CD
$18.99

Charles Gounod: Faust

C Major Entertainment

DVD

$51.99 Feb 20, 2026

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Charles Gounod: Faust
C Major Entertainment Feb 2026
DVD
$51.99