Search results: Search results

17 results

Products

Sommerro: Borders / Davies, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra

Blu-Ray with SACD

$37.99 Oct 20, 2023

Using a deep time perspective composer Henning Sommerro chooses themes from myths and from European history. Three works for soloist and orchestra and three visions encounter resistance before they struggle forward to possible redemption and resolution. The first work is Solkverv. The skald Sigvat Tordsson is on his way to the eternal city. It is just before the summer solstice, and the skald has time to reflect about important issues in his life and times – and to think about who to include in his visions. We are enticed further to Ostara, and the mysterious spring goddess of the same name.

A lot is at stake as the vernal equinox approaches. A matter of one step forward and two back. Under the ground bilateral lines of communication are busy signalling spring ... or are they? The sense of seriousness is heightened, and the last work gives the album’s title extra gravity. In Borders we move to our own time. The year is 2016, and our world picture is shaken by a stream of refugees the like of which Europe has not seen since the Second World War. Accusations across countries’ borders proliferate. It is the others who are responsible for taking in refugees, and hopes for a united response are collapsing. Who dares acknowledge and respond to the alarming roar of the work’s opening?

View Full Page

Sommerro: Borders / Davies, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra
2L Oct 2023
Blu-Ray with SACD
$37.99

Sommer: Orchestral Songs / Erdmann, Appl, Calvo, Berlin Radio Symphony

PENTATONE

$19.99 Nov 04, 2022

Pentatone presents a new album full of world-premiere recordings of orchestral songs by Hans Sommer, sung by an excellent quartet of soloists – Mojca Erdmann, Anke Vondung, Mauro Peter and Benjamin Appl – together with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the baton of Guillermo García Calvo. Sommer was a Liszt student whose operas were performed and praised by Richard Strauss, but sunk into relative oblivion due to his unusual career path and independence from major publishers. The songs were discovered recently and can finally be presented to the world.

Focusing mostly on Goethe poetry, combining high Romanticism with folk styles, Sommer’s songs are colorfully orchestrated, harmonically audacious, and often highly dramatic and evocative. This album release, commemorating Sommer’s 100-year death anniversary, sheds light on a fascinating chapter in music history, and will hopefully contribute to a renaissance of this unsung hero. The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin has a vast Pentatone discography, including Wagner’s complete operas, symphonic works by Mahler and Strauss, as well as multiple concerto recordings with renowned soloists. Mojca Erdmann, Anke Vondung, Mauro Peter, Benjamin Appl and Guillermo García Calvo all make their Pentatone debut.

View Full Page

Sommer: Orchestral Songs / Erdmann, Appl, Calvo, Berlin Radio Symphony
PENTATONE Nov 2022
CD
$19.99

Mahler: Symphony No. 1. - Webern: Im Sommerwind

SWR

$20.99 Mar 27, 2012

Introducing François-Xavier Roth - the charismatic new Principal Conductor of the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden and Freiburg in his debut recording as part of the SWRmusic/haenssler CLASSIC collaboration that has produced so many critically acclaimed recordings. This beautiful program features two Late Romantic paeans to nature: Mahler's popular First Symphony and Anton Webern's early, lushly scored tone poem, "Im Sommerwind".

View Full Page

Mahler: Symphony No. 1. - Webern: Im Sommerwind
SWR Mar 2012
CD
$20.99

SCHWEIZERSOMMER
INTAKT RECORDS Apr 2011
CD
$18.35

SOMIT

INTAKT RECORDS

$18.35 Mar 19, 2021

Following their acclaimed 2018 debut album, the band Punkt. Vrt. Plastik, which brings together Kaja Draksler, Petter Elch and Christian Lillinger, three of the most exciting, profound and versatile musicians on the European jazz scene, presents another stroke of genius. With somit they take their urgent ensemble playing to new heights, creating a highly individual sound aesthetic with unusual instrumentation (Kaja Draksler plays two different upright pianos) and sophisticated post-production, culminating in a deceptive puzzle of acoustic and manipulated sounds. "Punkt. Vrt. Plastik have an amazing sound and a unique vision," writes Alexander Hawkins in the liner notes.

View Full Page

SOMIT
INTAKT RECORDS Mar 2021
CD
$18.35

SUMMERTEETH

RHINO

$48.44 Nov 06, 2020

Four CDs. Deluxe edition. Wilco's third album, Summerteeth, arrived in March 1999 to glowing reviews for it's daring arrangements, lush harmonies and revealing lyrics. Summerteeth: Deluxe Edition includes a Bob Ludwig 2020 remastered version of the original album along with an entire disc of unreleased studio outtakes, alternate versions and demos that chart the making of the album from songwriting demos to alternate studio arrangements to finished masters. The two remaining discs feature a previously unissued live show. The concert took place late in the Summerteeth tour, on November 1, 1999 in Colorado at The Boulder Theatre, when the new songs had been road-tested and the band was in top form. Sourced from an uncirculated soundboard recording, it features band members Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Ken Coomer and Jay Bennett. Most of the songs on Summerteeth were performed during the show, along with several tracks from the band's two previous records, Being There (1996) and A.M. (1995), as well as Mermaid Avenue (1999).

View Full Page

SUMMERTEETH
RHINO Nov 2020
CD
$48.44

SOMMERNACHTSKONZERT 2025 / SUMMER NIGHT CONCERT

SONY CLASSICS

DVD

$15.99 Aug 29, 2025

The Summer Night Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic is the world's biggest annual classical open-air concert that takes place in the magical setting of the Schonbrunn Palace Baroque park in Vienna. This year marks the first time that Maestro Tugan Sokhiev will conduct the Summer Night Concert. The vocal soloist is world-renowned tenor Piotr Beczala, who will perform three iconic arias from: Georges Bizet's Carmen, Giacomo Puccini's Turandot and Emmerich Kalman's Grafin Mariza. With this open-air concert in Schonbrunn, the Vienna Philharmonic wishes to provide all Viennese, as well as visitors to the city, with a special musical experience in the impressive setting of Schonbrunn Palace and it's beautiful baroque gardens, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. Since 2004 the Vienna Philharmonic has provided an outstanding experience for the audience. The focus of this year's program is on well-known melodies from opera and operetta that lead us on a musical journey through various European landscapes und milieus.

View Full Page

SOMMERNACHTSKONZERT 2025 / SUMMER NIGHT CONCERT
SONY CLASSICS Aug 2025
DVD
$15.99

Orff: Ein Sommernachtstraum / Von Gehren, Andechser Orff-Akademie Des Munchner RO

CPO

$36.99 Jul 26, 2011

ORFF Ein Sommernachtstraum • Christian von Gehren, cond; actors; Andechs Fest Ch; Munich Youth O; Munich Radio O Andechs ORFF Academy • CPO 777 657 (146:09) Live: Andechs 7/28–30/2010

Carl Orff’s incidental music for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream grew out of the desire of the National Socialists—generally, but here specifically Frankfurt’s anti-Semitic Lord Mayor Friedrich Krebs—to produce an appropriately Aryan accompaniment to the play as replacement for the now inconveniently “Jewish” musical additions of Felix Mendelssohn. Orff, even as his scenic cantata Carmina burana was gaining popular acclaim in the new Germany, was concerned with his politically dubious reputation as a modernist and consorter with leftists during the Weimar years. So he took the commission despite warnings from his pragmatic publisher that he would never be able to “dispatch Mendelssohn.” In fairness, his interest in the Elizabethan comedy was real; he had been working on such incidental music since 1917. No doubt he also found the sizable advance attractive. But what had been politically expedient in 1938—he prospered during the Third Reich—was to haunt him after the war, however facile his explanations, and at the least diminishes any pleasure one might have in hearing what he has to offer.

Or maybe not. The audience certainly seems to enjoy this production from the 2010 Orff in Andechs Festival. It will be rougher going for anyone lacking fluent German. Though the story is well known, and the alert listener will be able to figure out what is happening some of the time, there is no text, translation, or synopsis, a serious failing shared with cpo’s other recording from this festival, the Orff/Monteverdi Orpheus . My admiration goes out to anyone who, textless, can happily attend for more than two hours and 20 minutes to heavily edited Shakespeare in German, with attractively dreamlike but inconsequential and repetitive music cues that cannot even be appreciated in context of the words they are to amplify.

Cynicism aside, one is left wondering what Orff did to earn his substantial commission. Many of the handful of independent pieces are adaptations of other compositions: The prelude is from Carmina burana (“Si puer cum puellula”) transformed into a fanfare, used again in full as a replacement for the wedding march. The Rustics are introduced (in this version of 1964) with music from the 1943 fairy tale opera Die Kluge, which, in this context, jars with its banality. Annotator Thomas Rösch suggests other sources: Carmina burana again (“Chramer, gip die varwe mir”) for Titania’s lullaby, and an allusion to the act II duet for Octavian and Sophie from Der Rosenkavalier for the moonrise scene. I suppose one could make a game out of identifying the remaining borrowed themes, but I’ll leave that to others.

There are magical moments; the playing of the trumpet to the moon has the same charm as the ending of Der Mond , the prelude to the ninth scene in Theseus’ palace recalls moments of repose in the famous cantata, and the wonderful midnight melodrama (though I would have wanted Puck’s speeches done less malevolently) and finale (name that source!) provide a fitting end. Would that it all had been so engaging. The youth orchestras, and the chorus in its brief outings, are able; the recording clear for those for whom German is not an obstacle. The birds chirping in the forest are a nice touch. In any case, though my curiosity has been only partly satisfied, at least now, thanks to cpo, the historical footnote is made tangible. You might want to check the samples online before buying. And find a translation.

FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames

View Full Page

Orff: Ein Sommernachtstraum / Von Gehren, Andechser Orff-Akademie Des Munchner RO
CPO Jul 2011
CD
$36.99

MENDELSSOHN: EIN SOMMERNACHTSTRAUM (MIDSUMMER

HARMONIA MUNDI

$22.49 Jun 20, 2025

Mendelssohn's incidental music left it's mark on his contemporaries with it's virtuosity, it's subtle orchestration and it's evocative power. Here, Pablo Heras-Casado, the Freiburger Barockorchester and the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin present the music absolutely complete, flanked by Max Urlacher as a wonderfully ebullient narrator. Their historically informed interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream offers a delightful plunge into this world of dreams and enchantment.

View Full Page

MENDELSSOHN: EIN SOMMERNACHTSTRAUM (MIDSUMMER
HARMONIA MUNDI Jun 2025
CD
$22.49

Respighi: La Campana Sommersa / Renzetti, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari

Naxos AudioVisual

DVD

$30.99 Jun 08, 2018

Also available on Blu-ray

The opera La campana sommersa (‘The Sunken Bell’) is Respighi’s operatic masterpiece. A symbolist drama on a supernatural theme, it is steeped in beauty, mystery and foreboding, and orchestrated with the Romantic opulence familiar from his sumptuous trilogy of Roman tone poems. Its triumph at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1928 was repeated at La Scala, Milan, and this most recent production at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, world-renowned for its staging of rarities, was hailed for its ‘brilliant production’ and magnificent performances. Directed by Pier Francesco Maestrini, this production features a lineup of modern opera stars including Valentina Farcas, Maria Luigia Borsi, Agostina Smimmero, Angelo Villari, and more.

View Full Page

Respighi: La Campana Sommersa / Renzetti, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari
Naxos AudioVisual Jun 2018
DVD
$30.99

NIELSEN: Sommerfugledalen
Dacapo Classical Jul 2007
CD
$13.99

SCHNITTKE: Cello Concerto No. 2 / (K)ein Sommernachtstraum
Chandos Apr 1999
CD
$21.99

Alfven: Symphony No. 1, Drapa & Midsommervaka / Borowicz, Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra

CPO

$18.99 Jun 08, 2018

Along with Wilhelm Stenhammar and Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Hugo Alfvén surely ranks with the leading composers of Swedish late romanticism. In the country of his birth he made a name for himself above all with his compositions inspired by Swedish folklore, one of which, Midsommarvaka, his most famous work, is heard on Vol. 1 of our new edition of his complete symphonic works. It is both astonishing and impressive that Alfvén, who previously had composed nothing more than a few piano pieces, songs, and chamber works, suddenly came forward in 1897 with a full-length symphony of some forty minutes in length. This highly regarded Symphony No. 1 exhibits very finely nuanced tone colors, and with it he immediately became known as a capable and experienced composer. Alfvén composed Drapa, a monumental, magnificent, and festive work with the subtitle “King Oscar II in memoriam,” for a gala event at the Royal College of Music and conducted its premiere on 18 October 1908. For our ambitious project we have secured the support of the German Symphony Orchestra of Berlin and Lukasz Borowicz – one of Germany’s best orchestras and one of today’s most promising young conductors.

View Full Page

Alfven: Symphony No. 1, Drapa & Midsommervaka / Borowicz, Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra
CPO Jun 2018
CD
$18.99

Respighi: La Campana Sommersa / Renzetti, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari [Blu-ray]

Naxos AudioVisual

Blu-Ray

$34.99 Jun 08, 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

The opera La campana sommersa (‘The Sunken Bell’) is Respighi’s operatic masterpiece. A symbolist drama on a supernatural theme, it is steeped in beauty, mystery and foreboding, and orchestrated with the Romantic opulence familiar from his sumptuous trilogy of Roman tone poems. Its triumph at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1928 was repeated at La Scala, Milan, and this most recent production at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, world-renowned for its staging of rarities, was hailed for its ‘brilliant production’ and magnificent performances. Directed by Pier Francesco Maestrini, this production features a lineup of modern opera stars including Valentina Farcas, Maria Luigia Borsi, Agostina Smimmero, Angelo Villari, and more.

View Full Page

Respighi: La Campana Sommersa / Renzetti, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari [Blu-ray]
Naxos AudioVisual Jun 2018
Blu-Ray
$34.99

Flauta andina: 20th Century Andean Music for Flute & Piano / Velasco, Sommer

Naxos

$9.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 50% Aug 12, 2022

The rich variety of colors and rhythms in South American culture and music are an essential feature of this program for concert flute and piano, which focuses largely on music by composers from the Ecuadorian Andes. Opening with Durán’s popular and crowd-pleasing Leyenda incásica, the theme of Ecuadorian dances continues in Jacinto Freire’s Suite, which also celebrates the flight of the condor. Virtuosity, evocations of landscape and expressive traditional songs can all be found here, concluding with Mexican composer Samuel Zyman’s internationally acclaimed Flute Sonata No. 1, which ranges from lyrical introspection to intensely contrapuntal dialogue.

View Full Page

Sale

Flauta andina: 20th Century Andean Music for Flute & Piano / Velasco, Sommer
Naxos Aug 2022
CD
~~$19.99~~ $9.99

SOMMERNACHTSKONZERT 2025 / SUMMER NIGHT CONCERT
SONY CLASSICS Aug 2025
Blu-Ray
$17.93

Gabrieli / National Brass Ensemble

Oberlin Music

SACD

$21.99 Oct 09, 2015

The National Brass Ensemble with James Sommerville and Gail Williams, French Horn.

The National Brass Ensemble is comprised of twenty-six of the finest brass players in major orchestras across the US. “Gabrieli”, featuring the NBE, includes 15 pieces from the Italian composer’s highly influential Sacrae Symphoniae (1597), arranged for this ensemble by San Francisco Symphony trombonist Tim Higgins, and the debut of Music for Brass, a new work by celebrated film composer John Williams. The inspiration for this recording comes from a historic, Grammy Award-winning recording, The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli, featuring the legendary brass ensembles of the Chicago Symphony and the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras. It has been long admired as the definitive modern performance of Giovanni Gabrieli’s works.

View Full Page

Gabrieli / National Brass Ensemble
Oberlin Music Oct 2015
SACD
$21.99