Russian Violin Concertos: Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Glazunov

" A striking début sees a young violinist doing full justice to a work she loves… The freshness of her way with the Khachaturian is immediately striking in the chattering figuration of the opening, and she brings a rare tenderness to the lyrical second subject…The clarity of Fischer's performance in the finale brings lightness and sparkle…A unique coupling, superbly recorded." --Gramophone

“...could hardly be more recommendable, with warmly compelling performances from the brilliant young German virtuoso, superbly recorded in full, bright, clear sound...The clarity and freshness of her performance are what immediately strike home”  --Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“As Julia Fischer explains in the booklet-notes to this, her first CD, she has an abiding love of the Khachaturian Concerto, a work she found impossible to sell to concert-promoters. The freshness of her way with the Khachaturian is immediately striking in the chattering figuration of the opening, and she brings a rare tenderness to the lyrical second subject. The orchestral sound is impressive, too. Though Itzhak Perlman and Lydia Mordkovitch produce a beefier sound, the refinement of Fischer's performance makes it equally compelling. This concerto has claims to be the composer's finest work, claims which the yearning tenderness of the slow movement support.

The clarity of Fischer's performance in the finale brings lightness and sparkle.

In the Glazunov, too, it's the clarity and subtlety of Fischer's playing that marks out her reading. She finds the tenderness of the slow middle section of this one-movement work, and gives an easy swing to the bouncy rhythms of the final section. In the Prokofiev she takes a meditative view of the wistful melodies, the element, she says, that most attracts her, even if she does not quite reach the depths of Kyung-Wha Chung's version.

A unique coupling, superbly recorded, that could hardly be more recommendable.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

MP3 320 · 178 MB

Simply Anne Sophie

Simply Anne-Sophie has a stunning, modern cover image and includes her personal selections from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and the Mozart Concertos, as well as Beethoven's Romance, Massenet's Meditation from Thaïs, Kreisler's Liebesleid, Previn's Song from Tango Song and Dance, Brahms's Hungarian Dance No. 6, and Gershwin's Summertime, among others. There are very few Anne-Sophie Mutter compilations with such popular pieces on the market.

Carmen Fantasy (almost 700,000 copies to date) was a bestseller in 1993, followed by Romance in 1995. Simply Anne-Sophie has almost no repertoire duplications and is Mutter's first highlights album in more than a decade.

2006 was not only Mozart Year but also Mutter Year, as Anne-Sophie's Mozart triptych emerged as one of the most successful recording projects of 2006 and possibly of her career - acclaimed by critics, it proved yet again that Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the few top classical musicians also able to communicate with mainstream audiences.

MP3 320 · 140 MB

 

 

 

Rimsky-Korsakov: Great Orchestral Works

These two discs have brought together almost all the pieces conventionally used as fillers after recordings of Sheherazade. But in the absence of the masterpiece itself, this music, for all its exotic orchestration and easy tunefulness, has something of a second division feel about it. The flamboyant Capriccio espagnol is naturally excluded from such a sweeping generalisation.

The Tsar Saltan Suite (which sensibly but improperly includes ‘The Flight of the Bumble-bee’) is unusually rich and atmospheric in this performance, as is Antar (or Symphony No. 2), whose haunting motto theme has been following me around ever since. -- BBC Music Magazine

2 CD · MP3 320 · 305 MB

Concerto veneziano: Vivaldi, Locatelli, Tartini

"All this is well caught by the rich and detailed recording, as is Carmignola . . . there's a lot of character, together with a sweet and focused sound. He's very careful with vibrato and articulation, and his rubato bends the pulse without breaking it . . . The Locatelli . . . gives Carmignola an opportunity for fireworks . . . he's technically on top of everything, and the trumpet-like sound of his first entry in the Tartini is a real feat of tonal control . . ." --BBC Music Magazine

"This disc is really something special . . . This disc stands out for imaginative repertoire selection and outstanding interpretation . . . Do yourself a favor and buy this magnificently played, perfectly recorded disc. It's an instant classic." --ClassicsToday.com


". . . Carmignola is a terrific violinist whose technique and intonation are as near flawless as one has any right to expect. His tone, neither too fat nor too spare, is ravishing, drawn out in cantilenas llike an exquisitely spun silver thread that never shows the slightest sign of insecurity . . . So moving, so touching . . . this movement alone should be heard not only by every aspiring violinist, but also by every singer, who will learn much about control and phrasing from the playing . . . the playing is dazzling . . . lovely violin-playing will (and certainly should) attract widespread interest in a disc that is in many ways a wondrous achievement . . ." --Fanfare

MP3 320 · 148 MB

A Baroque Feast · Festin Baroque

Even people who don't normally listen to classical music seem to love the singable melodies and effervescent rhythms that characterize much of the Baroque orchestral repertoire. Certain works have become favorites of television commercial and film producers, and chamber orchestras everywhere endlessly program selections from Handel's Water Music, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Albinoni's Adagio, and various works by Purcell, Locatelli, and Marcello--along with that dreadful and highly overrated "canon" by that guy whose name begins with "P".

Most of these composers (thankfully not Pachelbel) are represented here, on this perfectly fine if just a little too-familiar program that features Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, Purcell's Suite from Abdelazar, and Vivaldi's A minor concerto for two violins Op. 3 No. 8.

To the producers' credit, the disc also includes some less-commonly-heard selections such as Handel's lovely Concerto for harp in B-flat major and Marcello's Oboe concerto in D minor. We're also treated to the richly scored, melodically engaging Op. 1 No. 8 Concerto grosso in F minor by Locatelli and to a lovely Sinfonia by Bach (from his Cantata No. 42). Overall, the program has a musical coherence and a pleasing sonic quality that encourages easy and pleasant listening.

Of course, the Toronto-based Tafelmusik, one of North America's two or three top-rank period-style orchestras, delivers these Baroque staples with interpretive authority and impressive yet thankfully unadorned technique, giving careful attention to line in the slow movements and keeping rhythms and articulation crisp in the fast ones. The solo playing is first-rate (particularly the harp and oboe), and the sound gives desirable presence and clarity to the varied instrumental configurations. If you're looking for a very well-played, intelligently programmed recording of attractive Baroque orchestral music, look no further. --David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

MP3 320 · 171 MB

The Best of Andreas Scholl

"Scholl quickly demonstrated his natural ease… a limpid sound, beautifully phrased, with vibrato used sparingly. Here is a musician of obvious intelligence whose voice, in someone so young, is marvellously developed, pure and full, reminiscent of the young Alfred Deller." --The Independent

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MP3 320 · 165 MB

Saint-Saëns: The Carnival of the Animals, Etc

The popular Carnival of the Animals, described as A Zoological Fantasy, was written in 1886, originally for two pianos and a small chamber orchestra to celebrate that year's carnival. The composer forbade further performances of this occasional music, except for The Swan, which enjoyed immediate and irresistible popularity.

The pianos open the work in a brief introduction that seems to suggest the roar of the lions, before the Royal March begins, with its suggestions of the exotic in its theme.

The pianos open the work in a brief introduction that seems to suggest the roar of the lions, before the Royal March begins, with its suggestions of the exotic in its theme.

Cocks and Hens are as true to nature as the composer can make them, followed by Wild Asses of unexpected rapidity of motion, in contrast to the lumbering Tortoise, who offers a can-can at the slowest possible speed, putting a foot wrong here and there. The Elephants are naturally represented by the double bass in an episode that includes a direct quotation of the highly inappropriate Ballet of the Sylphs by Berlioz.

The pianos alone then imitate the capricious leaps of the Kangaroos, to be followed by an evocation of the Aquarium. People with Long Ears, critics, are portrayed by piercing whistles and the braying of donkeys, while pianos and clarinet bring in the Cuckoo, followed by the rest of the Birds, with the help of the flute. Pianists, creatures not usually found in zoos, practice their scales, heavily accented, and are followed by Fossils, with tunes of undoubted antiquity and interesting activity for the xylophone. The Swan sings its dying song on the cello, reminding us now of the dance devised by Fokin for the great Anna Pavlova. The fantasy ends with a summary of much that has gone before.

MP3 320 · 100 MB

Saint-Saëns: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 3, Etc

Fluid, elegant, and lyric, violinist Kyung Wha Chung was the first Western-style classical virtuoso to emerge from Korea. Her musical career began at the age of three. Her fame in the seventies and eighties was at the top level. Chung later extended her repertoire in her interpretations of Romantic, Modern music, Baroque and Mozart.

  





MP3 320 · 128 MB

Rosseti: Concerto for Two Horns, Etc

Klaus Wallendorf and Sarah Willis are members of the Berlin Philharmonic, and they play this technically difficult music with aplomb, teamwork, and sympathy. These are not "authentic" performances – modern valved horns are used by Wallendorf and Willis - but this hardly takes away from their achievement. The accompaniments by Moesus and the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic are lively and well-nourished. Nice sound too, thanks to Bavarian Radio. --classical.net

This well-filled disc is a delight from start to finish. The engineers of Bayerisches Rundfunk have done a superlative job in capturing the vast range of pitch and volume of the solo horn parts and the recorded sound is clean and bright, without being top heavy or brittle. This is an undoubtedly joyous recording and is easily recommendable. No listener could be disappointed with music as engaging as this, performed as well as this is. --musicweb-international.com

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MP3 320 · 139 MB

Piano Music of the Americas

'Szidon's outstanding 1970 coupling of the Gershwin and MacDowell concertos on CD at last. Add one of the finest Villa-Lobos recitals ever recorded and a devastating account of Ives's wrist-crippling "Concord" Sonata, and you're in piano heaven.' --BBC Music Magazine

'. . . this is an enticing entry into his extensive piano output . . . his command of transcendental pianism as required in Rudepoêma is never in doubt . . . Szidon's ability to make this sprawling work cohere is still impressive -- as is his uninhibited verve in the Three-Page Sonata.' --Gramophone

". . . foot-tapping vrtuosity . . ." --Classic FM

2 CD · MP3 320 · 342 MB

Brahms/Joachim: Hungarian Dances

'This is a magnificent release. Shaham and Erez have thoroughly absorbed a style that demands continual flexibility, playing together with such ease that it's easy to forget the art and care that have gone into achieving such beautiful ensemble' --Gramophone

'Hagai Shaham and Arnon Erez complement each other perfectly here, evincing fire, fury, and sweet sadness, and they act as a brilliant showcase for Joachim's work both as an arranger and a composer' --BBC Music Magazine

'This recording by Hagai Shaham and Arnon Erez is probably the most dazzling that I have heard' --American Record Guide

'Though the pieces themselves may be highly virtuosic (on second thought, forget the ‘may be’), Shaham hardly allows these built-in difficulties to be obvious, so intent does he seem in communicating their impassioned rhetoric…Arnon Erez plays the piano parts of Brahms’s pieces with a liveliness and sympathy…Urgently recommended' --Fanfare, USA

'These deservedly popular pieces overflow with charm and infectious melody … Hagai Shaham and Arnon Erez sound right inside the idiom, playing with an infectiously relaxed bravado wherever necessary, while inflecting those timeless phrases with a suave confidence and relaxed inevitability that prevents them ever straying into camp 'geepsy' territory …

There is a subtly understated charm about these performances which I enjoyed a great deal, gently cajoling us into its colourful sound-world rather than hustling us in. Most importantly, Shaham always gives the music a distinct Brahmsian lilt …Many recordings provide just the Hungarian Dances, but Hyperion includes a typically inventive 'filler' in the form of Joachim's E minor Varations … Calum MacDonald provides an exemplary booklet note, and the recording is convincingly balanced, capturing Shaham's lithe, glistening tone to a tee' --International Record Review

MP3 320 · 143 MB

F.J. and J.M. Haydn: Flute Concertos & Scherzos

Pahud is a highly sensitive and accomplished player whose silken tone, faultless breath control, and exemplary good taste bring rich rewards.

This is an exceptionally satisfying program of charming, unaffected music by the Haydn brothers, and by one of their most successful Viennese contemporaries, Leopold Hoffmann.

Some initial explanation is called for here: The D-Major Flute Concerto traditionally ascribed to Joseph Haydn is known to have been written during the early 1780s, and was indeed listed in one of his several thematic catalogs. But this work has long since disappeared without a trace, and the one recorded here, while formerly also attributed to Haydn, has now been positively identified as the work of Leopold Hoffmann (1738-93). 

Those requiring a brief but informative evaluation of Hoffmann's career should read Dr. Allan Badley's booklet essays supplied with any of the recent Naxos discs devoted to Hoffmann's music in the series "The 18th Century Concerto."

In any case, such long-standing confusion would doubtless have pleased Haydn greatly—there was, it would seem, no love lost between these two composers, and Haydn once wrote of his colleague as "a braggart who believes that he alone has achieved Parnassus, and who seeks to undercut me in all matters." But to set matters straight, particularly in the context of this release, Breitkopf's catalog of 1765 does make mention of the six "Scherzandi," confirming them as indeed the work of Joseph himself, and this set is included, with flute concertos by Michael Haydn and Leopold Hoffmann, on the recording considered here.

The outstanding performers are flutist Emmanuel Pahud and 15 musicians drawn from the ranks of Berlin's principal orchestras, who come together as the Haydn-Ensemble Berlin under the direction of their founder, the oboist Hansjörg Schellenberger. Pahud seems in every way to be a highly sensitive and accomplished player whose silken tone, faultless breath control, and exemplary good taste bring rich rewards here. True enough, the performing style used here tends toward modernism, in keeping with the instruments employed of course, but the precision and élan of this playing is a joy throughout, and this disc may be instantly recommended. Suffice it to say that Robin Golding 's erudite booklet note furnishes useful background to these delightful works, though I doubt you'll be able to resist the seductive appeal of this lovely music-making long enough to read it thoroughly! Superb. -- Michael Jameson, FANFARE

MP3 320 · 172 MB

Follie all' italiana

This disc is a winner, the Sonatoris have unearthed exceptional material, presented with admirable virtuosity and imagination. Violinists Giorgio Fava and Roberto Falcone play with gusto and bravura. An invigorating disc. Recommended. --Fanfare

MP3 320 · 130 MB

Holst: The Planets; Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra

William Steinberg's Zarathustra always has been a personal favorite. Deutsche Grammophon never gave it much support because of excellent versions by Böhm and Karajan already in its catalog, but the Boston Symphony frankly outplays its Berlin counterpart, particularly in the brass and percussion departments, and Steinberg's Dionysian assault on the score never has been surpassed. He whips up the Dance Song in the second half to a truly Nietzschean frenzy. Every performance sounds a bit tame after this, and unlike so many other versions, he never gives the impression that it's all down hill after the famous opening.

If you love this work, than you simply must hear this recording.

As to The Planets, Steinberg's reading has rightly become a classic. His fast tempos and thrilling rhythmic grip approach the composer's own, but of course they make a much greater impact than Holst's thanks to stereo sound. "Mars", in particular, has both menace and real physical excitement, while once again the playing of the Boston Symphony combines poetry and polish with tremendous virtuosity. 

Sonically these performances always have sounded a bit bright on top and light in the bass, and the remastering hasn't changed that. Still, you won't find more powerful, pulse-pounding performances of either work anywhere, and having them together on a single CD offers excellent value. Now why not release Steinberg's equally excellent BSO Hindemith Mathis der Maler and Concert Music for Strings and Brass? [3/30/2001] --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

MP3 320 · 163 MB

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto, Etc

Orchestral Recording of the Month BBC Music Magazine (March 2007)

“Fischer always knows when to lighten the mood, or how best to judge the tension and release of a musical paragraph, and in this she is supported to the hilt by a personable but never too overbearing Russian National Orchestra under the baton of Yakov Kreizberg... In the Concerto's vivacious finale and the headlong Valse-Scherzo, Fischer makes light of the technical difficulties with spot-on pitching throughout; there isn't an aspect of any of these works in which this world-class virtuoso fails to excel.” BBC Music Magazine *****

"Fischer has the greater fun and fantasy and shows what a distinctive artists she is. Julia Fischer brings fearsome concentration to a concerto that is so often an excuse for self-indulgence. She also brings absolute control of colour and tone. 

Fischer realises that you don't have to wallow in romanticism for the piece to work its magic. Kreizberg and the fabulous Russian National Orchestra provide superb support." --Gramophone Editor's Choice April 2007

MP3 320 · 154 MB

Ballad for Edvard Grieg

“How hard it is to over-praise the vitality and distinction of this princely pianist… His authority and finesse are total. Finely recorded, this disc is the best possible introduction to Grieg's range and character in his piano music.” --Gramophone

“Andsnes is an aristocrat among pianists who has the gift of uncovering new depths without any loss of spontaneity of the slightest trace of artifice.” --BBC Music Magazine

"I always feel a sense of homecoming when I perform Grieg yet I don't think that this is necessarily because I am Norwegian. Grieg's music has a universal feeling - a sense of drawing the listener in - and that is probably why he remains Norway's most eminent composer even now, 100 years after his death." Leif Ove Andsnes

MP3 320 · 159 MB

J.S. Bach: Solo & Double Violin Concertos

"[Manze and Podger] allow the poetry of Bach's music to unfold in a comfortably measured, lucidly punctuated and eloquently inflected way." --Gramophone

“Manze is a violinist with extraordinary flair and improvisatory freedom, the Grappelli of the Baroque... [the ensemble has] unparalleled energy, an irresistibly bounding pulse and sparkling articulation from top to bottom.” --BBC Music Magazine

"The Academy of Ancient Music reveal a judicious blend of scholarship and exquisite taste. Andrew Manze has a well-deserved reputation for baroque interpretation, and his colleague Rachel Podger, also on violin, performs with equal authority. 

The slow movements of the two solo concertos are particularly striking for their beauty and style...the sound is vibrant but without so much reverberation that the inner parts of the faster movements might have been obscured. The Academy's current incarnation has expanded that scope considerable, and this CD demonstrates that its interpretations of Bach are among the finest presented today." --Audio

MP3 320 · 123 MB

Tartini: Violin Concertos

'Toso plays impeccably, tempering tone and vibrato in extracting every drop of the essential character of each movement... a superb recording' -- Gramophone

"Tartini’s understanding of the possibilities of 18th-century violin technique make his richly idiomatic music great fun to play. He also composed many concertos for his own instrument, five of which are included on this splendid recording from 1970.

Not even an Italian orchestra would play this music in quite such a Romantic way today, and yet of all Italian violinist-composers, Tartini’s music seems to suffer least from an anachronistically lush approach to the solo lines. Perhaps I was just won over by the eloquence of Piero Toso’s phrasing, which is especially delightful in the slow movements." --Stephen Maddock, BBC Music Magazine

MP3 320 · 151 MB

Peacock Pie

EDITOR'S CHOICE (GRAMOPHONE)
BEST BUY (CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE)

'Altogether this is a wholly delectable disc of spirited miniature concertos where the composers are never let down by paucity of invention. Performances are lighthearted and polished, and beautifully recorded. Most rewarding and entertaining' --Gramophone

'This is a truly delightful, genial compilation of attractive and shamefully neglected English early-to-mid-20th-century light music for piano and string orchestra … I enjoyed this album immensely' --Fanfare, USA

'Martin Roscoe and the Guildhall Strings approach these light-as-a-feather gems with sincerity and assurance. Their playing is impeccable and agile … Those of you who have developed a taste for the ongoing light music series on Hyperion … will find this release a required purchase' --Fanfare, USA

'Martin Roscoe's playing is sparklingly sympathetic, as are the accompaniments from the Guildhall Strings. This is music which you are seldom likely to encounter in the concert hall, but is ideally suited to revival on disc' --International Record Review

MP3 320 · 133 MB

Bach: Concertos for Recorder

A new recording of Erik Bosgraaf, one of the most original, versatile and innovative recorder players of the moment, winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust.

“Erik Bosgraaf's recorder-playing is fluent and lively in fast music, and his five colleagues (single strings and harpsichord) provide accompaniments that are lean, stylish and precise...Ensemble Cordevento's playing of fast music is joyful and accomplished.” --Gramophone, April 2012

MP3 320 · 131 MB

Geminiani: 6 Sonatas for Cello & Continuo Op. 5

Geminiani was a pupil of Corelli, and like his teacher he limited his musical output to a small collection of orchestral and chamber works. In this set of six sonatas for cello and continuo, Geminiani follows the Corellian model in the number (four) and order (slow–fast–slow–fast) of movements—except for the last, which is in three movements. Geminiani’s writing for the solo instrument shows an advance on Corelli in the brilliant figuration in the fast movements. Slow movements can sometimes be a bit perfunctory, lasting less than a minute, though this is not always the case.

Geminiani apparently enjoyed working with the sonorities created by two cellos, and in his contrapuntal movements sometimes allows the solo and continuo cellos to cross lines.

Jaap ter Linden, performing on a cello made by Giovanni Grancino in 1703, shows why he has achieved prominence as a solo performer of Baroque music. He handles Geminiani’s elaborate music with ease. His smooth and rounded tone serves the music well. The continuo players provide able accompaniment. The performers are recorded in close perspective in excellent sound.

I am not familiar with any of the competing recordings of this music, but I cannot imagine that anyone looking for an excellent recording of these works would be disappointed with this disc. Brilliant’s low price merely adds to the attraction. Although I would not consider this music to be an essential purchase, it makes for a pleasant listening experience. --FANFARE: Ron Salemi

MP3 320 · 113 MB