November 2024
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
27 28 29 30 31 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Joonas Pitkänen, Orchestra of Europe - Joachim Raff: Die Eifersüchtigen (2024)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Joonas Pitkänen, Orchestra of Europe - Joachim Raff: Die Eifersüchtigen (2024)

Joonas Pitkänen, Orchestra of Europe - Joachim Raff: Die Eifersüchtigen (2024)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 646 Mb | Total time: 02:18:15 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Naxos | # 8.660561-62 | Recorded: 2022

Raff completed the score of Die Eifersüchtigen (‘The Jealous Ones’) a few weeks before his death. He wrote the libretto himself and was scrupulous in differentiating his characters through their music and adopting a precise formal construction. With tight organisational control, a strong grasp of musical and dramatic relationships, and speech melodies based entirely on German prosody, Raff’s final opera is marked by clarity, concision and economy of means.

Homecoming Woodwind Ensemble - Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations arranged by Andrei Eshpai (2006)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Homecoming Woodwind Ensemble - Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations arranged by Andrei Eshpai (2006)

Homecoming Woodwind Ensemble - Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations arranged by Andrei Eshpai (2006)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 195 Mb | Total time: 49:46 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Quartz Music | # QTZ2051| Recorded: 2005

Lots of other groups than the ones Bach would have known have decided they wanted a piece of him, from Stokowski's Philadelphia Orchestra to recorder consorts, brass groups, and even teams of electronic musicians. All these settings involve a degree of compromise. A string quartet, for example, brings a grammar of articulation to Bach that may give him a disagreeable accent. This project, originating in Russia, offers something of a middle ground for listeners who may enjoy the sound of Bach played by a contemporary ensemble: it has been carefully done so as to keep the structures of the Goldberg Variations front and center, with no more variety of texture than they would receive on a piano. Arranger Andrei Eshpai, whose career as a composer dates back into the Soviet era, chooses the combination of two oboes, an English horn, and a bassoon for his wind quartet – all double reeds.

Paolo Faldi, Camerata Accademica - Benedetto e Alessandro Marcello: Arianna abbandonata & other Cantatas (2019)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Paolo Faldi, Camerata Accademica - Benedetto e Alessandro Marcello: Arianna abbandonata & other Cantatas (2019)

Paolo Faldi, Camerata Accademica - Benedetto e Alessandro Marcello: Arianna abbandonata & other Cantatas (2019)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 375 Mb | Total time: 70:49 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Elegia | # 19075 | Recorded: 2019

The brothers Marcello, Alessandro and the more famous Benedetto, were born into an illustrious patrician family in Venice in 1684 and 1686 respectively. The eldest, with his eclectic talent, proved to be attracted to both the arts and the sciences from an early age; the youngest, better known as the “prince of sacred music”, was about to study the violin very young. According to legend, still children, Alessandro mocked him for his lack of talent in front of the princess of Brunswick, which made him swear to devote himself to musical studies in a zealous manner.

Jaakko Kuusisto - Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (2018)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Jaakko Kuusisto - Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (2018)

Jaakko Kuusisto - Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (2018)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 684 Mb | Total time: 141:29 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-SACD-2197 | Recorded: 2015-2017

Fascinating performers and audiences alike with their architectural perfection as well as their emotional range, these are works that lend themselves to very different interpretations, and on this recording it is the Bach of Finnish violinist Jaakko Kuusisto we hear. Himself a composer – as well as violinist and conductor – Kuusisto remembers beginning to study individual movements from the set at the age of ten. The music has been with him ever since, and to him ‘no other works for the violin provide a higher challenge or greater beauty’.

Mario Brunello, Riccardo Doni, Accademia dell'Annunciata - Bach transcriptions: Six concertos for violoncello piccolo (2023)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Mario Brunello, Riccardo Doni, Accademia dell'Annunciata - Bach transcriptions: Six concertos for violoncello piccolo (2023)

Mario Brunello, Riccardo Doni, Accademia dell'Annunciata - Bach transcriptions: Six concertos for violoncello piccolo (2023)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 439 Mb | Total time: 80:03 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Arcana | # A535 | Recorded: 2021

After the success of their Tartini disc (Arcana 478, Diapason d'or, 5 stars from Musica), Mario Brunello and the Accademia dell'Annunciata return for an ingenious collection of six concertos, all of which are transcriptions of other works. Not only do we hear the keyboard arrangements of Venetian concertos such as Marcello's famous oboe concerto and Vivaldi's Violin Concerto RV230, but also reconstructed concertos by Bach such as those for oboe and oboe d'amore (BWV 1056 and 1055) and those that have come down to us in their original version — from the Violin Concerto BWV 1042 up to and including the renowned Concerto nach Italienischen Gusto BWV 971.

Kirill Kondrashin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - Stravinsky: Petrouchka; Borodin: Symphony No. 2 (1993)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Kirill Kondrashin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - Stravinsky: Petrouchka; Borodin: Symphony No. 2 (1993)

Kirill Kondrashin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - Stravinsky: Petrouchka; Borodin: Symphony No. 2 (1993)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 285 Mb | Total time: 61:38 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Philips | # 438 280-2 | Recorded: 1973, 1980

Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin was born on March 6, 1914, in Russia. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1936, and worked as conductor at the Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad from 1936-1943. He moved to Moscow in 1943 and worked as the conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre for 16 years. In 1960 Kondrashin was appointed the Artistic Director of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the premiere of the Symphony No. 13 "Baby Yar" by Dmitri Shostakovich and Yevgeniy Yevtushenko in 1961. He left the Soviet Union in 1975 and took a post of principal conductor of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1979. Kondrashin is known for his numerous recordings of the music of Soviet composers for Melodiya label during the 60's and 70's.

Christoph Schlütter, Collegio Halense - Johann Justus Kahle: Zions Trost (Kirchweihkantaten) (2011)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Christoph Schlütter, Collegio Halense - Johann Justus Kahle: Zions Trost (Kirchweihkantaten) (2011)

Christoph Schlütter, Collegio Halense - Johann Justus Kahle: Zions Trost (Kirchweihkantaten) (2011)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 253 Mb | Total time: 55:45 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Querstand | # VKJK1105 | Recorded: 2010

Some people believe that music which has fallen into oblivion is simply not good enough to survive the passing of time. In some cases that may be true, but as many music of the 17th and 18th centuries was written for one performance at a specific occasion it is rather surprising that so much material has been preserved. When music is rediscovered in libraries or archives it often turns out to be of surprising quality, even if the composers are totally unknown to us. The disc to be reviewed here is another example of music which fully deserves to be brought to our attention.

Christian Tetzlaff, Barbara Buntrock, Tanja Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt - Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 (2024)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Christian Tetzlaff, Barbara Buntrock, Tanja Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt - Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 (2024)

Christian Tetzlaff, Barbara Buntrock, Tanja Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt - Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 (2024)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 336 Mb | Total time: 01:21:24 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Ondine | # ODE 1448-2D | Recorded: 2022

This new album of two piano quartets by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) consists of pianist Lars Vogt's last recordings. Before his premature death and between treatments, Lars Vogt was able to record a multi-award-winning album of piano chamber music works by Schubert together with Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff, as well as albums of Mozart's and Mendelssohn's piano concertos. However, a project to record Brahms' complete piano quartets was left unfinished after the studio recording of Piano Quartet No. 2 was completed.

Ensemble Concertant Frankfurt - Ferdinand Ries: Piano Quintet Op.74; Sextets Op.100 & 142 (2000)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Ensemble Concertant Frankfurt - Ferdinand Ries: Piano Quintet Op.74; Sextets Op.100 & 142 (2000)

Ensemble Concertant Frankfurt - Ferdinand Ries: Piano Quintet Op.74; Sextets Op.100 & 142 (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 293 Mb | Total time: 64:22 | Scans included
Classical | Label: CPO | # 999622-2 | Recorded: 1999

After a string of failed attempts to establish himself as a pianist and composer in the capitals of Europe, Ferdinand Ries was brought to London in 1813 by the same impresario who had imported Haydn 20 years earlier, Johann Peter Salomon. All three works were written during this time in England while Ries enjoyed the favor of the upper classes and looked for a wife. Presumably, he composed these works for himself on piano with the other parts to be played by wealthy amateurs. The pedestrian string writing in the first two works substantiates the premise that they were composed for London's dilettantes.

John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice (2012)

Posted By: ArlegZ
John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice (2012)

John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists, Derek Lee Ragin, Sylvia McNair - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice (2012)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 401 Mb | Total time: 88:53 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Decca | # 478 3425 | Recorded: 1991

…Gardiner's account of the Vienna Orfeo ed Euridice is peerless. One soon loses all sense of its being a period-instrument performance at all, so profound, at times overwhelming is its impact - so utterly right. In detail after detail - hauntingly poetic offstage instrumental complement, perfectly positioned in the drama (and perfectly captured by the excellent Philips recording); superbly stirring brass playing, which makes every entry a dramatic event; choral singing extraordinarily light in weight yet rich in emotional substance; exquisitely refined dance movements - and in sustainment of a delicately tenebrous, uniquely Gluckian atmosphere throughout, Gardiner's command of an opera championed since his first London concert performance, 21 years ago, is revealed as simply larger and fuller than almost anyone else's.

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B-minor (2018)

Posted By: ArlegZ
William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B-minor (2018)

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B-minor (2018)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 530 Mb | Total time: 105:03 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HAF 8905293.94 | Recorded: 2016

One of the supreme monuments of western sacred music, the Mass in B minor has been constantly reexamined by successive generations of performers. The questions it raises for musicologists and conductors are many and varied; each of them strives to give his or her own reading with the necessary humility. It was in this frame of mind that William Christie tackled the work in the course of a memorable tour in 2016.

Marco Pedrona, Ensemble Guidantus - Giovanni Battista Somis: Opus IV (2015)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Marco Pedrona, Ensemble Guidantus - Giovanni Battista Somis: Opus IV (2015)

Marco Pedrona, Ensemble Guidantus - Giovanni Battista Somis: Opus IV (2015)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 341 Mb | Total time: 57:05 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Calliope | # CAL1526 | Recorded: 2014

The “Sonate da Camera”, Op. 4, one of eight consecutive opuses (1-8) of published chamber works by Turin-based Giovanni Battista Somis, is a work for solo violin, cello or harpsichord. The seven 3-movement sonatas basically eliminate the slow “Corellian” third movement, thus changing the traditional alternation. Some of the harmonic sequences also recall Vivaldi and the Venetian school in general. Founded 1995, the Ensemble Guidantus and their principal violinist Marco Pedrona, noted for score mastery and clear, individual interpretations, play a lively part in the Italian music scene.

Alexander Gibson, Scottish National Orchestra - Edward Elgar: Symphony No.2; 'The Crown of India' Suite (2005)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Alexander Gibson, Scottish National Orchestra - Edward Elgar: Symphony No.2; 'The Crown of India' Suite (2005)

Alexander Gibson, Scottish National Orchestra - Edward Elgar: Symphony No.2; 'The Crown of India' Suite (2005)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 287 Mb | Total time: 68:24 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | CHAN 6523 | Recorded: 1977, 1978

Gibson’s virile, plain-speaking account of Elgar’s glorious Second Symphony refreshes in its directness and honesty. Included also is a sumptuous rendering of the rare Crown of India suite.

Luigi Boccherini Edition [52CDs] Part 2 (2024)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Luigi Boccherini Edition [52CDs] Part 2 (2024)

Luigi Boccherini Edition [52CDs] Part 2 (2024)
XLD | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 7,24 Gb | Total time: 53:03:44 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Brilliant Classics | # 97172 | Recorded: 1992-2023

The most comprehensive collection of music by Luigi Boccherini ever issued, 52 CDs brimming with charm, elegance, wit and catching melodies!

Les Adieux - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Kammermusik, Wq 93, Wq 94, Wq 95 & Wq 133 (1988)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Les Adieux - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Kammermusik, Wq 93, Wq 94, Wq 95 & Wq 133 (1988)

Les Adieux - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Kammermusik, Wq 93, Wq 94, Wq 95 & Wq 133 (1988)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 231 Mb | Total time: 58:22 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI / Deutsche HM | # CDC 7 49618 2 | Recorded: 1987

Did you want to find yourself at times C.Ph.E. In addition to fame and honor, Bachs also earn some money, you had to take into account the taste dictate of certain clients in addition to the taste of the audience. In Bach's case, he was dependent on the musically conservative views of Frederick the Great in whose employment as a chamber harpsichord he was at the Berlin court for 30 years. Only later - as Hamburg church music director - he could write in all freedom and for his own use. His quartets for piano, flute and viola impressively attest to how much this freedom inspired him.