Works: Edward Elgar
Symphony No. 1 Wagner
Overture from "Die Meistersinger"; op. 55 As-Dur
Artists: Roger Norrington, Conductor
SWR Symphony Orchestra
The big hit from the first week of the proms 2008 and kicking off Hanssler's faszination m u s i k series is the redoubtable Roger Norrington presenting a solid reading of the most English of symphonies, Elgar's First. Gramophone magazine had this to say: “An honest, intelligent Elgar First from an unexpected source…”
The remainder of the program is filled out by what must surely be the fastest recording of Die Meistersinger ever committed to a CD, a recording that must be heard to be believed!
Offer Price: £10.99 Add to basket Works: Missa Tempore Quadragesimæ (MH 553, K I/19, 1794), Missa pro Quadragesima 10'19? (Secundum Cantum Choralem, MH 551, K I/20, 1794), Missa Quadragesimalis (MH 552, K I/3, 1794), Graduale per Dominica Palmarum (MH 695, K IIa/27, 1798), Missa Sanctæ Crucis (MH 56, K I/16, 1762)
Artists: PURCELL CHOIR, members of ORFEO ORCHESTRA
(on authentic intruments)
Conducted by GYÖRGY VASHEGYI
Posterity does occasionally bestow moral
compensation on the unfairly neglected
masters of the past. This now seems to be
happening to the younger Johann Michael
Haydn (1737–1806) whose life and work is
being reappraised. Although in Vienna and its
surroundings the name Haydn was synonymous
with Joseph, in Salzburg it was more readily
associated with Michael. After his death, the
composer and critic E. T. A. Hoffmann enthused
about J. M Haydn, saying that “everyone who
understands music and knows the musical
literature realises well that M. Haydn was one
ofthe finest masters of church music. In this field,
he was an absolute equal to his older brother, and
indeed in his ode of expression and seriousness,
far surpasses him at times.”
Works: BEETHOVEN
Sonata for Cello and Piano No.3 in A major,
Op.69
Sonata for Cello and Piano No.4 in C major,
Op.102 No.1
Live performance, Moscow, March 1, 1950
BRAHMS
Sonata for Cello and Piano No.1 in E minor,
Op.38
Two versions: Live performances, Moscow,
March 1, 1950 & Aldeburgh, June 20, 1964
GRIEG
Sonata for Cello and Piano in A minor,
Op.36Live performance, Aldeburgh, June 20,
1964
PROKOFIEV
Sonata for Cello and Piano No.1 in C major,
Op.119
Offer Price: £23.99 Add to basket Works: HANDEL: Xerxes
Artists: Xerxes · Ann Murray, Arsamenes · Christopher Robson, Amastris · Patricia Bardon, Ariodates · Umberto Chiummo, Romilda · Yvonne Kenny, Atalanta · Julie Kaufmann, Elviro · Jan Zinkler, Bavarian State Orchestra
Conductor · Ivor Bolton
High-level politics, intrigue, true love …
Händel’s story of the topsy-turvy whirl of
emotions surrounding the Persian King Serse:
a masterwork Recorded live at the Bavarian
State Opera, 1997, this is an absolute must
see, with Ann Murray as Xerxes!
Works: Kodály Zoltán:
Nine piano pieces op. 3
Seven piano pieces op. 11
Artists: Adrienne Krausz - piano
Anna Dalos writes: ““Those who approach
Zoltán Kodály’s art through the vocal
compositions of the 1920s and 30s may be
surprised that at the beginning of his career
instrumental music, primarily the piano
(belying the later rejection) played a key role.
This is shown by the large number of works.
Between 1905 and 1920, as well as the chamber
works for various combinations and ‘cello
works, several piano pieces were produced.
These early piano works present us Kodály as
a modernist composer, who in them reacts
through harmony, form and rhythm to the
radical trends in twentieth-century new
music.” With pianist Adrienne Krausz.
Offer Price: £10.99 Add to basket Works: Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) 1-5 String Poetic (2006)* (20:34)
Carl Ruggles (1876-1971)
6 Mood (1918) (5:54)
Lou Harrison (1917-2003)
7-11 Grand Duo (1988) (30:57)
John Adams (b. 1946)
Road Movies (1995) (15:57)
Artists: Jennifer Koh - Violin Reiko Uchida - Piano
One of music’s brightest young stars,
“prodigiously talented” (The New York
Times) violinist Jennifer Koh presents a handpicked
program of inventive and attractive
American works for violin and piano,
spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. The
album takes its name from Jennifer Higdon’s
String Poetic (2006), written expressly for
Ms. Koh - a world-premiere recording. Its
diverse moods, harmonic approaches, and
styles take full advantage of Ms. Koh’s wide
musical palette. Ms. Koh’s “penetrating
intelligence,” “white-hot imagination,” and
“focused, sweet-toned playing” (Washington
Post) are brilliantly displayed on this album of
exhilarating American discoveries.
Works: HUGO WOLF:
Spanisches Liederbuch (weltlich)
Seltsam ist Juanas Weise, Treibe nur mit Lieben Spott, Auf dem grünen Balkon, Wenn Du zu den Blumen gehst, Wer sein holdes Lieb verloren, Herz, verzage nicht geschwind, Ach im Maien war‘s, Alle gingen, Herz, zur Ruh, Dereinst, Gedanke, mein, Tief im Herzen trag‘ ich Pein, Komm, o Tod, von Nacht umgeben Spanisches Liederbuch (geistlich)
Ach, des Knaben Augen, Ach, wie lang die Seele schlummert! Herr, was trägt der Boden hier
Gesänge des Harfners
Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt, An die Türen will ich schleichen, Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß
Cophtische Lieder I and II
Artists: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
with Hertha Klust, Walter Welsch and Rudolf Wille
In the early post-war years Dietrich Fischer-
Dieskau built up his career as an opera and
lieder singer with dizzying speed and singlemindedness.
The microphones of Germany’s
revived broadcasting companies gave him an
opportunity to project the supreme subtleties
of words and music in Hugo Wolf ’s lieder in
a completely different way from his public
recitals. The second volume of the Fischer-
Dieskau edition at audite presents a selection
from the Spanish Liederbuch and the Goethe
Lieder which he recorded in 1948, 1949 and
1953 with various pianists, including his
preferred accompanist of the period, Hertha
Klust. These are gripping and perfectly
restored documents of a performer to whom
every note counted and every word was
significant.
Works: Die drei Zigeuner, Du bist wie eine Blume, Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam, Vergiftet sind meine Lieder, Loreley, Ihr Glocken von Marling, Die stille Wasserrose, Blume und Duft, Es rauschen die Winde, Ich möchte hingehn, Gebet
Freudvoll und leidvoll, Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh, Der du von dem Himmel bist, Mignons Lied, Wie singt die Lerche so schön, Wieder möcht’ ich dir begegnen, Laßt mich ruhen, Es muß ein Wunderbares sein,
Ihr Auge – Nimm einen Strahl der Sonne, O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst
Artists: Ruth Ziesak, Gerold Huber
In her new recording, star soprano Ruth
Ziesak enters the fray for the oft-neglected
lyrical side of that “keyboard tiger” of the
Romantic era, Franz Liszt. She presents a
personal selection of particularly expressive
songs, intelligently bringing out their message
with her richly nuanced voice. She is well
supported by her partner at the piano, Gerold
Huber, a skilled accompanist with whom she
is in harmony to the last finesse. The result is
fascinating, and the listener will be amazed by
the sensitivity and poesy of a composer who,
in contradiction of prevailing stereotypes,
found his own voice as a lieder composer far
beyond the sphere of virtuosity.
Works: Pièces de Théorbe in D minor(1-8)
Pièces de Théorbe in G major(9-15)
Arrangements for theorbo of music by Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
16. Entrée d’Apollon from Le Triomphe de l’Amour, 1681,
17. Les Sourdines from Armide, 1686,
18. Assez des pleurs from Bellérophon, 1679,
19. Les Echos from Atys, 1676,
Pièces de Théorbe in A minor(20-27)
Artists: Fred Jacobs (French Theorbo)
Baroque
French composer Robert de Visée performed
by the Dutch lutenist Fred Jacobs. This new
recording of baroque French theorbo music
from Louis XIV’s court by Robert de Visée
has been several years in the making. It
provides us with the opportunity of hearing
the work of de Visée, a composer well known
to guitarists and lutenists alike as the most
important French baroque composer for
plucked instruments, on an instrument
very similar to the one he played for Louis
XIV court. To re-create the subtle sound
world of the French theorbo, no original
large theorbo is known to have survived but
there is considerably iconographic evidence
from which Michael Lowe has re-created the
instrument used here.
Offer Price: £10.99 Add to basket Works: Fourteen Bagatelles
op.6 (1908, BB 50, Sz 38)
Ten Easy Piano Pieces
(1908, BB 51, Sz 39)
Seven Sketches
op.9b (1908-10, BB 54, Sz 44)
Three Burlesques
op.8c (1908-11, BB 55, Sz 47)
Two Rumanian Dances
op.8a (1909-10, BB 56, Sz 43)
Four Dirges
op.9a (c1909-10, BB 58, Sz 45)
Artists: Zoltan Kocsis
With the Midem Classical Opera Award 2008 for The Wooden Prince and Kossuth in his back pocket as a conductor, Kocsis reminds us with these two new recordings that as an interpreter of Bartók he is also superlative.
Artists: Schneider, Sieden, Genz, Wagner, Concerto Koln, Michael Hofstetter.
A new production by the brilliant Concerto Köln of the first opera in the German language, Alceste. Written by Anton Schweitzer in 1773 and recorded in 2007 in Weimar to celebrate the re-opening of the Anna Amalia Library, named after the patroness of the original work.
The Muri Mass, released here for the first time, was only
identified in 2005 to be a work by Johan Valentin Rathgeber.
A beautiful performance by The Cappella Murensis and
the ensemble Arcimboldo using historically accurate
instruments.
This latest in the historically informed Haydn symphony cycle directed by Thomas Fey has his Heidelberg players in top form. Gramophone Editor’s Choice June 2008.
Offer Price: £10.99 Add to basket Works: Jennifer Higdon
1 Zaka (2003) (12:50)
Gordon Fitzell
2 violence (2001) (9:46)
Steven Mackey
Indigenous Instruments (1989) (17:34)
3 I (6:17)
4 II (5:39)
5 III (5:37)
David M. Gordon
6 Friction Systems (2002; rev. 2005) (14:37)
Gordon Fitzell
7 evanescence (2006) (11:18)
Dennis DeSantis
8 strange imaginary remix (2006) (5:33)
Artists: Eighth Blackbird
Double Grammy Award Winner 2008 - Best Chamber Music Performance & Best Classical Producer. Eighth Blackbird is Chicago’s hottest classical property – New works by Jennifer Higdon, David M. Gordon, Gordon Fitzell , Steve Mackey and a remix by Dennis DeSantis
Works: 1. Ave, generosa, Hildegard of Bingen 05:05
2-6. Salve Regina, Leonardo Leo 16:07
7-9. Quanto dolce e quell’ardore, Francesco Mancini * 11:18
10. The Easter Oratorio, Johann Sebastian Bach Seele, deine Spezereien 10:54
11. The First Booke of Songes, John Dowland His golden locks time hath to silver turned 03:35
12. Come, ye Sons of Art away, Henry Purcell Bid the Virtues 03:20
13. Motetto per la Festa della Santa Croce, Jan Antonín Kozeluch Sola digna tu fuisti* 04:53
14-17. Exsultate, jubilate, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 14:35
* first UK recording Total running time 69:34
Artists: Grace Davidson
A vocal portrait of the British soprano Grace Davidson in her début solo album. Singing the monody of Hildegard of Bingen, the Neapolitan baroque and a Purcell Ode her thrilling voice is one to remember.
The festival premiere of ALCINA at the Prinzregententheater on July 17th 2005 was a highlight of the Munich opera season.
The production featured Anja Harteros and Vesselina Kasarova, two superstars of the international opera scene. Under the approved direction of Ivor Bolton, the entire ensemble was celebrated by the audience with standing ovations, and no less euphoric was the echo in the press!
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If any details on a disc you order have changed since a list was posted on the site then we shall notify you before supply.