Verdi & Donizetti: Opera Arias
American star tenor Michael Fabiano presents a spectacular set of scenes taken from late Donizetti and middle Verdi operas, revealing the strong ties between these two composers. The album documents a paradigmatic shift in Italian opera, from the beautiful lines and crispness of belcanto to a richer, ...
Composer: Giuseppe Donizetti (1813-1901), Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
On her first PENTATONE album, Czech star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená returns to the baroque repertoire that launched her early career. Il giardino dei sospiri is a collection of scenes from secular cantatas on tragic love, ranging from Handel’s Qual ti riveggio to new editions of works by ...
Composer: Benedetto Marcello, Leonardo Vinci (1690-1730), Francesco Gasparini (1661-1727), Domenico Sarro (1679-1744), Leonardo Leo (1694-1744), George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Tchaikovsky has dedicated some of his finest music to the violin, but this new album expands the instrument’s repertoire even further. Inspired by greats such as Sarasate, Heifetz, Kreisler and Joachim, violinist Guy Braunstein reanimates a tradition of violin and orchestra rhapsodies with ...
Composer: Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Beethoven & Hillborg: Chamber Works
The Calder Quartet invites you on a journey from early to late Beethoven, passing through an exciting contemporary piece by Swedish composer Anders Hillborg along the way. Beethoven’s Op. 131 string quartet, that concludes this album, is already a great adventure in its own right, with its ...
Composer: Anders Hillborg (1954), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Love is a rollercoaster, and so is this swinging new take on Virgil’s classical tragedy. Dido & Aeneazz is a recomposition of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas by Raaf Hekkema, combined with newly- composed music by Eric Vloeimans. The album showcases the congenial collaboration between ...
Composer: Eric Vloeimans
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Rossini: Petite messe solennelle
In Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle (1863-1867), sacred tones blend seamlessly with allusions to his comic operas. “Is this sacred music which I have written or music of the devil?”, the composer tellingly asked himself in a personal letter. Rossini’s enigmatic but highly enjoyable ...
Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Featuring works by Abel, Reichardt, Zelter, Storace, Mozart and Paisiello, this album follows the musical “jet set” of the 18th century as they “do” the splendid cosmopolitan cultural epicentres of the time, including London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and St Petersburg. Exploring the ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Schubert: Early Symphonies & Stage Music
By presenting Schubert’s first three symphonies and a selection of stage music, this album showcases a less-known, but fascinating part of the composer’s oeuvre. His extraordinary achievements in the fields of Lieder and string quartet composition tend to overshadow his ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
On her first PENTATONE album, pianist Tamara Stefanovich presents a highly personal selection of solo works by Bach, Bartók, Ives and Messiaen. Influences shows how these extraordinarily original and idiosyncratic composers let themselves be inspired by the exterior world, ...
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Bela Bartók (1881–1945), Charles Ives (1874-1954), Olivier Messiaen (1930)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Tchaikovsky: The Symphonies & Manfred
Tchaikovsky defined the symphony as being the most lyrical of musical forms. After all, is it not meant to express that for which there are no words, but which forces itself out of the soul, impatiently waiting to be uttered? With these words, the composer makes us aware of the ...
Composer: Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowsky (1840-1893)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 40 & 41 (Live)
Considered to be the highest triumph of instrumental composition in his own day, Mozart’s final symphonies continue to sweep audiences away. From the famous G-minor opening movement of the 40th symphony that cuts straight to the chase to the unprecedented complexity of the 41st ...
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
In her PENTATONE debut album, young German star soprano Anna Lucia Richter explores the heart-wrenching, timeless and universal feeling of Heimweh (homesickness) through a collection of extraordinary Schubert songs. Richter approaches the notion of Heimweh from several perspectives: ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Angel Heart: A Music Storybook
Created by soprano Lisa Delan and composer Luna Pearl Woolf, the recording of Angel Heart is a music storybook narrated by Jeremy Irons with an original story by Cornelia Funke and music by Luna Pearl Woolf, and performed by Matt Haimovitz & Uccello with world-class artists Frederica von Stade, Daniel Taylor, Delan and more. Woolf’s original ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings / Souvenir De Florence
Only a few works from Pjotr Tschaikowski's huge oeuvre have gained general acceptance, however, these are of such an enduring nature that the Russian is ranked among the great composers in the history of music. The way the world of music highlights especially his last three symphonies, ...
Composer: Pjotr Tschaikowski (1840–1893)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Debussy: La mer, Ibéria, Images & 6 Épigraphes antiques
Released in the year of Claude Debussys death centenary, this album demonstrates the exceptional harmonic and coloristic richness of his music. The centerpiece of the album is La Mer (1903-1905), a musical realization of the composers sincere devotion to the sea that ...
Composer: Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Strauss II: Die Fledermaus (Live)
Die Fledermaus (1874) is the ultimate Viennese operetta, composed by Johann Strauss Jr., the most famous member of the Strauss Waltz Dynasty. Once conceived as an attempt to creatively outgrow the dance-hall, the operetta was a huge success from the outset and still enchants audiences today ...
Composer: Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
ELEGANT, EXHILARATING, ELECTRIFYING! From the moment they were performed, Gioachino Rossini’s overtures have enjoyed the status of colourful, elegant orchestral showpieces. With their sweet cantilene, their rich harmonies, their brilliant orchestration, and their powerful and ...
Composer: Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
This live recording was produced in honor of the 20th anniversary of Gospel Christmas with the Northwest Community Gospel Chorus and the Oregon Symphony. Once considered an unlikely marriage of musical genres, gospel music with symphony orchestra has now established itself as a tradition. While blues, hymns, and spirituals are typical sources of ...
Composer: DeMarcus Williams, Bill Winston, Milton Biggham, Terry Davis, Joseph Joubert, Buryl Red, Michael McElroy, Norman Hutchins, Gary Hemenway, James Fortune, AyRon Lewis, Joseph Pace II, George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), Lynn DeShazo, Traditional, Gary Sadler, Israel Houghton, Charles Floyd, Erasmus Mutambira:
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Choral
Lutosławski & Dutilleux: Cello Concertos
This album features cello concertos by Witold Lutosławski and Henri Dutilleux performed by the multiple prize-winning German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducted by Thomas Søndergård. These works, premiered in 1970, are two of the biggest gems ...
Composer: Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013), Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 22, TH 12 (1877 Version)
Swan Lake is the first of the three great ballets that Tchaikovsky wrote, and arguably the most famous. The piece is mainly known in the shape it obtained in 1895, when it became a classic in the choreography of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. That “imperial” version strayed from Tchaikovsky’s world premiere score,
Composer: Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1993)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
