Schmidt Symphony No. 4 / Notre Dame
This excellent performance of Franz Schmidt’s masterful Fourth Symphony remains competitive regardless of the format in which you listen.
Composer: Franz Schmidt (1874-1939)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Mahler’s symphonic output is in one sense much smaller than, say, Mozart’s: 11works (including Das Lied von der Erde and the unfinished Tenth Symphony), compared with about 50.
Composer: Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Mozart Symphonies Nos. 5 and 29 / Serenades Nos. 6 and 13
Mozart’s early career was spent mostly on tour with his father, Leopold, and sister, Nannerl. By the time they reached The Netherlands in late 1765, Wolfgang had already conquered much of western Europe.
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Taneyev: At the Reading of A Psalm, Op. 36, Cantata No. 2
Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856-1915) is considered to be Russia's most idealistic composer. His students at the Moscow Conservatory included Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. Cantata No. 2 is his last work, ...
Composer: Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Choral
Stamitz / Richter: Early String Symphonies, Vol. 2
Following the delectable String Symphonies Volume 1 comes an equally delectable Volume 2, with one sinfonia by Johann Stamitz (1717-1757) and three by Franz Xaver Richter (1709-1789).
Composer: Johann Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter (1709–1789)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Stamitz / Richter: Early String Symphonies, Vol. 1
The musicians at Mannheim formulated a codified, highly articulate musical language, which is full of rhetorical musical gestures and effects borrowed from earlier musical languages.
Composer: Johann Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter (1709–1789)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto / Clarinet Quintet in A Major
The two compositions by Mozart recorded on this album are not just brilliant pièces de résistance taken from the oeuvre of an outstanding composer, they also provide two top-ranking international musicians with an opportunity to ...
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Stravinsky: Grand Suite From Histoire Du Soldat / Dumbarton Oaks Concerto
This lively and lovable album of Stravinsky's neoclassical and small ensemble pieces stands with the best available. The two Suites for Small Orchestra never have been better done, the opening Andante taken a bit more slowly than ...
Composer: Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 4, 8 and 14
Beethoven raised the bar for Classical music with his Fourth Sonata. Michelangeli acknowledged the new, grand scale of the work by including it alone, like the “Hammerkavier,” on a 1970s DG LP. Young Mari Kodama from Japan doesn’t ....
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Op 10, No 1, 2 & 3
Mari Kodama continues her cycle of piano sonatas. 'What really comes across, is her affection for the music, her wish to give it time so that we may enjoy its shape, harmonies and details.'
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Szymanowski, K.: Violin Concerto No. 1 / Dvorak, A.: Violin Concerto / Romance
An intriguing coupling of Slavic violin concertos finds Marek Janowski and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin conjuring a wealth of colours and inflections from Szymanowski’s exotic orchestration. What a marvellous violinist Arabella ...
Composer: Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Bartok: The Two Violin Concertos
Arabella Steinbacher’s program of Béla Bartók’s two violin concertos begins with the second from 1938, and the violin’s entry makes it seem as though she will favor muscular strength over romantic lushness; whether or not the two ...
Composer: Bela Bartok
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Schubert: Complete Works for Violin and Piano, Vol. 2
This album together with volume 2 completes the collaboration between Julia Fischer and Pentatone. Since all works which Schubert wrote for Violin and Piano, Volume 2 will show Julia Fischer as pianist as well (in the 4-hands ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797–1828):
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Schubert Complete Works for Violin and Piano, Vol. 1
Julia Fischer is outstanding in this recording. The three sonatas featured on this album – D.384 in D, D.385 in A minor, and D.408 in G minor – date from 1816, but despite being early works they exhibit all the characteristics ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797–1828):
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Schubert, F.: Piano Quintet in A major, D667 'The Trout' (Die Forelle)
Yes, it sounds crazy to make yet another recording of Schubert's Trout Quintet a 'reference recording', particularly given the number of really good ones already in circulation. Never mind. There is no finer performance available, ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797–1828):
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 13 and 24
This is the debut album of Martin Helmchen, prize-winning 25-year old German pianist whose career received a boost when he won the 2001 Clara Haskil Competition. Though opening salvos fired by so many young pianists today ...
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Opp. 78, 79, 14, 49
This album, the first in Kodama’s planned Beethoven cycle, begins with the composer’s so-called “easy” sonatas. In the words of the booklet’s annotator, Franz Steiger, they represent “lyrical islands,” being less fervent or ...
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364 / Concertone in C Major, K. 190 / Rondo in C Major, K. 373
Yakov Kreizberg launches the Sinfonia concertante in emphatic style: a no-nonsense tempo, lashing sforzando accents, a powerful forward impetus. Mozart's thrilling take on the slow-burn 'Mannheim crescendo' has an almost ...
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 9
These are two of the most brilliant and insightful Shostakovich performances to come along in quite a while, and that's saying a lot given the excellence of the recent competition. Certainly if you're looking for this coupling, ...
Composer: Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–1975)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 2 and 5
This follow-up to Julia Fischer's widely acclaimed album of Mozart's Concertos Nos 3 and 4 confirms the 23-year-old as a player of dazzling maturity and technical finish. Her tone is sweet and imaginatively coloured, her shaping of the ...
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
