Spring 2022 Classics & Jazz catalog

Classics & Jazz Spring 2022

All Prices Good through 5/31/22

Classical New Releases see page 3

Cedille Records Sale

see page 14

HBDirect Classics We are pleased to present the HBDirect Spring 2022 Classics & Jazz Catalog, with a broad range of offers we’re sure will be of great interest to our customers. On the classical side, we are proud to present hundreds of new releases organized by time period, as well as sale pricing on select titles from Cedille, Vox, and Pentatone. You’ll also find a fine selection of Naxos Audiobooks beginning on page 28. In jazz, we’re excited to present a sale on Whaling City titles, label features from Challenge and Storyville, and a selection of the best-selling releases from 2021! HBDirect is in the process of transitioning to a new website later this year. In the meantime, you can view a digital version of this catalog at www.hbdirect.com.

Keep this catalog handy! Even though some sale pricing may expire, most recordings will remain available for a very long time. We hope you enjoy this catalog and as always, we thank you for your business!

Catalog Index 3 7

Classical – Recommendations Classical – Boxed Sets

12 New from Naxos 16 Critics’ Choice

19 New on DVD & Blu-ray

26 Harmonia Mundi/Hyperion 35 New by Era

48 Jazz – New Releases

52 Jazz – Whaling City Sound

Featured Jazz

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New Jazz Releases Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Joey DeFrancisco, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Blossom Dearie, and more!

See Page 48 Challenge Records Martial Solel, Lex Jasper Trio, John Helliwell, Honling Brederode, Pinheiro Ineke Cavalli See Page 50

Best Selling Jazz of 2021 Bill Evans, Jane Monheit, Oscar Peterson Trio, Veronica Swift, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday See Page 54

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All Prices Good through 5/31/22

& Jazz

Spring 2022

Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 / Alexandre Kantorow, piano

There is much to look forward to when Alexandre Kantorow releases an all-Brahms album with a playing time of no less than 85 minutes. He opens with music by a composer of a similar age as himself: Brahms wrote the Four Ballades in 1854 while only 21 years old, taking up a fashionable genre introduced by Chopin as late as 1840. The set is followed by the even earlier Sonata No. 3 in E minor which forms the center of the program. The sonata is of almost symphonic dimensions and it was indeed, along with its predecessors, famously described as a disguised symphony by no one less than Robert Schumann. (BIS) 1SACD BIS-2600 $19.99

Chamber Music by José Serebrier

José Serebrier (b. 1938) established himself as a significant composer as far back as the 1950s, with over 100 published works. This album presents seven of his chamber works, five of which as world premiere recordings. Serebrier’s luminous lyricism, resplendent melodic language and fascinating harmonies are already evident even in his Op. 1 violin sonata. Also included is the world premiere recording of Sauerbier’s Sonata for Solo Viola, as well as the world premiere recording of his Suite for Solo Cello in 5 movements. Three other world premiere recordings of works by Serebrier are also included. (Affetto) 1CD AF2104 $16.99

2022 New Year's Concert / Daniel Barenboim; Vienna Philharmonic [2 CDs]

The annual New Year’s Concert live from Vienna is one of the world’s most famous and spectacular classical music events, broadcast on TV and radio with more than 50 million viewers. The prestigious concert was conducted

by Daniel Barenboim for the 3rd time (2009, 2015, 2022). The Vienna Philharmonic, as musical ambassadors of Austria, send people all over the world a New Year’s greeting in the spirit of hope, friendship, and peace with the lively and light-hearted and at the same time nostalgic and profound music from the vast repertoire of the family of Johann Strauss and their contemporaries. (Sony) 2CD 19439962512 $16.99

Complete Symphonies & Dances / Sir Malcolm Arnold [6 CDs] Recorded in the presence of the composer, Andrew Penny’s survey of the Complete Symphonies and Dances by Sir Malcolm Arnold has long been considered to contain benchmark recordings. The Dances are light-hearted, vivid and jaunty, yet the nine symphonies explore th e composer’s darker side, painting a picture of his private ‘journey through hell’ as he struggled with physical and mental health issues. They are masterworks which exert continued appeal and stimulate repeated listening. (Naxos) 6CD 8506041 $36.99

Nostalgia / Magdalena Kožená; Yefim Bronfman

On her third Pentatone album Nostalgia, Magdalena Kožená presents Bartók’s Village Scenes, Mussorgsky’s The Nursery and a selection of Brahms songs, together with acclaimed pianist Yefim Bronfman. Sung in Slovak, Russian and German, these songs on love, longing and innocence show three master composers transforming folk traditions into their unique musical styles. Yefim Bronfman, whose commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike, makes his Pentatone debut. (Pentatone) 1CD PTC5186777 $15.99

Jean-Pierre Rampal: The Complete CBS Masterwork Recordings [56 CDs]

Before Jean-Pierre Rampal appeared on the music scene in the 1950s, wind players were rarely hired as soloists with an orchestra. This legendary French flute virtuoso broke through that barrier with his astonishing talent, flair, and commanding stage presence, attaining the kind of visibility previously enjoyed only by pianists and violinists. He regularly filled the world’s largest concert halls for his recitals and chamber performances. To mark his 100th birthday, this 56-CD box set is the first complete edition of Jean-Pierre’s recordings for CBS, RCA and Sony Classical. (Sony) 56CD 19439888282 $199.99

New Classical Recommended New Titles Coates: British Light Music / Slovak Radio SO; Adrian Leaper With orchestral works at the core of his output, the supreme melodic gift that distinguishes the music of Eric Coates earned him a reputation as the ‘uncrowned king of light music’. It was the London Suite that made Coates a household name, with the Cockney exuberance of its third movement. The Dambusters March was one of Coates’ last pieces, and remains one of the most iconic movie themes ever written. (Naxos)

1CD 8555178

$13.99

Dvořák’, Caplet / Nadège Rochat, cello, Royal Scottish NO On this new release, Nadège Rochat performs Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, op. 104, and André Caplet’s mystically spiritualized Épiphanie, Op. 22, together with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Benjamin Levy.

Nadège Rochat is a distinguished expressive voice among young cellists, who likes to explore forgotten composers, world music and contemporary pieces. (ARS)

1SACD ARS38301

$19.99

Autour De Bach / Pentaèdre The music of Bach is at the heart of Pentaèdre’s new recording devoted to transcriptions of toccatas, fugues, sonatas, partitas and chorales for wind quintet. The album also includes the Quintet No. 3 by American composer David Maslanka (1943–2017), a chamber work inspired by Bach. A unique musical ensemble on the Canadian landscape, Pentaèdre explores a diverse and original chamber music repertoire. (ATMA Classique)

1CD ACD2 2841

The Queen’s Six Murder the Songs of Tom Lehrer / The Queenʼs Six

Polish Music, Vol. 1 (Lutosławski, Paderewski, Bacewicz)

Following Tom Lehrer’s decision in 2020 to release almost 100 of his songs into the public domain, The Queen’s Six take up the offer with relish in this album of a cappella renditions of his “catchy and savage musical satire”. Members of The Queen’s Six make up half of the Lay Clerks of St. George’s Chapel, whose homes lie within the Castle walls. This rare privilege demands the highest musical standards, as they sing regularly for the Royal family. (Signum)

1CD SIGCD689

The Płock Symphony Orchestra has undertaken the mission of presenting works of 19th- and 20th-century Polish composers with these two releases. Volume one features works from Karol Szymanowski, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Grażyna Bacewicz, Stefan Kisielewski, or Witold Lutosławski. While listening to the recordings, we can appreciate the richness and diversity of Polish culture.

(DUX)

1CD DUX1624

$17.99

1CD DUX1625

$19.99

The Hidden Reunion / Orchestra of the 18th Century

Legends of the period-performance community Sarah Cunningham and Richard Egarr need little introduction with their contributions to recorded music garnering critical acclaim.

They join forces for their AVIE Records debut recording of J.S. Bach’s celebrated Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord together with Cunningham’s dazzling Organ Trio Sonata and Flute Partita arrangements to conclude the program. (Avie)

This new recording presents Telemann and Bach in the unique light provided by the late Frans Brüggen’s orchestra: exquisite sound, supreme phrasing, sublime poetry throughout.

In two recording periods, in May and August 2021, the legendary ensemble has put together a fine program that will entirely satisfy the many fans and serve as a reminder of the scope of the orchestra’s large-scale version. (Glossa)

1CD GCD921130

$17.99

$18.99

De Falla Collection / Marta Senn; Cecilia Angell; Fernando de La Mora [5 CDs]

Korngold: String Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 / Alma Quartet Erich Wolfgang Korngold was most widely known and rewarded as one of the founding composers of Hollywood film music, but also a noted composer in the classical music world. His String Quartet No. 2, Op. 26 (1933) was written just before Korngold moved to Hollywood and is full of musical imagery of Vienna, with gestures towards the waltzes of Johann Strauss II as well as the intricate lyricism of Richard Strauss. (Challenge)

1CD CC 72869

$19.99

Polish Music, Vol. 2 (Kurpiński, Karlowicz, Bacewicz)

Bach: Sonatas for Viola da Gamba / Sarah Cunningham; Richard Egarr

1CD AV2491

$16.99

Music-lovers can now add a one-stop guide to the thrilling and colorful world of Manuel de Falla to their libraries with this comprehensive collection of his greatest masterpieces in modern digital recordings. Falla’s cycle of Seven Popular Spanish Songs is a perfect synthesis of artsong and folksong, performed here in Luciano Berio’s orchestration by Marta Senn and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela under the baton of Eduardo Mata.

(Brilliant)

$16.99

The Last Concert in Moscow / Mariss Jansons [2 CDs]

5CD BRI96353

$24.99

Remastered broadcast of the Mariss Jansons concert with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra that took place on March 29, 2016, at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. With that concert, the musicians were congratulating Alexander Tchaikovsky on his 70th birthday.

The outstanding maestro conducted the Concerto for viola, piano and orchestra Etudes in Simple Tones and the Concerto for two pianos and orchestra, and more. (Melodiya)

2CD MELCD1002662

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$23.99

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Releases

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major / Christian Thielemann & Wiener Philharmonic

Telemann: Double & Triple Concertos / Capella Savaria; Zsolt Kalló

Sony Classical releases the third installment of Christian Thielemann’s complete cycle of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic – the orchestra’s first Bruckner cycle under a single conductor. “The claim that this orchestra is essentially the only genuine original sound ensemble for the music of Anton Bruckner should remain beyond dispute” raves Die Presse. (Sony)

Based on the number and the quality of his works, Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) can by all means regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers. His œuvre comprising a large number of concertos for two, three or even four solo instruments, a fact that also show his determined efforts to please a broad range of music-savvy audiences. Capella Savaria, Hungary’s oldest period instrument ensemble, presents six of these on this album. (Hungaroton)

1CD 19439914112

$11.99

1CD HCD32860

Imagination / Raphaela Gromes

The Solo Album / Christoph Croise

Raphaela Gromes has received acclaim for her highly virtuoso, brilliant and passionately expressive cello playing.

What also distinguishes this exceptional musician is her enjoyment of the musical treasure hunt. For her new album Imagination, Raphaela chose imaginative music, music based on stories, on fairy tales. The wide selection includes a waltz from Tchaikovsky’s ballet music “Sleeping Beauty,” and a “Fairy Tale Narration” by Robert Schumann. (Sony)

1CD 19439913882

$18.99

Modernism. Multiculturism. Multi-tuning. Lockdown. These are among the elements that bind the works on The Solo Album by award winning cellist Christoph Croisé, who took the opportunity of 2020’s isolation to work intensively on a variety of solo works and also turn his hand to composition. At the heart of the album is Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály’s epic Sonata, the first major work for solo cello after the suites

by J.S. Bach. (Avie)

$11.99

1CD AV2466

Lady Viola / Kristina Fialova

$17.99

Coleridge-Taylor: Hiawatha Overture – Petite Suite

The new album Lady Viola presents various viola repertoire performed

by Czech eminent violist Kristina Fialová. Pieces on this release include by Rebecca Clarke, Sylvie Bodorová, Lillian Fuchs and more. Fantasia for Solo Viola by Sláva Vorlová is world premiere recording. Kristina Fialová has been primarily praised by the critics for her impeccable technique, impassioned performance and sophisticated musical sentiment. (ArcoDiva)

The Hiawatha trilogy, with its stirring overture, established ColeridgeTaylor as one of Britain’s leading young composers and stimulated commissions in a wide variety of music. Redolent of popular ballads and romances, the Petite Suite de Concert is a masterpiece of light music, while the charming Romance of the Prairie Lilies shows Coleridge-Taylor’s lasting influence on future generations of British composers.

Bernstein: Mass / Leonard Bernstein [2 CDs]

Agnus Dei / The Sixteen

With Leonard Bernstein’s straightforward, purely musical setting of the Latin liturgy, he created a broadly eclectic theatrical event by placing the 400-year-old religious rite into a tense, dramatic dialog with music and lyrics of the 20th century vernacular. Time has revealed MASS to be a visionary piece that continues to be relevant and move audiences as it enjoys performances around the world. (Sony)

There are certain texts which inspire composers more than others but there is one in particular that has provided us with sublime music ever since it appeared centuries ago — the Agnus Dei. This collection from The Sixteen celebrates some of the finest settings from the Renaissance through to the 20th century. The variety of settings and musical language featured here is quite astounding and you may even discover an Agnus Dei that you haven’t heard before! (Coro)

1CD UP0236

2CD 19439890562

$16.99

1CD 8555191

$16.99

1CD COR16186

$13.99

$18.99

NEW CLASSICAL TITLES IN BRIEF Songs / Ian Bostridge; Saskia Giorgini This selection of songs demonstrates Respighi’s stylistic versatility, from settings of Ada Negri’s compact verses to florid, Symbolist d’Annunzio poems as well as folk melodies, including Scottish songs. (Pentatone)

1CD PTC5186872

$15.99

Krebs: Complete Harpsichord Music / Michele Benuzzi [6 CDs] Several suites here are sophisticated examples of Krebs’s mastery in the ‘French and Italian taste’ as well as demonstrating the fluency of his keyboard writing and the craftsmanship of his counterpoint. (Brilliant)

6CD BRI95723

$26.99

Camino / Sean Shibe Multi-award-winning guitarist Sean Shibe brings a fresh and innovative approach to the traditional classical guitar, while also exploring contemporary music and repertoire for electric guitar. (Pentatone)

1CD PTC5186870

$15.99

Bartók & Ravel: Works Arranged for Guitar / Jack Petruzzelli; Cameron Greider Guitarists Cameron Greider and Jack Petruzzelli form the High Low Duo, whose first album on Sono Luminus features electric guitar arrangements of works by Bartók and Ravel. (Sono Luminus)

1CD SLE-70023

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$13.99

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New Classical Releases Classical Recommendations Brahms: Complete Songs, Vol. 1 / Christoph Prégardien, tenor; Ulrich Eisenlohr, piano This first volume of Brahms’ complete songs spans a period of nearly 25 years. A prolific composer of Lieder, Brahms’ adherence to traditional form was accompanied by a modern approach to compositional style.

Thematically, most songs explore ideas of love, loneliness, and solitude, perfectly exemplified by the Vier Gesänge, Op. 43. This volume also contains some little-known jewels such as Versunken. (Naxos)

1CD 8574268

$13.99

New Mozart / Reinhard Goebel; Mirijam Contzen With New Mozart, conductor Reinhard Goebel once again shows what treasures continue to be discovered in the music archives: For this new recording with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, he deals with musical treasures that revolve around the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The “Gran Partita” for large wind and string ensembles was arranged by the Bavarian composer and Mozart expert Franz Gleissner. (Sony)

1CD 19439921502

$11.99

First Ladies / Annette-Barbara Vogel; Durval Cesetti One could hardly intuit from these fresh and flowing violin sonatas the obstacles their female composers had to face – family opposition for Mel Bonis in France and Ethel Smyth in England, and institutional conservatism for Elfrida Andrée in Sweden. What ultimately matters, of course, is whether they write good music, and these three sonatas point to the musical riches that further exploration of their creators’ output will uncover. (Toccata)

1CD TOCN0013

Julian Bream Live Performances & Broadcasts, Vol. 2 [2 CDs]

Brahms: Three Sonatas / Michael Collins, clarinet; Stephen Hough, piano

Julian Bream, who passed away in August 2020, was the finest classical guitarist in the second half of the 20th century.

Doremi is proud to release this tribute to his wonderful artistry. The program of works for lute and guitar solo and in a variety of ensemble settings, never before released, offers a remarkable panorama of Bream’s magnificent playing between 1956 and 1965, including two studio broadcasts.

(Doremi)

Friends of long standing as well as regular partners in chamber music, Michael Collins and Stephen Hough bring their combined musical insights and expertise to bear on Johannes Brahms’s sonatas for clarinet and piano. Together with the composer’s trio for clarinet, cello and piano and clarinet quintet, the sonatas are among the most treasured works in the repertoire of the instrument – but it is partly down to good luck that we have them at all. (BIS)

2CD DHR-8151/2 $37.99 Four Visions of France / Daniel Müller-Schott; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

1SACD BIS-2557 $19.99 The Jukebox Album / Elena Urioste; Tom Poster When the pandemic struck early in 2020, violinist Elena Urioste and pianistcomposer Tom Poster responded by channeling their creative energies into UriPosteJukeBox, a portmanteau of their surnames and a nod to the retro feel of the jukebox with its eclectic selection of songs to be chosen by the listener. This album draws together some of the duo’s favorite pieces. (Orchid Classics)

It is not by chance that luminous textures and sensual orchestral colors are considered essential features of French music. Its history features great names renowned for their art of instrumentation and sensitive use of timbres, who include the composers of the cello concertos on this recording. Daniel Müller-Schott appealingly combines five works from the French sound kaleidoscope on this album with the DSO Berlin. (Orfeo)

1CD ORF-C988211 Isaac Stern Live, Vol. 9 [2 CDs]

$18.99

1CD ORC100173 $16.99 Florish in the Key: The Solo Violin in London 1650–1700 / Peter Sheppard Skærved

$18.99

As well as being internationally recognized as a leading interpreter of music new and old, Peter Sheppard Skærved is the only violinist to have performed on the personal violins of Viotti, Paganini, Joachim, Kreisler and Ole Bull. Here he presents the works from ‘Preludes or Voluntarys’. The edition includes petite gems from the leading lights of the age such as Purcell, Biber, Pepusch, Correlli and Torrelli. (Athene)

One of the 20th century most admired and respected violinists, Isaac Stern’s career as a solo artist, chamber musician, and much else was remarkable. These albums, of his live performances is an eloquent testament to his musical insights, technical command and his gorgeous, luminous tone. Stern recorded prolifically and received countless honors and tributes, passing away at the age of 81 in 2001. (Doremi)

1CD ATH23211 2CD DHR-8147/8 $37.99 Mozart: Violin Concertos, Vol. 1 / Francesca Dego; Royal Scottish NO

$18.99

Virtuoso violinist Francesca Dego joins forces with legendary conductor and period performance pioneer Sir Roger Norrington for this recording of Mozart’s 3rd and 4th violin concertos. The outstanding musicians of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra provide the accompaniment, with reduced numbers of strings and antiphonal violin seating to replicate the size of the Salzburg court orchestra who gave the premier performances of these works. (Chandos)

1CD CHAN 20234

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$18.99

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Sony Boxed Sets Yo-Yo Ma – Crossing Borders – A Musical Journey [9 CDs] 9CD 19439916202 $28.99

Eugene Ormandy: The Columbia Legacy [120 CDs] 120CD 19439757482 $299.99

Szigeti: The Complete Columbia Album Collection [17 CDs] 17CD 19075940352 $59.99

Sir Colin Davis conducts Mozart Serenades & Overtures [4 CDs] 4CD 19439912922 $22.99

Beyond the Music / Marian Anderson [15 CDs] 15CD 19439836492 $99.99

Bernstein Conducts Stravinsky [6 CDs] 6CD 19439854202 $36.99

Glenn Gould plays Mozart Piano Sonatas [4 CDs] 4CD 19439917892 $22.99

Schumann: Alle Lieder / Christian Gerhaher; Gerold Huber [11 CDs] 11CD 19439780112 $79.99

Mozart: The Piano Concertos / Matthias Kirschnereit [10 CDs] 10CD 19439792922 $29.99

Jean-Marc Luisada plays Chopin [6 CDs] 6CD 19439927532 $23.99

The Early Columbia Recordings / Juilliard String Quartet [16 CDs] 16CD 19439831102 $54.99

Strauss: Orchestral Works / David Zinman [7 CDs] 7CD 19075945482 $24.99

The Complete Music of Anton Webern [4 CDs] 4CD 19439911902 $22.99

Itzhak Perlman / The Complete RCA & Columbia Album Collection [18 CDs] 18CD 19439752272 $59.99

Fritz Reiner: The Complete Columbia Albums Collection [14 CDs] 14CD 19075936772 $59.99

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New Recommended Box Sets Mariss Jansons: The Edition [68 CD+DVD] Mariss Jansons was one of the most important conductors of our time, celebrated worldwide and held in the highest regard. Mariss Jansons – The Edition, comprising 70 recordings, documents the final phase of his life and career. The set contains a remarkably diverse repertoire, ranging from symphonic music and great choral works to opera, and from the First Viennese School to 20th century classical music. (BR Klassik)

68CD BRK900200

$299.99

Wagner: The Bayreuth Edition / Linda Watson; Stephen Gould; Albert Dohmen [30 CDs] This epic collection brings together all of Opus Arte’s recordings from the Bayreuth Festival.

Wagner’s epic four-opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen is given an interpretation that is both thrilling and sensitive by the conductor Christian Thielemann and a cast of renowned Wagner interpreters. Thielemann also presents an incredible account of Der fliegende Holländerin, which secured his place as the world’s greatest Wagner conductor. (Opus Arte)

30CD OA CD9048BD

Leroy Anderson: Complete Orchestral Works [5 CDs]

$89.99

Leroy Anderson occupies a unique place in American music. Rigorously trained in the classical tradition, Anderson wrote tunes that topped the pop charts, making compositions such as Sleigh Ride and The Typewriter world famous. This first set of Anderson’s orchestral music includes several previously unpublished pieces made available by the Anderson family, including world premiere recordings. (Naxos)

5CD 8505259

An Anthology / Alios J. Hochstrasser [12 CDs]

Great Classical Piano / Maria Kihlgren [4 CDs]

The Interpannon Concert Society presents this box of live recordings from what are now 50 years of concert activity of the concert and choral association, which was founded in the fall of 1971

by Alois J. Hochstrasser as the “Graz Concert Choir”. Alois J. Hochstrasser is the music director of Interpannon Concert and the artistic director of the Pannonian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Graz Concert Choir. (Gramola)

12CD GRAM99257 Saint-Saëns Edition [34 CDs]

The pianist Maria Kihlgren studied at Göteborgs Musikhögskola and at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna gaining her diploma in 1979. In recent years she has also devoted herself to recordings. Her albums, with solo music for piano on the Sterling label, have been internationally acclaimed. The present release includes works by Scarlatti, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Reger, Debussy, de Falla, and more. (Sterling)

$59.99

4CD CDX5001 $34.99 The Royal Opera Collection [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Over a remarkably long and illustrious career, Camille Saint-Saëns thrilled audiences around the world as a pianist and organist, shaped the course of musical life in France, and enriched a multitude of genres with some 600 works, all bearing witness to the mastery of his craft. Setting his best-known compositions in their dazzlingly diverse context, this edition invites exploration and discovery. (Warner)

34CD WCL674604.2 Piano 2021 / Various Artists [4 CDs]

$39.99

This 18-opera collection displays the scope of The Royal Opera’s work. From the sumptuous beauty of Richard Eyre’s La traviata and the picturesque realism of John Copley’s La bohème to the psychological intensity of David McVicar’s Salome and Kasper Holten’s Król Roger, the impressive collection spans more than two hundred years of great operatic works from the classical period to the present day.

(Opus Arte)

18Blu-ray OA BD7291BD $134.99 22DVD OA 1337BD $134.99 Béla Bartók: The Hungarian Soul [20 CDs]

$99.99

Without any doubt this session of the Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition 2021 will stay fixed in our memories.

58 candidates presented themselves to play before the members of the jury. In this 4 album-box set you will find the 6 laureates of this session, that saw the Frenchman Jonathan Fournel win First Prize; you can enjoy his performance in Brahms’ Second Concerto with the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Hugh Wolff. (QEC)

Béla Bartók is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, the creator of a body of works as immense as it is complex. Bartók was constantly seeking to deepen his art as a composer, as can be seen from his numerous changes in style. From his final period comes the Concerto for Orchestra, a work which, more than any other perhaps, helped increase his popularity. (Warner)

20CD WCL672931.2 4CD QEC2021 $39.99 Yvonne Lefébure plays Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Ravel, Chopin [5 CDs]

$64.99

Yvonne Lefébure (1900–1986) was one of the most important French pianists and piano teachers of the 20th century. As a child, she studied the piano with Marguerite Long in the Conservatoire Femina-Musica, then in Long’s preparatory classes for the Conservatory. Lefébure was an outstanding soloist, chamber musician and concert solo artiste: by listening to this album listeners can get an impression of her talent for themselves. (Profil)

5CD PH21041

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$25.99

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Boxed Sets

The Complete Wilhelm Furtwängler on Record [55 CDs]

Royal Requiem [5 CDs] Until the end of the Ancien Régime, one of the main activities of composers – and one of their chief means of subsistence – was that of maître de chapelle or Kapellmeister. For this five-album set, Alpha Classics has assembled eight requiems, from Antoine de Févin’s Mass of the Dead for Anne of Brittany to Luigi Cherubini’s Mass for the return to France of the remains of Louis XVI. (Alpha)

A supreme interpreter of the Austro-German symphonic repertoire, and of Wagner’s music dramas, Wilhelm Furtwängler remains a towering point of reference for performers and audiences. The unparalleled scope of this 55-disc set makes it an essential for the music lover. Not only is it the first collection to unite Furtwängler’s entire catalog of studio recordings, it also encompasses every live recording he made with a view to commercial release. (Warner)

55CD WCL523240.2 Arvo Pärt: The Collection [9 CDs]

5CD ALPHA779 $36.99 De Hartmann: Complete Music for the Piano [6 CDs]

$159.99

This study into the works of Ukrainian composer Thomas De Hartmann includes solemn hymns of an Orthodox nobility, atmospheric tone poems such as the ‘Night Procession’, and freely pianistic transcriptions of melodies from earlyChristian sects such as the Essenes.

While overall meditative in mood, Jeroen van Veen’s new recording is an ideally comprehensive way to dive into its riches. (Brilliant)

Arvo Pärt is without doubt one of the best-known and -loved composers of today. His sacred choral works enjoy a huge popularity with both the traditional classical audience as well as a new generation. This substantial collection brings together Pärt’s bestknown and loved works. Excellent performances by Le Nuove Musiche/ Krijn Koetsveld, Leeds Cathedral Choir, Ulster Orchestra, Jeroen van Veen and many others. (Brilliant)

6CD BRI94795 $26.99 Teatro alla Scala Opera Box / Alvis Hermanis; Anita Rachvelishvili [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

9CD BRI96389 $44.99 Liszt: Les Annees De Pelerinage / Aquiles Delle Vigne [4 CDs]

This new release features five outstanding operas from the legendary Teatro Alla Scala. The selections include Aida: “A perfect coup de theatre” – Giornale della Musica; “… when Diana Damrau enters as the Countess, we get a performance of special gravitas. Even the orchestra, under Franz WelserMost’s baton, melts to such grace” – Financial Times (C Major)

Argentine-born pianist Aquiles Delle Vigne is one of the most renowned students of the legendary Claudio Arrau, and looks back on an extraordinary career himself. To this day, he travels tirelessly on all continents. He is particularly interested in Franz Liszt, whose Années de Pèlerinage (Pilgrimage Years) he records here on 4 albums – along with jewels such as Gondoliera / Canzone / Tarantella / Consolations and the Ballade No. 2. (ARS)

5Blu-ray 758504 8DVD 758408

4CD ARS38593 $49.99 Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas / Boris Giltburg [9 CDs]

J.S. Bach: Six Suites for Cello Solo / Benedict Kloeckner, cello [3 CDs] A highly regarded representative of the new generation of cellists, Benedict Kloeckner has been championed by such maestros as Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle. In this three-album set he tackles the sacred summit of the solo cello repertoire, rightly pointing out that the lack of original manuscripts for the Six Suites leaves them especially open to individual interpretation. (Brilliant)

Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.

These exceptional performances received widespread critical acclaim upon their original digital release. (Naxos)

9CD 8509005

$79.99 $79.99

3CD BRI96403

$54.99

$12.99

NEW BOXED SETS IN BRIEF

The Orfeo Recordings / Julia Varady [10 CDs] Orfeo honours Júlia Várady as one of the most important sopranos of the second half of the 20th century with the release of this 10 album boxed set The Orfeo Recordings. (Orfeo)

10CD ORF-C210086

$49.99

Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 3, 4, 6, 7 & 9 / Radio-Sinfonieorchester des SWR [5 CDs] Sir Roger Norrington was chief conductor of the former Stuttgart RSO for thirteen years. His main focus laid on quick tempi, articulation, and orchestra size as experienced by the composers. (SWR Classic)

5CD SWR19528CD

$34.99

Anima Eterna & Jos van Immerseel / Anima Eterna Brugge; Jos van Immerseel [7 CDs] Jos Van Immerseel and his period-instrument ensemble Anima Eterna present an anthology of seven albums including recordings of major nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers of many nationalities. (Alpha)

7CD ALPHA654

$36.99

Prokofiev: The Symphonies / Bergen PO [5 CDs] Celebrating the 130th anniversary of Sergei Prokofiev, the present box set brings together recordings of his seven symphonies made by Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra between 2012 and 2017.

(BIS)

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5SACD BIS-2594

$59.99

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Boxed Sets Recommended New Releases Early Recordings: An Anthology / Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau [7 CDs] Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is undoubtedly one of the greatest vocalists of the past century – and one of those with the most extensive discography. This anthology features many recordings never issued on album, along with early recordings for radio or gramophone, particularly those which covered less popular repertoire – with seven albums offering a total of some nine hours of music: rare repertoire, seldom or not previously available. (Profil)

7CD PH20074

$25.99

Rossini Buffo / Various [9 DVDs] Rossini composed fifteen serious operas and only three comic ones; but he had already given his best in his incomparable youth, with the four incredible masterpieces that are in this box set. Dynamic assembles some of the most famous opera buffa by Rossini, played by great performers, conductors and directors, including some rarely performed works such La gazzetta, L’equivoco stravagante, La cambiale di matrimonio. (Dynamic)

9DVD DYN-37889

$49.99

The C.P.E. Bach Edition [60 CDs] The second son of J.S. Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was recognized as of the the greatest harpsichordists of his time, and his sonatas for flute and harpsichord remain an attractive part of chamber music repertoire. This 60disc collection explores the life of C.P.E. Bach in a new and expanded edition, which includes the World Premiere Recording of C.P.E. Bach’s Cantata “Ich bin vergnügt in meinem Stande.” (Haenssler Classic)

60CD# HC21100

Geistliche Musik / Fritz Wunderlich [7 CDs]

Franck, Debussy & Others: Violin Works / Jacques Thibaud [6 CDs]

The nine installments of the SWR retrospective that have been released to this day feature Fritz Wunderlich as a singer of songs, an unequalled Mozart tenor, a brilliant interpreter, a fascinating singer of operettas and as a tasteful interpreter of light music, to name but a few of the genres that made up his repertoire.

The tenth and last installment presents Fritz Wunderlich as an interpreter of the big works of sacred music. (SWR Classic)

7CD SWR19095CD

Jacques Thibaud is considered to be one of the early 20th century’s leading violinists and chamber musicians. Such composers as Eugène Ysaÿe and George Enescu dedicated works to him. His memory lives on in such bodies as the Jacques Thibaud String Trio, founded in 1994, who pay homage to his lifelong love of ambitious and eloquent music-making in ensemble.

(Profil)

$44.99

6CD PH21031

Chausson, Schubert, & Others: Violin Works / Louis Kaufman [6 CDs]

The edition brings together Berliner Philharmoniker recordings from the last ten years. It includes the nine completed symphonies and the Adagio of the Tenth, whose performance under the direction of Claudio Abbado on the 100th anniversary of Mahler’s death is one of the highlights.

In addition to chief conductor Kirill Petrenko and his predecessor Sir Simon Rattle, the edition features other outstanding Mahler interpreters.

(Berlin Phil)

14CD+Blu-ray BPHR 200361

$22.99

J.S. Bach: The Secular Cantatas [10 CDs]

$149.99

The Complete Grainger Edition [21 CDs]

In 1995 Masaaki Suzuki began the monumental task of recording J.S. Bach’s extant church cantatas – an adventure that was brought to a close 18 years later. But Bach also composed a number of cantatas for secular occasions of which some twenty works have survived intact. Released on individual discs between 2004 and 2018, Masaaki Suzuki’s recordings of these works have now been gathered in a box set. (BIS)

10CD+SACD BIS-2491

$25.99

Mahler: Symphonien 1–10 / Berliner Philharmoniker [14 CDs]

Louis Kaufman gave his solo debut in the New York Town Hall in 1928 under the auspices of the International Naumburg Competition, which he proceeded to win. He then went on to play with such acclaimed musicians as Pablo Casals, Mischa Elmann, Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky and Alfredo Rossi. The recordings featured on this historic CD album are predominantly from the 1940s and 50s. (Profil)

6CD PH21019

$79.99

Released to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the death in 1961 of Percy Grainger, The Complete Grainger Edition contains all twenty-one Chandos albums of his works in a luxurious boxed set. The Australian-born composer and pianist was one of music’s most original voices and his compositions, especially his arrangements of folksongs, include some of the world’s most well-loved pieces. (Chandos)

21CD CHAN 20196(21)

$79.99

$79.99

Rossini Serio / Various [14 DVDs]

Rossini’s serious operas are not only overall of high artistic quality but also quite original. Indeed, they had a huge influence on the Italian Romantic output of Donizetti, Bellini, Pacini, Mercadante and of the first Verdi. This collector’s boxset offers an interesting selection of Rossini’s main opera seria played by great interpreters, conductors and directors, live recorded in prestigious venues such as Rossini Opera Festival. (Dynamic)

14DVD DYN-37888

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$74.99

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Naxos Boxed Sets

Monteverdi: Complete Madrigals [15CDs]

Rossini: Complete Piano Music / Alessandro Marangoni, piano [13 CDs]

Rossini drew a line under his hugely successful operatic career at the age of 37 and wrote little until his final years in Paris, where he became renowned for his musical salons.

For these he wrote numerous short piano pieces which he jokingly called Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age): sometimes experimental miniatures that can raise a smile or touch the heart, blurring boundaries between the irreverent and the serious. (Naxos)

The madrigal, written for courts and patrons, was the ultimate secular song. The genre reached its zenith with the works of Claudio Monteverdi in successive books that trace his technical and expressive innovations.

In them, Monteverdi explored themes such as the vicissitudes and pleasures of love, as well as the art of war, and the pain of loss. The editions used in these recordings are the most authentic and uncut. (Naxos)

English Song Collection [25 CDs]

Beethoven: Complete Edition [90 CDs]

13CD 8501306

15CD 8501505

$59.99

Beethoven’s monumental contribution to Western classical music is celebrated here in this definitive collection marking the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The Complete Edition spans orchestral, concerto, keyboard, chamber, music for the stage, choral, and vocal works, encompassing his most familiar and iconic masterpieces, alongside rarities and recently reconstructed fragments and sketches in world premiere recordings. (Naxos)

The acclaimed English Song Series celebrates the richness and diversity of British composers, performed by leading interpreters of the repertoire. From the delightfully lighthearted songs of Liza Lehmann to the abundance of invention and imagery from today’s composers, this collection is a repository of the essence of British musical craftsmanship at its finest. (Naxos)

25CD 8502507

$49.99

$119.99

90CD 8500250

Villa-Lobos: Complete Symphonies [6 CDs]

$129.99

The Choral Collection [30 CDs]

Heitor Villa-Lobos has been described as ‘the single most significant creative figure in 20thcentury Brazilian art music.’ Every aspect of Villa-Lobos’s remarkable inspiration is represented in these works, with Brazilian national rhythms and extremes of ambition in terms of scale and dramatic content, alongside neo-Classical transparency and lyrical charm. These critically acclaimed performances from São Paulo are both idiomatic and expertly played. (Naxos)

This essential collection presents the greatest choral masterpieces in critically acclaimed performances.

From the sacred music of the Medieval era, to the refinement of the Renaissance and the Baroque; from Mozart’s Classical perfection, to the Romantic worlds of Schumann, Brahms and Dvořák; and the inspired beauty of works by Eric Whitacre and Arvo Pärt – The Choral Collection is a fantastic celebration of the art of choral singing.

(Naxos)

Prokofiev: Complete Symphonies [6 CDs]

British String Quartets [20 CDs]

6CD 8506039

30CD 8503298

$38.99

The string quartet is at the very heart of 20th century British music, encompassing some of the quintessential works of the chamber music repertory. This compendium features fine examples of the genre, revealing the precocious talents of Benjamin Britten and John Ireland, the quicksilver craftsmanship of Frank Bridge and Alan Rawsthorne, and the evocative pastoral renderings of Arthur Bliss and Arnold Bax. (Naxos)

Sergey Prokofiev’s seven symphonies are acknowledged as one of the major cycles of the 20th century, and these recordings with Marin Alsop and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra have received widespread critical acclaim. From the crisp vitality of the youthful ‘Classical’ Symphony to the viscerally exciting Third, this is an unforgettable collection crowned by the bittersweet Seventh Symphony, the composer’s final significant work. (Naxos)

6CD 8506038

$69.99

20CD 8502021

$49.99

$72.99

NEW BOXED SETS IN BRIEF Beethoven: Complete Symphonies [5 CDs] Principal Conductor Ádám Fischer has been affiliated with the Danish Chamber Orchestra since 1997. The orchestra has a tradition of bridging between different musical genres and traditions. (Naxos)

5CD 8505251

$38.99

Grieg: Complete Piano Music [14 CDs] Brought together as a complete set, this attractive collection is a valuable one-stop reference for Grieg’s works for piano solo. Einar Steen-Nøkleberg is a leading Norwegian pianist. (Naxos)

14CD 8501404

$64.99

The Early Music Collection [30 CDs] The Early Music Collection is a wide-ranging survey that traces the history of Western music from plainchant, the music of the Catholic Church, through polyphony, to the end of the 17th century. (Naxos)

30CD 8503297

$59.99

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen [14 CDs] The tetralogy is performed by an all-star cast in performances that have been critically acclaimed worldwide for their “thrilling sense of drama”. – The Sunday Times, London (Naxos)

14CD 8501403

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$59.99

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New From Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 / Hanna Shybayeva, piano 1CD 8551452 $13.99

Petridis: Requiem for the Emperor Constantine Palaiologos [2 CDs] 2CD 8574354-55 $24.99

Bows Up!: Portuguese Music for Strings 1CD 8579105 $13.99

Sullivan: Victoria & Merrie England 1CD 8555216 $13.99

Pfitzner: Complete Lieder, Vol. 4 1CD 8573082 $13.99

Legrenzi: Harmonia d’affetti devoti, Book 1 [2 CDs] 2CD 8579123-24 $24.99

Muffat: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 3 / Naoko Akutagawa 1CD 8574098 $13.99

Bolcom: Trio for Horn, Violin & Piano – Suite No. 2 for Solo Violin 1CD 8579102 $13.99

Hindemith: Symphony ‘Mathis der Maler’ / Marin Alsop; ORF Vienna Radio SO 1CD 8574283 $13.99

Auber: Overtures, Vol. 5 / Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra 1CD 8574335 $13.99

Liszt: Schubert Transcriptions / Dominic Cheli, piano 1CD 8574172 $13.99

Elgar – Bridge: Cello Concertos / Gabriel Schwabe; ORF Vienna Radio SO 1CD 8574320 $13.99

Bartók: Rhapsody – Variations For Children – Études 1CD 8574340 $13.99

Ukrainian Piano Quintets / Lyatoshynsky, Poleva, Silvestrov 1CD 8579098 $13.99

Jeux de Création / Anne-Sophie Bertrand, harp; L’Ensemble Ondine 1CD 8551444 $13.99

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Naxos Batucada – South American Guitar Music 1CD 8574337 $13.99

Saint-Saens: Music for Violin & Piano, Vol. 3 / Fanny Clamagirand; Vanya Cohen 1CD 8574314 $11.99

Latin American Dances / Sándor Rigó Christina Leeb-Grill 1CD 8579078 $11.99

Albéniz: Four-Hand Piano Music 1CD 8574347 $13.99

Paderewski: Works / Alina Adamski; Agata Schmidt; Capella Bydgostiensis 1CD 8579085 $13.99

Saint-Georges: Symphonies concertantes and Symphony in G major, Op. 11, No. 1 1CD 8574306 $13.99

Ye: The Road to the Republic – Cantonese Suite 1CD 8579089 $13.99

Czerny: Romantic Piano Fantasies on Sir Walter Scott’s Novels / Pei-I Wang; Samuel Gingher 1CD 8579099 $11.99

Azevedo: Hukvaldy Cycle / Ensemble Darcos; Nuno Côrte-Real 1CD 8579079 $11.99

Krouse: Symphony No. 5 – ‘A Journey Towards Peace’ 1CD 8559907 $13.99

Binge: Orchestral Works / Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra 1CD 8555190 $11.99

Arensky: Egyptian Nights / Moscow Symphony Orchestra 1CD 8573633 $11.99

Weinberg: Chamber Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 / East-West Chamber Orchestra 1CD 8574210 $13.99

Mozart: Complete Masses, Vol. 1 / Carolina Ullrich; West German Radio Chorus Cologne 1CD 8574270 $11.99

Schubert: Rarities & Short Piano Works / Wojciech Waleczek 1CD 8574135 $11.99

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Cedille Records

Here With You / Anthony McGill & Gloria Chien

Trios from the City of Big Shoulders / Lincoln Trio

Anthony McGill, principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, and pianist Gloria Chien, a frequent performer with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, make their commercial recording debut as a duo on Here with You, an album of early and late German Romantic masterworks they’ve treasured throughout their 15 years of mutual admiration and musical collaboration. (Cedille)

The twice GRAMMY-nominated Lincoln Trio — violinist Desirée Ruhstrat, cellist David Cunliffe, and pianist Marta Aznavoorian — offers engaging, rarely heard piano trios by 20th-century Chicago composers Leo Sowerby, winner of the Rome Prize and Pulitzer Prize for music, and Ernst Bacon, recipient of three Guggenheim Fellowships and a Pulitzer Fellowship. Bacon’s Trio No. 2 for Violin, Cello and Piano receives its worldpremiere recording. (Cedille)

1CD CDR 207

$15.49

1CD CDR 203

Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 2 / Dover Quartet [3 CDs]

$15.49

Fantasy – Oppens Plays Kaminsky / Ursula Oppens

The Dover Quartet, “the young American string quartet of the moment” (The New Yorker ) unveils the second installment in its critically acclaimed Beethoven quartet cycle on Cedille Records. The Dover’s three-album set of Beethoven’s “Middle Quartets” includes the three Op. 59 “Razumovsky” Quartets, infused with Russian folk tunes; the graceful “Harp,” Op. 74, named for its plucked string figures; and the intense Op. 95 “Serioso.” (Cedille)

Pianist Ursula Oppens celebrates her decades-long friendship and professional association with composer Laura Kaminsky on an album of world-premiere recordings.

The program includes two recent works written for the pianist: Kaminsky’s Piano Quintet, performed with the Cassatt String Quartet, “a concise work of considerable substance and atmosphere” – New York Classical Review (Cedille)

Dreams of a New Day – Songs by Black Composers / Will Liverman

Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 1 / Dover Quartet [2 CDs]

Fast-rising American operatic baritone Will Liverman, tapped for major roles at principal opera houses across the country, makes his Cedille Records debut as a featured artist with Dreams of a New Day, an intimate, heartfelt recital. Liverman has assembled a program of songs that portray the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of the African American experience through poignant texts and expressive musical settings. (Cedille)

The Dover Quartet, “the young American string quartet of the moment” (The New Yorker), launches its emerging, three-volume complete Beethoven quartet cycle with the six Opus 18 quartets, often cited as the epitome of the classical string quartet as developed

by Haydn and Mozart while foreshadowing Beethoven’s future innovations. The Dover featured Beethoven’s Quartet in G major, Op. 18, No. 2, in its 2020–2021 season programming. (Cedille)

3CD CDR 206

1CD CDR 200

$30.49

1CD CDR 202

$15.49

2CD CDR 198

Bach & Beyond / Jennifer Koh [5 CDs]

GRAMMY Award-winning Third Coast Percussion, celebrated Brazilian guitarist Sérgio Assad, and his daughter, the vibrant vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Clarice Assad, “a veritable musical dynamo” (San Francisco Classical Voice), join forces for a collaboratively written program conjuring a dozen universal archetypes — timeless characters shared by cultures around the globe. (Cedille)

$30.49

1CD CDR 201

Sowerby: Paul Whiteman Commissions & Other Early Works

www.hbdirect.com

$15.49

Contemporary Voices / Pacifica Quartet The GRAMMY Awardwinning Pacifica Quartet performs works by three Pulitzer Prizewinning contemporary composers: Shulamit Ran, Jennifer Higdon, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Written for the Pacifica and receiving its worldpremiere recording, Ran’s Glitter, Doom, Shards, Memory — String Quartet No. 3 is a moving tribute to painter Felix Nussbaum, who perished in Auschwitz in 1944. (Cedille)

Evoking the Roaring Twenties, Chicago composer Leo Sowerby’s engaging and ingenious Synconata (1924) and Symphony for Jazz Orchestra (“Monotony”) (1925), critically praised for their distinctive harmony, counterpoint, and humor, receive world-premiere recordings

by Chicago bandleader-trombonist Andrew Baker and his Andy Baker Orchestra, making their Cedille Records debuts. (Cedille)

1CD CDR 205

$15.49

Archetypes / Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad

Hailed as an “epic traversal of solo violin repertoire” and a “monumental achievement” (Chicago Tribune), American violinist Jennifer Koh’s complete Bach & Beyond recordings, pairing J.S. Bach’s violin sonatas and partitas with 20th- and 21st-century works inspired by Bach’s groundbreaking masterpieces, are now available in a convenient boxed set Bach & Beyond Part 1 features Koh’s “alluring performances” – The New York Times (Cedille)

5CD BOX 1004

$15.49

1CD CDR 196

$15.49

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$15.49

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Naxos American Classics

Price: Symphony No. 3 – The Mississippi River

John Philip Sousa: Music for Wind Band, Vol. 21

Florence Price was one of the most versatile and accomplished American musicians of her generation. Her Third Symphony expresses aspects of Price’s cultural heritage in a symphonic framework. This world premiere recording of Ethiopia’s Shadow in America traces the American experience of enslaved Africans, while The Mississippi River suite captures the struggles of Black migration across the United States.

(Naxos)

1CD 8559897

This volume of Sousa’s music for wind band presents three exceptional examples of Sousa’s musical creativity. Chris and the Wonderful Lamp is an enchanting retelling of the Aladdin legend, while Showing Off Before Company is a clever routine Sousa often used to open matinee concerts. Sisterhood of the States allows us to hear the ‘ballet’ that incorporated music from each of the 48 states for a spectacular show in 1916. (Naxos)

$13.99

1CD 8559863

Persichetti: Organ Works / Iain Quinn, organ

Gottsch: Sunset, Princess Yurievskaya

Vincent Persichetti’s organ music holds an important place in 20th-century repertoire. Steeped in tradition and yet open to the currents of modernity, he developed a thoroughly distinctive musical language. The selections from his Hymns and Responses for the Church Year, Op. 68 explore traditional form with a refreshing harmonic palette, while the Dryden Liturgical Suite contrasts meditative elements with virtuoso bravura.

(Naxos)

1CD 8559887

John D. Gottsch’s symphonic poem Sunset is almost cinematic in its opulence and in its depiction of both the beauty and fragility of Key West, and the area’s vulnerability to climate change. By contrast, Princess Yurievskaya charts the passionate love of Catherine Dolgorukova and Tsar Alexander II from their first meeting and eventual marriage, to his assassination. (Naxos)

1CD 8559901

Bernard Herrmann was famous for his film scores, but he was also a leading figure in music for radio, to which he brought his inimitable palette of mood and sonority.

Whitman, whose subject is Walt Whitman’s collection of poems Leaves of Grass, was a 1944 radio drama, a genre now much neglected but revived in this newly restored version. (Naxos)

Arthur Farwell has been called the most neglected composer in American musical history. As the leader of the ‘Indianists’ movement, Farwell believed it was a democratic obligation of Americans of European descent to try to understand the indigenous Americans they displaced and oppressed, and merged Indian music and lore with Western concert forms. (Naxos)

1CD 8559883

$13.99

Steve Reich is universally acknowledged as one of the foremost exponents of minimalism, arguably the most significant stylistic trend in late 20th-century music. This chronological survey shows how Reich’s innate curiosity has taken his work far beyond such musical boundaries. One of the first fruits of Reich’s creative quest is ‘Music for Two of More Pianos,’ in which the influence of Morton Feldman and jazz pianist Bill Evans can be heard.

(Naxos)

Pulitzer and Erasmus Prize-winning composer John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of American music. His works stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. Adams describes My Father Knew Charles Ives as “an homage and encomium to a composer whose influence on me has been huge.” (Naxos)

1CD 8559682

$11.99

Jennifer Higdon is one of the most distinguished composers working in America today, and her music is a perfect fit for the Nashville Symphony, which has long maintained a commitment to championing the country’s most important voices. All Things Majestic is a four-movement suite which vividly captures the breathtaking beauty of the American landscape.

(Naxos)

Joan Tower is widely regarded as one of today’s most important American composers. The works heard here in their world premiere recordings are part of a growing legacy that one pundit has described as “The Power of Tower.” Strike Zones is tailor-made for percussionist Evelyn Glennie’s dazzling technique and impeccable musicianship. (Naxos)

1/800/222-6872

$11.99

$11.99

Jennifer Higdon: All Things Majestic

Joan Tower: Strike Zones / Evelyn Glennie, Blair McMillen

1CD 8559902

$11.99

Steve Reich: Music for Two or More Pianos

John Adams: My Father Knew Charles Ives

1CD 8559854

$11.99

Herrmann: Whitman (radio drama by Norman Corwin) / PostClassical Ensemble

$13.99

Arthur Farwell – America’s Neglected Composer

1CD 8559900

$11.99

1CD 8559823

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$13.99

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Critic’s

Messiaen: Orchestral Works [3 CDs]

Schreker: Complete Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 / Bochumer Symphoniker

BR-Klassik presents three masterpieces by Olivier Messiaen, conducted by Kent Nagano in recent years as conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. “This superb collection of large-scale works by Messiaen, including Poemes pour Mi and a remarkable La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ, is brilliantly recorded.”

– Gramophone

3CD BRK900209

“Steven Sloane has made a specialty of performing big, neglected late romantic orchestral extravaganzas.

The Intermezzo features typically warm and attractive string writing, while the Festwalzer und Waltzerintermezzo is an amiable bit of fluff. Valse lente, on the other hand, is a seductive, hot-house flower of a piece, enchantingly scored, and the luminously mellifluous suite from The Birthday of the Infanta is by now almost a repertory item.” – Classics Today (CPO)

$39.99

1CD 777702-2

Shostakovich: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2 – Arensky: Piano Trio No. 1

Ivan Ilić: Reicha Rediscovered, Vol. 3 – L’art de Verier, Op. 57 / Ivan Ilic

Trio con Brio Copenhagen returns to Orchid Classics with a triptych of Russian piano trios: two works

by Shostakovich framing music by Arensky. These Russian composers lived through turning points in their country’s history. “… both explosive and exquisitely intimate” (The Strad ) “… an excellent performance all round, showcasing an airtight ensemble, but also these Danish-based musicians’ flair for coloristic detail.”

– Gramophone (Orchid Classics)

1CD ORC100181

“A mammoth work that stretches the limits of what can be put on a single music CD these days. Recorded with Chandos’s usual impeccable high standards and performed with superlative musicianship, this is an addition to Ivan Ilić’s Reicha Rediscovered edition that will always be one of its crowning achievements, whatever comes next in the series.”

– MusicWeb International (Chandos)

$16.99

1CD CHAN 20194

Music for a Prince, Music by a Prince / Jeremy Huw Williams; Jason Carder

“The album draws its title from Kaye’s Turning in Time, an expressive amalgam of Baroque and modern elements, including jazzy gestures, that are seamlessly woven together. The narrative somehow leads (spoiler alert) to the pinnacle of solo violin repertoire, the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2. In this premiere recording, Augustyn plays with vibrant intensity.”

– Gramophone (Centaur)

1CD CRC3836

$15.99

Rott: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 / Gürzenich Orchester Köln

$18.99

“The Symphony No. 1 in E Major by Hans Rott is an impressive achievement, on par with Wagner’s motivic control and Bruckner’s large-scale architecture. The main theme of the first movement is highly memorable. The final three minutes of the Adagio match the orchestration magic of Mahler, and the way he recapitulates the main ideas at the very end of the symphony is very well achieved.” – ClassicalMusicSentinel (Capriccio)

Viardot: Le Dernier Sorcier “This premiere recording of Pauline Viardot’s 1867 Le Dernier Sorcier (The Last Sorcerer) is a delight. Scored for piano, it’s an enchanting work with a lightness of touch that avoids the frothy. Viardot’s musical refinement is evident throughout, and with Turgenev’s skills as a librettist, the dramatic pacing is just right, culminating in a satisfying conclusion.”

– Limelight (Bridge)

1CD BCD9515

$18.99

Kinga Augustyn: Turning in Time / Kinga Augustyn

“This unusual recording brings princely offerings of two different kinds. In 1970 Prince Charles was presented with a leather-bound volume containing pieces written by the composers on the council of the Performing Right Society.

These fourteen bonnes bouches are complemented by fourteen German Lieder written by Prince Charles’ great-great-greatgrandfather, Prince Albert, whose style owed something to that of his good friend, Felix Mendelssohn.” – Classical Music Daily (Toccata)

1CD TOCN0009

$16.99

$16.99

1CD C5414

$16.99

Olesen: Der Wind bläset wo er will / Johannes Moser; Danish National Symphony Orchestra

Pettersson: Symphony No. 12 ‘The Dead in the Square’ / Swedish Radio Choir; Norrköping SO

“Olesen’s Cello Concerto is a wonderful find and worth the price of the disc on its own. The Dutch conductor Otto Tausk is equally attuned to the essence of this singular piece and ensures worldclass accompaniment from the DNSO. Dacapo’s teriffic recording exudes clarity – the balance between soloist and orchestra seems ideal.” – MusicWeb International (Dacapo)

“The Swedish Radio and Eric Ericson Chamber Choirs are no strangers to Pettersson’s idiom, having figured in earlier recordings. Lindberg’s is now the third Twelfth to appear, the bestrecorded of them and, I think, the best-sung, magnificently supported by the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. Larsson’s recording made with the premiere performers holds up remarkably well... A fabulous account of a remarkable work.” – Gramophone (BIS)

1CD 8226586

www.hbdirect.com

$15.99

1SACD BIS-2450

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$19.99

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Choice

Shulman: The Tattooed Stranger – Historic Soundtrack Recordings 1946–1950

One Movement Symphonies / Kansas City Symphony

“On the whole, this is an extremely worthy addition to the catalog regarding a composer whose work remains relatively unknown, unheard, and unrecognized. One has to conclude that this was a genuine labor of love for pianist and writer, Øyvind Aase, since the results can be distinctly evidenced on every track. This CD may finally help to garner attention to this rather humble figure of 20th-Century Music to a much wider audience.” – SoundWordSight (Bridge)

“Barber’s First Symphony has received numerous fine recordings, and this one is no exception.

Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy, technically his Symphony No. 4, couldn’t be more out of fashion these days, so it’s great to see it given this exciting and opulent new recording.

Stern’s performance is big on clarity, with the climaxes carefully gauged so that the big one at the end really is the big one at the end.” – ClassicsToday (Reference)

Wolf-Ferrari: Complete Overtures & Intermezzi / Oviedo Filarmonia

Vivaldi: Sleep / Orchestra of the Swan

1CD BCD9560

$16.99

1CD RR-149

Sleep was a project undertaken in the spring of 2020, during the United Kingdom’s first national lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Orchestra of the Swan recorded the slow movement of Vivaldi’s “Autumn” concerto, then asked several other musicians to record their own track at home to go with it. Morpheus

by Klezmer clarinetist Susi Evans is perhaps the most bittersweet. – AllMusic.com (Signum)

“Amazingly, some of the (previously unreleased) material here was set down as long ago as October 2009, but there’s precious little to moan about concerning either performance or production values. One of the composer’s most assiduous champions, Friedrich Haider secures a splendidly ebullient, affectionate and nicely turned response from the Oviedo Filarmonía, and the sound has agreeable body, detail and glow to match.”

– Gramophone (Naxos)

1CD 8573582 Lehár: The Operetta Edition [5 CDs]

1CD SIGCD839

“It must be said that these new accounts by the Nightingale Quartet are at the very least competitive with their forebears and the finest to date sonically. In many respects, they follow similar trajectories through the works as did the Kontra, though in No. 1 they are more measured in the opening Affettuoso – animato but more energised in the dancelike finale.” – Gramophone (Dacapo)

1CD 8226212

$26.99

“More Gershwin is freer in its treatment of the original songs and Huisman is more impulsive in his response. One factor that marks these readings out from previous accounts by Ian Pace and Nicolas Hodges is the judicious interplay between elements of jazz, even blues, and classical idioms at the time of Gershwin’s (tragically brief) song-writing career. “ – Gramophone (Piano Classics)

“There’s the abundance of plucked playfulness from Sorrell’s harpsichord, Baroque harpist Anna O’Connell and William Simms on theorbo and baroque guitar. They lavishly sprinkle the murmuring brooks of Spring, perhaps the most resplendent moment on the disc; they settle as a shimmering thrum by the fireside of Winter, then lace an icy path in spectacular downwards glissandos.” – Gramophone (Avie)

1CD PCL10218

$17.99

“Built on Bach’s legacy, Francisco Fullana’s enterprising programme explores various musical and personal interconnections. He dispatches Kreisler’s Recitativo and Scherzo with the requisite solemnity, drama and virtuosity and encores (partnering Stella Chen) with an intensely sonorous opening movement of Ysaÿe’s Sonata for Two Violins.” – The Strad (Orchid Classics)

“Carrettín has extensive experience as guest concertmaster with numerous Baroque orchestras, and has lived with these works for over 25 years. The result, not surprisingly, is a superb set of beautifully judged performances.

Any loss of low cello resonance is more than compensated for by the lighter warmth of the viola, its octave-higher tuning making these seem a perfectly natural performance choice, and not transcriptions.” – TheWholeNote (Sono Luminus)

1/800/222-6872

$15.99

$18.99

Bach’s Long Shadow / Francisco Fullana; Stella Chen

Metamorphosis – Bach Cello Suites 1, 2 and 3 / Zachary Carrettín, viola

1CD DSL-92247

$15.99

Gershwin Arrangements, More Gershwin / Lukas Huisman

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons / Francisco Fullana, violin

1CD AV2485

$17.99

Holmboe: String Quartets, Vol. 1 / Nightingale String Quartet

$13.99

“This new boxed set of operettas by Franz Lehár was produced by the Seefestspiele Mörbisch in Austria.

At the helm of the Mörbisch Festival Orchestra is Austrian conductor and pianist Rudolf Bibl, except for Der Zarewitsch under Wolfdieter Maurer. The cast of artists in each of these delightful operettas is far too extensive to identify individually but be assured, each production is echt Lehár and, of course, unmistakably Viennese.” – The WholeNote (Oehms Classics)

5CD OC 1902

$16.99

1CD ORC100165

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$16.99

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Vox Records

Granados: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 1 [2 CDs] 2CD CDX-5075 $16.49

Debussy: Complete Works for Orchestra, Vol. 2 [2 CDs] 2CD CDX-5053 $16.49

Haydn: String Quartets, Vol. 1 [2 CDs] 2CD CDX-5113 $16.49

French Orchestral Selections [2 CDs] 2CD CDX-5114 $16.49

Louis Kentner Plays Liszt [2 CDs] 2CD CDX2-5503 $16.49

Buxtehude: Complete Organ Music [6 CDs] 6CD CD6X-3613 $23.49

Bartók: Complete Solo Piano Music [5 CDs] 5CD CD5X-3610 $23.49

Walter Klein Plays Brahms [5 CDs] 5CD CD5X-3612 $23.49

The Art of Ruggiero Ricci [5 CDs] 5CD CD5X-3611 $23.49

Mozart: 12 Great Piano Concerti [5 CDs] 5CD CD5X-3609 $23.49

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” [2 CDs] 2CD CDX-5137 $16.49

Dvořák: Chamber Music, Vol. 1 [2 CDs] 2CD CDX-5166 $16.99

Beethoven: Overtures and Incidental Music [2 CDs] 2CD CDX-5099 $16.49

Copland, Ives & Rachmaninoff: Orchestral Works [2 CDs] 2CD CDX-5035 $16.49

Scriabin: Complete Piano Sonatas [2 CDs] 2CD CDX-5184 $12.99

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New on Blu-ray & DVD Ballets – Teatro Alla Scala [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Beethoven: The Piano Concertos / Margarita Hohenrieder [3 DVDs]

The present release showcases five outstanding ballets from the legendary Teatro alla Scala. Romeo and Juliet stars Roberto Bolle and Misty Copeland in a masterly performance. Next is The Sleeping Beauty which received fantastic reviews: “A great production, a success thanks to a superlative and thrilling ballet company.” (LUUK ) Three other dazzling performances are included: Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, and The Lover’s Garden.

(C Major)

5Blu-ray 758704 7DVD 758608

Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano works occupy a special place in Margarita Höhenrieder’s artistic work. For these recordings of all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos, Höhenrieder has top-class orchestras and conductors at her side, including the Staatskapelle Dresden under Fabio Luisi and the Bamberg Symphony. The recordings are complemented by extensive bonus material.

(Accentus)

$79.99 $79.99

3DVD ACC70551

The Original Three Tenors Blu-ray / Jose Carreras; Placido Domingo; Luciano Pavarotti

The Demonstrations of the Paris Opera Ballet School are a traditional checkpoint for the institution. This intimate documentary film allows us to discover, through interviews and sneak peeks of the classes, their schedule, their day-to-day training, their passion, their hopes, their relationships with the teachers and ballet masters, and finally their ambition to become, one day maybe, an Étoile of the Ballet. (BelAir Classiques)

This very special release includes the legendary concert of the Original Three Tenors – José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, conducted by Zubin Mehta at the Terme di Caracalla, Rome 1990. For the first time available on Bluray, digitally remastered! This edition also includes the new documentary The Three Tenors – From Caracalla to the World.

(C Major)

1Blu-ray 758804

2DVD BAC295

$31.99

Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Atys, a tragédie en musique, became known as the ‘king’s opera’ due to Louis XIV’s fondness for it. The work stands as a testament to the Sun King’s courtly refinement, as well as his moves to make France the center of European artistic culture. William Christie conducts this acclaimed production – hailed by the New York Times as being ‘as satisfying as it is bold’.

(Naxos)

“My own most emotive assignment was Jakub Hrůša’s socially distanced Mahler Fourth (Accentus, 4/21) but Die tote Stadt has to be a shoo-in for the top spot. In a transformative production, directed by Simon Stone, Kirill Petrenko’s impassioned conducting inspires Jonas Kaufmann to his best singing in years while Marlis Petersen gives the performance of a lifetime as Marietta/Marie.”

– Gramophone (BSO)

$29.99 $29.99

1Blu-ray BSOREC2001 2DVD BSOREC1001

1988 New Year’s Eve Concert / Herbert Von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker Blu-ray

$41.99 $41.99

Donizetti: Belisario [DVD or Blu-ray Video] Donizetti’s three-act tragic opera Belisario was a resounding success in its day, driven by its composer’s superlative theatrical instinct and his skillful interweaving of intense tragic narrative and emotional pathos. This production was performed and recorded without an audience in Bergamo during the Covid-19 lockdown in November 2020 – a moving performance reflecting a spirit of defiance amidst ruin and darkness.

(Dynamic)

The New Year’s Eve Concert 1988 was one of the last concerts that Herbert von Karajan gave with the Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin. For this concert he invited the 17-year old Evgeny Kissin to his debut with the orchestra. After the concert the press did raving reviews about Kissin’s musicality and technical skills and he proves till today that he is one of the best pianists of our time. (C Major)

1Blu-ray 759704

$24.99

Korngold: Die tote Stadt / Jonas Kaufmann; Bayerisches Staatsorchester [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Lully: Atys / Bernard Richter; Emmanuelle de Negri; Les Arts Florissants [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

1Blu-ray NBD0132V 2DVD 2110694-95

$51.99

Pas D’École – Demonstrations of the Paris Opera Ballet School [2 DVDs]

$41.99

1Blu-ray DYN-57907 1DVD DYN-37907

$22.99 $22.99

NEW DVD & BLU-RAY IN BRIEF Shakespeare: Hamlet [DVD] With Sandra Hüller as Hamlet, Johan Simons’ highly concentrated staging of Shakespeare’s classic play becomes a pleading for radical honesty. (Naxos)

1DVD 8065

$22.99

Britten: The Turn of the Screw / Sinfonia of London [DVD] Henry James’s novella is one of the most stylish and elusively ambiguous of all 19th-century ghost stories. The subsequent operatic setting is unequivocally a masterpiece, and here receives a first-class production. (Chandos)

1DVD CHDVD 5290

$19.99

William Shakespeare: 3 Comedies / Adrian Edmondson; Amanda Harris; Amelia Donkor This 3-DVD set presents RSC productions of three of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies including The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night. “A visual feast...” – The Daily Mail (Opus Arte)

3DVD OA 1327BD

$39.99

Offenbach: Barbe-Bleue / Yann Beuron; Heloise Mas; Christophe Gay [DVD or Blu-ray Video] Offenbach’s satirical and hilarious opéra bouffe version of Charles Perrault’s 17th century tale of Bluebeard deftly walks the line between humour and cruelty, with a stellar performance from Yann Beuron. (Opus Arte)

1/800/222-6872

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1Blu-ray OA BD7290D 1DVD OA 1336D

$29.99 $39.99

www.hbdirect.com

New on Recommended Video Titles Beethoven & His Contemporaries, Vol. 1 (C.P.E. Bach, Mozart, Wranitzky) [DVD or Blu-ray Video] These first two concerts of four see Beethoven’s revolutionary development through his first three symphonies set against C.P.E. Bach’s novel orchestration, Mozart’s pre-echo of a theme from the ‘Eroica’ Symphony, and Paul Wranitzky’s richly narrative Grande Sinfonie caractéristique, a work banned by the Viennese authorities of the day.

(Naxos)

1Blu-ray NBD0135V 1DVD 2110704

$22.99 $22.99

Beethoven & His Contemporaries, Vol. 2 (Cherubni, Holzbauer, Knecht) [DVD or Blu-ray Video] Robert Schumann pointed out similarities between Méhul’s First Symphony and Beethoven’s Fifth, and these third and fourth concerts in the cycle also include a tempest by Holzbauer that precedes Beethoven’s by half a century, plus the little-known Le portrait musical de la nature by Justin Heinrich Knecht, a work that also anticipates Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony. (Naxos)

1Blu-ray NBD0136V 1DVD 2110705

$22.99 $22.99

Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote [DVD or Blu-ray Video] This spectacular film of Don Quixote, choregraphed after Petipa and directed for the screen by Russian ballet superstar Rudolf Nureyev, is recognized as one of the finest ballet performances ever caught on camera and a cinematic triumph in its own right. Filmed in Melbourne with the Australian Ballet in 1973, the cast includes Nureyev as Basilio, Sir Robert Helpmann as the deluded knight and Lucette Aldous as Kitri. (Opus Arte)

1Blu-ray OA BD7301D 1DVD OA 1350D

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte / The Royal Opera [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Donizetti: Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali [DVD or Blu-ray Video] Described as ‘a joyous romp’ (Opera News), Donizetti’s dramma giocoso shows us what can go wrong when the egos of the actors get in the way of putting on a good show. From the prima donna and the sub-par lead tenor, everyone is playing the diva whilst the director pulls his hair out in frustration. Laurent Pelly directs this masterpiece of comic timing and satire, marking the continuation of his celebrated relationship with Opéra de Lyon. (Opus Arte)

David McVicar’s classic production embraces both the seriousness and comedy of Mozart’s work. The audience is transported to a fantastical world of dancing animals, flying machines and dazzlingly starry skies. The setting provides a wonderful backdrop for Mozart’s kaleidoscopic score, from the Queen of the Night’s coloratura fireworks to Tamino and Pamina’s lyrical love duets and Papageno’s hearty, folksong-like arias.

(Opus Arte)

1Blu-ray OA BD7294D 1DVD OA 1343D

Schubert: Winterreise / Ballett Zürich [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

$39.99 $29.99

1Blu-ray OA BD7289D 1DVD OA 1335D

Hofmannsthal: Jedermann / Tobias Moretti; Peter Lohmeyer [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Jean-Jacques Rousseau hailed Platée as “the best musical play ever to be heard in our theatres.” In Robert Carsen’s production, the mythological events take place in the world of Parisian haute couture and Jupiter is portrayed as the fashion god Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019) – who has now really been transferred up to Olympus. This ingeniously apt transposition of this satirical opera into the modern day has long been a hit! (Unitel)

$39.99 $26.99

1Blu-ray 804804 2DVD 804708

$41.99 $46.99

Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder – Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

It is the centerpiece of the Salzburg Festival and an incontrovertible institution: For it’s 100th anniversary, the Salzburg Festival offered an opulent interpretation of Jedermann (Everyman)

by Hofmannsthal. “Tobias Moretti plays with great commitment, Caroline Peters gives a brilliant performance.” – Salzburger Nachrichten (Unitel)

1Blu-ray 804604 2DVD 804508

$29.99 $39.99

Rameau: Platée / Marcel Beekman; Jeanine de Bique; Cyril Auvity [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Franz Schubert’s Winterreise, a cycle of 24 songs for voice and piano set to poems by Wilhelm Müller, is not only regarded as the zenith of Schubert’s song composition, but as the pinnacle of German art song in its entirety.

German composer Hans Zender arranged the cycle in 1993 with the title: “Schubert’s ‘Winterreise’ – a composed interpretation”.

(Accentus)

1Blu-ray ACC10545 1DVD ACC20545

$24.99 $19.99

Christian Thielemann is a compelling advocate for German music, and his Salzburg Festival 2020 program with the Wiener Philharmoniker is smack-dab at the heart of his favored repertoire.

For his long-awaited return to the Summer Festival, he opens with Wagner’s Wesendock Songs, considered musical sketches for the opera Tristan und Isolde, with terrific Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca as soloist. (Unitel)

$41.99 $29.99

1Blu-ray 805204 1DVD 805108

$41.99 $29.99

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Ballet by John Neumeier / Hamburg Ballet [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

“During creation, every new ballet seems a possible film. When developing the idea of filming A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I insisted on planning a true ballet film which, for me, is completely different than a documentary. Within the three days of recording, we did not schedule a single complete run-through of the work. We want that spark of truth that springs towards us and that touches us.” – John Neumeier (C Major)

1Blu-ray 758304 2DVD 758208

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$41.99 $41.99

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Blu-ray & DVD

Wagner: Siegfried / Orchestra of Sofia Opera & Ballet [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Dvorák's Prophecy – A New Narrative for American Classical Music Film 1: Dvořák’s New World Symphony – A Lens on the American Experience of Race [DVD] This first film in the series keys on Dvorak’s prophecy and explores its present-day pertinence. His New World Symphony, still the best known and best loved symphonic work conceived on American soil, is saturated with the influence of plantation song, and also with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha.

(Naxos)

1DVD 2110703

$12.99

Film 2: Charles Ives’ America [DVD] The music at hand here includes Ives’ Second Symphony (a milestone in culling the vernacular to set beside Huckleberry Finn). We also hear portions of Ives’s Concord Sonata performed by Steven Mayer and half a dozen Ives songs peerlessly sung (in live performance with Paul Sanchez) by William Sharp. (Naxos)

1DVD 2110701

$12.99

Film 3: ‘The Souls of Black Folk’ and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music [DVD] If George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess embodies a glorious (and controversial) fulfillment of Dvořák’s prophecy, there also exists a buried lineage of exceptional compositions by Black composers following in Dvořák’s wake. Commentators here include George Shirley, Kevin Deas, and conductors Michael Morgan and Roderick Cox. (Naxos)

1DVD 2110700

$12.99

Film 4: Aaron Copland – American Populist [DVD] Buffeted by social and political currents, Aaron Copland can seem unmoored: a cork in a stream. Can his odyssey be read as a parable illuminating the fate of the American artist? The film highlights his ingenious music for Lewis Mumford’s 1939 World’s Fair film The City, itself a complex product of the Popular Front. (Naxos)

1DVD 2110698

$12.99

Film 5: Beyond Psycho – The Musical Genius of Bernard Herrmann [DVD] Hollywood’s supreme film composer was a casualty of the standard narrative. Not only were his movie scores high creative accomplishments; Bernard Herrmann was a formidable – and formidably unfashionable – concert composer whose Clarinet Quintet may be the most beautiful chamber music by an American. (Naxos)

1DVD 2110702

$12.99

Film 6: Lou Harrison & Cultural Fusion [DVD] No non-Western musical idiom has so impacted on the Western concert tradition as Indonesian gamelan. Composer/ scholar Bill Alves demonstrates the layered complexity of Javanese gamelan, and how it translates into keyboard textures composed by Harrison for Keith Jarrett.

(Naxos)

1DVD 2110699

1/800/222-6872

$12.99

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Siegfried is the third in the tetralogy of music dramas that make up Der Ring des Nibelungen. Siegfried contains imperishably beautiful passages such as the Forest Murmurs, the profound psychological landscape of the Prelude to Act III and the great duet between Siegfried and Brünnhilde.

This performance from Sofia Opera features an acclaimed all-Bulgarian cast.

(Dynamic)

1Blu-ray DYN-57899 $29.99 2DVD DYN-37899 $29.99 Prokofiev: The Fiery Angel / Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma [DVD or Blu-ray Video] Sergey Prokofiev’s operatic tragedy The Fiery Angel was never performed in the composer’s lifetime – the music’s brittle energy, drama and eloquent lyrical tenderness would re-emerge in his Third Symphony. This Teatro dell’Opera di Roma production was acclaimed as ‘a presentation of Prokofiev’s masterpiece which ‘sparkles in all its grotesque glory’ – operawire.com (Naxos)

1Blu-ray NBD0113V $24.99 1DVD 2110663 $24.99 The Royal Ballet Collection [DVD or Blu-ray Video] Over a decade of dance is represented here with no fewer than 22 ballets in this magnificent 15-disc collection of stunning performances by The Royal Ballet, including spectacular stagings of well-known narrative ballets. A special edition book contains articles about The Royal Ballet, its repertory and its choreographers, as well as full synopses for all the narrative ballets, richly illustrated with striking photographs of the productions. (Opus Arte)

15Blu-ray OA BD7292BD 15DVD OA 1338BD Shostakovich: La Mégère apprivoisée [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

$134.99 $134.99

Jean-Christophe Maillot’s inspired adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew won 3 Masques d’Ors (best choreographic show, best male dancer (Petruchio) and best female dancer (Katherine) and has toured the world to great acclaim since it was created for the Bolshoi in 2013. Now Maillot’s own Monte Carlo Ballet bring this “funny, fast-witted version” (The Guardian) to the screen, with a fresh and witty re-interpretation!

(Opus Arte)

1Blu-ray OA BD7293D $39.99 1DVD OA 1339D $29.99 Massenet: Thaïs / ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien [DVD or Blu-ray Video] With the “Méditation”, Jules Massenet probably wrote one of the most famous melodies of our time. In the new production by Peter Konwitschny at the Theater an der Wien, the American soprano Nicole Chevalier is one of the most exciting singers currently on stage in the title role. At her side, the young Austrian bass-baritone Josef Wagner celebrates his house debut. (Unitel)

1Blu-ray 805004 1DVD 804908

$41.99 $31.99

www.hbdirect.com

Opera New Opera Picks Donizetti: Linda di Chamounix [3 CDs] Linda di Chamounix is a country girl who is in love with Carlo, who she believes is a penniless artist. This is a tale of courage and madness, in which we discover and experience the strength and suffering of a woman torn apart by estrangement from family and love. Jessica Pratt leads an all-star cast in this acclaimed production from the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Available on CD, Blu-ray, and DVD! (Dynamic)

3CD DYN-CDS7911.03 1Blu-ray DYN-57911 2DVD DYN-37911

$22.99 $29.99 $22.99

Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana The performance of Cavalleria Rusticana republished in this album took place in the hometown of Mascagni, Livorno, on the occasion of the centenary of the premiere, which took place in 1890 in Rome. Already scheduled for some time, this recording commemorates one of the most important voices of post-World War II, the tenor Giuseppe Giacomini, caught here at the zenith of his career. (Bongiovanni)

1CD GB2593-2

$16.99

Leoncavallo: Zazá [DVD or Blu-ray Video} With Ruggero Leoncavallo’s rarity Zazá, the Theater an der Wien scored a coup with the grandiose house debutante Svetlana Aksenova in the title role. Christof Loy delivers a striking staging of the Verismo drama and conductor Stefan Soltez spiritedly leads the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien through the highly acclaimed evening. (Unitel)

1Blu-ray 805404 1DVD 805308

Spectacular Soprano: Best Loved Opera Arias

Monteverdi: L’Orfeo [2 CDs]

The soprano voice occupies the highest-sounding line of music (in Italian ‘sopra’ means ‘over’ or ‘above’) and it is subdivided into various types. The coloratura is the virtuoso, suited for rapid ornamentation such as in Mozart’s Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte). This quintessential collection of best-loved arias confirms that the soprano, in all her variety, sits at the very heart of the operatic experience. (Naxos)

1CD 8578188 Smareglia: Il Vassallo Di Szigeth [2 CDs]

The project for this recording continues the Monteverdi work of the San Felice Ensemble, traced with L’Incoronazione di Poppea, but in a new experimental guise.

Federico Bardazzi’s musical direction masterfully combines the philological approach with the development of innovative technological solutions capable of enhancing the sublime expressiveness of the Monteverdi masterpiece in an incredibly current key. (Bongiovanni)

$11.99

2CD GB2596/97-2 Thrilling Tenor: Best Loved Opera Arias

A product of German, Slav and Italian influences, Antonio Smareglia (1854–1929) is a thoroughly Mitteleuropean composer yet very much his own man, a perfect example of the music of the Trieste-Istria area. Il Vassallo di Szigeth inaugurated the Vienna Hofoper (today Staatsoper) season on 4 October 1889 which was also the name-day of the Emperor Franz Josef who attended the performance. (Bongiovanni)

2CD GB2594/95-2 Dvořák: Rusalka [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

$19.99

It is only since the bel canto era in the 19th century that the tenor voice really took off as a leading character in operatic roles. This collection of some of opera’s most iconic arias takes us from the dark emotional crises of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Puccini’s Tosca, to the seductive Rodolfo in La Bohème and Donizetti’s show-stopping high Cs in La Fille du régiment. (Naxos)

$31.99

1CD 8578190 Hänsel und Gretel (Excerpts)

Rusalka returns to Madrid “on an overwhelming level that will leave its mark”. (El Español ) Mesmerizing soprano Asmik Grigorian, “already one of the most outstanding sopranos of her generation“ (Online Merker ) stars with a “voice, at its zenith of maturity“ (El Pais) in the title role of Christoph Loy’s timeless and evocative staging of Dvořák’s tragic take on the Little Mermaid fable. (Unitel)

1Blu-ray 759604 2DVD 759508

$41.99 $31.99

$11.99

If there is such a thing as a classic Christmas opera, then it is Hansel and Gretel. Like hardly anyone else, Humperdinck succeeded here in combining folk melodies with the technical sophistication of mature compositional art. The opera’s libretto was written by Humperdinck’s sister, Adelheid Wette, and the story is based on the classic fairy tale.

In this production, the title roles are sung

by Isabel Stuber Malagamba and Jelena Bankovic. (Coviello)

$41.99 $46.99

1CD COV92106

Wagner: Siegfried [3 CDs]

$15.99

The Rhine is where Richard Wagner’s cycle of operas Der Ring des Nibelungen begins and ends – and it was there in 1851 that the composer first dreamed of this work. Even if Wagner’s plans for a festival would ultimately be realized in a different part of Germany, the performance of a “Ring on the Rhine” will always remain something very special. And where better to make this happen than at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein! (Avi)

3CD AVI 8553544

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$19.99

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Recordings

Hindemith: Mathis der Maler / Wolfgang Koch; Kurt Streit; Manuela Uhl [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Verdi: Macbeth (1865 French version) [2 CDs] Macbeth’s unbroken dramatic line, incisive libretto and range of expression from the comic to the sublime, made it a work that was way ahead of its time. Verdi explores unusual theatrical characters with Macbeth, the darkness of which resonated with his desire to convey Shakespeare’s brutal realism in a visionary masterpiece that would only be fully appreciated by the mid-1900s.

Macbeth is performed here in its rarely heard 1865 French language version.

(Dynamic)

Hindemith conceived Mathis der Maler, his ‘opera in seven tableaux’, as a reimagining of Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece, a depiction of Christ’s intense suffering and crucifixion. Set during the turbulence of the German Peasants’ revolt in the early 16th century, the work’s focus is on artistic freedom of expression and human isolation during a time of plague, repression and violence. (Naxos)

1Blu-ray NBD0130V 2DVD 2110691-92

$29.99 $29.99

2CD DYN-CDS7915.02

Kevin Puts: Silent Night – Opera in two acts / Minnesota Opera

Haydn: L’isola disabitata / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

Kevin Puts is one of America’s most exciting and important composers. His first opera, Silent Night, with a libretto by Mark Campbell, was commissioned by Minnesota Opera. It premiered in 2011 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. It has since entered the modern operatic repertoire with remarkable speed, enjoying worldwide performances. The opera is based on Christian Carion’s screenplay for the 2005 French war film Joyeux Noël. (Naxos)

1CD 8669050-51

After their acclaimed recording of Telemann’s Miriways, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin returns to Pentatone with Joseph Haydn’s opera L’isola disabitata, together with an excellent quartet of vocalists. Officially called an azione teatrale, L’isola is a serious opera about love, loss and misunderstanding with a happy ending, set on an exotic deserted island. (Pentatone)

1CD PTC5186275

$24.99

Beethoven started composing Leonore in January 1804. The subject was part of the genre of ‘rescue operas’ which were very popular at the end of the 18th century. This performance is from Opera Lafayette’s Leonore Project which included a performance of Pierre Gaveaux’s Léonore, ou L’Amour conjugal – the opera on which Beethoven modelled his Leonore. (Naxos)

Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville was greatly admired in his day. His opera Titon et l’Aurore was one of his most popular works, being held up as a triumph over the rival Italian style during the Parisian Querelle des Bouffons in the 1750s. The narrative of this spectacular opéra-ballet follows the tumultuous and seemingly unbreakable liaison between the goddess L’Aurore and her lover the shepherd Titon. (Naxos)

1Blu-ray NBD0121V 1DVD 2110674

$24.99 $24.99

$22.99 $22.99

Graupner: Antiochus und Stratonica / Christian Immler; Hana Blazikova [3 CDs]

L’Occasione Fa Il Ladro [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Spectacular Baroque Opera with the BEMF. The prizewinning Boston Early Music Festival, joined by the choicest soloists, once again presents a spectacular Baroque opera discovery with Christoph Graupner’s Antiochus and Stratonica. Graupner composed the musical play L’Amore Ammalato, Die kranckende Liebe, oder: Antiochus und Stratonica during his time as the harpsichordist at the Gänsemarkt Opera in Hamburg. (CPO)

L’occasione fa il ladro (‘Opportunity Makes a Thief’) was composed by the young Rossini in just eleven days, working alongside his librettist Luigi Prividali. The tale presents a comedy of multiple confusions in one act. Jochen Schönleber’s acclaimed production adapts Rossini’s swift and deftly plotted moral drama to give present-day relevance to Rossini’s exuberant ensemble burletta.

(Naxos)

1Blu-ray NBD0137V 1DVD 2110706

$19.99

Beethoven: Leonore / Various [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

Titon et L’Aurore / Les Arts Florissants [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

1Blu-ray NBD0131V 1DVD 2110693

$22.99

3CD 555369-2

$24.99 $24.99

$33.99

NEW OPERA RELEASES IN BRIEF Torri: Trastulli and Arias / Musica Fiorita; Daniela Dolci; Cristina Grifone Pietro Torri (1650–1737) provided the music for the Bavarian court, composing almost 20 operas and a large number of sacred and secular works. (Pan Classics)

1CD PC10417

$18.99

Jommelli: Il Vologeso / The Mozartists [2 CDs] The Mozartists continue their MOZART 250 project of staging operas by Mozart and his contemporaries with their recording of the UK premiére of Niccolò Jommelli’s Il Vologeso, first performed over 250 years ago. (Signum)

2CD SIGCD692

$25.99

Verdi: Aida / Birgit Nillson; Franco Corelli; Grace Bumbry [2 CDs] This box contains one of the most famous complete recording of Aida as well as one of the few testimony of Franco Corelli performing a complete Verdian opera, in the modern interpretation by Zubin Mehta. (Urania)

2CD WS121.393

$29.99

Beethoven: Fidelio, Op. 72 / Lise Davidsen [2 CDs] After their acclaimed recording of Weber’s Freischütz, the Dresdner Philharmonie and its Principal conductor Marek Janowski present yet another German opera classic with Beethoven’s Fidelio. (Pentatone)

2SACD PTC5186880

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$15.99

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New Piano Albums Recommended New Releases Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1 / David Jalbert, piano For his latest ATMA Classique recording project, pianist David Jalbert tackles the complete cycle of Prokofiev’s piano sonatas. The first volume features four piano sonatas from Prokofiev’s Russian period, which ended in 1918 with his departure for America. These are paired with four short pieces for piano, including the famous Suggestion diabolique (Diabolic suggestion). (ATMA Classique)

1CD ACD2 2461

$16.99

Haydn: Piano Sonatas, Vol. IV / Leon McCawley, piano SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce the fourth volume in Leon McCawley’s much praised series of Franz Joseph Haydn’s Piano Sonatas. Six Sonatas spanning the years 1766–80 are featured: the earliest the miniature First Sonata in G major, the latest the E flat major Sonata No. 51, while Robert Matthew-Walker’s fascinating booklet note charts how deftly Haydn balanced the expectations of others and his own creative ambition. (SOMM)

1CD SOMMCD 0643

$18.99

Dutilleux: Complete Music for Piano Solo / Vittoria Quartararo, piano Though Dutilleux began composing at an early age and undertook the rigorous course of study at the Paris Conservatoire, he regarded his Piano Sonata of 1946-8 as an Opus 1. The musical language is as much modal as tonal, owing as much to Bartók’s methods of musical organization and the 19th-century Germanic concept of the large-scale masterpiece as contemporary developments in harmony. (Piano Classics)

1CD PCL10167

Lockdown Blues / Peter Dickinson, piano

Chopin Piano Recital / Marek Mizera, piano

Here’s the perfect escape from the “Lockdown Blues” – a collection of appealing piano miniatures compiled and performed by Peter Dickinson to chase all your cares away. Lockdown Blues includes soothing masterpieces by Erik Satie (Trois Gnossiennes, Trois Gymnopédies), Francis Poulenc (Bal fantôme, Pastourelle) as well as 12 iconic jazz tunes by Duke Ellington, heard here in their original sheet-music versions. (SOMM)

The repertoire of Marek Mizera’s Chopin album can be considered both comprehensive and cross-sectional.

Each of the works recorded on the album requires from the pianist a completely autonomous approach to such issues as formal structure, building drama, melody, or the use of tempo rubato. Marek Mizera was born in Bielsko-Biała where he finished a music school in the piano class of Maria Kubica-Skarbowska. (DUX)

1CD SOMMCD 0644 $18.99 Schubert: Warmth / Mathieu Gaudet, piano

1CD DUX1754

$19.99

Eller: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 7 / Sten Lassmann

The new album Schubert: Warmth by pianist Mathieu Gaudet is the fifth volume in a wonderful series. While it is true that Schubert’s music is often tinged with a hushed melancholy, at times it is suffused with an optimistic, bountiful light that ardently celebrates life, such as the radiant Sonata No. 16 in D Major, D. 850, the Sonata No. 5 in A-flat Major, D. 557 and The Variations in A Minor, D. 576 offered on this new album. (Analekta)

1CD AN29185 Albéniz: The Complete Piano Music / Miguel Baselga [9 CDs]

$18.99

The piano music of the Estonian composer Heino Eller (1887–1970), a total of 206 works, is not only the largest part of his output: it is also the largest body of works in Estonian classical music. But most of these pieces are unknown, even though the best of them are original contributions to the piano repertoire of the twentieth century, with Eller’s sensitive lyricism underpinned by gentle humor and an occasional epic tone. (Toccata)

$18.99

1CD TOCC0611

$18.99

Montgeroult: Complete Piano Sonatas [2 CDs]

The piano works by Isaac Albéniz range from indisputable masterpieces to ravishing salon music, the composer painting with bright Spanish colors as well as the hues of Classicism and Romanticism. On nine discs, originally released between 1998 and 2017 and gathered here, Miguel Baselga guides listeners through the music of his compatriot, earning acclaim from reviewers worldwide: ‘pianism of the highest order’ – MusicWeb-International (BIS)

Hélène de Montgeroult was a student of Clementi in Paris. She survived the French Revolution – during which, as an aristocrat, her life was in grave danger – to become a celebrated pianist, composer and author of a famous piano method. Featuring several world première recordings, these sonatas represent a major contribution to the French repertoire of the late Classical and early Romantic periods. (Grand Piano)

9CD BIS-2613 $79.99 Respighi: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 2 / Giovanna Gatto

2CD GP885-86

$24.99

Respighi’s orchestral works are some of the most popular in the mainstream repertoire. His output of piano music, by contrast, is as good as unknown, and this Toccata Classics series will be the first ever to present it all: original works and transcriptions alike, for solo piano, piano four hands and two pianos. The prentice works on this second volume of solo works reveal a Respighi with roots in the high-Romantic past of Schumann, Chopin and Brahms. (Toccata)

1CD TOCC0605

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New Organ Recital Programs Bruckner: The Symphonies – Organ Transcriptions, Vol. 2

Woyrsch: Complete Organ Music / Ruth Forsbach The German composer Felix Woyrsch was born in 1860 in Troppau, but became prominent in the musical life of Altona, now part of Hamburg, as organist, choirmaster and teacher; he died there in 1944. Woyrsch’s late-Romantic organ music, with distant roots in Bach’s counterpoint, inhabits a harmonic world somewhere between Brahms and Reger, its dark colors reflecting the upheavals in the times through which he lived.

(Toccata)

This series marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner, which falls in 2024. It’s dedicated to Bruckner’s symphonies, all recorded in new transcriptions for organ by Hansjörg Albrecht, made on the impressive organ of London’s Westminster Cathedral. A bonus track on each volume will be a brand new composition for organ that references Bruckner the composer. (Oehms Classics)

1CD TOCC0120

1CD OC 478 $14.99 Cavazzoni: Complete Organ Music / Federico del Sordo; Nova Schola Gregoriana [3 CDs]

$18.99

Jongen: Sonata eroïca – Pieces pour orgue / Cindy Castillo

Girolamo Cavazzoni became organist of the cathedral in Mantova in 1621 and soon after entered the service of the Gonzaga family whose lavish artistic patronage sponsored and encouraged many of the finest Italian composers of the day. Federico Del Sordo draws on two original volumes, plus a pair of ricercars to be found in multi-authored collections of the time.

Together they build a portrait of a composer as stylish as he was pragmatic. (Brilliant)

This recording, made in December 2020, is a unique witness to the organ of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Inaugurated in 1930, this instrument designed by the maker Joseph Stevens, will have resonated for about thirty years before falling into a deep silence lasting about fifty years. Under the fingers of Cindy Castillo, Joseph Jongen’s Sonata eroïca has a symbolic value, inviting us to hope and to enjoy a timeless hymn of victory. (Musique en Wallonie)

3CD BRI96192 $12.99 The Roots & the Flower: Counterpoint in Bloom / Jens E. Christensen

30 Years of New Organ Works / Bernard Foccroulle

Although Robert Schumann’s public role in the Bach revival is less well known than that of Felix Mendelssohn, Bach’s music would play an influential effect throughout his life. Acclaimed organist Jens E. Christensen dug deep to uncover the roots of Schumann’s imagination for this truly extraordinary program, a lovingly cultivated German-Danish, Piano-Organ, BaroqueRomantic hybrid. (OUR)

During the years in which Bernard Foccroulle was successively director of the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, he never ceased to devote himself to his instrument, the organ, regularly making recordings, giving numerous concerts and several premieres.

The compositions on this recording range over that thirty-year cycle. (Fuga Libera)

Images / Anna Lapwood

1CD 6220675

1CD MEW2001

1CD FUG789

$19.99

$18.99

Moore: Organ Works / Stephen Farr

Signum proudly presents Anna Lapwood’s debut solo organ recording following her criticallyacclaimed debut choral recording.

This luxurious program showcases the softer, more subtle side of an instrument more generally regarded for its bombastic nature. “One of my favorite things about being an organist is the exquisite feeling of practicing in a church or cathedral late at night. On this disc I’ve tried to capture some of that magic.” (Signum)

1CD SIGCD688

$18.99

A former organist of both York Minster and Guildford Cathedral, Philip Moore ranks among the most significant and prolific of British choral and organ composers of the late-20th and 21st centuries. With a unique and recognizable musical voice, his music is performed regularly around the globe. Organist Stephen Farr explores Moore’s considerable and growing body of organ works with this captivating album. (Resonus)

1CD RES10284

$17.99

$16.99

NEW ORGAN RELEASES IN BRIEF

Schildt: Complete Organ Works / Vincent van Laar On this release, his works from Melchior Schildt are performed by renowned organist Vincent van Laar on the organ of the St. Ludgeri Church, which is famous among organ lovers. (Aliud)

1CD ACDBJ1082

$16.99

The Monteverdi Organ / Krijn Koetsveld; Le Nuove Musiche This recording features a very special newly built organ with open pipes all made of Italian cypress wood, the type which perhaps the most important composer of his time, Claudio Monteverdi, was particularly fond.

(Brilliant)

Pachelbel: Organ Works, Vol. 1 / Matthew Owens

1CD BRI96347

Organist Matthew Owens embarks on a major exploration of the many extant organ works of Pachelbel beginning with this first volume. (Resonus)

1CD RES10285

$9.99

$16.99

Joby Bell: American Classic Widor, Vol. 6 / Joby Bell This is Vol. 6 in Centaur’s complete traversal of the organ works of Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937), performed on classic American organs by Joby Bell. (Glossa)

1CD CRC3768

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$15.99

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Harmonia Mundi Saint Saens: Symphony No. 3 Piano Concerto No. 4 / Les Siecles 1CD HMF905348.2 $19.99

Rameau: Platée / Les Arts Florissants [2 CDs] 2CD HMF8905349.2 $29.99

Haydn: Piano Sonatas Vol. 2 / Paul Lewis 1CD HMF902372.2 $19.99

Bach: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier – Book 2 / Andreas Staier [2 CDs] 2CD HMF902682.2 $21.99

Louis de Caix d’Hervelois Dans le sillage de Marin Marais / La Rêveuse 1CD HMF902352.2 $19.99

Strauss: Don Quixote / Till Eulenspiegel 1CD HMF902370.2 $19.99

Charpentier: Le Malade Imaginaire / Les Arts Florissants [2 CDs] 2CD HMF8901887.2 $21.99

Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 / Adam Laloum 1CD HMF902666.2 $19.99

Charpentier: A Christmas Oratorio / Les Art Florissants 1CD HMF8905130.2 $19.99

Telemann: Viola Concertos, Overtures & Fantasias 1CD HMF902342.2 $19.99

Josquin Desprez: The Renaissance Master / Various [3 CDs] 3CD HMF2904016.2 $44.99

Mozart: String Quartets Vol. 2 / Cuarteto Casals 1CD HMF902654.2 $19.99

Charpentier: Te Deum H.146 / Les Arts Florissants 1CD HMF8901298.2 $19.99

Bach: Brandenburg Concertos / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [2 CDs] 2CD HMF902686.2 $21.99

Rameau: Nouvelles Suites – 20th Anniversary Edition / Alexandre Tharaud 1CD HMF931754.2 $14.99

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Hyperion Chopin: Nocturnes / Stephen Hough [2 CDs] 2CD HYP68351.2 $29.99

Regnart: Missa Christ ist erstanden / Cinquecento 1CD HYP68369.2 $19.99

Voyage of a Sea-God / Laurence Perkins [2 CDs] 2CD HYP68371.2 $29.99

Mendelssohn & Mendelssohn: String Quartets / Takács Quartet 1CD HYP68330.2 $19.99

Bruch: Piano Trio / Nash Ensemble 1CD HYP68343.2 $19.99

Love Songs / Angela Hewitt 1CD HYP68341.2 $19.99

Josquin’s Legacy / Gesualdo Six 1CD HYP68379.2 $19.99

Schumann: Arabeske, Kreisleriana & Fantasie / Stephen Hough 1CD HYP68363.2 $19.99

The Romantic Piano Concerto Vol. 83 / Jonathan Plowright 1CD HYP68323.2 $19.99

The Classical Piano Concerto Vol. 8 / Howard Shelley 1CD HYP68361.2 $19.99

Northern Lights – Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim / Christopher Herrick 1CD HYP68376.2 $19.99

Isaac: Missa Wohlauff gut Gsell Von Hinnen & Other Works / Cinquecento 1CD HYP68337.2 $19.99

British Solo Cello Music / Steven Isserlis 1CD HYP68373.2 $19.99

Brahms: Piano Sonatas & Rhapsodies / Garrick Ohlsson 1CD HYP683340.2 $19.99

Bach: The Six Partitas / Mahan Esfahani 1CD HYP68311.2 $19.99

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Naxos

Ulysses / James Joyce (unabridged) [22 CDs]

Lord Byron – The Great Poets (selections) [1 CD]

Ulysses is one of the greatest literary works in the English language. Set in the shadow of Homer’s Odyssey, internal thoughts give physical reality extra color and perspective. In this remarkable unabridged recording, Joyce catalogues one day — June 16, 1904 — in immense detail as Leopold Bloom wanders through Dublin — talking, observing, musing — and always remembering Molly, his passionate, wayward wife.

22CD NAX30912S Great Historical Shakespeare Recordings (selections) [2 CDs]

Today, Byron is regarded as the ultimate romantic – a rebel, a Casanova and a man of intense, brooding passion. He was the most famous literary man of his time, and his poetry, endlessly witty and often insightful, was immensely popular and hugely influential. “Mad, bad and dangerous to know,” Lord Byron was without equal in English literature.

1CD NA0334

$37.49

Oscar Wilde’s enduring masterpiece, a fable of innocence and corruption, purity and decay, has become a true classic. The beautiful, narcissistic Dorian Gray sells the beauty of his soul in exchange for external perfection. Ultimately, however, he cannot escape the disfigurement of sin. Wilde’s remarkable wit and memorable, epigrammatic lines dazzle in audiobook form.

This collection contains historical recordings of actors from the beginning of the recording era.

Included here are historical Shakespeare performances by Henry Ainley, John Barrymore, and many others. “This is a delight for the theater buff, cultural historian, and acting professional…includes speeches from Shakespeare recorded from 1896 to the 1940s, recited by the most notable actors of the day.” — Audiofile

2CD NA220012 The Sign of Zorro / Johnston McCulley (unabridged) [5 CDs]

7CD NA799112

$8.99

Phineas Finn, a handsome young man of 23, comes to England to make his fortune in parliamentary politics. But despite all his aspirations, Finn is haunted by ethical questions as his personal convictions conflict with his duty towards his party. The second installment of Trollope’s celebrated Palliser series, Phineas Finn is a delightful and humorous look at the complexity of human relationships and the politics surrounding the Second Reform Bill of the 1860s.

24CD NA0273

Some 250 years after its first publication, Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is still regarded as one of the greatest histories in Western literature. He reports on more than 1,000 years of an empire which extended from the most northern and western parts of Europe to deep into Asia and Africa and covers not only events but also the cultural and religious developments that effected change during that time.

Considered the bridge between romanticism and modernism, Matthew Arnold wrote verse that is simple, unadorned and straightforward. This collection covers his major poetic works, including the narrative poems, sonnets and elegiac poems, illuminating the lyricism and serenity of Arnold’s best poetry. The collection includes: Dover Beach, Desire, Longing, A Summer Night, Consolation, Philomela, A Dream, and more.

18CD NA0125

$53.99

London Labour and the Londor Poor / Henry Mayhew (unabridged) [23 CDs]

8CD NA0274 $27.49 Great Speeches in History (compilation) [2 CDs]

London Labour and the London Poor is a rare and fascinating insight into the lives and struggles of the 19th century poor. Written by journalist and reformer Henry Mayhew, a founder and editor of the satirical magazine Punch, it collects hundreds of testimonials from the lower strata of Victorian society. David Timson’s sharp-witted and authoritative tone perfectly suits Mayhew’s detailed social observations.

From Socrates to Abraham Lincoln — Great Speeches in History features some of history’s most significant figures and their most important speeches. Fighting for justice, freedom of speech, and sometimes even their own lives, these orators demonstrate the finest resources of language in the service of the most dramatic issues of their day.

www.hbdirect.com

$68.99

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire / Edward Gibbon (unabridged) [18 CDs]

5CD NA0255 $17.49 Fanny Hill / John Cleland (unabridged) [8 CDs]

$8.99

$17.49

Phineas Finn / Anthony Trollope (unabridged) [24 CDs]

Once again, the intrepid Zorro fights for justice! Our hero’s assistance is sought when the devious Pedro Morelos threatens the fortune of a wealthy heir, Vicente Canchola.

Morelos hatches a plot to kidnap the Governor of California and extort profitable trade concessions from him. Zorro overhears this, but will he be able to foil the evil scheme, and stop the Canchola estate from falling into the wrong hands?

2CD NA208312

$7.49

The Picture of Dorian Gray / Oscar Wilde (unabridged) [7 CDs]

23CD NA0319

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$64.49

1/800/222-6872

Audiobooks Romeo and Juliet / William Shakespeare (unabridged) [3 CDs]

Ghost Stories / Charles Dickens (unabridged) [14 CDs]

Romeo and Juliet is the quintessential love story.

Shakespeare’s ill-fated lovers have influenced English literature from the time of the play’s first performance up until today, inspiring works like West Side Story. The wit, tenderness, and poetic beauty of this play have proved a favorite across the centuries and continue to work their spell on modern audiences.

3CD NA312512

Charles Dickens was a master of the macabre. His stories of madness, murder and revenge, often imbued with a sympathetic moral undertone, have continued to thrill and chill readers ever since they were written.

Here then are 15 tales that display the full range of Dickens’s Gothic talents. The Signalman, perhaps the most well-known, is a chilling story about a mysterious figure and its deathly omen.

$11.49

14CD NA0329

Arabian Sands / Wilfred Thesiger (unabridged) [11 CDs]

Naples ’44 is an unflinching autobiographical account of a year in Naples after the armistice and Allied landings in Sorrento in 1943. Working as a British counterintelligence officer under the Allied occupation, Lewis documents the rich pageant of life in the city and its surrounding areas. Unsparing, penetrating and profoundly humane, Naples ’44 is a moving portrait of the costs of war, and the resilience of a society under extreme stress.

Arabian Sands is Wilfred Thesiger’s stunning account of five years spent crossing the Arabian Peninsula by foot and on camels, with nomadic Bedouin tribesmen as guides.

In clear and evocative prose, Thesiger documents a journey of unimaginable hardship and startling beauty, as well as a time, place and people on the cusp of change.

11CD NA0336

$33.99

Nostromo / Joseph Conrad (unabridged) [15 CDs]

6CD NA0338 The Golden Notebook / Doris Lessing (unabridged) [21 CDs]

Set in the fictional South American country of Costaguana, Nostromo explores the volatile politics and crippling greed surrounding the San Tomé silver mine. The story of power, love, revolutions, loyalty, and reward is told with richly evocative descriptions and brilliantly realized characters. More than an adventure story; it is also a profoundly dark moral fable. It was Conrad’s masterwork, a forerunner of modernism, and one of the greatest novels of the 20th century.

15CD NAX89012

$44.99

21CD NAX15812 $57.99 Daisy Miller / Henry James (unabridged) [2 CDs]

Impoverished young aristocrat Eugène de Rastignac is determined to climb the social ladder and impress himself on Parisian high society. While staying in a boarding house in Paris’s rue NeuveSainte-Geneviève, he encounters Jean-Joachim Goriot, a retired vermicelli maker who has spent his entire fortune supporting his two daughters. Profound and realistic, Father Goriot is a startling glimpse into the vanity and selfishness of 19th-century Paris.

Daisy Miller is a young American girl travelling Europe with her mother and younger brother. Daisy flaunts society’s rules and uncompromising standards; she is charming, spontaneous and unpretentious, and her audacity shocks the Europeans, who consider her an uncultivated flirt. The sophisticated Winterbourne remains smitten with Daisy, but his classical values stand in his way…

$31.49

2CD NA0325 $8.99 Revelations of Divine Love / Julian of Norwich (unabridged) [6 CDs]

The Europeans (unabridged) [5 CDs] After the collapse of her marriage to an illustrious German prince, Baroness Eugenia Münster arrives in America with her brother, in search of wealthy New England relatives.

At times reminiscent of Jane Austen, The Europeans contains beautiful and vivid descriptions of mid-19th century upper-class New England life. Adam Sims’ screen and theatre credits include Band of Brothers, Lost in Space and Alice in Wonderland.

5CD NA0296

1/800/222-6872

$20.99

One of the most important books of the growing feminist movement of the 1950s, it was brought to a wider public by the Nobel Prize award to Doris Lessing in 2007.

Authoress Anna Wulf attempts to overcome writer’s block by writing a comprehensive ‘golden notebook’ which draws together the preoccupations of her life, each of which is examined in a different hued notebook.

Father Goriot / Honoré de Balzac (unabridged) [10 CDs]

10CD NA0326

$40.99

Naples ʼ44 / Norman Lewis (unabridged) [6 CDs]

On May 8, 1373, 30-year-old Julian of Norwich, sick and near death, had a series of visions of Christ. In these 16 visions she learnt about God’s loving nature. The version of Christian theology presented in Revelations of Divine Love – the first published book in English attributed to a woman – contains some of the most profound spiritual writing ever written and remains a perennial favorite among Christians.

$20.99

6CD NA0295

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Choral New Choral Recommendations Lux Aeterna / University of South Dakota Chamber Singers The University of South Dakota Chamber Singers proudly presents Lux Aeterna, a new album of choral works from Navona Records. As its title suggests, this collection employs the power of music to shed light into the lives of listeners. The album evokes a variety of musical genres, vocal colors, and historical styles, taking listeners on a spiritual journey through life’s tribulations to ultimate redemption. (Navona)

1CD NV6385

$14.99

Manifesto / Cantus Chamber vocal ensemble Cantus’ release of fresh, intimate and relevant new vocal works is a journey of longing and self-discovery with trademark virtuosic delivery. Manifesto takes a nuanced look at identity and relationship.

In keeping with Cantus’ commitment to the creation of new music for tenors, baritones and basses, the preponderance of the works on Manifesto were written specifically for Cantus. (Signum)

1CD SIGCD686

$17.99

To Hold the Light / The Same Stream The work that opens this recording — with the words of Quaker George Fox that end with, “So be faithful, and live in that which doth not think the time long” — provides a haunting premonition regarding the time in which we live.

The music chosen for this recording is strangely and poignantly relevant. It is our hope that all the music on this album will show us a way for living as we move forward and also give loving comfort to those who have lost loved ones. (GIA Choral Works)

1CD GIACD-1095

Playlist / Ensemble Perspectives

Appear and Inspire / East Carolina University Chamber Singers; Andrew Scanlon

Ensemble Perspectives creates a program that blend the mainstream classical repertory with lesser-known composers and folk and pop songs. These pieces are sung in transcriptions ‘tailor-made’ for Perspectives, which works with worldrenowned composers of all aesthetic persuasions. Playlist allows today’s ears to grasp the timeless threads that link Purcell to Brahms, a traditional song to an American song crooned by entire generations. (Outhere)

1CD OMF704

The award-winning East Carolina University Chamber Singers, directed

by James Franklin, presents music of hope and illumination. Accompanied by Andrew Scanlon on St. Paul’s (Greenville) highly respected C.B. Fisk, Op. 126, this performance resonates with a message that rings true today. (Gothic)

1CD G-49335

Lyadov’s handful of orchestral works have become concert favorites. His choral music falls into three main categories: religious chants, folksong arrangements and original compositions. All three confirm Lyadov’s status as a kind of Fabergé of music: they blend exquisite craftsmanship and delicate beauty. A distinctive feature of the ensemble is the performances of outstanding works of Russian music of the twentieth and 21st centuries. (Toccata)

Composed in 1982, Arvo Pärt’s Passio has retained its place as one of the foremost works of sacred music of the late 20th century. It has been called a minimalist masterpiece, and is a seminal work in the composer’s oeuvre – the culmination of his so-called tintinnabuli style, and the first in a line of large-scale choral works on religious themes. (BIS)

$19.99

1CD TOCC0614 Ives: Requiem / Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge; Britten Sinfonia

Pärt: Stabat / Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Muncher Rundfunkorchester Stabat Mater is the fourth album to emerge from the close artistic collaboration between the composer and the Bavarian Radio Chorus, and to be released by BR-Klassik. In addition to the impressive Stabat Mater, this newly-released album offers some of the works that are key to the composer’s stylistic development, and rarely appear in the concert repertoire or as recordings. (BR Klassik)

1CD BRK900335

$18.99

Lyadov: Choral Music / Academy of Russian Music Chamber Choir

$18.99

Pärt: Passio / Helsinki Chamber Choir

1SACD BIS-2612

$16.99

$18.99

This recording represents two ‘firsts’ for the choirs of Jesus College, Cambridge: The first time the choir have collaborated on a recording with the Britten Sinfonia, as well as is the first time both chapel and college choirs they have joined forces for an entire album. Bill (Grayston) Ives writes: “In the Requiem many influences are thrown into the musical melting pot and will be apparent to the discerning listener.”

(Signum)

$16.99

1CD SIGCD682 Biber: Requiem / Vox Luminis; Freiburger Barockconsort; Lionel Meunier

$17.99

The vocal ensemble Vox Luminis, founded by Lionel Meunier in 2004, is now regarded as a benchmark in the interpretation of the great works of German Baroque music. Its unfailingly faithful and lively approach to such masters as Bach, Buxtehude and Scheidt has made the group’s reputation, but this new recording features a major work by Heinrich Biber: his Requiem in F minor for 14 voices, composed around 1692. (Alpha)

1CD ALPHA665

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Music

Minuten aus Jahrhunderten / Octavians

Debussy & Hahn: Great Choral Music / Chor Des Bayerischen Rundfunks

“Jewels from five centuries” aptly describes this collection, featuring small pieces of great music, that the a cappella group Octavians presents on their new Genuin album: canzones, motets, folk songs, and pop songs to which they give their own unique coloring. The spectrum ranges from an old Spanish hymn of praise to motherly love to lieder by Franz Schubert and celebrated songs of our time by Paul Simon and Sting. (Genuin)

This selection of the finest examples of French solo and choral songs from the oeuvre of both Debussy and Hahn, written at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, offers music full of grace and impressionistic esprit that remains unique in the history of composition and art. The piano accompaniment is restrained as far as possible. These serious and tender songs reflect on points throughout a life’s journey.

(BR Klassik)

1CD BRK900529

1CD GEN 21755

$16.99

Haydn: Great Choral Works [5 CDs]

The Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute strives to present Russian Orthodox choral music in its highest possible form, uniting deep spirituality, a profound love for the rich traditions of Orthodox Christian singing, and an uncompromising standard of musical professionalism. The album brings together singers from five countries, including an unprecedented nine octavists, to form the 56-member international PaTRAM Institute Male Choir.

(Chandos)

Joseph Haydn is regarded as the “father of the symphony” and the “father of the string quartet” for his more than 100 symphonies and almost 70 string quartets. Haydn also produced numerous operas, masses, concertos, and other compositions. Recordings from some of Haydn’s most formidable interpreters are showcased on this extensive release, including the Bach Collegium Stuttgart, Kammerchor Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling, and more. (Hanssler)

5CD HC21054

$29.99

1SACD CHSA 5287 $19.99 Pärt: Miserere / Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Sheehan: Vespers / The Saint Tikhon Choir Conductor and composer Benedict Sheehan leads The Saint Tikhon Choir in his new setting of Eastern Orthodox Vespers in English. Inspired by the great All-Night Vigil setting by Rachmaninoff, Sheehan’s composition expands the genre with full settings of Psalms. Each verse is treated with deep musical pathos to express a full range of human emotion. Vespers also features virtuosic vocal concertos, including the first for basso profundo in English. (Cappella Romana)

1SACD CR423

The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, born in 1935, has succeeded in bringing sacred music back to a broader audience, and away from the confines of the church service. Pärt’s tintinnabuli style of composition is also a key feature of the choral and instrumental works presented on this new album: five works for choir as well as two for instrumental ensemble, covering all of the composer’s creative epochs between 1986 and 2019. (BR Klassik)

1CD BRK900527 The Sacred Nine Project – Regret, Repent, Rejoice / Vocal Ensemble

$19.99

Grechaninov: All-Night Vigil / Latvian Radio Choir; Sigvards Kļava

$16.99

This is an album of classic works collected in the classic book, “The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion,” compiled by William Walker in 1835. This is a truly amazing compendium of these classic pieces, in beautiful arrangements. Curtis Leonard Raybon writes of this project: “The Sacred Nine Project presents problematic works from American music or poetic history and asks the audience to consider what we can learn from them today.

(Centaur)

With this new album the award-winning Latvian Radio Choir conducted by Sigvards Kļava is turning its attention to the music of Alexander Grechaninov (1864–1956), one of the masters of Russian liturgic music. Grechaninov’s All-Night Vigil is a fitting continuation to the choir’s albums of sacred music by Sergey Rachmaninov and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. (Ondine)

1CD ODE 1397-2

$18.99

More Honourable than the Cherubim / Patram Institute Male Choir

$16.99

1CD CRC3815

$15.99

CHORAL RECOMMENDATIONS IN BRIEF

Mascagni: Messa di Gloria / Emil Ivanov; Roberto de Candia; The State PO The Messa di Gloria belongs to the period before Cavalleria Rusticana: the lack of a choral or a fugue as well as the simple, almost ingenuous tonalities reveal the dominance of the operatic style over the religious one. (Bongiovanni)

1CD GB2591-2

$16.99

Verdi: Messa da Requiem / Julia Varady; Alexandrina Milcheva; ORF Vienna Radio SO Verdi’s Messa da Requiem – an “opera in ecclestiastical robes”, as Hans von Bülow called it – recorded at Stiftskirche Herzogenburg with Julia Varady, ORF Choir and ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. (Orfeo)

1CD ORF-C210232

$24.99

O Lux Beata Trinitas: Norddeutsche Kantaten des Frühbarock für Altus, Streicher und Basso continuo The works on this recording range from Danzig (now Gdansk) by way of Güstrow, Hamburg and Gottorf to Copenhagen and Stockholm. (Solo Musica)

1CD SM349

$18.99

New York Polyphony: And the Sun Darkened – Music for Passiontide / New York Polyphony New York Polyphony is known for its innovative programming. On And the Sun Darkened the four members follow Josquin’s celebrated motet Tu pauperum refugium with Andrew Smith’s setting of Psalm 55. (BIS)

1SACD BIS-2277

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Vocal Recital Recommended Vocal Releases Thorsteinson, Schumann: Vocal Works / Andri Björn Róbertsson Icelandic bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson and pianist Ástríður Alda Sigurðardóttir, perform Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis op. 24 and Liederkreis op. 39, along with seven songs by composer Árni Thorsteinson.

The two Liederkreise were composed during Schumann´s Year of Song in 1840. More than sixty years later Thorsteinson began publishing his songs, and they were instantly regarded as national treasures by the Icelandic nation. (Fuga Libera)

1CD FUG787

$18.99

Italian Tenor Arias / Azer Zada The Italian operatic repertoire offers some of the most passionate and much-loved music in the classical canon. In this outstanding collection, Azer Zada has selected music of moving intensity, dramatic power and spiritual resolve in works by Donizetti, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini and Verdi. Favorite tenor arias such as Nessun dorma!, Una furtiva lagrima, Recondita armonia and E lucevan le stelle are also included. (Naxos)

1CD 8573499

$13.99

Dutch Mourning Songs / Camerata Trajectina There is a long tradition of disaster songs: by singing together people sought support from each other. Camerata Trajectina brings this tradition to life. About the plague and corona, about the St. Elizabeth’s Flood in 1421 and the Flood of 1953: singing about disasters is timeless. This album shows how people in the Netherlands dealt with major disasters and what a comforting and connecting role music played in this. (Globe)

1CD GLO5281

Novák: Slovak Songs / Eva Garajová; Miroslav Sekera [2 CDs]

$16.99

Lamento / Iestyn Davies; Fretwork Counter-tenor Iestyn Davies and and the viol consort Fretwork present a new recording of works for viol consort and voice drawn from 17th-century Germany, following their critically-praised 2019 album of works by Michael Nyman and Henry Purcell. Featuring performances from organist Silas Wollston and counter-tenor Hugh Cutting, the recital ranges widely over the 17th century. (Signum)

This new album from notable Czech mezzosoprano Eva Garajová with great pianist Miroslav Sekera presents Slovak Songs by Czech composer Vítězslav Novák (1870–1949). Slovak Songs is released on these two albums as a world premiere and it shows the versatility of the composer’s creative profile as well as the amazing musicality of both performers.

(ArcoDiva)

1CD SIGCD684 $17.99 Schubert & Mendelssohn: Works / Julian Prégardien; Martin Helmchen; Christian Tetzlaff

2CD UP0225 $24.99 Songs for New Life and Love / Ruby Hughes; Joseph Middleton

Here are two works composed by Schubert at the very end of his short life. The fourteen songs, by turns light-hearted, somber and melancholy, are settings of poems by Ludwig Rellstab, Heinrich Heine and Johann Gabriel Seidl. Fanny Mendelssohn’s Schwanenlied (also to words by Heinrich Heine) completes the program, along with Felix Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words no.1 for solo piano.

(Alpha)

After appearing on a quartet of very different BIS releases, ranging from early baroque arias to orchestral songs by Alban Berg and Mahler’s ‘Resurrection Symphony’, the British soprano Ruby Hughes has devised a song recital, together with her regular Lieder partner Joseph Middleton. The recital is bookended by two song cycles by Gustav Mahler which explore love, grief, loss and reconciliation through quite different lenses. (BIS)

$19.99

2CD ALPHA748 $24.99 Jéliote, Haute-contre de Rameau / Reinoud Van Mechelen; A Nocte Temporis

Lucy Crowe presents a program of lieder

by Berg, Richard Strauss and Schoenberg, which perfectly highlights why she is known as one of the leading lyric sopranos of her generation. The program encompasses both the beginning and end of Strauss’s prodigious songwriting career with five songs from his first published set Acht Gedichte aus Letzte Blätter plus his posthumously published swansong of sublime beauty, Vier letzte Lieder. (Linn)

Reinoud Van Mechelen and his ensemble A Nocte Temporis continue their ‘HauteContre Trilogy’ with Rameau’s favorite singer, Pierre de Jéliote, probably the finest haute-contre in history. The album pays tribute to this native of the Béarn region with a selection of airs by Rameau (from Hippolyte et Aricie, Les Fêtes d’Hébé, Platée, Castor et Pollux, Les Boréades) but also by Dauvergne, Colin de Blamont, Mondonville, Rebel and Francoeur. (Alpha)

1SACD BIS-2468 Longing / Lucy Crowe; Anna Tilbrook

1CD CKD656 $18.99 Clara / Sandra Porter; Graeme McNaught

1CD ALPHA753

$18.99

Inspired by Frauenliebe und -Leben, English composer Sally Beamish and Scottish author Janice Galloway created Clara, a wonderful work in which Clara Schumann’s life unfolds in a soliloquy brimming with drama and heart stopping tenderness. Also included in this recording are some of Clara Schumann’s greatest songs, a perfect opening to this brilliantly concepted album. (First Hand)

1CD FHR98

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Albums

Haydn: Deutsche Lieder / Alice Foccroulle, soprano; Pierre Gallon, harpsichord

Fleur de mon âme / Karen Cargill; Simon Lepper Following their Linn debut, a ‘breathtaking album of songs by Gustav and Alma Mahler’ (The Herald ), Karen Cargill and Simon Lepper return to fin-de-siècle Europe for a recital of songs by the ‘crème de la crème’ of late nineteenth-century French speaking composers. Entitled Fleur de mon âme, the album embraces the sensual soundworld of Hahn, Debussy, Chausson, Jongen and Duparc. (Linn)

With this recital dedicated to German songs by Joseph Haydn, Alice Foccroulle and Pierre Gallon leave their familiar territory – that of Baroque music – and present a personal, thoroughly informed interpretation of these songs. Alice Foccroulle is accompanied partly by harpsichord, partly by pianoforte, and leads us across the narrow ridge between the Baroque and the Classical periods. (Passacaille)

1CD PAS1101

1CD CKD652

$18.99

Schweizerdeutsche Mundart-Kunstlieder / Sybille Diethelm; Fabienne Romer

Love and Despair / Andreas Bauer Kanabas With the Festival Orchestra Riga under the direction of Karsten Januschke, Andreas Bauer Kanabas models a force field of unleashed passions between love, treason and despair along well-chosen arias of the serious bass subject. It is the moments of deep longing and melancholy that Andreas Bauer Kanabas traces with his interpretations and from which he lets a great emotional power grow.

(Oehms Classics)

1CD OC490

Meinrad Alois Lienert (1865–1933) is considered one of the most important dialect lyricists in Switzerland. Soprano Sybille Diethelm and her piano accompanist Fabienne Romer have dedicated themselves to the lyrics of this Swiss poet in settings by Swiss composers. Sybille Diethelm grew up in Schübelbach in the canton of Schwyz Canton, and in 2004 began studying voice at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. (Prospero)

$14.99

1CD PROSP0014

Plácido Domingo at the Arena di Verona / Placido Domingo [DVD or Blu-ray Video]

This is the third in a series of four albums recording all 81 of the folk songs in English that Ralph Vaughan Williams arranged for voice and piano or violin. This third album has 21 tracks including 14 world premières. The principal collection comprises folk songs collected by Vaughan Williams himself from ‘The Eastern Counties’ and published by him in these arrangements in 1908. These are thus the earliest works in the series. (Albion)

$41.99 $29.99

1CD ALBCD044

Schubert: Winterreise / Steven Tharp; Janice Wenger

$18.99

A Song in the Wood / Duo Dalùna A Song in the Wood takes the listener on a journey through various aspects of love, loss and loneliness. To musically represent this journey, the young Swiss tenor Remy Burnens and his piano accompanist Clémence Hirt are immersed in the for many unknown world of British composers in the early 20th century. The young lyrical tenor Remy Burnens works in the fields of opera, concert and lied in Switzerland and Europe. (Prospero)

Franz Schubert is perhaps the greatest of all composers of art songs. He left huge body of songs for voice and piano of amazing quality. The song cycle Winterreise stands out even among this literature. Steven Tharp sings with great understanding and sensitivity, beautifully accompanied by Janice Wenger on fortepiano. Steven Tharp has been praised by Opera News for the “bel canto flexibility and sweetness” of his voice.

(Centaur)

1CD CRC3867

$19.99

Vaughan Williams: Folk Songs, Vol. 3 / Roderick Williams; Mary Bevan; Nicky Spence

Opera legend Plácido Domingo returns to the spectacular Arena di Verona, where he more than 50 years ago made his debut. Plácido Domingo and Saioa Hernández perform a program dedicated to the great Italian composers Verdi and Giordano. “Domingo performed with bravura, alternating with the spectacular Saioa Hernández” – operaactual.com (C Major)

1Blu-ray 758104 1DVD 758008

$18.99

1CD PROSP0015

$15.99

$19.99

VOCAL ALBUMS IN BRIEF Birdsong / Roderick Williams; Andrew West This recital features signature songs from the height of Romanticism by Brahms and Clara and Robert Schumann alongside a more recent quartet of sensuous songs by Sally Beamish. (SOMM)

1CD SOMMCD 0633

$18.99

Daniel Saether: Unexpected Songs / Daniel Saether Unexpected Songs contains juxtapositions of old (texts) and new (music), written by some of the most important Norwegian composers of contemporary music and religious music in the 20th and 21st centuries. (Lawo)

1CD LWC1204

$16.99

Yi-Lan Niu: Chanter et Souffrir – French Melodies by Charles Gounod / Yi-Lan Niu; Elaine Moss Charles Gounod (1818–1893) is universally regarded as one of the greatest of all French composers. His pieces are crafted with beautiful melodies, fluid lyricism, and sensitive expression. (Centaur)

1CD CRC3757

$15.99

Canteloube: L’arada; Chants de France / Karen Coker Merritt; Sean Kennard French composer Joseph Canteloube (1879–1957) made a life’s work of collecting, transcribing, and arranging folksongs. His Chants d’Auvergne has long been very popular. (Centaur)

1CD CRC3804

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Pentatone Music New Pentatone Titles Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 38 & 39 / Andrew Manze The NDR Philharmonie and Andrew Manze continue their exploration of Mozart’s late orchestral works with a recording of the composers 38th and 39th symphonies. The 38th shares with its successor a solemn, “Romantic” slow introduction to the first movement, followed by lighter music that shares a kinship with the playful arias and ensembles of Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, composed in the same period. (Pentatone)

1CD PTC5186765

$14.49

Time Traveler’s Suite / Inon Barnatan On his album Time Traveler’s Suite, pianist Inon Barnatan redefines our notions of the suite by taking us on a journey through time and space, from Baroque pieces by Bach, Handel, Rameau and Couperin to more recent works by Ravel, Barber, Adès and Ligeti. The program culminates in Brahms’s ingenious Variations and Fugue on a Theme

by Handel. Inon Barnatan is “one of the most admired pianists of his generation.” – New York Times (Pentatone)

1CD PTC5186874

$14.49

Handel’s Unsung Heroes / La Nuova Musica After their acclaimed recording of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, La Nuova Musica and David Bates expand their discography with Handel’s Unsung Heroes, in which the instrumentalists of Handel’s operas are put centre stage.

Traditionally restricted to an “invisible” existence in the orchestra pit, La Nuova Musica’s obbligato instrumentalists – violinist Thomas Gould, oboist Leo Duarte and bassoonist Joe Qiu – are now in the limelight. (Pentatone)

1CD PTC5186892

Monteverdi: Il delirio della passione / Anna Lucia Richter

Handel: Concerti grossi Op. 3 & Op. 6 / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin; Bernhard Forck [3 CDs]

Anna Lucia Richter returns to Pentatone after her acclaimed Schubert album Heimweh with Il delirio della passione; a recording full of Monteverdi treasures. Richter works together with Ensemble Claudiana and Luca Pianca, one of the most eminent Monteverdi interpreters of our age. They offer a fresh perspective on Monteverdi’s music by penetrating deeply into the original sources.

(Pentatone)

1CD PTC5186845

Handel’s concerti grossi Op. 3 and Op. 6 are among the most exceptional instrumental music of the baroque age, and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin brings out all the brilliance of these delightful works.

With their historically-informed and lively playing, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and concertmasters Georg Kallweit (Op. 3) and Bernhard Forck (Op. 6) demonstrate why many consider them the best baroque ensemble of today. (Pentatone)

$14.49

3CD PTC5186271

Bruckner & M. Haydn: Motets / MDR Leipzig Radio Choir

Multiple prize-winning conductor René Jacobs and the B’Rock Orchestra present the third instalment of their Schubert cycle on Pentatone with a recording of the composer’s Fourth and Fifth Symphony.

Just as with the Second and Third, Jacobs approaches these works as a symphonic pair, revealing contrasting aspects of Schubert’s personality and compositional approach.

(Pentatone)

$17.99

1CD PTC5186856

Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

$14.49

Brabant 1653 / Holland Baroque Holland Baroque explores the monastic musical traditions of 17thcentury North Brabant, together with a group of established early music vocalists. Brabant 1653 unveils hidden gems of Dutch music history, as well as of baroque music at large. The album’s central figure is Benedictus à Sancto Josepho, pre-eminent organist and composer of Brabant in the late seventeenth century, and known in France as “le grand Carme”. (Pentatone)

Vladimir Jurowski and the RundfunkSinfonieorchester continue their Pentatone journey through the heights of German lateRomantic repertoire with a recording of Richard Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie. The Alpine Symphony was inspired by the composer’s experiences during a mountain trail, and is an audience favorite thanks to its picturesque, idyllic charm and powerfully evocative score.

(Pentatone)

1SACD PTC5186802

$22.49

Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 / B’Rock Orchestra

The MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and its chief conductor Philipp Ahmann present motets by Anton Bruckner and Michael Haydn.

While Bruckner’s Locus iste, Christus factus est and Ave Maria enjoy great popularity and can be heard frequently in concerts, Michael Haydn’s contributions to the same genre are far less known. After having featured on several Pentatone recordings, the choir now presents its first solo album with the label. (Pentatone)

1SACD PTC5186868

$14.49

1SACD PTC5186895

$17.99

$17.99

Francisco Coll: Works / Patricia Kopatchinskaja; Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg The OPL and Gustavo Gimeno continue their acclaimed Pentatone series of composer portraits with a monograph of a living composer, Francisco Coll. With pieces composed between 2005 and 2019, the album traces Coll’s spectacular musical development, from his studies under Thomas Adès in London to his present bloom. The lush, sensuous nature of his orchestral writing fully comes to life in these performances. (Pentatone)

1SACD PTC5186951

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Early Music Albums

Guerrero: Magnificat, Lamentations & Canciones

Bodenschätze: Motets from the Florilegium Portense

Francisco Guerrero is still insufficiently well known by comparison to his great contemporary and compatriot Victoria. El León de Oro here affirms his rightful place in the history of the Golden Age of Spanish polyphony.

Works include Guerrero’s “Magnificat Quarti Toni,” “Lamentations,” “Beatus Achacius Oravit,” “Antes Que Comais a Dios,” and more.

(Hyperion)

The collection Florilegium Portense

by Erhard Bodenschatz (c. 1576–1636), first published in 1603, contained 365 motets by 58 composers. It was something like a standard work of the cantors in the Thuringian-Saxon area, which is also proven to have been used by Johann Sebastian Bach. Chorwerk Ruhr lets us discover the music here that was so important to Bach that he even reordered the Florilegium. (Coviello)

1CD COV92112 Fantasia – Lute Music from the Early 16th Century / Martin Shepherd, lute

1CD HYP68347.2

$18.99

A masterpiece of French music, Charpentier’s Te Deum was a song of thanksgiving flourishing with the military fortunes of Louis XIV, king of France, who was leading his country in a protracted war. This recording by Le Concert Spirituel is a truly original version of this memorable music that achieves an amazingly fine balance between intimacy and symphonic fireworks. (Glossa)

This debut solo recording by respected lutenist Martin Shepherd brings together a range of little-known German and Italian music from the first half of the 16th century. It showcases different responses to the desire to bring both sacred and secular polyphony into a more intimate context, from simple intabulations of vocal works to entirely new pieces based on themes from or inspired by them: fantasia as a process as much as a genre. (Willowhayne)

1CD GCDC81603

Solacium / Trio Mediæval [2 Discs]

1CD FSR181 $24.99 The Josquin Songbook – Music for Two Voices and Vihuela

$10.99

Trio Mediæval’s collection of hymns and lullabies contains intimate songs as old as time and as new as tomorrow: this is music with no boundaries, celebrating our common humanity. The new lullabies

by Anders Jormin and Sinikka Langeland are here sung for all of us by three singers who have sung many a lullaby to their own children, aided and abetted on this album by Trygve Seim, and Mats Eilertsen, fathers both. (2L)

The vihuelist Ariel Abramovich teams up with the legendary soprano María Cristina Kiehr and the rising star, tenor Jonatan Alvarado, for this recording. Their procedure follows the tradition of the 16th-century authors that built up the vihuela repertoire (Fuenllana, Narváez,Pisador, etc.), often based on adaptations of the great polyphonic works of their time, in a unique approach that puts Josquin in an Iberian light. (Glossa)

2Blu-ray+SACD 2L165SABD

1CD GCD923529 $18.99 Sesto libro de madrigali (1611) / Il Complesso Barocco; Alan Curtis

Enigma Fortuna / La Fonte Musica; Michele Pasotti [4 CDs]

$34.99

With Enigma Fortuna, the ensemble La Fonte Musica aims to shed light on the mysterious and eccentric personality of Antonio Zacara da Teramo. A contemporary of Boccaccio, Donatello and Brunelleschi, this composer could almost be likened to a sort of musical Hieronymus Bosch, for the texts he set to music conjure up a ‘topsy-turvy universe’ where the obscene, the imaginary and the grotesque go hand in hand.

(Alpha)

Carlo Gesualdo (1566–1613) is one of the most fascinating composers. Gesualdo’s sixth book of madrigals contains some of the most extraordinary harmonic thinking in the history of Western music – it lives on the edge of modality, its chromatic lines forming chord progressions that still sound fresh and unpredictable to modern ears. (Glossa)

1CD GCDC80031

$19.99

Charpentier: Te Deum / Le Concert Spirituel

$10.99

4CD ALPHA640

$36.99

EARLY MUSIC TITLES IN BRIEF

Giosquino: Josquin Desprez in Italia / Odhecaton; The Gesualdo Six The Odhecaton ensemble proposes to retrace Josquin’s Italian itinerary with the Missa Hercules dux Ferrariæ, composed for the Duke of Ferrara Ercole I d’Este, and a selection of motets commissioned by Italian patrons.

(Arcana)

Gift und Gegengift / Franz Vitzthum; Dryades Consort

1CD A489

$18.99

All seven deadly sins and – as an antidote – the virtues against them are presented in artistic movements by countertenor Franz Vitzthum accompanied by the viola da gamba consort Dryades. (Christophorus)

1CD CHR77455

$18.99

Merulo: Il Primo Libro / Francesco Tasini [3 CDs] For this album Francesco Tasini has aptly scored, intabulated, adapted and diminished the Ricercari for performance on the organ. (Brilliant)

3CD BRI96204

$16.99

Alto Arias / Filippo Mineccia Countertenor Filippo Mineccia has cherry-picked the repertoire that suits his voice and presents a portrait of Francesco Gasparini’s alto arias. (Glossa)

1CD GCD923527

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The Baroque New Baroque Recommendations Bach: Goldberg Variations / James Richman, harpsichord [2 CDs] The J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations certainly need no introduction, as they have long been viewed as being among the greatest works of the entire keyboard literature. Baroque specialist James Richman delivers this masterpiece in sensitive, compelling performances. James Richman is a prominent harpsichordist and fortepianist, as well as one of today’s leading conductors of Baroque music and opera. (Centaur)

2CD CRC3821/22

$15.99

Leipzig 1723 / Stefan Temmingh; Capricornus Consort Basel In his program “Leipzig 1723”, Stefan Temmingh recalls this major moment in music history and presents recorder concertos by all four competitors. Excellently accompanied by the Capricornus Consort Basel, he thus creates a panopticon of recorder concertos by the greatest German masters of the time. (Accent)

1CD ACC 24375

$18.99

Bach: Sonatas & Partitas / Fabio Biondi, violin [2 CDs] Newly signed to the Naïve label, violinist Fabio Biondi here presents his interpretation of one of the major peaks of the solo violin repertoire: the Sonatas and Partitas of Bach. For years Fabio Biondi was intimidated by Bach’s writing for solo violin: so intimate, yet so universal, so close to the essence of things – which the music often expresses through silence and pure, untranslateable sound – and so technically demanding as well. (Naive)

2CD V7261

Baroque Edition – The Artistry of Erik Bosgraaf [5 CDs]

$19.99

Lully, Charpentier & Desmarets: Passion / Véronique Gens; Ensemble Les Surprises

This 5-album set offers a sample of Erik Bosgraaf’s achievements in the field of baroque music, beginning with Van Eyck and embracing his milestone recordings of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Telemann. “That man can do anything!” exclaimed the late, legendary recorder player and conductor Frans Brüggen when asked by Tijdschrift Oude Muziek about his young colleague Erik Bosgraaf. (Brilliant)

This program marks the eagerly awaited return of Véronique Gens to Baroque music and Lully, in which she made a name for herself at the start of her career. It presents airs from Atys, Persée, Alceste, Proserpine, Le Triomphe de l’Amour and other works

by Louis XIV’s famous composer, but also several by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Médée), Henry Desmarets and Pascal Collasse. (Alpha)

5CD BRI96440 $24.99 Bach: The Art of Fugue / Filippo Gorini [2 CDs]

1CD ALPHA747 Stylus Phantasticus / Tekla Cunningham

The Italian pianist Filippo Gorini took advantage of the world health crisis to immerse himself in The Art of Fugue, Johann Sebastian Bach’s unfinished mystical masterpiece: ‘The view that it should be seen solely as a theoretical marvel is misguided: as the counterpoints and canons evolve in formal complexity, so does their emotional tension, until the heartbreaking mystery of the unfinished Fuga XIV’, says the young pianist. (Alpha)

$18.99

Reference Recordings proudly presents this unique album containing 11 works of early Baroque composers. They are performed by Pacific MusicWorks, founded

by Stephen Stubbs, Artistic Director. Artists on this album are featured soloist Tekla Cunningham, baroque violin; William Skeen, bass violin; Stephen Stubbs, baroque guitar and chitarrone; Maxine Eilander, baroque harp; and Henry Lebedinsky, organ and harpsichord.

(Reference)

2CD ALPHA755 $24.99 Zingarelli: Giulietta e Romeo / Franco Fagioli; Adele Charvet [2 discs]

1CD FR-742 Goldberg: Complete Trio Sonatas / Ludus Instrumentalis

Napoleon was intensely enthusiastic about opera. The conquering music lover called for the young Italian star, the contralto Giuseppina Grassini, and the most magnificent castrato: Girolamo Crescentini to perform for him. He was the only singer to move the Emperor to tears. Franco Fagioli and Adèle Charvet revive the pair of Empire stars in a selection of the main acts of Zingarelli’s opera – thanks to a splendid Bel Canto: this is Napoleon’s Opera!

(Chateau de Versailles)

$16.99

If there is one student of Johann Sebastian Bach whom posterity has definitely not forgotten, it is Johann Gottlieb Goldberg.

Aside from his only two surviving cantatas (already recorded by Ricercar), his output is essentially instrumental, and the genre of the trio sonata occupies an appreciable place within it. Here are his complete trio sonatas, along with a sonata in C major at one time attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1037). (Ricercar)

1CD+DVD CVS044 $27.99 1CD RIC426 $18.99 Händel: The Choice of Hercules & Dettingen Te Deum / Christ Church Cathedral Choir [2 CDs] This recording from the 2018 Göttingen Handel Festival presents two rarely heard works by George Frideric Handel: “The Choice of Hercules” and the “Te Deum for the Victory of Dettingen”. Laurence Cummings, the Handel Festival Orchestra, outstanding soloists and the legendary Christ Church Cathedral Choir from Oxford provide the successful performance. (Accent)

2CD ACC 26415

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Bach: Famous Cantatas, Vol. 1 / Ton Koopman

Dandrieu: Offertoires & Sonates en Trio, Vol. 2 / Jean-Baptiste Robin; Ensemble Il Caravaggio

Bach’s sacred music written before he went to Leipzig, including all the works from the Weimar period, are often lumped together as “early” cantatas. The works composed at Mühlhausen, demonstrating a striking sureness of touch in their conception, placed the 22-year-old among the finest contemporary cantata composers. (Challenge)

1CD CC 72897

Jean-François Dandrieu mirrors himself: here is the King’s organist in his costume of chamber composer, reeds and flutes compete with the trills of the violin. Under the musical direction of Camille Delaforge, the ensemble Il Caravaggio allows this inventive and splendid music to sparkle, while Jean-Baptiste Robin makes the stops of his Grand Orgue resound magnificently, filling the Royal Chapel!

(Chateau de Versailles)

$12.99

Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Solo Violin, TWV 40 / Iryna Gintova

1CD CVS045 Bach & Mozart: Violin Concertos / David Oistrakh [2 CDs]

Iryna Gintova performs Telemann’s 12 Fantasias for solo violin, one of the pinnacles of the Baroque repertoire for the instrument.

Telemann’s 12 Fantasias embrace an array of European styles fashionable at the time, including Italianate concerto-style movements inspired by Corelli, contrasted with pieces in the French style. Telemann was an able, self-taught violinist and relished showcasing the instrument’s varied colours and techniques. (Orchid)

1CD ORC100171 Buxtehude: Complete Chamber Music / Ton Koopman [3 CDs]

Firma Melodiya releases selected recordings of the 20th century’s greatest violinist. “King David,” “the king of violinists,” “the greatest of the great violinists of our time” are the enthusiastic reviews that frequently accompanied David Oistrakh’s performances. The Mozart concertos were recorded with Kirill Kondrashin, and the Bach ones with the legendary Moscow Chamber Orchestra conducted by Rudolf Barshai. (Melodiya)

$16.99

2CD MELCD1002599 $23.99 Buxtehude: Trio Sonatas, Op. 2 / Arcangelo

Dieterich Buxtehude’s chamber works today counts among the least known of his compositions. Buxtehude’s chamber music repertoire consists of altogether twenty-two works. All of Buxtehude’s chamber works present highly sophisticated compositions that belong among the most attractive and technically most demanding examples of the genre of ensemble sonata, then still in its infancy. (Challenge)

The sonata concertata form is perfectly illustrated in these trios by Dietrich Buxtehude which, according to Peter Wollny constitute ‘a landmark in the history of the sonata’. They provide a better understanding of a composer who has owed his fame chiefly associated to his cantatas and organ works, and to the admiration of the young Johann Sebastian Bach, who walked 400 kilometres to hear him play. (Alpha)

3CD CC 72890 $19.99 C.P.E. Bach: Quartets & Sonatas / Anna Besson; Louis Creac’h; Robin Pharo; Jean Rondeau

1CD ALPHA738

$18.99

La voce sola / Renata Dubinskaitė; Canto Fiorito

An homage to the Baroque singer and composer Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677), this album is titled La voce sola. This recital is a career survey of this great composer, from her first collections to her last opus, in chronological order, including a world-premiere recording of a work with no opus number. Born in Venice, Strozzi was one of the greatest Italian composers of the 17th century and one of the first women to write music. (Brilliant)

For their third album on Alpha, the musicians of Nevermind – Anna Besson , Louis Creach , Robin Pharo and Jean Rondeau – explore the riches of a little-played repertory, the quartets and sonatas of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. It was in 1788, the year of his death, that Emanuel composed his three quartets for keyboard, flute and viola. (Alpha)

1CD ALPHA759

$18.99

$18.99

1CD BRI96436

$9.99

NEW BAROQUE TITLES IN BRIEF

Bach: Goldberg Variations / Hannes Minnaar [2 CDs] Challenge presents a new account of the Goldberg Variations by critically acclaimed young pianist Hannes Minnaar. His rendition sums up all the features of a ‘contemporary’ interpretation at the highest degree.

(Challenge)

Le fier virtuose: Le clavecin de Louis XIII / Arnaud De Pasquale

2SACD CC 72859

$18.99

French harpsichord music is inseparable from the Court, which gave rise to its greatest performers. Here are masterpieces by the early masters, brought together by Arnaud De Pasquale. (Chateau de Versailles)

1CD CVS047

$18.99

Marchand: Pieces de clavecin / Ewa Mrowca On this release, Ewa Mrowca presents Louis Marchand’s Suite en re mineur, Suite en sol mineur, and La Venitienne. Ewa Mrowca was born in Kraków, Poland. She started studying the harpsichord at the age of 12.

(Dux)

1CD DUX1758 $19.99 L’Extase Musicale / Collegium Vocale Gent; Philippe Herreweghe; Ensemble Pygmalion [3 CDs] Whether playing early or modern instruments, these artists offer us a Bach for today and transport us, if not to ecstasy, at least to the best of all worlds. (Alpha)

3CD ALPHA775

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The Classical Top Classical Recommendations Cimarosa: Il Matrimonio Segreto / Renato Girolami; Donato di Stefano [3 CDs] On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the Innsbruck Early Music Festival Weeks, the conductor Alessandro De Marchi led a performance of Cimarosa’s most popular opera in historical performance practice and in original sound. The music in every way merits a production in which the musical and vocal practice of Cimarosa and Mozart’s times is brought back to life. (CPO)

3CD 555295-2

$33.99

Haydn: Die Schöpfung / Hanna-Elisabeth Müller; Maximilian Schmitt [DVD or Blu-ray Video] Inspired by hearing performances of Handel’s oratorios during his visits to London, Haydn composed Die Schöpfung (‘The Creation’) in 1798. Haydn drew on the full complement of his symphonic and vocal prowess which reach peaks of almost operatic intensity. With rich harmonies and sonic magnificence in abundance, Die Schöpfung represents the apex of the Viennese oratorio tradition. (Dynamic)

1Blu-ray DYN-57909 1DVD DYN-37909

$22.99 $22.99

Giardini: 6 Sonatas for Flute & Harpsichord / Conserto Musico Almost completely unknown now, the six Sonatas for transverse flute and basso continuo by Felice Giardini (1716–1796), published in London late in 1751, were the first works of their kind to appear in print by a composer working in England. The two-movement sequence, bipartite form, and a flair for idiomatic writing reflect the influence of the popular Italian keyboard sonata. (Brilliant)

1CD BRI95625

Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 38–41 / Staatskapelle Dresden [2 CDs]

Paganini: Quartets for Strings and Guitar Nos. 1, 2 & 9 / Paganini Ensemble Vienna Nicolò Paganini’s Quartets for Strings and Guitar are among his finest chamber compositions. The First Guitar Quartet and the Second Quartet share neo-classical poise with warmly expressive romantic lyricism. The Ninth Quartet features sweet and melancholy moods containing some of Paganini’s most disarmingly simple melodies, and as the composer himself stated, ‘a very fanciful minuet and a moving trio’. (Dynamic)

Herbert Blomstedt has made more than 130 recordings with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Thanks to the fruitful cooperation between Denon and MDG, selected gems from this inexhaustible treasure chest are now available again. After the brilliant opening with Bruckner’s Symphonies 4 and 7, now follows the legendary interpretation of Mozart’s last four symphonies from 1981 and 1982. (MDG)

2CD 6502222-2

$34.99

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 15 & 16 Waltzes, Op. 39 / Emmanuel Despax; BBC SO

Variations / Roberte Mamou

$17.99

Valentini: Recorder Sonatas, Op. 5 / Cappella Musicale Enrico Stuart [2 CDs]

$16.99

1SACD ARS38315

$19.99

Hummel & Schubert: Quintets / Libertalia Ensemble

Roberto Valentini (1671–1747) was born in England in Leicester in 1671, the fourth child of a fairly wealthy family. He made his name as a multi-instrumentalist and started in the music publishing business.

Valentini’s style was first influenced by the instrumental tradition of Corelli, but in his later works he embraced the then upcoming Galant Style, with a strong emphasis on melody, charm and brilliance.

(Brilliant)

2CD BRI96050

1CD DYN-CDS7912

Roberte Mamou writes: “Carl, Johann Nepomuk, Franz, Ludwig, Wolfgang and Joseph... all in Vienna during one century! Around Hummel and his charming variations I built up a cosmos of variations ... Most of them will seem familiar, like those of Beethoven or Mozart. It is always difficult to move from small pieces to others, but this program will please and appeal to you... and you will discover a different facet in each of these composers!”

(ARS)

Following the acclaimed Bach recording ‘Spira, Spera’ in early 2021, Emmanuel Despax releases a recording of his most treasured piano concerto alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton. The concerto is paired with the 16 Waltzes (op.39) for piano four-hands, performed here with his wife and fellow pianist, Miho Kawashima. (Signum)

1CD SIGCD666

$9.99

Hummel and Schubert at their best stylistically, Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s music generally stands for the end of Viennese Classicism and the transitional period between this epoch and Romanticism. These two radiant quintets representing the best of classical chamber music are interpreted by the Libertalia Ensemble, whose members include the renowned and successful brothers David and Alexandre Castro-Balbi. (CPO)

$11.99

Küffner: Serenades for Guitar, Flute & Viola / Classico Terzetto Italiano

1CD 555383-2

$16.99

The first album dedicated to a Bavarian contemporary of Schubert, featuring a trio of easy-on-the-ear serenades in new recordings, played by an experienced Italian ensemble with a track record of success in reviving forgotten corners of 19th-century salon music. Op. 15 includes a witty minuet and what sounds like a homage to Mozart closing with a virtuosic Galop which tests the guitarist’s technique with its brilliant figuration. (Brilliant)

1CD BRI96319

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Hertel: Cello & Organ Concertos / Bettina Messerschmidt; Merseburger Hofmusik

Dauprat: Music for Horn / David Fliri, horn; Wolfgang Brunner, piano

Since only a very few compositions from Johann Wilhelm Hertel’s complete oeuvre were printed during his lifetime, the dissemination of his music was very limited and restricted. Along with two symphonies by Hertel, his only organ concerto, in all probability composed during 1756–57, is heard on this new release. Here too the organ shines in dancy movements with fiery figurations.

(CPO)

1CD 555203-2

Louis-François Dauprat was a French horn player, horn teacher and composer. He was born in Paris in 1781 and died there in 1868. As a child he was a chorister at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. From 1794 he was taught to play the horn by Philip Kenn, a cor basse (low horn); first at the Institut National de Musique and later in the first horn class of the Conservatoire. In 1797 he was the first horn player to be awarded the premier prix. (Brilliant)

$16.99

1CD BRI96480

Haydn News: Chamber Music Arrangements / Nuovo Aspetto

The Elevation of Mastery / Walkiria Izaguirre

None of the works presented here has ever been heard in this form in our time. Michael Dücker searched in libraries and archives, finding Haydn works that are ideally suited for the chamber-musical instrumentation of the ensemble nuovo aspetto.

He carefully re-edited the originals and adapted them to today’s musical requirements. The result is a fascinating project with contemporary-sounding chamber music versions of various Haydn works. (Prospero)

Venezuelan pianist Walkiria Izaguirre presents her debut album with a pure Beethoven program, which features an early, a middle and a late piano sonata and thereby gives an overview of the master’s oeuvre. In her own words, this album is a tribute to one of the most important figures in the history of music, whose musical creativity would reach an unexpected and wonderful development towards freedom and individual expression for eternity. (Gramola)

1CD GRAM99242

1CD PROSP0017 $19.99 Music from 18th Century Prague / Hana Blazikova; Jaromir Nosek; Hipocondria Ensemble

$18.99

Dussek: Complete Original Works for Piano Four-Hands / Duo Pleyel

Šimon Brixi was one of the most distinguished composers who drew inspiration from Prague in the 18th century, while creating highly inventive music of his own. Made up of superlative soloists, Hipocondria Ensemble bring back to life Šimon Brixi’s overlooked works. Their recording of the Magnificat is the first made on historical instruments. Šimon Brixi – a composer whose music deserves a second life after three centuries. (Supraphon)

Duo Pleyel releases its second album on Linn, following its ‘winning performances’ (BBC Music Magazine) of Schubert. Richard Egarr and Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya perform the complete original works for piano four-hands by the unjustly neglected composer Jan Ladislav Dussek. Duo Pleyel offers you a delicious and hearty musical feast – it is time for Dussek to be back on the world’s musical menu.

(Linn)

1CD SU4293-2 $19.99 Wölfl: Piano Concertos / Nastasa Veljkovic; Sudwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim

1CD CKD642

$18.99

Rossini: The String Sonatas [2 CDs] Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868) was the most significant Italian composer of the first half of the nineteenth century. His style is sensuous, brilliant and rhythmically vital, a constant source of delight and excitement.The present recording is played in the original form by four string players, Francesco Manara, Daniele Pascoletti , Massimo Polidori and Francesco Siragusa , in the best Italian tradition of instrumental Belcanto. (Brilliant)

Our previous release of three piano concertos by Joseph Wölfl featured the recording premieres of “mirthful pieces in the style of Mozart and Early Viennese Classicism” And our second new release with more concertos by Wölfl – this time congenially interpreted by Nastaša Veljkovic – shows just what magnificent music this composer working in Beethoven’s immediate musical environment was writing. (CPO)

1CD 555149-2

$9.99

2CD BRI95092

$16.99

$11.99

CLASSICAL ERA PICKS IN BRIEF

Beethoven: Symphonies, Vol. 1 (Arr. for Piano) / Tessa Uys; Ben Schoeman This recording includes the premiere recording of Scharwenka’s piano duet transcription of Symphony No. 3, the everpopular Eroica, and Debussy’s two-piano arrangement of Robert Schumann’s Six Studies in Canonic Form. (SOMM)

1CD SOMMCD 0637

$18.99

Lachner: Symphony No. 6 in D Major, Op. 56 / Chia-Hua Hsu; Evergreen Symphony Orchestra Lachner’s Concertino for Bassoon and Orchestra is a work from 1824, composed during his Vienna years. Here solo bassoonist Chia-Hua Hsu interprets its recording premiere. (CPO)

Paganini: 24 Caprices / Vasile Anca Camaran

1CD 555210-2

$16.99

From the Caprices we understand Paganini’s familiarity with Rossini, his deep knowledge of the Opera and of its world, and with Berlioz. (Stradivarius)

1CD STR37193

$16.99

Beethoven: The Complete Piano Trios / Suk Trio [4 CDs] The 11 works Ludwig van Beethoven created for piano trio make up a group of pieces equally remarkable as his 16 string quartets. The present 4-album set features the Suk Trio. (Supraphon)

4CD SU4297-2

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The Romantic Recommended New Releases Schubert: Sonatas D157, D664, D850 / Costantino Mastroprimiano Beethoven’s genius may have had a dominant presence in early 19th-century Vienna, but the 18-year-old Schubert composed a Sonata in E major, D.157 in 1815 that already encapsulated elements of his own genius in the Lied-like perfection of its second movement. His first true piano masterpiece followed in the Sonata in A major, D.664, with an intimacy, lyricism and perfection of form that set him apart from his contemporaries. (Dynamic)

1CD DYN-CDS7906

$16.99

Dvořák: String Quartets, Vol. 4 / Tim Vogler Quartet [2 CDs] Individuality that unfolds in the common effort – it is here that we are likely to find the secret of the Vogler Quartet, an ensemble that has pursued a unique career with the same membership ever since 1985. CPO now presents Dvořák’s Quartets Nos. 2 and 5 and the Terzett op. 74 on Vol. 4 in this edition with these highly acclaimed interpreters. (CPO)

2CD 555451-2

$16.99

Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Works / Gürzenich Orchester Köln [2 CDs] This compilation brings together popular orchestral works and ballet music by Tchaikovsky. Dmitrij Kitajenko and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, of which he has been Honorary Conductor since 2009, have recorded the complete symphonies by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. These recordings have been awarded with numerous international prizes and are considered important reference recordings. (Oehms Classics)

2CD OC 1903

Schubert: Complete Symphonies & Fragments [4 CDs]

Saint-Saëns: Symphonies, Vol. 2 / Thierry Escaich; Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

On the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary, the L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra is releasing the present recording of Franz Schubert’s complete symphonies and complete symphonic fragments. It is the most recent gem in this orchestra’s multifaceted repertoire ranging from the suite of the French, German, and Austrian Baroque through the sinfonia of the Mannheim School to Viennese Classicism and Early Romanticism. (CPO)

4CD 555228-2 Farrenc: Music for Violin and Piano / Daniele Orlando; Linda Di Carlo

The present album is the second of two recorded by the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and Jean-Jacques Kantorow to commemorate the centenary of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns. This second installment includes Saint-Saëns’ crowning glory in the symphonic genre: his Symphony No. 3 in C minor, generally known as the ‘Organ Symphony’. (BIS)

1SACD BIS-2470 $19.99 Liszt: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses / Saskia Giorgini

$67.99

After two song albums together with Ian Bostridge, pianist Saskia Giorgini returns to Pentatone with a solo recording of Franz Liszt’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses.

Liszt is often seen as a showman, but much of his music reveals his introspective, searching nature. This is demonstrated above all in Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, one of his most ambitious, contemplative and enigmatic compositions.

(Pentatone)

Born in 1804, Louise Farrenc’s substantial legacy of composition was largely forgotten after her death in 1875 and is only now being revived. This 2019 recording is the only budget-priced album available of Farrenc’s music for violin and piano: an ideal introduction to a significant figure in 19th-century French music belatedly receiving her due. (Brilliant)

1CD BRI95922 Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120 / Karl-Heinz Schütz; Maria Prinz

$23.99

$9.99

1CD PTC5186296 $15.99 Brahms: Complete Symphonies & Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 [4 CDs]

Brahms had already decided to retire as a composer when, on a journey to Meiningen in 1891, he was inspired and challenged by clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld’s beautiful playing. The two Sonatas, Op.120 are part of a late flowering that resulted in some of Brahms’s finest chamber music.

Also included is a selection of ‘songs without words’, further expanding the flute repertoire with arrangements of these much-loved Lieder. (Naxos)

1CD 8574291 $11.99 Bruch: Piano Works / Christof Keymer

Sir Roger Norrington has been chief conductor of the former Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra for thirteen years.

During this time he has caused a stir internationally with what has come to be termed ‘The Stuttgart Sound’. The present reissue of Brahms’ four symphonies, recorded back in 2005, is no exception to Norrington’s artistic credo of keeping as close as possible to the composer’s expectations. (SWR)

4CD SWR19529CD

$34.99

The selection of piano works recorded here by the pianist Christof Keymer demonstrates beyond any doubt Max Bruch’s mastery in the compositional treatment of the piano and its special resources. Here we find a cosmos of romantic emotional worlds that in Bruch’s hands produce original, unique tones. All the piano works have in common Bruch’s love of melody, which was his creed as a composer. (CPO)

1CD 555258-2

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Saint-Saëns: Works for Violin & Orchestra / Jinjoo Cho, violin

Homage To Eugène Ysaÿe / Elmira Darvarova; Ronald Carbone; Winona Zelenka [2 CDs]

The Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Havanaise, the finale of the Concerto No. 3, and the Romance op. 48: these pieces composed between 1859 and 1887 are among the most celebrated works composed by Saint-Saëns. They are also signature pieces of the Korean violinist Jinjoo Cho, first prizewinner at the Montreal International Music Competition 2006, and Gold Medallist at the Julius Stulberg International String Competition 2005. (Naive)

This double album presents works by legendary Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931), as well as by three other composers whose works and legacy have been influenced by him. As passionate advocates for Eugène Ysaÿe, and for the three world premiere recordings, as well as José Serebrier’s Sonata for Solo Violin, Op. 1, the performers of this splendid album appear as an ensemble as well as soloists. (Affetto)

2CD AF2102

1CD V7422 $16.99 Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen WWV 86 (two pianos) / Cord Garben; Thomas Hoppe [2 CDs]

Rubinstein: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 4 / Schaghajegh Nosrati; Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

The Hamburg composer Hermann Behn (1859–1927) bore, like numerous other composers of that time, the hard fate of Wagner’s succession. After he had largely ended his compositional activities around 1883, he developed another great talent, i.e., the transference of compositional structures and the musical content of symphonic works by other composers to two pianists on two pianos. (Musicaphon)

2CD M56988

Bruckner: Sinfonie Nr. 6 A-Dur / Bruckner Orchester Linz

During his lifetime Anton Rubinstein was regarded as the greatest pianist among composers and as the greatest composer among pianists. Here Schaghajegh Nosrati, who is regarded as an extremely versatile musician and owing to her outstanding reputation as a Bach interpreter very early was able to establish herself as a concert pianist, interprets these works for us. (CPO)

$24.99

1CD 555352-2

In 2020 – the anniversary year surrounding Beethoven’s 250th birthday – the Korean violinist Clara-Jumi Kang and her partner on the piano, Sunwook Kim, took on this special cycle of Beethoven chamber music works. With Sunwook Kim, Kang has an exceptionally experienced Beethoven interpreter at her side, whose recordings of the piano sonatas, among others, have received high accolades around the globe. (Accentus)

$16.99

Paganini: String Quartet No. 3 & Three Duetti Concertanti / Gabriele Pieranunzi; Fabrizio Falasca

4CD ACC 80558

$34.99

Liszt: Piano Works / Charles Owen

One aspect in the life and work of the great Genoese virtuoso Nicolò Paganini that may be lesser known but in no way should be underestimated is the pronounced interest with which he dedicated himself to chamber music both as an interpreter and as a composer. He was drawn in particular to the genre of the string quartet – and here we are presenting his energetic String Quartet No. 3, a work revealing his brilliant mastery in the field of chamber music. (CPO)

1CD 555310-2

$16.99

Beethoven: The Violin Sonatas / Clara-Jumi Kang; Sunwook Kim [4 CDs]

The first edition of the most comprehensive Bruckner Symphonies edition available, a series of 19 recordings celebarting the scope of Bruckner’s output. The Bruckner Orchestra Linz is featured in this release, which includes Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 in A major.

This complete symphonic edition will be finished in 2024, in time to celebrate Bruckner’s 200th Birthday. (Capriccio)

1CD C8080

$19.99

Celebrated British pianist Charles Owen scales the heights of Franz Liszt’s anthology Annees de pelerinage, Premiere annee: Suisse (“Years of Travel, First Year: Switzerland”), which evokes the great 19th-century pianistcomposer’s Swiss sojourns with aural impressions of the Alpine landscape, its peaks and valleys, mountains and streams, and the country’s distinctive folk music. (Avie)

1CD AV2476

$16.99

$17.99

ROMANTIC ERA ALBUMS IN BRIEF

Camillo Schumann: Works for Clarinet & Piano / Bettina Beigelbeck; Jeannette La-Deur The special qualities of Camillo Schumann’s compositional capabilities are present in fine fashion everywhere in his sonatas for clarinet and piano, with finely balanced architectonic structures. (CPO)

1CD 555226-2

$16.99

Brahms: Liebeslieder-Walzer, Opp. 52 & 65 / Mary Bevan; Fleur Barron; Nicky Spence Johannes Brahms’ Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 52 and Op. 65, are a cheerful, short, witty set of songs full of anger, joy and rejection. These enchanting works are performed as part of Barbara Hannigan’s ‘Momentum’ project. (Resonus)

1CD RES10286

$16.99

Rózycki: Violin Works / Ewelina Nowicka; Pola Lazar; Polish National Radio SO The miniature pieces heard on this album offer us melodic invention illustrating Ludomir Rózycki’s sound and the inner warmth of his compositions. (CPO)

1CD 555421-2

$16.99

Norwegian Opera Overtures / Norwegian National Opera Orchestra The Norwegian opera literature is a well concealed and all too little known gem. Throughout the nineteenth century there were a number of Norwegian composers who wrote operas, most of them now long forgotten. (Lawo)

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Post-Romantic New Recommendations Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 in A Major, WAB 106 / BBC Philharmonic Considered by some to be the ‘Cinderella’ of his symphonies, the Sixth Symphony of Anton Bruckner was composed in 1879–81. Much the shortest of his mature symphonies, the Sixth also reverts to a more classical form than its predecessors. This recording was made in 2012, during the first season of Juanjo Mena as Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, and just a month before their acclaimed performance of the work at the BBC Proms. (Chandos)

1CD CHAN 20221

$18.99

Busoni: Piano Works / Peter Donohoe Peter Donohoe first came across the works of Busoni in the early 1980s and, as he states in his booklet note, ‘Busoni’s contribution to the musical history of the twentieth century is inestimable, and I feel very much enriched by the several decades of my exposure to it.’ The program he has chosen includes three of the pinnacles of Busoni’s virtuosic output: the Toccata, BV 287, the seven Elegien, and the Sonatina on Bizet’s Carmen.

(Chandos)

1CD CHAN 20237

$18.99

British Music for Strings, Vol. 2 / Sudwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim Our second album with music for strings by British composers features most highly creative compositions by Sir Granville Bantock and Christopher Wilson.The Three Choirs Festival held in Hereford in 1912 ordered a work for string orchestra from Bantock. The result was the four-movement Serenade for Strings, to which he assigned the subtitle “In the Far West”. Bantock’s string movements are distinguished by an impressive tonal richness. (CPO)

1CD 555395-2

Berg: Jugendlieder

Dohnányi: Complete Music for Cello & Piano / Marco Rapetti; Lucio Labella

Alban Berg’s Jugendlieder (Youth songs) were written early in his own career. They are, nonetheless, substantial songs that may not be dismissed as being juvenilia.

These are beautiful performances of songs that deserve to have a wider hearing. Suré Eloff began her vocal studies in Cape Town, South Africa with renowned master teacher Marita Napier. (Centaur)

1CD CRC3438

Brahms was so impressed by 18-year-old Erno Dohnányi that he promoted his music in Vienna. Just two years later the elder composer passed away, but he might have remarked similarly about Dohnányi’s Cello Sonata in B flat of 1899. This magnificent composition sounds undeniably like an affectionate homage to him. In 1902, Dohnányi performed the Cello Sonata in Frankfurt with cellist Hugo Becker. (Brilliant)

$15.99

1CD BRI96225 No Time for Chamber Music / Collectif9

Thomas Jensen Legacy, Vol. 1 / Thomas Jensen [2 CDs] Danacord presents a new compilation of major works by Finnish composer Thomas Jensen in live and studio recordings, including album premieres for these broadcast performances of the Second and Seventh symphonies. Jensen led several Danish ensembles, including the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (from 1957) and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra.

(Danacord)

2CD DACOCD911

$11.99

Collectif9 is a Montreal-based string ensemble whose main focus is an original exploration of the classical repertoire, including transcriptions for chamber ensemble of large-scale works. Alpha is starting a collaboration with this innovative group and now presents its very first album, recorded in 2018 and consisting of music by (and inspired by) Gustav Mahler: No Time for Chamber Music, a nod to Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia. (Alpha)

$16.99

1CD ALPHA770 $18.99 Lalo & Roussel: Orchestral Works / Alain Raes; Svetlin Roussev; Orchestre de Douai

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande / Stanislas de Barbeyrac; Alexandre Duhamel [2 CDs] The Covid pandemic caused the cancellation of the performances of Pelléas et Mélisande at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, which approached Alpha in order to make an audio recording of this masterpiece. So here is that unexpected but highly anticipated new version, with an exceptional cast and a young conductor, Pierre Dumoussaud, whose calling card it is fast becoming, since he has already conducted it in many houses. (Alpha)

2CD ALPHA752

$16.99

Important works from the French late romantic era are featured on this new release. Edouard Lalo lived and worked in France from 1823–1892. His Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra is his most well-known piece and still enjoys a prominent place in the repertoire of violinists. Strongly influenced by the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, Roussel later developed his own unique style which leaned toward neoclassicism. (Arcantus)

$24.99

1CD ARC 16006 $14.99 Myaskovsky & Rimsky-Korsakov: Cello Works / Liliana Kehayova; Kristina Miller A lifelong friend of Prokofiev who frequently performed outside of Soviet Russia in his lifetime, Nicolay Myaskovsky is best known today for his 27 symphonies. His lyrical and intensely passionate First Cello Sonata was one of his first important works. Premiered by Rostropovich, the Second Cello Sonata became immediately popular amongst cellists for its imaginative blend of folk-music styles with a sweet Romanticism. (Dynamic)

1CD DYN-CDS7901

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Period

Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27 / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Mahler Symphonies / Gewandhausorchester Leipzig [DVD or Blu-ray Video] The eight Mahler symphonies contained in this box were all recorded live as part of the Leipzig Mahler cycle that began with the acclaimed Mahler Festival in 2011. They once again confirmed the Gewandhausorchester’s reputation as a Mahler reference orchestra, which was consolidated in particular thanks to the intensive examination of Mahler’s work under the direction of former Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Riccardo Chailly. (Accentus)

8Blu-ray ACC60504 8DVD ACC70504

Following acclaimed performances on tour in Japan and South Korea, Robin Ticciati and the Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin have recorded one of Rachmaninov’s best-known works. The Second Symphony was a resounding success when it was premiered by the composer in 1908. Its thematic unity, archlike melodic lines, rich orchestral colours and expansive structure still inspire awe, particularly when performed by musicians of the DSO’s calibre. (Linn)

$109.99 $99.99

1CD CKD653 $18.99 Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande / Jonathan Nott [2 CDs]

Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 1–9 / Jack Petruzzelli; Cameron Greider [9 CDs] Anton Bruckner is a composer with an unmistakable musical language: darkly glowing, overwhelmingly beautiful, but also energetic and innovative. For the Berliner Philharmoniker, this music has been part of their artistic identity for over a hundred years. The orchestra now presents Bruckner’s symphonies in an exclusive edition, recorded over the last ten years together with some of the foremost Bruckner interpreters of our time.

(Berlin Phil)

This new OSR recording presents the two most ambitious musical responses to Maurice Maeterlinck’s 1893 epoch-making play Pelléas et Mélisande. Conductor Jonathan Nott has created a new suite of Debussy’s opera, which is much more extensive, and focuses more on the actual drama and symphonic development than existing suites that rely heavily on Debussy’s interludes.

(Pentatone)

2SACD PTC5186782 $29.99 Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 – The Three Versions / Bamberger Symphoniker [4 CDs]

9SACD BPHR190283 $59.99 Puccini: Madama Butterfly / Lawrence Foster [2 CDs]

Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony occupies a special position in Anton Bruckner’s symphonic cycle. It heralds the cycle of his “mature” symphonies and with it the composer addressed his audience directly and wanted to be understood by them. He succeeded in this – today the “Romantic” is one of Bruckner’s most popular symphonies. Still, he revised it time and again and today there are three versions of it. (Accentus)

After having recorded La Fanciulla del West, conductor Lawrence Foster now expands his Puccini discography on Pentatone with Madama Butterfly, together with the Coro & Orquestra Gulbenkian, as well as Elisabeth Kulman (Suzuki), Stefano Secco (Pinkerton), Lester Lynch (Sharpless) and Melody Moore (Cio-Cio-San) in the title role. Madama Butterfly has become one of Puccini’s most successful and popular operas. (Pentatone)

4CD ACC 30533

2SACD PTC5186783 $29.99 Balakirev: Complete Works for Solo Piano / Nicholas Walker [6 CDs]

To mark the 180th anniversary of Antonín Dvořák’s birth, Supraphon has released this special 3-CD set. Presenting a wide selection of the composer’s chamber, orchestral and vocal works, it contains recordings made by superb musicians in the second half of the 20th century that are still exemplary and unrivalled in many a respect. (Supraphon)

These recordings of Balakirev’s complete solo piano works by the much-lauded pianist Nicholas Walker have been hailed as ‘the reference set’ by the American Record Guide. Originally released between 2013 and 2020, these critically acclaimed performances are now collected together for the first time in a six-album box set.

Includes world premiere recordings. (Grand Piano)

6CD GP864X

$34.99

The Many Loves of Antonin Dvořák / Czech PO; Prague SO [3 CDs]

3CD SU4302-2

$49.99

$21.99

POST-ROMANTIC ALBUMS IN BRIEF

Symphonies Nos. 9 & 10 (Fragment) (Live) / Stuttgarter Philharmoniker [2 CDs] Recording such a world-spanning œuvre as Gustav Mahler’s ten symphonies is truly a Herculean task. Two orchestras are featured in this highly acclaimed album cycle. (Dreyer Gaido)

2SACD DGCD21133

$29.99

Busoni: The 6 Sonatas / Victor Nicoara Composed between 1910 and 1920, the six Sonatinas – the most substantial genre set in Busoni’s late oeuvre – span over a decade of experimentation and synthesis. (Haenssler Classic)

1CD HC20086

$18.99

A Dream Picture: Piano Pieces / Rosemary Tuck Albert Ketèlbey’s original pieces for solo piano range from serious concert works to salon charmers, always characterized by strong melodies, distinctive rhythms, and unexpected phrases. (Naxos)

1CD 8574299

$11.99

The Sound of Black and White / Raffi Besalyan This program is a loving tribute to A. Khachaturian, the towering musical figure from Armenia and to George Gershwin. The release includes a world premiere recording of Oscar Levant’s jazzy Sonatina. (Sono Luminus)

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From the 20th Century Era Picks Fritz Brun: Early Chamber Music / Manuel Quartett For more than thirty years Fritz Brun (1878–1959) was chief conductor of the Bern City Orchestra and is often referred to as the last symphonist of the Romantic style. The beautiful String Quartet speaks of the beauty of his Swiss homeland, and the highly passionate First Violin Sonata, written a few years later in Bern. The musical “impositions” and enormous technical challenges of the work can thus be fully experienced for the first time.

(Prospero)

1CD PROSP0026

$18.99

Barber & Ives: String Quartets / Escher String Quartet Previous releases from the New York-based Escher Quartet include an acclaimed set of Mendelsohn’s six string quartets as well as an album with works by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Borodin. The disc opens with Barber’s String Quartet in B minor, containing the music for which the composer remains best-known: the second movement which he two years later expanded into Adagio for Strings. (BIS)

1SACD BIS-2360

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Ives, Copland & Corigliano: American Sonatas for Violin and Piano Adam Bruderek studied violin with Krystyna Jurecka and Anna Wandtke-Wypych at the Stanisław Moniuszko Music Academy in Gdańsk, receiving an honors diploma in 2005. He developed his skills at masterclasses given by many prominent violinists, and also studied chamber music with Anna Prabucka-Firlej at his alma mater. He is a prizewinner of numerous violin and chamber music competitions. (Dux)

1CD DUX1744

British Oboe Quintets / Nicholas Daniel; Doric String Quartet

Music of the Abyss / Signe Asmussen; Esbjerg Ensemble

The legendary British oboist Leon Goossens inspired all the composers represented on this recording, and they wrote all but one of the pieces for his oboe, on which he premièred the works by Delius, Bax, Bliss, and Finzi featured here.

The piece by Vaughan Williams is written for cor anglais, but Goossens’s precious instrument also premièred Vaughan Williams’s Oboe Concerto, in 1944.

(Chandos)

1CD CHAN 20226 A Piazzolla Trilogy / Karen Gomyo; Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire

Rued Langgaard’s (1893–1952) inner division can be experienced at its extreme in the chamber music written between 1913 and 1924, in which the secure world of his youth is undercut by a dark musical understream. This is most apparent in the work for piano, Music of the Abyss, which is presented here in a transcription for chamber ensemble by Allan Gravgaard Madsen (born 1984) of which this is the first recording. (Dacapo)

$18.99

1CD 8226152 Fantasie von übermorgen: Lieder im exil / Constance Heller; Gerold Huber

For the present disc Karen Gomyo has chosen to record strings-only versions of three works originally for tango quintet (Seasons), guitar and flute (Histoire), and solo flute (Études). Piazzolla’s Cuatro Estaciones were initially conceived neither as a suite nor as a tribute to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Verano porteño (Summer) was composed first, as part of the incidental music for a play, with the other three following several years later. (BIS)

1SACD BIS-2385 Holst: The Perfect Fool / Richard Golding; Pamela Bowden; Margaret Neville

$15.99

This release commemorates four German composers who had to flee Germany during the Nazi era because they were Jewish: Paul Ben-Haim, Paul Dessau, Kurt Weill and Stefan Wolpe. The songs written by these composers in exile have so far largely remained unknown. The texts they were set to are to a great extent taken from the works of Hebrew poets and are presented here for the first time in German translation. (Solo Musica)

$19.99

1CD SM356 $18.99 Klebanov: Chamber Works / Arc Ensemble Ukrainian-Jewish composer Dmitri Klebanov was something of a prodigy but fell foul of the authorities with his first symphony, of 1945. In addition to the works recorded here, Klebanov’s legacy includes nine symphonies, two concertos each for violin and for cello, various works for violin and piano, several operas and ballets, around a hundred songs (most of which remain in manuscript), and nearly two dozen film scores. (Chandos)

The opera opens with a Wizard working his mystical ways and summoning the spirits of air, fire and water in the form of a brilliant ballet. His plan is to wed the Princess who is destined to select a husband that very day. An older Mother enters with a drowsy sleep-prone son in tow. The Mother is obsessed with a prophecy her son will woo and win the Princess. (Lyrita)

1CD REAM1143

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Martinů: Cello Sonatas / David Boldrini; Riviera Lazeri

1CD CHAN 20231

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Each one of Bohuslav Martinů’s (1890–1959) three cello sonatas belongs to a significant period or event in his life, from 1939 to 1952. Rivera Lazeri is an Italian cellist at home in the world of new music, partnered here by a pianist, David Boldrini, who has made critically acclaimed Brilliant Classics albums of music by Cimarosa and Czerny, among others.

(Brilliant)

1CD BRI95687

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20th Century Varèse, Lutosławski & Others: Orchestral Works / Miranda Cuckson; Munich Radio Orchestra

The music in this album spans a forty-year period from 1948 to 1988 and reflects Dutilleux’s stylistic development as a composer. He considered the Sonata to be the first main work in his catalogue and it represents a turning away from tradition and embraces the transformative musical explorations of the day. The Three Préludes are pieces of concentrated atmospheres, ‘a kind of study of timbres’, in the composer’s words. (Grand Piano)

This is an album featuring path-breaking works for orchestra and for violin and orchestra. Lutosławski, Verese, and Ligeti certainly need no introduction. Conductor Christian Baldini is also a first-rate composer. Two superb violinists, Miranda Cuckson and Maximilian Haft are featured performers.

“Christian Baldini brings symphonic revival” commented the Buenos Aires Herald on Baldini’s recent concerts at the Teatro Argentino. (Centaur)

1CD GP790 Tansman: Piano Music / Hanna Holeksa

1CD CRC3879 $15.99 Karnavičius: String Quartets Nos. 3 & 4 / Vilnius String Quartet

1CD DUX1688 $19.99 A Centenary Celebration / Peter Fisher; Margaret Fingerhut

1CD ODE 1387-2 $16.99 Messiaen: Piano Music / Ciro Longobardi [2 CDs]

SOMM Recordings is delighted to mark the 100th anniversary of Sir Malcolm Arnold’s birth with seven first recordings of arrangements for violin and piano played by Peter Fisher and Margaret Fingerhut. A prolific composer with a prodigious gift for memorable melodies and technical brilliance, Malcolm Arnold – A Centenary Celebration reflects both the serious and lighter sides of one of the most distinctive voices of postwar British music. (SOMM)

Messiaen wrote piano music throughout his life, and among his most characteristic early works is the set of eight Preludes, with their playful evocations of wind and air and dreams and light. The Italian pianist Ciro Longobardi proved his mettle in Messiaen with a glowingly received album of the Catalogue d’oiseaux for Piano (Piano Classics)

$18.99

1CD SOMMCD 0640 $18.99 Penderecki: Complete Quartets / Silesian Quartet; Piotr Szymyslik

Martinů: Orchestral Works / Prague Radio SO

These brilliant, extraordinary Martinů works have yet to gain the recognition they so richly deserve.

The new Supraphon recording, made by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under the renowned conductor Tomáš Netopil, affords hope that this will be set right. It would be a pity to miss out on such beauty. Bohuslav Martinů’s late pinnacles – beauty and profundity yet to be discovered. (Brilliant)

1CD SU4295-2

$16.99

Aleksander Tansman was a Polish composer of Jewish origin. Born in 1897, he became a French citizen in 1938. In the initial stage of his career, his compositions did not appeal to many Polish music critics. This was because Tansman’s music, like that of Karol Szymanowski, went beyond the narrow confines of a specific historical setting. Tansman’s works are presented on this new release by award-winning pianist Hanna Holeksa. (Dux)

The first volume of the premiere recordings of Jurgis Karnavičius’ (1884–1941) string quartets resulted in a growing number of excellent album reviews. This second volume includes the composer’s last two quartets: Nos. 3 & 4 which are more expressive and modern in nature.

Karnavicius wrote his four impressive string quartets during his study and teaching years in St. Petersburg during the 1910s and 1920s. (Ondine)

2CD PCL10202

Dutilleux: Piano Works / Jean-Pierre Armengaud

The Silesian Quartet sprang to international attention with its awardwinning recordings of chamber music

by Grażyna Bacewicz. This latest project was started in 2012, but not completed until January 2021.

Presented chronologically, the works on the album take us on a journey from Penderecki’s early avant-garde ‘sonoristic’ style of the 1960s – the first and second quartets – to the later neo-romantic style of the third and fourth quartets.

(Chandos)

$19.99

1CD CHAN 20175

$18.99

20TH CENTURY TITLES IN BRIEF Approaching Autumn / Jonah Kim Jonah Kim, one of America’s finest young cellists, steps out in this wide-ranging program, joined — in two of the three works — by esteemed collaborative pianist Robert Koenig. (Delos)

1CD DE 3585

$16.99

Dedication: The Clarinet Chamber Music of Ruth Gipps / Peter Cigleris; Tippett Quartet SOMM Recordings celebrates the centenary of the birth of Ruth Gipps with Dedication, featuring five premiere recordings of chamber works inspired by her clarinetist-husband, Robert Baker. (SOMM)

1CD SOMMCD 0641

$18.99

Klemmstein: Symphony No. 6 and Elegy / Vogtland Philharmonie This recording is exemplary for the many years of successful cooperation between Eberhard Klemmstein, composer and violist, and Dorian Keilhack, conductor and pianist. (Thorofon)

1CD CTH2671

$22.99

Detours / Martin Kesuma Detours is a compilation of works for piano by composers of different origins from approximately the last century.

This is an a very appealing program of music for piano. (Centaur)

1CD CRC3636

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Contemporary Recommended New Releases Kapustin: Orchestral Works / Frank Dupree; Rosanne Philippens Kapustin is occasionally considered a ‘Russian in Gershwin’s clothing’. Most of his compositions are influenced by jazz and expertly combine jazz elements with those of the tradition from Bach to Prokofiev and Stravinsky. The aesthetic diversity with which classical garb and the stylistic devices of jazz are amalgamated could be taken as the byword for all three compositions included on this recording. (Capriccio)

1CD C5437

$16.99

Maria & Maddalena / Francesca Aspromonte On her second Pentatone album Maria & Maddalena, star soprano Francesca Aspromonte explores the Two Marys in oratorios by Lulier, Bononcini, Leopoldo I d’Asburgo, Caldara, Perti, Handel and Scarlatti, partly in new editions, documenting the extremely bloom of the genre in the years around 1700. She performs these works together with violinist Boris Begelman as well as the seasoned players of I Barocchisti. (Pentatone)

1CD PTC5186867

$15.99

Scattolin: Suoni e rime sparse / Coro Euridice; Coro da Camera di Bologna The present release synthesizes some stages characterizing the composition path of Pier Paolo Scattolin: from a cappella vocality to instrumentalism with stylistic dynamics, from the linguistic phoneme to the eclectic and sometimes experimental use of instrumental emission. In some pieces the solo voices are added as an almost instrumental colour, a timbre enrichment of the sonorities of the organ, the recorders, and the trumpets. (Tactus)

1CD TC941903

Dart: Chamber Music and Songs / Jenny DuckChong; Sally Walker; Geoffrey Gartner

Vasks: Orchestral Works / Albrecht Mayer; Latvian National Symphony Orchestra

Painters sometimes talk about the intensity of the light they encounter in Australia.

Peter Dart, born in Sydney in 1953, brings something of that brightness to his compositions, which are further animated by buoyant rhythms and a lively sense of humor, even mischief. They are, at the same time, anchored in a secure command of counterpoint, and given a timeless quality by his fondness for modal harmony.

(Toccata)

Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks (b. 1946) is one of the most prominent names among living composers today. This album by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Poga includes the first recording of Vasks’ atmospheric and pastoral Oboe Concerto written for the centenary celebrations of Latvia’s independence in 2018 and performed by one of today’s leading oboists, Albrecht Mayer. (Ondine)

1CD TOCC0592 $18.99 People, Places, & Pets / Bowers Fader Duo

1CD ODE 1355-2

$16.99

Woad / Kelly Poukens; Suzy Vanderheiden

The Bowers Fader Duo performs both classical and con-temporary repertoire.

Their ongoing mission is to promote new American art songs for mezzo and guitar, through commissions, performances, and recordings. To date, they have presented over 40 world premieres of works written for them. Since 2016, the Duo has presented their series, New American Art Songs for Mezzo and Guitar, three times each season in venues around New York City. (Bridge)

1CD BCD9559 Remembering / Jakob Kullberg; BBC Philharmonic; Sinfonia Varsovia

$16.99

This unique and intriguing work is one of four ‘fashion/operas’ by Scottish composer Alastair White (b. 1988) and this audio version follows the release in February 2021 of the opera Robe which has attracted much praise. The work is based on the ballad of Tam Lin, originating in the Scottish Borders, in which Tam Lin is rescued from the Queen of the Fairies by his true love. (Metier)

1CD MSV28617

$16.99

$18.99

Plays Well With Others / Loadbang

On Remembering, the Danish cellist Jakob Kullberg continues his collaborations with two of the foremost Nordic composers: Per Nørgård and Kaija Saariaho. Kullberg regards the concerto form as the encounter of an individual soloist with the sound world of a composer. With living composers this approach often results in an unusual degree of collaboration, as the works gathered here bear witness to. (BIS)

1CD BIS-2602 $19.99 With Malice Toward None / Apollo Chamber Players

Plays Well With Others is a celebration of a community of artists with a shared sensibility. The voice and winds quartet is joined here by string players in works

by Taylor Brook, Reiko Füting, Paula Matthusen, Heather Stebbins, Scott Wollschleger, and Eve Beglarian. New York City-based new music chamber group Loadbang is building a new kind of music for mixed ensemble of trumpet, trombone, bass clarinet, and baritone voice.

(New Focus)

1CD FCR307

$16.99

Anchored in an optimistic synthesis of classical, folk, rock and electronic music, With Malice Toward None elevates the idea of what it means to be human in the 21st century. Pamela Z artfully deconstructs her folk rock heroes while paying homage to youthful nostalgia and childhood songcraft, while Christopher Theofanidis and Mark Wingate partner to craft a jaggedly ethereal adaptation of poet Samuel Beckett’s haunting final masterpiece. (Azica)

1CD ACD-71340

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Works

Roger Reynolds At 85, Vol. 2: Piano Etudes / Eric Huebner

Tonband / Yarn/Wire Founded in New York in 2005, the contemporary music quartet Yarn/Wire is made up of two percussionists and two pianists. The group has gained an international reputation for dazzling and innovative programs. This release features outstanding studio-quality first recordings of three works that grew out of Yarn/Wire’s long association with the artistic team of Wolfgang Heiniger and Enno Poppe. (Wergo)

This is the second of two volumes celebrating “Roger Reynolds at 85,”and marks the first recording of his Piano Etudes, in two Books. All 12 Etudes are presented in this recording by Eric Huebner. Reynolds takes a remarkable leap from the first to the second book.

Rather than merely continue the premises and promises established by the first six etudes, the second six constitute a difference in kind rather than an extension. (Mode)

1CD MOD-CD-329

1CD WER73982

$18.99

Center: Chamber & Instrumental Music, Vol. 2 / Fejes Quartet

$18.99

Thorvaldsdottir: Enigma / Spektral Quartet This album is the result of a multi-year alchemy between the singular writing of composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir and the playing of three-time GRAMMY nominees Spektral Quartet. The first string quartet composed by Thorvaldsdottir, Enigma is simultaneously colossal and introspective, moving between heart-wrenching chord progressions and the scrapes and clicks of extended string techniques. (Sono Luminus)

Ronald Center is sometimes described as ‘the Scottish Bartók’, and his music does indeed capture some of the stark, wild energy of the Scottish landscape in a style of Bartókian asperity. These three string quartets show him to have been fully conversant with the quartets being written around the same time by Barber, Britten and Shostakovich, but their direct manner, terse expression, wiry humor and roots in Scottish folk-music ensure that Center is his own man. (Toccata)

String Theory / Kinetic; The Maia Quartet; Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra

Heaven to Earth Border House / Timothy Phillips; Michael Kieran Harvey; Anna Fraser

1CD DSL-92250

1CD TOCC0533

$13.99

Australian Bruce Crossman blends East and West in his new release Heaven to Earth Border House on Navona Records. With his modernist approach to musical construction and style, he effortlessly integrates traditional Western, Korean, and Chinese instruments and philosophies into a coherent, enlightening whole. Two types of zithers are featured: the Korean gayageum as well as the Chinese guzheng. (Navona)

Full of world-premiere recordings, String Theory is an album of works by Pierre Jalbert, an American composer described in The New Yorker as “an acknowledged chamber-music master.”

Drawing on influences as diverse as medieval plainchant, the natural world and his French-Canadian heritage, Pierre Jalbert creates music that is “Rhapsodic and skillfully written.”

(The New York Times) (Orchid)

1CD ORC100177

$16.99

1CD NV6364

For George Lewis & Autoschediasms / Alarm Will Sound [2 CDs]

$14.99

Antiarkie / Manson Ensemble; BBC Concert Orchestra; Crouch End Festival Chorus

A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship in 2017, Tyshawn Sorey has carved out his own territory as a musician and composer whose range of vision, emotion and visceral power is a driving and defining force behind a young Black vanguard in new music. This pristinely recorded double-album collaboration with the vaunted chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound documents two unique works.

(Cantaloupe)

2CD CA21172

$18.99

With music that is “anarchic and cartoonishly fun” (BBC Radio 3), Ryan Latimer’s first portrait album Antiarkie is the latest in NMC Recordings’ Debut Disc series. As his earliest exposure to orchestral music, the playful, frenetic, visceral nature of cartoon soundtracks remains a prominent aspect of Ryan’s work. The title track “Antiarkie” is a tribute and commentary on this characterful music with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. (NMC)

$19.99

1CD NMCD267

$18.99

CONTEMPORARY WORKS IN BRIEF The Oberlin Concertos / Xak Bjerken; Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble These works were recorded in three sessions over a two-year span, with pianist Xak Bjerken joining forces with Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble and conductor Timothy Weiss. (Oberlin)

1CD OC21-03

$14.99

Tanguy: Orchestral Works / Pierre Genisson; Julia Pusker; Jyväskylä Sinfonia This album by the Jyväskylä Sinfonia conducted by Ville Matvejeff presents three works by Éric Tanguy (b. 1968), one of the leading composers in contemporary French music with two outstanding soloists. (Ondine)

1CD ODE 1390-2

$16.99

Irish Minimalism / Breanndan Begley; Mick O‘Brien; ConTempo Quartet With the title Irish Minimalism, composer Dave Flynn has fashioned a personal musical language by recognizing that the differences between those two styles are not nearly as great as the similarities. (First Hand)

1CD FHR116

$15.99

Lindquist & Rehnqvist: Chamber Music / Alpaca Ensemble This recording is a result of Alpaca Ensemble’s close collaboration with two living composers. Both write music that reflects on humanity’s place in a world profoundly greater than us. (Lawo)

1CD LWC1224

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New Jazz New Prophone Releases Portrait of Bohuslän Big Band / Jan Levander Jan Levander’s collaboration with Bohuslän Big Band has consisted of several concerts as a saxophone player in the saxophone and woodwind section, arranging and composing for the big band and directing several projects.

He has written music according to their unique expression and skills, which has been valuable when composing music for Bohuslän Big Band. (Prophone)

1CD PCD259

$18.99

What’s It All About / Ellas Kapell Ellas Kapell presents their second album What’s It All About? The ten songs of the album create a story about the most important moments in life – everything that comes together to constitute a life. The album also contains guest performances by internationally renowned musicians Karin Hammar on trombone and Magnus Lindgren on tenor saxophone. (Prophone)

1CD PCD266

$18.99

In Between / Erik Palmberg Erik Palmberg writes “In the past ten years I have had the opportunity to play with a lot of prominent jazz artists and interesting projects in Sweden but also around Europe, especially in Germany where I have had several tours. I’m excited to now present my album, In Between.” (Prophone)

1CD PCD277

Live at the Village Vanguard / Christian McBride

Berlin 1959 / Duke Ellington [2 CDs]

In June of 2007, Christian McBride returned to the Village Vanguard after a nine-year break, with Inside Straight, a group consisting of Steve Wilson, Eric Reed, Carl Allen, and Warren Wolf. Although many iterations of his groups have played there, Inside Straight was birthed inside the Village Vanguard. This particular set was recorded in December of 2014, and is titled Live at the Village Vanguard.

(Mack Avenue)

1CD MAC1192

$18.99

This is a welcome memento of the Duke Ellington’s 1959 European tour. The music starts with the Ellington Medley, by then a standard concert opener in varied embodiments. This was not only a clever way of dealing with audience requests for beloved standards, but also a way of celebrating the continued life of his musical heritage. The concert has been remastered to modern standards, and is a must own for any Ellington fan. (Storyville)

$17.99

2CD SVL1038315 $18.99 Big Bands Live – Benny Goodman Orchestra featuring Anita O’Day

Recorded live on November 9, 1969 at the Berlin Philharmonie, this Sarah Vaughan recording has never before been released in its entirety. That is, until now! The emotionally intense concert is remarkable, with Vaughan constantly maintaining her balance throughout between her vocal technique and interpretive skills. She bares her soul and gives us a unique lesson in music as a form of the art of living.

(Challenge)

A singer with an exciting presence and a voice to immerse yourself in. A band that lit up with high wattage a repertoire including both standards and popular songs. The result a mixture that whisked the concert hall in Freiburg (Germany) for one evening in October 1959 into a wonderful world of successful jazz entertainment and sent the audience out into the night with an earworm. (SWR)

Live at the Berlin Philharmonie 1969 / Sarah Vaughan, vocals

1CD TLR 2004037 Pasquale Plays Duke / Grasso Pasquale

1CD JAH-404 Symphony Hall Concert / Erroll Garner

$18.99

$18.99

One of the most popular figures in jazz during his exceptional career, Erroll Garner’s legacy is receiving a remarkable reinvigoration through the concerted efforts of Octave Music’s Erroll Garner Project (EGP) and its partnership with Mack Avenue Music Group. Together they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Garner’s birth with this stunning unreleased 1959 concert recorded at Boston’s Symphony Hall. (Mack Avenue)

This release finds Pasquale Grasso reimagining five Duke Ellington classics on solo guitar, alongside several additional tracks recorded with longtime collaborators bassist Ari Roland and drummer Keith Balla. The album features some of Ellington’s most-cherished masterpieces including “Sophisticated Lady,” “Prelude to a Kiss,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” and “Cotton Tail,” with guests vocalists Sheila Jordan and Samara Joy making appearances. (Sony)

1CD MAC1189

$17.99

1CD 19439907672 $11.99 De Par En Par / Marcela Arroyo Acoustic instruments – guitar, piano, drums, trumpet – surround the voice of the native Argentine Marcela Arroyo on her new album De Par En Par, which more or less means “make it easily accessible to all”. She composed most of the ten songs on De Par En Par, which cover a variety of emotional moods. To ensure that the non-Spanish-speaking listener understands what the songs are all about, the lyrics in the booklet are also printed in English. (Double Moon)

1CD DMCHR71513

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Releases More Music / Joey DeFrancesco

One thing that we could all use right now is “More Music”. And who better to supply that demand than Joey DeFrancesco? More Music is “more” in every conceivable way. It offers up ten new DeFrancesco originals, brought to life by a scintillating new trio. The keyboard virtuoso also brings out his full arsenal: organ, keyboard, piano, trumpet, and, for the first time on record, tenor saxophone. (Mack Avenue)

1CD MAC1186

Relief: A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation or America’s Musicians Emergency Fund

Live at the Kurhaus 1967 / Dave Brubeck Quartet During one of their last concerts in 1967 which remained unreleased until now, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, comprising more or less the same members since its inception, had already been playing for 16 years.

Naturally, they were more than well acquainted. That evening of 24 October 1967 in Scheveningen, the Dave Brubeck Quartet was not only a band playing jazz. They were the worthy ambassadors of American music in Europe. (Fondamente)

$17.99

A consortium of major jazz labels has taken the unprecedented step of joining hands for Relief, an all-star compilation of previously unreleased music to be issued, continuing the non-profit Jazz Foundation of America’s ongoing efforts to aid musicians whose health and livelihoods were affected

by Covid-19. Artists include Esperanza Spalding, Herbie Hancock, and trumpeter Wallace Roney, who died after contracting the coronavirus. (Mack Avenue)

1CD MAC1185 Captain Coe’s Famous Race / Tony Coe

New from Fondamente

$17.99

The JAZZPAR Prize, organized by the Danish Jazz Centre and sponsored by Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni between 1990 and 2004, was the world’s major international jazz award of the period. It took until 2001 before the international prize was given to a Danish recipient but, for the 1995 presentation, a major step was taken in choosing the first non-American international award-winner, Anthony George Coe. (Storyville)

1CD FON-1704025

Live at Rotterdam 1967 / Theloneous Monk [2 CDs] When he set foot on the stage of Club Doelen on Oct. 28, 1967 in Rotterdam, Thelonious Monk had just turned 50. This concert is a testament to his genius. Opening and ending with two “classic pieces”, “Ruby, My Dear” and “Blue Monk”, he led for over 80 minutes the quartet and his accomplices, Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales, Ben Riley, and guests. (Fondamente)

2CD FON-170402

1CD PCD273 $18.99 Petite Fleur / Adonis Rose & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra The celebrated New Orleans Jazz Orchestra examines and the profound relationship of its hometown to the nation of France with its release of Petite Fleur on Storyville Records. The second album under the artistic directorship of drummer Adonis Rose features ten songs, nine of them standards associated with French and New Orleans musicians. The tenth tune is an original by acclaimed jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimée. (Storyville)

1CD SVL1018492

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Live at Singer Concert Hall 1973 / Dizzy Gillespie In view of the work of new musicians of the same period, at this specific moment in his career Dizzy Gillespie might conceivably have given his peers the impression that he was resting on his laurels. However, the passing of time and there discovery of unpublished recordings such as the one of this 1973 concert in Laren give a fresh, dispassionate perspective on the music that the artist was making then.

(Fondamente)

1CD SVL1018479 $15.99 The Show Must Go On / Johanna Pettersson

“A year in one’s life contains a broad spectrum of impressions.

For this album I tried to capture the diversity of these emotions with songs from the jazz tradition.

Studying the compositions I love from the American Songbook made me realize that the topics from then are just as relevant today. Working with such gifted musicians that I deeply respect has been the greatest and most rewarding musical experience of my life.”

– Johanna Pettersson (Prophone)

$17.99

1CD FON-1704028

$17.99

The Lost Sessions from The Netherlands / Blossom Dearie There were many highlights to Blossom Dearie’s musical career: the concerts she gave in the Netherlands between 1968 and 1989 feature prominently among them.

This release is a faithful rendition, thanks especially to the remarkable audio quality. Dearie masterfully performed in all the instrumental formations, from solo shows to the great Metropole Orchestra.

(Fondamente)

1CD FON-1804033

$17.99

Live in Scheveningen 1958 / Art Blakey [2 CDs] It was the evening of 29 November 1958. On the stage of the Kurhaus in Scheveningen, Art Blakey grabbed the microphone to say, “I would like to take a moment and say good evening on behalf of the Jazz Messengers and myself.” The crème de la crème of the jazz world was on stage that evening, their performance fallen into oblivion until this recording. (Fondamente)

2CD FON-1804034

$15.99

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Challenge Records

The Bari Sessions / Wertico, Helliwell, Lupi, Scaglia

Free / Joost Lijbaart

“Free is an album I’ve wanted to make all my life. I didn’t know how, I was too busy and I was also a bit afraid of it. And then there was a time when the world seemed to come to a standstill. A time of reflection and contemplation. It gave me the energy to embark on an inner dialogue, spiritually and musically.

Free became an inward journey. And on the way I found desolation and fear but also power, joy, passion and infinity.” – Joost Lijbaart (Challenge)

“I can’t begin to adequately express how excited I am to have our first official studio recording, The Bari Session, finally released! I believe the result speaks for itself. We also had a really wonderful experience making this recording and the music just seemed to “play itself,” which is always a great sign that the music is “ready” and “cooked to perfection,” just like the best Italian dishes!

Godetevi un buon ascolto!”

– Paul Wertico (Challenge)

1CD CR 73529

1CD CR 73519 Avalon Songs / Honing Brederode

$16.99

Chapter One / Marieke Koopman

“Avalon” is inspired by an ancient Celtic myth of an island in dense fog where the Holy Grail is said to be located, King Arthur is buried and where Excalibur is hidden. I use it as a metaphor for the present time in which we live in which it is not clear to anyone what the world will look like after the pandemic. The single “Avalon” is a dreamy piece of music that was also used for an exhibition in De Fundatie that will ran in early 2021. – Yuri Honing (Challenge)

For this release Marieke Koopman has chosen jazz-standards which had strong lyrics or were little gems melody wise and mixed them with her own style. Never being afraid of opinions or stepping out of the box, Marieke loves to transform songs and has found a way of communicating her emotions through playful rhythmic and melodic interpretations, improvisations, as well as her use of lyrical timing.

(Challenge)

1CD CR 73525

1CD CR 73517 Afterglow / Pieranunzi Joris

$16.99

Coming Yesterday is the recording of what turned out to be Martial Solal’s last concert; he decided to stop playing piano after that show.

Solal writes “When I walked onto the stage on January 23, 2019, I did not yet know that I would decide not to play piano anymore after this concert, more than seventy years after my debut. The concert features compositions by Duke Ellington, Ira Gershwin, James Davis, James Sherman, and many more.

(Challenge)

1CD CR 73460 $16.99 The Hague Songbook Exchange / Various [2 CDs]

$16.99

The Hague Songbook Exchange is an exchange of compositions between jazz musicians and producers from the electronic music scene. Initiator Martijn Verlinden: “This album is a collection of songs which shows that the city of The Hague is bursting with musical talent.

Many jazz musicians and producers from the city have been leading and innovative in music for decades.

(Challenge)

Turn Out the Stars / Pinheiro Ineke Cavalli Inspired by the music of the extraordinary pianist Bill Evans, the Pinheiro – Ineke – Cavalli Trio explores in this new album musical landscapes constructed from delicate arrangements and intricate musical interaction. The album features compositions by Bill Evans, as well as works by Michel Legrand and Leonard Bernstein, all in arrangements by the trio. (Challenge)

1CD CR 73523

2CD CR 73520 Ever Open Door / John Helliwell

$16.99

Lex Jasper’s compositions and arrangements all have their own musical horizon, their own claim to timeless beauty and the guarantee and claim to taste and brilliance.

You hear it in every note. Its unique sound belongs entirely to him. It runs like a red thread through all of the compositions and arrangements.

(Challenge)

www.hbdirect.com

$16.99

For the first time on Challenge Records well-known Supertramp saxophonist John Helliwell releases his brand new album with compositions of Peter Gabriel, Richard Davies, Andy Scott, Paolo Fresu and many more arranged by Andy Scott. On his solo release, he brings all of his experiences to the table to present an exciting lineup of music inspired by jazz, blues, rock, gospel, and funk. (Challenge)

Lexposure / Lex Jasper Trio & Strings

1CD CR 73521

$16.99

“Every time I listen to the very first tones of Afterglow, I get struck immediately, as if by a force of nature. The sheer beauty of the music by Enrico Pieranunzi and Bert Joris was present at every single moment. The only thing Floren and I had to do was listen. We simply guarded the entire process. Being present was just enough. Nature took its course and Afterglow saw the light of day.” – Jasper Somsen (Challenge)

Coming Yesterday / Martial Solal

1CD CR 73516

$16.99

1CD CR 73511

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Storyville Jazz

Our Songs / Alex Riel, Bo Stief, Carsten Dahl

Piece of Mind / Adonis Rose, drums; Tia Fuller, sax; Maurice Brown, trumpet

The personal and musical friendship of Alex Riel, Bo Stief and Carsten Dahl is obvious. Their new 2022 release Our Songs features 11 tracks including four freshly interpreted American jazz standards including Keith Jarrett’s “My Song,” and John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” performed as a lyrical ballad – in direct contrast to the high-powered original version.

(Storyville)

1CD SVL1014336

Piece of Mind is an all-star group that features some of the most talented voices in jazz today. The concept of the group was inspired by the VSOP Quintet from the late 1970s with the intention of being both a touring and recording group. The new collective brings together the highly regarded players who, when united onstage, deliver an exciting and fluid musical experience. (Storyville)

$15.99

1CD SVL1018486

Duke Ellington in Coventry, 1966 / Duke Ellington, piano This Duke Ellington recording was made on Monday, February 21st 1966, along with The Cliff Adams Singers and the baritone singer George Webb, giving the performance a special quality, which the band acknowledged by playing on the top of their game. The concert also includes one of the first performances of a piece which would become an important part of many concerts during the following years, “La Plus Belle Africaine”. (Storyville)

1CD SVL1018448

In 1999, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Mulgrew Miller came together in a unique and unlikely pairing to pay tribute to Duke Ellington on the 100th anniversary of his birth. The result was a passionate and long-lived musical partnership between two masters of their respective instruments, but the original recordings were never released. For the first time ever, more than 20 years after its recording, this lost treasure is finally made available to the public. (Storyville)

$15.99

1CD SVL1018485 Mirrors Within / Carsten Dahl Trinity

Montmartre 1964 / Dexter Gordon, sax Listening to this album takes you back to the atmosphere and sound of Jazzhus Montmartre on a random night in the 1960s, engulfing you in Dexter Gordon’s enormous aura.

Dexter’s arrival in Copenhagen had a tremendous impact that left a lasting impression on the Danish jazz scene. His playing was superb, with a giant sound; his introductions and showmanship were unique and captivating. (Storyville)

1CD SVL1018410

$15.99

When pianist Carsten Dahl went into the studio with bassist Niels Bo Davidsen and the drummer Stefan Pasborg, it was with a special dogma: Not to say a word throughout the recording. The album was created in a continuous sequence of first takes and everything was improvised without previous agreements or ideas except ‘Falling Down’ and ‘How I Hear Beauty’. Together, the trio constitutes a suite-like process with stimulating variation in form and expression. (Storyville)

$15.99

1CD SVL1014341

Songs: The Music of Allen Toussaint / New Orleans Jazz Orchestra

Some Aspects of Water / Geri Allen, piano

$15.99

The third in a series of three presenting Jazzpar winners, a prestigious Danish jazz award. Geri Allen is one of the most modern and original pianists and composers in contemporary American jazz. Some Aspects of Water is a milestone in Geri Allen’s career and marks her status as the first female winner of the prestigious Danish Jazzpar Prize in 1996. She was the first woman and youngest person to receive the Jazzpar Prize. (Storyville)

New Orleans is a musical melting pot that has been cooking up music royalty for nearly over a century. The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, now in its seventeenth year, is dedicated to preserving the tradition of New Orleans music and culture while exploring the works of artists that might be considered slightly outside the realm of jazz. Songs: The Music of Allen Toussaint is the fourth studio recording by the Orchestra. (Storyville)

1CD SVL1018481

$15.99

The Duo (Duke Ellington 100) / Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen; Mulgrew Miller

$15.99

1CD SVL1018474

$11.99

STORYVILLE IN BRIEF

Charlie Parker In Sweden 1950 (The Complete Recordings) 14 tracks recorded by Charlie Parker & band during a 1950 Swedish date including “Cheers,” “Lover Man,” “Embraceable You,” “How High the Moon,” and more. (Storyville)

1CD SVL1018355

$15.99

Live at Jazzhus Slukefter, Vol. 2 / Hank Jones Trio A “musician’s musician,” Hank Jones was clearly a fully rounded personality in his own right. Storyville presents Vol. 2 of Jones’ 1983 Slukefter performances. (Storyville)

1CD SVL1018471

$15.99

Blues Pianist of New Orleans / Champion Jack Dupree, piano [4 CDs] This four-disc compilation featuring tracks from Champion Jack Dupree, who made multiple recordings for many labels, including his legendary 1958 album for Atlantic Records, Blues From The Gutter. (Storyville)

4CD SVL1088619

$25.99

New Visions / Enrico Pieranunzi, piano Enrico Pieranunzi’s trio is rounded out by bassist Thomas Fonnesbaek and Ulysses Owens, Jr. on drums for this dynamic release. (Storyville)

1CD SVL1018483

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Whaling City Featured New Titles Songs From My Father / Gerry Gibbs [2 CDs] Songs From My Father is the much-anticipated new album from renowned musical polymath Gerry Gibbs. On his thirteenth release as a leader, drummer-percussionist-bandleader-arranger Gibbs presents a smashing double-disc masterwork featuring four iterations of his acclaimed Thrasher Dream Trio. Under his astute direction, Gibbs and his band of jazz titans pay homage to the Gerry’s 96-year-old father, Terry Gibbs. (Whaling City)

2CD WCS131

$22.49

You Are There / Shawnn Monteiro You Are There, Shawnn Monteiro’s sixth release overall and third for Whaling City Sound, is the gorgeous sound of a veteran vocalist whose artistry is crafted in the mold of Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McCrae, and Nancy Wilson. For the ride, she enjoys the company and support of two distinguished trios. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS128

$15.49

Hiding in Plain Sight / Dino Govoni Listening to the opening bars of “Stories Passed,” the kick-off track on Dino Govoni’s new recording, Hiding in Plain Sight, is like rolling the window down on a long empty stretch of highway, with nothing but a cool breeze in your face and open road ahead. There’s more where that came from, much more. Govoni’s new recording, his first in nearly a decade, reflects a broad and beautiful understanding of jazz expression. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS133

A Song of Hope / Eric Wyatt

Only Love Will Stay / Rale Micic

As the follow-up to his 2019 release The Golden Rule: For Sonny, Eric Wyatt’s A Song for Hope is vastly different in both tone and intent. Where the former was a tour de force, a tribute to Sonny Rollins and a straight-ahead blast of straight-ahead bop, Wyatt’s new record is more adventurous, colorful, unpredictable, and wide-ranging. Both are beautiful, for some of the same – but also different – reasons. The energy is undeniable. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS132

Rale Micic has played with such artists as Tom Harrell, Don Friedman, Peter Bernstein, Eric Alexander, Greg Hutchinson, but it’s the striking originality with which he plays his own music that really distinguishes him from other jazz guitar talents. On his new recording, Only Love Will Stay, Micic creates layers of original sounds, featuring a backbone in acoustic jazz ala John Abercrombie. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS127 $15.49 Kindred Spirits / Greg Abate & Phil Woods

$15.49

Fetish / Dave Zinno Unisphere

Greg Abate boasts one of hard bop’s best-known alto saxophones. In fact, he’s earned the nickname “the prince of bebop,” which makes perfect sense if you’ve seen him perform. Phil Woods, another saxophone legend, was widely hailed as one of the prototypical practitioners on the instrument. Together, with the Tim Ray Trio, Abate and Woods whipped up the brand new double CD Kindred Spirits – Live at Chan’s. (Whaling City)

Since spring of 2020, the Dave Zinno Unisphere took advantage of the downtime and pieced together, Fetish, a brilliant and beautiful album. The colorful panorama, tonal palette, and sonic breadth featured on Fetish are breathtaking. Zinno’s Unisphere is – through all three of its recordings for Whaling City Sound – jubilant, rapturous, and free. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS130

$15.49

Cool Water / Greg Murphy

1CD WCS077

$17.99

Greg Murphy’s Cool Water is both heartwarming and exhilarating. Greg’s fingers find delicate and exciting ways of expressing themselves across the keys. It is the sound of a blissful talent given a new lease in both life and career, as well as the opportunity to rediscover his true and glorious gift. The recording opens with the ebullient “Chim Chim Che-Ree,” then moving into a chancy take on Steely Dan’s “Green Earrings.”

(Whaling City)

Serendipity / John Stein Like many other musicians, John Stein was trying to find a way to reach his audience during the Covid-19 shutdown. Stein and the indefatigable Neal Weiss at Whaling City Sound came up with the idea of bringing Stein and his trio – with Ed Lucie on bass guitar and Mike Connors on drums – to the New Bedford Art Museum for a live-streamed performance which led to the recording of Serendipity. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS129

$15.49

$15.49

Just Passing Thru / Miles Donahue

1CD WCS125

$15.49

It may or may not be a fact that jazz musicians age with grace and class. Perhaps some day we will understand this idea better. But in Miles Donahue’s case, the concept certainly bears out. His latest album, Just Passing Thru, is large in scope and beautiful in execution. From song to song, there are moments of tenderness, passages of grandeur, and fistfuls of exhilarating, technical wonder. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS124

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Sound

EARTH – Expansions / The Dave Liebman Group

Still Happy / Danny Bacher It’s evident from the get-go that Danny Bacher was born to perform. His humor, his delivery, his talent, his joie de vivre appear instantly and plentifully on his new album Still Happy. Surrounded by quality musicians, Bacher’s voice and soprano sax truly rise to the occasion, especially on the predominantly upbeat material, like “Laughing at Life,” Bernstein’s “Lucky to Be Me,” “Hooray for Hollywood” and the title track. (Whaling City)

NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman will presents Earth with his group Expansions (Bobby Avey on piano, Matt Vashlishan on reeds, Alex Ritz on drums along with the perennial Tony Marino on bass). Earth is the culmination of Liebman’s decadeslong elements series, a focal point of the iconic artist’s career spanning 30 years. Overall the music interprets nature’s four elements in a musical context….

Water, Air, Fire and now Earth. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS120

1CD WCS110

$15.49

Full Circle – The Music of Joni Mitchell / Debra Mann

Excursions & Adventures / Tim Ray It’s a delight to hear three supremely talented musicians find common ground, especially considering it’s their first recording together. As many know, pianist Tim Ray, bassist John Patitucci , and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington have diverse backgrounds, styles, and experience, but share a common connection to Berklee College. Ray, currently Tony Bennett’s musical director, is a longtime road companion to Lyle Lovett and Jane Siberry. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS119

$15.49

Watching Joni Mitchell morph from acoustic chanteuse to sophisticated interpreter of jazz, accompanied by geniuses like Pastorius, Shorter, Metheny and Brecker, among others, truly floored Debra Mann. “Full Circle” reflects on a lifetime of admiration for an artist who has been uncompromising in her approach to music and in writing, and this on the occasion of Mitchell turning 75 years old this year. (Whaling City)

$15.49

1CD WCS109

$13.49

No Boundaries / Dave Bass

Monica Herzig’s Sheroes

The saying goes that everyone’s got a story to tell. But chances are good that few, if any, have the kind of story Dave Bass has, leaving music in the 1980s to become an attorney, then returning to music in 2015 after retiring.

No Boundaries features two-time GRAMMY winner Ted Nash (flute, alto flute, clarinet), five-time Grammy nominee Karrin Allyson, and two-time GRAMMY winner Carlos Henriquez (bass).

Jerome Jennings is on drums. (Whaling City)

One could argue that there is no better time than now to release this remarkable recording.

Sheroes, brought together by pianist/ composer Monika Herzig, features an international cast of virtuous players – all women, all first-call talents – including Reut Regev (trombone, Israel), Jennifer Vincent (trumpet), Jamie Baum (flute), and Leni Stern (guitar). Covers include “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “House of the Rising Sun.” (Whaling City)

Bright Idea / Greg Murphy Trio

A View from Within / Jim Robitaille Group

1CD WCS116

1CD WCS106

$15.49

It’s been a while since guitarist Jim Robitaille convened for a Jim Robitaille Group recording session. But the wait has been worth it. The award-winning guitarist is finally back together with his simpatico musical brethren saxophonist Dave Liebman, along with Tony Marino and Alex Ritz on the profound and emotionally rendered A View from Within. (Whaling City)

Greg Murphy, an inventive and versatile pianist with an epic sense of the pure and beautiful, is a formidable talent.

Bright Idea, his trio recording with Jeff “Tain” Watts and Eric Wheeler, comes together in a way that embraces all of the places Murphy has been. It is a well and fully rounded musical adventure, rife with dimension and color, and his most fully realized recording yet. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS111

$13.49

1CD WCS118

$15.49

$15.49

WHALING CITY ALBUMS IN BRIEF Gratitude – Stagedoor Live at the Z / Greg Abate With no formal rehearsals and no overdubs, mulligans, and redos, the Tim Ray Trio captures its performance in truth, in full, and in the moment. The band cruises through a slate of mainly originals.

(Whaling City)

1CD WCS0114

Our People / Gerry Gibbs

$15.49

Multi-instrumentalist Gerry Gibbs returns with his 12th album as a leader, Our People. This epic, 19-part suite is a sonic masterpiece that pays tribute to the many different cultures that make up our world.(Whaling City)

1CD WCS115

Space Cycles / Jim Robitaille Trio

$15.49

After a brief interlude in a group format, Jim Robitaille is back inside the sparse and generous spaces of his trio. The colors throughout these arrangements pulse and glow, embracing a spectrum of musical emotion.

(Whaling City)

1CD WCS122

Watershed / John Stein

On the transcendent Watershed, guitarist John Stein’s 15th recording and 11th for Whaling City Sound, Stein and his simpatico band realize this set of deep grooves with remarkable clarity. (Whaling City)

1CD WCS121

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Best Selling In His Own Sweet Time / Tommy Flanagan 1CD ENJ-9687 $18.99

The Questions / Kurt Elling

1CD 88985492832 $11.99

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Louis Armstrong: Collection Vol. 1 2-CD Set

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Time Remembered: Bill Evans DVD

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