Narrow my search:
From
HI-RES$17.59
CD$15.09
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
Classical - Released February 23, 2024 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Hi-Res
From
HI-RES$10.79
CD$8.09
Lucerne Festival Historic Performances: Wilhelm Furtwängler (Beethoven: Symphony No. 9)
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Classical - Released November 21, 2014 | audite Musikproduktion
Hi-Res
Booklet
From
HI-RES$21.09
CD$18.09
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Seiji Ozawa
Symphonies - Released December 5, 2018 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
Hi-Res
Booklet
From
CD$12.45
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral"
Bayreuther Festspielorchester
Classical - Released January 1, 1984 | Orfeo
From
CD$12.45
Furtwangler: Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Classical - Released January 14, 2013 | Orfeo
From
HI-RES$24.59
CD$21.09
Beethoven: Diabelli Variations
Mitsuko Uchida
Classical - Released April 8, 2022 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
Hi-Res
Distinctions
Gramophone: Recording of the Month
The late Beethoven recordings of pianist Mitsuko Uchida have been career makers, and it is cause for celebration that she has capped them with the 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, a work that perhaps poses deeper interpretive challenges than any of the late sonatas. The Variations often show a kind of rough humor, and a performer may pick up on that, or the player may deemphasize the humor and seek out the epic qualities of the Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, and Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. Uchida does neither. The outlines of her usual style, high-contrast and a bit dry, are apparent, but she does not let them dominate her reading. What Uchida realizes is that the abrupt transition from humor to the deepest existential ruminations is part and parcel of Beethoven's late style, and she works to hone the particular character of each Beethoven variation. Her left hand, as usual, is strikingly powerful, and this brings out many striking details (consider the stirring variation 16). The trio of slow minor variations toward the end are given great seriousness but are not in the least overwrought; Uchida achieves an elusive Olympian tone through the final variations. There is much more to experience here, for each variation is fully thought out, but suffice it to say that this is one of the great performances of the Diabelli Variations.© TiVo
From
CD$5.09
Honegger: Symphonies Nos 1-5, Pacific 231, Mouvement symphonique No. 3
Serge Baudo, Czech Philharmonic
Classical - Released January 1, 1991 | Supraphon a.s.
From
HI-RES$60.09
CD$52.09
Haydn - 48 Piano Sonatas
Daniel-Ben Pienaar
Classical - Released August 25, 2023 | Avie Records
Hi-Res
Booklet
From
HI-RES$17.49$24.98(30%)
CD$13.99$19.98(30%)
Liszt: Piano Sonata & Transcendental Etudes
Francesco Piemontesi
Solo Piano - Released September 1, 2023 | PentaTone
Hi-Res
Booklet
To hear pianist Francesco Piemontesi tell it, he waited until middle age to attempt the Liszt Transcendental Etudes, even though these works are often programmed by hotshot young pianists intent on displaying their technical mastery. What Piemontesi gets is that Liszt's most difficult works have technical depths that are still achieved by only a few. A piece like "Scarbo," from Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, was at the edge of the technically possible when it was written, but now any competent conservatory graduate can play it. The Transcendental Etudes and the Liszt Piano Sonata in B minor are different. A good performance is quite possible, but great ones that evoke the spell in which Liszt held his audiences are rarer. The latter is what the music gets here from Piemontesi. He is strong throughout, but it is in the dense virtuosic passages, with sheets of sound issuing from his piano, unfortunately unidentified in the booklet, that leave the listener amazed. Sample "Mazeppa" from the Etudes or the fugal treatment of the main sonata material for an idea; those sheets of sound never lose their individual notes. Piemontesi is hardly less effective in the slower passages, which have a kind of majesty. He records on home ground at the Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano, and it is an appropriate venue for his remarkable achievement.© James Manheim /TiVo
From
HI-RES$21.09
CD$18.09
Beethoven Violin Sonatas Nos. 2, 4 & 9 „Kreutzer“
Antje Weithaas
Classical - Released March 31, 2023 | CAvi-music
Hi-Res
Booklet
From
CD$58.59
Beethoven: Complete Symphonies & Concertos
The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released October 9, 2020 | Challenge Classics
From
HI-RES$40.69
CD$32.59
Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets
Smetana Quartet
Chamber Music - Released August 28, 2020 | Supraphon a.s.
Hi-Res
Booklet
The Smetana Quartet are a true legend. For over four decades (1945-1989), the ensemble gained critical acclaim and enthused audiences all over world, particularly in the UK, USA and Japan. They attained perfect chime and extraordinary flexibility in voice leading, resulting in part from their playing the entire repertoire by heart. The quartet performed Beethoven’s works throughout their existence – following Smetana, he was the composer on whose music they focused the most and whose complete quartets were in their repertoire from 1974 onwards. They explored some of Beethoven’s pieces for several years before including them in their concert programmes. In collaboration with a Supraphon team, in 1976 the ensemble embarked upon a colossal project, which in 1985 came to fruition with the release on Nippon Columbia of a recording of the complete Beethoven string quartets. Even though the past decade has seen significant changes pertaining to interpretation and technology, the Smetana Quartet’s account of Beethoven’s works is by no means a “museum exhibit”, with their vivacity and dynamism still enthralling today’s listeners. The recording, carefully digitally remastered from the original analogue tapes, is the very first release beyond Japan. Lovers of perfect sound are afforded the opportunity to listen to it Hi-Res 24 bit/192 kHz. © Supraphon
From
HI-RES$27.99
CD$22.39
Vivaldi : Il Giustino
Ottavio Dantone
Full Operas - Released November 16, 2018 | naïve classique
Hi-Res
Booklet
Distinctions
5 de Diapason -
Gramophone Editor's Choice -
Choc de Classica
From
CD$50.79
Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1-9
Gustav Mahler
Symphonic Music - Released April 7, 2017 | Signum Classics
From
HI-RES$22.99
CD$17.99
Le Concert des Oiseaux. Vincent Bouchot: Le Carnaval des animaux en péril
La Rêveuse
Classical - Released February 10, 2023 | harmonia mundi
Hi-Res
Booklet
Several famous pieces of music based on birdsong appeared in the 19th and 20th centuries; those by Saint-Saëns, Britten, and Ravel are here, although Messiaen is not. However, the affinity between music and birdsong had been explored for centuries before that, and the early music group La Rêveuse here provides some delightful examples. The always pictorial François Couperin is represented, as is Rameau, but other composers are less familiar but no less charming. Sample the works by Theodor Schwartzkopff, Michel Blavet, and especially Michel Pignolet de Montéclair (1667-1737), whose "Les Ramages" ("The Songs") names a group of birds and then illustrates their songs. Then there are historical-instrument versions of Saint-Saëns, Britten, and Ravel. One may accept this idea or not, but even in the latter case, they don't do much to dent the charm of the whole. The program ends with a work by contemporary composer Vincent Bouchot, Le Carnaval des animaux en péril, a kind of a take-off on Saint-Saëns for the Anthropocene era that also calls forth a striking variety of instruments from La Rêveuse. Another questionable idea is that, in keeping with the practices of this group, recorded birdsong is heard between some of the tracks. Whatever aspects of this release might be doubtful, it rarely fails to bring a smile.
© James Manheim /TiVo
From
HI-RES$15.56
CD$12.45
Górecki: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 2
Tippett Quartet
Chamber Music - Released February 14, 2020 | Naxos
Hi-Res
Booklet
The Sonata for Two Violins is one of Henryk Górecki’s earliest acknowledged works—its contrasts, instrumental rivalries and sophisticated technique a worthy rounding-off of his formative period. The Third String Quartet with its evocative subtitle ‘…songs are sung’ represents a culmination of Górecki’s preoccupations with elaborate and emotive melodic shapes and closely intertwined harmonies, its final minutes recalling the beauty and poignancy of the composer’s Third Symphony. © Naxos
From
CD$15.69
György Ligeti : Études - Musica Ricercata
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Classical - Released December 11, 1996 | Sony Classical
From
CD$19.77
Prokofiev : The Symphonies
Dmitrij Kitajenko
Symphonic Music - Released May 12, 2005 | Phoenix Edition
Distinctions
4 étoiles du Monde de la Musique
Though there have been other complete cycles of the seven symphonies of Sergey Prokofiev over the years, the most obvious comparison for this 2007 cycle with Dimitrji Kitajenko leading the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln is Valery Gergiev's 2004 cycle with the London Symphony. Both sets feature Russian conductors with Western orchestras and include the original and the revised versions of the Fourth Symphony. But though it might initially be suspected that the charismatic Gergiev would take the prize, Kitajenko comes out on top in a direct comparison. Both are talented and experienced conductors and both seem comfortable with Prokofiev's unique blend of warm lyricism and harsh modernism, but Kitajenko consistently goes further into the Soviet modernist's music than Gergiev. Where Gergiev's First Symphony is simply a cheerful pastiche, Kitajenko's is a slyly witty send-up of Classical conventions. Where Gergiev's Second, Third, and original Fourth are long on modernist energy and short on symphonic structure, Kitajenko's, while no less energetic, are far more formally balanced and structurally convincing. Where Gergiev's revised Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth are grandiloquent examples of social realism, Kitajenko's are grandly moving examples of twentieth century symphonism. And where Gergiev treats the highly ambivalent Seventh as a light and lively piece of late-in-life whimsy, Kitajenko grants it the depth and emotional ambiguity it deserves. This is not to say that Gergiev's cycle lacks merits. It is superbly played and conducted and Philips' digital recording is big, brawny, and colorful. But Kitajenko's cycle seems to speak with more authority on more profound issues, and Phoenix Edition's digital sound is cleaner, clearer and detailed. Though committed Prokofiev enthusiasts will want to hear both, they may find themselves more often returning to Kitajenko's cycle.© TiVo
From
CD$18.39
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Trios
Suk Trio
Classical - Released July 16, 2021 | Supraphon a.s.
Booklet
Supraphon made these recordings for Nippon Columbia within a short timeframe, from June 1983 to April 1984, at the Rudolfinum in Prague. They capture the mature ensemble when it included the pianist Josef Hála, who in 1980 had replaced Jan Panenka. The trio’s sound was dominated by the strings, primarily the violin of Josef Suk, who also defined the interpretation principles. The singularity of the ensemble and their recordings alike rests in infallible technique, sonic refinement, admirable interplay and profound musicality devoid of any showboating. © Supraphon
From
HI-RES$10.14$14.49(30%)
CD$7.34$10.49(30%)
Mussorgsky : Pictures at an exhibition (+Rachmaninoff)
Jean-Philippe Collard
Solo Piano - Released October 26, 2018 | La Dolce Volta
Hi-Res
Booklet
Distinctions
5 étoiles de Classica
Suppose you have a more precise idea of what you want. If you are searching for the album "Bad" by Michael Jackson, type michael jackson bad. The album in question will be displayed at the top, as it is the most relevant.
By default, search results are sorted in order of relevance. The drop-down menu to the right of "Sort by" allows you to display the results in the desired order.