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Handel: Finest Arias for Base (Bass) Voice, Vol. 1

Christopher Purves

Classical - Released December 2, 2012 | Hyperion

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There's no shortage of Handel aria recitals these days, especially in Britain, but this one by bass baritone Christopher Purves stands out from the crowd in several respects. First of all, it is rare in collecting arias for bass voice, which was, in Handel's time as it was later on, generally associated with a few fixed and generally negative character types (tyrants, rogues, repressive patriarchs). Second, it's a very pleasantly varied collection of tunes, including displays of brilliant passagework, out-of-the-norm writing in service of characterization (Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori, from Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, track 4), and high climactic drama (the big, three-part Revenge, Timotheus cries, from Alexander's Feast, track 19, is a familiar example). Finally, Purves unearths some rarely heard pieces and programs them intelligently. When did anyone last year anything from Muzio Scevola, or Riccardo Primo, rè d'Inghilterra, which must have pleased London audiences in 1727 despite its Italian-language text. Purves does not have the biggest voice in the bass baritone universe, and there could be a bit more sound in the very low notes. But the dimensions of the music are right for the period. He's pleasingly accurate in the passagework, and he's a real actor who makes these potentially stilted characters come alive. Listeners will want to hear Purves in a small production of one of these operas after hearing this album, preferably accompanied by the strong historical-instrument group Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen, as he is here.© TiVo
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Bernstein, Barber, Crawford & Ives: Americans

James Gaffigan

Symphonies - Released May 28, 2021 | harmonia mundi

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Vivid testimony to the multifaceted partnership of James Gaffigan and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, their latest release invites us to explore the conductor’s American roots, from the most mischievous (Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story) to the spiritual (Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 3, based on his works for solo organ). With dramatically potent dissonances, Ruth Crawford’s Andante for Strings casts a spell in the form of a hypnotic and restless nocturne, while Samuel Barber’s boldly athletic Toccata for Organ and Orchestra reveals a rarely heard aspect of this well-known master. An electrifying performance! © harmonia mundi
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A Viennese Bouquet

Melissa Farrow

Chamber Music - Released September 14, 2023 | ABC Classic

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Handel: The 8 Great Harpsichord Suites

Bridget Cunningham

Classical - Released November 19, 2021 | Signum Records

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Unlocked, Brescianello Vol. 2

La Serenissima

Classical - Released October 27, 2023 | Signum Records

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The title "Unlocked" for this album by the historical performance group La Serenissima and director/violinist Adrian Chandler refers to the making of the album as the musicians emerged from pandemic-time lockdowns. However, it also might indicate the status of composer Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello, whose music has been little explored even though he was among the first composers to write symphonies (here, "sinphonie") in Germany. Brescianello was certainly a transitional figure. It is likely that he encountered the music of Vivaldi in Venice before moving to Germany to work as a valet for the Electress of Bavaria (who paved his way to lucrative court positions). The works here, mostly taken from the composer's Op. 1 publication of Concerti & Sinphonie, resemble Vivaldi's in general sound, but the consistent harmonic rhythm of the Baroque is starting to break up, and in the violin concertos, especially there is a new kind of expressiveness. Chandler is quite effective in these, catching the small details that an audience of the time would have found new. In the final Ouverture for strings and continuo in A major, Brescianello seems a bit constrained by the French Baroque dance forms, but this sets off the innovations that were present in the concertos and symphonies. The second of a pair of albums devoted to Brescianello by La Serenissima, this may be of most interest to those fascinated by the pre-Classical era, but it is listenable in a Vivaldian vein for anyone.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Beethoven: Symphonies 1-9 & Overtures (Remastered HD)

Herbert von Karajan

Classical - Released March 24, 2014 | Warner Classics International

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The Karajan Official Remastered Edition is a series of remasterings, from the original master tapes, of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 et 1984 including Karajan's first — and probably most thrilling — recording of the complete Beethoven Symphonies, made in the early 1950s (1951-1955) with London's Philharmonia Orchestra recently founded by Walter Legge. The recording of the Ninth Symphony is available here in stereo for the very first time, taken from original, unreleased tapes.
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Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Céphale et Procris

Reinoud Van Mechelen

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
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Handel: Organ Concertos Op. 4

Georg Friedrich Händel

Classical - Released February 10, 2008 | Passacaille

Distinctions The Qobuz Ideal Discography
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Psyché

Christophe Rousset

Classical - Released January 13, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Beethoven: Complete Symphonies & Concertos

The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra

Classical - Released October 9, 2020 | Challenge Classics

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Brahms: The Violin Sonatas

Leonidas Kavakos

Classical - Released March 31, 2014 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

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This cycle of Brahms' violin sonatas presents two of the more charismatic artists on the current scene, neither of them particularly known for Brahms. It works quite a bit better than you might expect. In a way pianist Yuja Wang is the star of the show. The Brahms sonatas still carry a trace of the violin sonata's origins with a violin accompanying the keyboard, and it is often the pianist who leads and sets the tone; in many movements Wang establishes a warmth and depth that are a bit out of character with her usual flamboyant style. She then plays nicely off of Kavakos' lyrical lines with her own more urgent style. The deeper logic of these works might be better served by a more neutral approach, but the overall impression is of two distinct personalities in conversation about the music, and that's the chamber music ideal. An added attraction is the presence of the scherzo from the early F-A-E Sonata, a work collaboratively written by Brahms, Schumann, and Albert Dietrich; Brahms' scherzo is a sort of essay in the Beethoven short-short-short long motif, and it allows Wang to really take command. An enjoyable outing that shows Wang, especially, developing talents beyond her comfort zone. Overly closely miked sound detracts from the experience.© TiVo
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Mendelssohn: Complete Works for Piano Solo

Ana-Marija Markovina

Classical - Released January 7, 2022 | haenssler CLASSIC

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"A composer’s oeuvre can only be fully understood in the context of his lifetime achievement. Concerts and events provide mere snapshots. I have always been more interested in the process than the highlights of an artist’s creative life. When I engage with a composer, I need to know everything about him. Mendelssohn was a cosmos that opened before me. There were worlds waiting to be discovered. My recording of the complete works is based on the system of compilation applied by Dr. Ralf Wehner of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig: the Mendelssohn-Werkverzeichnis (MWV, catalogue of Mendelssohn’s works). The category MWV U lists the piano works in chronological order of their composition, opening up completely new perspectives on the way Mendelssohn worked. It is clear, for example, that Mendelssohn first wrote his fugues, then composed the preludes to them quite a bit later, in order to publish them as pairs of Preludes and Fugues. That is also the only deviation from my chronological order: I have placed each Prelude before its Fugue, which is the way Mendelssohn intended it. Prelude and Fugue form a conceptual unity and a musically coherent form and must not be separated. The Lieder ohne Worte, on the other hand, are collections. Mendelssohn wrote them for publication in sets of six at a time. I have accordingly incorporated the Lieder ohne Worte into the chronological sequence”. (Ana-Marija Markovina)

Behind Closed Doors, Brescianello Vol. 1

La Serenissima

Classical - Released October 8, 2021 | Signum Records

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A contemporary of Vivaldi, Brescianello is a composer whose music languishes in relative obscurity. Whilst the mists of time have claimed some composers’ music for justifiable reasons, Brescianello’s music presents many compelling arguments for its restoration. Having first included Brescianello in La Serenissima’s 2014 season, they have since staged his opera Tisbe, recorded a violin concerto (included in the "Extra Time" programme), a trio sonata (Settecento) and other works. It is surprising that the Opus 1 was the only set of works that Brescianello chose to publish and La Serenissima have now been given the opportunity to start their exploration of this wonderful publication. © Signum Records
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Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances & Vocalise - Respighi: 5 Études-tableaux After Rachmaninoff

Eiji Oue

Classical - Released October 2, 2001 | Reference Recordings

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Frédéric Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2, Ballade, Valse & Fantaisie - Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 4

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Classical - Released April 1, 2014 | Praga Digitals

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Sturm und Drang, Vol. 3

The Mozartists

Classical - Released October 6, 2023 | Signum Records

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The Mozartists and their director, Ian Page, have made a career of exploring the music of Mozart in the context of his musical surroundings, and their recordings have been of uniformly high quality. Now, they have turned to the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") movement of the late 18th century, which featured minor keys, highly dramatic contrasts, and, in general, a subjective intensity that reacted against the balance characteristic of Classical-era music. This movement was more associated with instrumental music than with opera, and it might be asked whether the minor-key operatic arias like those here from Anton Schweitzer and Giovanni Paisiello really qualify as Sturm und Drang; these had different sources from the literary ones, the early writings of Goethe among them, that inspired Sturm und Drang composers of instrumental music. This said, this album has a lot of music that even serious Classicism buffs may not have heard, beautifully performed. In the operatic excerpts (Schweitzer is all but unknown, but these pieces from his opera Alceste will make one wonder why), rising soprano Emily Pogorelc has a fine sense of dramatic involvement with the text. The Symphony in G minor of Leopold Koželuch is another standout, in the same ballpark as, if not Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, at least the so-called "Little" Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183. Mozart himself is present only in the Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546, usually played by a string quartet, but taking on an exceptionally dark, agitated quality here with a full string group. The program ends with Haydn's Symphony No. 44 in E minor, Hob. 1/44, which offers a good example of the general style. The Mozartists' series is projected to reach seven volumes, and one is excited to think about what new finds may emerge in the later ones.© James Manheim /TiVo