Your basket is empty

Categories:
Narrow my search:

Results 1 to 20 out of a total of 4076
From
HI-RES$24.71
CD$19.77

Weber: Der Freischütz, Op. 77, J. 277

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Opera - Released October 1, 2019 | PentaTone

Hi-Res Booklet
We have Marek Janowski to thank for this studio version of Weber's masterpiece, recorded in 1994 in Berlin, and painstakingly remastered by RCA in 2017. Here the German conductor returns to a work which he knows in minute detail. Marking a bridge from the tradition of the "singspiel" in the style of the Magic Flute and the young Wagner of the Flying Dutchman, Freischütz represents the starting point for German romantic opera. This piece was recorded in the Sendesaal of Radio Hesse in Frankfurt in 2018, a large room built from light wood, with excellent acoustics and completely reconstructed in 1987. This new version, probably produced in the wake of two concert versions, includes short narrations written by Katharina Wagner and Daniel Weber to replace the long original dialogues. The excellent distribution is dominated by two great Wagnerian singers with powerful voices: Lise Davidsen and Andreas Schager. Janowski blazes at the stand, lending the work a constant and theatrical tension, with energetic tempos and a sense of poetry that will stand the test of time. This is a very accomplished new version which easily ranks alongside the legendary recordings of Wilhelm Furtwängler (1954), Josef Keilberth (1958), Eugen Jochum (1960) and Carlos Kleiber (1973). © François Hudry/Qobuz
From
HI-RES$22.99
CD$17.99

Mein Traum. Schubert, Weber, Schumann

Pygmalion

Opera - Released October 7, 2022 | harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet
One morning in 1822, Schubert wrote down an enigmatic text in which all his ghosts seem to take shape: wandering, solitude, consolation, disappointed love. Inspired by this dreamlike narrative, Raphaël Pichon, Pygmalion and Stéphane Degout have devised a vast Romantic fresco, combining resurrection of unknown treasures with rediscovery of established masterpieces. © harmonia mundi
From
HI-RES$24.71
CD$19.77

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

Stephen Gould

Opera - Released September 1, 2012 | PentaTone

Hi-Res Booklet
As the conductor for PentaTone's ambitious project to record all of Richard Wagner's music dramas, Marek Janowski has delivered a fine live concert version of Tristan und Isolde that has received critical praise for its strong cast and extraordinary sound quality. Janowski draws out some exciting playing from the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the multichannel super audio recording gives the ensemble the depth and fullness that is absolutely vital in Wagner's richly scored music. The cast is assured and vocally capable, but the star is soprano Nina Stemme, whose Isolde is vividly rendered and strong enough to carry the performance through to the Liebestod, setting standards of expressive power and stamina for the other singers to match. Considering the difficulty in finding vocalists who can handle Wagner's demanding roles, the performances by Stephen Gould as Tristan, Johan Reuter as Kurwenal, and Kwangchul Youn as King Mark are certainly better than average, and satisfying for the purposes of this concert performance. While this recording does not rank among historic Tristans for the thrills of a fully staged production, or for any legendary artists in the main roles, this is still an admirable effort that promises even greater things for the remainder of PentaTone's series.© TiVo
From
CD$12.45

Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder & Opera Highlights

Júlia Varady

Classical - Released January 1, 2016 | Orfeo

From
HI-RES$28.09
CD$24.09

Der ferne Klang... Orchestral Works & Songs by Franz Schreker

Konzerthausorchester Berlin

Classical - Released March 17, 2023 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet
In the early '20s, Franz Schreker was one of the best-known composers in the world. His music was suppressed by the Nazis because he was Jewish, and due to the High Modernism of the postwar period, a second totalitarianism, his reputation did not recover. This was a shame, for Schreker was anything but a conservative, and it is good to see that he is finally getting his due. What he needed at this point was a high-profile recording with top soloists, and that is exactly what he gets here from Christoph Eschenbach and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, with soprano Chen Reiss and baritone Matthias Goerne. Deutsche Grammophon's PR text refers to "Schreker's sumptuous, hyper-Romantic music," but this is not quite right. Schreker could sometimes be that, as in the Romantische Suite that closes the album, but Straussian late Romanticism was only one of his influences. In terms of using tone color as a structural element, Schreker was in every way a contemporary of Schoenberg (his close friend) and Webern. Eschenbach's generous selection of orchestral songs here provides a good way to appreciate this quality; sample Die Dunkelheit sinkt schwer wie Blei from the Fünf Gesänge, with its mysterious strumming-like sounds. The text of that song is from a German translation of the Thousand and One Nights anthology, and Reiss sounds great in the Zwei lyrische Gesänge to texts (in German) by, of all people, Walt Whitman. Schreker could be neoclassic (in the economical Kleine Suite); he could be Impressionist-tinged; he mastered a full Expressionist idiom in the opera that gives the album its title, represented here by a substantial instrumental excerpt. This double-album release conveys the breadth of Schreker's musical language, but he is never blankly eclectic. A wonderful album that will help to rewrite the 20th century canon.© James Manheim /TiVo
From
HI-RES$26.29
CD$22.59

For Clara: Works by Schumann & Brahms

Hélène Grimaud

Classical - Released September 8, 2023 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res
From
HI-RES$16.59
CD$14.39

Bach Fragments: Organ Works Completed by Lorenzo Ghielmi

Lorenzo Ghielmi

Classical - Released November 10, 2023 | Passacaille

Hi-Res Booklet
From
HI-RES$17.59
CD$15.09

Bach: Cantatas 54, 82 & 170 "Widerstehe", "Ich habe genug" & "Vergnügte Ruh"

Iestyn Davies

Classical - Released December 30, 2016 | Hyperion

Hi-Res Booklet
From
HI-RES$21.99
CD$16.99

Bach: Redemption

Anna Prohaska

Classical - Released June 26, 2020 | Alpha Classics

Hi-Res Booklet
Anna Prohaska asked Wolfgang Katschner and the Lautten Compagney at the outset of the coronavirus crisis whether they shouldn’t spontaneously organize a musical get-together in this period. This has now resulted in "Redemption". This is a sequence of music selected solely from Bach cantatas, compiled in keeping with the aforenamed conceptual association. "Redemption" has multiple meanings, for instance: can music give us consolation in times of sickness and crisis; can it open up emotional and contemplative spaces for us; is it redemptive for musicians to be the “instruments” in engendering music and therefore spirituality… ? Besides Anna Prohaska as soloist and three other singers, "Redemption" features a larger group of musicians – around twenty instrumentalists. These musicians serve a dual role: they expertly accompany the arias that Anna Prohaska sings and they also represent the concept of human interaction and a shared collective experience which has been missing during these times. © Alpha Classics
From
HI-RES$21.99
CD$16.99

Johann Sebastian Bach : Ich elender Mensch & Leipzig Cantatas (BWV 44, 48, 73, 109)

Collegium Vocale Gent

Cantatas (sacred) - Released December 20, 2013 | Phi

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Gramophone Editor's Choice - 4 étoiles Classica
From
CD$24.09

Der ferne Klang... Orchestral Works & Songs by Franz Schreker

Konzerthausorchester Berlin

Classical - Released March 17, 2023 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Booklet
In the early '20s, Franz Schreker was one of the best-known composers in the world. His music was suppressed by the Nazis because he was Jewish, and due to the High Modernism of the postwar period, a second totalitarianism, his reputation did not recover. This was a shame, for Schreker was anything but a conservative, and it is good to see that he is finally getting his due. What he needed at this point was a high-profile recording with top soloists, and that is exactly what he gets here from Christoph Eschenbach and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, with soprano Chen Reiss and baritone Matthias Goerne. Deutsche Grammophon's PR text refers to "Schreker's sumptuous, hyper-Romantic music," but this is not quite right. Schreker could sometimes be that, as in the Romantische Suite that closes the album, but Straussian late Romanticism was only one of his influences. In terms of using tone color as a structural element, Schreker was in every way a contemporary of Schoenberg (his close friend) and Webern. Eschenbach's generous selection of orchestral songs here provides a good way to appreciate this quality; sample Die Dunkelheit sinkt schwer wie Blei from the Fünf Gesänge, with its mysterious strumming-like sounds. The text of that song is from a German translation of the Thousand and One Nights anthology, and Reiss sounds great in the Zwei lyrische Gesänge to texts (in German) by, of all people, Walt Whitman. Schreker could be neoclassic (in the economical Kleine Suite); he could be Impressionist-tinged; he mastered a full Expressionist idiom in the opera that gives the album its title, represented here by a substantial instrumental excerpt. This double-album release conveys the breadth of Schreker's musical language, but he is never blankly eclectic. A wonderful album that will help to rewrite the 20th century canon.© James Manheim /TiVo
From
HI-RES$24.70
CD$19.76

Bach: Cantatas BWV 170 & 169, Sacred Arias, Sacred Lieder

Aafje Heynis

Classical - Released July 7, 2022 | Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording

Hi-Res
From
CD$6.91

Bach: Agnus Dei & Cantates BWV 54 & 170 - Œuvres de Purcell, Dowland, Parsons, Campian & Bartlett (Diapason n°558)

Alfred Deller

Classical - Released November 30, 2007 | Les Indispensables de Diapason

Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
From
CD$8.19

J. S. Bach: Cantates BWV 180, 49 & 115

Christoph Prégardien

Classical - Released January 1, 1994 | naïve classique

From
HI-RES$21.99
CD$16.99

Weber: Clarinet Quintet, Concertino for Clarinet, Grand Duo Concertant & Der Freischütz Overture

Jörg Widmann

Classical - Released August 28, 2020 | Alpha Classics

Hi-Res Booklet
For his first release on Alpha, the clarinettist and conductor Jörg Widmann celebrates the music of a composer who wrote some of the finest pieces ever devoted to his instrument: Carl Maria von Weber. With the ensemble of which he is principal conductor, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, he has recorded the Clarinet Quintet (in its version with string ensemble) and the Concertino, composed in 1811 and 1815 respectively, along with the ever-popular Overture to Der Freischütz. The pianist Denis Kozhukhin joins Widmann to perform the Grand Duo concertant. This album is the first in a series of recordings that will also give us a chance to meet Jörg Widmann in his role as one of the most active composers of his generation. © Alpha Classics
From
HI-RES$27.99
CD$22.39

Richard Wagner : Der Fliegende Holländer - Pierre-Louis Dietsch : Le vaisseau fantôme ou le maudit des mers

Marc Minkowski

Classical - Released November 4, 2013 | naïve classique

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
From
HI-RES$24.71
CD$19.77

Wagner : Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90

Wolfgang Sawallisch

Full Operas - Released May 18, 2018 | Orfeo

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason
An enemy of fashion and glitz who shunned cocktails and society dinners, Wolfgang Sawallisch was a humble, retiring man whose life was wholly dedicated to music and music alone. Behind what might seem like a well-worn cliché of the "honest man", he was surely one of the greatest artists of his generation. An exceptional pianist, he would sometimes accompany his friend Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau through memorable nights dedicated to Schubert's great cycles. A conductor, he knew the whole repertoire by heart, not only working with an orchestra but also taking to the piano with all the singers. He was a Kapellmeister in the most elevated sense of the term. Between 1971 and 1992 he made his hometown’s Munich Opera (Bayerische Staatsoper) one of the greatest stages in the world, offering performances of an utterly exceptional standard. The gradual seizure of power by producers would put an end to a collaboration which had produced so many unforgettable nights. Sawallisch went on to enjoy a kind of Indian summer as a conductor in his final years, at the head of the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he encountered huge success. First and foremost a performer of Wagner, Wolfgang Sawallisch first made his mark on Bayreuth in his youth, when, in 1962, he conducted landmark performances. The archives of the festival are full of recordings which are slowly being released, whose almost-identical distributions on different dates have sown confusion. Sawallisch conducted Tristan and Isolde with the legendary couple Birgit Nilsson/Wolfgang Windgassen several times, for the festivals in 1957, 1958 and 1959, well before the sensational version conducted by Karl Böhm. This new release covers the night of 26 July 1958 (so it is not a cover of the version released by MYTO of the show on 21 August of the same year). The doomed lovers are given an exceptional treatment under the electrifying baton of a young Sawallisch. © François Hudry/Qobuz
From
CD$30.09

The Unreleased Masters

Jessye Norman

Classical - Released March 24, 2023 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

Jessye Norman was always protective of her art and the sound image she projected, no different with these unreleased recordings. However, with the approval of her loved ones, they’re now being released post-mortem.This new release (which is available in a lavish, physical limited edition) features three of Jessye’s recordings done between 1988 and 1998, when she was at the height of her career. There are substantial excerpts from her extraordinary performance of Tristan und Isolde recorded with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, featuring tenors Thomas Moser (Tristan) and Ian Bostridge (the young sailor) and soprano Hanna Schwarz (Brangäne).The rest of the programme consists of live recordings conducted by James Levine and Seiji Ozawa. With the former, Jessye Norman sings Strauss's Four Last Songs and Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder in a recording that favours orchestral richness to the detriment of the voice. This may explain why the American singer chose never to release this recording, even though her hedonistic interpretation of Strauss's farewell to life is still striking. The album ends with a recital complete with orchestra, tailor-made for the diva in 1994 in Boston. It features two cantatas: Berenice che fai by Haydn and Phaedra, written by Benjamin Britten for Janet Baker. Nestled between the two, you’ll find a stunning rendition of Berlioz's The Death of Cleopatra. © François Hudry/Qobuz
From
CD$6.91

Mahler: Symphony No. 3 & Lieder (Les indispensables de Diapason)

Leonard Bernstein

Symphonic Music - Released June 30, 2023 | Les Indispensables de Diapason