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Today Richard Wagner is best known for his extraordinary operas; any success in other domains was dwarfed by these compositional feats in the world of musical theatre. But Wagner’s piano works can be seen to be just as important in understanding the evolution of his style and musical thought, and thus the development of this dominating figure of the 19th century.

The collection brings together Wagner’s entire output for solo piano. The earliest sonata on the recording is the Piano Sonata in B flat, which shows evidence of Wagner’s music education, with much indebted to the Beethovian model as well as to the great pianist‐composers Weber and Pleyel. These influences are heard again in the more mature and complex Große Sonate – a work that Wagner intended to turn into a symphony, though this attempt was later abandoned.

A regular dedicatee of Wagner’s works was Mathilde Wesendock – the relationship between the two is still much debated today – and among the works in this collection, three are dedicated to Mathilde: the ‘masterpiece’ Eine Sonate für das Album von Frau Mathilde Wesendock, Notenbrief für Mathilde Wesendonck and the ‘Schluß zum Vorspiel’ from Tristan und Isolde. The ‘Tristan chord’ at the beginning of the latter has become considered a clear attestation of Wagner’s infatuation with Mathilde. for whom he stopped work on the Ring cycle to begin that great testament of love, Tristan und Isolde.

The works are performed by the Italian pianist Pier Paolo Vincenzi, whose busy concert schedule takes him all over his native country. He is joined for the Polonaise for 4 hands in D by Federica Ferrati.

Born into a humble family in 18th century Italy, Pietro Nardini¡¦s talent for violin playing led him to Livorno to study with the celebrated Giuseppe Tartini, where he reportedly became as good a violinist as his teacher. He travelled throughout Europe and was resident musician at several of its major courts ¡V notably Tuscany, where he was Director of Music. Such was his reputation as an extraordinarily expressive technician that he was asked to play in the presence of King Ferdinand and Queen Carolina in Naples as well as Wolfgang and Leopold Mozart, not to mention other celebrities of the age. His string quartets, initially written for the amateurs of the Florentine public, were widely commercial and published all over Europe, and this is reflected in their simplistic nature.

The first three, in which the violin is the prevalent instrument, seem to follow the European traditions of the era, while the final three give equal prominence to the viola and cello.

The pieces show a certain modernity when compared to his other chamber works in the lack of basso continuo and use of simple sonata form, as well as a possible German influence in the imitative parts.

Performing the works is the acclaimed Quartetto Eleusi, one of Europe’s leading ensembles in the field of historically informed performance.

Spanning 4 CDs and presenting over three hours of absorbing listening, this charming release explores the musical output of Georg Böhm -- one of the most important German organists and composers around the turn of the 18th century, and who is considered to have had a major influence on the training of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The compilation focuses on the main nucleus of Böhm's output, his works for keyboard, and divides equally into those for harpsichord and/or organ. Of chief interest among the pieces for the former instrument are the 11 Suites, works that were probably written for domestic performance, and these are joined by a range of other genres also common to the period. From the French Overture style of the Prelude in F to the art of variation that is the Chaconne in G, Böhm's compositions abound in inventive detail, and we soon move onto the works for organ -- where the composer's most important contribution to North German keyboard music, that of the chorale partita, comes to the fore.

Performing all these works is Simone Stella, one of today's most celebrated early music specialists and whose discography already includes two recordings for Brilliant Classics (Buxtehude's Complete Organ Music 94422; Buxtehude's Complete Harpsichord Music 94312). The release offers a fascinating insight into what is perhaps a lesser-known facet of the Baroque repertoire, and is certain to delight keyboard music aficionados.

Recorded 22--24 September 2011, OnClassical Studio, Pove del Grappa (CDs 1 & 2); 11--14 May 2012, Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate, Padova (CDs 3 & 4).

Harpsichord:?after Johannes Ruckers, Antwerp 1638; organ:?Francesco Zanin 2006 (German Style).

Böhm developed the so-called "Chorale Partita", variations on the Lutheran chorale, in the form of a multi-movement partita. In this he was of great influence on the young Johann Sebastian Bach.

Simone Stella continues his survey of Pre-Bachian German keyboard works with the complete harpsichord and organ works of Georg Böhm (1661-1733). He is one of the leading harpsichordists and organists of Italy, his earlier issue of the complete keyboard works of Buxtehude received uniform praise in the international press: "Thoroughly imaginative and engaging" (Fanfare), "Gelungen und überzeugend" (Klassic.com)."

Includes extensive notes on the composer and the music (English and Italian).

Includes a biography of the artist.

Dividing his time in the 1830s between Paris and Berlin, renowned German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer was considered the father of the Grand Opéra thanks to his skilful combination of elements of both the German and Italian opera traditions. After a string of unsuccessful attempts at Singspiel, he finally hit the jackpot with his opera Il crociato in Egitto, and later became one of the most respected opera composers of the era. Robert le Diable was an immediate success after its premiere at the Paris Opéra in 1831 and brought Meyerbeer’s career to new heights. With a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Casimir Delavigne, it narrates the tale of Robert, determined to marry his sweetheart Isabelle, and the influence of his mysterious friend Bertrand, who is entrusted with a mission to possess Robert’s soul for the Devil. The original production was a lavish affair, setting a new record for the most amount of money ever spent on set and costume and thus catering for the expensive taste of the 19th‐century Parisian audience.

Meyerbeer used many combinations of instruments to convey different moods – the use of two orchestras to portray the deafening expanse of Hell, for example – and his innovative use of dramatic devices, such as chorus members singing into cardboard cones, would have delighted the 19th‐century audience. History has not looked kindly on Robert le Diable, which barely features in music history books published in the twentieth century. It is, however, beginning to enjoy something of a revival; taken from a live performance at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Salerno in 2012, this recording boasts a stellar cast, including Bryan Hymel in the title role and Alastair Miles as Bertrand. The esteemed opera maestro Daniel Oren conducts.

Antonio de Cabezón was the most important composer of Spain’s Golden Age, the 16th century. He served at the court of Charles V, and was the music teacher of his children with Isabella of Portugal.

Cabezón was a master of the keyboard (organ and spinet), and most of his works are instrumental, either solo keyboard or for ensembles of stringed instruments. Famous are his “Intabulations”, instrumental arrangements of famous vocal works by contemporaries like Josquin and Lassus.

A unique survey of an important era in the musical history, played by expert musicians, using period instruments: Claudio Astronio and his Harmonices Mundi. Excellent liner notes written by a Spanish musicologist.

A new and original INTEGRALE of Brilliant Classics!

Blind from childhood, Antonio de Cabezón (b.1510) was was appointed organist in the chapel of Queen Isabella at the age of 16, and in 1538, became músico de la cámara to her husband Charles V. After Isabella’s death he was appointed the musical tutor of Prince Philip and his sisters. Cabezón accompanied Philip on trips to Milan, Naples, Germany and the Netherlands between 1548 and 1551.

These tours would doubtless have given him exposure to a wide range of music performed by leading musicians of the period. His music reveals both cosmopolitanism and traits that have been identified as belonging distinctly to Spanish musical style or to a personal style. This complete recorded survey of his Obras de música para tecla arpa y vihuela represents one of the most remarkable, and celebrated collections of instrumental music of the sixteenth-century.

The collection divides by genre into instrumental elaborations of liturgical texts; intabulations and transcriptions of popular motets by composers such as Mouton and Josquin; and the famous and original tientos, prized for their combination of the composer’s intensity of expression with a good deal of variety and ingenuity. The performances on a variety of instruments and ensembles are masterminded by the Italian keyboard player and musicologist Claudio Astronio, whose musical enthusiasms range from early music to jazz and pop.

As was tradition in his family, Nicolai Rimsky‐Korsakov trained to be a naval cadet. He continued to compose throughout his years in service and was appointed Professor of Composition and Orchestration at the St Petersburg Conservatory, despite having an extremely limited knowledge of music theory. He is now remembered as one of the most influential Russian Nationalist composers of all time, and was an integral member of ‘The Five’. This disc brings together the great composer’s cantatas.

The Poem about Aleksey, the Man of God Op.20 originally appeared as a chorale in his opera The Maid of Pskov, and Rimsky‐Korsakov later created a separate work from it. The Song of Oleg the Wise Op.58 is written in a marital style, as befits the subject matter of the ruler and warrior Oleg; Switezianka Op.44, a cantata for two soloists, is of a similar style.

Also on the disc is From Homer Op.60, a tantalising glimpse of what might have been if Rimsky‐ Korsakov had continued to write his opera based on Homer’s Odyssey; the work is made up of the intended orchestral introduction and opening chorus of the opera. It depicts the storm that washes Odysseus onto the shores of Phaecia, and shows the composer’s talent for writing for female voices, including a trio (soprano, mezzo‐soprano, contralto) and a female chorus. The cantatas feature the Chorus of the Moscow Academy of Choral Art and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, as well as a host of accomplished soloists.

Recorded in 2001.

Contains extensive liner notes on the composer and works.

Includes liner notes written by Rodrigo’s daughter.

Additional notes and sung texts available online.

A welcome addition to the everexpanding Brilliant Classics’ Edition catalogue.

On this, the largest set ever compiled of one of the last century's most popular composers, we may not only renew our familiarity with the Concierto de Aranjuez, or perhaps with one of the other evermelodious guitar concertos that sustain his reputation with audiences, but also discover chamber, instrumental, choral and especially vocal works which testify to a creative imagination confident in the formation of its style but never satisfied with repetition, one which responded directly to poetic and lyric inspiration, and transformed its ideas with unfailing skill and respect for the idiom under consideration. The floating melismas that open the Cantico dedicated to St Francis of Assisi share a visionary aspect with the hymns on Qum'ran texts that are as far as can be imagined from the jolly folkloristic character of certain song‐cycles. There are plenty of homages to music of the past such as the baroqueries of the piano music, much of it written for his wife Cecilia, but one never forgets that Rodrigo was a creature of his age.

The performances gathered here are authoritative, many of them made as they were under the aegis of the Rodrigo Foundation, and many also exclusive to the Rodrigo Edition on Brilliant Classics. For anyone who loves Spanish music, anyone who wants to listen beyond the Concierto de Aranjuez, or anyone who delights in unfailingly tuneful music, this set will have a compelling appeal.

Giacomo Carissimi may not exactly be a household name, but during his time he was one of the most respected musicians in Europe. Born in 1605, he avoided becoming a cooper, unlike the rest of his family, cultivating his musical talent first as a singer, then organist, and eventually chapel master. He enjoyed a succession of positions at various religious institutions in his native Italy, including the church of the Jesuit Collegium Germanicum in Rome – which, under his guidance, was transformed into an international centre for music.

Indeed, Carissimi was a highly influential teacher whose fame reached far abroad, thanks to a number of his pupils (Krieger and Charpentier, among others). Now regarded as the grandfather of modern European music, he was essentially responsible for the forging of a new medium of ecclesiastical expression, that of the oratorio, and it is to his cultivation of this genre that this compilation is dedicated.

Carissimi would take an historia, or biblical episode, from the Old Testament, and using a range of expressive procedures transform the narrative into the form of a spiritual play – a sacred epic in which recitative, ariosos, arias and choruses follow each other without interruption. From the dramatic use of silence and chromaticism to dissonant chords and embellishments underlining an important word, Carissimi utilised a rich palette of expression in order to heighten the drama of the plot. In their performances of works such as The Last Judgement and David and Jonathan, Ensemble Seicentonovecento – who aim to recreate the conditions and characteristics of 17th‐century performance – breathe new life into this forgotten voice of the past.

They are astutely led by Flavio Colusso, who also directs a number of the composer’s sacred motets.

A masterpiece of Italian dramatic opera, ‘La Gioconda’ is Amilcare Ponchielli’s finest work. Throughout the tragic tale of love, deception and revenge, Ponchielli’s score wonderfully weaves together tender intimacy and fierce power as the events unfold. Upon discovering that married woman Laura is having an affair with her former fiancé Enzo, manipulative Barnaba persuades the lovers to elope, with the hope of ensnaring Gioconda - who Barnada knows is in love with Enzo - for himself. Gioconda, learning of the planned elopement, sets out to murder her rival but is shocked to discover her mother’s rosary around Laura’s neck…

The opera boasts a wealth of inspired music, including such famous arias and duets as ‘Suicidio!’ and ‘E un anatema!… L'amo come il fulgor creato’ as well as the ‘Dance of the Hours’, one of the most popular ballet excerpts in the repertoire and which was even given the Disney treatment in the 1940 film Fantasia.

The recording is taken from Stagione Lirica’s 2012 season at the Teatro Verdi in Salerno, Italy. In the title role is acclaimed Chinese soprano Hui He, who has been enthralling audiences all over the world since her debut in 2003. Supporting her are Luciana D’Intino and Carlo Striuli, and the whole ensemble is directed by Yishai Steckler.

The reissue of this unique collection of chamber music masterpieces, ranging from Baroque to 20-century, played by the legendary David Oistrakh, with his luminous, sonorous and deeply moving tone.

Partners include Sviatoslav Richter, Lev Oborin, Alexander Goldenweiser and Vladimir Yampolski. With his supreme technique, enormous precision in rhythm as well as extensive variety in sound, David Oistrakh is one of the most celebrated violinists of the 20th century.

This 10-CD release details some of his best chamber music recordings and is filled to the brim with first-rate performances. The compilation effectively documents the development of violin music, simultaneously revealing Oistrakh’s mastering of an extensive repertoire.

Beginning with J.S. Bach, who was one of the first composers to write for the instrument independently and whose works are given an overtly romantic appraisal by the Russian maestro, it also traverses a series of Classical compositions – including Mozart’s Sonata No.3 K306 and Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata Op.47. Most of the collection’s space, however, is taken up by a large assortment of 19th- and 20th-century music; this is undoubtedly where Oistrakh’s heart lies, and the violinist shows a strong commitment to pieces from his native country.

What is particularly evident from this release is that no matter how big or small, famous or little-known, each work is treated as a masterpiece. With largely forgotten names such as Catoire and Vladigerov sitting alongside some of the greatest composers in musical history, the compilation represents a musical feast that is not to be passed up.