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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Menahem Pressler in RecitalRecorded at the Cité de la Musique, Paris, March 2011
For more than 50 years, Menahem Pressler was the driving force of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio, giving 6.000 performances until the trio stopped concertizing in 2009. Menahem Pressler is now returning to a solo career. During this recital filmed at Paris’ Cité de la Musique 2011, Menahem Pressler plays two of the most imposing works in the piano repertoire: Beethoven’s penultimate sonata and Schubert’s last sonata which both require unusual emotional involvement from the performer. Menahem Pressler is the last representative of a pianistic tradition directly connected with the great German and French piano schools: he studied with several pupils of the illustrious Ferruccio Busoni but also received valuable advice from Robert Casadesus or Paul Loyonnet who opened the world of Ravel and Debussy to him. “Pressler’s ability to give all the voices prominence while simultaneously isolating the melody was amazing. His fingers still retain a youthful facility.” The Washington Post Picture format: 1080i 16:9 Sound formats: PCM Stereo Region code: all (worldwide) Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 88 mins “His technique may be somewhat dimmed, but the twinkle of his distinctive sound remains as fresh and beautiful as ever; so, too, his astute pointing of musical structure, and the sheer love with which he communicates these great works...Pierre-Martin Juban's straightforward, well-judged direction provides a fine match between style and subject.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | This is the dayMusic on royal occasions
This new album recollects and celebrates some of the choral music heard on royal occasions during the lifetime of HM Elizabeth II. The music chosen reflects the personal choices and commission by the Royal Family for weddings, funerals, and anniversaries. Featuring John Rutter’s celebratory royal wedding anthem This is the day, written for the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey in 2011. Newly orchestrated exclusively for this recording, it reminds us of the event that captivated the attention of the nation last year. The CD also includes a new arrangement for unaccompanied choir of the Londonderry Air to the text I would be true, and an orchestration of Schubert’s beautiful Psalm 23 - The Lord is my Shepherd by John Rutter for this recording. “Elin Manahan Thomas is impressive with her poise and limpidity...The Cambridge Singers, outstandingly fresh and communicative throughout under John Rutter's expert, energising direction, excel particularly in a superbly buoyant, incisive performance of the 'Choral Dances' from Britten's Gloriana...Of its type, this is a virtually unimproveable collection.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ***** “it's all beautifully sung. Elin Manahan Thomas performs Mozart's Laudate Dominum with effortless grace, whilst the Cambridge Singers are chameleon-like in their ability to take on different musical styles...Light, joyous, and beautifully performed, this is sacred choral easy listening of the highest standard.” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 16th May 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Amidst the ranks of the many male interpreters of Schubert's great song cycle, Brigitte Fassbaender set her own standard. Her recording shows the winter wanderings of the poetic protagonist as a drama with a wide variety of expressive nuance, from rebellion to resignation. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Arturo Toscanini: The Complete Collection
Barber, S: | Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 | Beethoven: | Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (complete) Eileen Farrell (soprano), Nan Merriman (mezzo), Jan Peerce (tenor), Norman Scott (bass-baritone) NBC Symphony Orchestra Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica' Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 Septet in E flat major, Op. 20 Egmont Overture, Op. 84 Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica' Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15 Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135 Fidelio, Op. 72 | Berlioz: | Harold en Italie, Op. 16 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17 (excerpts) | Brahms: | Symphonies Nos. 1-4 (Complete) Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 Hungarian Dances Tragic Overture, Op. 81 Variations on a theme by Haydn for orchestra, Op. 56a 'St Anthony Variations' Double Concerto for Violin & Cello in A minor, Op. 102 Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 52 Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 Serenade No. 2 in A Major, Op. 16 Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83 | Cherubini: | Symphony in D major | Debussy: | La Mer Images for orchestra: II. Ibéria Trois Nocturnes Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune | Dvorak: | Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 'From the New World' | Elgar: | Enigma Variations, Op. 36 | Franck, C: | Symphony in D minor | Gershwin: | An American in Paris, tone poem | Gluck: | Iphigénie en Aulide Overture Orfeo ed Euridice: Act Two | Grofe: | Grand Canyon Suite | Haydn: | Symphony No. 88 in G major Symphony No. 94 in G Major 'Surprise' Symphony No. 98 in B flat major Symphony No. 101 in D major 'The Clock' Symphony No. 99 in E flat major Sinfonia Concertante in B flat major, Op. 84, Hob. I/105 | Kodály: | Háry János Suite | Mendelssohn: | Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 107 'Reformation' Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 'Italian' A Midsummer Night's Dream - incidental music, Op. 61 Octet in E flat major, Op. 20 | Meyerbeer: | Les Patineurs | Mozart: | Symphony No. 35 in D major, K385 'Haffner' Bassoon Concerto in B flat major, K191 Divertimento No. 15 in B flat major, K287 Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, K543 Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550 Symphony No. 41 in C major, K551 'Jupiter' Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550 | Mozart, L: | Cassation in G 'Toy Symphony' | Mussorgsky: | Pictures at an Exhibition orch. Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition | Ponchielli: | Dance of the Hours (from La Gioconda) | Prokofiev: | Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 'Classical' | Ravel: | Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2 | Respighi: | Pines of Rome Roman Festivals Fountains of Rome | Saint-Saëns: | Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 'Organ Symphony' | Schubert: | Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D759 'Unfinished' Symphony No. 9 in C major, D944 'The Great' (two performances) Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D485 | Schumann: | Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 97 'Rhenish' | Shostakovich: | Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 'Leningrad' Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10 | Sibelius: | Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 Pohjola's Daughter, Op. 49 Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22: The Swan of Tuonela (No. 2) Finlandia, Op. 26 | Smetana: | Má Vlast: Vltava | Strauss, J, II: | An der schönen, blauen Donau, Op. 314 Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Op. 214 | Strauss, R: | Don Quixote, Op. 35 Tod und Verklärung, Op. 24 Don Juan, Op. 20 Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 | Stravinsky: | Petrushka | Tchaikovsky: | Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 'Pathétique' The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a Manfred Symphony, Op. 58 Romeo & Juliet - Fantasy Overture Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 | Wagner: | Siegfried Idyll Siegfried Idyll Götterdämmerung: excerpts | Weber: | Invitation to the Dance, Op. 65 |
84 CDs + 1 DVD Arturo Toscanini was the most celebrated conductor of his time, considered by many to be the greatest conductor of the twentieth century. He revolutionized musical interpretation by frequently insisting that his orchestras play the music exactly as written, a highly unusual practice in the nineteenth century, when Toscanini began his career. He conducted the world premieres of such operas as Puccini's "La Boheme" and "Turandot", and Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci". This set offers a reissue of RCA’s 1992 compendium that encompassed all the recordings that Toscanini made with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and NBC Symphony Orchestra. It also features 2 CDs of previously unreleased recordings with the BBC Symphony from the 1930s that were not included in the 1992 edition. From the Maestro’s acoustic recordings of 1920-21 with La Scala orchestra to his 1954 retirement, this collection spans all the years in which Toscanini’s career veered away from the opera house as it moved (after his 1937 Salzburg Festival appearances) exclusively to the concert hall. As with his NBC broadcasts and recordings, these BBC and Philadelphia accounts disprove the specious notion that Toscanini’s interpretation was always the same from one performance of a given work to the next. The BBC recordings have special value for occurring in Queen’s Hall, acoustically London’s finest concert venue, which was sadly destroyed in World War II bombings. Particularly interesting are three NBC performances of Beethoven’s Eroica symphony, two from broadcasts (October 28, 1939 and December 6, 1953, the third from a 1949 Carnegie Hall recording session). As heard in a 78-rpm RCA set, the 1939 performance was a sonic disaster in its dry, cramped, dynamically limited acoustic. As experienced here in a transfer made from NBC reference discs, it suggests a clean, vivid LP from the mid 1950’s. With each performance being somewhat different from the other, they serve as a reminder of how Toscanini was invariably rethinking his approach to a particular work. The complete recordings made for RCA by Arturo Toscanini reissued in a beautiful new 84 CD + DVD box set, with extra previously unissued bonus materials added. All recordings appear in latest re-mastered versions. Includes 2 CDs of newly released recordings, originally made for HMV with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Hardcover book with liner notes by Toscanini biographers Mortimer F. Frank and Michael Stegemann and complete RCA discography. Bonus DVD “The Maestro”. 84 CDs + 1 DVD in double walled cardboard sleeves in lift off cap box, hardcover book with 2 essays & RCA discography.
Extra postage costs:
As this set is very heavy (around 4.5kg) we unfortunately need to charge some extra postage costs to certain countries.
UK and most of Western Europe: No extra charges - Normal rates apply.
Rest of World: Varies by country. Please contact us for further details. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Schubert: Symphony No. 3 & Unfinished Symphony
Kammerakademie Potsdam, Antonello Manacorda “Top-notch period playing from this youthful German ensemble...They display real zest and grace, bringing out Rossinian charm in the earlier work and a burnished incisiveness in the Unfinished.” Classical Music, August 2012 **** “If you like early Schubert lean of tone and impetuous of spirit, you should enjoy the Potsdam Kammerakademie in this most sportive of his symphonies...But with alert woodwind (always clearly audible in the tuttis) and scything valveless brass pitted against a small string band of around 20, the Potsdamers vividly catch the music's coursing youthful energy.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Schubert: String Quartets 'Rosamunde' & 'Death and the Maiden'
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| |  | Schubert: Lieder
Schubert: | Der Wanderer an den Mond D870 (Seidl) with Gerald Moore (piano) Über Wildemann D884 (Ernst Schulze) with Gerald Moore (piano) Der Einsame, D800 with Gerald Moore (piano) Auflösung, D807 with Gerald Moore (piano) Der Kreuzzug D932 (Leitner) with Gerald Moore (piano) Totengräbers Heimwehe D842 (Craigher) with Gerald Moore (piano) Nachtviolen D752 (Mayrhofer) with Gerald Moore (piano) Frühlingssehnsucht, D 957 No. 3 with Gerald Moore (piano) Geheimes, D719 (Goethe) with Gerald Moore (piano) Rastlose Liebe, D138 with Gerald Moore (piano) Liebesbotschaft, D957 No.1 with Gerald Moore (piano) Abschied, D 957 No. 7 with Gerald Moore (piano) Dem Unendlichen, D291 (Klopstock) with Gerald Moore (piano) Die Sterne, D939 (Leitner) with Gerald Moore (piano) An die Musik D547 with Gerald Moore (piano) Wehmut, D772 (Collin) with Gerald Moore (piano) Kriegers Ahnung D 957, No. 2 with Gerald Moore (piano) Der Zwerg, D771 (Collin) with Gerald Moore (piano) Der Wanderer, D489 with Gerald Moore (piano) Frühlingsglaube, D686 with Gerald Moore (piano) Die Taubenpost, D965A (D957 No. 14) with Gerald Moore (piano) An Sylvia, D891 with Gerald Moore (piano) Im Frühling, D882 with Gerald Moore (piano) Auf der Bruck, D853 with Gerald Moore (piano) Gruppe aus dem Tartarus, second version, D583 (Schiller) with Karl Engel (piano) Die Gotter Griechenlands D677 (Schiller) with Karl Engel (piano) Die Entwartung, D159 (Schiller) with Karl Engel (piano) Sehnsucht, D52 with Karl Engel (piano) Der Taucher, D77 with Karl Engel (piano) Ständchen 'Leise flehen meine Lieder', D957 No. 4 with Gerald Moore (piano) Alinde, D904 with Gerald Moore (piano) Nähe des Geliebten, D162 with Gerald Moore (piano) Normans Gesang D846 (Scott, Storck) with Gerald Moore (piano) In Der Ferne, D957 No. 6 with Gerald Moore (piano) Aufenthalt D957 No. 5 with Gerald Moore (piano) Lied des gefangenen Jägers D843 (1825) (Scott/Storck) with Gerald Moore (piano) Greisengesang, D778 with Gerald Moore (piano) Erlkönig, D328 with Gerald Moore (piano) Nachtstück, D672 (Mayrhofer) with Gerald Moore (piano) |
“What a lesson for the blasé listener it is to find these wonderful pieces come up with all their pristine freshness when approached as these artists approach them … Here, at the lowest estimate, is the young person’s entrée to the lasting joys of German literature, to say nothing of the paradise of Lieder.” Gramophone Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Yuja Wang: Fantasia
Albéniz: | Triana (from Iberia, book 2) | Chopin: | Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 | Dukas: | The Sorcerer's Apprentice arranged by Victor Staub | Gluck: | Orfeo ed Euridice: Mélodie arranged by Sgambati | Horovitz: | Variations On A Theme From Bizet's Carmen | Rachmaninov: | Étude-Tableau, Op. 39 No. 6 in A minor Étude-Tableau, Op. 39 No. 4 in B minor Elegie, Op. 3 No. 1 Étude-Tableau, Op. 39 No. 5 in E flat minor | Saint-Saëns: | Danse macabre, Op. 40 arranged by Franz Liszt & Vladimir Horowitz | Scarlatti, D: | Keyboard Sonata K455 in G major | Schubert: | Gretchen am Spinnrade, D118 arranged by Franz Liszt | Scriabin: | Prelude, Op. 11 No. 11 in B major Prelude, Op. 13 No. 6 in B minor Prelude, Op. 11 No. 12 in G sharp minor Étude Op. 8 No. 9 in G sharp minor Poème in F sharp major, Op. 32 No. 1 | Strauss, J, II: | Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Op. 214 arranged by György Cziffra |
The Yuja Wang album that everyone has been waiting for wows with musical miniatures that are short, sweet, and huge in impact. These encore pieces by Scriabin, Gluck, Rachmaninov, Chopin and others will enthrall Yuja Wang’s fans with challenging technical demands and the bravura precision of her execution. The variety of styles – which includes neo-Classical, Impressionist, Romantic, jazz - in addition to the quality of the arrangements of pieces that are adaptations, provides a welcome and yet unique listening experience. “Time and again Wang shows us why she’s become the world’s darling, whether shading dynamics poetically in a morsel of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, clarifying the multiple layers in Albéniz’s Triana, or romping with the preposterous glitter of Horowitz’s Carmen Variations.” The Times, 23rd March 2012 **** “A disc of encores needs a compelling executant to justify itself, but this young pianist’s technique is quietly transcendent, her musicianship zestful and profound. The sequence itself is satisfying.” Sunday Times, 1st April 2012 “In the Saint-Saens-Horowitz Danse macabre Wang storms the heights and her playing is of an unquenchable virtuosity. She herself declares all these pieces to be among her most cherished encores, and she has been superbly recorded in them.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2012 “No point trying to fault anything: the lightness and flexibility of her touch takes the breath away, and her sound is at every moment transparently controlled, each piece displaying insight and affection...Given that these bonnes bouches were never designed to be consumed in bulk, this young virtuoso has pulled off a remarkable feat.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 *****  BBC Music Magazine
Instrumental Choice - June 2012 |
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| |  | Schubert Lieder Volume 6: Schwanengesang & Sonata D960
Matthias Goerne continues his Schubert survey that has already established him as one of the most gifted exponents of the song repertoire. Goerne does not merely ‘interpret' Schubert, he 'lives' each song and invites the listener to share this poetry and musical intimacy. This sixth volume also features an unforgettable performance of Schubert's last piano sonata by one of the baritone's favourite partners, Christoph Eschenbach. Offered on a free bonus CD, this ‘second swansong' reveals hitherto unexplored resonances under his expert fingers. “Some of those songs – Der Atlas, Der Doppelgänger – become exercises in gothic horror, others are slowed down to the point of inertia, though the group of Rellstab settings is generally buoyant and beautifully nuanced.” The Guardian, 5th April 2012 *** “This new Schwanengesang is characteristically thoughtful and probing: we hear Schubert’s lyrical heartbeat at its most artless and unaffected, outstandingly so in the ghostly stillnesses of “Die Stadt” and “Der Doppelgänger”… The second CD is devoted to one of Schubert’s last piano sonatas, to which Eschenbach brings classical grace and refinement, never seeking to milk the Romantic doom and gloom.” Financial Times, 21st April 2012 “Their phrasing is exquisite throughout, with 'Die Taubenpost' sounding particularly pliant...Yet some of the Heine settings lack requisite weirdness...But for the sheer beauty and suppleness of voice, Goerne remains unbeatable.” Entartetemusik, May 2012 “The distinctive mellow roundness of Goerne's timbre, at once deep and soft-grained, and his care for a true, 'bound' legato are pleasures in themselves. He and the ever-fastidious Eschenbach invariably allow you to savour the sheer beauty of Schubert's melodic lines.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 “Goerne is showing an increasing tendency to capitalise on what he does best, exploiting his superb breath control in singing of hushed and seamless legato...[He] has both the breath control and the will to give full time and space to the long, long last lines of 'In die Ferne', and to bring to them a sense of dark despair as well as longing. He is also able and willing to dare extremes of pacing and dynamics in a spectral 'Ihr Bild'.” BBC Music Magazine ***** “sung with unfailing beauty and sensitivity, at speeds that are on the slow side and in a manner that’s more than usually veiled with reserve and regret. The air of contemplation also pervades Eschenbach’s tonally gorgeous performance of the late, great Sonata in B flat” Irish Times, 13th July 2012 “Goerne has his own ideas about the music and puts them forth with confidence and persuasion. That, in the end, is what sells this recording…A fine disc.” Audiophile Audition, 5th September 2012 BBC Music Magazine Choral & Song Choice - July 2012 |
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| |  | Schubert: Piano Sonatas Volume 1
Michelangelo Carbonara (Piano Gran Coda Yamaha CFIII) Michelangelo Carbonara is one of the most interesting and talented young Italian pianists. A student of the famous Imola Piano School he benefited from the advice of such luminaries as Dmitri Bashkirov, Leon Fleischer, Alicia de Larrocha, Menahem Pressler and Aldo Ciccolini. His recordings of the complete piano music of Ravel, Scarlatti Sonatas and piano music by Nino Rota brought him great critical acclaim in the international press. This CD for Piano Classics presents him in music very close to his heart, the piano sonatas by Franz Schubert (he is prize winner of the Schubert International Piano Competition in Dortmund), from the early joyful sonata in E major, through the lyrical A major D664 to the grim A minor sonata D845. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Gramophone Magazine
