Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

After his acclaimed recording of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, for Onyx Classics, and current Gramophone CD of the Month [on Chandos], James Ehnes once again collaborates with Vladimir Ashkenazy for a Tchaikovsky programme, recorded live in Sydney. This CD contains Tchaikovsky’s complete works for violin and orchestra, plus a delightful bonus of the 'Souvenir d’un lieu cher' accompanied by Ashkenazy on piano.

Leontyne Price is simply one of the best sopranos of all time. Hailed as the “Stradivarius of singers” she had a unique, unmistakable and unforgettable voice which graced the stage of the Met an astonishing 164 times throughout her career.

The Leontyne Price catalogue is divided into two “Complete Collections”; Song and Spiritual Albums and Operatic Recital Albums. These collections are housed in original LP design cardboard slipcases and presented in a hardback boxset.

Four of Tchaikovsky’s most popular orchestral works make their appearances here in historic Decca and Philips recordings appearing internationally on CD for the first time. Most travellers to Italy content themselves with writing postcards. Tchaikovsky, on the other hand, wrote a popular symphonic work. His Capriccio italien was inspired by impressions made upon the composer during a three-month stay in Rome during the winter of 1879–80. This colourful and exciting work was first heard at the end of 1880, and right from the start, it was a popular success. Tchaikovsky prepared a suite of excerpts for concert performance even before The Nutcracker was completed. The Russian musicologist Boris Asafyev perceptively called this suite a ‘symphony about childhood’. Indeed, among Tchaikovsky’s major works, it is notable for its lack of fatalism and hysteria. These two joyous pieces encase two of Tchaikovsky’s greatest tone poems about star-crossed lovers. Its opening depicts the terrifying panorama of the second circle of Hell, Francesca da Rimini tells the story of Paolo and Francesca, condemned to damnation for a kiss. Shakespeare also found a home on Tchaikovsky’s proverbial bedside table. Many composers have found inspiration in the Bard’s famous ‘star-cross’d’ lovers. Tchaikovsky counted his contribution to this genre, the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, among his very best works.

The Sussex-born conductor Anthony Collins left a treasured legacy for Decca, including the symphonies and selected tone poems by Sibelius. The Dutchman Eduard van Beinum was revered by orchestras for his generosity of spirit and for a time conducted both ‘his’ Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as well as the London Philharmonic simultaneously.

On this new Naïve recording, award-winning French violinist Laurent Korcia joins conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège in a performance of the Concertos of Tchaikovsky and Korngold. Both are written in the key of D major, and both bear the same opus number, 35.

French violinist Laurent Korcia studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, and since receiving a Premier Prix at the end of his time there, has won the Paganini Competition in Genoa, a Grand Prix at the Jacques Thibaud Competition, the Premier Grand Prix at the international Zino Francescatti Competition and a scholarship from the Young Concert Artists Trust in London. In 2002, he was awarded the Victoires de la Musique as instrumental soloist of the year in France and was made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Laurent Korcia performs regularly with conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Emmanuel Krivine, Kurt Masur, Michel Plasson, Tugan Sokhiev, Yan-Pascal Tortelier, and Walter Weller. He includes solo violin recitals in his concert repertoire, with programmes ranging from Bach to contemporary music.

Apart from his recordings for Naïve which include Danses/Double Jeux (V5133) and a CD devoted to the music of Bartók (V4991), Laurent Korcia has also released albums for RCA, Naxos, and EMI (the top-selling album ‘Cinema’).

Following three highly praised recordings of Russian orchestral music (V5068, V5073, and V5256), this is the latest recording made for Naïve from the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and its exciting young conductor Tugan Sokhiev. It pairs two more great Russian masterpieces, Shostakovich’s effervescent Festive Overture, and one of Tchaikovsky’s best-loved symphonies, No. 5 in E minor.

After spending three years as its principal guest conductor and artistic adviser, Tugan Sokhiev became music director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in 2008. Since then their first three discs for Naïve have received exceptional reviews, and they have performed many critically acclaimed concerts across Europe and Asia. Tugan Sokhiev has just been named music director designate of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and will take up his new role at the start of the 2012-13 season.

This performance was recorded in Vienna in 1955.

This CD, which includes several first recordings of music by Kastalski, Izvekov & others, draws upon the rich treasury of 19th- & 20th-century liturgical hymnography and carols of the Nativity Feast, which were suppressed during the tragic events of the 20th century and which have only come to light in recent years.

This title was released for the first time in 2006.

Released to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Michael Rabin’s death on 19th January 1972 this collection brings together his finest recordings on EMI Classics in one comprehensive 6CD set.

Rabin was widely regarded as the finest virtuoso violinist of his generation and despite dying at the young age of 36 after suffering with a neurological illness his fame continues long after his death.

He was critically acclaimed for his performances and recordings of Paganini and included in the set are Rabin’s two recorded versions of the Paganini Violin Concerto No.1 in D Major Op. 6 from 1956 and 1960. He famously performed this work at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitri Mitropolous at the age of 15 in November 1951. The full 24 Paganini Caprices for Solo Violin are also included in the set.

Displaying technical mastery with a maturity of interpretation that belied his years, Rabin’s bel canto playing style is shown in full force in this collection with excellent recordings of Bach, Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Debussy and Bruch.

This collection offers the listener a wonderful selection of violin repertoire with exquisite playing sure to delight any fan of the instrument.