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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Soler - Sonatas for Harpsichord Volume 10
| | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Soler - Sonatas for Harpsichord Volume 11
| | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Soler - Sonatas for Harpsichord Volume 12
| | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Soler - Sonatas for Harpsichord Volume 13
“If he lacked the audacious imagination of his teacher, Scarlatti, there are delights to be found among Soler's harpsichord sonatas. Gilbert Rowland, playing a resonant French harpsichord, is an eloquent advocate for this predominantly cheerful repertoire.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2007 **** | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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“Songs of the Sea - which includes the long-popular 'Drake's Drum' and 'The Old Superb' - and the later, texturally richer and more thoughtful Songs of the Fleet are superb baritone vehicles for Gerald Finley… this new Chandos SACD… has impressive presence.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2006 **** “Two of Stanford's catchiest and most popular settings frame his 1904 Songs ofthe Sea for baritone, male chorus and orchestra: both 'Drake's Drum' and 'The Old Superb' are instantly memorable and have alone justly secured the work's survival. But there's some terrific music tucked away in the three remaining numbers, not least the marvellously serene 'Homeward Bound' with its burnished orchestral palette (Stanford's skilful scoring gives enormous pleasure throughout, in fact), rapt eloquence (nowhere more potent than at the line 'Swiftly the great ship glides') and adventurous harmonic scope.
Six years later, Stanford returned to Henry Newbolt's maritime verse to pen a more reflective sequel entitled Songs of the Fleet. Its spacious centrepiece, 'The Middle Watch', evokes a dusky mystery and sense of awe, while the opening 'Sailing at Dawn' is a gloriously assured and noble essay worthy of Elgar himself...Not so immediately appealing is the 1886 choral ballad The Revenge, one of the composer's biggest early successes. Tennyson's poem depicts how Sir Richard Grenville and his Devonian crew aboard Revenge took on – and inflicted terrible damage upon – the Spanish fleet off the Azores in 1591 (one ship against 53 – believe it or not!).
Stanford's breezy setting proved a hit with Victorian choral societies up and down the land.
Though no forgotten masterpiece, it's most ably served by Hickox and company. Throw in an admirable booklet-essay by Jeremy Dibble and ripe, airy sound from Chandos, and it certainly adds up to a hearty recommendation.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “…Gerald Finley's firmly focused, ringing tone is a joy. He doesn't possess the salty tang of Benjamin Luxon (a true sea-dog if ever I heard one), but the voice is steadier and he sings with unfailing ardour, intelligence and sensitivity. Hickox and his BBC Welsh forces provide exemplary support.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2006 | | | (also available to download from $10.75) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | New Year's Concert 2007Once again, the program is a tasteful mixture of well-known classics and New Year´s Concert premieres, which include Joseph Strauss´s 'Irenen'-Polka and the valse 'Flattergeister' as well as Johann Strauss' 'Einzugs-Galopp'
Hellmesberger: | Elfenreigen Leichtfüssig | Strauss, J, I: | Einzugs-Galopp, Op. 35 Erinnerung an Ernst oder Der Carneval in Venedig, Op. 126 Furioso-Galopp nach Liszt's Motiven, Op. 114 Radetsky March, Op. 228 | Strauss, J, II: | Zivio! - Marsch, Op. 456 Waldmeister: overture Wo die Zitronen blühen, Op. 364 An der schönen, blauen Donau, Op. 314 | Strauss, Josef: | Flattergeister Moulinet-Polka Delirien Waltz, Op. 212 Irenen-Polka, Op. 113 Matrosen-Polka Dynamiden - Waltz Op. 173 |
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Gwyneth Jones (Marschallin), Brigitte Fassbaender (Octavian), Lucia Popp (Sophie), Manfred Jungwirth (Baron Ochs), Benno Kusche (Faninal), Francisco Araiza (Italian Singer), Anneliese Waas (Marianne Leitmetzerin), David Thaw (Valzacchi), Gudrun Wewezow (Annina), Albrecht Peter (Polizeikommissar) Orchester der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Carlos Kleiber “Although it is 27 years old, this unforgettable performance has lost nothing of its power to delight eye and ear, and is in almost every way superior to Carlos Kleiber's 1994 remake in Vienna. Schenk's direction is finely judged, strong in detail, in Jürgen Rose's handsome, traditional sets.
Eschewing fashionable modernities, its has stood the test of time.
Kleiber's reading has that essential mix of warmth and élan the score demands, and a lightness of touch allied to controlled but never effusive sentiment. The Bavarian State Opera Orchestra plays with the brio and confidence gained from long experience of Kleiber's impulsive ways. The shots of the conductor in the pit during the preludes to Acts 1 and 3 show how incisive his beat can be and how much he actually enjoyed conducting the piece.
The instinctive interaction of the principal singers is another indication of the rapport achieved in this wonderful staging. The intimacy of the Act 2 dialogues between the Marschallin and Octavian and between Sophie and Octavian, and the interplay among the three in the closing scene of Act 3, is rewarding and deeply moving.
In the name part, Fassbaender acts the ardent, impetuous youth to the life, sensual with the Marschallin in Act 1, lovestruck with Sophie in Act 2 and wittily amusing in the Mariandl disguise, the eyes conveying all the character's changes of mood. Nothing is exaggerated, everything rings true in an ideal assumption.
Popp conveys all the shy charm called for in the Silver Rose scene, indignation at Ochs's boorish behaviour, and in Act 3 confusion as her emotions are torn apart; she sings with the right blend of purity and sensuousness. Dame Gwyneth, in one of her best roles, looks appealing and girlish in Act 1, and then becomes all dignified authority and resignation in Act 3. She is right inside the role, and suggests all the heartbreak at the end, adapting her large voice throughout to the work's conversational style. Jungwirth is a ripely experienced, echt Viennese Ochs, for the most part avoiding excessive boorishness. Kusche is a tetchy old Faninal, Araiza a mellifluous Italian Tenor.
The smaller parts are taken by long-serving members of the Munich company.
The picture comes up fresh on DVD and the sound is mostly first-rate, as is the video direction.
This is a must-buy.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Kleiber's conducting is spacious, transparent and warm. Brigitte Fassbaender is ideal as Octavian, Gwyneth Jones a moving Marschallin, Lucia Popp a sweet-voiced if mature Sophie, and Manfred Jungwirth a dignified but funny Ochs.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2005 “Kleiber gets some ravishing sounds from the Vienna Philharmonic, and his reading of the score is as Straussian and as perfect as you are likely to encounter in this world. The sound is very natural and lifelike” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | R.Strauss - Vier letzte Lieder and Other Lieder
“[Norman is] grand, impassioned, noble, dignified, unmannered in this unforgettable interpretation” Gramophone Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Penguin Guide
Gramophone Awards 2006
Gramophone Magazine
