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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Strauss: Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten
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| |  | R. Strauss: Music for Wind Instruments
Richard Strauss’s many works for various combinations of wind instruments have been somewhat neglected. This CD includes two early pieces, the Suite and Serenade together with a much later Sonatina. The members of Octophorus (founded in 1984), play on period instruments or copies or modern instruments depending on the repertoire. | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Rarities, Chamber Musical
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| |  | R. Strauss: Music for Wind Ensemble
Richard Strauss is best known for his large-scale orchestral music, and for operatic and vocal works, but he wrote a large amount of chamber music including works for wind-instrument ensemble. This outstanding collection of Richard Strauss’ works for wind instruments spans the whole of his creative career. The Serenade in E flat and Suite in B flat, both for thirteen wind instruments, were written in his late teens, and are full of the joy and vigour of youth. The Serenade is Mozartian in derivation, yet hints at the romantic melodies and the lush Straussian textures to come. The more ambitious Suite is heavily influenced by Brahms, with a tender Romanze, and a finale which ends in a full-bodied fugue. His three major works for wind instruments were composed after a gap of sixty years. The Sonatina No.1 in F and the Symphony for Wind Instruments in E flat (also called Sonatina No.2) are rich in invention, featuring the melody and texture of his maturity, yet somehow retaining the freshness of his early writing. The delightful Oboe Concerto has a lovely, warm lyrical theme, and a spirited finale. The classic performances of these works featured here were recorded in the early seventies, and most are given by the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, conducted by the distinguished Dutch conductor Edo de Waart. The Oboe Concerto is performed by the celebrated Swiss oboist Heinz Holliger, with the New Philharmonia Orchestra, also under Edo de Waart. “Edo de Waart and this team of youthful Netherlanders manage to secure the utmost clarity and delicacy in performance. Tonal nuance, phrasing, ensemble and balance alike are excellent, and the recording engineers
have achieved forwardness and richness of tone without excessive weight…the performance is superlative: altogether, this is an outstanding issue.” Gramophone Magazine | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Richard Strauss: Oboe Concerto
French oboist Francois Leleux presents a stunning recording of works by Richard Strauss, including his oboe concerto, one of the finest written for the instrument, and two chamber works, which he performs with his own ensemble, the Paris Bastille Ensemble. Joining Leleux on the concerto recording is the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Harding, one of our greatest young conductors. The album will be serviced to all classical media, and a promotional video for the album is being delivered to youtube and other relevant portals. Leleux’s previous Sony recordings have garnered fantastic critical acclaim, securing him as one of the greatest oboeists of his generation: “impeccable technique” BBC Music Magazine “a performer of …dexterity, charm and expressive power…” The Guardian “Equally inspired by Mozart are the much earlier wind ensemble pieces from the beginning of Strauss's career...has a Mozartian lightness and grace, captured here by François Leleux in playing that is not overpressured but lyrical and rhapsodically detailed.” The Observer, 31st October 2010 “[Leleux's] performance of the Oboe Concerto, with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony, is one of the finest on disc...Leleux's phrasing...rapturous yet infinitely sad, also reminds us that this is a work written in the aftermath of the second world war...Beautiful and hugely recommended.” The Guardian, 11th November 2010 **** “Strauss’s late Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra is one of the most perfect works...In Leleux, a player to rank beside Holliger and Nicholas Daniel, it finds an ideal exponent, full-toned and intellectually agile; and, in Harding, a conductor alert to every rhythmic nuance, and willing to indulge touching little string portamenti.” Sunday Times, 12th December 2010 *** “All the music is beautifully played here, with Francois Leleux leading the Ensemble Paris-Bastille spontaneously and elegantly. The Oboe Concerto is a live recording but all three works enjoy an ideal acoustic and are beautifully balanced.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2011 “Leleux's playing...captures the music's underlying calm serenity to near-perfection...Daniel Harding conducts a fine orchestral accompaniment, and the performances of the wind works nicely match the music's freshness.” Classic FM Magazine, February 2011 **** “Leleux's performance is marvellous. He draws the creamiest tone from his Marigaux instrument...I don't think I've heard as convincing a performance as this.” International Record Review, January 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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| |  | Richard Strauss - Complete Works for Wind Ensemble
Royal Academy of Music Symphonic Wind, Keith Bragg “the standard is, as we have come to expect, extraordinarily high” Evening Standard, January 2004 “Strauss wrote his Serenade in E flat for 13 instruments in 1881, when he was only 17. It is essentially Mozartian in derivation, yet immediately the ear registers the romantic swing of the melodies and the lusher textures which make the Straussian imprint. Already the young composer's textural blending is masterly, while the sonorities anticipate the future.
The four-movement Suite in B flat (also for 13 instruments) is more diverse and further removed from Mozart, with a tender Romanze (with rich horns), a good-natured Gavotte and a finale which begins in mock darkness before setting off into a jolly, robust fugue.
The two major works date from his last years and show him in full maturity. Extra instruments were added to the Symphony in F – a C clarinet, basset-horn and bass clarinet – and the full sonority is quite luscious, the lines even more melodically complex. The Symphony in E flat dates from 1945 and on its title-page the composer wrote 'To the divine Mozart at the end of a life full of gratitude'. It seems to take off from where the previous symphony finished, the opening glowingly animated and vivacious and – as played here – with exuberant forward thrust.
The delicate Andantino has appealing classical grace and the Minuet seems good-naturedly bucolic, yet produces an engaging tune for the horns, taken up by the solo clarinet. The finale quotes from Götterdämerung but spirits soon lift; the allegro sets off with light-hearted lyricism, with swiftly intertwining woodwind, and the music gathers force and momentum to reach its spectacular, life-asserting coda.
” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Strauss's wonderful wind works delivered by a polished Academy band… It's a magnificent performance, but all four works here are superbly and spontaneously played by eager musicians from the Royal Academy of Music who provide wonderful
blending and a superbly polished, professional ensemble under their fine conductor, Keith Bragg. This new set certainly trumps its rivals.” Gramophone Magazine | | | (also available to download from $21.25) | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Richard Strauss: KlavierwerkeOriginals and Transcriptions for Piano
Strauss, R: | Ständchen, Op. 17 No. 2 Heimkehr, Op. 15 No. 5 Freundliche Vision, Op. 48 No. 1 Winterweihe, Op. 48 No. 4 Schlechtes Wetter, Op. 69 No. 5 Gavotte for Piano Morgen, Op. 27 No. 4 Ich trage meine Minne, Op. 32 No. 1 Du meines Herzens Krönelein, Op. 21 No. 2 Serenade in E flat major for Winds, Op. 7 Stimmungsbilder Op. 9 Der Rosenkavalier: Waltzes |
Piano transcriptions and arrangements by Richard Strauss, Walter Gieseking, Max Reger, Otto Singer. | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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| |  | Richard Strauss - Wind Music, Volume 2
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| |  | Janacek, Strauss and Rimsky-Korsakov: Chamber Works
Franz Holetschek (piano), Roland Raupenstrauch (piano), Hans Recnicek (flute), Leopold Wlach (clarinet), Karl Oehlberger (bassoon), Gottfried von Freiberg (horn) Vienna Philharmonic Wind Group, The Barylli Quartet | |
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