All recordingsPrices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Yuri Temirkanov conducts Ravel & Stravinsky
Contrasting pieces by two masters of orchestral composition, these live performances, from 2009, capture the energy and movement of three much-loved balletic works; Ravel's intricate vignettes of childrens' stories in 'Mother Goose' and symphonic poem 'La valse', and Stravinsky's epoch-defining 'Rite of Spring'. One of the oldest professional orchestras in Russia, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra can trace its lineage back to 1882 and its formation by Tsar Alexander III. In a 25-year collaboration, Yuri Temirkanov has been the orchestra's principal conductor since 1988. | 
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Berlioz: Symphonie fantastiqueRecorded 1957-1959
After a highly successful debut with the London Symphony Orchestra in December 1927, John Barbirolli became the youngest ever conductor to direct a Royal Philharmonic Society concert – he was 29. He chose Debussy’s La Mer, which had not been played in London for ten years. The orchestra needed more time on the unfamiliar score, so Barbirolli paid for an extra rehearsal out of his own pocket; the cost was almost as much as his fee for the whole concert. Barbirolli continued to serve French music with care and devotion for the rest of his life. At his last concert with the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, in May 1970, he conducted Ravel’s Mother Goose suite. The Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz became a central work in Barbirolli’s repertoire. He conducted it at two important events in the Hallé’s history – the first concert given in the new Free Trade Hall, Manchester in 1951 and then two years later he conducted the work at the Hallé’s first ever Prom concert. Barbirolli’s classic recording of Symphonie fantastique is now restored to the catalogue along side three pieces from Le Damnation de Faust. A bonus track includes a rehearsal sequence (Menuet des follets) from this recording session. |
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe, La Valse & Bolero
This collection brings together all the ballets by the two so-called Impressionistic composers, Ravel and Debussy, in recordings by Bernard Haitink. Ravel’s masterpiece is the three act ballet Daphnis et Chloé, commissioned by Diaghilev, with Nijinsky dancing the lead role. Also included are La Valse, the orchestral version of Ma mère l'oye (Mother Goose) and two works inspired by Spain, Alborada del gracioso and Boléro – a work Ravel famously described as a “piece for orchestra without music”. Debussy is represented by two masterpieces from both ends of his career: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, a turning point in the history of music that ushered in the modern harmonies of the 20th century, and converted into a sensational ballet by Nijinsky (L'après-midi d'un faune); Jeux was the composer’s last orchestral work and premiered just two weeks before The Rite of Spring. | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Bolero - The Best of Ravel
Ravel: | Boléro Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan Jeux d'eau Martha Argerich (piano) Alborada del gracioso (orchestral version) London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado Ma Mère l'Oye: excerpts Martha Argerich, Mikhail Pletnev (pianos) Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2 Boston Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado Tzigane Augustin Dumay (violin), Maria Joao Pires (piano) Piano Concerto in G major: Adagio assai Martha Argerich (piano) London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado Le Tombeau de Couperin: Toccata Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano) La Valse Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa Gaspard de la nuit: Ondine Ivo Pogorelich (piano) Pavane pour une infante défunte Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini Rapsodie Espagnole Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan Berceuse sur le nom de Fauré Augustin Dumay (violin), Maria Joao Pires (piano) Introduction & Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet Osian Ellis (harp) Melos Ensemble Violin Sonata in G major: 2. Blues Shlomo Mintz (violin), Yefim Bronfman (piano) Piano Concerto in D major (for the left hand) Claudio Abbado |
The best of Ravel, Ravel's greatest hits - they're all here on 2 CDs packed to the brim, containing all of Ravel's most memorable tunes. Inevitably, the focus is on the immortal Bolero, beloved of the film industry. Ravel famously considered it to be his masterpiece, but claimed it had no music in it - an opinion with which many would take leave to disagree. La Valse extends the theme of dance, the Rhapsodie espagnole the theme of Spanishry and exoticism, while the compilation ends with a flavour of jazz as exemplified in the Blues movement from the Violin Sonata and the Concerto for piano, left hand (which in the 1930s the famous pianist Alfred Cortot dared to play using both hands, incurring the composer's wrath). | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Music From The Machine Age
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Sascha Goetzel Another orchestral tour de force from Sascha Goetzel and this outstanding orchestra: after their acclaimed debut recording for ONYX of Respighi, Florent Schmitt and Hindemith, the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and their charismatic Viennese music director have devised a fascinating programme of ballet music composed during the turbulent inter-war years of the 20th century. The music reflects the edgy, dangerous and turbulent political and social landscape of the period. This is music of great rhythmic vitality: Ravel’s refracted memories of a vanished Habsburg Vienna destroyed by the 1914–18 War, to the primitive barbarism of Prokofiev’s 'Scythian Suite' and the lurid violence of Bartok’s 'Miraculous Mandarin' with its themes of lust, criminality, prostitution and murder. Schulhoff’s ballet 'Ogelala' like Prokofiev’s score concerns pagan rituals and warring tribes, and a young couple who are meant to kill each other, but end up falling in love. Holst’s comic opera, 'The Perfect Fool', written in 1918–22, begins with a ballet which is danced by Spirits of Earth, Water and Fire. The score is brilliant – and though less concerned with human drama than the other works on this disc, the drive, energy and sheer brilliance of Holst’s score is very much of its time. “These five pieces ably summarise the ferment of creativity unleashed in the
aftermath of the First World War...Most fascinating of all is the Ogelala ballet suite by Erwin Schulhoff, a Czech composer who died in a Nazi concentration camp: it most clearly exhibits the liberating influence of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.” The Independent, 10th February 2012 **** “A brilliant idea: to assemble five ballets from the 1910s or 1920s that are all supposedly inspired by the mythological past, yet evoke the violence of the “machine age”...The Turkish all-stars give hard-edged performances under Sascha Goetzel.” The Times, 18th February 2012 “the boisterously confident Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic cuts another lively swathe through colourful 20th-century repertoire...[In the Bartok] The Turkish players and their Viennese conductor offer muscular strings, dirty slithering brass, but sagging momentum. Yet it's fascinating to hear the suite alongside other music similarly influenced by the period's big shocker, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring” BBC Music Magazine, May 2012 *** “There's something uniquely exciting about hearing a keen young orchestra devouring difficult but exciting music whole, which is precisely what the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic does...Most of the orchestral playing delivers in spades and the sound quality is very good too, if occasionally wanting in inner detail. So, taken as a whole, this is an exciting CD (the orchestra's second for Onyx) that deserves the widest currency.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Myung-Whun Chung conducts Debussy & Ravel
Deutsche Grammophon presents internationally acclaimed conductor Myung-Whun Chung and his Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra with a new album. The orchestra is “a world-class ensemble” (Berliner Morgenpost) setting a new standard for orchestral music in Korea and regularly breaking records by playing for largely sold-out audiences. The album includes Debussy’s La mer followed by two live recordings of Maurice Ravel’s Ma mère l'oye and La Valse. “There's a wonderful sense of rhythmic movement and cohesion to Debussy's music, but at the expense of some detailing which I missed...on this showing of the French repertoire, at which [Chung] excels, the orchestra deserves its place on the world stage.” Classic FM Magazine, December 2011 *** “The playing has precision and delicacy, showcased in the Mother Goose suite” Financial Times, 13th August 2011 ** “The aqueous glints and flecks of colour in Debussy's La mer are attractively caught in this performance...More than that, though, the playing conveys the surging atmosphere, the fluid movement and the awe-inspiring grandeur of 'De l'aube a midi sur la mer'...The Seoul orchestra's sonority is both ripe and alert to detail, Chung's direction judging the pace and the range of dynamics in the music with a sure sense of its ebb and flow.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2011 “in 2005 [the Seoul Philharmonic] declared its intent to reach world-class status. These three French showpieces demonstrate that, technically at least, it has attained that ambition. The playing is disciplined and beautifully blended. I am struck particularly by the beauty of the sound of the horn section.” Sunday Times, 21st August 2011 **** “This programme of "symphonic sketches" by French Romantics offers a broad platform for the Seoul Philharmonic to demonstrate their impressive grasp of tone and texture...Debussy's "La Mer" is particularly well handled: highly impressionistic (a word the composer himself despised), it was cinematic before the term became commonplace” The Independent, 19th August 2011 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Ravel: Boléro
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Ravel: The complete solo piano music
New releases of Steven Osborne’s best-selling discs have become some of the most eagerly-awaited events in the pianophile diary. This most delicate and subtle of musicians also displays a pyrotechnical deployment of digital acrobatics, mesmerising colour control and breathtaking articulation. All these qualities are visible in this two-disc set of some of the most important piano music of the early twentieth century. Ravel’s works have been central, too, to Steven Osborne’s performing repertoire throughout his career, making this set a perfect marriage of composer and performer. “Steven Osborne, ever a poised, technically impeccable virtuoso, combines clarity with heart. All a shimmering pleasure.” The Observer, 13th February 2011 “His tempos, kaleidoscopic tonal colouring, textual clarity, and amazing dynamic range and variety of touch manifest an innate empathy with the composer...These are inspired performances with Award Winner written all over them. The perfectly-voiced piano, the venue/acoustic, producer and engineer, and an artist who was born to play Ravel combine to make the best complete Ravel cycle on disc.” Classic FM Magazine, April 2011 ***** “[Gaspard] is technically immaculate...and gently seductive before turning on a more sinister pressure..."Alborada" from Miroirs is another striking success, where a trickster's ribaldry and high jinxs explode into violence, and in La Valse (suitably arranged and "orchestrated"), Osborne spins his dancers towards a visceral and devastating oblivion.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2011 “A precise and balanced interpretation” Financial Times, 12th March 2011 “Steven Osborne's survey of [Ravel] is an unqualified delight....His playing...is equally well suited to the delicate classicism of the Sonatine, the scene painting of Miroirs and the nostalgia for the 18th century in Le Tombeau de Couperin as it is to the more extrovert virtuosity of the Valses Nobles et Sentimentales.” The Guardian, 17th March 2011 **** “Steven Osborne brings his masterly interpretative acumen to bear with a touch and temperament that combine eloquence and deftness. Landmark works are set alongside various less frequently heard miniatures in performances that live and breathe Ravel’s distinctive world of sound, radiating luminous patterns and scintillating colour.” The Telegraph, 25th March 2011 ***** “Ravel essentially reimagined how to write for the piano with each significant work. Osborne is more than up to the task...Throughout, [he] repeatedly demonstrates not merely that these performances stand with the best, but also that comparisons are superfluous in the face of such a compelling vision...His sustaining of the 'Epilogue' is magical, as if not wishing to relinquish the spell of this recital. It is over all too soon.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2011 *****  BBC Music Magazine
Disc of the month - May 2011 |
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Yuja Wang - Transformation
On the heels of her impressive Deutsche Grammophon debut recital album, pianist Yuja Wang’s return recording for the label – Transformation – categorically demonstrates that she is a young master of the Steinway. Her new album excites with a demanding recital that includes some of the most electrifying pieces of piano literature – Stravinsky’s Pétrouchka, Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Scarlatti’s Sonatas in E and B minor, and Ravel’s La Valse. Yuja Wang’s ability to take her music by storm is tempered by a sophisticated musicality that never distorts the line. Transformation highlights Yuja Wang’s penchant for piecing together high concept programs the public adores. As The New York Times observes, “She seems to have everything: speed, flexibility, pianistic thunder, and interpretive nuance.” “Wang makes light of even the fiercest complexity...she has a dazzling way of lightening even the heaviest textures so that her entire performance gleams with an astonishing brilliance and verve....you will find her as musically beguiling as she is breathtakingly fleet.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2010 “The brilliant Chinese pianist dazzles with more than technical panache. She understands what she plays; she’s sensitive and has poise. She’s also a clever programme builder, successfully mixing shape-shifting works by Stravinsky, Brahms and Ravel with two Scarlatti sonatas.” The Times, 29th May 2010 **** “The Petrushka movements...have a unique fizz and excitement and quite the most orchestral range of colour I've heard...Her poise in the two Scarlatti sonatas is admirable, the textures beautifully transparent, the interplay of voices superbly balanced...Altogether one of the most stimulating recitals I've heard this year.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2010 ***** “[Wang] approaches repertory staples with original, illuminating ideas. Her sharp articulation and the deftness with which she moves between thunder and sparkle yield vivid performances of Stravinsky and Ravel, a searching account of Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini and uncommonly graceful readings of two Scarlatti sonatas.” New York Times, 26th November 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Louis Frémaux conducts Ravel
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |
|
Gramophone Awards 2011
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2012
Gramophone Magazine