Hi-Res Highlights,
Hi-Res Downloads - PentaTone
We continue to add to our catalogue of Studio Quality downloads - items available at 'better than CD quality', and this week focus on some of the gems of the PentaTone catalogue - a label which has always been at the forefront of high quality sound.
We set ourselves a limit of ten recommendations which turned out to be rather hard, so please do explore the entire Pentatone studio quality catalogue too.
Or indeed read more about studio quality downloads and explore our entire studio quality catalogue on our dedicated page.
Arabella Steinbacher and Robert Kulek join forces for César Franck’s evergreen Violin Sonata and Richard Strauss's comparatively little-known Sonata from 1887/8 - sure to be an insightful contribution to this year's 150th anniversary celebrations. Due out 22nd September.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
One of the highlights of the label's ambitious Wagner cycle with Marek Janowski, Pentatone's Lohengrin stars Klaus Florian Vogt as the titular hero, with Annette Dasch as Elsa and Susanne Resmark as Ortrud. A Gramophone Editor's Choice and a BBC Music Magazine Opera Choice in 2012.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Pentatone's stunning surround sound pays especially rich dividends in Giovanni Gabrieli's antiphonal music for brass and organ, recorded in the unique acoustics of the Berliner Dom and performed here by brass-players drawn from half-a-dozen of the city's finest ensembles.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Released earlier this year, Mikhail Pletnev's recording of the Manfred with the Russian National Orchestra was described as 'an insightful and compelling reading that takes its place among the finest available recordings of this work' (BBC Music Magazine).
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
German chamber-music has always been one of the things Pentatone does best, and this Mendelssohn disc with Julia Fischer, Daniel Muller-Schott & Jonathan Gilad was a Radio 3 Critics' Disc of the Year in 2007; the Gramophone Guide also enthused that 'All in all, this new recording is irresistible, with the three players caught in a wholly natural ambience'.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Busoni, Korngold, Liszt, Schreker and Strauss make up the repertoire on Pentatone's second disc of German music inspired by dance: Gramophone hailed it as 'playing of felicitous polish, captivating flexibility and winning application throughout what is a most imaginative, distinctly moreish programme'.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Camilla Tilling and Detlef Roth are Marek Janowski's soloists on this German Requiem with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin: 'an essential recording for anyone who relishes richly romantic music-making at its best' (International Record Review).
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
German violinist Julia Fischer has a long-standing association with Pentatone, and this recording of the Tchaikovsky Concerto and other works with the late Yakov Kreizberg is a jewel in the crown: 'there isn't an aspect of any of these works in which this world-class virtuoso fails to excel' (BBC Music Magazine).
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Pianist Martin Helmchen is another Pentatone stalwart, and this Mendelssohn disc with Philippe Herreweghe and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic was as critically acclaimed as its predecessors: 'The piano is centre stage in the sound picture - and how Helmchen can make it sing!' (Gramophone).
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Marek Janowski's Bruckner cycle with the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande has been one of the label's major undertakings: The Telegraph observed that 'Pentatone’s recording aims for clarity, and brings out much detail that gets lost in Brucknerian mud'.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
