Jazz for Babies is a multi-award winning series of recorded music creatively produced to soothe, calm and engender a life-long love of music in babies and toddlers that parents can enjoy as well. It's established a unique place in the world of ‘baby music’ by abandoning the mass produced, synthesized and mechanical sounding recordings (often referred to as ‘muzak’), mobile toys and dreaded music boxes in favor of using the inimitable sounds of acoustic instruments performed by world-class musicians.
Sony Classical's Great Performances Series has scored yet another winner with its coupling of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1 and the First Cello Concerto. Previously released individually, the close proximity in the recording dates of these two works (1959 and 1960) makes them a natural choice for a pairing. Continuing in the Philadelphia Orchestra tradition, the performance of the Symphony No. 1 follows the 1928 United States premiere of the work, given by the same orchestra and conducted by Ormandy's predecessor, Leopold Stokowski. Inherited from him is the notably lush sound of Philadelphia's lower strings, which capture the essence of Shostakovich's weighty harmonies.