Cycle World From March 2014

A luxurious and authoritative 64CD orchestral and concerto set, celebrating one of the world’s great orchestras and their 64-year relationship with Decca Classics. Few labels can claim to be so associated with a city as inextricably as Decca is with Vienna. No history of classical recordings would be complete without a chapter documenting how both Decca and the WP worked to perfect the art of recording in the city’s great concert halls, most notably in the famous Sofiensaal.

A luxurious and authoritative 64CD orchestral and concerto set, celebrating one of the world’s great orchestras and their 64-year relationship with Decca Classics. Few labels can claim to be so associated with a city as inextricably as Decca is with Vienna. No history of classical recordings would be complete without a chapter documenting how both Decca and the WP worked to perfect the art of recording in the city’s great concert halls, most notably in the famous Sofiensaal.

A luxurious and authoritative 64CD orchestral and concerto set, celebrating one of the world’s great orchestras and their 64-year relationship with Decca Classics. Few labels can claim to be so associated with a city as inextricably as Decca is with Vienna. No history of classical recordings would be complete without a chapter documenting how both Decca and the WP worked to perfect the art of recording in the city’s great concert halls, most notably in the famous Sofiensaal.

London Symphony Orchestra - Mendelssohn Symphonies Nos 1 & 4 - Sir John Eliot Gardiner (2018) {B&W Society of Sound LSO98}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Official Digital Download (bowers-wilkins.co.uk) -> 256 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 147 Mb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) -> 27 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2018 LSO / B&W Society of Sound | LSO98
Classical / Early Romantic

Completed when Mendelssohn was only fifteen, his First Symphony is an energetic work, exhibiting the young prodigy’s genius and youthful outlook. Both versions of the third movement (the orchestrated scherzo from his Octet from the London premiere, and the original version) are presented here for comparison. One of his best-loved works, the “Italian” Symphony stems from Mendelssohn’s tour of Europe (1829-31) and is inspired by Italy’s vivid sights, sounds, and atmosphere.

Heitor Villa-Lobos - Complete String Quartets - Cuarteto Latinoamericano (2004) {6 CD Brilliant Classsics 6634 rec 1994-2000}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.92 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 914 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 135 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1994-2000, 2004 Brilliant Classsics | 6634
Classical / Early 20th Century / Contemporary Classical / Chamber Music / String Quartet

These fine performances constitute the only complete cycle currently available of the 17 string quartets that pepper Villa-Lobos' entire career. The suite-like, five-movement No. 1, with its adorable "like a jumping bean" finale, is deceptive. Most of these are resoundingly neo-classical works full of acerbic harmonies and typically busy counterpoint, with few overtly nationalistic elements. Of course they sound just like Villa-Lobos, who was himself something of a "nationalistic element" when you come right down to it. The series reaches its culmination in the large works composed around the time of the Second World War, Nos. 7-11, which really do constitute landmark 20th century contributions to the form on a par with those of Shostakovich and Bartók.

This seems to be a golden age for piano trios: such groups are springing up everywhere, like daffodils in the springtime. The Trio Parnassus are an experienced world-class ensemble who have garnered an extensive discography, and deservedly so.The present disc is hailed as the opening salvo in a complete recorded cycle of the Beethoven piano trios and I am much impressed.

Haitink will be 85 on 4 March 2014, and this set presents his six complete symphonic cycles by cornerstone classical composers: Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Schumann and Tchaikovsky. Originally recorded for Philips, the CDs are now smartly re-packaged in a collectible cube. Every single symphonic cycle is played by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, recently voted by Gramophone Magazine as The Greatest Orchestra in the World .

Beethoven - String Quartets op. 18/3, 18/5 & 135 - Hagen Quartett (2013) {Myrios Classics MYR009}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks) +CUE+LOG -> 353 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 186 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 95 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2013 Myrios Classics | MYR009
Classical / Strings / Chamber Music

Following an extraordinary 30th anniversary season spent touring the complete Beethoven string quartets to musical centers around the world, including Tokyo, Paris, London, Vienna and Salzburg, the Hagen Quartet went directly from stage to studio to record three of their favorite Beethoven quartets. With the selection of op. 18/3, 18/5, and op. 135, the album ranges from the very first to the very last string quartet Beethoven wrote.

Momo Kodama - La Vallee Des Cloches (2013) {ECM New Series 2343}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 164 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 156 Mb
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© 2013 ECM Records | ECM New Series 2343
Classical / 20th Century / Piano

Momo Kodma’s first ECM New Series album is a marvel, a mesmerizing journey from the shimmering surfaces of Miroirs, Ravel’s piano cycle of 1904-45 to Messiaen’s La fauvette des jardins (written in 1970), a late masterpiece of piano music from the visionary composer. Kodama’s insights into Messiaen’s sound-world are remarkable as she conveys his religious feeling for nature, birdsong transformed into spiritual utterance, through the compelling, insistent piano figures.