Haydn Boston

Mozart’s Violin Concertos need little introduction and are some of his most well-known and best-loved works. Despite being written when the composer was just 19 years old, they feature Mozart at his elegant, witty and beguilingly changeable best. Handel and Haydn Society with their inspirational Concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky, bring Mozart’s musical magic to life in these live recordings from Boston’s glorious Symphony Hall.

Dating from the 1970s, Rafael Kubelik's incisive and acclaimed reading of Beethoven's second and fifth symphonies is the latest release in the Remastered Classics series from PENTATONE, performed with panache by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Although pure lyricism is obviously Miss Auger's strong point, there is more to her than that; she is a singing actress of some depth.'' – The New York Times Avie proudly returns a classic recording to international availability: the late, legendary soprano Arleen Auger singing cantatas and arias by Haydn. Joining her are renowned conductor Christopher Hogwood and the orchestra of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society, the organisation that produced one of Avie's best-selling classical CDs last year, the a capella choral album Peace (AVI-39).

With all the dandy digital recordings of Handel's Concerto Grossi Opus 6 available, why choose this one made in the late '80s and early '90s with Christopher Hogwood leading the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston with Daniel Stepner, Stanley Ritchie, and Linda Quan starring as the violin soloists? Choosing a recording of Handel's concertos is, of course, inevitable in the life of any listener: along with Bach's Brandenburgs and Vivaldi's Four Seasons, they form the core repertoire of high Baroque orchestral music. But why choose Hogwood? For one thing, he has a well-deserved reputation as a Handel conductor: his Messiah was lean and muscular, expressive and intense, lyrical and dramatic – characteristics of these performances as well.

Ekaterina Derzhavina records ‘Variations & Pieces for Piano’, a double disc with Haydn classics. The release of Haydn's Complete Piano Sonatas on 9 CDs in 2013 was critically acclaimed throughout the world and nominated 2014 for the International Classical Music Award. The Boston Globe, USA, wrote: 'Ekaterina Derzhavina's name was new to me, but this 9-CD set of Haydn's complete piano sonatas should broaden her recognition considerably. Her playing is elegant, stylish, and above all imaginative, showing just how creative the composer was … her feel for Haydn's originality comes through brilliantly.'