Jean Rondeau Goldberg

“An ode to silence” is how harpsichordist Jean Rondeau has described Bach’s Goldberg Variations. “I feel they were written for silence, in the sense that they take the place of silence,” he says. “All Bach is there in the Goldberg Variations … all music is there … and I will no doubt spend my life working on them.” To prepare his interpretation he consulted an original printed edition of the work, containing Bach’s own markings and corrections. “Through delving into this precious musicological source, I was able to make what I felt to be the most authentic choices.” Rondeau performs the set of variations in its complete form, with the indicated repeats and with judicious insertion of moments of silence.

Cinq ans après Atys, Armide grâce à la sensibilité de Philippe Herreweghe est l’objet d’un accomplissement rare. Depuis Cadmus (1673), Lully travaille la déclamation chantée dont le meilleur exemple ici est dans les nombreuses langueurs qui étreignent le cour d’Armide, le célèbre « Enfin il est en ma puissance » (II,4), modèle de l’art lullyste, cité par Rameau pendant la Querelle des Bouffons (1753). Voici la seconde approche de l’ouvrage par le chef flamand. La lisibilité de la progression dramatique est assurée par la définition d’un orchestre, précis, fascinant, véritable acteur. Outre Acis (passacaille finale), ouvrage ultime, aucune ouvre à part Armide, n’exprime à ce degré, l’émotivité instrumentale de Lully.

La Discotheque Ideale Classique brings together the masterpieces of 47 composers (Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Handel, Ravel, Wagner …) performed by the greatest artists of the prestigious Erato-Warner Classics catalog. The 100 CDs of the box, which contain more than 100 hours of listening, allow you to rediscover the essential works of the classical repertoire.

La Discotheque Ideale Classique brings together the masterpieces of 47 composers (Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Handel, Ravel, Wagner …) performed by the greatest artists of the prestigious Erato-Warner Classics catalog. The 100 CDs of the box, which contain more than 100 hours of listening, allow you to rediscover the essential works of the classical repertoire.

This is an excellent and varied selection of composers from the very well known like Palestrina, Monteverdi, Bach and Vivaldi, through the less famous but familiar like Frescobaldi, Sainte-Colombe and Zelenka, to the downright obscure. It is all delightful: the musicians are uniformly excellent, and include such great names as Gustav Leonhardt, Cantus Colln, Christopher Hogwood and so on. They give fine performances both of the familiar works and of the less familiar ones. Obviously there will be discs you like more than others and you may already have favourite versions of some works, but these discs are never less than very good and are often outstanding.

A beautifully-packaged 50-disc box set, released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, one of the most important and adventurous early music labels. The set contains 50 classic recordings of baroque and ancient music, chosen to represent the breadth of this huge and varied catalogue and each disc is slip-cased with artwork replicating the original CD or LP artwork.

Various Composers - Orchestras of Japan 1990-1993 (1993) {4CD Set Affinis Japan AF-0001~0004}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.04 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 691 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 25 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1990-93 Affinis Japan | AF-0001~0004
Classical / Orchestral

An album representing orchestras in Japan. The Affinis Music Festival(AMF) is a seminar-based music festival organized by the Affinis Arts Foundation for musicians who belong to professional orchestras in Japan. Members of professional orchestras nationwide and invited musicians who perform music at first-rate orchestras around the world gather to participate in various activities, which are divided into three main programs: seminars, concerts, and cultural program for citizens.

Decca’s first FFRR concerto recording available for the first time: Eileen Joyce / Tchaikovsky 2nd Piano Concerto – never released on 78rpm and long thought lost, the test pressings were recently found at the International Piano Archives in Maryland.