Philips Protech Dst

Gustav Leonhardt began recording Bach's secular cantatas on Philips in 1990 after completing the sacred cantatas cycle with Harnoncourt. Those Philips discs were well received but are now hard to find, either on CD or as downloads, so I was thrilled to discover that Leonhardt, now 80, just recorded another pair of Bach's secular cantatas.

A blithely youthful homage, this, to the patron saint of children. The earliest work on the disc, the posthumously published ‘Christmas suite’ Christ’s Nativity, dates from the 17-year-old Britten’s first year at the Royal College of Music; while its two companion pieces, the dramatic cantata St Nicolas and Psalm 150 (joyously celebrated here by the New London Children’s Choir and London Schools’ Symphony Orchestra), although written at approximately 15-year intervals thereafter, still sport their old school ties, having been composed as centenary offerings …….

Mark Pappenheim @ classical-music.com

An exclusive artist for the Philips label since 1969, Brendel’s discography is now among the most extensive of any pianist, reflecting a repertoire of solo, chamber and orchestral works by the major composers from the central European tradition from Bach through to Schoenberg.
This 114 CD Edition encompasses his complete discography for Philips and Decca and includes studio albums, live recordings and radio broadcasts. The set is accompanied by a 200-page book featuring a note by Brendel’s personal choice of writer, Misha Donat.

Released to celebrate his 75th Birthday, this 25CD Limited Edition encompasses the complete recorded legacy of Stephen Kovacevich for the Philips label. It includes his acclaimed interpretations of works by Beethoven, Bartók, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Dvorák, Grieg, Mozart, Schumann and Stravinsky. Every album is presented with original covers and programming. Following his triumphant debut in London, 1961, Stephen Kovacevich embarked on a brilliant international career and made many acclaimed recordings for Philips Classics, including his legendary Beethoven Piano Concertos and Diabelli Variations.

The Guarneri quartet offers very effective approaches to both the E flat quartet, Op. 74, and the C sharp minor quartet, Op. 131. These late (1988) Philips recordings are in my view superior to Guarneri's earlier accounts of the same Beethoven quartets on RCA Beethoven: The String Quartets/ Grosse Fuge . Usually it is risky to opt for late remakes, if a string quartet is playing in one and the same membership for many decades: veteran players typically masque their diminished technical abilities by various mannerisms and pretentious conceptions. Here it is not the case. The 1988 Philips version is just as secure as the RCA version from the sixties but is more nuanced.

Founded 60 years ago by Menahem Pressler, Daniel Guilet and Bernard Greenhouse, the Beaux Arts Trio performed and recorded exclusively for Philips Classics until 1995. Celebrated for their outstanding chamber-music qualities, the Beaux Arts are one of the greatest ensembles in the history of recorded music. This special 60CD box set includes their extensive discography on Philips Classics and encompasses almost the entire piano trio literature.

Mitsuko Uchida has been a committed exponent of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto for over a decade now. It is a work which remains controversial in its adaptation of the serial method to an almost Brahmsian harmonic palette, wedded to a formal approach that takes up the integrated design, and textural richness, of Schoenberg's pre-atonal works. Certainly in terms of the balance between soloist and orchestra, this recording clarifies the often capricious interplay to a degree previously unheard on disc (and most likely in the concert hall too).Interpretatively, it combines Pollini's dynamism, without the hectoring touch that creeps into the Adagio's climactic passages, and Brendel's lucidity, avoiding the deadpan feeling that pervades his final Giocoso.

Limited Edition 80-CD set presenting Claudio Arrau’s complete Philips and American Decca recordings plus his live recording of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 with Leonard Bernstein (Amnesty International) on Deutsche Grammophon. Balancing invincible technical accuracy and virtuosity with rigorous intellectual and spiritual stimulation, Claudio Arrau played to probe, divine and to interpret the will of the composer, always faithful to the text. He viewed technique and virtuosity as inseparable from musical expression and constantly stressed the expressive, spiritual and creative power of virtuosity while downplaying its sensational aspect and suffusing every note with meaning.