Rossini Der Barbier Von Sevilla Chailly

In 2017, Naxos Records celebrates its 30th anniversary. Founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, the label now boasts a catalogue of over 9,000 albums spanning every genre of classical music. This limited edition anniversary boxed set comprises thirty CDs spanning the wide range of the label's repertoire. Featuring releases from 1987 to 2016 and a host of stellar artists, every one of these discs has received critical acclaim and has contributed towards the huge success of Naxos: the world's largest independent classical record label. Naxos was launched in 1987 as a budget classical CD label, offering CDs at teh price of an LP when CDs cost about three times more than LPs.

In 2017, Naxos Records celebrates its 30th anniversary. Founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, the label now boasts a catalogue of over 9,000 albums spanning every genre of classical music. This limited edition anniversary boxed set comprises thirty CDs spanning the wide range of the label's repertoire. Featuring releases from 1987 to 2016 and a host of stellar artists, every one of these discs has received critical acclaim and has contributed towards the huge success of Naxos: the world's largest independent classical record label. Naxos was launched in 1987 as a budget classical CD label, offering CDs at teh price of an LP when CDs cost about three times more than LPs.

On Blattwerk's new album, you can hear original arrangements of Ludwig van Beethoven (Ode to joy, Adagio from Pathétique, etc.), Gerog Friedrich Händel (Concerto Grosso No. 6) or Gioachino Rossini (Barber of Seville), among others. And of course saxophonists have a very special relationship with jazz. Sonny Rollins' "Doxy" or Antônio Carlos Jobim's "Agua de Beber" bear witness to this preference. Guest musicians: Mehri Isakova (harpsichord) and Eddi Kleinschnittger (percussion).

Here are two of Rossini's "secular" cantatas: "The Lament of Harmony on the Death of Orpheus" for tenor, male chorus, and orchestra, written when he was a 16-year-old conservatory student, and the far more substantial "Wedding of Thetis and Peleus," one of many such pieces he composed for special occasions, commissioned for the marriage of an Italian princess to a French prince. Both consist of primarily short, separate, contrasting numbers, most of which would be perfectly at home in the opera house.

The French instrument maker Sébastien Érard was significantly involved in the modern harp’s development. In 1810, he patented the fully chromatic double-action harp. Thanks to the instrument’s seven pedals and a sophisticated mechanism, it was now possible to change the string lengths and raise each note up to two semitones. This enabled the harpist to play in all keys without retuning the instrument. Composers such as Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler and Claude Debussy took advantage of these new possibilities and established the harp as an orchestra instrument. In his “Treatise upon Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration” (published in 1844), Hector Berlioz claimed that the harp should never be placed behind the orchestra.

This is the third in a series of "Discovery" discs dedicated to unknown or rare works by three famous Italian composers, Rossini, Verdi and now Puccini. Chailly had already recorded some Puccini rarities in the early 80's but this new issue contains quite a few works that never seem to have seen the light of day.

Ensemble Unicorn - Cantores et Spileri, Musik am Hof der Grafen von Tirol, 1220-1420 (2003) {Schloss Tirol}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 334 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 147 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 41 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2003 Schloss Tirol | [none]
Classical / Early Music / Medieval / Period Instruments

Ensemble Unicorn is a popular chamber group devoted to the performance of Medieval and early Renaissance music on period instruments. The ensemble consists of five players, though often one or several guest performers, especially singers, will augment their number to accommodate demands of certain repertory. Repertory is, of course, one of the key aspects of the group, another is the instrumentation used in performance. Early or Medieval versions of recorders, harp, and fiddle are used, along with hurdy-gurdy, keyed fiddle, ud, rebec, various ancient flutes, and an array of percussion instruments.

Bach, Graun, Telemann - Passions-Oratorium: Wer is der, so von Edom kömmt - Gotthold Schwarz (2019) {cpo 555 270-2}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 473 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 277 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2019 cpo | 555 270-2
Classical / Period Instruments / Baroque / Vocals / Sacred

This month we are happy to present to you a great Passion oratorio that Johann Sebastian Bach in all likelihood pieced together for his last Passion service. He took a work by Carl Heinrich Graun, a composer whom he admired, and expanded it to produce a magnificent two-part Passion. To it he added compositions of his own authorship and others by his friend Georg Philipp Telemann. The result was a pasticcio, a new work consisting of various set pieces. This practice was very common during Bach’s times.