Despite rumors some months ago that the RCOA series might be discontinued (fortunately unfounded), here we have Volume III, a 14-CD set that contains much of interest, but surely—for this collector—doesn't live up to its potential. For me, ideally that would concist of some of the outstanding performances of great symphonic music played by this magnificent orchestra, recorded in the extraordinary acoustics of the Concertgebouw with the usual Radio Nederland sonic expertise. During the decade represented in this set (1960-1970) the Concertgebouw Orchestra's programming often emphasized contemporary music and that surely is reflected in this album. We have well over five hours of music by Martin, Varèse, Berg, Webern, Henze, Lutoslawski, Nono and Dallapiccola as well as Dutch composers Ketting, Escher, and Vermeulen, and Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz's Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion, an 18-minute three-movement work of imagination and vivid scoring.
In celebration of Christa Ludwig’s 90th birthday March 16th 2018, a Limited 12-CD Edition celebrates her impressive mezzo voice, displayed in excerpts from Bach’s sacred works, operas by Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and Strauss; as well as Schubert Lieder; Mahler’s “Kindertotenlieder” and “Das Lied von der Erde”; and Bernstein conducting Bernstein. The collection also includes for the first time internationally on CD a witty and endearing interview of Ms. Ludwig discussing the conductors.
This 50 CD Box Set includes Archiv Produktions finest analogue recordings made between 1959 and 1981, representing a Golden Age of a pioneering label that defined the way early music should be performed and recorded. Featured artists include Karl Richter, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Pierre Fournier, John Eliot Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock and other icons of the Archiv label.
Prominent in the German Romantic imagination, the figure of the wanderer was also taken up by Franz Schubert. He composed a lied of that name, the theme of which was later to be found in his virtuosic Fantasy in C major, later aptly dubbed the "Wanderer-Fantasie". A tireless wanderer himself, Franz Liszt transcribed Schubert's lied for piano and presented several versions of the Fantasy in C, including one for piano and orchestra and another for two pianos. Here Sylviane Deferne presents the rarest of Liszt's transcriptions of the "Wanderer-Fantasie", the one for solo piano, with the last movement completely rewritten by the composer. Two works by Schubert complete the program: the 4 Impromptus Op.142, written a year before his death, and a rarely recorded early work, the Variations on a theme by Anselm Hüttenbrenner.
Christian Li walks in the footsteps of Mendelssohn, bringing the music from his travels around Europe to life. Recorded with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, we follow Mendelssohn’s own journeys, with pieces written in Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Munich, Venice & London, including music from the composer’s own inspirations and contemporaries: J. S. Bach, Mozart & Schubert.
The encounter between French baritone Thomas Dolié and Quebec pianist Olivier Godin gave rise to a magnificent collaboration around Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang cycle. First given in recital at the Bourgie Hall in Montreal in 2016 and then recorded in the same hall a year later.