Badura Skoda

Montserrat Figueras & Jordi Savall - Ninna Nanna (ca. 1500-2002) {Alia Vox AV 9826 rel 2002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 340 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 182 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 2002 Alia Vox | AVSA 9826
Classical / Vocal Music

Who doesn't love a lullaby? As a tribute "to all mothers and children", singer Montserrat Figueras offers this unusual program of 18 such songs from diverse sources and anonymous composers–Portuguese, English, Greek, Catalan, Hebrew, Sephardic, and North African–as well as pieces written by the likes of Byrd, Mussorgsky, Reger, Falla, Milhaud, and Pärt (two lullabies composed for this recording). Accompaniments show the stylish hand and always-tasteful imaginings of Jordi Savall and the instrumentalists of Hesperion XXI–viols, guitar, flutes, psaltery, harp–and, in three tracks, the piano of Paul Badura-Skoda. Although the liner notes prime us to expect very simple, repetitive tunes, Figueras transforms these ostensibly sleep-inducing songs into high, mind-and-ear-engaging art, embellishing, shaping, and imbuing them with deeply felt expression, sometimes wistful and at others fervent, but always delivered as if in intimate, personal touch with her listener(s).

Franz Schubert - Andreas Staier - The Late Piano Sonatas
2xCD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 354 MB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Teldec "Das Alte Werk" # 0630-13143-2 | Country/Year: Germany 1997
Genre: Classical | Style: Classical Period

"Purely from a historical performance viewpoint, there is much of interest here: Staier plays on an 1825 Johann Fritz four-pedalled fortepiano. (…) Very much a disc worth hearing, then, and one that will surely complement some treasured modern instrument performances of these works." ~musicweb-international

In the golden age of orchestral recording – the 1950s cusp between mono and stereo – American labels piled into London and Vienna after an aggressive union priced their own musicians out of work. At Abbey Road, players worked 30 days on the trot, three sessions a day, to feed a burgeoning market for classical music. In Vienna, the Philharmonic (exclusively contracted to Decca) performed under six different names for other labels.

Deutsche Grammophon proudly presents the most authoritative Schubert project ever made, featuring all the masterpieces in timeless recordings plus many rare gems that manifest Schuberts genius.
This first edition comprehensively covers Schuberts vast orchestral, chamber and piano output, containing all the masterworks in definitive recordings by legendary artists: Abbado (symphonies), Kempff (piano sonatas), Melos Quartett (string quartets & string quintet the latter with Rostropovich), Pires (piano works), Gidon Kremer (violin works) Beaux Arts Trio (trios).

For many decades the orchestras of the German broadcasting service SWR have worked together with many famous musicians from all over the world, including the outstanding pianists selected for this collection, among them Clara Haskil, Jörg Demus, Paul Badura-Skoda, Alicia de Larrocha, Wilhelm Backhaus, and Géza Anda. Furthermore, Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903-1991) is regarded as one of the supreme keyboard masters of the 20th century and must feature in any comparative survey of performances of the central repertoire from Beethoven to Brahms.

RCO - Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Volume 4, 1970-1980 (2006) {14CD Box Set, RCO 06004} (Complete Artwork)
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 5.16 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 2.42 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 362 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1970-80, 2006 Radio Netherlands Music / RCO LIve | RCO 06004
Classical / Orchestral

Naturally, this 14-disc set of live recordings of the Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1970 through 1980 is only for the hardest of hardcore collectors. Who else would be interested in a collection that mixes Beethoven with Boulez, Baird and Berio, Tchaikovsky with Lutoslawski, Ginastera and Caplet, Rachmaninov with Reger, and Martin and Walton? But for the hardest of the hardcore, this set will be filled with delights. Where else could one find Karel Ancerl's suave account of Haydn's "Oxford" Symphony, Eugen Jochum's sweet account of Reger's Serenade in G major, Kiril Kondrashin's thrilling account of Sibelius' En Saga, Elly Ameling's seductive account of Berg's Der Wein, or Paul Badura-Skoda's evocative account of Martin's Second Piano Concerto?