Dvoark Serenade

The 1st & final movements of Brahms’s 3rd Symphony contain some of the most dramatic music he was to compose, yet both end serenely & enclose 2 beautiful inner movements. The equally exquisite Serenade No 2, unusually scored for wind instruments, violas, cellos & double basses, was 1 of his own personal favourites & both receive superb performances under Bernard Haitink in the 3rd part of his internationally acclaimed LSO Live Brahms cycle.

Antonin Dvořaìk (1841-1904) was a great synthesist, ingeniously combining arguably incongruent strains: folk music (Czech as well as American) with refined classical forms, romantic extroversion with instrumental austerity and national Czech character with worldwide appeal. The three compositions on this album were all created at turning points in Dvořák’s life, when radical changes in his situation impacted his creative career.

The St. Louis Symphony and their music director Stéphane Denève present a wonderful program featuring two of the most accomplished American composers in history: Leonard Bernstein with his Serenade and John Williams with his Concerto for violin and orchestra, both performed by star James Ehnes, one of the most exceptional North American violinists. John Williams himself was present at the recording of his violin concerto, working together with the St. Louis Symphony, Denève, and Ehnes.

Two classic easy-listening albums by famous French orchestra leader/arranger/composer Paul Mauriat, originally released in 1985 and 1989 on the Philips label, together on one CD and remastered from the original analogue stereo tapes for Vocalion's trademark crystal-clear sound.

Polish conductor and composer Paul Kletzki leads the Philharmonia Orchestra in this rousing legacy rendition of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. The piece was composed in 1880 and is written in standard 4-part Serenade form, with fast movements bookending slower and more romantic middle movements. Tchaikovsky intended the first movement to be an imitation of Mozart's style, and it was based on the form of the classical sonatina, with a slow introduction. The second movement, Valse, has become a popular piece in its own right.