Miro Schubert

Manuscripts Don’t Burn is a famous line in Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita – the retelling of Faust, the 20th century cult novel of an artist surviving in a Totalitarian regime, the love story, the burlesque with giant, vodka drinking cats and vampiric theater administrators.

Claudio Abbado is one of the leading conductors of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He has held a number of prestigious posts, any one of which would be a crowning achievement for a conductor, and his musical presence in both concert and recordings has left an undeniable legacy of excellence. His family traces its roots to a prominent Moorish family expelled from Spain in 1492 and is said to include the architect of the Alhambra. His father was Michelangelo Abbado, a violinist and teacher who gave both Claudio and his brother, Marcello Abbado, their first piano and music lessons (Marcello has gone on to become a pianist and composer). Claudio was educated at the Milan Conservatory, graduating in 1955 with a certificate in piano. ~ Joseph Stevenson, Rovi

~ The ultimate “Living Stereo” Collector’s Edition – A celebration of high-fidelity analogue recording ~ All 60 CDs newly remastered from the original 2- and 3-track master tapes using 24 bit / 192 kHz technology ~ First ever release of 48 “Living Stereo” LPs on CD ~ Hardcover bound book with a new introduction by discographer Michael Gray, full discographical notes and content listing ~ All albums with facsimile LP sleeves and labels About “Living Stereo”: Early in the fall of 1958, the world of high-fidelity music reproduction changed forever.

Just when you thought that you had heard everything… My question is: where did they ever assemble such an across the board inept and painful to listen to group of singers. I mean really ! It just boggles the mind. I have NEVER heard a more lifelesss and just plain BLAH! rendition of a baroque opera in my life.
I was punished for seeking out a bargain (got it 2nd hand @ a terrific price).
Guess I'll go and dig out my trusty old vinyl recording with Teresa Stich-Randall, Maureen Forrester etc. to hear a passionate & even sanguine performance of this excellent Handel opera. That & the 3 excerpts by Marilyn Horne on her early Bach & Handel disc, which are GREAT ! [amazon]

François Couturier's solo excursion "Un jour si blanc" is conceived by its maker as the second volume in a planned trilogy, and an extension of the earlier quartet disc "Nostalghia", dedicated to filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. The highly poetic approach – both in the playing itself and in the referential and allusive conception – is again evident. The new album's starting point is a poem by Arseni Tarkovsky, which gives the disc its title and atmospheric implications. Thereafter, the music opens up associatively, making trans-idiomatic improvisational interconnections. "I wanted to pay tribute to some great artists I particularly like", says Couturier. These include Johann Sebastian Bach, Arthur Rimbaud, Claude Debussy, Franz Schubert, Toru Takemitsu, Joan Miró, the painters of the Blaue Reiter group and more. Meanwhile, "Lune de miel" quotes liberally from "I Fall In Love Too Easily"… But if standard jazz is a component of this disc it is filtered through the focus of a player steeped in the European classical and experimental traditions. This first solo disc from the insightful French pianist is also a richly creative contribution to the unaccompanied piano genre established at ECM, as Couturier now joins the distinguished list of improvising pianists – Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Keith Jarrett, Marilyn Crispell, Jon Balke, Misha Alperin – who have recorded alone for the label.

An absolute delight for collectors, this new series showcases Decca's rich heritage of singers' recitals, featuring performances from some of the biggest names of the 20th Century - José Carreras, Birgit Nilsson, Hans Hotter, Lisa Della Casa and many more! Of the fifty titles in the series, the majority have never been recorded on CD before.The range of repertoire encompassed by these recitals is very broad - from opera arias and Lieder to popular songs, folk tunes and the hits of Broadway.