Nonetheless

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Divertimenti KV 136-138, 251
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra / Ton Koopman
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 331 MB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Erato # 2292-45471-2 | Country/Year: rance 1990
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School

"…Koopman opts for solo strings in this, which is generally a good idea, and allows the two horns and oboe to sing out easily. Some listeners, however, may find the solo double-bass just a little too prominent – it has a quite percussive edge sometimes, which is not at all unpleasant, but a touch surprising nonetheless. (No slur on the excellent bass playing, more likely a problem for the recording team).This is an ideal issue for these hot summer nights; Eine Kleine Mozart to keep you cool with highly efficient musical air-conditioning." ~MusicwebInternational

The cast in this performance, recorded live on November 18, 2004, is as excellent as the names would indicate: Patrizia Ciofi, Roberto Saccà and Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
Hvorostovsky, who has been singing Germont since 2002, continues to surpass himself in this role every time one hears him. Though difficult to imagine Hvorostovsky as an elder man, he nonetheless gives credence to the role of Germont through his straightforward, yet elegant style of singing and acting. Hvorostvsky’s subtle coloring of his voice, his innate sense of drama and musicianship give him the edge over any other baritone available–be he younger or older. In Act II, when Germont confronts Violetta, Hvorostovsky is vocally stern without being offensive to his son’s mistress, and later in the scene when Germont lets his guard down, the singer is able to project a comforting fatherly image to the woman who is “the ruin” of Alfredo and his family… Daniel Pardo

Fernando Lopes-Graça (1906-1994) was one of Portugal's foremost exponents of modernism. I am the lesser for not having heard his music much previously. Happily I have a copy now of Artur Pizarro playing a goodly selection of his Piano Music (Capriccio 5196). If I say that his piano music has more in common with Stravinsky than Schoenberg or Boulez, that is not to say that he sounds like a Stravinsky imitation, far from it. It is only to say that there is a harmonic-melodic situational horizontality ……

I am only commenting on the first three tracks of this CD, which are the Second Symphony of Rostislav Boiko. This is a highly colored, tonal work, which is Russian in its essence. Dedicated to the then Leningrad, it is to me highly evocative and intensely colored. Most amazing is the second movement - clangorous and frenzied with some of the most amazing brass I have ever heard. In the background is a Dies Irae like motive…….

Joe Jalbert @ Amazon.com

Louis Spohr - Violinkonzerte Nr. 10, 7 & 9
Ulf Hoelscher / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Christian Fröhlich
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 311 MB | Full Artwork: 176 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: CPO # 999 232-2 | Country/Year: Germany 1999
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School, Romantic

Hoelscher demonstrates a formidable mastery of Spohr’s technically challenging passagework, although his efforts are somewhat undermined by the recessed sound of the orchestra. (…) Nonetheless, it is fascinating to experience a bird’s-eye view of Spohr’s development, from the elegant if somewhat four-square First Concerto to the more sophisticated harmonic and formal structures of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth.

A sumptuous two-disc set that brings together all three of Patti's albums for the Philadelphia International label from the 1980s

Louis Spohr - Violinkonzerte Nr. 8, 12 & 13
Ulf Hoelscher / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Christian Fröhlich
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 196 MB | Full Artwork: 166 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: CPO # 999 187-2 | Country/Year: Germany 1999
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School, Romantic

Hoelscher demonstrates a formidable mastery of Spohr’s technically challenging passagework, although his efforts are somewhat undermined by the recessed sound of the orchestra. (…) Nonetheless, it is fascinating to experience a bird’s-eye view of Spohr’s development, from the elegant if somewhat four-square First Concerto to the more sophisticated harmonic and formal structures of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth.

A Baltimore group that scored a Top 20 R&B single in 1977, then never repeated the feat while recording for Columbia and ARC until 1979. Lead vocalist Al McKinney, Larry Jacobs, Gary Grainger, Charles C. Williams, Kevin Barnes, George Gray, Irving Madison, and Jacob R. Sheffer comprised the lineup.