Robert Antoni

Brahms’ string concertos are indissolubly linked with the musicians for whom the works were written. He wrote his Violin Concerto for Joseph Joachim, and in it he combined what a contemporary critic termed ‘the great and serious’ with songful lyricism, melodic beauty, and a fiery Hungarian finale. To mend a breach with the violinist, Brahms later composed a concerto with the unusual combination of violin and cello, the latter played at the premiere by Joachim’s colleague Robert Hausmann. Neither instrument predominates in a work of reconciliation that embodies both drama and reflection.

Tomas Breton's La Dolores from 1895–in which all the male characters love the heroine, Dolores, who works in an inn–is an opera espagnola: a full-blown opera, not a zarzuela, and its plot, characters, mood, and music could belong to no other country but Spain. Breton's musical idiom is late romantic, and he's a fine composer. The opera's acts build with good intensity, and throughout he keeps the local flavor alive with dances and rhythms that are peculiarly Spanish.

On this, the largest set ever compiled of one of the last century's most popular composers, we may not only renew our familiarity with the Concierto de Aranjuez, or perhaps with one of the other ever-melodious guitar concertos that sustain his reputation with audiences, but also discover chamber, instrumental, choral and especially vocal works which testify to a creative imagination confident in the formation of its style but never satisfied with repetition, one which responded directly to poetic and lyric inspiration, and transformed its ideas with unfailing skill and respect for the idiom under consideration.

This wide-ranging collection provides an overview of Carlo Maria Giulini's collaborations with London s most distinguished orchestras, including his beloved Philharmonia Orchestra. Released in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the conductor's birth in 2014, this 17-disc set showcases the sheer quality and breadth of Giulini's recorded legacy, and includes reverential and deeply-felt readings of Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann; thrilling performances of overtures by Verdi and Rossini; and vivid and colorful Debussy, Ravel, Falla and Stravinsky, all led with the utmost flair and commitment. Also featured is a fascinating bonus documentary on Giulini's life and career, with contributions by the conductor himself and some of the musicians who worked closely with him.