Weber

Released in 1970 by Universal International, this programme features the New Philharmonia Orchestra under the skilled baton of Wilfried Boettcher.

This CD brings together for the first time three major Lyonnais composers of the late 19th and 20th centuries through more than thirty short vocal or instrumental pieces with contrasting and sometimes surprising aesthetics and musical languages.

… the recording sounds as though it had been made just last week. George Szell and the Clevelanders render Schumann in the grand manner of the middle of the last century, before the horrendous politically correct, period instruments craze hit the classical world. To anyone who's heard any of the more "authentic" recordings of the last couple of decades, this may sound somewhat bombastic, but that's what makes this music so wonderful.!

The bassoon is generally regarded as the joker in the orchestra. It can cackle, growl unwillingly, sing bass arias in the deepest cellar and crow at the highest heights the next moment.

After decades of neglect, many collectors will feel that it's high time to revisit the eight symphonies and grand orchestral passacaglia Mystery of Time by Miloslav Kabeláč (1908–1979); and those who are appreciative of those works will surely find this compendium of his complete chamber music highly attractive. The programme represents the full gamut of his fifty-year development as a composer, with examples of both conventional and experimental forms, and ranging from the early horn and cello sonatas, to his Suite for Saxophone, and concluding with the dramatic chamber cantata Osudová dramata člověka. This 3-CD set happily includes performers who are noted enthusiasts for Kabeláč's music, not least Albrecht Mayer, Sarah Willis and Jan Vogler.

On the eve of his centenary in 2018, Sony Classical releases the most important collection, Leonard Bernstein’s classic American Columbia recordings, remastered from their original 2- and multi-track analogue tapes. This has allowed for the creation of a natural balance (for example, between the orchestra and solo instruments) that brings the quality of these half-century-old recordings, excellent for their time, up to the standards of today’s audiophiles. In addition, there has been a meticulous restoration of some earlier masterings in which LP surface noise was too rigorously eliminated at the expense of the original brilliance.

For his first release on Alpha, the clarinetist and conductor Jörg Widmann celebrates the music of a composer who wrote some of the finest pieces ever devoted to his instrument: Carl Maria von Weber. With the ensemble of which he is principal conductor, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, he has recorded the Clarinet Quintet (in its version with string ensemble) and the Concertino, composed in 1811 and 1815 respectively, along with the ever-popular Overture to Der Freischütz.

Sophie Rosa and Ian Buckle have curated a fascinating recital that partners Montgeroult’s sonata (receiving its world premiere recording) with her duo partner Viotti’s 10th sonata, and the precocious F minor sonata by the 14 year old Felix Mendelssohn. Their recital concludes with Weber’s short and sparkling 2nd sonata written with gifted amateur musicians in mind.

Here is another florilegium of showpieces from Wilhelm Furtwängler’s late 1940s and early 1950s sessions with the Wiener Philharmoniker.

The impetus of the Mexican Revolution galvanized the use of indigenous melodies in a new and original wave of musical compositions that loosened dependence on European models. Jose Moncayo’s infectiously joyful ‘Huapango,’ one of Mexico’s best-known works is, in its distinct national character, deeply rooted in folk music. Silvestre Revueltas’s ‘La Noche de los mayas’ is a symphonic suite derived from film music that employs Mexican percussion instruments in a vividly inventive way.