*Discount is applied automatically at checkout
*This is a constantly changing special, so act quickly in order not to miss out on the current discounted album
Available Now for 40% Off Stravinsky’s “Big Three”, The Rite of Spring, Firebird, and Petrushka, are literally cultural icons. Hundreds of recordings, new and re-releases, have had a huge presence in concerts and in record sales. They each have a bold narrative, and are written for big orchestras. But the three neoclassical works on this […]
A memory crossed my mind the other day. I was attending a 6 week Summer Session at UC Berkeley in 1963, and one of my classes was Chorus, with longtime conductor and professor, Dr. Edward Lawton. I was in the chorus for the Summer Concert, Berlioz’ Grande Messe des Morts. It was a wonderful experience! […]
In the first half of my 50 + years as a radio personality, I was exposed to hundreds of ho-hum albums of songs from movies. The last thing I wanted to hear was another version of the Theme from The Apartment, or the Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet. And that’s why I avoided spending […]
It’s easy to lump composers together simply because they are contemporaries, or they come from the same place or area. I’ve written about this before in relation to Sibelius and Nielsen. The “Nordic” similarities seem stretched– Denmark (Nielsen) is traditionally more aligned in culture with Germany and continental Europe. Finland (Sibelius) is more aligned with, […]
I love Dvorak’s Cello Concerto and I have since I first heard it in the 1962 recording with Janos Starker, backed by Dorati and the LSO. I would never want to be without it, but this one with Pieter Wispelwey, backed by Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra is my choice for a modern, […]
I didn’t know much about Polish-American pianist and composer, Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938). I saw his name occasionally, but it wasn’t until I spent some time with his Java Suite that I wanted to know more. Godowsky is celebrated for his extraordinary technical imagination and his ability to transform the piano into an almost orchestral instrument. […]
I have loved the music of Erik Satie since… Well, I admit it, since I was first exposed to his Gymnopedies, no 2 as interpreted by Blood Sweat and Tears in their landmark 1968 album. I wasn’t alone in this. I’d been enjoying Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc for years, and when I finally explored Aldo Ciccolini’s recordings […]
In 1830 Hector Berlioz created a groundbreaking, programmatic work about an artist who falls in love with a woman, becomes obsessed with her but is rejected, and eventually kills her. The Symphonie Fantastique was the first major symphony to follow a written narrative – a radical departure from the “absolute music” of earlier composers. Innovative orchestration […]
This is one of the best “Discoveries” I’ve made so far! 840, with guitarist Enno Voorhorst, is a wonderful album! The artistry is superb, the music program couldn’t be better, and the recording quality is the best I’ve heard for a solo guitar. I’m not alone in saying it will seem like Voorhorst is in the room […]
I’ll admit, it took me a while to really dive into this classical-jazz crossover album. Is it fusion, or confusion…? Italian Double bassist and composer Enzo Pietropaoli features arrangements of traditional sacred Marian antiphons, as well as some compositions of his own. Pietropaoli is on bass, Gabriele Mirabassi on clarinet, and Michele Rabbia on percussion and […]
Sir Antony Pampano’s recent recording of Vaughan Williams’ Symphonies 5 and 9 will no doubt be one of my nominations for an album of the year nomination, so I thought it would be an excellent time to remind you of this superb release from 2021. VW’s 4 and 6 are remarkable. Instead of folk melodies […]
Here is an album that’s been out for a while, and I think it’s been overlooked. Rachmaninoff was the last major Romantic composer according to folks who decide these things. I’m not sure. Comparing Rachmaninoff with even Stravinsky has convinced me that Rachmaninoff was more than capable with some surprising sounds, while Stravinsky wasn’t always doing […]