Haydn | Concertos For Oboe, Trumpet, Harpsichord

Paul Goodwin · Mark Bennett · Trevor Pinnock · English Concert

Trevor Pinnock, his soloists, and the band can’t be topped for overall energy, joie de vivre, and musicianship. The tempos are bright but not excessively so, and the phrasing is impeccable. Freshness and intelligence are found here along with technical agility and radiant warmth when required. Finally, these participants offer interpretations that bring much pleasure to the listener and also display a keen understanding of the music and how to make all of the elements come together for a top-drawer release.

MP3 HQ · 101 MB

Johann & Josef Strauss: Walzer & Polkas

Berliner Philharmoniker · Herbert von Karajan

Karajan's legendary recording with Valses & Polkas from Johann & Josef Strauss and the Berliner Philharmoniker

MP3 HQ · 116 MB

The Art Of The Recorder

Pieter-Jan Belder · Rainer Zipperling · Menno Van Delft

For long times the recorder (Blockflöte) was considered the somewhat retarded member of the musical instruments family. In Renaissance and Baroque however, it was one of the foremost and popular melody instruments of all.

On these 2 CD's Pieter-Jan Belder, proves the artistic value of the instrument, and the wonderful repertoire written for it. He starts with solo works from the collection "Des Fluyten Lusthof" by Dutch composer Jacob van Eijck, and continues his journey through Italian composers De Rore, Frescobaldi, Castello and Cimo to the great Baroque masters Corelli, Telemann, Handel and Bach. His fellow-travellers are Menno van Delft, harpsichord and Rainer Zipperling, cello/viola da gamba.

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 242 MB

Bonjour Paris

Albrecht Mayer · Academy of St. Martin in the Fields · Mathias Mönius

Albrecht Mayer, principal oboe of the Berlin Philharmonic, celebrates a lifelong passion for France with this album of popular melodies, including favourites by Debussy, Fauré, and Ravel — plus the world-premiere recording of the impressionistic Été.

MP3 HQ · 119 MB

Mozart | Ouvertures

Staatskapelle Dresden · Sir Colin Davis

On this disc the performances of a wide range of Overtures are absolutely delectable. We traverse Mozart’s overtures from the early works Bastien und Bastienne, Luci Silla, La Finta Giardiniera and Il Re Pastore, to some mid career works Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Idomeneo. We also get the later works such as Le Nozze di Figaro, Der Schauspieldirektor, Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte.

It is a disc which you are unlikely to listen to entirely without a break, but if you do, as I did, you will be entranced by the quality of playing and recording.--musicweb

MP3 HQ · 102 MB

Handel | Caro Amor

In 2009 the music world celebrates the 250th anniversary of Georg Friedich Handel's death. "Caro Amor" presents on 2 CDs the most beautiful and expressive arias from his most famous operas and oratorios.

Mit Angelika Kirchschlager · Vesselina Kasarova · Bryn Terfel · Annette Dasch · Marijana Mijanovic · María Bayo · Ian Bostridge · Nuria Rial · Lawrence Zazzo · Dem Kammerrorchester Basel · Il Complesso Barocco · Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenmen

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 214 MB

Saint-Saëns | Cello Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 · La Muse et le Poète · Suite

Steven Isserlis · Joshua Bell · London Symphony Orchestra · Michael Tilson Thomas · NDR Sinfonieorchester · Christoph Eschenbach

“This is mostly reissues; but I was glad, several years after it was recorded and edited, BMG managed to locate and then issue the Saint-Saens Suite, Op. 16. At one stage, they seemed to have lost the tapes! It’s a lovely piece.”

MP3 HQ · 112 MB

Bruch · Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 3 | Sarasate · Navarra

Chloë Hanslip · London Symphony Orchestra · Martyn Brabbins

Still in her early teens, Chloë Hanslip here builds on the success of her debut disc of violin showpieces, tackling not only the popular G minor Violin Concerto of Bruch but the far more demanding Third Concerto, almost twice as long. It seems that for Hanslip the bigger the challenge, the greater her success. Warm and confident as she is in the First, she tends to underline phrasing too heavily, where in the expansive Third she is fresher, more imaginative and more individual.

With clean attack and flawless intonation she gives a spontaneous-sounding reading, while Martyn Brabbins draws incisive playing from the LSO. The Sarasate showpiece - in which Hanslip is joined in duet by Mikhail Ovrutsky is a delightful supplement. --M.V.

MP3 HQ · 115 MB

Rameau | Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts

Trevor Pinnock · Rachel Podger · Jonathan Manson

These are balanced and refreshingly musical performances that will draw you back again and again to savour the gracefulness and the kaleidoscopic blending of instrumental colours they bring to the music. Pinnock’s playing is lively and engaging, inspiring and inspired. His accuracy is breathtaking, his ornamentation jewel-like. Podger and Manson respond with clarity and shapely phrasing, even in the hair-raising ‘Tambourins’ (Troisième Concert).

MP3 HQ · 116 MB

Zelenka | Orchesterwerke

Camerata Bern · Alexander van Wijnkoop

Berne Camerata and an impressive line-up of soloists present a vibrant portrait of Zelenka. The playing is sympathetic and stylistically alert whilst unashamedly making use of instrumental refinements and interpretative gestures of our own time. A thoroughly estimable achievement well documented and pleasingly recorded. --Gramophone

MP3 HQ · 129 MB

Floodplain

Kronos Quartet

With Floodplain, Kronos Quartet draws together work from the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe in particular from those nations whose external conflicts and internal divisions have, for many westerners, often overshadowed their rich musical legacies. With these twelve specially commissioned tracks, Kronos Quartet explore centuries-old traditions while also presenting adventurous new music by young composers who sample and reinterpret aspects of their indigenous cultures. Some of these pieces have been adapted from the religious, folk, classical and popular music of Egypt, Lebanon, Azerbaijan and Iraq, among other places. Others were written for Kronos Quartet by such contemporary artists as the Palestinian electronic / hip hop collective Ramallah Underground, who Kronos founder David Harrington discovered via myspace, and the Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov.

MP3 HQ · 135 MB

Best of Grieg

Barbara Bonney · Anne Sofie von Otter · Mikhail Pletnev · Berliner Philharmoniker · Herbert von Karajan · Göteborgs Symfoniker · Neeme Järvi

This generous 2CD compilation of the most popular and beautiful music by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Here bringing their unique artistry to a diverse selection of masterpieces by Norway's beloved Romantic are such outstanding interpreters as Anne Sofie von Otter, Herbert von Karajan and Neeme Järvi, featured in some of Deutsche Grammophon's most acclaimed recordings.

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 221 MB

The World's First Piano Concertos

David Owen Norris · Ensemble Sonnerie

Extensive research by internationally renowned pianist David Owen Norris about a peculiar, tiny square piano that dominated the European keyboard market for about 15 years in the late 18th century, led to his discovery of works written specially for the instrument which constitute The World’s First Piano Concertos.

The square piano was the brainchild of a German instrument maker name Zumpe who moved to London in 1761, a time that found composers such as J C Bach and C F Abel thriving in the cosmopolitan English city, and when a precocious Mozart met the former during an early tour there. Inspired by Zumpe’s revolutionary invention, these and other leading composers of the day eagerly wrote a number of virtuoso works that, accompanied by a small string ensemble which would not overpower the instrument’s delicate sound, allowed the keyboard soloist to truly shine. Thus, the Piano Concerto was born in London around 1770. These works, neglected since the demise of the square piano, are here brought together with an equally neglected instrument for the first time on CD.

MP3 HQ · 131 MB

Beau Soir

Janine Jansen violin & Itmar Golan piano

“All the pieces here are beautifully played. Janine Jansen doesn't force her view of the music on the listener, concentrating here on an elegant, sophisticated style, but there's always a flicker of something - a little extra pressure, or a note with faster vibrato - that brings each phrase to life. Itmar Golan shows a similarly lively musical intelligence.”

MP3 HQ · 112 MB

Dussek | 5 Piano Trios [fixed]

Trio 1790

Jan Dussek's music is mostly overlooked by today's general public, largely because much of it seems to pander to long-outdated tastes. These five Sonatas for piano, violin, and cello won't do much to alter that perspective, but they nonetheless deserve attention as examples of the work of a respected contemporary of Beethoven, Haydn, and C.P.E. Bach, who was a well-travelled and brilliant keyboardist and composer.

MP3 HQ · 96 MB

Dvorák for Two

Gil Shaham & Orli Shaham

“The Shahams, brother and sister, make a formidable team. It's obvious throughout that they're entirely comfortable playing together, effortlessly accommodating any freedoms in timing and matching each other's tone and dynamics."

MP3 HQ · 84 MB

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto · Paganini Violin Concerto No.1

Uto Ughi · London Symphony Orchestra · Orchestra da Camera di Santa Cecilia · Georges Pretre

UTO UGHI plays a Guarnieri del Gesù of 1744 which, with its deep, warm sound, is probably one of the most beautiful Guarneris in existence, and a Stradivarius of 1701, known as “Kreutzer” because it once belonged to the violinist by that name to whom Beethoven dedicated his famous Sonata.

MP3 HQ · 100 MB

Soler | 6 Concertos for Two Keyboard Instruments

Kenneth Gilbert · Trevor Pinnock

"Antonio Soler (1729-83) was educated in the Benedictine Monastery of Montserrat near Barcelona and became a monk. This however did not prevent his working at the Spanish Court in Madrid with Scarlatti and teaching various members of the royal family. He had almost too much facility as a composer, as is apparent in the six so-called 'concertos' which fill the two sides of this record to the brim, but an individual charm surfaces from time to time."

"The music is played with unfailing skill and sympathy, and it has been very well recorded." --Gramophone, reviewing the original LP release.

MP3 HQ · 112 MB

Reminiscences

Yuri Bashmet viola & Mikhail Muntian piano

“Bashmet is one of the last great figures in the long line of Russian instrumentalists stretching back to the Rubinstein brothers… in the mid-19th century. The sense of a musician living through each and every phrase is palpable throughout this recital.” “Mikhail Muntian is a dedicated accompanist and Bashmet's artistry is as compelling as ever. First-rate sound, too.”

MP3 HQ · 88 MB

The Art of the Baroque Trumpet · Vol. 3

Niklas Eklund · Susanne Rydén · London Baroque · Medlam/H. Tarr

"Niklas Eklund's Art of the Baroque Trumpet series, is the most lyrically gorgeous trumpet playing you'll ever hear."

MP3 HQ · 106 MB

Beethoven | Concerti pour piano Nos. 1 & 2

Arthur Schoonderwoerd · Ensemble Cristofori

This third volume ends the passionate work initiated by Arthur Schoonderwoerd in 2004 with the integral recording of Beethoven's concertos for pianoforte on period instruments. Provoking enthusiasm and rebuttal, this collection of recordings clearly arouses the question of the reconsideration of different stylistic options far from the common Beethovenian model imagined by the artists of the 20th century.

MP3 HQ · 100 MB

Rossini | Opera Arie e Sinfonie

María Bayo · Concerto Italiano · Rinaldo Alessandrini

María Bayo realizes Rossini with the same clarity and elasticity she brings to the Baroque repertoire and imparts a real feeling of spontaneity, too. She ornaments these arias freely, tastefully, and imaginatively, just as one imagines the singers of Rossini's day would have done. Concerto Italiano, one of Italy's finest period instrument ensembles, led by Rinaldo Alessandrini, provide vibrant and vivacious accompaniment, with delightfully spicy sonorities from the woodwinds and brass.

MP3 HQ · 97 MB

Brahms | Songs without Words

Mischa Maisky · Pavel Gililov

Mischa Maisky has the distinction of being the only cellist in the world to have studied with both Mstislav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky. Rostropovich has lauded Mischa Maisky as "...one of the most outstanding talents of the younger generation of cellists. His playing combines poetry and exquisite delicacy with great temperament and brilliant technique."

MP3 HQ · 107 MB

Echoes of Time · Shostakovich · Kancheri · Pärt · Rachmaninov

Lisa Batiashvili · Grimaud · Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks · Salonen

Lisa Batiashvili grew up listening to her father's string quartet playing Shostakovich, so it's no surprise that she should choose the composer's Violin Concerto No 1 as the centrepiece of her Deutsche Grammophon debut, on which she's accompanied by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Esa-Pekka Salonen. It's a marvellous performance, suitably crepuscular in the opening "Nocturne", before a Gypsy flamboyance takes over for "Scherzo". Salonen proves the perfect accomplice in realising the album's theme of works reflective of the Soviet era, the programme including pieces by Soviet emigrés Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancheli: the latter's "V & V", for violin, voice and strings, is a subtle work of haunting melancholy.

MP3 HQ · 133 MB

Faure | Piano Quartets Nos 1 & 2 · Nocturne

Kathryn Stott piano · The Hermitage String Trio

"Kathryn Stott reinforces her position as one of the finest Fauré interpreters of her generation." --BBC Music Magazine

Stott is an internationally acknowledged interpreter of Fauré's piano music. She has long wished to record Fauré's hauntingly beautiful two piano quartets, but was looking for the right ensemble. She has found that in the form of the Hermitage String Trio, a group she has toured with on a number of occasions. The Strad magazine recently wrote: "This ensemble will do much to put more string trio repertory on the musical map." The quartets are presented with Fauré's solo piano work, Nocturne No.4; a unique combination and fresh interpretations, recorded in warm Chandos sound.

MP3 HQ · 115 MB

Violin Concertos Of John Adams & Philip Glass

Robert McDuffie · Houston Symphony Orchestra · Christoph Eschenbach

Leave it to Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony to deliver one of the more impressive classical discs of 1999: a pairing of the violin concertos of John Adams and Philip Glass.

Robert McDuffie's violin isn't as piercing as Kremer's--a shame during the eerily gorgeous second movement of Adams's piece--but there's a pleasant balance to this new disc, and the Houston Symphony sounds fantastic. All in all, it's a great package of two contemporary classical-music compositions everyone should hear. --J.V.

MP3 HQ · 98 MB

Liszt | Piano Concertos 1 & 2 · Totentanz

Boris Berezovsky · Philharmonia Orchestra · Hugh Wolff

“Here, surely, we have the truest successor to the great Russian pianists” --Gramophone

Boris Berezovsky has established a remarkable reputation, both as the most powerful of virtuoso pianists and as a musician of unique insight and sensitivity. Born in Moscow in 1969, Boris Berezovsky studied at the Moscow Conservatoire with Eliso Virsaladze and privately with Alexander Satz. Following his London début at the Wigmore Hall in 1988, The Times described him as "an artist of exceptional promise, a player of dazzling virtuosity and formidable power"; two years later that promise was fulfilled when he won the Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

MP3 HQ · 93 MB

Italian Flute Concertos | Alberti · Sammartini · Piacentino Romano · Cecere

Jean-Pierre Rampal · I Solisti Veneti · Claudio Scimone

One of the twentieth century's greatest flute players, Jean-Pierre Rampal brought the flute into the international concert circuit for the first time. His technique and his musicianship attracted loyal audiences around the globe, drawn especially to his famous tone and his ability to project subtle nuances. His talent was complimented by his boundless energy and his tireless promotion of the flute, which together succeeded in developing an international market for flute music unlike any seen since the eighteenth century.

MP3 HQ · 90 MB

The Art of the Baroque Trumpet · Vol. 2

Eklund baroque trumpet · Johannessen organ · Ullrich · Klingfors · Dalen

Reviewing the first volume in Naxos's "The Art of the Baroque Trumpet", Gramophone magazine said of Eklund, "let me rejoice at playing of rare technical ability and musical panache".

Knut Johannessen is equally home as a performer and teacher of the harpsichord as he is in the organ loft.

MP3 HQ · 107 MB

Campagnoli | Violin Concerto Op.15 · Violin Concerto Op.3 No.2 · Sinfonia concertante

Mario Folena · Francesco Manara · Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto · Giancarlo Andretta

Bartolomeo Campagnoli was born in Cento (near Bologna) in 1751 and died in Neusterlitz in 1827. Trained at the school of Tartini and later of Nardini, he had a dazzling career as a concert performer. In 1776 he moved to Germany, working in various cities (Freising, Dresden, Leipzig). In Leipzig he published his famous Violin Method, which soon became popular throughout Europe.

MP3 HQ · 104 MB

Rosseti | Bassoon Concertos

Albrecht Holder · New Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra · Nicolás Pasquet

Best remembered for his often original writing for wind instruments, in particular the horn, Rosetti was a prolific composer of symphonies, concertos, chamber music and choral works, and was considered by many of his contemporaries to be the equal of Haydn and Mozart. Rosetti composed five bassoon concertos, three of which are here recorded for the first time. These technically demanding works are noteworthy for long arching melodies in the slow movements framed by inventive and lively outer movements

MP3 HQ · 112 MB

Sonatas by Dvořák · Feld · Martinů

James Galway · Phillip Moll

"Those who have criticized James Galway for his choice of repertory should take note of this unusual and attractive Czech collection. All three pieces spark off the Galway magic, with the two modern works beautifully written for the flute, and the Dvorak Violin Sonatina proving a winner in this 'edition' (rather than arrangement) for flute by Galway and Moll themselves. . . .Phillip Moll as ever is a sparkling and sympathetic accompanist. The recording is relatively dry with excellent presence: James Galway might by playing in your very living-room." --Gramophone

MP3 HQ · 93 MB

Rachmaninov | Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini · Piano Concerto No. 2

Yuja Wang · Mahler Chamber Orchestra · Claudio Abbado

Yuja Wang joins the legendary maestro on her first orchestral album. To the challenging Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no. 2, she adds the daunting Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. This, the composer's last composition for piano and orchestra, is the keystone of his symphonic uvre. Yuja Wang, Gramophone's "Young Artist of the Year" 2009, hearkens to the no-holds-barred pianistic sensations of the 19th century. "Whereas many pianists try to dominate this set of variations, she worked with it. This approach simply gave more punch to the places in which the piano should jump out of the texture" --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MP3 HQ · 93 MB

Hi-Fi Ouvertures

Tchaikovsky · Dvorak · Albeniz · Mussorgsky
Weber · J.S. Strauss

Fritz Reiner
Chicago Sympony Orchestra

MP3 HQ · 83 MB

The Art of the Baroque Trumpet · Vol. 1

Niklas Eklund · Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble · Nils-Erik Sparf

“Niklas‘s success on the baroque trumpet, which has brought him most instant recognition, and which he is already a remarkable exponent.“ --Gramophone

MP3 HQ · 94 MB

J.S. Bach | Works for Organ & Orchestra

André Isoir · Le Parlement de la Musique · Martin Gester

This CD is not part of the set of complete organ works by André Isoir. The CD presents works for Organ and Orchestra, some well known for other keyboard versions. BWV 1059a is reconstructed from solo Alto Cantata BWV35. Isoir plays the Grand Organ of Fere-En-Tardenois, constructed in 1990 by Georges Westenfelder. The playing is brisk, bright and a true joy to listen to.The match with the accompanying orchestra is nicely balanced.

MP3 HQ · 99 MB