String Quartets | Ravel · Debussy · Fauré

Quatuor Ebène

Their almost palpable sense of wonder means the Ebènes win hands down.

What a sensational disc! At a time when there is a multitude of crack new quartets, Quatuor Ebène here stake their claim to join the top rank with riveting playing that encompasses an almost other-worldly sound-range. The Debussy especially left me reeling. With Ebène, the Pavel Haas players, the Belceas, the Pacificas, Jerusalems and more, chamber fans are in good hands for the next few decades at least. --Gramophone

2009 Gramophone Award Winner - Best Chamber Recording and Record of the Year

MP3 HQ · 134 MB

Goldberg | Chamber Music · Trio Sonatas, Quartet for two Violins, Viola and B.c.

Musica Alra Ripa

Founded in 1984 and based in Hanover, the home of the musicians, Musica Alta Ripa has set the standard in the performance of early music. The recordings of the trio sonatas and quartet for two violins, viola, and basso continuo are premiere recordings.

“These new performances from Musica Alta Ripa are excellent. Beautifully played and recorded, this is a welcome and long overdue introduction to an unfamiliar composer. Recommended.” --BBC M.M

MP3 HQ · 128 MB

Mozart · Haendel · Rolla | Duos pour violin & alto

Augustin Dumay, violin · Gérard Caussé, viola

Augustin Dumay has in recent years stood out as one of the most talented artists of his generation. The Strad Magazine described him recently as the “legitimate heir to the royal Belgian line of Ysaye and Grumiaux”, who was his mentor.

MP3 HQ · 107 MB

Stefano Landi | Homo fugit velut umbra...

Johannette Zomer soprano · Stephan Van Dyck ténor · Alain Buet basse · Marco Beasley ténor · L'Arpeggiata · Christina Pluhar

So who was Stefano Landi? to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians he is 'One of the most important figures in the early history of opera and a leading Roman composer of his day'. But this recording focuses on another, less public side of Landi's art, the more personal books of arias (Libri di Arie). It looks into Landi's 'double life, the reverse side of life at court and its struggle for recognition...so we can discover in Stefano Landi's Libri di Arie pieces that on closer inspection lead the way into a universe all his own. These arias and villanellas, composed by a singer and continuo player, a rhetorician and philosopher, who accompanied his own songs on the harp or the Spanish guitar, constitute a miniature art form of concentrated perfection'.

Congratulations to Christina Pluhar, her singers and L'Arpeggiata, for illuminating the life of a little-known Italian master in such a beautifully rewarding way. --BBC M.M.

MP3 HQ · 89 MB

Prokofiev | Four Portraits from 'The Gambler' · Suite from 'Semyon Kotko'

Scottish National Orchestra · Neeme Järvi

Exhilarating and inventive, Prokofiev’s Four Portraits enshrine the best of the opera. Memorable melodies and rich orchestration abound in both these rarely heard suites which will appeal to anyone interested in Prokofiev’s lesser-known works. The recordings now return to make a welcome addition to the Chandos Classics label.

“this CD is welcome as an introduction, not only to The Gambler but to the even rarer Semyon Kotko” --Classic CD

MP3 HQ · 103 MB

Vivaldi | Le Passioni Dell'Uomo · Violin Concertos

Enrico Casazza violin/director · La Magnifica Comunità

Antonio Vivaldi is best known for his concertos. Of the 241 violin concertos he composed, many of them have got programmatic nicknames. Italian baroque violinist Enrico Casazza, violin solo of the ensemble "The Musiche Nove," has selected six concertos whose names all refer to human passions ("L'Amoroso" or "The Inquietudine).

The bonus CD includes four concertos originally composed for other instruments than the violin. These works were arranged for violin and string orchestra by Vivaldi specialist Pablo Queipo de Llano.

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 172 MB

Bach | Partitas 1, 5 & 6

Murray Perahia piano

The Partitas were originally devised as clavier-übung teaching aids, and rarely if ever performed in public until Mendelssohn revived Bach's reputation in the early 19th century.

He was, however, particularly proud of these works infused with the French Style, and it's easy to hear why under the subtle touch of Murray Perahia, who here concludes his recordings of the complete set of six. The Partita No. 1 in B flat major is a study in contrasts, from the elegant, refined Sarabande to the restrained sprightliness of the two Menuets. The opening Praeambulum of the Partita No. 5 in G major is packed with wonderfully vivid, cascading runs and industrious lines, while the standout section of the entire series is surely the dazzling Corrente of the Partita No. 6 in E minor. --The Independent

MP3 HQ · 112 MB

Mozart | Clarinet and Oboe Concertos

Pay · Piguet · The Academy of Ancient Music · Hogwood

Playing an authentic basset clarinet (a copy, made in 1984, of a period instrument), Anthony Pay gives a splendid account of Mozart's most beautiful concerto. He is right on the mark in terms of tempo, expression, and accent, and his tone is exquisite, with that watery, wonderfully plangent sound that immediately distinguishes the basset clarinet from its higher-pitched siblings. Pay's shadings are soft and natural, and his embellishments simply marvelous. Christopher Hogwood and the Academy give a bold, energetic, dance-like reading of the score, full of verve in the tuttis and wonderfully transparent in the quiet pages. The recording captures it all with excellent fidelity. An equally marvelous account of the Oboe Concerto, played on a period oboe by Michel Piguet, fills out the disc. --T.L.

MP3 HQ · 81 MB

In a Monastery Garden

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus · London Festival Orchestra · Josef Sakonov · Eric Rogers

Ketelbey's often distinctively evocative, exotic sounding works made him one of the most beloved composers in England during his lifetime. He was also among the first to compose background music for silent films- practically inventing, if not fully realizing the potential of the genre. Whether it's with the lush pastoral melody set with actual bird calls in one of Ketelbey's most famous works "In a Monastery Garden" or the highly chromatic broad orchestral gestures of "Sanctuary of the Heart" all here succeed famously in bringing back to life the unique musical charm of a bygone era. Decca's 'Phase 4 Stereo' sound is also exceptionally good.

MP3 HQ · 127 MB

Fauré · Debussy · Chausson · Ravel · Franck | French Chamber Works

Joshua Bell · Jean-Yves Thibaudet · Takács Quartet · Stephen Isserlis

"These three violin sonatas [Debussy, Fauré, and Franck] together form a satisfying programme and I have enjoyed the way in which Joshua Bell and Jean-Yves Thibaudet respond to the differing demands placed on them by the various composers... [T]he scherzo and finale [in the Fauré] have a vivid delicacy and a pleasing purpose respectively... In the Franck, Bell and Thibaudet are positive and poetic..." --Gramophone

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 203 MB

España

London Symphony Orchestra · L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande · Ataúlfo Argenta

This recording reveals conductor Ataulfo Argenta at the very peak of his art. His command of the Spanish rhythms, innate sense of orchestra colors and intense lyricism infuse this flamboyant music with an irresistible spirit.

MP3 HQ · 124 MB

Alfvén | Swedish Rhapsody 1-3 · A Legend of the Skerries · Elegy

Iceland Symphony Orchestra · Petri Sakari

“Petri Sakari gives us the most natural, unaffected and satisfying Midsummer Vigil to be heard on disc. He's light in touch, responsive to each passing mood and every dynamic nuance, self-effacing and completely at the service of the composer. Moreover, in the Upsala-rapsodi and its later companion he's fresher and more persuasive than any of his rivals on record. Even the Wagnerian-Straussian echoes from the skerries sound convincing. The only reservation concerns the Elegy from the incidental music to Ludwig Nordström's play about Gustav Adolf II, which might have benefited from greater reticence.

Unusually for Sakari, he doesn't tell the tale simply or let the music speak for itself. The recorded sound is refreshingly free from analytical point-making; everything is there in the right perspective, although listeners whose first response is to find the recording recessed will find that a higher level of playback than usual will produce impressively natural results on high-grade equipment.” --Gramophone

MP3 HQ · 112 MB

Eugen Huber | Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 · Scènes de la Csárda Nos. 3 and 4

Chloë Hanslip · Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra · Andrew Mogrelia

Eugen Huber, born in Budapest in 1858, changed his name to Jenő Hubay when he was 21 in a conscious adoption of Hungarian nationalism. He did indeed do much for Hungarian music, as a violin virtuoso, as a teacher of violinists including Szigeti, and as director of the Budapest Academy from 1919, though by then the late-Romantic, Brahmsian attitudes he had inherited from his own teacher Joachim brought him into sharp conflict with Kodály and especially Bartók. He had also spent a fruitful period working with Vieuxtemps in Brussels.

"Hanslip’s radiant artistry and phrasal sensitivity is highly seductive…such is her mastery of line, deeply-felt sincerity and glorious tonal opulence that she could easily be mistaken for Itzhak Perlman at his mid-1970s peak…devoted support from Andrew Mogrelia and the Bournemouth SO and well-balanced engineering rounds out a splendid release." --BBC M.M

MP3 HQ · 117 MB

Domenico Scarlatti | 18 Sonatas

Alexandre Tharaud

Alexandre Tharaud's follow-up to last year's Journal Intime of Chopin pieces finds him tackling the earlier, more decorative sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti, one of Chopin's guilty pleasures.

Scarlatti wrote close to 600 sonatas for harpsichord while in his virtually lifelong position at the Spanish court of Ferdinand VI and Barbara Maria, of which Tharaud has chosen 18 to present on piano here. The range is extraordinary, from the almost casual, plaintive charm of the K132, with its elegant trills and thoughtful progressions, to the dashing Iberian brilliance of the K420, and the more virtuosic manner of the K72 – three wildly differing explorations of the key of C major, handled with a deft, easy grace and an appropriate dash of wit. --The Independent

MP3 HQ · 110 MB

Johannes Mattheson | 12 Sonatas for flute, violin & continuo

Pablo Valetti · Petr Skalka · Dirk Börner · Diana Baroni

The performances are a sheer delight. Diana Baroni and Pablo Valetti create a remarkable range of colours. They play to the limits of expressiveness, yet with great persuasion – the ‘honest virtuosi’ of the title. Their sparkling ornaments decorate but never distort, lyrical lines while fast movements have an élan, even nonchalance, which only absolute technical mastery can deliver. Börner and Skalka complete the picture with a remarkable range of continuo colours and textures. The inventiveness of the playing spills over into imaginative editing – improvisatory introductions, and an added obbligato and flute-violin dialogue to allow everyone to join in the final sonata. Commended unreservedly. --BBC M.M.

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 165 MB

The Greatest Jazz Hits

Take Five, Pink Panther Theme, Mack The Knife & Others

The JAZZ CLUB is not only opened for Jazz fans, but for everyone that loves good music. This groovy Greatest Jazz Hits features tasty tracks from Quincy Jones, Sarah Vaughn, Kai Winding, Ramsey Lewis Trio, Les McCann, George Shearing and many others.

Download here: Blogger Jazz

Aria Cantilena

Elina Garanca · Dresden Staatskapelle · Fabio Luisi

The young mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca has quickly established herself as one of the music world's newest stars through her performances with leading opera theaters and symphony orchestras around the world. She has captured critical and popular acclaim for her beautiful voice, intelligent musicianship, and compelling stage portrayals. For her debut recording on Deutsche Grammophon, Aria Cantilena, Elina Garanca has selected some of her favorite arias and scenes from current and future stage roles--ranging from the coloratura tour-de-force of Rossini's Cenerentola to the sparkling wit of Offenbach's Grande-Duchesse to the emotional intensity of Charlotte's "Letter Scene" from Massenet's Werther.

MP3 HQ · 94 MB

Vivaldi · The Four Seasons

Jacques Loussier Trio

Like his Bach renditions, The Four Seasons captures the spirit and depth of the composer without sounding contrived or superficial. Loussier approaches the string music with an essentially percussive sound, trying to achieve different ‘lighting’ effects using the bass and the drums to represent the changes in color on Vivaldi’s original. “It is essential to capure the ‘sparkling’ nature of his music, but I also aim to interpret Vivaldi in the spirit of the twenty-first century, using his orchestral writing as a jumping-off point,” Loussier said.

Loussier is at his finest on The Four Seasons, and is able to capture the essence of Vivaldi and interpret his music flawlessly.

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Naudot | 6 Flute Concertos

Pál Németh · Capella Savaria

French composer and flautist, Naudot was well known in Paris as a player and teacher, though exactly where he performed is unknown. He clearly moved exclusively within the aristocratic and rich bourgeois circles of Paris; he did not hold any official office but the numerous dedications of his works seem to imply that he enjoyed the protection of many patrons of the arts. His compositions consist mostly of flute concertos or sonatas for 1 or 2 flutes and continuo, nearly all published in Paris between 1726 and 1740.

MP3 HQ · 114 MB

French Bassoon Works

Karen Geoghegan bassoon · Philip Fisher piano

“… a clever recital of French miniatures, ranging from Henri Dutilleux’s Chaplinesque ‘Sarabande et Cortège’ to the courtly elegies and neo-baroque fantasies of Faurège’ to the courtly elegies and neo-baroque fantasies of Faurè, Tansman and Koechlin. Closely shadowed by pianist Philip Fisher, Goeghegan shows elegance, wit a gorgeous sound and a bullet-proof technique. --The Independent

MP3 HQ · 111 MB

Brahms · Korngold | Violins Concertos

Nikolaj Znaider · Wiener Philharmoniker · Valery Gergiev

Brahms tasteful, Korngold vulgar, right? Not in this recording. Soloist Nikolaj Znaider's meticulously judged vibrato glows through the poignant Romance of Korngold's Violin Concerto while Valéry Gergiev works his quivering magic with the Wiener Philharmoniker.

Znaider's Finale is dashing and mercurial. Any schmaltz is reserved for the Brahms, where Gergiev's odd balancing of the woodwind makes the opening of the Adagio sound like Tchaikovsky, and the Vienna strings deliver a cautiously paced last movement. --The Independent

MP3 HQ · 112 MB

Bach | Partitas 2, 3 & 4

Murray Perahia

Bach's partitas are the first works ever published by Bach - his "Opus 1" as he referred to them. Bach said the partitas were "offered to music lovers in order to refresh their spirits" and refresh them they did. The partitas became widely popular. The meaning of the word "partita" essentially means a dance suite or movement. Bach's French inspired partitas sound very modern compared to its precursors, and are actually quite advanced. Bach's exceptional composing skills are clearly on display. The partitas are complex, yet simple. They are full of exciting rhythms, delightful harmonies, and light-hearted melodies.

Those with an affinity for music by Bach or exquisite piano performance will no doubt like Murray Perahia's Bach Partitas 2, 3, and 4.

MP3 HQ · 116 MB

Beethoven | Concerti pour piano Nos. 3 & 6

Arthur Schoonderwoerd · Ensemble Cristofori

Alpha continues the musical tour of XIXth century piano music on ancient instruments with Arthur Schoonderwoerd’s recordings of Beethoven’s concerti. The programme features the Third Concerto as well as Beethoven’s own transcription of the Violin Concerto. The first public performance of the Third Concerto, which was completed in 1802, took place on April 5th, 1803. The translation of the Violin Concerto is by Beethoven’s own hand (opus 61A) and is dedicated to Stephan von Breuning’s wife. It is sometimes called the Piano Concerto N° 6.

Going firmly against the prevailing tide, Arthur Schoonderwoerd offers us colours, accents and tempi that cannot but deeply stir our perceptions of this music, so often biased by huge orchestras or by powerful modern pianos.

MP3 HQ · 114 MB

Porpora · Fiorenza · Leo · Sabatino| Concerti Napoletani per Violoncello

Gaetano Nasillo cello · Ensemble 415 · Chiara Banchini

Nasillo, Banchini and the Ensemble 415 conspire to capture from the opening bar the nature of the music and an accompanying sense of where its beauties will lie, which make listening a total joy. Only in slower stretches of the Sabatino does their energy and inspiration flag. --Audaud.com

MP3 HQ · 119 MB

Rossini | Famous Overtures

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields · Neville Marriner

Marriner and the ASMF released four LPs of Rossini Overtures ; this was the first and, unfortunately, the only one recorded in surround sound. These are spirited and beautifully paced performances, with breathtaking wind solos and phenomenally precise string playing. This SA-CD happens to be the best of the PentaTones sonically – the listener is positioned close to the orchestra, and there's excellent front-to-back layering of the musicians. There is also a subtle hint of the room behind you that contributes to you-are-there sort of audio experience. If sound is a priority and you want to sample a single PentaTone, this is one to get.--Fanfare

MP3 HQ · 89 MB

Leclair | Violin Concertos · Vol. 3

Simon Standage violin · Collegium Musicum 90

“This disc contains Leclair's most vivacious and attractive works, played with great élan, sensitivity and neatness, and recorded with exemplary clarity and balance. The concertos represent a high-water mark in 18th-century violin technique, with extensive double-stopping, an extended range that soars up to heights scarcely ventured previously, rapid scales and flying arpeggios, and elaborate figurations of all kinds... Standage adds spontaneous embellishments of his own on repeats.” --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

MP3 HQ · 99 MB

Evaristo F. Dall'Abaco | Concerti à più Istrumentí, Opera Sesta

Il Tempio Armonico · Alberto Rasi

The Opera Sesta concludes dall'Abaco's publications, which had begun in 1705 with a collection of twelve sonatas for violin and violoncello and continued, always remaining faithful to instrumental music. Although these are concertos without declaredly solo or concertante instruments, the first violin is allowed brief concertante sections. The Vivaldi models, or more correctly the Italian models of the first half of the century, are evident: extremely fluent writing, rare use of imitative counterpoint, predominance of the melody. A continuation of the Stradivarius series devoted to the complete works of Evaristo Dall'Abaco, a major figure in Italian Baroque instrumental music.

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 146 MB

Tchaikovsky · Serenade for Strings · Elegy | Arensky · Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky

St. Petersburg Camerata · Orchestra of the Hermitage State Museum · Saulius Sondeckis

Professor Saulius Sondeckis commands his instrumentalists without the least scholasticism. The particular charm emanating from the second part of Tchaikovsky's Serenade confirms his outstanding talent as music master and conductor.

MP3 HQ · 103 MB

New Piano Album

Stephen Hough

‘a world of musical enchantment where artifice and sentiment are distinct virtues ... Hough’s deftly fingered ornamental tracery [Liszt] … tonal relish [Godowsky] … beautifully conjure this music’s perfumed fragrance, culminating in a charmingly idiomatic account of Godowsky’s Alt Wien reminiscence of the Vienna of his youth ... contrasts virtuoso exuberance ... with affectionate tendresse ... exploits the kaleidoscopic range of the piano in his own highly imaginative arrangements ... Encore!' --BBC Music Magazine

MP3 HQ · 120 MB

Bach | The Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard

John Holloway · David Moroney · Susan Sheppard

John Holloway and Davitt Moroney have set up a musically rewarding partnership in these brilliantly inventive works, furthermore adding to their programme the two lovely sonatas for violin and continuo long attributed to Bach, and justly so. In both of them they are joined by Susan Sheppard (continuo cello). For these sonatas Moroney has preferred a chamber organ to a harpsichord. On the whole I agree with him, especially for the opening movement of the E minor where a harpsichord cannot effectively sustain the extended pedal note. Also present here are the various movements of the Sonata No. 6 in G major which Bach gradually discarded in the process of arriving at his final version (BWV1019a)

Detailed, lovingly shaped performances.... --Gramophone

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 224 MB

Enescu | Symphony No.3 · Romanian Rhapsody No. 1

Leeds Festival Chorus · BBC Philharmnic · Gennady Rozhdestvensky

“Written during the unsettled years of the First World War, this nearly-hour-long, three-movement work is anchored in a malign, hallucinatory scherzo, which is bordered by a sometimes brooding, sometimes eruptive first movement and a textless choral finale…The sound is outstanding…soaking us in the lavish colors, but also capturing the all-important subterranean tremors with the requisite subtlety. Urgently recommended.” --Fanfare

MP3 HQ · 112 MB

Leclair | Violin Concertos · Vol. 2

Collegium Musicum 90 · Rachel Brown flute · Simon Standage

Leclair is generally credited as the founder of the French school of violin playing. He expanded the violin’s technique to include left-hand tremolo (which evolved into what we now call vibrato), double trills, and a meticulously notated variety of articulations; he was renowned for the sweetness of his sound, and for the purity and brilliance of his multiple stops.

This 1994 recording was awarded three stars by the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and five stars by Classic CD

MP3 HQ · 109 MB

Beethoven| Diabelli-Variationen

Alfred Brendel

Brendel has now recorded the work three times for the gramophone. The new recording made in the studio in 1988 is a calmer affair and here I am not talking about tempos but about the general mood. We are off the hustings and back in the study.

The newest recording is more measured as befits a reading that works its way slightly more circumspectly to the newly poised expressiveness of the final variations, the concluding Minuet now an even more sophisticated essay in sublime gracefulness. --Gramophone

MP3 HQ · 85 MB

Concerti per Oboe

I Musici · Heinz Holliger

This is not a record for the purists but, accepted for what it offers, it is an enjoyable one. The Marcello has long topped the baroque-oboe pop charts and has plenty of recordings, even on CD: Holliger's embellishment of its famous slow movement is fluent but perhaps over-elaborate for a melody whose lines are beautiful enough in their own right.

Holliger's oboe sings beautifully and not, as the modern oboe is wont to do, down its nose. I Musici are in good form, light in touch and decently in touch with baroque style where it is called for, the harpsichord is nicely audible in the well-engineered recording. --Gramophone

MP3 HQ · 98 MB

Fred Jonny Berg · Flute Mystery

Emily Beynon flute · Philharmonia Orchestra · Vladimir Ashkenazy

Only the full symphony orchestra can impose the true emotional dynamics of the arctic nature. FLUTE MYSTERY is a collection of five orchestral works by Norwegian composer Fred Jonny Berg. In this distinctive and dynamic surround sound recording, the Philharmonia Orchestra with Emily & Catherine Beynon as soloists on flute & harp are conducted by the legendary Vladimir Ashkenazy.

MP3 HQ · 98 MB

Brahms | Hungarian Dances

Orchestre De Chambre Franz Liszt De Budapest · János Rolla

Frigyes Flidas is a Hungarian composer and pianist: he has made a reputation in his native land as a versatile all-round musician, gifted alike as improviser (with an understanding of jazz) and as a theatre conductor, as composer of a Requiem and of much light music. Into the last category comes this set of arrangements of Brahms's Hungarian Dances for the Liszt Chamber Orchestra, players led by their director and first violin, Janos Rolla.

MP3 HQ · 88 MB

Enescu | Symphony No. 2 · Rumanian Rhapsodie No. 2

BBC Philharmonic · Gennady Rozhdestvensky

The Second Symphony is a huge, massively-scored orchestra extravaganza in three huge movements. In a way, the music is its own worst enemy. It's so full of invention, and the composer tosses off ideas in such profusion, that the musical argument can get lost in the shuffle. The problem is compounded by the fact that the symphony is atrociously difficult to play. It's the job of the conductor and the orchestra to clarify the musical line through balance and emphasis, and this requires either close familiarity or long hours of rehearsal. If the music were trivial or insignificant it wouldn't really matter, but with a masterpiece, as is the case here, it's a crime not to lavish as much attention on the music as it requires. It seems that Gennady Rozhdestvensky and the BBC Philharmonic had the time. This is a splendid performance from soup to nuts. --David Hurwitz

MP3 HQ · 116 MB

Shorty Rogers | The Wizard of Oz and Other Harold Arlen Songs

Shorty Rogers and his Orchestra

All of trumpeter/arranger Shorty Rogers' recordings from the 1950s (which were quite influential on both arrangers and cool-toned soloists) are well worth searching for. Unfortunately, many are out of print, including half of this excellent LP; the second side has been reissued on the Bluebird CD Swings. On the first side, Rogers and his Orchestra (which includes such fine soloists as Jimmy Giuffre on clarinet and tenor, valve trombonist Bob Enevoldsen, altoists Bud Shank and Herb Geller, guitarist Barney Kessel and pianist Pete Jolly) perform five familiar songs from Oz, plus "The Jitterbug," which did not make it into the final cut. This date is rounded out by fresh versions of five of Arlen's most famous songs, including "Get Happy," "Blues In the Night" and "That Old Black Magic." Wonderful music. --allmusic

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Chopin | The Nocturnes · Barcarolle · Fantaisie

Claudio Arrau

Claudio Arrau''s Chopin Nocturnes have had several CD incarnations. While they may cost more reissued in Philips''s 50 Great Recordings series, the works gain sonic heft and dimension via these new 24-bit transfers, with more warmth in the higher frequencies. Arrau considered the Nocturnes among Chopin''s most searching, emotionally penetrating works.

Arrau''s grand solidity works best with the darker, more texturally elaborate selections. If the pianist''s brooding, worried journey through the Barcarolle causes the music''s sublime polyphony to sink upstream, the F Minor Fantasy radiates drive and heroism at every turn in one of Arrau''s most inspired recordings. --J.D.

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 230 MB

Beethoven | Ouvertures

Chamber Orchestra of Europe · Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Nikolaus Harnoncourt's approach to Beethoven ranges from supremely dramatic to just plain weird. Actually, that's true of just about everything that he conducts, but fortunately he's squarely in "supremely dramatic" mode in this excellent collection of overtures. These short works contain some of Beethoven's most exciting and exalted music, if you love the symphonies, you'll want to have these works too. --D.H

MP3 HQ · 125 MB

Lute Concertos | Fasch · Haydn · Hohaut · Hagen

Hopkinson Smith baroque lute

Hopkinson Smith has been called the most moving of present day lutenists...he approaches the lute's universe with a musicality which goes far beyond the seemingly limited voice of his instrument.

10 de Répertoire, 2000 Cannes Classical Awards prize for best 18th century concerto recording.

MP3 HQ · 107 MB

Leclair | Violin Concertos · Vol. 1

Collegium Musicum 90 · Simon Standage

"This disc is promisingly labelled Volume 1; with eight more of these attractive and skilfully written concertos to be recorded, that must mean two more releases to look forward to." --Gramophone

This 1993 recording was awarded three stars by the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs.

MP3 HQ · 103 MB

Air on a G String · Baroque masterpieces perfomed on guitar

David Russel

“In Air on a G String David Russell uses all his well known technique for the Spanish guitar, including his expressive tone production and tastefully delayed cadences, to convey the deeper beauty in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. The intellectual and the affective qualities of the music are in perfect balance in these transcriptions, in a way that would have pleased their composers… Russell’s superb musicianship invests it with all its famed expressive beauty.” --Atlanta Audio Society

MP3 HQ · 98 MB

William Lawes | For ye Violls

Fretwork · Paul Nicholson organ

William Lawes was one of the most creative and sophisticated composers of consort music. An analogy has been made between him and Beethoven, for the unprecedented innovative elements he brought to the instrumental styles of the time. This includes jarring angular themes, and bold harmonic schemes carried off with ease. Lawes' genius had the potential for initiating a classical instrumental tradition before its time, but this was not to come to fruition due to the onset of the English Civil War and the resulting brevity of his life.

"A really superb recording…in the marvellous series of this rich repertory which Fretwork has been making for Virgin Classics." --BBC Radio 3 ‘Record Review'

MP· HQ · 111 MB

Vivaldi | Concerti per il flauto traversier

Alexis Kossenko flute & direction · Arte Dei Suonatori

Vivaldi’s flute concertos form a still badly defined and little known corpus and for many different reasons, it is difficult to have a precise idea of the number of concertos the Venetian devoted to the ‘flauto traversier’. Six of them, however, had the good fortune to be published.

"This is an absolutely splendid release and a must-have for all Vivaldi lovers as well as for all who appreciate vibrant playing in truly historically informed performances. French-born flutist Alexis Kossenko is an award-winning artist who devotes his talent more or less equally to both the modern and Baroque flute." --Fanfarre

MP3 HQ · 127 MB

Hummel | Mandolin & Trumpet Concertos · Das Zauberglöckchen

Alison Stephens mandolin · Urban Agnas trumpet · London Mozart Players · Howard Shelley

This disc should simply be treasured as a particularly fine collection of Hummel's music, ably performed by sympathetic soloists and a topnotch orchestra under the baton of the composer's most ardent modern-day champion, Howard Shelley. The depth and clarity of Chandos engineering brings out the best in everybody. --M.W.

MP3 HQ · 100 MB

Telemann | Ouverture Comique

Collegium Musicum 90 · Simon Standage

During his long and productive life Telemann achieved international renown mainly through a wide dissemination of his music, which he often engraved himself, but also because his style was eclectic, moved with the times and was in many instances written as much for the taste and consumption of a growing bourgeoisie as for exclusive courtly entertainment of a wealthy aristocracy.

MP3 HQ · 109 MB

Bazzini | Virtuoso Works for Violin and Piano

Chloe Hanslip · Caspar Frantz

Antonio Bazzini is known for only one work, La Ronde des Lutins (The Dance of the Goblins); a violin display piece of spectacular virtuosity, and a party piece much favoured by Maxim Vengerov. Young British violin star Chloe Hanslip, more than ably accompanied by pianist Caspar Frantz, explores the wider repertoire written by tthe man who didn’t so much follow the trail of Paganini, but was directed on that path by the spidery wee devil himself. Hanslip dispatches Bazzini’s musical acrobatics superbly, with style and subtlety… --M.T. The Herald

MP3 HQ · 113 MB

Pleyel | The Cello Concertos

Péter Szabó cello & conductor · Erdődy Chamber Orchestra · Zsolt Szefcsik

Pleyel’s cello concertos go beyond the boundaries of the Viennese classicism and their technical solutions provide the soloist an enormous challange. The Szefcsiks present the movements with huge empathy and Péter Szabó’s cello performance also provides a delightful and lasting musical experience. --K. M

2 CD · MP3 HQ · 206 MB

Italian Flute Concertos

James Galway · I Solisti Veneti · Claudio Scimone

Galway plays with his accustomed silvertongued panache and has the benefit of the co-operation of both I Solisti Veneti and the recording engineers at their best. --J.D. Gramophone

MP3 HQ · 116 MB