Category: Recordings

This disc is well worth the price for the first track alone: the opening measures of Jean-FÈry Rebelís ìCahos,î (Chaos), written in 1737 or 1738, may cause you to wonder if you accidentally left a Stockhausen or Ligeti disc in the changer.

This recording made half a century ago will not be anyoneís first choice unless one is a die-hard fan of one of the principal singers; neither of them belonging to the absolute top in their profession.

The glorious universe of the Baroque has been receiving tribute from the wonderful talent of countertenor and early music guru RenÈ Jacobs for more than thirty years now.

Although considered among Ravelís finest works, Daphnis et ChloÈ may be known best through excerpts, particularly the second suite that the composer derived from his score.

A 1979 recording originally released on LP in 1985, the CD reissue of this classic performance of Schoenbergís 1913 cantata Gurrelieder as part of its series entitled Originals makes this fine account of this magnificent work available to another generation of listeners.

You will wonder what designer Rosalie could have been thinking when she put Brunnhilde in trousers twice as wide at the waist as the soprano wearing them, with a nippled plastic bustier above.

Johanna Kinkel (1810-1858) was a talented contemporary of Fanny Hensel, and other fine musicians of the first half of the nineteenth century. Her legacy includes some fine Lieder, which are collected as An Imaginary Voyage through Europe in an arrangement that represents the various themes she explored in her music.

The little heard “Adelia, o la figlia dell’arciere” (Adelia, or the Archer’s Daughter) stands between Donizetti’s Parisian successes “La fille du regiment” and “La favorite” in the prolific composer’s oeuvre.

Although few composers have been so closely associated with a single work, Johann Pachelbel, whose canon for three violins has achieved canonical ubiquity, was a prolific composer with a number of vocal works to his credit.

Released as part of Orfeoís series entitled Festspiel Dokumente, this recording makes available on CD the concert performance at the Salzburg Festival of Anton Brucknerís Seventh Symphony by the Vienna Philharmonic that Hans Knappertsbusch conducted on 30 August 1949.