Category: Recordings

Among the virtues of hearing Bach cantatas performed in liturgical order—one of the hallmarks
of John Eliot Gardiner’s stunning Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000—is the chance to savor Bach’s range of approach to unified text themes.

Dynamic brought its cameras to the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy, in August 2005 to
record Bianca e Falliero, one of Rossini’s so-called “serious” operas, and one that had only been rescued from many decades of neglect by the festival itself, in 1986.

Over a century after its premiere, Mahler’s Second Symphony continues to be a compelling work and is as relevant now as it was when the work was conceived.

More than ever, compilations of previously released material fill the shelves of those stores still
selling classical music.

Krzyzstof Penderecki (b. 1933) has contributed a body of works to the modern repertoire, and his Symphony no. 7, which he composed 1996 (premiere 1997 in Jerusalem), is an impressive composition.

The orchestral songs of Gustav Mahler remain an important contribution to the genre, and stand
well alongside similar works by Berlioz, Wolf, and Strauss.

This sumptuous 2006 release was recorded live in the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg in late
1993 for European TV broadcast the following year.

“Linvitation au voyage” is an appropriate title for this collection of French song, which makes available a number of fine performances of both familiar and rare works.

With a label such as Gala, a purveyor of live recordings of various provenance, some adjustment to compromised sound quality can be expected.

This excellent disc brings together two ballet scores from the far ends of Leonard Bernstein’s compositional career.