GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Il Campanello di Notte (complete opera recorded in 1983) Agnes Baltsa, Enzo Dara, Biancamaria Casoni, Angelo Romero / Wiener Symphoniker, Gary Bertini [ Sony RCA Classical Opera / CD Box Set - released 20/Mar/2017 ] "One of Donizetti's most charming short operas, with a Don Pasquale-like plot, and gorgeously performed by Agnes Baltsa and Enzo Dara, this is a nice way of spending 55 minutes." BBC Music |
MOZART / MENDELSSOHN / MUSSORGSKY / LIEBERSON
Piano Pieces For Children Andre Previn (piano) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 20/Aug/2016 ] "An attractively played collection" (BBC Music) |
PROKOFIEV / FRANCK / STRAUSS / BRUCH / LALO / COPLAND / etc
Anne Akiko Meyers: The Complete RCA Recordings Anne Akiko Meyers (violin) / Philharmonia Orchestra, Andrew Litton / Sandra Rivers & Rohan de Silva (pianos), etc [ Sony / RCA Classics Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/Aug/2016 ] Of the American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, the American Record Guide is quoted as saying, "Through her peerless mastery and vivid imagination there seems to be no limit to the colors she can draw from her instrument." Sony Classical's 6-CD reissue... |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: 19 Nocturnes (rec 1965) Arthur Rubinstein (piano) [ Sony Classical Originals / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2011 ] "When we listen to Rubinstein at his finest, we come in contact with that rarest of rarities - a healthy, sanguine, affirmative genius. On disc, as it was in person, the playing is full-hearted and honest" Washington Post |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2 Arthur Rubinstein (piano) / New Symphony Orchestra of London / Symphony of the Air [ Sony Classical Masters / CD - released 10/Apr/2012 ] "The result is wonderfully exciting. This is a really superb account of this lovely music." (Gramophone) |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Pierre Boulez conducts Stravinsky [Incls Firebird Ballet, Pulcinella Suite & Le Sacre du Printemps] BBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Ensemble intercontemporain, Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez [ Sony Classical / 3 CD Box Set - released 3/Dec/2017 ] Conductor Pierre Boulez's lucid precision is perhaps the ideal perspective on Stravinsky's music, from the late Romantic sweep of the Firebird to the witty Neo-Classicism of the Pulcinella Suite. |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS / CESAR FRANCK / MAURICE RAVEL
Saint-Saens / Franck / Ravel: French Impressions Joshua Bell (violin) Jeremy Denk (piano) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 20/Mar/2017 ] a spirited, varied, sensitively imagined recital. [The artists] are on equal terms artistically, responding to one another with spontaneity and unanimity in the interpretation of nuances that give their playing a sense that they are inside the music" |
SCHUBERT / BRAHMS / REGER / WARLOCK / STRAUSS / WOLF
Benjamin Appl: Heimat Benjamin Appl (baritone), James Baillieu (piano) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 20/Mar/2017 ] "The voice has a burnished, oaky beauty as well as considerable sweetness (well captured in Sony's natural engineering), while the interpretations are suffused with a gentle intelligence." Gramophone |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Günter Wand conducts Schubert Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester (WDR Sinfonieorchester), Günter Wand [ RCA / Sony Masters / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/Jun/2017 ] "The whole performance is illuminated by [his] insights…The orchestra play beautifully and obviously understand their longtime conductor's every whim…No less wonderful is the performance of the Great C major, one of the finest on record." Gramophone |
JULIE von WEBENAU / THEODOR KIRCHNER / JONNES BRAHMS / CLARA SCHUMANN
Love? Homage to Clara Schumann Yaara Tal (piano), with Andreas Groethuysen (piano) Julian Pregardien (tenor), Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks [ Sony Classical / CD - released 6/Sep/2019 ] Composer and piano virtuoso Clara Schumann played an influential role both on Robert Schumann and her musician friends such as Brahms and Kirchner. The compostitions on this album express deep feelings of love, affection and friendship. September... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Paavo Järvi conducts Richard Strauss [Don Juan / Ein Heldenleben] NHK Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi [ RCA Red Seal / Sony Classical / CD - released 1/Jul/2017 ] "Supremely vivid Strauss, guided by the surest of conducting hands…[this] series - may it be all the symphonic poems - can only go from strength to strength. Amazing work." BBC Music Five Stars Recording of the Month - May 2017 |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Also Sprach Zarathustra / Don Juan / The Bourgeois Gentleman Suite (Rec 1954 & 1956) Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner [ Sony Classical Masters / CD - released 20/May/2011 ] "Even if you have this classic recording don't hesitate to obtain this upgrade - sensational listening" (MusicWeb Dec 2004) |
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Schumann - Myrthen Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Camilla Tilling (soprano), Gerold Huber (piano) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 18/Oct/2019 ] After the success of his critically acclaimed album Frage, the internationally renowned baritone, Christian Gerhaher returns with Myrthen-the second chapter of his project to record all of Schumann's songs. Schumann devoted his song cycle,... |
ANTONIO SALIERI / W. A. MOZART
Mozart versus Salieri: Rivalry Dagmar Williams (soprano) Prague Sinfonia Orchestra, Christian Benda [ Sony Classical / 2 CD - released 23/Apr/2019 ] The professional competition between Mozart and Salieri has been a well-documented topic. It even became subject of the Oscar-winning film Amadeus. Now, a new album of compositions by the two is here to provide a side-by-side comparison of the... |
J. S. BACH
Glenn Gould plays Bach [6 CD set] Glenn Gould, piano [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2011 ] The famous Glenn Gould recording repackaged |
BACH / BEETHOVEN / BERNSTEIN / BARBER / MEYER / BRAHMS / etc
Hilary Hahn: The Complete Sony Recordings Hilary Hahn (violin) with various orchestras [ Sony Classical Masters / 5 CD Box Set - released 30/Oct/2015 ] "Spellbinding...there is mastery in every silken phrase, every poised lyrical phrase...an object lesson in beautiful violin playing." Chicago Tribune (for Mendelssohn / Shostakovich) |
LUGWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas Igor Levit (piano) [ Sony Classical / 9 CD Box Set - released 13/Sep/2019 ] "What you will get is a new sense of the sheer physicality of the music…What's fascinating about Levit's whole cycle is the crazy tempos at which he takes the first Allegros and Prestos…Where savagery is required, Levit provides it in spades" BBC |
BACH / BUSONI / SCHUMANN / RZEWSKI / LISZT / WAGNER / etc
Igor Levit: The Life Album Igor Levit (piano) [ Sony Classical / 2 CD - released 20/Nov/2018 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 TOP THREE - Instrumental |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Igor Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky - Symphonies and concertos [3 CD set] Isaac Stern (violin) Benny Goodman (clarinet) Charles Rosen, Philippe Entremont (piano) / CBC Symphony Orchestra, Columbia Symphony Orchest [ Sony Classical Masters / 3 CD Box Set - released 26/Jan/2016 ] Hearing a composer conduct their own work offers a fascinating interpretive insight into their oeuvre, all the greater when the composer in question is one of the biggest and most-influential names in 20th century music, Igor Stravinsky. |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Eugene Ormandy... Conducts Tchaikovsky Isaac Stern (violin) Tedd Joselson (piano) Gary Graffman (piano) / Philadelphia Orchestra / Eugene Ormandy (cond) [ Sony RCA Original Masters / 12 CD Box Set - released 16/Dec/2018 ] Available for the first time, this set from the Sony Classical Masters series features Eugene Ormandy conducting The Philadelphia Orchestra in the works of Tchaikovsky, including Symphonies 1-7, Piano and Violin Concertos, and Ballet Suites. |