October New Releases

Postal Address: PO Box 691, Brookvale NSW 2099 | Phone: 02 9948 1811| Fax: 02 9948 5085 | Email: orders@savd.com.au

NAXOS CD OF THE MONTH | 8555020 | CD | 747313502028
WILLIAMS, ROSENTHAL, GOLDSMITH, R STRAUSS & LARSEN
STAR WARS
Richard Hayman and His Orchestra

NAXOS CD OF THE MONTH Alien: Main Theme • Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30, Introduction (2001 - A Space Odyssey: Main Theme) • Battlestar Galactica: Main Themes • Close Encounters of The Third Kind: Main Theme • Meteor: Main Theme • Star Wars: Episode IV, "A New Hope" (excerpts). This collection of popular excerpts from award-winning science fiction film scores brings together the spectacular compositions of some of the greatest American film composers of our time.

	NAXOS \| 8557463 \| CD \| 74313246328 GOUNOD SYMPHONIES NO 1 & 2 Sinfonia Finlandia, Patrick Gaullois (conductor)
Best known today for his operas and vocal music, Charles Gounod also essayed the symphony. The First was only rediscovered in the 1950s and remains unjustly neglected despite its wealth of melodic and rhythmic delights. The Second is more ambitious and elaborate, recalling the worlds of Beethoven and Mendelssohn.

NAXOS | 8557753 | CD | 747313275328
VARIOUS
ENGLISH STRING MINIATURES VOL 6
Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Gavin Sutherland (conductor)

From Purcell (arr. Britten) to Holst, Paul Carr to Peter Warlock and William Lloyd Weber, these works composed or arranged for string ensemble span many moods. Paul Lewis's Rosa Mundi commemorates the loss of a loved one, Lionel Sainsbury's Two Nocturnes explore both the dark and lyrical aspects of night, while Malcom lipkin's From across La manche combines joy, reflectiveness and the spirit of the dance.

	NAXOS \| 8570239 \| CD \| 747313023974 PART MUSIC FOR UNACCOMPANIED CHOIR Elora Festival Singers, Noel Edison (conductor)
Triodion, Tribute to Caesar, Nunc dimittis, Kanon Pokajanen: Ode VII: Memento, I am the true vine, The Woman with the Alabaster Box, Dopo la vittoria (After the Victory), Bogoroditse Djevo (Mother of God and Virgin). These choral works, from 1994 - 2001, exemplify Part's style at its most expressive - emotionally charged and deeply expressive in its restraint.

	NAXOS EDUCATIONAL \| 855819394 \| CD2 \| 636943819326 STORY OF BRITISH CLASSICAL MUSIC 2-CDs WITH MUSIC BY 36 DIFFERENT COMPOSERS & 120-PAGE ILLUSTRATED BOOKLET Artists include Oxford Camerata, The Sixteen, Philip Langridge, City of Birmingham SCO, Sir Michael Tippett, Maggini Quartet, St John's College Choir & many more
The 1,000-year story of British classical music is here presented as never before with music from Anonymous to Arnold, Byrd to Britten, Dunstable to Maxwell Davies. Anthony Burton's masterful essay is augmented by a list of composers, map of Britain and extensive discography for further listening.

	BIS RECORDS \| BISSACD1605 \| SACD \| 7318599916057 VIVALDI THE FOUR SEASONS Dan Lauren (recorder), Arte del Suonatori
Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, those evergreens of Baroque repertoire, come to life as never before in these sparkling renditions where Dan Lauren's magic recorder replaces the usual solo violin - appropriately enough, since birdcalls feature in several of these concertos. Also included are three other delightful Vivaldi concertos, in D major, G major & C minor.

	GIMELL \| CDGIM992 \| CD \| 755138199224 BYRD PLAYING ELIZABETHS TUNE The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips (director)
William Byrd's life embraced both sides of the warring factions of Renaissance Christianity. Himself Catholic, he wrote music for both the Catholic and Anglican rites such as the famous Mass for Four Voices, Ave Verum Corpus and several motets included on this marvellous recording. Also available in hybrid SACD format.

	GIMELL \| GIMSA592 \| SACD \| 755138159204 BYRD PLAYING ELIZABETHS TUNE The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips (director)
This hybrid SACD version of the CD 'Playing Elizabeth's Tune' captures the full super audio sound of The Tallis Scholars' performances in Tewkesbury Abbey while filming for the BBC. Expect only the best from these 'living legends' of a capella choral music.

HARMONIA MUNDI CD OF THE MONTH | HMI987066 | CD | 8427592000782
DOWLAND, BYRD
THE DEVILS DREAM
Graciela Gibelli (soprano), Vittorio Ghielmi (viola da gambas), Luca Pianca (baroque guitar, lute & chitara)

AT MID PRICE FOR A LIMITED TIME English 16th and 17th century music found its inspiration as well as its vitality in folklore. Dowland's melancholy or Tobias Hume's rustic fantasy are two of its aspects; however, the courtly delicacy of Robinson's lullabies, or the somewhat drunken cheerfulness of the soldiers in Purcell's King Arthur could also be added. Contrasting feelings and situations show the vibrant musical plurality of the 'Old Albion'. A delightful disc with a folksy feel.

	HARMONIA MUNDI CD OF THE MONTH \| HMU907403 \| CD \| 093046740320 CPE BACH SYMPHONIES 1-4 & CELLO CONCERTO The English Concert, Andrew Manze (director)
These dramatic and thrilling works by JS Bach's gifted son Carl Philipp Emanuel brim with orchestral colour and imaginative bravura. Bridging the Baroque and Classical styles, they seize the listener's attention with ever-shifting instrumental textures and breathtaking virtuosity. 'The playing of The English Concert is beyond criticism' (The Guardian)

	HARMONIA MUNDI \| HMU907149 \| CD \| 0093046714925 HANDEL ARIAS Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (soprano), Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan (conductor)
The tragic death of singer Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in July this year robbed music of an outstanding artist. This classic disc, featuring arias from Agrippina, Arianna, Chlori Tirsi e Fileno, Messiah, Ottone, Radamisto, Susanna and Theodora, has been reissued in memoriam.

	HYPERION \| SACDA67550 \| SACD \| 034571575506 BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO 2, FOUR PIANO PIECES OP 119 Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano), Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton (conductor)
Coinciding with his recent Australian tour, Hamelin's latest release presents a persuasive interpretation of Brahms' 2nd Piano Concerto (which combines the full-bodied form of a Romantic symphony and the interplay of a concerto) juxtaposed with Brahms' final opus for solo piano, by turn intimate and heroic. Also available in CD format.

NAIVE CLASSIQUE | OP30419 | CD3 | 709861304196
VIVALDI
GRISELDA
Lemieux, Cangemi, Kernes, Jaroussky, Ferrari, Davies, Ensemble Matheus, Spinosi

CD OF THE MONTH, BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
CHOC DU MONDE DE LA MUSIQUE
Magnificent Baroque opera recording composed by the 'Red Priest' in 1735 for the most prestigious theatre in Venice, Griselda has been described as 'the apotheosis of opera'. The star cast, fully equipped to tackle both Vivaldi's most hair-raising demands of virtuosity and some of his most dramatic scenes, is magnificently supported by the astonishing Ensemble Matheus whose director Jean-Christophe Spinosi demonstrates unerring theatricality throughout. 'This is high-baroque opera as thrilling as it comes' (The Observer)

SOLI DEO GLORIA | SDG701 | CD | 843183070121
PILGRIMAGE TO SANTIAGO
A CAPPELLA CHORAL MUSIC FROM THE 12TH - 17TH CENTURIES
The Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner (director)

The Choir's pilgimage through France and northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela performing in the great abbeys and cathedrals along the way is the background to this recording, made on their return to London. Music from the 12th-century Codex Calixtinus and by Victoria, Clemens non Papa, Palestrina, Dufay, Morales and Jean Mouton resonates with the spirituality that still draws pilgrims along the holy 'Camino de Santiago'.

ZIG ZAG | ZZT060901 | CD | 3760009291195
RAVEL
BOLERO, PAVANE, PIANO CONCERTO FOR THE LEFT HAND, RAPSODIE ESPAGNOLE, LA VALSE
Claire Chevalier (piano), Anima Eterna, Jos van Immerseel (director)

5 STAR REVIEW IN BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE! The sultry, sensuous atmosphere of Anima Eterna's performance of Bolero puts the lie to Ravel's quip that it was 'a piece for orchestra, without music'. On this outstanding disc Ravel's shimmering orchestration builds to a climax challenged, perhaps, only by his tribute to Vienna, La Valse. The 'left-hand' concerto sounds as never before when played on a 1905 Erard piano, more so as the orchestral winds and strings respect the norms of Ravel's own time (as distant to us today as was Mozart from Tchaikovsky!) both in terms of their construction and performance technique. This is an astonishing disc by any standards.

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naxos
naxos | jazz legends | opera

NAXOS | 8570134 | CD | 747313013470
EL-KHOURY
NEW YORK TEARS & HOPE, THE RIVERS ENGULFED
Hideki Nagano & Dimitri Vassilakis (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins & Daniel Harding (conductors)

Beruit-born and Paris-based, composer Bechara El-Khoury follows the tracks of his great predecessors Martinu, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Penderecki and Nono, who bore witness in their music to the worst violence of modern barbarism yet re-affirm the place that the composer can and must hold in the city. He has been hailed by Gramophone as 'a powerfully committed new voice...a composer to be reckoned with'.

	NAXOS \| 8557692 \| CD \| 747313269228 EL-KHOURY MEDITATION POETIQUE, PIANO CONCERTO, POEMS NOS 1 & 2, SERENADES NOS 1 & 2 Abdel Rahman El Bacha & David Lively (piano), Gerard Poulet (violin), Colonne Orchestra, Pierre Dervaux (conductor)
Bechara El-Khoury is at once a composer, pianist, conductor, choirmaster and journalist. Whether 'tracing a path through the silence of nature' or creating 'a dramatic piece that would reflect all the stages of an anguished personal passion' (the words are his own), El-Khoury treats the listener to romantic impulses, heroic accents and dreamlike moments.

	NAXOS \| 8557697 \| CD \| 747313269723 LILBURN ORCHESTRAL WORKS - A SONG OF ISLANDS, AOTEAROA OVERTURE, FOREST & OTHERS New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, James Judd (conductor)
Known as 'the elder statesman of New Zealand classical music', Douglas Lilburn portrays his home country's culture through a style influenced by both Sibelius and his former teacher Vaughan Williams. Other works include A Birthday Offering, Drysdale Overture, Forest and Processional Fanfare.

	NAXOS \| 8557765 \| CD \| 747313276523 VILLA-LOBOS CHAMBER MUSIC Mobius
Heitor Villa-Lobos put Brazilian, and South American music as a whole, on the cultural map, through an output that he himself compared to the vastness and diversity of his own country. These chamber works span 40 years of his career and bring together refinement, formal clarity and expressive immediacy.

	NAXOS \| 8557783 \| CD \| 747313278329 WILLIAMSON CHORAL MUSIC Joyful Company of Singers, Peter Broadbent (conductor)
Despite spending the greater part of his life in Britain, and becoming the first non-Briton to be appointed to the position of Master of the Queen's Music, Malcolm Williamson remained an Australian. This disc gives an excellent overview of almost the entire span of his choral writing from the early Symphony for Voices (1960) to the Requiem for a Tribe Brother (1992).

	NAXOS \| 8557813 \| CD \| 747313281329 KILAR BOGURODZICA, PIANO CONCERTO, HOARY FOG, KOSIELEC 1909 Waldemar Malicki (piano), Wieslaw Ochman (baritone), Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, Antoni Wit (conductor)
Polish composer Wojciech Kilar is noted for his directness of musical expression and immediacy of impact. The four pieces on this disc, written between 1975 and 1997, exemplify the vividly expressive themes and quasi-minimalist harmony characterising his works.

	NAXOS \| 8557864 \| CD \| 747313286423 PETER PHILIPS HARPSICHORD MUSIC Elizabeth Farr
Born Catholic in Protestant England around 1560, Peter Philips studied in Rome and travelled extensively throughout Europe. His music was very well known and popular (19 of his 32 surviving keyboard works are included in the famous Fitzwilliam Virginal Book). The harpsichord used, by Jerome de Zentis, has been acclaimed as 'a work of genius'.

NAXOS | 8557963 | CD | 747313296323
FINZI
EARTH & AIR & RAIN, TO A POET, BY FOOTPATH & STILE
Roderick Williams (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano), Sacconi Quartet

Gerald Finzi came to attention with works like the song-cycle to Thomas Hardy poems, By Footpath and Stile (1921-2). His reputation grew during the 1930s with another group of Hardy settings, Earth and Air and Rain (1928-32). To a Poet is a posthumous collection bringing together six songs for baritone by various poets. Pianist Iain Burnside recently toured Australia for recitals with Yvonne Kenny.

NAXOS | 8557984 | CD | 747313298426
ELGAR
MUSIC FOR VIOLIN & PIANO
Simone Lamsma (violin), Miura Yurie (piano)

Elgar's beautiful Violin Sonata in E minor op 82 is the main work on this recital disc, which also features Romance op 1, Three Pieces op 4, Chanson de nuit, Chanson de matin and other chamber miniatures. Simone Lamsma has won numerous national and international awards and scholarships, most notably the 1st prize in the China International Violin Competition 2005, the 1st Prize in the Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition 2004 and the 1st Prize in the National Dutch Violin Competition 2003. She plays the unique 'Habeneck' Stradivarius of 1734.

	NAXOS \| 8559188 \| CD \| 636943918821 HARBISON CHAMBER MUSIC Chicago Chamber Musicians
John Harbison is one of America’s most prominent composers whose musical style embraces jazz, the pre-classical forms of Schütz and Bach, the graceful tonality of Prokofiev, and the rigorous atonal methods of late Stravinsky. This disc presents North and South, Six American Painters, Christmas Vespers: Three Wise Men, and the Book of Hours and Seasons.

NAXOS | 8559266 | CD | 636943926628
CASCARINO
ORCHESTRAL WORKS
Philadelphia Philharmonia, JoAnn Falletta (conductor)

Romeo Cascarino (1922-2002) was a virtually self-taught American composer, dedicated to the principles of tonality and fascinated by the infinite beauty of orchestral colour. The six works on this disc - Pygmalion, Portrait of Galatea, Blades of Grass, Prospice, Meditation and Elegy and The Arcadian Land - which sample his work from the mid-fifties to 2000 were inspired by literary and mythological sources.

	NAXOS \| 8559288 \| CD \| 636943928820 WUORINEN STRING SEXTET, STRING QUARTET NO 2, PIANO QUARTET & DIVERTIMENTO Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center, TASHI, The Group for Contemporary Music
Pulitzer Prixe-winner, Charles Wuorinen has been composing since he was five and he has been a forceful presence on the American musical scene for more than four decades. His music contains contrasting ideas - attractive, brittle harmonic glazes and angular melodic meanderings, animated passage of jazzy syncopations and conjunct melodies, clotted textures and grand unisons.

	NAXOS \| 8559302 \| CD \| 636943930229 ADAMS: VIOLIN CONCERTO CORIGLIANO: CHACONNE FROM THE RED VIOLIN Chloe Hanslip (violin), Charles Owen (piano), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin (conductor)
The works on this disc offer a broad survey of American violin music. Alongside the large-scale title works are shorter pieces by Enescu (Romanian Rhapsody No 1 arr. Franz Waxman) and Waxman's own Tristan and Isolde Fantasia, originally the climax to the 1946 film 'Humoresque'.

	NAXOS \| 857002324 \| CD \| 0747313002375 KRAUS COMPLETE CHAMBER MUSIC WITH KEYBOARD Walter Schwede (violin), Jacques Despres (harpsichord & piano), John Friesen (cello)
Joseph Martin Kraus is one of the few composers of the eighteenth century to have been considered by both Joseph Haydn and Christoph Willibald von Gluck to be an original genius. The bulk of his chamber works date from 1780-1786, corresponding to his first years in Stockholm and his Grand Tour.

	NAXOS \| 8570092 \| CD \| 747313009275 SHOSTAKOVICH PIANO SONATA NO 2, THE LIMPID STREAM, A CHILD'S EXERCISE BOOK, PRELUDES OP 2 (EXCERPTS) Konstantin Scherbakov (piano)
Following on from previous Naxos releases (24 Preludes and Fugues; First Piano Sonata & 24 Preludes), this disc features most of Shostakovich's remaining solo piano music - from charming miniatures and arrangements to the introspective 2nd Piano Sonata, written during World War Two. Shostakovich's own transcription of excerpts from his ballet The Limpid Stream here receive their first recording.

NAXOS | 8570133 | CD | 747313013371
SCHUMANN
STRING QUARTETS 1 & 3
Montreal Players, Jean-Philippe Tremblay (conductor)

'When I first played, as a violist, Schumann's String Quartets, I immediately had the feeling that they would sound amazing with a string orchestra, as the late Beethoven quartets and Schubert 'Death and the Maiden' Quartet do. The texture and the emotional charge of that music made me want to transcribe them for strings, without any additions but adding a double bass in some passages. This was done with tremendous respect for Schumann's work.' - J-P Tremblay

	NAXOS \| 8570166 \| CD \| 747313016679 ELGAR PIANO MUSIC Ashley Wass (piano)
Elgar's piano works have been overshadowed by the large-scale works for which is is most famous today. This disc includes Elgar's own transcription of one of these, the ever-popular Enigma Variations, alongside several ocassional pieces with a romantic and nostalgic hue such as the Sonatina, excerpts from Dream Children and Une Idylle, which fondly recalls a Scottish holiday.

	NAXOS \| 8570189 \| CD \| 747313018970 VARIOUS COMPOSERS GUITAR RECITAL Jerome Ducharme
WINNER 2005 GUITAR FOUNDATION OF AMERICA COMPETITION. Music by Matthew Dunne (Appalachian Summer), Jacques Hetu (Suite, Op. 41), Juan Manen (Fantasie-Sonata, Op. A22), Joaquin Rodrigo (3 Piezas espanolas), Alberto Ginastera (Guitar Sonata, Op. 47), Manuel de Falla (Homenaje, piece pour guitare ecrite pour Le Tombeau de Debussy).

NAXOS | 8570263 | CD | 747313026371
MOZART
MOZART AT EIGHT - FLUTE SONATAS K10-15
Carol Wincenc (flute), Gena Raps (piano)

During his visit to England with his father the eight-year-old Mozart composed 'Six Sonatas for the keyboard that can be played with the accompaniment of violin or transverse flute, very humbly dedicated to Her Majesty Charlotte, Queen of Great Britain, composed by I.G. Wolfgang Mozart, aged eight, Opus 3' . This is a rare chance to hear these delightfully precocious works performed by flute, rather than the more usual violin.

NAXOS JAZZ LEGENDS | 8120826 | CD | 636943282625
NAT KING COLE TRIO
THAT'S WHAT
Nat 'King' Cole, King Cole Trio, King Cole Vocal Trio

20 fantastic tracks, recorded between 1943-47: Straighten Up And Fly Right; Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You' If You Can't Smile And Say Yes; The Man I Love; Sweet Lorraine; Body And Soul; Embraceable You; What Is This Thing Called Love; Prelude In C Sharp Minor (Rachmaninoff); It's Only A Paper Moon; Easy Listening Blues; The Frim Fram Sauce; (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66; You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love); But She's My Buddy's Chick; (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons; The Best Man; You Don't Learn That In School; No Moon At All and That's What.

	NAXOS OPERA \| 866017274 \| CD3 \| 730099617222 WAGNER DIE WALKURE Staatsoper & Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Lothar Zagrosek (conductor)
Stuttgart State Opera has been voted 'Opera Theatre of the Year' four times by critics in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. This 3-CD Set comprises live recordings of the second opera from Wagner's Ring Cycle made in 2002 & 2003. 'Lothar Zagrosek offers a masterclass in the art of swift but sonorous Wagnerian conducting.' (The Independent)

	NAXOS OPERA \| 866019697 \| CD2 \| 760099619622 SACCHINI OEDIPE A COLONE Opera Lafayette, Ryan Broan (conductor)
This stunning recording of Antonio Sacchini's masterpiece captures all the high drama and tender lyricism that made him one of the leading composers of Italian opera during the late 18th century. Based on Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus at Colonnus, the opera was championed by Berlioz and was perfromed regularly by the Paris Opera from 1787 to 1844.

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AEON | AECD0643 | CD | 3760058366431
STROZZI
CANTATAS & ARIAS
Poiesis Ensemble

Credited with the invention of the cantata, Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) embodies all the freedom of thought, morals and artistic creation that prevailed in Venice at the dawn of the Baroque era. With over 100 works issued during her own lifetime, Strozzi was the 17th century's most well-published composer of secular chamber music. She was a professional composer, and her music is of the highest quality.

	AMBRONAY \| AMY007 \| CD \| 3760135100071 AGRICOLA, BRUMEL, COMPERE, DE LA RUE, JOSQUIN DES PREZ, &c CARNETZ SECRETEZ OF MARGUERITE OF AUSTRIA Les Jardins de Courtoisie, Anne Delafosse-Quentin (director)
Drawing from the sumptuously illuminated manuscripts compiled by Marguerite of Austria, this disc brings together polyphonic music by the flower of Franco-Flemish composers. These pieces mirror the innermost emotions of this highly cultivated Renaissance princess.

	APR \| APR5534 \| CD \| 5024709155347 THE PIANO G & Ts VOL 4 RECORDINGS FROM THE GRAMOPHONE & TYPEWRITER ERA (1900-08) Louis Diemer, Ilona Eibenschutz, Josef Hofmann, Wilhelm Backhaus (piano)
Forerunner of EMI and HMV, the G&T company pioneered gramophone recordings as a medium for serious music. Music by Brahms, Chopin, Diemer, Grieg, Handel, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninov, Schubert & Weber captured from exceedingly rare original recordings and performed by legendary pianists.

	BBC LEGENDS \| BBCL41862 \| CD \| 684911418620 BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO 7 BEETHOVEN: EGMONT & PROMETHEUS OVERTURES Halle Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli (conductor)
Recorded in 1967, '66 and '69, respectively, these works comprise an important addition to the Barbirolli discography. Bruckner's Seventh, in particular, takes its place beside Barbirolli's readings of the Third (BBCL41612), Eigth (BBCL40672) and Ninth (BBCL40342).

	BBC LEGENDS \| BBCL41872 \| CD \| 684911418729 BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO NO 1 MOZART: PIANO CONCERTO NO 23 Artur Rubenstein (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis (conductor)
Sourced from the BBC archives, this 1968 Brahms recording shows Rubenstein at his fiery and poetic best, while the Mozart, which captures his first appearance with the ECO, in 1962, does not seem to feature in any private collections.

	BBC LEGENDS \| BBCL41882 \| CD \| 684911418828 HAYDN: SYMPHONY NO 104, BRITTEN: FOUR SEA INTERLUDES SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMPHONY NO 1 BBC Symphony Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe (conductor)
This exciting live studio performance from 1965 of Shostakovich's First Symphony stand beside the superb sound of Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes and Haydn's exuberant 104th Symphony, both dating from 1975.

	BBC LEGENDS \| BBCL41892 \| CD \| 684911418927 SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY NO 8 London Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov (conductor)
Recorded in stereo, this live performance from 1979 was never released commercially and is therefore an addition to the Svetlanov discography. The concert marked Svetlanov's appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the LSO.

	BBC LEGENDS \| BBCL41902 \| CD\| 684911419023 SONGS BY GRIEG & WAGNER FLAGSTAD FAREWELL CONCERT Kirsten Flagstad (soprano), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent (conductor)
Nine orchestral songs by Grieg, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall on 7 September 1957, and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder and Isolde's Liebestod, recorded at the Royal Festival Hall on 7 October 1953, with a commemoration of the legendary Norwegian singer by John Culshaw recorded in 1972.

	BBC LEGENDS \| BBCL41912 \| CD2 \| 684911419122 ROSSINI: SEMIRAMIDE OVERTURE, MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO 6, NIELSEN: SYMPHONY NO 5 BBC Symphony Orchestra (Rossini), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Mahler), New Philharmonia Orchestra (Nielsen), Jascha Horenstein (conductor)
Greatly influenced by Bruno Walter, Mahler's one-time assistant, Horenstein is noted for the extraordinary balance he struck between intense expression and a feeling for the music as it unfolds. It appears that none of these recordings is otherwise available on current catalogues.

	BBC LEGENDS \| BBCL41922 \| CD \| 684911419221 MOZART: HORN CONCERTO NO 3, BRITTEN: SERENADE FOR TENOR, HORN & STRINGS SCHUMANN: ADAGIO & ALLEGRO, FRICKER: WIND QUINTET Denis Brain (horn), Peter Pears (tenor), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Malcolm Sargent, John Hollingsworth, Benjamin Britten (conductors)
This recording, which span the years 1953 through 1959, is very important because both the Mozart Horn Concerto and Britten Serenade broadcasts have literally been discovered in the BBC archives and now make their first appearance on CD. The remaining works also feature for the first time on this CD.

	BIS RECORDS \| BISCD1422 \| CD \| 7318599914226 CPE BACH KEYBOARD CONCERTOS & SOLO KEYBOARD MUSIC VOL 15 Miklos Spanyi (tangent piano & clavichord), Opus X Ensemble
Beautifully recorded and performed, this outstanding 2-CD set features CPE Bach's keyboard concertos in D minor, E flat major and B flat major, together with a selection of shorter 'character pieces' that capture the personalities of some of his contemporaries. The sounds of the tangent piano and clavichord are quite enchanting and allow a wide range of dynamics and expressivity.

	BIS RECORDS \| BISCD1454 \| CD \| 7318590014547 RESPIGHI IL TRAMONTO Stella Douflexis (mezzo-soprano), New Hellenic Quartet
Respighi's cantata Il Tramonto (The Sunset), whose text is an Italian translation of Shelley's poem, his String Quartet in D minor and the Quartetto Dorico here receive luscious performances. German-Greek mezzo Douflexis' mellow and voice and eloquent interpretation are ably matched by the New Hellenic Quartet's warmly emotional playing.

	BIS RECORDS \| BISCD1462 \| CD \| 7318590014622 AUERBACH PRELUDES AND DREAMS Lera Auerbach (piano)
The music of young Russian pianist/composer Lera Auerbach is able to transport the listener into a world of dreams remote from reality. Yet she says, 'Music is a part of my being. It is not a means of escape, but a component part of reality - of my reality'.

	BIS RECORDS \| BISSACD1501 \| SACD \| 7318599915012 BACH: CANTATAS VOL 32 CANTATAS BWV 111, 123, 124 & 125 Yukari Nonoshita (soprano), Robin blaze (countertenot), Andreas Weller (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass), Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki (director)
The four cantatas on this superb disc date from 1725, Bach's second year at Leipzig and were written for the Sundays around the feasts of the Epiphany and Candlemas. With gorgeous recorded sound and excellent performances by soloists, chorus and orchestra alike, this is a worthy addition to Susuki's critically acclaimed series.

	BIS RECORDS \| BISSACD1543 \| SACD \| 7318599915432 SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY NO 13 Jan-Hendrik Rootering (bass), Netherlands Radio Choir & Philharmonic Orchestra, Mark Wigglesworth (conductor)
Recommend by Musicweb-international.com, this hybrid SACD recording has been praised as 'thrilling'. Rootering's 'concentrated tone, secure and well-focused' is matched by the explosive punch to [the Choir's] singing that hits you right in solar plexus' and orchestra's 'dynamic' playing. Yevtushenko's original text is sung.

	BLACK BOX MUSIC \| BBM1097 \| CD \| 680125109729 REICH DIFFERENT TRAINS & PIANO PHASE The Duke Quartet, Andrew Russo, Marc Mellits (pianos)
Considered one of the most significant works of the past century, Reich's Different Trains is based on his experiences of train journeys as a child in America and thoughts of other trains in which he may have travelled had he, as a Jew growing up in the 1930s/40s, resided in Europe. Mellits' String Quartet No 2 here receives its premier recording.

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4214 \| CD \| 794881824427 BRAHMS THE VIOLIN SONATAS Alexandre Brussilovsky (violin), Inger Sodergren (piano)
‘Brussilovsky has a rich sonorous tone. Södergren is an equal partner. They make a wonderfully well matched team. Each detail of the music is expressively convincing. The performances are beautifully considered, tending towards an expansive romantic view of Brahms.’ (International Record Review)

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4220 \| CD \| 794881824724 CHOPIN ETUDES OPP 10 & 25, ANDANTE SPIANATO ET GRANDE POLONAISE BRILLANTE Vandan Mamikonian (piano)
‘With a facile technique, warm tone and big-hearted musicianship, he coaxed poetic utterances.’ (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) ‘The playing is fresh, invigorating, and imbued with personality.’ (San Francisco Chronicle)

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4225 \| CD \| 794881824328 LISZT VIA CRUCIS Musicatreize Vocal Ensemble, Roland Conil (Piano), Roland Hayrabedian (conductor)
Musicatreize gives an impassioned account, rich in tone and dynamic contrast and, above all, exemplary in the matters of ensemble and balance. Majestic sound.’ (International Record Review)

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4261 \| CD \| 794881824021 DE FALLA CANCIONES Y TONADILLAS Claire Lefilliatre (soprano), Marie-Louis Feullet (piano)
‘Claire Lefilliâtre is particularly effective, with her clean, direct and slightly mezzoish tone. Her acute voice glides and dances through Spanish songs with great dynamic control. The accompaniments were impressive, including some imaginative, and generally sensitively unobtrusive, deconstructed post-modern percussion.’ (Early Music)

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4295 \| CD \| 794881824625 DE CAURROY REQUIEM FOR THE KING OF FRANCE Ensemble Jacques Moderne, Joel Suhubiette (conductor)
‘Joël Suhubiette develops all the vocal resources of his singers, never losing the fragile balance in the musical discourse. This new recording by the Ensemble Jacques Moderne is a delightful confirmation of its qualities.’ (Classica-Répertoire)

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4301 \| CD \| 794881824229 POULENC LITANIES A LA VIERGE NOIRE DE ROCAMADOUR Calliope Womens Choir
‘The Calliope Women’s Choir is simply outstanding, and is fully in command of his repertoire. The sound is lovely, strong, sweet, robust, and gentle, with consistently gorgeous tone. A fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable program.’ (Classicstoday)

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4305 \| CD \| 794881824526 DESPREZ MISSA L'HOMME ARME SEXTI TONI Obsidienne, Emmanuel Bonnardot (conductor)
Obsidienne is well known for its interpretations of Early, Medieval and Renaissance music. The members of the ensemble are multifaceted in their talents, singing, playing musical instruments, and sometimes acting, composing or arranging. Versatility and variety are no doubt the keys to Obsidienne’s longevity. And long experience has enabled the group to attain exceptional quality in its music.

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4878 \| CD \| 794881824823 D'ANGLEBERT HARPSICHORD SUITES Frederic Haas (harpsichord)
‘Frédérick Haas... plays on the warmly resonant but clear sounding French harpsichord last used by Scott Ross. As an assiduous visitor to the workshops of instrument makers, he learnt how to exploit the full potential of harpsichord sound through the art of tuning and regulation. This is a stunning recording!’ (Gramophone)

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4933 \| CD \| 794881824922 BALBASTRE, BOELY, BUXTEHUDE, &c NOELS FOR ORGAN Andre Isoir (organ)
‘Renowned master of early French organ music André Isoir plays with great style and musicality. His expression is fervent and his instrumental performance infinitely refined, but also narrative and full of contrast: Isoir’s strong, radiant interpretation also has moments of exceptional musicality in ‘chamber organ’ style.’ (Gramophone)

	CALLIOPE \| CAL4935 \| CD \| 794881824120 BARIE, BOELLMAN COMPLETE ORGAN WORKS Veronique Le Guen (organ)
Barié and Boëllmann deserve much greater recognition. Fine melodic qualities reveal the ardent and committed spirit of Barié. Boëllmann’s second Organ Suite gives an amazing idea of his style. These works are performed with sensitivity and enthusiasm by a talented young French organist on the very fine Cavaillé-Coll organ of the church of Saint-François-de-Sales in Lyon.

	CALLIOPE \| CAL9355 \| CD \| 794881807628 SHOSTAKOVICH VIOLIN & VIOLA SONATAS Vladimir Bukac (viola), Jan Talich (violin), Yakov Kasman (piano)
Shostakovich's sonatas for violin (1968) and viola (1975) are very moving works in which the composer not only sums up two centuries of music for these instruments but also look forward. They are unquestionably major works of the late 20th century which derserve to be more widely heard.

	CALLIOPE \| CAL9362 \| CD \| 794881829026 CHOPIN POLONAISES & MAZURKAS Romain Herve (piano)
The Polonaises (opp 26/1 & 40/2) and Mazurkas (opp 17 & 67) stand beside the Grande Polonaise Brillante and the Andante Spianato as works which reveal Chopin's Polish heritage and hope for his homeland, Poland.

CHILDREN'S GROUP | 844092 | CD | 068478440926
THE MOZART EFFECT
MUSIC FOR DADS & DADS-TO-BE
Various Artists

Music for Dads and Dads-to-be is a recording that celebrates the important role of the father and the incredible power of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. At work, at home, in the car, on the job, with family or alone, Mozart is a perfect companion to help fathers be important, effective and active leaders in family life. The music on this recording has been carefully selected so that the tempos, key signatures and texture of the music change with each selection. The benefits of this recording are enhanced every time you listen, with each session inviting new mental and creative stimulation.

CHILDREN'S GROUP | 844122 | CD | 068478441220
MURMEL MURMEL MUNSCH!
14 NEW & BEST LOVED STORIES
Robert Munsch

Murmel Murmel Munsch! features 14 new and best-loved stories, including classics like Mud Puddle, Andrew’s Loose Tooth, Zoom!, Something Good, Makeup Mess, Pigs, Boo!, I’m So Embarrassed, Murmel, Murmel, Murmel and many more. Not a read-along or book-on-CD, Murmel Murmel Munsch! features approximately fifty minutes of classic Munsch works performed by the author and infused with his inimitable sound effects, added musical embellishments and tons and tons of fun!

COE RECORDS | CDCOE809 | CD | 5011975080923
R STRAUSS
LE BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME, DANCE SUITE ON KEYBOARD PIECES OF FRANCOIS COUPERIN
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Erich Leinsdorf (conductor)

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the highly successful series of recordings made on the Orchestra’s own label, COE Records, is being relaunched. This disc features Richard Strauss's Suite for The Bourgeois Gentleman op 60 of 1918 and his rarely heard Dance Suite of 1923 based on characterful keyboard works by French Baroque master Francois Couperin. 'Excellent playing and affectionate interpretation' (Gramophone)

	COE RECORDS \| CDCOE810 \| CD \| 5011975081029 MOZART: SYMPHONY NO 25 & CONCERT RONDO IN E FLAT, VIVALDI: BASSOON CONCERTO IN F, MARCELLO: OBOE CONCERTO IN D WOLF: ITALIAN SERENADE, J STRAUSS II: BLUE DANUMBE WALTZ & EMPEROR WALTZ Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Alexander Schneider (conductor)
Michael Steinburg in The New Grove hails Alexander Schneider (1908-93) as 'one of the most unquenchably energetic figures in the public musical life of the USA.' Indeed, his whole life was dedicated to the nurturing of chamber music and musicians. This disc present the 'Schneider 80th Birthday Concert', recorded in 1988.

	COE RECORDS \| CDCOE811 \| CD \| 5011975081128 COPLAND, MOZART: CLARINET CONCERTOS R STRAUSS: DUET-CONCERTINO FOR CLARINET & BASSOON Richard Hosford (basset clarinet & clarinet), Matthew Wilkie (bassoon), Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Alexander Schneider, Thierry Fischer (conductors)
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto needs no introduction, however the other works on this disc, though less well known, are no less rewarding for their lively and achingly lyrical moments alike. 'The best basset clarinet performance I've heard' (Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine) 'A full and unusual programme…delivered with spirit and artistry' (Gramophone)

	COE RECORDS \| CDCOE812 \| CD \| 5011975081227 DVORAK: SLAVONIC DANCES (1878 & 1886), HUMMEL: OCTET-PARTITA FOR WIND ENSEMBLE, JANACEK: MLADI KROMMER: OCTET-PARTITA IN F, SEIBER: SERENADE (1925) Wind Soloists of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
HI-FI NEWS RECORD OF THE YEAR Excellent collection of music for wind ensemble by Central European composers from the 18th to 20th centuries. Recorded in 1989, this disc is a very welcome re-release of repertoire both familiar and less so. 'This is an absolute delight…the standard of performance is of the highest' (Hi-Fi News)

	COE RECORDS \| CDCOE813 \| CD \| 5011975081326 MOZART CONCERTOS FOR FLUTE, BASSOON AND FLUTE & HARP Thierry Fischer (flute), Matthew Wilkie (bassoon), Charlotte Sprenkels (harp), Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Thierry Fischer, Sandor Vegh (conductors)
Despite his claim to dislike the flute, Mozart's compositions for this instrument lack neither wit nor charm, as the two concertos on this gorgeous recording attest. He is also believed to have written no fewer than four concertos for bassoon, of which that recorded here is the only surviving example. 'Of an exemplary standard…outstanding soloists' (CD Review)

COE RECORDS | CDCOE814 | CD | 5011975081425
MOZART
CONCERTOS FOR CLARINET AND OBOE, SINFONIA CONCERTANTE FOR WINDS
Douglas Boyd (oboe), Richard Hosford (clarinet & basset clarinet), Robein O'Neill (bassoon), Jonathan Williams (horn), Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Paavo Berglund, Alexander Schneider (conductors)

Later transcribed and transposed for flute, and best known in that form, Mozart's Oboe Concerto came to light as late as 1949 when the original manuscript was discovered in Salzburg. His Sinfonia Concertante was written during his 1778 Paris visit and, with the Clarinet Concerto, has long been a favourite with performers and audiences. 'Sheer delight from beginning to end...Recommended' (CD Review)

	COE RECORDS \| CDCOS242 \| CD2 \| 0743625024227 MOZART THREE WIND SERENADES, SINFONIA CONCERTANTE FOR WINDS Wind Soloists of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Alexander Schneider (conductor)
FOUR STARS - BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE The Serenades in B flat K361 known as the 'Gran Partita', in E flat K375 and in C minor K388 all date from the early 1780s, a time when Mozart was coming into full maturity as a composer. Their surface charm does not exclude the depth of expressive feeling for which his music is much-loved.

	CPO \| CPO7770712 \| SACD \| 761203707126 RESPIGHI LA SENSITIVA, LA PENTOLA MAGICA, ARETUSA Damiana Pinti (mezzo-soprano), Orchesta Sinfonica del Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Marzio Conti (CONDUCTOR)
Shelley was a rich source of inspiration for Respighi, and the two great orchestral songs La Sensitiva and Aretusa go back to texts by him. For Diaghilev’s Russian ballet company Respighi composed not only the ballet La Boutique Fantastique on themes by Rossini but also La Pentola Magica based on Russian composers.

	CPO \| CPO7771392 \| CD \| 761203713929 KALLIWODA SYMPHONIES NOS 5 & 7 Das Neue Orchester, Christoph Spering (CONDUCTOR)
Schumann had the highest esteem for Prague-born Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda, praising his symphonies as 'white, transparent pearls that will endure the longest among his works.' Christoph Spering’s congenial interpretation of Symphony No. 5 and this World Première Recording of Symphony No. 7 can only be described as breathtaking.

	CPO \| CPO7771512 \| CD \| 761203715121 ONSLOW NONET & QUINTET Ma'alot Quintett, Mandelring Quartett, Wolfgang Güttler (double bass)
Onslow was regarded as one of the leading composers of chamber music in the post-Beethoven era, whose works are rich in detail and composed with sophistication. In the Nonet Op. 77, each instrument contributes its own voice to a delightful whole, while the String Quintet Op. 44 has a more suspenseful character.

CPO | CPO7771922 | CD | 761203719228
NERUDA:
CELLO CONCERTOS NOS 1-5
Beate Altenburg (cello), Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau, Golo Berg (conductor)

Franz Xaver Neruda became a highly regarded personality in Copenhagen’s music world, conducting the Danish capital’s music society, directing a cello class at the conservatory, and promoting the young Carl Nielsen. Neruda must have been an excellent cellist, as is shown by the five concertos that he wrote for his own performance. Beate Altenburg prepared these almost forgotten treasures the from original manuscripts.

	CPO \| CPO7771932 \| CD \| 761203719327 ZAREBSKI PIANO WORKS Marian Mika (piano)
During his lifetime Polish pianist/composer Juliusz Zarebski was extremely successful, but today he is unfortunately neglected. As a great piano virtuoso, he almost exclusively composed piano works which stands out for their originality, daring effects and virtuoso experiments. These highly expressive pieces are interpreted by another Polish concert pianist, Marian Mika.

	DA CAPO \| 8226050 \| CD \| 63694605028 TAVERNER & TUDOR MUSIC VOL 1 WESTERN WIND MASS & SPIRITUAL PARTSONGS Ars Nova Copenhagen, Paul Hillier (conductor)
John Taverner was one of England's greatest composers, whose 'Western Wind' Mass is a brilliant choral work based on the folksong 'Westron Wynde'. A number of shorter works by his Tudor contemporaries Cornysh, Sheryngham, Brown and Tye also feature on this outstanding new release.

	GAUDEAMUS \| CDGAU356 \| CD \| 743625035629 JS BACH VIOLIN CONCERTOS Monica Huggett (violin), Sonnerie
The Gaudeamus label presents stylish early music recordings in historically informed performances. Bach's ever-popular Violin Concertos BWV 1041, 1042, 1052 & 1056 are performed with flair. Of Hugget and Sonnerie's previous Gaudeamus release (music by Biber CDGAU203), Gramophone wrote, 'Monica Huggett plays as to the manor born...I enjoyed these performances immensely'.

	HARMONIA MUNDI \| HCX3957042 \| CD \| 0713746704223 JS BACH NOTEBOOK OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH (HIGHLIGHTS) Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (mezzo-soprano), Nicholas McGegan (harpsichord & clavichord), David Bowles (baroque cello)
The engaging personality of MRS Bach comes to life in these musical miniatures that she hand-copied into her notebook, a richly-bound, gold-stamped volume given to her by Johann Sebastian in 1725. It contains an enticing collection of dances, favourite songs and arias which Anna Magdalena, as an accomplished singer, wrote out for her own delight.

	HARMONIA MUNDI \| HMC901920 \| CD \| 794881804825 MAHLER DES KNABEN WUNDERHORN Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Daniel Henschel (baritone), Orchestre des Champs-Elysees, Philippe Herreweghe (conductor)
Mahler's famous collection of songs, The Youth's Magic Horn, draws its poetic texts from an early 19th-century anthology and is regarded as the quintessence of the composer's musical universe. Connolly, Henschel and the orchestra are at their expressive best under Herreweghe's meticulous direction.

	HARMONIA MUNDI \| HMC901943 \| CD \| 794881816828 CHOPIN & BRAHMS BALLADES Cedric Tiberghien (piano)
In their Ballades, musical equivalents of short stories, Brahms and Chopin allow their fantasy to roam freely across the Romantic keyboard. Tiberghien, who visits Australia next year, gives powerful performances with wide-ranging dynamic and expressive contrasts.

HARMONIA MUNDI | HMU807400 | SACD | 093046740061
GLORYLAND
FOLKSONGS, SPIRITUALS & GOSPELS
Anonymous 4, Darol Anger (violin & mandolin), Mike Marshall (mandolin, guitar & mandocello)

EDITOR'S CHOICE GRAMOPHONE AWARDS ISSUE 2006
A new journey to the glorious roots of American folkmusic. On the heels of their wildy successful 2004 hit album 'American Angels', the four-woman vocal group Anonymous 4 is joined by star instrumentalists in a selection of beautiful religious ballads, folksongs, hymns and gospel songs whose poems tell of love, loss and redemption. 'For sheer radiance...no one else comes close.' (Billboard) 'Their haunting vocalism...was unlike anything I have ever heard. It was like finding a treasure in the attic.' (The Wall Street Journal)

	HARMONIA MUNDI \| HMU907277 \| CD \| HANDEL ARIODANTE HIGHLIGHTS Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (mezzo-soprano), Lisa Saffir (soprano), Rufus Muller (tenor) and other cast members, Freiburger Barockorchester, Nicholas McGegan (conductor)
GRAMOPHONE AWARD, CLASSIC CD AWARD The late Lorraine Hunt lieberson heads a stellar cast in highlights from the acclaimed complete recording of one of Handel's most dramatic operas. 'It's a glorious performance…McGegan inspires incisive, darkly dramatic orchestral palying and Hunt's burnished mezzo combines fire with a poignant intensity that breaks your heart' (BBC Music Magazine)

	HARMONIA MUNDI \| HMU907389 \| CD \| 093046738921 THE BACHELARS DELIGHT Paul Odette (lute)
26 delightful works by one of the brightest stars of the the Golden Age of English lute music, mostly forgotten until now, are brought back to life by the acknowledged contemporary master of lute playing on the first CD devoted entirely to Bachelar's work. 'O'Dette's mastery of tone colour is outstanding' (Early Music Review)

	HARMONIA MUNDI \| HMU907421 \| CD \| 093046742126 AGRICOLA CHANSONS Michael Chance (counter-tenor), Fretwork
Commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of Alexander Agricola, this program of his secular songs and instrumental works shows the extraordinary inventiveness and virtuosity for which this Franco-Flemish composer was noted. Also included are two fascinating new works by contemporary composer Fabrice Fitch, inspired by the Renaissance master.

	HARMONIA MUNDI \| HMX290745456 \| CD3 \| 794881818327 BYRD, HUMFREY & GIBBONS ENGLISH CHURCHMUSIC Chanticleer, Choir of Clare College Cambridge, Romanesca, Nicholas McGegan, Choir of Magdalen College Oxford, Bill Ives, Fretwork
FABULOUS 3-CD SET Glorious Motets, Anthems and Antiphons by three of the greatest composers from the unsurpassed flowering of English sacred music in the 16th and 17th centuries. Originally recorded in 1986 (Byrd), 1992 (Humfrey) and 2003 (Gibbons), this set offers a survey of developing performance practice by acknowledged experts in the field.

	HYPERION \| CDA67530 \| CD \| 034571175300 DEBUSSY COMPLETE PRELUDES Steven Osborne (piano)
Debussy's two books of Preludes have been central to Steven Osborne's repertoire for many years. Working from the most recent Urtext edition, he clarifies the composer's thoughts with regard to many aspects of interpretation. This is a recording to rival the very best.

	HYPERION \| CDA67535 \| CD \| 034571175355 KALKBRENNER PIANO CONCERTOS NOS 1 & 4 Howard Shelley (piano), Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
FIRST RECORDING 4th PIANO CONCERTO Superlative performances of 19th century concertos that bridge the Classical and Romantic styles. Widely admired in his time, including by the young Chopin, Kalkbrenner was a virtuoso whose presence in Paris helped make it a musical capital city. These concertos boast 'bel canto' melodies, spectacular passages of prestidigitation and much charm.

	HYPERION \| CDA67550 \| CD \| 034571175508 BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO 2, FOUR PIANO PIECES OP 119 Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano), Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton (conductor)
This is the CD version of the SACD recording featured in this month's Priority titles. Coinciding with his recent Australian tour, Hamelin's latest release presents a persuasive interpretation of Brahms' 2nd Piano Concerto (which combines the full-bodied form of a Romantic symphony and the interplay of a concerto) juxtaposed with Brahms' final opus for solo piano, by turn intimate and heroic

	HYPERION \| CDA67570 \| CD \| 034571175706 ROSSINI PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Hilary Summers (alto), Andrew Tortise (tenor), Andrew Foster-Williams (bass), Choir of The King's Consort, Gary Cooper, Matthew Halls (19th century pianos), Mark Williams (harmonium), Robert King (conductor)
ORIGINAL VERSION AS PERFORMED IN PARIS, 1864 Full of drama, pathos, colour and intensity, this heartfelt Mass setting was Rossini's last serious composition. Using the 12 voices, two pianos and harmonium of Rossini's original scoring, Robert King restores the glorious sound-world of this stunning masterpiece.

	HYPERION \| CDA67577 \| CD \| 034571175775 ORGAN FIREWORKS XI LAY FAMILY CONCERT ORGAN, DALLAS, TEXAS Christopher Herrick (organ)
With music by Copland, Janacek, Widor and a plethora of lesser-known composers, Herrick unleashes the sound of one of the largest mechanical concert organs ever built - the 4,535-pipe monster that dominates the Eugene McDermott Concert Hall. There's much New World swagger to enjoy and some thunderous blazes of organissimo!

	HYPERION \| CDA67586 \| CD \| 034571175867 THE FEAST OF ST EDWARD, KING AND CONFESSOR AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY Choir of Westminister Abbey, James O'Donnell (conductor)
Making its debut Australian tour in 2007 for Musica Viva, the Choir of Westminster Abbey here present Matins, Eucharist and Evensong for the Feast of St Edward with music spanning the centuries - from plainchant to works by Morley, Purcell, Stanford, Jonathan Harvey and others - in immaculate performances.

	HYPERION \| CDH55224 \| CD \| 034571152240 GLAZUNOV PIANO MUSIC VOl 4 Stephen Coombs (piano)
A series that will surely raise this composer's status immeasurably' (Gramophone) The fourth volume comprises the Russian composer's Prelude and Two Mazurkas, Op 25; Barcarolle sur les touches noires; Two Impromptus, Op 54; Idyll, Op 103; Triumphal March, Op 40; The Song of the Volga Boatmen, Op 97; In Modo Religioso, Op 38; Pas de caractère, Op 68; Sonata No 2, Op 75.

	LPO \| LPO0013 \| CD \| 854990001130 ARNOLD SYMPHONY NO 6 London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley (conductor)
Formerly Principal Trumpet with the LPO, Malcolm Arnold resigned in 1953 in order to pursue a burgeoning career as a composer. Alongside his 6th Symphony, this disc also presents Beckus the Dandipratt, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness Suite, Flourish for a 21st Birthday and the Philharmonic Concerto

	LPO \| LPO0014 \| CD \| 854990001147 BRUCKNER SYMPHONY NO 4 London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt (conductor)
Previously unreleased, this live concert recording from the Royal Festival Hall uses the Haas Edition, which is closer to Bruckner's conception than others, and captures the towering climaxes, whisper-quiet pianissimos and rich scoring which makes Bruckner's Fourth a firm favourite.

	MANDALA \| MAN5113 \| CD \| 794881826728 ZAVARO SILICON MUSIC Elizabeth Glab (violin), Vahan Mardirossian (piano), Alain Rizoul (guitar), Instrumental Ensemble, Pascal Zivaro (director)
Pascal Zivaro likes music with a beat; dynamic music that makes you sway your hips. He draws inspiration from many sources - 16th-century madrigalists, Stravinsky, Bach, Bartok, dances such as boogie and mambo, the American minimalists and Rock. Sounds irressistible? It is!

	MARCO POLO \| 8223613 \| CD \| 4891030236134 XINGHAI YELLOW RIVER CANTATA Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Cao Ding (conductor)
The Yellow River Cantata is based on the 1939 poem sequence ‘Yellow River’ by Guang Weiran and is a vocal work that occupies a leading place in the history of modern Chinese music. The cantata evoked immediate interest and was soon heard throughout China. Although half a century has now passed, it still retains its appeal for a vast Chinese audience.

MARCO POLO | 8225285 | CD | 636943528525
JOHANN STRAUSS I
VOLUME 9
Slovak Sinfonietta Zilina, Christian Pollack (conductor)

The works featured on this recording date from the 1830s, when Strauss was pre-eminent in the ballrooms of Biedermeier Vienna. Among many delightful highlights are the brightly optimistic Tribute Waltz to the newly crowned Emperor Ferdinand I, the exotically coloured Indian Galop, inspired by a visiting troupe of Indian dancers, the hugely popular Furioso Galop on motifs from Liszt, and the bacchanalian Wings of Mercury Waltz whose popularity quickly spread beyond the Austrian borders.

	MIRARE \| MIR018 \| CD \| 3760127220183 CHOPIN PRELUDES OP 28 & ETUDES OPP 10 & 25 Philippe Giusiano (piano)
The youngest prizewinner at the Liszt Competition (1986) and Silver Medalist at at the 13th Fryderyk Chopin's International Piano Competition (Warsaw), French pianist Philippe Giusiano interprets three of Chopin's best known and most demanding sets of piano pieces. Of one of his previous Chopin CDs, it was said: 'one has the feeling that this is how Chopin played'.

	MIRARE \| MIR019 \| CD \| 3760127220190 RACHMANINOV PIANO CONCERTOS NOS 1 & 4, RHAPSODY ON A THEME OF PAGANNINI Boris Berezovsky (piano), Orchestre Philharmonique de l'Oural, Dmitri Liss (conductor)
Boris Berezovsky, who visits Australia next year, studied at the Moscow Conservatory and in 1990 won the Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. His renditions of Rachmaninov's Concertos and Rhapsody are superb. His earlier recording of the Rachmaninov Sonata was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

	NAÏVE \| V5025 \| CD \| 822186050255 SHOSTAKOVICH VIOLIN CONCERTOS NOS 1 & 2 Sergey Khachatryan (violin), Orchestre National de France, Kurt Masur (conductor)
EDITOR'S CHOICE GRAMOPHONE NOVEMBER 2006 One of the most promising young violinists in the world, the Armenian-born Khachatryan won the 2005 Queen Elizabeth Competition and plays the 1708 'Huggin' Stradivarius violin. Gramophone has praised him as 'A brilliant debut artist [who] rocks the pedestal of the greatest', while The Strad has waxed lyrical over this 'wizard of colour and atmosphere'.

	OPERA RARA \| ORC31 \| CD2 \| 792938003122 DONIZETTI IL DILUVIO UNIVERSALE Mirco Palazzi, Majella Cullagh, Manuela Custer, Colin Lee, Simon Bailey, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Giuliano Carella (conductor)
Commissioned by the Teatro San Carlo in Naples for performance during Lent, 'The Universal Deluge' was termed an 'azione tragico-sacra' in order to outwit the censors. Nonetheless, this work is one of Donizetti's great ensemble operas, abounding in the arias, duets and cabalettas for which he is beloved.

	OPERA RARA \| ORR237 \| CD \| 792938023724 PAER SOFONISBA Jennifer Larmore, Paul Nilon, Rebecca Evans, Colin Lee, Mirco Palazzi, Lucy Crowe, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, Marco Guidarini (conductor)
Prior to Rossini's arrival on the scene, Ferdinando Paer was already reshaping operatic tradition in the wake of Haydn and Mozart. This emotionally charged opera had great impact on contemporary audiences and retains its vivid theatricality even today.

OPERA RARA | ORR238 | CD | 792938023823
PACINI REDISCOVERED
EXCERPTS FROM ANNETTA E LUCINDO, MARIA REGINA D'INGHILTERRA, ALLAN CAMERON AND ALESSANDRO NELL'INDIE
Annick Massis, Jennifer Larmore, Majella Cullagh, William Matteuzzi, Yvonne Kenny, Bruce Ford, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, David Parry, Antonello Allemandi (conductors

Featuring an impressive line-up of international stars, this disc showcases both the lyrical beauty and exacting bravura singing which Giovanni Pacini's music demands. Prolific in output and inventive in musical conception, these excerpts deserve attention even if Pacini sometimes falls short of the standards set by his contemporary Rossini.

	PENTATONE \| PTC5186166 \| SACD\| 827949016660 MAHLER SYMPHONY NO 8 Ileana Contrubas, Heather Harper, Hanneke van Bork (sopranos), Birgit Fannila, Marianne Dieleman (contraltos), William Cochran (tenor), Herman Prey (baritone), Has Sotin (bass), Massed Chorus, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink (conductor)
Haitink's recording of Mahler's 'Symphony of a Thousand' was one of the first in modern sound and remains a classic interpretation with a stunning line-up of soloists. In hybrid SACD format, this release has been prasied for its 'tremendous impact'. 'The two-channel version is impressive; the multichannel borders on the awesome', writes Rad Bennett of goodsound.com.

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRD250236 \| SACD \| 794881822522 BRAHMS STRING QUARTET NO 2 & STRING QUINTET NO 2 Vladimir Bukac (viola), Prazak Quartet
Seventeen years separate the Second String Quartet in a minor from the Second String Quintet in G major, yet each is an acknowledged masterpiece. This is the third volume of the highly-regarded Prazak Quartet's cycle dedicated to Brahms' chamber music for strings.

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRD350016 \| CD \| 794881822928 JS BACH VIOLA SONATAS BWV 1020, 1022, 1027-29 Joseph Suk (viola), Zuzanna Ruzickova (harpsichord)
Originally composed for flute (BWV 1020), violin (BWV 1022) or viola da gamba, these Sonatas were recorded in 1996 in transcriptions for viola and praised by Diapason for the 'profound sonority' of the rare Stradivarius instrument on which Suk plays. Sonata BWV 1020 may, in fact, be by JC Bach.

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRD350017 \| CD \| 794881823024 LALO CONCERTO RUSSE, SYMPHONY ESPAGNOLE Gerard Poulet (violin), Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Valek (conductor)
Lalo's 'Russian Concerto' and 'Spanish Symphony' conjure the contrasting temperaments of these nations - harsh and melancholy versus colourfully shimmering, respectively - in performances highly praised for their 'vigour and sensibility' (Diapason) and 'magnificent expression' (Le Monde de Musique).

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRD350018 \| CD \| 794881823123 ROUSSEL LE MARCHAND DE SABLE QUI PASSE, IMPROMPTU, SERENADE, DUO, TRIO Czech Nonet & Friends
Refinement of instrumental colouration balanced by rhythmic clarity mark these chamber works by Albert Roussel, whose sense of caprice, classical structure and inexaustible melodic verve influenced his student, Martinu. Poetic and serious, piquant and moving, syncopated and energetic, these works delight with their variety.

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRD350019 \| CD \| 794881823222 HAYDN STRING QUARTETS OP 76 NOS 2, 3 & 4 Prazak Quartet
Three of Haydn's renowned String Quartets, the 'Fifths', the 'Emperor' and the 'Sunrise', are performed with what Le Monde de la Musique has acclaimed as 'vigorous enthusiam and great audacity...with a natural, energetic and masterful confidence', while Diapason praised the Prazak's fidelity to the composer's intentions.

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRD350020 \| CD \| 794881823321 GERSHWIN RHAPSODY IN BLUE, PIANO CONCERTO, I GOT RHYTHM VARIATIONS, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS Prague Piano Duo
Although better known in orchestral guises, the works on this disc were written for and are here performed on two pianos. As always, Gershwin plays the improvisatory freedom of jazz against classical poise in music brimming with melodious charm, harmonic elan and rhythmic gusto.

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRD350021 \| CD \| 794881823420 DVORAK SERENADES FROM BOHEMIA Czech Nonet, Prague Wind Quintet, Ivan Klansky (piano), Pavel Hula, Vladimir Klansky (violins), Petr Duda (horn)
Dvorak's Serenade Op 22, best known in its version for strings, is here performed in its original version for clarinet, horn, bassoon, 2 violins, viola, double-bass and piano, which is alive with instrumental colour. His Serenade Op 44, transcribed for nonet, recalls those of Dvorak's idol, Mozart.

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRD350024 \| CD \| 794881823727 SCHUBERT 'TROUT' QUINTET, TRIO D581, EINE KLEINE TRAUERMUSIK D 661 Jean-Francois Heisser (piano), Prazak & Kocian Quartet members, Jiri Hudec (double-bass)
Full of charm, yet shaded with moments of introspection, Schubert's famous 'Trout' Quintet is an excellent foil to his Trio in B flat major, a work which pays homage to Haydn and Mozart. Written in only a few minutes on hearing news of a friend's death, the 'Small Funeral Music' is a little-known miniature masterpiece by the 16-year-old Schubert.

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRD350025 \| CD \| 794881823826 WEBER QUINTET OP 34, GRAND DUO CONCERTANTE OP 48, SEVEN VARIATIONS OP 33 Pascal Moragues (clarinet), Prazak Quartet
Weber's sophisticated compostions for chamber ensemble are notable for their good-natured character which nonetheless conceal formidable technical challenges for the players. The works on this disc also have expressive affinities with world of opera.

	PRAGA DIGITALS \| PRDDSD350026 \| SACD \| 794881827428 DVORAK & BEETHOVEN PIANO TRIOS Trio Guarneri
Beethoven's 'Archduke' Trio and Dvorak's 'Dumky' Trio are pinnacles of the repertoire. Ivan Klansky's vital yet introspective pianistic touch, Cenek Pavlik's crystaline and expressive violin sound and Marek Jerie's dramatic and at times elegiac cello give these works truly noble interpretations.

RESONANCE | CDRSN3074 | CD | 743625307429
AUTUMN - A COLLECTION OF SEASONAL CLASSICS
MUSIC BY VIVALDI, HANDEL, MACCUNN, DELIUS, WAUGHAN WILLIAMS, GUNNING, PROKOFIEV, BERLIOZ & LLIADOV
Various Artists

Including VIVALDI Autumn from The Four Seasons; HANDEL La Réjouissance (The Rejoicing) from Music For The Royal Fireworks; MACCUNN Harvest Dance from Highland Memories, Op.30; DELIUS 'Late Swallows' from String Quartet; Vaughan Williams Bloomsbury Square On A November Afternoon from A London Symphony; GUNNING Autumn Festival from Yorkshire Glory; Prokofiev Autumnal Sketch, Op.8; Berlioz Dream Of A Witches Sabbath from Symphonie Fantastique, Op.14; LIADOV Baba-Yaga, Op.56 ; The Enchanted Lake, Op.62

	RESONANCE \| CDRSN3075 \| CD \| 743625307528 MARTINU THREE PIANO TRIOS, DUO NO 2 Angell Trio
Acclaimed for uncovering unusual and neglected pieces such as these, the Angell Trio have championed Martinu's music world-wide. Classic CD was swept away by this disc: 'a totally compelling and physically exhilarating performance'. These works were composed between 1930 and 1958, thereby surveying much of Martinu's evolution as a composer.

RESONANCE | CDRSN3076 | CD | 743625307627
CHRISTMAS MUSIC FROM ETON COLLEGE

Eton College Chapel Choir, Ralph Allwood (director)

An unusual and appealing selection of Christmas music from one of England's finest chapel choirs, from Mediaeval plainchant to 20th-century favourites. BRITTEN Rosa Mystica; CORNELIUS The Three Kings; FLECHA Riu, riu, chiu; GARDNER Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; HANDEL Resonet in laudibus; HOWELLS Sing Lullaby; JOQUIN DESPREZ Ave Maria; MENDELSSOHN Ave Maria; OCKEGHEM Ave Maria; PLAINSONG Ave Maria; Hodie; Puer natus est nobis; POSTON Jesus Christ the Apple Tree; PYGOT Quid petis, o fili; RAVENSCROFT Remember, o thou man; TAVENER God is with us; TRAD Gaudete; VICTORIA O Magnum Mysterium; VILLETTE Hymne a la Vierge; WARLOCK Bethlehem Down

RESONANCE | CDRSN3077 | CD | 743625307726
LISZT & SCHUMANN
ORGAN WORKS
Jennifer Bate (organ)

LISZT Fantasia and Fugue 'Ad nos, ad salutarem undam', S259 (1850); Prelude And Fugue on the theme B-A-C-H, S259 (1871); Variations on 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen', S673 (1863); SCHUMANN Four Sketches, Op.58 (1845) (Ed.Bate). Jennifer Bate, 'esteemed wizard of the organ' (The Times) received great reviews for this disc: 'wonderful recordings' (Choir and Organ Magazine) and 'Highly recommended' (Diapason).

	RESONANCE \| CDRSN3078 \| CD \| 743625307825 KIDS LOVE CHRISTMAS CAROLS AND FESTIVE MUSIC Various Artists
Includes a selection of favourite carols, and popular seasonal pieces, such as Sleigh Ride and Jingle Bells, alongside music by Britten, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and other composers. Thoughtfully packaged for children with an attractive slipcase fully illustrated by a children's artist and sleeve notes written in a fun but engaging style.

	SATIRINO \| SR063 \| CD \| 3760061190634 BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTOS NOS 1 & 5 Barry Douglas (piano & conductor), Camerata Ireland
Formed in 1999 by Barry Douglas, Camerata Ireland has toured with him around the world. Camerata Ireland is one of only two organisations to have been honoured with the joint Patronage of Mary McAleese, President of Ireland and Her Majesty The Queen. 'Barry Douglas conducts with a communicative urgency that jolts the most concert-weary warhorses back to life.' (Washington Post).

	SOLI DEO GLORIA \| SDG124 \| CD2 \| 843183012428 JS BACH CANTATA PILGRIMAGE VOL 7 Soloists, The Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)
Cantatas for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity BWV 25, 78 & 17; Cantatas for the Feast of St Michael and All Angels BWV 130, 19 & 149. 'There is eloquent inventiveness at every turn..excellent and atmospheric readings' (Sunday Times) 'Textual lucidity, crisp articulation, eloquent phrasing and lively feeling for dance rhythms' (BBC Music Magazine)

SOLI DEO GLORIA | SDG127 | CD | 843183012725
JS BACH
CANTATA PILGRIMAGE VOL 15
Soloists, The Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

EDITOR'S CHOICE GRAMOPHONE Cantatas for the Third Day of Christmas BWV 151, 133 & 64; Cantata for the Second Day of Christmas BWV 57. 'Once again, Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir is the jewel in the crown of each cantata performance. Add to that Gardiner's dramatic, electric response to music he clearly loves and you have a set that rivals his Gramophone Record of the Year Award-winning disc that launched this incredible series.' (Gramophone)

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3819 \| CD \| 099925381929 TOMASEK PIANO CONCERTOS NOS 1 & 2 Jan Simon (piano), Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Valek (conductor)
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING Vaclav Jan Tomasek was the most significant and widely respected musician in Prague during the first half of the 19th century, visited by Berlioz, Pagannini, Clara Schumann and Wagner among others. Classical in style, these beautiful Concertos nonetheless take on board the influence of Beethoven.

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3829 \| CD \| 099925382926 MOZART & TCHAIKOVSKY TALICH SPECIAL EDITION 9 Slovak Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra & Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Talich (conductor)
Vaclav Talich once described Mozart's music as 'a beautiful crystal that sparkles with eternal fire' and here conducts the Overtures to Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflote, and the Symphonies Nos 33 and 38 'Prague' with lively drama and tension. Tchaikovsky's Suite no 4 pays tribute to Mozart. These recordings were made in 1950, 1951 & 1954.

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3830 \| CD2 \| 099925383022 DVORAK: STABAT MATER, SUK: ASRAEL TALICH SPECIAL EDITION 10 Soloists, Prague Philharmonic Choir, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Talich (conductor)
Dvorak's celebrated setting of the Stabat Mater, composed following the sudden death of three of his children, and Suk's vast funereal symphony Asrael, written in memory of Dvorak and the composer's wife, Dvorak's daughter Otylie, receive moving performances on this 2-CD set, recorded in 1952.

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3831 \| CD \| 099925383121 DVORAK TALICH SPECIAL EDITION 11 Prague Soloists Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Talich (conductor)
Three of Dvorak's concert overtures In Nature's Realm, Carnival and Othello, his Waltzes No 1 & 4 and Polonaises in E flat and from the opera Rusalka, demonstrate that 'Dvorak knew how to listen to nature'. As Talich himself notes, 'The material values of objects change into the spiritual values of music' in these recordings made between 1940 and 1952.

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3876 \| CD \| 099925387624 MENDELSSOHN SYMPHONIES NOS 3 & 4 Prague Philharmonia, Jiri Belohlavek (conductor)
Inspired by contrasting light and lands, Mendelssohn's 'Scottish' and 'Italian' Symphonies are part of the Prague Philharmonia's core repertoire, and Belohlavek's artistic experience transforms them into extraordinary musical evocations of place, by turns melancholy and merry.

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3877 \| CD \| 099925387723 JANACEK & HAAS SECOND STRING QUARTETS Pavel Haas Quartet, Colin Currie (percussion)
LUMINOUS, PASSIONATE PERFORMANCES This multi-award-winning young Czech ensemble brings both native insight and emotional flair to two complementary chamber works; Janacek's 'Intimate Letters' Quartet, the fruit of his last year, and Janacek's student the 26-year-old Pavel Haas' 'From the Monkey Mountain' Quartet (its jazz influences underscored by the addition of percussion).

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3878 \| CD2 \| 099925387822 SMETANA THE KISS Soloists, Prague National Theatre Chorus & Orchestra, Zdenek Chalabala (conductor)
Written in 1876, The Kiss was Smetana's sixth opera and remains popular to this day, second only to The Bartered Bride. This 1952 recording is one of the treasures of the Supraphon archive and boasts some of the National Theatre's best soloists, many of whom are now legendary names among Czech opera lovers.

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3886 \| CD \| 099925388621 JANACEK LACHIAN DANCES, SUITE FOR STRINGS, IDYLL FOR STRINGS Brno Philharmonia, Frantisek Jilek (conductor)
Brno conductor Frantisek Jilek, an expert on Janacek's compisitions, recorded this and the other two companion recordings in this month's New Releases between 1986 and 1993. The three works on this first volume are all early works of Janacek, composed between the late 1870s and 1890.

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3887 \| CD \| 099925388720 JANACEK TARAS BULBA, ADAGIO, SUITE, JEALOUSY (OVERTURE), SERBIAN KOLO, THE FIDDLER'S CHILD, THE BALLAD OF BLANIK Brno Philharmonia, Frantisek Jilek (conductor)
When originally issued, Jilek's recordings of these works which span Janacek's creative life from 1891 to 1923, became very popular owing to his intimate knowledge of the composer's uniquely deveoping musical language. They remain classics today.

	SUPRAPHON \| SU3888 \| CD \| 099925388829 JANACEK SINFONIETTA, THE DANUBE SYMPHONY, THE WANDERING OF A LITTLE SOUL (VIOLIN CONCERTO), SCHLUCK UND JAU Ivan Zenaty (violin), Brno Philharmonia, Frantisek Jilek (conductor)
Four works from Janacek's maturity receive priceless interpretations at the hands of musicans who seem to breath the same air as their illustrious compatriot composer. Jilek was a pioneer advocate of Janacek's music, and his love of this repertoire is palpable on this disc.

	TESTAMENT \| SBT1400 \| CD \| 747677140021 FAURE & FRANCK PIANO MUSIC Germaine Thyssens-Valentin (piano)
The solemn, almost mystical world of Franck's Prelude, choral and fugue in B minor and his Prelude, aria and finale in E major contrast with the subtle and luminous artistry of Faure's 9 Preludes op 103. Thyssens-Valentin has been praised by Gramophone as 'a great and inspired artist'. The original recordings were made in 1954 and 1960.

	TESTAMENT \| SBT1401 \| CD \| 749677140120 MOZART: PIANO CONCERTO NO 23, DEBUSSY: EN BLANC ET NOIRE, BERCEUSE HEROIQUE, MAZURKA FAURE: TROIS ROMANCES SANS PAROLES, MAZURKA Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, Jeanne Manchon-Thais (piano), Camerata Academica Salzburg, Bernard Paumgartner (conductor)
Of this disc featuring recordings made between 1954 and 1960, Bryce Morrison writes, 'In the Mozart, Thyssens-Valentin's...performance is a marvel of delicacy and of a play of light and shade known to few pianists...Thyssens-Valentin...confirms her status as one of the great unsung pianists of the twentieth century'.

	TESTAMENT \| SBT1402 \| CD \| 749677140229 MARGHERITA GRANDI SINGS VERDI MACBETH, DON CARLOS, IL TROVATORE EXCERPTS Margherita Grandi (soprano), Francesco Valentino (baritone), Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, Scottish Orchestra, Berthold Goldschmidt (conductor); Royal Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beechum, Alberto Erede (conductors); London Symphony Orchestra, Walte
FEATURED IN THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Born Margaret Gard, the Australian soprano who became famous under the name Margherita Grandi garnered praise as one of the great voices of the operatic stage: 'sublime', incomparable', 'noble and commanding, rich-voiced and dramatic'. This digitally remastered recording gives a new generation the chance to experience her ravishing artistry.

	WIGMORE HALL LIVE \| WHLIVE0011 \| CD \| 5065000924102 SIBELIUS, STRAUSS, BERG SONGS Soile Isokoski (soprano), Marita Viitasalo (piano)
DEBUT RECITAL ON WIGMORE HALL LIVE Winner of the Gramophone Award for her recording of Strauss' Four Last Songs', Soile Isokoski ranks among today's very finest singers, praised for her 'glorious singing' (Gramophone). 'Her voice is one of the greatest in the world, hitting you in the solar plexus each time you listen to it.' (The Guardian).

	WIGMORE HALL LIVE \| WHLIVE0012 \| CD \| 5065000924119 FAURE: STRING QUARTET OP 121, DEBUSSY: STRING QUARTET OP 10 STRAVINSKY: CONCERTINO, THREE PIECES, DOUBLE CANON Ysaye Quartet
Who better to advocate French repertoire - in which we can include Stravinksy - than French musicians? 'Exquisite control of dynamics, right down to the merest shudder of a pizzicato' (The Observer). Of the sold-out Wigmore Hall recital from which this recording is drawn The Strad exclaimed, 'lustrously large sound and interpretative unity...exquisitely tasteful and refined playing'.

	ZIG ZAG \| ZZT060801 \| CD \| 3760009291188 MARAIS LES FOLIES D'ESPAGNE, SUITE IN E MINOR, THE LABYRINTH Ensemble Spirale, Marianne Muller (conductor)
The 32 variations on one of the Baroque era's 'greatest hits', the so-called Spanish Follies, the intimate suite for viol and the intriguing Labyrinth each testify to Marais' unparalleled mastery across several styles of composition. Best known today through the film 'Tous les matins du monde', Marais is an engaging and civilised composer.

	ZIG ZAG \| ZZT060902 \| CD \| 3760009291201 WALTHER SERENADE, SUITES & PASSACAGLIA Les Plaisirs du Parnasse, David Plantier (violin & conductor)
Dresden-trained violinst/composer Johann Jacob Walther has been compared to Heinrich Biber as a pioneering exponent of the florid 17th-century school of instrumental music. Though brilliant, these works possess a profound gravity which adds depth of feeling to pure virtuosity.

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nostalgia
living era

	LIVING ERA \| CDAJA5622 \| CD \| 743625562224 GOOD NEWS VINTAGE NEGRO SPRITUALS Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Roland Hayes, John Payne, Fisk University Jubilee Singers, Golden Gate Jubille Quartet, and many more legendary artists
Here is the perfect introduction to the uplifitng world of the Negro spiritual with 31 best-loved songs performed by their most famous interpreters. Original recordings span the 1920s through 1940s and also feature lesser-known but very fine signers such as Edna Thomas and Aimee Semple McPherson.

	LIVING ERA \| CDAJA5629 \| CD \| 743625562927 MY REVERIE 26 ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS 1937-49 Bea Wain (vocalist), Larry Clinton & his Orchestra
Brooklyn-born Larry Clinton was a skilled arranger, highly original composer-lyricist, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. His band, one of the most successful of the late '30s Swing Era, was blessed with Billboard's No 1 Female Band vocalist of 1939, Bea Wain.

	LIVING ERA \| CDAJA5631 \| CD \| 743625563122 THAT OLD FEELING - SAMMY FAIN 25 ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS 1925-55 The Andrews Sisters, Boswell Sisters, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Peggy Lee, Tommy Dorsey, Billie Holiday and many more artists
Living Era's 'Songs of…' series continues with this tribute album to the artistry of Sammy Fain. Immortal hits include Love is a Many Splendoured Thing, I Can Dream Can't I?, Secret Love, Dear Hearts and Gentkle People, By a Waterfall performed by equally legendary artists.

	LIVING ERA \| CDAJA5633 \| CD \| 743625563320 GOOD MORNIN, BLUES 26 ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS 1935-45 Huddie Ledbetter ('Leadbelly')
Hailed as 'a living encyclopaedia of the traditional musics of white and black America', Leadbelly pioneered the folk-blues genre of music, inspiring countless musicians who came after him. This is a compendium of his greatest songs from Alabama Bound to Yellow Women's Door Bells.

	LIVING ERA \| CDAJA5634 \| CD \| 743625563429 HARLEM HEAT 25 ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS 1931-36 The Mills Blue Rhythm Band
This is the finest single-CD survey available of the hot '30s jazz supplied by The Mills Blue Rhythm Band, one of Harlem's best and one of the top few black big bands of the era. Billed as 'those instrumental gentlemen of Harlem', they could hold their own against the Duke Ellingtons and Fletcher Hendersons of their day.

	LIVING ERA \| CDAJA5638 \| CD \| 743625563825 WINIFRED ATWELL: QUEEN OF THE IVORIES BLACK AND WHITE RAG Winifred Atwell (piano)
Arguably the best single-disc selection from everyone's favourite honky-tonk pianist, this is great fun from beginning to end. Her million-selling hit 'Black and White Rag', chosen as the theme music for Pot Black, is only one of 32 original mono recordings from 1951-55 compiled on this remarkable disc.

	LIVING ERA \| CDAJA5639 \| CD \| 743625563924 SHES SO GOOD/C'EST SI BON 25 ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS 1952-55 Eartha Kit
The exotic Ms Kitt was the original 'sex kitten', her throaty singing, purring drawl and highly stylised image of mercenary world-weariness making her an icon. This Living Era disc brings together some of her greatest hits, including Monotonous, C'est Si Bon, Santa Baby, Let's Do It, I Want to be Evil, My Heart Belongs to Daddy and many more.

	LIVING ERA \| CDAJA5649 \| CD \| 743625564921 MOCK MOZART 23 ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS 1912-54 Victor Borge, The Comedy Harmonists, Benny Goodman, Red Ingle, Florence Foster Jenkins, Peter Ustinov and many more
This unforgettable disc puts the 'mad' back into 'Amadeus' with a diverting collection of parodies, take-offs, send-ups, genuine tributes and renditions good, bad and, well, ugly! Mozart will never sound quite the same again. Let's hope he's laughing along in heaven, too.

	LIVING ERA \| CDAJS2010 \| CD2 \| 743625201024 FRANKIE LANE THE GOLDEN YEARS Frankie Lane
With cumulative sales of over 100 million discs (!) Frankie Lane was a superstar crooner of the '40s and '50s. No wonder one reviewer wrote of his 'steel tonsils'! Here is a cornucopia of his greatest hits, including Sugarbush, High Noon, I Believe, Your Cheating Heart and 50 more mono recordings from 1946-55.

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world
network medien

NETWORK MEDIEN | WN495115 | CD2 | 785965951153
GOLDEN AFRIQUE VOL 3

Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Miriam Makeba, Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, Soul Brothers, Sipho Mabuse and many more

The musical forms featured on this 2-CD set grew out of the townships of African mineworkers - the copper mines of Zambia, the gold and diamond mines of South Africa and the urban beer halls of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where 'shebeens' - illegal drinking dens - were tolerated by colonial governments as outlets for the workers' frustrations. The opening track, Mbube, is better known as 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'.

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	ARTHAUS \| K100217 \| DVD2 \| 807280021790 MEYERBEER L'AFRICAINE Shirley Verret, Placido Domingo, Ruth Ann Swenson, Justino Diaz, Ballet, Chorus & Orchestra of the San Francisco Opera, Maurizio Arena (conductor)
The premiere of this five-act grand opera on 28 April 1865 was THE outstanding social event of Second Empire France. This recording of San Francisco Opera's 1988 production presents the original French version of Meyerbeer's spectacular in all its glory with a multi-star cast, stunning costumes by Amrei Skalicki, dance interludes by Robert Ray, directed by Lotfi Mansouri.

BEL AIR | BA014 | DVD2 | 3760115300149
WAGNER
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
Clifton Forbis, Jeanne-Michelle Charbonet, Alfred Reiter, Albert Dohmen, Mihoko Fujimura, Philippe Duminy, David Sotgiu, Nicholas Carre, Orchestra of the Suisse Romande, Armin Jordan (conductor)

Under the direction of Olivier Py, the Grand Theatre in Geneva's production of Tristan and Isolde was the big event of the 2004-5 season. Py's approach is utterly attuned to the work and its deepest issues: the complex relationship between day and night - caught in a flawless merging of love and death. He portrays all this in the style of a black and white film: the black of the set against the white of Isolde's dazzling love and desire for Tristan. Described by Le Figaro as 'a voyage into the very soul of Wagner'.

	CPO \| CPO7771942 \| DVD \| 761203719426 LEHAR DER GRAF VON LUXEMBURG Bo Skovhus, Juliane Banse, Rainer Trost, Gabriela Bone, Vienna Opera, Alfred Eschwe (conductor)
Franz Lehár’s Graf von Luxemburg premiered in 1909 at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. The following 300 performances cemented its success throughout the world. Melodies like the waltz 'Lieber Freund, man greift nicht nach den Sternen' or the song 'Mädel klein, Mädel fein' have become evergreens of classic operetta.

	EUROARTS \| 2072088 \| DVD \| 880242720887 BERNSTEIN CONDUCTS MOZART CLARINET CONCERTO, SYMPHONY NO 25 Peter Schmidl (clarinet), Vienna Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (conductor)
Bernstein, music's great communicator, and one of the 20th century's most versatile and articulate conductors, here leads the Vienna Philharmonic in music from the very heart of the classical repertoire. Great Mozart performances full of punch, energy and sensibility – the recording is brimming with musicality!

	JUXTAPOSITIONS \| DVD9DS17 \| DVD \| 899132000176 CARTER A LABYRINTH OF TIME Elliott Carter, Daniel Barenboim, Charles Rosen, Pierre Boulez, Frank Scheffer (director)
Contemporary composer Elliott Carter's life and works are examined in a fascinating documentary. Carter himself is your guide for this musical odyssey, which blends performances of his music with spectacular views of New York, the metropolis that served him as both muse and metaphor.

	OPUS ARTE \| OA0958D \| DVD2 \| 809478009580 MOZART DON GIOVANNI Carlos Alvarez, Alfred Reiter, Maria Bayo, Jose Bros, Sonia Ganassi, Lorenzo Regazzo, Jose Antonio Lopez, Maria-Jose Moreno, Chorus & Orchestra of the Teatro Real, Madrid, Victor Pablo Perez (conductor)
Lluis Pasqual's powerful new production for the Spanish capital sets Da Ponte's timeless story of sleaze and seduction in the dark world of 1940s Spain. Filmed with high definition cameras and true surround sound, it is sung in Italian with English subtitles.

OPUS ARTE | OA0959D | DVD | 809478009597
BELLINI
NORMA
Hasmik Papian, Hugh Smith, Irini Tsirakidis, Giorgio Giuseppini, Anna Steiger, Carlo Bosi, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera, Julian Reynolds (conductor)

In Guy Joosten’s ingenious production, Norma becomes a timeless drama in which the heroine is the archetypal successful woman struggling to retain her position. Papian’s lyrical and intense interpretation of the title role accentuates the striking similarity between a Druid high priestess and a modern opera diva. Conductor Julian Reynolds guides his foces to great heights, providing a refreshing new take on the chef d’oeuvre of bel canto.

	OPUS ARTE \| OA0960D \| DVD2 \| 809478009603 MOZART LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Peter Mattei, Lorenzo Regazzo, Christiane Oelze, Heidi Grant Murphy, Christine Schafer, Chorus & Orchestra of the Opera Nationale de Paris, Sylvain Cambreling (conductor)
Mozart and Da Ponte transformed the stock characters of opera buffa into fully-fleshed human beings, making Le Nozze one of the most sophisticated operas of all time. Director Christoph Marthaler's daringly original take on this classic is set in a wedding-dress shop lit with neon lights and a shabby registery office.

	SUPRAPHON \| SU7011 \| DVD \| 099925701192 SMETANA THE BARTERED BRIDE Gabriela Benacková, Peter Dvorský, Richard Novák, Miroslav Kopp, Marie Veselá, Jindrich Jindrák, Marie Mrázová, Jaroslav Horácek, Jana Jonásová, Alfréd Hampl, Prague Philharmonic Chorus, Czech Philharmonic, Zdenìk Kosler (conductor)
Outstanding vocal and orchestral talents feature in this 1981 television production directed by Frantisek Filip. What opera fan doesn’t know the famous opera arias 'Our True Love', 'Make Up Your Mind, Maøenka' or 'I Know a Maiden Fair', ageless classics from this treasure of Czech opera?

SUPRAPHON | SU7012 | DVD2 | 099925701291
MOZART
DON GIOVANNI
Andrei Beschasny, Dalibor Jedlicka, Nadezhda Petrenko, Vladimír Dolezal, Jirina Marková, Ludek Vele, Zdenek Harvánek, Alice Randová, Prague National Theatre Chorus & Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras (conductor)

Live from the Estates Theatre, Prague, perfectly reconstructed between 1983 and 1991 to preserve its original appearance. Operatic performances were resumed there on December 1, 1991, on the occasion of the bicentenary of Mozart's death, with this new production of Don Giovanni. BONUS DISC: 'Adieu Mozart', the emotional story of his three visits to Prague is 'narrated' by Josepha Duschek, Mozart´s friend and a star among European concert singers.

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