‘Markus Poschner conducts this work in a very powerful, colourful, and lively interpretation, giving the music a maximum of youthful expressiveness.’ – Pizzicato

‘…thrillingly vital, powerfully dynamic and exciting performances by the truly excellent Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under conductor Michael Francis.’ – MusicWeb International

‘All of the outstanding interpretations bring out the dance-like rhythms and propulsive energy of the works, as well as the lyrical passages, with intensity and sensitivity.

…this is definitely an album worth listening to.’ – Pizzicato ★★★★★

‘…the documentary value of this set is high… this is an issue as attractive as it is instructive. No individual set can possibly say everything there is to say about Nielsen. But to experience this one…is to fall in love with the symphonies all over again.’ – Gramophone

‘The performances by Jeremy Huw Williams and Wendy Hiscocks are committed and sympathetic… this is a recording worth investigating of music by a much underrated and neglected composer.’ – Gramophone

‘One has to admire Naxos for believing in this composer. Compliments to the Lithuanian orchestra (who must be new to this music) and especially to Lyndon-Gee for studying and editing these scores.’ – MusicWeb International

‘Corigliano’s song-cycle begins with a mysterious, atmospheric opening prelude that bursts into an animated, dancelike middle section to the words from ‘Mr Tambourine Man’. ‘Clothes line’ recalls Samuel Barber in its wistful lyricism, with soprano Laura Hynes’s understated declamatory style working well. Hynes adopts a greater dynamic range and more dramatic expression during the middle portion of the song-cycle, especially in ‘Blowin’ in the wind’ and ‘Masters of war’.’ – Gramophone

‘Christoph König begins the program with the Overture op. 35, and his interpretation of the thematically varied piece is convincing in its power and verve, without any heaviness or pathos. …The Solistes Européens Luxembourg also deliver an exciting interpretation of the 42-minute, imaginatively composed symphony, with good contrasts that enliven the first movement.’ – Pizzicato ★★★★★

‘…Mikael Ayrapetyan, who is a leading exponent of Armenian piano music, makes the best possible case for these transcriptions, and his pianism throughout is impeccable.’ – Classical CD Choice

‘This Wagner CD is one of [Semkow’s] finest recordings with the orchestra. …The Rienzi Overture is no less inspiring. Semkow gives it verve and power, with an opulent sound at a brisk tempo. This gives the music an unusual fire.’ – Pizzicato ★★★★★

‘…the whole disc is marked by performing and recording excellence. Organist Iain Quinn plays throughout with a musical authority and technical ease that is wholly convincing.

Connoisseurs of fine organs very well-played and beautifully recorded will find much to enjoy and admire on this disc.’ – MusicWeb International

Gustav Mahler arranged Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 ‘Death and the Maiden’ by expanding it into a grand orchestral spectacle. It reveals his admiration for Schubert and serves to intensify the quartet’s journey through life, death and human resilience in this fusion of two great composers’ musical visions. Airat Ichmouratov’s Concerto Grosso No. 3 is subtitled ‘Liechtenstein’ and draws on the country’s breath-taking scenery and music in an expressive and virtuoso orchestral exploration. It was composed specifically for Alexander Gilman and the LGT Young Soloists, one of the most successful touring youth orchestras throughout the world.

‘Performers Emmanuele Baldini and Luca Delle Donne repeatedly tackle little-known sonatas in a skilful manner. In doing so, they use their technical skills just as much as they shape the works musically in carefully crafted interpretations. …they manage to show the many compositional details in Bossi’s sonatas in a comprehensible way…’ – Pizzicato

The versatility of Catalan songs has seen them much in use in arrangements for violin and piano, with Fritz Kreisler and Joseph Szigeti enthusiastic champions of their virtuoso potential and melodic charm. In addition to arrangements, this programme has plenty of original works for violin including Gaspar Cassadó’s substantial Violin Sonata, Enrique Granados’s fulsome Romanza and Federico Mompou’s rhapsodic Altitud, with Jordi Cervelló’s sparkling ‘test piece’ Prova di violino bringing us well into the 21st century.

‘The Royal Swedish Navy Band under Alexander Hanson now presents a first selection of the marches. …the marches are given a warm sound… Technically, the playing of the Navy Band is of the highest quality.’ – Pizzicato

‘This is the best recording we have yet heard of Ermione… The conductor Antonino Fogliani holds the whole drama powerfully on course, as does the Ermione, Serena Farnocchia… Such continuity helps with the all-important task of keeping this harrowing music drama thrillingly on course.’ – Gramophone

The solo violin concerto spread rapidly throughout Europe from its cradle in Venice where Vivaldi established the genre’s formal aesthetic. Giuseppe Tartini, however, in nearby Padua, remained fully independent of Vivaldi’s model and established a school of pupils who reflected his own virtuosity and lyricism. The works of the three Italian and one German pupils in this programme contain noble and expressive slow movements in concertos that had absorbed the galant style and the influence of the Lombardy symphonists such as Sammartini. Three are heard in world première recordings.

‘Ghiaurov has a big, smooth, rich bass, properly flexible and seductive… Victor von Halem is everything he should be: firm, brazen, huge-voiced and chilling. Janowitz is simply divine, dominating the ensembles, agile and soaring in her solos.’ – MusicWeb International

‘Dario Ribechi and his Erato Choir succeed in a remarkable way in combining the quasi-natural state of Gregorian chant music with the complexity of polyphonic choral writing (up to twelve voices) in a wonderfully natural way. The clear voice leading and the differentiation of the musical motifs lead the listener to quiet contemplation.’ – Pizzicato ★★★★★

Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and Water Music, two of his greatest orchestral achievements, have become synonymous with mid-18th-century England and with the pomp, ceremony and tradition of British royalty. But is this music necessarily synonymous with Handel? Where did his eclecticism and experimentalism come from? How and why did he conquer the emerging genre of the English oratorio and what were the circumstances that allowed him to become one of opera’s greatest composers? This revealing audio biography is accompanied by musical examples drawn from his orchestral and instrumental music, his cantatas, oratorios, operas and those two famous royal commissions.

In the early 1670s, soon after Venetian opera became established in Naples, a series of comic figures began to inhabit secular but also sacred operas. These stock characters included the Neapolitan, the Calabrian and the Boy, and all three plus a fourth, ‘The Spaniard’, appear in a comic intermezzo inserted in the 1673 opera Il disperato innocente by the little-known Francesco Antonio Boero. This is the oldest surviving Neapolitan comic intermezzo, and, along with its Prologue, seems to have been written by other authors. This video preserves a historically informed performance given by Antonio Florio with Pino De Vittorio that explores the tradition of the intermezzo in 17th century plots.

‘…Thomas Lehman’s powerful Lucifer and Irene Roberts’s impressively and often beautifully sung The Spirit of Mystery stand out among a group of singers fearless in tackling the composer’s demanding…vocal writing. The orchestra under conductor Stephan Zilias are no less impressive, and they play Langgaard’s score – often striking, often disarmingly beautiful – superbly.’ – Gramophone

In the early 1670s, soon after Venetian opera became established in Naples, a series of comic figures began to inhabit secular but also sacred operas. These stock characters included the Neapolitan, the Calabrian and the Boy, and all three plus a fourth, ‘The Spaniard’, appear in a comic intermezzo inserted in the 1673 opera Il disperato innocente by the little-known Francesco Antonio Boerio. This is the oldest surviving Neapolitan comic intermezzo, and, along with its Prologue, seems to have been written by other authors. This video preserves a historically-informed performance given by Antonio Florio with Pino De Vittorio that explores the tradition of the intermezzo in 17th-century plots.

‘It’s a vocally accomplished performance… Fiume delivers it superbly. And how clever of Pintor to have the cast lined up for the choral envoi, scores in hand, at the end of what he suggests is a tale well told – as Bergamo’s fine revival undoubtedly is.’ – Gramophone

‘Musically…much here is wonderful. Grigorian’s dramatic commitment is never in doubt… [Butt] is equally superb, warmer in tone…passionate in his delivery throughout… Bychkov conducts it wonderfully well, too, his spacious speeds allowing both emotion and detail to register fully.’ – Gramophone

‘Verdi’s popular masterpiece, composed for the opening of the Suez Canal, has enjoyed several impressive iterations in the DVD (and even Blu-ray) media, but few have the sheer dash and vividness of this new set with Elena Stikhina radiant in the title role. A winning factor for many will be the crystal-clear resolution of the image in this impressive set…’ – Classical CD Choice

‘The Art of Marianela Nuñez is a 4-DVD reissue of ballets featuring the great ballerina, all previously reviewed in these pages. They range from a 2009 Swan Lake which is equally treasurable for the interview with four ballerinas of various epochs discussing the work. Her Fille mal gardée shows the fusion of technique and acting that is essential to this ballet.’ – Fanfare

Siegfried is the third of the four operas that comprise Wagner’s epic tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen (‘The Ring of the Nibelung’). Siegfried, raised by the evil dwarf Mime, discovers that he is the son of Siegmund and Sieglinde. He must negotiate betrayals and dangers in a landscape of dragons and magic in order to kill Fafner, who has the Ring, as well as Mime, who has designs on it. Finally, in music of resplendent drama, Siegfried, the hero who knows no fear, can penetrate the ring of fire to awaken the sleeping Valkyrie, Brünnhilde.

‘Filming is good in all three ballets and the helpful notes are by Dowell, Tim Scholl, and Wiley.’ – Ballet Review

La virtù de’ strali d’Amore was the first of ten operas Cavalli wrote with librettist Giovanni Faustini. Set in Cyprus, the plot involves enchanted and pastoral elements, love and its thwarting, the counterpointing of Man and God, sorcery, revelation and ultimate resolution, all accomplished in a brilliant series of scenes. A follower of Monteverdi, Cavalli reveals the influence of the older man but also his own pronounced independence. Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante have become one of the most admired partnerships in the history of baroque music performance.

‘…the fine German mezzo Claudia Mahnke makes a strong impression as a woman as obsessed with her husband as he is with Kuma. Canadian baritone Iain MacNeil is wonderful as the Prince. His brilliant top register is firmly joined to a sturdy middle register that never wobbles and is full of colour.’ – American Record Guide