Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 24-27

Larrocha in Mozart, whether the sonatas or concertos, has always attracted high praise.

“it would be a strange person indeed who did not submit to such warm-hearted, unmannered Mozart....Larrocha's pearly toned, lightly pedalled touch and the way she can taper a phrase ending to resemble musical speech (try the opening of K491) make these accounts ones to live with.” --Gramophone Magazine, February 2011

A special 2-CD set comprising Mozart's late piano concertos in stylish and masterly interpretations from Alicia de Larrocha.

Released as a tribute to the great Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha who recorded for Decca for over twenty years from 1969, and who died on 25 September 2009.

Concertos 24 & 26 (recorded in March 1985) receive their first ever release and this has been made possible with the co-operation of both Alicia de Larrocha's family and the estate of Sir Georg Solti.

Concertos 25 & 27 (recorded in December 1977) receive their first international CD release.

CD booklet contains an appreciation of Alicia de Larrocha A Born Mozartian by piano expert Jeremy Siepmann.

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Mozart: String Quartets Nos. 14, 16 & 19

When he dedicated a set of six quartets to Haydn in 1785, Mozart was acknowledging the latter's supremacy in this genre. However, Mozart did more than just imitate him; he integrated Haydn's innovations into his own style, thereby producing a new milestone of Viennese Classicism. The three quartets played here by Cuarteto Casals are among Mozart's finest and are truly masterpieces of the genre.

“Cuarteto Casals shatter a glass ceiling of historic inhibitions and camouflage nothing. Enshrined herein is a rare order of musicianship.” --Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2014

“They launch into every movement with tremendous relish, on such a tide of rich, deep string tone that they could be playing Brahms or Dvořák, and it comes with equally full-blooded, expressive inflections. It is very involving to begin with, as such musical generosity draws you into the performance – welcomes you almost. But after a while it all seems a bit too obvious and generalised.” --The Guardian, 4th September 2014 ***

“They fit three of the “Haydn” quartets (including the “Dissonance”) on to this single disc, thanks to generous playing-time and skipping some repeats, and the performances are strong-willed, bold in contrasts, almost Beethovenian in their mettlesome thrust.” --Financial Times, 12th September 2014

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Classical Accordion

“Sidorova here demonstrates the remarkable potential of the accordion, not an instrument generally appreciated in classical circles...[The Bach] is fascinating, with Sidorova making the accordion sound like a miniature organ...An attractive and unusual disc.” --Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011

“Anybody disinclined to take the accordion seriously as a classical instrument should listen to the opening track here...[the Nordheim and Berio] are advertisements for the accordion's expressive potential, mining its virtuosic possibilities...a debut recording full of panache and communicative musicianship.” --BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ****

The winner of numerous international competitions, the brilliant young accordion player Ksenija Sidorova here presents her debut recording; a recital for solo classical accordion.

A particularly accomplished artist, Ksenija has collaborated with many leading musicians (including the Belcea Quartet, and Valergy Gergiev with the CBSO), and won numerous awards and accolades.

“one of the real finds of this series” The Times

Still an underexploited resource in western classical music, the accordion has had a fast-increasing amount of music written for it since the mid-20th Century. Here, Ksenija Sidrova brings a varied recital featuring some of the best contemporary compositions for the classical accordion, alongside transcriptions of well-known works.

No composer has been transcribed more often than Bach; but the accordion - heard here in Bachʼs Overture in the French Style - brings an advantage that few other instruments can offer; itʼs notes do not die away as soon as they are sounded. This allows an array of colouristic possibilities, denied to other musicians.

Amongst the contemporary works here, Arne Nordheimʼs Flashing, written in 1985 for solo accordion, has become a classic of the accordion repertoire. Nordheimʼs music has a real sense of physicality, of movement and change on a large scale. In contrast, Luciani Berioʼs Sequenza XIII opens with a compressed melody which is gradually developed amid splashes of complex harmony and virtuoso filigree.

Yuji Takahashuʼs Like a Water-Buffalo is preceded on this disc by the poem that inspired it. Well-known in Takahashiʼs native Japan, it is a moving, heartfelt piece, strongly transmitting the sounds of freedom.

This recital CD also features a ʻbonus trackʼ - Astor Piazzollaʼs “Asleep”, the first of the composerʼs Five Tango Sensations, performed by Ksenija Sidorova with the exuberant young Sacconi Quartet.

“an amazingly accomplished artist” Classical Source

Composers featured in this stunning recital include: Nordheim, Berio, Schnittke, Takahashi, Piazzolla, Scarlatti, Bach and Mozart.

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Mozart: Music for the Oboe

“Using a modern sound, the orchestra simply establishes a spruce, finely tailored context for the solo line [in the C Major Oboe Concerto]...The playing here is of an equally polished, characterful, spirited quality.” --Gramophone Magazine, September 2013

“[if] you were won over by Alexei Ogrintchouk’s warm and limpid tone in his album of Bach concertos...then this is certain to go on your want-list...An all-star trio is no guarantee of excellent chamber music making, but in this case everyone is beautifully integrated and everything is in the service of Mozart’s marvellous music...All in all this is a very fine package” --MusicWeb International, 6th August 2013

Alexei Ogrintchouk performs three pillars of the oboe repertoire with the support of the renowned Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and the company of three highly respected young string players in the quartet.

As principal oboist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Alexei Ogrintchouk is an international soloist in his own right. His performances of J.S. Bach’s oboe concertos was judged to be ‘as astonishing as it is successful’ on the web site klassik-heute.de, with a sound described as ‘generous, rounded, warm and velvety’ in Classica.

To round off the programme Alexei has called on his father, the pianist Leonid Ogrintchouk, and together the two perform a transcription of the Violin Sonata in B flat major, K 378, composed during the same period as the two other works on this disc.

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Mozart: Divertimenti for Strings and Winds

Divertimento (diversion, recreation): rarely has the title of a piece of music been more explicit. Closely related to genres such as the serenade, cassation, notturno, Nachtmusik, partita and Felmusik, all of which were intended to serve as entertainment pieces, the divertimento was very much in fashion in the eighteenth century, when it was often performed outdoors in the street after sunset to celebrate a name-day or birthday, or for end-of-term ceremonies at Salzburg University (Finalmusik).

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Mozart: Concerto For Flute And Harp; Reinecke, Rodrigo

"The famous recording of Mozart's Concerto in C K. 299 for flute and harp was made in 1962. Zöller is joined by the Spanish harp virtuoso Nicanor Zabaleta and the Berlin Philharmonic under Ernst Märzendorfer. In this disarmingly plangent and radiant performance, both soloists are ideally balanced, even though occasionally the supporting orchestra sounds a little too large. But the soloists capture the work's happy blend of early classical serenade form and Italianate operatic influence in a performance that over the years has lost none of its charm and poetic insight." --ClassicsToday.com

Penguin Guide Rosette Winner

"The solo part [of Rodrigo's Concert Serenade] provides Zabaleta with ample opportunity for demonstrating his virtuosity and artistry, which he does, while Märzendorfer and his players provide the liveliest support." --Records & Recording, 1961

"[The] Concierto serenate [...] has an unforgettable piquancy and its felicity of scoring. It us superbly recorded, with the delicate yet colourful orchestral palette tickling the ear in charming contrast to the beatifully focused timbre has great virtuosity and flair [...]." --The Complete Penguin Stereo and Cassette Guide, 1984

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Great Violin Concertos (10-CD Box Set)

The essence of a concerto is the contrast and combination of a solo instrument with a larger instrumental ensemble. Having developed out of the Baroque concept of concerto grosso, the concerto genre was fully established in the eighteenth century, and many works dating from this period are still a key part of the repertoire today. The opportunity for virtuosic display from the soloist has resulted in the concerto becoming a vital musical force on the concert platform.

Great Piano Concertos · Great Opera · Great Baroque Masterpieces

The violin concerto owes a great deal of its development to the technical achievement of performers, and to this day many works are renowned for their fierce technical demands. Indeed, many composers who have written for the instrument were superlative players themselves—Wieniawski and Paganini among them. The fascinating history and capabilities of the instrument can be traced through the compositions contained herein; from the gossamer threads of Vivaldi to the exhilarating fireworks of Prokofiev, via the lilting swagger of Lalo and Saint-Saëns and nationalistic panache of Sibelius and Glazunov.

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Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 29, 31, 32, 35 & 36

“Clarity prevails, and animation. These are the kind of performances that make it difficult for the listener to sit still. One is impelled to pace or even dance around, to gesture and nod...when you are in a get-up-and-go frame of mind, Mackerras is the man, with rhythm and vigour to the fore.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2010 ****

“There's a clarity to the acoustic as recorded in Glasgow's City Halls, which Mackerras uses to his advantage, instinctively bringing out telling inner lines...there's so much to enjoy on these discs - armfuls of wit and humanity...and vivacity aplenty too in the Haffner and Linz.” --Gramophone Magazine, April 2010

Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras

The multi-award-winning partnership of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras is reunited in this second collection of Mozart Symphonies featuring Nos 29, 31 (Paris), 32, 35 (Haffner) & 36 (Linz)’. This much anticipated recording follows on from the astounding success of ‘Mozart Symphonies 38 – 41’ which resulted in him winning the Critics’ Award at the 2009 BRIT Awards and led to ’Mozart Symphonies 38-41’ being named Disc of the Year at the 2009 BBC Music Magazine Awards.

This recording includes both versions of the 2nd movement of the Paris Symphony; unusually Sir Charles requested that the alternative version follows the original, rather than coming at the end of the album as an appendix.

An obsessive musical researcher, Sir Charles merged his considerable knowledge of these works with scores and parts he has been editing from available sources for years for this recording.

Sir Charles Mackerras has won widespread praise for his fresh, vibrant and youthful Mozart performances, which was named the classical recording of 2008 by the Sunday Times and HMV Choice. It also won a 2009 Midem Award for Symphonic Works and a Choc de l’année Award from Le Monde de la Musique.

This recording re-unites the award-winning team, including producer James Mallinson, who has just been nominated for a Grammy award.

Sir Charles Mackerras, the SCO’s Conductor Laureate, has produced numerous award-winning recordings, performed fifty times at the Edinburgh Festival and in 2005 was the first recipient of the ‘Queen’s Medal for Music’.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has a large UK-based fan base following performances throughout Scotland and regular appearances at the Edinburgh, St Magnus and Aldeburgh Festivals, the BBC Proms and on BBC Radio 3.

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Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 38 - 41

“Mackerras doesn't short-change us on the tenderness and often painful lyricism… nor is he afraid to relax the tempo as a festive or belligerent motif gives way to a gentler one, with the strings… ravishing us with their tone.” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2008 *****

“…rarely will you hear such well judged orchestral balance, such effective marrying of textural transparency an substance. The Jupiter in particular has a wonderful bright grandeur, yet reveals details in the brilliant contrapuntal kaleidoscope of the finale that too often go unheard.” --Gramophone Magazine, April 2008

“There is no need to argue the credentials of Sir Charles Mackerras as a Mozart interpreter, so let us just say that this double CD of the composer's last four symphonies contains no surprises – it is every bit as good as you would expect. Like many modern-instrument performances these days it shows the period-orchestra influence in its lean sound, agile dynamic contrasts, sparing string vibrato, rasping brass, sharp-edged timpani and prominent woodwind, though given Mackerras's long revisionist trackrecord it seems an insult to suggest that he would not have arrived at such a sound of his own accord.

And in any case his handling of it – joyously supported by the playing of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra – is supremely skilled; rarely will you hear such well judged orchestral balance, such effective marrying of textural transparency and substance. The Jupiter in particular has a wonderful bright grandeur, yet reveals details in the brilliant contrapuntal kaleidoscope of the finale that too often go unheard.

Seldom, either, will you hear such expertly chosen tempi; generally these performances are on the quick side, but rather than seeming harddriven they exude forward momentum effortlessly worn. Nowhere is this better shown in the slow movements (even with all their repeats they never flag, yet their shifting expressive moods are still tenderly drawn), but also conspicuously successful are the slow introductions to Symphonies Nos 38 and 39 and the Minuet movements of Nos 40 and 39.
These are not Mozart performances for the romantics out there, but neither are they in the least lacking in humanity. No, this is thoroughly modern-day Mozart, full of wisdom and leaving the listener in no doubt of the music's ineffable greatness.” --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

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Mozart: Piano Quartets

'For freshness, insight and sheer beauty of tone and phrase, this new disc takes the palm … it's pure joy from first to last and I urge you to add it to your shelves' --BBC Music Magazine

'Listening to these brand new Hyperion performances by The Leopold String Trio and pianist Paul Lewis got me thinking about elegance in a new way … There isn't a harsh note in the entire recording … These performances have flair and panache. I can remember no recording that presents these two masterful quartets so gracefully rendered as this one by The Leopold String Trio and Lewis.' --Fanfare, USA

“These are unusually expansive works, their first movements each close on 15 minutes' music, prolific in their thematic matter and richly developed. They demand playing that shows a grasp of their scale, playing that makes plain to the listener the shape, the functional character of the large spans of the music.

Paul Lewis and the Leopold String Trio, playing on modern instruments, excel in this, with their feeling for its structure and its tension, particularly in the first movement of the G minor, and especially at its great climax at the end of the development section, which is delivered with a compelling power and a sense of its logic. This performance is exemplified by its carefully measured tempo, its poise and its subtle handling of the balance between strings and piano. The Andante is unhurried, allowing plenty of time for expressive detail; and the darker colours within the finale, for all its G major good cheer, are there too.

The spacious and outgoing E flat work is no less sympathetically done, with plenty of feeling for its special kind of broad lyricism; particularly attractive are the gently springy rhythms and the tenderness of the string phrasing in the first movement, and Lewis's beautifully shaped phrasing in the Larghetto. A real winner, this disc: warmly recommended.”

Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

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Mozart: Violin Sonatas arranged for flute and piano

"Gallois and Prinz give us Mozart performances that are graceful without the “kid gloves” treatment. I don’t find this playing held back or forced; it sounds natural, so is it ever beguiling! Balm for whatever in life has brought you down. I can think of far less satisfying ways of spending an hour than listening to this. If you truly do appreciate Mozart, your mind will not wander, though it may approach heaven in the slow movement of K 570.

I hope Gallois will go on to explore Mozart’s French contemporary Francois Devienne, more of whose extensive output needs to be recorded this well." --American Record Guide, July 2013

"No es la primera vez que se lleva a cabo un experimento como éste, es decir, el de interpretar con flauta y piano modernos algunas de las sonatas para violín y clavicémbalo de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Ya en el año 1986 apareció un disco (CBS, MK42142) protagonizado por Jean-Pierre Rampal y John Steele Ritter, que incluía las Sonatas K 301, 305 y 403, junto a las Variaciones K 359 y 360. En la presente ocasión, Patrick Gallois, uno de los más brillantes discípulos del divino marsellés, retoma el testigo y nos ofrece un programa diferente con las Sonatas K 376, 377, 379 y 570. 

De nuevo se repite y se supera con éxito la hazaña de adaptar la escritura violinística a un instrumento de viento como la flauta, la cual en algunos pasajes es llevada al límite de sus posibilidades expresivas, como ocurre, por ejemplo, en el allegro inicial de la Sonata en fa mayor K 377. No es tampoco pequeña, y por esto es justicia ponerlo de manifiesto, la contribución al éxito de este disco de la pianista Maria Prinz. Si, como afirman los rabinos, cada pasaje bíblico encierra setenta sentidos, la música de Mozart, por su parte, admite con lucimiento las más diversas maneras de ser recreada." --Salustio Alvarado. Ritmo, July 2013

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Mozart: Symphonies Nos 35 & 33; Serenade No.7 "Haffner" & No.9 "Posthorn"

“Each disc brings together a middle-period symphony and a contemporaneous Serenade. The sound recording has a sharpness of focus and sense of presence more often associated with the finest analogue recordings of the 1960s and 1970s. It's surprising to find that the venue was Henry Wood Hall, for this sounds rather more intimate than most recordings made there, with plenty of bloom but no excessive reverberation. This is Mozart sound, using modern instruments but with some concern for the crisper manners encouraged by period performance, that in its freshness and beauty makes one want to go on listening.

The finale of the Symphony No 33, for example, brings a hectic speed which doesn't sound at all breathless, with featherlight triplets, and similarly in the finale of the Posthorn Serenade with which it's coupled. Exceptionally, in that Serenade, Iona Brown opts for a more relaxed speed and more moulded style in the lovely minor-key Andantino of the fifth movement. The posthorn in the Trio of the second Minuet is this time much more brazen and more forwardly balanced than before.

The coupling of the Haffner Symphony and Haffner Serenade is specially apt. Iona Brown herself is the virtuoso soloist in the Serenade, lighter than ever in the moto perpetuo scurryings of the fourth-movement Rondo. For those who continue to resist period performances in this repertory these are very refreshing discs.” --The Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2010

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Great Opera (10-CD Box Set)

The very first operas were performed in Florence in the mid-1590s. Since then, musical styles have blossomed and evolved out of all recognition, yet opera continues to be heavily influenced by the political, social and cultural contexts surrounding its genesis. A collaborative enterprise, an opera brings together the works of composers, librettists, singers and designers alike, generating rich veins of public response and resulting in what is surely the most dramatic of all musical media.

In this collection, we have brought together some of the most-loved operas, ranging from the elegance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni to the raw emotion of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. The lighthearted japes of Rossini’s Barber of Seville contrast royally with the pomp and spectacle of Verdi’s Aida, whilst the sultry allure of Bizet’s Carmen is the perfect foil to the lachrymose tragedy of Puccini’s La Bohème. This box is sure to entice any listener further into the magical world of opera.

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The Very Best of Adagio

". . . el sonido purísimo y único de la Deutsche y la multidimensionalidad de la Filarmónica de Berlin comparten espacio con grabaciones de cortar la respiración, pertenecientes a los dominios que mejor conocía el director." --Record Review, Melómano (Madrid), 1 February 2006

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.

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Mozart: La Petite Musique de Nuit, Etc

"Concerto Köln has a distinctive timbre and never-flagging excitement that are sometimes referred to as the 'Cologne sound'. These are qualities found in abundance in this recital. The ferocious account of the first work on the disc, the "Magic Flute" Overture, has the impact of an electric storm, which, with "Les Petits riens"; clears to brilliant pastoral sunlight . . . the joyous, roistering performances here should earn it many new admirers . . . Concerto Köln's wind players are among the best in the world and they keep their sometimes truculent instruments immaculately." --International Record Review (London), September 2006

... Concerto Köln conjuga todo el espectro de colores mozartianos con cristalina serenidad. ... las versiones aquí recogidas ... llevan a los instrumentos históricos al límite más óptimo de sus posibilidades, sin incurrir en tempos rígidos ni sonoridades metalizadas. --Record Review / Melómano (Madrid) / 01. June 2006

. . . haciendo interesantes y divertidas, vitales, intensas, las breves piezas que Mozart creó para un ballet (Les Petit Riens) parisino. Un disco que es una sucesión de sorpresas, antídoto contra las integrales y una forma diferente de interpretar a Mozart. La más adecuada, quizás, para el final de este año mozartiano. --Record Review / Ignacio Sanjuán, Audioclásica (Madrid) / 01. November 2006

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Mozart: Piano Concertos No.14 & 26 'Coronation'

"Pires has always been something of a Mozart specialist, and her playing is tasteful and cleanly articulated, the lyrical melodies sensitively shaped, the passage work fluent and even. Nothing she does is ever harsh or graceless." --Gramophone

Claudio Abbado, 1933-2014

Abbado was born in Milan in 1933. He studied piano at the Milan Conservatory with his father Michelangelo Abbado, and went on to study conducting with Hans Swarowsky at the Vienna Academy of Music. 

In 1958, he won the Koussevitsky Competition, establishing him in Italy. He began working at La Scala in 1960 and remained there as musical director until 1986: his extensive discography includes a series of landmark Verdi recordings with his Milanese forces.

Abbado was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1988, and the following year he succeeded Herbert von Karajan as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, a post from which he stepped down in 2002. His later years were dominated by his work with his Orchestra Mozart and with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, which he reincarnated in 2003: their live recordings of the Mahler symphonies are widely regarded as some of the finest accounts on record. Abbado died on 20th January 2014 following a lengthy battle with stomach cancer.

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Works for Bassoon and Orchestra

“The instrument is precisely focused and the fineness of her playing shows her to be a musician of cultivated taste and sensibility...Geoghegan arrests attention immediately.” --Gramophone Magazine, November 2010

“Geoghegan delivers phenomenal brilliance and precision at top speed...And in the quiet moments, like the slow movement of Mozart's concerto, Geoghegan's lyrical playing has beautiful grace and musicianship. Responding in style, Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic contribute alert and attractive accompaniments.” --Classic FM Magazine, December 2010 *****

“It's quite rare for bassoonists to have the opportunity to perform and record their repertoire, particularly one so young, but Geoghegan is amply repaying the faith Chandos obviously has in her. This disc continues the fairy-tale outcome for Geoghegan and her Cinderella instrument of the orchestra and is worth exploring, particularly for the rarer repertoire.” --International Record Review, December 2010

Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - November 2010

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Great Piano Concertos (10-CD Box Set)

"The box set Great Piano Concertos has been produced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Naxos and draws on their extensive catalogue of concerto recordings. The recording quality varies from the older 1980’s recordings but there are some good things to enjoy in the 10 CD set particularly Idil Biret playing the two Chopin piano concerts with the Slovak State Philharmonic under Rubert Stankovsky. The two Liszt concertos with Eldar Nebolsin and the RLPO under Petrenko are also very enjoyable as is Jenő Jando playing the Grieg and Schumann concertos with the Budapest Symphony under András Ligeti. There are finer performances available in the catalogue of these works but this box set give an excellent introduction at a bargain price." --Audiophilia, May 2012

At the very heart of a concerto is the interplay and contrast of a solo instrument within a larger instrumental ensemble. The natural progression from the Baroque concerto grosso, the concerto as we know it was fully established as a concert staple in the eighteenth century, and many works dating from this period are still a key part of the repertoire today. The opportunity for dazzling virtuosic display from the soloist has resulted in the concerto becoming a vital musical force both on the concert platform and in the audience arena.

The most important composer in the development of the early piano concerto was Mozart, whose masterly compositions for the instrument paved the way for expansion of the form by composers such as Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms and Grieg. In the Romantic era, composers such as Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky lent a distinctly Russian fluency and passion to the idiom, whilst no pianistic survey would be complete without the transcendent concertos of those great piano masters, Chopin and Liszt. The twentieth century transformed the piano concerto yet further with splendid offerings from a delicate Ravel, fiery Prokofiev and jazzy Gershwin to name but a few.

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