harmonia mundi usa

(via Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, George Frideric handel, None - Handel: Water Music - Amazon.com Music)

(via Planet Hugill: Vibrant Mendelssohn from Pablo Heras-Casado & the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra)

“The great virtue of these performances from Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra is that by stripping the varnish of these symphonies, they allow us not only to hear timbres closer what Mendelssohn might have done, but they bring out the youthful vigour of the music. These are performances full of dramatic contrasts and romantic ethos, with lots of vivid accents and articulation.” - 5 STARS

Kravis Center for the Performing Arts | Official Website

Tonight, James Ehnes performs with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, FL!

3/5 - The Da Camera Society - Doheny Mansion - Los Angeles, CA 3/11, 3/13 - Pittsburg Symphony - Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts - Pittsburg, PA 3/19 - Green Music Center - Rohnert Park, CA 3/31-4/2 - Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra - Hilbert Circle Theatre - Indianapolis, IN

(via Planet Hugill: A powerful torso - Donizetti's Le Duc d'Albe)

“Opera Rara continues its exploration of Donizetti's late French operas with a recording of Le Duc d'Albe...Donizetti started it in 1839 but delays at the Paris Opera meant that other works interceded with Donizetti converting his abandoned L'ange de Nisida into La Favorite for the Paris Opera...Opera Rara has chosen to record only the first two acts...  

Michael Spyre's gives a rock solid performance, brilliantly bravura with a finely secure technique and an admirable evenness throughout the range (which is considerable). These type of roles require a combination of flexibility and strength, and Spyres provides both singing with an attractive narrow focus which suits the music perfectly...

Mark Elder elicits a strong and powerful performance from the Opera Rara chorus and the Halle. Elder has now conducted a number of Donizetti's late French operas for Opera Rara and brings out the sober beauty of the style...This is a recording which repays repeated listening. It is not an opera that would be easily staged, something would have to be done regarding the subsequent acts, but on disc it makes perfect listening.” - 5 STARS

(via Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik - Bestenliste 1-2016)

These harmonia mundi distributed releases have won a German Record Critics Award:

Orchestra: “Dutilleux. Cello Concerto” - Emmanuelle Bertrand, Pascal Amoyel, James Gaffigan and Luzerner Sinfonieorchester - harmonia mundi

Keyboard: "Soler. Sol de mi Fortuna” - Diego Ares - harmonia mundi

(via Budapest Festival Orchestra Plays Carnegie Hall : NPR) @nprmusic

click to stream the full concert

“For Thursday's concert with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, which Fischer founded with pianist Zoltán Kocsis, Liszt was on the menu. Pianist Marc-André Hamelin played the Piano Concerto No. 1, a flashy piece Liszt created as a vehicle for his own virtuosity. Liszt premiered the concerto in Weimar in 1855 in a concert conducted by Hector Berlioz that also featured the conductor's Symphonie Fantastique. This concerto is beloved for its dazzling octaves, delicate filigree and the prominent ping of the triangle in the third movement.

Fischer opened the program with the Overture to Der Freischütz. The opera, by Carl Maria von Weber, with its magic bullets and supernatural elements, is an early example of German Romantic opera.

On the political end, Fischer has been critical of Hungary's right-wing parties and outspoken on the current immigration situation. Last fall, before conducting Mahler's Seventh Symphony in Berlin, Fischer took the microphone, welcomed his guests from Syria and then launched into a short but impassioned speech...”

Fischer’s latest with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, “Brahms. Symphony No.4″, is available on Channel Classics: http://amzn.to/24mxKIX

(via LALO: 3 Piano Trios – Leonore Piano Trio – Hyperion - Audiophile Audition)

"Rosenfield’s cello certainly makes points while Horton’s arpeggios later shimmer in aquatic sonorities...Lalo’s gift for melody certainly rises to the occasion for the Andante con moto, wherein violinist Nabarro shines...Horton’s superlative keyboard playing here more than suggests that the Franck Piano Quintet should occupy the Leonore’s next effort...Why these trios do not appear more often in concert remains the Sphinx’s very own riddle." - 4 STARS

(via Haec dies: Music for Easter (Bonus Track Version) by Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross on iTunes)

Topping the Pre-orders on iTunes' Classical page is The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge's "Haec dies: Music for Easter", out March 4th!

(via CD reviews: Breathtaking moments in new song cycle ‘let me tell you’ - The Washington Post)

“Muraro believes that much of 20th-century piano music is deeply indebted to Liszt. His latest recording, “Liszt: The Piano of Tomorrow,” eloquently illustrates that point of view.

Muraro imbues the “Fantasie and Fugue on B-A-C-H,” a piece prone to blustery overplaying, with an aura of rapt mystery, including a fugue that grows sinister in its disregard of tonality...”

But it is the B minor Sonata, a piece represented in the catalogues by about 200 recordings at any given moment, that is Muraro’s singular achievement. His interpretation combines French objectivity with a close and deeply personal reading that opens up the vast topography of this Romantic masterpiece onto vistas of rare grandeur. I can’t think of another recording more engaged or heartfelt. Muraro’s probing intelligence and keen sense of proportion allow him to bypass externals, revealing this music’s compelling humanity.”

(via Fuse CD Reviews: Handel’s Water Music and the Vienna Philharmonic’s 2016 New Year’s Concert » The Arts Fuse)

“In their recent recordings of pillars of the Baroque era, the Akademie für Alte Musik, Berlin (AAMB) has been on something of a roll: their 2013 account of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Rene Jacobs was a critical triumph and now comes a lithe, lively rendering of Handel’s complete Water Music. If the Freiburg Barockorchester’s 2014 recording of the six Brandenburg Concertos is taken into account (all of these recordings, coincidentally, from Harmonia mundi), one can make the case that we have experienced an impressive few years of period performance practice from Germany on disc...

It all results in a sweeping, charming performance that carries through the disc...the AAMB’s attention to tonal details offers a welcome reminder of the importance of color and resonance in this repertoire...HM’s recorded sound provides a good balance between the strings and sometimes-braying brasses. Lovely, intriguing color combinations emerge (horns and bassoons at various junctures in the Suite no. 1 are a personal favorite) and the vitality of the ensemble’s sound never ebbs. On the contrary, everything here pops.”

Album reviews: Rihanna | Kula Shaker | Matmos - The Scotsman

“The Freiberger Barockorchester under Pablo Heras-Casado continue their exploration on disc of German Romantic repertoire with two of Mendelssohn’s best loved symphonies, the “Scottish” (No 3) and the “Italian” (No 4). It makes for quite extraordinary listening, the edgy warmth of the period instruments lending probing penetration and utter uniqueness to what we traditionally think of as the accepted Mendelssohn sound. It’s as if the cobwebs and time-honoured nostalgia have been swept aside, leaving the music feeling as fresh as the day it was written. The brazen wind timbres in the opening bars of the “Scottish”, the breezy precision of the strings in the “Italian”, coupled with the fleet-footed, warm-hearted energy of Heras-Casedo’s compelling interpretations, and thrill-a-minute playing from the orchestra, make for truly essential listening." - 5 STARS

(via Aural tradition: a weekend with early-music legend and gamba virtuoso Jordi Savall | The Seattle Times)

“Call it folk, world or early music: Jordi Savall is the master artist who makes whatever project he takes up seem to illuminate entire eras.

Seattle will host the Barcelona-based musician for a weekend, when Savall comes to offer two separate programs presented by the Early Music Guild. First up is a collaboration with percussionist Frank McGuire for a program centered on Celtic folk traditions at Town Hall (Feb. 27). The next day, Savall gives a solo recital in the Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall...”