New Releases

[Daverz]

FEBRUARY 2025

They released 1, 4 & 7 in 2005 and 6, 7 & 11 in 2007.  Did I miss an installment in between?

[Madiel]

They released 1, 4 & 7 in 2005 and 6, 7 & 11 in 2007.  Did I miss an installment in between?

Maybe one without quartet number 7?...

[aukhawk]

1 4 6 8 9 & 11 in 2012, no.3 in 2009

[JBS]

Their previous Shostakovich
On Harmonia Mundi

Reissued as a double CD

For EMI now Warner, only the Third

Reissued as part of this

And the Eighth as part of this BBC Music CD

[Brian]

Amazon.de lists a future "Guarneri Quartet Complete RCA Collection" at 49 (!) discs.

[prémont]

Stumbled over this:

A new recording of Musicalisches Opfer on organ

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9739999--j-s-bach-musikalisches-opfer

[Roy Bland]

uzbek romances

[Brian]

Some more FEBRUARY finds



"Recorded in August 2022 at concerts given in Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie by the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg under Kent Nagano, this version of Johannes Brahms's celebrated choral masterpiece will come as a surprise to many. The German Requiem is heard not in its usual seven movement version, but rather as it was first performed in Bremen Cathedral on 10th April 1868 (Good Friday) under Brahms's direction, without the fifth movement for soprano and choir that was completed later that year. On the other hand, there are numerous interludes, instrumental and vocal, secular and sacred, by Bach, Tartini, Schumann and Handel – including pieces that were then regarded as essential parts of a Good Friday concert. Such a programme might seem unusual today, but these musical additions shed new light on Brahms's work, which in this version manifests itself as what Umberto Eco might have described as an 'open work'. Presenting the work in the form heard at the Bremen premiere is more than just a reconstruction: it enriches our understanding of this unique music."


Also a major Schubert release, no art:

Complete Works For Piano Four Hands
Geister Duo
Mirare

I don't know who's in Geister Duo.

[Mandryka]

[foxandpeng]

Some more FEBRUARY finds



"Recorded in August 2022 at concerts given in Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie by the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg under Kent Nagano, this version of Johannes Brahms's celebrated choral masterpiece will come as a surprise to many. The German Requiem is heard not in its usual seven movement version, but rather as it was first performed in Bremen Cathedral on 10th April 1868 (Good Friday) under Brahms's direction, without the fifth movement for soprano and choir that was completed later that year. On the other hand, there are numerous interludes, instrumental and vocal, secular and sacred, by Bach, Tartini, Schumann and Handel – including pieces that were then regarded as essential parts of a Good Friday concert. Such a programme might seem unusual today, but these musical additions shed new light on Brahms's work, which in this version manifests itself as what Umberto Eco might have described as an 'open work'. Presenting the work in the form heard at the Bremen premiere is more than just a reconstruction: it enriches our understanding of this unique music."


Also a major Schubert release, no art:

Complete Works For Piano Four Hands
Geister Duo
Mirare

I don't know who's in Geister Duo.

I look forward to the Gorecki

[Brian]

More FEBRUARY 2025 RELEASES









"Be Still My Heart presents works by two little-known Viennese composers. Robert Gund (also spelled Gound; 1865-1927), born in Switzerland, a pianist, teacher and composer who was highly regarded in Vienna but whose works have since been forgotten, and Wilhelm Grosz (1894-1939), who was writing highly successful songs for the cinema in Berlin at the time of Gund's death. Grosz then emigrated to the United States in 1939, where his music became influenced by both post-Romanticism and jazz. This program, conceived and performed here by masters of the German Lied Christian Immler and Helmut Deutsch, includes many songs that are recorded for the first time. Grosz's New York songs have inspired many cover versions by such 20th-century musical greats as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and the Beatles."

Finally:

"Recorded in August 2022 at concerts given in Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie by the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg under Kent Nagano, this version of Johannes Brahms's celebrated choral masterpiece will come as a surprise to many. The German Requiem is heard not in its usual seven movement version, but rather as it was first performed in Bremen Cathedral on 10th April 1868 (Good Friday) under Brahms's direction, without the fifth movement for soprano and choir that was completed later that year. On the other hand, there are numerous interludes, instrumental and vocal, secular and sacred, by Bach, Tartini, Schumann and Handel – including pieces that were then regarded as essential parts of a Good Friday concert. Such a programme might seem unusual today, but these musical additions shed new light on Brahms's work, which in this version manifests itself as what Umberto Eco might have described as an 'open work'. Presenting the work in the form heard at the Bremen premiere is more than just a reconstruction: it enriches our understanding of this unique music."

Tracklist from the booklet explains how this "reconstruction of the first performance under Brahms' direction" lays out:

CD 1
1. Brahms - first three movements
2. Bach and Tartini - andantes from two violin concertos, arr. Cornelius for violin and organ
3. Schumann - Abendlied Op. 85 No. 12, arr. Joachim/Cornelius for violin and organ
4. Brahms - movements 4, 6, 7

CD 2
5. Bach - Erbarme dich from St Matthew Passion
6. Handel - Messiah, arr. Mozart: Kommt her und seht das Lamm; Ich weiss, dass mein Erloser lebet; Halleluja

from the booklet essay:

"Who wouldn't have wanted to be present in Bremen Cathedral on that day? Those who were there, however, heard the Requiem in a completely different version: still lacking the moving fifth movement ('Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit'), but with musical interludes and additions in the middle and at the end of the work. After the first three movements Joseph Joachim, the violinist and friend of Brahms, played movements by Bach, Schumann and Tartini. At the end, his wife Amalie Joachim sang the aria 'Erbarme dich' from Bach's St Matthew Passion and 'Ich weiß, dass mein Erlöser lebet' from Handel's Messiah (in German). Both of these arias are essential parts of a Good Friday concert. Kent Nagano here performs the German Requiem in this Bremen version.

"The 'Hallelujah' chorus, also from Handel's Messiah, was heard at the end of the Bremen performance. Hardly any conductor today is likely to embrace such a programme idea. This showpiece chorus, however, points to an important aspect of the performance's character: the 'Geistliches Concert am Charfreitag' (Sacred Concert on Good Friday) – the original title used in the concert programme – is also a highly regarded civic music event. Traditionally, popular song and music festivals in 19th century Germany ended with this very Handel chorus. A detail from Clara Schumann's diary sheds light on the work's reception, in the area of tension between ecclesiastical religiosity and bourgeois music festival culture. Even in the quiet of Good Friday – so we learn – there was exuberant drinking and partying in the Ratskeller immediately after the 'sacred concert' in Calvinistically austere Bremen.

[Florestan]

Interesting.

[Selig]

Foccroulle, Muffat Apparatus, february 2025

[Maestro267]

Grace Williams' Missa Cambrensis performance from St. David's Day 2016 is being released on Lyrita in March 2025.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9745948--grace-williams-missa-cambrensis

[Mandryka]

Foccroulle, Muffat Apparatus, february 2025

That's something to look forward to!

[Roy Bland]

[Atriod]

I have made it through both boxes and they are both fantastic. Duplicated Michel Block's debut DG CD from the DG "The Chopin Masters" box I bought just for that one CD so I could retire the needle drop I made. And most pleasantly surprised to see that Mark Ainley wrote the liner notes for the Westminster box which was also exceptional! I hope to see his name come up much more often in booklets, one of the most generous people with his time and sharing resources.

[Brian]

I have made it through both boxes and they are both fantastic. Duplicated Michel Block's debut DG CD from the DG "The Chopin Masters" box I bought just for that one CD so I could retire the needle drop I made. And most pleasantly surprised to see that Mark Ainley wrote the liner notes for the Westminster box which was also exceptional! I hope to see his name come up much more often in booklets, one of the most generous people with his time and sharing resources.

Is that the same or different performances from the Chopin Institute's live Michel Block? The Institute released live recordings from the 1960 competition.
https://sklep.nifc.pl/en/produkt/76709-chopin-sonata-in-b-flat-minor-piano-concerto-etudes

[Mandryka]

Is that the same or different performances from the Chopin Institute's live Michel Block? The Institute released live recordings from the 1960 competition.
https://sklep.nifc.pl/en/produkt/76709-chopin-sonata-in-b-flat-minor-piano-concerto-etudes

Surprisingly, the sonata is not the same. You need to hear the DG by hook or by crook. Such control of the piano's dynamics and colours; such beautiful legato; such a coherent, unique and convincing conception of the music. I think it's somewhere on this youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYKL3mjVKo

[foxandpeng]

Never heard of this guy. Interesting . Thank you.