Orchestral & Symphonic

The four concertos entitled the Four Seasons which open Vivaldi's Op. 8 date from about 1725. It was fashionable at the time to depict nature in music, and Vivaldi wrote other descriptive pieces, both suggesting moods and specific images. As a subject,...

The 'fount of grace' of the title is the Virgin Mary, to whom Machaut addresses his appeals for mercy during a turbulent period in France's history.1. Machaut:: Donnez, Signeurs 2. Machaut: Tu Qui Gregem 3. Plange Regni 4. Apprehende Arma 5. Machaut:...

The founder of the new symphony as I understand it - Gustav Mahler, on Hans Rott Hans Rott inspired Gustav Mahler with his highly ambitious Brucknerian dimensions symphony however he fell mentally ill at a young age and died soon after. Not many...

The foremost Italian orchestral composer of the late nineteenth century, as well as an accomplished pianist and conductor, Giuseppe Martucci was one of the first of a line of composers, which included Sgambati, Mancinelli and Faccio and, later, Casella.1...

The For nearly a hundred years, the doors of the famous Red Hedgehog coffee house (Zum roten Igel) opened onto the very heart of Viennese musical life. The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde established the city's first public concert hall there, hosting...

The focus of Intermezzi del Verismo is the famous operas of Puccini, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo, rich in emotions and ideas. Here three verismo works by these composers merit special mention: According to some music historians, the Rome premiere of...

The focus here is on symphonic music, yet the term seems inadequate for Silvestrov's delicately realized compositions played with extraordinary restraint and fluidity by Alexei Lubimov with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Dennis Russell Davies...

The focus for Martin Frutiger's third album of works for cor anglais and piano is on romantic-impressionist French music, with works by Koechlin and Bozza, but also first recordings of the Quatre Pi?ces by Cl?mence de Grandval, a Saint-Sa?ns student and...

The flourishing genre of the comic opera had it's roots in 18th c. Italian opera buffa, whose irrepressible brio was soon taken up outside the country's borders. In France it produced opera comique and operetta, and in German-speaking countries Spieloper...

The Fitzwilliam String Quartet performs Shostakovich's complete String Quartets. "Wonderful music the performances by the Fitzwilliam Quartet reach the heart of the composer's intentions"- Gramophone.1. String Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73: I...

The First Symphony is notable for the rhythmic interest of the first movement and the lively second movement, which shows the influence of Mendelssohn, with the third movement full of heartfelt romanticism- a fitting contrast to the resplendent final...

The first release on AAM Records, the new label of the Academy of Ancient Music - recently described as 'the finest period-instrument orchestra in the world' by Classic FM (UK) 'Birth of the symphony: Handel to Haydn' explores the development of the...