Orchestral & Symphonic

On her 60th anniversary in 2012, this 4-CD collector's box contains recordings of fourteen orchestral works by Grammy-awarded Kaija Saariaho, many of them featuring vocal or instrumental soloists. These recordings feature such acclaimed soprano soloists...

On Etudes & Frames, pianist Tamara Stefanovich presents the music of contemporary master Vassos Nicolaou. In his Etudes, Nicolaou uses virtuosity as a means to explore forms made of complex rhythms, great speed and multi-layered sound. Each of the...

Oliver came to international attention during 1988-89 when he won 6 prizes for five compositions ranging from chamber to orchestral to electro acoustic music. This album features a collection of his orchestra music composed between 1995 and 2006. Oliver...

Often referred to as the 'dean of African-American composers', William Grant Still received many honours for his pioneering music for the concert platform, film and television. Still' most distinctive works use African-American forms such as the b.1...

Of Ukrainian origin, Boris Pigovat (b. 1953) is now based in Israel where he has won several distinguished national awards. His Holocaust Requiem received the ACUM (Israeli ASCAP) prize in 1995, and was premi?red at a concert dedicated to the massacre of...

Of the several hundred instrumental compositions Johann Strauss II ('The Waltz King') composed in his lifetime, it's the waltzes that remain most firmly in the hearts and minds of lovers of light-classical music and New Year's Eve celebrants. The...

Of the same generation as Mozart's father and Bach's children, Georg Anton Benda was highly regarded in his day (not least by Mozart himself). Howard Shelley brings his customary probing, intelligent musicianship to this selection of four early classical...

Of the nine violin concertos at one time ascribed to Haydn only four were genuine, and one of the four is lost. With their considerable use of the relatively higher register of the violin, chains of dotted notes, double stopping and ornamental figuration...

Of the major works of Sergei Prokofiev, none (apart perhaps from Peter and the Wolf) have become so well loved by a wide audience as the ballets Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet. From the stage productions, to the orchestral suites, to the piano versions,...

Of the British composers to have emerged immediately before Elgar, the most significant were Sir Hubert Parry and Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. Central to Stanford' achievement are the seven symphonies covering the greater part of his career.1. I...

Of the birth and studies of Emanuel Siprutini we know nothing, except that the Italianization of his Hebrew name, Shiprut, would seem to indicate, if anything, the be-longing to an Italian school and style, if only for convenience (Italian cellists were...

Of his many works for the stage, Adolphe Adam's ballet Giselle ou Les Wilis is the best known. The story is based on a legend in which the Wilis, or ghosts of unmarried girls, seek revenge on the living. Speedily written amidst a hotbed of Parisian...