Orchestral & Symphonic

Blind from the age of two, a prodigiously gifted student, Jean Langlais (1907-91) produced an immense quantity of music. His organ works alone exceed in number those of of JS Bach. Many have hardly ever been performed. Perhaps not more than half a dozen...

Bizet: Les P?cheurs de perles - Les P?cheurs de perles is known above all for it's magnificent duet for tenor and baritone. Here, that celebrated number is set in the context of a complete performance that expresses the very essence of Gallic style...

Biographical and musicological certainties may be in short supply in the life and work of Josquin, but there's no gainsaying the magnificence of the music. This program of shorter works, from The Brabant Ensemble and Stephen Rice, most in unusual guise,...

Big project to finish? Here's a selection of great classical music to keep you going, in the workshop or under the car. Power-charged classics will have you drilling with flair! Hammer along to the Anvil Chorus! Get your chisels flashing to the sound of...

Beyond the celebrated Funeral March, Chopin's Second and Third Sonatas testify to their composer's astounding ease in musical structures on a much larger scale than waltzes, nocturnes and mazurkas. The three mazurkas that make up his Op.63 are cunningly...

Between the controversial Mengelberg and the versatile Bernard Haitink, Eduard van Beinum played a less distinctive role as principal conductor of the Concertgebouw in the postwar years until his death in 1959, but it is difficult to overestimate the...

Between the Bliss and Me is a wonderful collection of musical settings of poems by the great American poet, Emily Dickinson. The CD gathers compositions which might be familiar to some listeners, particularly the settings composed by Aaron Copland, but...

Between 1965 and 1970, Astor Piazzolla composed the 'Four Porte?e Seasons' or 'Four Seasons of Buenos Aires', for his New Tango Quintet. It is an evocation of the different atmospheres of the Argentinian capital depending on the different seasons. The...

Between 1953 and 1967, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) wrote 53 works for various instrumental ensembles that were collected together as Opus 170 and given the title Greeting Cards. Castelnuovo-Tedesco described them as 'alphabetic pieces': he...

Best known today for his sumptuously Romantic symphonic poems, Mieczyslaw Karlowicz completed his most ambitious work, the 'Rebirth' Symphony, in 1903. Like Mahler' 'Resurrection' Symphony, premiered eight years earlier, it evokes the soul.1. I. Andante...

Best known for it's poignant tenor aria, Federico's Lament -E la solita storia del pastore' - L'Arlesiana is a tragic story of love, frustration and obsession. The young Enrico Caruso sang the role of the provencial farmer Federico at the opera's...

Best known for his choral and symphonic works, Krzysztof Penderecki has also written many fascinating concertante pieces. His Concerto Grosso No. 1 makes full use of the potential for interplay between three solo cellos and orchestra.1. Andante Sostenuto...