Orchestral & Symphonic

When asked to define a masterpiece in music Stravinsky chose Ives' Decoration Day, a tone poem that Ives later made the second movement of his Holidays Symphony. The remaining movements also celebrate key American holidays with characteristic verve.1. A...

When an artist, through whatever means, becomes a transcendent artistic figure, he or she becomes the object of extreme devotion. In and beyond the operatic world, that person is Maria Callas, and those devoted to her, and they are legion, want nothing...

Whatever meaning my life has is to be found in the music itself', declared William Schuman of his extraordinary career as a composer and artistic catalyst in the fertile and evolving environment of 20th-century America.1. Symphony No. 6 2. Prayer in a...

What was Mozart really like? Was he "a flawless and infinitely good man," as his admirer Tchaikovsky believed? Or was he, as Goethe secretly feared, a man "in the grip of the demonic spirit of his genius"? This audio biography lays no claim to solving...

What many celebrate as the reference studio recording of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro was recorded in 1959 with the same orchestra, chorus, conductor and famed soprano in the role of the Countess Almaviva. This live recording, captured a mere two years...

What makes Hector Berlioz such a great composer?, asks conductor John Nelson. "In one word, originality... He broke all existing traditions of orchestration, structure, harmonic language and storytelling. Even today, his music is fresh, surprising us at...

What makes Davis's Sibelius compelling is that he manages to have it both ways. He gives these fine players the encouragement to turn individual passages into moments of spine-tingling magic... But he never loses sight of the bigger objective, which is...

What is so astonishing in Scarlatti is how external elements gradually permeate his language, make it develop, affect the very structure of the discourse, and give birth to a new way of thinking and seeing. For over 20 years, Pierre Hanta? has selected...

What is really interesting about Geoffrey's music is that it looks orthodox on the page initially, but is in fact extremely thought-provoking. He has a unique way of combining the familiar with the unfamiliar: Geoffrey's music is always extremely well...

What do we know about the Swiss music world of the 18th century? Not much. So, for this reason, we consider Charles Burney's discovery of the musicianship of Gaspard Fritz during a visit to Geneva to be quite something. Fritz's music is Sturm und Drang,...

What do modern scholars of Joseph Haydn have to say about the Paris Symphonies? Robbins Landon calls them "a remarkable fusion of brilliance, elegance, and warmth." This re-release of the Paris Symphonies features a superb group of the finest musicians,...

What a whimsical and diverse play between the poles of nature" and "art" unfolds here! Rich in color and immensely playful, the Ensemble Sonorit? knows how to plumb the space between these poles with the artfully assembled tones and sounds. But is it...