Concert
2017 New Year's Concert a/k/a Silversterkonzert by the Berliner Philharmoniker (Berlin Philharmonic) conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at the Berlin Philharmonie. Features mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Here is the program:
Released 2018, the disc has 5.1 dts sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreMahler Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection". Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall on 9/10/2011 commemorating the attack on the World Trade Center buildings ten years earlier on 9/11/2001. Singers are Dorothea Röschmann (soprano), Michelle DeYoung (mezzo-soprano), and the New York Choral Artists (directed by Joseph Flummerfelt). Directed by Michael Beyer; produced by Paul Smaczny. This performance is also known as A Concert for New York: In Rembembrance and Renewal. Released 2011, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio Sound. Grade: C+
Read MoreMahler Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection".In 2016 Daniele Gatti conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra & Netherlands Radio Choir at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Chorus Master Klaas Stok). Singers are Anette Dasch (soprano) and Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano). Video direction by Dick Kuijs. Released 2017, the music reviewed here was recorded with 96kHz/48-bit sound sampling and played with a 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio file. The disc also has a stereo sound file recorded at 192/24 and a 9.0 Auro-3D file (a first for us). Grade: B+
Read MoreRenée Fleming In Concert two disc "box" set, released 2017. Christian Thielemann conducts both concerts. Below are the discs. Both have already been reported on this website, and you can get more details by using the links provided:
Richard Lea plays selections on the grand organ of the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Priory specializes in church and organ music. The package has a Blu-ray, a DVD, and a CD! Per the publisher, this is the first organ recital to be released in Blu-ray. Recorded and produced by Paul Crichton; filmed and edited by Richard Knight; Associate Producer was Callum Ross; Executive Producer was Neil Collier. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. Grade: A
Read MoreJonathan Hope plays the grand organ of the Gloucester Cathedral. Priory specializes in church and organ music. This package has a Blu-ray, a DVD, and a CD! Recorded and produced by Paul Crichton; filmed and edited by Richard Knight; Associate Producer was Callum Ross; Executive Producer was Neil Collier. Released 2016, disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. Grade: A-
Read MoreJohn Cage Music for Speaking Percussionist compilation.(Also called The Works for Percussion 4 by Mode Records). Performed 2010-2011 at the University of California, San Diego. Features percussionists Bonnie Whiting and Allen Otte. Recorded and edited by Josef Kucera; directed, filmed, and edited by Anton Cabaleiro; produced by Allen Otte and Brian Brandt. Released 2017, disc has uncompressed 48kHz/24-bit PCM stereo sound. (We usually exclude Blu-ray titles with only stereo sound. But we do make exceptions for classical music soloists when the recording otherwise has some special merit. Here we have a famous [among lovers of contemporary music anyway] percussionists performing rarely [or never-before] recorded works with instruments that would probably not benefit much or at all from surround sound. (This is our first title from Mode Records, which is the brainchild of Brian Brandt. Brandt is himself interviewed in another Blu-ray on our Alphalist, the John Cage - Journeys in Sound from Accentus Recordings.) Grade: A-
Read MoreTchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Sibelius Symphony No. 5 concert. The Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3 is also on the program. This was the 2010 Nobel Prize Concert performed at the Stockholm Konserthus. Joshua Bell is soloist for the violin concerto. Sakari Oramo conducts the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer; produced by Paul Smaczny and Camilla Hyltén. Released 2011, disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital and dts-HD sound. Grade: A for Violin Concerto. Grade D for Sibelius Symphony No. 5.
Read MoreBeethoven Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6—Herbert von Karajan Memorial Concert. Seiji Osawa conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in 2008 at the Großer Muzikvereinssaal in Vienna to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Herbert von Karajan:
Anne-Sophie Mutter is soloist in the Beethoven Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
As encore, Mutter plays the Bach Partita for Solo Violin No. 2
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique"
Produced by Michael Heinzl; video direction by Agnes Méth; director of photography was Alexander Stangl; video editing by Gernot Arendt; sound recording by Gregor Hornacek; sound editing by Florian Camerer. Released 2008, disc has 5.1 PCM sound. For Beethoven Grade: A- For Tchaikovsky Grade: B
Read MoreStravinksy Le Sacre du Printemps and Debussy La Mer concert. Daniele Gatti conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 2017. Also included is Debussy Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Video shot at 1080p 24 fps. Music was recorded with 96kHz/24-bit sound sampling. Released 2017, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MorePieces performed are:
Lan Shui conducts the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 2009. TV direction by Ruth Käch. Released 2010, this disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio surround sound. Grade: F
Mahler only completed the first movement - the famous Adagio - of what was intended to be his 10th symphony. This recording is of a Symphony No. 10 as completed by Clinton Carpenter. This title remains (October 2017) the only video of a Carpenter version of Mahler 10. Qigang Chen is a native of China who became a French citizen. He is a prolific composer, and Wu Xing (Five Elements ) is one of his better known works.
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