Concert
Alfred Eschwé conducts the Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra for its 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, 2016. Directed for video by Karina Fibich. Released 2019, the Blu-ray disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Grade: NA
The concert is as follows:
1. Johann Strauss II “Ouvertüre” zur Operette Waldmeister (“Overture” to the operetta Waldmeister)
2. Johann Strauss II “Neues Leben” polka (“New Life”)
3. Johan Strauss II “Die Bajadere” polka (“The Bayadere”)
4. Josef Strauss “Dorfschwalben aus Österreich” waltz (“Village Swallows from Austria”)
5. Josef Strauss “Die tanzende Muse” polka (“The Dancing Muse”)
6. Josef Strauss “Vélocipède” polka (“Velocipide”)
7. Josef Strauss “Transactionen” waltz (“Transactions”)
Stravinksy Petrushka concert. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker for the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden. Features Mezzo-Soprano Elīna Garanča. The entire concert is as follows:
Strauss Don Juan
Berg Sieben frühe Lieder
Ravel Shéhérazade
Stravinsky Petrushka
Released 2018, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreTchaikovsky The Complete Symphonies box set. This is not a collection of titles previously published separately. This box includes six symphonies performed on three separate days. Philippe Jordan conducts the Paris Opera Orchestra for each performance. The symphonies are split across three discs as follows:
Symphony No. 1 “Winter Dreams,” Symphony No. 5. Performed at the Opera Bastille, October 12, 2017.
Symphony No. 2 “Little Russia,” Symphony No. 4. Performed at the Philharmonie de Paris, March 27, 2018.
Symphony No. 3 “Polish,” Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique.” Performed at the Philharmonie de Paris, May 15, 2018.
Released 2019, the 3 discs have 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreProkofiev Complete Symphonies and Concertos box set. Valery Gergiev conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre (Principal Chorus Master Andrei Petrenko) at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow and the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, April 2016. Features soloists Denis Kozhukhin (Piano), Denis Matsuev (Piano), Leonidas Kavakos (Violin), Daniil Trifonov (Piano), Igor Morozov (Tenor), Sergei Redkin (Piano), Vadym Kholodenko (Piano), Kristof Barati (Violin), Olga Borodina (Mezzo-soprano), Yulia Matochkina (Mezzo-soprano), Mikhail Petrenko (Bass), Alexei Petrenko (Narrator), and Alexander Ramm (Cello). The symphonic and choral works included in this box set are spread over three Blu-ray discs.
Read MoreMahler Symphony No. 6 "Tragic”. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmonker in 1987 and 2018. This is a commemorative release celebrating Sir Simon Rattle’s final performance as chief conductor for the Berliner Philharmoniker. Title includes two recordings of Mahler Symphony No. 6: an early recording from 1987 and Rattle’s final concert from 2018. The package also includes a CD version for each recording and a bonus documentary. Released 2018. Grade: NA
Read MoreSt. Thomas Choir Leipzig box set with 3 titles featuring The St. Thomas Boys Choir. Below are the discs. The first two titles have been covered on this site, and you can get more details by using the links provided. The third title is a documentary that we do not cover.
Bach St. Matthew Passion. 2012. (Grade NA)
Bach Mass in B minor. 2014. (Grade NA)
Die Thomaner: A Year in the Life of the St. Thomas Boys Choir Leipzig documentary.
Claudio Abbado: The Last Years box set with 6 titles featuring Claudio Abbado conducting the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Orchestra Mozart as they perform works from Mahler, Bruckner, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and Shoenberg. Each of the titles have been covered on this site before. You can learn more about an individual title by clicking on the links below:
Mahler Symphony No. 9. 2011. Grade: D+
Bruckner Symphony No. 5. 2012. Grade: NA
Mozart Requiem Mass. 2013. Grade: NA
Mozart Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner”). 2015. Grade: B-
Les Funérailles Royales de Louis XIV concert (The Royal Funerals of Louis XIV) performed 2015 at the Chapelle Royale in Versailles. Raphaël Pichon conducts the Ensemble Pygmalion. Features singers Céline Scheen (Soprano), Lucile Richardot (Mezzo-soprano), Samuel Boden (Countertenor), Marc Mauillon (Baritone), and Christian Immler (Baritone). Directed for TV by Stéphane Vérité. Released 2018, Grade: B+
For the 300th anniversary of the death of Louis XIV (the Sun King), the Palace of Versailles staged a concert featuring French music likely played during the various funereal ceremonies conducted for the King.
Read MoreJoyce DiDonato - In War and Peace - Harmony through Music concert. Directed June 4, 2017 by Ralf Pleger at the Grand Theatre de Liceu in Barcelona. Features mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, dancer Manuel Palazzo, and flautist Anna Fusek. Maxim Emelyanychev conducts Il Pomo d'Oro, plays harpsichord, and plays a cornett solo. The concert is split into two sections: War and Peace.
War:
Handel "Some dire event hangs o’er heads…Scenes of horror, scenes of woe" from Jephtha
Leo "Prendi quel ferro, o barbaro!" from Andromaca
De Cavalieri Sinfonia (instrumental)
Purcell Ciaconna in G minor (instrumental)
Haydn Die Schöpfung (The Creation) oratorio. Directed 2017 by Carlus Padrissa and La Fura dels Baus at La Seine Musicale, Île Seguin, France. Stars Mari Eriksmoen (Gabriel/Eva), Daniel Schmutzhard (Raphael/Adam), and Martin Mitterrutzner (Uriel). Laurence Equilbey conducts the Insula Orchestra and the accentus (sic) choir (Chorus Master Marc Korovitch). Directed for TV by Isabelle Soulard. Released 2018, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreBeethoven Mass in C major concert performed 2018 at the Philharmonie im Gasteig, Munich. Also features Stravinksy Symphony in Three Movements and Hummel Trumpet Concerto in E major. Mariss Jansons conducts the Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Chorus Master Howard Arman). Features soloists Martin Angerer (trumpet), Genia Kühmeier (soprano), Gerhild Romberger (mezzo-soprano), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor) and Luca Pisaroni (bass-baritone). Directed for TV by Elisabeth Malzer. Released 2018, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read More2018 Europakonzert: Program includes:
Beethoven Leonore Overture, No. 3 in C major, Op. 72
Beethoven Symphony No. 4
Beethoven Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43
Wagner Wesendonck-Lieder (Westbroek)
Played and recorded at the the Markgräfliches Opernhaus in Bayreuth, 2018. This was the traditional Europakonzert performed on May 1 each year by the Berliner Philharmoniker in a special venue, usually in a different European city. Paavo Järvi conducts; features soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek. Directed for TV by Henning Kasten. Released in 2018, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreOn July 4 and 6, 2015, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performed two concerts with Zubin Mehta conducting at the Charles Bronfman auditorium in Tel Aviv. On one night Khatia Buniatishvili performed the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2. On the next night she played the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1. Videographer Christophe Boula was there to film Khatia's performances for Panamax. He must have been frustrated as he was unable to set up cameras at the back of the hall to shoot the orchestra and Khatia from normal angles of 4:00 to 8:00 o'clock. Most of his cameras were consigned to the sides and back of the stage (he did have one camera, probably hanging from a boom, that could shoot Khatia at the keyboard from about 7:00.)
Boula was told to make a DVD-style recording. But he had the capability of shooting something far better. I wonder if Boula knew at the time that his work would eventually result in the first fine-art recording ever to be published in 4K with High Dynamic Range? And did Boula guess that this project would arguably turn into, from the viewpoint of PQ and SQ anyway, the best recording ever to be made a fine-art performance? And did he foresee that the wonderful images he would record would nevertheless be crippled by weak video content? Well, it's not likely that we well hear anything from Boula about all this, so we will have to try to explain it for you.
The Mumbai Concerts. In 2018 Zubin Mehta conducts the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the National Center for Performing Arts in Mumbai, India. Features violinist Pinchas Zukerman, cellist Amanda Forsyth, and pianist Denis Matsuev. This disc presents two concerts that were performed on back-to-back nights.
The first night's program:
Antonín Dvořák Carnival Overture
Ludwig van Beethoven Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Maurice Ravel La Valse & Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2
The second night's program:
Johann Strauss Overture from Die Fledermaus
Johannes Brahms Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102
Peter Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1
Directed by Michael Beyer; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2018, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA