Brahms Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2. Franz Welser-Möst conducts the Cleveland Orchestra in 2015 at Severance Hall, Cleveland. Yefim Bronfman is the Piano soloist. The disc also includes Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn and Tragic Overture. This disc is available as part of a box set with Brahms' most famous symphonic works. Audio Producer was Christoph Claßen; TV Director was William Cosel; Producer was Herbert G. Kloiber. Released 2017, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade for both piano concertos: B+ (The Variations and Tragic Overture are not graded.)
Read MoreMahler Symphony No. 3. Claudio Abbado conducts the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the female voices of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir Vienna, and the Tölzer Knabenchor in 2007. Mezzo-soprano Anna Larson is the soloist contralto. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer. Released in 2009, this disc has 5.1 PCM sound. Grade: C+
Read MoreMahler Symphony No. 5. Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. Directed for TV by Henning Kasten; sound production by Sebastian Braun; produced by Günter Atteln and Paul Smaczny. Released 2014, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C
Read MoreMahler Symphony No. 6 ("Tragic"). Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in 2012. Audio production by Sebastian Braun; directed for TV by Ute Feudel; produced by Günter Atteln and Paul Smaczny. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C+
Read MoreMahler Symphony No. 7 concert. Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. Audio production by Sebastian Braun; directed for TV by Ute Feudel; produced by Günter Atteln and Paul Smaczny. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C
Read MoreMahler Symphony No. 9 concert. Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. Audio production by Sebastian Braun; directed for TV by Ute Feudel; produced by Günter Atteln and Paul Smaczny. Released 2014, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C
Read More2017 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:
- Antonín Dvořák Carnival Overture
- Igor Stravinsky "Pas de deux" from Apollon musagète
- Richard Strauss Zueignung (orch. by Robert Heger) with Joyce DiDonato
- Richard Strauss Wiegenlied with Joyce DiDonato
- Richard Strauss Müttertändelei with Joyce DiDonato
- Richard Strauss Morgen with Joyce DiDonato
- Richard Strauss Die heiligen drei Könige aus Morgenland with Joyce DiDonato
- Leonard Bernstein, 3 Dance Episodes from On the Town
- Leonard Bernstein, "Take Care of this House" from the White House Cantata with Joyce DiDonato
- Dmitri Shostakovich Suite from The Golden Age
Released 2018, the disc has 5.1 dts sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreGergiev at the Proms concert. Valery Gergiev conducts the Münchner Philharmoniker at the BBC Proms in 2016. Features Behzod Abduraimov on Piano and Alexei Petrenko as reciter. Video Director was Simon Broughton. Released 2018, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreMahler Symphony No. 1 "Titan" concert. Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig in 2015. Directed by Ute Feudel; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2018, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio 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 Strauss: Renée Fleming In Concert. Vienna Philharmonic. 2011. (Grade: D+)
- Bruckner Symphony No. 7 & Wolf Lieder. Dresden Staatskapelle. 2012. (Grade: NA)
Read MoreRichard 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-
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