Concert

Beethoven Symphonies 1-9 and Missa solemnis

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Beethoven Symphonies 1-9 and Missa solemnis box set. Christian Thielemann conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker in all nine Beethoven symphonies and the Staatskapelle Dresden for the Missa solemnis. Also features the Coriolan Overture and the Egmont Overture. Includes the “Discovering Symphonies” series of hour-long documentaries on each symphony with Joachim Kaiser and Christian Thielemann.

Featured performers are Annette Dasch (soprano), Mihoko Fujimura (mezzo-soprano), Piotr Beczala (tenor), Georg Zeppenfeld (bass), Elīna Garanča (mezzo-soprano), Krassimira Stoyanova (soprano), Michael Schade (tenor), and Franz-Josef Selig (bass).

Released 2020, symphony discs have 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound and Missa solemnis disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio Sound. Grade: NA

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Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

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Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 concert in 2017 at the Concert Hall of KKL Luzen. Long Yu conducts the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Features violinist Maxim Vengerov. The concert includes the following pieces:

  • Aaron Avshalamov Hutongs of Peking (A Symphonic Poem about the sounds and voices of Chinese streets.)

  • Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

  • Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

Directed for TV by Michael Beyer. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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The Grand Organ of Westminster Abbey

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The Grand Organ of Westminster Abbey concert. Daniel Cook plays the following selections on the grand organ of Westminster Abbey:

  • Purcell “Rondeau” from Abdelazar

  • Charles-Marie Widor “Toccata” from Organ Symphony No. 5

  • Herbert Howells Psalm-Prelude Set 1 No. 3

  • J. S. Bach Prelude & Fugue in E Flat

  • Prokofiev “Montagues And Capulets” from Romeo and Juliet

  • Percy Whitlock “Dignity and Impudence” (March)

  • Parry “Choral Prelude” on Eventide

  • Walton Spitfire Prelude & Fugue

  • Alfred Hollins Concert Overture in C Minor

  • Handel Variations on The Harmonious Blacksmith

  • Louis Vierne Final Movement from Organ Symphony No. 6

Priory specializes in church and organ music. This package has a Blu-ray, a DVD, and a CD!

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Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra 50th Anniversary Concert

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Alfred Eschwé conducts the Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra for its 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, 2016. The concert is as follows:

  • Johann Strauss II “Ouvertüre” zur Operette Waldmeister (“Overture” to the operetta Waldmeister [Woodruff)

  • Johann Strauss II “Neues Leben” (Polka) (“New Life”)

  • Johann Strauss II “Die Bajadere” (Polka) (“The Bayadere”)

  • Josef Strauss “Dorfschwalben aus Österreich” (Waltz) (“Village Swallows from Austria”)

  • Josef Strauss “Die tanzende Muse” (Polka Mazur) (“The Dancing Muse”)

  • Josef Strauss “Vélocipède” (Polka schnell) (“Velocipide”)

  • Josef Strauss “Transactionen” (Waltz) (“Transactions”)

  • Johann Strauss II “Ouvertüre” zur Operette Carneval in Rom (“Overture” to the operetta Carnival in Rome).

  • Johann Strauss II “Geschicten aus dem Wienerwald” (Waltz) (“Tales from the Vienna Woods”)

  • Johann Strauss II “Perpetuum mobile” (Musical Joke) (“Perpetual Motion”)

  • Johann Strauss II “Martha-Quadrille” (“Martha Quadrille”)

  • Johann Strauss II “Klipp-Klapp” (Galop) (“Click-Clack”)

  • Johann Strauss II “Kaiser-Walzer” (“Emperor Waltz’)

  • Johann Strauss II “Éljen a Magyár!”) (Polka schnell) (“Hurrah for Hungary”)

  • Johann Strauss I “Radetzky-Marsch” (“Radetzky March”)

Directed for video by Karina Fibich. Released 2019, the Blu-ray disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Grade: NA

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Petrushka

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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:

  1. Strauss Don Juan

  2. Berg Sieben frühe Lieder

  3. Ravel Shéhérazade

  4. Stravinsky Petrushka

Released 2018, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Tchaikovsky Complete Symphonies

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Tchaikovsky 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:

  1. Symphony No. 1 “Winter Dreams,” Symphony No. 5. Performed at the Opera Bastille, October 12, 2017.

  2. Symphony No. 2 “Little Russia,” Symphony No. 4. Performed at the Philharmonie de Paris, March 27, 2018.

  3. 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

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Prokofiev Complete Symphonies and Concertos

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Prokofiev 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.

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Mahler Symphony No. 6

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Mahler 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

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St. Thomas Choir Leipzig Box Set

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St. 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.

  1. Bach St. Matthew Passion. 2012. (Grade NA)

  2. Bach Mass in B minor. 2014. (Grade NA)

  3. Die Thomaner: A Year in the Life of the St. Thomas Boys Choir Leipzig documentary.

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Claudio Abbado: The Last Years Box Set

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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:

  1. Mahler Symphony No. 9. 2011. Grade: D+

  2. Bruckner Symphony No. 5. 2012. Grade: NA

  3. Mozart Requiem Mass. 2013. Grade: NA

  4. Mozart Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner”). 2015. Grade: B-

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Les Funérailles Royales de Louis XIV

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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.

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DiDonato - In War and Peace

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💓 Joyce 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)

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Die Schöpfung

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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

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Beethoven Mass in C major

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Beethoven 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

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