Shostakovich: Preludes & Fugues for piano (24), Op. 87 (complete)

Shostakovich: Preludes & Fugues for piano (24), Op. 87 (complete):

“Few pianists have shown themselves to be so sensitive to music which is the response of a complex visionary to the corrosive banality of Soviet life at the time...[Melnikov] responds to all this with an impeccable all-Russian mastery and with a poetic commitment few could equal.” --Gramophone Magazine, August 2010

“In this muscular, virile account, [Nikolayeva's] fellow Russian Alexander Melnikov makes you wonder why these works are considered monotonous or didactic. In his virtuosic hands, each one glints.” --The Observer, 25th April 2010

Radio 3 CD Review
Critics' Disc of the Year - December 2010

BBC Music Magazine Awards 2011
Instrumental Award Winner

“Melnikov unquestionably gives an impression of freshness and daring, as if he's discovering the music for the first time...Certainly one's bound to feel, listening to such superb playing, that this is indeed one of the greatest contrapuntal cycles since Bach. Overall, then, a magnificent achievement.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2010 *****

“Melnikov is consistently alert to (and in control of) the music's dizzying variety of idioms and tones of voice...[He] conveys the scope of the collection as a totality with such consistent penetration and invention that this expertly engineered set can be enthusiastically endorsed for anyone seeking a complete recording” --International Record Review, October 2010

Sir Alexander Gibson, el Gran Sibeliano

Sir Alexander Gibson, el Gran Sibeliano:

Jean Sibelius
Scenes Historiques (Suites Nrs.1 & 2), Op.66
Rakastava, Op.14
Valse Lyrique, Op.96a
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Dir: Sir Alexander Gibson
(Chandos)
*

     Sibelius es sin duda el Gran Compositor Nórdico por antonomasia. El principal rasgo que hace inconfundible a su Música es el inmenso poder evocativo de atmósferas e inmensos paisajes musicales que inmediatamente nos trasladan a la Historia, Mitología y Geografía de la muy particular tierra escandinava, específicamente la finlandesa. Su genio orquestador lo hace diferente a cualquier otro compositor de entre sus contemporáneos y de entre sus obras orquestales se evidencia siempre una particular inclinación a componer extensa Música Incidental, en ocasiones á-la-Mendelssohn u otras veces en forma de Suites. Las "Scénes Historiques" son prototipo del segundo grupo.
*
     Rakastava, aunque compuesto en forma de Suite en tres partes, al estar interconectadas se comporta mejor como un Poema Sinfónico, el otro género en que sin duda Sibelius fue un gigante, tal vez sólo por debajo de Richard Strauss.
*
     Sir Alexander Gibson, músico y director escocés, fundador de la Real Orquesta Nacional Escocesa, aunque hoy relegado a un segundo plano, ha sido uno de los directores sibelianos más venerables de cuantos pueda haber. Su producción de la obra sibeliana (el ciclo completo de las Sinfonías, Suites y casi todos los Poemas Sinfónicos) para el sello Chandos es hoy en día un esencial para cualquier amante de esta música y para cualquier coleccionista serio. El presente disco es una excelente introducción al arte de Sir Alexander en el repertorio sibeliano, y que dependiendo de la acogida (comentarios) permitirá más publicaciones de esta serie.
*
M-S.

Telemann: Works for Recorder

Telemann: Works for Recorder:

Dorothee Oberlinger is one of the most amazing discoveries of recent years, an expressive virtuoso who - quite rightly - received numerous awards while still quite young. Today she is seen as one of the best recorder-players in the world. Her concerts have been received with enthusiasm by critics and audiences alike, earning her unanimous acclaim. Her CDs are regularly fêted as the best new issues on the market.

MP3 320 · 148 MB

Stamitz: Chamber Works

Stamitz: Chamber Works:

As usual, the Camerata Köln sounds splendid, delivering performances as alert and vital as these works will likely ever enjoy. CPO's sonics also rise to their usual high standard. Recommended to all those fond of the Classical tradition.

 The importance of the Stamitz family in the development of 18th century European musical thought is well known; perhaps more well known than its actual music. And this is understandable since every member of the family seemed to focus not so much on breaking compositional ground, but on teaching, performance, or even some other interest peripheral to music. For instance Carl's father Johann is remembered today primarily as the founding conductor of the legendary Mannheim Court Orchestra, a collective renowned for rigorously training the most promising young musicians of the day.

MP3 320  · 129 MB

Domenico Scarlatti - Sonatas for Viola d'Amore

Domenico Scarlatti - Sonatas for Viola d'Amore: 23 tracks - Mp3 192 Kbps - RAR 95MbDepositFiles - FileFactoryA deep musicological research concerning Domenico Scarlatti solo sonatas was done in 2008 by Valerio Losito and Andrea Coen: this work has determined that at least four sonatas for solo instrument and basso continuo are actually written for Viola d'amore. This discovery makes possible to relocate in a unified view the apparent

Manuel de Falla: Works for Stage and Concert Hall

Manuel de Falla: Works for Stage and Concert Hall:

“one of those experiences that change one's perception of a work forever...At the most basic level they take the trouble to get the balance right. ['Nights'] is no concerto, and the pianist has to be an observer of the music's events rather than needing to boss them around...the level of engagement with the music is exceptional. Often spacious and dark, the performance reaches past its starlit, balmy surfaces to find the ache and stoicism of Spanish history” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 *****

“it is greatly to the credit of Juanjo Mena and his forces (with a truly authentic touch from soprano Raquel Lojendio) that such a potent atmosphere is achieved...[Bavouzet's] performance [of Nights in the Garden of Spain] is more subdued than from celebrated champions of this score...yet it casts its own spell, sultry and scintillating as required.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2012

Gramophone Magazine
Editor's Choice - May 2012

BBC Music Magazine
Disc of the month - March 2012

MP3 320 · 170 MB

Messiaen - Turangalîla-Symphonie (Loriod, Chung)

Messiaen - Turangalîla-Symphonie (Loriod, Chung):

Olivier Messiaen
Turangalîla-Symphonie


Yvonne Loriod, piano
Jean Loriod, ondes martenot

Orchestre de la Bastille
dir, Myung-Whun Chung

DG 431 781-2 (1991)


Very few words to introduce this wonderful "symphony".....
This is a musical milestone, one of the highest peak of symphonic language in the 20th century.
A work about love and death, creation and destruction, and, as Messiaen (ant the same word Turangalîla) suggests, joy.
Apart from many interrelated themes, it is based mainly on four cyclic and fundamental themes, recurring throughout the whole work.
It was first intended as a "conventional" symphony, later developing in ten movements and in a more complex musical and rhytmical structure (a great accuracy has been used in rhytmical characterization), with a majestic instrumentation.
The performance by Chung and the Loriods (great interpreters of Messiaen music), helped by the DG cristalline sound, results in a very fine and clear reading, with great attention to details.
All the joy, energy and magnificence of this music are here perfectly conveyed....


[Flac & Scans)


Enjoy!