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QUALITON IMPORTS LTD. 24-02 40th AVENUE, LONG ISLAND CITY, NY 11101 TEL: (718) 937-8515 FAX: (718) 729 - 3239 Web: www.qualiton.com e-mail: qualiton@qualiton.com

NEW RELEASES JANUARY 2012

BIS SACD 1986

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COVIELLO DVD 81201 2 DVDs Label Code 481 Price Code J RICHARD WAGNER: DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG Total running time: 4:30:46 Picture Format NTSC 16:9 Subtitles: English, German, French ARTISTS: Staatsphilharmoic Nürnberg, Marcus Bosch, conductor. Cast; A. Pesendorfer, J. Kupfer, M. Putsch, M. Mayer, G. Jentjens, T. Lichdi. The new General Music Director Marcus Bosch discovers the “light Wagner” at his debut in Nuremberg. Under his direction and in David Mouchtar-Samorai’s production, Meister-singer almost becomes a high-spirited, lighthearted comedy. Wagner’s music seems much less heavy with symbolism and tragic. This approach does not detract from the opera’s substance; that is ensured by the select ensemble of singers, the Nuremberg State Orchestra, and its new conductor, who thrills the audience and critics from the start. GLOSSA DVD 921114 2 DVDS for the price of 1

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Label Code 460 Price Code I FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849): THE WORKS FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA Piano Concerto in E minor, op. 11 – Piano Concerto in F minor, op. 21. Variations in Bb major on “Là ci darem”, op. 2 – Fantasy on Polish Airs in A major, op. 13. Rondo à la krakowiak in F major, op. 14 – Andante spianato & Grande Polonaise brillante in Eb major, op. 22 Total running time: 2:48 Picture format: NTSC Color 16:9 Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese ARTISTS: Nelson Goerner, Kevin Kenner, Janusz Olejniczak, piano. Orchestra of the 18th Century. Frans Brüggen, direction. On February 26, 2010 a historic concert took place in Warsaw, the birthplace of Fryderyk Chopin: during the course of that single evening all the works written by this composer for piano with orchestra were performed. Playing an Érard piano dating from 1849, the pianists Nelson Goerner, Kevin Kenner and Janusz Olejniczak, alongside the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and Frans Brüggen, each performed one of the six works which the young Chopin, still at that time in Warsaw, composed in order for them to be displayed before the demanding public of his own country. Completing the film of this event is a series of interviews with the soloists, and with Marc Destrubé, the orchestra’s leader.

DVD NEW RELEASES

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NEOS DVD 50905/6 2 DVDS Label Code 456 Price Code Q SALZBURG BIENNALE: FESTIVAL FOR NEW MUSIC 2009 Mauricio Sotelo (*1961): Cripta. Música para Luigi Nono (2004–2005/2008): Flamenco; Two pieces from Puro y hondo Steve Reich (*1936): City Life for amplified ensemble and tape (1995): Music for 18 Musicians Gamelan Music from Bali Toshio Hosokawa (*1955): Silent Flowers for string quartet (1998), In Ajimano from Somon-Ka for voice, koto, violoncello and ensemble (2001) Anton Webern (1883–1945): Sechs Bagatellen für Streichquartett op. 9 (1911/1913), Fünf Sätze für Streichquartett op. 5 (1909) Helmut Lachenmann (*1935): temA for flute, voice and violoncello (1968) Traditional Japanese Music for Koto: Yatsuhashi Kengyô (1614–1685): Rokudan (Danmoto) Traditional Japanese Music for Shakuhachi: Koku · Tsuru no sugomori Klaus Huber (*1924) Die Erde dreht sich auf den Hörnern eines Stieres, Ecce Homines for string quintet (1998) Total playing time: 127:00 Picture Format: PAL & NTSC ARTISTS: Arcángel, flamenco singer. oenm . oesterreichisches ensemble für neue musik, Salzburger Bachchor – Alois Glaßner, rehearsals. Beat Furrer, conductor. oenm . oesterreichisches ensemble für neue musik, Johannes Kalitze, conductor. Kyôko Kawamura, koto/voice. Peter Sigl, violoncello. oenm . oesterreichisches ensemble für neue musik, Toshio Hosokawa, conductor. These 2 DVDs reflect the visually most interesting performances during Salzburg Biennale 2009. They do not overlap the compositions presend on NEOS’ Salzburg Biennale audio box. The discs do not only show the music: additional you can watch informative interviews with the composers Beat Furrer, Toshio Hosokawa, and Klaus Huber.

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VIDEOLAND OPERA 018 Label Code 254 Price Code K JOHANN STRAUSS: DIE ZIGEUNERBARON Total running time: 140 minutes Picture Format: NTSC 16:9 Subtitles: English, German, French ARTISTS: Fesitval Orchester Morbisch. Choir and Ballet der Seefestspiele Morbisch, Statisterie der Seefestspiele Morbisch. Cast: L. Krasznec, E. Novak, D. Serafin, W. Bankl.

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BIS SACD 1859 Label Code 419 Price Code P BRAHMS & LIGETI: HORN TRIOS Johannes Brahms: Trio in E flat major, Op. 40, for horn, violin and piano Kalevi Aho: Solo X for French horn (2010) György Ligeti: Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano (1982) (‘Hommage à Brahms’) ARTISTS: Marie-Luise Neunecker, horn. Antje Weithaas, violin. SilkeAvenhaus, piano. Along with the two major works for the unusual combination of horn, violin and piano, this disc also brings together a rather incongruous pair of composers: Johannes Brahms, generally regarded as the great traditionalist of the late 19th century, and György Ligeti, born 90 years after Brahms, and one of the most innovative and progressive figures of his time. Why Brahms chose to compose for this previously unheard-of combination of instruments is not known – what we do know is that he himself played the horn in his youth, and that it had also been a principal instrument of his father. It is also generally recognized that although the inspiration for the piece came to him in 1864, the death of his mother the following year had a great impact on the piece, and especially on the elegiac third movement, Adagio mesto (‘sad’), possibly one of Brahms’s most intimate and heart-felt slow movements. Ligeti composed his trio to be performed during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Brahms’ birth and gave it the subtitle ‘Hommage à Brahms’, but also commented that ‘the only thing reminiscent of Brahms is perhaps a certain smilingly conservative comportment – with distinctly ironic distance’. There are nevertheless points of similarity – both works are in four movements, for instance, and Ligeti too includes a slow movement, Lamento, of an emotional expressivity unusual for this composer. The two trios frame a substantial, newly composed piece for horn solo written by Kalevi Aho with the present recording in mind. Marie-Luise Neunecker, who performs it and the demanding horn parts of the trios, needs no further introduction: acclaimed as a chamber musician as well as soloist it was for her that György Ligeti wrote one of his last works, the Hamburg Concerto for solo horn and chamber orchestra. On this disc she is in the company of the eminent musicians Antje Weithaas and Silke Avenhaus, both appearing for the first time on the BIS label.

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BIS SACD 1874 Label Code 419 Price Code P STRAVINSKY: THE FIREBIRD Stravinsky’s orchestrations and arrangements of: Tchaikovsky: Pas-De-Deux (L’Oiseau bleu – Bluebird) Sibelius: Canzonetta, Op.62a Chopin: Nocturne in A flat major, Op.32 No.1 Chopin: Grande Valse Brillante, Op.18 ARTISTS: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton, conductor. The Firebird was Igor Stravinsky’s first full-length ballet, but not his first collaboration with Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes. In 1909, a year before the triumphant première of The Firebird, the charismatic impresario had commissioned Stravinsky to orchestrate two piano compositions by Chopin for use in another project. Evidently pleased with the result, he invited the young composer to write the music for the next production of his ballet company, to a scenario based on various well-known Russian fairy-tale characters. The score holds several moments that recall Scriabin, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky’s teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov, but the mature Stravinsky is already present in the superb orchestral craft and the vivid rhythmic imagination. Rather than either of the two suites which Stravinsky later prepared, Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra have chosen to record the original ballet score, allowing us to relish the enormous range of colours springing from what the composer later described as a ‘wastefully large’ orchestration. Soon after The Firebird, Stravinsky went on to influence the direction of music with Petrushka and The Rite of Spring – two scores which appear on a recent release with the same performers. That much acclaimed disc was short-listed for a 2011 Gramophone Award, named Editor’s Choice in Classic FM Magazine, and selected as Disc of the Month by the websites Classics Today and Classics Today France, and the recording itself was praised on a par with the interpretation and playing, with the reviewer in International Record Review describing ‘the efforts of the BIS recording team’ as ‘truly magnificent’. The present disc includes not only The Firebird, but also the above-mentioned Chopin orchestrations, as well as arrangements of pieces by Tchaikovsky and Sibelius, ending with Stravinsky’s tongue-in-cheek 1955 Greeting Prelude for the 80th birthday of Pierre Monteux, the conductor who had given the world premières of both Petrushka and The Rite of Spring some forty years earlier.

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SACD NEW RELEASES / HYBRID

BIS SACD 1986 Label Code 419 Price Code P

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SIBELIUS: SYMPHONIES NOS. 2 & 5 Symphony No.2 in D major, Op.43 Symphony No.5 in E flat major, Op.82 ARTISTS: Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä, conductor It was with performances and recordings of the music of Jean Sibelius, his great compatriot, that the Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä first attracted the attention of a wider international audience. Beginning in the early 1990s, seminal recordings with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra of tone poems and the seven symphonies became synonymous with a new interpretative approach to the composer’s music, with words such as ‘clarity’, ‘intensity’ and ‘freshness’ reappearing in review after review. Vänskä has remained true to Sibelius (and BIS), and recordings made by him over the past 20 years form the backbone of the label’s newly completed Sibelius Edition, but in the meantime his international career has also flourished, including a highly successful partnership with the Minnesota Orchestra. On disc this has resulted in an acclaimed cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies, and most recently with a recording of Bruckner’s Fourth (‘Romantic’) Symphony, which in Pizzicato Magazine was described as ‘exceptional… without doubt one of the finest recordings of the work…’ Now, some 15 years after the appearance of his previous cycle of Sibelius’s symphonies, Vänskä has returned to the works in recording, and with his Minnesota players he has recorded the first disc in a new cycle. The Sibelius expert Robert Layton, in his introduction to the programme, presents the Second Symphony as ‘the symphony by which many music lovers find their way to Sibelius’, and in his discussion of the Fifth he quotes the composer himself, in a comment about symphonic form: ‘a river with innumerable tributaries feeding it before it broadens majestically and flows into the sea’.

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PREVIOUS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED RELEASES FROM THE MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA: BIS 1746 Label Code 419 Price Code P BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 4 ARTISTS: Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä, conductor

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BIS 1758 Label Code 419 Price Code P BEETHOVEN: PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 4 & 5 ARTISTS: Yevgeny Sudbin, piano. Minnesota Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä, conductor

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BIS 1825/6 5 SACDS FOR THE PRICE OF 2 Label Code 419 Price Code P BEETHOVEN: THE NINE SYMPHONIES ARTISTS: Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä, conductor

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COVIELLO SACD 31115 Label Code 192 Price Code V ANTON BRUCKNER (1824-1896) Symphony No. 1 (first version 1868) ARTISTS: Sinfoinieorchester Aachen, Marcus Bosch, conductor. At the end of the path, one returns to the beginning; Marcus Bosch and the Sinfonieorchester Aachen complete their internationally acclaimed Bruckner cycle with his 1st Symphony which provided the initial spark for a complete and unique symphonic cosmos. In the original version dating from 1868, the inherent character of Bruckner’s first symphonic work can be seen in its true colors: less religious pathos and greater rhythmic energy and wealth of inventiveness than observed in the later works, displaying an already unmistakable Bruckner who nevertheless astonishes with his unexpected effervescence. This provides an ideal vehicle for the purposeful style of Marcus Bosch and his Aachen musicians who also master the final act in the symphonic cycle with bravura.

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NEOS SACD 11067/8 2 CD SET Label Code 283 Price Code F MARK ANDRE(*1964): …22,13… A MUSIC-THEATRICAL PASSION

ARTISTS: Vocalconsort Berlin, Gerhardt Müller-Goldboom, conductor. Experimentalstudio des SWR.

This is another volume (vol. 4) of a series of outstanding reference recordings NEOS is developing in collaboration with EXPEREIMENTALSTUDIO DES SWR.

Mark Andre (born 1964 in Paris) lives in Berlin and holds a professorship at Musikhochschule Dresden. He is one of the internationally most remarkable composers.

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ACCENT 24226 Label Code 086 Price Code F GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI (1583-1643): STYLUS FANTASTICUS & THE ART OF VARIATION Aria detta la frescobalda, Toccata VII, Toccata IX, Partite sopra l’Aria di Follia, Ancidetemi pur d’Archadelt passagiato, Toccata VII, Balletto, Corrente & Passachagli, Toccata V sopra I pedali per l’organi, esenza, Toccata IV per l’organo da sonarsi alla levatione, Canzon IV, Capriccoio di durezze, Toccata Avanti Il Recercar & Recercar Cromatico post il Credo, Toccata Avanti Il Recercar, Recercar cromatico post il Credo, Bergamasca ARTISTS: Luca Guglielmi, harpsichord & organ Girolamo Frescobaldi can justifiably be considered as the grand master of harpsichord and organ music during the Italian Baroque. His toccatas are impressive firework displays of emotion and untrammeled imagination and full of effects and affects which repeatedly confirm the composer’s reputation as a great artists of improvisation. ACCENT 24233 Label Code 086 Price Code F IL VERO ORFEO: SONATAS FOR VIOLA DA GAMBA BY AND INSPIRED BY ARCANGELO CORELLI Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713): Sonatas III, VI, & VIII for viola da gamba & basso continuo.

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Johann Schenck (c1660-1712): Sonata II in a pour une viole de gambe et basso continuo, Prelude pour une viole de gambe seule Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759): Sonata in G minor for viola da gamba & basso continuo. ARTISTS: Friederike Heumann, viola da gamba. Patric Sepec, baroque cello. Eduardo Eguez, theorbo. Dirk Borner, harpsichord. Arcangelo Corelli, described as the “vero orfeo di nostri tempi” by his pupil Francesco Gasparini, produced the most popular printed music of his time with his Violin Sonatas Opus 5 published in Rome in 1700. As these sonatas were not primarily focused on the technical demands of the violin, adaptations of these works for viola da gamba soon followed. Handel’s Sonata in G minor, originally for violin, includes a note that this music would also be suitable for performance “per la viola da gamba” and provides a further example of an adaptation of a sonata for viola da gamba. It is clear the Handel had closely studies Corelli’s style and the influence of Italian violin technique is also unmistakable in the second gamba sonata from Johan Schenck’s “L’echo du Danube.”

CLASSICAL NEW RELEASES

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ACCENT 24266 Label Code 086 Price Code F ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1743): LA PORTA DELLE MUSE

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Sinfonia for strings in D major, RV 125 * – Concerto for 2 violins in c minor, RV 510 – Concerto for strings in d minor, RV 128 ** – Concerto for violin and strings in d minor, RV 246 * – Concerto for strings in F major, RV 138 ** – Concerto for violin in g minor, RV 330 * – Concerto for strings in g minor, RV 157 ** – Concerto for 2 violins in C major, RV 508 * ARTISTS: Harmonie Universelle, Monicá Waisman, Florian Deuter, solo violins & musical direction Following on from their successful recording of Vivaldi violin concertos under the label Eloquentia issued in 2008, Florian Deuter, Mónica Waismann and the ensemble Harmonie Universelle continue their exploration of the Venetian master’s music with their first CD for the label Accent. Alongside concertos for one violin (RV 246 and 330) and two violins (RV 510 and 208), the CD includes concertos and sinfonias for strings (RV 125, 128, 138, 157): with the exception of the concerto RV 510, these works are performed in their previously unedited original versions which have been specially prepared for this recording by the renowned Vivaldi expert Olivier Fourés who additionally provided the booklet essay with an informative insight into Vivaldi’s compositional concepts and his Venetian environment.

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BIS CD 1953 Label Code 001 Price Code P ALBÉNIZ: PIANO MUSIC, VOLUME 7 Isaac Albéniz: Chants d’Espagne, T 101 6 Mazurkas de salon, T 68 Deseo – estudio de concierto, T 53 L’Automne-Valse, T 96 Marcha militar, T 45 Improvisation, T 115 B Yvonne en visite! T 104 ARTISTS: Miguel Baselga, piano. Miguel Baselga’s on-going traversal of the piano music by Isaac Albéniz has shown that there is much more to the composer than the four books of Iberia usually regarded as his crowning achievement. The present disc largely concentrates on the early production, including Marcha militar, the very first piece that Albéniz is known to have composed, at the age of nine. With the Six Mazurkas de salon and L’Automne-Valse Baselga also gives us a taste of the salon-type music that Albéniz often included in his own recital programmes during the 1880s and 1890s. The mazurkas were written for (and named after) six of Albéniz’ piano pupils, daughters of important upper-class families in Madrid. The most familiar work here is Chants d’Espagne, partly because two of its five movements also appear in another work, Suite Espagnole, and partly because of various transcriptions for one or more guitars. With a specific reference to Córdoba, the fourth movement of Chants, Albéniz himself remarked: ‘That music of youth, with its little sins and absurdities… appears to me like the carvings in the Alhambra, those peculiar arabesques that say nothing with their turns and shapes, but which are like the air, like the sun, like the blackbirds or like the nightingales of its gardens.’ The programme also includes a transcription published in 2009 of a phonograph roll from 1903, with Albéniz himself improvising at the piano, and the humorous Yvonne en visite!, in which the composer describes in music the nervousness of a small girl forced by her mother to play for him. All of this is performed with relish by Baselga, who in reviews of the previous disc of the series has been described as ‘a pianist of great range and sophistication’ (MusicWeb International) and ‘a musician who unites poetry and lyricism with the Mediterranean light depicted by Albéniz’ (CD Compact).

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BIS CD 1955/56 (6 discs for the price of 2) Label Code 001 Price Code P DEBUSSY: THE SOLO PIANO WORKS 1ère Arabesque, L 74/1; 2ème Arabesque, L 74/2; Danse (Tarentelle styrienne), L 77; Ballade (slave) pour le piano, L 78; Valse romantique, L 79; Rêverie, L 76; Suite bergamasque, L 82; Mazurka, L 75; Nocturne, L 89; Danse bohémienne, L 4; Pour le piano, L 95; Images (1re série), L 105; Images (2e série), L 120; Images [oubliées], L 94; Estampes, L 108; Masques pour piano, L 110; L’Isle joyeuse, L 109; Préludes (1er livre), L 125; D’un cahier d’esquisses, L 112; Pièce pour piano [Morceau de concours], L 117; Hommage à Haydn, L 123; The little Nigar (Cake-Walk), L 122 (1909) ; Children’s Corner, L 119; La plus que lente, L 128; Préludes (2e Livre), L 131; Berceuse héroîque, L 140; Pièce pour l’œuvre du Vêtement du blessé (Page d’album), L 141; Élégie, L 146; La Boîte à joujoux – Ballet pour enfants, L 136; Douze Études pour le piano, L 143; Étude retrouvée (1915); Intermède (1880/82); Six Épigraphes antiques, L 139; Les Soirs illuminés par l’ardeur du charbon, L 150; Fugues d’école (1881–83); Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre, L 72 (with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Lan Shui) ARTISTS: Noriko Ogawa, piano. This boxed set edition includes previously unreleased recordings and an ample booklet (88 pages) with full liner notes in English, French and German. Released on five separate discs, Noriko Ogawa’s traversal of the solo piano music of Claude Debussy has been receiving consistent praise in the international music press, with distinctions such as Gramophone Editor’s Choice (twice); a top recommendation (‘10/10/10’) on the German website Klassik Heute, ‘Recording of the Month’ on MusicWeb International.com and ‘CD of the Week’ on BBC Radio 3 CD Review. Along with general acclaim for Noriko Ogawa’s approach to the music (‘a Debussy interpreter of exceptional class’ – International Record Review; ‘a most elegant, scrupulously sensitive interpreter’ – Gramophone), performances of individual works and sets of works have been singled out. In BBC Music Magazine Ogawa’s Images and Children's Corner were named benchmark recordings, while Classica-Répertoire placed the second book of Préludes and the set of Études among the most important and convincing versions in the discography. Less well-known works have also been cited, such as the piano score of the children’s ballet Boîte à joujoux (‘A superlative performance… worth the price of the disc alone’ – Gramophone) and Debussy’s own transcription for solo piano of Six Èpigraphes antiques (‘the pianist creates a poetic atmosphere which leaves the listener breathless’ – Classica-Répertoire). The original five discs have now been brought together as a boxed set with the addition of a sixth CD, containing Noriko Ogawa’s previously unreleased recordings of Debussy’s only work for piano and orchestra, the Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre from 1890, and five school fugues, written as part of Debussy’s training at the Paris Conservatoire, and transcribed from the original manuscripts for this occasion.

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BRANA RECORDS 0037 3 CDS FOR THE PRICE OF 2 Label Code197 Price Code A THE SIX BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTOS VOLUME 4: FELICIA BLUMENTHAL Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1-6 ARTISTS: Felicia Blumenthal, piano. Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Robert Wagner, conductor.

BRANA RECORDS SALE 15% DISCOUNT

THROUGH JANUARY 31ST 2012

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CEMBAL D’AMOUR 163 Label Code 341 Price Code B MINDRU KATZ PLAYS CONCERTOS Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 ARTISTS: Mindru Katz, piano, The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Gary Bertini, conductor (Tracks 1-3, recorded: Jerusalem, 1/7/1977). The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Mendi Rodan, conductor (Tracks 4-6, recorded: Jerusalem, 1/13/1970). “Mindru Katz, a pianist of unbounded strength, vitality, and assurance. It was supremely musical and poetic playing as well as a great technical tour de force.” The Times, London “I know of no one outside Horowitz who can produce such a thrilling brio, and Katz is a far better Beethoven player than Horowitz.” Gramophone Record Review “Mindru Katz Reveals his Genius” “A musician literally to his finger tips, Mr. Katz is an exception even in a world teeming with pianists of high repute.” Yorkshire Post CEMBAL D’AMOUR 164

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Label Code 341 Price Code B SHEHORI PLAYS BEETHOVEN, VOL. 1 Rondo in G Major, Op. 51, No. 2 (1800) Sonata in C Minor, Op. 13, “Grande Sonata Pathétique” (1798/99) Sonata in C Major, Op. 53, “Waldstein” (1803/04) Sonata in F Minor, Op. 57, “Appassionata” (1804/05)

ARTISTS: Mordecai Shehori, Piano

“Making a Lost Style Speak to Today’s Ears” (Headlines) The New York Times “Shehori, Poetry in Music” (Headlines) The Washington Post “When Shehori at last executes the main theme legato, the gods themselves must give pause and weep.” Audiophile Edition

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CHRISTOPHORUS 77354 Label Code 034 Price Code F HIMMELS-LIEDER: SACRED SONGS & CANTATAS BY KOBELIUS, ERLEBACH, HILDEBRAND Johann Augustin Kobelius (1674-1731): Ich fürchte keinen Tod auf Erden (Cantata) – Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657-1714): Unser Leben ist mit vieler Not umgeben: Kommt ihr Stunden – Johann Hildebrand (1614-1684): Der V. Krieges-Angst-Seufftzer: Ach Gott!; Der VI. Krieges-Angst-Seufftzer: Ach höchster Gott – Georg Böhm (1661- 1733): Mein Herz tichtet ein feines Lied – Johann Wolfgang Franck (1644- c 1710): Laß, O Herr, dein Ohr sich neigen – Johann Krieger (1652-1735): Gedancken eines Sterbenden: Hier lieg ich in der Noth – Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621): Engelsche Fortuyn / Von der Fortuna werd‘ ich getrieben – Johann Schop (c 1590-1667): Lachrimae Pavan – William Young (c 1610-1662): Aria – Gasparo Casati (c 1610-1641): Pater noster – Antonio Bertali (1605-1669): Sonata a 5 ARTISTS: Franz Vitzthum, countertenor. Capricornus Consort Basel. The voice of the countertenor Franz Vitzthum fascinates with its lightness and clarity: its almost “celestial” quality appears completely free of all ballast. How appropriate therefore is the programme of this new CD: the yearning for eternal life in which the troubles of mortal existence have been thrown off was a central theme of the German Baroque period.

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Franz Vitzthum has selected cantatas and songs by a series of composers including Erlebach, Hildebrand, Böhm and Krieger whose compositions have for the most part been recorded on CD for the first time. The highlight rounding off this programme is the cantata "Ich fürchte keinen Tod auf Erden” [I do not fear death on earth] by Johann Augustin Kobelius (1674-1731) which is the only work by this composer to have been preserved. Kobelius was a fellow competitor of the young Johann Sebastian Bach for an organ post in the St. Jacob’s church in Sangerhausen – and here Bach lost out on the only occasion throughout his entire career! The fact that Kobelius must have deserved the post is borne out by the quality of his cantata which is presented to the public for the first time as a small sensation.

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CLARINET CLASSICS 0064 Label Code 117 Price Code F CLARINET CHAMBER MUSIC BY RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT: A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE Sonata for bass clarinet and piano Ballad in memory of Shirley Horn Duo Concertante Troubadour Music Sonatina for solo clarinet Scene III Travel Notes Quintet for clarinet and strings ARTISTS: Victoria Soames Samek, clarinet & bass clarinet. Bichael Bell, piano. Inspirity String Quartet, East Winds.

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COVIELLO 61117 Label Code 194 Price Code F HARALD MUENZ: NEARLY-FAST Nearly – fast (2008) Data compression (2009) fein … auflosend (2010/11) Schones Klavierstuch (2006) dietro V avanti (2006/7) ARTISTS: Ensemble Mosaik Music by Harald Muenz (b. 1965) triggers off a rethinking process – particularly among the followers of “contemporary music” who are familiar with its established patterns. His works are for the most part based on aesthetic experimental designs which are consistently realized with an open-ended outcome: chamber music is for instance created out of fragments from Christmas carols, or all 37 movements from Beethoven’s symphonies are superimposed simultaneously in synchronization. Despite its frequent radical and intractable qualities, Muenz’s music is also an emphatic art in which concept, construction, and expression enter a productive alliance. Pressing questions are investigated and the results presented in the form of a musical work. The ensemble mosaik performs these experiments with the required implacable precision and opens new aural horizons with their new recording.

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DAL SEGNO 062 Label Code 090 Price Code D FRANZ SCHUBERT 4 Impromptus Op.90, 4 Impromptus Op.142, Ecossaises D.781 ARTISTS: Michel Dalberto Michel Dalberto is a world renowned pianist – he came to prominence in 1975 winning the Clara Haskill Prize and three years later he won First Prize in the Leeds International Piano Competition. Since then he has become acknowledged as one of the foremost interpreters of Schubert and Mozart.

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DAL SEGNO 063 Label Code 090 Price Code D SERGEI RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No.2; Piano Sonata No.2; Etudes Tableaux; Preludes

ARTISTS: Hélène Grimaud, piano. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jesús Lopez-Cobos, conductor.

Taken from recordings made for Denon between 1986 and 1992, this new compilation returns valuable remastered recordings to the catalogue – and at low mid price.

Born in 1969, Hélène Grimaud is known to piano lovers all over the world. She has toured with many of the most acclaimed conductors and orchestras, as well as having an extensive recital career.

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DORON 3053 Label Code 115 Price Code C LISZT: MŪZA RUBACKYTĖ – GREAT LITHUANIAN LIVE RECORDINGS Franz Liszt: Concerto for Piano and Orchesra No. 1 in E flat major S. 124 Ruins of Athens Fantasy, S. 122. Concerto for Piano and Orchesra No. 2 in A major, S. 125 ARTISTS: Mūza Rubackytė, piano. Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Stefan Lano, conductor. Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, Imants Resnis, conductor. Vlaanderen Symphony Orchestra, David Angus, conductor.         

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 DORON 4013 Label Code 115 Price Code C THE GREAT VIOLIN CONCERTOS OF MENDELSSOHN & SIBELIUS Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, op. 64 Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor, op. 47 ARTISTS: Ivry Giltis, violin. Orchestre National de l’opera de Monte-Carlo, Antonio de Almeida & David Josefowitz, conductors.     

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DORON 4017 Label Code 115 Price Code C LEGENDARY ARTIST: PIERRE FOURNIER, CELLO Edouard Lalo: Cello Concerto in D minor Camille Saint-Saens: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, op. 33 ARTISTS: Pierre Fournier, cello. Orchestre National de l’Opera de Monte Carlo, Josif Conta, conductor. Orchestre des “Concerts de Paris”, Jean-Marie Auberson, conductor.

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GLOSSA 922507 Label Code 119 Price Code F FRANZ BENDA (1709-1786): VIOLIN SONATAS Ornamented versions from a Berlin manuscript Sonata XI in D major – Sonata XXIII in C minor – Sonata XIII in G minor – Sonata XXXII in E major – Adagio poco andante (from: Sonata VII in A major) ARTISTS: Leila Schayegh, violin.Felix Knecht, cello. Vaclav Luks, harpsichord & fortepiano “When Franz Benda [...] plays an Adagio, one has the impression that eternal wisdom is speaking down to us from heaven.” Thus the description, written in 1798, by violinist Johann Peter Salomon – a pupil of Benda’s and a good friend of Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven – of the playing of the “magician”, the “great genius”. His interpretation was in a singing, unpretentious, and obviously very touching style, whereby, in accordance with the custom of the time, he always richly ornamented the violin part. The works on this recording were selected from a unique manuscript collection preserved in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. What makes it a rarity are the written-out ornaments, for all of the movements, even the quick ones, are complemented by one or, in some cases, even two ornamented versions on separate staves. Even if this Berlin manuscript does not stem from Benda’s own hand, there is much to indicate that it is a very careful and, in terms of ornamentation technique, authentic version. For this new release in Glossa’s Schola Cantorum Basiliensis series, the Swiss violinist Leila Schayegh (the successor, together with Amandine Beyer, of Chiara Banchini at the SCB) and her continuo partners Václav Luks and Felix Knecht recover a selection of Benda’s beautiful, ornamented sonatas, of course including some of those legendary Adagios mentioned by Salomon

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GLOSSA 922508 Label Code 119 Price Code F INDIAN RAGAS & MEDIEVAL SONG ARTISTS: Dominique Vellard, tenor. Ken Zuckerman, sarod, dhotar & medieval lute. Anindo Chatterjee, tabla & dhupki. Keyvan Chemirani, zarb & gattam. This recording offers a rare opportunity to experience two different musical traditions in dialogue: the reconstructed musical culture of the European Middle Ages, and the ancient but still continuous tradition of North Indian classical music – two worlds that are indeed separated with respect to time and geography, and yet still linked by common characteristic features. The classical tradition of North Indian music is marked both by a strong adherence to its own origins and an openness to influences from other cultures. On the other hand, European art music of the Middle Ages, seemingly far removed and accessible only by means of written documents, has clearly recognizable roots in Eastern traditions. In their respective musical development, Dominique Vellard and Ken Zuckerman have each been strongly influenced by a variety of experiences with Eastern music traditions. The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where both teach in the medieval program, became the meeting place where they were able to compare notes and develop an organic approach to experimentation.

The music on this CD was recorded as a live studio performance. For the Indian music performances, this spontaneity and improvised atmosphere is an extremely important ingredient to any rendering of the ragas and talas, but the improvised accompaniments of the monophonic songs definitely also benefitted from this unique “live” quality.

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GLOSSA 922509 2 CD SET Label Code 119 Price Code F FRANCESCO CAVALLI: VESPRO DELLA BEATA VERGINE (MUSICHE SACRE, VENICE, 1656) ARTISTS: Barbara Borden, Emily van Evera, soprano – Rodrigo del Pozo, alto – Gerd Türk, Mark Padmore, altos/tenors – Markus Brutscher, tenor – Harry van der Kamp, Peter Zimpel, bass. Concerto Palatino. Bruce Dickey & Charles Toet, direction The operas of Francesco Cavalli have earned him a secure place among the masters of the 17th century, yet he has remained almost completely unknown as a composer of sacred music. While the greater part of his time and energy was undoubtedly devoted to the 32 operas which he produced in Venice, Cavalli nonetheless pursued a constant and parallel career in sacred music which spanned 60 years of activity at St. Mark’s. When Cavalli published the Musiche sacre in 1656 he was at the height of his creative powers and at the apex of his career. As with both Monteverdi’s 1610 collection and his Selva morale of 1640, Cavalli’s Musiche sacre contains components which can be used to fulfil the liturgical requirements of a wide range of feast days. On this recording we present the principle musical items which could have been heard at second Vespers on a feast of the Virgin Mary (in this case the Feast of the Assumption) either at St. Mark’s or at one of a variety of other Venetian churches. It is no more and no less a single unified musical “work” than are Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespro della Beata Vergine, nor can it be, since the liturgy has its own formal requirements going far beyond the music. An expert group of vocal soloists join the instrumentalists of Concerto Palatino in this landmark recording made in the mid nineties which Glossa is now proud to recover for its Schola Cantorum Basiliensis series.

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MUSICAPHON 56864 Lable Code 158 Price Code B

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IN STILE ITALIANO J.S. Bach: Sonatas in A minor, D minor, F major, Aria Variata Benedetto Marcello: Sonata II D minor Diogenio Bigaglia: Sonata D minor ARTISTS: Stefano Bagliano, recorder. Christian Brembeck, harpsichord. It is always an exciting and worthwhile undertaking to compare certain compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach with corresponding works of his contemporary composers. As a young man during his Weimar period (1708-1717) Bach had the opportunity to study the newest Italian concertos of the time; Duke Johann Ernst of Sachsen-Weimar (brother of the reigning Duke and moreover Bach’s pupil and friend) and the city organist Johann Gottfried Walther, another friend of Bach’s, made him acquainted with a larger number of these works. It was typical of Bach to immediately apply the suggestions and ideas derived from them in his own compositions. First of all it was the formal structure of the Italian instrumental concerto which was of great interest to Bach. The three part sequence of movements (fast-slow-fast) is found in virtually every solo concerto of the master and in most of his chamber music sonatas.

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NEOS 11121 Label Code 283 Price Code F MARCELA PAVIA – MAX E. KELLER

Marcela Pavia (*1957): Flair for violin, violoncello and piano (2009). Nayla for flute solo (1993). Per un addio for speaker and piano (2009). Los senderos que se bifurcan for violin and guitar (2007). The Banshee’s Keen for guitar solo (2009). Amancay for clarinet and guitar (2001)Max E. Keller (*1947): tenuto, battuto, fulminante for symphony orchestra (2001). Selbstgespräche for piano and live electronics (2006). Cinque for bassoon quartet (2008). Trio fluido for violin, violoncello and piano (2009)

ARTISTS: Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, David Zinman, Duo46, Trio Flair, Quadriga Fagott Ensemble, W. Bärtschi, L. Cella, E. Flückiger, V. J. Gloor, M. Gould, G. Kanasevich, P. Kleemola

The compositions of Max E. Keller and Marcela Pavia have in common an uncompromising expressive clarity which, despite the abrupt cutoffs and aggressive gestures, and the subtle and innovative handling of timbre, belies the disparity of their origins. There is no sense of arbitrariness: it is all about inner necessity and truthfulness, often articulated within developmental variation. The taboos of the avant-garde such as avoidance of a perceptible sense of pulse are questioned or are even taken up as a topic.

NEW PAN 10258 Label Code 250 Price Code F

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DOMENICO SCARLATTI (1685-1757): VIVI FELICE Sonatas for harpsichord: K. 11, 87, 127, 141, 175, 206, 213, 214, 235, 374, 318, 319, 422, 423, 429, 450, 454, 455. ARTISTS: Diego Ares, harpsichord. The descriptions which have come down to us today about Scarlatti the performer are small in number, but revealing. When the Irish musician and composer Thomas Roseingrave was in Venice he was invited to perform in a musical academy. His listeners, having been delighted with one of his improvisations, persuaded a young man attired from head to foot in black to seat himself at the harpsichord. When this enigmatic young man began to play, Roseingrave ‘thought that ten hundred devils had been at the instrument.’ The young man dressed in black was none other than Domenico Scarlatti.

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NEW PAN 10259 Label Code 250 Price Code F JOHANN CASPAR KERLL (1627-1693): MISSA NON SINE QUARE

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Gregorian Chant: Cibavit eos, Plaudentes Virgini, Ama cor meum, Dignare me, Regina Caeli laetare. Sonata in F major for two violins & basso continuo. Sonata in G minor for two violins, bass and basso continuo. ARTISTS: Elisa Franzetti, soprano. Emanuele Bianchi, countertenor. Mario Ceccetti, tenor. Sergio Foresti, bass. La Risonanza, Fabio Bonizzoni, direction. Johann Caspar Kerll worked mainly in Vienna, during the 17th century. He was pupil of Carissimi and teacher of Pachelbel, thus belonging within the line of succession culminating in J.S. Bach, who much admired his music. Eighteen masses by Kerll have survived of which only one, the first, a 5-part Requiem, is written a cappella, in the so-called old style. All the others are written in stile concertato, that is, with soloists, one or more full choirs, various instruments, (violins, violas, trombones) and continuo. NEW PAN 10260 Label Code 250 Price Code F

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LUIGI BOCCHERINI: CELLO SONATAS Sonata in A major G. 4, Sonata in C minor G. b, Sonata in E-flat major (G seest), Sonata in G major G. 5, Sonata in A major “l’Imperatrice” (G deest), Sonata in B-flat major G. 565, Sonata in E-flat major G. 11, Sonata in F major G. 579, Sonata in E-flat major G. 566, Sonata in C major G. 17 ARTISTS: Gaetano Nasillo, cello. Alessandro Ciccolini, violin. Marco Vitali, Michele Tazzari, cello. Mara Galassi, hooked harp. Jesper Christensen, harpsichord. Gaetano Nasillo is one of the most renowned baroque cellists. He regularly collaborates as a soloist with the most prestigious European ensembles on historic instruments, among them Ensemble 415, Concerto Vocale, Zefiro, Le Concert des Nations, Ensemble Aurora, Gli Angeli, and he performs with them in Europe, the USA, South America, Japan, and Australia.

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ORFEO 828112 2 CD SET Label Code 048 Price Code Z J.S. BACH: KLAVIERKONZERTE BWV 1052-1058 Konzert Nr. 1 d-Moll BWV 1052 für Klavier und Orchester Konzert Nr. 4 A-Dur BWV 1055 für Klavier und Orchester Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 E-Dur BWV 1053 Klavierkonzert Nr. 5 F-Dur BWV 1056 für Klavier, Streicher und Generalbass Konzert Nr. 3 D-Dur BWV 1054 für Klavier, Streicher und Basso continuo Cembalokonzert Nr. 6 F-Dur BWV 1057 Cembalokonzert Nr. 7 g-Moll BWV 1058

ARTISTS: Konstantin Lifschitz, piano. Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, orchestra.

Konstantin Lifschitz has long since established himself as an outstanding exponent of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. He has already recorded the Musical Offering BWV 1079 and the Art of Fugue BWV 1080 for Orfeo and has now turned his attention to the composer’s seven keyboard concertos BWV 1052–8, in which he is partnered by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble that enjoys an equally distinguished reputation for its Bach interpretations.

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ON TOUR!

And yet these works require music-making of a completely different order from the sort that we would expect to find in the Brandenburg Concertos, for example, for the sources, genesis and transmission of these keyboard concertos in the form of transcriptions of earlier pieces raise more questions than they answer. With only three of these seven concertos has it been possible to identify specific originals with different solo instruments, while the other four have been ascribed to various other instruments by experts in the field, attributions that none the less continue to be hotly debated. The fact that Konstantin Lifschitz admits to “feeling now as a harpsichord, now as a piano, now as an oboe d’amore and now as a violin” may increase the demands on the performer, but it also enhances their appeal for their audiences, for Lifschitz has at his command exactly the sort of touch and playful cunning needed to free the piano from its function as a continuo instrument and turn the whole experience into something intensely vital. And the fact that he plays these works on a modern concert grand is wholly convincing, not least because in Bach’s day instruments were evolving all the time and Bach himself was fond of experimentation in this as in so many other areas. Although there is no denying the impulses that he received from Vivaldi and other Italian contemporaries, his quasi-cantabile phrasing and part-writing in these concertos anticipate some of the features that make Mozart’s concertos so special. The cyclical overview provided by Konstantin Lifschitz and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in the case of the present recordings allows us to appreciate the old and the new in a clear and compelling way.

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ORFEO D’OR 817112 2 CD SET Label Code 039 Price Code D RICHARD STRAUSS: ARIADNE AUF NAXOS Recorded November 1976 ARTISTS: Erich Kunz (Der Haushofmeister - Sprechrolle) Walter Berry (Musiklehrer - Bariton) Agnes Baltsa (Der Komponist - Mezzosopran) James King (Bacchus - Tenor) Gundula Janowitz (Ariadne/Primadonna - Sopran) Edita Gruberova (Zerbinetta - Sopran) Barry McDaniel (Harlekin - Bariton) Kurt Equiluz (Scaramuccio - Tenor) Manfred Jungwirth (Truffaldino - Baß) Gerhard Unger (Brighella - Tenor) Hilda Groote (Najade - Sopran) Axelle Gall (Dryade - Alt) Sona Ghazarian (Echo - Sopran) Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper (Orchester) Karl Böhm (Dirigent) Many productions at the Vienna State Opera can claim to be model interpretations of the works in question, and this is certainly true of the new production of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos that opened well over a quarter of a century ago in November 1976. The production is still in the repertory after thirty-five years, and even if the casts have naturally changed in the meantime, a number of the singers who took leading roles in the 1976 production have continued to appear in Vienna over the years and in some cases over the decades. As Zerbinetta, for example, Edita Gruberova was heard more than ninety times at the State Opera alone, mostly in the 1976 production. The brilliance of her coloratura singing and the subtlety of her characterization made her a popular favourite with press and public alike, just as they have done in her present-day repertory. Another singer who remains at the heart of our musical life is Agnes Baltsa, for all that she appeared far less frequently as the youthfully impetuous Composer. Many of the members of the 1976 audience must have suspected that in the brief duet between Gruberova and Baltsa they were hearing two of the leading bel canto exponents of later years, making it all the more gratifying to be able to recapture that moment now on CD. It would have occurred to few people in Vienna in 1976 that the other main roles in Ariadne can seem thankless tasks, especially with set beside competition of this order. In 1976 the roles of Ariadne and Bacchus were taken by Gundula Janowitz and James King, by this date in their careers both fully attuned to their roles. With casting like this, the difficult final scene in the opera with its “miracle of transformation” does indeed become the culmination of the evening after Gundula Janowitz, with her laser-sharp accuracy, has already triumphed in Ariadne's great laments and James King has mastered the terrors of the young god's brief entrance scene. King sang this role over a period of three decades, fully equal to the demands of the part and entirely worthy of being immortalized on disc. And who ultimately can compete with Karl Böhm on the conductor's podium in terms of his long experience of Ariadne? If the first night flowed along with an ideal balance between stage and pit, and if even the smallest of the secondary roles were convincingly cast, then this was due above all to a great conductor intimately familiar with Strauss's music.

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RAUMKLANG 2906 Label Code 313 Price Code D

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TROMBA HISPANICA: BATTALLAS Y CANCIONES ARTISTS: Barocktrompeten Ensemble Berlin, Johann Plietzsch, direction.

Treasures of early Baroque trumpet music are still to be discovered in Spain! Hidden in the notated organ music and lute tablatures of the seventeenth century are titles such as “Batalla” and “Clarines y Trompetas” that point to the well-known Spanish horizontal trumpet stops, or perhaps to the transmission of popular trumpet music, since direct notation of the music was forbidden by the requirement of secrecy of the trumpet players’ guilds. Back then, the art of improvisation was wide spread, and so the Baroque Trumpet Ensemble Berlin, under the direction of Johann Plietzsch, lets us experience spirited improvisation in the recurring chaconnas, whose dance-like character takes us back to Moorish-influenced Spain. Through the lute and percussion instruments, whose origins lie in the Arabian culture, the clear, brilliant sound of the trumpets is lent a light swing in which a bit of southern-European joie de vivre is hidden. Onward to Spain with drums beating and trumpets sounding!

RAUMKLANG 3004 Label Code 313 Price Code D JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH : KUNST DER FUGE

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ARTISTS: Peter Kofler, harpsichord and organ Concealed behind Bach’s Art of Fugue BWV 1080 is an unbelievably complex musical structure, a cycle of fugues and canons that are based on a common theme. In the abundance of transformational techniques – for example, retrograde inversion, rhythmic augmentation and diminution of the theme, or the combination with additional themes – Bach takes stock of his life’s work. With this craftsmanship as a point of departure, Peter Kofler lends sensual vitality to the mystically intertwined musical fabric, and interprets Bach’s music as a series of absorbing character pieces. Played on a two-manual original harpsichord by Karl August Gräbner (Dresden 1782) and an organo di legno.

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Label Code 207 Price Code M/P LENNOX BERKELEY: CHAMBER WORKS Chamber Works for Wind, Strings, & Piano ARTISTS: Sarah Francis, Judith Fitton, Michael Dussek, Tagore String Trio Regis presents a brand new recording of the chamber works of Lennox Berkeley, including two world premieres. Regis has had a long association with oboist Sarah Francis and is delighted to collaborate with her in this project. Sarah discovered the manuscripts for the new works in the Royal College of Music library and they are presented here with other works for similar forces.

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REGIS 1381 Label Code 207 Price Code M/P BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC ARTISTS: The Archers, BBC Light Programme, Desert Island Discs, Dick Barton, In Town Tonight, Top of the Form. A popular selection of British Light Music including the theme music for the Archers, Dick Barton Special Agent, In Town Tonight, Top of the Form, Desert Island Discs and works by Eric Coates (Television March, Knightsbridge March etc.) and Percy Grainger (Country Garden, Londonderry Air).

WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS

REGIS 3012 3 CD SET Label Code 207 Price Code M/P SCHUBERT CHAMBER WORKS

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ARTISTS: Busch Chamber Ensembles, Rudolf Serkin, piano. A 3CD set of definitive recordings of Schubert’s chamber music played by the Busch Quartet, digitally remastered and available at super budget price. ‘A classic and indispensable set, and given the quality of the musical wisdom the Busch possess, this is in a class of its own.’ -Gramophone

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Label Code 363 Price Code C CLARA ROCKMORE, THEREMIN: MUSIC IN AND ON THE AIR ARTISTS: Clara Rockmore, theremin. Nadia Reisenberg, piano. Erick Friedman, violin. Barbara Stein Mallow, Bruce Rogers, Peter Rosenfeld, Diane Chaplin, Cynthia Cox, Marion Feldman, Neal Lo Monaco, Janos Scholz, cellos. A major gap in Clara Rockmore's recorded legacy will be closed with the release of Music In and On the Air, a CD derived from a live 1979 WQXR broadcast. To celebrate the 9th anniversary of a series called The Listening Room, Clara brought her theremin to The New York Times building, and before a full house in the auditorium there, played solos and chamber pieces with her renowned pianist-sister Nadia Reisenberg, the superb violinist Erick Friedman, and eight members of the Violincello Society. In addition to St. Saens' "The Swan" and Cassado's "Requiebros" (available in studio recordings on Delos and Bridge CDs, respectively), Clara and Erick played Rachmaninoff's "Song of Georgia" in the Fritz Kreisler transcription with violin obbligato, and then, with Nadia continuing to eputize for the orchestra, they shared the solos in the slow movement of Bach's D Minor Double Violin Concerto. Taking further advantage of Erick and Nadia, who later that year would be appearing in recital at Carnegie Hall and the Caramoor Festival, we prevailed upon them to play two movements of the Franck A Major Sonata.

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When the members of the Violincello Society arrived, they warmed up with Beethoven, then accompanied Clara in the celebrated "Air on the G String" and the radiant “Aria” from Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras #5. Interviews with the artists are included, and the album notes are brightened by a number of never-before- published photos of Clara and Lev Termen himself.

SIGNUM UK 266

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Label Code 303 Price Code D THE ORGAN OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY ARTISTS: Robert Quinney, organ.

Robert Quinney performs a stunning recital of works by Elgar on the organ of Westminster Abbey. Quinney has been Sub-Organist there since 2004, performing for a variety of celebrated occasions including the Royal Wedding in April this year.

This is Quinney’s second disc with Signum, following a 2-CD recital of works by Brahms, Wagner and Dupré on the organ of Westminster Cathedral - SIGCD089 (where Quinney was Assistant Master of Music from 2000-2004):

"His supreme artistry at the organ of Westminster Cathedral transcends the boundaries of organ-playing, giving the listener a moving, magical experience." Gramophone

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SIGNUM UK 270 Label Code 303 Price Code D SHARED GROUND: MUSIC BY ALEX ROTH, WORDS BY VIKRAM SETH ARTISTS: Philippe Honore, violin. Jeffrey Skidmore, conductor. Shared Ground is a set of works by the British composer Alec Roth, featuring several poems and sung texts by the Indian writer Vikram Seth. The title piece of the same name is inspired by Seth’s poetry following a decision to buy and live in the Old Rectory in Bemerton – the former home of the 17thcentury poet and priest George Herbert. Other works on the disc expand this idea of a shared home or dwelling, with Earthrise – the reflections of Apollo astronauts on viewing the planet from orbit – and Hymn to Gaia. SIGNUM UK 276 Label Code 303 Price Code D THE ANCIENT QUESTION

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Trad. arr. Hila Plitmann (b.1973): Five Yiddish Songs Lori Laitman (b.1955): I Never Saw Another Butterfly (1996) Aharon Harlap (b.1941): Tehilim (Psalms) (2001) Eric Whitacre (b.1970) music, Hila Plitmann poetry: Five Hebrew Love Songs (2001) Sharon Farber (b.1965): Bridges of Love (2009) ARTISTS: Hila Plitmann, soprano. Julian Bliss, clarinet. Christopher Glynn, piano. Thomas Bowes, violin. Andres Kaljuste, viola. The grammy-award winning artist Hila Plitmann is known worldwide for her astonishing musicianship, light and beautiful voice, and the ability to perform challenging new works.

On this disc she brings together a very personal programme that draws on her familial roots in Jewish culture and song; from traditional folk music (Five Yiddish Songs), to contemporary compositions (Bridges of Love, Tehilim and I Never Saw Another Butterfly). The disc also features the Five Hebrew Love Songs, with poetry by Plitmann set to music by the composer Eric Whitacre (her husband).

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SIGNUM UK 277

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Label Code 303 Price Code D IN SEVEN DAYS Piano Studies nos. 6 & 7 ARTISTS: Tal Rosner visuals. Nicolas Hodges piano. Thomas Adès conductor. London Sinfonietta.

The London Sinfonietta combine two works from Thomas Adès, one of the most distinctive and popular voices in modern composition. Both works feature accompanying films (by Tal Rosner and Sophie Clements) that are included in this CD/DVD set. This is the second CD for the London Sinfonietta with Signum. It follows their October release of music by Louis Andriessen, featuring the UK premiere of Anaïs Nin, alongside his famed work De Staat.

In Seven Days is a musical interpretation for piano and orchestra of the biblical ‘creation’ by Thomas Adès, composed in collaboration with a film-piece by the artist and filmmaker Tal Rosner. Both music and film evoke the processes of the creation rather than the objects described in the movement titles, using simple elements in repeated and evolving contexts in a perpetual state of flux, change and growth.

The Piano Studies Nos 6 & 7 are arrangements of player-piano works by the American composer Conlon Nancarrow. An influential figure to generations of composers, Nancarrow’s studies for the player-piano (or pianola) allowed him to generate music of extreme rhythmic complexity in a multitude of inventive ways. These arrangements for two pianos by Thomas Adès capture the strange magic of the originals, where fragmented musical ideas are played off against each other in a wild, almost jazz-like way. The works are accompanied by film-visualisations by Tal Rosner and Sophie Clements.

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SIGNUM UK 283 Label Code 303 Price Code D VOCES8: A CHORAL TAPESTRY Os Justi - Anton Bruckner Vigilate - William Byrd Kyrie (from the mass for four voices) - William Byrd Cantate domino - Claudio Monteverdi O magnum mysterium - Tomás Luis de Victoria Magnificat primi toni - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Warus ist das Licht gegeben? - Johannes Brahms Go down Moses - Traditional Spiritual arr. Michael Tippett O clap your hands - Orlando Gibbons Das Agnus Dei - Max Reger Wir glauben an eimen Gott - Max Reger Fest- und Gedenksprüche: i. Unsere Väter hofften auf dich - Johannes Brahms Fest- und Gedenksprüche: ii. Wenn ein starker Gewappneter - Johannes Brahms Fest- und Gedenksprüche: iii. Wo ist ein so herrlich Volk - Johannes Brahms Steal away - Traditional spiritual arr. David Blackwell Abendlied - Josef Rheinberger The lamb - John Tavener Agnus dei (from the mass for four voices) - William Byrd ARTISTS: Voces8

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VOCES8 US TOUR DATES

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PREVIOUS RELEASES FROM VOCES 8: SIGNUM UK 187 Label Code 303 Price Code D ACES HIGH

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SIGNUM UK 213 Label Code 303 Price Code D BACH MOTETS

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STERLING 1675 Label Code 110 Price Code D JOSEPH MARX: DER TON ARTISTS: Matilda Paulsson, mezzosoprano / Bengt-Åke Lundin, piano Marx’s gifts were essentially lyrical. With few exceptions, his songs eschew drama and violent emotion. In the settings from the Italienisches Liederbuch Marx shows himself master of the delicate cameo, albeit without Wolf ’s wit and pungency. Elsewhere expressions of rapture, nature mysticism and nostalgic yearning predominate, in settings of poets ranging from Romantics such as Novalis and Mörike to contemporary authors including Rilke, Dehmel and Hesse. Of the generation of Schoenberg, Webern and Berg, Marx was hostile to their musical radicalism, proclaiming to the end his belief in the power of tonality to express the whole gamut of human emotion. Like his older contemporary Richard Strauss, he remained au fond a late-Romantic (he liked to dub himself ‘a Romantic realist’) in a fractured, modernist age. During the years 1908–12 Marx composed around 120 songs, some of which were published in the collections Italienische Lieder I–II (1912) and Lieder und Gesänge I–III (1910–12). Nowadays these songs are regarded as the finest works that he produced.

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SUPRAPHON MD 4074 Label Code 333 Price Code M/P IVAN KUSNJER: CZECH OPERA RARITIES Baritone arias from lesser-known Czech operas: J. Mysliveček – Abramo e Isacco, J. L. Zvonař – Záboj, F. Z. Skuherský – Lóra, K. Šebor – The Templars in Moravia, B. Smetana – The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, A. Dvořák – Vanda, J. R. Rozkošný – The Rapids of Saint John, K. Bendl: Lejla, E. Nápravník – Dubrovsky, J. B. Foerster – Jessika, O. Ostrčil – The Death of Vlasta, Z. Fibich – Hedy, J. Pauer – Zuzana Vojířová, V. Novák – Karlštejn ARTISTS: Ivan Kusnjer – baritone. Czechoslovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, National Theatre Orchestra and Chorus, etc.; conductors: Libor Pešek, Josef Chaloupka Ivan Kusnjer has rightly been awarded the title of "King of Czech Singers" by the music critics. The fruits of his single-minded work are worthy of admiration: successes at international voice competitions, guest appearances on opera stages worldwide (Berliner Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro la Fenice, La Scala, Teatro Real, Théâtre Châtelet, Opéra-Bastille, etc.) and in prestigious concert halls (Albert Hall, Barbican, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall), collaboration with renowned conductors (Mackerras, Albrecht, Harnoncourt, Gardiner, Pešek, Kout, Bělohlávek, etc.), the remarkable range of operatic roles he has portrayed (primarily for the National Theatre in Prague), songs and cantatas he has performed, as well as numerous accolades he has received (the 2001 Gustav Mahler European Prize, three Thalia Awards)... A special chapter is Ivan Kusnjer’s keen interest in lesser-known Czech operas. Works linked with the time of their origin only rarely pass the test of time. Yet the carefully prepared selection on this album indicates just how much interesting music remains in the archives, and the recording is hence a must for all opera lovers. The CD comprises previously unreleased arias, as masterfully performed by Ivan Kusnjer.

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TALANTON 90003 Label Code 477 Price Code D THE ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE: COURTLY CULTURE AT THE TIME OF THE MASTER OF NAUMBERG ARTISTS: Ioculatores & Jörg Peukert From the middle of the thirteenth century, the Meissen Margrave Heinrich the Illustrious ruled as the new Thuringian Landgrave. He became famous primarily as a result of his magnificent court establishment and his activities as patron of the arts, poet, and composer. Besides his legendary tournaments, six of his songs have come down to us in the Grosse Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Codex Manesse). This new TALANTON-CD is dedicated to a selection of songs, dances, and poems around the illustrious prince, played masterly and vivaciously by the ensemble IOCULATORES, and declaimed in Middle High German by Jörg Peukert.

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TALENT 117 Label Code 122 Price Code B FRANCK – LEKEU – YSAŸE Cesar Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A (1886) Guillaume Lekeu: Sonata for Violin and Pino in G (1891) Eugène Ysaÿe: Andante for Violin and Orchestra ARTISTS: Jerrold Rubenstein, violin. Dalia Ouziel, piano.

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TALENT 20/21 2 CD SET Label Code 122 Price Code B LOUIS-FERDINAND HÉROLD: FOUR CONCERTOS FOR PIANO & ORCHESTRA Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in E Major Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in E flat Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3 in E major Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in E minor ARTISTS: Angéline Pondepeyre, piano. WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Conrad van Alphen, conductor.

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TUXEDO 1213 Label Code 222 Price Code M/P FRANZ SCHUBERT: ROSAMUNDE (COMPLETE) ARTISTS: Philharmonia Hungarica, Oksana Sowiak, alto. Philharmonia Vocal Ensemble, conductor, PMaag

eter

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WIDESCREEN 121 2 CD SET Label Code 475 Price Code Y VERDI: FALSTAFF ARTISTS: Orchestra & Chorus del Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli, Mario Rossi, conductor. Cast; Tito Gobbi, Renato Capecchi, Renata Tebaldi, Fedora Barbieri, Mirella Freni. Among the many Verdian characters recorded for Decca, Renata Tebaldi lacks that of Alice, in Falstaff. Many live editions have rectified this shortcoming, but only this valuable record of 1961 in Naples reaches perfection - and it is especially perfect for the exceptional sound quality and the discipline of the public. WIDESCREEN 131 3 CD SET Label Code 475 Price Code Y

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SVIATOSLAV RICHTER: THE RUSSIAN PIANO CONCERTOS Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 5 Glazunov: Piano Concerto No. 1 Rimsky-Korsakov: Piano Concerto Op. 30 ARTISTS: Sviatoslav Richter, piano.

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WIDESCREEN 136 2 CD SET Label Code 475 Price Code Y

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MAHLER; ELGAR; STRAUSS Mahler: Symphony No. 1 Elgar: Enigma Variations R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier, Suite: Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 ARTISTS: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra. WORLD NEW RELEASE

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NAVRAS 0247 Label Code 255 Price Code D SWAR KALYAN: PANDIT RAJEEV TARANATH ARTISTS: Pandit Rajeev Taranath, sarod. Abhiman Kaushal, tabla. This recording by Pandit Rajeev Taranath is sourced from his performances at two different concert venues. The title of this album is derived from ‘Kalyan’ meaning a blessing and as this recording represents a beautiful arrangement of musical notes ‘Swar’. The recordings are a manifestation of the blessing bestowed upon Rajeevji by his Guru, late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Rajeev Taranath is a leading exponent of the Sarod, having studied under the illustrious Ali Akbar Khan at the age of 21 and also Annapurna Devi as well as Ravi Shankar. He has toured extensively and has been honoured with many accolades including an award by the Indian government for outstanding achievement in the field of Hindustani Instrumental music. He is also a faculty member in the Indian music department at the California Institute of the Arts. Rajeevji is accompanied here by Abhiman Kaushal on the tabla.

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PIROUET 3060

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Label Code 234 Price Code C SEBASTIAN GILLE: ANTHEM ARTISTS: Sebastian Gille tenor & soprano saxophone, alto clarinet. Pablo Held, piano. Robert Landfermann bass. Jonas Burgwinkel drums He plays quietly. And in this quiet there is intensity. Saxophonist Sebastian Gille is a master of subtlety, of intimate tones filled with expression. There are many facets to the mastery of this 28 year old German jazz musician. He has been recently lauded by the press as “the most exceptional” jazz musician to come out of his chosen hometown of Hamburg, as well as recorded his debut album under his own name on Pirouet Records in which he listens intently to his inner voice and subsequently brings the absorbing music to light. All of this with the participation of three congenial partners: pianist Pablo Held, bassist Robert Landfermann, and drummer Jonas Burgwinkel. The three have been with Sebastian Gille as a quartet since 2009. The result is exceptional: a stylistically coherent, profoundly beautiful music. Gilles’ tenor saxophone – as well as soprano sax and alto clarinet on a few pieces – functions as a narrative voice with an uncanny capability for modulation. It is a voice whose serene tone encompasses an immense intensity, a voice that, as it becomes louder, retains a striking

JAZZ NEW RELEASE

tranquility. In Gille’s own words, it is about expression rather than self-assertion, and he goes about this by allowing the music to find its own fascinating identity. Most of the pieces are his compositions. The other pieces, such as Kurt Weill’s “Barbara Song” from the “Three Penny Opera”, have seldom been interpreted with such a subtle depth. Music – from within.

FEATURED ON “ARIAMA’S ACCLAIMED: BEST RECORDS OF 2011” Sibelius: The Tempest; The Bard; Tapiola BIS SACD 1945

Okko Kamu's first Sibelius recording with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra certainly gave me an appetite for his upcoming symphonies cycle on the BIS label. The hunger grew after I spent a week in Lahti hearing Kamu lead the orchestra in Sibelius' complete symphonies. This album featuring the complete incidental music to the Tempest and two tone poems showcased the gorgeous tonal quality this excellent orchestra possesses.

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Weinberg: Symphony No. 6 NEOS SACD 11125 You may not have heard of Polish-Russian composer Mieczylsaw Weinberg, but this stunning recording of his Symphony No. 6 and Sinfonietta No. 1 will make you want to hear more. The Symphony, a large-scale work for boys choir and orchestra, is a harrowing memorial to victims of the Holocaust. The Wiener Symphoniker play like their lives depend on it and conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev rises to the moment in a performance of searing intensity. The German NEOS label is releasing lots of Weinberg's music in a series of live recordings from the 2010 Bergenzer Festival and this is a thrilling start to the series.

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BIS CD 1845 – VIVALDI CONCERTOS FOR STRINGS

FEATURED REVIEW ON ARIAMA.COM

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NEW RELEASES ORDER FORM – January 2012 COVIELLO DVD 81210__________________ GLOSSA DVD 921114________________ NEOS DVD 50905/6_______________ VIDEOLAND OPERA 018___________________ BIS SACD 1859___________________ 1874___________________ 1986___________________ Previous releases: 1746___________________ 1758___________________ 1825/6_________________ 1945___________________ COVIELLO SACD 31115__________________ NEOS SACD 11067/8_______________ Previous release: 11125__________________

ACCENT 24226__________________ 24233__________________ 24266__________________ BIS 1953___________________ 1955/56________________ Previous release: 1845___________________ BRANA RECORDS 0037___________________ CEMBAL D’AMOUR 163____________________ 164____________________ CHRISTOPHORUS 77354__________________ CLARINET CLASSICS 0064___________________ COVIELLO 61117__________________ DAL SEGNO 062____________________ 063____________________ DORON 3053___________________ 4013___________________ 4017___________________

GLOSSA 922507_________________ 922508_________________ 922509_________________ MUSICAPHON 56864__________________ NEOS 11121_________________ NEW PAN 10258__________________ 10259__________________ 10260__________________ ORFEO 828112_________________ ORFEO D’OR 817112_________________ RAUMKLANG 2906___________________ 3004___________________ REGIS 1380___________________ 1381___________________ 3012___________________

ROMEO 7286____________________ SIGNUM UK 266_____________________ 270_____________________ 276_____________________ 277_____________________ 283_____________________ Previous releases: 187_____________________ 213_____________________ STERLING 1675___________________ SUPRAPHON MD 4074___________________ TALANTON 90003__________________ TALENT 117____________________ 20/21__________________ TUXEDO 1213___________________ WIDESCREEN 121_____________________ 131_____________________ 136_____________________

NAVRAS 0247___________________ PIROUET 3060___________________

WORLD NEW RELEASES

SACD NEW RELEASES

CLASSICAL NEW RELEASES

DVD NEW RELEASES

JAZZ NEW RELEASES

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BIS SACD 1874

COVIELLO DVD 81201 VIDEOLAND OPERA 018

SIGNUM UK 276