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World music CD DVD shop and Classic distribution
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ID: SIGCD052 CDs: 1 Type: CD |
Collection: The Great Composers Signum Records are delighted to present the second recording on SignumClassics of the CBSO, under the direction of Mark Elder.
In his youth Shostakovich devoted much time and energy to composing for the theatre and the cinema, writing for an astonishing variety of movies, political plays, satires, the music-hall and the ballet.
The music for Nikolai Akimov’s outrageous and scandalous production of Hamlet was composed in the winter of 1931 - 1932. Akimov had decided that tragedy was irrelevant to the modern Soviet audience, and therefore presented the play as a satirical farce in which the play was turned up-side-down, by reversing all the usual assumptions about the plot and how it should be acted. The alterations to Shakespeare’s work are reflected in the titles of several of Shostakovich’s numbers. He was asked to provide music for scenes that Shakespeare only refers to but which Akimov insisted on representing on stage, for example the feast where "funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables". The overall character of Shostakovich’s music is often abrasive and satirical, and flippant just where we would expect the music to be more serious. There are also some funny moments, with particular sharp parodies of various well-known musico-theatrical clichés.
In 1954 Kozintsev had also attempted to direct a staged version of Hamlet. For this occasion he decided to reuse music that Shostakovich had already written for him to use in a staged production of King Lear in 1941. All that Kozintsev asked Shostakovich to add for the 1954 Hamlet were a Gigue and a Finale, both of which are included on this recording as an appendix to the music for Akimov’s 1932 production.
The music that Shostakovich wrote for Kozintsev’s 1941 King Lear production inhabits a strange and transitional world, halfway between the bright and brilliant sarcasm of the music for Akimov’s Hamlet of ten years earlier and the more soberly functional manner of his post-war theatrical music. Gone is most of the cheekiness, the fondness for the experimental and the grotesque. There is much in this often oppressively dark music that is characteristic of what was by now Shostakovich’s public symphonic manner.
Perhaps the most powerful and unusual part of the score is the bizarre cycle of Fool’s songs, with which the Fool mocks the mistakes of his master, the King, in the course of the first three Acts. The music of these songs is as strange and quirky as the words they set. Taken as a whole, these ten songs make up a miniature cycle of sourly absurd, almost expressionistic outbursts for voice and orchestra. They seem to form a whole in themselves, standing apart from. |
18.00 eur Buy |
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ID: SIGCD118 CDs: 1 Type: CD |
Collection: Orchestral Works Subcollection: Orchestra The Sapporo Symphony Orchestra take on Elgar’s Symphony No.3 under Tadaaki Otaka’s baton with as much flair as they did in their Japanese premiere of the work in 2004.
In 1995 Anthony Payne was commissioned to complete an ‘elaboration’ of the entire symphony and completed Elgar’s original ‘sketches’ of the work in what can be immediately recognised as Elgarian style.
Payne similarly completed Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance March in 2006, Elgar’s first large orchestral work since the Cello Concerto, pulling out all the stops in a brilliant orchestration. This is only the second recording to be made of this work.
The Japanese orchestra affirm their accolade as one of the finest orchestras in Japan in this stunning performance.
The orchestra has received high praise from critics and public alike, distinguished by its clear sound and dynamic powers of expression. |
18.00 eur Buy |
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ID: SIGCD137 CDs: 1 Type: CD |
Collection: Cello Collection Subcollection: Cello Jamie Walton's latest venture with the Philharmonia Orchestra, led by Alexander Briger, covers two more-contemporary Cello works; Shostakovichʼs Cello Concerto No. 2, and Britten's Symphony for Cello and Orchestra. Jamie Walton is quickly gaining international recognition for his work, being compared to Cello legends Rostropovich and Tortelier.
The Elgar society wrote about Jamie's last disc
“I really cannot praise this performance too highly. For faithfulness to the text, interpretative musicality, accuracy, ensemble and warmth and beauty of tone, Walton cannot be beaten.”
This new disc promises to be every bit as good. |
18.00 eur Buy |
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ID: SIGCD135 CDs: 1 Type: CD |
Collection: Orchestral Works Subcollection: Orchestra Festive Overture
One of Shostakovich’s most famous works originally composed for a concert to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1917.
Symphony No. 5
Its position as one of the 20th Century’s most popular and successful symphonic works is beyond any doubt, the triumph was immediate and greeted Shostakovich’s rehabilitation as a truly great Soviet artist.
The Philharmonia Orchestra is widely recognised as the UK’s finest orchestra with an impressive recording legacy. Vladimir Ashkenazy has a longstanding relationship with the orchestra, and in 2000 he was appointed their Conductor Laureate.
Philharmonia Orchestra
Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor |
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ID: SIGCD133 CDs: 1 Type: CD |
Collection: Orchestral Works Subcollection: Orchestra The ‘Great C major’ has often been cited as the first of the big romantic symphonies and an open door leading to the Romantic era. We owe the belated emergence of this symphony, 11 years after Schubert’s death, to Schumann who described it as “a symphony for the benefit and enjoyment of the whole world.”
The Philharmonia Orchestra are widely recognised as the UK’s finest performers with an impressive recording legacy. The orchestra prides itself on collaborations with the finest musicians of our day including guest conductor Sir Charles MacKerras. |
18.00 eur Buy |
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ID: SIGCD132 CDs: 1 Type: CD |
Collection: Orchestral Works Subcollection: Orchestra Symphony No. 2
Its idyllic nature, sheer tunefulness and general sunny disposition earned Brahms an unmitigated triumph in its premiere performance in Vienna in 1877. Since then, it has been described as the sunny counterpart to the storm clouds of his First Symphony.
Symphony No. 4
This work conveys Brahms’ imaginative writing combining sheer intelligence with unexpected comic turns. The Finale is still considered to be one of the most exhilarating movements in the entire orchestral repertoire.
The Philharmonia Orchestra is widely recognised as the UK’s finest orchestra with an impressive recording legacy. Christoph Von Dohnányi has been principle conductor for the past 11 years and in the coming season will be made Honorary Conductor for life. |
18.00 eur Buy |
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ID: SIGCD148 CDs: 1 Type: CD |
Collection: Orchestral Works Subcollection: Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is widely recognised as the UK’s finest orchestra with an impressive recording legacy, with this being their fourth disc with Signum. Christoph Von Dohnányi has been principle conductor for the past 11 years and has recently been made Honorary Conductor for life.
Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks) is considered to be one of Strauss’s most witty, entertaining and successful tone poems.
Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) heralds the composer’s more mature period in this genre, and proved controversial at it's premiere for it's highly auto-biographical nature. |
18.00 eur Buy |
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ID: SIGCD158 CDs: 1 Type: CD |
Subcollection: Orchestra Accompanied by a select group of musicians including Sinfonia ViVA, Lara James, the renowned saxophonist, performs contemporary works by some of today’s leading composers, demonstrating the unique timbre and versatility of the modern saxophone. |
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ID: SIGCD165 CDs: 1 Type: CD |
Collection: Ballet Music Subcollection: Orchestra The music commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for his Ballet Russes has generated some of the most inventive and popular orchestral works of the 20th Century.
Led by Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer, these recordings capture the excitement and vibrancy of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in live performance - the first recording made in their new home of BBC Hoddinott Hall, Wales. This is the first release in a series of three with future repertoire including The Rite of Spring and Petrushka.
The music commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for his Ballet Russes has generated some of the most inventive and popular orchestral works of the 20th Century.
Led by Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer, these recordings capture the excitement and vibrancy of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in live performance - the first recording made in their new home of BBC Hoddinott Hall, Wales. This is the first release in a series of three with future repertoire including The Rite of Spring and Petrushka.
Live performance of The Firebird:
“It was, in short, one of the finest performances I have heard the BBC National Orchestra of Wales give in recent years. Both precise and evocative, exceptionally transparent in texture where it needed to be, rich and full elsewhere, this was a magical reading of a remarkable score.”
www.musicweb-international.com |
18.00 eur Buy |
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