This is another somewhat unusual (and likely hard-to-find) release, appearing on a label I’ve never heard of, la dolce volta. Similar to the Paris Polonais disc I recently reviewed, this one seems to be available […]
This is a somewhat unusual (and likely hard-to-find) title. It comes from the Chopin University Press in Warsaw, Poland. It seems to be available only via digital download in the U.S., but a CD can […]
I loved the Quatuor Hanson‘s two previous recordings for Aparte Records. So when I saw them doing Schumann on Harmonia Mundi, I wondered, why Schumann? Of all the string quartet repertoire which they haven’t even begun […]
This disc mysteriously showed up in my mailbox one day. I didn’t order it; and no one had contacted me about sending a promo copy. Not really interested in it, I laid it aside and […]
I loved Sami Junnonen’s earlier recording on the Resonus label of Mozart’s Flute Quartets with members of Chamber Domaine. So I was eager to hear him tackle some difficult contemporary flute repertoire. What a striking […]
CBS/Columbia/Epic in the 50s and 60s. I won’t even try to unravel that nest of labels and subsidiaries here, or the reasoning behind such complexity of such arrangements in the first place. But SONY owns […]
The Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia is one of my favorite concert orchestras to watch on YouTube. They present full length concerts in excellent sound and high-quality videography – with expert, knowledgeable camera operators who zoom […]
This may sound like a strange observation, but for me, one of the stars of this show, aside from the composer and the conductor, is the orchestra “leader” (or as non-British orchestras call them, the […]
A fantastic debut album from the fantastic Pacific Quintet. Unity themed, it combines composers from 6 different nationalities, 5 of which correspond to the home countries of the players (Bernstein being the “extra”). The booklet is […]
I have enjoyed many CDs over the years from the Belgian chamber ensemble, Oxalys. On the Fuga Libera label, the Mozart and Ries Flute Quartets are simply glorious. And more recently on Passacaille, entire albums of […]