RICHARD STRAUSS
Fritz Reiner conducts Richard Strauss (5 CDs) Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, with Antonio Janiqro (cello) Bryon janis (piano) Inqu Borkh (soprano) [ Sony Classical Masters / 5 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2011 ] "These were the first stereo sessions the RCA engineers arranged with Fritz Reiner. The RCA recording team 'got it right' from the very beginning. Reiner achieves an admirable balance and whatever he does is convincing." Rosette (Penguin Stereo Guide) |
CARL NIELSEN / JEAN SIBELIUS
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Nielsen Cho-Liang Lin (violin) / Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philharmonia Orchestra [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2017 ] The second core cycle of symphonic works in this Masters Series comes from the 20th century. The six masterful symphonies by Nielsen with the Swedish Radio Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, "performances of great thrust and unflagging energy,... |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Tchaikovsky: The 6 Symphonies / The Nutcracker Suite / Romeo and Juliet / The Tempest / etc Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2011 ] "Romeo & Juliet played by Chicago SO is one of the most exciting and powerfully moving accounts on record, and the sound is sumptuous and every part of the score is articulated and vividly captured." 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before... |
ANTONIN DVOARK / BEDRICH SMETANA
George Szell conducts Dvorak & Smetana The Cleveland Orchestra, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York, George Szell [ Sony Classical Masters / 7 CD Box Set - released 5/Jun/2019 ] "George Szell's Dvorák performances feature his customary blend of razor sharp orchestral discipline allied to a wholly idiomatic, singing line..Indispensable!" ClassicsToday Dvorak Symphonies |
GEORGE GERSHWIN
Gershwin: An American in Paris / Rhapsody in Blue (with works by Bernstein) Columbia Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (piano/conductor) [ Sony Classical Masters / CD - released 20/May/2011 ] "Mr. Bernstein is not only brilliant where brilliance is called for but he is supremely affectionate in the improvisatory passages and gives the impression of thoroughly enjoying himself, one that is by no means common." (Gramophone on Rhapsody in Blue) |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: James Levine Conducts Brahms Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, James Levine [ Sony Classical Masters / 4 CD - released 4/Apr/2011 ] "It goes almost without saying that the playing of the Chicago orchestra is superb, and in the outer movements at least Levine's vivid sense of drama and concentrated control of structure are again most compelling." (Gramophone on Symphony No 3) |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Glenn Gould plays Beethoven [6 CD set] Glenn Gould, piano [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2011 ] "Gould had a distinctive range of personae where the Beethoven was concerned. (his 3rd is a) studiously intense, intimately scaled studio recording Gould made with Leonard Bernstein in 1959." (Gramophone on the 3rd piano Concerto) |
J. S. BACH
Glenn Gould - The Bach Box (The Remastered Columbia Recordings) Glenn Gould (piano) [ Sony Classical Masters / 30 CD Box Set - released 7/Aug/2020 ] This stunning set is packed in a cube-shaped box and includes facsimile LP and CD Sleeves, a 240 page hardcover book featuring complete original liner notes (many penned by Gould himself) and an introductory essay by Michael Stegemann. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: 6 String Quartets dedicated to Haydn / String Quintets Guarneri Quartet, with Ida Kavafian & Kim Kashkashian (violas) [ Sony / RCA Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 1/Jun/2012 ] "The E flat major Quartet has a high seriousness that the Guarneri rightly bring out without, I think, overloading the music...The Guarneri bring plenty of vigour and weight to the more boisterous Hunt Quartet." (original Gramophone review) |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Pinchas Zukerman plays Vivaldi Pinchas Zukerman (violin & conductor) with Isaac Stern (violin) / Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic [ Sony RCA Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 25/Jul/2018 ] Violinist-conductor Pinchas Zukerman recorded many of Vivaldi's best-loved concertos for CBS/Sony, with the English Chamber Orchestra in the 1970s and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the 1980s, when he served as that ensemble's music director and... |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Igor Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky - Symphonies and concertos [3 CD set] Isaac Stern (violin) Benny Goodman (clarinet) Charles Rosen, Philippe Entremont (piano) / CBC Symphony Orchestra, Columbia Symphony Orchest [ Sony Classical Masters / 3 CD Box Set - released 26/Jan/2016 ] Hearing a composer conduct their own work offers a fascinating interpretive insight into their oeuvre, all the greater when the composer in question is one of the biggest and most-influential names in 20th century music, Igor Stravinsky. |
FRANZ LISZT
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta [ Sony Classical Masters / CD - released 7/Nov/2011 ] "This 1989 performance of the Hungarian Rhapsodies that Liszt (and his assistants) orchestrated has stunning sonics; Mehta conjures highly idiomatic performances out of the Israel Phil." BBC Music |
MERCADANTE / MOZART / DEVIENNE / CIMAROSA / BACH / VIVALDI / etc
James Galway plays Flute Concertos [12 CD set] James Galway (flute) / I Solisti Veneti, Claudio Scimone / The Academy of St Martins in the Fields. Sir Neville Marriner, with Marisa Robles (harp) [ Sony Classical Masters / 12 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2011 ] The Man With the Golden Flute, Sir James Galway, is featured in these classic recordings, with harpist Marisa Robles and clarinetist Sabine Meyer. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Jascha Heifetz plays Beethoven [7 CD set] Jascha Heifetz (violin) with Arthur Rubinstein (piano), Emanuel Feuermann (cello) William Primrose (viola), Gregor Piatigorsky (cello) [ Sony Classical Masters / 7 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2012 ] "Heifetz gives an altogether admirable performance of the Beethoven, alike assured and restrained; and he is sensitively accompanied by the Boston orchestra." (Gramophone) |
BRAHMS / BACH / BRUCH / MOZART / PROKOFIEV / ROZSA / etc
Jascha Heifetz plays Great Violin Concertos [6 CD set] Jascha Heifetz (violin) with Erick Friedman (violin), Gregor Piatigorsky (cello) & William Primrose (viola) [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2011 ] This new compilation assembles violinist Jascha Heifetz's landmark stereo recordings of some of the greatest violin concertos with an equally distinguished selection of guest artists including legendary cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, Sir Malcolm Sargent... |
MOZART / VIVALDI / BOLLING / TELEMANN / HAYDN / BACH FAMILY / etc
Jean-Pierre Rampal - The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings Jean-Pierre Rampal (flute) with Maurice Andre, Claude Bolling, Placido Domingo, Kathleen Battle, Juilliard String Quartet, English Chamber Orchestra [ Sony Classical Masters / 56 CD Box Set - released 10/Dec/2021 ] The most comprehensive boxed sets ever to feature the recordings of the great master of the flute: Jean-Pierre Rampal. |
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Leonard Bernstein conducts Bernstein [7 CD set] John Bogart (alto) Zino Francescatti (violin) Benny Goodman (clarinet) / New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein [ Sony Classical Masters / 7 CD Box Set - released 1/Sep/2011 ] Leonard Bernstein was perhaps the most influential figure in classical music in the last half of the twentieth century. Composer, conductor, author, lecturer and often controversial media personality, the American-born Bernstein had a dramatic impact... |
PROKOFIEV
Erich Leinsdorf conducts Prokofiev [6 CD set] John Browning (piano) Erick Friedman (violin) / Boston Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf [ Sony Classical Masters / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/May/2011 ] "All the hard work RCA have put in on their methods of recording the Boston Symphony seems to have been well worth while. The orchestral sound is splendidly solid but not thick, with excellent internal balance and a very full dynamic range." Gramophone |
W. A. MOZART
Eugene Ormandy conducts Mozart Wind Concertos John de Lancie (ob) Bernard Garfield (bassoon) William Kincaid (fl) Anthony Gigliotti (clar) Mason Jones (horn) / Philadelphia Orch., Eugene Ormandy [ Sony / RCA Classical Masters / 3 CD Box Set - released 26/May/2017 ] Rarely thought of as a Mozart conductor, Eugene Ormandy made delightful recordings of all the wind and brass concertos with his "Fabulous Philadelphians" between 1957 and 1962. Known best for its sumptuous strings, the Philadelphia Orchestra has also... |
ALBENIZ / GRANADOS
Spanish Guitar Music John Williams (guitar) [ Sony Classical Masters / CD - released 17/Jun/2011 ] While he is admired for his performances of the standard works for the guitar, John Williams has explored many different musical traditions outside the classical tradition. |