Search Results: alpha
Displaying items 1 to 40 of 549
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto, Bacchanale & Symphony No. 1 Astrig Siranossian (cello), Philharmonie Südwestfalen; Nabil Shehata [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Oct/2021 ] The year 2021 marks the centenary of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns, the French pianist, organist, critic and great Romantic composer. The cellist Astrig Siranossian, whose tribute album to Nadia Boulanger (Dear Mademoiselle, ALPHA635) recently... |
PROKOFIEV / SAIDAMINOVA / RAVEL
Shadows of My Ancestors Behzod Abduraimov (piano) [ Alpha / CD - released 12/Jan/2024 ] "Throughout this release, one consistently gets caught up in Abduraimov's gorgeous and focused sonority, his rock-solid rhythm." Gramophone Recording of the Month February 2024 |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: String Sextets Belcea Quartet, Tabea Zimmermann, Jean-Guihen Queyras [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 11/Mar/2022 ] BBC Music AWARD NOMINATION 2023 - CHAMBER |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
La Tarantella Christina Pluhar, L' Arpeggiata, Marco Beasley, Lucilla Galeazzi [ Alpha / CD - released 4/Nov/2002 ] Traditional music from the Kingdom of Naples. In 1630 a strange disease called "Tarantism" struck Italy. It was attributed to a spider's bite with alternating symptoms of exaltation and prostration. Tarantella are enchanting songs and dances meant... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
So Romantique! Cyrille Dubois (tenor) / Orchestre National de Lille; Pierre Dumoussaud [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 10/Mar/2023 ] "The album is a treasury of rarely heard (and previously unheard) music...Dubois handles them all with intelligence, finesse and flair, singing with perfect native French diction." Opera |
TONU KORVITS / ULO KRIGUL / HELENA TULVE / TAUNO AINTS / LEPO SUMERA
Estonian Premieres Estonian Festival Orchestra; Paavo Järvi [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 10/Jun/2022 ] After two recordings released on Alpha Classics (including a monograph devoted to Erkki-Sven Tüür - ALPHA595 - that won a Diapason d'Or in 2020), the Estonian Festival Orchestra and Paavo Järvi present six works by five internationally renowned... |
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn 2032, Vol. 13: Horn Signal Giovanni Antonini; Il Giardino Armonico [ Alpha / CD - released 27/Jan/2023 ] "As always, Antonini coaxes first-class performances from the members of Il Giardino Armonico." BBC Music Orchestral Choice March 2023 |
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn 2032, Vol. 12: Les jeux et les plaisirs Giovanni Antonini; Kammerorchester Basel [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Jul/2022 ] The twelfth volume in the Haydn2032 series, in which Giovanni Antonini conducts the Kammerorchester Basel, is devoted to 'games and pleasures'. The symphonies, recorded here, were composed for the daily theatrical performances held at Eszterháza. |
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn 2032, Vol. 14: L'impériale Basel Chamber Orchestra, Giovanni Antonini [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Sep/2023 ] The fourteenth volume of the Haydn2032 edition is entitled L'Imperiale, after the nickname given to Symphony no.53 in the nineteenth century. This was perhaps Haydn's most famous symphony during his lifetime. Premiered in the theatre at Eszterhaza... |
JEAN-BAPTISTE QUENTIN / ARCANGELO CORELLI
Corelli & Quentin: Flute Sonatas Jean Rondeau (early keyboard instruments), Anna Besson, Myriam Rignol [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 22/Mar/2024 ] In 1700, Corelli published his 12 violin sonatas, Opus 5, in Rome. A veritable revolution in violin technique, they won the admiration of eminent composers (Bach, Dandrieu, Couperin) and greatly influenced the French (Francoeur, Leclair, Senaille,... |
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Rameau: Zoroastre 1749 Jodie Devos (Amélite), Véronique Gens (Erinice), Reinoud Van Mechelen (Zoroastre), Tassis Christoyannis (Abramane), Chœur de Chambre de Namur [ Alpha Classics / 3 CD - released 4/Nov/2022 ] Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) left two very different versions of his tragédie en musique Zoroastre: the first, in 1749, received a lukewarm reception and the work was withdrawn from the repertory. Rameau gave it a thorough revision in 1756. At... |
MASSE / MEYERBEER / HALVEY / THOMAS / ADAM / etc
Jodie Devos - Bijoux Perdus Jodie Devos (soprano) / Brussels Philharmonic; Pierre Bleuse [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 23/Sep/2022 ] "Devos is again wonderful. Her warm voice comes flying out of the grooves, and one can sit back and just revel in it. The orchestra is idiomatically led by Pierre Bleuse. Alpha provides a warm and balanced acoustic." Fanfare |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: Colorature Jodie Devos (soprano) / Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Laurent Campellone [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Feb/2019 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 TOP THREE - Recital |
SCHUBERT
Schubert: Schwanengesang & String Quintet Julian Prégardien; Martin Helmchen; Christian Tetzlaff; Florian Donderer; Rachel Roberts; Tanja Tetzlaff; Marie-Elisabeth Hecker [ Alpha Classics / 2 CD - released 10/Sep/2021 ] Here are two works composed by Schubert at the very end of his short life. Schwanengesang (Swansong) was written in Vienna in the autumn of 1828. He died on 19 November at the age of thirty-one, and Die Taubenpost (Pigeon post), which closes the... |
J.S. BACH
Bach Inspiration Juliette Hurel (flute), Mailys de Villoutreys (soprano), Ensemble Les Surprises [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 23/Mar/2018 ] After a Mozart release with the Quatuor Voce, Juliette Hurel has devised a programme focusing on Bach, featuring two staples of the flute repertoire: the Suite for orchestra no.2 with its famous Badinerie and the Partita for solo flute, his only work... |
MONTEVERDI / SCARLATTI / HANDEL / MONARI
Kate Lindsey: Tiranno Kate Lindsey (soprano) / Arcangelo; Jonathan Cohen [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 20/Aug/2021 ] "This is perfect ground for Lindsey and Cohen, both extremely accomplished and transformative performers of Baroque music...Her extraordinary vocal evocations are complemented throughout by the subtle and inflected playing of the Arcangelo group" BBC |
CARL MARIA VON WEBER
Weber: Overtures / Konzertstück in F minor / Arias Martin Helmchen; Anna Prohaska; Konzerthausorchester Berlin; Christoph Eschenbach [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 28/May/2021 ] 200 years ago, on May 26th 1821, today's Berlin Concert Hall was inaugurated as "Königliches Schauspielhaus". Destroyed as "Preußisches Staatstheater" during World War II, the building, located in eastern Berlin, was rebuilt during GDR times and... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Requiem (LP) Simone Kermes, Stephanie Houtzeel, Markus Brutscher / MusicAeterna / New Siberian Singers, Teodor Currentzis [ Alpha Classics / 2 LP - released 23/Aug/2019 ] Mozart's Requiem is a supreme masterpiece of the history of music and a work inextricably bound up with the Mozartian legend. Now Alpha's recording of it under the direction of Teodor Currentzis is given a new lease of life in a vinyl reissue. A... |
ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 Paavo Järvi, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 25/Aug/2023 ] Anton Bruckner called his Symphony no.8 in C minor a 'mystery'; others have seen it as an 'apocalyptic' work. For Paavo Jarvi, it is the composer's 'most unusual symphony' and the 'pinnacle' of his symphonic output. In the history of the... |
LEOS JANACEK / JOHANNES BRAHMS / BELA BARTOK
Janáček - Brahms - Bartók: Violin sonatas Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Fazıl Say (piano) [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 6/Jan/2023 ] "Every phrase [of the Bartók] is sharply characterised - as well as powerfully gestural - and their playing is as volatile as the music itself." Gramophone Editor's Choice Feb 2023 |
SCHUMANN / DEBUSSY / WOLFE / POULENC / etc
Chimère Sandrine Piau (soprano) Susan Manoff (piano) [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 20/Apr/2018 ] "Piau's is a voice that can bloom sensuously at the top, and which she controls exquisitely...this is one of the most fascinating, satisfying and moving recital discs to have come my way for some time. It's beautifully recorded too." Gramophone |
SAINT-SAENS / FAURE / BERLIOZ / MASSENET etc
Sandrine Piau - Si j'ai aimé Sandrine Piau (soprano) / Le Concert de la Loge, Julien Chauvin [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 24/May/2019 ] Gramophone Awards 2020 WINNER - Recital BBC Music Award Finalist 2020 |
FRANZ LISZT / FRANZ SCHUBERT / CLARA SCHUMANN / LILI BOULANGER
Voyage Intime Sandrine Piau (soprano) David Kadouch (piano) [ Alpha / CD - released 10/Feb/2023 ] Sandrine Piau and the pianist David Kadouch have formed a new duo whose first concerts have been enthusiastically received. As is her wont, the French soprano enjoys intermingling languages and the worlds of different composers and poets around a... |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 & Francesca Da Ramini Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Paavo Järvi (cond) [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 13/Nov/2020 ] Paavo Järvi, Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich since October 2019, here launches a complete recording of Tchaikovsky's symphonies, the first in both his rich discography and that of the Swiss orchestra: 'When I... |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3 "Polish" / Polonaise from "Eugene Onegin" / Festival Coronation March Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Paavo Järvi [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 13/May/2022 ] With this final volume of their Tchaikovsky cycle, Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich complete their exploration of the Russian composer's symphonies. Symphony No. 3, also known as the "Polonaise" (1875) |
MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER
Charpentier: Médée Véronique Gens, Cyrille Dubois, Judith van Wanroij, Thomas Dolié, David Witczak Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet [ Alpha Classics / 3 CD - released 22/Mar/2024 ] Médée, a tragedy in a prologue and five acts on a libretto by Thomas Corneille, was Marc-Antoine Charpentier's first and last collaboration with the Académie Royale de Musique. The work was premiered on 4 December 1693, when Charpentier was exactly... |
LULLY / CHARPENTIER / DESMARETS
Véronique Gens - Passion Véronique Gens; Ensemble Les Surprises; Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 27/Aug/2021 ] "Gens is in thrilling voice. She has the knack - harder, surely, in miscellaneous pieces than in a complete opera - of instantly getting to the heart of a character…Warmly recommended." Gramophone Award Finalist 2022 |
BRUNEAU / FRANCK / GODARD / MASSENET / BIZET / etc
Véronique Gens - Visions Véronique Gens (soprano), Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Hervé Niquet [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 23/Jun/2017 ] "Gens and Niquet throw themselves into all this with an engrossing mix of abandon and restraint. Gens's trademark combination of purity of utterance and smoky tone speaks volumes." Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice, July 2017 |
COPLAND / VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / BRITTEN / BARBER etc
Long Time Ago Adèle Charvet, Susan Manoff [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] The young mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet has already attracted attention in the opera house, but she is also passionately interested in the song repertory. For her first album, she has devised a very personal programme, deriving in part from her musical... |
Alfa Mist
Bring Backs (LP) [ Anti- / LP - released 7/May/2021 ] Bring Backs marks Alfa's first release for the label ANTI- and is also the most detailed exploration of his upbringing in musical form. The album's nine tracks of groove-based intricacies, lyrical solipsism and meandering fragmentations are tied... |
JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn 2032: Die Schöpfung (complete oratorio) Anna Lucia Richter; Florian Boesch; Giovanni Antonini; Il Giardino Armonico; Maximilian Schmitt; Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks [ Alpha Classics / 2 CD - released 9/Oct/2020 ] GRAMOPHONE Award Nomination 2021 - Choral |
BERIO / BERG / GERSHWIN
Berio / Berg / Gershwin: Crazy Girl Crazy Barbara Hannigan, Ludwig Orchestra & film directed by Mathieu Amalric [ Alpha Classics / CD/DVD - released 29/Sep/2017 ] 2018 Grammy Winner - Best Classical Solo Vocal Album |
JANACEK / LIGETI
Janácek & Ligeti, Quartets Belcea Quartet [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 19/Apr/2019 ] Formed in 1994 at the Royal College of Music in London, the Belcea Quartet already has an impressive discography, including the complete Beethoven string quartets (ALPHAxxx). For this new recording, the ensemble has chosen three quartets by two... |
Bloc Party
Alpha Games [ BMG / ADA / CD - released 29/Apr/2022 ] Bloc Party return with Alpha Games, their first new album since 2016's Hymns. Alpha Games, produced by Nick Launay & Adam Greenspan (Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, IDLES), includes new single 'Traps', which sees the band returning to the raucous,... |
Bloc Party
Alpha Games (Indie Vinyl LP) [ BMG / ADA / LP - released 29/Apr/2022 ] Bloc Party return with Alpha Games, their first new album since 2016's Hymns. Alpha Games, produced by Nick Launay & Adam Greenspan (Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, IDLES), includes new single 'Traps', which sees the band returning to the raucous,... |
JEAN-BAPTISTE LULLY
Lully: Armide 1778 (complete opera) Chantal Santon Jeffery, Katherine Watson, Véronique Gens, Tassis Christoyannis / Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet [ Alpha Classics / 2 CD/Book - released 28/Aug/2020 ] Recording of the Month - BBC Music Magazine, November 2020 |
DVORAK / GRIEG / BRAHMS
Dvorak / Grieg / Brahms: Music for Piano, Four hands Claire Chevallier, Jos Van Immerseel (piano Bechstein 1870) [ Alpha / CD - released 1/Apr/2017 ] Jos van Immerseel and Claire Chevallier have enjoyed a close collaboration for many years now. Like Jos van Immerseel, Claire Chevallier loves period pianos; like him, she is a researcher and possesses her own collection of keyboard... |
NINO ROTA
Rota: Chamber Music Daishin Kashimoto; Emmanuel Pahud; Éric Le Sage; Aurélien Pascal; Paul Meyer; François Meyer; Various Artists [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 9/Jul/2021 ] Nino Rota was not only the man who wrote film scores for Fellini (La strada etc), René Clément and King Vidor. He was also a twentieth-century great composer. A child prodigy, he studied in America with Fritz Reiner, crossed paths with Toscanini,... |
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Schumann: Quartets Nos 2 & 3 Elias String Quartet [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 1/Aug/2018 ] "The A major Quartet is, to my ears, the jewel of the set, and the Elias play it with profound tenderness." Gramophone Editor's Choice May 2018 |
HINDEMITH / BERG / CHAUSSON / SCHOENBERG
Infinite Voyage Barbara Hannigan (soloist), Bertrand Chamayou (piano) Emerson String Quartet [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Sep/2023 ] "..It's all wonderfully played, with the group favouring a Romantic view of the Berg and Schoenberg. The highlights, though, are the lesser known pieces: Hindemith's Melancholie and Chausson's brief, beautiful Chanson Perpétuelle." NZ Listener |
