NADIA BOULANGER / GABRIEL FAURE / REYNALDO HAHNI
William Youn - Boulanger, Fauré, Hahn William Youn (piano) / Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Valentin Uryupin [ Sony Music / 2 CD - released 8/Mar/2024 ] "Youn's playing throughout is accomplished and stylish, with a full-value orchestral contribution to match." BBC Music |
STRAVINSKY / TCHAIKOVSKY / RACHMANINOV
Sir Simon Rattle conducts Stravinsky, Rachmaninov & Tchaikovsky (rec June 2009) BLU-RAY Yefim Bronfman (piano) / Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic], Sir Simon Rattle [ EuroArts Music Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Feb/2014 ] The famous yearly Berliner Philharmoniker Open-Air concert at the Berlin Waldbühne attended by more than 20,000 people. The atmosphere is unique and unconventionally relaxed. People bring champagne, salmon and caviar, making the Waldbühne a giant... |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 2 (with Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4) [recorded in 1992] Yefim Bronfman (piano) / Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic], Kurt Sanderling [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 22/Dec/2010 ] "The DVD camera lets us watch his mercurial hands in astonishment as well as pleasure...This is among the most revealing accounts available" (Gramophone) |
JOHANNES BRAHMS / W. A. MOZART
Brahms / Mozart: Violin Concertos Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) / Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic], Wolfgang Sawallisch [ Warner Classics Redline / CD - released 15/Oct/2018 ] Two great milestones in the discography of Frank Peter Zimmermann, one of the finest of German violin virtuosi. Graceful elegance marks his Mozart interpretation, while his Brahms is all virtuoso fire and dreamy, romantic rapture. |
BEETHOVEN
Symphony No.9 Karita Mattila, Violeta Urmana, Thomas Moser, Thomas Quasthoff / Eric-Ericson-Kammerchor, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 11/Mar/2002 ] |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Symphonies, Serenades and Overtures Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, with Marjana Lipovsek (contralto) [ Deutsche Grammophon / 5 CD Box Set - released 25/Jul/2014 ] The 5 CD BRAHMS box of Symphonies, Serenades and Overtures, is generally recognized as containing the best modern recordings of his symphonic oeuvre. "Brahms would be the top of my Abbado picks," critic Martin Kettle has written, "partly but not only... |
ELGAR / CARTER / BRUCH
Elgar/Carter/Bruch: Cello Concertos Alisa Weilerstein (cello) / Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim [ Decca Music Group / CD - released 11/Nov/2012 ] RECORDING OF THE YEAR: BBC Music Magazine Awards 2014 BBC Music Magazine Awards 2014 - Concerto WINNER NZ LISTENER BEST CLASSICAL Recordings 2014 |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (complete opera) Andreas Schmidt, Lella Cuberli, Joan Rodgers, John Tomlinson, Cecilia Bartoli / Berlin Philharmonic / Daniel Barenboim [ Erato / Warner The Home of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2017 ] "Everything that Barenboim does provides some sort of illumination of the drama," said Gramophone of this Figaro; "It has something to say, something that arises from deep and serious musical perception." |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Orchestral Works [5 CD set] Anna Tomowa-Sintow (sop) / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan, with Lothar Koch, oboe, & Norbert Hauptmann, horn [ Deutsche Grammophon Collector's Edition / 5 CD Box Set - released 10/Oct/2012 ] Herbert von Karajan's Strauss recordings of the early 1980s, remastered in the 1990s, for the Karajan Gold Edition are a benchmark of lifetime of engagement with the composer in the concert hall and studio, and won unparalleled critical acclaim. |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY / MAURICE RAVEL
Boulez Conducts Debussy and Ravel (6 CDs special price) Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo) Krystian Zimerman (piano) / London Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Symphony, Pierre Boulez [ Deutsche Grammophon / 6 CD Box Set - released 20/Jun/2012 ] "Zimerman's pianism is self-recommending. His trills in the first movement of the G major Concerto are to die for, his passagework in the finale crystalclear, never hectic, always stylish. Boulez and the Clevelanders are immaculate and responsive"... |
MAHLER
Des Knaben Wunderhorn Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Quasthoff / Berlin Philharmonic / Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 9/Sep/2000 ] This, the conductor's first recording of the complete Des Knaben Wunderhorn cycle, made after glowing concerts that made major headlines in the German press |
ANTONIN DVOARK
Dvorak: Violin Concerto / Romance / etc Anne-Sophie Mutter, Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Phiharmonic], Manfred Honeck [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 1/Nov/2013 ] "Whatever your final view of the interpretations, Mutter truly "speaks" through her instrument, and what she says sheds an entirely new light on Dvorák, and repays the closest attention." (10/10 ClassicsToday.com) |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN / MAX BRUCH
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto / Bruch: Violin Concerto No 1 Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin) / Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon The Originals / CD - released 1/Apr/2002 ] "Anne-Sophie Mutter's approach communicates vividly to the listener, creating the feeling of hearing the work anew" Penguin Guide to Compact Discs) |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major / Gaspard de la Nuit / Sonatine Martha Argerich (piano) / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 1/Jan/2000 ] |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphonies 1-10 (complete) Arleen Auger, Janet Baker / City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus & Orchestra / Berlin Philharmonic / Vienna Philharmonic / Simon Rattle [ Warner Classics / 12 CD Box Set - released 4/Aug/2017 ] "There's no doubt that Rattle has inspired all concerned to an achievement which joins his groundbreaking readings of the Third, Seventh and Tenth Symphonies in the Mahlerian heaven." ***** BBC Music Magazine, May 2005, on Mahler 8 |
Berlin
Metro: Greatest Hits [ Cleopatra Records / CD - released 6/Dec/2004 ] Includes their world-wide Number 1 smash hit "Take My Breath Away" (from the movie "Top Gun"), Sex (I'm A), Metro, Masquerade and more. |
Berlin
Pleasure Victim [ Geffen Records / CD - released 19/Mar/1996 ] American imported disc. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Berlin Comedian Harmonists - "Die Liebe kommt, die Liebe geht" Berlin Comedian Harmonists [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 20/Jul/2014 ] A nostalgic trip down memory lane with Germany's most famous and beloved vocal harmony group. |
DVORAK / SMETANA / LISZT
Symphony No 9 / Die Moldau / Les Preludes Berlin Philharmonic / Berlin Radio Symphony / Ferenc Fricsay [ DG The Originals / CD - released 22/Aug/2001 ] DG's originals continue |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4-6 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD - released 26/Mar/2000 ] "The DG Karajan set...remains one of the most attractive bargains in the catalogue, an excellent set with sound that in fullness and vividness" (Gramophone) |