Chicago Underground Duo
Locus [ Northern Spy / CD ] Locus, the seventh album by the Chicago Underground Duo (Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor), follows on the heels of their acclaimed 2012 Northern Spy release Age of Energy. Bits of breakbeat and Afropop are heard within the jazz, ambient and electronica... |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring / The Firebird / Petrushka (Complete Ballets) The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez [ Deutsche Grammophon Duo / 2 CD - released 10/Apr/2012 ] "Even in these days of super-efficient Rites and Petrushkas, Boulez can still find in these scores many subtle and beautiful details that are lost in the rush or the brilliance of some showier readings, and his precision of ear is audible on page... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Don Quixote / Don Juan Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim [ Warner Classics Maestro / CD - released 7/Apr/2008 ] |
BRAHMS
Four Symphonies / Overtures / Variations on a theme by Haydn Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim [ Warner Classics / 4 CD Box Set - released 7/Mar/2005 ] "These well-played performances provoke modified rapture. […] the orchestral execution is quintessentially Brahmsian, with the conductor cultivating a dark, mellifluous, echt-German sonority, in contrast to the usual chrome-plated American style." (I |
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Cello Concerto / Waldesruhe (Silent woods) Jacqueline du Pre (cello) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim [ Warner Classics Original Jacket Reissues / CD - released 15/Oct/2017 ] "Impressively remastered, spectacular in its realism, with well-defined detail, superb warmth and body, and fine perspective." |
PROKOFIEV / BARTOK / SIBELIUS / WEBERN / STRAVINSKY / etc
James Levine-a celebration in music (4 CDs for a very special price) James Levine conducts the Chicago Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, the Met Orchestra [ DG Collector's Edition / 4 CD - released 16/Jun/2003 ] "It is hard to recognize legends while they are still among us, but rest assured Mr. Levine will be one." The New York Times, 29 April 1996 |
WAGNER
Die Fliegende Hollander (Flying Dutchman) (Complete Opera) Janis Martin, Norman Bailey, Rena Kollo / Chicago Symphony / Sir Georg Solti [ Decca Records / 2 CD - released 11/Aug/2002 ] Solti's monumental recording now remastered |
RAVEL / BIZET / BARTOK / WEBER / NIELSEN / VARESE / etc
Jean Martinon/ Chicago Symphony - Complete recordings Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jean Martinon, with Benny Goodman (clarinet) [ RCA / Sony Classics / 10 CD - released 20/Sep/2016 ] The renowned French conductor Jean Martinon (1910-1976) studied with Charles Munch and Albert Roussel and was also a distinguished composer. His performances, in the words of one of his biographers, "were distinguished by a concern for translucent... |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Requiem / Quattro pezzi sacri Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, Martti Talvela / Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Sir Georg Solti [ Decca Originals / 2 CD - released 11/Nov/2007 ] "Horne is the formidable mezzo, although her singing isn't always lit with inner feeling. The beauty of the youthful Pavarotti's tone is admirable, but he is sometimes restrained by four-square support. Talvela is sonorous but lacks legato.... |
WAGNER
Die Mastersinger von Nurnberg (Complete Opera) Josa van Dam / Herbert Lippert / Karita Mattila / Chicago Symphony / Georg Solti [ Decca Records / 4 CD - released 11/Aug/2002 ] These legendary recordings were made over the entire course of Solti's career with Decca (almost 50 years!) and boast some of the finest Wagnerian performances ever committed to disc. |
Junior Wells' Chicago Blues Band
Hoodoo Man Blues [ Delmark / LP - released 10/Dec/2002 ] |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano) Bernd Weikl (baritone) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra & chorus / Sir George Solti [ Decca / CD - released 20/Aug/2009 ] "Solti also has good soloists: the very reliable Bernd Weikl and the lovely and accomplished Dame Kiri Te Kanawa." (Gramophone) |
BARTOK / BERG / DEBUSSY / NONO / PROKOFIEV / SCHOENBERG / etc
Maurizio Pollini: 20th Century Maurizio Pollini (piano) with Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon / 6 CD Box Set - released 14/Jul/2014 ] From the outset of his recording career, Maurizio Pollini has championed modern music - in benchmark accounts of Bartók, Boulez, Manzoni, Nono, Prokofiev, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Webern, to which can be added his later recordings of Debussy and... |
BARTOK
Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2 / Two Portraits Maurizio Pollini (piano) Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon Grand Prix / CD - released 1/May/2007 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) - A recording of Bartók's demanding concertos that set new standards of precision and clarity in this repertoire. "Virtuosity goes with a sense of spontaneity. The Chicago orchestra,... |
CHOPIN / BEETHOVEN / BACH / LISZT / MOZART / etc
Pogorelich - Complete Recordings Ivo Pogorelich (piano) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon / 14 CD Box Set - released 1/Aug/2015 ] "What matters is not what he can do, for this is only the beginning. What matters is how many ideas occur to him and how much he can demand of the music and of himself. In short, he is an artist who must be taken seriously, a hugely talented pianist... |
LISZT
A Faust Symphony / Dante Symphony / Les Preludes / Prometheus Siegfried Jerusalem (tenor) Chicago Symphony / London Philharmonic / Georg Solti [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 12/Jul/2000 ] A 2-CD set offering Liszt's two powerful and dramatic symphonies. With their vivid "programme" material they make a strong coupling with two of the most famous pieces in the genre of "programme" music: the symphonic poems Les Préludes and Prometheus |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Favourite Overtures [incls 'Ride of the Valkyries'] Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti [ Decca Opera Gala / CD - released 20/Jul/2016 ] Richard Wagner was one of the most revolutionary figures in the history of music, a composer who made pivotal contributions to the development of harmony and musical drama that reverberate even today. Indeed, though Wagner occasionally produced... |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat, op.83 (with Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 23 "Appasionata") Sviatoslav Richter (piano) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Erich Leinsdorf (Recorded 1960 & 1988) [ Sony Classical Originals / CD - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "This is a legendary, visionary statement about the music, to be heard on its own terms." - MusicWeb Sept 2004 |
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / DEBUSSY / RACHMANINOV / PROKOFIEV / etc
Sviatoslav Richter: The Complete Album Collection Sviatoslav Richter (piano) / with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf [ Sony / 18 CD Box Set - released 1/Feb/2015 ] "This is a legendary, visionary statement about the music, to be heard on its own terms." - MusicWeb on the Brahms 2nd |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: The Piano Concertos (complete) / Bagatelles Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti [ Decca Collector's Edition / 3 CD Box Set - released 5/Aug/2013 ] "He is one of those pianists who so often seems to me to sound just right. No gimmicks, the music just speaks as it should . . . innate musicality, impeccable taste." Jed Distler, Gramophone (London) |