Classics

Ravel: Five O’Clock Foxtrot / Philharmonia Orchestra

Ravel grew up in Paris during la belle epoque, the thirty-odd years prior to 1914 when Paris was the unquestioned artistic center of the world. The fin de siecle years saw him enter the Paris Conservatoire. He was an immensely gifted youth, and one by one his early compositions began to show a real mastery of conception and execution.

(Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD2160 $14.39

J.S. Bach: Harpsichord Concertos, BWV 1052, 1054, 1055 & 1058

“JS Bach’s seven concertos for solo harpsichord & amp; strings, BWV 1052-1058, occupy a significant place in the history of music, marking as they do the origin of the keyboard concerto genre. Collectively, they encompass the gamut of Baroque rhetorical expression; it is difficult to think of a more diverse, revolutionary and technically refined set of instrumental concertos from the Baroque period”

Andrew Arthur (Signum)

1CD# SIGCD710 $14.39

The London Violin Sound / London PO; Royal PO; Philharmonia Orchestra

A unique demonstration of massed instrumental playing, featuring no less than 48 violinists under the baton of Geoffrey Simon. Three of London’s finest sections drive the concept of the violin ensemble to new heights in these innovative, hugely sonorous treatments of repertoire from Debussy to Gershwin. (Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD2008 $14.39

Falkenberg: The Moons Symphony

International award-winning composer, Amanda Lee Falkenberg has composed a dynamic new work that merges music and science. The seven-movement symphony dramatizes past, present and future moon explorations, and highlights discoveries that have been made in our search for other worlds that could possibly sustain life. (Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD730 $14.39

Signum Titles In Brief

Walton: String Quartet in A Minor –Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 3

Following their successful Dvořák cycle with Signum Records, Albion String Quartet are back with a selection of string quartets by Walton and Shostakovich, recorded in 2021. The concept: to juxtapose two masterpieces written in the same year in the immediate aftermath of war (1946) by composers inhabiting two entirely different social and political worlds in the Soviet Union and Britain respectively. (Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD727 $14.39

Von Bingen: Sacred Chants / Grace Davidson

Grace Davidson presents her third release with Signum Classics, an intimate disc of Sacred Chants by Hildegard von Bingen, translations by Jeremy Summerly. Grace Davidson is a British soprano who specializes first and foremost in the performance and recording of Baroque music. (Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD717 $14.39

The Psalms / Andrew Nethsingha

The Choir of St. John’s have received glowing praise for their previous releases, culminating in the choral prize at the 2017 BBC Music Magazine Awards for their debut release of works by Jonathan Harvey. The Choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge is one of the finest collegiate choirs in the world, known and loved by millions from its broadcasts, concert tours and recordings. (Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD721 $14.39

The Crown: Heroic Arias for Senesino

The countertenor Randall Scotting’s debut album on Signum Records – with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Laurence Cummings – explores repertoire composed for the (in)famous countertenor Senesino, featuring works by composers including Ariosti, Oralandini, Giocomelli and Gaj. (Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD719 $14.39

Vivaldi’s Women – Instrumental & Vocal Sacred Music

La Serenissima explore the sacred works of Vivaldi, many of which were composed for a Venetian institution that cared for unwanted children, which included a talented group of performers (the figlie di coro). (Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD699 $14.39

Beethoven: Violin Concerto – Romances

On his second album with Signum Records, internationally acclaimed violinist Charlie Siem is joined by the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Oleg Caetani to perform works by Beethoven. (Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD704 $14.39

Duparc: The Complete Songs

Malcolm Martineau follows up his acclaimed complete song collections of Poulenc and Faure with an album celebrating the solo songs of Henri Duparc, performed by an acclaimed roster of British singers. (Signum Classics)

1CD# SIGCD715 $14.39

Handel: Caio Fabriccio, HWV A9 [2 CDs]

The conductor and harpsichordist, Bridget Cunningham brings back to life Handel’s pasticcio opera, Caio Fabbricio first performed in London in 1733. (Signum Classics)

2CD# SIGCD713 $20.79

Kapustin: Piano Concerto No. 5, Concerto for 2 Pianos and Percussion

10/10! “This splendid new release confirms the excellent impression made by its predecessors, especially the remarkable disc containing the Fourth Piano Concerto and other orchestral works. Kapustin’s jazzinflected style offers a full range of expressive nuance projected in a consistently kinetic, refreshing and melodically attractive language that is uniquely his own.” – Classics Today (Capriccio)

1CD# C5495 $19.99

Toch, Weill, Krenek & Bartok: 1923

“Go back a hundred years. This album, a dazzling act of creative programming by Bavarian Radio, covers three young composers in hyperinflationary Berlin and a fourth dancing away on the fringes. Howard Arman conducts the Bavarian Radio chorus, Cristian Macelaru the excellent orchestra. If this programme sets any kind of benchmark for 2023, we’re in for a thrilling year.” Lebrecht Weekly (BR Klassik)

1CD# BRK900206 $17.99

Handel: Theodora / Lisette Oropesa; Joyce Didonato [3 CDs]

“This is now the benchmark Theodora; it is optimally cast, dramatically intense and luminously beautiful. Its world-class principles use their fine vocal qualities to deepen their characters. With a precocious band and commanding chorus under Maxis Emelyanychev, the result is spellbinding.” – BBC Music Recording of the Month (Erato)

3CD# MOB177910 $24.99

Arutiunian, Shostakovich & Weinberg: Trumpet Concerto

“Paul Merkelo’s nicely programmed album is a tribute to the great Ukrainian-born trumpet virtuoso Timofei Dokschitzer. Merkulo has made his own edition in conjunction with conductor Hans Graf and piano Jae-Hyuck Cho, using Shostakovich’s original orchestration and adapting Dokschitzer’s arrangement. It still sounds as riotous and high-spirited as before, and Merkelo and company raise the roof at the end.” – Gramophone (Naxos)

1CD# 8579117 $13.99

Weinberger: Piano Music

The international success of Weinberger’s opera Schwanda the Bagpiper in 1927 has obscured a sequence of piano works written when the composer was still in his teens. The Second and Third Piano Sonatas form a commanding pair, both written in 1915 – the former autobiographical, playful and dark – the latter neo-Classical with Francophile elements.”

Classical Music Daily (Grand Piano)

Dvořák: Poetic Tone Pictures, Op. 85 / Leif Ove Andsnes

“It’s no doubt that the Poetic Tone Pictures should be welcomed into the piano repertoire far more than they have up until this point. At the very least, Andsnes does these gems justice with a highly imaginative performance. A delightful listen and an enthusiastic recommendation.”

– The Classic Review (Sony)

1CD# 19439912092 $13.99

Beethoven & Stravinsky: Violin Concertos / Vilde Frang

“Frang’s exquisite tonal subtlety and enhanced range of dynamics allows her to weave in and out of Beethoven’s carefully graded orchestral textures, with a profound sense of listening and responding to everything going on around her. This is arguably Frang’s finest disc since her sensational Sibelius/Prokofiev debut.” – BBC Music (Warner Classics)

1CD# MOB677403 $18.99

Mahler 4 / Camerata Gala

“Mahler’s 4th Symphony and the lieder of Des knaben Wunderhorn are symphonic scores with a hue similar to that which can be found in chamber music. This is due to the fact that Mahler’s orchestration is not too dense. Domínguez-Nieto’s conception of the work, recorded here for the first time, exploits, with utmost respect for the composer’s original orchestration.”

– Classical Music Daily (IBS)

1CD# IBS-142022 $15.99

Santoro: Symphonies Nos. 11 & 12 / Neil Thomson; Goiás PO

“Claudio Santoro’s music always seems to grab the listener by the throat. The Concerto grosso is one of a number of hugely impressive works from his final decade and provides an attractive and intriguing mixture of conventional writing and flashes of the cluster-laden periods of the past. These impressive and rarely heard works are all played with absolute conviction and panache...” – Gramophone (Naxos)

1CD# 8574406 $13.99

Coleridge-Taylor: Piano Trio, Nonet, Piano Quintet

“With so many works recorded multiple times by established peformers, it’s wonderful to be acquianted with an unknown composer in general, and particularly with his seldom-played works. This album includes Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s early chamber works that show tremendous vigor and originalist. The players of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective rise to the occasion.” – The Classic Review (Chandos)

1CD# CHAN 20242 $18.99

1CD# GP887 $16.99