Camille Saint-Saëns was a truly revered composer in mid-19th- and early-20th-century France. A contributor to many genres and to the general French musical renaissance of this time, he was des...więcej »
August Gottfried Ritter (1811-1885) is no household name, but to organists he one of the most significant figures in the history of their instrument; while his three-volume method of playing Kunst ...więcej »
For many Mozart is more ‘perfector’ than ‘innovator’, a composer who drew on an already extant vocabulary to create some of the greatest works in European culture. In this r...więcej »
Throughout his life, Bach remained a passionate composer of sacred cantatas, which underpinned his unshakeable commitment to the Lutheran church. While he also turned his hand to secular cantatas, ...więcej »
When one thinks of Richard Wagner, it is easy to imagine the passion, the soaring melodies and the sheer power of the music written by this revolutionary in the world of 19th-century opera. But the...więcej »
Florentine composer Castelnuovo-Tedesco contributed a vast array of music to the guitar literature, and this engaging release celebrates his output for two guitars, drawing focus to what is perhaps...więcej »
“Open your head”, “light as an egg” and “from the top of your back teeth”: such phrases are only to be found in the scores of the eccentric Erik Satie, a compose...więcej »
Francesco Maria Veracini (1690–1768) was one of the foremost violinists of his time, and he appears to have led a rather adventurous life; travelling a great deal, surviving a fall from the s...więcej »
Called ‘the Andy Warhol of new music’, JacobTV (Jacob ter Veldhuis) has a dynamic and fast-moving career, including a three-day JacobTV festival at the Whitney Museum of America (2007) ...więcej »
This wonderful two-disc set charts the progress of Dvořák’s relationship with the concerto form over the course of his career, from the tentative but beautifully peaceful Piano Concert...więcej »
Mendelssohn’s passion for the organ was due in part to his Lutheran upbringing, but he also owes much to his famous predecessor, J.S. Bach, whose influence is especially felt in the Ostinato ...więcej »
With his new album Rodolfo Pérez brings us a miniature musical history of Mexico through the sound of the guitar, from Sinaloa songs to a seminal work of 20th-century guitar music, the Sonat...więcej »
Today Mascagni is best remembered for his verismo opera Cavalleria rusticana, a work which firmly belongs in many of the greatest opera houses’ core repertory, but his Messa di Gloria –...więcej »
Louise Farrenc was a woman in a man’s world: 19th-century musical Paris. Clara Schumann had previously been the only woman to be praised for her compositions and performances; it was generall...więcej »
One of the most significant musical figures in mid-17th-century Rome, Giacomo Carissimi was a prolific composer of motets and cantatas, who also greatly influenced the developments of the Latin ora...więcej »
A virtuoso pianist of exceptional stature, Beethoven took Vienna by storm upon his arrival in the Austrian capital, eliciting such comments as ‘He isn’t a man, he’s the devil hims...więcej »
Following the critical success of their set devoted to Vivaldi’s Op.6 set of concertos, not to mention earlier albums devoted to more arcane areas of the Red Priest’s output such as con...więcej »
Despite the fact that he came from a modest background, the composer and harpsichordist Jean-Henri d’Anglebert managed to carve out an impressive career for himself in 17th-century Paris, whi...więcej »
Alessandro Stradella led a particularly colourful life worthy of a sumptuous Hollywood costume drama. Born in Nepi in around 1639, he had become a successful composer in Rome by the time he was 20 ...więcej »
Having only survived in the lute tablature known as the London manuscript, the four sonatas for transverse flute and lute assembled here – three by the German Baroque composer Silvius Leopold...więcej »