"Reports of Gilbert's debut in mid-September, televised nationally on PBS, drew mixed responses, but I had a decidedly positive experience at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall last Saturday night, when the conductor led an intriguing program. It started with a work written by the Philharmonic's new, Finnish-born composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg (his appointment was an immediate sign of Gilbert's intentions in New York). Titled "EXPO," the piece was commissioned by the orchestra and premiered at the season-opening gala. It wouldn't have been at all unusual had that been its only outing, since lots of orchestra routinely give limited exposure to new music, so it was doubly impressive to see Gilbert bring it back a few weeks later for the regular subscription crowd." Baltimore Sun on EXPO premiere (2009)

PURCHASE TITLE AT AMAZON.COM

Released for the first time on DVD, this concert is the last in Sir Georg Solti and his beloved CSO’s European tour in 1985. Solti himself wrote, “My term as musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was the happiest time in my professional life.” The program on this DVD features Mozart’s Symphony No.39, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4, and an encore of Fêtes from Debussy’s Nocturnes–all performed with the flair, passion and majestic artistry for which Solti was famed.

PURCHASE TITLE AT ARKIVMUSIC.COM

Three weeks after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Shostakovich volunteered with the Home Guard in Leningrad.  As the siege of the city intensified, he worked on his Seventh Symphony, completing three movements before being forced to leave Leningrad and travel east by train. The work was completed in December that year. Initially he gave each movement a programmatic title, but later withdrew them, leaving this epic work as an emblem of heroic defiance in the face of conflict and crisis: ‘I dedicate my Seventh Symphony to our struggle against fascism, to our coming victory over the enemy, to my native city, Leningrad.’

PURCHASE TITLE AT ARKIVMUSIC.COM

Internationally renowned tenor Piotr Beczala celebrates the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth with a collection of highlights that include the roles in which he has for years been acclaimed on the world’s great operatic stages. This new CD with the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra offers rarities and arias that were groundbreaking at the time.

PURCHASE TITLE AT ARKIVMUSIC.COM

In this anniversary year, Brilliant Classics is proud to release a substantial collection on 11 CDs of this great and unjustly neglected composer. This set presents Reger’s best-known works: the glorious orchestral Böcklin Suite, the Mozart‐, Beethoven‐ and Hiller Variations, the mighty piano concerto and violin concerto, the beautiful clarinet quintet, the complete Chorale Fantasias for organ (Reger wrote extensively and superbly for his instrument) and a fine selection of choral works.   

PURCHASE TITLE AT ARKIVMUSIC.COM

Paul Taylor, among the last living members of the second generation of America’s modern dance artists, is widely considered to be one of the foremost American choreographers of the 20th century. This program recorded in 2012 at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris is composed of two ballets – Brandenburgs, set to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, and Beloved Renegadem set to Poulenc’s Gloria and inspired by the life and work of Walt Whitman.

PURCHASE TITLE AT ARKIVMUSIC.COM

Lost Tapes: German Recordings 1952-1955
Jutta Hipp; Franz “Shorty” Roeder; Karl Sanner; Hans Koller; Albert Mangelsdorff
JazzHaus 101723

A redhead with striking good looks, hypersensitive and outrageously talented – Jutta Hipp quickly became an object of attention in the early 1950s. She got to know all the jazz pioneers of the day: Emil and Albert Mangelsdorff, Joki Freund – and above all Hans Koller, whose admiration of Lester Young had a profound influence on her own performance style.

PURCHASE TITLE AT AMAZON.COM

Also Available:
Hipp: Lost Tapes – German Recordings 1952-1955 (Vinyl) (101721 JazzHaus)
Zoot Sims: Lost Tapes – Baden-Baden June 23, 1958 (JazzHaus CD: 101710, Vinyl: 101715)

The LPO label presents their second recording of Jurowski’s Mahler symphony recordings. Their recording of Symphony No. 2 was met with great acclaim and proved to be one of the LPO’s best-selling recordings. This release also includes the Symphony’s original second movement entitled “Blumine.”

PURCHASE TITLE AT AMAZON.COM

Also Available:
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 Resurrection (LPO LPO-0054)