Alexander Scriabin – Symphonies Nos 3 & 4 – London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:57 minutes | 1,21 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: hyperion-records.co.uk | Digital booklet | @ LSO Live
Recorded live in DSD 128fs, at the Barbican, London; Symphony No 3 recorded 13 April 2014; Symphony No 4 recorded 30 March 2014.

Valery Gergiev conducts revelatory performances of Scriabin’s Symphony No 3 ‘The Divine Poem’ and Symphony No 4 ‘The Poem of Ecstasy’. This marks the first in a new cycle of Scriabin symphonies, and one of the most significant of all Valery Gergiev’s projects with the London Symphony Orchestra, released during his final tenure as LSO Principal Conductor. Anyone with musical curiosity will welcome the chance to explore such an idiosyncratic composer.

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Schumann, Debussy, Bartok – Piano Duos II – Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 59:02 minutes | 504 MB  | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download  | Source: HDTracks | @ Peral Music

The record captures Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich in an unforgettable live performance during the summer of 2015 at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Debussy’s En blanc et noir, Schumann’s Six Studies in Canon Form, and – with members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra – Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion were featured on the duo recital program.

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Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 3, Faust Overture – New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer (1969/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:32 minutes | 986 MB  | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download  | Source: HDTracks | @ EMI Classics
Recorded: Abbey Road Studio No 1, London, February 1969

This must-have recording features the collaborative efforts of conductor Otto Klemperer and the New Philharmonia Orchestra. Klemperer showcases all his talents and proves why he is widely considered one of the leading conductors of the 20th century. The ensemble performs Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 in E Flat Major, Op.97 ‘Rhenish’ with rich dynamics.

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Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 1, Manfred Overture – New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer (1965/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:09 minutes | 954 MB  | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download  | Source: He-onkyo | @ EMI Classics
Recorded: Abbey Road Studio No 1, London, October 1965

Otto Klemperer was born on 14th May 1885 in Breslau, Silesia (now Wroclaw, Poland) and died on 6th July 1973 in Zurich and hence next year we mark 40 years since his passing. Although disfigured by a stroke suffered whilst a brain tumour was being removed he became a world-renowned conductor whose recordings became and remain touchstones for the EMI catalogue.

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Ros: Songs of Christmas – Det Norske Solistkor, Grete Pedersen (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 52:30 minutes | 860 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: eClassical | Digital Booklet | @ BIS Records
Recorded: April 2013 at Ris Kirke, Oslo, Norway

“The performances are all sublime, the arrangements equally so, the recording everything you would expect from this source…” musicweb-international.com, 11/2013

“A superb release.” International Record Review 12/2013

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Rodrigo, Borne, Ibert – Bridge across the Pyrenees – Sharon Bezaly, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, John Neschling (2006)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 56:50 minutes | 488 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: eClassical | Digital Booklet | @ BIS Records
Recorded: July 2005 at the Sala São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Separated by the Pyrenees, the musical milieus of Spain and France have sometimes been like oil and water – or maybe like oil and wine. It took Bizet’s opera Carmen to open the ears of the French to the Spanish rhythms and inflections which were to become so important to so many composers after him, from Debussy to Ibert. On the present disc, Carmen – in the guise of Borne’s Fantaisie brillante – plays a similar role, creating a bridge between Rodrigo’s Concierto pastoral and Ibert’s Flute Concerto, two of last century’s main concertante works for the flute. Soloist Sharon Bezaly will hardly need a closer presentation after her highly praised recordings of the past couple of years. Her recital with pianist Ronald Brautigam (BIS-SACD-1429) and her recording of Mozart’s concertos (BIS-SACD-153901) have garnered such high praise and so many distinctions that it would be impossible to list them – suffice it to say that the reviewers have called her ‘a sorceress of timbres’, ‘God’s gift to the flute’, ‘a First Lady among equals’ and a ‘graceful Mozartean, with limpid tone, an impish sense of humour, and sometimes staggering breath control.’ The present recording was made with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and conductor John Neschling, whose performances of the music of Brazilian composers Guarnieri, Mignone, Braga and Santoro have been praised for their vitality, rhythmic vigour and wide range of colours – all qualities that should be just the thing for building a bridge across the Pyrenees.

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Maurice Ravel – Bolero, Rapsodie Espagnole, La Valse – Societe du Conservatoire Paris, Andre Cluytens (1962/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 43:31 minutes | 897 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | @ Warner Classics/Erato

Conductor: Andre Cluytens
Orchestra: Orchestre De La Societe Des Concerts Du Conservatoire
(In Stereo)
Renowned conductor Andre Cluytens commands the Orchestre De La Societe Des Concerts Du Conservatoire through treasured orchestral works by Ravel. It is a winning display, setting the precedence of orchestral virtuosity. The exciting performances glisten with refined clarity, warmth and pure sonic impact. Cluytens’ interpretations showcase his sophistication and finesse. These definitive readings remain unmatched.

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