Brilliant Classics

The most beautiful vocal classics. Artists include Jussi Bjorling, Maria Callas, Enrico Caruso, Lynn Dawson, Stephen Cleobury....

One of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century, Dmitri Shostakovich's output includes symphonies, concertos, operas and film scores, among others. With his career constantly hampered by political intervention and the social pressures of Stalin's Soviet Union, the Russian Maestro's works are now considered to go some way to providing a...

After studying composition at the Conservatory Santa Cecilia in Rome, Marco Frisina enrolled at a theological college, and was ordained as a priest in 1982. He carries out his ministry in Rome, where he founded and directs the Choir of the Diocese of Rome, which he recently took on tour to the USA. In addition to his sacred vocal works, Frisina has...

The second 2CD volume of Respighi's orchestral music (of a projected four from the Rome orchestra) focuses on the concerto form, and on Respighi's relationship with early music. He was a pioneer in this field, and applied Renaissance rhythms and harmonies to the vocabulary and instrumentation of Richard Strauss's idiom, both in small (Antique Airs...

This collection brings together guitar preludes by Asafiev and Ponce, and includes world premiere recordings of Badings's 12 Preludes, Sauget's 3 Preludes and Farkas's Exercitium Tonale. Despite their very different styles, these composers are all linked together by a single trait: none of them were guitarists.Originally bemoaned by patron Andrés...

Young Italian composer Giovanni Albini has an impressive résumé. After gaining full marks in his Composition degree at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, he later obtained a Masters degree, as well as a BS and MS in Mathematics, and a Diploma in Classical Guitar. Much of his work has been for digital media and his theoretical research...