Brilliant Classics

Dividing his time in the 1830s between Paris and Berlin, renowned German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer was considered the father of the Grand Opéra thanks to his skilful combination of elements of both the German and Italian opera traditions. After a string of unsuccessful attempts at Singspiel, he finally hit the jackpot with his opera Il crociato in...

This is a very recent recording of one of Mozart's early operas. For this work 11 year old (!) Mozart used a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The text by Father Widl is in Latin.A delightful piece which is testimony of Mozart's early maturity. Of course it is outranked by far by his later operas and probably therefore rarely heard.Inspired...

For a collection of small nations at the northern fringe of Europe, Scandinavia produced in a relatively short space of time a remarkable quantity of great musicians -- including from the late classical and early periods Berwald, Pacius and Crusell, to Gade, Svendsen ,Sinding and Grieg in the mid 19th, and of course Sibelius, Nielsen, Laangaard and...

First performed in 1917 in Munich (conducted by Bruno Walter), Pfitzner's opera on the great 16th-century composer Palestrina became popular with those in German musical society who had become hostile to the direction which Schoenberg and Busoni had taken. Richard Strauss seemed to be able to straddle both camps successfully, but for other...

Known as the 'English Orpheus', Henry Purcell, born in London in 1659, began his career as a chorister in the Chapel Royal, an appointment that was to mark the start of his life-long commitment to the monarchy. Today his music occupies a central position in British culture and is celebrated for its exquisite word-setting, abundant use of expression...

A symphony, some opera's and some symphonic poems are Richard Strauss' best-know works. As part of our Strauss Edition we present all the composer's works for orchestra with and without soloists. Performed by de Staatskapelle Dresden under Rudolf Kempe. With prominent soloists like Malcolm Frager (piano) and Ulf Hoelscher (violin).This set provides...