Brilliant Classics

Friedenstag is at once Richard Strauss (1864-1949) last operatic collaboration with his librettist Stefan Zweig and his first with Joseph Gregor. The themes of the opera - set in the mid 17th century are about the highest humanitarian and liberal ideals - themes Zweig devised from the factual events from the Thirty Years War. The challenge that...

Born in the northern city of Ferrara in 1583, Girolamo Frescobaldi was one of the most significant figures inItalian keyboard music before Domenico Scarlatti. Under the patronage of the Este family, Ferrara haddeveloped into a major centre for the arts, especially the musical avant-garde, and Frescobaldi thrived inthis exciting artistic firmament....

Wykonawcy:Rudolf Barshai • Ane van Beek • Harmen de Boer - Borika var den Booren • Brandis Quartet • Alexandra Dubach • Mark Ermler • Aexander Goldenweiser • Misha Goldstein • Marc Grauwels • Roy Goodman • Paavo Jarvi • Emma Johnson • Theodor Kuchar • Lev Markiz • Eduardo Marturet • Yehudi Menuhin • Michel Sasson • Alexander Schneider • Gil Sharon...

Here's another fine disc, unavailable for some time, now receiving a new lease of life, and with no significant competition. It's true that the complete works for cello and orchestra amount to less than half this disc's duration, comprising as they do a couple of miniatures (the Pezzo Capriccioso and Nocturne) and the evergreen Rococo Variations....

Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) was one of the most influential pianist composers of the late classical period. A friend of Beethoven, the teacher of John Field, and rival to Mozart as a piano virtuoso. He was also a publisher and a piano manufacturer. His upbringing was unconventional to say the least -- his family 'sold' him to an English nobleman...

Anatoly Liadov (1855-1914) was, like his Norwegian contemporary Grieg, a miniaturist. At a time when his fellow Russian composers were composing operas, symphonies and concertos, he concentrated on producing a remarkable collection of wonderfully scored and evocative orchestral miniatures. He did sometimes venture into larger musical forms, and...