PAGANINI: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D, Op. 6. Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 7 "La Campanella." Violin Concerto No. 3 in E. Violin Concerto No. 4 in D minor. Violin Concerto No. 5 in A minor. Violin Concerto No. 6 in E minor, Op. posth. La Primavera (Sonata for violin and orchestra in A). Maestosa Sonata Sentimentale. Sonata con variazioni on a theme by Joseph Weigl. . Non più mesta accanto al fuoco on a theme by Rossini. . Le streghe, variations on a theme by Sussmayr. , Op. 8. 24 Caprices, Op. 1. Sonata Napoleone. I palpiti. Perpetuela.
Salvatore Accardo, violin / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Charles Dutoit, cond.
DECCA 00289 479 8668 (6 CDs / one Blu Ray Audio)
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BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4 in E flat "Romantic." WAGNER: Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin.
Leipzzig Gewandhaus Orchestra / Andris Nelsons, cond,.
DGG 00289 479 7577 TT: 79:24
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BERNSTEIN: Mass
Kevin Vortmann, tenor (Celebrant). Soloists. The American Boychoir. Temple University Diamond Marching Band. Student Musicians from the School District of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin, cond.
DGG 00289 473 5009 (2 disks) TT: 53:22 & 54:23
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Salvatore Accardo (b. Turin 1941) has enjoyed a remarkable career. Best known for his interpretations of music of Paganini. DGG recorded all six concertos and solo violin woks including the Caprices. Recordings were made in London's Barking Town Hall 1973 - 1978. Many call these definitive interpretations, and now we have them all at 24-bit resolution sounding better than ever. Balances seem perfect, and now we hear these legendary performances with new clarity. All of the music is spread out in six CDs, each with its own slipcover in the box with original jacket covers reproduced. A plus is an extra single disk that contains all of the music on one Blu ray disk. The booklet also includes track information and timings for both disk versions. This is a handsome, important issue, a class ac.

.Recently this site mentioned the new DGG recording of Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 with Andris Nelsons and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (REVIEW). As mentioned in that commentary, the Bruckner discography is enormous, competition is keen. This new disk offers a live performance of Sympohony No. 4 during concerts on specified das in 2017. It is a beautifully played but cautious reading far from the grandeur of pfomancs by Fuwängler, Abbado, Jochum , haitink or many other conductors. The audio picture is somewhat distant with little presence. Additio of te Wagner prelude gives us a disk with maximum playing time.

Leonard Bernstein was commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy to write his Mass. This was to be a memorial for her lae husband. commemorating the opening of the Kennedy Center, which took place September 8,1971. The Mass originally was called A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers. Yannick Nézet-Séguin recently has presented a requiem series with the Philadelphia Orchestra including maserpieces by Fauré, Bahms, Verdi and Mozart. The Philadelphia production of Mass took place last year and this is a live recoding. The cast is huge, there are vocal soloists, three chouses, two orchestras, a matching band, and dancers, mosly recruted from local sources. I have never been impressed with Mass. It is, to me, a superficial hodgepodge of styles with little musical interest, religious meaning or emotional content, rather like a Broadway show without any hit tunes. Watching a performance suely is preferable to just listening to it. Surely this Philadelphia production is well done, enthusiastically presented, although some listeners might find tenor Kevin Vortmann rather inadequate as he Celebrant. Bernsein specialis Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony featured this music successfully both in Baltimore's Meyerhoff Hall and at Carnegie Hall, and made a recording for Naxos, recently reissued at budget price. If you really enjoy this music check out the composer's own recording which also has recently been reissued. Audio is fine stereo on this new DGG recoding successfully balancing the large performing forces.

R.E.B. (April 2018)