There's a tendency on the part of some performers to play Beethoven's First and Second Piano Concertos as if they were really by Mozart–all elegance, poise, and refinement. Happily, Boris Berezovsky finds the Beethovenian fire burning beneath the Mozartian surface. Right from his vibrant entrance in Concerto No. 1, Berezovsky plays with fierce energy (despite his generally light touch) and a clearly discernible enjoyment. This is matched Thomas Dausgaard's equally electric reading of the orchestral part, which in many ways reminds me of the classic Szell/Fleisher recording. Of course the small-scale sound of the 38-member Swedish Chamber Orchestra cannot possibly equal the full sonority of the Cleveland Orchestra in its heyday, but it's remarkable how Szell's clear textures and crisp articulation match Dausgaard's, who, by the way, is using the new Barenreiter editions. Berezovsky seems to be of like mind with Fleisher, at least terms of his singing tone and mercurial style.

Mozart claimed to dislike the flute and, for that matter, the harp as well which also plays a prominent role in this compilation. But in spite of that, he produced music for the flute in a variety of genres all of which is delightful and much of which is masterful. This release on Philips's "duo" series presents an excellent opportunity for an overview of Mozart's works for flute, well played. It also offers a rare opportunity to hear a variety of performers on the flute and other instruments and orchestras.

The legendary Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920 - 1995), playing at the height of his powers, performs two Beethoven sonatas in an historic recording now digitally restored and re-mastered. He also plays earlier sonatas by Scarlatti and Galuppi. Michelangeli's fine control and perfect clarity - always present in his playing - have positioned him as one of the most outstanding recording artists of any generation.

During his all-too-brief life, the Andalusian composer Manuel Blasco de Nebra (1750-1784) left behind a handful of keyboard works that evoke Scarlatti's concise forms and extraordinary powers of invention. Each of the sonatas consists of two movements: an adagio followed by a fast finale. The adagios are stark and full of gut-wrenching, slowly resolving dissonant moments, while unpredictable twists and turns characterize the almost Haydn-esque Allegros and Prestos, as well as the E minor Pastorela Minuet's discursive melodic trajectory. At times Blasco de Nebra foreshadows future soulmates; you might mistake the Op. 1 C minor sonata finale's persistent dotted rhythms for Schumann's. Javier Perianes understands what makes de Nebra tick, borne out by his varied articulations, wide dynamic spectrum, and shapely embellishments.

One of Decca/London's 2 CD sets, providing two discs for the price of one (even less, when downloaded from Amazon.com on MP3), this set is a bargain as well as a treat. It's lovely to hear from Mme. Robles in her concerted repertoire. The Handel, Boieldieu and Rodrigo concerti have hardly ever been in better hands (the Rodrigo transcription was made at the request of the Spanish harpist Nicanor Zabaleta, who played it brilliantly as well), and it's a delight hearing them again in such excellent sound.

Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2014 Choral category winner! Purely on grounds of performance alone, this is one of the finest Mozart Requiems of recent years. John Butt brings to Mozart the microscopic care and musicological acumen that have made his Bach and Handel recordings so thought-provoking and satisfying.

F. Gulda was, according to eminent cellist Pierre Fournier, the foremost pianist of his generation. And HIS generation emcompassed big names like Alfred Brendel, Ingrid Haebler, Jorg Demus, and perhaps, even Maurizio Pollini. It is a great pity that Gulda wasn't in league with 'the' eminent conductor Herbert von Karajan. This precluded many otherwise hot exposures of Gulda in discography.

LA Phil 100 Years is the most comprehensive collection of the orchestra’s history to be assembled. This century-spanning volume tells the story of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s evolution in the language through which it expresses itself best: extraordinary music.

Andras Schiff and Peter Serkin, internationally celebrated and multi-award winning classical soloists, make their New Series debuts with Music for Two Pianos. Regarded as 2 of the greatest pianists of our time, Schiff and Serkin are very seldom heard - as they are here - as piano duo. With this recording, ECM begins a long-term relationship with Andras Schiff, a musician described by Gramophone magazine as "a unique poetic voice among the pianists".

Although Nathan Milstein hailed from Odessa, the cradle of Russian violin playing, his personal style was more classical and intellectual in approach than many of his colleagues. By the middle of the twentieth century he had become one of the most renowned violinists in the world, and he did as much as anyone else to imbue Bach's solo violin partitas and sonatas with the rather mystical aura they have presently. Milstein began to study violin at the age of seven.

Following three acclaimed releases for AVIE surveying works by Dvo?ák, Schubert and contemporary Americans, the San Francisco-based Cypress String Quartet turns to the seminal string quartets of Beethoven, performing the five quartets from the composer’s middle period. Formed in 1996, the Cypresses added Beethoven to their repertoire early on.

I first heard the late string quartets of Beethoven in my teens, on a budget price LP on the French Musidisc label. I don’t remember much about the performances; one movement that sticks in my mind is the slow movement of Op. 127, which was played at an expansive tempo, and took around twenty minutes. However I do remember the liner-notes, which were obviously translated by someone for whom English was not their first language.

The Cypress String Quartet, based out of San Francisco, CA, has been working on a series of recordings of the complete string quartets of Beethoven, with the quartet's first violinist, Cecily Ward, listed as producer of the recordings. This set of the op. 18 quartets fills out their recorded survey. Interestingly, the quartet essentially went in "reverse order" with respect to issuing their recordings, in that the op. 18 quartets are, of course, the earliest of the Beethoven quartets, but this 2-CD set is the last of the Cypress Quartet's recordings of the cycle to be issued.

During the course of an extraordinarily active life and compositional career Niccolò Piccinni embraced not only both comic and serious Italian opera but also, during the course of a 15-year period spent in Paris (1776–1791), adapted his style to tragédie lyrique, thereby becoming an unwitting participant in the rows between his adherents and those of Gluck. Like most 18th-century Neapolitan composers (he was actually born in Bari), Piccinni was a product of the conservatoire system, following which he gained his first operatic successes during the 1750s. In 1758 he broke into wider prominence with Alessandro nelle Indie, an opera seria given in Rome with such success that the composer moved there, embarking on a period of intense operatic activity that reached an early peak with the production in 1761 of his most famous opera, La buona figliuola.

Believe it or not, François-Joseph Gossec was the French musical equivalent of Haydn and Beethoven. Under the ancient régime, Gossec established single-handedly the primacy of the string quartet and the symphony in French instrumental music and under the Empire, Gossec created a revolutionary form of massed public music pre-dating Beethoven's Ninth.