In 1943, Orff followed up the overwhelming success of his Carmina Burana with Catulli Carmina, another staged choral work scored for percussion and pianos. The text of this parable of the power of Eros is drawn from poems by Catullus. The 1967 American Columbia recording, with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra and Temple University Choir and featuring soprano Judith Blegen and tenor Richard Kness “has plenty of vitality” (Gramophone). Its first appearance on CD is sure to be welcomed by the many devotees of Orff’s music.

Carl August Nielsen (Danish: ; 9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish musician, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's greatest composer. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age. He initially played in a military band before attending the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen from 1884 until December 1886. He premiered his Op. 1, Suite for Strings, in 1888, at the age of 23. The following year, Nielsen began a 16-year stint as a second violinist in the prestigious Royal Danish Orchestra under the conductor Johan Svendsen, during which he played in 's Falstaff and Otello at their Danish premieres. In 1916, he took a post teaching at the Royal Academy and continued to work there until his death.

Over the last three or four years, Yo-Yo Ma has been exploring the peaks of the cello repertory in a quickly growing series of LPs. Those disks, in turn, have helped establish him not only as one of the finest cellists of his generation… The Kabalevsky…boasts a melancholy central Largo with the kind of long, arching cello line that allows Mr. Ma to display his rich sound.

Sony Classical announces another ten releases in its popular series of Classical Masters. This new batch of budget-priced sets contains major recording projects by some of the 20th centurys most celebrated musicians. Two boxes in this new batch of Original Masters feature Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The 4-album Richard Strauss set gathers together all of their early 1960s recordings of the famous tone poems along with Salomes Dance, the Rosenkavalier and Bürger als Edelmann suites, the Burleske with soloist Rudolf Serkin and the First Horn Concerto, featuring Philadelphia principal Mason Jones.

On the surface, Shostakovich's last symphony is a strange bird. One wonders why the first movement keeps quoting the William Tell overture. Why does the fourth movement incorporate Wagner's fate theme from the Ring? And why the cello and violin solos? The answers, frankly, don't matter. Amidst all these oddities, there is great music to be heard here. This reissue features the American premiere of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15, from 1972–with Eugene Ormandy leading the Philadelphia Orchestra–paired with the composer's second piano sonata performed by Emil Gilels.