These quartets were recorded in sumptuous sound from December 1967 to the middle of ’68. Remastering can lead to shrillness which undermines intonation – but not here. This sounds fabulous above the stave.

Bruno Walter was one of the last of the European-trained conductors who learned their craft at the feet of the great nineteenth-century composers and their students. Along with giants like Furtwangler, Ormandy and Toscanini, Walter had a depth of understanding that fades with each passing generation. But unlike most of the others Walter had the fortune to have remained active long enough to be able to commit dozens of performances to disc in the modern era of high-fidelity techniques, and with the superb orchestra that CBS once housed.

Géza Anda set down his cycle of Mozart piano concertos, in which he also directed the Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, in the years 1961 and 1969. That his survey seldom has been out of the catalog in the intervening years attests eloquently enough to its qualities, and DG's decision to reissue the performances as part of its mid-priced Collectors Edition series will be warmly welcomed.

Uchida's performances seem completely natural as if that is the way the performances were intended. Not a point of cunning escapes her. Yet there is never a trace of self-consciousness in her point-making, not even in the heightened intensity of the tragic B minor Adagio. It is Mozart at his purest.

Filmed in 1980 among the ruins of ancient Rome, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's stunning production marked the beginning of a renaissance for Mozart's late opera and continues to stand out as one of the finest opera films of all time. James Levine conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker in this performance of Mozart's operatic marvel driven by imperial intrigue, fury and forgiveness.

SEON (Studio Erichson) is a period music label by the legendary producer Wolf Erichson. Erichson founded the label in 1969 as one of the first labels dedicated only to authentic music. The recordings were made with the best available recording techniques of the time and still deliver a high quality product in line with today's standards. This special boxset offers all SEON CD reissues from the late 90s on 85 CDs in a limited edition boxset.

Set in classical antiquily, Mozart’s "Il re pastore" tells of the thwarted love of Aminta (the innocent ‘shepherd king’ of the title) for the well-born Elisa, and that of the nobleman Agenore for the deposed tyrant’s daughter Tamiri. No less a figure than Alexander the Great resolves these conflicts of private passion and public status. First performed in Salzburg in 1775, Sir Neville Marriner conducts a top international cast in this 1989 production of the opera from Salzburg’s Landestheater.

The Marriage of Figaro, as this elegant 1994 production brilliantly reminds us, was a French bedroom comedy before it became a Mozart opera. It is a classic of French literature, and it is still enjoyable as a spoken play after more than two centuries of existence. Its literary quality gives this production a special flavor. The music–some of Mozart's finest–is beautifully presented by a carefully chosen international cast (including Giovanni Furlanetto, Elzbieta Szymtka, Janice Watson, and Ludovic Tezier), but what sets this production apart is its theatrical flavor, cultivated by a director who is an expert on classic French theater. The standards of spoken theater are upheld in timing, body language, the inflection of punch lines. These qualities are more important here than in most operas; style is both crucial and elusive. Fortunately, the Opera de Lyon, one of most imaginative companies in Europe, shows an impressive sense of style. (Joe McLellan)

This recording of Handel's Acis and Galatea (or Acis und Galatea) features the German translation and arrangement completed by Mozart in Vienna circa 1788, per the instructions of the Baron Gottfried von Swieten to "modernize" Handel's pieces - including Alexander's Feast, Messiah, Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, and Acis and Galatea. Mozart kept much of Handel's original string arrangements, but proceeded to layer harmonies with a degree of sophistication that Handel could only have dreamed of.

It may seem an unlikely thing to say about a German chamber ensemble, yet the Melos Quartet of Stuttgart are more suave, more feline, than the Quartetto Italiano in the opening movement of Mozart's E flat Quartet. The former have, too, the advantage of a modern recording with a more exact stereo placing of each instrument, whereas the Philips disc is close on ten years old.

On July 16, 1999, the 10th anniversary of the death of Herbert von Karajan, the Berlin Philharmonic paid tribute to their late maestro, playing within the confines of the imposing Salzburg Cathedral in von Karajans hometown of Salzburg. Among other works, the orchestra performed Mozart's Requiem in D minor, KV 626, featuring soprano Karita Mattila, contralto Sara Mingardo, tenor Michael Schade and bass baritone Bryn Terfel as soloists. Soprano Rachel Harnisch appeared as soloist on the two complementing arias Betrachte dies mein Herz und frage mich and Laudate Dominum.

The greatest of Mozart's wind serenades and the toughest of Alban Berg's major works might seem an unlikely pairing, but in an interview included with the sleeve notes for this release, Pierre Boulez points up their similarities. Both works are scored for an ensemble of 13 wind instruments (with solo violin and piano as well in the Berg) and both include large-scale variations as one of their movements - and Boulez makes the comparisons plausible enough in these lucid performances. It's rare to hear him conducting Mozart, too, and if the performance is a little brisker and more strait-laced than ideal, the EIC's phrasing is a model of clarity and good taste. It's the performance of the Berg, though, that makes this such an important issue; both soloists, Mitsuko Uchida and Christian Tetzlaff, are perfectly attuned to Boulez's approach - they have given a number of performances of the Chamber Concerto before - and the combination of accuracy and textural clarity with the highly wrought expressiveness that is the essence of Berg's music is perfectly caught.

Magdalena Kožená's first all-Mozart album–and her first album in collaboration with partner Sir Simon Rattle–stands out as one of the highlights of 2006's Mozart Anniversary celebrations. Magdalena is a natural Mozart singer, garnering rave reviews and enchanting audiences wherever she performs Mozart on stage. Recent performances in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Berkeley and New York (Carnegie Hall) have brought her glowing praise.

Mozart and Gluck may make natural bedfellows for a program of arias, but Josef Myslivecek is not a name that would jump to most minds to join them. Czech mezzo Magdalena Kozená may be about to change that. In his time (1737-1781), the Czech composer was up there with the greats after his studies in Italy. He couldn't have a more persuasive champion than Kozená, who sets out to show why Myslivecek was counted among the country's 10 most successful composers. The young Kozená's mantelpiece is already crowded with competition trophies, including a 2001 Gramophone Award for her CD of eastern European love songs with Graham Johnson.

Melodiya presents recordings by Alexander Korneyev, (1930-2010) was an outstanding flutist, People's Artist of the RSFSR and laureate of the State Prize of Russia. A world famous soloist, Korneyev won recognition primarily as a concert musician. He has performed with well-known Russian musicians such as Lev Oborin, Ivan Kozlovsky, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Mstislav Rostropovich and the Beethoven Quartet. A soloist of the Large Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio for many years, he played under the leadership of some of the most prominent maestros and at times performed as a symphony and chamber conductor himself. Also, he realized performing versions of a number of flute compositions.