Nikolaus Harnoncourt The Complete Sony Recordings brings together for the first time Harnoncourt s complete recordings from 2002-2015 with his Concentus Musicus Wien, the Wiener Philharmonike, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Symphonieorchester des Bayrischen Rundfunks. The Sony Classical edition features his famous symphony recordings of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Bruckner, alongside his celebrated performances of great choral works such as the Verdi, Brahms and Mozart Requiems and Haydn's Die Schöpfung, as well as Mozart's opera Zaide, Haydn's Orlando paladino and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Also included are previously authorized but unreleased recordings of J. S. Bach s Cantatas Nos. 26 & 36, Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge and Dvorák's Stabat Mater.

The ten symphonies of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) have sometimes been likened to a great autobiographical novel, each symphony constituting a chapter in itself while at the same time being an integral part of an unfolding narrative. Within this narrative flow, the fourth symphony (1899-1900) represents a magical pool of tranquility. Mahler drew on various sources in his symphony, one of them being Das himmlische Leben (1892). He originally intended this to be an independent song, but then had ideas of making it the finale of his giant third symphony before ultimately transferring it to his fourth. The song is a naïve vision of the joys of heaven seen through the eyes of a child; the symphony is, as a result, Mahler's most optimistic and relaxed. Here the work is presented by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, led by conductor Leif Segerstam.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt The Complete Sony Recordings brings together for the first time Harnoncourt s complete recordings from 2002-2015 with his Concentus Musicus Wien, the Wiener Philharmonike, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Symphonieorchester des Bayrischen Rundfunks. The Sony Classical edition features his famous symphony recordings of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Bruckner, alongside his celebrated performances of great choral works such as the Verdi, Brahms and Mozart Requiems and Haydn's Die Schöpfung, as well as Mozart's opera Zaide, Haydn's Orlando paladino and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Also included are previously authorized but unreleased recordings of J. S. Bach s Cantatas Nos. 26 & 36, Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge and Dvorák's Stabat Mater.

Christoph Eschenbach's superb live performance provides a refreshingly vital alternative to the prevailing trend toward stodgy Bruckner interpretation. Eschenbach shows himself a supremely assured Brucknerian, directing his excellent Houston Symphony players in a taut, flowing performance. The first movement has a fiery coda, the ebb and flow of the beautiful Adagio is expertly controlled, and the exultant finale has a drive and excitement rarely heard in modern Bruckner performances.

Born on the island of Rügen off Germany’s Baltic coast, Joachim Nikolas Eggert arrived in Sweden in 1803, soon establishing himself as a progressive conductor and introducing Beethoven to Stockholm audiences. Welcomed overwhelmingly on its première, Eggert’s large-scale FirstSymphony hints at Mozart and Haydn but foreshadows Mendelssohn in its wind textures and rich harmonies. The Third Symphony is kaleidoscopic in its moments of light and shade and unusual in its gigantic fugal finale. First of a two-volume set, these two symphonies alone demonstrate that Eggert should be considered one of the more important composers of his era.

Whatever listeners may think of Mstislav Rostropovich's first recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 with the National Symphony Orchestra, it is a historical document of the utmost importance to anyone who claims to love the music of Shostakovich.

'When we speak of Joseph Haydn,' wrote Ernst Ludwig Gerber in his Lexicon der Tonkunstler of 1790-92, 'we think of one of our greatest men: great in small things and even greater in large… Everything speaks when he sets his orchestra in motion.' Gerber was among the first to recognise 'new and surprising' traits in Haydn's output, particularly among his Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) works of the early 1770s. Espousing spontaneity and passion as sources of creativity, Sturm und Drang despised the new rationalism of the Enlightenment, offering darkness and pessimism to counterpoise its orderly logic.

'When we speak of Joseph Haydn,' wrote Ernst Ludwig Gerber in his Lexicon der Tonkunstler of 1790-92, 'we think of one of our greatest men: great in small things and even greater in large… Everything speaks when he sets his orchestra in motion.' Gerber was among the first to recognise 'new and surprising' traits in Haydn's output, particularly among his Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) works of the early 1770s. Espousing spontaneity and passion as sources of creativity, Sturm und Drang despised the new rationalism of the Enlightenment, offering darkness and pessimism to counterpoise its orderly logic.

The five symphonies by the 'London Bach' on this Hungaroton disc have been chosen from three different collections. Bach's first set (Op. 3), though not his first essays in symphonic writing, printed in London in 1765, is represented by Symphonies No. 1 in D major and No. 2 in C major. From Op. 6 come Symphony No. 1 in G major and what is probably the strongest and best known work in the programme, No. 6 in G minor. Lastly there is Symphony No. 2 in E flat major from a set of three collected under the title Op. 9, printed in The Hague.

'When we speak of Joseph Haydn,' wrote Ernst Ludwig Gerber in his Lexicon der Tonkunstler of 1790-92, 'we think of one of our greatest men: great in small things and even greater in large… Everything speaks when he sets his orchestra in motion.' Gerber was among the first to recognise 'new and surprising' traits in Haydn's output, particularly among his Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) works of the early 1770s. Espousing spontaneity and passion as sources of creativity, Sturm und Drang despised the new rationalism of the Enlightenment, offering darkness and pessimism to counterpoise its orderly logic.

'When we speak of Joseph Haydn,' wrote Ernst Ludwig Gerber in his Lexicon der Tonkunstler of 1790-92, 'we think of one of our greatest men: great in small things and even greater in large… Everything speaks when he sets his orchestra in motion.' Gerber was among the first to recognise 'new and surprising' traits in Haydn's output, particularly among his Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) works of the early 1770s. Espousing spontaneity and passion as sources of creativity, Sturm und Drang despised the new rationalism of the Enlightenment, offering darkness and pessimism to counterpoise its orderly logic.

Richard Strauss' dramatic Festival Prelude for organ and orchestra opens this 2017 MDG audiophile release, though the major work on the program is the Symphony No. 2 in E flat major of Franz Schmidt, the longest of his four symphonies and in many ways the most challenging to perform. The two works were written in 1913, and the celebratory mood of the Strauss piece, which was composed for the dedication of the Vienna Konzerthaus, adequately sets the stage for Schmidt's cheerful symphony. Listeners well acquainted with Strauss' post-Romantic style will find much of his influence in the latter work, both in terms of the lavish orchestration and the elaborate, multi-layered writing. Schmidt clearly absorbed Strauss' tone poems, and echoes of Don Juan, Ein Heldenleben, and Also sprach Zarathustra can be detected throughout the Symphony No. 2.

'When we speak of Joseph Haydn,' wrote Ernst Ludwig Gerber in his Lexicon der Tonkunstler of 1790-92, 'we think of one of our greatest men: great in small things and even greater in large… Everything speaks when he sets his orchestra in motion.' Gerber was among the first to recognise 'new and surprising' traits in Haydn's output, particularly among his Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) works of the early 1770s. Espousing spontaneity and passion as sources of creativity, Sturm und Drang despised the new rationalism of the Enlightenment, offering darkness and pessimism to counterpoise its orderly logic.

'When we speak of Joseph Haydn,' wrote Ernst Ludwig Gerber in his Lexicon der Tonkunstler of 1790-92, 'we think of one of our greatest men: great in small things and even greater in large… Everything speaks when he sets his orchestra in motion.' Gerber was among the first to recognise 'new and surprising' traits in Haydn's output, particularly among his Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) works of the early 1770s. Espousing spontaneity and passion as sources of creativity, Sturm und Drang despised the new rationalism of the Enlightenment, offering darkness and pessimism to counterpoise its orderly logic.

The first album of orchestral works by one of Latvia’s most prominent composers, Tālivaldis Ķeniņš (1919–2008), released in October 2020 has received a warm response from music critics around the world. This second volume by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under conductor Guntis Kuzma includes two symphonies from the 1970s alongside another concertante gem, Canzona Sonata for viola and string orchestra.