Paris Conservatoire Orchestra – Alto CD https://altocd.com Classical Music and Nostalgia CDs Fri, 03 Oct 2025 01:18:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Joseph Szigeti: Famous Recordings https://altocd.com/product/pacl95018/ Fri, 03 Oct 2025 01:18:28 +0000 https://altocd.com/?post_type=product&p=53731 Catalogue Number: pacl 95018 Number of Discs: 1 CD Date/Runtime: 76:55 Barcode: 5055354409189]]> Parnassus is pleased to present newly remastered recordings from Gene Gaudette and Paul Arden-Taylor of Joseph Szigeti “the scholarly virtuoso” (1892-1973) with Claudio Arrau and Bela Bartók in accompaniment on the piano! These famous recordings are sourced from sessions with Vanguard, the Library of Congress, and a studio recording of Ernest Bloch’s Violin Concerto in A minor with conductor Charles Munch and the Paris Conservatoire.

Joseph Szigeti made his London debut at the Bechstein (Wigmore) Hall as a thirteen-year-old (the public was told he was twelve). From 1907 he was based in England and his concerto debut was made with the Bach Concerto in E major and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the New Symphony Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham. While in Britain, until 1913, he toured with Nellie Melba and John McCormack, met Myra Hess and Ferruccio Busoni, gave the first performance of Hamilton Harty’s D minor Concerto and made his first records.

One of the most beloved and influential musical figures of the 20th century. He introduced and popularised works by many of the significant contemporary composers, among them Prokofiev, Bloch, Casella, Stravinsky, Bartók, Warlock, Martin, Cowell, Ives, Berg, Milhaud and Ravel. Were it not for Szigeti, we should also have fewer recordings of Bartók and Stravinsky as pianists: both composers were persuaded into the studio by the prospect of working with such a sympathetic musician. Szigeti was the most distinguished of a line of violinists taught by Hubay.

Johann Sebastian Bach

  1. Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D Minor (16:05)

Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Sonata No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 23 (16:47)

  1. I. Presto (5:32)
  2. II. Andante scherzoso più allegretto (6:08)
  3. III. Allegro molto (5:06)

Béla Bartók
Violin Rhapsody No. 1, Sz. 87 (9:07)

  1. I. Lassú (4:12)
  2. II. Friss (4:55)

Ernest Bloch
Violin Concerto in A Minor (34:30)

  1. I. Allegro deciso (18:07)
  2. II. Andante (6:10)
  3. III. Deciso (10:12)
]]> Emil Gilels & Tatiana Nikolayeva play Tchaikovsky https://altocd.com/product/alc1711/ Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:25:59 +0000 https://altocd.com/?post_type=product&p=53711 Catalogue Number: ALC 1711 Number of Discs: 1 CD Date/Runtime: Time: 78:00 stereo 1958/62 Barcode: 5055354417115]]> Alto is proud to present landmark recordings of Tchaikovsky masterworks from two legendary Russian pianists, Emil Gilels and Tatiana Nikolayeva with the USSR State Symphony under the direction of the great Kirill Kondrashin.

This new production features Emil Gilels in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in a live recording from 1962, first issued by Musica on LP, and Tatiana Nikolayeva in the Concert Fantasia in G Minor, Op. 56 from Melodiya’s 1952 Moscow recordings. Both have been lovingly re-mastered and restored for Alto from the original sources by engineer Paul Arden-Taylor.

“Gilels elected to play the Siloti version of the 2nd concerto … his playing is of the highest order of mastery and has the virtue of presenting the work with the freshness of a new discovery” —Penguin Guide on Gilels’ Piano Concerto No. 2

“playing of an awe-inspiring musical strength and integrity. The massive cadenza in the Concert Fantasia played with all-Russian conviction … throughout, she inflects Tchaikovsky’s sumptuously decorated melodies with a warmth and breadth known to few pianists outside Russia” —Gramophone on Nikolayeva’s Concert Fantasia

Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44

  1. I. Allegro brillante e molto vivace
  2. II. Andante non troppo
  3. III. Allegro con fuoco

Emil Gilels, piano; USSR State Symphony Orchestra; Kirill Kondrashin, conductor

Concert Fantasia in G Minor, Op. 56

  1. I. Quasi Rondo
  2. II. Contrastes. Andante cantabile—Molto vivace

Tatiana Nikolayeva, piano; USSR State Symphony Orchestra; Kirill Kondrashin, conductor

]]> POULENC: Les Biches / Organ Concerto / Gloria / Litanies de la Vierge de Rocamador https://altocd.com/product/poulenc-les-biches-organ-concerto-gloria-litanies-de-la-vierge-de-rocamador/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:45:55 +0000 https://amuletts.com/altocd/?post_type=product&p=52368 Georges Pretre Paris Conservatoire Orchestra etc Maurice Durufle, organ

Catalogue Number:ALC 1411
Number of Discs: 1
Date/Runtime:DDD, 1988; Time 77:54
Barcode: 5055354414114

]]> “The racy style of the orchestral playing is instantly infectious in the opening rondeau with catchy trumpet solo” (Gramophone)
“Like so many of his religious works, it finds the composer at his best: behind its joyous, lucid facade lies a deep sincerity, which in the Domine Deus attains real beauty. Rosanna Carteri floats her octave rises exquisitely and is most touching in her litany of “Qui tollis peccata mundi”
“it is certainly the best of his concertos … and despite the marking of Allegro giocoso for the first main section and an exuberant finale, there are undertones of serious drama-and the last pages are prayerful. Both soloist, and orchestra, are alert, vital and rhythmic, and, despite the difficulties of balancing an orchestra against a modern organ, are brilliantly engineered”

[1-5] Suite: Les Biches (1922-3) [19:23]
1. Rondeau 3:43
2. Adagietto 3:39
3. Rag-Mazurka 5:39
4. Andantino 3:04
5. Final 3:16
[6] Litanies à la Vierge Noire de Rocamadour (1936) 9:17
[7-13] Concerto in G minor for organ, strings & timpani (1938) [22:20]
7. Andante 3:14
8. Allegro giocoso 2:03
9. Andante moderato 6:39
10. Tempo allegro. Molto agitato 2:45
11. Tres calme. Lent 2:36
12. Tempo de l’Allegro intial 1:48
13. Tempo Introduction. Largo 3:12
[14-19] Gloria (1959) [26:28]
14. Gloria 3:10
15. Laudamus Te 3:06
16. Domine Deus 4:31
17. Domine Filii unigenite 1:27
18. Domine Deus Agnus Dei 7:24
19. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patri 6:48
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