Recordings

• Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 “The Emperor”
• Mozart Clarinet Concerto & Weber Clarinet Concertino
• Puttin’ On The Ritz
• Liszt De Produndis
• Slavonic Serenades
• Hovhaness Celestial Fantasy
• Antonin Dvorak
• Johannes Brahms

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 “The Emperor”, Symphony No. 8

Performed by Haiou Zhang & The Slovak Sinfonietta
Released: 2010
Label: ACR

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Tracks

Piano Concerto No. 5 In E-Flat Major, Op. 73 “The Emperor”

1. Allegro
2. Adagio un poco mosso
3. Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo

Symphony No. 8 In F Major, Op. 93

1. Allegro vivace e con brio
2. Allegretto scherzando
3. Tempo di Munuetto
4. Allegro vivace

Mozart Clarinet Concerto & Weber Clarinet Concertino

Performed by Kornel Wolak & The Slovak Sinfonietta
Released: 2010
Label: ACR

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Tracks

Carl Maria Von Weber

1. Clarinet Concertino

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Clarinet Concerto In A Major

1. Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Rondo: Allegro

Puttin’ On The Ritz (Music of the Grand Salon)

Performed by Millennium Symphony
Released: 2007
Label: ERM Media

Tracks

1. Charleston (Mack & Johnson)
2. Anything Goes (Porter)
3. Cheek to Cheek (Berlin)
4. Embraceable You (Gershwin)
5. La Cumparsita (Rodriguez)
6. Clarinet Marmalade (Shields & Ragas)
7. What’ll I Do? (Berlin)
8. Nola (Arndt)
9. My Hero (Strauss)
10. Night & Day (Porter)
11. Puttin’ on the Ritz (Berlin)

Liszt De Produndis

Performed by Philip Thomson
Accompanied by the Hungarian State Orchestra
Released: 1991
Label: Hungaroton

Tracks

1. Liszt De Profundis (Maxwel)
2. Schubert/Liszt Wanderer-Fantasia in C
3. Liszt Fantasy on themes from Beethoven’s “Ruins of Athens”

Slavonic Serenades

Performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Released: 1996
Label: Dorian Discovery

Tracks

Anton Arensky: Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky

1. Theme Moderato
2. Var. 1 Un poco piu mosso
3. Var. 2 Allegro non troppo
4. Var. 3 Andantino tranquillo
5. Var. 4 Vivace
6. Var. 5 Andante
7. Var. 6 Allegro con spirito
8. Var. 7 Andante con moto – coda

Josef Suk

1. Meditation on the Old Czech Carol, “St. Wenceslas” (Op. 35a)

Antonin Dvorak

1. “Notturno” from String Quintet in G (Op. 77)

Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov

1. Chanson triste

Alexander Glazunov Suite for String Quartet Op. 35 Arr. Stratton

1. Introduction and Fugue
2. Scherzo
3. Orientale
4. Theme & Variations
5. Valse

If you wish that Tchaikovsky had written more music like his Serenade for Strings, you will want this disc on your shelf. There is no Tchaikovsky in the program, but his inspiration can be surmised in the works by fellow Russians Vasily Kalinnikov and Alexander Glazunov, and he is explicitly credited in Anton Arensky’s Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky. The influence is less clear but the spirit and style are similar in works by the Czeck composers Josef Suk and Antonin Dvorak. The music, expertly played by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Kerry Stratton conducting, is a delight through this disc’s 77 minutes.

Hovhaness Celestial Fantasy

Performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava)
Released: 1998
Label: Dorian Recordings

Tracks

1. The Holy City, Op. 218

Alleluia and Fugue, Op. 40b

1. Alleluia, Andante
2. Fugue, Moderato
3. Armenian Rhapsody No. 3, Op. 189

In Memory of an Artist, Op. 163

1. Fantasy on a Fourth
2. Allegro Vivo
3. Adagio Espressivo

Processional and Fugue, Op. 76, No. 5

1. Processional
2. Fugue
3. Celestial Fantasy, Op. 44
4. Armenian Rhapsody No. 3, Op. 51

Psalm and Fugue, Op. 40a

1. Andante
2. Fugue, Allegretto

Another contender here is in “Celestial Fantasy”, played by the Slovak Radio Orchestra, Kerry Stratton conducting. The Alleluia and Fugue is full and beautiful with a warm, immediate sound (Dorian 93166). This release is my first recommendation for those wanting a good sampling of Hovhaness’s shorter works. Every piece is delicious, with first class sound and execution. Included are The Holy City; Armenian Rhapsodies 2 and 3; In Memory of an Artist; Processional and Fugue; Celestial Fantasy, and Psalm and Fugue. The disc would be well worth buying just for Processional and Fugue, which has not been recorded anywhere else; it’s divine. Celestial Fantasy a quiet, meditative work, is also on Delos 3157 and Crystal 508.

Antonin Dvorak

Performed by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Released: 2002
Label: Universal Music

Tracks

Czech Suite, Op. 39

1. Preludium – Pastorale
2. Polka
3. Sousedská – Minuetto
4. Romance
5. Finale – Furiant
6. Songs My Mother Taught Me
   Arr. Kreisler

Serenade for Winds, Op.44

1. Moderato, quasi marcia
2. Minuetto. Tempo di minuetto
3. Andante con moto
4. Finale. Allegro molto

Johannes Brahms

Performed by the Nuremberg Symphony
soloists Daniel Weiss (cello) and Jung Yoon Yang (violin)
Release: (pending)

Tracks

Violin Concerto D Major Opus 77

1. Allegro non troppo
2. Adagio
3. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace

Double Concerto for Violin and Cello Opus 102

1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Vivace non troppo