Violinist Rudens Turku was born in Albania but came to Germany at the age of 14. He studied violin at the Munich Conservatory and has since become an important virtuoso on the international stage. He cites as some of his non-classical influences Billie Holiday, Billy Joel, and Elton John. This new CD features his favorite miniatures and encores for violin and piano including Elgar's Salut d'amour, the Massenet Thais Meditation, plus selections by Paganini and Sarasate. The title Sweet Remembrance comes from Jascha Heifetz' arrangement of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words also included on the disc. Listen for tracks on the air all this week and buy the CD right here, right now.
Hailed as a long-lost virtuoso in the grand tradition, Cuban pianist Jorge Luis Prats has just released this stunning live recording of a recital in Zaragoza, Spain. Here's the fascinating back story on this 56 year-old "newcomer". At the age of 21 Prats won the Grand Prix at the prestigious “Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud” piano competition in Paris in 1977. He began performing widely, and even made a recital LP. However, visa restrictions meant that big opportunities in the West were limited and the young Cuban chose to stay with his young family over a career abroad. For more than 30 years, Jorge Luis Prats effectively disappeared from the international piano scene. His recent relocation to the U.S. has allowed his career to once again flourish. Music on this disc includes the Goyescas of Granados, Bachianas brasileira #4 of Villa-Lobos and three lively encores from Cuban composers: Carlos Farinas, Ignacio Cervantes, and Ernesto Lecouna. Hear selections throughout the week on KDFC and buy this CD here at a special price.
Back in February we introduced you to the young Norwegian trumpeter, Tine Thing Helseth. A superstar in her homeland, Tine Thing was the first classical performer to win a Norwegian Grammy Award as Best Newcomer of the Year. In 2007, she founded tenThing, a 10-woman brass ensemble. Their debut disc features dazzling arrangements of works by Weill, Bizet, Grieg, Piazzolla, Albeniz and Mozart as well as original compositions by the Dutch composer Jan Koetsier. Made up of 3 trumpets, a flugelhorn, a French horn, 3 trombones, a bass trombone, and a tuba, tenThing performs with "an irrepressible sense of fun". Why all girls? "Nothing against boys," explains Helseth, "it's just that there are so many excellent female brass players in Norway and we have this special kind of bond." Hear selections from this new CD all week on KDFC and buy it here just in time for Mother's Day!
The brilliance of Debussy's compositions for solo piano has inspired other composers to create orchestrations of many of them. In some cases, these orchestrations have surpassed the originals in popularity. This new CD collection presents some of the best-known of these orchestral arrangements including Leopold Stokowski's version of Clair de lune, the Children's Corner Suite arranged by the French conductor Andre Caplet, and the Petite Suite orchestrated with Debussy's approval by his friend Henri Busser. Also on this disc are the orchestrations of Danse and Sarabande made by Debussy's gifted contemporary and sometime rival, Maurice Ravel. See the complete track listing and buy this new recording right here and listen for selections all this week on KDFC.
Week of April 23rd
Yundi: The Red Piano
In China these days keyboard is king and pianist Yundi is a bona fide rock star. Having established a thriving career in Western classics, Yundi turns to music from his homeland in his latest recording, The Red Piano. The main work on this new CD is the popular Yellow River Concerto which Yundi performs along with the China NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra. Complementing the concerto are 15 tracks of traditional Chinese songs arranged for solo piano. Selections include the evocatively titled Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon and Glowing Red Morningstar Lilies. Hear excerpts from The Red Piano throughout this week on KDFC and buy it right here.
Coinciding with this year's San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19-May 3), the latest from the popular Canadian group La Pieta is a collection of music from the movies. A Time For Us features 15 tracks, all favorites of the group's leader, the acclaimed violinist Angele Dubeau. "I have chosen musical moments that speak to me, film music that is particularly appealing, and great musical pieces that inspire images," says Dubeau. Selections include works by Ennio Morricone, John Williams, John Barry, Nino Rota, and others from such films as Cinema Paradiso, Memoirs of a Geisha, Romeo and Juliet, and Dances with Wolves. We'll be playing music from this new CD throughout the week on KDFC and you can buy it right here, right now.
Rescued from near oblivion in the 1950's by the great cellist Pablo Casals, the Bach Cello Suites are currently enjoying remarkable popularity. The latest addition to the many recent recordings is this fresh take that embellishes the solo cello with accompaniment from the ancient tabla drum and the organ. Cellist Charles Curtis, renowned for both his classical performance and musical experimentation, teams up with tabla artist Naren Budhakar, and organist Anthony Burr for a performance that "opens an alternative dimension of rhythm and color." We'll be playing tracks on the air throughout this week plus you can buy the CD right here, right now.
The acclaimed young Chinese pianist, Yuja Wang, returns to the Bay Area this June to perform with the SF Symphony. Until then, we can satisfy our craving for her amazing artistry with this CD collection of miniatures. Fantasia includes a stunning variety of short works by Scriabin, Scarlatti, Chopin, Schubert, Rachmaninoff, and more. Wang describes smaller pieces as being like "haikus". "People assume that an encore is something showy, but, for me, it's a little moment of tenderness from the heart." Among the highlights of this new CD, is Wang's own piano transcription of The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Dukas and the Horowitz transcriptions of Saint-Saens' Danse macabre and Bizet's Carmen. Listen for selections from Fantasia throughout this week on KDFC.
Giuliani Carmignola, violin/Orchestra of the Champs-Elysees
We tend to think of Haydn as a composer above all of Symphonies. He is called the Father of the Symphony after all. And while it's true that his concerto output was comparatively small, there are some real gems to be found therein. On this new recording, the Italian violinist, Giuliano Carmignola is featured as soloist in the three extant Haydn Violin Concertos. Based on records kept at the Esterhazy Palace(where Haydn was music director for decades) we know that he composed a fourth concerto but it has been lost to us. The C Major Concerto on this disc was written especially for the concertmaster of Haydn's Esterhazy orchestra, Luigi Tomasini. Its manuscript contains the simple dedication: "Fatto (made) per Luigi". Enjoy these Concertos on KDFC this week and check out the CD right here.
The San Francisco Ballet, the oldest professional ballet company in America, was also one of the first dance companies to have its own orchestra. The acclaimed SF Ballet Orchestra's latest recording presents extended suites from Sylvia and Coppelia, two well-loved ballets by the French composer, Leo Delibes. This music may be familiar to you from live performances, hearing it on KDFC, or from various episodes of The Simpsons! Conductor Martin West, who was appointed music director and principal conductor of the SFBO in 2005, is on the podium for these inspired performances. You'll hear selections from this new CD on the air throughout this week and you can buy it right here, right now.
The latest release from Chinese guitarist, Xuefei Yang, demonstrates not only her virtuosity but also the depth of her musicianship. Xuefei Yang was inspired by Bach's own transcriptions for the lute in adapting his violin and harpsichord concertos for the guitar. The playing and the arrangements of the 3 Concertos and one Sonata make these familiar works sound new again. Xuefei also performs new solo guitar versions of the Bach Prelude #1 from the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Air on the G String. She is joined in the Concertos by the young Elias String Quartet from Manchester, England. Hear tracks from this new CD this week on KDFC and buy it now at a special KDFC price.
Albrecht Mayer has been described as "The world's leading oboist."(The Guardian) He is currently the principal oboist of the Berlin Philharmonic and his Bonjour Paris CD from last year was one of our 2011 KDFC Bestsellers. This new release is entitled "Song of the Reeds" and features music for oboe from the Romantic era including the 3 Romances by Robert Schumann and chamber music discoveries by less well-known composers. Mayer is joined by violist Tabea Zimmermann, horn player, Marie-Luise Neunecker, and pianist Markus Becker. Hear selections throughout the week on the air and buy "Song of the Reeds" right now at a special KDFC price.
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
English Chamber Orchestra
Steven Mercurio, conductor
On this beautiful new disc, L.A. native and friend of KDFC, Anne Akiko Meyers plays a selection of works for violin by Bach. Included are the E major and a minor Concertos for one violin and a remarkable performance of the Double Concerto in d minor. On this concerto, Meyers plays both parts but uses different violins, both of them built by Stradivarius! The program is rounded out with 3 nice transcriptions: the Air in G, the Largo from the Harpsichord Concerto, BWV 1056, and the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria. Just lovely! Buy this new release now at a special KDFC price.
The Oscars are this Sunday and KDFC Goes to the Movies begins in earnest Thursday morning at 8 with your #1 pick for best soundtrack of all time. Plus, all this week, we'll be featuring tracks from this new 5 CD collection of movie music. For the most part, this is classical music "borrowed" for the cinema from some of the greatest classical composers (Mozart, Verdi, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Tchaïkovsky, etc.) with one disc devoted to music written especially for the screen by the likes of John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Howard Shore, Nino Rota, and others. We like the way the 72 tracks are broken down into categories such as Cult Film Music, Box Office Hits, and Classical Music as Cinema Heroine. Buy it now for a special KDFC price!
On her new solo CD, the young Norwegian trumpeter, Tine Thing Helseth, tells stories of love and loss with a program of songs by Grieg, Strauss, Sibelius, Canteloube, and more, transcribed for trumpet. Tine Thing (pronounced Tina Ting) is a huge star in her native Norway where she was awarded the Grammy as Best Newcomer (the first classical artist to even be nominated). At 23, Helseth is already one of the leading trumpet soloists of her generation. "She is not to be missed. She is unique."-Leif Ove Andsnes. Hear selections from this disc throughout the week on KDFC and buy it here at a special KDFC price.
Week of February 6th
Nicola Benedetti: Italia
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti gets in touch with her Italian roots with this new recording of Italian Baroque Concertos. Included are familiar selections like Vivaldi's Summer from The Four Seasons and The Devil's Trill Sonata by Tartini, along with some lesser known gems. For her first-ever baroque recording, Benedetti borrowed a baroque-era bow from her early music mentor, Rachel Podger and performs on her usual instrument, a Stradivarius made in 1714. She is accompanied by the renowned Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Strad Magazine wrote:"The sound is ringing and brilliant, beautifully shaped and with a tasteful use of vibrato." Hear selections from this new CD throughout the week on KDFC and purchase it here at a special KDFC price.
In the words of American pianist Simone Dinnerstein, “Bach and Schubert, to my ears, share a distinctive quality. Their non-vocal music has a powerful narrative, a vocal element. The effect is that of wordless voices singing textless melodies." This week we feature Simone's latest recording as our KDFC CD of the Week. It includes the Partitas #1 and #2 of Bach and four of the Schubert Impromptus. Hear selections throughout the week on KDFC and buy it at a special price this week only at KDFC.com. (BTW, Dinnerstein will appear in recital at the Montalvo Arts center on Sunday, February 26.)
This new recording is a kind of "State of the Union" address, as the group's current membership revisits and refreshes examples of its unique contribution to the brass quintet universe. Founded in 1970, Canadian Brass celebrates with this CD four decades of performing with four centuries of music. From the early Canzona Prima a 5 by Giovanni Gabrieli to a new work by CB member Brandon Ridenour, "Takes Flight" reviews the music of the past and sets the stage for future flights. Hear selections from this hard-to-find CD throughout this week on the air and buy it now at a special KDFC price.
This week we offer another contender for your Holiday music wish-list. A Steinway Christmas Album features pianist Jeffrey Biegel and takes listeners on a journey through Christmases past and present. With sparkling arrangements of time-honored carols, well-loved winter melodies, and evocative new pieces, A Steinway Christmas Album is the perfect Holiday recording for lovers of the piano. Hear highlights on the air throughout this week and buy it now at a special KDFC price.
Week of December 5th
The Colors of Christmas/John Rutter
Bach Choir/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The latest from British composer and conductor John Rutter features beloved holiday classics as well as some lesser-known gems. The disc includes several works by Rutter himself including the brand new carol which gives the CD its title. Other composers represented are Mendelssohn (Hark, the Herald Angels Sing), Adolphe Adam (O Holy Night), and Mel Torme (The Christmas Song or Chestnuts Roasting) plus that holiday mainstay,"Traditional". Hear selections throughout the week and add it to your holiday collection now at a special KDFC price.
If Mozart were alive today, would he be writing for video games? He wrote music for the prevailing entertainment vehicles of the day and with video games being a lot more popular today than opera or ballet, it makes sense that some very talented composers are writing for the genre. Skeptical? Reserve your judgement until you hear these orchestral arrangements of themes from such games as Call of Duty, Halo, World of Warcraft, Angry Birds, and more performed by the London Phil!
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Jose Serebrier
Uruguayan conductor Jose Serebrier has embarked on a new recording project with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra that will encompass the complete Symphony cycle of Antonin Dvorak. Volume #1 starts at the end with Dvorak's final symphony, #9, "From the New World". The disc also includes the Czech Suite and two of the enormously popular Slavonic Dances. We'll be featuring selections from this CD throughout the week on KDFC and you can buy it now at a special KDFC price.
Our Bonus CD is a collection of vocal music re-imagined for a wordless medium: the piano duo. In their debut album, When Words Fade, Anderson & Roe present original piano duo arrangements of well-known classical vocal pieces alongside great hits of pop. Includes everything from Billie Jean by Michael Jackson to the Rachmaninoff Vocalise; Bizet's Carmen to Paranoid Android by Radiohead! Check them out on youTube.
Four of Johann Sebastian Bach's most important works for orchestral ensemble are collected on this new 2-CD set from the renowned Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. The four Suites for Orchestra or "Overtures" are a unique blending of French and Italian styles with Bach's own genius, which pretty much reinvents the genre. An indispensable treasure of the Baroque. We'll play selections throughout the week and you can buy it here at a special KDFC price.
Made in Britain is an anthology of British musical landscapes presented by a British ensemble with a British conductor. The Royal Philharmonic is led by John Wilson in selections by William Walton (Scapino), Frederick Delius (The Walk to Paradise Garden), George Butterworth (2 English Idylls), Arnold Bax (The Happy Forest) and the "king of the English pastoral sound", Ralph Vaughan Williams. His Lark Ascending is included on the disc with solo violinist James Clark impersonating the lark. "A harvest of good tunes, wistful nostalgia and unbuttoned exuberance". We'll be featuring this CD all week on the air and you can buy it now at a special KDFC price.
Shuffle.Play.Listen unites ground-breaking, Grammy-nominated cellist Matt Haimovitz with pianist Christopher O'Riley, host of From the Top (Sunday's at 7pm on KDFC) in a collaboration that blurs the boundaries between classical and pop music. Two performers, each a superstar in his own right, come together to plumb the virtuosic and lyrical possibilities of their instruments. Difficult to pigeon-hole, Shuffle. Play. Listen is intended for today's classical fans who have Wagner on their iPod right next to Lady Gaga! "Could be the coolest classical CD of the year", (Norman Lebrecht.) Hear selections on KDFC throughout this week.
A disc of Rachmaninoff Preludes featuring this British pianist was one of our favorite recordings from of 2009. Now Steven Osborne is back with the complete music for solo piano by Maurice Ravel. At nearly two and a half hours of music, this project goes a long way in explaining what the award-winning pianist has been up to since then. Ravel was a composer who often began with a piano version of his works, later arranging them for orchestra, so many of the pieces on these 2 CDs may sound familiar even if you've never heard the keyboard versions before. The well-received recording ("A set of stunning virtuosity, but with delicate colors at the same time. Steven Osborne demonstrates again his great feel for French piano music." William Kreindler, MusicWeb International) features Le Tombeau de Couperin, Menuet antique, Pavane for a Dead Princess, Sonatine, La valse, Miroirs, and the haunting Gaspard de la nuit. Hear selections on KDFC throughout the week and buy it now at our special KDFC price.
It must have been a dream come true for contemporary cellist Zuill Bailey to get a chance to actually play with the great (and late) Spanish composer Manuel de Falla, but that's what we encounter on this latest Zenph Re-Performance outing, The Spanish Masters. The Zenph folks are dedicated to breathing new life into classic old recordings through a process of data manipulation that retains the nuances of a performance but eliminates the extraneous noise. Thus it's Manuel de Falla (and Albeniz and Granados) on the piano sounding like it was recorded yesterday! Check it out!
On the November 8th edition of KDFC's The State of the Arts, KDFC's Arts Producer Jeffrey Freymann-Weyr chats with Zuill Bailey as he explores this exciting new recording. Click here to listen.
And tune in weekdays to hear The State of the Arts or visit KDFC's The State of the Arts page anytime for the latest edition and more!
Just as we're asking you to vote for this year's KDFC Classical All-Stars, the London Philharmonic has come out with their own version on a 4-CD set entitled The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music. And before you ask, "Says who?", take a gander at the line-up: Beethoven's Ode to Joy from the 9th Symphony, Holst's Jupiter from The Planets, excerpts from Orff's Carmina Burana, the Cavatina from The Deer Hunter, Mozart's A Little Night Music, the Pachelbel Canon, the Bach Air on the G String. You get the idea. How will this list compare with your 2012 Classical All-Stars? Hold that thought while listening to 50 faves from the London Philharmonic throughout this week, on the air and on sale at a special KDFC price right here.
Another departure from purely classical for Yo-Yo Ma and his very talented pals from other walks of musical life. Ma says, " What we’re trying to do is simply make music that transcends whatever roots or categories of backgrounds that it starts from – that just exists as something that we’re trying to express, through our community of values, as a moment in time creating very special music.” Head-scratching? You bet but a quick listen to some excerpts (click the link) will demonstrate what he's talking about. You'll also learn what a "Goat Rodeo" is! Fun stuff.
Curious to hear more? On the November 1st edition of KDFC's The State of the Arts, KDFC's Arts Producer Jeffrey Freymann-Weyr explores Yo-Yo Ma's latest genre-defying CD. Click below to listen. And tune in weekdays to hear The State of the Arts or visit KDFC's The State of the Arts page anytime for the latest edition and more!
This new CD from Spain's Cuarteto Casals features Boccherini's best known works in sparkling, fresh performances. Headlining is the evocative "Night Music in the Streets of Madrid" which was so out there for Boccherini that he didn't want it published during his lifetime. As the title implies, it depicts the sounds of late-night Madrid as the town is closing up shop. Then there's the String Quintet in E major, best known for its Minuet, the Quintet in D major, which concludes with a spunky Fandango, and rounding out the collection is the g minor String Quartet. Cuarteto Casals is joined by a second cellist, Eckart Runge (taking the part Boccherini would have played), guitarist Carles Trepat and in the Fandango we get to hear the castanet stylings of Daniel Tummer. We'll be playing selections from this new CD throughout the week on KDFC and you can buy it now at a special KDFC price.
Week of October 17th
All about Liszt
It's all about music's first superstar this week as we head toward the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt on October 22. Three new recordings join the already long list of Liszt tributes. The latest from the young French pianist Lise de la Salle includes some of the large-scale works like the b minor Ballade and Funerailles as well as arrangements of works by other composers given the unique Liszt twist. The all-Liszt debut CD from Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili has been described as "breathtaking". She plays favorites like Liebestraum and the Mephisto Waltz and the spooky Gondola lugubre. Finally, a new CD from the French master, Pierre-Laurent Aimard performing works by Liszt and other great composers who were influenced by Liszt. Plus we bring back a release from earlier this year, Franz Liszt: Wild and Crazy; a specially-priced 2-CD celebration of Liszt piano fireworks from an array of virtuoso pianists like Lang Lang, Daniel Barenboim, Alice Sara Ott, the late Jorge Bolet, Martha Argerich and many others. Listen for selections from all 3 CDs on KDFC and buy any one or all of them this week at a special KDFC price.
The latest from superstar pianist Lang Lang is his own personal celebration of the 200th birthday of the composer who first got him interested in the piano, Franz Liszt. If you heard Lang Lang play Liszt’s first Piano Concerto on the San Francisco Symphony’s Opening Night Gala, you can relive the magic, because it’s here, along with hits like Liebestraum, Consolation, La Campanella and two of the Hungarian Rhapsodies. We'll play selections on KDFC throughout the week and you can buy this CD at a special price this week only at KDFC.com.
This week we're showcasing the Italian tenor, Vittorio Grigolo, with selections from his latest CD "Arrivederci" . Grigolo writes,"Arrivederci means "see you again soon". With this album I wanted to revisit the most beautiful music from opera to traditional Italian songs." Grigolo is better-known in his native Italy than here, although you may have seen him on Dancing with the Stars a couple of seasons ago! Born in Arezzo and raised in Rome, he sang in the choir of the Sistine Chapel as a boy. When he was just 13 he shared the stage with Pavarotti and was instantly dubbed Il Pavarottino, the Little Pavarotti. He is the first Italian man to be excused from military duty because of his promising career! Meet Vittorio Grigolo. It's the week that sings on KDFC! Look below to check out a great video of Vittorio in action.
Week of September 26th
De Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain Works for the Piano
Javier Perianes, piano/BBC Symphony Orchestra/Josep Pons, conductor
It's all about Spain on this new disc of selections by Manual de Falla with Spanish pianist Javier Perianes and Catalan conductor Josep Pons. Just one disc contains the complete works for solo piano by de Falla (who was "repelled" by the concept of the performing virtuoso) plus his evocative work for piano and orchestra, Nights in the Gardens of Spain. The solo pieces include tributes to de Falla's contemporaries, Debussy and Dukas and the pianist Artur Rubinstein. We'll play selections on KDFC throughout the week and you can buy this CD at a special price this week only at KDFC.com.
American pianist Becky Billock has just released a recording of solo piano pieces by American women composers. Muses Nine features beautiful, unique, and rarely heard selections by some of today's leading composers:Ellen Zwilich, Libby Larsen, Diane Thome and the early pioneers, Amy Beach and Margaret Bond. Hear tracks from this new CD throughout the week on KDFC and buy it at a special KDFC price this week only.
Week of September 12th
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra/Nicholas McGegan Vivaldi/The Four Seasons
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's newest CD features studio recordings of seven Vivaldi violin concertos, including his beloved The Four Seasons, as well as the Concerto in B-flat major ( RV 375); the Concerto in E minor, “Il favorito”; and the Concerto in E major, “L’amoroso”. The soloist for all the concertos is 30-year veteran of the Orchestra, violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock. The recordings were made in December 2010 at Skywalker Sound in Marin. Hear selections on KDFC throughout this week and buy the CD at a special price this week only.
Week of September 5th
Anne-Sophie Mutter: The Complete Musician
This week a 2-CD collection of highlights from the great German violinist's complete recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. Arranged in chronological order, this is a comprehensive over-view of 35 years on stage for Mutter including a never-before-released recording of the 11 year-old Mutter playing Prokofiev! ASM: 35 features Mutter's personal favorites among her recordings with music by Brahms, Mozart, Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Lutoslawski, and many more.
Hear selections throughout the week on KDFC and buy this collection now at a special KDFC price.
Bonus CD!
Guitar Passions: Sharon Isbin and Friends
Renowned classical guitarist Sharon Isbin follows up her Grammy-winning album, Journey to the New World, with another extraordinary musical exploration, Sharon Isbin & Friends: Guitar Passions. This time, the journey is focused on Isbin’s musical mentors and has a Latin American flavor on many tracks. Joining Sharon on this new recording are three-time rock guitarist composer Steve Vai, innovative jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, and the platinum- selling rock band Heart’s guitarist/composer, Nancy Wilson, among others.
Check out this cool video!
Week of August 29th
Tabarinades: Music for the Theater of Tabarin
Les Boreades/Francis Colpron
Tabarin was the stage name of a French street performer of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. His theatrical antics were a direct influence on the plays of Moliere. And the music which accompanied the almost-daily performances in Paris' Place Dauphine sounds as fresh and lively in this new recording from Les Boreades as it must have 400 years ago. Composers represented on this CD include Michael Praetorius, Lambert Beaulieu, Vincenzo Ruffo, and the always popular Anonymous!
Hear selections from this CD throughout this week on KDFC and buy it at a special price right now.
Collected onto a 3-CD set are all of Perahia's best-selling recordings of Bach Concertos. Brooklyn-born Murray Perahia has been one of our most important pianist for as long as I can remember. He appears here with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. "What puts Murray Perahia in the very top league of Bach players is his capacity for releasing the sheer, overwhelming spirit of Bach’s music," Sony.
Hear selections from this CD throughout this week and buy it at a special KDFC price this week only.
New from arguably the world's greatest oboist is a recording that demonstrates Bach's genius touch with the oboe. Heinz Holliger is back with his longtime partners, the Camerata Bern, for 6 Bach Concertos plus a Bach arrangement of the familiar Marcello d minor oboe concerto.
Hear selections from this CD throughout this week and buy it at a special KDFC price this week only.
English-born pianist Stephen Hough revisits the Chopin Waltzes in this new CD on the Hyperion Label. His earlier recordings of the same repertory garnered critical acclaim and it's interesting to hear how time and age have influenced his interpretations. We'll play selections throughout the week on KDFC and you can buy it now at a special KDFC price.
Cello Explorations featuring the Angeli Ensemble:
The preeminent American cellist Lynn Harrell has released a new recording with an enigmatic title, The Known Unknowns. Featuring four Cello Concertos, the disc ranges from the familiar Haydn Concerto in C (re-discovered in 1959) to a concerto arrangement of the Couperin Pieces en concert. The A major Concerto of C.P.E. Bach may have been written originally for flute, harpsichord or cello (unknown) and the Boccherini work Harrell plays started out as a Sonata. Teamed with the Angeli Ensemble, Harrell is his usual masterful self. Hear selections throughout this week and buy it at a special KDFC price right now.
As a complement to the Harrell CD we offer this fun new recording: 2CELLOS with Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser. They are a YouTube sensation with their dueling cellos versions of pop hits like "Smooth Criminal" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit"! We'll play a little name-that-tune this week with these guys!
Week of August 1st
Liszt: Wild and Crazy
Classical music's original Rock Star is 200 years young! Happy Birthday Franz Liszt. Here is a specially priced 2-CD celebration of Liszt piano fireworks from an array of virtuoso pianists like Lang Lang, Daniel Barenboim, Alice Sara Ott, the late Jorge Bolet, Martha Argerich and many others. From the Hungarian Rhapsodies to the Mephisto Waltz, virtually all of Liszt big piano hits are included. Hear selections on the air throughout this week and buy this new release now at a special KDFC price.
Week of July 25th
The Very Best of Karl Jenkins
Welsh composer Karl Jenkins is most famous for his “Diamond Music,” but he is the most performed living composer in the world. This 2-CD set, includes the “Diamond Music,” excerpts from his beautiful choral works “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” and “Requiem,” his Kazakh violin concerto “Sarikiz” and much more. Artists include sopranos Dame Kiri te Kanawa and Kate Royal, trumpeter Alison Balsom, harpist Catrin Finch and violinist Marat Bisengaliev. Hear selections from this new CD throughout the week and buy it at a special KDFC price this week.
The great Spanish cellist Pablo Casals was and is an inspiration to generations of cellists including the young German, Alban Gerhardt. Gerhardt has released a tribute to Casals in this new collection of encores. Included are familiar works like Saint-Saens' The Swan and Faure's Apres un reve as well as lesser-known miniatures by David Popper and Edward MacDowell. Hear selections from this new CD throughout the week and buy it at a special KDFC price this week.
Week of July 11th
Summer in the Park
Ah, Summer! Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and another neat seasonal compilation from EMI Classics, the latest in their “…in the Park” series. “Summer in the Park” features 15 tracks of lazy, hazy days music, along with a few for those few moments of hustle and bustle that get you in the mood for the next nap. Featuring a typical great roster of EMI performers, including clarinetist Sabine Meyer, cellist Han-Na Chang, pianist Ingrid Fliter, the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony and more, this disc will be perfect for those relaxing moments as the barbecue winds down. Hear selections from this recording throughout this week and buy it now at a special KDFC price.
The Bay Area's own Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra performs three of Haydn's London Symphonies on this new CD release, recorded live in 2007-2009 at Berkeley's First Congregational Church. Represented are Haydn's "London" Symphony, #104, the "Clock" Symphony, #101 and the Symphony #88. "Seldom have (Haydn's) elemental dynamic contrasts sounded so properly in proportion and so mercurial."-New York Times. Hear selections from this CD throughout this week and buy it now at a special CD of the Week price!
Week of June 27th
Katia and Marielle Labèque: Rhapsody in Blue & West Side Story
Just in time for the 4th of July, Katia and Marielle Labèque present an inspired and uplifting program of American music for two pianos. The Labèques' recording of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue launched a stellar international career and was one of the first gold records in classical music. This new release from their own KML Records features the sisters' new look at Gershwin's immortal Rhapsody coupled with Irwin Kostal's arrangement of music from Leonard Bernstein's beloved musical West Side Story. Hear selections throughout the week leading up to the 4th of July and buy this release at a special price right now.
Week of June 20th
Vivaldi:The French Connection 2
In this follow-up to French Connection 1, Adrian Chandler and his group La Serenissima again explore the increasing interest that French and Italian musicians had in each other's music during the 1720's and 1730's. This rich cultural exchange is reflected in Vivaldi's "Paris" Symphonies and other works written with the French taste in mind. This disc is particularly notable for featuring the World Premiere recording of the newly-discovered Vivaldi Flute Concerto,"Il Gran Mogul" which KDFC first aired in February. "They play with the effortless musicality of birds", The Independent. Hear selections from this new release throughout this week and buy it now at a special KDFC price.
Week of June 13
New Recordings of Bach's Cello Suites
We've seen so many new recordings of the Cello Suites lately that we decided to spotlight a few of them as our CDs of the Week. First, from the Bay Area's Tanya Tomkins (Philharmonia Baroque, American Bach Soloists) a performance of the Suites as played on Baroque Cellos. We'll contrast that with Helen Callus' new recording on viola, making the case that Bach may have written the Suites for an instrument which was more akin to the viola than our modern cello. Then there's the straight-ahead reading from the young French cellist Ophélie Gaillard.
Tanya Tomkins:
Helen Callus:
Ophélie Gaillard:
Week of June 6th
Milos Karadaglic: The Guitar
This week we introduce you to the 27 year-old guitar virtuoso from Montenegro, Milos Karadaglic. On his debut CD, Milos explores music from Spain, Italy, Greece and beyond. Already a star in the UK, Milos is poised to win over American music-lovers with his virtuosity and his charisma. "...the impending stardom of this remarkable musician will come as no surprise."-The Independent.
Hear selections from this recording throughout this week and buy it now at a special KDFC price.
Week of May 30th
Nelson Freire: Liszt - Harmonies du soir
The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt was born October 22, 1811 and music lovers the world over are celebrating his bicentenary with concerts, recordings and more. Liszt is often described as the first rock star because of his incredible following during his lifetime and because he set the bar very high for all pianists who came after him. The Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire has long been an exceptional interpreter of Liszt's music. Our CD of the Week is his new selection of Liszt's works, from the grandly opulent early works to the bitter-sweet melodies of his later years.
The Italian early-music ensemble Europa Galante expands their rich catalogue of Vivaldi’s works with six concertos – five from La Stravaganza (The Eccentric) and another in F major – published as a set in London in 1728 by John Walsh. These Concertos became a cornerstone of the composer’s international fame in his lifetime. Listen for tracks from this new CD throughout the week and buy it at a special price this week only.
