Rachmaninoff - Rhapsody on Theme Paganini Piano & Orch G Min - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

When Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen died in 1728, his former Kapellmeister had not forgotten the five brilliant years he had spent in the prince's service. He dedicated to his memory a mourning cantata almost entirely based on the music of two major works of the mid-1720s, the Trauer-Ode and the St Matthew Passion. Although the score is lost, the wordbook and other sources of information have now made it possible to reconstruct the work. Raphaël Pichon's first recording for harmonia mundi was voted recording of the year at the 2015 Victoires de la Musique Classique awards.

The American composer William Bolcom (b. 1938) is best-known for his large-scale setting of William Blake's InchSongs of Innocence and Experience,Inch which is available on a 3-CD Naxos set. This new collection of Bolcom's songs also on Naxos shows the composers's lifelong fascination with Blake. It includes an early lyrical setting of Blake's poem, InchMaryInch which deals with a beautiful and intelligent young woman and her rejection by her society. In the several torch and cabaret-style works it includes, the collection also shows Bolcom's attempts to fuse classical with popular styles of music. Bolcom also has done so in his piano music, much of which is heavily influenced by ragtime. The songs on this CD are performed and selected by soprano Carole Farley with Bolcom himself at the piano.

Eskimeaux - Year of the Rabbit [COMPACT DISCS] date 04/15/2016