Lawrence Foster, Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra, Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir – Kodály: Te Deum, Psalmus Hungaricus – Bartók: Cantata Profana, Transylvanian Dances (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:04:11 minutes | 2,30 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
The Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra and conductor Lawrence Foster present choral-orchestral works by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. They join forces with a remarkable group of soloists – including Luiza Fatyol, Roxana Constantinescu, Marius Vlad, Ioan Hotea and Bogdan Baciu – as well as the Junior VIP children’s choir. The album opens with Kodály’s Budavári Te Deum and Psalmus Hungaricus, followed by Bartók’s Transylvanian Dances and culminating in the composer’s Cantata Profana. The latter work, based on ancient myth, was originally conceived in Romanian, but the piece is usually performed in a Hungarian version. This recording reinstates the Romanian original version, retouched by choir conductor Cornel Groza. In general, this recording by Romanian ensembles of works by Hungarian composers linked to Romanian sources can be seen as an exploration of Romania and Hungary’s shared roots, and of the bicultural nature of Transylvania in particular.
Read more
Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra & Lawrence Foster – Puccini: La fanciulla del West, SC 78 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:12:48 minutes | 2,30 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Lawrence Foster conducts Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West (1910), together with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Cluj-Napoca and a cast of seasoned Puccini singers, including Melody Moore (Minnie), Marius Vlad (Dick Johnson) and Lester Lynch (Jack Rance). Puccini’s “Spaghetti Western” is not only an exploration of the New World, with the delightfully charismatic saloon owner Minnie running the show, but equally of new music; a pioneering work full of harmonic innovation and state-of-the-art orchestration effects. The depth of the orchestration, as well as of the various ensemble scenes that are characteristic of the opera, fully comes to life in this studio recording.
Read more![Lawrence Foster - Kodály Te Deum, Psalmus Hungaricus - Bartók Cantata Profana, Transylvanian Dances (2023) [24Bit-192kHz] FLAC [PMEDIA] ⭐️ Download](https://i0.wp.com/imageurl.xyz/images/2023/11/09/LawrenceFosterKodlyTeDeumPsalmusHungaricusBartkCantataProfanaTransylvanianDances202324Bit192kHzFLACPMEDIA.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Melody Moore, Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra, Lawrence Foster, Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir – Remembering Tebaldi (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:04:07 minutes | 2,17 GB | Genre: Classical, Opera
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Melody Moore pays tribute to the legendary soprano Renata Tebaldi, presenting a selection of arias and scenes by Rossini, Verdi, Boito, Catalani, Puccini, Mascagni, Giordano, Cilea and Alessandro Scarlatti, documenting the most important stages in the career of “la voce d’angelo”. Moore performs these pieces together with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra under the baton of Lawrence Foster.
Read more
Sa Chen, Gulbenkian Orchestra & Lawrence Foster – Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 35:29 minutes | 590 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Sa Chen here gives serviceable performance (in splendid sound) of two concerto warhorses. The Pentatone label seems to have cornered the market in surround sound recordings of the great concertos, but it was perhaps inevitable that their unbroken series of definitive recordings would inevitably move down from the Parnassian slopes – as here. These performances (while eminently musical) perhaps lack that final ounce of passionate commitment to be found in so many other concerti recordings on the Pentatone label. Nevertheless, a case can be made for these readings of two thoroughly musical performances, recorded in customary Pentatone splendour. (Classical CD Choice, Barry Forshaw)
Read more
NDR Radiophilharmonie, NDR Chor & Lawrence Foster – Strauss II: Die Fledermaus (Live) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:56:06 minutes | 2,02 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Die Fledermaus (1874) is the ultimate Viennese operetta, composed by Johann Strauss Jr., the most famous member of the Strauss Waltz Dynasty. Once conceived as an attempt to creatively outgrow the dance-hall, the operetta was a huge success from the outset and still enchants audiences today with its unmistakably Viennese mix of comedy and sophistication and its uplifting waltz rhythms. This live recording is imbued with a specifically Viennese charm thanks to the inclusion of dialogues written by tenor Nikolai Schukoff, who also sings the role of Eisenstein.
Read more
Marc Coppey, Lawrence Foster – Shostakovich – Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:10 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © audite Musikproduktion
This live recording of the two Shostakovich cello concertos continues audite’s cooperation with Marc Coppey, who approaches both works with boundless energy and without any sentimentality.
Dmitri Shostakovich wrote two concertos for the cello, and both are dedicated to the most eminent Soviet cellist of his time: Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1959 he wrote his first cello concerto, whose musical language is almost classical but which also reveals an enormous panorama of moods, gestures and “stories”. Seven years later, Shostakovich composed his second concerto; it builds on the confessional intensity of the first concerto but seems gloomier in character and is infused with threnodic tones. In this concert recording, Coppey performs alongside the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lawrence Foster in the new Katowice concert hall.
Read more
Lawrence Foster & Orquestra Gulbenkian – Puccini: Madama Butterfly, SC 74 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:22:46 minutes | 5,03 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Japanese tragedy with symphonic qualities. After having recorded La Fanciulla del West, conductor Lawrence Foster now expands his Puccini discography on Pentatone with Madama Butterfly, together with the Coro & Orquestra Gulbenkian, as well as Elisabeth Kulman (Suzuki), Stefano Secco (Pinkerton), Lester Lynch (Sharpless) and Melody Moore (Cio-Cio-San) in the title role. Despite its disastrous premiere, Madama Butterfly has become one of Puccini’s most successful and popular operas. While the Japanese ambience usually captures the attention, the original dramatic conception and exceptional symphonic qualities of the work are often overlooked. Lawrence Foster’s interpretation brings out the symphonic character of the opera, while Melody Moore’s charismatic interpretation of the title role fully realizes the work’s tragic and dramatic potential.
Read more
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Lawrence Foster – R. Schumann: Complete Symphonies (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:16:21 minutes | 2,37 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Robert Schumann started his career as a composer of piano music and Lieder, and is still best known for his work in these genres. Intimidated by Beethoven’s legacy, as well as by his friend Felix Mendelssohn’s prolific output, Schumann long avoided the symphony. Spurred by his wife Clara, who was convinced that his imagination could not find sufficient scope on the piano, he eventually ventured four highly original symphonies. While the First (“Spring”) and Third (“Rhenish”) display a typically German-Romantic predilection for the picturesque, the Second bears the fruit of Schumann’s study of Bach counterpoint, while the solemn and sombre Fourth seems to provide a hint of the composer’s troubled state in the final years of his life. The works are presented here in an excellent performance by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Lawrence Foster.
Read more
Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra & Lawrence Foster – Schubert: Early Symphonies & Stage Music (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:07:29 minutes | 2,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
By presenting Schubert’s first three symphonies and a selection of stage music, this album showcases a less-known, but fascinating part of the composer’s oeuvre. His extraordinary achievements in the fields of Lieder and string quartet composition tend to overshadow his orchestral output, and his symphonic contributions have sometimes been viewed as marginal in comparison to Beethoven’s, but judged on their own merits, these works display a high level of sophistication indeed.
Read more
Arabella Steinbacher, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Lawrence Foster – Bruch, Korngold: Violin Concertos / Chausson: Poeme (2013)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:10:08 minutes | 2,77 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: ISO SACD | © Pentatone Music B.V.
Arabella Steinbacher has firmly established herself as one of today’s leading violinists on the international concert scene, where her mastery of the violin frequently joins forces with the world’s major symphony orchestras. The New York Times summed up her playing as follows: “Balanced lyricism and fire – among her assets are a finely polished technique and a beautifully varied palette of timbres.”
Steinbacher’s feeling for the timeless melodies on this CD runs as deep as her technical command is great. The result is lyricism of the highest order. The album opens with a lush arrangement of Max Bruch’s much-loved, yet surprising, Violin Concerto No. 1, followed by two exquisite pieces: Chausson’s Poème and Steinbacher’s acclaimed interpretation of Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D major.
Read more![Arabella Steinbacher, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Lawrence Foster - Bruch & Korngold: Violin Concertos - Chausson: Poème (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/09/15/0827949050367_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Arabella Steinbacher, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Lawrence Foster – Bruch & Korngold: Violin Concertos – Chausson: Poème (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:11 minutes | 1,32 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © PentaTone
Arabella Steinbacher has firmly established herself as one of today’s leading violinists on the international concert scene, where her mastery of the violin frequently joins forces with the world’s major symphony orchestras. The New York Times summed up her playing as follows: “Balanced lyricism and fire – among her assets are a finely polished technique and a beautifully varied palette of timbres.”
(more…)