Tuesday, November 20

'Tis the season for buyers to snatch up the best and brightest and newest stuff out there. Looking for gift ideas? Today on Midday Music: new releases and nothin' but. Keep in mind that Public Broadcasting One (877-448-4719) can help you buy CDs and support GPB at the same time.

11 AM . . . David Oistrakh Edition . Saint-Saëns: Chamber Music for Wind Instruments . Gang / Zhanhao: The Butterfly Lovers; Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto

  • Prokofiev: March from Love for Three Oranges. -and- Hummel: Piano Trio No. 2 in F major. David Oistrakh, Lev Oborin et al. (Brilliant Classics 8402). From a ten-disc set collecting Soviet concert recordings of small-scale chamber music performed by legendary violinist David Oistrakh and friends.
  • Saint-Saens: Oboe Sonata, Op. 166. Ensemble Villa Musica (MDG 304 0395). A spotless CD of Saint-Saens' late-life, Romantic-to-the-end wind sonatas.
  • Chen & He: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto. Gil Shaham, Singapore Sym, Sui (Canary Classics CC04). A musical love story, in a Chinese piece with an involved back story of its own, on Gil Shaham's own label.
12 N . . . A Baroque Festival . . Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique"; Swan Lake Suite
  • Handel: Harp Concerto in B-flat, Op. 4/6. Andrew Lawrence-King, Taverner Players, Parrott (Virgin 391340). Sparkling new collection of Baroque gems.
  • Wagner: Parsifal, Act 3: symphonic synthesis by Stokowski. Bournemouth Sym, Serebrier (Naxos 8.570293). Prefer your Wagner without singers? A whole disc of arrangements of highlights from the operas.
  • Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Suite. Philharmonia Orch, Karajan (EMI 72472). Why should The Nutcracker get all the action? A budget rerelease.
  • Bach: Sinfonia from Cantata No. 156. David Reichenberg, Taverner Players, Parrott (Virgin 391340 again).
1 PM . . . Smetana: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 . <Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante [Hybrid SACD] . Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 8 [SACD]
  • Pachelbel: Canon. Taverner Players, Parrott (Virgin 391340). Same disc as in the Handel and Bach above: A Baroque Festival.
  • Smetana: Prague Carnival. BBC Phil, Noseda (Chandos 10413). The nine works on this disc aren't as famous as The Moldau, but they're still Smetana.
  • Mozart: Rondo in C major, K. 373. Julia Fischer, Netherlands Chamber Orch, Kreizberg (PentaTone 5186 098). Fischer puts out one stellar recording after another. The main attraction on this one is Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola.
  • Beethoven: Symphony No. 5. Royal Flemish Orch, Herreweghe (PentaTone 5186 316). Given the iconic status of Beeethoven's Fifth, you'd be surprised how few CDs of it have reached GPB lately. Acclaimed conductor Philippe Herreweghe takes it on.

Posted by Sarah Zaslaw at 11:03 AM