Rachmaninoff: The Bells [Kolokola] [Netherlands Radio Philharmonic]

Conducted by the American conductor James Gaffigan, the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (Netherlands Radio Philharmonic) and the Groot Omroepkoor (Dutch Radio Choir) perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s The Bells (Russian: Kolokola), Op. 35, a choral symphony written in 1913. The words are from the heavily onomatopoeic poem “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October …

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 [Olga Kern]

Accompanied by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Russian-born American classical pianist Olga Kern performs Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30. Conductor: James Conlon. This performance was the final of the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where Olga Kern was the joint Gold Medal winner. She shared the prize …

Ana Vidović plays Granada by Isaac Albéniz

Croatian virtuosa classical guitarist Ana Vidović plays Granada by the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz (29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909). It is the first piece of Suite Española, Op. 47, a suite for solo piano by Albéniz (written in 1886 and grouped together in 1887). Since being transcribed for guitar by the Catalan classical …

Debussy: La Mer [Orchestre de Paris, Esa-Pekka Salonen]

Conducted by the Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Orchestre de Paris performs La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre (English: The sea, three symphonic sketches for orchestra), or simply La Mer (i.e. The Sea), an orchestral composition (L 109) by the French composer Claude Debussy. Recorded at the Salle Pleyel (Paris) on 8 …

Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini [Kirill Gerstein]

Accompanied by the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra), Kirill Gerstein performs “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43”, a concertante (a mixture of the symphony and the concerto genres) work written for solo piano and symphony orchestra by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Conductor: Edward Gardner. Recorded live at Alte Oper Frankfurt on September 25, 2015.