Hyperion Records Spotify Launch - Round 1

Composers are now displayed for the Harmonia Mundi catalog

For those of you who already followed my Harmonia Mundi - hmGold Series playlist, it might take a while before the composers appear in the desktop client. In web player everyone should see the composers now.

Harmonia Mundi - hmGold Series in 1 Spotify Playlist

"harmonia mundi has earned a reputation as one of the most important classical music labels with their emphasis on the highest quality both in performances and sound. The Gold series is an assemblage of cornerstones in establishing that reputation - a collection that contains innumerable gems." - from Classics Online.

"Described by the New York Times as 'one of Europe’s finest independent record companies', harmonia mundi’s origins date back half a century when, in 1958, a French journalist with connections to the book trade, Bernard Coutaz, decided to found his own publishing house for music. A year later the label had released its first recording, Chants From The Slavonic Liturgy.

The largest independent producer of classical recordings in France, the artist roster for harmonia mundi reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of classical music superstars. With ensembles including The Academy of Ancient Music to Trio Wanderer, Al Ayre Español to Theatre of Voices, Les Arts Florissants to Tokyo String Quartet, artists such as William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Andrew Manze, Kent Nagano, Dorothea Röschmann, Andreas Scholl, Andreas Staier and Alexandre Tharaud, leading chamber groups, choirs, orchestras – the list is virtually endless and covers most musical periods and classical genres.

You can read more about the history of Harmonia Mundi and watch a video clip of its founder Bernard Coutaz here." - from Presto Classical.

Get this collection in 1 Spotify playlist: Harmonia Mundi - hmGold Series (1788 tracks, 117 hours). A sampler album is placed at the beginning. 3 double-disk samplers of Baroque, Romantic and Choral Works can be found at the end. Some longer than 10 minutes tracks are unavailable at this moment, but it should be fixed soon. More info on the recordings available on the official site, Arkiv and Music Web.

In addition to those listed in the intro, you can also follow these excellent HM artists: Paul Lewis (his widely acclaimed Beethoven recordings have finally become available on Spotify), Isabelle Faust, Richard Egarr, Paul Hillier, Paul O'Dette and Anonymous 4, so you will get notifications for their new content.

Enjoy the sound of harmonia mundi.

DG: The History Of Classical Music On 100 CDs (or 1 Playlist) - From Gregorian Chant To Górecki

Introduction from Presto Classical:

OVERVIEW

• It starts with Gregorian Chant and Machaut chansons and ends with Gorecki and the Minimalists.

• The greatest composers have as many as five CDs devoted to them (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven).

• 20th-century music is well represented with no fewer than 20 CDs.

• Operas and major choral works are represented by highlights, but otherwise the edition presents, as far as possible, only complete works throughout.

• Altogether, there are more than 80 composers in the set, with over 400 works for a total of around 120 hours of music.

REPERTOIRE

As the box is intended for the non-expert, the repertoire is centrally based around the Classical and Romantic composers.

Here's the rundown:

CD 1 – 20 take us from Gregorian Chant to the sons of Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian, with the great names of the Baroque – Monteverdi, Purcell, Charpentier, Rameau, JS Bach, Handel and Vivaldi all featured.

CD 21 – 33 are devoted to the Viennese Classics: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

CD 34 – 49 cover the early Romantic composers, from Schubert, Paganini, Berlioz, Chopin to Liszt and Schumann.

CD 50 – 69 comprise the later Romantics – Brahms, Bruckner, Dvořák, Grieg and Tchaikovsky, plus Verdi and Wagner highlights.

CD 70 – 78 bring together turn-of-the-century composers, including Mahler, Debussy, Richard Strauss and Puccini.

CD 79 – 100 includes 20th-century masterworks from Stravinsky to Messiaen, Boulez and Gorecki, taking in Holst, Rachmaninov, Sibelius, Ives, Janacek, Ravel and many others on the way.

HIGHLIGHTS

It reads like a cornucopia of the great, good and glorious. Look out for:

• the Orlando Consort’s forays into Gregorian Chant and Machaut;

• John Eliot Gardiner’s Bach;
• Minkowski’s Charpentier and Rameau;
• Trevor Pinnock’s Handel and Vivaldi;
• Karajan’s Creation;
• Anda’s Mozart Piano Concertos;
• Beethoven at the hands of Bernstein and Karajan;
• Rossini with Abbado;
• Chopin and Liszt Concertos with Argerich;
• Fischer-Dieskau’s Schubert and Schumann;
• Barenboim’s Chopin Nocturnes;
• Gilels’ Brahms Second Piano Concerto;
• Kubelik’s Dvořák;
• Mravinsky’s Tchaikovsky “Pathétique”;
• Karajan’s Mahler Five;
• Kleiber’s La Traviata highlights;
• Abbado’s Ravel, Prokofiev and Stravinsky;
• Boulez’s Schoenberg and Webern
• the Messiaen Turangalila Symphony and Gorecki’s Symphony no. 3!

—————————————

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist here: DG - The History Of Classical Music - From Gregorian Chant To Górecki (1388 tracks, 115 hours). More info on the official site. A few tracks are missing due to transcoding issues; they should be fixed soon.

My previous playlist 1200 Years of Women Composers: From Hildegard To Higdon is a good companion since no female composer was included in this DG set.

To navigate huge playlists more easily: 1. select the playlist, 2. press Ctrl (CMD) + F, or scroll up in iOS, to bring out the filter bar, 3. type in composer/performer/composition, e.g. Bizet or Abbado or Carmen.

Wigmore Hall Live Series on Spotify

"In October 2005, the Wigmore Hall, London, UK, became the first concert hall to launch its own record label: Wigmore Hall Live, building upon the venue's existing reputation as a recital hall established early in the 20th century. One of the aims was to bring the musical programme to a wider audience. In the 2011 Gramophone Awards, Wigmore Hall Live won the special award: Label of the Year.

Before launching the label, state-of-the-art recording equipment and comprehensive sound insulation had to be installed. These improvements led to the Soile Isokoski disc (recorded live in 2006) receiving a Gramophone Award nomination." - Wikipedia

Get 53 of the 55 releases in one Spotify playlist: Wigmore Hall Live series (1249 tracks, total time: 83 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Albums are arranged by release date. Maybe because the label uses difference distributors for Europe and US, some album have two copies for the two markets. The US "version" is not available in Europe, and vise versa. I included both copies so every user can find the one available in their region.

See Presto Classics and the official site for album list and introduction.

Verdi auf Deutsch - Verdi Sung in German

"Historically, in the 1950s and 60s, it was very common on the Opera stages and in recording studios to sing Italian Operas in German. The Verdi: Sung in German recordings produced by EMI Electrola between 1953 and 1973 are still just as legendary today with stars such as Nicolai Gedda, Rudolf Schock, Brigitte Fassbaender, Josef Metternich, and Gottlob Frick. For the first time, these recordings are available in a 10 CD-Box creating a unique chapter of German recording-history. Verdi: Sung in German is a wonderful set of performances featuring Verdi s stellar works. This 10-CD Box shows the true talents of one of the most prolific composers in the history of classical music. Verdi: Sung in German includes many of Verdi s most famous operas as Rigoletto, Ein Maskenball, Aida and Der Troubadour. The 10th disc in this set entitled Single Shots is a collection works from operas like Aroldo, DieMacht des Schicksals, Don Carlos and La Traviata. This set features some of the most talented voices in classical opera such as Erika Köth, Marcel Cordes, Rudolf Schock and Alfred Germont (this blogger: someone mistook Violetta's lover for a singer). These pieces capture the essence of Verdi s amazing talent as a composer." - Amazon

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: EMI - Verdi auf Deutsch (165 tracks, total time: 10 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. See my previous 90-hour playlist for the Complete Verdi.

Classical Music for Children: Delos Young People’s Series on Spotify

The beautifully produced Young People's Series from Delos Music is designed to introduce the very young to the sounds of great classical music. Unlike most other "classical for babies" products, it was brought together with great care, and style. Praises for this series include:

"One of the highest quality 'children's' series I have seen in a long time. A wonderful way to introduce children to classical music."  - The Family Times

"The perfect gift among recordings for introducing a child to the intimacies and universality of music… My eight-year-old daughter Rachel recommends it, and I concur." - Fanfare

"Your children will love this very witty and engaging disc… Fast-paced and clever, these stories are the ideal meeting of words and music - not only the zippy and appropriate scores, but also the sly insinuations and the vocal metamorphoses of the narrators…This is one Christmas present you won't find broken underneath the tree by Dec. 26." - The Seattle Times

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Delos - Young People's Series (Great Classical Music for Children) (475 tracks, total time: 32 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. See this page for an overview of the albums, and here for more info.

Naxos English Song Series on Spotify

"English composers of the 20th century have made some of finest contributions to the song literature. Our English Song Series is an ongoing survey of the best of these works performed by the leading interpreters of our day." - Naxos.com

"In a bold display of commitment to the purveyance of quality British music, Naxos is releasing the English Song Series, seven CDs of works by British composers sung by leading interpreters of song. Observant music enthusiasts may recognise this particular set of recordings; all seven discs debuted on the now-defunct Collins Classics label in the early 1990s. Unwilling for these excellent performances to go to waste, Naxos is breathing new life into the series in 2003. " - Naxos.com

Composers featured in this series so far:

Benjamin Britten, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gerald Finzi, William Walton, Arthur Somervell, Roger Quilter, Liza Lehmann, William Alwyn, Ian Venables, George Butterworth, John Ireland, Ivor Gurney.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Naxos - English Song Series (22 volumes, 582 tracks, total time: 25 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. See liner notes on Naxos and reviews on Presto.

Edition Staatskapelle Dresden on Spotify

The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra, Dresden, commonly known as the Staatskapelle Dresden), founded in 1548, is an orchestra based in Dresden, Germany. It is one of the world's oldest orchestras, and its long list of Kapellemeisters includes Weber and Wagner. Since November 2005, the orchestra has cooperated with Figaro, the culture radio of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, to release the precious old and new records selected from the archives of MDR-Rundfunk by Profil Edition Günter Hänssler.

So far this ongoing series consists of 33 volumes; including recordings by chief conductors from Fritz Busch to Bernard Haitink, as well as guest conductors like Colin Davis and Christian Thielemann.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Edition Staatskapelle Dresden (339 tracks, 33 volumes, total time: 46 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Albums are sorted by volume number. See official site for album list and Presto for album overviews.

Naxos 19th Century Violinist Composers Series

"With flushed face, raised shoulders, and groans of delight Brahms belabored the keyboard while accompanying me and was happy that 'such a thing existed in this world." - Joseph Joachim: Ein lebensbild

"Brahms was talking about one of the seminal violin works of the 19th century, and it wasn't Beethoven's magisterial violin Concerto, nor was it Mendelssohn's marvelous light and airy essay in the same genre. Nor was it the great Kreutzer Sonata or the concertos of Saint-Saens. Brahms groaned with delight over the great 22nd violin concerto of Giovanni Battista Viotti, one of the true masters of the violin and the master who opened the door to a flood of great music little remembered today. Rode, Baillot, Kreutzer, Dancla, Alard, Spohr, Beriot, David, Mazas, Godard, Vieuxtemps and many more composers solidified the technique of modern violin-playing at the same time creating a body of music that is truly a buried treasure - now brought to the light of day and made part of our recorded legacy by Naxos. While the concerto form led the way, these composers wrote in a variety of forms: paraphrases of opera tunes, tone-poem descriptions of exotic travel , airs varie based on popular tunes, chamber music, and especially (many were pedagogues) etudes, caprices, and numerous 'violin schools.' This series on 19th century violin music provides a window onto this vast repertoire, mostly written by practitioners of the instrument, and all of it delightful listening." - Naxos.com

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Naxos - 19th Century Violinist Composers (337 tracks, 30 albums, total time: 34 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. I included a Naxos disk of Viotti's violin works, though it's not part of the series. See Naxos for list of albums in this series and liner notes, and Presto for album overviews.

Naxos: British Light Music Series on Spotify

"Famous for its harmonically unchallenging, smooth and entertaining melodic lines, British Light Music grew from the indulgent and sentimental music of the 19th Century, from composers such as Arthur Sullivan, to become one of the most popular classical musical styles in Britain during the first half of the 20th Century. British Light Music is often referred to as easy listening and usually instantly recognisable. Whilst the genre may not advocate ground breaking compositional techniques, it is not always limited to its convivial facade, sometimes parodying more serious classical music through citation of theme and motif.

British Light Music is, for the most part, a form of programme music, with each piece designed to represent a mood, object, place or event. It was this quality, which made it ideal for broadcast throughout the heyday of radio, leading to the introduction of The BBC Light Programme in 1945, and during the advent of television, where British Light Music featured as the introduction to many early programmes. It was, in fact, these two mediums, which facilitated its success.

The genre's popularity was complemented by its use in film; notably, and amongst many others, in the 1939 version of Goodbye Mr Chips with the soundtrack by Richard Addinsell, and the 1955 World War II classic The Dam Busters, which featured the famous 'Dam Busters's March' by Eric Coates. Although the style has declined since the early 1960s, its use in film has contributed greatly to its longevity.

Famous British Light Music composers include Ernest Tomlinson, Edward German, Haydn Wood, Richard Addinsell and Eric Coates, the last of whom is described as the 'father' or 'king' of British Light Music." - Naxos.com (where you can find liner notes for each album in the series)

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Naxos - British Light Music (539 tracks, 31 albums, total time: 35 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. It includes some Naxos British light music compilations, and Vintage TV & Radio Classics (including Fritz Spiegl's wake-up music for BBC Radio 4, which was dropped in 2006 after 30 years despite a nationwide campaign to save it), though they are not listed in the series on the Naxos site.

Decca: The World of Classical Music Series

"The World of..." series from Decca Classics offers one-disk "greatest hits" compilations for composers (The World of Bach), star performers (The World of King's Singers), instruments (The World of French Horn) as well as music styles (The World of Minimalism).

"The Decca Record Company stretches back to the late 1920's, and built a reputation at the forefront of audio reproduction. Today, Decca is a label of great diversity, home to many of the world's most distinguished artists, and with appeal to both specialist and mainstream audiences." - Presto Classical

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Decca - The World of Classical Music (783 tracks, 50 albums, total time: 60 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view.

Northern Flowers: Wartime Music Series

The Wartime Music series produced by Russian label Northern Flowers offers an excellent sampler of music composed by Soviet composers during the WWII. The variety of the music is startling, and the fact that Gliere wrote the warm and melancholy Coloratura Soprano Concerto at the height of the war, is a little miracle in itself. The only Shostakovich symphony included is his 9th, an anti-climax celebration of the Russian victory. Works in the 16 volumes released so far are listed below, with links to introductory articles.

• Vol. 1: Nikolay Myaskovsky, Symphony-Ballad, Op. 54; Symphony No. 23 in A minor, Op. 56
• Vol. 2: Vladimir Shcherbachov, Symphony No. 5; The Tobacco Captain Suite
• Vol. 3: Nikolay Myaskovsky, Symphony No. 24 in F minor, Op. 63; Symphony No. 25 in D flat major, Op. 69
• Vol. 4: Gavriil Popov, Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 45, "Geroicheskaya" (The Heroic); Symphonic Aria, Op. 43
• Vol. 5: Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 10; Cello Concerto, Op. 43
• Vol. 6: Lev Knipper: Violin Concerto No. 1; Symphony No. 8
• Vol. 7: Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70; Russkaya reka (Russian River), Op. 66; Otchizna (Native Country), Op. 63
• Vol. 8: Gavriil Popov, Symphony No. 2, Op. 39, "Rodina" (The Homeland); The Turning Point, Op. 44; Red Cavalry Campaign, "Symphonic Poster"
• Vol. 9: Alexander Mossolov: Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 34; Symphony in E major
• Vol. 10: Sergey Prokofiev: Semyon Kotko Suite, Op. 81bis; Waltz Suite, Op. 110
• Vol. 11: Yuri Kochurov: Macbeth Symphony; The Suvorov Overture; Solemn March;  Heroic Aria
• Vol. 12: Orest Yevlakhov, Symphony No. 1, Op. 14; Nochnoy patrul' (Night Patrol); Concert Suite, Op. 8
• Vol. 13: Reinhold Glière: Cello Concerto in D minor, Op. 87; Coloratura Soprano Concerto, Op. 82
• Vol. 14: Leonid Polovinkin, Symphony No. 9
• Vol. 15: Igor Stravinsky, Symphony in 3 Movements; Scherzo a la russe; Danses concertantes
• Vol. 16: Leonid Polovinkin, Symphony No. 7; Heroic Overture; The Sunny Tribe

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist here: Northern Flowers: Wartime Music (143 tracks, 17 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Discussions about this series on Unsung Composers.

C.P.E. Bach: Complete Keyboard Music (BIS) on Spotify, and Radio Major/Minor Key Emanuel

 "A unique monument to one of the 18th century's most underrated composers." - Gramophone

"C.P.E. Bach was a marvelous composer, and it's rather amazing to consider that until BIS began this estimable series, the vast majority of his more than 60 keyboard concertos remained unknown. ...full of C.P.E. Bach's typical turbulence, Romantic sentiment, and surprising musical syntax. Miklós Spányi plays all of these works on a delightful-sounding tangent piano (a sort of cross between a harpsichord and a piano) with his customary verve and insightful musicianship. He's very well accompanied and recorded too." - David Hurwitz

Since 1995, The Hungarian early keyboard specialist Miklós Spányi has been engaged in recording all the keyboard works of C.P.E. Bach for BIS Records. The 25 volumes of solo keyboard music, and 18 volumes of keyboard concertos released so far, have recently become fully available on Spotify.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: C.P.E. Bach: Complete Keyboard Music (BIS) (571 tracks, total time: 50 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Albums are sorted by volume number; concertos first and solo works second. New releases from this ongoing series will be added when they appear. Reviews and more info about the music can be found on AllMusic and BIS.

This playlist can generate at least two interesting Radio channels: Ctrl (CMD) + F and input minor or major into the filter bar, set the playlist on shuffle, double click it and start exploring this vast goldmine "by mood". Example here. Minor key Emanuel is always special.

Naxos Liszt Complete Piano Music

"The exciting array of prize-winning young pianists and critically-acclaimed, respected artists playing the complete piano music of Liszt distinguishes the series from other collections currently available in the market. Naxos is honoured to be recording laureates of such prestigious competitions as the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, the London World Piano Competition and the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition." - Official site

This ongoing series features Liszt's own compositions for piano, including piano reduction of orchestral works; as well as his transcriptions of Beethoven, Schubert, Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Wagner and many other composers. 35 albums have been released so far, and the whole series became available on Spotify recently.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Naxos: Liszt Complete Piano Music (387 tracks, total time: 40 hours). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Albums are arranged by volume number. Liner notes to every album is available at Naxos. This series is far from completed - Hyperion's Complete Liszt Piano Music took 99 disks to finish. New releases will be added to the playlist when they appear.

Also check out the audiobook on Liszt's life and works from the Naxos Educational playlist. 

Naxos Japanese Classics Series on Spotify

"Since the latter half of the 19th century, Japanese classical composers have taken inspiration from western classical music culture to create a variety of original compositions. However, with the exception of works by a few famous figures such as Toru Takemitsu, such compositions have had a limited audience even within Japan. The Naxos Japanese Classics series rediscovers composers such as Akio Yashiro, Saburo Moroi, Hisato Ohzawa, and introduces what is a rich musical repertoire to a much wider audience than before. Many of the works in the collection receive their première recordings. Each album provides detailed and authoritative liner notes, and is supported by fine performances from distinguished ensembles and conductors." - Official site

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Naxos: Japanese Classics (227 tracks, total time: 23 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view (this series features some of the best cover art from Naxos). All titles in this series are available on Spotify, except for one Japan-only release. Albums are sorted alphabetically by composer name. See the Naxos page for more info, including complete liner notes. Also check out the discussion about this series on Unsung Composers. 

Naxos Schubert Lied Edition on Spotify

"In what is the perfect introduction to Schubert's world of songs, acclaimed pianist Ulrich Eisenlohr accompanies the élite of today's young German Lieder singers to give superior performances in this ongoing recording project of Schubert's Lieder, totalling over 700 songs set to poetry from classical Greece, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from 18th-century German authors, early Romantics, Biedermeier poets, and Heine. All recordings are supplemented by German and translated English sung texts online." - Official site

Get this edition in one Spotify playlist: Naxos Schubert Lied Edition (672 tracks, 35 volumes, 38 CDs, total time: 41 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Albums are sorted by volume number. Check out booklets and original German texts with English translation on Naxos.

P.S. The Franz Schubert: Complete Chronological Catalogue D. 1 - 998 has been updated accordingly. Original post here.

Klavier Wind Recording Project on Spotify

"Since its inception in 1989, the Klavier Wind Recording Project, under the creative direction of Eugene Migliaro Corporon. has been praised worldwide by composers, conductors, critics and listeners for its innovation, excellence and professional standards. These state-of-the-art digital recordings have indentified and preserved the standard repertoire and encouraged composers around the world to contribute to the ever-growing legacy of quality literature by making their new works immediately available to thousands of listening enthusiasts. The series highlights the fact that wind symphony, in its many forms thoughout hundreds of years of music history, has been and continues to be a significant original medium for serious artistic expression. In the last 18 years the project has yielded 34 recordings which feature the creative work of hundreds of world renowned composers." - Official site

8th New York State Militia Band, in Arlington, Virginia, 1861. Source

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Klavier Wind Recording Project (Concert Band Music) (437 tracks, total time: 41 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. It features all 34 recordings in this series, sorted by release date, with the latest albums at the top. Look up the official site for more information about each recording.

Tenor of the Century: Enrico Caruso Complete Recordings (1902-1920) on Naxos Historical

Ever wondered what Corrado "Junior" Soprano was singing in the finale of The Sopranos Season 3? It's a Napuletano classic "Core 'ngrato" ("Ungrateful heart") written in 1911 for Enrico Caruso, whose 1904 recording of Vesti la giubba  was the first million-selling record in history.

I wouldn't normally do playlists for a single performer. I mean, what's the point? You want complete recordings of Emerson String Quartet? Just click that link and put all albums into a playlist by yourself. Tip: you can use Ctrl (CMD) + A and select all tracks at once.

Things are different for elder artists like Miles Davis or Caruso. Their artist pages are polluted by hundreds of rip-off albums that made it impossible for a casual user to find the proper recordings. I say rip-off because though the marginal cost to listen to a recording on Spotify is zero, financially; you still have to spend your time. And every time you listen to an inferior recording, you wasted an opportunity to hear a better one. Copyright laws only protect the master recordings for a certain period of time, which means anyone can "reproduce" archive recordings and sync them to streaming services and make some easy money. Most of them sound worse than the originals, which are already on Spotify. See the Enrico Caruso page and get an idea.

Now the good news: Naxos Historical "...is devoted to keeping the great recordings of the past alive and accessible. Naxos uses the services of the finest transfer engineers, such as Mark Obert-Thorn and Ward Marston, to produce restorations of outstanding quality." (Naxos site) Their 12-volume catalogue of Caruso recordings is a crowning achievement of historical vocal recordings restoration. According to WSJ, "Naxos has Caruso on 12 CDs, artfully transferred in what is the best historically respectful version currently available".

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist here: Enrico Caruso: Complete Recordings (1902-1920) on Naxos Historical (250 tracks, total times: 14 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Look up Naxos's official site for detailed tracklists and liner notes. Also check out the previous playlist Naxos Educational: An Index for a fascinating 4-hour audiobook Enrico Caruso - A Life In Words And Music.

Not in this playlist: my favorite song about the tenor: The Night I Heard Caruso Sing sang by Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl.

Guest Post: Introducing Bridge Records

Guest post by Rob Starobin, vice president of Bridge Records,  an independent record label based in New Rochelle, New York that specializes in 20th century classical music. To date, Bridge Records has been nominated for more than 20 Grammy Awards, and has received 3 - a 2001 Grammy for Best Contemporary Composition for George Crumb's Star-Child, a 2007 Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Recording for Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's performance of Peter Lieberson's Rilke Songs and Garrick Ohlsson's recording of Beethoven sonatas (volume 3) won a 2008 Grammy award for best instrumental solo performance.

Rob on the Iron Throne

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Thanks for having me guest here, Ulysses - I’m a big fan of your work in popularizing Spotify for classical and new music.  We’re at a very exciting, and somewhat terrifying time for music producers, as distribution has shifted from being solely physical, to permanent downloads, and now to streaming on demand services, like Spotify. I can’t claim to know the future, or speak for everyone at Bridge, but my personal listening habits have changed immensely since I first acquired a Spotify account. While reading Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise, I could search any of the pieces being mentioned and listen to a dozen recordings of them without having to limit myself to 30 second samples, or break my wallet buying far too many discs on a whim. I’m very excited to see how Spotify contends with classical music going forward, and I feel like better discovery tools and metadata apps will be the next major leap forward in the software.

And now, to introduce what we produce at Bridge! Ulysses has already covered our Complete Crumb series and Music of Elliott Carter series very well here, so I’ll gloss over them, and talk about some of the other projects that Bridge is best known for, in a catalog that’s now nearly 400 titles.

Danish composer Poul Ruders is probably most known for his operas. Our Music of Poul Ruders series is up to seven discs, with a Kickstarter project in progress to help fund volume eight.

Rolf Schulte and the Riverside Symphony play his Violin Concerto, conducted by George Rothman:

Ruders writes for the exotic combination of accordion and string quartet with the Carl Sagan-influenced Serenade on the Shores of the Cosmic Ocean. Mikko Luoma, iO String Quartet:

Bridge is devoted to presenting exceptionally gifted young performers. Soprano Susanna Phillips is at the beginning of what is sure to be a stellar career, with performances at the Metropolitan Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera. She and accompanist Myra Huang recorded a recital disc of French song, Paysages:

In the 90’s, Bridge signed an agreement with the Library of Congress, allowing us to work with their archival concert recordings to produce remastered versions of performances by great artists, including Nathan Milstein, Samuel Barber, Leontyne Price and the Budapest Quartet. Bridge's cycle of Beethoven String Quartets performed by the Budapest Quartet was completed earlier this year with the release of the six early quartets.

Bridge's founder, guitarist David Starobin (full disclosure, he's also my father) has made a mark in the world of both 19th century and modern guitar repertoire:

Reverie by Giulio Regondi:

Semi-Suite by Paul Lansky:

Bridge has released a number of recordings by America's first International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition winner Garrick Ohlsson, including a complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas:

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sings her late husband Peter Lieberson's Rilke Songs:

Get above works in one Spotify playlist here: Bridge for Spotify Classical (33 tracks, total time: 2 hours) Ctrl (CMD)+G to browse in album view. And browse Rob's Spotify profile for more exciting Bridge stuff.