SONYBMG Masterworks

New Living Stereo Releases

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 15:29:27 GMT

All CDs Are Newly Remastered in DSD (Direct Stream Digital) From Original Source Tape & Play on Standard & Super Audio Players

“These Super Audio CDs are far superior to all previous CD versions in every conceivable way…” – The Absolute Sound

Five new releases featuring legendary performances by Julian Bream, Jascha Heifetz, Charles Munch, Gregor Piatigorsky, Leontyne Price and Fritz Reiner will be added to RCA Red Seal’s critically acclaimed Living Stereo Super Audio series, in stores January 23. The most successful reissue series on CD, with over 1 million units sold to date, is also the first reissue series on Hybrid Super Audio CD. All CDs are remastered in DSD (Direct Stream Digital) from original source tape, play on both standard and Super Audio players, and feature updated original cover art and liner notes.

RCA Red Seal’s Living Stereo has set the standard for remastering and restoring among the most acclaimed stereo recordings made in analog sound. Each Living Stereo title has been remastered by an engineering team led by the award-winning John Newton, using only three of the available six channels (two when the original recording was two-track stereo) in order to remain faithful to the sonic image created by the original producers. Newton remarks, "Two important technologies come together to allow SACD customers to hear these programs in higher fidelity than the original engineers could listen to. By using the best playback channels and heads on a modern transport we heard material that certainly did not come through the original tube type analog tape recorders. This improvement coupled with the incredible clarity of the DSD process allows today's listener to hear more of what is on these historic tapes." Although DSD remastering has added a fresh luster to the sound, no signal processing has been used to “improve” the original tapes of these performances.

The series has been consistently applauded in the press. “The sheer fun of listening to the latest batch of RCA Living Stereo CDs sets the standard for the most basic criterion for spending money on recordings – that one will turn to them again and again. They revel in the glorious sounds of inspired performances of greatly rewarding music,” the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote. Noting that the new format allows the original Living Stereo recordings at last to be heard as they were created, Ultraradio.com writes, “They are revelations … Cheers to BMG for mining its vaults in a proper manner.”

The new Living Stereo releases include:

• SPAIN - The Chicago Symphony Orchestra at its finest, under the impeccable leadership of Fritz Reiner, brings elegance and fire to some of Spain’s greatest orchestral music, with Leontyne Price in a volatile performance of El amor brujo. CD includes ALBENIZ Navarra, Iberia; FALLA El amor brujo, Interlude and Dance from La vida breve, Dances from The Three-Cornered Hat GRANADOS Intermezzo from Goyescas. Multi-Channel Super Audio CD plays back on three channels.

• HEIFETZ – DOUBLE CONCERTOS - The incomparable Jascha Heifetz plays three of the greatest “double concertos” – by Bach, Brahms and Mozart – in distinguished collaboration with cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, violist William Primrose and violinist Erick Friedman. CD includes BACH Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor; BRAHMS Concerto for Violin and Cello in A Minor MOZART Sinfonia concertante in E-Flat. With New Symphony Orchestra of London; Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor; RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra; Alfred Wallenstein, conductor and Izler Solomon, conductor.
Multi-Channel Super Audio CD plays back on two channels (Bach) and three channels.

• SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9 “Great”; Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished” - In recordings of inimitable grace and probing depth from conductor Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Schubert’s two most beloved symphonies are coupled for the first time in the Living Stereo series on CD. Multi-Channel Super Audio CD plays back on two channels (Symphony No. 8) and three channels.

• STRAUSS Don Quixote, Don Juan - Rarely has the music of Richard Strauss been brought to life with the sheer beauty and muscular intensity Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra give it in their sublime recordings of Don Quixote and Don Juan. With Antonio Janigro, cello; Milton Preves, viola; John Weicher, violin.
Multi-Channel Super Audio CD plays back on three channels.

• POPULAR CLASSICS FOR SPANISH GUITAR - The mastery of guitarist Julian Bream is perhaps at its best in Spanish music, and this legendary recording – featuring some of the most popular works ever written for the guitar – gains a new luster and brilliance in its new DSD remastering. CD includes HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS Chôros No. 1; Etude in E Minor TORROBA Madroños TURINA Homenaje a Tárrega; Garrotín; Soleares VILLA-LOBOS Prelude in E Minor ALBÉNIZ Suite española; Granada; Leyenda FALLA Homenaje “Le tombeau de Claude Debussy” TRADITIONAL Canciones populares catalanas: El testament d’Amelia TURINA Fandanguillo,
Multi-Channel Super Audio CD plays back on two channels.

Emanuel Ax's New Release From Sony BMG Masterworks

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:41:15 GMT

A new, specially priced two-CD set from Sony BMG Masterworks brings together for the first time Grammy Award-winning pianist Emanuel Ax’s recordings of the piano concertos of Johannes Brahms – the RCA Red Seal recording of Piano Concerto No. 1 with James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Sony Classical recording of Piano Concerto No. 2 with Bernard Haitink conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The set also includes performances of Brahms’ Rhapsodies, Intermezzos and Four Pieces for Piano, with liner notes specifically written by Ax for this release.

“I first heard one of the Brahms Concertos when I was fourteen,” he writes. “My father bought me a present: the recording of Artur Rubinstein playing the Second Concerto, with Josef Krips conducting the Symphony of the Air. I instantly fell in love with it, and remember playing the recording over and over. Ultimately I got my father to buy another copy, because the first one had worn out (this was back in the prehistoric days of LPs). The D Minor Concerto, which I learned much earlier than the B-flat Concerto – I believe around the age of 21 – I actually heard much later, but was again instantly enamored of it. Both concertos continue to be a large part of my musical life: I play them often, and each time I discover more depth and beauty in them. They are still terrifyingly difficult for me, but the effort is so rewarding that I am always excited at the prospect of another chance to perform them. I am sure that as long as I am able to play the piano, they will remain among my favorite challenges.”

As Edith Eisler wrote of the previously released recording of the 2nd Concerto on www.amazon.com, “This is as fine a performance of the concerto as you are likely to hear. From the wistful opening horn solo to the sunny, cheerful finale, Ax and Haitink bring out its grandeur, power, and majesty, but also its tender, pensive lyricism and feathery playfulness. Every note is important; there is time to caress details and nuances without losing sweep and flow; rhythms are flexible, liberties poised, the orchestral sound is intense yet clear.”

One of the most acclaimed Brahms interpreters of his generation, Emanuel Ax is a 7-time Grammy® Award winner, receiving the esteemed industry award for, among other recordings, his Sony CD of Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano with Yo-Yo Ma. This affinity for Brahms will go a step further, when Ax tours across America this winter and fall, performing Brahms Concertos with the Pittsburgh Symphony (February 9, 10, and 11), New York Philharmonic (February 14, 15, 17) and Cleveland Orchestra (April 12, 14, 15). Additional (non-Brahms) recital and orchestral appearances, from February 22 – May 1, include Atlanta, Miami, West Palm Beach, Gainesville, Orlando, Grand Rapids, Tuscaloosa, Ft. Worth, Denver, Scottsdale, Beverly Hills (MI), Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Paul, San Francisco, Nashville, Englewood, New York City’s Zankel Hall, Washington, D.C, and Boston.

The Polish-born, Canadian-raised pianist captured public attention in 1974 when, at age 25, he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists and, four years later, took the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. An exclusive Sony Classical recording artist since 1987, Ax is renowned not only for his poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity, but also for the exceptional breadth of his performing activity. Each season his distinguished career includes appearances with major symphony orchestras worldwide, recitals in the most celebrated concert halls, a variety of chamber music collaborations, the commissioning and performance of new music, and additions to his acclaimed discography on Sony Classical.

Check Out Joshua Bell Videos on On The SonyMusicBox

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:26:29 GMT

Joshua Bell is now featured on The SonyMusicBox

You can view videos from his latest release, "Voice of The Violin" .

Check out the Joshua Bell section and stay tuned for more videos!

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Join Kristin Chenoweth for One Incredibly Special Performance at The Metropolitan Opera

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:26:58 GMT

Kristin Chenoweth will give a very special concert in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera on January 19, 2007. The Tony award® winning Chenoweth will perform a mixture of standards, arias and her signature songs. With her boundless talent and charm, this promises to be an unforgettable event.

Click here for more information and to order tickets

Even if you can't see her live in concert, you can still be dazzled by her on screen! Don't miss her performances in the critically acclaimed adaption of Augusten Burrough's memoir Running With Scissors, and the holiday comedy Deck the Halls starring Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito.

Check Out Joshua Bell's Concert on NPR

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:13:20 GMT

From NPR
Janaury 05, 2007

Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell gives an intimate and passionate recital of Romantic and Twentieth Century music with former NPR artist in residence, pianist Jeremy Denk. Highlights include the Beethoven Fifth Violin Sonata, Bartok's Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Piano and Prokofiev's Five Melodies.

To Listen To The Entire Concert Click Here : NPR : Joshua Bell: Violin Recital

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iTunes sale on Appassionato & Yo-Yo Titles

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:27:27 GMT

iTunes is having a special sale on Yo-Yo's entire catalog! Go to the store to find Appassionato and the records that Yo-Yo drew from for it are only $7.99! Additionally, other titles have been discounted to $9.99, and are accessible via Yo-Yo's Artist Page

Joshua Bell Shares The Gift Of Music In East Harlem

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:34:54 GMT

Gift of music : Violin great pays visit to E. Harlem classroom

Joshua Bell is used to playing for adoring crowds, but yesterday the world-famous violinist was an unlikely audience for fifth-grade students in East Harlem.

"It brings back memories to see them earnestly playing the violin," said the 39-year-old Grammy winner, who first picked up the stringed instrument at age 4.

The 15 uniform-clad kids, ages 9 and 10, steadied their violins and executed a score they have been practicing fornearly three years in the music room at the Mount Carmel-Holy Rosary Catholic school as Bell listened.
Then it was his turn to impress them.

Sitting on the floor with their legs crossed, they studied the rocking of his arm with the bow and the fluttering of his eyes as he banged out Johann Sebastian Bach's "Chaconne" on an 18th century Italian-made violin.

"What did you think?" he asked breathlessly before the students erupted with claps of approval.
"It was nice how he touched the violin and the way he moved while he was playing it," said 10-year-old Jaime.
The school is a partner of Education Through Music, a nonprofit that provides music instruction in grade schools serving disadvantaged populations. One lesson included listening to Bell and then inviting him to class.

"He came because we wrote him beautiful letters," bragged 10-year-old Bianca.
Bell wowed the students with his tales of getting paid to perform at age 14, buying his first car - a gray Datsun - at age 16, his childhood "addiction" to video games and the adrenaline rush he experiences during performances.
"It's got to be 10 times better than any drug they can make," he said as the students nodded in agreement.

Principal Suzanne Kaszynski called the visit a "thrill."
"The children get to see possibilities for themselves they never imagined," she said.

- KATHLEEN LUCADAMO, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, December 21, 2006

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Yo-Yo Ma Brings Us 'Appassionato'

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:21:46 GMT

Yo-Yo Ma’s latest recording for Sony Classical, Appassionato, is a journey through some of the world’s most romantic music—from Mendelssohn to Gershwin to John Williams. Appassionato is something of an event in the recording industry, as it marks Yo-Yo Ma’s first release since The Essential Yo-Yo Ma appeared in August 2005. With a release date set for January 9, 2007, Appassionato seems an ideal Valentine’s Day choice for music lovers.

While Ma has chosen the works in Appassionato to represent various aspects of love, they also symbolize another type of love, namely Yo-Yo Ma’s passion for performing music with friends. Appassionato unfolds as a kind of musical memoir, pairing the cellist with many of the great influences and collaborators of his career. In a never-before published interview included in the CD booklet, Ma recalls many of his famous artistic partnerships. One of his most celebrated collaborations is with pianist Emanuel Ax, who joins him on Appassionato for “Song Without Words.” The two men have been friends and colleagues for thirty-five years. “I thought this album would not be complete if Manny wasn’t part of it,” says Ma. “We know each other’s timing. We kind of feel it. It’s a brother kind of thing.”

Evgeny Kissin's New Release 'Kissin Plays Chopin - The Verbier Festival Recital'

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:08:32 GMT

Evgeny Kissin has recorded a captivating recital of Chopin Polonaises and Impromptus, to be released by RCA Red Seal on Tuesday, January 9. The live performance was recorded at Switzerland’s acclaimed Verbier Festival in July, 2004.

The 35 year old virtuoso has had a great affinity for the music of Chopin throughout his career.
He performed works by the composer on the program of the now legendary recital at the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, when he was just 12 years old, and he has regularly programmed and recorded the composer’s works since then.

“Chopin’s music has always been close to my heart, even as a child,” the Grammy®-winning pianist commented.

In a well-chosen program merging the Romantic patriotic anthems, elegies and heroism of the Polonaises with the seemingly effortless spontaneity and improvisatory magic of the Impromptus, the current recording, from a 2004 recital, features two of classical music’s best-known works - the Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66 in C-Sharp Minor (a section of which was adapted into the popular song “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows”) and the much-loved “Heroic” Polonaise, Op. 53 in A-Flat Major. Polonaises Op. 26 No. 1 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 26 No. 2 in E-Flat Minor, and Op. 40 No. 2 in C Minor are also on the recording, as well as the remaining three Impromptus, Op. 29 in A-Flat Major, Op. 36 in F-Sharp Major and Op. 51 in G-Flat Major.

Kissin’s Chopin performances have been consistently praised by the critics; in a 2005 review of a recital featuring the CD’s repertoire (headlined “Extraordinary Evgeny Kissin Dances Across The Keys”), the Washington Post applauded his “exuberant and impassioned” playing, “Apollonian intelligence,” “note-perfect” interpretations and “ardor.”

During the same tour, The New York Times found his interpretations “elevated and insightful” and praised his “ironclad technique, fiery grand gesture” and “passion.” “There was great sensitivity and organic development in Mr. Kissin's accounts of the Impromptus in A flat (Op. 29) and F sharp (Op. 36), as well as great clarity of texture and line in his readings of the Impromptu in G flat (Op. 51) and the alternately tempestuous and lyrical Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor (Op. 66).”

Returning to the U.S. in Spring 2007 for a recital tour, the pianist will perform at Washington’s Kennedy Center (April 18); Chicago’s Symphony Center (April 22); Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center (April 25); Boston’s Symphony Hall (April 29); New York’s Carnegie Hall (May 3); and Miami’s Knight Concert Hall (May 7). All six concerts will include Chopin on the programs.

Hailed by London’s Independent as “the greatest pianist of his generation, if not several others besides,” Evgeny Kissin’s musicality, the depth and poetic quality of his interpretations, and his extraordinary virtuosity have placed him at the forefront of the world’s new generation of young pianists. He has recorded extensively for the RCA Red Seal and Sony Classical labels – both now a part of Sony BMG Masterworks – and, after receiving ten Grammy® nominations, won his first Grammy® Award in 2006, for Best Instrumental Solo Performance for his CD of works by Scriabin, Medtner and Stravinsky.

The Legends of Broadway Collection Brings Four Greats Together At Last

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:29:19 GMT

Celebrating its unparalleled catalogue of classic musical theater recordings, Masterworks Broadway premieres Legends of Broadway – a new series of CDs highlighting the careers of four of Broadway’s greatest stars in their signature roles. All four collections – Barbara Cook, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters and Chita Rivera.

Between them, these ladies have won nine Tony Awards and have been nominated for the Tony Award an amazing 23 times. Barbara Cook, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters and Chita Rivera all began their fabled careers in the golden age of the modern Broadway musical, in the 1950s and 1960s. The musicals they created or memorably reinterpreted are among the most popular and enduring – Annie Get Your Gun, Bye Bye Birdie, Candide, Chicago, Follies, Gypsy, Into the Woods, The King and I, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Mame, Show Boat, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story and more – and they are all featured in these collections.

Check out the Legends of Broadway mediaplayer for special preview of this fantastic release.

Danny Elfman on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson Tonight!

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:17:41 GMT

Danny Elfman will be on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson this Tuesday night on CBS at 12:30 AM EST. Please check local listings for station and show times according to your area. He will be discussing the soundtrack for the recent movie release of Charlotte's Web and his latest release on SonyBMG Masterworks, Serenada Schizophrana.

To purchase either of these new and exciting releases please click through to iTunes, Amazon, or the Sony Music Store.

Danny Elfman
Serenada Schizophrana

Charlotte's Web
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Charlotte's Web, Music from the Motion Picture">

Salvatore Licitra in USA Today November 28th

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 19:08:46 GMT

USA Today newspaper will feature a story on Salvatore Licitra on Tuesday, November 28th! Don't forget to pick up your copy of this article entitled, “Next Pavarotti”.

Nikolaj Znaider and the Russian National Orchestra on NPR

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 18:56:40 GMT

NPR's Performance Today is featuring Nikolaj Znaider's violin performances with the Russian National Orchestra this month on their website.

From NPR.com :

Yountville, California, is primarily known as one of the vineyard capitals of the world, but this week it's home to Festival del Sole, a new classical-music festival anchored by the Russian National Orchestra. Fred Child, host of NPR's Performance Today, hosts this exclusive webcast, featuring pianist Piotr Anderszewski and violinist Nicolai Znaider, with Stephane Deneve conducting the Russian National Orchestra at Lincoln Theater.

Jay Greenberg on 60 Minutes This Sunday!

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:51:51 GMT

A Jay Greenberg segment aired on 60 Minutes Sunday, November 26, 7:00 PM on CBS.
Please check out the segment link here along with Jay's website

Sony BMG Proudly Announces Charlotte's Web Soundtrack

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:27:36 GMT

Paramount Pictures Film Stars Dakota Fanning
Features the Voices of Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese,
Oprah Winfrey and Robert Redford
Opens Nationwide December 15th

Three-time Oscar® nominee and Grammy® Award-winning composer Danny Elfman’s inspiring score for the motion picture Charlotte’s Web will be released December 5 on Sony Classical’s original soundtrack recording, which will also introduce the original song “Ordinary Miracle,” performed by Sarah McLachlan and written by acclaimed songwriter/record producer Glen Ballard and music legend Dave Stewart.

In the classic tale of Charlotte’s Web from writer E.B. White, someone very small finds that the most powerful force in the world is friendship. In the big-screen adaptation, the characters embark on a journey of friendship and bonding when Charlotte, the wise spider who lives in the rafters, befriends Wilbur, a pig and the runt of the litter. Wilbur has a youthful manner that makes him seem naive to the other animals in his new barn, but to Charlotte, he is a welcome friend. Their friendship is shown to be a lasting one when some of the other farm animals reveal that the pig’s days are numbered. It seems that only a miracle will save Wilbur’s life and Charlotte does make miracles happen when she spins words into her web in an effort to convince the farmer that Wilbur is “some pig” and worth saving. E.B. White’s magical, beloved story of loyalty and sacrifice comes to life in this live-action adaptation.

Dakota Fanning stars as Fern Arable, the first person to see Wilbur for the terrific, radiant, and humble pig he is. Julia Roberts is the voice of Charlotte, who becomes Wilbur’s best friend and savior. Also joining as cast voices for Charlotte’s Web are Steve Buscemi as the barn’s sardonic rat, Templeton; Oprah Winfrey as Gussy, the barn’s maternal-yet-irreverent goose; Cedric the Entertainer as Golly, Gussy’s gander; John Cleese as Samuel, the authoritative sheep; Robert Redford as Ike, the arachnophobic horse; Kathy Bates and Reba McEntire as the barn’s sarcastic cows, Betsy and Bitsy; and Thomas Haden Church and André Benjamin as the dimwitted crows, Brooks and Elwyn.

Paramount Pictures and Walden Media Present A Kerner Entertainment Company/Nickelodeon Movies Production. Executive Produced by Edgar M. Bronfman, Julia Pistor, Bernie Williams, Paul Neesan, and produced by Jordan Kerner. Based on the Book by E. B. White. Screenplay by Susannah Grant and Karey Kirkpatrick. Directed by Gary Winick.

Accentuating the emotional and triumphant tale of friendship is the poignant original score from Danny Elfman. Following the twists and turns of each character, Elfman’s music captures the atmosphere and sentiment of the film from the inspirational to the comical to the heartfelt with his lively inimitable style.

Charlotte’s Web is Elfman’s third soundtrack on the Sony Classical label, joining Big Fish (2003) and Planet of the Apes (2001). It follows the label’s release this fall of the debut recording of Serenada Schizophrana, the composer’s first large-scale symphonic work.

The Charlotte’s Web soundtrack also includes the touching end-title song “Ordinary Miracle,” performed by multiple Grammy® Award winner Sarah McLachlan. Since her signing with Arista Records nearly two decades ago, every one of Sarah McLachlan’s studio and live albums and videos has been certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum by the RIAA. McLachlan is also a three-time Grammy® Award winning artist who founded the legendary music festival Lilith Fair, which brought together two mil¬lion people over its three-year history (1997-1999) and raised more than $7 million for charities.

“Ordinary Miracle” was written by Grammy® winning record producer/songwriter Glen Ballard and Golden Globe/Grammy® winner Dave Stewart. Ballard received both an Oscar® and a Golden Globe nomination in 2004 for his original song “Believe” from The Polar Express performed by Josh Groban, which went on to win the Grammy® in the Best Original Song category. A world-renowned innovator and musical legend and best known for his work with Annie Lennox in the Eurythmics, Stewart received the Golden Globe for Best Original song for “Old Habits Die Hard” which he penned with Mick Jagger for the film Alfie. Ballard is recognized as one of the industry’s most successful producers/songwriters with more than 50 million records sold. His collaborations include gold/platinum selling albums with Alanis Morissette, No Doubt and Aerosmith, among others.

One of the most sought-after composers in Hollywood, Elfman has brought his versatile, highly distinctive sound to many of the definitive films of the age, winning Oscar® nominations for his scores for director Tim Burton’s Big Fish in 2003, and Good Will Hunting and Men in Black in 1997, as well as a Grammy® Award in 1989 for his theme for Burton’s Batman. His celebrated partnership with Burton also has included acclaimed scores for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Planet of the Apes, Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks!, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

Elfman’s credits include scores for a diverse array of films, among them Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Nacho Libre, Chicago, Red Dragon, Men in Black II, A Simple Plan, Dolores Claiborne, Mission Impossible, To Die For, Dead Presidents, Sommersby, Darkman, Dick Tracy and Midnight Run. For television, he created the infectious themes for The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives, the latter winning him a 2005 Emmy® Award.

Danny Elfman's first experience in performance and composition was for a French theatrical troupe, Le Grand Magic Circus, at the age of 18. The following year, he collaborated with his brother Richard, performing musical theater on the streets of California. Elfman then worked with a surrealistic musical cabaret for six years, using this outlet to explore multifarious musical genres. For seventeen years he wrote and performed with his rock band Oingo Boingo, producing such hits as “Weird Science” and “Dead Man's Party.”

Casino Royale and iTunes Deliver Complete James Bond Soundtrack

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:42:35 GMT

SONY CLASSICAL OFFERS THE ENTIRE
CASINO ROYALE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SCORE
AS AN EXCLUSIVE iTUNES DOWNLOAD,
FEATURING CD CONTENT PLUS 13 BONUS TRACKS - Visit iTunes For This Special Download!

The Most Comprehensive Release Ever Of A James Bond Orchestral Score
Original Music By Four-Time Bond Composer David Arnold

Sony Pictures/MGM Film, Directed by Martin Campbell,
Opens Nationwide November 17th

The James Bond phenomenon gets a new lease of life – in the form of the new Bond, Daniel Craig – in director Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale, for which composer David Arnold returns with an exciting original score. Exclusively to iTunes, Sony Classical will release Arnold’s entire score for Casino Royale – including the content of the CD release plus 13 additional tracks – making it the most comprehensive Bond film score recording ever offered. This deluxe edition of the complete score for Casino Royale will be available for download beginning Tuesday, November 14 – three days prior to the film’s nationwide opening on Friday, November 17.

This latest installment of the James Bond film series stars Daniel Craig as “007”, the smoothest, sexiest, most lethal agent on Her Majesty’s Secret Service in Casino Royale. Based on the first Bond book written by Ian Fleming, the story recounts the making of the world’s greatest secret agent.

The film finds Bond face to face with Le Chiffre (played by Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world’s terrorists. In order to stop him, and bring down the terrorist network, Bond must beat Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale. At first annoyed by the beautiful British Treasury official Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), who is assigned to deliver his stake for the game and watch over the government’s money, Bond soon feels a connection. The attraction becomes mutual as the two survive a series of lethal attacks by Le Chiffre, leading them into further danger and events that will shape Bond’s life forever.

Reinforcing the highly charged, action packed plot of the movie is the original music from David Arnold, the award-winning composer and arranger who previously scored three Bond adventures – Die Another Day, The World is Not Enough and Tomorrow Never Dies. Selected by long-time James Bond composer John Barry as his successor in the Bond soundtracks franchise, Arnold made his debut with Tomorrow Never Dies, the second James Bond film starring Pierce Brosnan. This score garnered high praise across the board, solidifying his stint as the current Bond composer.

Arnold’s ties with Bond run deep. He was seven years old when he realized he wanted to compose music for film. It was at the Luton British Legionnaire club that Arnold saw his first James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice, which the composer says "tainted him for life" and was the "substantial event for him that just got him hooked."

In 1996, Arnold worked on a tribute “cover” album of his favorite James Bond themes, entitled "Shaken and Stirred." Collaborating with a diverse range of acts that included Martin Fry, Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, Propellerheads and Iggy Pop, Arnold blended contemporary pop with orchestral sounds to create a successful album. One of the album’s tracks – “On Her Majesty's Secret Service” – broke out as a successful dance hit, and two were others released as chart singles. Arnold sent his work to MGM and got a response that changed his life. The studio was so impressed that they offered him the opportunity to score Tomorrow Never Dies, his first foray into the Bond franchise. By this time, Arnold's career in film music was flourishing, and he was in demand with both film studios and television companies to create original themes and scores.

Arnold’s other film scores include The Stepford Wives, Enough, Changing Lanes, Zoolander, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Stargate.

Directed by Martin Campbell. Screenplay by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Paul Haggis. Based on the novel by Ian Fleming. Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Executive Producers Anthony Waye Callum McDougall. Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen with Jeffrey Wright and Judi Dench.

Check out Jay Greenberg on NPR's Performance Today

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:01:29 GMT

Jay Greenberg will be on NPR''s Performance Today this Wednesday, November 15, as part of their “Young Musicians” series. For information on station and times please go to http://www.npr.org/programs/pt/about.html

New Emanuel Ax site launched!

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 19:49:41 GMT

Check out the newly redesigned Emanuel Ax site at http://www.emanuelax.com. It features a full discography, tour dates and a blog from Manny himself.

R.I.P. Anna Russell 1911-2006

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 22:15:30 GMT

English singer and comedienne Anna Russell has died at the young age of 95. Our condolensces go out to the Russell family.

You can find out more about this remarkable talent at Wikipedia or at the Anna Russell page on sonybmgmasterworks.com

Check Out 5 Browns on Sony Music Box

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:12:00 GMT

The 5 Browns have all of their videos featured on Sony's Music Box Video Player.

You can view the Firebird, Rhapsody in Blue, and Simple Gifts from their recent release, "No Boundaries" .

Check out their website and view the video player here.

Chicago In Store and More!

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:01:26 GMT

Special Chicago Virgin MegaStore Appearance

CHICAGO - The Musical will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary on Broadway with an instore signing at the Virgin Mega Store in Times Square at 1540 Broadway, between 45th and 46th Streets on Wednesday, November 8th! Beginning at 5 PM, orignal revival stars Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, James Naughton and Joel Grey will be on hand to meet and greet and sign copies of the new Chicago 10th Anniversary Box Set

The CHICAGO 10th Anniversary CD/DVD Box Set includes: CD1: the complete Broadway cast recording -- original revival cast; CD2: CHICAGO classics performed by internationally celebrated stars; a special bonus DVD featuring performance footage and interviews; and a 68-page book featuring the provocative images from the groundbreaking CHICAGO advertising campaign, along with newly written essays by John Kander, Walter Bobbie, Ann Reinking, Rob Fisher and Barry Weissler.

Check out music from this Special Edition 2 CD and DVD Box Set here and order a copy from the Sony Music Store or Amazon.

Masterworks Broadway Podcast Theater Proudly Presents...

CHICAGO Podcasts!

Masterworks Broadway announces the first series of podcasts! In celebration of the CHICAGO 10th Anniversary Edition Box Set, some the stars and creative team from the 1996 revival of CHICAGO discuss their experiences with the show. These podcasts also allow a subscription to their RSS Feed

Featured Podcast Downloads:

Ann Reinking

Bebe Neuwirth

John Kander

Rob Fisher

Walter Bobbie

COMING SOON - podcasts from the stars and creative team of A CHORUS LINE!

Meet Salvatore Licitra!

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 20:24:04 GMT

The Metropolitan Opera Shop
136 65th Street
New York, NY 10023

Tuesday, October 31st
12:30 – 1:30 PM

Salvatore will be signing copies of his new release
Forbidden Love

For more information call 212-580-4090
You can visit Salvatore Licitra's website for updates and more!

Places Between and Fright Night Are Available Today

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 19:55:39 GMT

In his first live recording, guitarist John Williams teams up with a guitar virtuoso from the jazz world – England’s John Etheridge – for a fresh take on the infinite variety of world music on Sony Classical’s JOHN WILLIAMS & JOHN ETHERIDGE: LIVE IN DUBLIN. The recording captures the entire set featuring Williams (playing a custom-made classical guitar) and Etheridge (playing a steel string instrument), recorded live on July 8, 2006, at the Dublin Guitar Festival in Ireland. JOHN WILLIAMS & JOHN ETHERIDGE: LIVE IN DUBLIN is available now in stores.

You can purchase this item at the Sony Music Store.

Fright Night is available via iTunes

Create the perfect, spine-tingling atmosphere for your Halloween celebration with Sony BMG Masterworks’ Fright Night – Music That Goes Bump in the Night, a chilling new collection that features almost three hours of classical hits to shock and awe your friends on the spookiest night of the year. Fright Night – Music That Goes Bump in the Night is now available at all digital retailers.

The exclusive iTunes version includes a digital booklet featuring everything you need for a spook-tacular Halloween party – chilling music, cut-out masks, stencils, recipes and more.

Drawing on Masterworks’ unparalleled catalogue of recordings, Fright Night – Music That Goes Bump in the Night includes all the “scary” classics that have been underscoring horror movies and frightening images for years – Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre, Gounod’s “Funeral March of the Marionette” and Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz. Also included are memorable themes from such films as Psycho, The Bride of Frankenstein, Vertigo and Jaws, and ear-bending blockbusters by Stravinsky, Ives and Varèse, among many others.

Chorus Line is Hot!

Sparkling reviews are coming in far and wide for A Chorus Line which is playing on Broadway this season. To preview the music, check out the E-Card and for additional info go to their website.

The New Cast Recording of A Chorus Line is available via iTunes and the Sony Music Store

Sing A Long With A Chorus Line!

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:48:10 GMT

When you purchase a copy of A Chorus Line: New Cast Recording on iTunes, you can check out exclusive tracks that are karaoke friendly,

Preview this release by viewing the E-Card

Danny Elfman on Synthesis Radio Talks About Serenada

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 15:45:13 GMT

Check out this interview here.

From www.synthesis.net:

Danny Elfman is ok at what he does.
He has only composed the music to some of the biggest films of the past 20 years (Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Men In Black, Batman, Nightmare Before Christmas, Chicago). Written the themes for hit TV shows (Simpsons, Desperate Housewives) and had a good run leading the theatrical whirlwind Oingo Boingo. Self-taught and never formally trained musically, he has now penned a complete symphony piece Serenada Schizophrana.

Maurice Spencer Teilmann interviews…

Serenada Schizophrana

Download Danny Elfman Podcast (mp3) (Right Click-Save As)

Salvatore Licitra featured in USA Today

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 15:53:51 GMT

Salvatore Licitra will be featured in USA Today in the October 10th Life issue which includes an interview with Salvatore,

Get Classical Music for all your exercising needs with the Masterworks Lifestyle series!

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 16:27:14 GMT

Sony BMG Masterworks introduces Masterworks Lifestyle, a new, digital-only series that presents classical music in collections designed to enhance your everyday life. Experts have selected the musical works in all three collections, with the idea of enhancing a particular physical activity, from the rigorous rhythmic pace of a runner to the intense calm that sets the stage for meditation All three Masterworks Lifestyle titles are now available at all digital retailers.

Classical Music for Yoga, Meditation and Stretching creates a serene but energized atmosphere, designed to enhance the concentrated work that leads to true physical harmony. Built around the fluent melodies of such composers as Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Gluck, Grieg, Handel, Pachelbel, Ravel and Satie – as well as a Ravi Shankar track – this collection is an ideal foundation for the pure calm that makes yoga productive, clears the air for meditation, and accompanies the all-important maintenance of stretching. Getting centered has never sounded so beautiful. Go to ITunes to download this release.

Classical Music for Jogging is all about rhythm and pace. The musical selections have been chosen to help the runner build and sustain a steady but effective pace, including the use of entire movements of symphonies and concertos that reinforce a swift and regular rhythmic meter. Opening with the heroic blast of the “Bugler’s Dream and Olympic Fanfare,” the collection hurtles through lively works by Beethoven, Bizet, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and many more, including – for an extra bit of inspiration – special versions of Queen’s “We Are the Champions” and the themes from Chariots of Fire and Rocky. Go to ITunes to download this release

Classical Music for Biking is the ultimate soundtrack for the cycling experience. The program is pure musical exhilaration, set in motion by the momentous “Sunrise” fanfare from Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra (best known as the 2001 theme). The music of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Dvořák, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and many others keeps the pace optimal but energetic. The selections vary in mood and intensity, much like a bike trip, and the emphasis is on having fun – capping the collection are a cover version of Freddie Mercury’s “Bicycle Race,” French singer Yves Montand’s hit “A Bicyclette” and Eumir Deodato’s incomparably groovy take on the “Sunrise” fanfare that begins the set. Download this release on iTunes.

Catch Joshua Bell on the Fine Arts Portal

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 16:12:44 GMT

Watch a full 25-minute interview with performance dedicated to Voice of the Violin and Joshua Bell's career: Check it out at http://www.fineartsportaljb.com/

Composer and Conductor Steven Mercurio Brings The Debut of "Many Voices"

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:55:01 GMT

Andrea Bocelli, Rolando Villazon, Ana María Martínez', Sumi Jo,
Marcello Giordani, Gino Quilico
Join Mercurio On This Sublime Collection Of His Orchestral Songs

Six of the world’s greatest singers – tenors Andrea Bocelli, Rolando Villazon and Marcello Giordani, sopranos Ana Maria Martinez and Sumi Jo and baritone Gino Quilico – lend their dazzling voices to the songs of their friend and colleague, composer and conductor Steven Mercurio, on Sony Classical’s Many Voices, a debut recording devoted to Mercurio’s own music. With their soaring romantic melodies and richly textured orchestral settings, the seven passionate songs Mercurio introduces on Many Voices transcend the boundaries that separate classical and popular song. Many Voices will be in stores worldwide on Tuesday, August 29, 2006.

Like Leonard Bernstein, who wrote three symphonies as well as West Side Story, Steven Mercurio inhabits both the classical and pop worlds – a thoughtful and sophisticated American composer, with a gift for writing unforgettable melodies, who has a parallel career as an acclaimed conductor of opera and orchestral music. Tens of millions of record buyers and concertgoers all over the world know Mercurio as the conductor who has collaborated with Andrea Bocelli in concerts and recordings, as well as the conductor of The Three Tenors Christmas, a gala “Christmas in Vienna” concert broadcast worldwide and recorded by Sony Classical.

“I met Steven many years ago during La Bohème,” Andrea Bocelli recalls. “From that time on, we have worked together very often. I am very happy when I can work with him because, first of all, he’s a great musician. Second, he likes his job, and when he does music, he’s always so happy. And he can transmit this happiness to the singers. We’ve done many things together – La Bohème, Tosca, L’Amico Fritz, many things … as for recordings, I hope to do many more things with him.”

On Many Voices, Mercurio the composer effortlessly blends the expressive range, depth and subtlety of classical orchestral song with the immediate appeal of pop ballads. His influences are diverse. But his music – modern yet steeped in a heightened Romantic style – bears an unmistakable Italian accent, with the irresistible intensity of beloved Italian canzone and a magical melodic sweep that is in the tradition of such masters as Puccini and Respighi.
“People have become so specialized that the idea of being able to compose and conduct has come to be seen as a negative rather than a positive,” Mercurio says. “I make my living as as a conductor, so in this specialized climate I compose only in my private time, without selling out either to the critics or to what the academic community would think about it. These works were purely a labor of love, which is why I’m thrilled to be able to bring them out into the light.”

With the exception of “Desiderio” and “Paternità,” which are sung in Italian, all the songs are performed in English. The Serenade for Tenor and Orchestra was conceived as an orchestral work, but the other six songs on Many Voices were originally composed for voice and piano. Mercurio orchestrated them especially for this recording, on which he conducts the Prague Philharmonia.

Andrea Bocelli sings “Desiderio” (Desire), a song for which he wrote the text, shortly after Mercurio conducted his record-breaking world tour in 1998.

“At a certain moment, we thought to record a project together that came from our minds,” Bocelli says of his collaboration with Mercurio. “I wrote the lyrics, and he has written the music. The song is called ‘Desiderio,’ and it has been a very nice experience.”

The poem on which “Paternità” (Fatherhood) is based is also by Bocelli, though it is sung here by another great Italian tenor, Marcello Giordani, one of the most admired tenors on the Metropolitan Opera’s roster. Bocelli was moved to write “Paternità” after he held his infant son for the first time.

A sensational new star in the world of opera, the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon sings the most expansive piece on Many Voices – Mercurio’s Serenade for Tenor and Orchestra, a wistful meditation on a lost love, with a text created by William Hoffman (The Ghosts of Versailles), adapted from a poem by Paul Mackley. When it was first performed, the Chicago Sun-Times called the Serenade “ravishing.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer David Del Tredici, to whom the Serenade is dedicated, has said, “Steven Mercurio lives and breathes music with a naturalness and intensity that remind me of the young Leonard Bernstein.”
Korean soprano Sumi Jo sings “A White Rose,” based on a beloved poem by John Boyle O’Reilly, as well as the lullaby “Good Night” (based on a dark but soothing poem by Jane Taylor) and Grammy Award winning soprano, Ana María Martínez' whose dramatic range distinguishes her as one of today's most sophisticated lyric sopranos (currently on tour with Andrea Bocelli) delivers a touching “Song in Chaos,” which is a setting of a letter from the playwright Eugene O’Neill to his wife Carlotta. The Canadian baritone Gino Quilico sings “Daydream,” a nostalgic reverie for which Mercurio himself provided the text.
Born in New York, Steven Mercurio harbored parallel passions as a child, for rock & roll as well as Broadway musicals. He taught himself the basics of composition and orchestration, and then polished these skills through advanced study at Boston University and the Juilliard School, where he earned his master’s degree and would later teach. Mercurio has won numerous awards and held multiple prestigious positions, including Music Director of the Spoleto Festival and Principal Conductor of the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

For Andrea Bocelli’s current world tour, Mercurio opens the second half of the program with his original overture, entitled Mercurial Overture, written for the Nobel Peace Price Concert in Oslo honoring Doctors Without Borders. He has also created five new arrangements for the tenor, including the dramatic “Tango Sentimental y Apasionado,” based on a Piazzolla tango and the famous Carlos Gardel song “Por una cabeza” (heard in the film Scent of a Woman).

Preview Jay Greenberg's Debut Release

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 22:33:04 GMT

Jay Greenberg's debut release, Symphony #5 - Quintet for Strings, will be available in stores and for download on August 15th. To preview this
album click here to view his mediaplayer.

Born in 1991 in New Haven, Connecticut, he began playing the cello when he was three years old, and he later taught himself how to play the piano. His first formal lessons in theory and composition began when he was seven; three years later he enrolled as a scholarship student in both the college and pre-college divisions of New York’s Juilliard School of Music. Greenberg’s teachers there include Samuel Zyman, Ira Taxin, Samuel Adler, Ernest Baretta, Lance Horn and Kendall Briggs.

“How do you react when you encounter an early compositional gift so extraordinary that you can’t even begin to comprehend it?” Samuel Zyman, who has taught music theory to Greenberg, wrote in The Juilliard Journal in 2003. “How do you explain to others a compositional talent so exquisitely developed at such an early age that you can barely believe it yourself? What would you do if you personally met an eight-year-old boy who can compose and fully notate half a movement of a magnificent piano sonata in the style of Beethoven, before your very eyes and without a piano, in less than an hour? How do you let the world know that the same boy, at age 10, composed a probing, original viola concerto in three movements, fully orchestrated, in just a few weeks?”

The public first heard Greenberg’s remarkable story in a 60 Minutes interview in 2004, in which Zyman said that Greenberg’s potential puts him in the company of music’s most illustrious young prodigies – Mozart, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saëns. Greenberg’s works already have been played by orchestras across the United States including the Pittsburgh and New Haven Symphony Orchestras. A premiere performance of the String Quintet at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC is being planned for later this year.

His Overture to 9/11 received first prize in the composition competition at the Juilliard pre-college division in 2003, and he won ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers awards in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Among Greenberg’s most recent commissions are Short Stories for Tenor Saxophone, Percussion and Orchestra, performed at Alice Tully Hall by the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, and Hexalogue for Winds and Piano, premiered at the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival.

The 5 Browns On VH1

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 17:15:37 GMT

The 5 Browns now have an artist page on VH1.com. Check out concert dates, music videos, and other features that include news updates about these amazing artists. You can order a copy of this release through iTunes or at the Sony Music Store.

Stay update to date with their schedule and update at their website and visit their new VH1 artist page.

Joshua Bell Explores Voice of the Violin

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 19:22:12 GMT

Follow-up To Best-selling Romance Of The Violin
Features Sensuous, Unforgettable Melodies From Opera And Song
With Soprano Anna Netrebko As Bell’s Special Guest

From the world of opera and song, Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell has chosen some of the most popular and enduring melodies ever written for his latest Sony Classical recording Voice of the Violin. Following the success of his best-selling Romance of the Violin – which has been a fixture on the Billboard Classical charts for over two years – this all-new collection presents Bell and his Stradivarius giving fresh “voice” to works by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Bizet, Dvořák, Donizetti, Massenet and more, accompanied by Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Michael Stern. Opera’s hottest new star, soprano Anna Netrebko, joins the violinist for a performance of the Richard Strauss song “Morgen.” Voice of the Violin will be released worldwide on September 5, 2006.

Bell’s inspiration for Romance of the Violin – one of the greatest successes in Bell’s recording career – was the opportunity to play beautiful classical melodies that violinists never get to perform. Voice of the Violin goes a step further, sampling the most memorable arias from opera and oratorio, as well as the classical song literature, for melodies that the violin – in Bell’s case, the legendary 1713 “Gibson ex Huberman” Stradivarius – can “sing” most beautifully.

The selections on Voice of the Violin include such favorites as Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise” and Tchaikovsky’s “None But the Lonely Heart,” as well as beloved arias by Mozart (“Laudate dominum” from Vesperae Solenne di Confessore); Bizet (“Je crois entendre encore” from Les Pecheurs de perles); Donizetti (“Una furtiva lagrima” from L’Elisir d’amore); Dvořák (“Song of the Moon” from Rusalka) and Orff (“In trutina” from Carmina Burana). From the song literature – in addition to Strauss’s Morgen” – come favorites by Fauré (“Après un rêve”), Debussy (“Beau soir”), Falla (“Nana”), Mendelssohn (“May Breezes” from Songs Without Words) and Ponce (“Estrellita”).

A star of the Metropolitan Opera as well as leading opera houses and concert stages all over the world, Netrebko will join Bell in a performance of the soulful Strauss song “Morgen,” in the famous orchestral transcription that features a violin solo. Pianist Frederic Chiu, a friend and frequent colleague of Bell’s, accompanies the violinist in a performance of Debussy’s “Beau soir.”

Arrangements for Voice of the Violin were created by J.A.C. Redford, the renowned American composer and orchestrator whose work in film and television has brought him a pair of Emmy nominations and five ASCAP Awards. His film credits include The Trip to Bountiful, Extremities and Oliver and Company. Redford has orchestrated, arranged or conducted for such Oscar-winning film composers as James Horner, Alan Menken and Rachel Portman. Two-time Grammy Award winner Grace Row is producing Voice of the Violin, and the recording is engineered by Charles Harbutt, also a two-time Grammy Award winner.

Bell’s most recent recording for Sony Classical is his critically acclaimed Tchaikovsky disc, featuring a live recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. He was also recently heard as soloist on the original soundtrack recordings of Ladies in Lavender and Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story.

Following its original release in the fall of 2003, Romance of the Violin hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical chart and stayed there for 12 weeks, remaining in the top 10 for 50 weeks in a row. In December of that year, Romance of the Violin was named No. 1 Classical Album of the Year by Billboard, as Bell was cited as No. 1 Classical Artist of the Year. Early in 2005, the recording became one of the first titles to be released by Sony Classical as a DualDisc, and the pace of its sales made it one of the top-selling recordings of 2005.

A violinist of diverse musical interests and accomplishments, Joshua Bell is an exclusive Sony Classical artist. His critically acclaimed recordings for the label have ranged from core-classical works (concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Sibelius and Goldmark) to new concert works written especially for him by such composers Edgar Meyer and Nicholas Maw, whose Violin Concerto, performed by Bell, captured the Grammy for Best Solo Performance With Orchestra. His imaginative new recordings of music from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Bernstein’s West Side Story have been best sellers, and he served as a soloist, advisor and creative partner in John Corigliano’s Oscar-winning score for the hit film The Red Violin.

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Fri, 21 Jul 2006 21:51:54 GMT

Paramount Pictures film, directed by Oliver Stone, opens nationwide August 9th

Original score composed by Craig Armstrong, 2005 Grammy-winner for Ray – other awards for Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet, One Day in September

Distinguished by an evocative score from Grammy Award-winning composer Craig Armstrong, the original motion picture soundtrack album of Academy Award®-winning director Oliver Stone’s upcoming epic WORLD TRADE CENTER will be released on August 8. The Paramount Pictures film will open nationwide the following day, August 9.

Gathering thumbs-up critical raves from early tastemakers across the Internet since its first “sneak-peek” at the Cannes festival in May, World Trade Center is destined to take its place as one of the most important films of 2006. It tells the true story of the heroic survival and rescue of two Port Authority policemen – John McLoughlin (played by Academy Award®-winner Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (played by Michael Peña, of Crash) – who were trapped in the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, after they and three other officers went in to help people escape. As history notes, only 20 people were rescued alive from the WTC after the collapse of the two buildings – Jimeno and McLoughlin were the 18th and 19th.

The film also follows their families – led by McLoughlin’s wife Donna (played by Maria Bello, A History of Violence) and Jimeno’s wife Allison (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Secretary) – as they try to find out what happened to the men, as well as the rescuers who found them in the debris field and pulled them out. (To view a trailer of the movie, go to http://imdb.com/title/tt0469641/trailers-screenplay-E27504-10-2)

Underpinning the high-strung, emotionally charged atmosphere of the movie is the original music of Craig Armstrong, the multi-talented composer and arranger who is also a prolific recording artist in his own right. Armstrong shared his first Grammy Award last year for Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for Ray. Armstrong’s other film scores include Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet,” for which he won a BAFTA and an Ivor Novello; and “Moulin Rouge,”which garnered a Golden Globe, an Ivor Novello and an American Film Institute Award. He won a third Ivor Novello for his music for Phillip Noyce’s “The Quiet American,” and also scored “Must Love Dogs,” “Fever Pitch,” “Love Actually,” “The Bone Collector” and the Oscar®-winning “One Day in September.”

A pianist who won the title Jazz Musician Of the Year at an early age, Scottish-born Armstrong later studied violin and composition at the Royal Academy in London. He later branched into theatre and became resident composer at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. His classical works include a chamber opera commis¬sioned for the Edin¬burgh festival; Visconti, a homage to filmmaker Luchino Visconti that was performed at the Stockhausen Festival at the Barbican; and various other orchestral commissions for the Northern Sinfonietta, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the BT Ensemble, and the Hebrides Ensemble.

Other concert works include Northern Sound and When Morning Turns To Light for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO). One Minute, a new concert work in collaboration with the Scottish fine arts duo Dalziel & Scullion, was performed by the RSNO for the opening of the new Perth Concert Hall. Other stage work includes commissions for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Armstrong has also developed an impressive career in popular music as a sought-after composer and arranger. His work with Massive Attack on their Protection album led to his signing as a solo artist with their record label, Melankolic, for whom he recorded the solo albums The Space Between Us (1998) and As If to Nothing (2002), which included collaborations with Evan Dando and David McAlmont, among others.

After the demise of Melankolic, Armstrong issued Piano Works (2004), a rad¬ically different collection of piano versions of some of his film themes, tracks he composed for Massive Attack, and entirely new pieces. It was followed by his first album for the Sony BMG-distributed Sanctuary label, Film Works (2005), a best-of-film music album. Armstrong also arranged the classic “Clair de Lune” for the recent Chanel No. 5 advertisements, starring Nicole Kidman and directed by Baz Luhrmann. As a performer, Armstrong’s most recent concerts have taken place at the Weil Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall and at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

Paramount Pictures presents a Michael Shamberg/Stacey Sher/Moritz Borman Production, an Oliver Stone film, World Trade Center. Directed by Oliver Stone from a screenplay written by Andrea Berloff based on the true life events of John & Donna McLoughlin and William & Allison Jimeno, produced by Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, Moritz Borman, and Debra Hill. Executive producers are Donald J. Lee, Jr. and Norm Golightly.

Announcing Robert Levin's Latest Release

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 18:28:02 GMT

Bonus DVD Included With CD With Levin Discussing Mozart & His Music,
Plus Complete Live Performance of A Sonata Movement
Playing A Instrument Identical To One Mozart Knew And Admired,
Levin Recaptures The Composer’s Brilliant, Articulate
Keyboard Style And Sound In Sonatas K. 279, K. 280, K. 281

In a bold new deutsche harmonia mundi recording of three “watershed” piano sonatas, fortepiano virtuoso Robert Levin brings fresh insights to the style and sound Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart imagined when he wrote for the keyboard at a pivotal point in his evolution. Levin performs a trio of Mozart’s sonatas, all dating from 1775 – in C, K. 279; in F, K. 280; and in B-Flat, K. 281 – on a modern copy of a fortepiano that Mozart might well have played in those years. The recording is now in stores.

Accompanying the CD is a bonus DVD featuring Levin discussing Mozart, his music and original-instrument keyboard performances of it in the modern era. The DVD also includes footage of Levin in a complete performance of the third movement of the Sonata in C, K. 279.

One of the world’s most respected and influential Mozart scholars who also holds the title of he is Dwight P. Robinson, Jr. Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University, Levin believes the three sonatas included here – with the three that followed immediately, all dating from 1775 in Munich, when the composer was 19 – are “watershed” works in the Mozart emergence as a great composer.

“In them Mozart’s freedom and variety of rhythm emerge in full flower, both in the spontaneity of melodic flow and in the choice of textures,” Levin says, noting that they reflect his evolution from a purely instrumental to a vocal composer. He adds, “It is difficult to exaggerate the achievement represented by this synthesis. It contributes in no small way to Mozart’s universality and distinguishes his music from that of his contemporaries.”

Though keyboard instruments were in a period of profound change in the late 18th century, Levin has concluded that the three sonatas on this recording were intended for performance on the fortepiano, not harpsichord. The fortepiano, he believes, best realizes the texture and articulation in the scores themselves. He adds that “Mozart favored a clear, translucent sound with sparse use of pedal, and a singing melody (‘It must flow like oil,’ he repeatedly affirmed) that he inflected with a plethora of articulate detail.

The fortepiano Levin plays on the new dhm recording is a copy made by Thomas McCobb in Philip Belt’s workshop of an 18th-century fortepiano built by Johann Andreas Stein. Mozart knew Stein’s instruments and, in 1777, even praised them in a letter to his father. For this recording, the fortepiano was tonally and mechanically refined and tuned to A430 Hz in Thomas Young #2, an 18th-century temperament that differs from the equal temperament used today in pianos.

After performances this summer in Europe and New Zealand, Robert Levin returns to the U.S. for performances this fall with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra for Mozart Piano Concerto K. 459 and Beethoven Choral Fantasy (October 4-8); Oregon Symphony Orchestra for Mozart Piano Concerto K. 459 (October 20-23); and an all-Schumann program with the New World Symphony Orchestra in Miami (December 7-8). Levin will also lecture and demonstrate at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Atlanta (October 24-28), and he will serve on the jury of the sixth annual Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan (November 8-30). In early 2007, he plays concerts with the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston (January 12-14); San Antonio Symphony Orchestra (February 2-4) and at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (February 18 & March 1).

Order your copy of this release here.

Introducing New Masterworks Series Pages

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 22:58:16 GMT

From The Legendary Sony Classical/CBS & Columbia Masterworks Vaults

GREAT PERFORMANCES Features Newly Remastered, Definitive Performances by Glenn Gould, Yo-Yo Ma, Leonard Bernstein, Leon Fleisher, George Szell, Eugene Ormandy, E. Power Biggs and Many More.

The Great Performances series set the standard for reissuing classic recordings when it first appeared in the LP era, and it returns now – reconceived and dramatically redesigned for the digital age – to mine the riches of the unparalleled Sony Classical/CBS and Columbia Masterworks catalogue.

Visit our new Great Performances Series website here.

Living Stereo recordings were made with only two or three microphones, which represented the best recording techniques of that era. Today, with the advent of Super Audio Compact Disc and multi-channel sound, the listener can hear the left, center and right channels exactly as the recording engineers heard them at the original recording sessions. When remastering the original recordings, John Newton and his engineering team used only three of the available six channels (or two when the original recording was two-track) on the Super Audio CD because that was the vision of the original producers. What you hear are faithful copies of these historic performances in brilliant DSD resolution. No signal processing was used to "improve" these extraordinary tapes.

Visit our new Living Stereo Series website here.

Check Out The 5 Browns Videos on VH1

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:20:21 GMT

The 5 Browns are now at VH1 online! You can view their videos at www.vh1.com or check out their featured page here

Record Your Version of "Grow Old With You"

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 16:09:29 GMT

In celebration of the Tony nominated Broadway musical ,The Wedding Singer, online karaoke station, K-Solo, has a session happening this month where you can record your own version of "Grow Old With You" by Stephen Lynch. This song is featured on the latest Masterworks Broadway release, The Wedding Singer- Original Broadway Cast Recording.

Order your copy here and check out more Wedding Singer news

Essential Hollywood Recieves Wonderful Review

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 15:46:21 GMT

View the full text of this review here

"For someone that really loves to delve into the history of film music, this selection is the nucleus of great film music. Many of these tracks literally created the template of introducing many classical styles of music into movies. "

- Rafael Ruiz, Soundtrack.net

The Wedding Singer Broadway Soundtrack Is In Stores Now

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 19:42:44 GMT

This is a big week for THE WEDDING SINGER. The Original Broadway Cast Recording will be instores and available for download tomorrow, June 6th. You can check out performances from the TONY AWARD NOMINATED Cast on several television spots. Check out the performances and music from this new release.

Music:
The Wedding Singer Media Player

Performances:

NBC THE TODAY SHOW - Thursday, June 8

CBS EARLY SHOW - Friday, June 9

THE TONY AWARDS - Sunday, June 11 on CBS

Order a copy at the Sony Music Store.

Read the Latest Review on Eldar's New Release

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 03:39:14 GMT

View the full text of the review at allmusic.com.

Piano phenom Eldar Djangirov has most certainly heard it all before: his similarities to Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, his astounding speed, the way he's able to move his way through some of jazz's most intricate numbers, that he's played with some of the genre's biggest names, at some of the most important venues; that all of this has been accomplished before his twentieth birthday. And the amazing thing about this is that all of those aforementioned statements are completely true. Eldar is an exceptionally gifted pianist, regardless of age, very skilled at improvising upon a theme without completely obliterating it, alluding to it constantly while still adding his own distinct voice. All of this is portrayed very well on Eldar Live at the Blue Note.

-Marisa Brown, Allmusic.com May 2006

IGN Music raves about The 5 Browns!

Fri, 12 May 2006 19:27:38 GMT

"No Boundries is a recommended piece for anyone, especially those thinking that classical music is too boring. The way these five incredible talents work together to bring out the best in each piece is mesmerizing. "

Read the full review at IGN Music.

Klazzbrothers return for "Mozart Meets Cuba"!

Fri, 12 May 2006 15:42:23 GMT

Grammy-award winning performers Klazzbrothers return to bring their unique take on classical music to Mozart in Mozart Meets Cuba, the follow-up to their smash hit Classic Meets Cuba.

Get more information and check out their eCard here

Jay Greenberg's Debut on Sony Classical

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 15:38:44 GMT

First Sony Classical CD To Feature
Greenberg’s Symphony No. 5 & String Quintet In Premiere Recordings
With London Symphony Orchestra And Juilliard String Quartet

Sony BMG Masterworks has entered into a unique collaboration with the young American composer Jay Greenberg, with an exclusive contract to record his music, Gilbert Hetherwick, President of Masterworks, announced today. Still in his teens, Greenberg already has emerged as a promising and prolific composer with a rapidly expanding catalogue of solo, chamber and orchestral works. The first Masterworks release under the agreement, scheduled for release on the Sony Classical label in Fall 2006, will include recording premieres of Greenberg’s Symphony No. 5 – with José Serebrier conducting the London Symphony Orchestra – and his String Quintet with the Juilliard String Quartet and cellist Darrett Adkins.

“Jay and his music represent the future, and I believe his work symbolizes the renewed confidence we at Sony BMG Masterworks have in the future of classical music,” Hetherwick said, in announcing the signing. “Obviously, what caught our attention was the fact of his age and accomplishment. Beyond that, the passion, the authority and the confident spirit in Jay’s music speak impressively for themselves. I think that a broad, young audience is about to make this remarkable discovery.“

In addition to the unprecedented Masterworks agreement, Greenberg is the youngest composer ever signed to an exclusive contract by IMG Artists.

Born in 1991 in New Haven, Connecticut, he began playing the cello when he was three years old, and he later taught himself how to play the piano. His first formal lessons in theory and composition began when he was seven; three years later he enrolled as a scholarship student in both the college and pre-college divisions of New York’s Juilliard School of Music. Greenberg’s teachers there include Samuel Zyman, Ira Taxin, Samuel Adler, Ernest Baretta, Lance Horn and Kendall Briggs.

“How do you react when you encounter an early compositional gift so extraordinary that you can’t even begin to comprehend it?” Samuel Zyman, who has taught music theory to Greenberg, wrote in The Juilliard Journal in 2003. “How do you explain to others a compositional talent so exquisitely developed at such an early age that you can barely believe it yourself? What would you do if you personally met an eight-year-old boy who can compose and fully notate half a movement of a magnificent piano sonata in the style of Beethoven, before your very eyes and without a piano, in less than an hour? How do you let the world know that the same boy, at age 10, composed a probing, original viola concerto in three movements, fully orchestrated, in just a few weeks?”

The public first heard Greenberg’s remarkable story in a 60 Minutes interview in 2004, in which Zyman said that Greenberg’s potential puts him in the company of music’s most illustrious young prodigies – Mozart, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saëns. Greenberg’s works already have been played by orchestras across the United States including the Pittsburgh and New Haven Symphony Orchestras. A premiere performance of the String Quintet at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC is being planned for later this year.

His Overture to 9/11 received first prize in the composition competition at the Juilliard pre-college division in 2003, and he won ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers awards in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Among Greenberg’s most recent commissions are Short Stories for Tenor Saxophone, Percussion and Orchestra, performed at Alice Tully Hall by the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, and Hexalogue for Winds and Piano, premiered at the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival.

New Release from Young Jazz Sensation

Wed, 10 May 2006 15:57:28 GMT

A year after he made a critically acclaimed debut on the Sony Classical label with a self-titled album, the young jazz pianist Eldar returns with Eldar Live At The Blue Note, made during performances at New York’s Blue Note and featuring as special guests a pair of jazz trumpet virtuosos, Chris Botti and Roy Hargrove. Eldar Live At The Blue Note will be released on Tuesday, May 30, 2006.

Eldar Live At The Blue Note introduces four original tunes by the pianist – including the title track – and includes his fresh interpretations of Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love?”, Bobby Timmons’ “Dat Dere,” Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train” and the Latin classic “Besame Mucho.” Columbia Records recording artist Chris Botti joins Eldar on the Don Raye/Gene De Paul classic “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” and Roy Hargrove collaborates on Thelonious Monk’s “Straight, No Chaser.” Completing Eldar’s trio are bassist Marco Panascia and, on drums, Todd Strait.

Eldar returns to the Blue Note for performances July 5-9, during a busy summer that also includes his debut at the Hollywood Bowl Playboy Jazz Festival (June 18) and performances in Japan (June 19-28). Following the Blue Note dates, Eldar performs at the Interlochen Festival (August 3); San Jose Jazz Festival (August 19); and Monterey Jazz Festival (September 25). In March, he completed a European tour that took him to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Milan, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.

At the age of 19, Eldar continues to confirm the extraordinary promise that wowed jazz veterans when he first performed in the U.S. eight years ago, after his family emigrated from Kyrgyzstan. He has already been featured on the 42nd annual Grammy Awards broadcast, and he took the top prizes in the 2001 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and the 2002 Peter Nero Piano Competition. In 2004 Wynton Marsalis selected Eldar to appear at the gala opening of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall and the following year he was a featured artist at the International Association for Jazz Education conference in Long Beach, California. Last year Eldar appeared at some of the top jazz clubs in the country, including Yoshi’s in Oakland, Jazz Alley in Seattle, Dizzy’s and the Blue Note in New York; Scullers in Boston, Zanzibar in Philadelphia and Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. He also performed at the Kennedy Center and the Orange County PAC.

“The vigor, stylistic range and dazzling speed displayed on his debut album Eldar (Sony Classical) have already earned this emigrant from Kyrgyzstan the usual comparisons,” The New York Times wrote, when the recording was released early last year. “Eldar combines Art Tatum’s superhuman velocity with echoes of Oscar Peterson’s grandeur … an all-things-to-all-people prodigy whose formidable technique is wedded to a mature grasp of musical structure.”

Reviewing a live performance last June, Billboard wrote, “Eldar has the fastest hands in jazz … melds Russian soul (in the ballads) with American razzle-dazzle (the up-tempo tunes) in standards, not-so-standards and originals … His nine-tune set brought the house down … He seems to easily channel Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson in his approach, but to his credit he gets lost in the music in his own way.”

Sony Classical, RCA Red Seal and deutsche harmonia mundi are labels of SONY BMG MASTERWORKS. For e-mail updates and information regarding Sony Classical, RCA Red Seal and deutsche harmonia mundi artists, promotions, tours and repertoire, please visit www.sonybmgmasterworks.com.

Chicago Celebrates The Year Of The Silk Road

Wed, 24 May 2006 16:26:08 GMT

The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Silk Road Project announced Silk Road Chicago, a yearlong, citywide celebration inspired by the art and culture of the historic Silk Road, from June 2006 to June 2007. Silk Road Chicago (www.silkroadchicago.org) is an unprecedented cultural collaboration among these four partner institutions and more than 70 cultural and community organizations across the city. With this initiative, Chicago becomes the first city in the world to collaborate on a yearlong partnership with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Project.

For further information go to http://www.silkroadchicago.org/

Check out these links for more information:

Concert Date : April 12th, 2007

Concert Date : April 15th, 2007

Concert Date : April 17th, 2007

Concert Date : April 21st, 2007

Masterworks Broadway to Release the Original Cast Recording of the New Broadway Musical The Wedding Singer

Mon, 08 May 2006 16:40:30 GMT

IN STORES JUNE 6TH!

Masterworks Broadway proudly releases the original cast recording of the new Broadway musical The Wedding Singer on June 6, 2006, marking the first CD from this new label. The Wedding Singer opens April 27, 2006 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, and the cast album will be recorded on May 1, 2006.

Produced by David Leonard (Duran, Duran, John Mellencamp, Paul McCartney), David Lai and Matthew Sklar, the original cast recording of The Wedding Singer features a dynamic cast starring Stephen Lynch as Robbie Hart and Laura Benanti as Julia, along with Richard Blake, Kevin Cahoon, Felicia Finley, Rita Gardner, Matthew Saldivar and Amy Spanger. Directed by John Rando and choreographed by Rob Ashford, The Wedding Singer features original music by Matthew Sklar, book by Chad Beguelin & Tim Herlihy and lyrics by Chad Beguelin. The musical director is James Sampliner.

In this original musical, rock-star wannabe Robbie Hart is New Jersey’s favorite wedding singer. He’s the life of the party, the ultimate master of ceremonies, the unlikely hero of every party and a true believer in the power of love – until his own fiancée leaves him at the altar. Shot through the heart, Robbie becomes a newlywed’s worst nightmare – a wedding singer bent on destroying other people’s weddings. Enter Julia, a winsome waitress who wins his affection and helps Robbie pick up the pieces of his broken heart. The only hitch is that Julia is set to marry a Wall Street shark. Unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a lifetime, the girl of his dreams will be gone forever.

The recently combined Sony Classical/Columbia Masterworks and RCA Victor, as part of the Sony BMG merger, led to the formation of Masterworks Broadway, which houses one of the most formidable catalogues of cast albums anywhere, with recent titles such as Tony winner Avenue Q, and Grammy-award winners The Producers and Hairspray, as well as the treasured original cast recordings of West Side Story, A Chorus Line, Sweeney Todd, Company and Sunday In The Park With George, among many others. Masterworks Broadway is pleased to announce The Wedding Singer as the debut recording on this new label.

The original cast album of the new Broadway musical The Wedding Singer will be released nationwide June 6, 2006 on Masterworks Broadway.

Maria Friedman's New Release on iTunes

Fri, 05 May 2006 15:36:12 GMT

You can download Maria Friedman's new release, "Now and Then", on iTunes!

The Knot and Sony Classical Announce the Ultimate Wedding Ceremony Compilation

Tue, 02 May 2006 17:08:50 GMT

The walk down the aisle is one of life’s most memorable moments, and it calls for the perfect soundtrack. But will that be Pachelbel or Puccini? Bach or Beethoven? Most of today’s to-be-weds are at a loss to name the classical melodies they love, leaving brides and grooms to spend frustrating hours sorting through music they don’t know. Enter an easy and elegant solution: the perfect ceremony playlist, The Knot Collection of Ceremony & Wedding Music, from the leading wedding website The Knot (NASDAQ: KNOT; www.theknot.com) and Sony Classical (www.sonyclassical.com). The Knot Collection of Ceremony & Wedding Music will be released on Tuesday, May 2, 2006.

Beyond “Here Comes the Bride,” this ultimate collection of ceremony music provides couples with the most comprehensive set of preludes, processionals, interludes and recessionals performed by the world’s most famed classical musicians, from Bach’s “Bist du bei mir,” performed by Yo-Yo Ma, to Mouret’s “Rondeau” (theme from Masterpiece Theater), performed by Wynton Marsalis and the English Chamber Orchestra. The list includes favorite musical selections of The Knot’s Editor in Chief Carley Roney, from classic tunes to surprising songs that make a ceremony personal and memorable. Among the twenty-three tracks are:

PRELUDES

Bach’s “Bist du bei mir” (Yo-Yo Ma, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Ton Koopman)

Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” (Yo-Yo Ma, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Ton Koopman)

Haydn’s Serenade from String Quartet in F Major, Op. 3. No. 5 (Tchaikovsky Chamber Orchestra)

PROCESSIONAL SELECTIONS
Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” (English Chamber Orchestra)

Clarke’s “The Prince from Denmark’s March” (Wynton Marsalis)

Mouret’s “Rondeau” (theme from Masterpiece Theater) (Wynton Marsalis & English Chamber Orchestra)

INTERLUDE SELECTIONS

Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi (Joshua Bell & Academy of St. Martin in the Fields)

Bernstein’s “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story

RECESSIONAL SONGS
Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from Symphony No. 9

Handel’s “Hallelujah” Chorus from Messiah

Vivaldi’s “Spring” from The Four Seasons

Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Also included in The Knot CD are detailed tips for making ceremonial music selections – from choosing an exciting prelude that entertains guests as they wait for the ceremony to begin, to making the most of the processional with a march that is as touching as it is dignified, to selecting interludes that heighten the beauty and meaning of the most important moments in the ceremony. The liner notes include a tear-out worksheet to keep track of your selections that doubles as a wedding day scrapbook memento.

“Couples constantly tell us how painful the process of picking out music for their ceremony is,” said Roney. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Sony Classical to release a one-disc solution for couples that features the most beautiful performances of classic wedding songs by the world’s top musical artists.”

Falling In Love is Wonderful Celebrates Romance with Broadway's Greatest Love Duets

Tue, 02 May 2006 17:09:43 GMT

From Sony BMG Masterworks unparalleled catalogue of Broadway recordings, Falling in Love Is Wonderful brings together the greatest love duets from classic Broadway musicals, sung by many of the legends of Broadway in memorable original cast recordings. The title comes from the lyric of the first selection, the irrepressible “They Say It’s Wonderful” from Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun. Included are all the great love duets of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Loesser, Berlin, Bernstein and Sondheim, Kern and Hammerstein, Schmidt and Jones, and Bock and Harnick, as well as two great composer/lyricists of the new generation, William Finn and Jason Robert Brown.

Barbara Cook, Mary Martin, Robert Preston, Ethel Merman, John Raitt and Zero Mostel – as well as contemporary Broadway headliners such as Peter Gallagher, Malcolm Gets, Brent Carver and Carolee Carmello – top the lineup of stars. They sing love duets that range from the lilting “Make Believe” from 1927 classic Show Boat and the witty “People Will Say We’re in Love” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (1943), to the passionate beauty of two latter-day classics, Jason Robert Brown’s “All the Wasted Time” (Parade) and William Finn’s “Sailing” (A New Brain).

The Essential James Galway Celebrates the Greatest Hits of the Man with the Golden Flute

Tue, 02 May 2006 17:05:22 GMT

Two-Disc Set With Over Two Hours Of Music Includes Sir James Galway’s
Most Popular Recordings, Including Classical And Pop Favorites

Known the world over as “The Man with the Golden Flute,” Sir James Galway is the most acclaimed flute virtuoso of his day, and RCA Red Seal’s new two-disc anthology The Essential James Galway samples the best of his recordings, including the classical repertoire and his hugely successful pop collections. Galway is one of the best selling classical artists of the modern age – worldwide sales topping 30 million, with over 2.5 million units sold since 1991 alone – and these recordings prove why. The Essential James Galway will be in stores Tuesday, May 23, 2006.

The Irish-born Galway began his career as an orchestral player – he was principal flute in the Berlin Philharmonic during the legendary tenure of Herbert von Karajan – but found immediate success as a soloist. His enormous catalogue of more than 50 albums for RCA Victor reflects a rich and varied appetite for the entire classical repertoire, as well as appealing crossover recordings of folk and pop songs, as well as hits from Broadway and Hollywood.

The Essential Hollywood Celebrates the Golden Sound of Classic Hollywood

Tue, 02 May 2006 17:03:31 GMT

Sampling the golden “Hollywood sound” that is a virtual soundtrack of contemporary American culture, the best of the greatest film music of the last 80 years is featured on Sony Classical’s new two-disc collection The Essential Hollywood. This new collection includes authentic stereo recordings of celebrated music by such Oscar-winning composers as John Williams, John Barry, Bernard Herrmann, Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Miklós Rózsa, Maurice Jarre, Dimitri Tiomkin, Nino Rota and Franz Waxman, in performances by the London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, led by many of the composers and such conductors as Charles Gerhardt, Arthur Fiedler, Riccardo Muti and Esa-Pekka Salonen. The Essential Hollywood will be released on May 23, 2006.

The classic symphonic film score truly arrived in 1933, with Max Steiner’s thundering music for the original King Kong, which is featured on The Essential Hollywood. Though the sound began to fade in the 1970s, it returned triumphantly with the rise of five-time Oscar winner John Williams, with his landmark scores for Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the Star Wars films, which are also sampled in the new collection. Included are many of the scores recently chosen by the American Film Institute as “the 25 greatest film scores of all time.”

The Essential Hollywood is no mere “movie themes” collection. It was compiled from definitive stereo studio recordings in the RCA and Sony Classical catalogues, in original orchestrations or arrangements that approximate the way the music sounded on the films’ soundtracks. While classic themes are featured – such as the signature themes from Laura, Jaws, The Pink Panther, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and High Noon – the collection also features extended suites that musically recap the stories of Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, King Kong, Psycho and Sunset Boulevard.

Composers Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven), Maurice Jarre (Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia), Henry Mancini (Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Pink Panther), Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), David Raksin (Laura) and Dimitri Tiomkin (High Noon) conduct their own music on The Essential Hollywood. A renowned interpreter of classic film scores, Williams leads performances not only of his music but that of other composers. Also included are excerpts from acclaimed recordings of the music of Bernard Herrmann, with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and of Nino Rota, with Riccardo Muti conducting the Filarmonica della Scala.

A Cool Classical Breeze with Simply Summer

Tue, 02 May 2006 15:29:21 GMT

Too much summer sun? Too much summer fun? Escape the heat, humidity and hullabaloo, and chill out with Simply Summer, Sony Classical’s relaxing new collection of classical favorites. Featuring a serene program of the most beautiful works by Vivaldi, Gershwin, Debussy, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and many others, the disc has been carefully programmed to create a calm and soothing atmosphere for the summer season – the perfect soundtrack for poolside, picnics or some personal peace and quiet. Simply Summer will be in stores on Tuesday, May 23, 2006.

Many of the selections heard on Simply Summer were inspired by the season and its rich atmosphere, from “Summertime” from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Legrand’s haunting “The Summer Knows” (Theme from Summer of ’42) to English composer Frederick Delius’s beautiful but rarely heard tone-poem In a Summer Garden. Familiar music abounds including, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, the Nocturne from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream music and the “Summer” concerto from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. The performers include such classical greats as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Wynton Marsalis, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Guiliano Carmignola with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, as well as conductors Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, George Szell and Michael Tilson Thomas. (See the following page for a complete track listing.)

So sit back, slide your feet into the warm sand, and let these peaceful classical melodies set the right summer mood. Blissful Brahms. Delightful Debussy. Gorgeous Gershwin. At the beach, in the car, at an evening get-together with friends, or for quiet afternoon on your own – this disc is the perfect musical companion to the gentle pleasures of summertime relaxation. Simply serene. Simply splendid. Simply Summer.

Sony Classical, RCA Red Seal and deutsche harmonia mundi are labels of SONY BMG MASTERWORKS. For e-mail updates and information regarding RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical and deutsche harmonia mundi artists, promotions, tours and repertoire, please visit www.sonybmgmasterworks.com.