Who Are The Most Charismatic Musicians Today?

Zachary Woolfe writes about the importance of charisma in music. Something more than impeccable skill; a certain electricity while performing.

Who do you think are today's most charismatic classical performers?

Read the article on nyt.com

Gramophone Award Nominee Sale

The Gramophone Awards are among the most prestigious in the classical music world. The 2011 nominations have just been announced and we have them. 

Are your favorites on the list? This week get 20% off select nominees when you buy them on our site! 

Start browsing now

Coughing at Concerts: What Are Your Pet Peeves?

Composer John Adams posted this hilarious article a while back on the different kinds of coughs typical of concert hall audiences. What audience behavior bothers you most during a concert?

Tell us in the comments!

Lucy Crowe

Lucy Crowe, photo by Sussie Ahlburg

A friend who always wants to know what's the next big thing in music e-mailed me yesterday. She wanted to know if the soprano  singing in the Vesperae solennes de confessore at Mostly Mozart had made any recordings. The singer is Lucy Crowe, she's made some recordings and yes, she's the next big thing. Crowe's Handel aria album will be released by Harmonia Mundi in November, but here's "Let the Bright Seraphim" from Handel's Samson to tide us over. Oh yes, she is the next big thing.

20% Off Great Tenor Recordings! Sale ends 8/20/11

Luciano Pavarotti In Concert (1987)

Get 20% off fantastic recordings from some of the world's greatest tenors! We've selected our favorite recordings from Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, The Canadian Tenors, Vittorio Grigolo, Il Divo, The Three Tenors,  Jose Carreras, Giuseppe di Stefano and Rolando Villazon!

Check out the list of recordings on sale

Fischer King - Concert Musings

Photo by Budapest Festival Orchestra

Iván Fischer is the finest conductor of our day. There, I said it. While much of the classical music world has become obsessed with a photogenic young conductor (and his naturally curly hair) in Los Angeles, the balding and low key Fischer doesn’t move the needle on the glamour meter. Gustavo Dudamel looks like a rock star, Fischer looks like Dudamel’s accountant.

 

Mostly Mozart Ticket Giveaway! Enter by 8/15/11

If you love Mozart, Beethoven, and Stravinsky,
then you're in luck! We're giving away 4 pairs of
tickets to 2 concerts at Lincoln Center's Mostly
Mozart Festival. Find out how to enter on our
sweepstakes page.

Click to go to our sweepstakes page

CORO Label Sale - 20% Off All titles! (Valid Through 8/16/11)

CORO is preeminent in the choral music world and is the label home to the acclaimed ensemble, The Sixteen. CORO offers a wide range of repertoire from the Renaissance to contemporary music by such composers as James MacMillan and Tarik O'Regan. Artists include:

The Sixteen Handel and Haydn Society Le Jardin Secret

Start browsing the titles on sale!

Parker Quartet Top 5 Works!

"Hailed by The New York Times as 'something extraordinary,' the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation." - www.parkerquartet.com
 
The quartet gave us a list of their Top 5 favorite works, as well as a few restaurant recommendations from the Twin Cities, where the members currently reside.
Click to see the Parker Quartet's Top 5

Album Review - Beethoven: Complete Works for Solo Piano Volume 10

Sample and Buy the Album


Compared to the 32 sonatas and Diabelli Variations, Beethoven’s bagatelles are his least well-known piano works. Of the bagatelles, only one, the bagatelle in A Minor “Für Elise,” is a familiar work. On the other hand, pianists love them and with good reason. Beethoven wrote bagatelles for piano throughout his career and because of that their styles vary; there is always something remarkable to be found in these works. Some of the bagatelles are miniatures of only a few brief measures while others were originally conceived as sonata movements or sketches. What is consistent is the bottomless wit and invention that’s found in each set. Fortepianist Ronald Brautigam continues his traversal of Beethoven’s piano works with this recording of the composer’s complete bagatelles.