Christophe Coin's New Vivaldi

Available at Amazon: Vivaldi, Concerti for Violoncello I, Christophe Coin, Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini (released May 29, 2007)

Vivaldi Edition: Griselda (2006) Arie d'opera, with Sandrine Piau (2005) La verità in cimento (2003)

A recent release in the growing Vivaldi Edition from Naïve, vol. 34, contains the first installment of the Venetian composer's concerti for cello. Christophe Coin, a recent favorite at Ionarts, joined Il Giardino Armonico for five cello concerti, as well as one for violoncello piccolo and an unusual double concerto for cello and bassoon. Coin, playing an instrument made by Alessandro Gagliano around 1720, has a lean but flavorful sound graced by tasteful embellishments. Over half of Vivaldi's output of concerti is intended for solo violin, and it is always good to be reminded that he did compose for other instruments. In fact, the Red Priest was one of the first composers to write concerti for the cello (about 30 of them) in the early 18th century. As is generally true of Vivaldi's corpus, especially the concerti, some of the works selected for this recording are better than others, but all are performed well.

The A minor concerto (RV 419, first on the disc) has exciting outer movements, particularly the last movement, a series of variations on an ostinato bass pattern. The continuo section of Il Giardino Armonico stands out from the ensemble by creating pleasing textures, alternately suave and crunchy. In the first movement of RV 410, Riccardo Doni's harpsichord and the Baroque guitar of Luca Pianta offer percussive backgrounds to the melody. The slow movement of the D minor concerto (RV 406) is one of the most melancholy pieces, with soft and daring theorbo realization of the continuo line, again by Luca Pianta. Conductor Giovanni Antonini encourages active sounds, without seeming to opt for fast tempos only for the sake of virtuosity, although there are some daringly fast movements. As in the first movement of RV 398, Antonini seems concerned only with finding the just tempo for each character. When the Vivaldi edition is completed, we will have a much more complete understanding of this extraordinary, sometimes maligned composer.

Naïve OP 30426

Quatuor Mosaïques Worth the Wait

Quatuor Mosaïques: Haydn op. 20 Haydn op. 77 Beethoven op. 18/1,4 Mozart Quartets

Ionarts has been recommending the recordings of the Haydn quartets by the Quatuor Mosaïques for years, but we had the first chance to review them live on Saturday night in an exceptional concert at the Library of Congress. The group was formed in the 1980s by cellist Christophe Coin and other members of Nikolaus Harnoncourt's historically informed performance (HIP) ensemble Concentus Musicus. Over two decades, their recordings of Classical string quartets, performed on historical instruments with gut strings, have changed the way we hear Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Two Haydn quartets on the first half had all the superlative qualities expected from the group's recordings: rhythmic clarity, impeccable balance among parts, and clean intonation partially due to a sparing use of vibrato. The G minor quartet (op. 20, no. 3) had a crisp first movement, a wistful yearning treatment of the second movement (with a more dance-like trio), Venetian glass-like layering of sound in the third movement, and an active, energetic finale (albeit with a few squeaks here and there in the first violin).

Even more pleasing was the last published of Haydn's complete string quartets, the F major (op. 77, no. 2), in which the clever handling of the formal outlines of each movement was noteworthy, like the transition from development to recapitulation in the first movement. The jokingly clumsy return from the trio to the minuetto, like a sputtering engine trying to get started (in a coda that haltingly gets us back from D-flat major to the home key), played right into the hemiola games of duple versus triple that unsettle the second movement. In general, second violinist Andrea Bischof seemed a little too retiring and could have brought out her occasional solos with more flair, while the perceptive and sonorous playing of cellist Christophe Coin marked him as the group's leader.

Other Reviews: Robert Battey, Quatuor Mosaïques at the Library of Congress (Washington Post, April 20) Vivien Schweitzer, Thankful and Soulful on the Road to Recovery (New York Times, April 20) Alan G. Artner, Satisfying debut for the Mosaïques (Chicago Tribune, April 20) David Patrick Stearns, Early-music quartet at the Kimmel (Philadelphia Inquirer, April 18)

Beethoven's C minor quartet (op. 18, no. 4) was of the same approximate vintage as the later Haydn example, Beethoven's op. 18 set having been commissioned by Prince Lobkowitz at the same time as Haydn's (unfinished) op. 77 set. The comparison of the two quartets side by side highlighted the basic qualities of the young Beethoven's compositional style: the restless character of the first movement's main theme, the hammered tonic and dominant chords (as in the rewrite of the bridge of the first movement), the fugal writing of the second movement, and all of those sforzandi on third beats in the menuetto. Gut-stringed 18th-century instruments cannot produce the same violence of sound as later ones, but there is such a thing as way too much sound in a Beethoven string quartet, and what is gained in the soft end of the spectrum makes the overall range of dynamics still very broad, just more subtle. The nature of the instruments also makes it much less easy for the first violin to dominate the texture, making the triplet accompaniment figure of the third-movement trio more transparent, for example. The Quatuor Mosaïques played with remarkable physical energy in the final movement, cranking up the wattage with each return of the rondo theme and then exploding in the Prestissimo coda.

The feast of HIP ensembles continues at the Library of Congress, with a concert by the Geringas Baryton Trio this Friday (April 24, 8 pm).

Perchance to Stream: MLK Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to online audio and online video from the week gone by. After clicking to an audio or video stream, you may need to press the "Play" button to start the broadcast. Some of these streams become unavailable after a few days.

• From St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, in London, the BBC Singers perform music for the season of Epiphany by German composers of the early Baroque period. [BBC3]


• Watch Alexandre Tharaud play Bach's Goldberg Variations. [ARTE]


• Watch Hugh Wolff conduct the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in Sibelius's fifth symphony, plus music of Mozart and Messiaen with clarinetist Jörg Widmann. [ARTE]


• Watch a concert by the London Philharmonic, with Simon Rattle leading music by Ravel, Delage, and Dutilleux. [ARTE]


• Listen to a double-bill of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Stravinsky's Persephone, recorded last July at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. [RTBF]


• A performance of Handel's Israel in Egypt by Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, and the Nederlands Kamerkoor, with Joanne Lunn and other soloists, recorded in Vienna. [ORF]


• The Akademie für alte Musik Berlin performs Handel's Water Music. [Avro Klassiek]

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Dip Your Ears, No. 72

S. De Brossard, Les Grand Motets, EBL, Christophe Coin

Touches of Charpentier again – but also German baroque can be found on the second recording of the Laborie label. This time the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges under Christophe Coin comes up with the three Grand Motets of early musicologist Sébastien de Brossard (1655 – 1730). “In Convertendo Dominus”, “Miserere”, and “Canticum Eucharisticum Pro Pace” are three works by this French/Alsatian composer that add up to over an hour of very fine early baroque music, bound to please anyone who wishes to look beyond Bach cantatas and Charpentier’s Te Deum. The singing is excellent (especially basses Olivier Lallouette and Jérôme Corréas) – and so is the playing of the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges. Not essential, of course, but a delightful second issue from this enterprising label and group. (That it is in fact a re-issue doesn't deter... although that factoid is more hidden than offered. This disc originally came out on the Astrée label in 1997.)

LABORIE LC02. You can read the review of LABORIE LC01 here.

Dip Your Ears, No. 71 (With Touches of Charpentier)

M.-R. de Lalande, Les Folies de Cardenio, EBL, Christophe Coin Laborie

Touches of Charpentier and South American baroque – that’s what comes to mind listening to wonderful new release of Michel-Richard de Lalande’s Les Folies de Cardenio on the new Laborie label. Recording the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges (EBL Laborie is their own label) under Christophe Coin, they dug deep into the vault to exhume a neglected, if not forgotten, composer’s charming, wily ballet. The research and necessary restoration work has paid off handsomely.

Based on a story from Cervantès’ Don Quixote, the ballet composed for Louis XV is a foot-tappingly infectious baroque music with a few vocal elements (to the extend they survived or were possible to reconstruct) and, in accordance with the madness that goes on in the story, all kinds of percussion instruments are thrown in at various points – clinking and scattering and thumping about in a gay frenzy. The baroque guitar adds the Spanish flavor. It may not be great music – but it’s music that (given a predilection for baroque music and, e.g. the work of Jordi Savall – whose Don Quixote recording Charles discussed at length) is great to listen to if you want something outside the Telemann-Bach-Handel-Vivaldi fare. There is much and much more to discover out there – but this very fine recording, attractively presented, is an excellent place to start.

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LABORIE LC01

CD Review: Rediscovered Couperin Cantata

Charles T. Downey, CD reviews: Two rediscoveries of Brahms and Couperin
Washington Post, October 21

F. Couperin, Ariane consolée par Bacchus (inter alia), S. Degout, Les Talens Lyriques, C. Rousset (released on November 11, 2016) Aparte AP130 | 107'03"

The musicologist, harpsichordist and conductor Christophe Rousset has published a new book on the composer François Couperin (Actes Sud/Classica), and during his research, he made a singular discovery. In a manuscript collection of mostly anonymous French cantatas was an unknown cantata devoted to the story of Ariadne rescued by Dionysus on the island of Naxos. Many would not have given it a second look, but Rousset immediately thought of an unresolved mystery of Couperin’s oeuvre, a lost Ariadne cantata.

The manuscript in question had belonged to the Count of Toulouse, the son of Louis XIV and his mistress, Madame de Montespan, and the count’s music teacher was none other than Couperin. Rousset made the connection and substantiated the find, identifying elements of the composer’s musical signature in the work. He then assembled an all-star team to record it, including Christophe Coin on viola da gamba and baritone Stéphane Degout. Laura Mónica Pustilnik plays the lute, and Rousset himself leads from the harpsichord. As Rousset admits in his booklet essay, this cantata is far from a masterpiece, but the performance makes a strong argument for hearing it.

Also interesting are the two “apothéoses” by Couperin that Rousset includes on the disk: instrumental tributes to two deceased composers he admired: Lully and Corelli. Although the cantata was recorded in the church of Saint-Pierre in Paris, in sound that’s not exactly ravishing; these two pieces sound better as captured in the acoustic of the Les Dominicains de Haute-Alsace, a friary converted into a concert space. The “Plaintes” by Lully’s jealous contemporaries, here given to two delicate flutes, is one of many high points.

FURTHER THOUGHTS:
Rousset does not address one small problem, that the cantata he has found is titled Ariane consolée par Bacchus. In both the catalogue of Couperin's publisher, Etienne Roger, and the Parnasse Français by the chronicler Évrard Titon du Tillet, the missing cantata is called Ariane abandonnée par Thésée.

PREVIOUSLY:
Charles T. Downey, Christophe Rousset in concert (Ionarts, April 12, 2013)

Reflexio

Available at Amazon: Bach, Flute Sonatas, L'Ensemble Baroque de Limoges (released on May 29, 2007)

Ionarts is a long-time fan of the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, and Jens has recommended some of the recordings released on their personal label, Laborie (distributed by Naïve), Brossard's grands motets and Lalande's Les Folies de Cardenio. Unfortunately, the group had to cancel its last scheduled appearance in Washington, back in April 2005, at the Library of Congress. This recent EBL release is also worthy listening, with the delicate sounds of the group's featured soloists, Maria Tecla Andreotti (traverso), Jan-Willem Jansen (harpsichord), Christophe Coin (cello), and Sergio Azzolini (bassoon).

The program, the Bach flute sonatas, is hardly rare or unknown, which added to the appeal of some of EBL's earlier releases. There are too many recordings of these pieces to make any sort of assessment of their relative merits. For these pieces, as for most of Bach to these ears, the best account will be on historical instruments, in this case Coin's late 17th-century German viola da gamba, as well as modern copies of 18th-century instruments for the others. The breathy whistle of the traverso recorded here is probably close to what Bach had at his disposal at Cöthen, when most of this music was written. The same is true of the Lautenwerk heard on two of the sonatas, two examples of which Bach owned. If you already own these pieces in another good version, it would be hard to justify adding this to your collection, but if you are looking for a first copy and you like the HIP sound, take a listen to this disc.

Laborie LC04

Chamber Music by Boëly

Boëly, Chamber Music, Quatuor Mosaïques, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, C. Coin, E. Lebrun (released on April 27, 2010) Laborie (Naïve) LC05 | 74'26"

We warmly recommend the recordings and live performances of Quatuor Mosaïques, for anyone not immediately turned off by the sound of period instruments and historically informed performance practice. In this new release, Christophe Coin brings in some musicians from his larger ensemble, the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges in a selection of chamber music by Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (1785-1858). Recorded on the group's private label, Laborie Records (distribution by Naïve), the sound is lush and detail-oriented, not too close for comfort but including the sharp breaths of the musicians and some extra-musical sounds of bow attacks. Boëly grew up in Versailles (his birthday, April 19, was just celebrated earlier this week) and the musical life of its court, as the son of a singer in the Chapelle Royale who also taught the harp in Versailles. A classicist in the age of Romanticism -- worse, a champion of the outmoded contrapuntal music of Couperin, Frescobaldi, and J. S. Bach -- his reputation suffered, but the music heard here justifies a reexamination (there are some online scores, including music for piano, organ, and a Mass for Christmas Day).

We owe the opportunity to the research of the Centre de musique romantique française in Venice, and to a conference devoted to Boëly's music at the Sorbonne in 2008, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his death. (This is the second recent release we have noted to be inspired by the recently founded CMRF, after the Onslow disc from Quatuor Diotima reviewed earlier this week.) One of the selections featured here has been edited in a modern edition: for the others, the musicians worked from their own transcriptions or directly from manuscript sources, adding to the sense of historical discovery. Boëly's music might be compared to Schubert's, in that he continued to use traditional forms but while enlivening his harmonic idiom with more adventurous chromatic diversions.

The D major sextet, arranged by the composer from his own symphony, and the single movement for string quartet, a tender Adagio sostenuto, are certainly worth discovering. Three melodies, Mendelssohnian songs without words "for cello with the accompaniment of expressive organ" (unearthed in a library in 2005 by Florence Gétreau, and performed here by Eric Lebrun on the colorful, recently restored Cavaillé-Coll organ in the Chapelle de Conflans) are sprinkled through the selections. Listening to the fine trio and quartet also included on this disc, it is charming to think that, like Haydn, Mozart, and a few other composers, Boëly (a fine pianist and organist) was also known to play the viola part in his own chamber works. Do not be disappointed by the very slender printed booklet, at least as long as you do not bridle at the thought of downloading the extended liner notes [all in French] online.

In Brief: Toussaint Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to online audio, online video, and other good things in Blogville and Beyond. (After clicking to an audio or video stream, press the "Play" button to start the broadcast.) Some of these streams become unavailable after a few days.

• Evelino Pido conducts Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena at the Wiener Staatsoper, with Luca Pisaroni (Enrico), Krassimira Stoyanova (Anna Bolena), Sonia Ganassi (Giovanna Seymour), and Stephen Costello (Precy). [ORF]


• From the Salle Pleyel, violonist Sergey Khachatryan joins the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and conductor Tugan Sokhiev in music by Liadov, Khatchaturian, and Elgar. [France Musique]


• Raphaël Pichon leads the Ensemble Pygmalion in motets by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, and Georg-Philipp Telemann, recorded in the Chapelle Royale at Versailles. [France Musique]


• Peter Dijkstra conducts Rossini's Petite messe solennelle in Munich with the Bavarian Radio Chorus. [BR-Klassik]


• The Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France plays the Musikverein in Vienna, with violonist Renaud Capuçon, organist Christophe Henry, and conductor Myung-Whun Chung in music by Weber, Bruch, and Saint-Saëns. [France Musique]

Read more »

Ionarts CD Reviews

	Gluck, Le Feste d'Apollo (Aristeo / Bauci e Filemone), Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset (November 18, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 71: M.-R. de Lalande, Les Folies de Cardenio, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Christophe Coin (November 18, 2006)
	Mozart, Violin Concertos 1/2/5, Julia Fischer, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Yakov Kreizberg (November 16, 2006)
	Penderecki, Symphony No. 7: Seven Gates of Jerusalem, Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Antoni Wit (November 12, 2006)
	Vivaldi, Griselda, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Verónica Cangemi, Simone Kermes, Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi (November 11, 2006)
	Thomas Quasthoff, Consider, My Soul, Staatskapelle Dresden, Sebastian Weigle (November 9, 2006)
	Beethoven, Piano Concertos 2/3, Martha Argerich, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (November 9, 2006)
	Mozart, Fantasias and Rondos, Richard Egarr, fortepiano (November 3, 2006)
	Hélène Grimaud, Reflection, Truls Mørk, Anne Sofie von Otter (November 2, 2006)
	Osvaldo Golijov, Ainadamar, Dawn Upshaw, Atlanta Symphony, Robert Spano (October 30, 2006)
	Dave Brubeck, Nocturnes, John Salmon (October 29, 2006)
	Sting, Songs from the Labyrinth, Edin Karamazov (October 23, 2006)
	Domenico Scarlatti, Sonatas, Kenneth Weiss, harpsichord (October 18, 2006)
	Antonio Vivaldi et al., Bajazet, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, David Daniels, Patrizia Ciofi, Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi (October 7, 2006)
	Steve Reich, Different Trains and other works, Orchestre National de Lyon, David Robertson (October 3, 2006)
	Violin Sonatas by Franck and Debussy, Schumann Fantasiestücke, Dora Schwarzberg and Martha Argerich (September 30, 2006)
	Vicente Martín y Soler, La Capricciosa Corretta, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset (September 28, 2006)
	Intégrale des pièces de clavecin, Michel Kiener, harpsichord (September 24, 2006)
	Rameau: Les Cyclopes - Pièces de Clavecin, Trevor Pinnock, harpsichord (September 24, 2006)
	Alexandre Tharaud joue Rameau (September 24, 2006)
	A Basket of Wild Strawberries, keyboard works by Rameau, Tzimon Barto (September 24, 2006)
	Portrait of the Artist: Enchantment, Magdalena Kožená and various artists (September 17, 2006)
	G. Onslow, Nonet/Quintet and other cpo releases (September 14, 2006)
	Heroes and Heroines: Handel, Sarah Connolly, Symphony of Harmony and Invention, Harry Christophers (September 12, 2006)
	Kaija Saariaho, Cello Works, Alexis Descharmes (September 10, 2006)
	Wolf Lieder, Ian Bostridge, Antonio Pappano (September 9, 2006)
	Natalie Dessay, Delirio, Handel Italian Cantatas (September 5, 2006)
	Vivaldi, Concertos for the Emperor, Andrew Manze, English Concert (September 1, 2006)
	Italian Violin Sonatas, Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante (September 1, 2006)
	Monteverdi, Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Les Arts Florissants, William Christie (August 31, 2006)
	Monteverdi, Sixth Book of Madrigals, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini (August 31, 2006)
	Monteverdi, Fifth Book of Madrigals, Delitiæ Musicæ, Marco Longhini (August 31, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 70: Chopin, Waltzes, Alexandre Tharaud (August 25, 2006)
	Nuove Musiche, Rolf Lislevand (August 24, 2006)
	Glory of Byzantium, Melodi Choir (August 23, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 69: Telemann, Komm Geist des Herrn, L. Rémy (August 21, 2006)
	Gautier and Renaud Capuçon, Face à Face (August 19, 2006)
	Palestrina, Canticum Canticorum, Capella Dvcale Venetia (August 17, 2006)
	Vivaldi, Sacred Music, Dresdner Instrumental-Concert (August 13, 2006)
	Vivaldi, Concerti di Archi, Venice Baroque Orchestra (August 13, 2006)
	Vivaldi, Violin Concerti, Giuliano Carmignola (August 13, 2006)
	Roberto Alagna, Berlioz Arias and others (August 8, 2006)
	Vivaldi, Motezuma, Il Complesso Barocco (August 2, 2006)
	Mozart, Magic Flute, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, C. Abbado (August 1, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 67: Alexander Zemlinsky, Die Seejungfrau, Danish NSO (July 31, 2006)
	Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 8, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa (July 26, 2006)
	Giacinto Scelsi, Natura Renovatur and other works, Frances-Marie Uitti, cello, Münchener Kammerorchester, Christoph Poppen (July 20, 2006)
	Giacinto Scelsi, Suite No. 10 (Ka) and No. 9 (Ttai), Markus Hinterhäuser, piano (July 20, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 66: J. Brahms / C. Saint-Saëns, Sonata for Two Pianos et al., G. and S. Pekinel (July 19, 2006)
	C. Loewe, Passion Oratorio, and other recent releases from Naxos (July 18, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 65: G. P. Telemann, Suites & Concerto for recorder and orchestra, Akamus / Maurice Steger (July 6, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 64: J. Haydn, Symphonies Nos. 44, 95, 98, Ferenc Fricsay, RIAS SO Berlin (June 30, 2006)
	P. Glass, Symphony No. 8, D. R. Davies / Bruckner Orchestra Linz (June 24, 2006)
	G. Mahler, Symphony No. 2, WPh / P. Boulez / Schäfer, DeYoung (June 22, 2006)
	Various works, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus, Norman Mackenzie (June 19, 2006)
	Various works, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Hila Plitmann, Nancy Maultsby, Robert Spano (June 19, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 63: J. Brahms, R. Schumann, Violin Concerto, Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra, Mutter / Masur / NYPhil (June 19, 2006)
	A. Dorman, Piano Sonatas, and other new releases from Naxos (June 17, 2006)
	Don Quijote de La Mancha: Romances y Musicas, Montserrat Figueras, Hespèrion XXI, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Jordi Savall (Part 1 of several parts) (June 17, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 62: G. Mahler, Symphony No. 4, BPh / Abbado / Fleming (June 16, 2006)
	Essential Recordings of György Ligeti (June 15, 2006)
	Benjamin Britten, String Quartets No. 1-3, Three Divertimenti, Belcea Quartet (June 13, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 61: L. van Beethoven, Piano Sonatas 16-18, Mari Kodama (June 10, 2006) [Ionarts Review No. 150]
	J. S. Bach, The Six Cello Suites, Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba (June 1, 2006)
	J. S. Bach, The Six Cello Suites, Bruno Cocset (June 1, 2006)
	Karol Szymanowski, Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra (op. 35), Nicola Benedetti, London Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Harding (May 27, 2006)
	R. Wagner, Parsifal, Thielemann / Meier, Selig, Domingo, Struckmann, Anger, Bankl (May 25, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 60: A. Bruckner, Symphony No. 4, P. Herreweghe / Orchestre des Champs-Elysées (May 21, 2006)
	J. S. Bach, English Suites (BWV 806-811), Angela Hewitt, piano (May 16, 2006)
	Franz Schubert, Piano Sonata (D major, D. 850) and Lieder (poems by Schulze and Schlegel), Leif Ove Andsnes, Ian Bostridge (May 13, 2006)
	Juan Diego Flórez, Sentimiento Latino, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Miguel Harth-Bedoya (May 11, 2006)
	Lang Lang, Memory (Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt) (May 10, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 59: Canciones Argentinas, Bernarda and Marcos Fink, Carmen Piazzini (May 7, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 58: J. S. Bach, Concertos Italiens, Alexandre Tharaud [second review] (May 7, 2006)
	One Hundred Roses (works by various composers), Paula Robison, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, David Stahl (May 6, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 57: J. Sibelius, Symphonies, Violin Cto., Tone Poems, Ashkenazy/LPO/Belkin (May 5, 2006)
	J. S. Bach, Goldberg Variations, Richard Egarr and several other recordings (April 25, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 56: Alexander Zemlinsky, Various Recordings (April 25, 2006)
	Violetta: Arias and Duets from Verdi's La Traviata, Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Thomas Hampson, Vienna Philharmonic, Carlo Rizzi (April 14, 2006)
	D. Shostakovich, Symphonies 2 and 12, Bavarian Radio Symphony, M. Jansons (April 5, 2006)
	J. S. Bach, Solo Cello Suites, Yo-Yo Ma / Matt Haimovitz (April 4, 2006)
	Kaija Saariaho, L'aile du songe and other works, Camilla Hoitenga, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste (March 30, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 55: W. A. Mozart, Piano Sonatas, K. 330, 331, 332, 457, Mikhail Pletnev (March 2, 2006)
	F. Schubert, Music for Piano, Four Hands, Evgeny Kissin and James Levine, live concert at Carnegie Hall (March 2, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 54: F. Schubert, Octet, Mullova Ensemble (February 17, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 53: J. Haydn, Scottish Songs, v. 1, Anderson, MacDougall, Haydn Trio Eisenstadt (February 12, 2006)
	Stravinsky, Orchestral Works, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Dennis Russell Davies (February 11, 2006)
	F. Schubert, An den Mond, Dietrich Henschel / H. Wolf, Mörike Lieder, Werner Güra (February 9, 2006)
	Osvaldo Golijov, Ayre / Kronos Quartet, You've Stolen My Heart (February 7, 2006) [Ionarts Review No. 125]
	Alfred Brendel, Artist's Choice: Haydn and Mozart (February 6, 2006)
	W. A. Mozart, Piano Sonatas, K. 281, 282, 576, and Fantasia in C minor, K. 396, Alfred Brendel (February 6, 2006)
	Scriabin, Symphonies, Poème de l’Extase, Prométhée, Ricardo Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra (February 4, 2006)
	William Bolcom, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, University of Michigan School of Music and associated musicians (February 2, 2006)
	Viktoria Mullova, Five Vivaldi Violin Concerti, Il Giardino Armonico (January 30, 2006)
	Handel, Radamisto, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis (January 28, 2005)
	Sandrine Piau, Haendel Opera Seria, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset (January 26, 2006)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 50: Beethoven, Violin Concerto, Romances, Zehetmair / Brüggen (January 25, 2006)
	Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Handel Arias, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (January 20, 2006)
	Ives, Concord Sonata, Pierre-Laurent Aimard (also the version by Marc-André Hamelin) (January 16, 2006)
	Hilliard Ensemble, Gombert, Missa Media Vita in Morte Sumus (January 15, 2006)
	Birgit Nilsson on Disc (January 15, 2006)
	Verdi, Missa Da Requiem, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (January 14, 2006)
	Shostakovich, Eighth Symphony, Netherlands RPO, Mark Wigglesworth (January 12, 2006)
	András Schiff, Early Beethoven Sonatas (January 9, 2006)
	Anne Sophie Mutter, Mozart Violin Concerti (December 31, 2005)
	Cédric Tiberghien, Bach Keyboard Partitas (December 29, 2005)
	Best of 2005: Addendum (December 24, 2005)
	The Best Recordings of 2005 (December 21, 2005)
	Mahler, Seventh Symphony, SFSO, M. T. Thomas (December 19, 2005)
	Trio Mediæval, Stella Maris (December 13, 2005)
	Don Quijote de la Mancha: Romances y Musicas, Jordi Savall (December 8, 2005)
	Osvaldo Golijov, Ayre, and Luciano Berio, Folk Songs, Dawn Upshaw (December 6, 2005)
	Enescu, Octet and Piano Quartet, Kremerata Baltica (December 3, 2005)
	Mahler, Sixth Symphony, Budapest FO, Iván Fischer (November 28, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 49: Rachmaninov, Preludes, Boris Berezovsky (November 25, 2005) [Ionarts Review No. 100]
	Bruckner's Third Symphony, transcribed for two pianos by Mahler (November 23, 2005)
	Andreas Scholl, Arias for Senesino (November 21, 2005)
	Mitsuko Uchida on Record (November 18, 2005)
	Gidon Kremer, Bach Violin Sonatas and Partitas (November 17, 2005)
	Bach, Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn, John Eliot Gardiner (November 16, 2005)
	Bach, Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann, Christophe Rousset (November 2, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 48: Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Violin Concerti, N. Znaider (October 21, 2005)
	Strauss, Daphne, Renée Fleming (October 19, 2005)
	Universal Releases, Fall 2005 (October 19, 2005)
	Topping the Rostrum: Recordings by Iván Fischer (October 6, 2005)
	Cecilia Bartoli, Opera Proibita (October 6, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 47: Bach Family et al., Lamento, MAK, Goebel, Kožená (September 27, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 46: Mozart, Symphonies nos. 35 "Haffner" & 36 "Linz," Prague Philharmonic, J. Bélohlávek (September 25, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 45: C. Franck, In Spiritum, O. Latry (September 22, 2005)
	Renée Fleming, Sacred Songs (September 19, 2005)
	Centennial Ring, Chéreau / Boulez (September 2-21, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 44: Shostakovich, Stravinksy, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Messe Noire, A. Lubimov (September 12, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 43: Schnittke, Bach, Webern, Faust Cantata, Ricerar et al., Boryeko, Hamburger Symphoniker (September 4, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 42: J. Strauss II, Waltz Transcriptions, Berliner Streichquartet et al. (September 1, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 41: Alexandre Tharaud, Bach's Italian Concerto (August 7, 2005)
	New York Soundtrack (August 5, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 40: Bach Cantatas, John Eliot Gardiner (August 2, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 39: Bach, Keyboard Concerti, vol. 2, Angela Hewitt (July 31, 2005)
	Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (July 29, 2005)
	Amieta Sole, Rostropovich (July 28, 2005) [Ionarts Review No. 75]
	Shostakovich 8th with Rostropovich on LSO live (July 27, 2005)
	Recordings by Marin Alsop (July 26, 2005)
	Mahler's Sixth Symphony (July 21, 2005)
	An die ferne Geliebte, Schwanengesang, Matthias Goerne, Alfred Brendel (July 18, 2005)
	Budget Picks No. 3: Violin Concerti, Nathan Milstein (July 16, 2005)
	Operas on Archiv (July 12, 2005)
	Budget Picks No. 2: Beethoven, Violin Sonatas, M. Vengerov (July 10, 2005)
	Live Recordings of Mahler's Eighth (July 8, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 37: Richard Strauss, Rosenkavalier Waltzes, Capriccio Sextet (July 7, 2005)
	Budget Picks, No. 1: J. S. Bach, Goldberg Variations, A. Schiff (July 6, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 36: Klassizistische Moderne, Christopher Hogwood (July 2, 2005)
	Twang, Twang, Twang: Scarlatti with Alain Planès (June 30, 2005)
	Horsing around with Wagner (June 27, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 35: Bach Cantatas, John Eliot Gardiner (June 25, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 34: Telemann, Flute Quartets, Musica Antiqua Köln (June 20, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 33: L. van Beethoven, Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, C. Mackerras (June 9, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 32: F. Chopin, Sonata No. 2, Barcarolle op. 60, Études op. 10, Nelson Freire (June 6, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 31: A. Dvořák, Symphony No. 6, LSO / Sir C. Davis (June 3, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 30: F. Mendelssohn, String Quartets, Vol. 3, Eroica Quartet (May 31, 2005)
	A. Vivaldi, Le Quattro Stagioni, Concerto Italiano, R. Alessandrini (May 28, 2005)
	Michael Tilson Thomas, Mahler's Ninth Symphony (May 7, 2005)
	A. Bruckner, Symphony No. 5, Thielemann / MuPhil (April 24, 2005)
	D. Shostakovich, Symphony No. 4, M. Jansons / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (April 21, 2005)
	DG Originals: A Review (March 29, 2005)
	Hélène Grimaud, Chopin / Rachmaninov (March 27, 2005) [Ionarts Review No. 50]
	F. Schubert, Piano Works for Four Hands, M. J. Pires and R. Castro (March 24, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 29: Igor Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Printemps, Fazil Say (February 16, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 28: Bach / Stravinsky, Leonidas Kavakos and Péter Nagy (February 13, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 27: E. Grieg, Violin Sonatas no. 1–3, Henning Kraggerud and Helge Kjekshus (February 12, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 26: D. Scarlatti, Keyboard Sonatas, M. Pletnev (February 8, 2005)
	Dip Your Ears, No. 25: J. S. Bach, Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, Pierre Fournier (January 30, 2005)

• Dip Your Ears, No. 24: Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 29 (orch. Weingartner), Symphony #5, Prometheus Overture, Weingartner (January 25, 2005)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 23: G. Mahler, Symphony No. 3, P. Boulez, Wiener Philharmoniker, Anne Sofie von Otter (January 20, 2005)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 22: D. Shostakovich, 24 Preludes & Fugues, op. 87, Keith Jarrett (January 15, 2005)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 21: L. v. Beethoven, String Quartets, Gewandhaus-Quartett (January 12, 2005)
  
• Haydn Recordings (January 9, 2005)
  
• Jean-Baptiste Lully, Armide, directed by Philippe Herreweghe (January 9, 2005)
  
• Shostakovich, Symphony No. 4, Valery Gergiev, Kirov Orchestra (January 8, 2005)
  
• Schöne Wiege Meiner Leiden, Werner Güra, Christoph Berner (January 7, 2005)
  
• Mahler, Symphony No. 2, Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (January 6, 2005)
  
• Recordings by Renata Tebaldi (December 20, 2004)
  
• J. S. Bach, Goldberg Variations, Konstantin Lifschitz (December 19, 2004)
  
• The Best Recordings of 2004 (December 16, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 20: F. Schubert, Late String Quartets & String Quintet, The Lindsays (November 29, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 19: N. Kapustin, Piano Music, Richard Osborne & Marc-Andre Hamelin (November 25, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 18: B. Bartók, Mikrokosmos, Huguette Dreyfus (November 24, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 17: A. Bruckner, Symphony #7, Phillip Herreweghe (November 23, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 16: G. F. Handel, Arias, Renée Fleming (November 22, 2004)
  
• Recordings by William Kapell (November 11, 2004) [Ionarts Review No. 25]
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 15: R. Wagner, Tannhäuser, Barenboim (October 29, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 14: E. Bloch, String Quartets 1-4, The Griller Quartet (October 27, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 13: Ludwig van Beethoven, The Late Piano Sonatas, Maurizio Pollini (October 22, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 12: R. Wagner, Die Meistersinger, Wolfgang Sawallisch (September 30, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 11: Haydn, String Quartets, Quatour Mosaïques (September 27, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 10: Saint-Saëns, Piano Concertos, J.-P. Collard / A. Previn (September 26, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 9: Richard Wagner, Tristan & Isolde, Barenboim, Meier, Jerusalem, Lipovšek, Salminen et al. (September 14, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 8: Béla Bartók, The Six String Quartets, Takács Quartet (August 5, 2004)
  
• The Legacy of Carlos Kleiber on Disc (July 22, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 7: R. Wagner, Tristan und Isolde (live), Christian Thielemann (July 20, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 6: L. van Beethoven, Piano Concerto no. 4 and Symphony no. 2 (chamber versions), Robert Levin (July 17, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 5: J. Haydn, Piano Sonatas (vol. 7), Jenö Jandó (July 13, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 4: J. S. Bach, Six Suites for Violoncello, Pieter Wispelwey (July 9, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 3: D. Scarlatti, Sonatas, Ivo Pogorelich (July 8, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 2: J. S. Bach, Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin, Rachel Podger (July 7, 2004)
  
• Dip Your Ears, No. 1: G. F. Handel, Saul, Paul McCreesh (July 5, 2004)
  
• George Antheil, Piano Sonatas, Guy Livingston (May 26, 2004)
  
• Recordings by Maurizio Pollini (April 12, 2004)
  
• Recordings by Juliette Gréco (March 4, 2004)
  
• Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 and Schubert, Symphony No. 5, with Günter Wand and the NDR Symphony Orchestra (March 2, 2004)
  
• Jordi Savall, Mr. de Sainte Colombe le Fils: Pièces de Viole (March 1, 2004)
  
• Anonymous 4, La Bele Marie: Chant and Polyphony in Honor of Mary (February 15, 2004)
  
• Darkness into Light: Medieval and Modern—A Mystical Journey, Anonymous 4 and Chilingirian Quartet (February 12, 2004)
  
• J. S. Bach, Goldberg Variations, András Schiff (October 3, 2003)