Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 (titled Leningrad), was written c. 1939–40. Initially dedicated to the life and deeds of Vladimir Lenin, Shostakovich decided instead to dedicate the symphony to the besieged city of Leningrad on its completion in December 1941. The Leningrad première of the piece was staged while the city was under siege by Axis and Finnish forces. The work remains one of Shostakovich's best-known compositions.

The piece soon became very popular in both the Soviet Union and the West as a symbol of resistance to Nazi totalitarianism and militarism. It is still regarded as the major musical testament of the estimated 27 million Soviet citizens who lost their lives in World War II. The symphony is played frequently at the Leningrad Cemetery, where half a million victims of the 900-day Siege of Leningrad are buried.

Kathryn Cavanaugh - Conductor/Producer
CMD Grand Opera Company of Venice Orchestra

Download now at:
http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p846/Shostakovich%3A_Symphony_No._7_%22Leningrad%22%2C_Op._60.html

Prima la musica e poi le parole (First the music and then the words) is an opera in one act by Antonio Salieri to a libretto by Giovanni Battista Casti. The work was first performed on 7 February 1786 in Vienna, following a commission by the Emperor Joseph II. The opera (more specifically, a divertimento teatrale) was first performed at one end of the orangery of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna by an Italian troupe; simultaneously, Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor was staged at the other end.

The title of the opera is the theme of Richard Strauss's opera Capriccio which debates the relative importance of music and drama in opera.

Kathryn Cavanaugh - conductor/producer
CMD Grand Opera Company of Venice

Download now at:
http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p845/Salieri%3A_Prima_la_musica_e_poi_le_parole.html

Frederik Magle, Danish composer, organist and pianist.

His music has been performed by The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Zürcher Kammerorchester, The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Chamber Orchestra, Riga Philharmonic Orchestra, South-Jutland Symphony Orchestra, violinist Nikolaj Znaider, and many other ensembles and soloists.

The world premiere performances of Frederik Magle's large symphonic suite »Cantabile« (with text by H.R.H. Henrik, the prince consort of Denmark) took place at two televised gala concerts. The first movement 2004 and the two remaining movements were premiered on June 10th, 2009, by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, at a gala concert in celebration of H.R.H. the Prince Consort's 75th birthday.

Frederik Magle also works with film scores and crossover/fusion music, blending contemporary classical music with another genre.

As a soloist on piano or pipe organ Frederik Magle has played in Saint Peter's Basilica (Rome), Windsor Castle, Luzern Concert Hall, Riga Cathedral, Koncerthuset (Copenhagen Concert Hall), The Danish Radio Concert Hall, and many other places. In 1999 Frederik played at the christening of H.H. Prince Nikolai, and later he was invited to perform a solo organ concert for the Danish Royal Family and Royal Court at Fredensborg Castle. In 2002 his piece »Pact of the Baptism« was given its first performance at the christening of H.H. Prince Felix in Møgeltønder Church.

Frederik Magle has also received many grants and prizes in support of his work and achievements as composer and musician, including the Grants of Her Majesty The Queen of Denmark and H.R.H. Prince Henrik, The Grant of H.H. Prince Joachim and H.H. Princess Alexandra, Countess Erna Hamilton's scolarship, Carlsberg's Prize of Ideas, Unibank's Arts Prize, the Arts Award of the Freemasons, and a grant from the Danish Arts Foundation (2014).

Website: https://www.magle.dk

Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/frederikmagle
https://www.instagram.com/frederikmagle
https://www.youtube.com/frederikmagle

Les vêpres siciliennes (The Sicilian Vespers) is a grand opéra in five acts by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi set to a French libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier from their work Le duc d'Albe, which was written in 1838. Les vêpres followed immediately after Verdi's three great mid-career masterpieces, Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata of 1850 to 1853 and was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 13 June 1855.

Today it is better-known in its post-1861 Italian version as I vespri siciliani and it is occasionally performed. The story is based on a historical event, the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, using material drawn from the medieval Sicilian tract Lu rebellamentu di Sichilia.

CMD Grand Opera Company of Venice

Download now at:
http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p844/Verdi%3A_Les_vepres_siciliennes.html

I was a very quiet child and very an introverted person. My passion was music and it’s still. My mother was a classical guitarist, but I didn’t show any interest in learning or playing guitar. I have started learning to play guitar when I was almost twenty years old. My friend convinced me into that, he showed me four chords and that was it. With that four chords, I composed my first song. I was impressed by that and until today, I have composed over four hundred songs. Some of my songs can be heard on music social platform Soundcloud, Spotify, Deezer, Amazon, iTunes and so on, but a very few on YouTube. In the year 2005, me and my friend, created the band Dharma. My friend met those days Paul Godfrey from worldwide band Morcheeba. My friend first didn’t know who is he (Paul Godfrey) or who is Morcheeba. Paul gave him a business card and he showed me that card. I was excited and I said to my friend whom he met. A coincidence was that my friend met Paul Godfrey again the other day. And he showed to the Paul our song Winter’s Day (a.k.a. Afterglow). Guess Paul liked that song, so he wrote the lyrics for Afterglow. But Dharma didn’t last long, because of different music taste in the band. So we simply split the band. I went on my solo music career. I have released the songs like Kiss Me, Moonrise, Indian Summer. Beside music I write also poetry. I post it on sites like AllPoetry, Steemit, Hello Poetry. I have also released two poetry books and four e-books. Poems are about social problems, love, pain, sadness, sorrow, death and also about the crypto world… I wrote also a fairy tale for the children. Beside guitar, I play also bass guitar, I sing and write lyrics. My music influence are Radiohead, Muse, Nirvana, The Vines, Royal Blood, QOTSA, Suede, Placebo, The Kills, Jack White and many other bands.

Poetry e-books at Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/sasha-raven

MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sasharavenmusic

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sasharavenmusic/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasharavenmusic/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sasharaven

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasharaven/

Bandcamp: https://sasharaven.bandcamp.com

Composer Richard Thompson’s three-act opera presents the life behind the name of Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the most prominent African American poets of the early 20th Century. This dramatic performance, inspired by the hundreds of letters exchanged between Dunbar and his wife, Alice Ruth Moore, removes the masks of fame and social identity to investigate the psychological realities of the people underneath.

Download now at:
http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p843/The_Mask_in_the_MIrror_%28digital_download%29.html

For more information about this album, please visit:
http://navonarecords.com/epk/themaskinthemirror/index.html

Villa-Lobos: Assobio a Jato
Williams: Piano Quintet in C minor
Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111

For more information, please visit:
https://www.lamusicafestival.org/

Capriccio, Op. 85, is the final opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater München on 28 October 1942. Clemens Krauss and Strauss wrote the German libretto. However, the genesis of the libretto came from Stefan Zweig in the 1930s, and Joseph Gregor further developed the idea several years later. Strauss then took on the libretto, but finally recruited Krauss as his collaborator on the opera. Most of the final libretto is by Krauss.

Joana Filipe Martinez, conductor
CMD Grand Opera Company of Barcelona, Spain

Download now at:
http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p842/R_Strauss%3A_Capriccio%2C_Op._85.html

A BISSEL RHYTHM is composer and clarinetist Paul Green’s PARMA Recordings debut, although it marks his second recorded exploration into the fusion between jazz and Jewish music. A performance at Merkin Concert Hall resulted in the New York Times extolling his talents: "Like a cobra intent on doing some charming of its own, the clarinetist Paul Green weaved, darted and hovered over his instrument…conjuring gorgeous sounds."

Download now at:
http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p841/A_Bissel_Rhythm_%28digital_download%29.html

For more information, please visit:
http://bigroundrecords.com/epk/abisselrhythm/

MYTHICAL SPACES
STEVEN KEMPER

Steven Kemper makes his debut on Ravello Records with his electroacoustic album MYTHICAL SPACES. Kemper combines acoustic instruments and electronics to create meditative compositions that explore the connections between real and imaginary worlds. Kemper writes that “myths represent traces of our collective imagination, and similarities between myths from different cultures point to a shared human experience.”

Purchase CD at:
http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p839/Mythical_Spaces_%28CD%29.html

Download at:
http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p840/Mythical_Places_%28digital_download%29.html

For more information, please visit:
http://ravellorecords.com/epk/mythicalspaces/