ARTISTS
Concerto Köln · Sarband

They have done it again! After the success of their first program Dream of the Orient, Concerto Köln and Sarband have teamed up again for what is an even more vivid, expressive and mystical encounter between the Western and the Arab worlds.

Identifying an almost-forgotten phenomenon of cultural exchange, The Waltz - Ecstasy and Mysticism juxtaposes early German waltzes by Beethoven, Lanner and Johann Strauss I with original Turkish waltz compositions from the same era.

Just as Mozart and his generation were impressed and inspired by Arab culture and music, there was also a time when the sultans of the Arab world fell in love with Western culture, and especially with its dances - which resulted in Turkish adaptations of the waltz and dervishes dancing to waltzes at the Sultan's courts.

You get it - this disc is different from anything you have heard before!

ARTISTS
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt

TRACKLISTING
R STRAUSS: Burleske for Piano and Orchestra in D minor
First Waltz Sequence from Der Rosenkavalier
Sextet from Capriccio Op.85
Second Waltz sequence from Der Rosenkavalier

This CD is a festival of Richard Strauss to celebrate Herbert Blomstedt's years as Gewandhauskapellmeister - conducting the great Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

The 2004-5 season will be Maestro Blomstedt's last with this historic orchestra. The recording was made in the famous acoustic of the Gewandhaus itself.

The lush recordings of orchestral music from Strauss' operas Der Rosenkavalier and Capriccio were made in the mid 1990s, the grand Viennese sweep of the popular Rosenkavalier Waltzes contrasting with the intimate elegance of the sextet which opens the opera Capriccio.

The disc also includes a very recent recording of Strauss' Burleske for piano and orchestra featuring Decca star pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet who has recorded with Herbert Blomstedt and the Gewandhaus Orchestra before - on an acclaimed Decca disc of Mendelssohn Piano Concertos.

'...there's a lightness, a crystalline sparkle and sheer zest about these performances that makes them bubble like chilled champagne ... Blomstedt and the Leipzig orchestra bring warmth and assurance to the works, and nothing is over-heated, everything is just so.' BBC Radio 3

ARTISTS
Fausto Ghiazza, clarinet
Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi
Riccardo Chailly

TRACKLISTING
All transcriptions: LUCIANO BERIO
H. PURCELL : The Modification and instrumentation of a famous hornpipe as a merry and altogether sincere homage to Uncle Alfred
J.S. BACH : Contrapunctus XIX (Die kunst der Fuge)
L. BOCCHERINI : Quattro versioni originali della 'Ritirata notturna di Madrid'
sovrapposte e transcritte per orchestra
W.A. MOZART : Variations of Pappageno's Aria 'Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen'
F. SCHUBERT : Allegro · Andante · Allegro (fragments from the incomplete Tenth Symphony)
J. BRAHMS : Sonata for clarinet and orchestra in F minor, Op.120 No.1

Riccardo Chailly - a long time champion of the music of Luciano Berio - conducts his Verdi Orchestra of Milan in a disc of Berio's orchestral transcriptions. This disc, recorded in Italy, includes many World Premiere recordings.

Riccardo Chailly has long been a high-profile international champion of the music of Berio, with whom he had a close personal friendship. This led to collaborations including the first performance of the complete Renderings, and Chailly has introduced Berio's music to many countries.

ARTISTS
Peter Hurford organ

TRACKLISTING
J.S. BACH : Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 · Fugue in G major, BWV 577 · Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, BWV 731 · Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV 541· In dulci jubilo, BWV 608 (Orgelbüchlein) · Trio in D minor, BWV 583
KREBS : Fantasia in C major
PACHELBEL : Fugue in D major
MOZART : Church Sonata No.12 in G major
KREBS : Fantasia No.1 in F minor
BÖHM : Vater unser im Himmelreich
PURCELL : Sonata (arr. Hurford)
SOLER : Concerto No.1 in C major for two organs
HANDEL : Organ Concerto in G minor, Op.4 No.3
LISZT : Prelude and Fugue on B.A.C.H
BRAHMS : Chorale Prelude 'Es ist ein Ros entsprungen', Op.122 No.8
MOZART : Church Sonata No.14 in C major
MENDELSSOHN : Organ Sonata in D minor, Op.65 No.6
WALFORD DAVIES : Solemn Melody
FRANCK : Choral No.2 in B minor
HINDEMITH : Sonata No.2
BOSSI : Etude symphonique
GIGOUT : Scherzo
VIERNE : Final (Symphony No.1, Op.14)

In November 2005 Peter Hurford will celebrate his 75th birthday. 2005 also marks the 50th anniversary since he started his international career as an organ recitalist in 1955.

In 1957 Peter Hurford was appointed Master of the Music at St Albans Cathedral.

In 1963 Hurford was one of the founders of the International Organ Festival at St Albans and this important event has grown in importance and prestige over the years and the competition has launched the careers of many other renowned organists - such as Gillian Weir and Thomas Trotter.

This 2-CD set provides a wonderful survey of Peter Hurford's many recordings for Decca over a thirty-year period and embraces some three hundred years of music written for the instrument. Peter Hurford has recorded a vast array of organ literature over the years, and his recording of the complete organ works of Bach has won special praise and various awards.

ARTISTS
Hillevi Martinpelto, soprano
Steve Davislim, tenor
Jonas Kaufmann, tenor
Marina Comparato, mezzo
Roger Allam, narrator
Monteverdi Choir
Orchestre Révolutionaire et Romantique
John Eliot Gardiner

TRACKLISTING
WEBER: Oberon

Featuring star Australian tenor STEVE DAVISLIM!

A major new studio recording of Weber's exotic supernatural opera, with a truly international cast conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner is a major event for opera lovers.

Swedish soprano Hillevi Martinpelto, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann and Australian tenor Steve Davislim lead a distinguished international cast in Weber's enigmatic mythical drama.

Oberon was originally commissioned for Covent Garden. This recording is the first to be sung in the original English, with a narration by distinguished English actor Roger Allam who has been acclaimed for his many appearances with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

This studio recording was made following critically acclaimed concert performances.

ARTISTS
Olivier Latry, organ

TRACKLISTING
FRANCK:
Pièce héroique
Prélude, Fugue et Variation, Op.18
Chorale No. 1 in E major
Chorale No. 2 in B minor
Chorale No. 3 in A minor

After his critically acclaimed collection of organ transcriptions Midnight at Notre-Dame (championed by ABC Classic FM) and successful complete recording of Messiaen's organ works (more than 50,000 individual CDs sold) Olivier Latry now conquers another great French master: César Franck

This selection of Franck's most beautiful organ pieces is the ideal repertoire to show off both the strength and vitality of Latry's playing and the astounding splendour of the world-renowned organ of Notre-Dame where this album was recorded. Changing between religious contemplation and sheer virtuosic fireworks, In Spiritum is a tour-de-force for Olivier Latry, who has held the sought-after title 'Organist of Notre-Dame' for almost 20 years. He has established himself as one of today's foremost organ players and has become a household name with organ-lovers in many countries, also due to his various touring activities.

ARTISTS
Elizabeth Whitehouse, soprano
Bernadette Cullen, mezzo-soprano
Melbourne Chorale
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Markus Stenz

TRACKLISTING
MAHLER: Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection'

First Australian recording featuring ELIZABETH WHITEHOUSE!

Mahler's deepest feelings about life and death, his anger at the disparity between the possible and the actual, his love of German folk culture, his memories of the music from his early childhood, his belief in music as a vehicle for the banal as well as the divine, are major concerns in all his pieces. His symphonies are at once epic and intimate, exultant and despairing, the revelations of a great humanist and a great doubter - no more so than in his mighty choral 'Resurrection' symphony.

This magnificent performance boasts two great Australian singers - Elizabeth Whitehouse, here making her debut on an Australian recording label and the great Bernadette Cullen. Stenz's Mahler performances are, of course, legendary.

MARKETING PLANS
Extensive reviews and airplay
Print advertising in Limelight magazine
National radio promotion on ABC Classic FM

TRACKLISTING
DVORAK:
String Quartet No. 12 in F major, B179 'American'    
String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, B92
4 Cyprise (12 Cypresses for string quartet) B152

As a violist, the genre of the string quartet was one close to Antonin Dvorak's heart. The three works that are featured on this stunning release from the Australian String Quartet feature three different modes of writing highlighting Dvorak's diverse compositional output. The String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, nicknamed the 'American' due to its melodious American sound, while the String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major represents the nationalistic style of Dvorak's Bohemia. The final work on the disc, Cyp?i?e (12 Cypresses for string quartet from which four appear on this recording), is an arrangement of his song cycle of the same name, conveying the ritual of the character piece to the string quartet.

MARKETING PLANS
Extensive reviews and airplay
Print advertising in Limelight magazine
National radio promotion on ABC Classic FM

ARTISTS
Opera Australia cast

TRACKLISTING
MOYA HENDERSON: Lindy

Throughout the 1980's Australia was gripped by the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain and the subsequent trial of her mother Lindy for murder. Moya Henderson took this story and weaved it into a spellbinding examination of the nation's reaction to this event, an opera of important social, historical and musical value.

MARKETING PLANS
Extensive reviews and airplay
Print advertising in Limelight magazine
National radio promotion on ABC Classic FM

TRACKLISTING
GOTTSCHALK : O, Ma Charmante, Épargnez Moi! , Caprice , opus 44        
GOTTSCHALK : Souvenir de Porto Rico, Marche des Gibaros , opus 31                  
ROBREDO : Recuerdos de Gottschalk (c 1869)
CERVANTES : Danzas Cubanas (c1890)
JOPLIN : Solace, A Mexican Serenade (1909)
JOPLIN : The Entertainer (1902)
LAMENTHE : Fingerbreaker (as recorded for Jazz Man, 1938
JOHNSON : Lonesome Reverie
JOHNSON : Carolina ShouT
GERSHWIN : Rialto Ripples (Rag) (1917)
GERSHWIN : The Man I Love (1924)
GERSHWIN arr. GRAINGER : Love Walked In (1938)
GRAINGER : Lullaby from Tribute to Foster (1917)
GOTTSCHALK : Le Banjo, Grotesque Fantasie, Esquisse Amèricaine,

Havana to Harlem looks at the influence of America on the repertoire of the piano - the New World gave birth to new musical styles that eventually became the form known as jazz. This CD shows the contribution that French and Spanish folk music coupled with African and Caribbean rhythms had upon jazz, performed by the incomparable Donna Coleman.

MARKETING PLANS
Extensive reviews and airplay
Print advertising in Limelight magazine
National radio promotion on ABC Classic FM

These popular albums are re-released to coincide with the publication of the sixth book in the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will satisfy thousands of hungry Australians on July 16, 2005... and you should be prepared with this clever album that brings magic and stardust into your living room.

Represented to coincide with the broadcast of MUM'S THE WORD on SBS-TV from Tuesdays at 3.30pm starting 19 July

Weblink: www.deutschegrammophon.com/newyearsconcert2005

Represented to coincide with the broadcast of the 2005 Vienna New Year's Day concert on Saturday 16th July 3pm.

Represented to coincide with the broadcast of the fantastic documentary on Martha Argerich on SBS TV on Saturday 16 July at 3pm.