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Featured Release
Gidon Kremer + Astor Piazzolla
Hommage à Piazzolla: The Complete Astor Piazzolla Recordings (8-CD Set)
This eight-CD box set brings violinist Gidon Kremer’s six previously released recordings of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla’s music together for the first time, along with a seventh album featuring a previously unreleased live recording from the CBC's Glenn Gould Studio. The Boston Globe has praised "both Piazzolla’s and Kremer’s ability to transcend genres and communicate a depth of emotion in which the best of classical, jazz and world music come together smoothly.”
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Gidon Kremer + Astor Piazzolla
Hommage à Piazzolla: The Complete Astor Piazzolla Recordings (8-CD Set)
This eight-CD box set brings violinist Gidon Kremer’s six previously released recordings of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla’s music together for the first time, along with a seventh album featuring a previously unreleased live recording from the CBC's Glenn Gould Studio. The Boston Globe has praised "both Piazzolla’s and Kremer’s ability to transcend genres and communicate a depth of emotion in which the best of classical, jazz and world music come together smoothly.”
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Gidon Kremer + Kremerata Baltica
The Art of Instrumentation: Homage to Glenn Gould
Released on what would have been Glenn Gould’s 80th birthday, this album comprises 11 pieces and arrangements by contemporary composers that quote from or are inspired by works, mostly by Bach, that Gould famously recorded during his career. It is "lovely and alluring," says NPR. "There are many moments in this album to make you smile, wonder and simply bask in the beauty of the music." The CBC calls it "a haunting, highly personal homage from one great musician to another and a deeply affecting tribute to Gould's enduring genius."
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Gidon Kremer + Kremerata Baltica
De Profundis
De Profundis features 12 pieces from the performing repertoire of Gidon Kremer, whom the Boston Globe calls "one of the most important violinists before the public today." The composers represented here span nearly two centuries, from Schubert to Schnittke for an album that "plays through like a fascinating mix tape, with a surprise around every corner," says NPR. "It's fantastic."
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Gidon Kremer + Kremerata Baltica
Mozart: The Complete Violin Concertos
The New York Times praised Kremer's 2006 Mostly Mozart performance of the complete Mozart violin concertos with the Kremerata Baltica for his "ability to make a work, however familiar, entirely his own.” On this two-disc set of the concertos, recorded at the Salzburg Festival two days later, Kremer "captures the restlessness" of the pieces, says the New Statesman, while the orchestra "plays with tight ensemble and gleamingly honed tone." The Scotsman gives it a perfect five stars and exclaims: "This double album is truly sensational."
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Gidon Kremer + Kremerata Baltica
The Russian Seasons
Latvian violinist Kremer, says the New York Times “remains one of the truly interesting musicians among us today.” He commissioned Ukrainian composer Leonid Desyatnikov’s title piece and pairs it with Alexander Raskatov’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s 12-part The Seasons.
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Gidon Kremer + Kremerata Baltica
Happy Birthday
Honoring Kremerata Baltica's sixth anniversary, violinist Kremer and his ensemble perform, with wit and virtuosity, variations on such celebratory themes as "Happy Birthday" and "Auld Lang Syne." "Beautifully programmed and beautifully played," says the Boston Herald, "Kremer's Happy Birthday is the best present you could ask for."
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Gidon Kremer + Kremerata Baltica
Enescu, Op. 7 & 29
The two works by Romanian composer Georges Enescu featured on this recording—one from very early in the composer’s career (Octet for Strings), the other a mature creation (Quintet for Piano and Strings)—offer profound evidence of Enescu’s technical assurance and distinctive voice.
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Gidon Kremer + Kremerata Baltica
After Mozart
This 2001 Grammy winner brings together the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (and his father, Leopold), with three works inspired by him by contemporary Eastern European composers Alexander Raskatov, Valentin Silvestrov, and Alfred Schnittke, which invoke Mozart’s memory in ways direct and more subtle. The more familiar Mozart pieces sandwiched in serve to bring the listener to a new way of hearing the more familiar pieces.
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Gidon Kremer
Tracing Astor
Tracing Astor is the third in a trilogy of Gidon Kremer albums celebrating the music of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla and, for Kremer, marks a final statement in his recording of Piazzolla’s music for violin and strings. "Although many artists have tried their hand at interpreting Piazzolla," says the Boston Globe, "Kremer was there first, and remains the best."
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Gidon Kremer + Kremerata Baltica
Silencio
Silencio is a meditative collection of 20th-century works for string orchestra, including works by Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, and Vladimir Martynov. The disc is bookended with works by Pärt, whose Tabula Rasa opens the disc. The work was written for and dedicated to Kremer, violinist Tatjana Grindenko and conductor Eri Klas (all featured on this recording), who premiered it in 1977 in Estonia.