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'It's Unbelievable': Shutdown Of Philippines' Major Broadcaster Worries Many

Government regulators in the Philippines ordered the major broadcaster ABS-CBN off the air. Critics worry the shutdown stifles an important source of information in the age of the coronavirus.




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Hong Kong Bourse May Be Stuck In Neutral On Thursday

The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing more than 520 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just beneath the 24,140-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Thursday.




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Austria Wholesale Prices Decline Most Since September 2009

Austria's wholesale prices fell at the fastest pace in over ten-and-a-half years in April, data from Statistics Austria showed on Thursday.




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 6 (fragment) / Piano Concerto, WoO 4 (S.-M. Vetter, Hamburg Symphony, Ruzicka) (OC1710)




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GLANERT, D.: Oceane [Opera] (Bengtsson, Schukoff, Pohl, Deutsche Oper Berlin Chorus and Orchestra, Runnicles) (OC985)




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WEBER, C.M. von: Freischütz (Der) [Opera] (Cornet, Muirhead, Banješević, Trinsinger, Aalto Theatre Opera Chorus, Essen Philharmonic, Netopil) (OC988)




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GLASS, P.: Violin Concerto No. 2, `American Four Seasons` / Violin Sonata (Plawner, Vila, Bern Chamber Orchestra, P. Bach) (8.559865)

Philip Glass has become an iconic figure in American music. His works are often inspired by collaborations with other leading musicians, and the proposal of an “American Four Seasons” by the violinist Robert McDuffie to reflect Vivaldi’s famous masterpiece resulted in a concerto which evokes the Baroque spirit of early 18th-century violin tradition. With the Concerto’s range of moods, listeners are invited to decide for themselves which season the music evokes. The Violin Sonata sees Glass’s melodic and harmonic language haunted by the ghosts of Brahms, Fauré and Franck, “the meditativeness of this piece bringing a unique energy” for award-winning violinist Piotr Plawner.




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FARIA GOMES, P.: Chamber Works (Thurlow, Santos, N. Johnson, M. Fernandes, Picado) (8.579029)

This selection of chamber music by leading Portuguese composer Pedro Faria Gomes was written between 2007 and 2018. The works encompass themes of memory, change and waiting, with the concept of time being a central preoccupation. Though he has drawn on music from his country’s folk traditions—in Memória and in the Sonata—it is always with new harmonic insights and subtlety, creating undeniably invigorating additions to contemporary chamber music repertoire.




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CIMAROSA, D.: Overtures, Vol. 6 (Czech Chamber Philharmonic, Pardubice, Patrick Gallois) (8.574046)

Domenico Cimarosa’s operas were remarkably successful, being staged and re-staged in opera houses all over Europe. Success in his home town of Naples led to court appointments and royal commissions, including his best-known work Il matrimonio segreto (‘The Secret Marriage’) composed for Austrian emperor Leopold II. Other hits include L’impegno superato (‘The Broken Engagement’), an instant success and soon to become one of the most frequently performed of Cimarosa’s comic works, and Penelope that was produced as far away as London in 1817. The Cantata per Ferdinando IV was, however, written as an act of repentance, Cimarosa having made the mistake of backing the failed republican government in 1799.




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: König Stephan / Leonore Prohaska (excerpts) (The Key Ensemble, Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis, Turku Philharmonic, Segerstam) (8.574042)

Aside from his only opera Fidelio, Beethoven’s general link with the theatre in Vienna came about largely with incidental music or songs to be inserted into the works of other composers—insertion arias. König Stephan was written to celebrate the politically significant opening of a new theatre in Pest, its triumphant mood honouring the ruling Austrian Emperor. Standard-bearer of female heroism Leonore Prohaska is commemorated with a Soldier’s Chorus and a Romance with harp accompaniment. In Friedrich von Matthisson’s poem Opferlied (‘Sacrificial Song’), a young man prays to Zeus to bestow upon him beauty and goodness in youth and old age. Two of Beethoven’s four settings are heard on this wide-ranging programme.




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Fugues and Rarities for String Quartet (Fine Arts Quartet) (8.574051)

The string quartets of Beethoven are among the greatest works of their kind, but he composed other works for quartet which have been neglected. This album is dedicated to these intriguing rarities. Alongside the wild and monumental Grosse Fuge, in many ways the culmination of Beethoven’s achievements in the string quartet genre, this recording further displays his mastery of counterpoint by bringing to light brilliant yet forgotten original versions of his quartets Op. 18, No. 1 and Op. 131, plus six virtually unknown miniatures, including his Preludes and Fugues.




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven - Symphonies and Orchestral Music (9.30209)




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Wind Concertos - BOTTI, S. / TURNER, J.L. / GRYC, S.M. (Heavy Weather) (Koffman, Mendoker, M. Goldberg, Hartt Wind Ensemble, Adsit) (8.574087)

The Hartt School Wind Ensemble presents recent concertante works by three contemporary American composers—demonstrating once more the versatility of the ensemble, heard here in conjunction with soloists. Susan Botti’s sull’ala is inspired by flight, expressed in rhythm, harmony and texture, while Jess Langston Turner describes powerful meteorological phenomena in Heavy Weather. In Guignol, Stephen Michael Gryc conjures witty banter and frenetic action from his puppet hero.




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Vocal Recital: Sternberg, Deborah - SIMPSON, A.E. / KITCHEN, E. / THIBAUDEAU, G. (Birds of Love and Prey) (8.579064)

Soprano Deborah Sternberg brings together three song cycles themed on birds, each with its own unique flavour and expressive vocabulary. Andrew Earle Simpson’s eloquent skills as a composer and pianist are united in Birds of Love and Prey, in which both antique and modern textual sources contrast songbirds and predators in a variety of ways. Eric Kitchen uses transcriptions of actual birdsong in The Olney Avian Verse of William Cowper, while Gabriel Thibaudeau’s Cycle Avicellus portrays birds within landscapes using a language of modern impressionism.




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PERFECT PIANO - Best Loved Classical Piano Music (8.578180)

The piano is one of the most universal and popular of all instruments, from the grand pianos found in prestigious concert venues to battered uprights providing entertainment in pubs and bars. Early keyboard masters such as J.S. Bach laid the foundations for composers and performers to expand the piano’s expressive range, exemplifi ed in the emotive depths of Beethoven’s sonatas against the lightness of his famous musical gift Für Elise. From the tender romance of Schumann and the power and poignancy of Chopin, to the virtuosity of Liszt, the impressionistic magic of Debussy and the enigmatic beauty of Satie, the piano offers a true abundance of musical riches.




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Opera Scenes and Orchestral Songs (Soprano) - RAVEL, M. / BARBER, S. / BIZET, G. / SZYMANOWSKI, K. / PUCCINI, G. (Femmes Fatales) (Nasibli) (8.579066)

Composers of every era have drawn on the strengths, sorrows and joys of women for operas and vocal works, inspiring some of their most powerful music. From the heartbreaking tragedy of Samuel Barber’s Andromache’s Farewell to the magical storytelling of Shéhérazade and the Fairy-Tale Princess, acclaimed soprano Seljan Nasibli takes us on a timeless journey through female musical ancestors whose courage is as relevant in today’s society as it has ever been.




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HANDSOME HARPSICHORD - Best Loved Classical Harpsichord Music (8.578184)

While the keyboards of the piano and harpsichord are similar, their playing techniques are quite different. The strings of the harpsichord are plucked with a quill rather than struck with a hammer, so every nuance of phrasing is down to the subtle touch of the player. There is something special about hearing music on the instrument for which it was originally written, and this programme treats us to dances from England with Byrd and Purcell, Baroque masterpieces by Bach and Handel, and elaborate and descriptive French works by Couperin and Rameau, whose Les Sauvages was inspired by Native American chieftains who danced for king Louis XV.




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FARRENC, L.: Symphony No. 1 / Overtures Nos. 1-2 / Grand Variations on a theme by Count Gallenberg (J. Muller, Solistes Européens, Luxembourg, König) (8.574094)

Louise Farrenc was renowned in her lifetime as a pianist, composer and teacher, but it is only recently that her compositions have emerged from many years of neglect. Symphony No. 1 in C minor—cast in the German tradition—is an exceptionally accomplished work, finely orchestrated, lyrical and fiery, and a substantial contribution to the canon. The Grand Variations on a Theme by Count Gallenberg is a showcase for virtuosic elegance, and the two overtures demonstrate real theatrical drama—Overture No. 2 was admired by no less a figure than Hector Berlioz.




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Ruinen von Athen (Die) (The Ruins of Athens) (Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis, Turku Philharmonic, Segerstam) (8.574076)

Die Ruinen von Athen (‘The Ruins of Athens’) was composed to celebrate the opening of the new German theatre in Pest in 1812. Designed to accompany the play of that name by August von Kotzebue, its incidental music is substantial enough to form a kind of one-act Singspiel and is full of attractive arias, duets and choruses and includes the famous Turkish March. Though the work’s theme was rooted in Greek mythology, in reality it was explicitly political in nature, celebrating Pest as ‘the new Athens’. This is the first ever recording of the work with full narration.




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Piano Pieces and Fragments (Gallo) (8.574131)

Including premiere recordings, this programme provides us with a privileged opportunity to engage with 36 of Ludwig van Beethoven’s rarely heard sketches, variations and briefest of compositions, even the earliest of which have much to teach us about the emergence of his unique voice and style. The range of Beethoven’s musical experimentation reveals a lasting interest in counterpoint, as well as practical pages such as cadenzas for a Mozart concerto, an incomplete sonata and a second version of the famous bagatelle Für Elise. A significant supplement to his greatest works, these miniatures bring the full arc of Beethoven’s singular genius into ever clearer focus.




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven - Music from His Middle Compositional Period (9.30206)




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AWESOME ORGAN - Best Loved Classical Organ Music (8.578179)

Mozart referred to the organ as ‘the king of instruments’, and with the breathtaking sound produced by huge cathedral organs glistening with thousands of pipes it is easy to hear why. This introduction takes us from one of the most famous pieces ever written for the organ, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, to Widor’s wedding favourite Toccata from the Symphony No. 5, taking in masterpieces from the distinctive German and French schools of organ composing along the way. This album also features genial and spectacular music by Handel and Pachelbel and the ‘devastating tornado’ of Jehan Alain’s Litanies.




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WEINBERG, M.: Clarinet Music - Clarinet Concerto / Clarinet Sonata / Chamber Symphony No. 4 (Oberaigner, Schöch, Michail Jurowski) (8.574192)

Mieczysław Weinberg was familiar with the clarinet from his youth, given its prominent place in klezmer bands and theatre ensembles, and he wrote three works specifically for the instrument. In the Clarinet Concerto he draws a wide range of textures from the accompanying strings, over which the soloist explores the clarinet’s extremes of register in virtuosic fashion. Despite having been written when Weinberg was still in his mid-twenties, the Clarinet Sonata is a mature work with Romantic and folkloric elements. His last completed work was the Chamber Symphony No. 4, an impassioned piece with a wrenching chorale theme and role for obbligato clarinet.




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EŠENVALDS, Ē.: Choral Music (Translations) (Portland State Chamber Choir, Sperry) (8.574124)

The multi-award-winning Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds’ 21st-century choral sound is both exquisite and angular, and in this album he explores ideas of ‘translation’, legend and the divine. With his expanded tonality and employment of shimmering singing handbells in Translation, and the angelic use of the viola and cello in In paradisum he creates music of ravishing refinement. In Legend of the Walled-In Woman Ešenvalds transcribes and employs an authentic Albanian folk song.




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DANIELPOUR, R.: Passion of Yeshua (The) [Oratorio] (UCLA Chamber Singers, Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra, Falletta) (8.559885-86)

Richard Danielpour’s dramatic oratorio The Passion of Yeshua—a work which has evolved over the last 25 years—is an intensely personal telling of the final hours of Christ on Earth. It incorporates texts from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Gospels inspiring extraordinarily beautiful music that stresses the need for human compassion and forgiveness. Danielpour returns to the scale and majesty of Bach in this oratorio, creating choruses that are intense and powerful, and giving both Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene a central place in a work of glowing spirituality. Conductor JoAnn Falletta considers The Passion of Yeshua to be “a classic for all time.”




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven - Concertos (9.30210)




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II / Cantata on the Accession of Leopold II (Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis, Segerstam) (8.574077)

By the time of Emperor Joseph II’s death in 1790 Beethoven was a member of the court musical establishment in Bonn. To mark the occasion, Beethoven was commissioned to write two cantatas, one to mourn Joseph’s death and the other to celebrate the accession to the throne of Emperor Leopold II. Although Beethoven was only 19 years old at the time, both works show the embryonic marks of his greatness: intense expression and control of structure in one, and an almost operatic panache in the other. Neither piece was performed during Beethoven’s lifetime.




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BEETHOVEN REIMAGINED (G. Prokofiev, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Segal) (8.574020)

2020 is the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, and this album presents three works that reshape the composer’s awe-inspiring music for the 21st century. The Sonata for Orchestra considers how the Violin Sonata No. 7 would sound had it been written for orchestra, while A Fidelio Symphony transforms vocal lines into symphonic textures to take us through the entire arc of the composer’s sole opera. Based on the famous Ode to Joy of Beethoven’s final symphony, BEETHOVEN9 Symphonic Remix uses loops, grooves and musical transformations to create a contemporary tribute to Beethoven’s universal message.




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JAMES, H.: Beast in the Jungle (The) (Unabridged) (NA0416)

Bachelor John Marcher is haunted by the premonition that something terrible lies in store for him, like a ‘beast in the jungle’ lying in wait. So he spends his life in idleness, unable to carry out his dreams or desires, while his friend May Bartram, curious to see how this spectacular fate will manifest, helps watch out for the arrival of the beast. The two develop a strong platonic relationship, stoked by this mystery, and gradually the best years of their life roll by, unfulfilled—lost to John’s dread and fear of the unknown. Written soon after The Wings of the Dove, The Beast in the Jungle is a haunting story of crippling obsession and a life unlived.




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BURKE, E.: Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful (A) (Unabridged) (NA0413)

In A Philosophical Enquiry… Edmund Burke sets out to define the nature of beauty and sublimity, and establish an objective criterion for discussing aesthetics. His definition of beauty as rooted in pleasure and sexuality, and the sublime in pain and survival, aligned him with the empiricists John Locke and David Hume, as he replaced the metaphysics of Plato’s aesthetics with a psychological and physiological perspective. According to Burke, the sublime and the beautiful are experiences that can be explained by biological and sensual factors; thus he proceeds to explain how smooth lines, sweet tastes and middle frequencies of sound can be considered beautiful, and the terror created by high mountains and dark forests can be sublime. These revolutionary ideas ushered in the age of Romanticism, and the Gothic genre of novels, with their delight in horror and fright, and continue to influence aesthetic theories today.




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Podcast: Ludwig van Beethoven. Music from his late compositional period. (Apr 24, 2020)

BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven – Music from His Late Compositional Period (c.1815–1827) 9.30207 Raymond Bisha introduces the latest release in the Naxos Beethoven anniversary digital album series. Ranging from a solo piano to the huge resources required for his final symphony, the programme comprises ten works that define the last ten years of Beethoven’s creative life, exemplifying his ever more technically c ...more




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Podcast: The symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven (Feb 13, 2020)

BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven – Symphonies and Orchestral 9.30209 Raymond Bisha presents an overview of Beethoven’s nine symphonies as a companion resource to the first of Naxos’ monthly digital albums presenting the music of Beethoven in this 250th anniversary year of his birth. January’s compilation album (9.30209) spotlights the symphonic journey and stylistic progression from Beethoven&rs ...more




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Podcast: Ludwig van Beethoven. Works from his middle years. (Feb 28, 2020)

Celebrate Beethoven – Music from His Middle Compositional Period 9.30206 Raymond Bisha presents an overview of works written by Beethoven during his middle years period. It’s a companion resource to the latest release in Naxos’ monthly digital album series featuring the music of Beethoven in this 250th anniversary year of his birth. February’s compilation album (9.30206) presents a programme of wo ...more




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Podcast: Ludwig van Beethoven–the concertos (Mar 27, 2020)

BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven - Concertos 9.30210 Beethoven’s concertos enjoy the spotlight in this podcast from Raymond Bisha. It serves as a companion resource to the latest digital album in our series marking the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The technical and musical demands Beethoven makes of his concerto soloists shine centre-stage in this compilation of wonderful performances of movements from his ...more




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Piano Recital: Gulda, Friedrich - BEETHOVEN, L. van / BACH, J.S. / SCHUBERT, F. / COUPERIN, F. (The Stuttgart Solo Recitals) (1966-1979) (SWR19081CD)

International Piano, May 2020

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Piano Concertos - MOZART, W.A. / BEETHOVEN, L. van / HAYDN, J. (Gulda, Keilberth, Müller-Kray, Rosbaud) (1959-1962) (SWR19088CD)

International Piano, May 2020

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NIELSEN, C.: Flute Concerto / IBERT, J.: Flute Concerto / ARNOLD, M.: Flute Concerto No. 1 (Andrada, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, J. Martín) (ODE1340-2)

Review by Christian Hoskins
Gramophone, May 2020




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EŠENVALDS, E.: Choral Music (Translations) (Portland State Chamber Choir, Sperry) (8.574124)


Review by Malcolm Riley
Gramophone, May 2020




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WEBER, C.M. von: Euryanthe [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2018) (NTSC) (2.110656)




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WEBER, C.M. von: Euryanthe [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2018) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0107V)




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RESPIGHI, O.: Bella dormente nel bosco (La) [Opera] (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, 2017) (NTSC) (2.110655)




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RESPIGHI, O.: Bella dormente nel bosco (La) [Opera] (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, 2017) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0106V)




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SHAKESPEARE, W.: Globe Collection (The) (Shakespeare's Globe, 2009-2015) (23-DVD Box Set) (NTSC) (OA1301BD)




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BENJAMIN, G.: Written on Skin / Lessons in Love and Violence [Operas] (Royal Opera House, 2013-2018) (NTSC) (OA1309BD)




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BENJAMIN, G.: Written on Skin / Lessons in Love and Violence [Operas] (Royal Opera House, 2013-2018) (Blu-ray, HD) (OABD7271BD)




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WEBER, C.M. von: Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn [Opera] (Edelmann, Grümbel, Revolskaya, Vienna Radio Symphony, Paternostro) (C5376)




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EISLER, H.: Leipzig Symphony / Funeral Pieces / Nuit et brouillard (Leipzig MDR Symphony, Berlin Chamber Symphony, Bruns) (C5368)




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BUSONI, F.: Turandot / Arlecchino oder Die Fenster [Operas] (Pape, Plech, Wörle, S. Lorenz, Berlin Radio Symphony, G. Albrecht) (C5398)




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ABERT, J.J.: Ekkehard [Opera] (Kaufmann, Gerhaher, Ingen, H. Böhm, South West German Radio Kaiserslautern Orchestra, Falk) (C5392)




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KAPUSTIN, N.: Saxophone Chamber Music (E. Blumina, P. Bruns, Clair-Obscur Saxophone Quartet) (C5369)