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Whether you are entertaining a crowd of guests or beguiling a special someone classical music will add an elegant and light-hearted tone to any social scene. These collections make excellent gifts or are perfect for starting a classical music collection of your own.

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American Mavericks - Musical Visionaries, Pioneers, Iconoclasts See details
American Mavericks - Musical Visionaries, Pioneers, Iconoclasts

In June 2000, MTT and the SFS stunned the music world with their American Mavericks festival, showcasing the music of composers with uniquely radical views. The festival was a defining event in the musical life of the Bay Area and the country. Now, from the University of California Press, comes American Mavericks: Visionaries, Pioneers, Iconoclasts, the story of the sweep of radical music in 20th century America, from the turn of one century to the turn of another, as exemplified by the composers spotlighted in the American Mavericks festival.

American Mavericks provides a permanent record of the Symphony's vision for audiences, scholars, and educators and tells a fascinating story—not about one individual or one institution, but about a cultural phenomenon that crosses geographic, chronological, and ethnic boundaries. The mavericks were as disparate in personality and musical style as the American landscape, but, as Michael Tilson Thomas says, "what these composers all have in common is their enormous excitement in the experience of sound itself."

This book presents an abundance of commentary from performers and a wealth of primary material—interviews, photographs, and rare performances. The voices of those who have experienced the music "from within" provide unique insight that complements the historical and analytical material. Among the artists considered in this volume are Charles Ives, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Duke Ellington, Aaron Copland, Lou Harrison, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown, Meredith Monk, and Frank Zappa.

Contributors to this volume include MTT, composer John Adams, critic Alan Rich and SFS program annotator James Keller and contributing writer Michael Steinberg. Edited by American Mavericks festival coordinator Susan Key and SFS Publications Editor Larry Rothe, the book is generously illustrated and includes a companion CD with excerpts of music performed at the festival.

See what the reviewers have to say...

CD Track List

  1. Charles Ives: Quarter-tone Piano Piece No. 2, Allegro
  2. Michael Tilson Thomas and Lou Harrison: in conversation, June 9, 2000
  3. Henry Cowell: Opening of Piano Concerto
  4. George Antheil: Opening of Ballet Méchanique
  5. Lou Harrison: introducing his Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra
  6. Lou Harrison: Allegro from Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra
  7. Michael Tilson Thomas: introducing Cage's Credo in Us
  8. John Cage: Credo in Us
  9. Michael Tilson Thomas: introducing Feldman's Piece for 4 Pianos
  10. Morton Feldman: Piece for 4 Pianos
  11. Michael Tilson Thomas and Lukas Foss: in conversation June 9, 2000
  12. Michael Tilson Thomas and Lukas Foss: in conversation June 9, 2000
  13. Michael Tilson Thomas and John Adams: in conversation June 21, 2000
  14. Michael Tilson Thomas and David del Tredici: in conversation June 16, 2000
  15. David del Tredici: Opening of Adventures Underground
  16. Meredith Monk: on her stylistic development, June 9, 2000
  17. Michael Tilson Thomas and Steve Mackey: in conversation June 20, 2000
  18. Steve Mackey: "Intrigue" from Tuck and Roll
Our price: $24.95
Aaron Copland: The Essence of America (3 CD set) See details
Aaron Copland: The Essence of America (3 CD set)
SKU: 1779
 
This three-disc collection brings you a wide span of Copland's music, with an exclusive commentary by Michael Tilson Thomas on Copland (The Man and his Music) and on his collaborations with the composer. This boxed set also features a recording of Fanfare for the Common Man, available only in this collection.
 

(3-disc set encoded in standard CD format)

Track List:

Disc 1:—Copland: The Modernist
  1-2.   Concerto for Piano and Orchestra—Garrick Ohlsson, Piano
  3.      Orchestral Variations
  4-6.   Short Symphony (Symphony No. 2)
  7.      Symphonic Ode

Disc 2:—Copland: The Populist
  1.      Billy the Kid
  2.      Appalachian Spring
  3-6.   Rodeo

Disc 3:—On Aaron Copland: The Man and his Music, by Michael Tilson Thomas

  1. Fanfare for the Common Man
  2. Introduction to The Modernist and Symphonic Ode
  3. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
  4. Orchestral Variations
  5. Short Symphony
  6. Introduction to The Populist
  7. Billy the Kid
  8. Appalachian Spring
  9. Rodeo
  10. On First Meeting Aaron Copland and Aaron Copland the Man
  11. Introduction to Fanfare for the Common Man
  12. Fanfare for the Common Man

Our price: $32.95
Sibelius: The Symphonies (4 CD Set) See details
Sibelius: The Symphonies (4 CD Set)

SKU: 6162 

There isn't a weak movement here. Blomstedt's performance culminates in a truly powerful account of the finale. Everything else is wonderful, from the vital and energetic First, to the seamlessly managed transitions in the Seventh.
Our price: $32.95
Stravinsky: The Firebird, The Rite of Spring, Perséphone (3 CD set) See details
Stravinsky: The Firebird, The Rite of Spring, Perséphone (3 CD set)
SKU: 1456
 
Winner of 3 Grammy awards—Best Classical Album, Best Orchestral Performance, and Best Engineered Album.
 
Composed by Igor Stravinsky.
Performed by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
Conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas.

L'Oiseau de feu brings us the fairy tale of Tsarevich Ivan and the beautiful Firebird in the garden of the ogre Kaschei. Le Sacre du printemps unleashes, as Stravinsky himself put it, "the awakening of nature, the scratching, gnawing, wiggling, of birds and beasts" in the vibrant arrival of the season. And finally, the love song for the woman who would become Stravinsky's wife, Perséphone too evokes the glory of spring but, unlike the brutal vigor of Le Sacre du printemps, through the more placid context of her compassion and love for the Underground god Pluto.
 

(3-disc set encoded in standard CD format)


Track list

  1. L'Oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet
  2. Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), ballet
  3. Perséphone, melodrama in 3 scenes
    with Stuart Neill
Our price: $32.95
Children's Musical Book Collection (3 Hardcover Books with CDs) See details
Children's Musical Book Collection (3 Hardcover Books with CDs)
SKU: 10503
  
10% off the 3 Hardcover Books with CDs total. 
 
Price: $50.93 $44.99 (3 Hardcover Books with CDs)
 
 
Set includes:
 
 
A delightfully colorful introduction to classical music, aimed to fire the imagination of young children. Readers are asked to think about the different places in which we might hear music, whether it is in a concert hall, or just on television. They are then introduced to a selection of famous composers including Mozart and Beethoven, and learn about each of the musical instrument families, from woodwind to percussion.
 
Throughout the book children are referred to the accompanying CD so that they can hear examples as they read. Music on the CD includes Magic Flute (Mozart), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Williams), Carnival of the Animals (Saint-Saëns), The Planets (Holst), Petrushka (Stravinsky), and Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev).
 
 
 
A little spooky, a little sad, and a lot of musical fun - that's what's in store for you with Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead.
 
The San Francisco Symphony asked composer Nathaniel Stookey to write the music and the great storyteller Lemony Snicket to create the story. Edwin Outwater conducted the world premiere performance and recording of The Composer Is Dead with the SFS in July 2006.
 
by Lemony Snicket (Author), Carson Ellis (Illustrator)
With CD of music composed by Nathaniel Stookey, narrated by Lemony Snicket.
 
 
 
Orchestra Bob Takes You on a Fun and Exciting Journey Through the World of Classical Music.

ALONG THE WAY YOU'LL LISTEN to the greatest works in classical music and HEAR each instrument of the orchestra and LEARN fun facts about the music, composers and musicians, including:

-Bach wasn't famous until 100 years after he died
-Some people think that years of playing the oboe can make you crazy
-Beethoven was totally deaf by the time he wrote the famous 9th Symphony
-The contrabassoon would be 16 feet tall if unwound
-Copland composed at night and on weekends and had a day job as an insurance agent

Illustrated in exquisite and colorful detail with over 100 original drawings and photographs, engaging text and delightful musical selections on the accompanying 70-minute CD lead children ages 8 to 12 (and parents, too!) on an exciting and educational tour through the instruments and music of the orchestra. The engaging text is broken into three sections: an introduction to each instrument of the orchestra from the cello to the timpani, the stories of famous composers from Bach to Stravinsky and an explanation of different musical styles from Baroque to Modern. Each step of the way, children can listen to actual musical examples of what they are learning about. Young readers will hear the sound of an actual violin as they study the instrument and enjoy the playful tune of a Mozart minuet as they read about the composer's precocious exploits as a child.

Our price: $44.99
Mahler Song Cycle: Das Lied von der Erde & Das klagende Lied & Songs With Orchestra - 3 for 2 (Hybrid SACD) See details
Mahler Song Cycle: Das Lied von der Erde & Das klagende Lied & Songs With Orchestra - 3 for 2 (Hybrid SACD)
SKU: 10970
 
Limited Time Offer: 3 CDs for the price of 2!
 
Price: $68.85  $44.90
 
Collection Includes:
 
Mahler: Songs With Orchestra
 
Here is Mahler the enchanter. The selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn are the composer’s take on folk tunes, playful and touching. The Songs of a Wayfarer (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) tell of young love lost. And the Rückert settings are, in a word, gorgeous. Hear Susan Graham and Thomas Hampson, two of today’s great Mahler singers, as they join Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony in this final album of the award-winning MTT/SFS Mahler cycle.

“Graham was characteristically poised and radiant. The American mezzo-soprano lent her full, lustrous tone, regal bearing, and keen sensitivity to these uniquely beautiful songs, beginning here with “Liebst du um Schönheit” (If you love because of beauty), conducted with great sensitivity by Tilson Thomas and limned by Graham’s lovely, rounded projection of the text.”
-    Georgia Rowe, San Francisco Classical Voice

“Hampson and the orchestra probed the music for all the pity and terror they conveyed…. Hampson's singing [of the last song] was as robust and mellifluous as ever, and he projected all the bite and tenderness of Mahler's melodies flawlessly. “
-    Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle


CD Contents:

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen:
1. Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht
2. Ging heut' Morgen übers Feld
3. Ich hab' ein glühend Messer
4. Die zwei blauen Augen

Rückert-Lieder:   
5. Ich atmet' einen linden Duft
6. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
7. Liebst du um Schönheit
8. Um Mitternacht
9. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

Selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn:
10. Lied des Verfolgten im Turm
11. Der Tamboursg'sell
12. Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen
13. Revelge
14. Urlicht


San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
Rückert-Lieder September 16-20, 2009
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen September 23, 25-26, 2009
Selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn May 10-13, 2007

 

 
Das Lied von der Erde
 
Mahler was a great symphonist and a great songwriter. In his “song-symphony” Das Lied von der Erde (“The Song of the Earth”), these two strands of his genius are intertwined. Here Mahler summons all his orchestral and vocal imagination, taking us to the heart of ancient Chinese poems that praise life’s joys and lament life’s brevity. Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony, with tenor Stuart Skelton and world-renowned baritone Thomas Hampson.
 
“…Thomas and the orchestra have rarely sounded so assured or dynamic in their command of Mahler’s late style.”      
                       – San Francisco Chronicle
 
“…dazzling… Hampson 's utter mastery of music and text made this performance one to cherish.”
– San Jose Mercury News
 
 
Track List:
 
  1. Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde                         
  2.  Der Einsame im Herbst
  3. Von der Jugend
  4. Von der Schönheit
  5. Der Trunkene im Frühling
  6. Der Abschied

 Total Length 63:20

San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Stuart Skelton, tenor
Thomas Hampson, baritone

Recorded live in Davies Symphony Hall September 26-29, 2007

 

Das klagende Lied

"Tilson Thomas's objective, transparent approach suits this piece well. The orchestral playing is warm, the chorus work is spirited and the soloists are excellent "- The Times (U.K.)

Part I (Waldmärchen/Forest Tale):

A beautiful, proud queen has conceded that she will give herself as wife to whichever knight finds a certain red flower in the forest, a flower as lovely as herself. Two brothers set out to find that flower; the younger is sweet in manner and handsome, the elder “could only utter curses.” The younger brother finds the flower, then lies down to sleep. Discovering him, the older brother kills him, takes the flower, and claims his prize.

Part II (Der Spielman/The Wandering Musician):

A musician wandering through the forest finds a gleaming bone and fashions a flute from it. When he plays his new instrument, it sings the tale of the murder. The minstrel decides he must seek out the queen.

Part III (Hochzeitsstück/Wedding Piece):

At the wedding feast for the queen and murderer‑knight, the minstrel plays his flute, which tells its tale. The new king seizes the flute and puts it to his own lips, where it accuses him directly. The queen faints, the guests flee, and the walls of the castle collapse.

Ist Movement: Waldmärchen. Langsam und träumerisch 30:25
2nd Movement: Der Spielmann. Sehr gehalten 16:55
3rd Movement: Hochzeitsstück. Heftig bewegt 19:39


San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Marina Shaguch, soprano Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano Thomas Moser, tenor Sergei Leiferkus, baritone
Vance George, chorus director
San Francisco Symphony Chorus

Recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall San Francisco,
May 29-31 and June 2, 1996
Our price: $45.90
American Mavericks CD Collection (w/Free Bonus CD!) See details
American Mavericks CD Collection (w/Free Bonus CD!)
SKU: 10502
 
Limited time offer! Free CD of Keeping Score: Ives Holidays Symphony and Copland Appalachian Spring  included with purchase!
 
That's over $16 in savings!
 
Price: $66.93 $49.95 (4 CDs)
 
 
Set includes:
 
 
The latest release from Michael Tilson Thomas and the Grammy® Award-winning San Francisco Symphony features stunning live recordings from the SFS's wildly successful American Mavericks festival. Presented in premium audio hybrid SACD, American Mavericks includes performances of four works by three influential but seldom heard twentieth century masters. Performances of Henry Cowell's Synchrony and his Piano Concerto, with Jeremy Denk on piano, combine Cowell's distinctive musical language with exceptionally expressive playing to produce a powerful musical experience. Lou Harrison's eclectic compositional style and organ soloist Paul Jacobs's spectacular virtuosity are on full display in Harrison's Concert for Organ with Percussion orchestra. This one-of-a-kind disc concludes with Edgard Varèse's monumental Amériques and the orchestral siren that has influenced generations of composers. 
 
 
Nominated for the 2013 Grammy® Award for Best Classical Album!
 
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony present a Hybrid SACD of John Adams' San Francisco Symphony commissioned Harmonielehre and the Michael Tilson Thomas commissioned Short Ride in a Fast Machine.
The SFS commissioned, premiered, and recorded Harmonielehre in March 1985 under Edo De Waart during Adams’ tenure as SFS composer in residence. Adams recalled, “I was a young composer when I wrote Harmonielehre and I had really only written two other orchestra pieces at that point and one of them was Harmonium, which was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony only a few years before that. Harmonielehre was tough coming out… I was searching for what I wanted to say. I knew that part of what I wanted to write for the orchestra was a music that would kind of strum the strings of its repertoire that would play to its strengths… [with Harmonielehre] I really confronted who I was, who I am, John Adams as a composer - somebody who grew up listening to classical music, classical orchestral music, who played in orchestras when I was younger, who conducted, who loved that repertoire, but at the same time was somebody who also grew up listening to jazz and rock and who was very influenced by minimalism. So it’s this rather strange marriage of the driving pulse of American minimalism and the sensuous and emotional and expressive world of the great European masterpieces.”
 
 
 
Following closely on the heels of their seven Grammy-Award® winning Mahler recording cycle, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony present a hybrid SACD recording of Charles Ives' A Concord Symphony orchestrated by Henry Brant and Aaron Copland's Organ Symphony with organist Paul Jacobs. A Concord Symphony is Brant's orchestral arrangement of Ives' Sonata No. 2 for Piano. 
 

Limited time Holiday Offer! Free CD included with American Mavericks Collection purchase:
 
Folk music played an important role in shaping the musical styles of both Aaron Copland and Charles Ives, a pair of American originals—one French-trained, the other stubbornly home-grown—who are both noted for weaving alluring sonic tapestries of American life. For New Englander Ives, the key to authenticity lay in a kaleidoscopic pageant of tunes, dances, evocative sounds, and wildly unorthodox harmonic idioms. The Holidays Symphony, beginning with “Washington’s Birthday” and ending with “Thanksgiving,” occupied him on and off for more than fifteen years.
 
This companion concert recording for Keeping Score includes Charles Ives's Holidays Symphony performed by the San Francisco Symphony, which was featured on PBS in Keeping Score: Ives Holidays Symphony. The recording of Copland's Appalachian Spring, performed here in the original 13-instrument chamber arrangement, was featured on Copland and the American Sound.
Our price: $49.95
Keeping Score Audio Companion CD Collection See details
Keeping Score Audio Companion CD Collection

Get the complete set of 6 companion audio CDs to the acclaimed Keeping Score series and receive 10% off.

Now you can enjoy the complete concert performances of the works explored in Keeping Score, including Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Copland’s American Sound, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Ives’s Holidays Symphony, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.




 

Our price: $53.00
SFS Beethoven Collection (w/Free Bonus CD!) See details
SFS Beethoven Collection (w/Free Bonus CD!)
SKU: 10501
 
Limited time offer - Free CD of Keeping Score: Beethoven's Eroica included with purchase!
 
That's over $18 in savings!
 
Price: $72.98 $54.95 (3 CDs + 1 DVD)
 
 
Set includes:
 
 
Not all revolutions are political. Some overturn artistic conventions. Beethoven's Eroica challenged accepted artistic notions of music as a kind of decorative background and brought the listener along on a gripping voyage into the unconscious. Retracing Beethoven's steps through Vienna's aristocratic ballrooms and Austria's rustic villages, MTT explores how Beethoven channeled his fears of deafness, his admiration for Napoleon, and his obsession to prove himself the greatest composer of his time and to write a piece that forever changed what a symphony would be.
 
 
 
Following closely on the heels of the seven Grammy-Award winning Mahler recording cycle, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony present a hybrid SACD recording of two of Beethoven's most popular works, Symphony No. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 4.
Emanuel Ax, a frequent collaborator with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, is the soloist on Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. His performance of the slow movement was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "dark and eloquent."
 
 
 
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony present a hybrid SACD recording of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and Leonore Overture No. 3.
 
This album continues MTT and the SFS's ongoing exploration of the music of Beethoven. Previously SFS Media released Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 4 with Emanuel Ax. MTT also led a journey through Beethoven's music in Keeping Score: Beethoven's Eroica.
 

Limited time Holiday Offer! Free CD included with Beethoven Collection purchase:
 
“On its very first page Beethoven threw his hat into the ring and laid his claim to immortality.” Thus H. L. Mencken on the Third Symphony. But there’s a big hole in that very first page, put there by a boiling-mad composer as he brusquely scraped off the dedication to Napoleon in response to the erstwhile First Consul’s having been proclaimed Emperor in May 1804.

This companion concert recording for Keeping Score: Beethoven’s Eroica, as seen on PBS, was recorded live in Davies Symphony Hall in May 2004.
 
Our price: $54.95
Children's My First Classical Collection (8 CD Set) See details
Children's My First Classical Collection (8 CD Set)
SKU: 10504
  
10% off the 8 CD total. That's over $14 in savings!
 
Price: $134.55 $119.95 (8 CDs)
 
 
Set includes:
 
 
My First Classical Music Album is the keystone of the "My First" album series, encouraging kids to begin a lifelong journey through classical music. Each sampling of music is carefully tailored for younger listeners, and includes famous tracks as well as unexpected gems, including Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Mozart's The Magic Flute, and Rossini's William Tell. The CD comes complete with a booklet full of information on each piece of music.
 
 
 
A bird dancing, an ox on a roof, flowers doing a waltz, a swan twirling about …what world is this? This is the magical world of ballet. The stage is full of people in colourful costumes, but nobody speaks. All the stories are told by music and dancing. Composers have written such exciting pieces for ballet: listen to this collection and see which ones you like best!
 
 
 
Beethoven was a musical giant. He wasn’t taller or fatter than everyone else, but his music is big and his name is important. Beethoven is like the Olympic champion of classical music. Some of the music he wrote is strong and serious, and some of it is very gentle. Listen here to orchestras, pianos, violins, and other instruments playing some of the most famous pieces of all!
 
 
 
For centuries, babies and children all over the world have been rocked to sleep with a song to calm them. Whether parents sing or play, or press play, they know that music so often soothes with success. Composers have written lullabies for different reasons—sometimes as standalone songs or pieces and sometimes as part of a larger work. My First Lullaby Album is a variety of restful tracks to foster the sweet dreams of all!
 
 
 
If you listen carefully to this CD, you will get to know one of the best composers in the world. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived 250 years ago but he carries on being famous—so he must have been special. He giggled a lot. He was also good at playing the piano and the violin. And he wrote this amazing music, which people still love hearing today. See if you love hearing it too!
 
 
 
Listen to the piano turn into a bumblebee, a donkey, trolls, a bird, a horse, and a butterfly! Sometimes it isn’t anything except a piano, but the music coming out of it is exciting and beautiful. Can you spot Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star? Mozart makes it twinkle in all kinds of different ways. There are so many things to enjoy here, and all from one amazing musical instrument: the piano.
 
 
 
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: a great Russian name for a great Russian composer! Tchaikovsky was not always a happy man. He didn’t laugh a lot, but he wrote music that is full of good melodies. He often felt sad, but sometimes this made him write music that was even more special. This CD is all about Tchaikovsky. Imagine the ballet dancers twirling around to his tunes: you can twirl around too, if you like!

 
 
From folk music to film music, the violin is the star of instruments. Millions of children all over the world learn how to play it and the top performers make it sound beautiful. They can also do clever things on it, with their fingers whizzing up and down, and the bow moving so fast you can hardly see it. Take the music of Mr Paganini on track 1, he really knew how to show off. Here is the violin in the spotlight: listen to it sing!
Our price: $119.95
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