Our latest releases:
 Great Musicians of Ukraine – PACD 96087Parnassus Records presents an anthology of great musicians – some forgotten outside Ukraine, and others very well-known but not properly remembered as Ukrainian. The income after costs from this release will all go to the Ukrainian people’s charity Razomforukraine.org Click here for complete contents and notes about Great Musicians of Ukraine – PACD 96087 |
 Various Artists – Black Swans: at Mid-Century – PACD 96078/935 tracks over two CDs, “Black Swans at Mid-Century” presents a collection of 18 fine Black singers who specialized in opera and art song, in recordings made from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. This set compliments our earlier collection, “Black Swans: Earliest African-American Classical Stars”, with similarly remarkable audio restoration and liner notes. Click here for complete contents and notes about Black Swans at Mid-Century – PACD 96078-9 |
 Amar-Hindemith Quartet: Complete Recordings – PACD 96070/2 In addition to being one of the outstanding composers of the 20th century, Paul Hindemith was long active as a performing musician. Trained as a violinist, he eventually settled on the viola as his main instrument. He was also said to be able to play any instrumental part of any work he composed. As a conductor, his repertoire ranged from Monteverdi through Berg in addition to his own works. In the 1920s, Hindemith became a member of a successful string quartet, lead by Turkish violinist Licco Amar. Hindemith’s cellist brother Rudolf was a member of this ensemble through most of its existence. A 3 CD collection, this set presents the ensemble’s complete recordings for the first time; fewer than half of them have been reissued previously. The previous reissue of the Bartók Quartet was made from damaged originals; the new edition is free of such flaws. The set presents a vivid portrait of a major composer and his colleagues performing the works of other composers with directness and great insight. Click here for complete contents and notes about Amar-Hindemith Quartet: Complete Recordings – PACD 96070/2 (Including extensive scholarly and historical notes by Tully Potter) Buy Amar-Hindemith Quartet Complete Recordings from Amazon |
 Marcel Moyse In Person – Live Performances 1953 & Rare 78s – PACD 96069 Marcel Moyse (1889-1984) was one of the most important instrumentalists of the 20th century. As a performer, he graced French orchestras until his solo career came to dominate his activities. His repertoire ranged from the baroque era well into the 20th century, including many works from major composers which he commissioned and premiered. As a teacher, Moyse had hundreds of successful students, including Paula Robison, whose essay on Moyse is included in the program notes for this CD. Moyse’s playing and teaching are still revered by flutists. His influence continues through his recordings and through his many books of flute instruction. Click here for complete contents and notes about Marcel Moyse In Person – Live Performances 1953 & Rare 78s Buy Marcel Moyse In Person via Amazon |
 Bartok: 44 Duos for Violins & Voices – Iva Bittova & Dorothea Kellerova – PACD 96068 This recording, first published more than two decades ago and not distributed internationally, features Bartók’s work for two violins performed by two violinists & singers with deep background in Eastern European folk tradition. Buy Bartok: 44 Duos for Violins & Voices – Iva Bittova & Dorothea Kellerova via ArkivMusic |
 Various Artists – Black Swans – PACD 96067This CD contains the first recordings made by black classical performers, singers and instrumentalists, dating from approximately 1917-1922. Only 5 of the 25 tracks have ever been reissued before. Together they provide a demonstration of the forgotten culture of black performers in classical music from the early 20th century. Hear the amazing transformation in the audio quality from the original 78rpm disc to this CD “Black Swans” featured on All Things Considered, NPR – Tuesday December 8, 2020 – NPR’s Audie Cornish talks with Saïs Kamalidiin, a Howard University professor, about the new collection showcasing 25 recordings of early Black classical musicians, called Black Swans. Click here for complete contents and notes about Various Artists – Black Swans – PACD 96067 Buy BLACK SWANS: Earliest African-American Classical Stars via Amazon |
 Buy Richter in Brooklyn via AmazonDownload Richter in Brooklyn from iTunes Buy from ArkivMusic Sviatoslav Richter in Brooklyn PACD 96061/2 UNPUBLISHED ! Live 1965 concert from Brooklyn, complete, + unpublished recording of the Gershwin Piano Concerto Click here for complete contents and notes about Sviatoslav Richter in Brooklyn |
 Sviatoslav Richter – Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier – Live Innsbruck 1973 – PDVD 1505 This recording is one of the greatest rarities in the Richter discography. It was issued in Japan as a memorial tribute to Richter shortly after his death and circulated only there for a very short time. We are pleased to present this invaluable recording to a worldwide audience of Richter collectors for the first time. In order to serve the dual interests of quality and economy, we have decided to publish this recording in DVD Audio format. This format enables us to include the entire recording on a single affordable disc while maintaining maximum audio quality. This disc should play audio through any modern DVD or Blu-Ray player. |
 PACD 96059/60 Sviatoslav Richter in the 1940s There is still something powerful and mysterious about opening a window on the earliest documented decade of Richter’s career. The two items which begin Disc 2 of this set are the earliest reliably authenticated recordings of Richter performances yet published. The remaining material in this set is also thoroughly authentic, including a complete recital from 1948. Unlike the Richter in the 1950s series, all of these recordings have previously been published, although in obscure and now-unobtainable editions. Although these items are not entirely new, we felt that few collectors have had access to them previously. Click here for complete contents and notes about Sviatoslav Richter in the 1940s Buy Sviatoslav Richter in the 1940s via Amazon (CD or MP3) |
 Buy “The Bohemian Quartet Plays Smetana, Dvorak & Suk” from Amazon Download “The Bohemian Quartet Plays Smetana, Dvorak & Suk” from iTunes PACD 96058 The Bohemian Quartet Plays Smetana, Dvorak & Suk + Bonus Tracks The Bohemian String Quartet was one of the most important ensembles to make early chamber music recordings. After making a few acoustical recordings of string quartet movements and of Dvořák’s “American” Quartet, the Bohemian Quartet made electrical recordings in 1928 of complete quartets by Smetana, Dvořák, and Josef Suk–Dvořák’s pupil and son-in-law, and the second violinist of the ensemble. The webpage also includes Bonus Tracks in several formats.Click here for complete contents and notes about PACD 96058 The Bohemian Quartet Plays Smetana, Dvorak & Suk + Bonus Tracks |
 Buy “Copland Before the LP” from Amazon PACD 96057 Copland: Before the LP This CD collects for the first time all of Copland’s pre-LP recordings. While most of them have been issued on LP or CD before, they have never all been available in one place. Further, they are now presented in splendid new transfers by Mark Obert-Thorn, who was able to locate copies of all of the originals including the ultra-scarce New Music Quarterly side. The piano roll of “The Cat and the Mouse” is published in any audio recording for the first time. Click here for complete contents and notes about Copland: Before the LP |
 Buy from Amazon (CD or Download) Download from iTunes PACD 96056 Richter Rarities with Orchestra |
 Buy Sviatoslav Richter – Szymanowski – Limited Edition – Richter 100 Series via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD 96054/5 Sviatoslav Richter – Szymanowski – Limited Edition – Richter 100 Series Note: Our arrangement with Polish Radio allows for the production of only 1500 copies. The set will not be reprinted once the initial pressing is sold. Sviatoslav Richter was a great advocate of the music of Karol Szymanowski. In 1982, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Szymanowski’s birth, Richter put together two complete concerts of Szymanowski’s music. He was joined by soprano Galina Pisarenko and by violinist Oleg Kagan. For these concerts Richter revived works he had played previously and added the two song cycles, two Mazurkas, and the Sonata No. 3 to his repertoire. Click here for complete contents and notes about Sviatoslav Richter – Szymanowski – Limited Edition – Richter 100 Series |
Parnassus charged into the overcrowded classical CD market in 1996. As many CDs as the market offers, there are still some needs that we thought weren’t being met. So far we have offered:
- hours of unique early Sviatoslav Richter performances in surprisingly good sound (and more to come)
- the only recording of ‘cello etudes we’ve ever seen, played by one of the greatest cellists of our time (Janos Starker)
- fine recordings of one of the world’s great string quartets (Colorado String Quartet) in standard repertoire (Brahms, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Beethoven)
- uniquely beautiful performances of Baroque solo cantatas and arias (Carole Bogard), along with Bogard’s two-disc sets of American and French songs and her critically-acclaimed recording of Handel’s Tamerlano, still the most complete performance of that opera ever issued.
- the only recordings of songs by Otto Luening and Robert Starer (some with Starer at the piano) by the excellent soprano Danielle Woerner.
- our Composers Series starts with Serge Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky in performances never issued on CD before (and mostly never on LP either). It will continue with music of Schulhoff
- two CDs of the superb flutist and composer Katherine Hoover, one disc of her orchestral compositions, the other her own performances of varied repertoire including her own Kokopeli, one of the flute’s greatest hits. (Another Hoover CD is now in production.)
- New Orleans composer-pianist Tom McDermott’s tasty collection All the Keys and Then Some Items from this CD are featured in the HBO TV series “Treme”
::::Parnassus Records Classical CDs::::
CDs may also be ordered direct from parnassus@parnassusrecords.com
 All our Sviatoslav Richter CDs are here Read about our Sviatoslav Richter legal victory here. |
 All our Colorado Quartet CDs are here |
 Eugene Drucker – Bach: Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas
Buy Eugene Drucker – Bach: Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas via Amazon PACD96009/10 is a two CD set featuring a founding member of the world-famous Emerson String Quartet. Remastered for this, the first US release of a set originally available in a very limited edition in the UK. This edition contain extensive analytical notes from the artist himself. More details. |
 Janos Starker: The Road To Cello Playing +
Buy Janos Starker: The Road To Cello Playing + via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD97008 is a collection of works for unaccompanied cello played by the great master cellist Janos Starker. This disc includes the complete “Road to Cello Playing” a collection of etudes previously issued only on LP, supplemented with concert works by Hindemith, Cassado, and Bernhard Heiden, taken from a broadcast and never before published. More details. |
 Danielle Woerner Sings Luening and Starer “She Walks In Beauty”
This item is now out of print. Some remaining physical copies may be found here: PACD96012 – Danielle Woerner coached Otto Luening’s songs with the composer, and has performed Robert Starer’s songs with the composer at the piano. This CD offers 77 minutes of music by these two composers, newly recorded, with some of the Hudson Valley’s finest musicians as collaborators and including Starer at the piano, his first commercial recording in nearly 50 years. More details |
 Gregorian Chant: The Early Interpreters
Buy Gregorian Chant: The Early Recordings via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD96015/16 – More than 2½ hours of chants recorded from 1928 to 1936 in a variety of locations. Most items have never been published before and all are new to CD. Extensive liner notes and texts. More details. |
 Night Skies: The Music of Katherine Hoover
Buy Night Skies: Orchestral Music of Katherine Hoover via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD 96019 – Katherine Hoover is one of America’s finest and most successful composers, with performances throughout the U.S. and Europe and nearly two dozen recordings of her music. Yet there has never been an entire LP or CD devoted to her music until now. This disc offers more than an hour of newly-recorded orchestral woks, most done under the composer’s supervision. Hoover’s accessible yet stimulating music will appeal to any music-lover whose taste travel as far into the 20th century as the music of Bartók, one of Hoover’s favourites. More details. |
 Kokopeli: Katherine Hoover Plays
Buy Kokopeli: Katherine Hoover Plays via Amazon PACD96031 – Demonstrating her abilities both as flutist and composer, this CD features Katherine Hoover’s title composition as well as her Masks and Winter Spirits. Also includes the “London Diversions” program. Featuring collaborations with Stoddard Lincoln, Don Bailey, Scott Dunn and Victoria Drake. More details. |
 Carole Bogard Sings Baroque Cantatas and Arias
This item is now out of print. Remaining physical copies can be found here: Digital versions: PACD96020 – Carole Bogard was one of the most widely acclaimed American singers of Baroque (and contemporary!) music. Our first reissue from her Cambridge label recordings includes more than 70 minutes of superb Bach, A. Scarlatti, and Handel. More details. |
 Carole Bogard: American Songs
Buy Carole Bogard: Collection of American Songs via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD96021/22 – Parnassus is pleased to present a superb collection of American songs, half of them previously unpublished, and in two cases accompanied by the composers. Groups of songs by John Duke and Richard Cumming feature the composers as pianists also David del Tredici makes a rare appearance as a performer. This 2 CD set includes much more and extensive notes and texts. More details |
 Carole Bogard: French Songs
Buy Carole Bogard: French Songs via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD96036/37 – Showing her versatility, Carole Bogard moves beyond the Baroque and demonstrates her exquisite command of french chanson. This 2 CD set includes extensive notes and tests. More details. |
 Prokofiev and Stravinsky – Composers Conduct
Buy Prokofiev and Stravinsky – Composers Conduct via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD96023 – Prokofiev’s only recording as a conductor has been reissued several times in incomplete or poor-sounding transfers. The clarity of this complete transfer will come as a revelation. Stravinsky’s only Mexican recording is his rarest, never before reissued. More details. |
 The Stuyvesant Quartet Plays 20th Century Quartets
Buy The Stuyvesant Quartet Plays 20th Century Quartets via Amazon (CD) PACD 96026 – The Suyvesant String Quartet was one of the outstanding American chamber ensembles of the 1940s and ’50s. This disc is its first appearance on CD. The live performance of the Quincy Porter Quartet has never been published before. More details. |
 Arthur Grumiaux: The Boston Recordings
Buy Arthur Grumiaux: The Boston Recordings via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD96028 – These were Arthur Grumiaux’s first LP recordings, made at the time of his first U.S. tour in 1951-2. They reveal a dynamic young artist, even more outgoing and vital than on his superb later LPs. These early Boston recordings are great rarities in their original editions and have never before been reissued. More details. |
 Kipnis/Kushner – Piano, 4 HandsBuy Kipnis/Kushner – Piano, 4 Hands via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD96030 – Parnassus Records is proud to offer the debut recording of the Igor Kipnis-Karen Kushner duo, in an extended program of music for piano four hands recorded at concerts and studio broadcasts. More details. |
 Handel – Tamerlano
Buy Handel – Tamerlano via Amazon (CD) PACD96039/40 – The first recording ever made of Handel’s opera Tamerlano, a nearly-complete version highly acclaimed by critics, is now reissued on the Parnassus label. The three-disc set, running nearly four hours in length, is being offered with complete libretto for the price of two discs. More details. |
 Tom McDermott – All The Keys And Then Some
Buy Tom McDermott – All The Keys and Then Some via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD96041 – Including 38 tracks and clocking in at 72 minutes, the disc is comprised of two suites. “All the Keys” is a cycle of 24 pieces for solo piano in the all the major and minor keys and has elements of klezmer, tango, boogie-woogie, rag, New Orleans R&B, Chopinesque waltz, Brazilian choro and forms not so easily described. “Some Friends of Mine” is a set of 14 portraits of friends from New Orleans and St. Louis, composed for piano or Kurzweil synthesizer. Items from this CD are featured in the HBO TV series “Treme” |
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Buy Katherine Hoover String Music via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD 96045 Parnassus Records presents with great pride our third CD release of music of Katherine Hoover. Her String Quartets are recent works. The First Quartet was inspired by Native American music and includes a quote from a Hopi lullaby. The Second Quartet, subtitled “The Knot,” deals with the untangling of musical knots. Both Quartets were written for, and premiered by, what Hoover calls “the fabulous Colorado Quartet.” The Trio, composed in 1978, was dedicated to the memory of a friend. It was recorded that year for the Leonarda label, and here receives its first CD issue. |
 Piano Music of Katherine Hoover
Buy Hoover – Piano Works via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD 96050 Music of Katherine Hoover has been widely performed and recorded on more than two dozen CDs, including three previous CDs on the Parnassus label. Hoover is particularly popular among flutists, since she has written prolifically for her own instrument. However, Hoover’s piano music is less well known, and the current CD represents the first recording devoted entirely to her piano works. The music on the disc is all first recordings, performed under the composer’s supervision by Mirian Conti. More details. |
 The Lost Art of Jacob Lateiner
Buy The Lost Art of Jacob Lateiner via Amazon (CD or MP3) PACD 96051/2 Jacob Lateiner was one of the great pianists of the 20th century. This set of two of his live recitals will justify that statement to music lovers not familiar with his playing. More details. |
 Erwin Schulhoff: His Complete Piano Recordings
Buy PACD 96011 Erwin Schulhoff: His Complete Piano Recordings via Amazon (CD) PACD 96011 In recent decades, the music of Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942) has become increasingly popular in the concert halls and recording studios of the world. It is now possible to acquire recordings of most of Schulhoff’s music. However, until now, only about a third of Schulhoff’s small discography as a pianist has been available to modern audiences. Now, thanks to the cooperation of the International Piano Archives at Maryland and the OREL Foundation, along with the audio restoration work of Mark Obert-Thorn, all of Schulhoff’s known recordings are included in a new CD release from Parnassus. More details. |
