Our Own CDs
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”
Our CDs are distributed in the USA by Qualiton Imports , in the UK by Regis Records in Japan by Tobu Land Trading, and in Italy by Fenice . Inquiries about distribution in other territories are invited.
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
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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.
Janos Starker: The Road To Cello Playing +
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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.
Danielle Woerner Sings Luening and Starer “She Walks In Beauty”
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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.
Gregorian Chant: The Early Interpreters
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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.
Night Skies: The Music of Katherine Hoover
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PACD 96031 – 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.
Kokopeli: Katherine Hoover Plays
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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.
Carole Bogard Sings Baroque Cantatas and Arias
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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.
Carole Bogard: American Songs
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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.
Carole Bogard: French Songs
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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.
Prokofiev and Stravinsky – Composers Conduct
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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.
The Stuyvesant Quartet Plays 20th Century Quartets
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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.
Arthur Grumiaux: The Boston Recordings
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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.
Kipnis/Kushner – Piano, 4 Hands
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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.
Handel – Tamerlano
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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.
Tom McDermott – All The Keys And Then Some
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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”
Parnassus Records Classical CDs are distributed in the U.S. by Qualiton Imports Ltd.; in Italy by Fenice, and in the U.K. and elsewhere by Alto Distribution. If you cannot find them at your favourite record store, please ask for them and please take a moment to tell us