The musicians on this album are some of the best in Canada. Pianist Alain Lefèvre, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and its conductor Alexander Shelley and composer Walter Boudreau have come together for the world premiere recording of Boudreau’s masterful Concerto de l’asile, a tribute to the playwright and poet Claude Gauvreau (1925-1971). A musical summit that will mark the history of contemporary music! In addition to this concerto, you will hear the classic Shéhérazade, Op. 35 by Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov. The orchestra and its conductor unfold an epic tableau from One Thousand and One Nights as they conjure to life the brilliant and cunning Scheherazade who emerges victorious in her resistance against the evil Shahriar. Splendid!

The Poulenc Trio is an impressive chamber ensemble made up of respected oboe, bassoon, and piano virtuosi. This release is the ensemble’s debut album for Delos. For the programme, the ensemble presents a fascinating mixture of old and new from Beethoven, Octavio Vasquez, and the centerpiece of the album, Alfred Schnittke. “From the first notes, we knew that this was a group of first-rate chamber musicians, who took as much delight in the joys of intimate playing as they gave.” (Ken Keaton, Palm Beach Daily News)

This delightful new release from Stradivarius features keyboard works from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the most virtuosic composers for keyboard that has ever lived. In many of Mozart’s first editions, the titles bear the French indication Sonatas pour le Clavecin ou Forte-piani. That is, the works were to be performed on either the harpsichord or the fortepiano. For this release, the rarer option has been chosen: the harpsichord. Basilio Timpanaro and Rossella Policardo make up The Harpsichord Duo. The duo has been engaged in the Italian concert scene for many years, earning public and critical notoriety.

Continuing their acclaimed live series on CORO, the Handel and Haydn Society presents one of Haydn’s early Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) symphonies – No. 26 in D minor. More commonly known as ‘Lamentatione’ because of its association with Easter week, Haydn incorporates an old plainsong chant of the Passion of Christ juxtaposing it against the furious opening theme. The later Paris Symphony No. 86, with its unusual "off-tonic" exposition, shows Haydn at his most inventive and expansive; richly scored it tests the performers’ skill and technique to the limit. Completing the programme is Mozart’s lively and vibrant Violin Concerto in G major performed by H+H’s inspirational Concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky.

When Beethoven assigned the opus number one to his three piano trios, it was evident that the then 22-year-old composer would explore, advance and co-create the composition rules, and that he would very nearly transcend that which was comprehensible to his contemporaries. Upon hearing the first private performance of Op. 1, Joseph Haydn purportedly voiced his doubts as to whether the ordinary listener would be able to understand No. 3. Beethoven experimented with this combination of instruments too – with the form, harmonies and other facets. The Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70 No. 1 may have had its roots in sketches for an opera based on Shakespeare’s drama Macbeth that Beethoven was contemplating at the time. The spectral music of the slow movement, featuring strange modulations and said to be a reworking of the Witches Chorus intended for the opera, earned the piece the nickname “Ghost Trio”. In the “Archduke Trio”, Op. 97, Beethoven emancipated all the instruments, providing each equal scope to apply their technical qualities and possibilities of expression. Its first performance, in April 1814, was the penultimate public concert Beethoven, at the time almost deaf, gave as a pianist. The 250th anniversary of one of the greatest composers of all time was an irresistible impulse for the Smetana Trio. Their new addition to the Beethoven discography possesses all the parameters of the ensemble’s previous, highly acclaimed recordings and will undoubtedly cause quite a stir- Beethoven’s chamber music through the lens of the Smetana Trio.

With "Lass irre Hunde heulen", German singer/songwriter Gisbert zu Knyphausen and pianist Kai Schumacher have dedicated an entire album to one of the greatest composers of the 19th century, Franz Schubert. With a catalogue of over 600 works, Schubert is considered the master of the romantic art song; 10 selected tracks form the well-chosen cross-section through all his creative phases, arranged in a modern way and interpreted in an extraordinary style. A band line-up of drums, bass and guitars forms the sonic foundation, which is enriched by strings and winds and rounded off by Gisbert's smooth vocals. The two musical and biographical universes of the two "songwriters" merge without any residue, while at the same time Gisbert zu Knyphausen gives Schubert's well-known songs his very unique touch.