One of the popularly cherished notions about musical genius is that its products spring sui generis from the minds of composers. Originality is, to be sure, an important quality in nearly any compositional masterpiece. But as the accumulated trove of Western art music has grown over time, its substance and traditions have provided rich stimulus to composers’ imaginations. Each of the three compositions recorded here entails, among other things, an ingenious transformation of pre-existing musical material or styles. The eight-voice, Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth joins the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot in an exhilarating live performance of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia. Morlot paired Berio’s Sinfonia with Boulez’s Notations and Ravel’s La valse, creating a sonic spectrum unlike any other. Hear every stunning detail of this recording in an immaculate 5.1 digital surround sound version engineered by 2017 Grammy winner for Best Surround Sound, Dmitriy Lipay.

Admittedly, Franz Schubert's biography offers little in the way of great adventures, love affairs, glamour and long journeys. Jörg Handstein – in what is now his tenth audio biography in the successful BR-KLASSIK series - devotes himself here to a composer with an altogether quieter life. Schubert's story still remains an exciting one: no famous composer before him had ever chosen to lead a life in which his musical activities were supported solely by a private circle of friends. This did not succeed without resistance, setbacks, great disappointments and personal tragedies. Schubert's unhappiness in love, his terrible illness, and probably also his early death were, ultimately, the price he paid for this unconventional life. He bravely stood his ground, however, countering an age of cultural and political paralysis with his great and bold art. In this audio biography, Schubert’s creative path can be followed in around 130 musical examples – something impossible in any biography in book form. Alongside Udo Wachtveitl (narrator) and Robert Stadlober (Schubert), many other voices bring the composer’s world and his circle of friends to life. Schubert’s conventional image is encumbered by two clichés. On the one hand, we have the warm-hearted, sentimental man, known to his friends familiarly as Schwammerl (“mushroom”), churning out endless songs and beautiful melodies, and on the other, the incessantly tortured outsider, with music primarily conveying a sense of “brokenness” and “alienation”. This audio biography allows Schubert to speak for himself as often as possible. Despite the sparse documentation, a far more nuanced picture emerges – and the well-known Austrian actor and rock musician Robert Stadlober finds richly contrasting colors for it. We discover a different Schubert here: single-minded, argumentative, philosophical, reflective, and with a wide range of interests. That is also what makes his life story so exciting.

Kenneth Woods writes of this release: “The idea for this orchestration of the Brahms Piano Quartet in A Major came to me spontaneously in a flash of inspiration while I was coaching chamber music at the Ischia Chamber Music Festival in 2008. … I listened to a group play through the first movement of the piece in its original form. As I began to work with them, I found myself speaking to the pianist, as I often do, in orchestral terms. “Can you try playing the opening phrase more like…. a quartet of hunting horns?” I asked…After the coaching I had a bit of free time, and found myself listening to an imaginary orchestral version of the entire first movement emerging from that horn quartet. I was fascinated by the ways in which I thought an orchestral realization could bring to the fore some the nature imagery and vernacular music that is present in the original. By the end of that morning, I’d decided to try to undertake a realization of the orchestration. It took several years from that morning on Ishcia to complete this orchestration. After my initial work on it in 2008, the piece was set to one side while I attended to other projects with firmer deadlines. The final version was premiered on 21 November, 2017 with the English Symphony Orchestra in Cheltenham Town Hall. The scores of Brahms’ Four Symphonies are like a sacred text for me. They are among the most studied, most loved, most performed works in my library. In trying to understand his use of the orchestra well enough to translate this Piano Quartet into a symphonic sound world, I’ve found my admiration for Brahms’ achievement continuing to grow.”

This release presents a musical portrait of Johannes Brahms in piano works from his early and later years. The Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor Op. 5 is a masterpiece. Here Brahms is at his most passionate, impulsive and grandiose, a young hero about to conquer the world. Skipping several decades we enter the world of late Brahms, here the passion is tinged with a sweet melancholy, reflective and resigned. Brahms called his later Klavierstücke “Wiegenlieder meiner Schmerz” (Lullabies of my sorrow). Young Russian pianist Philipp Kopachevsky’s musical intuition is the key to enter the musical world of Brahms, his quasi improvisatory playing makes the music come to life under his hands. His sound, from a thundering heroism to a murmuring chiaroscuro, touches the listener’s soul directly. Philipp Kopachevsky is one of the most remarkable pianists of the younger generation. Winner of several international competitions he is in much demand as a soloist, having played with conductors like Rostropovich, Gergiev, Spivakov, Pletnev and many others. This is Philipp Kopachevsky’s third album for Piano Classics. His first CD received rave reviews: “..a rare discovery…extraordinary talent…a great musician..” (Piano World) “..technical mastery and deeply searching musicality…a must…6 Stars..” (Piano News Germany) “…Kopachevsky’s hands communicate real musical thought, he adds a touch of intensity to every bar..personal and intriguing…” (Fanfare)

Celebrated for their only complete recording of Haydn’s string quartets on period instruments, the Festetics Quartet also tackled the world of Schubert, by matching two quartets which since the very first bars depict the twilit, death-haunted atmosphere which is one of the areas peculiar to his imagination. The Festetics Quartet, one of Europe’s most accomplished period instrument quartets, was founded in Budapest in 1982. While the group’s repertoire embraces the complete quartets of Mozart and many of Beethoven and Schubert’s quartets, the group has a special affinity for the quartets of Haydn. They have been widely praised for their perception and unity of style, and the ensemble performs regularly in Hungary and throughout Europe.

This disc presents three sonatas, No. 1, No. 23 ('Appassionata'), and No. 30, Op. 109, performed by 2008 Grammy-winning pianist, Garrick Ohlsson. In the words of annotator Frank Cooper, 'Three stages of greatness-exploratory, revolutionary, visionary- are represented here...'.

Martin Funda, leader of the Arminda Quartet, states, “Opus 59 is extremely challenging. One needs time to grasp these pieces. As performers, we are surprised again and again to note how quickly Beethoven starts leading us into unfamiliar waters. The F Major Quartet is an ‘extrovert’ piece; at the same time; it contains a series of incredibly profound moments and a variety of different moods which we have to learn to interpret.” In comparison, Shostakovich’s Opus 118, also featured on this recording, is surprisingly carefree at first glance. He wrote this work at his retreat center in the Armenian spa town of Dilijan, and the relaxed atmosphere can be heard in the writing. Armida Quartet was founded in Berlin in 2006, and took their name from an opera by Haydn who was the “father of the string quartet.” Since their inception, the group has won numerous awards, most notably First Prize, Audience Prize, and six other awards at the ARD International Competition in 2012.

Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the musical city of Leipzig are closely intertwined with each other: Felix Mendelssohn, Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester, made the work an indispensable part of the concert hall repertoire and Arthur Nikisch, one of his successors, established in 1918 the worldwide tradition of performing this groundbreaking and pioneering work at the end of the year. The phenomenal Herbert Blomstedt, Gewandhaus-kapellmeister from 1998 to 2005, once again conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Leipzig for the 2016 New Year celebrations. With his former orchestra, of which he has been Conductor Laureate since 2005 and with whom he enjoys a close friendship, he achieves a gripping interpretation of this monumental work. Under the direction of Blomstedt, together with his excellent musicians, the choirs, and an outstanding quartet of soloists led by the magnificent voice of Christian Gerhaher, the utopia of global freedom and humanity in Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy," penned in Leipzig in 1785, grows to overwhelming dimensions.