Anyone who delves into the musical analysis of these 25 gems-into their incredible thematic structure, into their harmonic cosmos-will fall in love with them. Yet, the purely emotional enjoyment of such simply beautiful folk songs is also readily accessible-and, indeed, likely just as Britten intended, as a folk composer of his time. - Daniel Johannsen

Music that transcends the bounds of time. "For me, the finest music exists in an abstract spiritual world that is inspired by the instruments at hand, but by no means determined by them. Bach had few qualms about rewriting pieces for other instruments as he saw fit, and with many musical ideas, in contrast to virtuosos of the Romantic era, for example, one gets the impression that they were hardly influenced by the constraints of the instruments available. It's like a spirit realm, a large white hall of tones, sounds and voices. That's another reason why I found it so interesting from the outset to collaborate with you on this recording and turn this dream project into reality." - Yorck Kronenberg

Pocket-sized drama In essence, the texts by Heine featured in this compilation are taken from his Book of Songs. Behind each title lies a unique personal drama, sometimes in an oriental-style setting (Rubinstein's Der Asra) and occasionally in the finest Rhine Romantic tradition (Clara Schumann's Lorelei). They recount medieval episodes, transporting us into fantastical fairy-tale worlds, providing an escape from everyday life into an imaginary scenario. This is the order of the day, just as it was back then, because, perhaps especially in our often unromantic times, it is not such a bad idea to have someone sing you a song.

Dora Deliyska's programs are frequently dedicated to a specific theme that links the individual pieces together. At first glance, this does not appear to be the case with the present CD. Yet it would not be Dora Deliyska if there were not, in fact, a-perhaps mysterious-connection between the pieces performed. - Christian Kuhn

Without doubt, the German lieder tradition came to maturity during the first decades of the 19th century. Examples exist throughout the 18th century, and the general song tradition in Europe goes back many centuries earlier. But the first significant outpouring of German song emerged with Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. Such is the great simplicity of the form - just voice with piano accompaniment, setting texts that touch on powerful emotions - that composing lieder remained relevant well into the 20th century and beyond. The present recording demonstrates the genre's enduring attraction for both composers and performers, as well as it's expressive range.

'In Mozart's Footsteps' - A Life Between Pop, Jazz and Dodecaphony Few composers have been able to express themselves musically as skilfully as Matyas Seiber: he was the world's first professor of jazz, later becoming active and influential in the International Society for Contemporary Music and a regular presence at major festivals. In his adopted home of England, he turned his hand to a song that can confidently be described as a schmaltzy ballad, subsequently receiving the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for his work. Seiber was also creatively diverse in terms of genres: pieces for an a cappella choir stand alongside chamber and solo pieces, songs, radio and film music, and orchestral works with and without solo instruments.

Each composer on this album encounters the season differently: Schumann with rapture, Grieg with grace, Schubert with introspection, Suk with radiant yearning, Sinding with luminous vitality. In "Fruhlingsrauschen", Nareh Arghamanyan brings together these diverse voices to celebrate not one single vision of spring, but a dialogue of many: an unfolding of human feeling in harmony with the turning of the seasons. Lieder are at the centre of the album: from Schumann's Spring Night to songs about spring by Schubert, transcribed for solo piano by Liszt, Godowsky, Frederic Meinders, and Nareh herself.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonaten und Partiten Vol. 1 (BWV 1003, 1004) Denis Goldfeld, violin Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin are among the most important works in the violin literature. Probably composed in Kothen around 1720, they combine profound musical expressiveness with technical brilliance. The collection consists of three sonatas in the traditional church form (four movements: slow-fast-slow-fast) and three partitas, which vary the dance movements. The Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor is particularly well-known, a monumental work that is considered the pinnacle of Baroque solo violin art. In these compositions, Bach demonstrates a masterful combination of polyphony, structure and emotional depth - on an instrument that seems barely capable of polyphony.

Both as a soloist and as a Lied pianist, Ammiel Bushakevitz has a close relationship with the music of Franz Schubert. Together with Hanssler Classics and the Athenaeum Foundation, the pianist is developing a long-term project to record Schubert's complete solo piano works. Vol. 3 includes last works of the composer.

Musical Life in 19th-Century St. Petersburg: Works for Russian Seven-String Guitar and Fortepiano by Vladimir Morkov This recording is based on a little-known manuscript for guitar and fortepiano held at the Glinka Museum of Music in Moscow. On one level, the album aims to support the revival of the Russian seven-string guitar, an instrument with it's own distinctive tuning (D-G-B-d-g-b-d'), rich history, and unique repertoire. On another, it uses this important archival source as a window into the broader musical culture of mid-19th-century St. Petersburg. To present a fuller picture, we have supplemented the manuscript selections with solo works for both fortepiano and guitar.

All the pieces I chose for this album grip me in a very direct way. On top of that, the fact that they immediately won me over when I first encountered them and now feel very close to me. This choice was therefore a gut decision, based on an emotional concept. The common thread lies in the immense will to express that all these works possess. Simon Tetzlaff about his debut CD

This CD is a celebration of female composers in classical music. For too long their work has been undervalued and overlooked, and unrightly so. Their work, if not dismissed, has often been attributed to male composers. We invite you to a journey across three centuries of extraordinary piano music. See for yourself, why we chose to borrow the title of "Femmes de legende": invisible heroines, whose works deserve to become deeply embedded into our repertoire. "Frauen als Muse" alludes to our ambition for this project to become an inspiration and empower future generations of musicians.

HC25024 Schelb II "My encounter with Josef Schelb's music can be best described as a feeling of extraordinary joy. One hears such expressive sounds, paired with carefully harmonised structures. In addition, there is always a wonderfully playful approach to the various forms and to the peculiarities of some specific moments, as can also be found in Richard Strauss and Sergei Prokofiev. Definitely a musician's composer!" (Leo Siberski)

This recording opens up a lyrically dense world of sound that moves between quiet intimacy and lucid emotional depth. It contains a selection of songs in which the theme of alienation is dealt with on a multidimensional level: geographically, emotionally, and existentially. At the centre of this is the song oeuvre of Alexander Grechaninov, a master of late Russian Romanticism, whose work strikes an unmistakable tone in it's emotional complexity, it's compositional balance, and it's structural clarity.

For fifteen exciting years the manuscripts of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's keyboard concertos have held me in their thrall. Both delightful and challenging at the same time, a hitherto unpublished and therefore completely unknown world revealed it's hidden beauties. With an eighth CD, my series comprising around half of all the available keyboard concertos now comes to an end. This musical form - according to Emanuel Bach himself his 'most personal' - occupied the composer repeatedly throughout his lifetime. From the astonishingly self-confident concerto Wq1 by a 19-year-old to the cheerfully ironic Wq47 from the year of his death, a long and very fruitful career is illustrated by the search for distinctive new means of expression. As later with the symphonies composed in Hamburg, Emanuel Bach here also took 'all the liberties he needed'. We find bold innovation as well as exuberant kinetic joy, exquisite chromaticism and demanding virtuosity alongside profound contemplation. Michael Rische

Vienna, Vienna, just you, and you alone Because Vienna was the capital of music, at least in the 18th century, many pieces were not only premièred there but were also immediately musically adapted there too. There are a variety of ways of engaging fruitfully with the musical works of others, to a greater or lesser extent. One option might be an arrangement, i.e., the adaptation of a composition for a different combination of instruments than originally intended. Entire operas could be arranged for piano, for example, and so find their way into aristocratic salons or bourgeois living rooms. The 19th century also saw the development of the paraphrase, a freely embellished arrangement of popular themes from operas, often in the form of a concert fantasia written for the piano. These also included the variation, or, to be more precise, the series of variations, which took a well-known melody as a model and altering it to a greater degree in each variation, whereby the tempo and key can also change.

Composers' conclave in Leipzig - chamber music by Edvard Grieg, Ethel Smyth and Amanda Maier "An expression of the deep friendship by Maier, Grieg and Smyth may be felt in the linking momentum of their composing: although each of these creative figures embodied their own personal style, each of them draws from the living waters of their country's folk music, which throbs through their works as it's primal impulse."

Lieder by Hanns Eisler, Rudi Stephan, Robert Kahn, Charles Ives "The album REMEMBRANCE is intended to convey the hope and desperate desire for peace - born of conscious memory and the lessons from the past. With this, my debut album, I want to encourage listeners to reflect and consciously remember the suffering and destruction of war and it's physical and psychological consequences. It should be a remembrance of those who fought for a better world, or dreamed of it. A memorial to all of those who innocently lost their lives far too early. The message of this music is today, unfortunately, more topical and relevant than ever. It challenges us to reflect on the human consequences of war and reminds us of the unceasing desire for peace and a better future." Marcel Brunner

Kirnberger Symphoes: World Premiere Recordings "His early acquaintance with the great school of Sebastian Bach, as well as his perspicacity, which enabled him to discover at an early stage the depth and incalculable richness in the works of this great master, unfathomable to so many others, and which had endeared him to this school, an institution which also demanded high precision and refinement in it's practice, something far more difficult to achieve than the glittering lustre of more recently founded schools, as well as for the harmonic part of the art, which it's master fathomed and exhausted as no one before him had ever done, all the more passionately and exclusively, since nature seemed to have denied him the delicate feeling for melodic beauty." - AMZ III, December 1800, p. 506

Chopin Piano Concertos 1 & 2, recorded live with the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra Frédéric Chopin wrote two piano concertos, which are now considered among the most important works of the Romantic period. Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, was composed first in 1829 but was not published until later. It showcases Chopin's youthful virtuosity and lyrical musical language, particularly in the slow middle movement. The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, followed in 1830 and seems more mature, with an even stronger emphasis on the piano over the orchestra. Both concertos are considered key works for Chopin's style: full of poetic melodies, brilliant technique, and sensitive expressiveness.