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.

Robert Schumann's piano music, which Gerhard Oppitz now presents for the third time in a specific configuration of works, displays a special characteristic in contrast to the piano writing of the major 19th-century Romantic piano composers Alkan, Chopin and Liszt. The attempt to categorize his works either as contributions to the Classical models of sonata and variation, or to the Romantic genres of Etude, Ballade, Scherzo and a wealth of dance and character pieces, proved unsatisfactory; that remains the case even though Schumann himself was a regular contributor to the two forms handed down from the Classical era. Schumann himself, then, was engaged in the creative questioning of hitherto valid compositional and musical ideals.

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)

Fanny Mendelssohn composed a diverse oeuvre that includes organ, piano and vocal works. Her organ pieces reflect the Protestant tradition and demonstrate her contrapuntal mastery. The piano works are lyrical, technically demanding and often designed as character pieces. Her vocal works are particularly numerous, including over 250 songs, which are characterized by fine word-sound combinations and romantic expressiveness. This 6 CD box allows an insight into the composer's creativity.

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.

Mody is a very good pianist and a joyful musician: he masters the technical problems with esprit, his pedaling is pleasingly lean, but above all he has an extremely colourful sound spectrum and an imaginative, improvisational approach to Scriabin's inner worlds." Klassik-heute "Pervez Mody is an extraordinary musician and a unique artist" Martha Argerich, 2009

Rheinberger's chamber music work bears witness to his deep roots in the classical tradition, particularly in composers such as Mendelssohn and Brahms. His compositions are characterised by clear formal structures, melodic elegance and harmonic richness.

Louis Ferdinand Prince of Prussia (1772-1806) was not only heir to the Prussian throne, but also a talented composer. Inspired by the music of his time, especially Beethoven and Mozart, he created a series of works characterized by great emotional depth and melodic elegance. His oeuvre mainly comprises piano pieces, chamber music and songs that reflect both courtly refinement and personal sensitivity. Despite his early death, Louis Ferdinand left behind a remarkable contribution to German music of the early Romantic period, which is still recognized today.

I will always remember Johannes Martin Kranzle´s and Hilko Dumno's Winterreise journey as the most vivid I have experienced. A Winterreise of the now, where one had the feeling of actually accompanying the journey. A Winterreise in which one had the distinct feeling of walking arm in arm with the artists, in which the boundary between stage and auditorium had been removed - not through contrived pathos or deliberate artistry but through the sheer authenticity and forthright passion of these two supremely generous artists. Victor Medem, Director of the Schubertiada Vilabertran

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

The recording breathes the playful spirit of Mozart's time - Goebel's expertise in the repertoire of this period combined with the technical refinement of the ensemble guarantee a musical finest hour. "By means of lucid sound design, coherent phrasing and a style-conscious use of ornamentation, Goebel succeeds in giving the altogether rather lightweight works back their dignity, so to speak." concerti

The special vibrations that the Hohenstaufen Chamber Music Festival generates are directly audible in the contents of this anniversary CD box, which consists solely of live performances. The choice of music ranges far and wide through all periods and genres: from Johann Sebastian Bach through key works of the Viennese Classical school and the German Romantics to French Impressionist compositions and classics of the Modern era. There are jazz numbers and contemporary works too, a further pointer to the ethos of the Hohenstaufen Chamber Music Festival, which does not call for tradition to be upheld on principle but aims at a constant rediscovery of the world and it's inhabitants through their sounds and timbres, no matter whether they come from "old" or "new", "serious" or "light" music. Hohenstaufen doesn't pigeonhole things like that; it believes in taking your partners to make "good" music. Music is good, quite simply, when it moves us, uplifts us, challenges us. "Music must never be comfy," to quote the pithy conclusion that Helmuth Rilling, to whom the Festival is greatly indebted, once drew. "It must stir people, touch them personally, give them food for thought." If the pieces brought together here can achieve this, the Hohenstaufen Chamber Music Festival will have received the biggest twentieth birthday present it could have.

I see the future of Baroque orchestral music in the hands of modern ensembles - the fetish of the 'original instrument' has had it's day, but not the profoundly trained professional who guides an orchestra into the deeper dimensions of the composition. For it isn't the instrument that makes the music, but the head! (Reinhard Goebel "the icon of early music" - Suddeutsche Zeitung)