J. S. Bach’s sonatas for violin and harpsichord and his solo partitas for violin and flute are presented on this recording on solo cello or on cello and organ. The transcriptions were made by Ditta Rohmann and László Fassang. The two instruments are a special feature of the recording: the cellist plays every piece on violoncello piccolo, a five-string cello often used in Bach’s time, while the Thuringian style organ of the Cegléd Lutheran church was modeled on instruments the master had used in his time. Ditta Rohmann is a versatile musician, whom we may encounter as a soloist in great concert halls as well as improvising with world music ensembles or playing a major role in joine productions with dancers, as a chamber musician, and most recently as an actress. She currently teaches private students and leads masterclasses. As the prizewinner of the most prestigious organ competitions in the world, Laszlo Fassang is one of the most versatile organists of his generation. He received his degrees with distinction from the Liszt Academy of Music and the Paris Conservatory. Prominent among his prizes are the golden medal for improvisation at the 2002 Calgary competition and the grand prix for interpretation and audience prize at the 2004 organ competition in Chartres.

After their album entitled Singing Cello, this recording released by Istvan Vardai and Julien Quentin offers a compilation of popular cello pieces of the 19th and 20th century, performed on the famous Stradivari cello referred as '1673 Strad', earlier used by Jaqueline du Pre´ and Lynn Harrell. The cellos manufactured by the renowned Italian instrument-maker have, somewhat surprisingly, an even better reputation than his violins. Out of the 65 items remaining, the '1673 Strad' was made relatively early, being the only Stradivari cello dating back to this year. Istvan Vardai was born in 1985. He studied with Laszlo Mezo at the Liszt Academy of Music and with Reinhard Latzko at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Veinna. Since his debut concert in 1997, he has performed all over the world and has won numerous accolaides. French pianist Julien Quintin has established himself as a versatile and sensitive musician, exhibiting great maturity and poise. His remarkable depth of musicianship and distinct clarity of sound coupled with flawless technique, make him an artist in demand as both soloist and chamber musician.

This new release compiles the very best recordings from Hofi Geza, Hungarian actor and comedian. The most popular Hungarian parodist, he had a strong influence on the culture of Hungarian cabaret. Hofi Géza was for many years the highlight of Hungarian cabaret. He never followed any pattern or trend; he was always following his own trail. His unique performances made him the most popular comedian of his time in Hungary. His death created an enormous vacuum in Hungarian comedy, and it is a common consensus among people who witnessed his performances that there may never be another comedian like him. His style as a comedian was unique. It couldn't exactly be categorized as stand-up comedy, though it didn't fit any other category either. There are no current comedians in Hungary who would try to emulate his style-his legacy on Hungarian humor is somewhat analogous to that of Beethoven's on German music in the 1800s. His theatre shows were sold out many months in advance, and there was rarely an empty seat in the house.

For the first volume of this series of seven albums, Gergely Ittzes has selected seven sonatas representative of the flute music of the 18th century. The works are played on modern flute but informed by authentic performance practice. Original obligato keyboard parts are played on piano while continuo realizations are performed on harpsichord. The players have aimed at an analytic, though spontaneous, rendition. Gergely Ittzes won several prizes and awards including the Aleksander Tansman International Competition of Musical Personalities. Alex Szilasi and Anthony Newman join Ittzes on the keyboards.

J.S. Bach’s concertos are regular and frequent concert repertoire. These slightly more than two-dozen concerti, composed for orchestra, nevertheless constitute only a fraction of Bach’s works. On this recording, the Capella Savaria, featuring Liszt Prize-holder soloist Zsolt Kalló, perform reconstructed versions of two of these lost violin concerti, supplemented by two surviving violin concertos. The Capella Savaria has earned its fame as the first period-instrument chamber orchestra in Hungary. “One of Europe’s best ensembles.” (Opus Magazine, Canada)

The name Arcangelo Corelli still rings familiar even 300 years after his death. Of his pupils, however, who knew him and could pass on his style first hand, we have very little information. On this recording, in addition to a sonata by the Master, we have selected compositions by these excellent violinists, who were celebrated virtuosi in their time. Apart from the Corelli piece, all the others are world premiere recordings.

•We find in the historical record imploring lines written by Vivaldi (1678–1741) to his patron, Count Morzin, when recommending a set of compositions for his support and patronage (op. 8) which include the violin concertos known as “The Four Seasons”. In the end, history has certainly been the biggest benefactor. For this recording the cycle is played by the Capella Savaria (“one of Europe’s best ensembles” - Opus Magazine), led by Zsolt Kalló, on period instruments.

For music lovers, some numbers are inextricably linked to a particular composer or genre: with Beethoven, it is 32, the number of piano sonatas with opus numbers. Three sonatas in minor keys have been selected from opuses comprising several independent works by Tamás Érdi, of whose playing Zoltán Kocsis said: "His touch on the keyboard is far more sensitive than that of sighted people. In his playing, in certain dynamic ranges there is a sensitivity that for us is simply not possible. I would go so far as to say that this ability could be gauged as Chopinesque." Pianist Tamás Érdi lost his eyesight as a result of an oxygen overdose in a defective incubator. His interest in music was discovered at a very young age. His teachers use a unique method called "the structural method" to teach Tamás play the piano, whereby he virtually "recomposes" the music he is introduced to.

The piano-ballade is Chopin's invention, and, at the same time, the most individual and poetic genre of romantic piano literature, the purest manifestation of the romantic aesthetic. The four Ballades, conceived at the peak of his compositional career, are telling their tales in quite unique formal designs, all different from one another. Chopin's free improvisations, (improvisations: "impromptu") were seemingly "piano pieces" without genre; individual pieces for performance, longer than the nocturnes but shorter than the ballades or scherzos. "His compositions were all but pale shadows of his improvisations,' wrote Georges Sand. The highly-regarded Hungarian-born pianist Gábor Farkas has, in the decade since winning the International Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar alongside the coveted Audience Prize in the same competition in 2009, come to be recognized internationally as a wholly exceptional artist.

There is only a small number of orchestral pieces in Johann Sebastian Bach's oeuvre- which is surprising considering that the composer worked with excellent ensembles in both of his positions- as "Konzermeister" and Kapellmeister" - in Kothen and Weimar during the period between 1708 and 1723. This is particularly true of concertos where there is a high number of transcriptions, rearranged predominantly for harpsichord. Capella Savaria, Hungary's oldest period instrument ensemble, presents four of these on this album. The Capella Savaria (Szombathely) was founded in 1981 by Pál Németh. Their aim is to play 17th and 18th century music using the documents of the period. The play on authentic instruments with copies of bows of the epoch, studying the instrumental tutors of the Baroque era, referring to articulation, embellishment and, in wider sense, the characteristic sound of the whole period. The basis of the ensemble is strings, which are joined by other instruments as required.

Brahm's viola sonatas, composed in the last few years of his life, have become cornerstones of that instrument's repertoire. They are what we regard as "the" genuine romantic viola sonata reflecting the late Brahms' substantial and richly emotional musical world. The Two Songs with viola and piano pay tribute to the friendship between the composer and the celebrated violinist, Joseph Joachim. Besides viola player Péter Bársony this recording features the fabulous pianist Péter Frankl and the opera-singer, popular with the audiences of the most reputed concert halls, Ildikó Komlósi. Péter Bársony is a professor at Franz Liszt Academy of Music and Kunstuniversitat Graz. He regularly gives concerts all over the globe, both as a soloist and in chamber music partnerships.