St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra under baton of Edward Serov had made series of superb recordings during the communist regime. Those recordings had unfortunately not been widely available even after the dissolution of USSR. Kontrapunkt in collaboration with Petersburg Recording Studio and Maestro Serov has restored and released many of those legendary recordings on CD. This latest release features two now deceased leading string players of Russia Victor Liberman (violin) and Yuri Krammarov (viola). The viola concerto by contemporary Russian composer Vladimir Tsytovich has never been available on CD before.

The Danish folk ballad in its classical form is an epic medieval poem with a lyrical refrain, transmitted in oral tradition, most likely started in the 13th century. All the folk ballads in this collection have been set for four mixed voices a cappella, and represent Danish composers throughout more than a hundred and fifty years. Canzone Vocal Ensemble’s earlier releases include very popular “The Danish Song Treasury” series (Vol. 1 Kontrapunkt 32073, Vol. 2 Kontrapunkt 32130, Vol. 3 Kontrapunkt 32155 and Vol. 4 Kontrapunkt 32230)

“A Wondrous Love Story” takes its base in Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” as its sub title “Tristan Variations”indicates. Danish composer Bent Lorentzen has won numerous fi rst prizes in international competitions for composers. He is among the fi rst Danish composers “A Wondrous Love Story” takes its base in Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” as its subtitle “Tristan Variations” indicates. Danish composer Bent Lorentzen has won numerous first prizes in international competitions for composers. He is among the first Danish composers to explore the sonic element of music. “A Wondrous Love Story” has been performed in German and Danish theatres to the critics and audience’s acclaim.