This new studio recording contains three works for piano and orchestra that virtuoso pianist Orion Weiss and conductor Leon Botstein first performed in concert at the Bard Music Festival. Together, the three works span almost a century of musical Romanticism and are as different from one another as the generations they represent. In each piece, the virtuoso genre becomes a means by which the composer responds to a specific source of inspiration—in the first case (Korngold), a performer and family friend who had suffered a horrendous tragedy, in the second (Rimsky Korsakov), a venerated old master, and in the third (Chopin) a melody from a beloved opera.

REVIEWS:

All the performances on this album, featuring the brilliant pianist Orion Weiss, are excellent.

– New York Times

Thoroughly entertaining.

– BBC Music Magazine

In November 1900, the music journalist Yevgeny Petro-vsky gave Rimsky-Korsakov his libretto, entitled Prince Ivan, which is loosely based on Russian folk tales about a mean and ugly wizard. Despite being initially interested in the text the composer eventually rejected it, put off by its unfathomable symbolism. However, in the summer of the following year the score of Wagner’s Siegfried pro-vided inspiration for fresh and innovative harmonic ideas, which he decided to include in a work dealing with motifs of black magic. With the help of his daughter Sofia, he wrote his own script based on Petrovsky’s original, and as early as in spring of 1902 he had a one-act opera in three scenes ready – Kashchey the Immortal – which was successfully staged in Moscow before the year had ended. The work is presented in a brilliant new interpretation on this new release.

Having recently recorded the symphonies of both Glazunov and Rachmaninov, we continue our Russian theme with the first of a series of recordings of Rimsky-Korskov's symphonies. These are performed by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kees Bakels. The present disc couples one of Rimsky-Korsakov's most popular pieces with a symphony that deserves a much wider audience. Both works swhow their author's fertile, often fantastical imagination as welll as the mastery of orchestration for which he is renowned. While Scheherazade is in every orchestra's repertoire and most music lovers' collections, Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonies inexplicably remain under-recorded and appear infrequently on the concert platform. Both works exemplify the Romantic notion of programme music (where extra-musical references are explicitly related to what we hear). Rimsky-Korsakov had a vivid sense of colour that brings his programmes to life and which make his works highly appealing. The disc once again illustrates just how good the Malyasian Philharmonic Orchestra is under its founding conductor Kees Bakels.

On the present release Duo Wolanska/Gajda presents transcriptions for Piano and Accordion. DUO WOLAŃSKA/GAJDA is an unusual chamber music ensemble. The combination of piano and accordion opens unlimited performance possibilities. Two solo, independent instruments collide with each other on a sonoristic level, thus creating a new quality of instrumental dialogue. Established in 2014, the ensemble is formed by pianist Julia Wolańska-Gajda and accordionist Michał Gajda. On a regular basis, the artists give concerts in Poland and abroad (New York, Virginia, Arkansas, Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Austria, Germany, or the Netherlands). They have already performed in the most prestigious concert halls in the world: New York’s Carnegie Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Mozarteum Saal in Salzburg, Musikverein in Vienna, Kioi Hall in Tokyo, or Guri Art Hall in Seoul. Duo Wolańska/Gajda has won a number of coveted awards and accolades. They are prizewinners of, among others, the Gold Medal in the 4th Manhattan International Music Competition (2019), 1st prize in the 1st Vienna International Music Competition (2019), 1st prize in the Salzburg Grand Prize Virtuoso Inter-national Music Competition (2018), 1st prize in the 54th Internationaler Akkordeonwettbewerb Klingenthal (2017), ‘Top Winner’ 1st prize in the 25th Ibla Grand Prize World Music Competition in Ragusa (2016), or 1st prize in the Val Tidone International Music Competitions (2015).

In a deserted city, a young boy stumbles into a theatre. He wanders through the auditorium, where rows of velvet chairs, draping curtains and chandeliers seem to lie in lonely wait for audiences to return. The theatre may be empty, but the show will go on...

Starring characters from the most popular festive ballets, the worlds of the Snow Queen and the Sugar Plum Fairy collide when the theatre bursts into life. In this spectacular, feature-length film, you’ll be treated to an extraordinary show filled with acrobats, snowflakes, clowns, princes and – of course – beautiful ballerinas.

The Secret Theatre features the choreography of Scottish Ballet founder Peter Darrell and CEO/Artistic Director Christopher Hampson, co-directed for the screen by Jess & Morgs. Featuring set and costumes designed by Lez Brotherston, music by Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky recorded live by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra - including a new additional composition by Frank Moon, and of course spectacular performances from the full Scottish Ballet Company.

Together with narrator Rufus Beck, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin presents "The Five Thieves and the Secret in the Sack". Inspired by the Thousand and One Nights, it is a magical story about the power of friendship. Author Katharina Neuschaefer and illustrator Martin Fengel captivate their young audience with this exotic tale, set amid the vastness of the desert – and musically illustrated by the colorful sounds of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade".