“I don’t want to betray that constantly sounding tone in me, through which I hear the world around,” acknowledged Sergei Rachmaninoff. This tone stimulated by the intonations of folk melodies and bell ringing, and the imagery of the Russian landscape, permeates his Second Symphony. It became a landmark work for the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, whose performances in the leading concert venues of Europe and Asia were widely admired. Dmitry Liss, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Orchestra has created a musical collective of remarkable quality during his 25-year tenure. A life-long personal favorite of Liss, Rachmaninoff is frequently included in the Orchestra’s programs, both in Russia and abroad. “For me, his music is as much a symbol of the flourishing Russian culture of the Silver Age as works by Bunin and Chekhov”, states Liss. “His music always captivates me with its incredible emotional sincerity expressed in a reserved, noble and aristocratic way. Perhaps it’s this combination which gives his music such extraordinary depth.”

As with the previous volumes in their survey of the quartets of Weinberg, the Arcadia Quartet have selected a pair of works from contrasting stylistic periods of the composer’s output. The Fourth Quartet was composed in 1945, shortly after Weinberg had moved to Moscow. The Quartet presents an abstract, psychologically universal picture – a testimony both to the composer’s artistic maturity and to the affinity that Weinberg had discovered with Shostakovich. The Sixteenth Quartet was composed between 1 January and 15 February 1981. It carries a dedication to Weinberg’s sister, Ester, who had perished following the Nazi invasion of Poland and would have been sixty that year. Typical of his later compositional style, the writing is more muscular, harmonically complex, and intense.

Anna Fedorova and the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen under Modestas Pitrenas complete their critically acclaimed cycle of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos with this recording of his Third Piano Concerto. Anna Fedorova considers Rachmaninoff’s Third one of the grandest concertos ever written, stating "it has incredible compelling power and demands mobilization of all the physical, creative and emotional abilities from both soloist and orchestra. At the same time this composition is very romantic by its nature, sort of a lyrical confession of the composer”. BBC Music Magazine has given 5-star reviews to all previous Fedorova/Rachmaninoff recordings, noting that "Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova is a remarkable artist. The clear thinking and feeling behind these Rachmaninoff concerto interpretations are refreshing indeed”. As a post scriptum to this album, Anna Fedorova performs The Messenger for solo piano written by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. It is a musical meditation, a thought for her country and fellow Ukrainians, a message of light, peace and hope for the future.

Mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately trained at Chetham’s School of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the International Opera School of the Royal College of Music. Having won both the Kathleen Ferrier Award and Royal Overseas League Award in the same year, she attended the prestigious Academy of the Verbier Festival. She writes of this project: ‘It has been my great pleasure to record with Joseph once again. We have long shared a mutual passion for early-twentieth-century-romantic Lieder and talked of making a disc including songs by Mahler and Strauss. The opportunity to discover and research lesser-known composers from their era has been thrilling and fascinating. As the world endured the pandemic, we all experienced fear and danger and loss in a way that most of our generation never did before, on such a global scale. Joseph and I felt drawn to reflect on grief, mortality, and bereavement.’ The two lesser-known composers featured in the recording are Johanna Müller-Hermann (who studied with several of the most prominent teachers in Vienna – Josef Labor, Guido Adler, Alexander Zemlinsky, Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Franz Schmidt) and Margarete Schweikert, who’s upbringing and life in Karlsruhe and studies with Joseph Haas in Stuttgart could hardly provide a greater contrast – clearly audible in their music.

CONTENTS:

• Müller-Hermann: Wie eine Vollmondnacht, Op. 20 No. 4
• Müller-Hermann: Der letzte abend, Op. 2 No. 4
• Strauss, R: Befreit, Op. 39 No. 4
• Strauss, R: Allerseelen, Op. 10 No. 8
• Schweikert: Wolke I
• Schweikert: Totenhausen
• Schweikert: Zusammen sterben
• Strauss, R: Auf ein Kind, Op. 47 No. 1
• Strauss, R: Rückleben, Op. 47 No. 3
• Strauss, R: Morgen, Op. 27 No. 4
• Müller-Hermann: Die Stille Stadt, Op. 4 No. 1
• Müller-Hermann: Herbst, Op. 20 No. 2
• Müller-Hermann: In Memoriam, Op. 28 No. 5
• Schweikert: Unser Haus
• Schweikert: Die Entschlafenen
• Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
• Müller-Hermann: Widmung, Op. 20 No. 1
• Schweikert: Einem Vorangegangenen

REVIEW:

Throughout Whately and Middleton prove highly persuasive guides; the pianist bringing the accompaniments vividly to life and the mezzo fully committed to the works and impressive, in particular, in getting the texts across.

-- Gramophone

Nelson Goerner has always dreamed of recording these two masterpieces of the concerto repertoire. With Kazuki Yamada, he has found the ideal partner to approach Ravel's two piano concertos with the sensitivity and poetry for which he is universally renowned. The two works, composed at the same time and both performed for the first time in 1932, are nevertheless very different: premiered in Vienna, the Concerto for the Left Hand was commissioned by the pianist Paul Wittgenstein who had lost his right arm in 1914; premiered in Paris, the Concerto in G is renowned for it's verve and it's famous pianistic interpolations. Ravel had composed the Pavane pour une infante defunte, a famous miniature of exquisite nostalgia, some 33 years earlier. The programme is completed by the Valses nobles et sentimentales; Marguerite Long, who gave the first performance of the Concerto in G, saw these eight linked pieces as a "stylistic panorama of the waltz".

This is Volume Two of four in a first-ever exhaustive set of Ravel's complete works for solo piano, a landmark collection that will embrace numerous world premieres. Here, we have familiar works prepared and recorded from personal scores annotated by pianist and teacher Vlado Perlemuter during his private study and collaboration with the composer (1927-29), alongside world-premieres of transcriptions by Lucien Garban (1877-1959).

For this the second volume in their series of Weinberg’s string quartets, the Arcadia Quartet again presents three quartets from contrasting periods in the stylistic development of the composer. The first quartet of the self-taught teenager, written in 1937, in what Weinberg later described as his ‘neo-impressionist’ style, was heavily revised later in his life, and eventually re-published as Op. 141, in 1985. (It is this revised version that has been recorded here, the original version surviving only in manuscript form, in places virtually illegible.) The seventh quartet dates from 1957, after a gap of twenty turbulent years that had witnessed the emigration of Weinberg from Poland to Russia, his introduction to Shostakovich, and his experience of censorship and imprisonment in 1953. In contrast to his earlier quartets, the mood is more intimate and withdrawn, yet defiant.

The eleventh quartet was composed between 13 October 1965 and 25 December 1966, at a time when Weinberg was mulling over the composition of his first opera, The Passenger. It is dedicated to his first daughter, Victoria, and was premièred by the Borodin Quartet on 13 April 1967 in the Chamber Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire.

REVIEW:

That the emotional contours of Weinberg's works resemble those of his fellow countryman and contemporary Shostakovich's should be no surprise, as the two composers had many of the same experiences, The genuinely tragic first movement and the beginning of the finale of his String Quartet No. 7 match the intensity of any of Shostakovich's middle-period works, and the finale embodies a kind of grim defiance. The String Quartet No. 11 has a broader language that, as with Shostakovich, leaves room for sardonic undercurrents. However, Weinberg is no Shostakovich clone, for he takes routes to the ultimate ends that are different from those Shostakovich employed. The Arcadia Quartet's performances have the feel of a mission accomplished, and the group puts across the emotional content of these works in full spectrum. One awaits further releases in the series, but interested listeners might do well to start with this one. Chandos' Potton Hall sound is superb.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

International award-winning composer Amanda Lee Falkenberg has composed a dynamic new work that merges music and science. The seven-movement symphony dramatizes past, present and future moon explorations, and highlights discoveries that have been made in our search for other worlds that could possibly sustain life.

Through seven exhilarating movements, concertgoers will experience a stunning space adventure that focuses on the stories of these fascinating moons. But what uniquely defines this symphony is its planetary core message which culminates in the 7th movement, dedicated to Earth-Moon. This final movement offers a discovery of a different kind and provides a unique opportunity to view our planet united and whole, from the surface of the Moon, a breathtaking, life-changing experience referred to as THE OVERVIEW EFFECT. The impact of such a privileged sight has inspired a call to action from Astronauts and as a result  has propelled them to share this profound perspective shift with all of us here on Earth.

Through the persuasive and powerful forces of music, the symphony offers Earthlings a chance to contemplate who and where we are in the universe. In 42 minutes they will be taken on an emotional journey, marveling at the wonders of these moons, the beauty of our planet, and possibly even experience their own perspective shift as crew-mates aboard this spaceship we cruise, Earth. This is the story of THE MOONS SYMPHONY.

Learn more through the project's YouTube channel!

REVIEWS:

Growing up in the Barossa Valley, composer Amanda Lee Falkenberg had a better view of the starry night sky than most. Such a view doubtless inspired this seven-movement choral symphony, a majestic evocation of three moons circling Jupiter, two orbiting Saturn and one from Uranus, as well as our own moon. 

An inquisitive and intrepid explorer, Falkenberg involved astronomers and astronauts in her quest to summon up each moon as vividly and accurately as possible. This research is reflected not only in the music but in the economically expressive sung texts which she also composed.

Out of hundreds of moons, Falkenberg’s choice illustrates enormous diversity: from Jupiter’s volcanic Io to oceanic depths of its sister Europa, then to the vast expanses of Saturn’s Titan, the mighty geysers of tiny Enceladus, the enormous canyons of Uranus’ Miranda and the magnetic force of Jupiter’s Ganymede. Finally, and most importantly, the symphony celebrates earthrise as seen from the surface of the moon, issuing a heartfelt call for all humanity to unite. 

Unabashedly cinematic in style, Falkenberg’s score naturally pays homage Holst’s ground-breaking depiction of the planets, while also echoing film music great John Williams and occasionally Bernard Herrmann. 

Falkenberg’s passionate and creative adaptation of the film music genre is firmly embraced by the committed artistry of the London Symphony under Marin Alsop and the warm cohesion and crystalline diction of the London Voices directed by Ben Parry, who recorded the choral music separately due to COVID restrictions. 

The Moons Symphony offers a precious and timely perspective on our own fragile planet that we would do well to heed.

-- Limelight

Louis Vierne will always be best remembered as one France’s most outstanding organ composers, but his piano works are part of a significant wider oeuvre and notable for their colourful and inspired inventiveness. Each of the Douze Préludes carries an evocative title in music filled with the pain and tumult of war and loss, while the epitaphs in Solitude were composed shortly after the deaths of Vierne’s brother and eldest son. Including recently published manuscripts, this is the second of two albums covering repertoire that deserves a place in the pantheon of French piano music.

Transcending the barriers of time, two 20-th century composers dialogue with a genius who lived centuries earlier. An immense painter, sculptor, architect, Michelangelo (1475-1564) wrote poetry expressing turmoil, restlessness, personal and professional anger, written in an energetic and passionate language. Both Dimitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten found inspiration in his texts, and by setting them to music they show their own feelings in a highly personal and characteristic way. - This new recording presents the "7 Sonnets Op. 22" by Benjamin Britten, and the Michelangelo Suite Op. 145 by Dimitri Shostakovich, both intensely expressive and dramatic, each in his own unique musical language. - Sung by Mark Milhofer and Mirco Palazzi, Marco Scolastra is their piano partner. Mark Milhofer's recording of the Folk Songs by Britten for Brilliant Classics received many excellent reviews, including a "Recommended Recording of the Month" on Musicweb.

After the premiere recording of Reynaldo Hahn's concerto (released by RH-022), this is another premiere recording by Szeryng: Benjamin Lees's violin concerto. This 2CD set also includes: Brahms violin concerto with Wolfgang Sawallisch, Bach and Szymanowski violin concerto with Ernest Ansermet, Bartok violin concerto with Ernest Ansermet: all never before published recordings.

Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony is one of conductor Dmitry Liss’ favourite works. It is close to his heart because it encapsulates an ethical standard. Orchestras from countries that have experienced dictature and repression have a special relation to this work. The performers immediately understand what is behind the notation; the mysteries, the magic of ambiguities, the playing with fire. To express oneself so personally is extremely hazardous and Shostakovich does it with sublime skill. Dmitry Liss says he comes closer to the music and admires it more and more each time he conducts it. The Ural Philharmonic Orchestra has performed the work in major venues all over Europe.

Following their successful Dvořák cycle with Signum Records, Albion String Quartet are back with a selection of string quartets by Walton and Shostakovich, recorded in 2021. The concept: to juxtapose two masterpieces written in the same year in the immediate aftermath of war (1946) by composers inhabiting two entirely different social and political worlds in the Soviet Union and Britain respectively.

Formed in 2016, the Albion Quartet brings together four of the UK’s exceptional young string players who are establishing themselves rapidly on the international stage. Recent engagements from the 2017-18 season included performances at the Louvre in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Robert Schumann Gesselschaft in Frankfurt, Båstad Festival in Sweden, Festival of Music in Franconia and Rhine Valley Music Festival in Germany, as well as the Hay Festival in the UK. The members of the quartet play on a fine collection of instruments, including a Stradivarius and Guarnerius.

REVIEW:

Founded in 2016 and led by Tamsin Waley-Cohen, the Albion Quartet pace, phrase, point and color Walton’s volatile textures and agile rhythms with all the sensitivity and energy they require. Yet they are equally successful in the fiercer, more unpredictable contrasts in the Shostakovich, all the way from the deadpan perkiness of the opening to the searing outburst in the middle of the finale that sounds like some hysterical lament for the fallen.

-- BBC Music Magazine

This album presents some of the all-time “classics” of the classical trumpet repertoire. After much deliberation on how, when, what and why, trumpeter Omar Tomasoni explains that two specific events convinced him that now was the time to make the recording: the birth of his son Siebe and the pandemic. The program includes Brandt’s Concertpieces Nos. 1 & 2, Françaix’s Sonatine for Trumpet, Enescu’s Legend for Trumpet & Piano, and Honegger’s Intrada performed by Omar Tomasoni and pianist Jeroen Bal. For a newly commissioned piece by Rob Goorhuis, entitled Canzoni, they are joined by saxophone player Femke IJlstra. The album is concluded by Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, arranged for trumpet & piano by Timofei Dokschitzer. In Omar Tomasoni’s personal note in the booklet he writes: “I want this album to be a testimony to the artist I am today. (...) A big thank you to Rob Goorhuis for accepting my invitation to compose an original piece. His Canzoni went beyond my expectations.” Omar Tomasoni is Principal Trumpet of the Concertgebouworkest in Amsterdam. He is also a trumpet professor at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Jeroen Bal is the pianist of the Concertgebouworkest.

Roctet proposes two String Octets both composed in the same year, 1900. The 18yo Enescu brings fragments of his Romanian background and Viennese and French musical upbringing together into a unity and thus draws us into his inner world. The 21yo Respighi�goes the other way: he becomes the filmmaker with the dramatic flair of capturing beautiful images in music. Roctet has already released a Mendelssohn/Afanasyev Octets disc (CC 72822). Diapason:�Roctet certainly does not play lukewarm, Lively and full of energy!

This recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich under it's Music Director Paavo Jarvi, is the first in a complete cycle of Mahler symphonies. Jarvi has of course conducted Mahler's works many times in his career, but has waited for the right moment to record the complete cycle in the studio: the right moment not only in his life as a musician but also in his relationship with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich; the maturity and power revealed in the orchestra's recordings for Alpha Classics have been hailed by the music press since 2019. "Mahler truly opened up a new universe with the Fifth, in which he initiated an incredibly personal style of music-making." says Paavo Jarvi. "It is the very nature of it's opening - a military funeral - and of it's tragedy, in conjunction with the very idea of beginning a symphony in this way, which signals that something completely different is in store for us".

Ei paesi di lingua tedesca, la musica per flauto solo ha una lunghissima tradizione, che ha il suo capostipite nella celeberrima Partita in La minore BWV 1013 di Johann Sebastian Bach, capolavoro inarrivabile e, in un certo senso, mai pi� eguagliato. All'epoca in cui Bach scriveva la sua Partita in La minore, intorno al 1720, il flauto traversiere (che gli inglesi all'epoca chiamavano anche German Flute) era praticamente all'inizio della sua travolgente carriera, che ne avrebbe fatto, nel volgere di poco tempo, uno degli strumenti pi� popolari al mondo. Era fatto quasi esclusivamente di legno, ed era uno strumento molto diverso da quello odierno, costruito in metallo prezioso (argento o, meglio ancora, oro), Relativamente facile da suonare, il flauto traverso si e arricchito nel tempo di una copiosa letteratura e ha avuto i suoi eccellenti virtuosi che ne hanno incrementato la popolarit� (nel secondo Novecento, per citare solo alcuni dei pi� noti, Jean-Pierre Rampal, James Galway e, in Italia, Severino Gazzelloni) e hanno direttamente o indirettamente sollecitato gli autori a scrivere per loro. La letteratura per flauto e effettivamente sterminata. Il nostro album ci offre una scelta di sei composizioni per flauto solo, scritte da cinque autori diversi, appartenenti in larga maggioranza all'area musicale di lingua tedesca; la sola eccezione e costituita dall'olandese Rudolf Escher, mentre Willy Burkhard era svizzero-tedesco. Gli altri tre, Karg-Elert, Paul Hindemith e Gunter Raphael, erano tedeschi.

Akira Ifukube writes: “The folk song! I have been living in it since my childhood. A folk song contains the whole person: his body, his soul, his environment, everything around him. Whoever grows up with national music grows into a complete person. A folk song has a spirit because it contains a real human being, whose culture was endowed by God and not acquired from outside. With this emotional and absolutely honest statement, Leoš Janácek summed up his lifelong fascination with folk songs during a stay in London in 1926. For Leoš Janácek (1854-1928), folklore was undoubtedly one of the essential sources of his work as a composer. Moravian Dances, Lachian Dances, and Suite for Orchestra, Op. 3, are heard on this release.

"Akira Ifukube (1914-2006) was one of the greatest composers on the contemporary music scene in his native country. At the same time, he provided Western listeners with an insight into Japanese musical culture. Although he became famous for his film music - he composed the scores of more than 250 films, of which the Godzilla series is particularly well known - his heart belonged to the world of classical music. His Japanese Suite, composed in 1933, is heard here. Ifukube wrote it after listening to recordings of Spanish music played by American pianist George Copeland (1882-1971). The original piano version of the suite is dedicated to Copeland. The first movement was performed by Alexander Tcherepnin in 1936; the entire piano suite was first performed at the Venice Festival of Contemporary Music in 1938. The orchestral version of the piano suite was written decades later and premiered in 1991."

In the shadows of history, the works of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Erich Korngold emerge as profound testaments to the resilience of the human spirit. Both composers, deeply affected by the tumultuous tides of the twentieth century, faced the harrowing realities of persecution. Their music, rich in emotion and complexity, serves not only as a reflection of their personal trials but as an enduring legacy of hope and beauty amid despair. Driven by a passion for meaningful projects, cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper gave the New York premiere of Weinberg's Fantasia for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 52 and Korngold's Cello Concerto in C major in 2025. She is rejoined by her concert partner, conductor Constantine Orbelian, and the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra to record these works, together with Weinberg's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. Three extraordinary works for solo cello and orchestra by two leading composers of the twentieth century.

This album, which Denis Kozhukhin dedicates in memory of his parents, is very special and deeply personal to him. It brings together the innocence of Tchaikovsky's Children's Album, the playful yet technically demanding Music for Children by Prokofiev, and Alexey Shor's emotionally rich Piano Sonata No. 2. Tchaikovsky's pieces evoke childhood wonder and the fragility of life, while Prokofiev's "easy" works cleverly disguise technical challenges with mischievous charm. Shor's Sonata, filled with bold contrasts and introspective melodies, takes the listener on a journey of emotional discovery and resilience. Together, these works transcend their individual stories to offer a profound exploration of human experience - from the simplicity of childhood to the complexities of adulthood - all brought to life with Kozhukhin's masterful artistry. A prize-winner in prestigious competitions, including the Leeds International Piano Competition (2006) and the Queen Elizabeth Competition (2010), Denis Kozhukhin, has established himself as one of the greatest and most acclaimed pianists, with worldwide success. He now presents another chapter to his exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE, enriching the already extensive discography, after albums Grieg and Tchaikovsky's piano concertos (2016) which received a Gramophone Editor's Choice, Brahms' Ballades and Fantasies (2017) which was awarded 5 stars in Diapason, piano concertos by Ravel and Gershwin, Richard Strauss' Burleske (both 2018), Grieg: Lyric Pieces & Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte (2019) which was selected as Gramophone's Recording of the Month, as well as the Cesar Franck's Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra (2020).

Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss were united by their deep relationship to literature and especially to poetry as a source of inspiration for it's musical interpretation and transcendence into a sphere of expression that reflected their own feelings about life. Nevertheless, both composers worked on their texts in very different ways. While Mahler adjusted the texts through a multitude of interventions - omissions, rearrangements, and even his own additions - according to need and expressive demand, Strauss stuck strictly to the poems. On this release Alois Muhlbacher performs an exciting program combining the lieder of both of these composers. He is joined by pianist Franz Farnberger.

BR-KLASSIK presents the live recording of a concert performance of Hindemith's opera "Cardillac" from the Prinzregententheater in Munich on October 13, 2013, in memory of the great conductor Stefan Soltész. Soltész died unexpectedly on July 22, 2022 - exactly one year ago - after collapsing while conducting Richard Strauss' "Die schweigsame Frau" at the Munich National Theatre. The Hungarian-born Austrian conductor was General Music Director of the Essen Philharmonic and Artistic Director of the Essen Aalto Music Theatre from 1997 to 2013. Both institutions were decisively shaped by him and received several awards during his era. He was a welcome guest conductor with the orchestras in Munich. In addition to the standard works from Mozart to Strauss, an important focus of his opera repertoire was Classical modernism.

Paul Hindemith's three-act opera "Cardillac", composed in 1925/26, was the composer's long-awaited first full-length stage work, and was based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's novella "Das Fräulein von Scuderi". Hindemith’s librettist Ferdinand Lion created a large-scale opera that focused primarily on the goldsmith Cardillac and on the madness that leads him to murder. Any logically structured plot was replaced by individual, self-contained scenes, resembling isolated snapshots. The premiere took place on November 9, 1926 at the Dresden State Opera under the baton of Fritz Busch, who thus spectacularly continued his series of important world premieres. Although the opera's radical style was perceived as highly unusual, it was nevertheless well received. After 1933, the work disappeared from German-language repertoires, but it promptly returned in 1946. Hindemith undertook a fundamental revision, and it was premiered in Zurich in 1952 - combined with a performance ban on the first version. As early as 1960, however, the release of the 1926 version was achieved – and it went on to supplant its revised version almost completely. This recording also features the original, first version of the opera.

A Musical America New Artist and BBC Rising Star, Ian Niederhoffer is a fast-rising, young conductor. Here, together with his orchestra Parlando, he explores music as a tool of cultural resilience in the face of censorship, particularly within the Soviet Union. This eclectic program includes Shostakovich's Adagio from Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk, a work infamously censored after Stalin's disapproval, the Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a composer whose career was shaped by persecution during Stalin's anti-cosmopolitan campaign, and Edvard Mirzoyan's Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani, which is a powerful testament to Armenian cultural survival despite Soviet Russification. Inspired by Parlando's mission that "every concert tells a story", the album ends with three narrated tracks detailing Soviet censorship.

Santtu conducts Strauss is a 2-volume album featuring four works by Richard Strauss conducted by Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, two of which are live recordings of Santtu’s 2021/22 opening concert and first concert as Principal Conductor at Royal Festival Hall. Eine Alpensinfonie and Also sprach Zarathustra are live recordings of Santtu’s opening concert of the 2021/22 season, and his first concert with the Philharmonia as Principal Conductor. The concerts received great reviews. Tim Ashley (The Guardian) said “With the Philharmonia on tremendous form, Rouvali proved a fine Straussian, measured in his approach, and careful in his attention to detail and colour”. Rebecca Franks (The Times) awarded 5-star reviews: “There were “wow” moments aplenty as the Philharmonia laced up its hiking boots and happily hit every waymark in Strauss’s mountain journey: the glorious sunrise, the resplendent summit, the violent storm with wind machine, thunder sheet and organ.”

Founded in 1945, the Philharmonia Orchestra creates thrilling performances for a global audience and has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Kaija Saariaho and many others. The Philharmonia has an extraordinary 77-year recording legacy, and has recorded around 150 soundtracks, with film credits stretching back to 1947. In the 2021/22 season the Orchestra performs in Romania, Spain, Finland, Greece and Germany. Santtu-Matias Rouvali is a Finnish conductor and percussionist, and is currently principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra. Rouvali continues his relationships with orchestras across Europe, including with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Munich Phillharmonic and the the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

REVIEW:

This is an Alpine Symphony where the thrills are just that much more thrilling, the sublime moments more sublime, the lyrical line more lyrical. I’d place this Alpine Symphony beside the Karajan, and it comes in much better sound. I consider every performance here nothing short of a triumph, so the strongest recommendation naturally follows.

-- Fanfare

With over 35 million views, Anna Fedorova's live performance of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto is the most viewed classical concerto video on YouTube. We are proud to release the long-awaited studio recording of this beloved concerto, together with Rachmaninoff's 4th Piano Concerto. "Rachmaninoff wrote his 4th Piano Concerto nine years after emigrating, afterwards it was twice revised by the composer. It represents the change of the era, a farewell to the past and a dive into a quite terrifying future. The 2nd Concerto, however, represents rebirth and resurrection of the spirit, hope and light. Something we all need so much nowadays. I am very grateful to the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, conductor Modestas Pitrenas and recording engineer Jared Sacks for the most inspiring days spent together in St. Gallen recording this album!" (Anna Fedorova) This album is the follow-up to Anna's 2020 release of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.1 with the same orchestra and conductor. Anna will complete her Rachmaninoff cycle with the release of the 3rd Piano Concerto in the spring of 2023.

A program of works by Sergei Prokofiev performed by Dmitry Liss and the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra in Yekaterinburg in June 2021 caused the audience to react with extraordinary enthusiasm and a storm of emotion. Critics stated that its outstanding performance and interpretation deserve to be recorded for future generations: yet another acknowledgment that this orchestra, the winner of the 2020 National Critics Prize, should now be classified as one of the best performing today. This album by the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra is a celebration of Prokofiev’s 130th anniversary.

"My free life within Four Walls" began with concert performances in 1992 and beyond, followed by a number of stage performances with dancers in Finland and Russia. The collaboration of John Cage with Merce Cunningham began in 1942; and 70 years later, in 2012, knowing my admiration for Cage and my numerous concerts with his music, the outstanding dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov proposed to embody the "Four Walls" in a dance on the stage of his Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York) with the participation of legendary ‘Merce Cunningham Dance Company’, which by this time officially completed its activities. The director Robert Swinston and 8 dancers played with me the performance of the Four Walls / Doubletoss Interludes, and this became a worthy completion of the history of the Four Walls as a theater, while this piece remains a wonderful independent music, anticipating the style of Glass, Pärt and in general, the entire movement of minimalism. In 2015, BAC founded the Cage-Cunningham Foundation, and I received a Fellow Prize of the First-Ever Cage Cunningham Fellowship." (Alexei Lubimov)

The Czech Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov continue their acclaimed Mahler cycle with the composer's Third Symphony, working together with mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison, the Prague Philharmonic Choir and Pueri Gaudentes. In this monumental work, Mahler combines a text from Nietzsche's Also sprach Zarathustra with the folk song inspirations of Des Knaben Wunderhorn, culminating in eternal bliss in the closing Adagio. To Bychkov, this longest Mahler symphony offers his "least hysterical" music, and hearing it for the first time as a 10-year-old choirboy kindled his life-long fascination and love for this composer. With this recording, it comes full circle.

The Czech Philharmonic - recently awarded Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year Award - is one of the world's orchestral gems, recognized for its rich tradition with the Czech masters as well as European repertoire. Together with their Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov, they have so far recorded for PENTATONE Mahler's First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Symphonies (2022-2023), part of the complete Mahler cycle to be released by the label, as well as Smetana's Ma vlast and Dvorak's Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Symphonies (2024). The Orchestra is also featured on the albums Folk Songs (2023) and Czech Songs (2024) recorded by Magdalena Ko�ena and Sir Simon Rattle, as well as Dvorak Legends & Rhapsodies with Tomas Netopil.

Music Director Thomas Sondergard conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in a programme showcasing three leading composers from twentieth-century Poland. Polish music was flourishing at that time, yet the country was going through unimaginable political turmoil, having to endure the Nazi and Communist occupations. Despite this, composers Szymanowski, Bacewicz and Lutoslawski reshaped Polish musical identity, each with their own language. Moving from her early neo-classical style towards something more complex, bold and colourful, Bacewicz wrote the defiant Overture for Orchestra in occupied Poland in 1943. In the sensual King Roger (1926), performed here in a new arrangement by Ian Farrington, Szymanowski blended late Romanticism with Mediterranean and Polish influences. Lutoslawski pushed Polish music beyond Romanticism, embracing folk traditions and modern techniques. His Symphony No. 3 (1983) became a powerful symbol of freedom in Poland and marked a key moment in his late symphonic style.

Sir Georg Solti was a frequent guest conductor with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Born in Hungary in 1912, he played a decisive role in rebuilding the Bavarian National Theatre after the war. From the 1960s onwards, he was considered one of the world's leading conductors alongside Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan. Georg Solti returned to Munich once more for a special concert on February 10, 1984, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. Aged 71 and at the height of his career, he conducted excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. Works by these two Russian composers, as well as Bruckner and Mahler, suited him particularly well, as they sounded musically spirited and exceptionally transparent. Prokofiev's three-act ballet Romeo and Juliet was written in 1935 for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, but it's premiere did not take place until 1938, in Brno in the Czech Republic. At the special concert in Munich in 1984 with Georg Solti, fifteen numbers from the ballet music were performed in chronological order. Pyotr Tchaikovsky dedicated his Fourth Symphony - composed in 1877/78 at the same time as his opera Eugene Onegin - to his patron Nadezhda von Meck. Despite their lengthy correspondence, they never actually met. In a letter to her dated March 1878, Tchaikovsky outlined the feelings he had experienced while composing his Fourth Symphony, though no specific programme can be discerned from them.