British composer Oliver Davis’s works have been described as being ‘’ (The Times) and having ‘pulsating rhythmic energy’ (Classic FM), and has been heard the world over through his frequent collaborations with ballet companies, from Edwaard Liang’s 13th Heaven which premiered in Singapore to Secrets, choreographed by Erico Montes and premiered by The Royal Ballet. In this new recording Liberty, Davis explores works for violin, soprano, strings and orchestra, working with a host of world-leading performers including violinist Kerenza Peacock, soprano Grace Davidson and cellist Katherine Jenkinson, all alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Paul Bateman. Previous albums from Davis have been critically praised, entering in the top 10 in the UK specialist classical charts and becoming disc of the week on Classic FM and the Mail on Sunday and featuring in several ‘Best albums of the year’ listings.

Beckwith, J.: Canadian Composers Portraits

Josef Suk is the successor of Dvorák, and aside from Leoš Janácek, he is considered the most important composer of the Czech modernism that began with him. Starting from the influence of his famous mentor, Suk finally found his way from late romanticism to a very independent and complex late style. On this recording one can hear his Piano Quintet in G minor op. 8 and Zivotem a Snem, which consists of ten pieces for piano. The pieces are presented by Kiveli Dörken. Kiveli Dörken was born in 1995 in Duesseldorf, Germany. She has been playing piano since the age of five. Her first music teacher was Marina Kheifets. In 2003, at the age of eight, she was the youngest candidate ever to pass the entrance exam for the early studies program for gifted children at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien (HMTM) in Hannover (class of Professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling). Following her professor’s death in 2012 she continues her studies in HMTM under Lars Vogt.

Lionel Tertis (1876-1975), a great genius of the viola, is little known to today's public. Timothy Ridout pays tribute to this key figure in his instrument's history with a flamboyant program featuring music by Tertis's friends, teachers and students alongside some of his own original works and transcriptions. A marvelous musical journey, rich in discoveries.

Conductor John Nelson and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg record Berlioz's orchestral song cycle on a libretto by Th�ophile Gautier, Les Nuits d'�t�, sung by (bari)tenor Michael Spyres. This is the first ever recording of the original 1856 version by one single voice.

The fact that Timothy Ridout has recorded a whole album of music for unaccompanied viola before the age of thirty is a telling indication of the meteoric rise of this prodigious, boundary-pushing artist. As is his choice of contrasting the Baroque era (Telemann and Bach) with two figures of modern music, in Britten's rarely heard Elegy and Caroline Shaw's in manus tuas. This program is a breathtaking ode to the viola over the centuries, played with all the fire of youth.

Timothy Ridout gives us the opportunity to discover the splendid viola version of Elgar's famous Cello Concerto - an arrangement approved by the composer, who conducted it's premiere in 1930. In addition to this deeply moving work, he gives us a powerful, poetic reading of Bloch's all too rarely performed Suite for Viola and Orchestra, in which the Swiss composer indulged his fascination with the Orient.