For his debut album, Arsenis Selalmazidis has chosen works by Schnittke, Ravel and Faure because their work had a profound influence on him. All the pieces are arranged in such a way that the difference between the musical eras is barely noticeable. With this album, it is important to him to give listeners the opportunity to slow down and pause for a moment in the hectic rhythm of modern music.

The pianist Violina Petrychenko is a tireless and convincing ambassador of Ukrainian music. Through her initiative, numerous works from her homeland have been made known to a wider international public. Together with the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Volodymyr Syvokhip, she presents piano concertos by her compatriots Vasyl Barvinsky (1888-1963) and Viktor Kosenko (1896-1938): Each of them is an important milestone in Ukrainian music history, but unfortunately they have received little attention in the West.

Nordic Treasures with Katharina Sames and Mari Inoue curates landmarks of the "Nordic" - musical "snapshots" with individual influencing factors that are excitingly linked by a network of common roots. Apparent opposites interweave to form organic sound languages and merge into a colorful mosaic.

For her album Planet Earth, pianist Lisa Maria Schachtschneider has selected mainly romantic to late impressionist piano works and transcriptions from the four elements of fire, earth, water and air. Last but not least, as an artist she wants to promote a more conscious and sustainable approach to our environment and our resources.

This first set of piano works by Joseph Haas (1879-1960) with Gerit Lense offers a representative selection of his pianistic oeuvre and already hints at the diversity and distinctiveness of his compositional style. He once defined it as follows: "Music should delight, not offend; it should shake, not shatter; it should ennoble, not trivialize."

In this recording, the Wang-Zadra Duo, consisting of saxophone and guitar, explores the versatile tonal possibilities of this special and unusual chamber music instrumentation. All the works on the CD were either composed especially for saxophone and guitar or were carefully arranged for the project. The result is a versatile musical sound experience.

On this CD Fabian Muller presents his String Quartets Nos. 2-4, superbly recorded by the Swiss Galatea Quartet. Each of the three quartets from the years 2010 to 2011 reveals a unique tonal language that is equally inspired by Swiss traditions and timeless themes. An extraordinary chamber music experience with an unmistakably Swiss character.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

W.A. Mozart - Symphony No. 35 "Haffner", Piano Concerto No. 24

'Although the three selected piano sonatas were all composed in the first half of the 20th century, they convey very different musical impressions. Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and Kabalevsky - these are three composers, each with their own personalities and distinctive compositional styles. This diversity opens up three unique musical worlds for us. But through the common genre of the piano sonata, we also gain an insight into the musical and cultural development of Russia and the Soviet Union between 1908 and 1946. Dramaturgically, these works take us through the uncertain and turbulent period between revolutions and the First World War, through the tragedies of the Second World War to a hopeful outlook on a 'bright future' in more peaceful times. For me, all three works are among the hidden treasures of the pianistic repertoire.' Anastasia Yasko

Shorena Tsintsabadze: For me, there is no more beautiful place in the world than Georgia. Everything in it is beautiful and unique. I owe the development of my personality and character to my roots, my family and my motherland, which I am always proud of. With this project, I would like to present the music of Georgian composers from different eras, from the 19th century to the present, in order to give an impression of how the compositional traditions changed and how Georgian classical music developed. Despite the extraordinary musicality of our people, cultural traditions, folklore and Orthodox singing date back to the 4th century BC. Classical music emerged quite late (the first opera and ballet theatre in Georgia was founded in 1851 and the first opera "?" - "Twilight" was not written until 1923 by Zakhari Paliashvili). The reason for such a late development of classical music is the constant struggle for survival and the endless wars from all sides. Georgia is a state with more than 3,000 years of history and during this time there has not been a single generation, including myself and the younger ones, that has not experienced the horrors of war. Despite all this, we not only survived the fighting, but also preserved our culture, the Georgian language and script. Today, when Georgia has received the status of a candidate country and we have never been so close to Europe, the fate of my country is once again in danger. We are forced to fight for our rights and defend the constitution of our country, which is attacked from time to time by certain forces both inside and outside the country's borders. I really hope and want to believe that we will defend the interests of our country and give it the opportunity to continue on it's path towards European integration in order to become a worthy member of the EU family. I think that this album is relevant in the context of recent events and trends in the world. I believe that more people want to get to know our culture, art and music, which my album will definitely contribute to.

Natalia van der Mersch: The idea of recording all three Brahms sonatas came to us quite spontaneously. Olivier Roberti and I had played them together and thought: Why not? There was no lengthy deliberation, just the will to do it. And so it quickly took shape and we organised ourselves quickly. We had to organise the recording equipment, hire a piano and set the date, all of which required a certain amount of planning. In the end, the recordings took place at Conjoux Castle in Belgium - just like my previous recording with Natalia Kovalzon, with whom I form the duo Natalia. Olivier Roberti: "Despite all my experience, I see playing Brahms as a real challenge. Even in his chamber music works he is quite symphonic and when playing the piano you have to be able to imagine orchestral colours that are not typical for the piano or violin. It is particularly challenging here to shape long phrases powerfully, perhaps in a similar way to what Furtwangler did in his symphonies. For me, the pianist and teacher Leon Fleischer was a formative artistic inspiration - especially in this respect. He was one of the outstanding pianists of his time and his interpretations of Brahms' works had a strong influence on me. His approach of offering clear lines and controlled tempi helped me a lot to find a certain direction in my own playing."

Mezzo-soprano Maria Laschinger (Basel, *1977) and pianist Olivia Zaugg (Bern, *1995) create their own creative-feminine space with the Blickwechsel format. Blickwechsel directs our attention, our awareness and our clairvoyance to great works by female composers who have so far received too little attention. In this album hange ich, zwischen Zeiten, the duo focuses on the compositions of the young composer Francesca Gaza, who lives in Basel, alongside songs by the English composers and women's rights activists Rebecca Clarke and Ethel Smyth, which have rarely been performed and recorded to date. The commissioned composition hange ich, zwischen Zeiten by Francesca Gaza with poems by Maria Laschinger was created in a lively exchange between the three musicians and was premiered at the Jazzcampus Basel in April 2022. Francesca Gaza, rich in broad musical influences and compositional virtuosity, has added another composition of artistic and social relevance to the duo's programme. The composer is particularly interested in exploring, combining and breaking up the roles of the piano and the voice.