This disc presents three sonatas, No. 1, No. 23 ('Appassionata'), and No. 30, Op. 109, performed by 2008 Grammy-winning pianist, Garrick Ohlsson. In the words of annotator Frank Cooper, 'Three stages of greatness-exploratory, revolutionary, visionary- are represented here...'.

A live performance of Rilke Songs with the same performers was the winner of a 2008 Grammy for "Best Vocal Recording" (BRIDGE9178). The present never-before issued studio version of the songs, was recorded in 2005. Also on this disc is the premiere recording of Lieberson's Piano Quintet, played by Serkin and the Orion String Quartet, the dedicatees of this work.

Nightshade Trilogy was composed by Poul Ruders over a span of 17 years- between 1986 and 2003. In the composer’s words, it is “a collection of compositions that evoke for me an almost Gothic association with pale moonlight, tombstones crypts and the elusive shadows deep inside an ancient forest at the deep of night.”

Charles Wuorinen has always been comfortable in a range of genres, embracing the traditional forms of opera, symphony, or string quartet as readily as he accepts the challenge unusual combinations that have become a second norm since Pierrot Lunaire more than a century ago. Nor has any particular focus dominated any period of his nearly sixty-year career: his eight symphonies span more than fifty years, his piano concertos forty. He has written everything from piano bagatelles to ballets, a Mass setting, eight symphonies, and three operas. This album features the latest and most traditionally structured of Wuorinen’s four piano sonatas—“sonata” being a term the composer has used on a number of occasions otherwise—as well as two vocal works setting poetry of two of our greatest modernist poets, John Ashbery and James Tate.

This recording pays tribute to the legendary Italian conductor, Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957), presenting compositions and transcriptions the Maestro made, performed by longtime admirers, Steven Richman and the Harmonie Ensemble/New York.

One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th century and 20th century, Toscanini was renowned for his brilliant intensity, his restless perfectionism, his phenomenal ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory. As music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra he became a household name through his radio and television broadcasts and many recordings of the operatic and symphonic repertoire. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century.

Quattro Mani's latest release has the intrepid duo playing a far-ranging selection of new compositions. The Hungarian Kurtág's microtonal pianos, The Danish Ruders's virtuosic harpsichord & piano writing, and Tod Machover's Boulez tribute give the album an international flavor that even includes Tango by way of Israeli composer Ofer Ben-Amots. In 2013, NY pianist Steven Beck joined forces with Colorado College Artist in Residence Susan Grace to reform Quattro Mani after the retirement of Alice Rybak. Their first performance was Paul Lansky's Shapeshifters and Fitkin’s Circuit with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Such was the chemistry on that occasion, The Austin Chronicle named the Austin Symphony Orchestra with Quattro Mani as one of the Top 10 Classical Treasures of 2013.

Toke Møldrup's virtuosic new set of Bach's six cello suites was recorded on a 1697 David Tecchler cello and culminates with a wildly decorated 6th suite performed on a five-stringed Italian instrument. Møldrup is principal cellist of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, and professor of cello at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. The release set also includes Viggo Mangor's charming arrangement of Suite no. 1 for two violins, organ and cello. The Danish cellist Toke Møldrup, 36, recently received Queen Ingrid’s Honorary Award for his achievements on the Danish music scene. In the 20 years of his career so far, he has performed both across Europe and in the United States, South America, Japan and the Middle East at venues such as the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and the Berlin Konzerthaus. A frequent guest at Danish music societies, Møldrup has performed as a soloist with Danish and international symphony orchestras under conductors such as Aldo Ceccato, Sanntu Rouvali, Thomas Søndergaard and Joshua Weilerstein.

Dmitri Tymoczko's "Rube Goldberg Variations" presents three recent chamber works in brilliant performances. Dmitri Tymoczko is a composer and music theorist who teaches at Princeton University. His book "A Geometry of Music (Oxford)" has been described as “a tour de force” (The Times Literary Supplement), and a “monumental achievement” (Music Theory Online). Annotator Mark Keresman writes that "Mr. Tymoczko is of the generation of composers for whom soundtrack music for films and cartoons, assorted eras of jazz, and rock carry as much literal or existential weight as the European and American notated traditions oft-referred to as 'classical'. In addition to “Rube Goldberg Variations,” this release presents his equally impressive works “S Sensation Something,” and “I Cannot Follow.” Flexible Music, Atlantic Brass Quintet, and Amernet Quartet are all no strangers to contemporary music, including that of Tymoczko, and brilliantly interpret these exciting works.

Schubert's great E flat major trio had its first performance on December 26, 1827 at a concert in the Musikverein with the legendary violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, who had given first performances of Beethoven’s five last string quartets earlier in the decade. Trio Vitruvi returns to Schubert's gem, giving us the original (longer) version of the score in an impassioned reading. Niklas Walentin, Alexander McKenzie, and Jacob la Cour have performed critically acclaimed concerts in Denmark, China, Russia, France, Ausria, Portugal, Belarus, and Germany in the most beautiful and famous concert halls. They won both first prize and audience prize at the Danish National Radio’s Chamber Music Competition of 2014, and first prize at the Jurmala International Music Competition that same year. “The young Vitruvi Trio showed highest technical and musical qualities… I can recommend them everywhere.” (Adam Fischer)

Bethany Beardslee is renowned as one of the great lyric sopranos of the twentieth century, and the inspiration for dozens of composers who wrote specifically for her voice. Born in Lansing, Michigan, she trained first at Michigan State College, and later at the Juilliard School. Accompanied by pianists Richard Goode and Lois Shapiro, Ms. Beardslee's performances of lieder by Brahms, Schumann and Schubert display her exquisite artistry. USC Professor of Music and Journalism Tim Page writes: "Her flexible, expressive voice, with its silvered timbre and warmly caressing middle range, was suited not only to the premieres and first American performances she sang (by composers ranging from Schoenberg to Stravinsky to Milton Babbitt) but also to the Romantic repertory." While she retired officially in 1984, she performed and recorded a number of times in the decade that followed. These recordings, from 1984 and 1986, have been remastered by Grammy award winning engineer Adam Abeshouse.

Bridge's new Complete Mozart Flute & Orchestra album features the Odense Symphony Orchestra and their principal flautist, Rune Most, performing on a wooden flute. The recording, made in the acoustically superb Carl Nielsen Hall, includes the two flute concertos, the rondo, and perennial Mozart favorite, the Concerto for Flute and Harp. Rune Most began his studies at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense with Karl Lewkovitch. Later came studies with Professor Lóránt Kovács in Budapest, and in 1990 he made his debut from the soloist class of the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where he had studied with Toke Lund Christiansen. Today Rune Most is solo flautist with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense. Over the years music has taken him to South America, China, Russia and many countries in Europe as a chamber musician and soloist. As a soloist and chamber musician he has recorded several albums of, among other things, Danish and South American music.