John Cage (1912-1992) holds his own special place amidst this stylistic pluralism. Although Cage did not specifically write a trio for horn, violin, and piano, his work Music For (1984) can be easily fleshed out in this instrumental lineup. Music For is a bundle of 17 parts that can be randomly associated with one another. Each possible combination represents an entirely valid version of the piece – ranging from a solo performance to piano duet, string quartet, or ensemble with voice. The version for horn trio is called Music For Three.

Beethoven und Schulhoff in Dialogue
Schuch:"Indeed, it’s quite exciting to look at what was going on exactly 100 years ago – perhaps because 1923 doesn’t seem all that distant to us.
Certain events and circumstances seem to mirror one another a century apart. From a musical point of view, Erwin Schulhoff’s piano concerto is a truly interesting work that has not attained the recognition it deserves…
In terms of style, the piano concerto, composed between 11 June and 10 July 1923, is one of those works where Schulhoff radically deals with the dance types of jazz, which had crossed the Atlantic at the end of the First World War and spread out from Paris until taking all of Europe by storm…
No other pair of composers could be more different – on paper – than these two.
Schulhoff always took a decisive stance against traditionalism. Indeed, he may have been something of an iconoclast, but he was also a talented and well-trained pianist – a pianist who wanted to earn success in that very role. Of course, Schulhoff studied the Beethoven concertos, performed them, and ultimately also took the opportunity (like many other composers before him) to put his stamp on these works by writing his own cadenzas…
…It was also in Berlin – in February 1923, to be exact – that Schulhoff conceived and worked out the cadenzas for the first four Beethoven piano concertos…" (Excerpts from the booklets notes)

“…Weithaas and Várjon have a great deal to say and are not afraid to say it, but their focus of interest is always and emphatically Beethoven – not themselves.” (MusicWeb Intern’l July 23).

Both highly in demand on a worldwide scale as unique, exceptional chamber music performers: Antje Weithaas and Dénes Várjon each ideally combine the highest degree of enthusiasm and precision: their energetic, passionate playing is the result of intense concentration and precision, combined with a large portion of musicality.

“In Antje Weithaas’s und Dénes Várjon’s complete edition of these sonatas in three volumes, each individual release is designed to illustrate those stages of artistic development (instead of featuring the works in strict chronological order). From the onset, Beethoven ascribed utter importance to the principle of dialogue between the two instruments, as we can infer from a letter he wrote to Artaria on 19 June 1793…
The current Vol. 2 release contrasts the third sonata (in E Flat Major) of the early Op. 12 group with the second and third sonatas of Op. 30. The CD begins with the C Minor Sonata Op. 30, which is undoubtedly one of the two most dramatic sonatas among all ten works in the same genre (the other one being the “Kreutzer” Sonata Op. 47).

The E Flat Major sonata is also the most dramatic one within Op. 12. On the other hand, the last sonata (G Major) in Op. 30 provides a contrast in the form of a cheerful “final dance” (Kehraus), a function it also fulfils on this CD in the wake of the E Flat Major Sonata Op. 12.

In each volume of my complete recording of the piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven, I have clearly chosen the order of pieces with autobiographical criteria in mind. Over the past 15 years, my work as a pianist has increasingly migrated toward music-making in partnership with others. Whenever I was asked what became of my solo playing, I had to answer with a shrug, explaining that I needed a sort of sabbatical to let me practice solo repertoire undisturbed before I started giving solo piano recitals again. Then, covid struck. All of a sudden, I had time on my hands.

A late discovery of a most important female composer from France for the musical world. Mélanie Hélène Bonis, known by her artistic pseudonym Mel Bonis (21 January 1858 – 18 March 1937), was a Romantic composer in the late years of the 19 c. and first half of the 20c.. Sheila Arnold and Sandrine Cantoreggi initiated this album and discovered not only a piece - Soir - never played or was registered before, but kept her choice also mainly to their own instruments Violin and Fortepiano (on a Bluethner Fortepiano 1871). Two Trios (one with Cello, the other with flute) embrace the program of small short pieces for Violin and Fortepiano, highlighting in particular the larger Violin Sonata, Op. 112.

Severin von Eckardstein: The idea is a journey from the earthly to the light, it is about the question of how life and death are connected. Now you can say that it is generally a function of music that it catapults you into a new level of consciousness. But I think the four works on this CD do that in a special way, they radiate a tremendous power. They reflect different personal worlds, were written at different times and spring from different genres and sound ideas, yet they all have a similar function.

Next to the quintets of Brahms and Mozart, the clarinet quintet by Max Reger is one of the "war horses" for each clarinet player. Reger had a very prominent female composer student, Johanna Senfter, who was only discovered in the early 21st century. In a WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING her Clarinet Quintet shows, what a talent and professionality she developped.

Born in 1860, Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz was mainly a pianist and wrote primarily for the piano. More than any other musician, he succeeded in incorporating the Spanish guitar idiom and folklore into his style. Thus it is no wonder that many of Albéniz’s piano works have also been performed on the guitar. But things are different when we come to Albéniz’s Iberia, a suite of piano pieces so complex that few solo guitarists have ever attempted to transcribe and perform them. My selection stems from Albéniz’s most well-known cycles: Iberia, Suite Española and España.

The programme on this CD begins and ends with transcriptions of works by Beethoven. The first piece is the Allegretto (2nd movement) from Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in the arrangement by Franz Liszt, and the programme ends with a solo piano version of Beethoven’s song An die Hoffnung, created especially for this CD. The two pieces form a framework of sonorities and emotions that set the basic mood for this musical journey. The Allegretto serves as a prologue: it looks ahead, indicating the direction we shall be taking. At the other end of the programme, the song transcription serves as an epilogue: it looks back, taking stock of all that has occurred. On the one hand, there is a somber mood that runs through the entire programme: we find it in the Allegretto’s passages in minor, in the Schumann variations, in the third movement of the Beethoven sonata, and in the recitativo-like passages of An die Hoffnung. These are complemented by episodes of light: the A-Major sections of the Allegretto, the first, second, and fourth movements of the sonata, and, ultimately, the hopeful, optimistic sonorities we find in the song transcription with the final cry: “O, Hope!” (Aris Alexander Blettenberg)

Premiered in 1919 in Zurich by the leaders of string sections of the Tonhalle Orchestra with Frank Martin himself at the piano, it displays a wide variety of influences, all forming part of a 29-year-old musician’s search for his own artistic voice. At the same time, the Quintet’s style is thoroughly individual, notably in its choice of rich harmonies. Providing a marked contrast to Frank Martin’s filigree, pared-down early style, César Franck’s profuse, monumental Piano Quintet in F Minor (1879) is typical of the Franco-Belgian composer’s late output. All of Franck’s characteristics seem to blend together in this work which he wrote at the age of 57: Wagnerian chromatic harmonies, dramatic developments similar to those we know from his symphonic poems and oratorios, and a polyphonic musical thinking “in organ registers”

Vinyl Version – The only LIVE recording of this colossal piece of the German composer Max Reger. The Piano Concerto is a fairly special pieces: very heavy, very long, very difficult, it requires a permanent and nonstop action of the soloist

The Linos Piano Trio’s In Search of Lost Dances recording centres on the time of greatest change in Ravel’s life, juxtaposing his seminal Piano Trio, written weeks before the outbreak of the First World War, with Le Tombeau de Couperin, written between 1914 and 1917—each of its six movements dedicated to a friend lost to the war. The most important news on here is that LINOS PIANO TRIO is playing on period instruments music by Maurice Ravel – who died in 1937!! which means a grand piano from the thirties of the 20th century, gut strings and a different tunebase than today.

Both highly in demand on a worldwide scale as unique, exceptional chamber music performers, Antje Weithaas and Dénes Várjon each ideally combine the highest degree of enthusiasm and precision: their energetic, passionate playing is the result of intense concentration. In Vol. I of their complete recording of Beethoven’s violin sonatas, Weithaas and Várjon have chosen not to follow chronological order, but to seek out thrilling contrast and fascinating variety instead – thus making Beethoven’s rapid evolution as a composer all the more astounding.

Two World Premiere Recordings are making this unusual album very attractive, not only for friends of french horn; the sounds and sound combinations are thrilling. Perfectly high caliber the artist crew: Premysl Vojta is one of the leading french horn player in Europe; Florence Millet is very much part of the contemporary music scene, giving master-classes and organising festivals; Ye Wu is Primaria in the Symphony orchestra of the WDR.

All Mozart String Quartets complete. The Armida Quartett is seen today as one of the best quartets coping with the giant W.A. Mozart. Rave reviews from Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. The Box has been recorded and released in close cooperation with the famous Henle publisher.

For this album, we have decided to record three works written between 1916 and 1926. In that period marked by the First World War and its aftermath, itis remarkable to note these three composers’ widely varying creative approaches and ideas. Composed during a summer stay at the French seaside resort of Capbreton, Frank Martin’s piano trio has accompanied us on our journey as an ensemble ever since we were students. Its unique melodic approach combined with complex rhythms based on Irish and Celtic folk music always remain a wonderful challenge and never cease to rekindle our enjoyment in making music together! Two of us – Gergana and Pavlin – have been familiar with the music of Pancho Vladigerov ever since early childhood. His sole piano trio, a monumental work in A Minor, captivates us with its original melodies and harmonies. Although Vladigerov finished writing it during his studies in Berlin, we also find that it has unmistakable traces of Bulgarian folklore. With joy and enthusiasm, we have incorporated it into our repertoire; now, with this recording, we are thrilled to make it known to a wider audience of interested music lovers.

Joaquin Turina’s frequently performed Second Piano Trio is a work we discovered somewhat by chance in 2011. After only one rehearsal we were already fascinated with this colorful, highly emotional composition that presents Spanish harmonies and rhythms in a thoroughly authentic way, as in the dancelike Scherzo in typical 5/8 meter. We always look forward to playing this work, renewing our acquaintance with it as with an old beloved friend, and having the opportunity to share it with the audience!

The years 1900-1914 were perhaps the most thrilling period in European music history: the cradle of what we now call musical Modernism. This was the time when the great “avant-garde schools” took shape: in Paris, Berlin, Saint Petersburg, and particularly in Vienna. Music branched out into a multitude of aesthetics, styles, and genres, as we can see in in the variety of terms that attempt to describe art in that period: Impressionism, Expressionism, Art Nouveau, Neo-Classicism, Foklorism, Late Romanticism, Symbolism, and others. Our program selection for this album focuses on two works written in Vienna in 1913 – the “summer of the century”, as author Florian Illies calls a pivotal year that put an end to the long 19th century and introduced the somber 20th century. The two works are Alban Berg’s Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano op. 5 and Egon Kornauth’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. 1913 was the year of several “scandalous” premieres: Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Berg’s Altenberglieder, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and others that were less scandalous: Debussy’s Images pour Orchestre, Max Reger’s Isle of the Dead, Sibelius’s Luonnotar, de Falla’s La vida breve, and Richard Strauss‘s Festliches Präludium.