What is the likelihood of happening upon an oasis in the heart of Europe? In this debut album, the Trio BECEL seeks to evoke just such an extraordinary curiosity. With their unfamiliar constellation of instruments, the trio reveals hidden treasures of Belgium's musical landscape from the 20th & 21st centuries. You will encounter harmonies from the Old Continent intermingled with the rhythms of America, Hungarian bells responding to Japanese poetry or even a soul on a tightrope - dancing

Max Meyer-Olbersleben, born in 1850 in Olbersleben, Thuringia, studied at the Weimar Orchestral School under Franz Liszt, and later at the Royal Music School in Munich under Gabriel Josef Rheinberger and Peter Cornelius. He settled in W�rzburg as a professor of counterpoint and composition and served as director of the Royal Conservatory of Music until his retirement in 1920. During his lifetime, 114 works were published, primarily smaller forms such as choral works, songs, and piano pieces. Through his studies in Weimar and Munich, Meyer-Olbersleben was familiar with both the traditionalist and the new German musical language of that era, and thus the chamber music gems recorded here for the first time bear witness to profound Romantic sensibility and the spirit of a new musical awakening.

With the three quartets of Op. 55, the Leipzig String Quartet brings Haydn's mature genius vividly to life. These works capture the composer at the peak of the Classical era, blending elegance, wit, and profound musical insight. In the Quartet's hands, every nuance and flourish shines, offering listeners an unforgettable journey through Haydn's timeless artistry.

Erling Bloch He was born into a home where artistic matters held pride of place. His father was a painter and at the same time extremely interested in music; therefore, a musical education was a wholly natural thing for the young Erling. Already at the age of seven he received violin tuition and was made familiar with chamber music through the cellist Emil Robert Hansen, the brother of the pianist Agnes Adler, whose piano trio was to be of great significance for him. He entered the conservatoire at the age of fifteen, where already in 1922 he gave his d�but concert, and only one year later became a member of The Royal Danish Orchestra. Here he was active until 1954, when teaching steadily began to take up more of his time. He had taught at the conservatoire since 1946 and became a professor there in 1949. Here he was held in affection and admired by his pupils, and was musically a central force at the conservatoire until he had to retire at the age of seventy. After his retirement, he continued as an examiner. I met him repeatedly for many years at The Royal Academy of Music, where I was a member of the staff. He was always friendly, attentive, and witty-in short, a person whom we always looked forward to meeting.

Do you love Brahms? Then you will also want to discover the works of Amanda Maier and Robert Fuchs: three violin sonatas, all composed or published in 1878, are now presented by Duo Codax on GENUIN. The album combines Brahms' G-major Sonata with two rarely performed works in a similar style for the same instrumentation-an engaging look at the musical environment of the time. With great sensitivity for tonal balance and phrasing, Verena Louis (piano) and Adam Markowski (violin) shape the long, sweeping lines, warm colors, and passionate accents of this music: a beautifully recorded, outstanding release for chamber-music lovers!

With works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Fritz Kreisler, the Amadeus Trio presents a multifaceted programme that combines Viennese chamber music tradition, lyrical depth and virtuoso esprit. Beethoven's famous 'Gassenhauer Trio' captivates with it's wit and elegance, Schubert's first piano trio with it's formal breadth and poetic expressiveness, while Fritz Kreisler's miniatures bring the unmistakable Viennese charm into the modern age with a wink. Founded in 2020, the Amadeus Trio brings together three internationally renowned soloists who share a passion for chamber music and intense dialogue with each other - and with the audience. The members of the trio have already performed with leading orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and have appeared in major concert halls such as Carnegie Hall New York, Wigmore Hall London, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Tonhalle Zurich, the Vienna Musikverein and the Konzerthaus. The Amadeus Trio performs internationally in Europe and Asia and received standing ovations at it's debut in the sold-out Vienna Konzerthaus. Today, the ensemble stands for lively, high-class chamber music that draws inspiration from tradition and brings it into the present with fresh energy and immediate expressiveness.

The Hermitage Piano Trio amazes again! Reference Recordings is pleased to announce Dvorak's Circle, our third album with this elite trio. The Hermitage Piano Trio consists of violinist Misha Keylin, cellist Sergey Antonov, and pianist Ilya Kazantsev. In Dvorak's Circle, the trio brings together the musical and personal connections between Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) and two composers he taught, mentored and who became family: Josef Suk (1874-1935) and Rudolf Friml (1879-1972). Since the founding of the Hermitage Piano Trio, Dvorak's Piano Trio No.3 in F minor, Op.65 has been among their favorite works to perform. In selecting the companion composers and their complete piano trio works they wanted to showcase the creativity, connectivity, and diversity of teacher and pupils. Their intersection, musically and personally, provide a musical portrait of three gifted individuals who explored and developed their talents as a result of the essential influence of one of the greatest composers of all time. The album was produced by GRAMMY� winners Victor and Marina Ledin. It was recorded in April 2023 by RR's own GRAMMY� winning and multi-nominated engineering team of Sean Royce Martin and Keith O. Johnson, at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California.

Vinyl LP pressing. As this recital amply demonstrates, Maria Callas encompassed an extraordinary range of roles. She is as convincing in the pinpoint coloratura of Lakm�'s 'Bell Song' ('Her chromatic scale is beautifully done and she sails up to the region known as in alt with the greatest ease,' said Gramophone) as in the sweeping, richly-colored lines of Maddalena's 'La mamma morta' from Andrea Ch�nier, famously and movingly featured on the soundtrack of the 1993 Hollywood film Philadelphia. 'There is great tenderness and simplicity, deep emotion, and the most-lovely molding of the vocal phrases,' wrote Gramophone, 'Madame Callas's characterizations... are nothing less than superb, and altogether there is some of her finest singing yet recorded.'

Martha Argerich has been described as "unquestionably one of the greatest pianists of all time". She recorded this recital in 1965, shortly after her victory in the prestigious Chopin Competition, but it only became available in 1999. "Argerich was quite the most formidable player we had ever come across," said the album's producer, Suvi Raj Grubb, "Nothing would have been beyond this woman." All this adds up to a recording that is indeed legendary, and now fully newly remastered in HD 192kHz/24-bit from original tapes.

Lisa Batiashvili violin Milana Chernyavska piano STEREO � RECORDED IN 1999 & 2000 "Among the young musicians I have listened to throughout my life, Lisa Batiashvili is one of the most spectacular... If there is a more accomplished violinist today I still have to hear her (or him)," wrote the great pianist Alfred Brendel in 2006, five years after the Georgian-born Batiashvili made her mark with this debut recital. Explaining her choice of repertoire for this CD, she spoke of: "Bach - for me the God of music; Brahms - the unsentimental genius of passion; and Schubert - a pure soul whose deep pain is perceived in even his most joyful music."

STRAVINSKY: LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS

RACHMANINOV: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2

A true genius of the cello, full of joy and life, Jacqueline du Pr� passed away on October 19th, 1987, after many years fighting multiple sclerosis and aged only 42. This LP comes from the 5-LP boxset released in November 2017 to mark the 30th anniversary of Jacqueline du Pr�'s passing; the three other ones will be released later, on a monthly basis. It uses the 24-BIT/96kHz remastering made at Abbey Road in 2011 for Japanese SACD version

Maria Callas - Bellini: Il pirata (New York, 27/01/1959)(2CD) The titular character of Bellini'sIl piratais not the tenor, Gualtiero, but the soprano, Imogene, who leaves the most powerful impression, thanks above all to her lengthy and dramatic closing scena. Il piratahad fallen into obscurity before it was revived for Callas at La Scala in May 1958. She went on to make a studio recording of the final scene a few months later and early in 1959 starred in this concert performance at New York's Carnegie Hall. Collaborating with one of her favourite conductors, Nicola Rescigno, she electrified the audience with singing of inimitable poetry and theatrical power.

Christopher Tin -"Song Offerings: Choral Works by Christopher Tin" Christopher Tin's album, Song Offerings, contains two distinct choral works with the Kantorei Choir (Song Offerings and Transfigurations) celebrating communal love, peace, cosmic spirituality and transcendence. CD Softpak, 24-page booklet.

Maria Callas TITLE: Cherubini: Medea (Milano, 10/12/1953)(2CD) The character of Medea became closely associated with Maria Callas. In 1969, several years after she had left the opera stage, she even played the betrayed and finally infanticidal sorceress in a film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Her second run of appearances in Cherubini's opera was at La Scala in 1953 with Leonard Bernstein conducting. He later described her as "a power station" in the role, and soprano and conductor did indeed strike sparks off each other in the theatre: this performance is incandescent. In 1962, Medeabrought Callas's her final appearances at La Scala, the opera house that in the 1950s had become her artistic home.

Non Fiction - Piano Concerto in Four Movements - Hania Rani is a multi-award-winning composer and pianist who moves effortlessly between the worlds of classical and experimental music. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, Non Fiction is her first piano concerto and examines the horrors of war in Ukraine and Gaza, and how closely we can "observe" and "hear" them through modern media. Drawing on Rani's classical background, and her admiration for experimental music, symbolically juxtaposing precisely scored music with the beauty of momentum, Non Fiction is a modern masterwork: revelatory, powerful, emotional and profound.

Aimi Kobayashi is a leading young Japanese pianist, one of the ten finalists at the Chopin Competition in 2015. Born in Yamaguchi, Japan, on 23 September 1995, Aimi began her piano studies aged three, and made her first appearance with orchestra at the age of seven, followed by her international debut two years later. Since then, Aimi has appeared at the Carnegie Hall in New York no less than four times. Her international career continues to flourish: she was invited by various venues in Moscow, Poland and Brazil, amongst others. She has amazed audiences with her performances with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Br�ggen, as well as the Moscow Virtuosi with Vladimir Spivakov. She has performed in Poland several times, including at the International Music Festival "Chopin and his Europe", and in concerto programmes by numerous Polish orchestras. She has performed with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Hyogo Pac Orchestra, and Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and received high acclaim for her recitals in Japan, including at the Suntory Hall.

PAWEL LUKASZEWSKI: MOTETS

COMPLETE RECITALS ON WARNER CLASSICS

Double vinyl LP pressing. Christopher Tin's album, Song Offerings, contains two distinct choral works with the Kantorei Choir (Song Offerings and Transfigurations) celebrating communal love, peace, cosmic spirituality and transcendence.

R. STRAUSS: DON QUIXOTE

Daniel Barenboim's Bruckner odyssey, recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 1981, proved his credentials as a true Brucknerian, with readings "full of youthful impetus and gorgeously wrought sonorities. Power, sensitivity, and sweep, felt from within" (Gramophone). The set also includes the Te Deum, with powerful soloists, the rarely heard Helgoland for men's chorus and orchestra, and Psalm 150 for soprano, chorus and orchestra. With Yvonne Minton (mezzo-soprano), Jessye Norman (soprano), Samuel Ramey (bass-baritone), David Rendall (tenor), and Ruth Welting (soprano). The 10-CD set includes a 28-page booklet with liner notes by Christoph Schluren.

Andr� Previn - Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, Concerto (2LP) As a luminary in the worlds of classical music, jazz and show business, Andr� Previn is the ideal interpreter of these ground-breaking works by George Gershwin. Previn, here both pianist and conductor, spent eleven years in charge of the London Symphony Orchestra, and his close relationship with it's players bears fruit in sumptuous performances that of with a captivating swing.

A Jacqueline du Pr� Recital - "Jackie's musical gift, cellistic prowess and personality were so inseparable that it made her probably one of the most unique musical personalities ever to perform on the stage," says the great violinist Itzhak Perlman, who knew Jacqueline du Pr� well. "Her ability to communicate her art to her audience was uncanny. Besides her flawless and effortless technique, her command of an enormous array of colours was quite phenomenal." Perlman's words are borne out by this recital of popular works, in which du Pr�'s partners include guitarist John Williams and pianist Gerald Moore.