For so many, coming out is framed as a kind of reckoning-a threshold one must cross, as if queerness begins in secrecy and only later earns the right to be spoken aloud. That narrative suggests burden before freedom, fear before love. But why should love require courage simply to exist? Such is the world we've inherited. For centuries, desire that fell outside society's narrow definitions was forced underground, met with shame, exile, or silence. In that silence, letters became a refuge: fragile but fearless vessels for truths that could not be safely expressed aloud. The Secret Letter re-imagines a program of the same name performed by Cantus in the spring of 2025, weaving music together with excerpts from letters by Marcus Aurelius, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and others. These interludes offer fleeting access to private moments of longing, devotion, and vulnerability, while the surrounding music expands and amplifies their emotional terrain, carrying forward their tension, tenderness, restraint, and release. Letters are remarkable things. They are both private and exposed, meant for a single reader yet capable of outliving both the writer and recipient. Passed between trembling hands, they hold confessions, desires, and love stories told in ink rather than whispers. The Secret Letter bears witness and celebrates queer love that has always existed-persistent, imaginative, and worthy of song-and that even in secrecy, has found ways to speak, to sing, and to survive.

Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack presents a deeply personal exploration with Sur, an album shaped by memory, identity, and the enduring pull of home. Inspired by a vivid childhood recollection - listening from the back seat of her father's car - Mack traces her first encounter with the electrifying sound world of Astor Piazzolla. His music, brimming with colour, grit, and intensity, left an indelible mark, one that continues to resonate in her artistry today. Known for her versatility across the operatic spectrum, Mack finds in Piazzolla's reimagined tango a natural meeting point between classical discipline and expressive freedom, bringing to these songs both technical finesse and emotional immediacy. As an Argentine artist living abroad, Mack reconnects with the spirit of Buenos Aires through music that invites vivid storytelling. Each piece unfolds as an intimate vignette, enriched by arrangements of her collaborator JP, whose work honours Piazzolla's legacy while adding a distinctive, personal voice - including his tender Dulce suenos. Together, they create a sound world that is at once nostalgic and immediate, rooted in tradition yet alive with reinvention - an invitation to experience music that, in it's depth and universality, speaks to all. This album marks Daniela Mack's debut on PENTATONE.

Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber was one of the most successful opera composers of the 19th century. His overtures were favourites of the light Classical repertoire with gracious melodies and dance rhythms that were hugely influential on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany. The unexpected complexities of Le Domino noir result in Auber's most subtle and refined overture, while the often vivacious and joyful music in Gustave III, ou Le Bal masque corresponds to the expectations of the grand-opera tradition. All of these contrast with a closing Marche funebre composed to accompany the interment of Napoleon's ashes in the church of Les Invalides.

Louise Farrenc won the admiration of her contemporaries as one of the most respected pianists, composers and pedagogues in 19th-century Paris. She was acclaimed as a performer of Beethoven's music, and her graceful Melodie in A flat major was included in an 1846 anthology of works by an array of composers inspired by the music of Beethoven. Farrenc's Impromptu in B minor appeared in another publication, Vogt's Musical Album of Autographs, alongside compositions by 62 other musicians including Berlioz, Gounod and Liszt. The Fugues were never published in Farrenc's lifetime and are heard here in a world premiere recording. '[Stratigou] has a full mastery of Farrenc's romantic style and a technique to match' (American Record Guide on Volume 3, GP942).

Viola Concertos presents three 21st-century Danish concertos, written for Rafaell Altino by Karsten Fundal, Christian Winther Christensen and Soren Nils Eichberg. In these works, the viola moves from intimate lyricism to dazzling virtuosity, weaving it's way through both tender dialogues and dramatic exchanges with the orchestra. Altino's masterly playing brings out each composer's distinctive voice and reveals new facets of the viola, revealing the instrument's full expressive range, shifting between neo-Romantic hero, indifferent loner and shadowy foil.

This first volume of Joseph Marx's chamber music charts a period of 30 years from the cello works of 1913-14 to the Violin Sonata No. 2, written in 1944, shortly before he ceased all composition. The Pastorale is characteristically subtle with impressionistic devices harnessed to ever-changing variations. The Suite in F major, for which the Pastorale was originally intended, balances a rural idyll with more sombre elements, informed by a noble Classical design. Violin Sonata No. 2, subtitled Fruhlingssonate ('Spring Sonata'), consciously re-uses material from earlier works to form a lyrical dance-like work irradiated by ingenious harmonic twists.

Regarded as the father of Czech music Bedrich Smetana was a pioneer in developing a national style that culminated in his popular symphonic cycle Ma vlast. Composed after he had become deaf the Czech Dances are Smetana's last major piano works. Sparkling with distinctive character and inventiveness Book 1 elevates the humble polka to the level Chopin achieved with his mazurkas, while Book 2 was inspired by the old Moravian and Bohemian dances played to Smetana by his neighbour, a local amateur violinist. Coloured with Lisztian harmonic richness, the Piano Sonata in G minor combines Romantic expressiveness with puckish good humour.

Composer Niels Ronsholdt's (b. 1978) solo project Aftermath journeys the American highway, observing cities and landscapes in decay, and reflecting on a fractured modern society. The classic road -trip dream of freedom fades into bewildered loneliness and remorse, yet fragile hopes of spring and new generations glimmer. This exclusive vinyl edition includes a free mp3 download of the full album (14 tracks in total).

From Manuscript to Invention is a deeply imaginative musical journey that bridges past and present, reviving forgotten Romantic voices while transforming them through contemporary creativity. At it's heart stands Emilie Mayer - one of the most prolific yet historically overlooked female composers of the 19th century - whose remarkable career defied the conventions of her time. Alongside the music of Ferdinand Ries, a close associate of Beethoven, the album brings rare manuscript sources to life. Several works are presented here in world premiere recordings, offering listeners a first encounter with music long hidden from the repertoire. By returning to Mayer's original Duet in F Major and Ries's Cello Sonata, the performers reveal a rich sound world shaped by expressive freedom, historical performance practice, and the intimate, improvisatory spirit of 19th-century salon culture.  At the same time, the album becomes an act of creation in it's own right: newly composed works inspired by these historical materials unfold alongside them, blurring the line between interpretation and invention. Through this dialogue, the performers not only reawaken the art of musical spontaneity - ornamentation, rubato, and improvisation - but also restore Mayer's voice to it's rightful place within the Romantic canon. The result is an evocative exploration of continuity and renewal, where rediscovery becomes both an act of justice and a catalyst for new artistic expression.

LEGENDS: Rebellion is the next installment in a series of recordings celebrating women as storytellers and bearers of cultural memory. Featuring world-premiere recordings, Grammy-nominated, long-time collaborative duo soprano Laura Strickling and pianist Joy Schreier return to add to the evolving legend of modern art song in an album exploring rebellion in many forms: political, emotional, erotic, maternal, and spiritual. From Afghan women's landay poetry composed in defiance of oppression, to mythic heroines reclaiming their own narratives, to an unflinching portrayal of new motherhood and a powerful meditation on love as resistance. Pushing against conventional expectations of what art song 'should' be, this album offers a kaleidoscopic array of harmonic and rhythmic languages alongside compelling, deeply human texts; a program that fascinates, challenges, informs, and delights - inviting both devoted listeners of art song and those less familiar with the genre into a richly expressive sonic world celebrating contemporary song as a space for courage, vulnerability, witness, and transformation.

True Concord's newest album, HERE I AM, features two world-premiere recordings of works by Jocelyn Hagen. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci has been performed more than 50 times around the world since 2019, incorporating visuals, sound, light and movement. Here I Am was inspired by conductor Eric Holtan's suggestion that Hagen should write a piece celebrating the women's suffrage movement and the centennial of the 19th Amendment in 2020. This piece is performed with live-concert projections of portraits of 47 inspiring women from across the world and across time, whose words form the libretto. HERE I AM was recorded in outstanding fidelity by engineer John Polito and produced by GRAMMY-award winner Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles. Recorded May 28-31, 2024.

The opulent Second Symphony of Sergei Rachmaninoff in the compelling guise of a piano concerto: the only available recording, now available as a single CD. Rachmaninoff achieved a breakthrough, both for himself and in the genre of the Russian symphony, with the completion of the Second in 1908. This is music of a positively Brucknerian scale and paragraphing which needs space and breadth to unfold and climax. However, the symphony gained popularity through heavily cut performances and recordings, and it was only in 1973, with the recordings conducted by Ormandy and Previn, that the strength of the original, uncut Second revealed itself to new audiences. Rachmaninoff himself was hardly averse to making radical cuts and alterations both to his own music and the scores of his predecessors. Thus Alexander Warenberg followed suit in a long and distinguished Romantic tradition, when he transformed the symphony into a piano concerto. As completed in 2007, and recorded shortly afterwards by these musicians, this concerto can be compared to a cinematic adaptation of a great novel, as Ates Orga remarks in his booklet essay, 'with the main personalities, scenes and action retained, but subsidiary figures, incidents and detail omitted.' Thus the symphony's four movements are ingeniously condensed into the concerto's conventional three, with the central slow movement enclosing both the Symphony's Adagio, with it's unforgettably lugubrious opening clarinet melody, and the scherzo, as an interlude. With the symphonic argument shared between soloist and orchestra, Warenberg achieves a remarkably smooth idiomatic transition between the genres. The performance itself is driven and passionate in the best Rachmaninoff tradition, as the work of musicians entirely at home in the composer's world. Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy has made many fine recordings for Piano Classics, attracting lavish critical praise. 'Schmitt-Leonardy's collection of the three Chopin piano sonatas is the best single-disc version I have ever heard' (Fanfare). On his album of Schumann, the Etudes symphoniques 'have a formal integrity and sense of connectedness often missing in the hands of lesser artists' (Fanfare).

Following our exploration of violin sonatas by Finger (CHAN 0824), immersing ourselves in the music of his London contemporaries was a logical next step. Although not wholly unknown nowadays, both Matteis Senior and his son lack the full recognition that they deserve, being overlooked in their countries of origin because they emigrated, and in their new homelands because they were foreign. Determined to put this to rights, we spent innumerable hours exploring their music, spellbound by their vibrant and ever-varying musical worlds. It was a struggle to choose which pieces to record, and plenty more remain, which we sadly had to leave aside. Violin playing today has it's roots in the Italian style of players such as Matteis, and we take it for granted that the violin can move us with abundant expressive colours and effects. The situation in Restoration London was different. Musical style was largely French and no one had heard playing like that of Matteis Senior before. The first significant Italian violinist to arrive in England, he must have seemed like a musical visitor from outer space. His influence, through his performing, teaching, and publications, cannot be overestimated. Violin playing and musical taste shifted wholeheartedly towards the Italian style, and in [Roger] North's words, which inspired the title of this recording, 'nothing in towne had a relish without a spice of Itally'. - Hazel Brooks / Duo Dorado

This set is the second instalment of an ambitious project: the recording of the complete codex of Las Huelgas, one of the most important sources of music of the High Middle Ages, an anthology of songs from the 13th century representative of the Ars Antiqua. The manuscript was written in the Cistercian monastery of Santa Maria la Real de Las Huelgas in Burgos, with the authorisation of Alfonso VIII King of Castile. The manuscript contains 45 monophonic pieces (20 sequences, 5 conductus, 10 Benedicamus tropes) and 141 polyphonic compositions. Most of the music dates from the late 13th century, with some music from the first half of the 13th century (Notre Dame repertory), and a few later additions from the first quarter of the 14th century. Many of the pieces are not found in any other manuscripts. This second volume contains two CDs with performances by the Gruppo Vocale Armoniosoincanto and the Gruppo Vocale Garda Trentino. We find two tonally different types of performance: the young voices of Garda Trentino offer a luminosity and rhythmic precision, always expressive and communicative. Armoniosoincanto presents a more reflective and controlled interpretation, strongly linked to the texts. The instrumental ensemble includes medieval harp and portative organ.

These first recordings galore on a comprehensive survey of a major 20th-century Ukrainian composer. Born in Kiev in 1925, Igor Shamo studied with the elder statesman of modern Ukrainian art music, Boris Lyatoshinsky. Schumann, Mussorgsky and Rachmaninov were the giants of the past who seized the young Shamo's attention, and traces of their impassioned, lyrically centred idioms may be discerned throughout the early works on CD1 of this new recording such as the Ukrainian Suite, Classical Suite and Shamo's own take on Pictures at an Exhibition in his suite of Pictures by Russian Painters. The second CD is occupied by two more substantial cycles, of 12 Preludes from 1962 and six impressionistic Aquarelles from a decade later - both the appreciation and execution of painting was important to Shamo throughout his life. The final CD gathers up piano pieces throughout Shamo's career, from the Marche fantastique, which so impressed the professors of the Kiev Conservatoire when the composer elected at the last minute to play it for his entrance exam, to three dances composed in 1972 and inspired by the folk culture of nearby Soviet republics, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. A counterpoint to their uncomplicated charms may be found in the three Songs of Friendship from 1954, in which Shamo treats melodies from Poland, Romania and what was then Czechoslovakia. Though jazz and minimalist techniques periodically surface in Shamo's music, it bears the stamp of it's Soviet times in it's generally sunny character and clearly laid-out forms - though the serenity of the Ninth Prelude is answered by the machine-gun-fire Tenth, and Bartok casts a shadow over this music almost as often as Prokofiev. Dmitri Tchesnokov is, like Shamo, a native of Kiev, born in 1982 and long resident in France, where he pursues a career as both composer and pianist, as well as founding a directing a well-established festival of contemporary piano music in Paris. - Igor Shamo (1925-1982) was born in Kiev, Ukraine, where his composition teacher at the national Conservatory was the famous composer Boris Lyatoshinsky. Attached to his home land he declined an invitation to move to Moscow, and he stayed the rest of his life in his native Kiev, where he became a highly respected composer and teacher. - Shamo wrote orchestral works, chamber music, songs and works for film and theatre. His piano works however form the core of his oeuvre. His musical language is tonal and based on classical principles (his favourite composer was J.S. Bach). The melodies have a strong narrative character, the harmonies are based on classical and popular modes, enriched by chromaticism and jazz. All his works are rooted in the rich folklore of his native country Ukraine, the moods alternating between melancholic sadness and gloom and dance-inspired frenzy. - Dimitri Tchesnokov is an excellent pianist and an important composers himself as well. His works are increasingly noted, especially his haunting and mystical choral works. He wrote the extensive liner notes for this set himself, in English and French.

Among those composers contemporary to Mozart and Beethoven, Jan Ladislaus Dussek counts as the most original, imaginative and often extreme. His life, as turbulent and eventful as his music, took him across Europe, from Bohemia to Paris to London, winning along the way a reputation as a dazzling keyboard virtuoso at a time when the piano itself was undergoing rapid evolution. His own music, written to exploit that virtuosity but also to appeal to the expanding market among Europe's middle-class for domestic music-making, mirrors the temper of his times - not least in his violin sonatas, which Julia Huber and Miriam Altmann have been documenting in this ground-breaking cycle on Brilliant Classics. Volume 5 of the cycle opens with the Sonatas Op.5 Nos. 1 and 2, which Dussek completed in 1788 and dedicated to the aristocratic French pianist Helene de Montgeroult, who went on to survive the Revolution and become the first female teacher of piano at the Paris Conservatoire. Her own compositions are now belatedly winning justified admiration, and their originality may owe something to Dussek's example. These sonatas do not follow the convention for the time of compliant violin writing as an accompaniment to flashy keyboard fireworks: rather they are composed with the two instruments as equals: a balance which can be appreciated all the more satisfyingly when played, as here, on the instruments of Dussek's own time. While dating from two years later, published in 1790, the Op.12 sonatas are less ambitious in scale: two movements each, and dedicated to one of Dussek's wealthy patrons in London, Maria Cosway. The B-flat major Sonata Op.12 No.2 is particularly appealing with it's variation set on 'God Save the King', which Beethoven would soon treat as the subject for piano variations with similarly shrewd commercial motives in mind. Anyone following the series will be eager to collect the latest volume, but newcomers to the fascinating world of Dussek can start here, secure in the expectation of rich entertainment.

Published in 1739, Johann Sebastian Bach's Dritter Teil der Clavierubung (Third Part of the Keyboard Practice) is one of the most profound monuments of organ literature. Conceived as a theological and musical summa, this cycle of chorale preludes framed by a majestic Prelude and Fugue reflects Bach's deep Lutheran faith and his consummate mastery of counterpoint. Intended 'for amateurs and especially for connoisseurs for the recreation of the spirit,' it invites us into a world where intellect and devotion meet in perfect harmony. This collection is not merely a set of organ pieces-it is a spiritual architecture in sound. Every element, from it's opening tri-thematic Prelude to it's closing five-voice Fugue, is imbued with symbolism, theological meaning, and artistic grandeur. For Bach, music was never just ornament; it was a language of faith, capable of expressing the mysteries of doctrine with clarity and beauty. Bach's models for this work were inspired from two great traditions: Italian Liturgical Collections - Above all, Girolamo Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali (1635), which provided organ music for the Catholic Mass. Frescobaldi's influence is evident in the structural parallels: preludes before the service, organ verses alternating with chant, and pieces for specific liturgical moments. The other influence is the French Baroque Livres d'Orgue - Especially Nicolas de Grigny's Premier Livre d'Orgue (1699), which Bach copied in his youth, and Francois Couperin's organ masses. These works introduced Bach to the elegance of French ornamentation, the grandeur of the plein jeu, and the expressive possibilities of contrasting registrations. Bach absorbed these influences and reimagined them within the Lutheran framework, creating a cycle that parallels the structure of the Mass but substitutes chorales central to Reformed doctrine. In doing so, he forged a synthesis of Italian rhetorical expressiveness, French coloristic refinement, and German contrapuntal rigor. Played with intense devotion and understanding by Sergio Vartolo. Sergio Vartolo is an Italian organist, harpsichordist, and conductor known for his expertise in early music, especially the works of Baroque composers. Born in Bologna in 1944, he studied organ, composition, and musicology, developing a deep interest in historically informed performance. Vartolo has performed widely across Europe and recorded extensively, bringing renewed attention to lesser-known Italian composers. His interpretations combine scholarly research with expressive musicianship, making him an influential figure in the early music movement.

Active as a composer since the mid-1960s, Daniel Bortz is widely regarded today as one of the most important composers in Swedish musical history. His music has always been characterised by it's simplicity and precision, which highlight the power of his emotionally charged messages. The three works presented here share a common thread of a personal kind: the collaboration with violinist and violist Malin Broman. She has been a direct source of inspiration for all three works; First as a member of the Kungsbacka Piano Trio, later as artistic director of the string orchestra Musica Vitae, and finally as soloist in Double Concerto for One. In her various roles, she has functioned both as an interpreter and a catalyst. About Double Concerto for One, Broman said: 'An incredibly beautiful and dramatic work. Daniel's music is close to song; it feels as though you are singing when you play.' The concerto is followed by Sinfonia 14, written for string orchestra alone. This large-scale, emotionally intense work features volcanic outbursts alongside moments of stillness. The Piano Trio concludes the program with a powerful, driving opening, a deeply emotional slow middle movement, and a finale of irresistible energy.

This program offers a generous and varied selection of arias by three of the greatest composers of the Baroque: Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Presented are dramatic and moving arias from Handel's Theodora, Jephta and Acis & Galatea, Purcell's King Arthur, Oedipus and Diocletian, and Bach's St. John and St. Matthew Passion. This recording is a vocal showcase of two of the most prominent young vocalists of today: tenor Guy Cutting and baritone Alvar Tiisler. Guy Cutting is recognised internationally for his compelling performances and refined musicianship, with a particular reputation in the music of J.S. Bach. A regular soloist with Collegium Vocale Gent and Philippe Herreweghe, he has performed across Europe's leading concert halls and festivals including La Scala Milan, the BBC Proms, The Philharmonie Berlin, Tonhalle Zurich, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He has collaborated with many of the world's foremost period conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Maasaki Suzuki, John Butt, Paul McCreesh, Jos van Veldhoven and Marcus Creed. Baritone Alvar Tiisler has performed with orchestras such as the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Camerata, the Sinfonietta Riga, the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra, the Barrocade Ensemble, and the Estonian Sinfonietta. Ensemble Floridante is an Estonian Early Music ensemble founded in Tallinn in 2014. It is anchored by two core members: harpsichordist Saale Fischer and viola da gamba and cello player Villu Vihermae. The ensemble brings together several dozen professional Estonian musicians united by their passion for Early Music.

Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787) was a German composer and virtuoso of the viola da gamba, remembered as one of the last great exponents of the instrument. Born in Kothen, he was the son of Christian Ferdinand Abel, a musician in the court orchestra once directed by J.S. Bach. Abel's early exposure to music within this distinguished environment shaped his refined style and command of counterpoint, while his career later flourished in London, where he became a prominent figure in the city's cultural life. Abel is best known for his partnership with Johann Christian Bach in organizing the famous Bach-Abel Concerts (1765-1781), the first subscription concerts in London, which greatly influenced the city's musical culture. These gatherings introduced audiences to both established and contemporary works, laying foundations for the public concert tradition. Abel's music reflects the elegance and clarity of the galant style, bridging the late Baroque and early Classical periods. His compositions emphasize lyrical melody, balanced phrasing, and transparent textures, qualities that made them appealing to both connoisseurs and amateur performers. This 3CD set offers reissues of successful Brilliant Classics recordings with works by Abel: works for flute and orchestra, a symphony, concertos for harpsichord, viola da gamba and orchestra, trio sonatas and sonatas for viola da gamba and B.C. Performers include Nordic Affect (Georgia Brown), La Spagna Baroque Orchestra (Alejandro Marias) and viola da gamba player Marco Casonato and Massimo Marchese (Theorbo). 'Affectionate explorations of seldom performed pieces by mid-18th century composer' (BBC Music Magazine about Nordic Affect).

According to his first biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach possessed an extraordinary ability to combine organ stops in a wholly unusual manner, astonishing the organists and organ builders of his time. However, very few accounts survive of how he actually made these timbral choices. A valuable source of information is the Harmonische Seelenlust by Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1733-36), a large collection of chorale preludes that displays striking points of contact with the third part of the Clavier-ubung (1739) - to the point of appearing almost as a model for it - and includes registrations so original and bold as to recall the style described by Forkel. Having already distinguished himself with the award-winning Bach Mirrored (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik), organist Maurizio Croci draws on the timbral resources of the historic Treutmann organ at Grauhof (1737) to offer us a fresh reading of Bach's masterpiece which, taking inspiration from Kauffmann's registrations, places registration at the centre of expressive interpretation and proposes a renewed listening perspective.

Classical Music

Nur zwei Mal hat der japanische Dirigent Seiji Ozawa (1935-2024) das Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munchner Konzerten geleitet - doch beide Male wurde nichts weniger als Musikgeschichte geschrieben! I'm Juli 1983 dirigierte Ozawa i'm Herkulessaal der Munchner Residenz Strawinskys Le sacre du printemps und Beethovens Egmont-Ouverture sowie dessen Erstes Klavierkonzert mit Martha Argerich als Solistin, das als CD bereits erschienen ist (CD 900701). Und i'm Januar 1990 prasentierte er sich in der Philharmonie i'm Gasteig mit dem hier erstmals auf CD vorgelegten Programm - mit beispiellos beeindruckenden Interpretationen von Beethovens Funfter Symphonie und Strauss' Tondichtung Ein Heldenleben. In Beethovens funfter Symphonie bestaunte bereits der erste Rezensent E. T. A. Hoffmann das in jener Musik zum Ausdruck gebrachte dramatische Ringen des Menschen durch Nacht zum Licht', das auf rein musikalische Weise gestaltet ist, in struktureller Dichte und auerster Stringenz. Erst in der zweiten Halfte des 19. Jahrhunderts wurde das Werk dann zur Schicksalssymphonie', i'm Sinne jenes heroischen Bildes des Menschen und Kunstlers Ludwig van Beethoven, das sich mittlerweile eingeburgert hatte. Demnach sollte die Symphonie das Leiden und uberwinden des titanisch mit dem Schicksal ringenden Beethoven, insbesondere mit dem personlichen Schicksal seiner Ertaubung behandeln. Eine romantische Anschauung vom Kunstler als leidendem Auenseiter wurde nachtraglich dem Leben und Werk Beethovens aufgepfropft, vor allem seiner funften Symphonie. Um das Leben eines Helden geht es auch in Richard Strauss' Tondichtung, die entstand, als er das Amt des Berliner Hofkapellmeisters antrat. Auch mit diesem Werk wollte er (wie etliche seiner Zeitgenossen) an Beethoven oder die von jenem geschaffene musikalische Ausdruckskraft anknupfen - mit den Mitteln seiner Zeit. Die Tondichtung Ein. Heldenleben, die ihre Urauffuhrung am 3. Marz 1899 in Frankfurt am Main erlebte, liee sich einem Brief Strauss' zufolge als moderne Variante der Eroica deuten, die auch formal auf die klassische Sonatenhauptsatzform zuruckgreift. In der Partitur fehlen die programmatischen Erlauterungen; die uberschriften der sechs Abschnitte wurden erst unmittelbar vor der Urauffuhrung formuliert - vermutlich nicht einmal von Strauss. Trotzdem machte man dem Komponisten, den man als Personalunion seines Helden' sah, den Vorwurf tonender Selbstdarstellung.

Turandot / Tosca / Love Duets - Sonya Yoncheva & Vittorio Grigolo Turandot: 'Netrebko does not merely sing it: she interprets it. What emerges is a character much more human and ultimately truer than usual' (La Stampa) Tosca: 'spectacle of monumental opulence' (Online Merker). 'A Tosca to relish!' (Artesnews. It) "standing ovation Tosca at the Arena di Verona" (Operalife). Love Duets - Sonya Yoncheva & Vittorio Grigolo: 'A concert evening about love, lust and passion. Sonya Yoncheva has the full and vibrant timbre of a true lyrical soprano' (L'Arena) 'Vittorio Grigolo is undoubtedly a charismatic artist and always attentive to the interpretation of the characters' (operclick)

Whether as a phone ringtone, in hotel lobbies, or in commercials for luxury goods, Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons have achieved a presence in everyday life today that the composer could not have imagined 300 years ago. However, it would be a shame to overlook the innovative testament to Baroque inventiveness that these violin concertos are, given their enormous popularity. With this recording, the Berliner Barock Solisten and Daishin Kashimoto invite listeners to rediscover the atmospheric nuances of The Four Seasons - and to listen to it with fresh ears.