A complete collection of Julius Katchen's Brahms recordings, featuring him as heroic concerto soloist, dynamic chamber-music partner and rugged, scintillating protagonist in the solo-piano music. Includes previously unreleased versions of the clarinet sonatas with Michel Portal, and the First Cello Sonata with Janos Starker, as well as several fascinating repertoire duplications between recordings made in the mono and stereo eras. After Julius Katchen's untimely death from cancer in April 1969, aged just 42, the tribute paid by his record label Decca could claim without hyperbole that Katchen was 'one of the finest Brahms interpreters of his generation'. Less than 20 years earlier, he had burst like a firework onto the international scene with a record of Brahms's F minor Sonata, which became the first solo-piano LP to be issued by Decca. Critics and listeners were quick to admire the muscular, aquiline profile of playing that felt true to Brahms as the 'keyboard lion' of his own generation. In fact Katchen had made his debut on record a few months earlier, with the Handel Variations captured at Decca's West Hampstead studios in April 1949. He would go on to re-record the Variations in both 1958 and 1962, and this new Eloquence box presents all three versions side by side for the first time, demonstrating how Katchen's pianism matured during his brief career while losing none of it's barnstorming virtuosity. Katchen also recorded and then revisited the Paganini Variations, in 1959 and 1966, as well as the Third Sonata, as part of a stereo cycle of the complete solo piano works, made between 1961 and 1965. By then he had recorded both concertos, with the LSO conducted by Pierre Monteux and Janos Ferencsik. Towards the end of the 60s, Decca then captured him in timely manner as a sensitive partner to Josef Suk in the violin sonatas (which he had already recorded twice with Ruggiero Ricci in the 50s, both versions also being reissued here), the clarinet sonatas with Thea King, the cello sonatas with Janos Starker and piano trios with Suk and Starker. As Mark Ainley outlines in his booklet essay, surveying Katchen's meteoric career and special affinity with Brahms, the First Cello Sonata (a 1968 recording from Aldeburgh, made at the same time as the piano trios) was never issued; so too a 1967 set of the clarinet sonatas, in company with Michel Portal. With their first-ever release, this Decca Eloquence set presents the fullest possible portrait of Katchen as a sovereign interpreter of Brahms, capturing the music's muscular energy, refined nuancing, and emotional breadth.

Hailed for their "beautifully nuanced performances" (Gramophone Magazine), Camerata Tchaikovsky was founded in 2004 by Yuri Zhislin to bring together soloists and leading chamber musicians, touring worldwide and recording to great critical acclaim. Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante and Strauss's Metamorphosen are both works of remarkable emotional depth, heard here in chamber form revealing an entirely different perspective. The Camerata Tchaikovsky continue their long-term recording partnership with Orchid by exploring these masterpieces through the intimate sound of the string septet. At the center of the album is Yuri Zhislin's new transcription of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, created from a desire to preserve the grandeur and expressive richness of the original while allowing for the immediacy of chamber music. Alongside it sits Rudolf Leopold's striking septet realisation of Strauss's Metamorphosen, based on the composer's earliest conception of the work and illuminating it's haunting counterpoint and emotional intensity.

On 18 March 1860, Vienna witnessed a genuine political sensation at the second concert of Euterpe, a young orchestra society. The programme began with several pieces by Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which were received with great applause for the composer, who was present. Equally successful was Fantasia symphonica on themes by Ernst II, for which the Kapellmeister of the Theater an der Wien was responsible - none other than Franz von Suppe, who had succeeded in weaving several themes by his blue-blooded "colleague" into a rousing, impressive symphony. Once again, Suppe's classical training had paid off. Although he achieved immortality as the composer of Die schone Galathee and, above all, Boccaccio, he made a significant contribution with a number of serious works (such as the Requiem cpo 777 842-2). The "symphonic fantasy" is paired with Twelve Spanish Dances, a spirited collection of delightful miniatures from which the famous Jota rears it's head time and again

Of Love and Life' brings together a selection of songs and song cycles by Hans Christian Detlefsen. His work combines influences from the European avant-garde with non-European soundscapes. Encounters with composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and Gyorgy Ligeti, as well as his study of Javanese gamelan music, shaped his musical language. This is characterised by flexible rhythms and harmonies influenced by Olivier Messiaen. The selected cycles bring together texts from different eras and linguistic regions. French poetry by Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine is paired with Spanish poetry by Luis de Gongora, Federico Garcia Lorca, and St John of the Cross, as well as English-language works by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Edward Lear, and E. E. Cummings. The settings consistently follow the linguistic structure, unfolding a distinct musical dramaturgy from it that oscillates between intimacy, expressiveness and tonal colour. The featured vocalists are Anna Sophia Theil, Feride Buyukdenktas, Zacharias Galaviz-Guerra, Vincent Kusters and Ulf Bastlein. As the driving force behind the project, Bastlein once again demonstrates his talent for rare song repertoire. They represent a new generation of song interpreters who devote themselves with particular intensity to the contemporary repertoire. The piano accompaniment was provided by Charlie Bo Meijering, Martijn van Sas, Clara Sophia Murnig and Hedayet Jonas Djeddikar.

Violinist Patrick Yim presents an album of world-premiere recordings, Bamboo Grove, featuring the music of Chen Yi and Zhou Long - two of the most distinguished voices bridging Chinese and Western musical traditions. Rooted in a profound artistic lineage and shaped by lived history, this recording captures a rare moment of creative intimacy: works brought to life during a residency at the University of Notre Dame in April 2024, enriched by close collaboration with the composers themselves. Their stories - spanning the Cultural Revolution, formative studies in Beijing, and artistic refinement in New York - resonate through music that is at once deeply personal and culturally expansive. Drawing on an encyclopaedic knowledge of Chinese musical heritage alongside a command of Western compositional technique, Chen and Zhou reimagine the expressive potential of string instruments with striking originality. Across the programme, the violin and viola are transformed into evocative vessels of ancient sonorities: echoes of the guqin, erhu, pipa, and xiao emerge through intricate textures, extended techniques, and a vivid palette of colour. Zhou Long's Bamboo Grove unfolds as a poetic meditation on the nonconformity and spontaneity of the Seven Sages, while Chen Yi's works-from the pioneering Xian Shi to the richly imaginative Suite for Viola and Chamber Winds-blend folk traditions with bold experimentation. Tales from the Nine Bells conjures an otherworldly soundscape inspired by myth and poetry, it's shimmering textures and percussive energy revealing a unique sonic vision. Throughout, narrative depth and timbral invention intertwine, creating a sound world that feels both ancient and immediate. With exceptional sensitivity and virtuosity, Patrick Yim brings this music to life, offering a compelling portrait of cultural confluence and artistic imagination.

This album brings together two of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas, performed here for the first time on record by pianist Maria Korecka-Soszkowska, for whom Beethoven has long remained a central and deeply cherished composer. Though commonly known by the evocative titles Moonlight and Pastoral, neither nickname originated with the composer himself. The celebrated Sonata quasi una fantasia in C-sharp minor opens the recording with one of the most iconic movements in all classical music: a work of restrained passion and inward drama, often associated with Beethoven's unfulfilled love for one of his pupils. The later Sonata in D major unfolds in a more pastoral atmosphere, coloured by echoes of rural life and subtle allusions to folk music. Both sonatas reveal Beethoven's gift for expanding classical form through slow introductions, shifting moods, and a narrative tension that grows organically from within. In Maria Korecka-Soszkowska's interpretation, these familiar masterpieces regain their freshness, intimacy, and poetic depth.

Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte, Phantasie

Dr. Jerzy Kosmala, internationally acclaimed as a concert violist and pedagogue, has concertized throughout Europe, the former Soviet Union, Canada, North and South America, Asia, and South Africa, and has recordings on several record labels. He is a frequent guest artist and performer at the world's foremost Festivals, International Viola Congresses, Universities and Academies, and is a permanent jury member of virtually all of the most prestigious international competitions, including the Lionel Tertis, Geneva, Munich, Markneukirchen, Trapani, Primrose Viola Competition, Brahms Viola Competition, and the Concert Artist Guild International Competition in New York City.

SOMM Recordings is delighted to collaborate again with I Musicanti, directed by virtuoso double-bass player Leon Bosch and praised by The Strad for their 'performances of passion and insight.' This latest release features the Brazilian-born, London-based pianist Clelia Iruzun, whose frequent SOMM collaborations include the International Classical Music Award-nominated Piano Concertos by Albeniz & Mignone with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jac van Steen. This release highlights five notable Brazilian composers from generations that succeeded the singular Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos. While their names might not be as familiar as their famous compatriot, the musical qualities of their compositions-all scored for the forces of Schubert's 'Trout' Quintet-are revelatory. The programme opens and closes with works by Edmundo Villani-Cortes (b. 1930) who acknowledges the early influence of Shostakovich and French Impressionism. He composed his 5 Miniaturas brasileiras in 1978 for flute and piano, and their immediate success led to no fewer than seventeen transcriptions for a variety of instrumental combinations. Caratinguê, a municipality in the Southeast Region of Brazil, lends it's name to the work by Villani-Cortes that closes this programme. It combines art and folk music to conjure the lively rhythms and irresistible musical atmosphere of Brazil. Joao Guilherme Ripper (b.1959), who received his D.M.A. in Composition at Catholic University of America, in Washington D.C., later served as composer-in-residence at Kean University in New Jersey, which commissioned From My Window No. 3 in 2011. Ripper describes this three-movement work-heard here in it's first recording-as portraying aspects of his native city, from the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro to feelings of nostalgia. A short Song Without Words, Cancao sem palavras, is by Arrigo Barnabe (b. 1951), one of the first and most talented adherents from a movement of urban classically trained musicians in the city of Sao Paulo who added erudite experimentations to pop music. His varied output also includes soundtracks for around half a dozen Brazilian movies. The works of pianist-composer Jose Carlos Amaral Vieira show his ability to write brilliantly for the piano and his intense involvement with the music of Franz Liszt. His Piano Quintet Fronteiras (Frontiers), a reflection on cultural and sonic boundaries, is characterized by Amaral Vieira's distinctive blend of rigorous technical structure and profound emotion. Like Amaral Viera, Marisa Rezende (b.1944) began her musical life as a pianist. She started composing when she was a piano student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she later returned to complete a doctorate in composition. Cismas (Schisms) lives up to it's name, evolving as it does through contrasting segments of gloom, luminosity, and energy.

Best described as a delicate classical bagpipe, the musette's patronage by Louis XIV meant that it became a novel plaything of composers, performers and makers seeking Royal favour. However, by the 1760s it had become an integral part of French culture and music-making, featuring in music for the theatre, court and salon, and played by amateurs and virtuosi alike. Disappearing with the French Revolution, the musette was only rediscovered during the 1960s and this album showcases the instrument's unique sound world in combination with baroque flute, baroque cello and harpsichord. Played on original instruments, the works on this album by composers such as Boismortier, Naudot and Dupuits showcase the instruments' virtuosity. A duo by Chedeville for two musettes references the musette's pastoral history and the harmonically exciting trios by Dugue and Naudot are offset by the beautiful simplicity of solo works by Braun and Dornel for flute and harpsichord respectively.

Most guitar recitals emphasise the vigorous Spanish and Latin American heritage of the instrument. This album takes a different approach, travelling round the fringes of Europe, with music from Albania, Estonia, France, Serbia, Greece and the British Isles, these largely lyrical works chosen because they were inspired by issues and events that underline the dignity of the human condition. They allude to a surprisingly wide range of subjects: peace-time reconciliation, love and loss, ethnic identity, personal courage, environmental degradation and bittersweet recollections of childhood - in music for calm reflection.

For those accustomed to hearing a more standard, cohesive repertoire on an album, this program may seem unusual: For this studio concert, the Russian-American pianist Misha Namirovsky was guided by two artistic principles: on the one hand, the juxtaposition of forms, structural breadth and musical character, and on the other, the aspects of profundity, virtuosity and reflection.

At around the same time as George Frideric Handel, Johann David Heinichen, a pupil at St Thomas's School in Leipzig, set off on a grand tour to Italy in 1710. The trained lawyer could no longer resist his urge for music and was promptly and richly rewarded for his grand tour. He was swept along by the musical trends of the day. The music of Antonio Vivaldi, Alessandro Scarlatti and Francesco Gasparini had an immediate effect on him, whilst the masters of the time, such as Monteverdi and Carissimi, exerted a more indirect influence - and when he returned home in 1716, he was no longer the same man. He soon became Kapellmeister at the Dresden court, to which he made significant contributions until later in life (1729). Among other things, Heinichen left behind some fifty solo cantatas. Five of these enchanting, Italian-inspired opera scenes in pocket-sized form make up the programme of this production, whose soloist has mastered emotions in all of their facets and transformed them into sound.

Clara Osowski lends her lush mezzo-soprano to 19 lieder penned by Franz Schubert during the last 13 years of the composer's all too short life. Landscape abounds in this collection - lakes, rushing streams, the rising moon, stars, flowers, birdsong. True to Schubert's conception, the American mezzo - who makes her solo debut recording with this release - considers her voice and that of pianist Timothy Lovelace equal partners.

SOMM Recordings is proud to celebrate the 'stylish and powerful' (The Times) South African-born pianist-composer David Earl with a 75th Birthday Tribute. The release features Oxymorons - 24 Preludes (1993) and Scenes from a South African Childhood - 9 pieces for solo piano (2013). Of interest is that the second of these childhood scenes, 'Princess Rainbow,' was included on the much-praised African Pianism release [SOMMCD 0647] by pianist Rebeca Omordia. David Earl was born in Stellenbosch in South Africa's Western Cape in 1951. He made his professional piano debut aged 16 with the South African Broadcasting Corporation and played Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra the following year. He moved to London when he was 19 to study at the Trinity College of Music, performing the first of a number of solo piano recitals at Wigmore Hall while still a student and broadcasting live on BBC Radio 3. Jeremy Nicholas, writing for Gramophone, has said, 'For those who like their contemporary music tonal, substantial and individual David Earl is certainly a name to add to your list.' Earl gave the premiere of his Piano Suite No 1 Mosaics at Wigmore Hall in 1977. His First Piano Concerto and Che´ri, a ballet commissioned for The Scottish Ballet, followed in quick succession. His extensive catalogue includes further ballet scores, operas, chamber music, choral and vocal works, film scores, a wide range of concerti for various instruments, and works for solo piano. David Earl teaches at Cambridge University, and, prior to settling there, he spent seven years in Oxford. He describes Oxymorons as miniature tone poems reflecting friends and places he encountered during his Oxford years. The title also relates to the paradoxical idea that he was writing tonal music at a time when it was not considered de rigueur. Following the same order as Preludes by Chopin and others, this set begins in C major and it's relative minor, and cycles through all the keys to F major and D minor. The nine pieces that make up Scenes from a South African Childhood are personal essays from a specific time and place, which are universally evocative through their very specificity. David Earl grew up on the small estate, Old Nectar, in the Jonkershoek Valley north of Cape Town. The music evokes scenes of a young David walking through the gardens of Old Nectar with his mother; flyfishing with his father in the river flowing through the valley; vacationing at Groot Drakenstein and discovering there Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25, which becomes indelibly associated with the place. Then moving to Cape Town, where it's monuments, beaches, trees, and warm southern-hemisphere Christmases create their own nostalgia, expressed here through music.

It 'doesn't take long before one is captivated by Emilie Mayer's spirited and distinctive music. The same applies to the Constanze Quartet's interpretation, which does full justice to the music. We can look forward to [...] Vol. 2,' remarked a well-known blogger after discovering three string quartets by the Mecklenburg composer (CD cpo 555 600-2). This man is in good company, and he will not be the only one to savour the second instalment of the planned complete recordings with great pleasure. Emilie Mayer, celebrated during her lifetime primarily as a symphonist, proves herself a masterful exponent of classical forms, subtle plays of musical lines and delicate harmonies, even in the supreme discipline of chamber music. Many will regret that only seven of her twelve quartets have survived - just enough to fill a third CD in the near future.

This exceptional double album stands as a landmark historically informed recording of Handel's solo sonatas, uniting pioneering scholarship, extraordinary period-instrument artistry, and superb audiophile sound in one of the most compelling chamber music portraits of the Baroque era. The Ganassi Consort, joined by guest violinist Anne Rohrig, illuminate the astonishing breadth of Handel's imagination across four decades of his creative life, revealing music of remarkable elegance, invention, and emotional depth.

Piano Preludes: Gershwin, Ginastera, Chopin

Hidden for decades behind the gender-neutral pseudonym N. Lago, the music of Swedish composer Laura Netzel finally emerges in full light. This recording brings together her complete works for violin and piano: intimate, refined, and richly melodic pages shaped by Nordic folklore, daring harmonies, and the expressive freedom of the late Romantic era. Far from mere virtuoso display, these works speak in a voice of quiet intensity, where elegance conceals deep emotion. Violinist Agata Kawa-Cajler and pianist Aleksandra Dallali reveal the subtle balance of strength and delicacy that once fascinated Netzel's contemporaries, restoring to this remarkable composer the place she deserves within the Swedish neo-Romantic tradition.

On the occasion of his 60th birthday, Herve Joulain is presenting - most of this first recordings - of composers who have dedicated these works to him partly. To be, in the truest sense of the word, a musician of his time, one must engage with today's composers and their works. This means having works dedicated to you that need to be created and promoted, entering into dialogue with the composers, inspiring them with your talent to create new works; it means exploring the instrument's possibilities and stimulating the musician's abilities to venture down bold and hitherto unexplored paths. This is achieved here in an exemplary manner!

When pianist Tatiana Kozlova began exploring Peter Tchaikovsky's composition 'Seasons' on the occasion of it's 150th anniversary, she initially thought of interpreting it as images of nature and scenes from everyday life. However, a thorough study of the musical texts and the circumstances surrounding the cycle's creation led her to completely different and fascinating conclusions. Her knowledge of the Russian poems presented to Tchaikovsky for each month, as well as her knowledge of Russian literature and culture of that period, form the background to her unusual recording.

Hans Werner Henze is one of the outstanding composers of the 20th century. To mark his 100th birthday, this edition will contain all the recordings released on the WERGO label, some of which were produced under his supervision - an extensive collection that does not claim to be complete, yet serves as an impressive testament to a versatility that echoes Henze's open-mindedness and cosmopolitan outlook: in terms of cultural history, politics and society, as well as form and composition. Regrouped and divided into groups of works in this edition, the recordings, some of which are no longer available, will be released in five CD box sets in 2026, starting with the symphonies, followed by orchestral works and instrumental concertos, chamber music and piano music, vocal music, and concluding with stage works, including the previously unreleased recording of 'Der Prinz von Homburg'. Almost 50 years passed between the composition of Hans Werner Henze's First Symphony in 1947 and the Tenth, which was completed at the turn of the millennium. The literary and political references are wide-ranging, stretching from ancient mythology to the Cuban Revolution to the Ninth as great choral symphony based on 'The Seventh Cross'. From work to work, one can trace Henze's development as a composer up to the sublime mastery of his late works. With his 10 symphonies, Henze created one of the monumental symphonic cycles of the 20th century.

Finnish-Dutch cellist Jonathan Roozeman presents a programme featuring contemporary works for cello by Finnish composers. For some of the pieces, he is accompanied by pianist and composer Johannes Piirto. Centered around a sonata by music veteran Kalevi Aho, the program's six works reflect the diversity of contemporary Finnish music, all having been composed within the last fifteen years. Sauli Zinovjev's 'Sustained' appears as a ghostly, discordant, fragmented reflection of music from the Romantic period. Cecilia Damstrom's 'Aveo' was composed for people who suffer from long COVID and who have had to bid farewell to their normal lives. 'Recitativo' by Sebastian Fagerlund, a commission from a cello competition, challenges not only the cellists' mastery of their instrument but also their interpretative abilities. 'Sanasi, kiveen uponneet' by Outi Tarkiainen, a composer who brings to her music the perspective of someone born in the north, in Finnish Lapland, features powerful soundscapes inspired by natural phenomena as well as human themes touching on the deepest emotions of mankind. The programme concludes with 'We Lie Down Only to Get Up Again' by Lauri Porra, a composer who exemplifies the multifaceted nature of contemporary Finnish music. This work evokes the atmosphere of a summer morning with warmth, perhaps even with a touch of longing.

Before Handel's celebrated Giulio Cesare captivated audiences across Europe, Antonio Sartorio had already created his own magnificent setting of this timeless libretto. Now, 350 years after it's Venetian premiere, experience this extraordinary work as it was meant to be heard-performed on period instruments in it's first modern staging. Conducted by Attilio Cremonesi, this live recording from the Innsbrucker Festwochen reveals a composer of remarkable invention: fifty-five exquisite arias and duets that showcase the birth of the high Baroque vocal tradition. With a sumptuous continuo section and richly orchestrated accompaniment, Sartorio's Giulio Cesare in Egitto stands as a vital link between Renaissance vocal art and the operatic masterworks to come. A triumph of musical archaeology and performance excellence!

This production is dedicated to two orchestral works that vividly reflect the liberation struggle of Yugoslavia. Before this South Slavic confederation managed to break free from Soviet control, the doctrine of Socialist Realism applied here too. Papandopulo found his way out of the dilemma. His Second Symphony, completed in April 1946, depicts - according to the programme - the artist's path to the light. This established narrative, compliant with the party line, unfolds in five disparate movements. While the first two parts are new original compositions, the rest consists of existing material that the composer has skilfully arranged for orchestra. Thus he could initially adopt a more modern style and subsequently produce a more folk-like ambient to evoke the era before the Stalinist dictatorship. The Vrzino kolo for piano and orchestra was written twelve years later. Here the wind had shifted to the west; the seeds of modernism had blown in and triggered furious developments. Based on an ancient legend, Papandopulo unleashes a wild "witches' round dance" in which a fire-breathing dragon appears, a city in flames shrill, garish sounds that would have earned Papandopulo severe admonishments earlier.