The Hungarian violinist Johanna Martzy was born in Temesvár, then in Hungary, today in Romania, on October 26, 1924, and was hailed as a wunderkind. At the age of seven, she became the last pupil to be taken under the wing of the great violin teacher Jenö Hubay, who had enabled artists like Joseph Szigeti and Sándor Végh to fly high. Ferenc Gabriel continued the girl's training after Hubay's death, helping her to win first prize at the Hubay Competition when she was seventeen. She took up studies at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy in Budapest the following year and made her orchestral debut with the Tchaikovsky Concerto under the baton of Willem Mengelberg a year later. When Nazi Germany occupied Hungary in 1944, Johanna Martzy and her husband Béla Szillery fled via Austria and France to Switzerland. There she won the Concours International d'Exécution Musicale in Geneva in 1947, and her international career gradually gained momentum. She began making gramophone records in 1950; Ferenc Fricsay's recording of the Dvorák concerto for Deutsche Grammophon of 1953 is notable for its rousing intensity and still enjoys benchmark status. In 1954 and 1955 EMI's legendary record producer Walter Legge made the recording of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin presented here.

In spite of a successful concert comeback in the 1960s, she was no longer in the top flight. It seems symbolical that it was in Budapest that she discovered she had hepatitis in 1969. Johanna Martzy steadily grew weaker and died in Switzerland on August 13, 1979, a year after the death of her husband. The present recordings remain a rare attestation of the brilliance of Johanna Martzy's playing, and it ensures her everlasting fame, at least among connoisseurs.

REVIEW:

The Hungarian violinist Johanna Martzy, who died in Zurich in 1979 at the age of only 54, experienced a short, steep international career at the beginning of the 1950s. She has remained an icon for insiders to this day and is considered the last great representative of the Hungarian violin school.

Profil has now refreshed the majority of their EMI recordings plus two Yellow Label concertos produced in 1952 and 1953 by Mozart (KV 218) under Jochum and the legendary Dvořák concerto under Fricsay and packed them into a 6-CD box set. The EMI bundle includes the two concertos by Brahms (1954) and Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1955) recorded with Paul Kletzki, which are still among the most expressive interpretations of the entire discography, as well as Schubert's (almost) complete works for violin and piano, and then also her legendary Abbey Road recordings of Bach's solo sonatas and partitas.

Martzy embodies the romantic Bach conception of the time, which aims for intensity, expressiveness, and flowing legato, and an aesthetic that wants to overwhelm the listener with beauty and dramatic stringency. At the same time, on her full-bodied, almost viola-like sonorous Bergonzi violin from 1733, she ignites such an inner fervor and draws such arcs of suspense that one cannot evade her infinitely spun, plastic lines. Every single tone is suggestively shaped and part of the flowing universe: drama and logic in one. And with the changing keys it also changes the respective basic color of its tone, i.e. from the darkened sonority of the D minor partita to the radiantly bright E major of the third partita. You can feel the objective and subjective power of this music at every moment: they are monologues of harrowing beauty.

Her interpretations of the concertos by Mozart, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Brahms and Dvořák, glowing with intensity, shine as flawlessly clean, full-bodied and sonorous and at the same time as inwardly lively, as passionately urgent and lyrically shaped - she practices a kind of musical perfection that everyone Leaving virtuosity behind, proclaimed as a means to penetrate to the true inner, to the glowing human message, to enchant and shake us with pure, flowing heart energy. It's no wonder that Johanna Martzy enjoys iconic status in professional circles and that the few original LPs that have survived are sold at top prices.

-- Rondo (Germany, Attila Csampai)

Rachel Podger, "the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin" (The Times), and Grammy award-winning pianist Christopher Glynn recorded Beethoven's Sonatas for Violin and Piano Nos. 1, 5 and 10. Following the critically acclaimed Mozart/Jones Sonatas Fragment Completions (2021), this Beethoven album marks Podger & Glynn's second release together. Reading about Ludwig van Beethoven as a performer usually brings up the inevitable stories about his characteristic and idiosyncratic piano playing in Vienna. But delving further into his early years in Bonn, we read that, as a musician at the court of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, he was active as both organist and viola player. And when he left for Vienna in 1792 he was advised to take violin lessons with Ignaz Schuppanzigh. Beethoven's profound understanding of both the violin and the piano, and ability to combine them with astonishing invention and originality, is heard in ten sonatas. Three of which are performed on this new album.

Matthias Manasi is rated as one of the most sought-after and most outstanding conductors of his generation, earning himself a distinguished name both on the opera and concert podiums. With a diverse repertoire range he is recognized for his knowledgeable and insightful interpretations, encompassing the great symphonic and operatic repertoire, contemporary scores, and historically informed performances. He is celebrated for the extraordinary combination of precision and temperament of his conducting and the convincing depth of his musical understanding, The Austrian newspaper ‘Heute’ wrote after a concert: “Matthias Manasi delivered an outstanding performance in the legendary, heavenly acoustics of the Golden Hall of the Musikverein Vienna”. The ‘Factanet Rome’ wrote after a concert: “It was a great interpretation that added value to Manasi’s work and that proclaims him as one of the most important conductors of our time”.

For those pieces still missing from the complete recording, the Heidelberger Sinfoniker have been proceeding since Volume 25 in chronological order, to better chart the development of Joseph Haydn the composer. We are thus in the midst of a young, wild Haydn, a Sturm und Drang Haydn. “Heidelberg Haydn is a paradigm of dynamism, freshness, wildness, humour and constant surprise. I am glad we are continuing the journey, completing the cycle. My musical encounters with the Heidelberger Sinfoniker have always been journeys into happiness. Idealism, love of music and technical perfection join forces here with the will to create something really special. Which is exactly right for the symphonic world of Joseph Haydn. I look towards the future in eager anticipation!” - Johannes Klumpp

The Italian master pianist Pietro Scarpini played Bach's "Die Kunst der Fuge" from memory and was an early pioneer of Schönberg, Berg, Busoni, Dallapiccola and Hindemith. Until now his art remained almost inaccessible. Rhine Classics' complete collection will include 33 albums to comprehensively represent all the significant recordings left by Scarpini, many recorded privately. Musicweb writes: “Scarpini’s legacy can now be seen in all its variety and richness in this series of Rhine releases and this latest example is no less impressive than the previous examples.”

Per il Luigi is the 17th volume of the complete Haydn 2032 collection and presents a number of Haydn's earliest symphonies; these had been composed to display the talent of the musicians who had joined the Esterhazy court orchestra during the same period as Haydn himself. The centre of the programme is the Symphony No. 13 in D major from 1763, whose orchestration includes four horns and whose final movement features a prefiguration of the famous theme of Mozart's 'Jupiter' symphony, to be composed twenty-five years later. The violin concerto in C major is marked fatto per il Luigi in Haydn's catalogue of works and was dedicated to Luigi Tomasini (1741-1808), a violin virtuoso born in Pesaro and a friend of Haydn. Two centuries later, the young Baroque violin virtuoso Dmitri Smirnov now brilliantly champions this repertoire with the Kammerorchester Basel under Giovanni Antonini.

Much of Carl Czerny’s concert music for piano was considered ‘wild and almost unplayable’ in his day, but these world premiere recordings reveal inspired melodic writing, great skill in orchestration and colourful virtuoso challenges in a programme that includes his final Concertino, Op. 650. This is the final release in the Naxos edition of works for piano and orchestra by Czerny. Previous releases can be heard on 8.573998, 8.573688, 8.573417 and 8.573254.

How did Mozart hear his own music at home in Salzburg? This recording provides the answer, as it was made not only in the house in which he lived but also with the clavichord that he used to compose Die Zauberflote, La clemenza di Tito and the Requiem. While it's keyboard has the same five-octave range as the fortepianos that Mozart used for concerts, the clavichord's weaker sound limited it to domestic use, to be heard by family members who happened to be present or collaborators. Baritone Georg Nigl and early keyboard specialist Alexander Gergelyfi have devised an intimate programme of arias, overtures, cantatas, Lieder, fantasias, rondos and even the poignant Lacrimosa from the Requiem. This unique album let's us enter Mozart's own house in Salzburg, where we can sit next to an instrument he himself played and listen to two exceptional performers, both of whom are irrevocably smitten with the genius loci.

The Baroque dream team of Rachel Podger and Kristian Bezuidenhout interpret the astonishing music of C.P.E. Bach’s Violin Sonatas in C Minor, B Minor, D Major and G Minor. The two early sonatas here from the 1730s resemble the older style of his father. Listening to these works, you can imagine J.S. Bach glancing over Emanuel's shoulders while he wrote them as a teenager at home in Leipzig. The later sonatas, written 30 to 50 years later, reveal an emancipated composer whose developed musical language embodies the 'Empfindsamer Stil', the directly emotional and rhetorical style characteristic of northern-german music of the time.

Rachel Podger writes: “It was wonderful to delve into the specific musical world that belongs to C.P.E. Bach for this recording with Kris. These violin sonatas are (quite unfortunately!) largely overshadowed by the classical Viennese sonatas of Mozart and Beethoven. Part of his genius is that he is full of surprises and unpredictable turns, and this was hugely enjoyable for me during the musical partnership with the wonderful Kristian Bezuidenhout.”

REVIEWS:

Rachel Podger and Kristian Bezuidenhout are performers of the highest level of technical polish, and I am especially impressed by Bezuidenhout’s imaginative and assertive pianism. Podger’s violin was built by the Genoese maker Antonio Pazarini (Pesarinius) in 1739. Excellent sound from Channel as usual.

-- American Record Guide

Across the later sonatas Kristian Bezuidenhout and Rachel Podger savor the qualities of coaxing, pleading, playfulness, and arresting quirkiness that signal their identification with the so-called Empfindsamer Stil. But nothing is ever cut and dried. The keyboard opening of the B minor Sonata, composed some three decades after its G minor cousin, sounds like a throwback to the teenage work. And, rich in Empfindsamer fingerprints, the Arioso with five variations proves to be a 1780 respray of an earlier work.

At one level, Bezuidenhout and Podger help to pinpoint the chronology, allotting a handsome-sounding copy of an 1805 Walther fortepiano to the later works and a Taskin-inspired harpsichord to the products of the 1730s. It’s just one example of the thoughtfulness with which they approach a set of performances that are as equally persuasive in the bustling, youthful incisiveness of the G minor and D major Sonatas, as in the pristinely-paced, probingly expressive whimsy of the Arioso. Their music-making is infectiously spontaneous yet tellingly ‘considered’ – seamless rapport and impeccably-judged articulation delighting in a stream of illuminating felicities. CPE Bach’s free-spirited sonatas have surely found their free-spirited match.

-- BBC Music Magazine

This is how it’s done, my friends. A completely scrumptious new release from the queen of the Baroque violin, Rachel Podger. In partnership with keyboardist Kristian Bezuidenhout, Rachel gives to us a bit over an hour of completely entrancing music by the often underestimated Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788), fifth child and second surviving son of Johann Sebastian Bach.

There should be nothing underestimated about these keyboard and violin sonatas. They are imaginative, innovative, sublime. Add to this the impeccable performances, with that breath of life Rachel delivers so well in all of her performances, the excellent partnership with Kristian Bezuidenhout, and the utterly delightful recording quality from Jared Sacks, and one has an album to savor again and again. It is a must listen recording.

There is pure joy in Podger's performances, one feels her connection with music, the composer, and her audience. Kristian Bezuidenhout is her perfect partner in these works, As with Podger, his playing is not tied to a metronome. He plays, as does she, with a degree of improvisational exploration that makes these works far more interesting than in many other hands.

Listening to them together, one feels their connection in this music. I was particularly struck by this in their excellent performance of the Sonata in C minor which fairly danced with barely contained energy in the final Presto movement – their timing together is exquisite.

The shift from harpsichord to fortepiano and back again adds great interest to the recital. With the change in instruments, the texture of the sound changes. The balance of the violin and the keyboard shifts. Hard to accomplish in a live performance, but a delightful gift across the breadth of this recording.

-- Paul Rushton of Positive Feedback

Finally: Beethoven's Piano Concertos 0 to 7 as interpreted by Michael Korstick are available on 4 albums, and once again he sets new interpretational standards. In the meantime, volumes have been filled with attempts to approach the question of an adequate interpretation of Beethoven's works, and with the indispensable elements of grandeur, drama and inwardness, the study of these works remains timelessly topical and will continue to open up new perspectives in the future. This complete recording of all the piano concertos arranges the six works that Beethoven gave an opus number in the appropriate order, leaving all the other pieces to follow on the fourth release. This project would not have been possible without the generous support of Dr. Ernst Denert. For his patronage, Michael Korstick was able to fulfil a long-cherished dream.

Mozart's piano concerto in E flat KV 271 has long been known as the 'Jeunehomme' - but it was discovered in 2004 that it was actually composed for Louise Victoire Jenamy; Mozart misspelled her name as 'jenomy' in a letter to his father in 1778 and so created a misunderstanding that lasted for over two centuries. Mozart composed his piano concerto KV 414 in Vienna in 1783; Evren Ozel, the soloist in these two works, says that this work "is more carefree and allows the performers to explore a gentler and more tender side of Mozart". It was only two years after his first violin concerto that Mozart - then 19 years old and concertmaster to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg - composed his second, KV 211; two more followed within the year. "The art of performing Mozart's music is to play it with simplicity and life while remaining true to the Classical style", says Jan Mracek, the second soloist on this, the twelfth volume in the Next Generation Mozart Soloists series conducted by Howard Griffiths.

In September 1809, the Vienna Hofburg Theatre commissioned Ludwig van Beethoven to create new incidental music for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Egmont". The tragedy had premiered in Mainz on January 9, 1789. It calls for incidental music, but various attempts – some commissioned by the poet himself – had remained unfinished or were unsatisfactory. The music was required in several sections of the drama, however, and the Vienna production of "Egmont" was to include it. Beethoven set to work. He made good progress, because the subject suited him: the tragedy is set in Brussels, under threat from Spanish troops, and deals with resistance against oppression and foreign rule. The Viennese theatre premiere of "Egmont" on May 24, 1810 still had to make do without music, however – the score was only finally completed by the third performance. Beethoven's incidental music was premiered on June 15, 1810.

The music itself makes it clear that this commission was close to Beethoven's heart - it far exceeds the level of incidental music common at that time. That applies not only to the compositional demands but also to the relationship of the music to the drama. Eschewing mere illustration, Beethoven provided an interpretation and therefore an additional level of meaning. The well-known Egmont Overture, the most dramatically dense part of the incidental music, anticipates the action and introduces the characters. A clear reference to the drama is made in the ending, which corresponds exactly to the symphony of victory called for by Goethe at the end of the tragedy. The finale - a clear reference to the drama - corresponds exactly to the “symphony of victory” called for by Goethe at the end of the tragedy.

Spunicunifait is the curious name adopted by a group of five musicians, all of whom have a great deal of experience in chamber music as well as in prestigious orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; they have founded this ensemble to be able to devote themselves to the in-depth study and period instrument performance of Mozart's six string quintets. Their choice of a name is also a trifle facetious, copying the example set by Mozart in a letter to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart in which he wrote the three mysterious words "Spuni Cuni fait"; these could mean spun or woven / coney or rabbit / and "made," the past participle of the French verb faire: to make: something woven from rabbit skin, like the shawl his beloved cousin Basle wore in a self-portrait.

Vienna Mandolin Stories is Alon Sariel's first full concerto album, inviting listeners on a journey through late-18th- and early-19th-century Vienna. The album features works for mandolin and orchestra by Haydn, Mozart, Krahmer, and Paisiello. While some pieces were originally composed for mandolin, others have been skillfully adapted by Sariel. The album thrives on Sariel's inventive and playful approach, as represented in "Haydn's Mandolin Concerto", an imaginative rearrangement combining movements from different concertos, including one by Malzat long misattributed to Haydn. Highlights also include the "bluegrass" cadence in the slow movement of the "Haydn" concerto and the clever nod to Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in Sariel's arrangement of Mozart's Andante for Flute and Orchestra. Sariel brings to light Ernest Krahmer's works for mandolin and orchestra, recently found at the Bavarian State Library and recorded here for the first time. The period musicians of the Kolner Akademie, under the direction of Michael Alexander Willens, deliver an ideal soundscape for these vibrant and colorful works. Alon Sariel is one of today's most versatile plucked-string performers, earning recognition as a multi-instrumentalist and a captivating Bach interpreter. Following the releases of Plucked Bach (2022), Plucked Bach II (2023), and Schubert's Mandolin (2024) on PENTATONE, he now presents his first concerto recording. The Kolner Akademie and it's music director Michael Alexander Willens, make their PENTATONE debut with this recording.

Leonard Bernstein conducted regularly in Munich from the 1980s onwards. It was then that he learned to appreciate and love the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in particular. In October 1976, Bernstein had appeared with an all-Beethoven programme, and in 1983 he began a series of annual concerts with the orchestra. This CD from BR-KLASSIK presents the live recording of the Beethoven concert on October 17, 1976, in which Bernstein conducted Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the Leonore Overture No. 3. The programme of the Munich concert in October 1976 included Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which can be seen as stroke of liberation in the sense of "per aspera ad astra" ("through hardships to the stars" or "through darkness to light") and also a symphonic piece that he had written for his only opera "Fidelio": the Third Leonore Overture, with it's lone trumpet signal announcing the arrival of the minister Don Fernando - and thus the rescue of Florestan from arbitrary violence and imprisonment. Joachim Kaiser, Munich's leading music critic at the time, said: "Bernstein demonstrated to a spellbound Munich audience how much he is filled with Beethoven, the man is full of a freedom and fire that can be produced and reproduced. Even if Bernstein's leaps, crouches and crescendos may seem violent to anxious listeners, the inner rightness of the music - which sounds natural, powerful, wonderful and relaxed - is overwhelming." The live recording was made on October 17, 1976 at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

Even at the age of 82, the Swiss oboist, composer and conductor Heinz Holliger is still bursting with verve, curiosity and the desire to make music. His latest album is called "Les Roseaux Chantants" ("The Singing Reed Flutes"), an allusion to the double reed with which the notes on the oboe and English horn are made to sound. Works were chosen that were composed for the unusual combination of two oboes plus English horn. A tonally delightful sound and musical experience, as the works by Beethoven, Wranitzky, the Swiss composer Rudolph Ganz and, last but not least, Heinz Holliger himself, impressively demonstrate.

Emanuel Gruber and Arnon Erez's classic account of Beethoven's music for cello and piano has been remastered for this 2-CD release. The Jerusalem Post called Gruber "one of our great artists" citing "his extraordinary capacity for projecting the deepest meaning of the music". Gruber was awarded the Pablo Casals prize by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Arnon Erez has been the head of the Chamber Music Department at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University for nearly two decades. With Emanuel Gruber, Erez has recorded the complete cello and piano Sonatas by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Brahms.

Joseph Haydn's The Creation - a musical masterpiece that was celebrated from the very beginning. For Simon Rattle there is no question that Haydn's Creation contains everything. The whole world. It looks both towards the past and far into the future of everything music can be. It is balance and revolution at the same time - a true work of the Enlightenment. "Magnificent choruses, graceful melodies, the finest polyphony, all firmly anchored in an optimistic view of humanity - anyone who doesn't automatically feel better after hearing it really needs help, " says Simon Rattle with a wink. "The Creation is healthy in a very honest way, " he adds. But health also includes a good dose of humour, and Haydn provides it, even in a setting as sacred as the Creation story. At the same time, a work radiating light also casts a few shadows on our own present. What has remained of the spirit of the Enlightenment? And what have we done with "this world, so great, so wonderful"? To mark his inauguration as Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle chose Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation. After two concerts on September 21 and 22, 2023 in Munich's Herkulessaal, the work was performed on September 24 in the historic basilica of Ottobeuren in Upper Swabia, together with the three outstanding soloists Lucy Crowe, Benjamin Bruns and Christian Gerhaher. The Munich recording of the inaugural concerts is now being released on 2 CDs by BR-KLASSIK. With this late work, Joseph Haydn celebrated his greatest triumph: The acclaim he received for his oratorio The Creation placed all his previous successes firmly in the shade. He was already very famous as a symphonic composer, his string quartets had won him the adoration of countless nobles and amateur musicians, and his late masses had secured the unwavering approval of his Esterhazy prince. However, at it's first performance in 1798, "The Creation" caught the spirit of the age - and continues to do so today. The work unites Haydn's orchestral finesse with powerful choruses, combining the vivid account of the creation story with subtle musical interpretation and making it a musical manifesto, as it were, of the Age of Enlightenment. In this regard, the oratorio has enjoyed an unbroken performance tradition, and continues to pose a challenge to every world-class ensemble today. In 1946, one year after the end of the war, Haydn's masterpiece was the first oratorio ever to be performed in the basilica in Ottobeuren - at that time still in the organ loft. The 1986 performance by the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein remains legendary to this day.

In his new CD recording, Swiss pianist Christian Chamorel focuses on four key works for solo piano by W.A. Mozart: the sonatas in C minor, K. 457; B-flat major, K. 333; and D major, K. 576; as well as the expressive Fantasy in C minor, K. 475, which originate from very different creative phases. Chamorel succeeds in creating a subtle interpretation that brings Mozart's music to life from within. Every phrase, every change in dynamics, articulation, and tempo seems like the result of a well-considered artistic decision and, at the same time, like a spontaneous impulse born directly from the moment.

The fourth volume of the complete recording of all 18 piano sonatas by W. A. Mozart - Mozart, the Traveling Whirlwind - includes the sonata movements in G minor, KV 15p, and Siciliano in D minor, KV 15u, from the London sketchbook of the 8-year-old Mozart; the sonata movement in B-flat major, KV 400/372; and Sonatas Nos. 7, 8, and 9. Michael Wessel combines the insights of historically informed performance practice with the rich, colorful tone of the modern Bösendorfer concert grand piano in a refreshing way: a lively, contrasting mixture of speaking and singing characters.

Paisiello distances himself, his sentiments and intellect, from his characters; he describes theatrical realities that on the surface do not seem the least bit serious in parodically grave tones. Voices from another world, Elisi and Iperuranio, who sing alternating macaronic Greek with a stinging parody of a more recent scene from Hell: the one from Orfeo ed Euridice by Calzabigi and Gluck, performed in Naples barely a year before with modifications and additions by Johann Christian Bach and others.

Idomeneo has long been one of Sir Simon Rattle's favourite works, and with good reason. Mozart's "dramma per musica" from 1781 completely revitalised the opera seria genre, which had previously been considered outmoded. It opens the series of operas from the composer's mature period. For this commissioned work for the excellent ensemble of the Munich Residenztheater, Mozart had unlimited musical resources at his disposal. It was his most extensive and ambitious stage work to date, featuring demanding arias, differentiated role portraits, a virtuoso orchestral part and several large choral scenes that rank among the most impressive in his oeuvre. - Mozart's first great opera gave Simon Rattle the opportunity to work intensively with the Chorus immediately after taking up his position as the new Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra in the autumn of 2023, further deepening his interest in historical performance practice in Munich. He was supported by an exceptional cast of singers, including British tenor Andrew Staples in the challenging title role, soprano Sabine Devieilhe and mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena as the tender lovers Ilia and Idamante, soprano Elsa Dreisig as the envious and distraught Elettra, and several other soloists and choral soloists. Howard Arman directs the Bavarian Radio Chorus, and Simon Rattle conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

As early as his Piano Concerto in A minor, Wq1, which he composed in Leipzig at the age of 19, it was hard for Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach to conceal his ability to weave his own stylistic flair into the still nascent genre of the piano concerto. This can be seen not only pianistically in unconventional technical demands (leaps of up to two octaves combined with melodic writing, elaborate embellishments and other features typical of instrumental works) but also in unexpected extensions of the formal layout and at times abruptly harsh passages. Starting with Wq1, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach proved the tremendous potential for development and transformation of this genre. The concertos would occupy him all his life and constantly take him along new pathways. Thus, in the course of 55 years a cosmos emerged which only our generation has been given the opportunity to discover.

Amadeus et l'Impératrice : Mongeroult - Mozart

Following two highly acclaimed albums, the Maxwell Quartet rounds off it's Haydn mini-series with the composer's two Op. 77 string quartets, juxtaposed with it's signature pairing of Scottish folk music. The quartet, which has become known for it's 'infectious enthusiasm' and 'irresistible' playing (BBC Music Magazine), showcases it's compelling storytelling with Haydn's last foray in the genre. The two quartets balance and complement each other perfectly: one brilliant, enigmatic, youthful and light, the other considered, noble and with a certain degree of gravitas. The complementary choice of Scottish folk music is equally balanced, ranging from the joyful - The Marquis of Tullibardine, Captain Campbell's March, etc. - to the more sombre - Hector the Hero. The cleverly constructed programme epitomises Hatto Beyerle's aphorism (the Maxwell Quartet's mentor, and dedicatee of this album): 'In order to truly understand Haydn's music, you must first understand folk music.'

Few musicians shaped the evolution of keyboard writing as profoundly as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His sonatas and concertos aligned technical brilliance with lyrical sensitivity to elevate the piano from largely domestic use to a powerful vehicle for solo and ensemble musicianship. This collection of hidden gems includes pieces spanning early childhood miniatures to complete sonata movements, minuets, a set of variations and a wide variety of incomplete works filled with Mozart's characteristic delicacy, surprise and operatic drama. Vijay Venkatesh's recording of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 6 can be heard on a digital-only release, 9.70390.

Violinist Arabella Steinbacher, the Luxembourg Philharmonic and conductor Gustavo Gimeno present violin concertos by Beethoven and Lentz. Beethoven's violin concerto may well be the most iconic contribution to it's genre, and to Steinbacher, it is the most "sacred" and sublime in the repertoire, never ceasing to reveal new perspectives. The piece is coupled with Georges Lentz' Violin Concerto '... to beam in distant heavens... ', written for Steinbacher and inspired by her virtuosity. Lentz' concerto is equally inspired by William Blake's poetry, as well as the idea that a future generation will one day look back on us and the way we destroy our planet. Oscillating between violence and angelic visions of love and hope, it places heavy demands on the soloist, and offers an illuminating counterpart to Beethoven's equally searching and idealist work. Luxembourg Philharmonic and Gustavo Gimeno are the ideal partners for this cosmic, adventurous pairing. Arabella Steinbacher is a multiple award-winner with an extensive PENTATONE discography, including Bach & Part (2023), Mozart's complete violin concertos (2014 and 2021), Four Seasons (Vivaldi & Piazzolla, 2020), Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos (2015) and many others. The Luxembourg Philharmonic and Gustavo Gimeno released composer monographies of Coll (2021), Franck (2020), Rossini (2019), Debussy, Stravinsky & Mahler (all 2018) as well as Ravel, Bruckner and Shostakovich (all 2017) on PENTATONE.

Variation means change - a creative impulse that has driven composers for centuries. Among the great variation cycles in music history, one rises like an eight-thousander: Ludwig van Beethoven's 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120. On her new recording, pianist Lei Meng places this monumental late work at the centre and invites listeners on an ascent into Beethoven's most imaginative terrain. Lei Meng pairs this towering cycle with a work from Beethoven's early years: the energetic, sharply profiled c-minor Bagatelle WoO 52 from 1795. Here we already encounter the composer who would make the key of C minor his signature - with scherzo-like wit, driving force and a softly glowing trio in C major.

This 19th volume of Haydn's complete symphonies coincides with the 40th anniversary of Il Giardino Armonico, the ensemble created and conducted by Giovanni Antonini, artistic director of the Haydn 2032 series. Il Giardino has made it's mark on the baroque world with it's revolutionary approach to Vivaldi, but Haydn has long been part of the Italian group's history, and Symphony No. 44, featured in this volume, was the first work by Haydn performed by the ensemble and Antonini. The title of this symphony, known as the "Funeral Symphony", inspired the inclusion in this programme of Scheidt's Paduana Dolorosa, published in 1621 at the beginning of the bloody Thirty Years' War, and Arvo Part's Da pacem Domine, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the 2004 Madrid train bombings: 'It's contemplative fixity and the sad Paduana dolorosa take on an almost cathartic function which, in my opinion, shows a perfect integration between music that is so stylistically and chronologically distant,' says Antonini, who also conducts Symphonies Nos. 108 (1762) and 52 (1771).

This two-album Signum Classics release presents Ludwig van Beethoven's five cello sonatas, performed by cellist Paul Watkins and pianist Alessio Bax. The works were composed over a wide period and illustrate Beethoven's early, middle and late styles, from the Op. 5 sonatas written during his 1796 Berlin visit, through the A major Sonata Op. 69 from the period of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, to the Op. 102 sonatas marking the beginning of his final creative phase. Recorded in December 2024 at Cedars Hall, Wells, the set reflects close collaboration between cello and piano and Beethoven's evolving formal and expressive concerns.