Robert Schumann's piano music, which Gerhard Oppitz now presents for the third time in a specific configuration of works, displays a special characteristic in contrast to the piano writing of the major 19th-century Romantic piano composers Alkan, Chopin and Liszt. The attempt to categorize his works either as contributions to the Classical models of sonata and variation, or to the Romantic genres of Etude, Ballade, Scherzo and a wealth of dance and character pieces, proved unsatisfactory; that remains the case even though Schumann himself was a regular contributor to the two forms handed down from the Classical era. Schumann himself, then, was engaged in the creative questioning of hitherto valid compositional and musical ideals.

This is the first recording not only of Ave Maris stella and Laudate pueri but also the original D-major version of Bononcini's Te Deum. The work has been newly edited here from it's English eighteenth-century sources. These works were written during Bononcini's time in London, and a few months after his arrival the country was ravaged by a smallpox epidemic, which also saw the first introduction of inoculation against disease in England. It's fitting therefore that this recording was made in the early summer of 2021, six months after the COVID-19 vaccination programme began in the UK. Despite the challenges that this caused, director Owen Rees says "it was heart-lifting to be able to bring this project to fruition after many months during which singing was silenced".

This recording brings together four Hungarian composers who, each in their own way, contributed to the development of a new national musical style at the beginning of the twentieth century. They managed to write music that was respected internationally and that both nurtured them and raised the general standard of music in Hungary.

Leó Weiner’s (dubbed the ‘Hungarian Mendelssohn’) and Erno Dohnányi’s string trios were composed during their student years, yet both works have become significant milestones in the limited repertoire for this instrumental combination. Elegant and occasionally reminiscent of Brahms, they also incorporate subtle touches of local folklore. Zoltán Kodály, alongside Béla Bartók, one of the most important Hungarian musicians of the century, composed relatively little chamber music, but his Intermezzo, also an early work, evokes the folk music that the composer had begun to collect for his ethnomusicological research. The least familiar and youngest of the composers represented here, László Weiner, met a tragic fate. His Serenade, composed while he was studying with Kodály, reveals the exceptional talent of a composer whose body of work remains small. Less ‘Magyar’ than the other works presented here, his Serenade recalls the intense and concentrated atmosphere of Viennese ‘modernist’ works.

Together with pianist Michael McHale, Michael Collins continues his exploration of the chamber repertoire for clarinet. After exploring French music (BIS-2497) and the Brahms Sonatas (BIS-2557), he now turns to British music with this recital covering a hundred years of music for clarinet and piano which reflects the special relationship between English composers and this instrument. The earliest works on this recording are the Three Intermezzi and the Sonata by Charles Villiers Stanford, who made no secret of his debt to Brahms. As with his Viennese counterpart, Stanford's music is poised yet seductive and, in this case, beautifully conceived for both instruments. Known for the strength of his vocal music, Gerald Finzi also makes the clarinet sing in his Five Bagatelles composed during the Second World War. Light and touching, they appear as a personal reinterpretation of the baroque dances found in Bach's instrumental suites. Not surprisingly, Marcolm Arnold's Sonatina has always been popular with clarinettists, with it's energy and it's nods to jazz and dance music. Last but not least, Joseph Horovitz, the last composer in chronological order, is represented by his Two Majorcan Pieces and his Sonatina. Once again, the music is playful and makes an excellent showcase for the clarinet.

Volume 66 in the Liszt Complete Piano Music series focuses on transcriptions from operas by Mozart and Donizetti. The Reminiscences on Mozart's Don Giovanni, with it's technical demands and innovations, stands at the pinnacle of Liszt's transcription procedure.

This CD is a celebration of female composers in classical music. For too long their work has been undervalued and overlooked, and unrightly so. Their work, if not dismissed, has often been attributed to male composers. We invite you to a journey across three centuries of extraordinary piano music. See for yourself, why we chose to borrow the title of "Femmes de legende": invisible heroines, whose works deserve to become deeply embedded into our repertoire. "Frauen als Muse" alludes to our ambition for this project to become an inspiration and empower future generations of musicians.

Sir Thomas Beecham had a long association with the works of Richard Strauss, to the extent that Strauss once told him, "What you have done for my works in England cannot be sufficiently appreciated." SOMM Recordings pays tribute to this collaboration between two musical giants of the early twentieth century-and throws in an early nineteenth-century powerhouse for good measure-with the release of Beecham Conducts R. Strauss and Beethoven. This is the 33rd edition of SOMM's long-running and acclaimed series The Beecham Collection, and it marks the 70th anniversary of two remarkable recordings from 1956. Once again, audio engineer Lani Spahr brings his depth of musicality and technical expertise to these newly restored masterworks. In addition to his determined efforts to put Strauss's operas on the London stage-beginning with conducting the British premiere of Strauss's opera Elektra in 1910-Beecham was enthusiastic about Strauss's tone poems. Ein Heldenleben, in particular, became something of a calling card for him. In 1947, he made a studio recording of the tone poem with the recently established Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A few weeks after his death in 1961, his 1958 stereo recording of Ein Heldenleben was released. The present live recording comes from an all-Strauss concert given at the Royal Festival Hall on 17 October 1956. The first half of the programme included MacBeth, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and the Dance of the Seven Veils, which SOMM released in 2023 (ARIADNE 5021). The second half, heard here, was devoted to Ein Heldenleben. Strauss's eighth tone poem is considered somewhat autobiographical despite his insistence that the hero was "not a single poetical or historical figure, but rather a more general and free ideal of great and manly heroism." It traces the dramatic arc of the hero's life through his adversaries and his companion; at battle and in peace; and it closes with his retirement from this world. Contemporary critics of Beecham's rapturously received 1956 performance were fulsome in their praise, one noting that "the epilogue was played with such tenderness as to bring tears to the eyes," and another that "this is how Strauss can sound when conducted with musical sensibility deepened by experience." Beecham's relationship with Ludwig van Beethoven was rather more ambivalent. Although he performed several of Beethoven's symphonies regularly, his recordings were more sporadic and he never completed a full cycle. SOMM is fortunate and proud to present here Beecham's exciting, fleet-footed interpretation of the Eighth Symphony, recorded at the Festival Hall on 12 December 1956. His performance brings energy and a sense of fun to the work, which musicologist Nigel Simeone describes as the "wittiest of the Beethoven symphonies."

John Wilson conducts a series of orchestral works of his mentor and friend Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, which now reaches Volume 5, featuring three works composed between 1973 and 1989. Son of professional musicians, Bennett demonstrated musical talent from an early age and went on to study with Howard Ferguson, Lennox Berkeley, and later Pierre Boulez. He produced more than 200 works for the concert hall, and fifty scores for film and television. He was also a writer and performer of jazz songs for fifty years. Immersed in the techniques of the European avant-garde via his contact with Boulez, he subsequently developed his own dramatic-abstract style. In later years, he adopted an increasingly tonal idiom. The Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned at the instigation of Brian Priestman, the British chief conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra. It's three-movement structure, closing with a dazzling set of variations, displays the modern orchestra as a virtuoso body of players. His rarely performed cello concerto Sonnets to Orpheus was written for the Edinburgh International Festival, and premiered by Heinrich Schiff. Diversions was a commission from the Haberdashers' Aske's Schools, in north London, to celebrate their tercentenary, in 1990. It was first played by the combined orchestras of all seven schools at a celebration concert in the Royal Festival Hall and the finished work is an exuberantly colourful set of symphonic variations based on the Scottish folksong 'Whistle and I'll come to you, my lad'.

His First Symphony famously took Brahms twenty-one years from conception to first performance - a marker of both his own highly self-critical assessment of his output, combined with the expectation of everyone around him that his symphonic output would naturally pick up where Beethoven had left off. Astonishingly, his Second Symphony was begun in June 1877 and received it's first performance just six months later, by the Vienna Philharmonic and Hans Richter. It's cheerful nature and pastoral mood are also a stark contrast to the first symphony. Following a gap of some six years, Brahms returned to the form in 1883, and composed his third and then fourth symphonies in quick succession. Begun in 1884, the Fourth Symphony was premièred by Brahms and the Meiningen court orchestra in October 1885. The work is especially notable for it's last movement, which takes the form of a passacaglia (an extremely rare occurrence) and is the only one of Brahms's symphonies to end in a minor key.

The third installment of Rendez-vous with Martha Argerich brings together captivating recordings from the international Festival Martha Argerich in Hamburg, showcasing an extraordinary lineup of soloists. Among the highlights are several first collaborations on record, notably between Martha Argerich, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Mischa Maisky, but also between Martha Argerich and Maria-João Pires. Many other prestigious guests include Renaud Capucon, Nelson Goerner, Gidon Kremer, Tedi Papavrami, Akiko Suwanai and Michael Volle. Particularly note-worthy is the deeply emotional interpretation of Brahms' second viola sonata, marking the poignant final public performance by the dearly missed pianist Nicholas Angelich, with violist Gerard Causse. All in all, this boxset stands as a jubilant tribute to the unparalleled artistry of Martha Argerich and to the incredible array of musical friendships she has develo-ped through the years.

Rheinberger's chamber music work bears witness to his deep roots in the classical tradition, particularly in composers such as Mendelssohn and Brahms. His compositions are characterised by clear formal structures, melodic elegance and harmonic richness.

Santtu conducts Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 is the fifth album from Philharmonia Records. Largely interpreted as depicting Stalin's regime in Russia, the orchestra delivers tragedy, violence and gloom before the brief but triumphant finale. Conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, this performance was recorded at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in April 2024.

The Royal Danish Orchestra's performing history stretches back to 1448, making it the oldest orchestra in the world, with Carl Nielsen counted amongst it's distinguished former members. His 16 years of experience as one of the orchestra's second violinists helped shape him as a composer, and it was this ensemble that introduced his symphonies to the world. From the 'imminent storm of genius' of the First Symphony to the disarming outlandishness of the Sixth, Nielsen's symphonies are recognised as among the greatest in their genre, heard here in recordings made with a league of conductors whose bond with Denmark and Nielsen's music is second to none.

Cut or Uncut?

Anton Bruckner would have been 200 years old in 2024. Instead of using flowery but ultimately helpless advertising slogans to promote the 100th release for the Bruckner Year, we are trying to encourage people to think about production processes in classical music with a special release. What is a recording actually about?

Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony twice in full length, each time on one CD. A live recording (uncut) and a studio production (cut) under identical conditions. Compare them! And don't allow your judgement to be swayed by different recording circumstances!

This comparison would not have been possible without András Keller and Concerto Budapest. András Keller follows an unbroken European tradition that stretches way back into the last century, perhaps even as far back as Anton Bruckner himself. And the monumental arches and climaxes in Anton Bruckner's music are perfect for every listener to ask themselves: What do I want from a recording? What moves me more, live or produced, cut or uncut?

Wilhelm Furtwangler was born in Schoneberg (now a district of Berlin) in 1886, but spent most of his childhood in Munich, where his father, an archaeologist, taught at the university. He received a musical education from an early age, and soon became obsessed with the works of Beethoven - a lifelong fascination. Furtwangler considered himself to be a composer, and learned to conduct principally to be able to promote his own works. Everyone else saw him as an incredibly talented conductor, but as a composer? - not so much. It is, however, his own individual approach that underscores his entire career - his reputation as a conductor was built on the re-interpretation of each score he conducted, a principle far removed from the then more usual rigid adherence to performance tradition. His whole career was built on his belief in the sanctity of the German artistic tradition - not only of music but of literature and philosophy. Furtwangler rose to the most important conductorships available, replacing Richard Strauss at the Staatskapelle Berlin in 1920, and then, following the sudden death of Arthur Nikisch, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic. Through the 1930s and '40s, his career was defined by his opposition to Nazism, and the determination of the regime to use his international reputation as propaganda to promote their cause. The best known of his three symphonies, the second was composed in 1945 - 46 whilst he was self-exiled in Switzerland.

The third and final instalment in their award-winning series, the Calidore Quartet return with a three-disc release of Beethoven Early Quartets. Their previous Beethoven recordings have been described as 'highly collectible' by BBC Music Magazine. The first album of Late Quartets won the Chamber Music Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024, and the second awarded Recording of the Month by Gramophone Magazine. The contents of this recording project serve as a snapshot of their fourteen years of working, growing, listening and collaborating together. "Our interpretation speaks to the influences of our teachers and the great traditions associated with this repertoire, but also to that of our own generation, contemporary research, style and experience. Though this music speaks in a language that is hundreds of years old, it's message remains immediate, relevant and comforting to listeners of today and of generations to come even, and especially, in the most challenging of times". Their interpretations of Beethoven are already critically acclaimed with performances at the Lincoln Centre planned as part of their residency.

Hailed by the magazine BBC Music for it's 'generous and warm-hearted, utterly beguiling playing', the GRAMMY®-nominated Neave Trio has emerged as one of the finest young ensembles of it's generation. For this, their eighth album, they have once again selected a programme of works by female composers. Written in 1846, the Piano Trio of Clara Schumann was considered a great success by her friends and supporters (notably by Brahms) but her lack of self-confidence clouded her own view of the piece. Intellectually curious and a voracious reader from an early age, Dora Pejacevic was largely self-taught as a composer. She composed her first piano trio (in D major) in 1905 (when she was twenty) and the second followed in 1910, by which time Pejacevic's musical language had already evolved into it's distinctive late-romantic style. Chaminade's Piano Trio No. 2 in A minor was published 1887, with a dedication to the great French cellist Jules Delsart. The successful premiere had been given at the Salle Érard on 4 February 1886. Chaminade went on to play the A minor Trio regularly during the 1890s, to substantial critical acclaim.

It is both regrettable and incomprehensible that Louis Spohr is virtually unknown today as a composer of oratorios, as he was extremely highly regarded as such by his contemporaries. Among musicologists at least, he is counted together with Mendelssohn as one of the most important German composers of oratorios in the first half of the 19th century. Under the impression of a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Spohr wrote his Passion oratorio Des Heilands letzte Stunden WoO 62 in 1834, which reports the Passion events from an unusual perspective: Instead of an evangelist, the disciple Johannes takes on the role of the narrator directly involved in the events. Together with Mary, the mother of Jesus, he describes the story of Jesus' Passion - in an almost operatic and dramatic manner. The scenes before the judgment of Caiaphas and at the cross with the musically painted earthquake are particularly remarkable. With this conception, Spohr met the public's taste exactly, as people expected not only religious edification from such a work, but also a gripping plot. The premiere in Kassel in 1835 was correspondingly successful. Four years later, an English version was performed in Norwich, where, according to the Times, hundreds were moved to tears. No wonder, then, that Spohr considered this oratorio to be one of the best he had ever composed. Frieder Bernius and the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and an outstanding ensemble of soloists (Johanna Winkel, Maximilian Vogler, Florian Sievers, Arttu Kataja, Thomas E. Bauer, Felix Rathgeber and Magnus Piontek) make this jewel of early 19th century sacred choral music available again on CARUS in an exquisite recording.

As a boy, Francesco Cavalli was a member of San Marco Basilica's Chapel, then directed by Claudio Monteverdi, from whom he probably received tuition. In time Cavalli's fame as an operatic composer spread across Europe and he succeeded Monteverdi in San Marco to reach the apex of success in Venice. He also wrote sacred music, published in two great printed collections. The first collection, published in 1656, contains his Missa a 8 voci Concertata, an imposing and magnificent work of exceptional complexity for eight soloists, two four-voiced choirs and many instrumentalists. In this recording it is performed in the context of an All Saints' Day liturgy by Ensemble Locatelli, directed by Cavalli scholar, Bruno Gini.

One of the most sought-after young chamber ensembles of it's type, Trio Gaspard is praised for it's unique and fresh approach to the score, one recent recording prompting The Times to conclude: "Kaleidoscopic textures and sprightly wit, wonderfully conveyed by Trio Gaspard... delightful listening." It was founded in 2010, it's members hailing from Germany, Greece, and the UK. They studied at the European Chamber Music Academy in Vienna. Haydn's music has been of central importance to their programming over the past fifteen years, and it is rare for them to perform a concert without one of his works. Trio Gaspard writes: "Over this series of recordings, we present Haydn's rich output for piano trio neither chronologically nor in the groups in which the works were first published. Instead, just like the preceding discs, Volume 5 is conceived as a programme of contrasting trios that can be heard in a single sitting. We also continue the series of contemporary works which we have commissioned to accompany our Haydn project and are delighted to present the world première recording of Helena Winkelman's Threesome in a High-den."

For Italian composers of the 18th century, the stage was the primary focus. However, Giovanni Battista Viotti, an exceptional violinist and composer, sought instead a career at the Concert Spirituel in Paris, where his performances seduced and astonished the public. His compositions also established the new standard in violin concertos, laying the foundation for the French violin school. This premiere complete recording of Viotti's 29 concertos reveals the full range of his technical and expressive mastery, showing why he was an influence on Paganini, and was admired by Brahms.

Mixing iconic choral works with music by some of today's most exciting composers, this varied programme is centred around themes of rest. Joel Thompson's virtuosic new work is a particular highlight: written in 15 parts, A Prayer for Deliverance perfectly showcases Tenebrae's core values of passion and precision. The second half features Herbert Howells' Requiem - surely one of the most moving works in the English choral repertoire. Associated with the untimely death of Howells' young son Michael, the work remained unknown until it was finally published just three years before Howells' own death in 1983.

Highly virtuosic, intense and passionate: Gran Caprice - these are works for violin written by violinists for violinists. Maxim Brilinsky shows lyrical lines - with the possibilities of bowing and fingering technique utilised to the utmost.

Regarded as one of the finest interpreters of classical and romantic repertoire, Imogen Cooper is internationally renowned for her virtuosity and lyricism. Dame Imogen writes: 'It has taken many years for me to perceive the last three sonatas by Beethoven as the evolving journey I now feel them to be. A combination of wariness of Op. 109 and overawe of Op. 111 kept me solely concentrated on Op. 110, which I can hardly regret. Nor do I regret thereby coming late in life to Opp. 109 and 111. Having come to see the shortcomings of my perception as surmountable, I found that the joys and riches of these wonderful works presented themselves with much more vivid colours than had I tussled with them whilst I was tussling with myself. The case was, incidentally, similar with the "Diabelli" Variations, Op. 120, which I finally approached and embraced in my sixties, with crystal clarity of intention and unadulterated joy. Now it would be hard for me to play any of the last three sonatas alone, so potent is the journey from first to last. And how privileged my hands feel, having wondered and wandered in the heavenly heights of the last pages of Op. 111, to travel down the keyboard and bring this astonishing last sonata, and indeed the whole body of thirty-two sonatas, to a close, with a quiet chord of C major - no long note value, no fermata. Just silence.'

Santtu conducts Shostakovich is the fourth album from Philharmonia Records, featuring Shostakovich's colourful Sixth Symphony alongside his subversive and sardonic Ninth Symphony. Conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, these performances were recorded at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in 2023.

Ferdinando Carulli was amongst the most important Italian guitarist-composers during the first half of the 19th century, and his Guitar Method, Op. 27 is still in use today. Marcello Fantoni's first volume of Carulli Rediscovered (Dynamic 7956) was awarded the Chitarra d'Oro Prize for best guitar album of the year in Italy in 2023, and this second volume features world premiere recordings of rarely performed works. These range from the complex Grande Sonatas to three lively Neapolitan-style Ouvertures, Op. 6 [a] brought by Carulli from Italy to his new home in Paris. The album concludes with the brief but delightfully melancholy etude in B minor, Op. 192.

A veritable musical fresco inspired by the cyclical course of the sun, Circa Diem - "almost a day" - invites the listener on a sonic journey following the rhythm of light. From the peaceful darkness of the deep night to the gentle dawn, from the intense brightness of the zenith to the enveloping warmth of the golden hour, to the shifting shadows of dusk, each stage of the day finds it's musical resonance here. The trio Les Heures Bleues weaves it's common thread around Tomaso Albinoni's Opus 1. A first opus for a first project: the idea of a beginning, where all the musical trajectories to come are already hinted at. The cycle of a day thus mirrors the great cycles of life: gestation, birth, maturity, tranquillity, then evanescence. Four sonatas by Albinoni have been chosen and set in dialogue with different moments in the solar cycle, revealing the expressive richness of this Baroque music in the light of passing time. To anchor this one-day journey in our present, contemporary composers were invited to create works based on the light/sonata correspondence that inspired them most: Virginie Tasset, Max Charue, Patrick Leterme, Jimmy Bonesso, and Muhiddin Dürrüoglu. Their contemporary perspectives extend and renew Albinoni's legacy, inscribing this timeless cycle in a resolutely modern sensibility.

Saverio Mercadante was one of the pioneers of Italian instrumental music in the first half of the 19th century, a period dominated by opera. His quartets for flute and strings show his willingness to evolve and experiment in the genre, and this selection illustrates his mastery of both the Quatuor brilliant and the Quatuor concertant styles. Technical agility, a varied use of tone colours and harmonic richness mark out these very different and individual works. The performances employ the latest critical editions by Mariateresa Dellaborra.

Ausias Parejo won the 2022 'Alhambra' International Guitar Competition at the age of 17. In this programme he includes works by Leo Brouwer, Ponce and Guastavino, as well as works by Juan Erena, Lorenzo Palomo (a premiere recording) and Ausias's father Ruben.

Anna Clyne, described as a 'composer of uncommon gifts and unusual methods' by The New York Times, is one of the most in-demand composers today, working with orchestras, choreographers, filmmakers and visual artists around the world. Clyne's unique voice combines tradition with postmodern techniques, giving her listeners a sense of musical adventure that is grounded in the past. From the beautiful elegy Within Her Arms to the defiant power of Restless Oceans, Anna Clyne's music strikes a positive and resilient tone.