Igor Stravinsky's fairy-tale ballet "The Firebird" is rarely performed in it's entirety in today's concert halls - usually, only one of the concert suites is played. Simon Rattle performed the narrative ballet (composed in Paris in 1909/10 and premiered in 1910 by the famous Ballets Russes) in it's full magnificence on November 6 and 7, 2025 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Isarphilharmonie in Munich. BR-KLASSIK is now releasing this recent concert recording on CD - together with an edition of the new format "Discover Music with Simon Rattle". The impresario Sergei Diaghilev organised a series of concerts of Russian music in Paris in 1907. He went on to present Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in 1908 and, in the following year, alongside Borodin's Prince Igor, offered Parisians a memorable selection of Russian ballet performances. This marked the birth of the Ballets Russes, a legendary company that was to make theatre and music history. In early 1909, at very short notice, Diaghilev commissioned Stravinsky to compose the music for The Firebird. Despite considerable time pressure, Stravinsky managed to complete the score by May 18, 1910. The premiere on June 25, 1910 was an unprecedented success that has lasted to this day. In his interpretation, Simon Rattle allows the modern, colourfully orchestrated expressiveness of Igor Stravinsky's blazing Firebird to shine through in all it's glory. "Discover Music with Simon Rattle" A conductor's mind must be like a six-lane highway. What if you could take a look inside? The new BR-KLASSIK series "Discover Music with Simon Rattle" makes that possible! The conductor guides you - the listeners - through recorded orchestra rehearsals with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and explains what he was thinking at the time. You'll also learn a lot about the works that are particularly important to him. Simon Rattle guides you through the rehearsals in his easy-to-understand English, providing numerous insights into the work of the orchestra as well as some very personal memories. ? Simon Rattle conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich concerts on November 6 and 7, 2025 ? Live recording of the complete "Firebird" ballet by Igor Stravinsky ? Including "Discover Music with Simon Rattle": explanations by the conductor about the work and his own interpretation (in English) ? Thrilling live atmosphere from Munich's Isarphilharmonie concert hall

Under the direction of Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal presents two landmark works created for Sergei Diaghilev's legendary Ballets Russes: Maurice Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe and Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. This prestigious company played a decisive role in shaping the image of an artistic modernity that challenged established norms in the early decades of the 20th century, with these two works leaving a lasting mark on the history of ballet and music. Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe, described by the composer as a 'choreographic symphony', is a vast musical fresco built on a refined orchestral palette, subtle harmonic writing, and a sophisticated blending of instrumental colours. Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, with it's innovative rhythmic language, harmonic construction, and powerful evocation of ancient rituals, became a landmark work of the 20th century. Together, these scores reflect the extraordinary creative energy surrounding the Ballets Russes and the composers who transformed the musical landscape of their time. This release extends the exclusive recording partnership between the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal with Rafael Payare and PENTATONE, including Mahler's Symphony No. 5 (2023), Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with Sonya Yoncheva and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (2024), Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande and Verklarte Nacht (2024), and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and Le carnaval romain (2025).

The works for piano and orchestra by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) represent a distinctive part of his output and reflect his evolving musical style during the early twentieth century. Although Stravinsky is widely known for his revolutionary ballets such as The Rite of Spring, his compositions featuring piano and orchestra demonstrate his interest in rhythm, clarity, and neoclassical form. The most significant of these works is the Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (1923-24). Unlike the traditional Romantic concerto that pairs the piano with a full symphony orchestra, Stravinsky scored this piece for piano and a large ensemble of winds, brass, timpani, and double basses. The absence of strings creates a bright, sharp sound that highlights the percussive nature of the piano. Stravinsky himself often performed the solo part, and the concerto reflects his own technical abilities as a pianist. Structurally, the work follows a clear three-movement design-Largo, Allegro, and Largo-blending Baroque inspiration with modern rhythmic vitality. Another important composition is the Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra (1928-29). Written again for Stravinsky's own performances, this piece is lighter and more playful than the earlier concerto. It consists of three continuous sections and features brilliant piano passages combined with lively orchestral textures. The title 'Capriccio' suggests a free and imaginative character, which is evident in the work's energetic rhythms and witty musical gestures. The orchestration includes a full orchestra, producing a richer sound than the wind-dominated concerto. Also presented are a selection of shorter works for piano solo: Tango, Ragtime, Circus Polka, Piano Rag Music, Valse pour les enfants: quasi-popular music, infused with Stravinsky's unique rhythms, dissonances and wit. Giuseppe Andaloro (Palermo, 1982) is one of the most acclaimed Italian pianists of his generation. Winner of prestigious international competitions - including the Ferruccio Busoni (Bolzano). He has performed in some of the world's leading venues: Teatro alla Scala and Sala Verdi in Milan, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Konzerthaus Berlin, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Royal Festival Hall in London, Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo, Esplanade in Singapore, Concert Hall in Hong Kong. He has appeared at renowned festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, Ruhr Piano Festival, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, George Enescu Festival, Ravello Festival, and Beirut Al Bustan. As soloist, he has collaborated with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), under the direction of conductors like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gianandrea Noseda, and Andrew Parrott.

Every new sound carries a shadow of what came before: on their new GENUIN album, the piano duo Ekaterina Zhemaitis and Polina Kulikova journey through the dialogue between memory and invention. At it's heart stands the world premiere recording of Rodion Shchedrin's 'Romantic Duets', alongside works that draw breath from tradition while reshaping it into strikingly individual musical languages - from Stravinsky to Taneyev. Performed by an internationally award-winning duo, the program unfolds with rare coherence, revealing hidden lines, lucid structures, and unexpected connections across time.

A high-grade transfer to LP for Emanuele Delucchi's scintillating survey of Stravinsky's solo piano music, originally released in 2023. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) became a pivotal figure in musical modernism with the works he wrote for Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, of which Le sacre du Printemps caused a scandal due to it's fierce, brutal, and openly sensual character. The quintessential nature of Le sacre is pianistically conceived - those pounding chords and unpredictable accents that fit under the fingers - and Stravinsky no less than Beethoven is a composer who self-evidently both thinks and writes at the piano. Yet Stravinsky's solo output for the instrument is relatively modest - surveyed here by Emanuele Delucchi within 50 minutes. Even here, Delucchi finds space for a real rarity, an arrangement of a section from the Symphonies for Wind instruments which, in the ineluctable progression of it's heavy and dense chords, once more reveals it's keyboard roots in this transcription. For the rest, the original piano music focuses piece by piece on familiar tropes: neoclassicism in the Sonata and Serenade; popular and vernacular styles in the Piano-Rag Music and Tango. Stravinsky used unconventional harmonies and rhythmic patterns, and often incorporated elements of folk music and jazz into his pieces. The Piano Sonata and Serenade in A can be described as neoclassical, blending traditional forms with a new tonal language. The Piano Rag Music, Tango, and Circus Polka are delightful examples of "light" entertainment music, spiced with syncopated rhythms and "wrong" notes. Emanuele Delucchi is one of the most remarkable pianists of his generation. He has the technique and style to master the most difficult pieces with ease, logic and elegance. He made his name with his Godowsky series for Piano Classics, including the vertiginously difficult Chopin Studies. 'Only top-flight virtuosos need apply,' remarked Jeremy Nicholas in Gramophone: 'Delucchi is one of them.

Milestones is a cross-genre project by violinist Hugo Ticciati and the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, bringing together music by Josquin des Prez, Igor Stravinsky, and Miles Davis. Conceived around shared anniversary years, the album reflects O/Modernt's practice of placing music from different periods and traditions into direct conversation. Instrumental arrangements and collaborative performances draw attention to common ground between Renaissance polyphony, early modernism, and jazz, particularly in approaches to rhythm, texture, and improvisation. Recorded in Germany and the UK in 2021, the project documents an ensemble-led approach that emphasises attentive listening, flexible roles for soloists, and collective music-making across stylistic boundaries.

Music as ritual: On their debut GENUIN album, the internationally acclaimed piano duo Pisareva-Tchaidze presents three landmark works of early modernism. Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps" - a piece that has stood at the heart of their repertoire for fifteen years - is set alongside Debussy's "epigraphes antiques" and Bartok's "Two Pictures". Written within the same turbulent historical moment shortly before the First World War, these compositions reflect a time of profound cultural upheaval. The album explores the interplay between them - their archaic energy, their rhythmic vitality, and their dialogue between past and present. The duo's finely calibrated ensemble playing brings striking rhythmic precision and luminous clarity of sound to these works.

Igor Stravinsky is renowned for his legacy of glittering fairy tales in treasured favourites such as Petrushka and The Firebird. Another favourite is the ballet Pulcinella, a lovable melange of Baroque theatricality, heard here in it's concert suite form. The other works in this programme are surprisingly less known: the luminous and symphonic Song of the Nightingale, and The Fairy's Kiss based on Tchaikovsky's music, are both derived from stories by Hans Christian Andersen. An astonishing rarity, The Faun and the Shepherdess is an ancient Greek tale that was Stravinsky's romantically sensual gift to his young bride.

Behzod Abduraimov's performances combine great musical depth with phenomenal technique: 'He has a magical touch,' wrote The Times. This recital is yet another illustration of his many talents: it begins with variations by Carl Czerny, a pupil of Beethoven and a teacher of Liszt. Next, the famous Après une lecture de Dante (whose title is borrowed from a poem by Victor Hugo) represents Liszt's Année de pèlerinage en Italie (1846-1849). The title is borrowed from a poem by Victor Hugo... Another era, another poetic inspiration (Verlaine), with the Suite Bergamasque, an allusion to the festivals of the Lombard commedia dell'arte, which Debussy composed between 1890 and 1905... Still celebrating, this time in Saint Petersburg, with 'it's crowds, it's shacks and it's small traditional theatre, the character of the magician and conjurer... and the animation of the dolls, Petrushka, his rival, and the ballerina', notes Stravinsky, who in 1921 wrote a piano transcription of his ballet Petrushka, composed ten years earlier. Brahms and a peaceful Intermezzo from his Klavierstücke Op. 119 conclude this infernal programme.

Mort au Printemps is a compelling journey through some of the most powerful musical visions of death from the early twentieth century, explored through the intense and versatile language of the piano duo. In this album, the Anton & Maite Piano Duo bring together three works that are deeply connected by aesthetic affinities, personal links between their composers, and a shared creative response to the tragic. At the heart of the programme lies Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, presented in the composer's own four-hand piano transcription. Far from being a reduction, this version retains all the work's primal energy, revealing with striking clarity it's rhythmic drive, structural ingenuity, and ritualistic character rooted in archaic and ancestral imagery. Alongside it stands El Día y la Muerte by Fernando Remacha, a two-piano work that remained hidden for decades. Inspired by the tragic death of the composer's grandson, the piece unfolds in a sombre, deeply moving musical language situated between Impressionism and Expressionism, marked by tension, dark colours, and emotional intensity. The album is completed by Claude Debussy's en blanc et noir, one of the most distinctive works of his final period, permeated by the oppressive atmosphere of World War I despite the composer's reluctance to make explicit references. Mort au Printemps powerfully reclaims the expressive depth of the piano duo repertoire, offering a recording of exceptional intensity, precision, and artistic vision.

A celebration of the masterful artistry of Frederick Ashton, this collection presents three defining works from the Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. A pioneer of 20th-century dance, Ashton brought elegance, innovation and emotional depth to the stage, shaping the identity of British ballet for generations. Scenes de ballet distils classical technique into a striking study of form and symmetry. Ashton gracefully reimagines Turgenev's play A Month in the Country as a one-act ballet where all the drama unfolds in the family's living room upon the arrival of a dashing young tutor. Rhapsody, created for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier, blends virtuosic movement with lyrical beauty, set to Rachmaninoff's sweeping score. Together, these works offer a vivid portrait of Ashton's genius.

A celebration of the masterful artistry of Frederick Ashton, this collection presents three defining works from the Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. A pioneer of 20th-century dance, Ashton brought elegance, innovation and emotional depth to the stage, shaping the identity of British ballet for generations. Scenes de ballet distils classical technique into a striking study of form and symmetry. Ashton gracefully reimagines Turgenev's play A Month in the Country as a one-act ballet where all the drama unfolds in the family's living room upon the arrival of a dashing young tutor. Rhapsody, created for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier, blends virtuosic movement with lyrical beauty, set to Rachmaninoff's sweeping score. Together, these works offer a vivid portrait of Ashton's genius.

Winner of the 2024 La Maestra competition in Paris and recipient of five additional prizes, conductor Bar Avni is pursuing a very promising career. Born in Israel, she first studied percussion before turning to conducting. She counts Yoav Talmi, Barbara Hannigan and Ayelet Geva as mentors and has assisted conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Klaus Mäkelä and Myung-Whun Chung. Avni is known for her desire to seek out programmes that are off the beaten track. This is evident in her first recording with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, which combines the music of Charlotte Sohy, Darius Milhaud, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Igor Stravinsky. The programme opens with Sohy's symphony Grande Guerre, which was composed in 1914 but only premiered in 2019. Milhaud composed his first of six Petites Symphonies in 1917 while he was secretary to Paul Claudel, French ambassador to Brazil. C. P. E. Bach's sparkling symphony, composed in 1775, precedes the final work by Stravinsky, his first major work composed after he moved to America around 1940, a Symphony in Three Movements. Three movements: the common thread running through the works on this symphonic journey.

The Camerata Salzburg begins a collaboration with Channel Classics and, with it's leader Giovanni Guzzo, presents it's first recording entitled Muses. The album includes three neoclassical masterpieces for chamber orchestra by Igor Stravinsky. The Concerto in E-flat "Dumbarton Oaks" is a small concerto in the style of the Brandenburg Concertos. Apollon musagète pays homage to Apollo, and to the Muses of mime, poetry and dance, with beautiful, harmonically pure and melodically perfect music. The Concerto in D employs every conceivable kind of string sound and technique, creating a combination of pure melodic and rhythmic drive and wonderful cantabile passages. In these three works, Camerata Salzburg delves deeply into sound, a quest made possible by each musician's individual commitment to the ensemble, uniting the muses of chamber music, concert and orchestra.

Violin and piano duo Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins explore a violin and piano programme spanning four generations of musical imagination. Prokofiev's F minor Sonata captivates with it's dramatic intensity and baroque-inspired clarity. Stravinsky's Duo Concertant enchants through five lyrical musical poems, blending wit, elegance, and classical poise. Knussen's 'Reflection', written for Waley-Cohen and Watkins, immerses listeners in a jewel-like world of colour and introspection, where every note is deliberately placed. Watkins's Violin Sonata fuses modern lyricism with bursts of earthy vitality, creating a dialogue of subtle contrasts.

Soulima Stravinsky was the third child of Igor and Yekaterina Stravinsky. His career in music encompassed performing as a recitalist and concerto soloist, particularly noted for interpretations of his father's music, musicology, education, and composition. Soulima's performing career was slowly expanded with achievements as a transcriber, editor, author, and composer, although in the later endeavour his work was inevitably overshadowed by his father's towering reputation. Soulima had a particular gift for composing music for children. He made two visits to the Nimbus Studios, in 1975 to record these performances of his father's music, and in 1977 to record his own music for children. This is the first release of these fine performances, fascinating not least for their specific historic significance. © Adrian Farmer

Josef Spacek and Petr Popelka once again in the story of Martinu's music and life! "I'll also be writing a violin concerto for an American, the same person Stravinsky wrote one for; that will be good advertising for me, but also a lot of work." For Bohuslav Martinu, the violin was the instrument especially close to his heart, but it was also companion. He played in the Czech Philharmonic as a violinist, and it was the violin that took him to Paris, the city which enchanted him and become his home for 17 years before the war drove him to America. More than once, the violin was his introduction to the "high society" of the music world. The American from the quoted letter was the star violinist Samuel Dushkin. The violinist praised the work and Martinu ("He really is a nice fellow. [...] he has a very exceptional sense for the violin"), but he constantly demanded more and more changes to the concerto, and in the end the performance did not take place. The score was lost, then it was rediscovered and finally premiered in 1973 by Josef Suk with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Georg Solti. At the time when Martinu's First Violin Concerto was being written, it was the same American Dushkin who was collaborating with Igor Stravinsky on a different work based on music from the neoclassical ballet The Fairy's Kiss; together, they were creating a lovely suite titled Divertimento for violin and piano. In 1943, it was Mischa Elman, another star violinist, who commissioned Martinu's Second Violin Concerto. Elman also gave the concerto it's world premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Serge Koussevitzky. With a new look at Martinu's violin concertos, Josef Spacek and Petr Popelka are following up on their acclaimed album with Martinu's Concerto for violin, piano, and orchestra (Supraphon 2023). Once again, they prove that there is always something to discover and to admire in the music of Bohuslav Martinu.

Cappella Amsterdam, it's celebrated chief conductor Daniel Reuss, and the Noord Nederlands Orkest present a recording of Igor Stravinsky's late works, showcasing the composer's remarkable transformation. Embracing the twelve-tone technique in his later years, Stravinsky reshaped his contrapuntal voice and produced works of rigorous structure, spiritual depth, and emotional intensity. These late compositions, from In Memoriam Dylan Thomas to Requiem Canticles, reveal a composer who fused intellectual precision with ritualistic power, creating music that is as moving as it is masterful. Featuring an exceptional lineup of soloists - Berit Norbakken, Marianne Beate Kielland, Guy Cutting, Thomas Walker, Tobias Berndt, and Stephan MacLeod - together with harmonium players Dirk Luijmes and Martin Logar, this recording unites compelling interpreters of vocal and choral music. Under Daniel Reuss's artistic direction of over thirty years, Cappella Amsterdam, together with the Noord Nederlands Orkest, bring these masterpieces to life with unmatched clarity and devotion. The choir has garnered numerous accolades, including an Edison Klassiek Award for In Umbra Mortis (2021), and has continued it's acclaimed recording journey with David Lang: the writings (2022), Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance (2023), Tales of Song and Sadness (2024), and Lassus: Penitential Psalms (2025).

The piano dances: new recordings of ballet classics in sparkling keyboard arrangements. Born in Russia, living and working in Germany, Ekaterina Litvintseva has made a string of critically acclaimed recordings for Piano Classics, featuring the music of Chopin, Rachmaninoff and more. On her latest album, she turns to a trio of ballet scores which have always captivated audiences for the particular genius of their marriage between story and music. She opens with Prokofiev's own arrangement of 10 pieces from Romeo and Juliet, followed by Guido Agosti's arrangement of the Suite from Stravinsky's Firebird, and Mikhail Pletnev's virtuoso transcription of dances from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. As in any popular recital, there are three encores: a waltz from Delibes' Coppelia (arranged by Erno Dohnanyi), Les Sauvages by Rameau, and finally another foot-tapping dance from the French Baroque, extracted from an opera by Lully. In these transcriptions, the pianist becomes more than just a substitute for the orchestra; she takes the role of a storyteller and a conduit for the expression of the ballet. The reduction of forces brings a more intense focus on the melodic lines, the harmonic progressions and the rhythmic subtleties of the music. Prokofiev chose to recompose and distil the essence of pivotal moments in Romeo and Juliet rather than making straightforward arrangements. In their own ways, Agosti and Pletnev also demonstrate that the essence of ballet can be captured and reimagined in the hands of a skilled pianist. While their versions of Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky have become crowd-pleasing pianistic tours de force in their own right, they also retain the elegance and the fundamental pulse of the original dances. 'The 30-something Ekaterina Litvintseva has been amassing a distinguished discography, and this... is a fine addition, exhibiting the combination of sensitivity and self-assurance that have marked her playing up until now... you owe it to yourself to make the acquaintance of Dora Pejacevic.' (Fanfare, reviewing PCL10226)

SOMM Recordings marks the 150th Anniversary of the great French-American conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) with his live performances of Claude Debussy's Images pour orchestre and Igor Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. These 1961 broadcasts, featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, have been superbly remastered by Lani Spahr, whose critically acclaimed audio restorations for SOMM have received high praise from Gramophone, BBC Radio 3, and The Sunday Times, amongst many others. While Monteux was born 150 years ago this past April, his death came 61 years ago-still within the lifetime of many present-day music lovers. He was, therefore, a link with the musical past, and enjoyed professional relationships with both the composers on this recording. By the early 1910s, Monteux had a reputation as the leading French conductor of the younger generation, and Debussy chose him to prepare the world premiere of Images pour orchestre, which Debussy himself conducted in January 1913. Debussy's colourful orchestration of his original piano work opens with "Gigues," inspired loosely by English and Scottish folk-tunes. At the heart of Images is "Iberia," of which Manuel de Falla said, "There is more real Spain in 'Iberia' than in all of Albeniz's work." The more veiled final movement, "Rondes de printemps," ultimately brings Images to a superb full-orchestra climax. Monteux's first conducting position was with Paris's Colonne Orchestra, which Sergei Diaghilev engaged for the 1910 season of the Ballets Russes, and Monteux came into contact with Stravinsky's music when he played viola in the company's premiere of The Firebird. At the request of Stravinsky, he conducted the premiere of Petrushka in 1911, and he led the famously riotous first performance of The Rite of Spring in 1913. When Monteux was conscripted into the army during World War I, Diaghilev persuaded the French government to discharge him so that he could direct the Ballets Russes on a North American tour. The success of this tour led to Monteux's five-year tenure as chief conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His successor there was the Russian maestro Serge Koussevitzky who, in 1931, commissioned a number of leading composers-including Stravinsky-to write commemorative works marking the 50th anniversary of the BSO. Stravinsky's offering was his Symphony of Psalms for chorus and orchestra. Composed in a Neo-classical style with a nod to Bach's oratorios, it is one of the great choral works of the 20th century, creating a unique, ritualistic atmosphere in the setting of three psalm texts in Latin. These live recordings from late in Monteux's life, demonstrating his profound and personal insights into the works of Debussy and Stravinsky, are paired with a Pierre Monteux tribute from violinist Alex Nifosi.

Anna Geniushene and Lukas Geniusas both have brilliant careers as soloists: Anna won the silver medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022 and now records for Fuga Libera, while Lukas' two Rachmaninov recordings, a recital of solo works (ALPHA997) and songs with Asmik Grigorian (ALPHA796), have both won major awards. Partners in life and in art, they form a highly virtuosic and tightly knit duo. This highly varied programme pays tribute to American music with works by Gershwin, Stravinsky, Copland and McPhee, a succession of melting-pots that create fusions of classical music, jazz, Mexican music and Balinese rhythms. The spectacular and rebellious Fourth Ballad from Frederic Rzewski's North American Ballads (1978-79) is also included. This musical odyssey concludes with the vast fresco that is John Adam's magnificent Hallelujah Junction (1996).

Together with it's artistic director Julian Azkoul, the United Strings of Europe develop engaging programmes with the aims of finding threads between different works and epochs, musical cultures and backgrounds, of blending the familiar with the new and of encouraging people to listen to works in different ways and discover new repertoire. For it's new release entitled Hommages, the ensemble celebrates musical traditions, from the myth of Apollo and the muses of Greek Antiquity to legends of the 20th century, Carlos Gardel and Astor Piazzolla, renewed by contemporary voices. Inspired by dreams and recollections of the past, this imaginative programme features recent works alongside the world premiere recording of Julian Azkoul's arrangement of Igor Stravinsky's neo-classical ballet Apollon musagete, composed during the 1920s. While Dobrinka Tabakova's Organum Light, here recorded for the first time, was inspired by Einstein's theory of quantum light, Osvaldo Golijov has returned to his Argentinian roots for Last Round, a tribute to two legendary compatriots. As for Olli Mustonen (who can be heard as a pianist on several other BIS recordings), his Second Nonet is a timeless work in which we hear echoes of the Balkans, music from the Romantic period and Nordic moods. A further work by Mustonen, Apotheosis, another world premiere recording, concludes this varied programme on a dramatic note, inspired by Bach's chorale preludes.

Barbara Hannigan, a Grammy award-winning artist at the forefront of creation, leads an ensemble of outstanding young musicians from the Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School. Since 2002, the Academy and The Juilliard School, both international leaders in their field, have enjoyed a special and fruitful friendship based on 20 years of performances, exchanges and recordings. In this latest collaboration, Hannigan directs students from both institutions in an all-Stravinsky programme, including the Octet, Dumbarton Oaks, Ragtime and Three Japanese Lyrics. Recently appointed the Reinbert de Leeuw Professor of Music at the Academy, Hannigan conducts this transatlantic group in a wonderfully intelligent and engaging programme of Stravinsky's most iconic ensemble repertoire.

Performances of less recorded orchestral works by Igor Stravinsky, which show the versatility of the Russian composer, who was never a supporter of any kind of expression aesthetics. On the contrary, he saw composing as an intellectual game, an attempt to solve self-invented musical problems. His constructivism could be kindled by Italian Baroque music, but just as well by the polyphonous structures of the Renaissance, by jazz, or by Anton Webern's serial tone complexes.

Igor Stravinsky is not a composer who is usually associated with symphonic form. Five of his compositions bear that name, however, even though they have little in common. The first major work Stravinsky composed entirely in the United States, the Symphony in Three Movements seems to pick up where the Rite of Spring left off with it's rhythmic ostinatos and shock effects. It can be interpreted as the composer's response to the Second World War, which was ravaging Europe at the time of it's composition, and it's striking and triumphant conclusion appears to echo of what the composer must have felt. The Symphonies of Wind Instruments, a short, compact work, was a tribute to Stravinsky's friend and colleague Claude Debussy. Although it's kaleidoscopic formal conception disconcerted audiences at it's premiere, it is now considered to be one of Stravinsky's finest works, showing daring originality. The Symphony in C was composed on two continents during a difficult period for the composer, though this is in no way betyrayed by it's simplicity, good humour and 'classicism'. With this disc, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia and Dima Slobodeniouk present a fascinating aspect of the multifaceted output of a composer whose style was constantly evolving.

SOMM Recordings is thrilled to announce Pierre Monteux Live, a two-CD set comprised entirely of first releases including never-before-issued performances led by the renowned conductor. Among these is a legendary 50th Anniversary performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with the composer in attendance, given a half-century to the day after Monteux himself conducted the storied Paris world premiere! This recording captures an extraordinary moment of historical continuity: between 1913 and 1963 five decades elapsed in the evolution of 20th-century music, in the taste and understanding of the public and in the lives of both creator and pioneering interpreter. The concert was broadcast live on the BBC from the Royal Albert Hall and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra who referred to Monteux affectionately as their "Maître". Both the devoted playing and the emotional audience acclaim are preserved in vividly present sound. This set also commemorates the revered conductor - on the 60th anniversary of his death and ahead of the 150th anniversary of his birth - with moving testimony from LSO musicians involved in the landmark Stravinsky concert. These interviews were recorded between 1992 and 1995 by this set's producer, Jon Tolansky, co-founder of Music Preserved and the author of documentary features on composers and performers. Monteux is also heard speaking on tape here, in a 1955 interview and a 1959 rehearsal of the LSO in Dvorak's Seventh Symphony, providing a window onto the man's intellect, work ethic and rapport with fellow musicians. Rounding out this set are still more never-before-issued recordings of Monteux conducting the BBC Northern Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in music by Haydn, Weber and Beethoven, as well as works by Ravel, who, like Stravinsky, was a composer Monteux knew personally. To the highly discriminating players of the RPO of 1960, Monteux was a favourite guest conductor. As with The Rite of Spring, he represented a direct link to the origins of Daphnis and Chloe, another Ballets Russes production that Monteux led in it's world premiere. The RPO's Principal Clarinet, Jack Brymer, remembered "this wonderfully energetic and meticulous little man" who "even in his eighties... had the touch of elegance, the humour, the exquisite good taste" and "could produce a sudden sforzato second to none by a tiny stab of his baton." The recordings of the performances in this album, all made privately off-air from various sources, have been fastidiously polished by Restoration Engineer Paul Baily. His restoration of the recent Sir Adrian Boult Conducts (ARIADNE 5024-2) was honoured with the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Records Critics' Award) in the Historical Recordings category.

Discover Johanna Domotor's newly interpreted sound combination, in which flute and string orchestra merge musically. The flutist Johanna Domotor not only shines in dizzying passages, she also juggles virtuously between original works and arrangements, between arranged baroque music and early modern music. The album captures the diversity of 20th century music and presents three world premiere recordings of famous composers such as Shostakovich, Arnold and Stravinsky. The collaboration with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra enhances the auditory experience, as Johanna Domotor and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra also make their long-standing musical friendship audible outside the concert hall with this album.