The Stenzl brothers, Hans-Peter and Volker, invite you on a special kind of European journey with their new GENUIN album. In celebration of the anniversaries of Erik Satie, Maurice Ravel, Moritz Moszkowski, and Dmitri Shostakovich, they have recorded suites and individual pieces by these great composers, who often humorously look beyond their own cultural horizons. With sophistication, elegance, care, and emotion, they weave dances, melodies, and stories from all corners of the world into their music. As a distinguished German duo performing internationally for more than 30 years, they present these little treasures with a keen eye for both the larger musical narratives and intricate details - genuinely cosmopolitan!

Mortiz Moszkowski (1854-1925) is most known for his scintillating piano compositions. He also composed an opera, a full-length ballet, three orchestra suites, a symphony, songs, concertos and chamber music - almost all of which remain neglected or forgotten. The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra is internationally recognized as one of the foremost ballet orchestra in the world. Over the years, the orchestra has accompanied such prestigious ballet comapnies as American Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and many others.

In September 2019, the Stanislaw Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music took place in Rzesz�w, whose main goal was to promote our native compositions and to draw the attention of musicians around the world to them. The auditions were divided into two categories (performances by pianists and chamber ensembles), which meant that, in less than 10 days, the audience had the opportunity to commune with countless extremely rarely performed gems of Polish music. We present you with selected competition interpretations of participants of auditions in both categories. In addition to the Patron's works, the albums include compositions by may Polish composers. The present album features the work of Maurycy Moszkowski.

The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it unperformed for a century or more. The first volume in this first-ever survey of his orchestral output presented the monumental ‘Symphonic Poem in Four Movements’ Johanna d’Arc – a vast symphonic fresco depicting the life, death and transfiguration of the heroine of Schiller’s 1801 play Die Jungfrau von Orleans – and drew a warm welcome from the musical press. These two big-hearted Suites continue that process of discovery, opening a treasure chest of gorgeous melody and sumptuous orchestral writing that make these forgotten gems irresistibly attractive.

The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it unperformed for decades. Astonishingly, he was only in his early twenties when he wrote his monumental ‘Symphonic Poem in Four Movements’ Johanna d’Arc – heard here in its first recording – a vast symphonic fresco depicting the life, death and transfiguration of the heroine of Friedrich Schiller’s 1801 play, Die Jungfrau von Orleans. Moszkowski admitted to the influence of Wagner and Raff on the work – but he also managed to prefigure the musical language of the Hollywood epics of sixty years later. As pianist, Ian Hobson has a long-standing relationship with Toccata Classics, and this is the fourth recording he has made in his alter ego as conductor – at the helm of the Sinfonia Varsovia, as with his previous albums, which uncovered the early orchestral music of Martinu. This is the first of a series of Ian Hobson recordings for Toccata Classics that will focus on Moszkowski’s piano and orchestral music.

Moritz Moszkowski enjoyed a considerable international reputation as a composer and pianist, and was feted as the natural successor to Chopin. It is a mark of his music's success that it was arranged for countless ensembles and solo instruments. French violinist Emile Sauret transformed the popular Spanish Dances into virtuoso showpieces filled with all manner of impressive elaborations, Jascha Heifetz similarly turning Etincelles or "Sparks" into something brilliantly light and twinkling. The interaction of two violins makes the Suite highly dramatic, contrasting with the fine lyrical melody of Moszkowski's Serenata.

Rubinstein & Moszkowski: Piano Concertos

The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it underperformed for a century or more. This third volume presents his very first orchestral work, a strikingly assured Overture in D major, written when he was seventeen, and his last, a sombre, dignified and deeply felt Prelude and Fugue for string, composed on the death of his mother in 1910. Between them comes Mszkowski's First Orchestral Suite, from 1885, a joy from start to finish, with one delightful inspiration following another in a daisy-chain of dance-rhythms, memorable tunes and instrumental colour.