Gyorgy Sebok (1922-1999) was a Hungarian-born American pianist who was also renowned as a teacher and giver of masterclasses. He made more than 16 recordings for the Erato label as a soloist early on in his career. He has received countless honors and awards throughout his career in recognition of musical life. His fellow Hungarian pianist Livia Rev said of him: “one of the greatest pianists in the second half of the century, if not the greatest.” Cellist Janos Starker, with whom Sebok played for more than six decades, pulled even fewer punches: “First hand, second hand, or in recordings, Gyorgy Sebok is the greatest pianist who ever lived,” and also “one of the greatest teachers of all time.” This live recording was made at the 1991 Grange de Meslay Recital, Parcay-Meslay, France.

British Conductor Steven Lloyd-Gonzalez makes his debut recording for First Hand Records with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the 6th & 9th Symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich; two of the composer’s more enigmatic and intimate works. The scale and breadth of the 6th Symphony’s opening nocturnal Largo contrasted with the livelier and shorter 2nd and 3rd movements emphasizes the work’s unique form and place in the 20th century symphonic oeuvre. The 9th Symphony’s Haydnesque first movement with its notorious gate-crashing trombone is followed by one of Shostakovich’s most searching and atmospheric of movements. The Presto, by contrast, is a whirlwind of virtuosity before unexpectedly running out of steam and leading ‘attaca’ to the brutalist lower brass fanfare opening of the 4th movement, which in turn lays bare the ground for a desolate bassoon cadenza, here featuring Joshua Wilson as soloist. The Allegretto — Allegro finale once again evokes the classical sound world of the 1st movement, but now with a sense of nonchalance and aplomb.

Russian violinist Dmitry Smirnov’s début recording on FHR features works by master baroque composer (J.S. Bach), a leading figure of 20th century music (Béla Bartók) and a wonderful newly discovered work by influential Swiss violinist Hansheinz Schneeberger who died in 2019. The Schneeberger Sonata, written two years before Bartók’s Sonata, is a violin show piece, displaying much imagination in its idiomatic and virtoustic violin writing – this is the first recording of the work. There are many connections that link these three works together – the Bartók and Schneeberger sonatas show influences of Bach. Also, Bartók’s First Violin Concerto was premièred by Schneeberger. On this album Smirnov plays a modern violin made by Philipp Bonhoeffer (Bartók and Schneeberger) and a 1795 Johann Schönfelder violin (Bach).

The worldwide lockdowns of 2020/21 proved highly fruitful for US-based violinist Itamar Zorman in his quest to seek out new repertoire. A virtual voyage around the world yielded a discovery of many lesser known and rarely played works for violin, which he presented in 2020 as a livestreamed video series entitled Hidden Gems. From this musical treasure trove he selected 10 pieces for his new album Violin Odyssey, produced by Grammy Award-winning Judith Sherman. The far-reaching geographical origins of the repertoire – from New Zealand to the United States by way of Sudan, China, Russia, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Israel and Mexico – reveal a fascinating variety of styles and cultural diversity in these seldom heard works. Two larger works set the framework of the album – Slavonic Sonata (1917) written by Croatian noblewoman Dora Pejacevic and the Second Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927) by Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff. While sharing Eastern European flavor, the two sonatas, written only ten years apart, are worlds apart stylistically. These particularly dramatic works are complemented by a program of shorter pieces with evocative titles that suggest little adventures and encounters on a traveler’s journey.

Arc I is the first of a three-album series and features three important works for solo piano from the frantic years 1911–1913, the precipice before World War I. Weiss explains about his Arc series: “The arc of this recital trilogy is inverted, like a rainbow’s reflection in water. Arc I’s first steps here head downhill, beginning from hope and proceeding down to despair. The bottom of the journey, Arc II, is Earth’s center, grief, loss, the lowest we can reach. The return trip, Arc III, is one of excitement and renewal, filled with the joy of rebirth and the anticipation of a better future.”

The present recording consists of 6 fantastic, beautiful, sometimes a little bizarre, rare violin sonatas from the early 18th century including 3 première recordings. This release is the first of a new FHR series in which samples of the musical riches (mostly not yet published or recorded) that lie in the Dresden Schrank II collection are brought to life through new recordings. A large portion of the Schrank II manuscripts belonged to the composer/violinist Johann Georg PISENDEL (1687-1755), who whilst travelling throughout Europe, amassed a huge quantity of music, mostly manuscript. Some he bought from music shops or receive directly from composers. Most, however, he copied out himself. This collection is one of the largest and most diverse repositories of late-baroque music in the world. The Austrian Johann Joseph VILSMAYR’s strange but illuminating Partita (Sonata) is a first recording, and in fact one of only two known extant sets of works by the composer, the other being the 6 Partitas also released by FHR. Alongside two gorgeous sonatas by the Italian Gasparo VISCONTI, there are three tremendous sonatas by Swiss-born Johann Freidrich SCHREIVOGEL. The only sonata not from Schrank II on this recording, the one in E flat major, is from the Tartini Collection, also a première recording, is now featured on the ABRSM Grade VIII violin examination syllabus (2020-23). The Two brilliant musicians on this recording were chosen specifically for their incredible skills, musicianship and specialist baroque talent. Violinist Kinga Ujszászi and harpsichordist Tom Foster, both members of The English Concert baroque orchestra, give incredibly exciting, stylish performances in a wonderful crystal clear recorded sound.

The first true cross cultural fusion of Indian and western music was back in 1957 with John Mayer’s Raga Music for Solo Clarinet and through the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties his musical output reflected his Indian roots. This release celebrates John Mayer’s orchestral work and sees the further development from his son Jonathan Mayer, including three premiere recordings and one first commercial release. Included in this album is John Mayer’s Second Violin Concerto, originally commissioned for the late Erich Gruenberg in 1978, is it played by Sasha Rozhdestvensky who has a long standing relationship with First Hand Records. Mayer’s Concerto for the Instruments of an Orchestra had its premiere performance in 1976 by The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Bernard Haitink. Jonathan Mayer’s Pranam for sitar, tabla and orchestra is inspired by the Indian dance form Kathak and was premiere in the Czech Republic in 2017, it features the composer on sitar and Shahbaz Hussian on tabla. His Second Sitar Concerto was premiered again in the Czech Republic in 2019 and all works are under the baton of the Indian conductor Debashish Chaudhuri.

This is the first time the complete works for cello and piano by Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn appear on a single album performed on modern instruments. There is little of Fanny Mendelssohn's music and it is rare to hear both siblings together on an album. She wrote the Fantasia and Capriccio for her brother Paul, the dedicatee of Felix’s Variations concertantes also heard on this album. Along with the main works on the release, the two substantial Cello Sonatas, there are two shorter works of beauty, including Lied ohne Worte and Albumblatt, the latter being discovered in the 1960s.

Though diverse in character and style, all the works on this album speak of love, as a state where everyone fathoms the vertiginous depths of their loneliness. All eight poems of Brahm’s Op. 57, with their obstinate, fearless eroticism, leave the listener with a subtle archaic and exotic taste. Daumer’s German Romanticism with exotic aromas, helped Brahms create one of his most interesting vocal works. Prokofiev’s Op. 27 features the fragile but quite sharp tone of the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. Published in 1916, this is a brief but extremely colourful work, where every note and every word are necessary. Visionary in his harmony, daring in his nihilistic pessimism, Mussorgsky, in his vocal cycle Sunless, takes hold of the verses of his friend Golenishchev-Kutuzov to create a small but completely sinister universe. Sunless Loves demonstrates Safiropoulou’s varied repertoire and skills, including her first-rate Russian dictation. Her accompanist Andrej Hovrin is her perfect partner and together they have created a powerful and passionate recording. Also featuring remarkable, unique artwork, this is an album of distinction. Safiropoulou is also an accomplished, published writer, poet, and a translator of English, French, German and Russian. In 2009 she was awarded the prize of the Greek Gritics’ Union for young artists.

Howard Skempton was born in Chester in 1947 and has worked as a composer, accordionist and music publisher. He studied in London with Cornelius Cardew which helped him to discover a musical language of great simplicity. Since then he has continued to write undeflected by compositional trends, producing a corpus of more than 300 works- many pieces being miniatures for solo piano or accordion. Skempton calls these pieces ‘the central nervous system’ of his work. His catalogue of works is as diverse as it is long, ranging from pieces for solo cello and guitar to the Chamber Concerto for fifteen players, the Concerto for Hurdy-Gurdy and Percussion, and Lento, premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1991. His works are performed on this new release by Ensemble 360 alongside pianist Tim Horton, and vocalists Roderick Williams and James Gilchrist.

1839 was Schumann’s most productive year of writing for solo piano, and the last year he wrote a major work for piano solo. The following year, Schumann wrote no works for solo piano, focusing a new energy in writing songs. 1840 is famously known as his ‘Year of Song’ (Liederjahr), hence our coined title ‘Year of Piano’ with all the works on this album, apart from 3 Stücklein, written in 1838. This is Papastefanou’s third album for FHR. Alexandra Papstefanou graduated from Athens Conservatoire, where she studied piano under Aliki Vatikioti. She followed her studies with Olga Zhukova at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, with Peter Solymos, at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and, on a scholarship from the Alexander Onassis Foundati on, at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, USA, with the highly infl uencial teacher György Seb?k. She has also taken lessons from Alfred Brendel.

Adam Golka has created a fascinating programme focused around evening time, with the main work being the Piano Sonata No. 1 in f sharp minor. Its turbulence, languor, volatility, and repetitive ruthlessness are just some of the qualities that make it dangerously irresistible. The tender Aria movement is an echo (almost bar-by-bar) of the opening track An Anna II- itself an enigma, and why Adam begins the album with this beautiful song. The Finale is a mysterious labyrinth of extreme emotions. Its emotional narrative undoubtedly takes place in the shadows of night. Des Abends (Upon Evening) is great compliment to Der Schwere Abend (The Heavy Evening) as a dramatic contrast to the other two evening pieces, since the brooding nature of this song creates an interesting triptych when placed between the serenity of the two piano pieces. Adam Golka has performed with many orchestras including BBC Scottish, Atlanta, San Diego, Vancouver, and at venues across the globe. In 2018 he will be making his solo debut at the UK’s premiere chamber music venue, Wigmore Hall.

The artists on this recording, Porter and McNaught, commissioned the English composer Sally Beamish and Scottish author Janice Galloway a work to pair with Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -Leben so they could be sung together in recital. Robert Schumann’s song cycle is such a famous work, most singers and pianists will tackle it at some point in their careers – they are the most beautiful songs. Inspired by Frauenliebe und -Leben, Beamish and Galloway created Clara, a wonderful work in which Clara Schumann’s life unfolds in a soliloquy brimming with drama and heart stopping tenderness. From a childhood controlled by a dictatorial father, Clara went on to marry Robert. Robert Schumann was a troubled man of genius whose suicide attempt led to his early death in an asylum which could offer little hope. Left to pick up the pieces, Clara, who bore him 8 children, became the foremost piano virtuosos of her time and outlived him by 40 years. Also included in this recording are some of Clara Schumann’s greatest songs, a perfect opening to this brilliantly concepted album.

‘This is a superb programme… the sheer brilliance of the playing will keep one enthralled… Highly recommended’ (Fanfare Magazine) Solas is the Gaelic word for light and features beautiful sounds from the soprano and alto saxophones and also the incredible energy of the sopranino saxophone, rarely recorded. Most of the pieces are brand new arrangements of popular repertoire and gives a unique journey from the Baroque to the present day. Gerard McChrystal was born in Derry, Northern Ireland. He has performed in over 35 countries including China, USA, New Zealand, Korea, South Africa and Azerbaijan. Collaborations include composer Philip Glass, the Soweto String Quartet, Rambert Dance Company, London Musici, the Smith Quartet and classical guitarist Craig Ogden. McChrystal has made 15 albums with orchestras including BBC NOW, Ulster Orchestra and London Musici. Christian Wilson has forged a unique path as an organist, combining trailblazing virtuosity with serious scholarship and championing rarely-heard or forgotten masterpieces. In addition to his role as Organist at HM Chapels Royal in the Tower of London, Christian is Director of Music at Brasenose College, Oxford, and a lecturer at the university, appearing regularly on BBC radio and occasionally on television as performer or musicologist.

US pianist Michael Brown has been hailed by The New York Times as ‘one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers’. His artistry is shaped by his creative voice as a pianist and composer, praised for his ‘fearless performances’ (The New York Times) and ‘exceptionally beautiful’ compositions (The Washington Post). Winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Brown has recently performed as soloist with the Seattle Symphony, the National Philharmonic, and the Grand Rapids, North Carolina, New Haven, and Albany Symphonies; and recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Caramoor. Brown is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing frequently at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. He was selected by András Schiff to perform on an international tour making solo débuts in Berlin, Milan, Florence, Zurich’s Tonhalle and New York’s 92nd Street Y. He regularly performs recitals with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and has appeared at numerous festivals including Tanglewood, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Gilmore, Ravinia, Saratoga, Bridgehampton, Music in the Vineyards, Bard, Sedona, Moab, and Tippet Rise. Brown was First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, a winner of the Bowers Residency from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (formerly CMS Two), a recipient of the Juilliard Petschek Award, and is a Steinway Artist. He earned dual bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser.