"My free life within Four Walls" began with concert performances in 1992 and beyond, followed by a number of stage performances with dancers in Finland and Russia. The collaboration of John Cage with Merce Cunningham began in 1942; and 70 years later, in 2012, knowing my admiration for Cage and my numerous concerts with his music, the outstanding dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov proposed to embody the "Four Walls" in a dance on the stage of his Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York) with the participation of legendary ‘Merce Cunningham Dance Company’, which by this time officially completed its activities. The director Robert Swinston and 8 dancers played with me the performance of the Four Walls / Doubletoss Interludes, and this became a worthy completion of the history of the Four Walls as a theater, while this piece remains a wonderful independent music, anticipating the style of Glass, Pärt and in general, the entire movement of minimalism. In 2015, BAC founded the Cage-Cunningham Foundation, and I received a Fellow Prize of the First-Ever Cage Cunningham Fellowship." (Alexei Lubimov)

Orchestral music played a key role in the output of César Franck throughout his career. He accorded an important and innovative place to the symphonic poem, a new genre of the Romantic era: Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne actually dates from 1846, two years before Franz Liszt’s composition of the same name! As a virtuoso pianist himself, Franck also produced a number of concertante works, from early pieces written for his own performance – a few brilliant sets of variations and a youthful concerto – to the famous Symphonic Variations (1885). The Symphony in D minor of 1887 was one of the cornerstones of the renewal of the genre in France, coming between Saint-Saëns’s Third Symphony (1886) and Chausson’s Symphony (1899). The Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège presents here the first genuinely complete survey of this orchestral and concertante repertory, assembling recordings from recent years and some new productions.

REVIEW:

The year 2022 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of César Franck. His orchestral music is not so often heard these days, so this comprehensive collection of performances from his home-town orchestra is quite timely. It would, however, have proved very welcome at any date for the Liège players not only play very well but also deliver the scores idiomatically and with real conviction. This box set usefully and enjoyably reminds us that there is plenty of pleasurable listening to be explored beyond the D minor symphony.

-- MusicWeb International

This project represents a starting point in gently opening up the possibilities of incorporating an element of improvisation into the oeuvre of Bach's chamber music. Given that both Toshi and Anthony are improvising musicians, able and willing to extemporize in a variety of genres (jazz, folk music, early music, etc.), but also being devotees of the repertoire and musical language of Bach, it seemed natural to use certain works of Bach’s as a basis for new invention. The result is a fresh approach to Bach, where improvisation is part of the overall soundscape, whether through ornamentation, basso continuo or entire passages opened up for ‘jamming’. The instrumentation for this program is also diverse, with Toshi and Anthony using two instruments each; broadening the timbral spectrum. This project is, for them, a crucial way in exploring just how we can be both faithful to the score and true to ourselves as creative musicians interested in mastering this musical language.

Dr. Graham Griffiths writes: “Every recording of Stravinsky’s ‘complete works for solo piano’ is a considerable achievement. However, this latest 5-album cycle with Russian pianist Alexey Zuev is a cause for special celebration for it also includes all of Stravinsky’s piano transcriptions and arrangements, many of which have never before been recorded – indeed, until now, some have remained completely unknown. This project, therefore, represents a significant milestone in Stravinsky recording history. Alexey Zuev and Outhere Music are to be congratulated for bringing every corner of Stravinsky’s pianistic catalogue into the wider musical conversation, and for making the case most convincingly that all of this solo repertoire, whether original or transcribed, deserves to be performed and appreciated as part of this great composer’s innovative canon of piano works.”

The award-winning performances of Dutch pianist Nikola Meeuwsen, who claimed First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2025, are captured on this live recording. His artistic maturity is revealed in Mendelssohn's deeply felt Variations s�rieuses, Liszt's visionary and impassioned Dante Sonata, and the imaginative Etudes of Ana Sokolovic. The programme is completed by Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 "Jenamy" with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie under Vahan Mardirossian. These recordings capture the clarity, imagination, and expressive freedom that mark Meeuwsen as one of the most compelling voices of his generation.

This new album by the Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir presents Alfred Schnittke's Three Sacred Hymns and his Concerto for Choir, a setting of poems by Grigor Narekatsi (St. Gregory of Narek). Andrei Petrenko, the artistic director of the ensemble, says: "The Concerto is a unique choral canvas that blends musical layers of great profundity. The piece helps it's listeners and performers to transcend their earthly existence and to explore the sublime realms that Narekatsi and Schnittke have revealed. It is an embodiment of spirituality and possesses an endless array of meanings that can only be understood through it's sacred text."