The very young violinist Lucie Bartholomäi from the Ore Mountains presents an extraordinary debut album. For her first production with GENUIN, she plays works written exclusively by great female composers. In addition to the romantic music of Amy Beach, Louise Farrenc, and Clara Schumann, the program includes sparkling miniatures by Rebecca Clarke. Bartholomäi and her piano partner Verena Louis devote themselves to this too seldom performed repertoire with great attention to detail, chamber music intimacy, and richness of color. A real voyage of discovery!

One of the most experimental New Music ensembles releases an impressive new album on GENUIN. The musicians of LUX:NM explore the world of the abyss, of spookiness, of sneers, and bring to life music, noises and sound collages all about the underworld and fallen angels. All works – by renowned composers such as Gordon Kampe and Jan Brauer as well as collaborative works by the collective – have been recorded for the first time. Dark radiance, benign blackness and nasty brightness: a dance of hell, most virtuosically and sensuously performed!

Universal music, resounding philosophy, and the tragedy of fate: breathtaking tales of the night are presented by the Korean pianist JeungBeum Sohn on his new GENUIN album. The winner of the ARD Music Competition and the International German Piano Award plays works by Schubert, Beethoven, and Ravel that deal with powerful, touching, and demonic finalities. Schubert's late sonata in A minor, Beethoven's Op. 111, and Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit are no easy fare. JeungBeum Sohn, however, performs these pieces with a sweeping breadth and deep earnestness while never neglecting pianistic brilliance and richness of color. Equally impressive and moving.

The percussionist, pianist, and composer Andreas Hepp releases a musical showcase of his works on GENUIN. As a native of Frankfurt who studied there, he now works as a percussionist with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. In the interview in the booklet, he tells us that he has always composed in passing to capture moments and stories while exploring soundscapes. The compositions of this musical multi-talent take the listener to Vivaldi's Italy, the British expedition to Antarctica, and Japan during the Samurai era. Not only can he be heard as a composer, but also as a percussionist and pianist together with 16 other musicians from the Frankfurt music scene.

The more you lose yourself in the wonderful world of the Christmas Carols, the deeper you want to dive into them. It was like this with the MDR Radio Choir, and we can be happy that the much-loved Geniun album of this top ensemble and its leader, Philipp Ahmann, will be followed by a second. What treasures are there to discover: an endless variety of songs with a broad range of expression and mood, sung lovingly and with the highest level of musical skill! Carols such as Macht hoch die Tur (“Life up your heads”) or O du frohliche (“Oh how joyful”) stand side by side along treasures from England, France, Japan, and many countries. At the latest from the second verse on you will begin to hum along.

The Trio Klavis (Jenny Lippl, violin / Miha Ferk, alto saxophone / Sabina Hasanova, piano) presents three distinctive arrangements on its new GENUIN release. In their arrangements for piano trio with alto saxophone, the award-winning musicians achieve an astonishing tonal unity in the works of Johannes Brahms (originally with horn), Dmitri Shostakovich (originally with cello), and Ernst Krenek (originally with clarinet). Keyboard, wind, and string instruments join forces to create a true unity, dedicating themselves with tremendous verve to the tonal languages from Romanticism to Modernism in the extremely diverse masterpieces.

The Trio Then-Bergh (violin), Wen-Sinn Yang (cello), and Michael Schäfer (piano) provide a cross-section of the golden age of Russian music in their new GENUIN album. These three exceptional musicians play masterpieces compiled and arranged by the composer Alexander Krein in the first half of the 20th century. Krein is a masterful arranger who makes the soul of each piece shine in the trio version. Works by Tchaikovsky (for example, from his "String Serenade" and "The Seasons") and Rimsky-Korsakov (from "The Golden Cockerel") are presented here, as well as wonderfully sentimental salon music from Gliere to Tcherepnin.

On her GENUIN debut release, splendid Polish pianist Aleksandra Mikulska presents Franz Liszt’s reminiscences of the great loves of his life: they include both people and places as well as his own works that had grown dear to him. With broad musical lines and a wonderfully sensuous tone, the Special Prize-winner at the 15th International Frédéric Chopin Competition breathes new life into some of the most beautiful works of the repertoire: the "Liebestraum" and "Hungarian Rhapsody" and the celebrated "Frühlingslied", an arrangement of the song by Robert Schumann – a true delight for piano lovers, and much more than just black and white!

The four flutists of the German-Chinese Ensemble Tetrachord from Düsseldorf produce much more than just hot air on their Genuin debut release. The chamber music pieces, which they have cleverly compiled, have a grounded, feather-light sound. From Friedrich Kuhlau, who does not come across on this album as an old master at all, but as sparkling and masterly, to the ethereal chords of Mozart's Andante for barrel organ. From the impressionistic sounds of Eugène Bozza to the soundscapes and clusters of Anthony Girard and Manfred Trojahn – all in all, an electrifying discovery! For Lingjia Liang, Alena Wilsdorf, Simo Lu and Franziska Follmer, music has quite literally become a common language: the four flutists from China and Germany met in 2013 at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Dusseldorf and founded the Ensemble Tetrachord one year later. Since then the flute quartet has engaged in an intercontinental “chamber music dialogue.” They have now acquired a wide repertoire that ranges from classics of the genre to impressionistic sounds to contemporary works.

Atmospheric music from the Swiss mountains with late-romantic echoes, impressionism, and new compositional techniques – that's what Mirjam Lötscher's debut release "Sounds of Lucerne" offers. Together with pianist Thomas Wise, she presents sonatas and fantasies for flute and piano by Reto Stadelmann and Joseph Lauber – two Swiss composers of the 20th and 21st centuries who fuse the deeply rooted traditions of the Alpine country with contemporary elements to create their own forms of musical expression. Stadelmann's works and Lauber's Fantaisie pour Flûte et Piano have been recorded here for the first time on album – a discovery not only for Swiss classical music lovers!

Listening to Alexandra Ivanova's debut release with GENUIN, we are able to experience the very essence of the harpsichord! The Russian pianist and harpsichordist presents herself in a juxtaposition of contemporary and early music that creates exciting reflections: the new seems familiar, while old seems excitingly new. Ivanova combines Couperin, Rameau, Duphly, and Royer with works by the Latvian composer Anita Mieze, born in 1980. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the associations between feeling and reason not only occupied the minds of French philosophers but also of great musicians: This extraordinarily sonorous album revolves around these poles of baroque music and how they are reflected in modernity.

A double bass sounds masculine and passionate, comparable to a baritone. Highly valued as a harmonic and rhythmic platform, there is little opportunity for the instrument to make a solo appearance—this album is different. Ekkehard Beringer, a member of the NDR Elbphilharmonie and professor at the Hanover University of Music and Performing Arts, is a virtuoso on the double bass and is able to elicit a wide range of timbres from the instrument. Whether it is original works such as Adolf Mišek's Sonata in E minor or arrangements of horn and cello works by Brahms and Schumann, Ekkehard Beringer's playing sounds virtuosic and yet down-to-earth, brilliantly accompanied by the pianist Tomoko Takahashi.

For the 75th anniversary of the Detmold University of Music, GENUIN is presenting a collection of lovingly restored recordings from the 1970s and 80s. As we gradually leaf through the booklet and listen through the four albums, we are treated to a veritable cornucopia: highly personal recordings by great musicians who played a significant role in shaping not only the history of the Detmold Institute, but also that of German post-war music history. The deeply stirring interpretations include works by Reger, Schoenberg, Brahms, and Beethoven, performed by Tibor Varga, André Navarra, Helmut Winschermann and many others!

The music of this new GENUIN release flows longingly from the loudspeakers: music for two pianos performed by the fabulous piano duo Tatjana and Arkadi Zenzipér. The two pianists interpret music of the twentieth century that tells of the loss of home, of love and freedom. It includes three arrangements that reveal the structure, the soul of the works in concentrated form: Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Variations and Symphonic Dances along with Astor Piazzolla’s fiery Libertango. These are joined by Mikis Theodorakis’ archaic Passacailles. The piano duo merge with one another musically and combine the precision of two-handed playing with the sound volume and wealth of nuances offered by two pianos – absolutely recommended!

Johann Graf's life dates are almost identical to those of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Rudolstadt court Kapellmeister was one of the most esteemed violinists of his time. Violinist Anne Schumann, violist Klaus Voigt, and harpsichordist Sebastian Knebel are now releasing an album on GENUIN featuring his violin sonatas, which, although significant in music history, have rarely been performed. The works include passionate and virtuosic music in the Italian style, to which Klaus Voigt, in particular, gives a striking coloration: He supports the swinging and clear violin playing of Anne Schumann with the viola da spalla, a kind of small cello held with a strap in front of the belly.