The combination of violin and guitar as well as classical playing styles and jazz has been on everyone's lips since the inimitable duo Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhard. An equally deep musical friendship exists between the Viennese violinist Rudi Berger and the Brazilian guitarist Toninho Horta, whose new album Belo Horizonte received the Latin Grammy Award for "Best Brazilian Album of the Year" in 2020. Their first collaborations started in 1988 in the United States, since then the two extraordinary musicians have played over 500 joint appearances to date. This album by the title "Rudi Berger featuring Toninho Horta" presents a cross-section of these years of musical life together, with recordings from Austria, New York City and Rio de Janeiro, from duo to 9-member formation. The compositions by Berger and Horta always transcend genre boundaries and incorporate influences from bossa nova, jazz, but also classical and folk music.

This autumn Gerhard Ruhm, the inventor and most important representative of what is known as experimental poetry and an artist who traverses boundaries between different genres, is not only devoting an impressive show of his work in the Bank Austria Kunstforum, but also this box set consisting of three albums of spoken texts, melodramas and chansons never previously published as sound documents. Gerhard Ruhm was born in Vienna in 1930. He came from a family of musicians. Ruhm studied piano and composition at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and took private lessons with Josef Matthias Hauer, the founder of twelve-tone music, between 1949 and 1954.

The Altomonte Ensemble, consisting of Rémy Ballot, violin, the violinist Iris Schützenberger, the violists Stefanie Kropfreiter and Peter Aigner and the cellist Jörgen Fog, presents two chamber music works by Anton Bruckner: the string quartet, composed 1861/62 at the suggestion of Joseph Hellmesberger, and the string quintet, composed in 1878/79, which is considered the highlight of Bruckner's chamber music oeuvre. The latter work was premiered by Hellmesberger and his extended quartet only after prolonged hesitation, since he originally had considered it in part as unplayable. The quintet has quite symphonic dimensions in terms of length and complexity. After the mentioned performance in 1884, a music critic wrote about the 3rd movement of the work: "This Adagio has an effect as if were something that had only been now unearthed in the vestiges of Beethoven's papers... a deeply felt work, inspired by inspiration and stemming from the composer's final years."

The 6 Piano Trios of W. A. Mozart, which were composed in the years 1776, 1786 and 1788, already show the increasing emancipation of the string instruments – while in the first work (1776) the keyboard instrument still predominates, and the two strings take on a more accompanying role, even though in some cases a distinctive one, the relationship between the instruments developed in the five works of the 1780s lead to an approximate equality. The peculiarity of this new recording is that for the first time the autographs, some of which have only recently become available, have been taken into account, which has brought about some changes compared to the previously printed sheet music editions, especially in the area of phrasing and articulation, and thus, the Vienna Mozart-Trio presents an authentic complete recording for the first time with this 2-album set.

Hungarian pianist Peter Józsa, born in 1975 has been giving concerts all over Europe since the age of 16. In 2013 he was appointed professor at the University of Art in Graz, Austria and now presents a doube album by the title “Portrait” featuring works that have had a significant influence on the artist in the course of his career. These include the Sonatas in B minor, Hob. XVI:32 and A flat major, Hob. XVI:46 by Joseph Haydn, the Sonata in A minor D 537 by Franz Schubert and the 7 Fantasies op. 116 by Johannes Brahms. On the second half of the release there are virtuoso pieces by Frédéric Chopin such as Impromptu No. 2 Op. 36, the Fantaisie Impromptu in C sharp minor Op. posth. 66, the Fantaisie f minor Op. 49 and the Polonaise Fantaisie in A flat major Op. 61 as well as rather calm, contemplative works by Franz Liszt, which illuminate his poetic and religious side. Thus this portrait ends with Les Funérailles, Ave Maria in E major, Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este, Nuages gris and Recueillement.

The peculiarity of this release by the Austrian ensemble Pandolfis Consort playing on period instruments is that Mozart’s “Requiem” is presented here in the version for string quartet made by his contemporary Peter Lichtenthal, therefore going not only without choir and orchestra, but also without vocal soloists. Everything is focused on the four voices of the strings, which creates a special intimacy and intensity. As the founder of the Pandolfis Consort, the violist Elzbieta Sajka-Bachler, suggests, this ingenious version, made by the composer at the time to popularize Mozart's music in Italy, has the character of chamber music and music making because “the small space brings the listeners closer together than a concert hall”. Tears, sorrow, pain, but also hope can be experienced here especially close.

Olivier Messiaen's two-hour, 20-movement piano solo cycle on the Observations of the Child Jesus was written in 1944 after the 'Quatuor pour la fin tu temps' and the 'Visions de l'Amen‘ for 2 pianos and has established itself as one of the most significant piano works of the 20th century. Great pianists such as Anton Batagov and Martin Helmchen have documented outstanding performances of this extremely versatile cycle of musical offerings on recordings. Pi-hsien Chen recorded Messiaen's magnum opus for piano live for the West German Radio (WDR) in Cologne in 2005, which impressively testifies to her exceptional status in the contemporary repertoire. Her Schonberg, Boulez, Barraque, Stockhausen and Cage recordings are of almost intimidating sovereignty, flawless pianistic brilliance and sublime structural clarity, and thus at least as legendary as her playing of Bach, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert. Born in Taiwan, the pianist has lived in Cologne since the age of nine and is praised by colleagues and the press for the sensual objectivity of her performances. After the 3-album-release with Schubert's 'Grandes Sonates', Aldila Records now presents her live cycle 'Vingt regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus', which is performed here with compelling authenticity and mastery. A living icon of modernity performs an immortal icon of modernity.

Violeta Vicci is a multifaceted, contemporary artist and musician. Of Catalan - Swiss descent, based in London, she feels comfortable genre-crossing from Classical to Improvisation, Ethno Avantgarde, Ambient, Multilayered Electronics, her influences ranging from traditional to pop. The original idea for the album stems from the reflection of elements between Bach’s E Major Partita and Ysaÿe’s second Solo Sonata. A journey not only through time, but to the most unusual of spaces. The album opens with world premiere recording of Ragnar Söderlind’s natural and mystical Elegie for solo violin, balanced out by the serene expression of the Vocalise for solo voice, seeped in orientalism, by Jean-Louis Florentz. Violeta Vicci isn’t just an accomplished violinist and singer, but plays the viola, present in both the folklore inspired world premiere recording Suite by British composer Imogen Holst, and the closing piece of the album, the Sarabande in C Minor by Bach. Between the compositions, are improvisations, some solo, some two voices intertwined as “overdubs”, acting as transitions and woven into the very fabric of the album. Violeta Vicci’s “Mirror Images” is one of the most surprising and contemporary Solo-Albums of our time. A concept album beyond intellectual reasoning, an album of all encompassing, spellbinding dramatic art.

Three events were decisive for Paul Badura-Skonda’s beginnings: Furtwangler and Karajan hired the still unknown musician for their concerts in Vienna in 1949. By standing in for the sick Edwin Fischer at the Salzburg Festival in 1950 he became an international star. Major tours as a soloist followed. Further highlights in his career were his first tour of Japan, where he appeared in Tokyo alone 14 times, and the first, highly successful tour through the Soviet Union in 1964, which was followed by many other tours. In 1979, Paul Badura-Skoda was the first Western pianist to perform in China after the Cultural Revolution. In the Mozart jubilee year 1991, he played the cycle of all Mozart’s sonatas in Paris, Vienna Munich, Madrid, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc. Paul describes his performance of the B minor Sonata by Franz Liszt from March 29, 1965 in the Carnegie Hall in New York as “one of the most inspired achievements of my career as a pianist.” To confront a perficious and nasty critique two weeks before in the same venue, Badura-Skoda played as unleashed, with an enormous energy, fuelled in part by internal fury. This concert recording which is to an extent owed to that heat of the moment is being published now, featuring a second interpretation of the same Sonata, a studio recording made in the Mozartsaal of the Vienna Konzerthaus six years later. This version is more controlled and, in the calmer passages, more internalized and contemplative than the New York interpretation. Let it be up to the listener to decide which of the two versions is the preferred one.

Following his two acclaimed recordings featuring works by Chopin and Schumann, Bulgarian-born Pianist Martin Ivanov now takes a chance in producing an album dedicated to Franz Liszt, presenting his presumably most prominent work for piano solo, the Sonata in B minor S 178. This monumental work, which formally consists of only one movement, ever since has provided some space for speculations on whether it carries any programmatic content; many find in those three different musical thematic strains a representation of the figures of the Faust legend Faust, Gretchen and Mephisto. As a matter of fact, Liszt did in this case not append or utter any such programmatic intent. Furthermore, this release features as a brilliant opener the Two Concert Etudes S 145 (Waldesrauschen and Gnomenreigen) and as a vigorous finish the Grandes études de Paganini, S 141.

The Viennese violin virtuoso Joseph Mayseder (1789-1863) is today considered an insider tip, he played under the baton of Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert and wrote an impressive number of own compositions. More than 900 printed editions of his works in European countries and abroad illustrate the popularity of Mayseder, which nonetheless seemed to vanish over the course of time. His works are now continually being published as world premiere recordings by violinist Raimund Lissy, member of the Vienna Philharmonic. The sixth edition of this series with Gramola featuring Mayseder’s oeuvre includes the Piano Trios Nr. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 34 and Nr. 2 in A-flat major, Op. 52 as well as the Sonata for Violin and Piano Nr. 2 in E minor. The musicians Srebra Gelleva, piano, Maria Grun, cello and Raimund Lissy, violin, splendidly succeed in merging these work’s high virtuosity with the typical Biedermeier Viennese charm.

“May you yet see dawn after this long night!” These words by Stefan Zweig, written in exile in his Farewell letter are the motto for this recording of the Auner Quartet, presenting string quartets by Alexander Zemlinsky (Opus 4 from 1896), Egon Wellesz (his 5th string quartet from the year 1943, by the subtitle “In memoriam” which refers to the lost years) and by Anton Webern (“Langsamer Satz” from 1905), which are all references to Vienna at the turn of the century. Almost as an encore, Auner Quartet follows up with “Syncopation” by Fritz Kreisler from the 1920s, which spans an arc to the United States, where Kreisler enjoyed enormous popularity and where the stylistic elements originated that had conquered the dance halls of Central Europe before they were banned in Germany and Austria during the darkest years of the 20th century – along with the music of Zemlinsky, Wellesz, Webern, Kreisler and so many others.

The work of pianist Jörg Demus was one of the most important musical exports of Austria after the end of the Second World War. In addition to many other musical partners Demus also entertained a very fruitful collaboration with the established Salzburg violinist Thomas Albertus Irnberger, which is documented on the occasion of his death with 90 years in April 2019 with this 3-album collection with mostly unpublished recordings. In addition to Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Sonatas No. 1 in D major Op. 12 No. 1, No. 5 in F major Op. 24 and No. 6 in A major Op. 30 No. 1, there are two Sonatas for violin and piano by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1016/1017), the Three Romances Op. 94 by Robert Schumann and the famous Sonatina in G major Op. 100 by Antonin Dvorak. The fact that Jörg Demus, in addition to his extensive concert tours and engagements as lecturer, appeared also as a composer in the last decades of his life is only known to proven connoisseurs. On the second album one can hear his Sonatas for Violin and Piano Op. 7 "Gahberg Sonata", Op. 35 "Il tramonto" and Op. 48 "Sonata sylvestre / Forest Sonata".

The American violinist of Romanian descent Jascha Heifetz is one of the greatest violin virtuosos of the past century. The Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid takes the 120th anniversary of his birthday in 2021 as an opportunity for the release of an album in honor of this extraordinary musician. Together with his wife Ariane Haering at the piano, Schmid presents “Heifetz Favorites”, featuring Heifetz’s arrangements of works which he used to perform with great success in concerts. The album comprises countless audience hits which Heifetz arranged with virtuosity such as the Saber Dance by Khatschaturian, the Valse from Tchaikovsky's String Serenade, Banjo and Fiddle by W. Kroll or Alt-Wien by Godowsky. Two pieces from Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess create a link to jazz, which is represented by Mish Mash by Romanian Antoni Donchev and two tracks by Austrian Sabina Hank inspired by Duke Ellington. Thus, this repertoire is entirely in the tradition of Heifetz, who always thought across genres and kept an eye on contemporary art.

The corona distancing rules meant that Symphonia Momentum did not play in early August 2020. Instead, on the initiative of concert master and soloist Joel Bardolet, a trio of Catalan musicians who knew each other well but had never played together before came together in Munich. Astonishingly quickly, they found their own sound, and in intensive work, a polyphonically complex, highly demanding program was rehearsed, performed in a private concert and recorded within a week. It is doubtful whether the string trio arrangements of three fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier are really by Mozart. But the slow introductions that Mozart composed for them leave no doubt as to their origin. Paul Büttner wrote his Trio Sonata in canonic form around 1930, and these seven miniatures not only radiate musical joy, but also present an unheard-of variety of characters and moods in their own unmistakable language. They are recorded here for the first time, as well as the enormous Chamber Sonata that Heinz Schubert (1908-45) composed in 1934. Heinz Schubert, who was killed in the Volkssturm on the Eastern Front shortly before the end of the war, wrote a work here that is incomparable in its gigantic challenge and irresistable crossing of apparent boundaries of polyphonic complex three-part harmony. Stylistically influenced by the polyphony of his teacher Heinrich Kaminski, based on Bach, late Beethoven and Bruckner and overflowing the barlines, Heinz Schubert created a hymnic-ecstatic music of absolute timelessness. The program concludes with the late String Trio of 1983 by Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling, once Kaminski's closest student. In two movements of rhapsodic freedom of form and refined, fragile introspection, Schwarz-Schilling draws a confident balance of a long life as a composer, shaken by the world wars and ideological trench warfare of the 20th century.