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.

Celebrating the 160th anniversary of it's founding, the Parisian Orchestre Pasdeloup dedicates it's new album to two composers who were greatly appreciated by the orchestra's founder Jules Pasdeloup: Hector Berlioz with his orchestral song cycle "Les Nuits d'�t�" and the cantata "Cl�op�tre", and Augusta Holm�s (1847-1903), one of only a few female composers who were regularly performed during their lifetime, with her Symphonic Interlude "La Nuit et l'Amour". The popular French mezzo soprano Stephanie d'Oustrac is collaborating with conductor Wolfgang Doerner, who has been a partner of Orchestre Pasdeloup for more than 30 years.

The music of Austrian composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold is found in several Hollywood soundtracks. His Violin Concerto D major Op. 35 includes several themes and melodies from his film scores. While the only work from Julius Conus that is still frequently performed and recorded is his Violin Concerto in E minor, a notable inclusion on this release is his Elegy Op. 2 No. 1 for violin and piano, which is a world premiere recording. Violinist Thomas Albertus Irnberger has won many awards and performed at festivals all over the world. He frequently performs with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestra “Spirit of Europe.” Here he is joined by the Israel Symphony Orchestra, which was the first orchestra in Israel to perform standard works by Richard Strauss, Alexander Zemlinsky, and others. +

The great pianist Paul Badura-Skoda presents two milestones of piano literature and the most important works by Franz Schubert in this genre: the monumental ‘Wanderer Fantasia’ in C, D760 and the unfinished and posthumously published Sonata in C, D840 ‘Reliquie’. Paul Badura-Skoda’s intensive study of Schubert’s oeuvre and the preserved fragments of the third and fourth movements as well as of Viennese Classicism in general led to this completion of the great sonata, kept entirely in Schubert’s style so that the transitions take place flowingly and no stylistic ruptures can be discerned.

As a distinguished expert in all modern compositional techniques, Kurt Schwertsik (b. 1935) decided early in his career to pursue a new, tonally influenced path. In this aesthetic accessible to a broad audience, he created a diverse oeuvre that extends from opera to Viennese lieder and has made him one of the most popular composers of Austrian contemporary music. With subtle differentiation, the Japanese pianist Aya Klebahn takes up his piano works, composed in a long, interrelated arc stretching over many decades. Aya Klebahn was born in Tokyo and commenced piano lessons at the age of four. She studied at the Toho-Gakuen University of Music in Tokyo and received her diploma in piano performance and music pedagogy. Ms. Klebahn has special affinity for contemporary piano music. She participated in the world premiere of works by composer Luna Alcalay during the Wien Modern festival. However, central to her work is her collaboration with Kurt Schwertsik. During the 2013 St. Gallen Festival she played his solo piano pieces in the presence of the composer. In 2015, she participated in a chamber music recital in the Vienna Musikverein for Schwertsik's 80th birthday. In 2016 she released recordings of Schwertsik's piano works for the production celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Musikwerkstatt Alte Schmiede. As a soloist, she recorded Schwertsik's complete piano works under the artistic direction of the composer.

Die Wiltener Sangerknaben in der Innsbrucker Hofkirche

Classical Music

Secretly, I hope to make something of myself, but after Beethoven who can do anything? These words by the juvenile Franz Schubert might explain why it took him 15 years - until 1827, just one year prior to his death - to begin writing both of his great piano trios, works of epic, almost symphonic dimensions. This new interpretation by violinist Thomas Albertus Imberger with David Geringas, cello and Michael Korstick, piano works out the lyricism and thematic work as well as the affects and discontinuities which illustrate the large influence, that Beethoven's composing had on Schubert's oeuvre. Similar effects can be observed with the Notturno D 897, in contrast to the Trio Movement Allegro D 28, which being an early work exhibits closer ties to Mozart. Many awards, performances at international festivals and co-operations and recordings with musicians such as Jorg Demus, Evgueni Sinaiski or Paul Badura-Skoda as well as with the Israel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Roberto Paternostro and the orchestra "Spirit of Europe" under its principal conductor Martin Sieghart stress the young Salzburger's musical skills. Born in Vilnius / Lithuania, the cellist and conductor David Geringas is today numbered among the elite of music. His intellectual severity, stylistic versatility, his melodic feeling and the sensuality of the sound he produces have brought him awards from all around the world.

"•Intensive studies of the autographs of Mozart's works have influenced the Vienna-born violinist Daniel Auner in his interpretation of Mozart’s chamber music. • With the pianist Robin Green, Auner performs research on the operatic element in this really ‘absolute’ music: special libretti were written for the individual sonatas, stories and situations related and arias sung, resulting in a recording focusing on the dialogue between the musicians and the dialogue with Mozart."

The pianist SoRyang, born in Korea and educated in Seoul, in Essen/Germany (as a pupil of the renowned pianist Detlef Kraus) and in Vienna/Austria, emerged far beyond Austria with her idea to popularize Classical piano music on historical places of big European cities. SoRyang performed worldwide with renowned orchestras, among them the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen, the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She has recorded numerous CDs. In 2019 she performed together with the Tonk�nstler Orchester Nieder�sterreich under the baton of it's chief conductor Yutaka Sado (who earlier has been the assistant of Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa, and later has produced popular television programs for the understanding of Classical Music in Japan) in the impressing grand hall of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg/Germany. SoRyang played Tchaikovsky's famous piano concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor and as an encore Chopin's barnstorming last etude, Op. 25 No. 12. After the intermission Mahler's fifth symphony was played. The concert has been recorded for the present release.

Classical Music

On this new recording, two legendary Viennese pianists, Paul Badura-Skoda und J�rg Demus, devote themselves to works by Mozart for solo piano, four-handed piano and for two pianos, such as the well-known D major Sonata for Two Pianos KV 448. Besides the 'Larghetto and Allegro' for 2 Pianos, which was only discovered in 1963, and the Variations in G Major for Fourhanded Piano KV 501, the two pianists, who play on historical Walter fortepianos (and also wrote the texts in the booklet), share Mozart's three famous fantasias for solo piano - Demus playing the two Fantasias in C minor and D minor KV 396 and 397 and Badura-Skoda the great Fantasia in C minor KV 475.

Giya Kancheli is one of the few Georgian composers whose works are well known beyond the borders of his homeland. On her album “Poetry of Silence” the pianist Ketevan Sepashvili, also from Georgia, presents Kancheli's 33 Miniatures for Piano. The short pieces are all based on works for film or theater, which were his main areas of activity over a long period of time, and represent a broad cross-section of Kancheli's creativity from almost four decades. Four of the miniatures can be heard with additional flute, and the Twelve Miniatures for Voice and Piano were also arranged by the pianist for the trio cast, which introduces an additional tone color particularly well suited to the songs. Sepashvili is supported by her compatriots Temo Kharshiladze, flute and Madina Karbeli, soprano.

"•On her latest CD, with the Sonatas No. 32 in C minor op. 111 by Ludwig van Beethoven and the one in B flat major D 960 by Franz Schubert, Dora Deliyska combines both composers' respective last piano sonatas. In them, the young Bulgarian pianist fathoms profound emotions and explores the compositions as interactions between the creative paths of the composers with the unknown dimension - death. With her interpretation, Dora Deliyska offers the listener the opportunity to experience unknown and alien spheres as the fulfilment of our human course and to immerse himself in the light of music. Part of this edition includes a bonus CD with videos of Dora Deliyska from Schönburg Palace in Vienna with works by Beethoven, Wagner/Liszt and Verdi/Liszt. • Dora Deliyska began piano lessons at the age of five. Surrounded by music in her family, she held her first concert at the age of nine. After musical training in her Bulgarian home, she moved to the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna, where she received instruction from the Professors Jürg von Vintschger and Stefan Vladar. In 2010, she graduated there with an M.A. in Prof. Noel Flores' class. The same year, she obtained her postgraduate diploma at the Oxana Yablonskaya Piano Institute in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Italy. • Her artistic development has been strongly influenced by master classes and private lessons with respected musicians such as Dmitri Alexejew, Mikhail Voskresensky, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Boris Bloch and others. Dora Deliyska is considered one of the most important Liszt interpreters of the young generation. Her discography comprises CD recordings with piano works by Franz Liszt (2008), by Liszt and Chopin (2010), transcriptions of Franz Schubert songs by Franz Liszt (2011) as well as by Franz Schubert (2013)."

- Richard Strauss' Sonata for Violin and Piano in E flat major op. 18 is a work with a Janus face, illustrating the past and the present and pointing ahead to the future. - It mirrors the composer's musical roots, such as in the second movement which contains references to Beethoven's 'Pathetique' and Schubert's Der Erlk�nig, whilst the first and final movements are influenced by Schumann, on the one hand, and express Strauss' current enthusiasm for Wagner's Tristan, on the other. - By contrast, the hidden allusions to his own tone poem Don Juan show the way the composer wanted to go in the near future.

With this release of works by Mussorgsky, Liszt, and Beethoven, pianist Yuko Batik explores human imagination and fantasy. One of the most important examples of programmatic music, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition impresses upon the listener the visions that would befall a viewer watching gallery paintings. The techniques required to play this work on a single instrument display Batik’s virtuosity. Yuko Batik travels globally performing in concert halls in Austria, Hungary, Bosnia, Turkey, Japan, Italy, and Germany.

Classical Music

Violinist Benjamin Schmid, recognized among the 35 greatest violinists of the past 50 years (see “Great Violinists of the 20th c. Vol. 2. 1948-85 ”, by J.M. Molkou), and rising star Diknu Schneeberger, guitar, trace Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt on Hot Club Jazz, new from Gramola. In collaboration with Diknu’s father Joschi Schneeberger, double bass, and guitarist Martin Spitzer, the quartet interprets pieces and arrangements by Django Reinhardt, works created in succession by Lulu Reinhardt, Cole Porter or Fletcher Allen as well as arrangements of French chansons.

The Haydn Chamber Ensemble was founded in 2013 by Cornelia L�scher, violin, Luca Monti, piano and Hannes Gradwohl, cello to promote the music of Joseph Haydn and his contemporaries to a broader audience. Committed to their name, the musicians commence their debut CD with the Piano Trio No. 39 in G major, Hob. XV:25 by Haydn. This late work of his is then contrasted by the Piano Trio in E major, K. 542 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, that he composed at the height of his success in the year 1788 - then being around half the age as "Papa Haydn". Franz Schuberts Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major D 929 originated from 1827, just one year before his passing, which ultimately brought the era of the First Viennese School to an end.

On the occasion of a concert at the Brucknertage festival St. Florian the great Austrian jazz pianist Rudi Wilfer took on his journey to Anton Bruckner and his IV. Symphony, which would widely circumpass the written music. Wilfer who has found his very own combination of meditation and swing perceived in Bruckner’s music a fascinating modernity, even agelessness. Surely, the pieces were recorded several times, yet no version turned out alike, even though the musical material remained the same. The listener could literally observe how Wilfer’s playing in every instant led to new paths – new harmonies, articulations, voicings. The album consists of two parts, the live recording and the studio recordings which at times shine a different light onto the same pieces, besides the homage to Bruckner also jazz standards like “You Must Believe in Spring” and “What Now My Love”, Viennese pieces like “Liebesleid” by Fritz Kreisler or “In einem kleinen Café in Hernals” by Hermann Leopoldi as well as “Wiegenlied” by Brahms.

The Wilten Boys’ Choir, conductor Johannes Stecher and the ensemble he founded, the Academia Jacobus Stainer, present the Weinachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio), BWV 248 of J.S. Bach. Composed for the choir of St. Thomas, the work is practically tailor-made for a mixed boys’ choir like the Wilten Boys’ Choir. Paul Schweinester, tenor, and Daniel Schmutzhard, baritone, two former members of the Wilten Boys’ Choir, who are today successful singers on the international stage take on the soloist parts. Recorded at the Wilten Basilica, Innsbruck, Austria.

� The poem cycle Canto General by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, about Latin America's struggle against colonialism, is a protest against lethargy and feelings of impotence by drawing on the roots, making historical contexts transparent and restoring man's own possibilities of development in awareness. � Hence, the Canto General has become a universal work with the message: "a different world is possible!" � Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis arranged parts of the poem cycle into an Oratorio for Two Solo Voices with a Mixed Choir and Orchestra. � This recording by the Choir of Erste Bank, supported by Protestant Choirs from Vienna, Lower Austria and Styria (choir master: Sybille von Both), soloists Julia Schilinski, mezzo soprano, and Sergio Cattaneo, baritone, and the Orquesta de nuestra tierra is conducted by Leopold Griessler.

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.

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.

Carl Goldmark, Jewish composer of Hungaro-Austrian descent, practically never in his youth received comprehensive musical training, which may be why he only at the age of 30, around the year 1860, gained public attention as a composer with his string quartet Op. 8. Foregone has a period of intense self-study of counterpoint and works by Bach and Beethoven. Two years later, Goldmarks string quintet Op. 9 premiered, though being thought of as too bold for the taste of the audience, hence it's performance was refused by Ferdinand David, concert master of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, after having made some unpleasant experiences with the string sextet by Brahms. The Haydn Quartet, for more than 20 years "quartet in residence" in Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, is being supported by outstanding cellist and professor Rudolph Leopold.