Leif Ove Andsnes is a leading pianist of his time, known for his exceptional musicianship and subtil touch, his considerable technical flair being unfailingly put at the service of his interpretations. He was a pioneer for being the first home-trained superstar pianist to have emerged from Norway. This box is the story of a 20-year partnership that has yielded a rich seam of recorded treasures, first for Virgin and then for EMI. Running through this cornucopia of 34 albums (36 CDs), we find recurring themes: Grieg (Andsnes even recorded some Lyric Pieces on the composer's own piano at Troldhaugen), Nordic music in general, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Schubert.

Global cello sensation Hauser is back with Classic II, an all-new selection of his favorites among the most beautiful melodies in classical music, following up on the success of his 2020 album Classic. - For Classic II, Hauser reunites with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Ziegler, and arranger/orchestrator Robin Smith, with whom the cellist worked closely in featuring the cello in the arrangement of each track. - Classic II reimagines instantly recognizable, song-like melodies by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Donizetti, Dvor�k, Mahler, Mozart, Rachmaninoff and Schubert, most of them written for solo instruments, voices or an entire orchestra and never before adapted for the "voice" of the cello. Hauser also brings his singing style to two beloved melodies in the Baroque style - the Albinoni "Adagio" and the Adagio from Alessandro Marcello's famous Oboe Concerto - as well as a pair of contemporary pieces, Michel Colombier's "Emmanuel" and composer/pianist Yurima's "Kiss the Rain."

These performances are also included on Sony's 10-disc set "Bruno Walter
Edition Volume 3" - Sony Classical 66248.

The Columbia Symphony may not have been a first-class orchestra, but Bruno Walter trained to do the right things, and it responded with first-class accounts of the Brahms symphonies. While there are instances of less-than-crack ensemble, there is also some very fine first-desk playing, and the performances as a whole are marked by a natural feeling of movement, phrasing, and expression. Walter’s approach to the music is kindly, caring, wonderfully whole – sunny but not overly brilliant, warm but not overly heated, sincere but not overly impassioned. Anyone who thinks that means the conductor was slow, shapeless, or indulgent should listen. There is thrust here, and plenty of momentum. The recordings are closely miked and somewhat bass-heavy, but in Sony’s 20-bit remastering the sound is wonderfully alive and direct. – Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection

PIERRE MONTEUX EDITION VOL 3 -

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 41: All Brahms: 3 Violin & Piano

"Gilels made two recordings of this concerto. The later version was made for DG in the early 1970s with Eugen Jochum and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and has earned a high reputation over the years. This earlier version, made in January 1958, is no less remarkable and very different. Perhaps it was the temporary transatlantic influence of Reiner and his orchestra which persuaded Gilels to see the concerto as a vehicle for a display of brilliant virtuoso playing, with fast tempos and little relaxation except in the third movement. certainly the playing in the overture has the same characteristics. But when this approach was harnessed to Gilel's intellectual strength the result was a performance of great power." -- The Gramophone

Rubinstein Collection, Vol 22: Brahms: Concerto No. 2; Grieg

Rubinstein Collection, Vol 21 - Brahms: Sonata No. 3 in F M

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 73: Brahms Piano Trio No. 3; Sch

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 65: Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos.

"Today Rubinstein is best remembered as the ideal Chopin interpreter. He recorded much of the composer’s output several times over, first for EMI in the 1930s, in recordings many still treasure for their spontaneity and verve. For RCA, his monophonic Chopin recordings from the 1940s and their stereo remakes remain the standards by which other pianists are judged. And yet despite that identification with Chopin, Rubinstein always claimed Brahms was his favorite composer, and his golden-toned RCA recordings of the Op. 5 Sonata, the Ballades, and selected samples of Brahms’ autumnal late works retain their primacy, as do his Brahms recordings in partnership with chamber groups and outstanding soloists like Heifetz and Henryk Szeryng."

-- Dan Davis, Listen Magazine [5, 2009]

Classical Music

Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1 -4 (Arturo Toscanini, Vol. 4)

"Born to a Korean mother and an American father in the U.S., Jackiw is known here as the grandson of the famous late writer Pi Cheon-deuk. He began playing the violin at age four and pursued joint degrees at Harvard University and the New England Conservatory. In 2002, he received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant...when the 24-year-old Stefan Jackiw chose the sonatas for his recording debut (under the Sony Classical label with veteran producer Steven Epstein), one had to wonder how he would tackle the pieces.

"The third sonata I just played is a dark, fiery work; the first is introspective, nostalgic; the second is open-hearted and very loving. It's an interesting and contrasting set," Jackiw told reporters in Seoul about his reasons for choosing Brahms. He had already demonstrated his talent through solos with local orchestras and with the explosively popular chamber ensemble Ditto. But how did he attempt to depict an old man's spiritual struggle to grow ``anxious flowers'' ? harnessing one's gifts to artistic ends, just as flowers bloom in full glory just before they wilt?

"For me certainly some parts are more difficult than others. The first sonata is especially more elusive than the others; it's not as dramatic or open as the others. It is about an old man looking back at his youth, and it's tricky to capture that," Jackiw said after playing the third sonata.

In his playing, both live and recorded, Jackiw makes the violin sing. Poeticism takes flight ? with both youthful exuberance and a certain timelessness ? soaring from unapologetically beautiful, balletic lyricism to lighthearted caprice and red-blooded vigor that ignites dazzling furies."

- Lee Hyo-won, from review in The Korea Times

"Stefan has a young violinist's fire and energy but also maturity, rare depth and understanding." - Max Levinson, pianist on this recording.

"Jackiw possesses a slender, silvery tone well suited to Brahms's intimate lyricism, and his pianist, Max Levinson, proved an equally idiomatic partner." - The Miami Sun Herald

"These versions of the Brahms symphonies rank with the very finest available. They are stunning, and they established Levine as a true successor to his mentor, George Szell. His Brahms especially has all of Szell’s precision and care for balance and proportion, with none of his occasional stiffness...after experiencing these performances anew we recall what all of the excitement was about. The “buzz” was entirely justified."

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

"Brahms, a splendid pianist, had a special diffidence regarding chamber music for strings alone. He fussed endlessly with the string quartet medium and said in later years that he had written twenty before producing one good enough to publish – and at that, he published only three. He was forty by the time he allowed the first two to see the light of day, and they had occupied him for some eight years.
Perhaps Beethoven’s shadow, of which he was acutely conscious, loomed too heavily in this area. Brahms felt less hesitant writing for a medium Beethoven had never touched: he turned out two string sextets in his late twenties and early thirties.

All this puts a special focus on the two String Quintets. By the time Brahms wrote them (Op. 88 in 1882 and Op. 111 in 1890) he was at the peak of his powers. Whatever internal dilemmas he had faced had been successfully resolved, and also he had learned that a string quintet with two cellos – so memorably employed by Schubert – was not to his liking. But Brahms was always partial to dark coloring, and it seems natural that he would be strongly drawn to the dark-hued viola quintet."

— Excerpt from the original liner notes from ARC1-4849 by Shirley Fleming

The celebrated violinist Francesca Dego is joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and her regular collaborator Dalia Stasevska for this recording of the violin concertos by Brahms and Busoni.

A cornerstone of the repertoire, Brahms’s Concerto dates from 1878, a year after the Second Symphony, and was composed for (and dedicated to) the virtuoso Joseph Joachim. The Concerto takes the standard three-movement form, and as in Beethoven’s Concerto (considered by many as Brahms’s inspiration for the work) the first movement is significant in its length and its complexity.

Busoni’s Violin Concerto in its turn is inspired by both Brahms and Beethoven, and like both previous works it is in the key of D major. Premièred in Berlin in 1897 by the Dutch violinist Henri Petri, the Concerto is dazzlingly virtuosic. Francesca Dego writes: ‘To be able to record Brahms’s Violin Concerto is a dream and a milestone for every violinist and I feel that with “my” Brahms I do not want to compete with the many gorgeous versions out there but instead to declare my own love and history with my favorite violin concerto. Busoni’s Concerto, however, is a rarely performed work, brought to the studio only a handful of times. It represents a different kind of responsibility, one that pushed me to want to rediscover every detail of this music as if it had never been played before.’

Romantic Choir Music

Works For Cello And Piano

Symphony 1

Recording Brahms’ violin sonatas can be a formidable task for young violinists. Søren Elbæk (pronounced “Sorn Elbeck”...almost) from the Copenhagen Trio took the challenge in his stride with his sidekick Morten Mogensen also a member of the Copenhagen Trio. The two musicians have been playing together since their early teens (they are now in their mid-20s) and it shows in their empathic performance. Just recently a DJ from the Danish National Radio broadcasted this CD to declare that he considered Søren’s rendition superior to any releases from the major labels.

Russian organist Konstantin Volostnov performs Brahms’ complete organ works on the Röver organ of the Moscow Central Church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. The instrument was built in 1898 and had suffered years of neglect but, remarkably, was one of the only Röver organs to remain completely original and intact, with a subsequent overhaul undertaken over several years.

Clarinet Sonatas

Sonatas Op. 120

Serenade Op. 11, Serenade Op.

Symphony 4, Tragic Overture

Symphony 3, Haydn Variations

Complete Trios

3 Sonatas For Cello And Piano