This album sketches a portrait of the musical reality of the British Isles during the first half of the 18th century. The huge success of the Italian concerto grosso was a response to the necessity of freeing music from a secondary role to which it found itself confined, notably in France with ballet music. Unaffected by the rivalry between French and Italian music, the British seemed to be attracted by purely instrumental music; the concerto grosso consequently afforded them a freshness, a boldness, and a hint of unique maestria that held an immediate appeal. Thus it was that the concerto grosso emigrated, as did a number of Italian composers who responded to the emotional needs and the demands of an English 'market' that encouraged artistic initiative, promised financial satisfaction, and offered the opportunity of achieving fame. This was the case with Francesco Scarlatti, the brother of the celebrated Alessandro, who made almost his whole career in London and Dublin. Few of his works have survived beyond the six concerti grossi featured on this programme. You are invited by the young Polish ensemble {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna, conducted by it's first violin Martyna Pastuszka, to journey from Italy to the United Kingdom. Warm, varied sonorities highlight the splendor and expressivity of music that is now lively or dancelike, now gentle, melancholic or meditative. To be discovered!

Liszt: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses

Forqueray: Pièces de viole

Charles-Valentin Alkan is one of the most talented French romantic composers and pianists yet his music has rarely been recorded, and too little performed. Fascinated by the piano, Alkan showed great interest in the progress of instrumental manufacture and composed many works for solo piano; the programme chosen by Yury Favorin includes two of his major compositions. First, the Symphony for Solo Piano. With it's intense, deep, dense style, exploring and shaping the colorful timbres, it is indeed a symphony that Alkan has written for the piano and not a transcription for piano of an orchestral work. The Grand Sonata 'The Four Ages' is worthy of Beethoven's sonatas; this is a masterly work, one of the most accomplished sonatas of the romantic piano and herald of the Liszt Sonata In it's four movements Alkan describes four ages in a man's life: 20 years old, 30, 40, and 50, explaining that these "correspond to a given moment of existence, to a particular disposition of thought, of the imagination."

Guillemain: Amusements

To coincide with the Queen Elisabeth Competition for piano, muso presents a re-release of recordings of Abdel Rahman El Bacha's performances in 1978, when- at the age of 19- he won the first prize in the prestigious competition. The archives of the Queen Elisabeth Competition teem with unique musical gems, preserved for posterity over a period of almost 80 years. It was high time to allow today's music-lovers to enjoy the earliest recordings of a number of eminent laureates who first made their mark at the Competition. Audiences at the 1978 competition were struck by the serenity radiated by the young Beirut pianist Abdel Rahman El Bacha, undeservedly omitted from recent re-releases. But what impressed a demanding jury (one that included Leon Fisher and Emil Gilels), above all, was his playing, already incredibly musical, and his mastery of form, of sonorities, and of styles; from the very first round, he had won over the public. He presented a balanced programme- much of which is contained on this album- that perfectly showcased his qualities. Since then, Abdel Rahman El Bacha has demonstrated that he not only had what it took to win a major competition, but is a great musician who brings wonderful artistry to bear on the repertoire for piano. Something we can already sense on these first recordings dating from 1978.

Infernum in Paradise

The Queen Elisabeth Competition for the piano has provided Muso with an opportunity to launch a series of re-releases of recordings by laureates who have marked the history of this celebrated competition. In particular, the new series allows us to rediscover an artist who has had a major influence on musical life in Belgium for over 50 years: Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden was just 16 when he won the third prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1964. His teacher, the renowned pianist and educator Eduardo del Pueyo, gave the go-ahead to his young student, who had just finished his studies at the Conservatory, to take part in a competition whose past laureates had included pianists such as Leon Fleisher, Maria Tipo, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Lazare Behrman- in the wake of the first prize awarded in 1937 to Emil Gilels. Despite his young age, the Belgian musician showed astonishing artistic maturity right from the first round. The archives of the competition allow us to hear again his superb performance of Schumann's Etudes symphoniques alongside Liszt's First Concerto and Beethoven's First Concerto, recorded at a laureates' concert.

The first recording of the David Oistrakh Quartet received much praise from the press ("No sooner formed, this young quartet already reaches excellence.") Achieving comparison with the Borodin and the Beethoven Quartets, this young group offers an impassioned performance of Grieg and Mendelssohn: a powerful, contrasted, physical and always subtly emotional performance. The David Oistrakh Quartet features today's most outstanding Russian musicians. In 2012 the family of the legendary 20th century violinist honored the quartet with his name. Over the years, artistic friendship and a passion for the art of the quartet brought the young soloists and the grand masters of quartet together to form this extraordinary ensemble. All four musicians play on exemplary Italian instruments made by Antonio Stradivari, Niccolo Amati, and Francesco Ruggeri.

In 1980 the Queen Elisabeth Competition was played out in the context of the Cold War: the Russian candidates were absent, too many Soviet laureates having taken advantage of their success to cross to the other side of the Iron Curtain. The Americans therefore arrived confidant they would be giving a demonstration, yet this was to neglect the contribution of Japan, which had three laureates among the top four. And, a remarkable fact, all came from the teaching environment of their own country. Belgium was in delight as it discovered the winner of the competition that year: Yuzuko Horigome. She had already made a big impression during the semi-final, notably with her performance of a sonata by Ysaye that showed remarkable clarity and determination. This formidable musician of 22 years confirmed in the final this excellent impression with a magnificent Brahms' First Sonata performed in thoughtful silence. Her Sibelius Concerto galvanized the orchestra and roused the public to a passion for one of the very finest performances of this concerto in the history of the competition. Since this first success of an Asian laureate at the competition, Yuzuko Horigome has pursued a superb career in Europe and in her native country as a soloist yet also as a renowned teacher. Every day she shows that knowledge and talent, with regard to Western music, have been universal for a very long time.

75 Years Ysaÿe and Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition

Although a great specialist of 17th and 18th century repertories, the tenor Thibaut Lenaerts has chosen for his first solo album to plunge into the world of Gabriel Faur�'s songs, accompanied by Philippe Riga and the soft, warm tones of a magnificent 1873 Erard piano. An alchemy of colors that promises a superb recital, imbued with a sense of irresistible nostalgia for both performer and listener. Thibaut Lenaerts studied singing at the Royal Conservatory of Liege with Greta de Reyghere, where he won first prize for singing. He subsequently won first prize for chamber music in the class of Guy Van Waas as well as first prize for opera singing with Thierry Migliorini at the Royal Conservatory of Mons. He divides his life between Brussels and Paris, where he appears as a soloist with numerous ensembles.

The Queen Elisabeth Competition for the violin of 1967 proved to be a fertile year for the massive Soviet delegation that had arrived in the attempt to sweep the competition, already won four years previously by the Russian Alexei Michlin. In the final, three of the four laureates are Latvian, something that could not but ruffle the feathers of the Soviet authorities. Philippe Hirschhorn's first place was beyond doubt, he was more than imperial and playing like that had unquestionably not been heard since Leonid Kogan in 1951. Yet on the third step of the podium the public discovered an extraordinary musician in a young man aged barely twenty: Gidon Kremer. He presented an unusual programme, performing the Elgar Concerto, a work rarely played in the final of leading competitions. He was disappointed at his ranking, yet such a nature could not leave the members of the jury indifferent, in one way or another! All of Kremer can already be found in these very first recordings of someone who would mark the history of his instrument for the next 50 years. His playing is nervy, at times abrasive, yet always soulful. There is no sense of artificial beauty with Gidon Kremer; he is a fighter for art, an outstanding musical personality that his subsequent immense career has shown every day.

A new string quartet's debut recording is always a memorable occasion. And muso is particularly proud to welcome into it's catalogue the David Oistrakh String Quartet, a young ensemble founded in 2012 by violinist Andrey Baranov, who won first prize at the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition 75 years after the triumph of fellow Russian David Oistrakh. A case of history coming full circle! For their first album, these young soloists boldly launched head first into the vast repertoire of two of the greatest Russian composers: Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. The two quartets performed here were composed almost a century apart. Tchaikovsky was at the height of his powers and had yet to write his most famous works when he composed his String Quartet No. 2. Throughout his life he was to refer to it as one of his best works, the music having "poured effortlessly and joyfully, being written practically at one sitting." Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 was written in Dresden in 1960 and was dedicated "to the victims of fascism and war." At the time he composed the piece, Shostakovich was going through a troubled period both in his personal life and in his relations with the Soviet authorities. The composer was so satisfied with this clearly autobiographical piece that he subsequently dedicated it to himself. The musicians of the David Oistrakh Quartet throw themselves body and soul into this incredibly poignant and intense music.

After Bach's Toccatas, the French pianist Amandine Savary offers a fascinating interpretation of Schubert's two cycles of Impromptus, superb, stylistically 'free' works that are finely contrasted as regards structure, tempo, duration and character. The musical sweep Schubert gives these pieces - associating his name for posterity to that of this new form - enables her to go beyond virtuosity to breathe into them intense, sustained passion with at times unleashed violence. For their time the conception and the contents of these pieces were novel and from the very start of the first piece in each cycle, one can feel through the breadth of the material that Schubert's ambition goes beyond what had previously been the norm for such 'free' pieces, that the musical impulse is sweepingly different. For more than ten years Amandine Savary has performed in Europe, Japan, the USA, and Australia, building a substantial reputation as an accomplished and versatile pianist and chamber musician. She has taught piano and chamber music at the Royal Academy of Music since September 2015.