Wilhelm Taubert was a significant composer and teacher in Berlin during a period when the city began to rival Vienna and Paris as a European musical powerhouse. Though it was also a time when the piano had reached it's zenith in size and tonal depth, Taubert's graceful, conservative style was perfectly suited to the instrument. His sonatas fuse Beethovenian elements with those of Weber, and feature slow movements that draw on rich operatic lyricism reminiscent of Rossini or Cherubini.

This album presents orchestral works by three French composers who saw Spain as a paradise of warmth, fragrance and colour, whether real or imagined. From the vivid evocations of Debussy's Images and Ibert's Escales, to the dances and landscapes that inspired Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole, these masterpieces of Impressionism show the considerable impact Spanish culture had on French composers in the early 20th century.

Julius Benedict studied with Hummel and Weber, beginning as a virtuoso pianist and then becoming a conductor and operatic composer. In 1835 he moved to England where he spent the next 50 years as a much-admired composer, teacher and writer. His most famous work is the opera The Lily of Killarney but the music for his own instrument displays a precocious talent. This is most evident in the Piano Sonata No. 1 in E major, where novelty and beguiling modulations co-exist with the influence of his teachers. The smaller pieces exhibit his taste, finesse and maturity, while the Andante and Rondo Brillante is a glittering showpiece.

Francisco Mignone became a leading figure in the Brazilian music scene after his return in 1929 following lengthy studies in Europe. His four Fantasias Brasileiras for piano and orchestra are part of his nationalist phase, with the first in the cycle initiated by soloist Joao de Souza Lima, who asked Mignone for a work with Brazilian flavour. These works share a festive and exuberant style to which the composer would return in his Burlesca e Toccata, which requires acrobatic virtuosity from the soloist in music that surprises by juxtaposing atonality with popular themes.

Berlin is the focus of this eighth volume of the History of the Russian Piano Trio, which features two Russian composers who lived in the city. Nikolai Lopatnikoff's symphonies were premiered by Bruno Walter and Serge Koussevitzky, and he was once ranked alongside Stravinsky. Lopatnikoff's Piano Trio in A minor is an archetypal example of Russian modernism, unparalleled in it's use of allusions, tonalities and form. Paul Juon's Suite in C major is full of elegant and vivid theatrical imagery, while his Piano Trio No. 1 in A minor employs charming stylised folk material influenced by Brahms.

'Slatkin shows real empathy with this magical repertoire, and he draws playing of uncommon composure and contagious application from his scrupulously prepared Lyon band.' - Gramophone

Sofia Gubaidulina was an iconoclastic maverick whose work is synonymous with unprecedented openness and autonomy. The rarely performed Revue Music for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Band is an eclectic subversive masterpiece that caused a scandal at it's premiere in the USSR in 1978 - the official reaction to which posed a considerable threat to Gubaidulina's entire family. It contrasts greatly with the sensual piano concerto Introitus, heard here in the revised version created by the composer in collaboration with Alice Di Piazza. Worlds collide in Figures of Time - a work that combines chaotic effects with unifying harmony. The programme also includes the Chaconne for solo piano with it's atmospherically dense process of transformation.

With their dramatic history, the Peterhouse Partbooks are among the most significant collections of English sacred music manuscripts from the 16th and early 17th centuries. Including several world premiere recordings, this programme presents a survey of the rich variety in the Peterhouse manuscripts, from the Venetian splendour of Croce's eight-part anthem Omnes gentes plaudite, to the penitential intimacy of Tallis's O God be merciful unto us.

Heinrich Marschner was the leading German operatic composer between Weber and the rise of Wagner, but he also wrote prolifically for chamber forces. His Piano Trios No. 2 and No. 6 share similar qualities: both are in a minor key, they are rich in agitated melodies, and are full of inventive interplay between the three instruments. In contrast to the earlier light-hearted Trio No. 1 (available on 8.574612), No. 2 is a darker, more tension-filled work, albeit with Mendelssohnian grace. No. 6 also embodies elements of mid-19th-century Romanticism conveyed in music that ranges from the turbulent to the spectral.

Anton Rubinstein always regretted that his status as an elite pianist eclipsed his reputation as a composer. Recent recordings have shown that his music is melodically distinguished and attractive, as these two major works from the mid-1860s show. Cast on a wide canvas, the Fantasia in E minor conforms to Romantic grandeur in it's gestures, which also include Beethovenian echoes in the finale. The Five Pieces are condensed character studies, evoking Chopin and Schumann, and ending with a brilliant Toccata. The Trot de cavalerie, a march for mounted troops, was a popular genre in the 19th century.

Niklas Jahn, winner of the 9th International Organ Competition Musashino-Tokyo in 2023, was appointed organist at the Frauenkirche in Dresden in December 2024, the site of an acclaimed concert by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1736. This album features two works by Bach, including the monumental Toccata and Fugue in F major, as well as Toshio Hosokawa's celestial Cloudscape, and the ultravirtuosic Feuertaufe by Zsigmond Szathmary. French repertoire by Messiaen and Vierne can also be heard alongside Brahms whose Chorale Preludes are among the last pieces he composed.

Alexey Shor's music is regularly performed at some of the world's most prestigious concert halls. His popularity comes from a signature style that includes neo-Classical clarity with a strong emphasis on lyricism and traditional harmonies, as can be heard in his First Violin Concerto. The Second and Fifth Violin Concertos are works that explore a spectrum of emotions, from profound sadness and loss, to exhilarating and uplifting passions, both of which require high levels of virtuosity from both soloist and orchestra.

Arrigo Boito is remembered today for his only completed opera Mefistofele. The score for Nerone was left unfinished at the composer's death - a performing version was completed by the composers Vincenzo Tommasini and Antonio Smareglia, along with Arturo Toscanini who conducted the world premiere at Teatro alla Scala in 1924. The narrative focuses on Emperor Nero during a time of conflict between beliefs in Imperial Roman gods and Christianity, and ends with tragic dramas amidst the Great Fire of Rome. With influences that include Wagner and Sibelius, Boito's rarely performed Nerone uses a truly exciting harmonic palette delivered through a masterly handling of huge orchestral forces.

In the early 1960s Goffredo Petrassi's idiom was almost indistinguishable from that of the Italian avantgarde. Completed in 1964, the Seventh Concerto evolves with mounting tension and a sense of underlying menace. The Eighth Concerto from 1972 was commissioned and premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It is a substantial piece of outright virtuosity, with dissonance, trenchant dialogues and a fraught atmosphere. The much earlier Sonata da camera for harpsichord and ten instruments finds Petrassi poised between neo-Classicism and a more modernist direction. This is the third and final volume of Petrassi's complete Concertos for Orchestra on Naxos (Nos. 1-3 are on 8.573702; Nos. 4-6 are on 8.573703).

In 2009, a large collection of guitar music from the Gitarristische Vereinigung Munchen ('Munich Guitar Society') was rediscovered in an attic in Munich. The collection included many significant works for guitar that have been hidden from view for decades. Many of these works are by neglected composers whose names are deserving of exploration and revival. Wilhelm Schmoelzl's Introduction und Variationen exists on the threshold between Classicism and Romanticism, while Adam Darr's perfectly realised Sonata is notable for it's striking use of Alpine folk music. The programme concludes with Carl Kamberger's witty and surprising Grand Fantasy, with it's multitude of quoted themes and unconventional techniques.