Muzio Clementi was revered as 'the father of the pianoforte'. He was a virtuoso composer and teacher whose publishing and piano manufacturing made him hugely wealthy. Gradus ad Parnassum in three volumes and completed by 1826 consists of 100 incredibly demanding exercises designed to lead to musical and technical perfection. It remains one of the great compendiums in musical history. Prize-winning pianist Alessandro Marangoni continues his critically acclaimed survey in this third of four volumes.

In his piano transcriptions of harpsichord sonatas principally by Scarlatti, Granados tackled the task of presenting virtually unknown works to a contemporary public.

Classical Music

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Strathclyde Concertos, all premiered by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, are among his most significant contributions to the concerto genre. Concerto No. 3 for Horn and Trumpet marks a turning point in the cycle of ten concertos by employing multiple soloists, and stands in the lineage of works by Haydn, Mozart and Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Concerto No. 4 explores the clarinet's lyrical Mozartian heritage, alongside subtle percussive effects and agile virtuosity.

The eight composers on this compilation, all of them born in 1938, adhere to no single trend or movement, yet each is united by an uncompromising determination to transgress boundaries and expectations in pursuit of artistic autonomy.

Joseph Haydn claimed to have discovered the string quartet form by accident. His Op. 1, No. 1 has the cheerful five-movement form of a Divertimento, while the glorious and harmonically daring Op. 77, No. 1 was among the last he completed in the genre. Falling between the two, Op. 33, No. 5 is full of rhythmic surprises and a theme that gives it the nickname ‘How do you do?’ The award-winning Goldmund Quartet is considered one of today’s most exciting young European string quartets.

Classical Music

Mendelssohn wrote his Second Symphony or Lobgesang ('Hymn of Praise') in 1840, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of movable type. This symphony-cantata, as the composer termed it, is duly permeated with a rich and often jubilant spirit, and patterned after Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in it's solo vocal and large choral forces. The rich orchestral palette is supplemented by thrilling and expressive vocal writing, which includes solos and duets of great beauty, and culminates in a blazing fugal ending.

Chopin's four Ballades are among the greatest of his works, as is the Fantasia in F minor also included on this disk. The Ballades were composed between 1835 and 1843 and are generally believed to be based upon works by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. This is music in the style of the medieval troubador, with singing lyrical sections alternating with music of wild passions, big chords, chromatic passages, and virtuosic runs. The first and fourth ballades, in G minor and F minor, tend to be more stormy and passionate while the second and third, in F major and A flat major are more reflective and lyrical. Biret gives a beautiful rendition of this music with beautiful, free rhythm, attention to dynamics and phrasing, and a full use of the resources of the piano. She captures magnificently the wild, virtuosic concluding passages in the first and fourth ballades.

Classical Music

One of Lithuania�s leading artistic figures, Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis pursued a career as a painter as well as a musician, seeing all art as springing from the same source. His earlier works inhabit a romantic idiom, with the colorful influences of folk-music and the beauty of the countryside intermingled with pieces showing his development while at the Conservatoires of Warsaw and Leipzig. Muza Rubackyte�s recordings of Ciurlionis have been described as �flawless� (American Record Guide) and she herself as �one of today�s most important pianists� (Chicago Tribune).

Classical Music

The first volume in this groundbreaking series explores the 20th and 21st centuries' most celebrated works for trumpet and piano; pieces which have allowed the modern performer to discover a kaleidoscopic palette of emotions and characters. From George Enescu's Legende to Christopher Williams' XX Mountains of Abstract Thought, the result is an exhilarating journey that surprises and enthralls the listener with tender lyricism, powerful sonorities and stunning virtuosity. Award-winning trumpet player Huw Morgan is joined by pianist Patricia Ulrich for this release.

Classical Music

Although Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) has a reputation as a composer of serious, large-scale, complex music, many of his best known and most commercially successful works are actually small in scale and were written for the booming contemporary market of domestic music-makers. Among these latter compositions many of his piano works may be numbered, although many pose formidable challenges for the amateur pianist. Between his powerful Piano Sonata No 1 in C major, Op 1 (1852) and the Eleven Chorale Preludes for organ, Op 122 (1896), Brahms wrote many keyboard pieces, the earliest of which on this selection is the Piano Sonata No 3 in F minor, Op 5 (1865)-from which the Andante espressivo is drawn-the latest his Piano Pieces, Op 119 (1893)-from which the first, second and third Intermezzos are taken. Brahms' abilities as a pianist were evident from his youth, and his approach to music was quite practical. In his teens, he investigated both serious and popular musical styles, making arrangements for his father's orchestra and playing piano in local dance halls. (The frequently told story that he was forced to play in brothels, although apparently originating with the composer himself, seems to have no foundation in fact.) Aged twenty he started touring as an accompanist and made important contacts in the musical world, meeting Robert and Clara Schumann, both of whom were highly influential on his life and career. His love for and devotion to Clara, herself an accomplished pianist, would last throughout his life. From the early 1860s, Brahms based himself in Vienna, so it's hardly surprising that the city's emblematic dance form, the waltz, should inspire him to compose several of his own. The delightful Sixteen Waltzes, Op 39 (1865) and the popular Liebeslieder [Love Song] Waltzes, Op 52 (1870)-later arranged for piano four-hands as Op 52a-rank among his most open-hearted contributions. Unlike some of his supporters, Brahms was certainly no musical snob, as his lifelong friendship with Johann Strauss II attests. Brahms once remarked that he would have given anything to have written The Blue Danube, and when Strauss' wife Adele asked Brahms to autograph her fan, he wrote a few notes from the iconic waltz with the words 'Alas, not by Brahms!' 1869 saw the publication of his hugely popular Hungarian Dances, for which Brahms, regarding them as arrangements rather than original compositions, did not assign an opus number. The year 1878 saw the publication of Brahms' Eight Pieces for piano, Op 76, a collection of capriccios and intermezzos that marks his increasing concentration on shorter, highly characterful works. The Seven Fantasias for piano, Op 116 (1892) were the first fruits of an amazing late flowering that continued with the Three Intermezzi for piano, Op 117 (1892), the Six Pieces for piano, Op 118 (1893) and the Four Pieces for piano, Op 119 (1893). With these remarkable miniatures, Brahms seems to summarize his entire compositional career, recalling both the muscular virtuosity of his earlier piano music, paying tribute to the character pieces of Couperin and Schumann, and perhaps even taking note of the 'Impressionist' piano music of Debussy though heard through a thoroughly Brahmsian filter.