In Colorado based ensemble COmpass REsonance (CORE), Violinist Vadim Gluzman found a group that shared his artistic values, and they now have a close working relationship. Combining the music of J.S. Bach and Valentyn Silvestrov in one program offers another example of kindred spirits. The three works by Silvestrov presented on this album are influenced by and dedicated to Bach himself. More importantly, though separated by centuries, the music of Bach and Silvestrov is united by purity, spirituality, and clarity of expression. Together, they offer hope, solace, and a sense of balance in today's turbulent world.

Venezuelan trumpet virtuoso Pacho Florez wowed the packed Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms concert given by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under their chief conductor Domingo Hindoyan last year. Pacho and Domingo have a real chemistry on stage, they are old friends going back to their time in the Simon Bolivar Orchestra. This album showcases Pacho as composer as well as soloist - his own brilliant concerto Albares is vibrant, rhythmic and wonderfully written for the instrument. It, like the two other concertos on the album by Sierra and Ortiz have more than their fair share of ear worm tunes, and you won't be able to resist smiling and swaying to the infectious music.

Bach's St. John Passion is the earliest surviving Passion or Oratorio by J.S Bach and was first performed in 1724. This version consists of two sections and retains this structure in the versions and revisions that followed in 1725, 1730, 1736 and 1749. Bach added several numbers in the 1749 version, but several arias from the revisions are found only in the appendices of modern editions. So, there is no 'final' version crafted by the composer as there is for the later St. Matthew Passion, no single manuscript as there is for the Brandenburg Concertos, nor a revised printed edition as exists for the Goldberg Variations. What we do have are Bach's various attempts as he went from performance to performance, to try to grasp what he was aiming for - consciously and unconsciously. There is much that is operatic in the music, and the thought that the St. John Passion is Bach's opera is hardly an original one. This recording uses the new edition by musicologist Malcolm Bruno.

Pascal Roge has over several decades, become the greatest interpreter of the French piano repertoire. His recordings of Satie and Debussy are benchmark performances, still unrivalled in the catalog. On this album he turns to Poulenc and is joined by cellist Lidy Blijdorp in the cello sonata, and pianist Elena Font in the sonatas for two pianos, and for four hands. Font plays the solo works included in this charming album of superbly crafted, elegant and sometimes witty music by this 20th century French master.

In this vibrant and colorful orchestral program from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Domingo Hindoyan, Chabrier's Espana opens proceedings. The composer's interest in Spain was most likely the result of his friendship with the artist Edouard Manet, whose paintings depicted Spanish themes. The conductor of the premiere was Charles Lamoureux who persuaded Chabrier to visit Spain in the summer of 1882. This work was the catalyst for French composers who followed to explore Spanish influences. Manual de Falla commented on Debussy's Iberia "Without knowing Spain, or without having set foot on Spanish ground," he noted, "Debussy has written Spanish music. He came to know Spain through books and paintings, through songs and dances performed by native Spaniards."

George Butterworth, one of the pre 1914 generation lost in the Great War, left a small but enduring body of work. He was introduced to folk music by Vaughan Williams, but he was also a dancer and collector of folk songs and dances - especially those from Sussex. It is however his A.E Houseman inspired orchestral rhapsody, A Shropshire Lad, that has become his most famous composition and seems to conjure up a powerful sense of the countryside of that county, and melancholy at the waste and futility of war. Holst, like Butterworth was a friend of Vaughan Williams, and together the two of them collected folk songs from around England. Holst also taught at the school for girls in Hammersmith, London and the St Paul Suite is a personal thank you to the school. Folk songs imbue the two Songs without Words. Holst became friendly with Thomas Hardy, and it was on a night walk (at the urging of Hardy) that the inspiration for Egdon Heath came to Holst. The 15-minute-long work capture the 'singularly colossal and mysterious in it's swarthy monotony' as Hardy described the area of moorland in his novel The Return of the Native. The high trumpet at the close of the work is surely sounding from post war sad shires.

Italy, Florence - nothing gives me the slightest pleasure so far wrote Tchaikovsky to his brother. "I cannot live outside Russia." In the depth of depression, the composer commenced work on his sextet, Souvenir de Florence, which he completed upon his return to Russia in June 1890. Melancholy Russian folk melodies mingle with Tchaikovsky's Florentine theme rising in the Adagio. In 1892, with more creative struggles - a symphony in E flat was abandoned (much of it becoming the 3rd piano concerto and the Andante & Finale), and a new symphony in B minor was started. If the melancholy of Souvenir de Florence is never far from the surface, it threatens to overwhelm the 6th symphony. "I am very proud of the symphony, and I think it's the best of my compositions." Tchaikovsky died 9 days after conducting it's first performance, a victim of the cholera pandemic raging over the Russian Empire.

James Ehnes picks up the viola for his first recording of the two Brahms sonatas Op.120 of 1894, in the composer's arrangement for viola and piano. Originally written for clarinettist Richard Muhlfeld, Brahms made subtle changes for the viola versions, and in so doing he greatly enriched the meagre viola sonata repertoire with these two late masterpieces. Schumann composed his Marchenbilder (Fairy Tale Pictures) in a few days in March 1851. They are imbued with a potent sense of fantasy - imagination runs riot, from melancholy to drama. James Ehnes plays on the 1696 'Achinto' Stradivari viola for this recording, courtesy of the Royal Academy of Music.

This recording of Bruckner's 4th Symphony, lead by Domingo Hindoyan, was taken from live performances in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. The excitement and drama of the concerts is superbly captured on this album. The symphony was completed in 1874 and underwent substantial revisions (including a new scherzo) in 1878 and 1880. The title 'Romantic' was applied after the composer added an informal programme for the pleasure of his friends.

An album of dramatic and passionate Preludes and Intermezzos from some of the most popular Italian operas, from Domingo Hindoyan and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Translations of works by early French and Russian realists, Stendahl, Pushkin and Balzac among them, crossed international borders to inspire new homegrown styles of literary realism. The trend took hold in Italy in the 1870s where it was promoted by the authors Luigi Capuana and Giovanni Verga under the banner of verismo, the Italian word for realism, and drew inspiration from the naturalism of Emile Zola and his disciples. Verga's short story Cavalleria rusticana ('Rustic chivalry') and the play that arose from it set the foundations for a new wave of Italian operas, with Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana serving as the genre's enduring model.

In 1819 the publisher and composer Anton Diabelli invited 50 Austrian composers to write one variation a short waltz he had composed. He specified that it take up just one sheet (which he supplied) and this already contained his waltz. Composers such as Czerny, Moscheles, Hummel, Kalkbrenner, Liszt (just 10 years old), Schubert and Beethoven were among those invited. All except one provided their contribution. That one was Beethoven, who, electrified by Diabelli's Waltz produced a massive work comprising 33 variations which was completed after the composer had completed the Missa Solemnis, and the last three piano sonatas. He delivered it to Diabelli in 1823, making it his final masterpiece. This huge work is one of the peaks of the repertoire for solo piano, it still baffles the listener, it still has the capacity to reveal more than we thought we knew about it. It makes extreme demands upon the performer and the listener, and in a great performance never ceases to surprise and shock the listener.

Composed in 1915, Szymanowski's Mythes is a three movement work consisting of miniature tone poems based on Greek mythology. Late romantic and impressionist in style, the composer's travels to Sicily and north Africa without a doubt influenced the exotic and sumptuous sound world he created in this work. Mythes is the opening work on this eclectic recital album from James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong that also features Handel's D major violin sonata - a once popular staple of the violin repertoire, now sadly seldom encountered. The album concludes with a selection of short and sparkly miniatures and encores. There are some old favorites here, as well as new, including James Newton Howard's "133... At least".

When introduced to the audience in Liverpool by Domingo Hindoyan, Roberto Sierra's music was greeted with standing ovations. His name may be new to many, but his music is vibrant, appealing, accessible, and extremely well crafted. "The works included on this album span 25 years of creative activity. While current projects are always my focus, looking back is not something I often do; however, this recording confronted me with compositions representing a good part of my creative life. Most interesting was to notice that, although my music has changed through the years, there are traits common to all these pieces. These are elements that encompass aspects ranging from the expressive to the technical. A penchant for certain types of melodic constructions, harmonies, and orchestration choices is always present in these works. Another common element is the use of idioms that stem out of Afro-Caribbean and, more specifically, from the folk and popular music of Puerto Rico." This album is a wonderful introduction to this important contemporary composer from Latin America.

Three pianist-composers from the first half of the last century form the program for Joseph Moog's new album. For this recording he is partnered by pianist Kai Adomeit in three works for two pianos - Rachmaninov's late Symphonic Dances from 1940, York Bowen's Theme & Variations from 1951, and Rachmaninov's friend and compatriot Medtner's Two Pieces. York Bowen had many Rachmaninov works in his extensive concert repertoire, and he became known without much justification as 'The English Rachmaninov'. However strange that may sound, he like the two Russians on this recording represent (with Prokofiev) the last of the great pianist-composers of the 20th century.

When the red light in Studio 2 at the famous Abbey Road Studios came on at the start of the recording sessions for Leonard Elschenbroich and Alexei Grynyuk's latest ONYX recording, the control room had a very different atmosphere. The recording was made using analogue technology - tape recorders, vintage microphones, and longer takes. At no point was the recorded material subjected to a digital process. Elschenbroich wanted to capture a specific sound for these sonatas; the recorded sound of the late 1950s and the 1960s was his goal. The result is a wonderfully intimate, warm yet clear sound, as if the musicians are actually in the room with the listener - not clinical, not a bright superficially impressive digital sound, but a sound that captures perfectly the best recorded sound of the golden years of the LP. Importantly, it is the sound by which the artist 'recognises' himself. As Elschenbroich writes in the notes 'the listener only needs one pair of ears and the music must come to life in their unique space".

Rachmaninov's ten chamber works, two left incomplete, all date from his twenties. The most widely performed and best known is the Cello Sonata. The two trios feature daunting piano parts - the composer was still finding his unique style and the influence of Tchaikovsky can be heard in No.1. The 2nd Trio is a massive work (as is Tchaikovsky's own Trio), composed just days after Rachmaninov learned of the death of his mentor. It is dedicated "To the memory of a great artist". The Cello Sonata is mature Rachmaninov, with hints of the 2nd Piano Concerto and 2nd Symphony.

Domingo Hindoyan's exciting program of French repertoire includes early and late orchestral masterpieces by Debussy, Roussel's sumptuous and brilliantly scored 2nd ballet suite from Bacchus et Ariadne, and the rarely heard and spectacular La Peri, subtitled Poem Danse by the highly self-critical but brilliant Dukas.

This is the final of four installments in the Ehnes Quartet's survey of the late Beethoven Quartets. It was recorded in the US with their producer overseeing the sessions from London as the pandemic halted travel plans and sessions were canceled. "The albums we recorded during this intense two-week period will always be treasured reminders for us of a brief, bucolic window of artistic fulfillment during a terribly challenging period for the world," said James Ehnes. They bring to these masterworks many years of experience.

Soprano Chen Reiss writes "Discovering the dramatic scene 'Hero & Leander' by Fanny Hensel left me amazed by the richness of colors and invention, as well as her skillful orchestration and dramatic expression". Felix Mendelssohn's sister Fanny is only now emerging as a significant composer in her own right. Many of her compositions were published under her brother's name, such was the difficulty faced by female composers in the 19th century to get published and gain recognition. This album contains a selection of her Lieder in new arrangements for orchestra, her dramatic scene for soprano and orchestra, "Hero und Leander", set to a text by her father, and the Introduction and an aria from her cantata "Lobgesang". Alongside Felix's concert aria Infelice and the 1st Rome version of "Fingals Cave".

Like many musical projects planned for 2020, the plans of the Ehnes Quartet to record Beethoven's late quartets underwent a drastic revision. Rather than cancel the project, some ingenious technology was employed. They were able to record in the USA with producer Simon Kiln monitoring the sessions in real time from London. A fortunate benefit of not traveling overseas was that the scheduled travel days became additional recording days, allowing them to record all of Beethoven's string quartets from Op.74 onwards. The four albums made during this intense two-week period will be treasured reminders for the quartet of a brief, bucolic window of artistic fulfilment during a terribly challenging period for the world.

Multi award-winning violinist James Ehnes recorded this album during lockdown at his home. Recording commenced in the early hours of the morning when all was quiet in the house. The solo violin, recorded in the small hours during these troubled times makes for a powerful and intimate listening experience. Ysaye's six sonatas for solo violin together with J.S Bach's Sonatas & Partitas and the most important extended works for the solo violin. Ysaye composed each one of them with a particular violinist in mind, capturing their personality and characteristics of their playing. These sonatas represent the stylistic bridge between the old and the new, between tradition and improvisation, offering a glimpse into a "golden" era of fast evolving traditions of playing, of which Ysaye was one of the leading voices.

Following on from their critically acclaimed albums of Stravinsky, Elgar and Tchaikovsky, the award winning team of Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra turn to Zemlinsky and Schreker. Premiered in 1905, Zemlinsky's Die Seejungfrau (after Hans Christian Andersen) was almost ignored by the reviewers. Considered too conservative for the progressives, and too progressive for the conservatives, Zemlinsky struggled to overcome the negative reviews of this masterpiece and withdrew it in the immediate aftermath of the premiere. Vasily Petrenko for this recording uses the original version of the score which restores the "bei der Meerhexe" episode to the 2nd movement. One of the most progressive of the Viennese composers of this period, Schreker's dance pantomime Der Guburtstag der Infantine (story by Oscar Wilde) was given it's premiere in 1908 and was his first big success.

After the success of his album of the 2nd Concerto of Brahms, Joseph Moog follows with a superb recording of the turbulent 1st Concerto, coupled with the late Piano Pieces op.119.

Gramophone said of the 2nd concerto, “Moog’s technical aplomb is abundantly apparent... the scherzo sounds almost inhumanly easier here.” Pizzicato said “Moog plays with imagination and individuality... peerless accompaniment and brilliant, virtuoso playing.”

Description This third release in James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong's complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas has been eagerly awaited. The two previous recordings received outstanding reviews, with Gramophone praising that, "some discs, you can just tell that everything's going to go like a dream." On this recording, the popular 'Spring' sonata is framed by the strange and beguiling Sonata No.4, and the good natured Sonata No.8. An early Rondo and a set of German Dances complete the generous program.

Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra continue their critically acclaimed Elgar project with Sea Pictures and The Music Makers, featuring Kathryn Rudge as soloist. Sea Pictures is one of the composer's most popular works, and as an orchestral song cycle, stands alongside those by Mahler and Strauss. The Music Makers has had a more troubled history. Elgar worked on it on and off from 1903 until it's premiere in 1912. Both the words and music received criticism. But for Elgar it was a personal work. He wrote on the manuscript, "This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another. My life was as the vapor, and is not; but this I saw, and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory."

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REVIEW:

This glowingly idiomatic account of Sea Pictures can only enhance Rudge's growing reputation. With her sensitivity to the text, freshness of timbre and secure vocal technique, she once again proves herself a strongly intuitive interpreter of this repertoire. Under Petrenko’s malleable lead the joint RLPO forces give of their fervent, articulate best. No question about it, Petrenko’s abundantly communicative conception demands to be heard.

– Gramophone