Pascal Rog� 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.

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.

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.

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.

Violinist Viktoria Mullova and son, the bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado in music they love - a very personal and affectionate collection of music ranging from traditional Brazilian folk songs to JS Bach, via Antonio Carlos Jobim and Schumann. Much of the music on this album has been played by mother and son together for many years - classical and contemporary jazz, folk songs from family music making has now made it to their concert programmes.

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.

Dejan Lazi? is joined by friends for his first recording of chamber music in a long career. Mozart’s two piano quartets are paired with Lazi?'s own arrangement of the Rondo Concertante K333. The result is the joyful, intimate music-making, that can be achieved by musicians who have a lifetime of performing together.

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

Vasily Petrenko’s previous Stravinsky recordings have been universally praised by the critics for the fine interpretations of these great scores, the superb playing of the RLPO and for the outstanding recorded sound. The same technical team was on hand for the final album in the series – the 1911 version of Petrushka which is coupled with the delightful Rossini/Respighi La Boutique fantasque.

Leonard Elschenboich is joined by pianist Alexi Grynyuk for a program of Beethoven's five cello sonatas, which span his three creative periods. The audacious Op.5 sonatas date from his early years in Vienna as a piano virtuoso and aspiring composer (1792-99). The great Op.69 sonata is from the same period that saw the composition of Symphonies Nos.4-8, the Violin Concerto, Mass in C and the String Quartets Op.59. The two Op.102 sonatas are from the cusp of the 'late' period. This is the time of the Symphony No.9, the Missa Solemnis, the great string quartets Op.127-135 and the last five piano sonatas. The cello and piano are truly equal partners in all these works, and Beethoven exploited the full range of the cello - placing great demands on the player. The Op.17 sonata from the 1790s was composed for horn and piano. The transcription is believed to be by the composer, or at least approved by him.

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".

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.

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 P�ri, subtitled Po�m Dans� by the highly self-critical but brilliant Dukas.

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.

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".

In Schubert's Company presents violist Maxim Rysanov as a soloist, conductor, arranger and commissioner of new music. Alongside works including Schubert's Symphony No.5, Violin Sonata No.3 and Polonaise for violin & orchestra are pieces from three contemporary composers who have drawn on Schubert as the source for their works. Winterreise, Erlk�nig and his late Fantasy for violin & piano are among the inspirations behind this powerful recital that explores how the haunting beauty of Schubert's music continues to influence on today's performers, composers and music lovers alike.

Classical Music

American pianist Jonathan Biss is widely regarded for his artistry and deeply felt interpretations, and has won international recognition for his concerto, recital, and chamber music performances and for his award-winning recordings.

CONCERTOS & CAPRICCIOS

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.

BBC Scottish Symphony & Thomas Dausgaard

Stravinsky: Firebird; Rimsky-Korsakov: Le Coq d'Or - After their critically acclaimed recording of The Rite of Spring, the award-winning team of Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra continue their survey of the Stravinsky ballets with The Firebird. Stravinsky was Rimsky-Korsakov's star pupil, and his influence on can be detected clearly in this opulent and exciting score. It is coupled with Rimsky-Korsakov's Golden Cockerel suite, which was arranged from the music of his 1909 opera based on a story by Pushkin.

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.

Onyx presents a new series from Thomas Dausgaard and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra that celebrates the scope and stylistic variety in Bartok's compositional output. Whether inspired by impressionistic or late romantic music or Gypsy music from the streets of Budapest, Bartok's music speaks to us with an irresistible vitality, passion, humor and compelling seriousness. This is apparent no more so than in his youthfully exuberant Suite No.1, recorded here for the first time in it's original uncut version. The suite is paired with his last completed orchestral work, the Concerto for Orchestra.