There is an indisputable historical link between Beethoven and Indian culture: in his quest to fathom the depths of this culture, and captivated by the translation of the Upanishads that was published in Germany in 1816, he immersed himself well and truly in these ancient texts, just as Schopenhauer did, or like Goethe discovering the great Persian poet Hafez when writing his last major collection, the 'West-Eastern Divan'. We see here a mystical Beethoven, scrutinising man and the cosmos and especially curious about other cultures.

50 of the best children's classics including works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy and Ravel.

Vilde Frang, partnered by pianist Michael Lifits, has assembled a programme that juxtaposes music by two violinist-composers of the early 19th century, Franz Schubert and Niccol� Paganini. While they lived vastly different lives and inhabited diverse aesthetic worlds, there are links to be found between them. Through the juxtaposition, Frang wants to highlight Schubert's capacity for virtuosity and Paganini's musicality and sensitivity. "It's the contrasts that appeal to me," she says. For her, the key connection between Schubert and Paganini is the inspiration they both found in the human voice. The album includes variations that Paganini wrote on themes from operas by Rossini (Tancredi) and Paisiello (La molinara), and the 'grand caprice' that the violinist Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst - considered Paganini's greatest successor - based on one of Schubert's most thrilling songs, Erlk�nig. It sets a poem by Goethe that tells of a frantic night-time horse-ride by a father and his young son, who is tempted by a wicked spirit, the Erlking. When they reach their destination, the child is dead. "This Erlk�nig is a gift to the violinist. There is such precision and accuracy in Ernst's transcription - it works so well that it sounds like it was written for the violin. And then there is the challenge of characterising the galloping horse, the father, the son and the Erlk�nig himself."

'Paris, I love you' A wonderful collection of songs inspired by the city. Songs selected around the themes of Paris city of light, the Paris suburbs, the roaring 20s, Paris by night, and revolutionary Paris. Includes renditions of Jacques Brel's 'Vesoul', Charles Trenet's 'Menilmontant in a Disney style', 'April in Paris' famously sung by Ella Fitzgerald, Bourvil's 'Les Ponts de Paris'. The Chour de l'Arme Franaise is accompanied by the Orchestre de la Garde Rpublicaine under their charismatic director major Aurore Tillac.

Sir John Barbirolli began as an orchestral cellist, and played under Elgar's baton in the premiere of the Cello Concerto. Encouraged by Elgar, he moved into conducting and made his mark with the composer's Second Symphony in 1927. After Elgar's death, Barbirolli vowed to make the composer's music his special mission in life and to do his utmost to make it known all over the world. From the performances here, we can judge how well he kept his promise.

A prestigious name since it came into being in 1945, the Philharmonia was established by legendary producer Walter Legge as a high-calibre house orchestra for EMI. It's history of collaboration with the world's greatest musicians includes numerous landmark recordings now in the Warner Classics catalogue. The performances here cover the period between 1946 and 1964. Conducted by such figures as Karajan, Furtw�ngler, Toscanini, Klemperer, Giulini and Cantelli, they have been extensively remastered from the original tapes, gaining a new immediacy. As a further bonus, this collection includes a recording from 2018 and a CD of music and interviews that provides fascinating insights into the Philharmonia's relationship with four major conductors.

The album features two string quartets which thematically deal with the subject of death. Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden, No. 14 in D Minor', a key piece in chamber music repertoire, dates from 1824. Mendelssohn's 'String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80' was composed in 1847. He composed the piece as an homage to his beloved sister Fanny who had died on 17 May 1847 and it bore the title 'Requiem for Fanny'. Vision String Quartet have won awards in numerous competitions, have studied with members of the Artemis Quartet and the Alban Berg Quartet. They are known for their excellent interpretations and for their innovative concert formats, working with choreographers, light designers, etc.

This enticing album of sonatas by Ravel, Enescu, Ysa�e and Prokofiev emerged from violinist Diana Tishchenko's victory at the 2018 Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition. Born in Ukraine, and trained in Kiev and Berlin, she has been noted by The Strad for her "power to mesmerize the audience with her large gesture and strong personality". Her musical partnership with the Hungarian pianist Zolt�n Fej�rv�ri is extraordinarily close and potent. In the words of the French online journal Toute la musique, they are "not two interpreters playing together, but a true musical entity, an artistic fusion... They played as if each note were being created in real time... deploying an infinitely large palette of colours and nuance - the possibilities were inexhaustible."

The first album of our new collaboration with ONTC, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, and their Ossetian musical director, Tugan Sokhiev, features Shostakovich's 8th symphony: an "opera for the Orchestra" composed with an unheard dramatic power. ONTC world famous for their work on French repertoire, is opening up to new horizons under the influence of their Ossetian chief conductor, Tugan Sokhiev. The 15 symphonies of the soviet composer are a major common theme throughout the seasons for the ONTC & Tugan Sokhiev. Tugan Sokhiev was one of the lasts students of the conductor and excellent pedagogue, Ilya Musin, who was one of the first conductors to conduct Symphony n� 7 � Leningrad � (Ilya Musin also trained a generation of Russian chefs like Valery Gergiev, Teodor Currentzis, Yuri Terminakov).

The very best tunes of the baroque repertoire in a sensitive, compelling version performed on period instruments by the tempestuous Il Giardino Armonico.

Elisabeth Leonskaja is one of the most celebrated pianists of our time, remaining true to herself and to her music, and in doing so, is following in the footsteps of the great Russian musicians of the Soviet era, such as Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels."A kaleidoscopic Mozart with a lifetime's wisdom and experience behind it" according to The Arts Desk after a Wigmore Hall concert

Recorded on this release by the Admiralty Band (the best military band in Russia!) are fast marches, which were well-known by the early 20th century in military bands' repertoires, but were not regimental marches. They were composed in different countries at different times, and on different occasions - German/Prussian, Austrian, Danish, French, and Russian marches. The recordings cover a great time period, from the early 19th century to the turn of the 20th century.

French-born Canadian pianist and composer Alain Lefvre makes his Warner Classics debut with 'My Paris Years'. The album brings together a collection of classic piano pieces written by some of the most beloved French composers: Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, and Csar Franck. 'My Paris Years' is, in essence, a hymn to the city where Lefvre spent some of his most precious years of learning. From the rolling waters of the Seine to it's calm banks above, from the subdued mood of the streets to their sometimes intense flurries of movement - every piece plays it's part in depicting the scene that is Paris and recreating the multifaceted spirit of this city in music.

Stintonfinds plenty of interest in the music and interprets it with spirit and virtuosity. Her phrases are well thought-out and articulati on clear and effective. The beautifully written and emotionally charged finale of the D minor Concerto comes over well... crisp, responsive orchestral playing, well-chosen tempos and clean, incisive ensemble. I thoroughly enjoyed this playing of some wonderfully inventive music... helpful background notes (Gramophone)

For his first album with Warner Classics, Lahav Shani conducts the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in Symphony No. 7 and plays Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4: two pieces which come from Beethoven's so-called middle period. The classical harmonic tension contributes to the drive of the music as much as the rhythmic propulsion. This music features a clarity of texture and, above all, a unity between the melodic motive and the accompaniment. Acclaimed for his 'instant chemistry' with the orchestra, Lahav Shani is considered the shooting star amongst conductors - as Der Tagesspiegel puts it: 'The young maestro is simply sensational'.

Classical Music

Another superb Leningrad collection, this time most interesting symphonies including very successful composers in recent years

Janusz Wawrowski's album Phoenix pairs two life-affirming violin concertos written during difficult periods in their composers' lives: Tchaikovsky was recovering from his disastrous marriage and Ludomir R�zycki was enduring the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Wawrowski spent several years reconstructing R�zycki's concerto from long-lost fragments. "This wonderful work spoke to me immediately... Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, it should be reborn and enjoyed by audiences around the world. To me, the concerto is full of the energy and life of Warsaw before the war, and I think R�zycki was trying to conjure up this positive energy as he wrote it in 1944... It reminds me of Gershwin or Korngold, yet retaining at the same time a distinct Slavic flavour." Wawrowski is joined for this recording by London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and it's Polish-born Permanent Associate Conductor, Grzegorz Nowak.

2019 release. Beatrice Rana, in the words of the New York Times, is a pianist who "has ferocious technique but is distinguished by her musical intelligence." Here she plays virtuosic, poetic works that evoke the creative ferment of Paris in the transitional early years of the 20th century: piano transcriptions of Stravinsky's iridescent ballet scores The Firebird and Petrushka, and Ravel's Miroirs and La Valse.

Whoever has had the privilege of hearing a concert conducted by Evgeny Svetlanov at least once in his life has had the absolute musical Dionysian experience, that of the hurricane, of the breath-taking overflow, the quasi-mystical experience of a ritual trance in which the music becomes the sacred, the keystone of the entire universe! Jean-Marie Brohm, R�pertoire, 2002

�It is about evolution. Our evolution as human beings, going towards a shift of life and of light. Tree of light / a call to arms, the first track of the album, is a call to humanity about what we have become and what we can become, on high alert for our survival as a specie as described by climate change towards the quest of happiness, wisdom and peace. The title, tree of light as a concept of moving towards the 5th density, the density of light or wisdom, through the 4th density, which is the density of love and understanding. These densities are like the keys of a piano, from 1st to 7th and the 8th density is the next octave, and so son - The tree of light is powered by the music and act as a catalyst for evolution� - Riopy

Three CD set. Joyce DiDonato has staked a powerful claim on the multi-faceted title role of Handel's opera Agrippina. In the words of The Telegraph, she sings it with "authority, grandeur and high style". She has performed it in concert and in the opera house with Maxim Emelyanychev, Chief Conductor of Il Pomo d'Oro. Joining them on this recording is a cast of established and rising stars that includes Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Franco Fagioli, Luca Pisaroni, Elsa Benoit and Jakub J�zef Orlinski.

This is dedicated to the remarkable Russian harpist Tatiana Tower who became a musical legend of Leningrad. Born in Moscow in 1945 she started playing harp at the age of four on the advice of her aunt, soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre. She studied at the Gnessin College, and at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1969 she won the first International Harp Competition in Hartford, USA, and became a prize winner of international music festivas of Latin America. In 1968, Tatiana Tower's life took a momentous turn - she became soloist of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra headed by Evgeny Mravinsky

Limited 91 CD box set. Passion, precision and fidelity to the score have always been hallmarks of Riccardo Muti's interpretations. After studies in Naples, where he was born in 1941, and in Milan he rapidly built a major international reputation. His 1967 victory in the Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition soon led to an appointment as Music Director of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. In 1971, at Herbert von Karajan's invitation, he made his debut with the Wiener Philharmoniker at the Salzburg Festival, and 1973 ushered in his decade as Principal Conductor and Music Director of London's Philharmonia Orchestra (known as the New Philharmonia Orchestra when he assumed the post). Lengthy tenures as Music Director followed with The Philadelphia Orchestra (1980-1992) and the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Milano (1986-2005). This collection bears witness to all these notable musical relationships, and to Muti's status as an honoured guest with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. His illustrious career has encompassed both concert hall and opera house, but this landmark 91CD set focuses on his recordings of orchestral, choral and vocal works. Spanning the years from 1973 to 2007 and encompassing a rich and varied repertoire, it also features an audio documentary, made in 2020, celebrating his outstandingly productive period with the Philharmonia.

DDD Recording from 2005 this completes the highly acclaimed series of releases on the iconic Northern Flowers label. Tishchenko's music has been rapidly gaining in popularity and notoriety in recent decades. Any fans of Shostakovich will love and even perhaps prefer this work.