Schubert's Octet in F Major, D 803 stands as one of the crowning achievements of chamber music - an expansive, symphonic vision distilled into eight voices. For the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, this masterpiece lies at the very heart of their artistic identity. Founded in 1983 by members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the ensemble takes it's name from Hans Scharoun, architect of the Berlin Philharmonie, whose Kammermusiksaal has been their musical home since their very first public performance - and the venue of this recording. Shaped by decades of deep familiarity, the Octet reveals Schubert's entire emotional world: joy and exuberance, tenderness and nostalgia, fear and defiance, all unfolding across what violinist Rachel Schmidt calls "one glorious hour of music" that portrays an entire life. This new recording marks a significant moment in the ensemble's history. Having performed the Octet close to 500 times and recorded it once before, the Scharoun Ensemble now returns to it's signature work to document a new generation of players, with founding member and double bass player Peter Riegelbauer. Captured in the Philharmonie's Chamber Music Hall, the performance combines interpretative maturity with renewed freshness, allowing Schubert's extraordinary range of colour and dramatic depth to shine. With it's intimate connection to place, tradition, and living musical continuity, this recording offers a definitive and deeply personal account of one of the most beloved works in the chamber repertoire.

Sondra Radvanovsky, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Enrique Mazzola present Puccini: Heroines, a live recording of an all-Puccini programme performed in February 2025. Radvanovsky's extraordinary voice brings vivid individuality to each heroine, from the tender lyricism of Anna and Mim� to the dramatic intensity of Tosca and Turandot, including roles not previously in her stage repertoire. With Mazzola and the Lyric Opera Orchestra, she captures Puccini's genius for combining concise, emotionally charged arias with profound character insight. From the grace of Le Villi to the passion of Manon Lescaut, the intimacy of La Boh�me, and the virtuosic drama of Turandot, Radvanovsky's artistry illuminates every phrase. Encores include Musetta (La Boh�me) and Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), highlighting both theatrical flair and heartfelt nuance. Sondra Radvanovsky and Lyric Opera of Chicago previously appeared on PENTATONE with The Three Queens (2022), while Enrique Mazzola conducted the 2019 PENTATONE release of Verdi and Donizetti with Michael Fabiano.

Harpist Anne-Sophie Bertrand presents Amalie's Cosmos, an evocative journey through the salons of 19th-century Europe. At the heart of Berlin's vibrant cultural life in the early 19th century stood Amalie Beer, a wealthy patron, intellectual, and matriarch of one of Europe's most influential musical families. While history often remembers her son, Giacomo Meyerbeer, as a towering operatic figure, it was Amalie's salon that cultivated artistic, scientific, and political discourse, supported composers, and encouraged the careers of remarkable women such as Fanny Hensel and Pauline Viardot. Amalie's Cosmos revives the spirit of these Berliner salons through a carefully curated programme of works that echo their creativity and curiosity. From the intimate lyricism of Fanny Hensel and Glinka to the exotic colours of Debussy's Estampes, the virtuosity of Parish Alvars, and the contemporary homage to Paganini by Nimrod Borenstein, the album traces a delicate thread through time, place, and influence. The result is a shimmering musical tapestry that celebrates memory, artistry, and the enduring power of the salon as a space for inspiration and dialogue.

Sean Shibe's fifth PENTATONE album, Vesper, presents a striking collection of contemporary guitar works by the late Harrison Birtwistle, James Dillon, and Thomas Ades, all composed by musicians who do not play the instrument themselves. Recorded here for the first time, these recent miniatures explore the guitar's expressive range in profoundly different ways: ritualistic and evocative in Birtwistle, elemental in Dillon, and allusive in Ades. Shibe's interpretations reveal the instrument's extraordinary colour, subtlety, and capacity for transformation, bringing each work to life with imagination and nuance. For some of Birtwistle's pieces, Shibe performs on Sylvette (2021), a guitar made by luthier Simon Ambridge in collaboration with French-British artist Lydia Corbett. A muse to Pablo Picasso - who was himself an important influence for several of Birtwistle's works on this album - Corbett also inspired Picasso's celebrated Sylvette series. Modelled on the small, responsive instruments of the Andalusian luthier Antonio de Torres, the guitar features Corbett's artwork on it's body, adding a visual and symbolic layer to the performance. Shibe is a former BBC New Generation Artist, a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship 2012 winner, a Royal Philharmonic Society 2018 Young Artist Award winner, a multi-GRAMMY nominee, and the recipient of the 2022 Leonard Bernstein Award. His recordings have won BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone Awards.

Violinist Cristina Prats Costa makes her solo recording debut with Spiritillo Mediterraneo, a vibrant portrait of the sound world of 17th- and early 18th-century music shaped by the cultures of the Mediterranean. Inspired by Andrea Falconieri's Il Spiritillo Brando, the album takes the spiritillo-a mischievous, animating sprite-as a metaphor for the Baroque imagination: a realm of invention, improvisation, and richly ornamented dialogue. The Mediterranean emerges here not as a boundary but as a crossroads, where Italian virtuosity, Spanish rhythmic fire, and French elegance converge. Music by Falconieri, Matteis, Sanz, Murcia, Nebra, Biber, Rebel, and Vivaldi reflects these exchanges, vividly coloured by the use of castanets, which add an unmistakable Iberian rhythmic vitality. The Spanish pieces appear in Cristina Prats Costa's own arrangements, further personalising the album's musical journey. Deeply personal in conception, Spiritillo Mediterraneo also reflects Cristina Prats Costa's own artistic journey. Rooted in her Spanish heritage and shaped by years of performing across Europe, North and South America, and Asia, the album places ornamentation at it's expressive core-not as decoration, but as storytelling. Drawing on Italian brilliance, French refinement, and the earthy pulse of Spanish dance and guitar traditions, these interpretations balance historical insight with an individual voice. The result is a recording of rhythmic energy, intimacy, and colour, guided by a spirit that is curious, agile, and alive.

With Plucked Bach III, Alon Sariel deepens his acclaimed Bach cycle, shaping a sound world marked by exceptional refinement and inward focus. This final volume enriches the series with new colours: a further relative of the lute family-the Ottoman baglama-and a rare Tuscan-type mandola, whose octave-lower tuning lends Bach's Third Cello Suite a dark, velvety resonance. The archlute, heard at the album's opening and close, frames the programme with quiet elegance, while Sariel's touch reveals Bach's writing to be both architecturally precise and profoundly tactile. The album unfolds as a sequence of finely balanced reflections rather than a single dramatic arc. Bach's works-such as the Prelude from The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Musette from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena, and the Second Violin Partita with it's monumental Chaconne-appear in subtly transformed light, their rhythmic pulse and harmonic gravity brought into sharp relief by the intimacy of the plucked strings. Familiar pieces from the keyboard, violin, and cello repertoire are set alongside rarer works, including those of Westhoff and Matteis, creating a listening experience that glides effortlessly between contemplation, memory, and resonance. Even in it's most expansive moments, the music maintains a sense of poise, allowing space, silence, and timbre to speak with equal eloquence. Plucked Bach III continues Alon Sariel's collaboration with PENTATONE. Beyond the Plucked Bach trilogy, this partnership also includes Vienna Mandolin Stories (2025) and the EP Schubert's Mandolin (2024), affirming Sariel as an exceptional artist whose work consistently reimagines the expressive possibilities of plucked instruments-and particularly of the mandolin-with rare depth and imagination.