Acclaimed by the international music press as a "virtuoso of astonishing brilliance" and a "thoroughly poetic artist" (Dr Joachim Kaiser, S�ddeutsche Zeitung), Luiza Borac has established herself as one of the most charismatic artists of her generation. Based in Germany, this Romanian pianist has won over 30 prizes and accolades, including First Prize in the Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin and the Viotti-Valsesia International Music Competition in Italy, the silver medal at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, the debut prize at Carnegie Hall, New York, the Prix d'Oslo, the Grieg Prize and the audience prize in the International Edvard Grieg Piano Competition in Oslo. Luiza Borac has been celebrated as "a dream of a pianist" (Rondo), "a worthy ambassador for a genius" (Music & Vision) and a pianist of "subtle but absolute mastery" (BBC Music Magazine). Gramophone has commented that "Borac's only substantial rival is Dinu Lipatti in the Third Sonata" and Hi-Fi has noted that "Luiza Borac creates an extraordinary sense of identification with the music... a revelation". The UNESCO city of Albi has awarded her the honorific title of "Ambassadrice de la Cit� �piscopale" and also it's medal of honor in recognition of her involvement in PolioPlus, an international project run by Rotary with the aim of eradicating polio. Her double album release, featuring compositions by the legendary pianist Dinu Lipatti, forms part of her collaboration with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and includes the first ever recordings of several works. This release received a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine and, with the highest possible score of 18 stars, was rated best CD in the bimonthly publication Piano News.

Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007) is unquestionably one of the great personalities of the 20th century - as a cellist, as a pianist, as a conductor, but also as a politically active citizen, who made use of his international artistic renown to help dissidents or strengthen democracies. After it became known abroad that he had written to four Russian newspapers in defense of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, he found it harder to work in the Soviet Union and he and his wife, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, were eventually stripped of their citizenship. Although rehabilitated by Gorbachev and awarded the highest order of merit by Putin, they declined the restoration of citizenship, preferring to remain stateless. The recordings compiled into this set were made when Rostropovich was already famous in the Soviet Union (Stalin Prize 1951, Lenin Prize 1961) but largely unknown in the West. They document the early career of Mstislav Rostropovich, which is of particular significance for the premieres of major works by Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Kabalevsky.

Immediately after completing the Second Symphony, Anton Bruckner (1824 -1896) continued a fruitful compositional spree by starting the draft of his Third. He had no way of knowing then that this work would continue to occupy him for the rest of his life. Dedicated to Richard Wagner, the work was written in 1873, revised in 1877, and again in 1890. It is regarded by many as Bruckner's artistic breakthrough. According to Rudolf Kloiber, the third symphony "opens the sequence of Bruckner's masterpieces, in which his creativity meets monumental ability of symphonic construction." On this release, Gerd Schaller leads the Philharmonie Festiva in the performance of the Third Symphony in it's 1890 revised version. German conductor Gerd Schaller is best known for his performance and recording of rare works. He conducted the first full recordings of Bruckner's output.

This release presents a programme of chamber music for flute and piano from the last third of the 19th century and the early 20th century. With the exception of Max Reger and possibly Carl Reinecke, the composers of these works may not be familiar to the modern-day music lover, for their names have unjustly been forgotten: Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Emil Kronke, and Carl Fruhling. All these composers except Fruhling are associated with the musical city of Leipzig. Christina Fassbender studied with Professor Jean-Claude Gerard in Stuttgart and with Professor Michael Martin Kofler at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg. Florian Wiek has made a name for himself through international concert engagements that have taken him to numerous festivals and concert halls.

Light and Darkness Religious inspiration: Franz Liszt´s religious compositions for piano solo. Interpreted by Martin Filjak. One of the most exciting artists to emerge in recent years, Martina Filjak is garnering international praise for her poetic passion and technical mastery at the keyboard. She came to international attention by winning the Gold Medal, the 1st prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 2009. During the past seasons she has performed with esteemed orchestras that include the Cleveland Orchestra, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona and the Japan Century Orchestra. Filjak’s most recent conductor collaborations include Michael Schønwandt, Heinrich Schiff, Theodor Guschlbauer, JoAnn Falletta, Alexander Shelley, Markus Poschner, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Josep Caballé-Domenech, Tito Munoz, Carlos Miguel Preto und Stefan Sanderling. Based in Berlin, Martina Filjak speaks seven languages. Fortunately, for an active performer, she loves to travel.

As more and more violists garner world acclaim, CD releases featuring chamber works for viola and piano have increased in number. Due to the viola's far smaller repertoire, violin works are sometimes adapted for it, an example being the Franck's great a Major Sonata, the concluding work on this Profil recital album of 19th-20th Century French chamber works. Born in Shanghai, Peijun Xu is widely recognized as among the foremost violists of her generation. She is the recipient of several international awards including first prize and audience prize at the Int'l Max Rostal Competition, Berlin, 2012.

WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING - Schoenberg, not Schoenberg. Jakob Schoenberg's name and music were completely forgotten for several decades after his death. Only a few years ago did Jascha Nemtsov, little by little, in tracking down his widely dispersed works in various American archives, provide the foundation for this first-ever recording of Schoenberg's music. Every half-educated English-speaking music-lover knows that Arnold Schoenberg was one of the most important composers in modern times but many forget that he was born Arnold Schoenberg and that he anglicized his name after settling in the United States in 1934. There is, however, another composer called Schoenberg who was a slightly younger contemporary of his: Jakob Schoenberg. Hardly anyone nowadays has heard of him - not even music experts. No performances of his music had taken place since his death until very recently. He certainly did not deserve such neglect! Jakob Schoenberg's achievements in various musical fields were considerable. As a musicologist, he did important pioneering work in two areas. He was the first to examine the music of the synagogues in Germany, and in the 1930s he also became the first German musicologist to systematically study the new Jewish folk music in Palestine.

For Russian pianist Ekaterina Litvintseva’s first-ever live recording, this young, up-and-coming Russian pianist, together with conductor Heribert Beissel and the Klassische Philharmonie, Bonn produced a recording of two Mozart concerto masterpieces, the No.9 in E flat Major, K271 (“Jeunehomme”), arguably his first masterwork in this genre, and the No. 12 in A, K414. “(A) singing allegro, eloquence and staying power in the…minor middle movement and perfect motor skills in the Presto…” (Bielefeld Neue Westfälische, K271 concert review)

The music of Sergei Rachmaninov accompanied the young, up-and-coming Russian pianist Ekaterina Litvintseva throughout a childhood and youth spent in Magadan in Russia's far north, near the Arctic Circle. Reflecting that attachment, she has selected a program of three early solo piano works by the composer, all important to her and her musical career: The Fantasy Pieces, op 3, the Moments Musicaux, op 16 and the Suite for Orchestra in D Minor in it's rarely heard 1891 piano version. The composer's brief waltz, the Morceaux de Salon, op.10, concludes her first-ever studio recording.

It is the music of the 20th century that has helped US to understand the dark energy of the viola in new ways; in particular the final decades of the Soviet Union produced works of moving expressiveness. The violist Tatjana Masurenko is rooted in the St Petersburg string tradition, which derives from the violinist Leopold von Auer, who above all strove to restore awareness of the profundity of scores and their contexts.

This impressive 21-disc set includes all of the major works of composer Gustav Mahler. +Gustav Mahler was a leading composer and conductor during his time, and is especially known for his symphonies, all of which are included here. Especially notable in this release is the includsion of two works by Carl Maria von Weber which were completed by Gustav Mahler.

Recorded in May 1958 at the Schwetzinger Schloss Theater, this release features the first opera in history, written by Claudio Monteverdi, L'Orfeo.

Classical Music

• The young Hungarian cello virtuoso István Várdai has won numerous international competition prizes since 2000, the latest being the highly prestigious 2012 PRIX Montblanc. • The Kronberg Academy prepares exceptionally gifted young violinists, violists and cellists for solo careers on the world stage. • Mr. Várdai is partnered here with the distinguished Canadian pianist Walter Delahunt.

“Otto Kitzler is a name which Bruckner always uttered with a touching reverence and a name which played a special part in the Master’s career. It was a profound inner feeling that guided Kitzler the Younger to the heart-felt sentiment of this funeral music, and it was the act of faithful remembrance by Kitzler the Elder […] that wove this serenely brilliant robe.” –August Göllerich