A tireless adventurer and eclectic soul, Joseph Bologne de Saint-George is revisited here through a unique portrait that reveals the many facets of his talent. A true polymath born in Guadeloupe, he combined the arts and arms: an outstanding fencer, military adviser and violin virtuoso, he was even Marie Antoinette's teacher. Theotime Langlois de Swarte and the Orchestre de l'Opera Royal thus shine a light on this flamboyant personality who rose above the societal constraints of the 18th century.

The internationally renowned pianist Yulianna Avdeeva presents Metanoia, a profound exploration of the late piano works of Franz Liszt, tracing his radical transformation from virtuoso to visionary. Liszt's late works mark a decisive break with traditional musical language and form, opening the door to 20th-century modernism through bold harmonic experimentation, compressed structures, and strikingly dissonant sonorities. Stripped of conventional melodic development, these brief but intense works convey deep existential reflection, touching on themes of faith, mortality, and the human condition. Initially met with resistance, they would later become a major influence on composers such as Bartok, Scriabin, Debussy, and Ravel. The album unfolds in reverse chronology, culminating in Liszt's Sonata in B Minor and Legende No. 2. The Sonata in B Minor stands as one of the most important works in the piano repertoire: a single-movement structure of extraordinary dramatic and philosophical scope, where contrasting themes emerge, collide, and transform into a journey from darkness to transcendence. For Avdeeva, Liszt's music is never purely virtuosic, but an existential inquiry into the deepest aspects of human experience - light and darkness, faith and doubt, life and death - revealing a composer who continually expanded the possibilities of musical thought and expression. Yulianna Avdeeva returns to PENTATONE after a string of critically acclaimed releases: her label debut Resilience (2023), followed by Chopin: Voyage (2024) and Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues Op. 87 (2025). Together, these recordings have garnered international awards and widespread acclaim across the globe.

Among the most powerful works by Gustav Mahler and one of the longest symphonies of the Romantic period, the Symphony No. 3 is performed by Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker as part of their Mahler cycle. The composer's intention to create a musical reflection of the world is perfectly caught by Nelsons, who shapes the work's immense forces into a compelling narrative, from primordial darkness to transcendent affirmation. With Violeta Urmana as soloist, the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Salzburger Festspiele und Theater Kinderchor, the performance unfolds with luminous transparency and emotional depth. 'A melancholic giant, unleashed' (Der Standard) Program: Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 3

For this fifth volume in the Lockenhaus Festival series, under the artistic direction of Nicolas Altstaedt, the cellist presents two works by the Finnish composer Olli Mustonen (born 1967, a student of Rautavaara), including Heavenly Lights (Taivaanvalot) for tenor, cello, and piano, performed here by Ian Bostridge, Nicolas Altstaedt, and the composer at the piano. The English tenor premiered the work in 2016 in it's original chamber version, recorded here for the first time. Mustonen will create an orchestral version in 2020, but the original piece is nevertheless titled Symphony: 'This work was a revelation to me the moment I discovered it. We are immersed in the era of Finnish bards and the folk poems of the Kalevala, a legendary and mystical world whose stories touch us all, regardless of our country of origin,' says Altstaedt. 'A closeness to folk art like the one Kodaly sought and found': his Sonata, Op. 4 (1909-1910), his Sonatina (1920), and the Sonata that Mustonen wrote in 2006-all for cello and piano-also make up this exhilarating and spellbinding program.

Hailed by Fanfare magazine as 'one of the major artists of our time' Ukrainian violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv continues to give voice to her country's rich musical heritage in Music of Resilience. The album explores her homeland's ongoing war and features new works: Victoria Vita Poleva's searing lament, Bucha. Lachrimosa, and two pieces by Bohdan Kryvopust, the powerfully commemorative On the River and the folk-music inspired Ukrainian Suite. Hanna Havrylets' Ex Libris dates from 1993 and employs folk music techniques that draw on ornamentation more than development. Representing an earlier generation, the richly Romantic works by Osyp Zalesky and Roman Prydatkevych are heard here in arrangements by Bohdana Frolyak. As an encore, Ivakhiv plays Yuriy Shevchenko's arrangement of Ukraine's national anthem.

Viola Concertos presents three 21st-century Danish concertos, written for Rafaell Altino by Karsten Fundal, Christian Winther Christensen and Soren Nils Eichberg. In these works, the viola moves from intimate lyricism to dazzling virtuosity, weaving it's way through both tender dialogues and dramatic exchanges with the orchestra. Altino's masterly playing brings out each composer's distinctive voice and reveals new facets of the viola, revealing the instrument's full expressive range, shifting between neo-Romantic hero, indifferent loner and shadowy foil.

Following the critical and public success of Mahler's Symphony No. 9, Philipp von Steinaecker and the Mahler Academy Orchestra continue their recording of Mahler's symphonies on period instruments with the Fifth Symphony. For this recording, the new Breitkopf & Hartel Urtext edition was used, which includes the composer's numerous corrections. The Mahler Academy Orchestra is part of the Gustav Mahler Academy in Bolzano, founded by Claudio Abbado. It brings together young professional musicians and experienced instrumentalists from Europe's leading orchestras. Under the artistic direction of Philipp von Steinaecker and with an ensemble of instruments carefully replicating that of the Vienna Philharmonic around 1900, they return to the roots of Mahler-era performance practice and shed new light on these masterpieces. The Gustav Mahler Academy's originalklang project is a co-production of the Busoni-Mahler Foundation in Bolzano and the Euregio Kulturzentrum Gustav Mahler Toblach Foundation. It is held under the patronage of Marina Mahler, the composer and Alma Mahler's granddaughter, for whom the famous Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony was written after her meeting with Gustav in 1901.

While listening to the profoundly perceptive performance by the pianist Jurgis Karnavicius of the entire cycle of 20 etudes, we move together through a shimmering, gentle landscape of changing light: there is a special peace in his playing that does not mean stagnation; rather, it is a slow, deep process, similar to the movement of light through the space of a room when morning is just breaking. This music creates the impression that the pianist becomes a mediator between two silences - the silence that was before the first note, and the silence that will remain after it fades. Thus, the etudes here take on not only the form of sound, but also a slow, plastic movement that continues long after the hands lift from the keys. Some etudes fly with an inexorable driving force, their rhythms echoing human steps, heartbeats, a kind of internal engine. Others unfold like meditations, stretching time until it almost evaporates. A portrait of Philip Glass emerges, not just as a minimalist icon or a composer of large-scale works, but as an artist who understands the true value of simplicity, and invites us to listen with openness and wonder. And perhaps the etudes on this lovingly realised recording will become, for someone, that unforgettable, life-transforming encounter with Philip Glass's music. -Laura Karnaviciute

CARDEW: THE GREAT LEARNING (AVANTGARDE SERIES)

HOMAGE TO HEIFETZ

Limited five 180gm vinyl LP set. Herbert von Karajan's recording of Wagner's 'Die Walkure' features an outstanding cast, including Austrian star soprano Gundula Janowitz (Sieglinde), legendary bass-baritone Thomas Stewart (Wotan), Jon Vickers (Siegmund), and the dazzling Regine Crespin (Brunnhilde). It captivates with it's expressive range and lyrical accents. Karajan skillfully allows his orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, to take a back seat to showcase the great singers. As classical music magazine Gramophone aptly puts it, even half a century after it's release, his recording, "still has surprises in store." For the first time, the ORIGINAL SOURCE SERIES uses the original stereo master tape, a two-track audio tape, as it's source. Remastered by the Emil Berliner Studios on 180g virgin vinyl by Optimal and housed in a 5-LP lift-lid box set. Limited and numbered.

SCHUMANN: ZWIELICHT

Double vinyl LP pressing. "Having a role model is so important," says Due?as, "someone who is a constant source of inspiration." Homage to Heifetz celebrates the iconic violinist Jascha Heifetz - whose recorded legacy has long been a key influence on Due?as - and reflects her artistic affinity with conductor Gustavo Dudamel. He and the Sim?n Bol?var Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (of which he is Music & Artistic Director) joined Mar?a at London's legendary Abbey Road Studios to record Korngold's Violin Concerto and Lalo's Symphonie espagnole

Luigi Nono was a leading figure in post-war serialism, emerging in the 1950s alongside Karlheinz Stockhausen & Pierre Boulez as one of the era's defining avant-garde composers. Composed for 2-channel magnetic tape in 1968, Contrappunto reflects Nono's engagement with international student movements and opposition to the Vietnam War. Drawing on Adriano Banchieri's early 17th-century madrigal-comedy, Nono reimagined it's vocal focus, period materials, and parodic spirit through a contemporary lens. Roland Kayn's Cybernetics III foresaw major developments in synthesis, computing, sampling & sequencing, anticipating profound changes in electronic music. The Avantgarde Series is mastered & cut from the original analog 1/4 inch, 2-track master tapes by Rainer Maillard & Sidney Claire Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios. Limited and numbered, featuring original artwork and a newly designed, beautifully crafted collector's sleeve with new liner notes by Bradford Bailey, and pressed on 180g vinyl.

Joseph Haydn not only liked surprising his audiences, he also enjoyed a laugh, writes Christian Moritz-Bauer in the introduction to this sixteenth volume of the Haydn2032 complete recording of the symphonies. Take, for instance, the false conclusion of Symphony No. 90, composed in 1788: the music seems to have reached the last chord but, after a pause, the movement resumes to end with a powerful coda. Another example of Haydn's mischievous wit is the famous Andante "with the drumstroke" that forms the "surprise" of Symphony No. 94, a fortissimo chord designed to wake up audiences who dozed off towards the end of his concerts. In this volume focused on humour, Giovanni Antonini pays tribute to a great admirer of Haydn, Gioachino Rossini, by recording the sparkling opening Sinfonia of La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder), a one-act opera written in 1812.

Having different backgrounds is an asset. Growing up in a multilingual environment fosters cognitive flexibility I was fortunate enough to live between Romania and Germany,' says Konstantin Krimmel. Together with his longtime musical partner Ammiel Bushakevitz, who also has 'mixed roots', he sought to bring together the composers Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) and Eusebius Mandyczewski (1857-1929), who met in Vienna in the late 1870s and maintained a close friendship: on the one hand, the established composer from faraway Hamburg, author of nearly 200 Lieder and vocal works; on the other, the young student from distant Bukovina, son of an Orthodox priest, who grew up immersed in the Romanian of his mother's side and the Ukrainian of his father's, a pupil of a Mendelssohn's disciple. His eighteen Romanian Songs were published in 1885 in a bilingual Romanian-German edition, based on texts by Vasile Alecsandri (1821-1890), 'a magnificent poet who wrote in a highly evocative style and in close connection with nature. A nature that I love and from which I draw inspiration as a source of interpretation for every recital,' says Krimmel. They are recorded here for the first time in their original language, Romanian. The two composers share a love of Schubert-Mandyczewski was the first publisher of his complete works-a fascination with folk songs, and a taste for melancholy, which is felt throughout this program.

True Concord's newest album, HERE I AM, features two world-premiere recordings of works by Jocelyn Hagen. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci has been performed more than 50 times around the world since 2019, incorporating visuals, sound, light and movement. Here I Am was inspired by conductor Eric Holtan's suggestion that Hagen should write a piece celebrating the women's suffrage movement and the centennial of the 19th Amendment in 2020. This piece is performed with live-concert projections of portraits of 47 inspiring women from across the world and across time, whose words form the libretto. HERE I AM was recorded in outstanding fidelity by engineer John Polito and produced by GRAMMY-award winner Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles. Recorded May 28-31, 2024.

With this reflection on breathing as the most intimate human experience - one that connects people through language, movement and touch - Berlin-based jazz vocalist Esther Kaiser has dedicated her ninth album to 'Breathing'. Critics have described her as a 'voice artist','shaman of jazz', and a 'jazz poet'. Esther takes responsibility where she is. Her albums breathe and are politically and socially charged, as jazz has always been. With BREATHING, the vocalist and composer provides a glimpse into the heart of jazz. It breathes in what is, and it feels and exhales that which creates space for more understanding, tolerance, peace, and freedom. The interplay of lyrics and compositions by Esther Kaiser and pianist Alexander Wienand, alongside Kaiser's own works, interwoven with elements of spoken word, invites listeners to become part of the act of breathing itself.

This new recording by pianist Matthieu Idmtal shines a fresh light on the piano sonatas of Joseph Haydn, revealing a composer of boundless imagination, wit, warmth and emotional depth. Far from the often predictable image of Classical elegance, these works unfold as vibrant musical conversations filled with surprise, humour, tenderness and dramatic intensity. Especially in the hands of Idmtal who is a refined piano poet! Drawn to Haydn's music during a deeply personal and reflective period, he discovered in these sonatas a source of comfort and renewal - 'a balm for the soul, an antidote to melancholy.' Through four carefully chosen sonatas, he invites listeners into Haydn's endlessly inventive world. Recorded at the outstanding Westvest90 studio in Schiedam, The Netherlands - renowned for it's exceptional acoustics and warm, natural sound - this album captures both the intimacy and theatrical energy of Haydn's music with remarkable clarity and depth. Idmtal's sensitive and deeply personal interpretations bring new life to these masterpieces, from the sparkling wit of the late sonatas to the darker, near-Beethovenian intensity of the Sonata in B minor. The result is a recording that not only celebrates Haydn's genius, but also reaffirms the timeless joy, humanity and emotional richness at the heart of his music.

Ludvig Norman Strings are back, this time featuring pianist Kiyo Wada and accordionist Minna Weurlander in Ylva Skog's captivating chamber music. Ylva Skog (born 1963) is inspired by many genres, such as jazz, latin, and pop music, but melts everything down to her own, special music pot. The title track, Trote, for string quartet and accordion is followed by Skog's piano quintet, piano sextet, and her two, short string quartets. Not to be missed if you are interested in enjoyable contemporary music!

Cellist Julian Schwarz makes his debut on Delos with a trailblazing album featuring Arthur Foote's complete cello works, including the world premiere commercial recording of his cello concerto. As the only composer of the Boston Six to have been entirely trained in the United States, Arthur Foote could be viewed as the United States' first homegrown talent. Albeit largely, and inexplicably, unperformed and undercelebrated, his refined sense of melody and lush harmonic language are bewitching; he produced a wealth of music for cello and piano which is here performed by GRAMMY-nominated cellist Julian Schwarz, pianist and partner Marika Bournaki, and the internationally acclaimed conductor Gerard Schwarz with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

To speak of Franz Liszt is to enter a world in which categories collapse. Virtuoso, visionary, reformer, celebrity, mystic - none of these labels is sufficient, and yet each illuminates a facet of a musician whose creative presence reshaped 19th-century musical life. He inhabited his age with a rare duality: outwardly the most electrifying pianist Europe had ever known, inwardly a thinker preoccupied with the ethical, spiritual and imaginative potential of art. That tension - between public spectacle and private enquiry - lies at the heart of an oeuvre whose range and unpredictability remain without parallel. Liszt's early fame rested on a pianistic style that expanded the technical and expressive boundaries of the instrument. His performances were not merely demonstrations of dexterity but events that altered the nature of concert listening itself, whether in orchestral appearances or in the solo recital format he effectively established. However, virtuosity was never an end in itself. From the 1830s onward, Liszt's compositions increasingly acknowledged poetic, literary and philosophical impulses, often signaled through titles, epigraphs or extra-musical associations. This stimulus would later crystallise in his codification of the symphonic poem, but it was equally present in his keyboard music, where narrative, argument and symbolism frequently replace abstract formal logic. A central expression of this aesthetic is Liszt's lifelong engagement with the march - a genre that might seem, on the surface, to withstand the kind of reflective complexity he prized. The march offered something irresistible: a form already laden with public meaning, ripe for reinterpretation. In his hands, it's regulated tread becomes a medium for ambiguity, it's grand gestures inflected with harmonic adventurousness, it's civic pronouncements quietly complicated by covert sensibility. The same impulse that drove him to revisit and rework earlier compositions in the light of new understanding shaped his relationship to the genre as a whole: returning to it across decades, he treated it not as a fixed form but as an evolving channel for dramatic, national and personal expression.

From Manuscript to Invention is a deeply imaginative musical journey that bridges past and present, reviving forgotten Romantic voices while transforming them through contemporary creativity. At it's heart stands Emilie Mayer - one of the most prolific yet historically overlooked female composers of the 19th century - whose remarkable career defied the conventions of her time. Alongside the music of Ferdinand Ries, a close associate of Beethoven, the album brings rare manuscript sources to life. Several works are presented here in world premiere recordings, offering listeners a first encounter with music long hidden from the repertoire. By returning to Mayer's original Duet in F Major and Ries's Cello Sonata, the performers reveal a rich sound world shaped by expressive freedom, historical performance practice, and the intimate, improvisatory spirit of 19th-century salon culture.  At the same time, the album becomes an act of creation in it's own right: newly composed works inspired by these historical materials unfold alongside them, blurring the line between interpretation and invention. Through this dialogue, the performers not only reawaken the art of musical spontaneity - ornamentation, rubato, and improvisation - but also restore Mayer's voice to it's rightful place within the Romantic canon. The result is an evocative exploration of continuity and renewal, where rediscovery becomes both an act of justice and a catalyst for new artistic expression.

TYRANNIDE was conceived from the desire to explore the theme of cante jondo as a universal expressive archetype, not confined to the Spanish tradition but deeply rooted in human nature. It's primordial character - often expressed through the insistence of the semitone and microtonal inflections - becomes a symbol of the human condition, forced to confront suffering, death, and their inexorable musical reflection. A tyranny, indeed: that of a lament that does not belong to a single people or era, but which runs through the history of music, re-emerging in the form of appoggiaturas, suspended tensions, and melodic lines filled with longing. Cante jondo, originally connected with Andalusian flamenco, thus becomes, in the programme of this recording, a universal musical principle, capable of manifesting itself even in languages far removed from the Spanish tradition. The programme includes two works never previously recorded: Cantar de mio Cid by the French composer Jean-Dominique Krynen and the Concerto Trois Graphiques by Maurice Ohana in it's original arrangement for guitar and piano. Around these two central works unfolds a musical journey that places cante jondo in dialogue with different historical and stylistic contexts, revealing it's surprising expressive continuity.

Lise is the only daughter of Widow Simone, the owner of a prosperous farm. She is in love with the young farmer Colas, but her mother has higher ambitions for her, hoping to marry her off to Alain, the son of the wealthy proprietor Thomas. Desperate to marry Colas rather than Alain, Lise contrives to outwit her mother's plans. When La Fille mal gardee premiered in Covent Garden on 28 January 1960, it instantly won all hearts. Inspired by Jean Dauberval's French ballet, Ashton's version combines exuberant good humour and an affectionate portrayal of village life. The Royal Ballet's Founder Choreographer, Frederick Ashton, hoped to capture the 'leafy pastoral of perpetual sunshine... The suspended stillness of a Constable landscape of my beloved Suffolk, luminous and calm'. Osbert Lancaster's colourful designs bring the charm of the countryside to life.