In April of 1996, Ofra Harnoy entered the venerable Abbey Road Studios in London with the London Philharmonic Orchestra to record Edward Elgar’s great cello concerto. Unfortunately, shortly after this event, the end result did not end up where it was supposed to be and was not released to the public. In fact, the whereabouts of the recording went unknown for quite some time, afterward.

In early 2022, through some diligent searching, the lost recording was located and will now be released paired with Harnoy’s remastered recording of the Édouard Lalo Cello Concerto, on the Sony Classical label. With the help of session notes from and conversations with recording producer Andrew Keener, the 1996 Abbey Road sessions were edited (Mike Herriott) and mastered (Ron Searles). The result is what will likely be lauded as one of the definitive interpretations of Elgar’s great warhorse for the cello.

Described by the New York Times as “born to the instrument”, Ofra Harnoy brings her unmatched passion and virtuoso to Elgar’s masterpiece and final notable composition. Very much influenced by Jacqueline Du Pré’s 1965 recording, and the rare opportunity afforded her to study the work with Ms. Du Pré, in masterclass, Harnoy’s own voice comes to the fore to capture Elgar’s own anguish and heartbreak.

Christian Gerhaher’s new recording of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in a version with piano featuring tenor Piotr Beczala and pianist Gerold Huber.

"This recording of Das Lied von der Erde does not represent a preliminary stage in Mahler’s compositional process but stands alongside it as its equal. […] The piano version of Das Lied von der Erde is more daring and at the same time more intimate, forcing the singers to sing in a different, more subtly nuanced, way than they would with an orchestra, while listeners are obliged to listen more intently and to prolong the abstract sound in their imaginations until it acquires the rhetorical colour that is implied by Mahler’s music."

The second album from the impressive American soprano after her critically acclaimed debut album, "Rachel". Includes Richard Strauss' most renowned song-cycle for soprano plus the final scene from his last opera, 'Capriccio'. Rachel's glistening tone, faultless technique and expressiveness make her the perfect interpreter of Strauss's works and she is joined by fellow "Strauss-aficionados” the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and conductor Andris Nelsons.

Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra

A rare jewel among the piano repertoire, Dvořák’s Poetic Tone Pictures, a cycle of piano solo works, is mostly unknown to the public.

Following the great success of his Sibelius album in 2017, Leif Ove Andsnes once again brings lesser known piano music into the spotlight, delivering a treasure chest of accessible and romantic tunes performed with artistic brilliance. With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, Leif Ove Andsnes has won worldwide acclaim, performing in the world’s leading concert halls and with its foremost orchestras. An avid chamber musician, he is also the founding director of Norway’s Rosendal Chamber Music Festival.

Sony Classical is proud to announce the release of the brand-new album from LAVINIA MEIJER, a pioneering and exciting musician and composer, and one of the most important harpists of her generation. Four years in the making, Are You Still Somewhere? sees Meijer combine original compositions with her long stated dream of interpreting modern composers and musicians for harp. Works by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ólafur Arnalds, and Alexandra Streliski all feature, as do collaborations with Dutch pianist Pieter de Graaf and punk legend Iggy Pop.

Lavinia Meijer has always pushed boundaries. Born in South Korea and adopted by a Dutch Austrian couple aged 2, she was only 9 when she stated playing the harp. By 11, she’d already been admitted to the prestigious Utrecht Conservatory, and by 14 was playing with symphony orchestras. Known for her passion in broadening the possibilities of the harp – both in terms of sound and appeal – she’s garnered worldwide critical acclaim for her intelligent, inventive interpretations of both orchestral repertoire and more contemporary music, playing alongside the likes of Philip Glass and Ólafur Arnalds, and performing works by Radiohead in classical venues.

Over the years, she’s been experimenting with electronic music, jazz, theatrical music, and avant rock. It was these experiments that led her to the ideas behind Are You Still Somewhere?, and provided inspiration for her own compositions. “I miss certain elements in the existing repertoire of the harp,” says Meijer, “particularly with regards to bringing the instrument into the new century, making it an instrument of today and tomorrow.”

Exploring different genres – pop and rock, dance and folk, jazz and electronica – led her to discover new elements and new sounds in the harp; to open up possibilities. “Really, it’s a way for me to connect myself to the world,” she says.

Her new compositions reflect this; that musical culture is connected to society, and the world we live in. Inspired by events, large and small, around her and in her own life, Are You Still Somewhere? concerns self-reflection and inner growth, topics that have come to the fore over the last couple of years. Family too; looking back, longing, and living with one’s regrets are raked over in ‘Mom & Dad’, a track that features spoken word poetry from Iggy Pop. Melancholic and sombre, it’s a deeply emotional piece; few works here conjure such raw feelings.

So too ‘Another Lonely Night’, one of Meijer’s own works that confronts the youth suicide epidemic in her native homeland, and the pressure felt by teenagers to conform and succeed. Based mainly on two chords, the music climbs up and up, a sonic visualization of climbing up inside a building all the way to the top. ‘Stay In The Dark’, a work by mysterious neoclassical pianist Lambert, is another work that hues towards the darker end of the spectrum. “He uses very subtle night sounds, making it seem you are captured in the dark,” Meijer explains. The use of ‘lost sounds’ from the last century, discovered in an archive in the Netherlands, add to the moody atmosphere and sense of the nocturnal.

Are You Still Somewhere? is a record that showcases Meijer’s evolution as an artist and composer, but one that also speaks to her past. Defiantly individual, it brings the full scope of her talent as a harpist to the fore, and marks out new possibilities with her instrument; she pushing boundaries further than ever. “I’ve played with DJs, with pop, rock artists, jazz, and world music; it’s all possible with just one harp,” she says. “I want to show that it’s not just part of ancient history, but it’s contemporary and will keep developing itself. Are You Still Somewhere? is my way to prove that.”

REVIEW:

The album’s title implies loss and loneliness and, yes, much of it does have a feel of sitting in an empty room staring bleakly into space. Aside from brief moments from the likes of Preisner and Sakamoto, most of the material is by Lavinia Meijer herself, who is joined at the end by Iggy Pop.

-- BBC Music Magazine

TRACKLIST:

1. Showing Me (Lavinia Meijer)
2. Saman (Ólafur Arnalds)
3. Plus tôt (Alexandra Streliski)
4. Les Marionettes (Zbigniew Preisner)
5. Are You Still Somewhere? (Lavinia Meijer)
6. Porcelain (Lambert)
7. Another Lonely Night (Lavinia Meijer)
8. Stay in the Dark (Lambert)
9. Born (Lavinia Meijer)
10. DAMnation (Lavinia Meijer) feat. Pieter de Graaf
11. Solitude (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
12. Mom & Dad (Lavinia Meijer, Iggy Pop) feat. Iggy Pop

Sony Classical releases the fourth installment of Christian Thielemann’s complete cycle of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic – the orchestra’s first Bruckner cycle under a single conductor. “The claim that this orchestra is essentially the only genuine original sound ensemble for the music of Anton Bruckner should remain beyond dispute” raves Die Presse. The Vienna Philharmonic premiered four of Bruckner’s nine symphonies and has enjoyed a unique relationship with the Austrian composer’s music since 1873, when it gave the first performance of his Symphony No 2.

Thielemann has come as close as possible to the ideal Bruckner sound with the Vienna Philharmonic: full-toned, warm, with registrations that are full of countless colours, clear without sounding harsh and well-contoured without seeming angular. Thielemann’s interpretations of Bruckner’s music are rooted on deep expertise and sympathy. Few conductors can match the solemnity and patience he finds in composer’s symphonies, or his ability to draw on the unparalleled beauty of the orchestra’s sound and the special acoustic of its home in Vienna, the Musikverein.

Christian Thielemann, Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden and Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival since 2013, is his generation’s most esteemed interpreter of the Romantic Austro-German repertoire. In the midst of a mutually stimulating relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, he conducted his first New Year’s Concert with the orchestra in 2019.

The Vienna Philharmonic will issue the final release of the live cycle in 2024, marking 200 years since the Bruckner’s birth.

"The harp and Christmas: this is a perfect fit, as the warm and elegant sound of the harp creates a very special atmosphere. I carefully selected various well-known Christmas tunes which are transcribed for solo harp, but I find it important to add lesser-known melodies as well – many of them reflecting different Christmas traditions." -Xavier de Maistre

"All the works that are included in Christmas Harp bear the hallmarks of harpists and composers who have been intimately familiar with their instrument. It was Xavier de Maistre himself who undertook the arrangement of the "Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy" from the Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-93). The arrangement of "The Waltz of the Flowers" was prepared by the young Russian harpist and composer Alexander Boldachev, as was the transcription of "Carol of the Bells." The Welsh harpist and composer John Thomas (1826–1913) left a substantial body of work, including a transcription of the Ave Maria by Franz Schubert (1797–1828). The French harp virtuoso Alphonse Hasselmans (1845–1912) [wrote] the Conte de Noël that de Maistre is performing here. One of Hasselmans’s pupils was Carlos Salzedo (1885–1961), who studied with Hasselmans for a year before being accepted into his harp class at the Conservatoire at the age of only thirteen. His works feature in the lion’s share of the pieces that are included in this album. Particularly delightful are his concert variations on the opening carol O Tannenbaum, where he may be said to pull out all the stops in his desire to show how much music lies hidden in this number’s apparently simple twelve bars." -Thomas Otto

Sony Classical releases the third installment of Christian Thielemann’s complete cycle of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic – the orchestra’s first Bruckner cycle under a single conductor. “The claim that this orchestra is essentially the only genuine original sound ensemble for the music of Anton Bruckner should remain beyond dispute” raves Die Presse. The Vienna Philharmonic premiered four of Anton Bruckner’s nine symphonies, including No. 4 in 1881 and has enjoyed a unique relationship with the Austrian composer’s music since 1873. The Fourth was the first of Bruckner’s symphonies that Thielemann conducted. Half a century later Thielemann has come as close as possible to the ideal Bruckner sound with the Vienna Philharmonic: full-toned, warm, with registrations that are full of countless colours, clear without sounding harsh and well-contoured without seeming angular. Thielemann’s interpretations of Bruckner’s music are rooted on deep expertise and sympathy. Few conductors can match the solemnity and patience he finds in composer’s symphonies, or his ability to draw on the unparalleled beauty of the orchestra’s sound and the special acoustic of its home in Vienna, the Musikverein. Christian Thielemann, Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival since 2013 and Music Director of the Bayreuth Festival, is his generation’s most esteemed interpreter of the Romantic Austro-German repertoire. In the midst of a mutually stimulating relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, he conducted his first New Year’s Concert with the orchestra in 2019. The Vienna Philharmonic will issue the final release of the live cycle in 2024, marking 200 years since the Bruckner’s birth.

It's been a long long time (twenty years passed) since Lisa Ekdahl last recorded songs she didn't write herself. Oh, she loves the game, and she has proven to be good at it. Still, there had to be a spark, a flap of wings whispering to your ear that it's the right thing to do now. That spark shone when Lisa was asked to cover "Dream a Little Dream of Me" for a Swedish documentary soundtrack. In the context of lockdowns, delayed shows and suspended projects, that little dream turned big, eventually giving birth to "Grand Songs". A covers album that is unprecedented in her discography, since she approaches modern pop songs, from the 1950's to our freshly unwrapped decade. Push the ON button of your imagination, and picture "Grand Songs" as a cozy, friendly, hygge-like party where Billie Eilish would raise a toast with the Beatles, and Bob Dylan would have a nice chat with Beyonc�. Lisa's final cut is a message in itself. It's a musical time machine reflecting the incredible cornucopia of the digital era. (� I spend hours on YouTube, exploring those decades of music coexisting today, at the same level, at a click of your hand. �) And it encourages you to open every door, to dare and make a step towards different worlds, different eras. You can't lose your identity in the process, but only grow a bigger heart and a refined vision of the world. Music wise, the recording process was light-hearted and (for the first time in Lisa's career) entirely home-made. Her Stockholm house was turned into a studio with musicians playing in live conditions, dispatched in every room except the kitchen and the bathroom. Hence a vibe of laid back playfulness, a sense of fun and community. Behind. At the end of the day, "Grand Songs" is a lovely, tender, charming and interesting station in Lisa's music trip. Her takes on Billie Eilish and Beyonc� songs demonstrate that she can be connected to the contemporary pop world and still remain consistant and loyal to herself.

Raphaela Gromes has received acclaim for her highly virtuoso, brilliant and passionately expressive cello playing. What also distinguishes this exceptional musician is her enjoyment of the musical treasure hunt. With her last Sony Classical releases, she delighted critics and audiences with world premiere recordings of pieces by Richard Strauss and Julius Klengel. Her "Offenbach" album received the Opus Klassik Award 2020. For her new album “Imagination”, Raphaela chose imaginative music, music based on stories, on fairy tales. The wide selection includes a waltz from Tchaikovsky's ballet music "Sleeping Beauty," a "Fairy Tale Narration" by Robert Schumann, the "Evening Prayer" from Humperdinck's popular fairy tale opera "Hansel and Gretel", Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" and other dreamy, magical and highly poetic pieces by Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847), Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) and Franz Liszt (1811-1886). "Imagination" also presents less-known works by David Popper, Paul Juon, and rarities like "Märchenstunde" by the composer Margarete Schweikert, and "Forgotten Fairy Tales" by the New Yorker Edward McDowell.

Most of the pieces are newly arranged by Raphaela's duo-partner Julian Riem for violoncello and piano, but also for piano trio and for complementary harp and saxophone quartet. Raphaela Gromes recorded the arrangements with Julian Riem and musician friends such as Daniels Dodds (violin), Arcis Saxophone Quartet and Anaïs Gaudemard (harp). Raphaela Gromes came up with the idea for this album during a hike in the spring of 2020 - when she came across a particularly enchanted place in a forest at dusk. "The sky was reflected in the pond, and the backlighting caused a magic glow to emerge around the reeds and flowers, as if elves and fairies were floating in the light above the water", Gromes says: "The "Dance of the Elves" by David Popper came into my mind. I was immediately inspired and full of energy, and when I got home, I immediately went in search of more music that would take me into the world of magic and fantasy." The album ends with "The Shire" from "Lord of the Rings" and "Leia's theme" from Star Wars are both recorded in a new cover version for cello and piano.

With "New Mozart," conductor Reinhard Goebel, the "tireless discoverer" (Rondo), once again shows what treasures continue to be discovered in the music archives: For his new project "New Mozart" with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, he deals with musical treasures that revolve around the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The first album already presents a world premiere recording: the orchestral version of the the serenade "Gran Partita" KV 361 by Mozart. The "Gran Partita" for large wind and string ensembles was arranged by the Bavarian composer and Mozart expert Franz Gleissner (1761-1818) into an orchestral version and published in 1800 as "Sinfonia concertante" Op. 91. Also worth discovering on "New Mozart" is the rarely recorded Violin Concerto in E-flat Major K. 268, which was attributed to Mozart. In the meantime, it is certain that the Violin Concerto in E-flat Major was written by an unknown Mozart contemporary, despite many musical parallels to Mozart. Whoever the true author may be, the new recording under Reinhard Goebel with violinist Mirijam Contzen as soloist is in any case a repertoire enrichment, since there is still a lack of attention for the violin concertos of Mozart's contemporaries. Whoever wrote this work during Mozart's lifetime succeeded in creating a concerto that is highly demanding in terms of playing technique and at the same time shines with a cantabile quality that is reminiscent of Mozart from afar.

After his highly acclaimed recordings of the complete Mozart piano sonatas, pianist William Youn, who was born in South Korea and has been living in Munich for many years, began a cycle of piano sonatas by Franz Schubert. The first volume received fantastic reviews: "For the program alone, Youn's selections each offer a characteristic example of Schubert's various stages of compositional development. The playing is of exquisite beauty and simplicity. And in doing so, Youn expands the interpretive spectrum of Schubert's sonatas to include an intimate tone all his own. He leaves room for the music to unfold in a completely unpathetic and unforced manner, while maintaining a constant flow and soft but clear outlines. Youn's playing convinces [...] through flawless, perfectly realized naturalness." (Fono Forum, Album of the Month, 5 Stars)

The second album features the Sonatas nos. 4 (D. 537), 18 (D. 894), 19 (D. 958) and 20 (D. 959). The latter three are among Schubert's final major compositions for solo piano. No. 18 was the last of Schubert's sonatas published during his lifetime and was later described by R. Schumann as the "most perfect in form and conception" of any of Schubert's sonatas. Schubert composed the Sonatas Nos. 19 and 20 during the last months of life, between the spring and autumn of 1828; they were published ten years after his death and are now considered mature masterpieces. The album also includes the Adagio in E major, D. 612. "I chose this movement as a link between the two sonatas D. 537 and 959, because the music sounds like an improvisation to me", Youn explains.

With his recordings for Sony Classical and outstanding engagements in the operatic world, Antonello Manacorda has become one of the most interesting conductors of our time. The Sony Classical recordings of the complete Schubert symphonies with Kammerakademie Potsdam have received numerous prizes and are considered reference recordings. The Mendelssohn symphonies with this ensemble were also enthusiastically praised: "Great phrasing, rousing Romantic élan and a well-balanced plasticity of the overall sound [...] Manacorda and the Potsdam Chamber Academy know exactly how to use listening alternatives offers without going too far or even relying on the pure effect. [...] Here you can tell what a pleasure it gave them to play this music. " (Rondo)

Antonello Manacorda is a recognized Mozart expert, especially in the opera world, and so it stands to reason that the new album also presents an exciting corner of Mozart's output: his last three symphonies (1756-1791). Symphonies 39, 40 and 41 were all written in the summer of 1788 and completed in just two months. Mozart completed the Symphony in E-flat major KV 543 (No. 39) on June 26th, followed by the G minor symphony KV 550 (No. 40) on July 25th, and the famous "Jupiter" Symphony in C major KV 551 (No. 41) on August 10th. Many believe that Mozart conceived of these three as a unit; this recording presents them as such.

Even during Bach's lifetime, the Well-Tempered Clavier enjoyed a legendary reputation, both among Bach's students and among connoisseurs and aficionados, and that has not changed to this day. The two-part cycle of 24 preludes and fugues each through all major and minor keys was composed almost 300 years ago and we are still amazed of the rich fund of forms and expressions. What tremendous radiance emanated from this cosmos in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries is demonstrated on the new solo album by pianist Yaara Tal. Yaara Tal selected ten fugues from different composers through 250 years of musical history and placed each of them alongside a prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier. The selected fugues are by composers such as Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710–1784), Robert Schumann (1810–1856), Fréderic Chopin (1810–1849), Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778–1837), the French brothers Charles Valentin (1813–1888) & Napoléon Alkan (1826–1906), the Russian composer Anton Arensky (1861–1910) and contemporary composer Reinhard Febel (*1952). The connecting points are as manifold as the fugues themselves; they enter into a fascinating dialogue with Bach. "The Bach prelude and the fugue, which may have come into the world 70 or 100 years later, complement each other beautifully and coherently, illuminating each other in a new and refreshing way," explains Yaara Tal. Several pieces on the album are world premiere recordings, including “Tempus fugit” by Reinhard Febel, which is composed for this particular project of Yaara Tal. With “Tracing Bach”, Yaara Tal creates ten new "Preludes & Fugues" pairs, a fascinating kaleidoscope of intertextual connections.

Sony Classical releases the second installment of Christian Thielemann’s complete cycle of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic – the orchestra’s first Bruckner cycle under a single conductor.

Christian Thielemann, Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival since 2013 and Music Director of the Bayreuth Festival, is his generation’s most esteemed interpreter of the Romantic Austro-German repertoire. In the midst of a mutually stimulating relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, he conducted his first New Year’s Concert with the orchestra in 2019.

Thielemann’s interpretations of Bruckner’s music are rooted on deep expertise and sympathy. Few conductors can match the solemnity and patience he finds in composer’s symphonies, or his ability to draw on the unparalleled beauty of the orchestra’s sound and the special acoustic of its home in Vienna, the Musikverein.

Bruckner conceived the Symphony No 3 as a tribute to his musical guiding light, Richard Wagner. The result is a monolithic memorial that manages to convey deep intimacy – the first symphony in which Bruckner properly revealed his own musical voice. The work heralded a sense of breadth and awe new to symphonic music.

REVIEW:

The Viennese players give Thielemann everything he commands, elegantly shaping and sculpting the bigger structural pillars and bringing crafted nuance and color to the shorter phrases. The sound of the Vienna Philharmonic is nothing less than beautiful, most noticeable in the more complex textures.

– The Classic Review

Together with jazz legend and Grammy award winner Bob James, Till Br�nner - Germany's most successful jazz musician - has recorded his longawaited new studio album. One a musician from the birthplace of jazz and the other immersed in European tradition, the two met in the autumn of 2019 at the legendary La Fabrique studio in the south of France long before the coronavirus outbreak. "Initially, we had very different ideas about how our shared session should unfold. However, we immediately knew that we wanted all theory to yield to a basic feeling," said multiple ECHO prize-winner and exceptional Grammy-nominated artist Br�nner about how their collaboration worked in the studio. Of all pieces, it was the well-known jazz standard Basin Street Blues that ultimately delivered the breakthrough. A song from New Orleans - the cradle of freedom so bitterly fought for - gave them a clear view of their collaborative space. The result is at once profound and ambiguous in meaning: "To me, On Vacation is the soundtrack to dwell on and reflect." Technically brilliant, brimming over with a creative love for refined detail, and also exuding the greatest possible nonchalance, Br�nner and James create richly imaginative, onomatopoeic music to ponder and dwell on, smile about and even cry over. In collaboration with fantastic musicians, including jazz drummer legends Harvey Mason and Wolfgang Haffner, they combine famous hits with mysteriously iridescent textures, weaving together colourful new interpretations and performing their own compositions too, all of which has the stuff of eternity. "These recordings definitely feel different from anything I've ever done before," says Br�nner.

TRACKLISTING1. War 2:552. Fairytale 4:473. The Diana Effect 2:234. Simple Harp Variation No.1 2:335. Voices 3:306. Hereditary 1:437. The Whole of Me 3:228. Commonwealth 3:519. Fred & Gladys 2:3810. Daggers 2:3311. Tremulus 2:3512. Queen vs PM 5:3513. Simple Harp Variation No.2 2:3014. Your Royal Highness 2:22

Christmas Piano with Alexis Ffrench

Now regarded as one of the world’s leading soloists on his instrument, Pablo Sáinz-Villegas embodies “the soul of the Spanish guitar” and has long been internationally acclaimed as an ambassador of Spanish culture. He is the first guitarist in almost four decades to be invited by the Berliner Philharmoniker to perform in the Berlin Philharmonie, and also the first guitarist within that period to perform at the orchestra’s traditional New Year’s Eve concert. At the end of 2020 he will play Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez under Kirill Petrenko. After some thirty prizes at international competitions and after concerts in over forty countries Pablo Sáinz-Villegas is rightly seen as the worthy successor of the legendary father of the classical guitar, Andrés Segovia. On the Sony Classical label he takes his place in the famous tradition of outstanding guitarists that includes John Williams and Julian Bream.

When supreme virtuosity is coupled with lightness of touch, when passion is combined with melancholy and when the six strings of the guitar vibrate like a single heartbeat, then Pablo Sáinz-Villegas is in his element. For his latest album this exceptional artist has chosen ten works that are especially close to his heart: “Spanish music represents a blend of different influences,” he explains, because “the harmonies, rhythms and melodies of a whole range of folk traditions” come together here. These traditions are not just Arab and Christian but others, too. In the music that has been written for the Spanish guitar, listeners may recognize “the voice of an entire nation”. Here is a language based on “the centuries-old peaceful coexistence of a variety of different cultures”.

“Welcome to my country, which is ready to open its heart to you.” Pablo Sáinz-Villegas’s latest album features some of the best-known works ever written for the guitar. But it is two composers above all who are central to his interest: Francisco Tárrega, who is represented by Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Capricho Árabe, Gran jota de concierto and Lágrima, while Isaac Albéniz’s contributions include Asturias and Mallorca. “I have a particularly close relationship with each of these pieces as they represent a different part of the Spain that I love so much.” Taken together, the works that have been recorded here form nothing more nor less than “the essence and soul of the Spanish guitar”. Among the central sources of inspiration of these works is folk music, notably the jota, a dance that Pablo Sáinz-Villegas often performed in his youth. The Intermezzo from Gerónimo Giménez’s La boda de Luis Alonso constitutes a tribute to the zarzuela, a quintessential Spanish genre that is a synthesis of one-act opera, theatre, drama and comedy.

An exclusive Sony artist, Pablo Sáinz-Villegas was born in Logroño in the La Rioja region of northern Spain. He has given the world premieres of numerous works, including Rounds, the first guitar piece by the Academy Award-winning composer John Williams. In 2018 Pablo Sáinz-Villegas had the privilege of working with Plácido Domingo on a joint album, the successful Volver, leading Domingo to describe him as a true “master of the guitar”. In 2006 Pablo Sáinz-Villegas founded The Legacy of Music Without Borders, a project whose aim is to bring together people in order to encourage a deeper understanding of different cultures. He has already been able to reach over 45,000 children. Pablo Sáinz-Villegas now lives in New York and Madrid.

An experiment that violinist Niklas Liepe dares to conduct here: to put the devil violin cycle of the Paganini Caprices into new light: 22 contemporary composers have participated in this experiment. Liepe plays confidently, without tears... differentiated in expression. A worthwhile experiment, wrote the press about Niklas Liepe's 2018 Sony Classical release "Paganini Project". The young German violinist had recorded Paganini's famous caprices in new versions for violin and orchestra in collaboration with the renowned arranger Andreas N. Tarkmann. For his new album #GoldbergReflections, Liepe has recorded, again in collaboration with Andreas N. Tarkmann, 13 variations from the famous "Goldberg-Variations" by Johann Sebastian Bach arranged for solo violin and strings. The violinist is accompanied by the NDR Radiophilharmonie under the direction of Jamie Phillips. Liepe has also invited eleven internationally renowned composers such as Moritz Eggert, Sidney Corbett, Wolf Kerschek, Rolf Rudin and Daniel Sundy to compose new variations on the basis of the Bach original. Tarkmann has transposed the variations into a baroque conceto grosso sound. These variations thus create a connection to the original and at the same time frame the new compositions, which bring the "Goldberg Variations", written 280 years ago, into the present. Anyone who is prepared to embark on something new will greatly enjoy this album. Bach's "Goldberg Variations" have never been heard in such an excitingly new and colorful way.

Sony Classical is proud to announce the release of this year's Summer Night Concert 2020 with the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Valery Gergiev with tenor Jonas Kaufmann as soloist. The Summer Night Concert was performed this year on September 18th 2020. It is an annual open-air event, which has been held since 2008. The previous series was the "Concert for Europe", which took place from 2004 until 2007. The park of Sch�nbrunn Palace in Vienna/Austria is the magical setting for the concert. The illustrious conductors who have previously led the orchestra at this event are Georges Pr�tre, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-M�st, Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Zubin Mehta, Semyon Bychkov and Gustavo Dudamel. Thanks to it's UNESCO World Heritage setting in the Baroque park of Sch�nbrunn with the palace as a backdrop, the Summer Night Concert adds great visual charm to it's superb musical quality. This event is classical music at it's very best. Millions of viewers and listeners in more than 80 countries can follow the concert online, on TV and radio. The Vienna Philharmonic's 2020 Summer Night Concert took place in unusual circumstances. After the coronavirus pandemic resulted in the longest enforced break in the orchestra's history, the concert planned for May 2020 had to be postponed until September and took place for the first time with a reduced audience. The Vienna Philharmonic devoted this very special concert to the theme of love. This is the fourth time that Valery Gergiev has conducted one of these concerts: he first appeared with the orchestra in 1997 and has conducted the Summer Night Concerts in 2007, 2011 and 2018. Valery Gergiev is a vivid representative of the St Petersburg conducting school. His debut at the Mariinsky (then Kirov) Theatre came in 1978 with Prokofiev's War and Peace. In 1988 Valery Gergiev was appointed Music Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, and in 1996 he became it's Artistic and General Director. He successfully collaborates with the world's great opera houses, works with the World Orchestra for Peace (which he has directed since 1997), the Philharmonic Orchestras of Berlin, Paris, Vienna, New York and Los Angeles, the Symphony Orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and San Francisco, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam) and many other ensembles. From 1995 to 2008 Valery Gergiev was Principal Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (of which he remains an honorary conductor to this day), and from 2007 to 2015 of the London Symphony Orchestra. Since autumn 2015 the maestro has headed the Munich Philharmonic. This year's programme featured the star tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who is appearing at one of these concerts for the very first time, even though he has been performing with the orchestra to great acclaim for the last two decades. Since his sensational d�but at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in a performance of "La Traviata" in 2006, Jonas Kaufmann has numbered among the top stars on the operatic horizon. The international press has singled him out as the "new king of tenors". Insiders praise him as the most important German tenor since Fritz Wunderlich. Kaufmann is just as much in demand internationally in the Italian and French repertoires as he is in German opera. He has sung Massenet's Werther in Paris and Vienna, Cavaradossi in Puccini's "Tosca" in London, at the Met and La Scala. His intensive characterizations of Don Jos� in Bizet's "Carmen" and Werther in Massenet's opera took opera fans throughout the world by storm. His solo albums are bestsellers only a few weeks after being released. In 2011 he was presented the coveted "Opera News Award" in New York. Shortly afterwards Kaufmann was named a "Chevalier de l'Ordre de l'Art et des Lettres" by French culture minister Fr�d�ric Mitterrand. Kaufmann has been selected several times as "Singer of the Year", by the classical music magazines "Opernwelt", "Diapason" and "Musical America" as well as by the juries of "Opus-Klassik" and the inaugural "International Opera Awards" (2013). The 177-year old tradition of the Vienna Philharmonic goes back to 1842, when Otto Nicolai conducted a Grand Concert with all members of the imperial "Hof-Operntheater". This event was originally called "Philharmonic Academy" and is regarded as the origin of the orchestra. Since it's founding, the orchestra has been managed by the administrative committee - a democratically elected body - and works with artistic, organisational and financial autonomy. All decisions are reached on a democratic basis during the general meeting of all members.

The Hungarian Gábor Boldoczki is an exceptional trumpeter of his generation. The international press calls him a magnificent trumpet virtuoso. For his albums at Sony Classical he received great critical acclaim and was honored with several prices such as ECHO Klassik Award as „Instrumentalist of the Year“. His new album is a musical voyage of discovery to Versailles, to the court of the Sun King Louis XIV. Boldoczki has recorded flute and oboe concertos by French Baroque composers Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764), Michel Blavet (1700 - 1768), Jacques-Christophe Naudot (1690-1762) and Bonaventure Gilles (c. 1678-?) in arrangements for modern valve trumpet as well as for flugelhorn. "The tone colors and the virtuosity that results from the French style of ornamentation inspired me to capture the atmosphere at Versailles for the first time on a trumpet" says Gábor Boldoczki. "Unlike the natural trumpet that Baroque composers generally used at that time to conjure up images of heaven or of princely rulers, the modern valve trumpet and the flugelhorn make it possible to breathe new life into these highly melodic concertos through their brilliant, radiant and songlike sound". Boldoczki presents on his album also four movements arranged for trumpet and orchestra from François Couperin's (1668 - 1733) chamber music "Concerts Royaux" as well as a dance movement from the opera "Les Boréades" by Couperin's colleague Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 - 1764). On his album "Versailles" Boldoczki is accompanied by the Cappella Gabetta under the direction of the violinist and ensemble founder Andrés Gabetta.

“Selige Stunde” (roughly translated as Blessed Hour) is the first recital in a small series of recordings that Jonas has made during the Corona crisis. Recorded at home, the intimate sound reflects the warm, personal and endearing mood of the songs. The listening experience is like a home concert by the fireside. The varied and heart-felt selection of songs covers the most prominent Lieder composers. All tracks are short and are often performed as encores. The theme of the lyrics center around love, longing, peacefulness and farewell.

With its fourteen fugues and four canons, all of which are derived from the same thematic germ cell, J. S. Bach’s "The Art of Fugue" contains within it a veritable cornucopia of constructional variants. In his own Studies, Reinhard Febel takes apart the constituent elements of Bach’s work and reassembles them in completely new ways, occasionally opening up the musical material and allowing it to range over the entire keyboard. With their refined and extremely complex “manipulations”, these Studies produce a brilliant and occasionally even dramatically expressive undertow. They were commissioned by the Duo Tal & Groethuysen, who have now recorded them for the present world-premiere release. In composing the fugues and canons that make up "The Art of Fugue", Bach was presumably thinking of the sound world of a keyboard instrument, although he never specified this unambiguously. As a result, this has legitimized a whole range of disparate versions for different combinations of instruments. Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen – both of them well known as outstanding pianists – were drawn to the idea of interpreting the work as a piano duet. The term “study” stresses the idea of exploring and experimenting with different compositional possibilities and in that way finds its counterpart in Bach’s conception of the word “contrapunctus”. The Art of Fugue was not primarily intended for performance but was designed as a compendium of the possibilities of contrapuntal composition at a time when the golden age of this art already lay in the past. Yet Alban Berg was only one of many commentators to observe that a work regarded by many as based on pure mathematics has a uniquely profound musical depth to it. Bach maintains an impressive balance between academically abstract composition and the art of sensual expression. And the same is true for Febel’s Studies.

SKELATTACK (MUSIC FROM THE VID

Hille Perl is one of the world's finest viola da gamba players specializing in music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Her recordings at deutsche harmonia mundi have been awarded numerous prizes and received great acclaim. "Ballads within a dream" is the new album of Hille Perl with Andreas Arend, theorbo player. Together with soprano Clare Wilkinson and violinist Veronika Skuplik they recorded a magical, sentimental and entertaining panorama of "dreamlike" English baroque music: with folk songs and ballads by Blow, Purcell, Johnson and Pilkington as well as solo improvisations for theorbo on traditionals (such as the famous "Greensleeves") and three pieces for strings by Eccles, Simpson and Finger. The pieces have been concepted and partially arranged by Andreas Arend, who has released highly praised recordings for Sony Classical including the recording with violist Nils Mönkemeyer.

"Ballads within a dream" features songs from Henry Purcell (1658/9–1695) including his well-known ballad "Music for a While" and also other often slightly melancholic songs such as "Have you seen the white lily grow?" by Robert Johnson (c. 1583–1633) and "Rest, sweet nymphs" by Francis Pilkington (c. 1565–1683). The album opens with a graceful "Love Song" by John Blow (1649–1708), who was probably the teacher of Henry Purcell. There are also some traditional melodies (Out of this wood & Come wait upon him), the lyrics of which are based on William Shakespeare's famous play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". In addition to several folk songs such as "I will give my love an apple" or "Drink to me only with thine eyes" and the world-famous traditional "Greensleeves", the musicians have recorded brilliant chamber music, including a violin sonata by Henry Eccles (c. 1680–1740) (with Veronika Skuplik on the baroque violin) and a trio sonata by Godfrey Finger (c. 1655–1730).

The young Swiss violinist David Nebel recorded under the direction of Kristjan Järvi exceptional works by two of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century: The rarely recorded Violin Concerto No.1 by American minimalist composer Philip Glass and Igor Stravinsky's neoclassical Violin Concerto in D.

When Glass (*1937) was a boy, the first instrument of his own that he had was a violin. However, Glass did not write his Violin Concerto No. 1 until his fiftieth year. It was his very first large-scale orchestral work, premiered in New York City on 5 April 1987. Glass composed the work for his father Ben Glass, as a piece that he thought his father might have liked had he lived to be able to hear it. The piece quickly became very popular with its exclamatory and exciting first movement, a sumptuous and brilliantly patient second movement and a thrilling third movement with perhaps the most captivating coda that Glass has ever written.

The Violin Concerto in D with four movements instead of the usual three was composed in Stravinsky’s (1882–1971) Neoclassical period in 1931. In this work Stravinsky explored the forms of Baroque music, especially the concerto grosso principle, and gave solo passages to the orchestral musicians in many places, where individual instruments are involved in charming dialogues with the solo violin.

Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto was recorded with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, and Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Keyboard legend, Rick Wakeman, famous the world over for his hugely successful and high-profile rock career - most notably with leading bands Yes and The Strawbs and for his sought-after collaborations with top artists of the day such as David Bowie and Black Sabbath - is pleased to celebrate the festive season with a brand-new album, 'Christmas Portraits'. With all tracks personally chosen and arranged by Wakeman himself, this special holiday album celebrates Wakeman's favourite time of the year as he performs familiar and favourite festive music, arranged for solo piano, all performed on his beloved Granary Steinway Model D grand piano. A former student and Fellow of the Royal College of Music, Wakeman has covered much musical ground during his wide-ranging career and here with 'Christmas Portraits', he brings his classic Wakeman twist to traditional Christmas classics, arranging some evergreens into fresh new medleys. Of this brand-new album, Rick Wakeman commented: "Christmas is my absolute favourite time of the year. I love every aspect of it, especially traditional Christmas music and songs which have wonderful simplistic melodies that are perfect for adaptation to produce variations on the piano. That is something I love to do and that is exactly what this album is".

Rarely has the existence and work of a painter been so imbued and influenced by music. ANDY lived IN and THROUGH music. Eclectic, he appreciated the popular music of his time as much as the great composers and performers of the Italian Opera. A visitor to the Factory, leaving the "brouhaha" of New York streets, would suddenly discover a mind-blowing musical atmosphere: the radio broadcasting the hits of the time (DONOVAN, BOBBY VEE, IKE AND TINA TURNER), rock & roll but also genuine pop music and "street music" (found thanks to JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT), while the Master, miraculously disconnected from this tumult, worked by feasting on CALLAS' albums. It was a surprising and eclectic playlist. Very early on, ANDY got into the world of music records. During his life, he designed many album covers: classical ones at his beginning (for RCA), then crazier with time (for the ROLLING STONES). He completed this cycle in a masterful way with the covers to the soundtrack of FASSBINDER's QUERELLE. He also got involved in record production with the VELVET UNDERGROUND. Though the VELVET UNDERGROUND album was not a success when it released, today the album is considered an iconic masterpiece, even beyond the banana on it's cover. ANDY didn't pursue this direction depressed with the haunting ego questions inherent in any musical group. We are especially struck by his loyal friendships with musicians who we find throughout this album (LOU REED, MICK JAGGER). His friendly feelings were often expressed in a Polaroid session that he generously offered to translated into a portrait. Several of his muses, his �superstars�, were also accomplished musicians such as DEBBIE HARRY and ULTRA VIOLET. In conclusion, from this journey into ANDY's musical universe emerges the coherence of his musical tastes with his pictorial production, which was not burdened with any prejudices and approached countless shores with strength. We can't help but think of KARL LAGERFELD too. Both of them were passionate about the artistic manifestations of their contemporaries, both jealous of their immutable characters and both, each in their own field, were persevering smugglers, almost magically integrating the pure essence of the society in which they live into their respective creations.