'Remains' is the second album by Jolente de Maeyer and Nikolaas Kende, after 'Kreutzer Sonata' (2016). It is a reflection on how the remains of the past inspire and influence our fast-changing world. Both Stravinsky and Auerbach faced the difficulties of their time and society and chose to seek a future in a different world by deciding to leave their homeland, Russia. Although both composers found a unique, personal and visionary style in their compositions, often inspired by modern times and their new surroundings, one can hear how much inspiration they found in music from the past and in their Russian background. How different, by contrast, was Schubert's life. He too dreamed of a better world but was only to reach that place in his music.

During the first decades of the last century, Paris took over from Vienna as the center of the art-music’s universe. Ideas and styles exploded like fireworks from the French capital, and among the first figures sending them into the wider world was Claude Debussy. His Première Rhapsodie began life as a competition piece for clarinet, first performed in 1911, and while the later orchestral version is now more commonly heard, it is instructive to revisit the composer’s original, more subtly allusive first thoughts. Seven years later, by now dying of cancer, Debussy completed the last of three works in which he returned to the traditional form of sonata which he had avoided through much of his career in favor of tone-pictures such as the Préludes and suites for piano. The Violin Sonata counts among his most concise and refined works in an output touched throughout by those qualities, demanding the greatest subtlety and passion from its interpreters. In the same year as the Première Rhapsodie, Stravinsky had scored his career-defining succès de scandale with the premiere of Le sacre du printemps, and by 1918 he was established as a darling of the Parisian avant-garde when he composed L’histoire du soldat for a septet of instruments and narrator. The following year he arranged five self-contained numbers from the score into a suite, further reduced for a spiky instrumental trio and featuring the marvelously sly tango as well as the Rite-like final Danse du soldat. Milhaud’s Suite and Bartók’s Contrasts date from two decades later, but they are still infused with the absinthe and lemon of 20s Parisian culture. Heard together, the five works paint a portrait of a world of dazzling colours and restless momentum, sometimes bewildered by its own precosity, taking what it wanted from old cultures and always breaking new paths.

The Rundfunkchor Berlin, led by its chief conductor Gijs Leenaars and accompanied by wind players from the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, presents masses by Bruckner and Stravinsky. The mass is arguably the oldest genre in music history, full of traditions, but also an inexhaustible soil for originality and innovation. This mix of tradition and innovation makes the genre an ideal vehicle for Bruckner and Stravinsky, who were both masters at blending the old and new into a uniquely personal musical idiom. Bruckner’s Mass in E Minor and Stravinsky’s Mass share their unusual orchestrations of almost a cappella voices with a sparse, extraordinary wind accompaniment. While Bruckner was inspired by open air “country masses”, Stravinsky’s Mass is emblematic of his neo-classical style. The Rundfunkchor Berlin is one of the most established German choirs, and has participated in several PENTATONE releases of Wagner operas, as well as a recording of Bruckner’s Mass in F Minor (2013) and Richard Strauss’s Die Tageszeiten (2015). The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin has an even more extensive PENTATONE discography, containing collaborations with conductors such as Marek Janowski, Jakub Hruša and Vladimir Jurowski. Gijs Leenaars makes his PENTATONE debut.

This production of "The Rake's Progress" marks Barbara Hannigan's debut as an opera conductor and is a "labor of love" for her. Hannigan, who has sung the role of Anne Truelove many times, hand-picked the cast of soloists from over 350 applications from 39 countries, and subsequent auditions throughout Europe, as part of her mentoring initiative "Equilibrium." In this unique and refined semi-staged production, director Linus Fellbom invites the audience to partake on a journey through space and time, from a distant future to the present, and back to 18th century London. The documentary "Taking Risks" follows all aspects of the production, starting with the very first auditions, the casting and rehearsal process, and culminating in the premiere in Gothenburg in December 2018.

Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto is the quintessential national virtuoso showpiece, but other Russian composers have contributed strongly to the genre of works for solo violin and orchestra. Tchaikovsky's student Taneyev, who rose to eminence in Moscow, wrote a memorable Suite de Concert that followed the model of the Baroque suite while infiltrating it with warm lyricism and brilliant variations. Earlier, Rimsky-Korsakov had written a Fantasia on Two Russian Themes that explored virtuoso potential in a concerto form that is both seductive and vibrant.

The songs on this album are not as well known as other works by these three composers, but this more intimate form of expression often goes straight to the heart and soul of their work. Tchaikovsky wrote songs throughout his life, and it is easy to find autobiographical parallels in his chosen themes of love and longing. Rimsky-Korsakov's songs are characterized by tender lyricism, while Rachmaninov's wordless Vocalise has become one of his most famous melodies. Margarita Gritskova was born in 1987 in St. Petersburg. She is a prizewinner of the Luciano Pavarotti Competition in Modena, and the Concurso Internacional de Canto 'Villa de Colmenar Viejo' in 2010. She has performed in Carmen under the direction of Mariss Jansons in St. Petersburg, and appeared at world renowned festivals across the globe.

This new release features the willfully diverse compositional and emotional landscape of newly discovered and rediscovered nineteenth-century Russian music, performed with dedication and delight in the music’s individual detail and perspective. Daniel Muller-Schott ranks among the world’s best cellist and can be heard on all of the foremost international concert stages. “A fearless player with technique to burn” (New York Times), he has made his mark by delighting audiences for two decades. Muller-Schott works with leading international orchestras: in the US with the orchestras in New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles, in Europe with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Radio Orchestras of Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Paris, the London Symphony, and more. In the present recording, he plays the “Ex Shapiro” Matteo Goffriller cello, made in Venice in 1727, and a bow made by FX Tourte of Paris in c. 1820.

Leonard Bernstein in Salzau offers a lively and fascinating inside look at the professional world of young conductors and orchestral musicians in three one-hour-long programs. It also portrays one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, Leonard Bernstein, shown at work with young musicians. "I am trying to do something for Europe that Europe actually did for me. I had promised myself to founding another Tanglewood here." (Leonard Bernstein) "If a piece of art is something designed with many facets and perspectives, then this three-piece is a piece of art." (FAZ) The programs included on this release are The Birth of an Orchestra, Orchestral Work with the Rite of Spring, and International Conductors' Competition and Master Course. As a bonus, this release also includes Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor performed by pianist Justus Frantz and the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

After their album entitled Singing Cello, this recording released by Istvan Vardai and Julien Quentin offers a compilation of popular cello pieces of the 19th and 20th century, performed on the famous Stradivari cello referred as '1673 Strad', earlier used by Jaqueline du Pre� and Lynn Harrell. The cellos manufactured by the renowned Italian instrument-maker have, somewhat surprisingly, an even better reputation than his violins. Out of the 65 items remaining, the '1673 Strad' was made relatively early, being the only Stradivari cello dating back to this year. Istvan Vardai was born in 1985. He studied with Laszlo Mezo at the Liszt Academy of Music and with Reinhard Latzko at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Veinna. Since his debut concert in 1997, he has performed all over the world and has won numerous accolaides. French pianist Julien Quintin has established himself as a versatile and sensitive musician, exhibiting great maturity and poise. His remarkable depth of musicianship and distinct clarity of sound coupled with flawless technique, make him an artist in demand as both soloist and chamber musician.

One of the big events of 2017 was the opening of the Hamburg Philharmonie. Krzysztof Urbanski and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra gave inaugural concerts there that made a lasting impact on audiences and critics alike. On this occasion, the Polish conductor chose to record one of the works closest to his heart, The Rite of Spring: "Stravinsky invented a new language. For me, The Rite is not a score, but a painting: on each page, I see Matisse, Gauguin, the Fauve painters . . . It’s an explosion of colours, emotions, and surprises too: if you don’t know the piece, you never know what’s going to happen. It’s so suggestive that you don’t need to do all that much with the orchestra, the magic is written into the music. . . . When I conduct The Rite, I don’t think: the music penetrates your backbone, it’s inside you . . . It’s a ballet, and perhaps it’s because I was a dancer when I was younger that I can’t control my body when I hear and conduct this piece. It’s a mystical experience for me!" The audio recording was made in sessions in the brand new Philharmonie and the BD that accompanies the album includes the film of the concert given in February 2017 in this superb building designed by the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron.

Both La Mer by Debussy and The Rite of Spring by his friend Stravinsky are now regarded as two of the most influential pieces of the twentieth century, although these achievements were accomplished in entirely different ways. The notoriously difficult solo piano re-arrangement of Stravinsky’s own piano duet version of The Rite of Spring by the Russian pianist Vladimir Leyetchkiss (1934-2016) met with the composer’s approval. The solo piano version of La Mer by Lucien Garban (1877-1959) reinterprets the work from the perspective of Debussy’s piano output, taking works such as Images, from the same period, as a model.

Kristina Fialova has been primarily praised by critics for her impeccable technique, impassioned performance and sophisticated musical sentiment. After winning the 2013 Michal Spisak International Competition in Katowice, Poland, she was invited to the major concert stages in Europe. Her appearance at the prestigious Tivoli Festival in Denmark was followed by her debuting at the Tonhalle Zurich and giving a recital at the 2015 Prague Spring Festival. She has performed at concert halls across Europe, including Russia, as well as in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. She is the winner of numerous international competitions, including Talents for Europe, Soutez Konzervatori, ACT London, Beethoven’s Hradec, and more. Kristina plays a Carlo Antonio Testore- Contrada 1745 viola. She is a Pirastro artist. For her new release she has recorded works by Rozsa, Godar, Penderecki, Khachaturian, Stravinsky and Bodorova.

In these twentieth-century sonatas, from the late Romantic and expressionistic Valen, through Stravinsky’s neoclassical period, to Lutoslawski’s more modernistic style, the three composers are searching for inspiration in the past- Valen in the rigours of Bach’s counterpoint, Stravinsky in antique verse forms such as we find in Virgil, and Lutoslawski in Baroque music. These interactions with artistic models from earlier times result in three highly individual compositions, each appealing both to the heart and to the mind. The tentative beginnings of the duo partnership of Bard Monsen and Gunnar Flagstad took place in the autumn of 1999, when they met at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo- Gunnar as the newly-appointed accompanist for string players at the institute, and Bard studying the violin with Alf Richard Kraggerud and Stephan Barratt-Due. Bard later moved to the US to study with the legendary violin pedagogue Mauricio Fuks, but he continued to meet up with Gunnar at different musical events. It was a particularly successful concert at a festival in 2014, where they played Lutoslawski’s Partita, that served as the catalyst for a more regular musical partnership. This led to a thorough perusal of the 20th century duet repertoire, and the present recording in which three iconic works from a profoundly fascinating period in music history interact with each other is the fruition of this perusal.

Polish conductor Artur Rodzinski (1892-1958) was born in Dalmatia, but moved to Lwow, Poland where he began his musical studies. He enrolled later at the Academy of Music in Vienna, where he studied with Josef Marx and Franz Schreker (composition), Franz Schalk (conducting), and Emil von Sauer and Jerzy Lalewicz (piano). He is most remembered for his tenures as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic during the 1930s and 1940s. The recordings chosen for this release were made between 1955 and 1958, at the end of Rodzinski’s life, with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino). The Italian symphony orchestra is based in Turin and is owned by the state radio and television company RAI. Featured solo musicians on this recording include violinist Henryk Szeryng, soprano Adriana Martino, alto Anna Maria Rota, and bass Renato Capecchi.

Badura-Skoda has long been a symbol of the cultivation of Viennese classical music. The holder of the prestigious Paul Badura-Skoda is well-known around the world for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. With this release "The Other Badura" a light is shed on a elsser known part of this great Austrian pianist: At the beginning of his career, Badura-Skoda also enjoyed playing virtuoso "crowd pleasers", e.g. great piano works of the Romantic era, particularly of the Russian sphere. In the 1950's together with the renowned conductors Sir Adiran Boult, Artur Rodzinski and Hans Swarowsky he released very popular recordings of the piano concertos No. 1 in B minor, Op. 23 by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, the concerto in C sharp major, Op. 30 by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and the concerto No. 1 in E flat major by Franz Liszt. Badura-Skoda's teacher was Edwin Fischer; his discoverer, Wilhelm Furtwängler. His composer friend, Frank Martin, composed a piano concerto for him and he shared a long professional friendship with the great Russian violinist David Oistrach. Badura-Skoda has long been a symbol of the cultivation of Viennese classical music. The holder of the prestigious Bösendorfer-Ring, he is a celebrated guest at major international music festivals. Earlier in his life, Badura-Skoda collaborated wtih such renowned conductors as Hans Knappertsbusch, Herbert von Karajan, Georges Szell and Karl Böhm. He has also worked with Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Georg Solti and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, to name but a few.