The man is simply a legend, wrote The Guardian on the occasion of Sir Neville Marriner's 90th birthday in 2014. After his death in 2016 it celebrated "a life of music-making of the highest quality that gave pleasure to many." Over his long career, Marriner built a substantial and admired discography, becoming one of the most-recorded and best-selling conductors of all time. He is associated above all with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the chamber orchestra he founded with a group of colleagues in 1958. Prominent in this richly varied collection, the Academy consistently embodies a fresh and stylish spirit that proved transformational in Baroque and Classical repertoire and illuminated music from the 19th and 20th centuries. Marriner's distinction and influence as a conductor is further demonstrated by recordings he made with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Staatskapelle Dresden, London Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra.

Vinyl LP pressing. Martin Kohlstedt's 2020 album, Flur is the German composer's way forward in a time of no clear paths. To deliver it's ten tracks, Martin turns inwards - not for answers, but rather, for a way of working with doubts and uncertainties themselves.

I'm thrilled to record my first album for Warner Classics, with the freedom to explore music from Baroque to jazz, said Lucienne. "It was a great honour and privilege to collaborate with artists I admire; notably Erik Truffaz, who improvises in duet with me for a new orchestral arrangement of Gershwin's Summertime, and Rolando Villaz�n who suggested we record a Donizetti aria together." Lucienne and her guest soloists recorded with the Orchestre National de Lille, conducted by Roberto Rizzi Brignoli. Lucienne Renaudin Vary will be joining the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cambridge Corn Exchange to take on Haydn's magnificent Trumpet Concerto on Saturday 17 June. At just 18, Lucienne has a bright future ahead of her, currently still a student of the Conservatoire National Sup�rieur de Paris, she will take a short break from her exams in order to make her first appearance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She is the first student at the conservatoire to have ever been accepted on both the classical and jazz course at the same time, and notably also the youngest and first female student to do so.

Dmitri Shostakovich composed his first symphony in 1925 as a graduation piece at the Leningrad Conservatory and his 15th symphony in 1971, four years before his death. Perhaps more than the symphonic canon of any composer in history, these works reflect the dramatic historical events of his time, in this case the 20th century and specifically the Russian Revolution, Second World War and Stalinist repression. Besides the symphonies, the cello concertos and piano concertos are also included in this set.

Bruckner was working on the Ninth Symphony until the day he died. He left a stark and magnificent torso that marks the end of the 19th-century symphony - but he also left fragments and sketches for a magnificent finale that would cap his life's work. In the latest realisation of a completion that has taken over 20 years, Bruckner's finale crowns his musical last will and testament with an intense and visionary splendour. 'Everything that is strange about this finale is 100% Bruckner,' remarks Sir Simon Rattle. 'And one can see the terror and the fear and the passion which he was going through in his life at that time.'

Double vinyl LP pressing. Tchaikovsky's most famous work, The Nutcracker, is presented in this stunning new recording by the world's greatest orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, under the baton of their celebrated conductor Sir Simon Rattle. This musical fairytale follows Clara and her unusual prince and protector, The Nutcracker, through adventures and exotic delights in the magical Kingdom of Sweets. The Nutcracker is the most popular ballet, and it's annual holiday performances have become a treasured tradition the world over. This release features the live recording of Act II from December 2009's Silvesterkonzert, Germany's New Year's celebrations. Act I was recorded in the studio during the same period.

Vilde Frang's Encores is more than a captivating programme of short pieces for violin and piano, it is also a homage to the players of the Golden Age of the Violin, such as Fritz Kreisler, Leopold Auer and Joseph Szigeti. The recital includes music originally conceived not just for the violin, but also for piano, orchestra or voice, and proves once again, as BBC Music Magazine wrote, that "Frang has the knack of breathing life into every note, whether by variations in phrasing, attack, tone or dynamic." Vilde Frang has conceived the album as something of a homage to her illustrious predecessors. Born in 1986, she is clearly very much a violinist of today, and - as a Norwegian trained in Germany - she did not grow up in the Central and Eastern-European tradition of Heifetz, Kreisler, Auer and Szigeti. That being said, she brings her own, distinctively captivating magic to her instrument. As Gramophone wrote of her performance of the Korngold concerto, a work that has it's roots in the composer's glorious late-Romantic scores for Hollywood: "Frang has a winning way with the rubato that makes the melodies yearn and smile, but there's a fragile thread of silver woven through her passagework that bounces off the glinting accompaniment of the Frankfurt RSO as an opalescent gown catches the light in a mirrored ballroom. Fresh thought illuminates each phrase and she has the technique to bring off every idea, from the wild caprice of the first movement's dash to the double-bar, to a coquettish (or demure?) restraint in the finale's big tune."

A recording by one of the leading violinists of the last decades, Anne-Sophie Mutter. She made this album with the legendary Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa during the first years of her stunning career, just before turning 21 years old. Still a classic recording nowadays, full of passion and vitality, and showcasing Mutter's extreme virtuosity.

Vinyl LP pressing. Holst's Planets is a hi-fi test piece par excellence. The music explores every nuance and dynamic of which a modern symphony orchestra is capable. When reproduced at a realistic volume level with full frequency range, the music has a stunning emotional impact - at times savage - at other times beguiling. The piece has been recorded many times since it's 1918 debut under Sir Boult's baton but it's colours never glowed more brilliantly than in this performance.

For much of his life, Otto Klemperer carried a note written by his hero Gustav Mahler, in which the composer praised the young Klemperer as 'an outstanding musician [...] predestined for the career of a conductor.' Klemperer's interpretations of Mahler's work, famous for their 'big outlines' and 'rock-like rhythms' (Musical Times) became world-famous. This collection showcases Klemperer's Mahler, including works such as the Ninth Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde.

Piotr Anderszewski's new album is juxtaposing solo piano works by three composers who asserted and shaped the musical identity of their Central European countries in the earlier 20th century: Jan�cek in Moravia, Szymanowski in Poland, and Bart�k in Hungary. "The works on this album are imbued with a sense of rebellion," says Anderszewski, himself a native of Warsaw. "There is no place here for stylisation or decorum. These works plumb the very roots of music." Piotr Anderszewski's last critical acclaimed album was published in January 2021 and featured J.S. Bach: Well-tempered Clavier, it is now at + 21 K: 38% physical and 55% digital. BBC Music Magazine wrote: "For anyone who loves Bach (or the piano)... this life-enhancing disc is required listening". The Guardian gave the Bach album a * review: "Playing his own selection of pieces from Bach's monumental work may be heresy, but Anderszewki's intelligence, lucidity and joy is undeniable. The influence of folk music is crucial in the programme - the second book of Jan�cek's On an overgrown path (a collection named after a traditional Moravian wedding song), six of Szymanowski's 20 mazurkas, and Bart�k's 14 Bagatelles. Szymanowski's eclectic spirit is evident in the mazurkas, composed during Poland's halcyon inter-war period as an autonomous state. Often chromatically adventurous, sometimes elusive, they fuse the traditional mazurka and the influence of Chopin with elements of the Goral music of Poland's southern highlands. Piotr Anderszewski speaks of the music's "primitive incantations, simultaneously ecstatic and severe in their beauty".

Being someone who is rather awful at dancing, the only way I can explore the medium of dance is through music making! This programme idea came about from two contrasting elements: my love of Rameau's Gavotte & Doubles and Ravel's La Valse.... Seeing as dance is often collaborative I am thrilled to have been joined by the wonderful pianist Alexandre Tharaud in some eclectic, lesser known works by Reynaldo Hahn. I am thrilled to release this project!" -Martin James Bartlett Ravel leads the dance with three works in Martin James Bartlett's enticing programme of French piano music. The perspective of La Danse extends back from the 20th century to the 18th century, also encompassing works by Rameau, Couperin, Debussy and - with the participation of guest artist Alexandre Tharaud - Reynaldo Hahn. "This programme idea came about from two contrasting elements," explains Martin James Bartlett, "my love of Rameau's Gavotte et six doubles and Ravel's La Valse. Both these French masterpieces, from different ends of the musical timeline, led to this programme of music inspired by the dance." Welcoming Martin James Bartlett's previous Warner Classics album, Rhapsody, Gramophone wrote: "This showcases an outstanding keyboard talent at the top of his game," while the Sunday Times enthused that, "Throughout, Bartlett's touch is alternately carefree and rigorous. A delight.

Tchaikovsky stands as the central figure of 19th-century Russian Romanticism, embodying it's widespread and vibrant vitality alongside a profound and sincere depth. This collection seeks to encapsulate the epic and intense qualities inherent in the genius of his compositions.

Vinyl LP pressing. Martin Kohlstedt creates dazzling musical pieces, tapestries of sound that grow organically from the keyboards of his piano and synthesizers. Such is the reputation that he has built in his native Germany that his latest album, 'Str�me' (currents), has been created in collaboration with the chorus of one of the country's most revered musical institutions, Leipzig's Gewandhaus. 70 voices blend and intertwine to mesmerising effect with the sounds created by Kohlstedt himself.

'This is a quite extraordinary achievement. Not the least of it's merits is that it leaves you loving the music as never before. The orchestra gives splendid support and the sound is warm and ingratiating.' - GRAMOPHONE