The finest string quartet, unquestionably, that our century has known." In 1951, when the Quartetto Italiano first visited the USA, composer Virgil Thomson's was enthused: "Perfection is the only word to describe this playing." The quartet's members, who had met while studying in Siena, made their ensemble debut in 1945. They went on to enthral audiences around the world with interpretations of proverbial beauty, insight and architectural elegance. In this collection, presenting their entire Warner Classics discography, their subtle mastery is as evident in essential Austro-German repertoire as in Italian music spanning five centuries and works by Debussy, Ravel, Milhaud, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. Complementing the catalogue they built between 1953 and 1959 is their very first recording, made in 1946 when they were still known as the Nuovo Quartetto Italiano. The collection, entirely remastered, features a number of recordings appearing on CD for the first time. The TRACK LISTING relays the "WORKS" and not the tracks on the Limited 14 CD box set.

2021 release. "A talent to reckon with: poised, committed, graceful and spirited," is how the Los Angeles Times has described the Russian-American cellist Nina Kotova. Her Warner Classics catalogue already includes an album of sonatas by Rachmaninov. It is now joined by a programme of German Romantic music which she recorded with the Brazilian-born pianist Jos� Feghali, a laureate of the Van Cliburn Competition who died aged just 53 in 2014. Spanning 65 years of musical history, the recital comprises works by Schumann and Brahms, who were close friends, and by Max Reger. He drew inspiration for his Suite No. 2 for solo cello, composed in 1914, from Pablo Casals's advocacy of Bach's solo suites.

BEETHOVAN Sonatas for Piano and Violin - Midori teams up with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet for Beethoven Sonatas. "Sonatas are really musical conversations between two artists. Melodies are traded back and forth. Timing is critical. There is no room for error in the absence of a large orchestra. Truly they are performances without a net. Midori and Thibaudet proved a deft pair. "

The whole conception of performance in these days is too heavy, loud and blatant, said Walter Gieseking in 1926, expressing his preference for "more delicacy and ethereal refinement of tone". That same year the New York Times praised the German pianist for "achieving unusual richness and fineness of effect within a relatively small dynamic scale," noting "his poetic sentiment and imagination, the intimacy of his musical expression and his exquisite adjustment of tone values." Gieseking's finesse, imagination and sureness of touch brought him special and lasting distinction in the solo piano works of Debussy et Ravel, which he recorded in their entirety. The complete solo piano works of Mozart are another pillar of this 48CD collection. Demonstrating the breadth of Gieseking's musical interests, it ranges from Bach to composers of the generation that followed Ravel. Fascinated by the processes of sound reproduction, Gieseking was exceptionally productive in the studio, and this set includes nine world premiere releases and a substantial number of CD premieres and rarities. The entire collection has been newly remastered - using the best available sources for the 78-era recordings and the original tapes for those from the age of the LP.

Two symphonies from the turbulent 1930s are juxtaposed in Lahav Shani's second Warner Classics release as Chief Conductor of The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Shani has described Kurt Weill's Symphony No 2, premiered by Bruno Walter in Amsterdam in 1933, as "one of my favourite pieces to conduct... It is tonal music, very melodic, very theatrical, and really not comparable to anything else." Shostakovich's powerful Symphony No 5, with it's enigmatic interplay of sincerity and irony, was chosen by Shani to conclude his inaugural concert as Music Director in Rotterdam in 2018.

Seven CD box set containing Ralph Vaughan Williams' complete symphonies. Vaughan Williams is a much revered figure in the history of British music. Included in this set is the ravishingly beautiful 'The Lark Ascending'. Conducted by Bernard Haitink, a one-time principal conductor of the London Philharmonic.

Kurt Masur's achievement is defined above all by his relationships with two orchestras exemplifying vastly different traditions. Having spent some 20 years as Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, which traces it's roots to the 15th century, he became the transformational music director of the New York Philharmonic, an embodiment of the New World. Through all this, his musical integrity remained consistent. As the New York Times wrote: "He brought to the podium the ardent conviction that music-making was a moral act that could heal the world." Masur himself put things more simply: "My goal is meaningful playing... What counts is to be able to communicate the composer's meaning to the audience... When I conduct Beethoven, I wouldn't like to replace Beethoven. He should be in your mind, not me." This 70CD set consolidates the entirety of the catalogues that Masur built for EMI and Teldec between 1974 and 2009.

DANIEL BARENBOIM - MOZART: COMPLETE PIANO SONATAS & PIANO VARIATIONS - WARNER CLASSICS - panning the length of his mature career and documenting stylistic reinvention as well as emotional change, Mozart's piano sonatas and variations occupy a fundamental position within the keyboard repertory. Here they are performed by one of the composer's best-known interpreters; crisp in detail and wide-ranging in mood, Daniel Barenboim's readings are among the most lauded in recording history.

Jose Serebrier / DVORAK: COMPLETE SYMPHONIES LEGENDS SLAVONIC - The much-lauded recordings of Dvor�k's symphonies by one of the most recorded conductors of his generation, Jos� Serebrier with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. These performances have been praised for their considerable expressivity, remarkable handling of detail and supreme orchestral balance. The works are accompanied by a variety of other concert pieces, among which are a selection of Dvor�k's lively, nationalist-driven Slavonic Dances as well as the wonderfully lyrical Legends, endearing miniature tone poems which reveal the Czech composer's mastery of the shortest forms. WARNER CLASSICS Seven CD box set.

2021 release. "The album's title Adela comes from a song by Rodrigo which constitutes the emotional culmination of our duo's programme. What counts is not the name, but the person we love and long for. Everyone certainly has such a person, and so we hope that each listener will find on our CD something close to his or her heart. The piano and classical guitar virtually never collaborate in music. However, after our first joint performance with Lukasz Kuropaczewski we immediately realised that we could create intriguing music worlds together. We followed the same line of thinking in our choice of programme, which derives from both the piano and guitar repertoires, though the spirit of the South that influences most of that music is more typically associated with the guitar tradition. In my arrangements of classical works, I strove to represent the sonic qualities of both instruments, their unique expression, and cultural associations. I reworked Domenico Scarlatti's famous "Sonata in D Minor (Toccata)" K. 141 so as to bring out it's Spanish roots. Titled "Domingo" on our album, it features distinctive flamenco qualities and an improvised layer. The "Aranjuez Concerto BWV 1056" is, as it's very name suggests, a fusion of the world's most famous piece for guitar and orchestra, Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez", with Johann Sebastian Bach's "Keyboard Concerto in F Minor" BWV 1056. Themes from the second, slow movements of both concertos interlink here as in the film cross-cutting technique, and we swap roles, Lukasz leading the Bach theme while I take up Rodrigo's."

The first complete Schumann symphony cycle on disc, this set was recorded in Tel Aviv in 1956 by one of the most highly respected conductors of the post-war period. Paul Kletzki (1900-1973) brings out the fundamental strangeness and feverish excitement of Schumann's orchestral writing. His readings of these iconic works are key to understanding the path they have travelled towards the recognition they enjoy today.

John Williams Reimagined is a project of film score producer Robert Townson, who imagined an album where John Williams famous film themes are scored for a chamber trio of flute: Sara Andon, cello: Cécilia Tsan and piano: Simone Pedroni. A double album with hits, spanning a period of more than 50 years of terrific film music from Jane Eyre to the recent The Fabelmans and including, ET, Star Wars, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park.

Classical Music

Daniel Barenboim - Mozart: The Complete Piano Concertos (10-CD) Bringing together Mozart's complete solo piano concertos, performed by the peerless Daniel Barenboim, this collection provides a showcase of the composer's development of the genre, ranging from his early pasticcio works to those of powerful compositional prowess, as he began to carve his name in musical history. Barenboim conducts from the piano, leading the English Chamber Orchestra in performances of breathtaking passion and verve.

Classical Music