Although Ernst von Dohnányi was one of the most versatile and influential musicians of his time, his works are now seldom played. Capriccio is helping to rectify that situation with a series of recordings of his late-Romantic, sensual music, of which this eighth album features his Symphony No. 2. Composed at the time of his departure from war-torn Hungary during World War II, it's a colossal work that lasts for around an hour and calls for an extraordinarily large orchestra. Ruralia Hungarica, written in 1923 and arranged for orchestra the following year, makes use of familiar Hungarian folk melodies, some of them more widely known through their appearance in the works of other Hungarian composers.

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Eugen d’Albert was one of the great pianists of his age and wrote a series of exciting pieces for the instrument. The expressive, forward-looking harmonies of the Suite are as notable as the work’s Baroque style. The Four Pieces – pyrotechnically brilliant as well as pensive – show some Lisztian influence, while the Albumblatt is a genial, reflective piece. In this recording Sofja Gülbadamova performs on d’Albert’s own 1898 Steinway, recently restored and on permanent loan to his former home, Villa Teresa in Coswig. D’Albert’s Impromptu, which Gülbadamova discovered at the Brahmshaus in Baden-Baden, is heard here in its world premiere recording.

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Here we have the first recordings of three works by the late Kaija Saariaho, a native of Finland who subsequently based herself in Paris. She died in 2023. They're performed by soprano Anu Komsi and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under conductor Sakari Oramo. Vista (2019), an expansive landscape and the composer’s final work for orchestra, is an intensely personal work swarming with bittersweet visions of paths the composer never had the opportunity to explore. The Saarikoski Songs (2021) were originally scored for voice and piano and recorded by Anu Komsi, for whom they were written. Days after signing off the orchestrated version in January 2021, Saariaho was diagnosed with the brain cancer that came to claim her life. The Three Preludes (1981) is an early work for soprano and organ and the composer’s only setting of Biblical material, presented as expressionistic fragments rather than devotional settings. Coloratura soprano Anu Komsi is one of Finland’s foremost international singers; the BBC Symphony Orchestra has been a driving force in the British musical landscape for over 90 years; and Sakari Oramo, the orchestra's chief conductor, has championed contemporary and lesser-known repertoire throughout his career.

Eskil Roos, a young Swedish pianist and composer based in Malmö, distinguishes himself through a lyrical touch and dreamlike musical expression that carries both stillness and drive. Mystery of the Mind turns its gaze inward, toward the processes behind our decisions, and how the mind is shaped by experiences we do not always fully understand. Eskil's programme of music for piano, bass and drums moves between Nordic jazz, classical and folk, with the listener invited throughout the album to pause within an otherwise hectic society and enter a musical landscape where each composition is carefully shaped to tell a story.