The American pianist Tzimon Barto and the world famous conductor Christoph Eschenbach have had a very long and close friendship together. After their successful Capriccio recording of Tchaikovsky’s B flat Minor Concerto they follow up now with recordings of the Brahms Concertos, cornerpieces of the piano concerto literature and further examples of these two artist’s close working partnership. Mr. Barto and Mr. Eschenbach, iconoclasts both, offer a new focus on these masterpieces. Also included are Mr. Barto’s interpretations of the 4 Ballades, op. 10.

“There exists…a certain instrument, that is to say: a musical medium of realization – through which music, while becoming audible to the sense of hearing, does so in…an almost abstract way…peculiarly suited to its intellectual nature. This medium is the piano…”

Pawel Mykietyn’s contribution of works – for or with piano – appears to confirm the reflections of Thomas Mann taken from Doctor Faustus. Pianist Anna Stempin-Jasnowska’s repertoire spans works from Baroque to Contemporary and also includes most works written for two pianos (also with orchestra), as well as for cello and piano.

Following the success of its groundbreaking Cedille Records debut, Notable Women, the Grammy® nominated Lincoln Trio offers the early 20th century composer Joaquín Turina’s complete works for multiple strings and piano – four trios, a quartet, quintet and sextet, including what is only the second recording of the early Piano Trio in F Major. Among the Lincoln Trio’s guests artists on the CD is violinist Ayane Kozasa, first prize winner at the 2011 Primrose International Viola Competition. “The performances by the Lincoln Trio are models of vibrancy and control”. – Gramophone

Delos exercises its penchant for rare and eclectic repertoire yet again with this recording of two highly significant 20th century works for piano trio by Armenian master Arno Babadjanian (1921-83) and the legendary Latvian composer Peteris Vasks (b. 1946). The Potch Trio is one of South Africa’s most distinguished chamber ensembles. Their collective skill, emotional depth, interpretive intensity and glowing sound place them among the finest ensembles of their kind. “…both (works)…recognize suffering as well as bliss. Both emphasize beauty.” – Piet Koornhof

Franz Anton Hoffmeister is associated with composers such as Haydn and Mozart through his involvement in Viennese music publishing. His Piano Sonatas are models of 18th-century craftsmanship, combining the wit and display demanded of contemporary audiences with elements of operatic drama and poignancy. The Variations explore the dramatic possibilities of the keyboard, reflecting the Vienna of early Beethoven.

These three recordings represent some of the most popular Italian operas ever composed – works that are known and loved by opera enthusiasts around the world. ICA Classics have assembled three celebrated live recordings from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Edinburgh Festival, featuring some of the greatest singers from the 1950s and 1960s – Teresa Berganza, Tito Gobbi, Renata Tebaldi, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Fernando Corena, Luigi Alva, and Rolando Panerai – under the baton of two of the most illustrious conductors of their generation, Carlo Maria Giulini and Francesco Molina-Pradelli.

For the previous nine months, as Harry Belafonte’s musical director, Tony Scott had not touched his instrument. Now he used the occasion to concentrate on his two principal role models: Charlie Parker, whose polyrhythmic playing and asymmetric phrasing fascinated him, and Ben Webster, who had taken him under his wing as a young musician and whose emotional, melodious ballad playing had inspired him to adopt the same unusually warm and gentle tone on the clarinet. Both sides came across significantly in Scott’s playing: the thin, brittle, almost shrill tone of his virtuoso, up-tempo bebop lines contrasted with the inimitable intimacy and warmth of his legato ballad style, a sound Scott literally breathed into the clarinet unlike anyone. The two approaches are equally characteristics of the recordings Scott made in April 1957 as a guest at the Stuttgard radio broadcaster SDR, as well as the live performances recorded for posterity by Joachim-Ernst Berendt on behalf of SWF in Hong Kong and Singapore in 1962 under far from ideal conditions – using a portable tape recorder and a single microphone.

This Frankfurt Opera production of Lohengrin, recorded in 2013, features the Frankfurter Opern und Museumsorchester led by conductor Bertrand de Billy and the Chor und Extrachor der Oper Frankfurt Chor directed by Matthias Köhler. Tenor Michael König (Lohengrin) is a regular guest at the Frankfurt Opera, previously heard as Tamino (The Magic Flute) and Florestan (Fidelio), amongst other roles. Soprano Camilla Nylund has starred as Elsa in Bayreuth and Finland and will soon tackle the role in Vienna as well.

After the successful recordings of Ligeti (ODE1213-2) and Messiaen (ODE1251-5), the latest album album is dedicated to orchestral works by the pioneer of Italian modernism, Luciano Berio (1925-2003). A highlight of this disc is Berio’s iconic 5-movement Sinfonia, undoubtedly his most well-known work, written for the New York Philharmonic and dedicated to Leonard Bernstein. It has become one of the key works and principal musical manifestations of the 1960’s, bringing together collage technique and modernism. The recording begins with Berio’s orchestral adaptation of Luigi Boccherini’s popular Ritirata Notturnal di Madrid. This disc also includes Calmo for mezzo-soprano and 22 instruments written by Berio after the death of fellow composer and friend Bruno Maderna. The work is sung here by mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen, a singer acclaimed for his performances of 20th century music and whose solo debut recording can be found on Ondine (ODE1208-2).

The notable Catalan tenor Roger Padullés presents a studio recording entirely devoted to the beautiful songs of his great Catalan-Spanish compatriot, Federico Mompou (1893-1987). Though Mompou’s fame rests largely on his solo piano works, which he himself recorded in inimitable and definitive fashion, his many songs comprise the other genre for which he is recognized as a 20th century master. Noted accompanist and broadcaster Iain Burnside accompanies Mr. Padullés.

Inspired and fascinated by the currently fashionable concept in Berlin to play classical music in clubs, clair-obscur had the idea of recording a CD featuring contemporary music that would work in both environments: concert hall and club. Clair-obscur, a Renaissance painting technique in which opposing light and dark tones symbolize heavenly and earthly elements, is the visual equivalent of the sounds the quartet draws from their instruments. These world première recordings feature arrangements of works by Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, among others, for saxophone quartet.

Judith Clurman combines the expertise born of thirty years as a prominent conductor with memories of her own childhood in synagogue and an intimate knowledge of this poignant repertoire to create the unique recording Cherished Moments: Songs of the Jewish Spirit. The recording introduces arrangements of traditional songs representing the Jewish holidays and life cycle events: from the centerpiece Songs of Freedom: A Celebration of Chanukah, a cycle for chorus, soloists and orchestra that premiered at Carnegie Hall, to the 19th century lyrical classicism of Louis Lewandowski and Emanuel Kirschner, to works by folk artist Debbie Friedman, cantor-composer Bruce Ruben, and Canadian composer ben Steinberg.  The recording also features new works, among them a minimalist setting of Set Me as a Seal by Nico Muhly, Larry Hochman’s Shomeir Yisrael, and Paul Schoenfield’s Hanisim, all written for Ms. Clurman.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi brought the theatre into churches, and religious seriousness into theaters. He is also the first musician who was never dropped from the repertory, either in theaters or in churches. Before him, only contemporary music was played and sung. His Stabat Mater and La serva padrona never stopped being performed, admired and applauded. Pergolesi’s modernity still surprises. The characters were now men and women made of flesh and blood, not stock characters, types and stilted heroes, and had the same feelings and intentions as the men and women who frequented the theatre.

It’s now a century since Albéric Magnard’s death. Long ignored, Magnard has in the past few years joined the pantheon of post-Franckist composers such as Ropartz, d’Indy and others. In chamber music, he left a limited legacy but one of very high quality, which Timpani has entrusted, on this Centenary Edition, to a “young” team of front-rank artists. A further guarantee of quality is the commentary by the leading Magnard specialist, Harry Halbreich, who lends not his pen but his voice for an additional disc, discussing works he knows better than anyone.

This 1967 recording bears witness to Carlos Kleiber’s sole encounter with Gustav Mahler. Prior to this, he had never conducted a work by the composer, and would never do so again. Given how extremely selective was his choice of repertoire, this was certainly an exceptional case. Within the context of the Mahler Festival, he therefore had to bow to the pressures of what was, by his standards, an extremely short rehearsal period of four rehearsals for Das Lied von der Erde. At the time of the performance was thus considered thoroughly controversial. Past releases of this particular Das Lied von der Erde recording have received high praise in various Kleiber Internet forums. But these recordings were of such poor quality that knowledgeable Kleiber fans simply could not listen to them. Judging by the condition of the source material, we were working with a second or even a third generation of the original recording. This became the crucial assignment for our recording engineer; to bring new life to this historic recording was certainly a challenge.

Hailed as “an astonishing talent, with exquisite technique,” Sonoma, California born Nigel Armstrong made his orchestra debut in 2002 as soloist with the Baroque Sinfonia and has since performed concertos with symphony orchestras in North America, South America and Europe. He served as concertmaster for the American Youth Symphony and The Colburn Orchestra when he was a student in Los Angeles. As a soloist, Nigel remains a personal favorite of Sir Neville Marriner: “Nigel is a consummate artist who brings both imagination and conviction to his performance.”

Zhu Xiao-Mei ranks among the finest pianists of our times and is one of today’s most renowned interpreters of J.S. Bach’s music. The Goldberg Variations stood at the beginning of her international career, representing the “greatest musical encounter” of her life. “If is a universal piece of music that knows no frontiers”; this is the message of her playing being celebrated in concert halls around the world. For the first time ever, her unique interpretation has been captured in DVD. The live recording was produced at her critically acclaimed Leipzig Bach Festival concert in St. Tomas Church, J.S. Bach’s final resting place, in 2014. Michel Mollard’s documentary “The Return is the Movement of Tao: Zhu Xiao-Mei and the Goldberg Variations” complements the concert recording. Mr. Mollard accompanies the pianist to concerts as well as to the reclusiveness of the French Alps, offering insights into the mind of a fascinating artist and her vision of the Goldberg Variations.

This Arthaus Musik Blu-ray combines two unique programs celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 9 November 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. The performance of Beethoven’s Ninth at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig in a reunited Germany was a great success for music director Kurt Masur. The Echo Award-winning documentary Classical and Cold War-Musicians in the GDR by Thomas Zinti spans the range from the two German states’ 1949 founding to the Wall’s fall. Using archive material and contemporary witness interviews, the film draws the parallelism between the cultural and political developments.

The Wiener Staatsballett is one of the great companies in the world. Yet never before had Rudolf Nureyev’s world-famous choreography of The Nutcracker been performed in Vienna. The present production remedies this omission by presenting Nureyev’s final, 1985 Paris version with two magnificent young soloists and the splendid Vienna corps de ballet. Nureyev’s version enjoys a particular standing in the history of this well-known ballet in that it was the first to incorporate the psychology of E. T. A Hoffman’s fairy tale on which Tchaikovsky’s ballet is based. The critic Clive Barnes set the tone by remarking: “No version of The Nutcracker that we have ever seen has been more potently dramatic; few have displayed so sharp an imprint of personal style.”

Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece I Capuleti e I Montecchi, inspired by the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet, is what The New York Times calls “an opera of definite dramatic appeal.” Joyce DiDonato, winner of the Grammy® Award and the ECHO Klassik, and Nicole Cabell as the ill-fated lovers Romeo and Giulietta headline a cast of international stars. Directed by Vincent Boussard in his U.S. debut and led by returning conductor and bel canto specialist Riccardo Frizza, this new co-production has sets created by French opera, theater and dance designer Vincent Lemaire. The production also features stunning costumes by renowned fashion designer Christian Lacroix, a frequent collaborator with Mr. Boussard and a prominent fashion icon known for both his couture house as well as his theater, ballet and opera costumes.

This eye-catching 5 DVD box set presents some exceptional performances given at the world famous BBC Proms festival. American pianist Garrick Ohlsson is at the height of his powers in Brahms’ challenging Second Piano Concerto. The Viennese Night concert has been a tradition at the Proms since 1947; the audience’s enthusiasm rivals that of the Last Night. Classics featured on this DVD include the Blue Danube Waltz, the Radetzky March, and the Csardas and ‘Laughing Song’ from Die Fledermaus, conducted by Viennese music specialists James Loughran and Walter Susskind. This set also features the final concert of Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s European tour in 1985.

Jean-Christophe Maillot has reworked Swan Lake with the writer Jean Rouard to bring a new drama to this pillar of the classical repertoire. This new adaptation, filmed in a special studio setting at the Grimaldi Forum in Manaco, brings a modern-day relevance to the timeless story of Siegfried and Odette. Designed by leading visual artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest, with costumes by Philippe Guillotel, and danced to a specially conceived and mastered sountrack of Tchaikovsky’s score performed by the St. Louis Symphony, directed by Louis Slatkin, the production was hailed as “outstanding” by Le Figaro.