The breathtaking soundtrack to Coco & Igor (opening in cinemas in April 2010 through Madman Entertainment) features Stravinsky’s complete Rite of Spring performed by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, alongside Stravinsky-inspired music by Gabriel Yared, composer of The English Patient’s unforgettable score. One of the most exciting new films about music to emerge in recent years, Coco & Igor explores the intense relationship between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, who met at the explosive 1913 premiere of The Rite of Spring in Paris and inspired in one another a surge of creativity and passion.

In addition to the sumptuous Chanel costuming that has been praised at the Cannes Film Festival, Coco & Igor features a daring feat of filmmaking: a reconstruction of the Rite of Spring’s infamous premiere and the ensuing audience riot, the stuff of legend in the history of 20th-century music!

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This unique soundtrack release celebrates the DVD release of Inglourious Basterds with a tribute to Quentin Tarantino and the music of Ennio Morricone used so effectively and stylishly in the American director’s films. Tarantino has often been accused of being style without substance – an accusation also levelled at the composer Ennio Morricone. But it is now abundantly clear that both have earned their places in cinema history and are more than just cult figures with comparative mythologies. It is impossible to think of a piece of Morricone’s music without thinking of a film and it is impossible to think of Tarantino’s movies without their larger-than-life soundtracks. This remarkable collection features all the Morricone music used by Tarantino in his wildly successful films, plus four tracks from Inglourious Basterds not released on the official soundtrack.

From Harry Potter to James Bond, Star Wars to The Godfather, take a journey through the memorable movie soundtrack themes that defined and captured some of the greatest moments in cinema. You'll be moved and entertained by the lush orchestrations of Maurice Jarre, the bombastic brass moments of John Williams, the ethereal electronic compositions of Vangelis, and music by many more accomplished composers for the screen.  Selections include unforgettable romantic themes from The Piano, Titanic (‘My Heart Will Go On’) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra performs this popular coupling of two major works for their latest Chandos recording. The two works complement one another as they both incorporate interplay and dialogue between two or more solo instruments. Beethoven's Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano was written in 1804, and on many levels is a highly emotional work on. Beethoven had now accepted his deafness, and his desire to express himself through music had returned. This richly melodic and mature work has joyful as well as bleak moments, and might be described as a piano trio with orchestral accompaniment. In the case of the Double Concerto of Johannes Brahms, here large stretches can be considered as a piano trio in which the orchestra takes on the role of the piano. Trio Poseidon was formed in 2002 by Sara Trobäck Hesselink, (Leader of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra), Claes Gunnarsson, (Principal Cellist of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra) and pianist Per Lundberg (Professor at The Royal College of Music in Stockholm.) Since their inaugural season, Trio Poseidon has become one of the most sought after ensembles in their native Sweden.

Brilliant as both a conductor and composer, Bernard Herrmann is arguably the most innovative film composer of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. He provided background music for 47 feature films released between 1941 and 1976, including such cinema classics as Citizen Kane, Psycho, and Taxi Driver and is especially recognised for his work with Alfred Hitchcock. Herrmann rejected the term ‘film composer’; rather, he thought of himself as a composer who worked on films. He admired Vaughan Williams, Walton and Prokofiev who were able to compose great works for films as well as for the concert hall. Often cited as the greatest movie ever made, Citizen Kane was Herrmann’s first film score. Much has been made of Orson Welle’s influence over cinema history but Bernard Herrmann’s score plays no small part in the film’s incredible success.  The film noir Hangover Square is enriched by a dark score influenced by Richard Addinsell’s success with the Warsaw Concerto, and its final scene features the famous virtuosic piano concerto 'composed' by the main character and played by him as he is consumed by flames .

Arthur Sullivan's grand historical opera - based on Ivanhoe, the most popular novelby Sir Walter Scott - launched D’Oyly Carte’s ambitious English Royal Opera, where it was performed on consecutive nights for 155 performances, one of the most extraordinary runs ever achieved by any opera. In 1891, anyone in London wishing to experience some music would have had a remarkable choice. Ivanhoe was playing at the Royal English Opera, The Gondoliers was still drawing the crowds at the Savoy, and there was a performance of The Golden Legend at Covent Garden. It is hard to think of another musical personality in the history of British music, other than Handel, who had dominated London in this way. The sheer breath and variety of invention in Ivanhoe is astonishing, and it is one of the most significant operatic works to have originated in Britain. It was written when Sullivan was at the height of his powers, with his typical fluency in word-setting and mastery of orchestration, and it breathes his natural empathy and humanity.  This is the first professional commercial recording of Ivanhoe, dedicated to Richard Hickox who was instrumental in bringing the work once again into the light.

His registrations are excellent and the detail of his part playing is first-class. Here is a rare collection, splendidly presented and recorded, which is very strongly recommended.' International Record Review on Iain Quinn and the album Czech Music for Organ (CHAN10463). Tender is the North presents a programme that offers a glimpse into the rich treasure trove of Scandinavian organ music. This fascinating selection of works from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden contains two premiere recordings written specifically for this programme and hitherto under-recorded gems such as Sibelius’s Intrada, Op.111a and Palmgren’s Preludes. This recording from Coventry Cathedral will prove a fascinating and rewarding collection for lovers of organ music and of music of the region.

Kathryn Stott is an internationally renowned specialist in Fauré’s piano music. BBC Music Magazine recently wrote, ‘Kathryn Stott reinforces her position as one of the finest Fauré interpreters of her generation’. For her involvement in ‘Fauré and the French Connection’ she was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government. She has long wished to record Fauré’s hauntingly beautiful two piano quartets, and has at last drawn together the ideal ensemble: the Hermitage String Trio, a group she has toured with on a number of occasions. The Strad recently wrote of the group, "This ensemble will do much to put more string trio repertory on the musical map" The quartets are presented with the solo piano work, Nocturne No.4; a unique combination and fresh interpretations, recorded in warm Chandos sound. Founded in 2004, The Hermitage String Trio soon established itself as among the finest ensembles of its type. Steeped in the renowned Russian tradition of string playing, the members of this European-based Russian trio possess a love of chamber music that shines through in their programmes.

Leading baritone and dramatic interpreter of his generation, Gerald Finley is an artist who sets alight the stage and delights the ear, whatever the role he portrays. His first arias disc, and first for Opera in English, follows several Gramophone Award-winning song recitals. Here he explores a broad range of repertory: old favourites (Don Giovanni, the 'Toreador' song from Carmen), hidden treasures and roles which he himself has created, among them J.Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’s highly acclaimed Doctor Atomic. English National Opera director Edward Gardner offers a great understanding of Opera in English and here conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in his debut on Chandos. Gerald Finley performs in La Boheme alongside Anna Netrebko at the NY Met from 14 February – 6 March, a production bound to be a hit in its cinema screenings.

Hamburg, 1674: to his contemporaries, the death of Matthias Weckmann seemed to herald the end of a glorious period. In his post as organist of the Jacobikirche since 1655, the composer had breathed new life into the city’s musical scene with his Collegium Musicum. Among his finest sacred works is an astonishing setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Wie liegt die Stadt so wüßte (How doth the city sit solitary). This haunting work is both pristinely evocative and immaculately structured, a credit to the influence of Weckmann's teacher, Heinrich Schütz, and the German musical tradition preceding J.S. Bach. It is scored for bass and soprano singers, a few strings, and organ continuo. The libretto is taken from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter 1, which speaks of the isolation of the city of Jerusalem: a poignant subject today.

After a critically acclaimed first disc devoted to Krenek's Lamentations of Jeremiah (HMG501551), RIAS Kammerchor now returns to one of its favourite composers. Ernst Krenek's journalism was banned during World War II and his music was targeted by the Nazis from 1933. The jazz variations on Jonny spielt auf were included in the 1938 Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich. Nonetheless, despite protests by conservatives and the fledgling Nazi party, that work was a great success in Krenek's lifetime, playing all over Europe and becoming so popular that even a brand of cigarettes was named ‘Jonny’ in honour of that fascinating character. In 1938 Krenek moved to the United States of America, where he taught music at various universities. He became an American citizen in 1945. In these striking motets, he explores the writings and darkly brilliant mind of Franz Kafka. This CD is a must for lovers of 20th-century music and literature.

Andreas Staier had enjoyed a career spanning a quarter of a century as one of the leading Baroque and Classical keyboard specialists before playing the Goldbergs in public: his first performance of the work was ten years ago. This is his first, long-awaited recording of this beloved masterpiece. Undoubtedly one of the most prominent harpsichord and forte piano performers in the world, his undisputable musical mastery has made its mark on the interpretation of Baroque, Classical and Romantic repertoire. His recent releases include Bach Early Keyboard Works (HMC901960). The story about the Goldbergs’ composition is worth retelling: Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, one of Bach's brightest pupils, was working for Count von Keyserlingk of Dresden, who suffered from insomnia. Goldberg sometimes played all night to soothe the count. Bach was asked to write ‘quiet’ and ‘somewhat cheerful’ music for this purpose and he responded to the challenge brilliantly.

Following the compelling stage production of The Four Seasons in which the orchestra joined forces with a dancer, the Akademie für Alte Musik re-recorded Vivaldi's most popular work in the studio: their first CD recording of The Four Seasons after decades at the forefront of Baroque performance. Although free from all choreographic intentions here, their interpretation was still profoundly influenced by this experience. The famous work is beautifully coupled with the lesser-known French Baroque jewel, The Elements by Jean-Fery Rebel.

American clarinetist Jon Manasse delivers a buoyant reading of the clarinet concertos by W.A. Mozart and Ludwig Spohr. Manasse receives nimble support from the Seattle Symphony led by Gerard Schwarz.  ‘At the centre was an absolutely first-rate clarinet soloist, Jon Manasse. He had the taste, the sound and the technique to project this most beguiling of wind instruments in one of its more beguiling repertory pieces’ – The New York Times

2010 sees the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth, and among the many celebratory recordings, this disc will stand out as an historic record of the composer’s extraordinary influence and legacy. Chopin’s unique style of piano writing was to utterly transform the way in which composers wrote for and thought about the instrument. Few escaped some aspect of that legacy until the early years of the twentieth century; and few pianists have not had Chopin’s music in their concert repertoire. Small wonder that so many composers and pianistcomposers—major and minor—have felt moved to pay their respects to a musician for whom there is almost universal approbation. A fascinating selection of hommages are represented here. Jonathan Plowright has recently been described as ‘one of the finest living pianists; the possessor of qualities that should no longer remain a secret’ (Gramophone). His formidable technique and musical integrity combine in a disc which is a must for any pianophile.

With choral music at the heart of the musical life of the Baltics it is not surprising that the medium has been a central preoccupation for many of their composers. A degree of isolation from international trends in new music meant that the centre of gravity for composers in the west of the Soviet Union was very different from that of their colleagues beyond the Iron Curtain. And while there is certainly no such thing as a pan- Baltic style—this recording offers only a glimpse of the choral riches to be found in these three tiny countries—all the composers on the disc share a number of characteristics: a sure-footed handling of choral orchestration, lucidity of texture, a fondness for cluster-chords and diatonically saturated harmony, and the frequent use of ostinatos. Stephen Layton has single-handedly brought many of these composers to the attention of audiences and choirs in the West—and through his sensitive and inspirational direction, has won many fans for this repertoire. Together with his brilliant young choir, who sing this repertoire with ‘passion and purity’, he is the ideal guide to this beautiful and enchanting music. Layton and the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge tour Australia with Musica Viva in 2010.

Stravinsky’s collaboration with the violinist Samuel Dushkin was a great artistic success, generating new works for the repertoire as well as arrangements of some of the composer’s most tuneful and popular works. Of these arrangements, Dushkin wrote that Stravinsky seemed ‘to go back to the essence of the music and rewrite or recreate the music in the spirit of the new instrument’. Reviewing the current performers in The Independent, Bayan Northcott writes that ‘these are no ordinary transcriptions. In reducing items from The Firebird or The Fairy’s Kiss to the violin and piano medium, Stravinsky rethought and respaced their every chord’. In the performing partnership of violinist Anthony Marwood and composer-pianist Thomas Adès, Hyperion has a combination that seems to reignite the original flames of inspiration, creation and re-creation.

The Cardinall’s Musick’s award-winning Byrd series reaches its final volume, which includes some of the composer’s most sublime music, drawn in the main from the 1591 Cantiones Sacrae collection. Throughout this series it has become evident that a comprehensive survey such as this shows the genius of the composer in a uniquely effective way: by demonstrating the extraordinary variety and unsurpassable quality of his musical and liturgical achievements. Andrew Carwood defines Byrd as the greatest composer of the age in his booklet note—as he writes: ‘If there is an English musician who comes close to Shakespeare in his consummate artistry, his control over so many genres and his ability to speak with emotional directness it must be William Byrd.’ The ‘title track’ of this volume, Infelix ego, is the crowning glory of Byrd’s achievement as a composer of spiritual works.

Lawrence Power, Britain’s acknowledged greatest living viola player, continues his fascinating and acclaimed series of Hindemith’s complete viola music. This second disc features Hindemith’s solo viola sonatas. These works were all written for Hindemith himself to perform, and are thus are of special significance—as near to a personal testament, an intimate soliloquy, as exists in his multifarious and genre-spanning output. The shadow of Bach lies over any composer writing a solo string sonata, and this is clear in the Passacaglia Op 11 No 5 Sonata, where Hindemith’s ultimate model is unmistakably the famous D minor Chaconne from Bach’s second violin partita. This ardent (and arduous) movement, a most impressive compositional feat, is the first example of a form which was to be one of Hindemith’s trademarks throughout his career, and it makes the Sonata something of a personal manifesto of artistic ambition.

Howard Shelley’s enchanting series of Spohr’s symphonies continues to inspire interest and delight in this underrated composer. By the time Spohr came to write his Third Symphony he was established in the top rank of contemporary composers. It is a richer, more romantic work than its two predecessors, both through its orchestration and the more plastic quality of its themes with their stronger flavour of poetic fantasy. It also moves a step further away from the classical ideal and nearer to a romantic freedom of form. The Sixth Symphony was written in an entirely new form—each movement in a different historical style. The styles imitated are filtered through Spohr’s imagination so giving the symphony its enduring fascination and providing it with a phoenix-like attribute of revival after each critical cremation.

This monumental work of French Romanticism is one of the essential landmarks in the career of any conductor. The quality of Berlioz’s orchestration and questions of timbre and the ideal instrumental forces lie at the core of the approach of Jos van Immerseel and Anima Eterna Brugge, who are increasingly drawn to French composers and especially to their precise, shimmering orchestral textures. Over long months of preparation, the musicians steeped themselves in Berlioz’s music, his Treatise on instrumentation and his Memoirs, and gradually formed an image of the construction of this masterpiece in which poetry, imagination, lyricism, rhythmic invention and evocative power form the basis of a purely Romantic language of great subtlety. The choice of period instruments (double basses from the period just after the instrument was modernised, French ‘omnitonic’ clarinets by Müller, ‘ordinary’ flutes from before the invention of the Boehm system, valved horns with crooks to avoid transposition, an Érard harp and more) and familiarity with Berlioz’s Treatise on instrumentation constitute the principal bases for the sound world of this interpretation, which is at once refined in its Classical style and haunted by the pungent timbres of the brass and of those diabolical clarinets, bells, and rattling death-march timpani. This set is beautifully packaged in a boxed set with striking cover art.

Pianist Imogen Cooper follows her critically acclaimed ‘Schubert Live'  Volume One (AV2156), with the second 2-CD release in her ongoing series of Schubert’s late piano music, recorded live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. The first volume was a runaway success both critically and commercially, particularly well received by the Australian press during her national Schubert and Mozart tour.  An already highly respected artist found her profile, both in the media and at retail, raised to new heights. Her selection for Volume Two reflects the public appetite, in the late 1820s, for shorter piano pieces, which resulted in Six Moments Musicaux, D780 and Four Impromptus, D935. These works also featured in Cooper's Australian recitals.

GRAMOPHONE EDITORS CHOICE. Glyndebourne Opera has a history of trendsetting and pioneering opera productions and Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore is no exception. Popular in Donizetti’s own lifetime, L’elisir faded into relative obscurity until the 1890s when Caruso championed the role of Nemorino his dedication and conviction such that Covent Garden, in 1902, arranged a production of the opera. In 1961, almost 60 years later, it was Glyndebourne who staged a production of L’elisir d’amore designed and directed by Franco Zeffirelli. This recording, released here for the first time, precedes Mirella Freni’s EMI recording of L’elisir d’amore with Nicolai Gedda as Nemorino in a Rome Opera production by some 5 years. In this recording, Freni has a cast of equals around her. Luigi Alva as the besotted Nemorino vividly portrays the wounded innocent with The Daily Telegraph noting in August 1962 that ‘Alva’s Nemorino is a wonderful combination of rustic clowning and exquisitely finished bel canto’, with Enzo Sordello a baritone voice big enough to fill a stadium, providing a fresh virile and bold Belcore. Conductor Carlo Felice Cillario enjoyed a 60 plus year career and is remembered for his masterful interpretations of Puccini, Verdi and Donizetti operas and stands as one of the most singer-friendly conductors of all time.

This CD captures the impassioned live performances of Brahms's first two symphonies conducted by the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski. Brahms took twenty one years to complete his First Symphony struggling under the expectation as the worthy sucessor to Beethoven, renowned for his mastery of the symphony. Though this may have hindered Brahms's speed, the result was worth waiting for, and the influence of Beethoven within this heroic work is undeniable. His Second Symphony, completed in just a few months, is one of pastoral lyricism. Australian concert-goers who enjoyed the LPO's triumphant national tour will delight in this new recording.

LSO Live welcomes Bernard Haitink back for his first recording with the LSO since his internationally acclaimed Beethoven cycle in 2006. Eine Alpensinfonie was recorded in June 2008 during Haitink’s Strauss/Mozart series with the LSO. In his Alpine Symphony Strauss recounts an attempt to conquer the summit of an Alpine mountain. He infuses the score with numerous instrumental colours and rich combinations of sounds, evoking the images and events that take place on the trek. It was to be one of his final large-scale orchestral works and shows the last great German Romantic composer at the pinnacle of his art.

'An outstanding performance of Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony. Rarely has the long haul to the summit seemed more purposeful. Haitink’s perfect control of the orchestral palette at sunrise and at dusk, as strands of colour rose out of and sank back into the dark monochrome contours, made this performance an incarnation of the music’s own metaphysical struggle and triumph' The Times

London was as diverse and multi-cultural in 1610 as it is today. On this live recording Carolyn Sampson and Matthew Wadsworth take you on a rich and colourful journey which embraces not only our own culture, but that of our European counterparts in Italy, France and Belgium, as well as a few surprises along the way. The eclectic programme draws on Robert Dowland’s A Musicall Banquet and Varietie of Lute Lessons, both published in 1610, although they venture back a few years to the masterpieces of John Dowland and Robert Johnson. Sitting beside Wadsworth (for songs by Johnson), and singing as much to him as to us, Sampson established a fireside confidentiality, using a folk-ballad tone with just the faintest hint of vibrato: her warm, open sound was arrestingly expressive. 'When Wadsworth brings on the theorbo, and the songs became darker, we were in a different realm. Sampson's "In Darkness Let Me Dwell" began as a sad exhalation, dramatically broadening in plangency before dying back again. For some rarely performed Monteverdi songs, she reminded us what a fabulous sound she can summon up, while Wadsworth brought out the fruits of his musicological research.' The Independent