Yiddish Charleston, Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn, Belz, Dona Dona, Momele, Kolomishka, Misirlou, Yingele Nit Veyn

From lullabies to jazz standards, from Yiddish theatre to musicals, Jewish migration during the Second World War yielded a flourishing, diverse musical culture like no other. Following the success of ABC Classic FM CD Of The Week, From the Shtetl to New York (AM173), the musicians of the Sirba Octet once again join forces with the all-singing, all-dancing Isabelle Georges and this time welcome a symphony orchestra into the fold. The result is a dazzling program of traditional Yiddish song enriched by the Broadway and modern orchestral textures.

Imperial March, Coronation March, Empire March

An elaborate pageant and theatrical presentation, The Crown of India was first staged in 1912 to celebrate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Delhi for their coronation as Emperor and Empress of India. Chandos presents the first complete recording of the masque (completed by Anthony Payne in 2008) with Clare Shearer and the 2009 Gramophone Award-winning Gerald Finley conducted by Sir Andrew Davis (newly signed to Chandos). The recording captures all the pomp and pageantry with which Elgar is associated. The work is presented on 2 CDs (for the price of a single CD): Disc 1 includes the entire masque with narration, whilst Disc 2 contains only the music and Marches. Sir Andrew’s fascination with Elgar runs deep: ‘This is from Elgar’s mature period, the time of the Violin Concerto and Sospiri. There’s a ‘March of the Moguls’ which is the only march I know in three time and an exquisite interlude with solo violin.’

Gedichte der Konigin Maria Stuart Op 135

‘I would like to sing myself to death like a nightingale’, wrote Schumann in 1840, revealing a sudden passion for the lied, a genre he had hitherto disdained. His deeply Romantic cycles disclose in the piano part what the words do not express, to the point where he completely dissolves the traditional forms of versification. Written in 1852 in a period of intense nervous suffering, the cycle of Poems of Queen Mary Stuart stands out for its austerity and exceptional concentration of resources; it might be seen as its composer’s testament. Bernarda Fink is one of the world’s most celebrated mezzo-sopranos, often compared with the legendary Janet Baker for her rich, focused tone. Her previous 2009 release for Harmonia Mundi (Bach Cantatas HMC902016) was an ABC Classic FM CD of the Week.

"No-one, but no-one performs Messiah better every year than the choir. Polyphony under the conductor Stephen Layton" (Evening Standard). Polyphony and Stephen Layton’s live Messiah at St John’s Smith Square has become one of the highlights of the London musical season. The joyful sincerity and urgent brilliance of the performers has brought the familiar story to life again and again. Now this wonderful experience is available on disc, recorded in 2008 for a new release that will surely prove a strong competitor in a necessarily crowded market. Polyphony is joined by the Britten Sinfonia and a quartet of magnificent young soloists, all variously acclaimed as the premier Handel singers of the new generation. Stephen Layton visits Australia in December 2009 to conduct The Messiah – a real Christmas treat.

String Quartet in A Major Op 41 No 3, Piano Quintet in E Flat Major Op 44

The peerless Takács Quartet, recently nominated for a Gramophone award for their second disc of Brahms’ string quartets, continue their fêted exploration of the Romantic chamber music tradition with this disc of Schumann. The Piano Quintet in E flat major is by far Schumann’s most popular chamber work and one of the most beloved works in the genre. Schumann was the first romantic composer to pair the piano with the string quartet. It was written during the composer’s ‘chamber music year’ (1842) when, ‘in the first happiness of reunion with the piano, his creative imagination took on a new lease of life’ (Joan Chisell, Robert Schumann). Schumann had been studying the string quartets of Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn, and the String Quartet in A major Op 41 No 3 demonstrates these influences, but is written in a characteristic musical language and contains many highly original strokes, particularly the casting of the Scherzo as a set of variations. The Takács Quartet are joined by Marc-André Hamelin in an invigorating partnership that has already been widely acclaimed on the concert platform.

Venezuela's unique system of music education takes children from violent slums and turns some of them into world-class musicians. "El Sistema" shows how Venezuelan visionary Jose Antonio Abreu has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children over the past three decades. This lyrical and moving documentary takes us from the rubbish dumps and barrios of Caracas to the world's finest concert halls. Children from streets dominated by the gun battles of gang warfare are taken into music schools, given access to music, and taught through the model of the symphony orchestra how to build a better society. Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier's film finds hope and joy in unlikely places. Watch the preview

APARTE | AP001 | CD | 0794881939428

Debussy Girl with the Flaxen Hair, Dvorak Song to the Moon, Grieg Solveig Song, Chopin Mazurka Op 67 No 4, Nocturne Op 9 No 2, Tchaikovsky Valse Sentimentale Op 51 No 6, Rachmaninov Vocalise, Satie Gymnopedie, Gnossienne No 1, Faure Pavane, After A Dream

Craig Leon's arrangements for Joshua Bell's best-selling album Romance of the Violin paved the way for this new CD of glorious, singing cello lines. With the cello often being described as the instrument whose sound is closest to the human voice, Swiss cellist Ophelie Gaillard here takes the lead in opera aria transcriptions (including the famous Song to the Moon and Puccini's 'O mio babbino caro') for cello and orchestra. Also featuring well known works by Satie, Faure, Debussy and Grieg, Leon and Gaillard's Dreams hears oft-heard melodies anew in serene yet sumptuous new arrangements.

BIS | BISSACD1801 | SACD | 7318599918013

Brich Dem Hungrigen dein Brot BWV39, Es wartet alles auf dich BWV187, Gelobet sei der Herr mein Gott BWV129, Sinfonia in D Major BWV1045

During the period from which these three cantatas date, Bach no longer presented an entirely new cantata of his own every Sunday. Instead he made extensive use of compositions by others, including his own second cousin Johann Ludwig Bach, court composer at Meiningen. In several instances, Bach also reused texts set by Johann Ludwig for his own compositions, including two of the cantatas here, Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot and Es wartet alles auf dich. Both follow a pattern which falls into two parts, with the opening text of each section being taken from the Old and the New Testament respectively. The third cantata, Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, is also unusual in its structure, with the first and fifth movement – resplendently scored with trumpets and timpani – utilizing the same hymn melody in very different ways.The disc closes with a movement for solo violin and orchestra, thought to be an opening sinfonia for an unknown cantata. With this disc the cantata series of Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki reaches its 45th instalment, to ever-growing acclaim, as exemplified by a recent review regarding Volume 42: ‘a recording which shows Suzuki maturing along with Bach … another fine instalment in this most consistent of series’ -International Record Review.

CANARY CLASSICS | CC07 | CD | 892118001075

Carmen Fantasy, Song of the Nightingale, Habanera, Zapateado, Zortzico, Romanza Andaluza, Capricho Vasco, Navarra for 2 Violins

Gil Shaham has a deep affinity and appreciation for the violin works of Pablo de Sarasate. Sarasate’s centenary year in 2008, presented Gil and his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, a welcome opportunity to dedicate numerous concert performances to this revered musician’s works. This included a concert at the Lincoln Center in New York, which was broadcast live on PBS (public television) in North America. Also as part of the year’s festivities was ‘Sarasateada’, a Sarasate Festival in Valladolid, in Sarasate’s native Spain, where this album was recorded. The legendary violinist and composer’s inspired works are enormously entertaining and irresistibly appealing, eloquently summarised by Adele as ‘his works being a culmination of melody, violinistic idiom and elegance, often evocative of his native Spain’. Gil rates him ‘as one of my great personal heroes. His style was always full of imagination, full of melody, always perfectly clean and concise.’

CHANDOS | CHAN10545 | CD | 095115154526

Transcriptions 3 Ballets - Khamma, La Boite a Joujoux, Jeux

Following his 2009 Gramophone Award-winning album (Volume 4, CHAN10497), Jean-Efflam Bavouzet reaches the climax of his complete Debussy Piano series, with an album of solo piano transcriptions of three ballets from the same period. Bavouzet believes 'the transcriptions can offer greater clarity and organisation of musical discourse. Young conductors have told me that they understood the score of Jeux better after hearing the version for two pianos… for those who do not know these three ballets in their orchestral version, this disc may give them the curiosity to explore the works further.’ This disc includes the delightfully charming, colourful ballet music for La boîte à joujoux ('The Toy Box') based on a children's story.

Sonata in E Flat Op 13, Sonata in F Minor Op 20, La Contemplazione Fantasia Piccolo in E Flat Op 107 No 3

‘Alexander-Max has an appreciation for Hummel’s writing that comes through clearly in her confident and skilful playing, and, although she easily could, she is careful not to grab the spotlight all for herself.’ -All Music Guide. Susan Alexander-Max is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, whose previous recording of chamber music by Hummel was awarded top ratings from BBC Music Magazine and was received throughout the world to outstanding critical acclaim. She performs these rarely recorded sonatas on a Joseph Brodmann fortepiano built in Vienna in 1814, the first time they have been recorded on a period instrument. During his stay in Vienna between 1811 and 1816, Johann Nepomuk Hummel very probably knew and played the Brodmann pianofortes, identical to the one in the collection at the Museé de la musique where the performances were recorded.

Birtwistle Endless Parade, Roger Concerto Grosso No 1, Arutunian Trumpet Concerto, Jost Pieta in Memoriam Chet Baker

Philippe Schartz is one of the most exciting trumpeters about today. He has developed a highly successful career as an orchestral and chamber musician as well as a soloist. As Principal Trumpet of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, until summer 2002, and in his student days with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra he has performed, to much critical acclaim, with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez and Bernard Haitink. In this contemporary programme, Schartz explores some of the most thrilling concertos in the trumpet repertoire in a combination of very different original compositions. Of 'Endless Parade', critic Rian Evans writes, ‘the exquisite poise that Birtwistle achieves was certainly realised... with Schartz’s brilliant playing rivalling that of its first executor, Hardenberger.’ In stark constrast Pietà by German composer Christian Jost emphasizes the different sound qualities of the trumpet. This is a strong link and stunning lament to the style of the late jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, and the work is dedicated to him. The 1938 Concerto Grosso No.1 by Kurt Roger is one of the earliest 20th-century concertos, and a gem for the original trumpet repertoire. Both works receive their premiere recording.

Chamber Symphony, Sinfonietta Nos 1-2, Sinfonia Piccolo

Through his quest to revive the work of this previously much-maligned Neoclassicist composer, The Melbourne Symphony's Oleg Caetani has become synonymous with Tansman. He once again provides us with defining interpretations in this, the fourth and final volume. The interest in this series has won Tansman many new admirers and led to more recordings of his music. International Record Review wrote of Volume 1, ‘After hearing this spectacularly engineered new SACD, I really do believe that Alexandre Tansman’s time has come… there’s no need to hesitate over Oleg Caetani’s performances’, while Fanfare wrote of Volume 2, ‘Oleg Caetani and his down-under musicians give this hair-raisingly impetuous but always disciplined music the strongest possible advocacy… This CD is the best possible introduction to a composer who deserves far wider exposure’.

Based on Schiller’s play, Verdi’s magnificent and arguably greatest opera, Don Carlos, has everything – intense personal passion and pain, enmeshed in the web of political and religious agendas – utterly relevant today and superbly expressed in a score of gripping intensity. This performance from Leeds Town Hall by Opera North in May 2009 offers the first recording of Don Carlos in English and was met with critical acclaim. The Observer opined, ‘The work came alive as never before, its passionate exchanges between king, son, stepmother and loyal friend all the more incandescent, an endorsement for the Peter Moores Foundation “Opera in English” series on Chandos, who record this Don Carlos for future release’, while The Spectator declared Richard Farnes ‘the best Verdian of our time.’ Australian tenor Julian Gavin takes the title role.

CORO | COR16073 | CD2 | 828021607325

Handel Messiah Hallelujah Chorus, Tallis Spem In Alium, Faure Pie Jesu, Allegri Miserere, Tavener The Lamb, Bach Cantata BWV147, Britten Advance Democracy, Mozart Ave Verum Corpus, Victoria Ave Maria, Lotti Crucifixus

A collection of some of the most celebrated recordings from Harry Christophers and his award-winning ensemble (Gramophone 2009 Artist of the Year). Equally appealing to fans of The Sixteen and those who are new to the group, this disc provides a definitive collection of familiar classics and lesser-known treasures, including Tallis' Spem In Alium, Allegri's Miserere, Tavener's The Lamb, and Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. Always Sublime…Always Captivating…Always The Sixteen.

HARMONIA MUNDI | HMU907495 | CD | 093046749521

Palestrina, Byrd, Stainer, Britten, Vaughan Williams, Warlock, Grayston Ives

Bill Ives leads the famed Choir of Magdalen College Choir in this selection of choral favorites for Advent and Christmas. The music on this recording ranges from quiet reflection and anticipation to the excitement and celebration of the birth of Jesus and the coming of the Wise Men. Magdalen College is one of the oldest choral foundations in England, with an unbroken tradition stretching back to 1480.The Choir retains much the same shape as it had in the 15th century, with 16 boy Choristers (educated at Magdalen College School) and 12 adult Academical Clerks (undergraduates of the College).

‘In such repertoire Goerne’s mellow, darkly rounded timbre, expressive diction and care for a true, ‘bound’ line are well nigh ideal.’ –Gramophone. ‘Even the lesser Schubert Lieder become gems from Goerne’s velvet baritone.’ –The Times.
‘Matthias Goerne is fast becoming the Fischer-Dieskau auf his generation, the standard-setting singer of the central lieder repertoire.’ –International Record Review. This CD includes a bonus 'making of' DVD documentary.

Libertango, Angel Suite, Decarisimo, Soledad, Michelangelo 70, Invierno porteno, Gordon Augmented Tango, Milonga Bourgeois, When Churchyards Yawn, El Desposeido

More than any other composer since J.S. Bach, Astor Piazzolla achieved the ultimate synthesis of the musical influences acting upon him – from Bach to jazz to classical music of his contemporaries – while remaining true to his Argentine roots. In this intriguing programme, London Concertante travels “beyond” Piazzolla classics and introduces four newly written works by David Gordon and Adam Summerhayes that pay homage to the master.

HELIOS | CDH55317 | CD | 034571153179

Padilla Lamentation for Maundy Thursday, Mirabilia Testimonia, Salve Regina, Deus in Adiutorium, Franco Salve Regina, Capillas Alleluia Dic nobis Maria, Magnificat

'If like me, your knowledge of Mexican music was previously, shall we say undeveloped, you may similarly be stunned by the treasures unveiled here' –The Music Magazine. 'This is a magnificent recording. Pure Mexican gold' – Gramophone.

Little is known about Léonin beyond the fact that he seems to have had a bent for composing erotic poetry. The somewhat unhelpfully named 'Anonymous IV', a monk from Bury St Edmunds, tells us of two 'masters'—Leoninus and Perotinus—who dominated the twelfth-century musical world. Both were reputedly based at Notre Dame in Paris, and Leoninus was responsible for the Magnus liber organi, the 'Big Book of organum' (an organum being a polyphonic setting of plainchant), which is widely regarded as the single greatest achievement in the development of early polyphony. For the technically minded, this is music of great complexity, involving interwoven usage of such styles as organum per se, duplum, clausula, and discantus (terms which even medieval theorists took great pleasure in dissecting in an attempt to define their function). For the rest of us, this is music of fascinating beauty: a combination of the static tranquillity of the plainchant and the florid ornamentation of the 'composed' elements—which have something of the feel of nineteenth-century coloratura six hundred years before its time.

HYPERION | CDS4440110 | CD10 | 034571144016

Taverner Missa Corona Spinea, Missa O Michael, Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas, The Western Wynde Mass, Other Masses, Mundy Videte miraculum, Vox Patris caelestis, Adolescentulus sum ego, Sheppard Missa Cantate, The Western Wynde Mass, Libera nos salva nos, Ga

When The Sixteen embarked upon their recording career back in 1982, few would have been able to predict quite how successful they would become, or how far they would go towards rehabilitating the little-known and barely recorded music of these four master composers of the sixteenth century. In this their 30th anniversary year, we join them in celebrating a Golden Age of Polyphony, and of music-making, by presenting their twelve discs of this repertoire in an attractively packaged (and priced) 10-CD remastered set.

A genuinely outstanding disc in the Romantic Piano Concerto series. Sometimes the works found along the unfrequented byways of the Romantic piano tradition can exhibit no more than surface brilliance, but that cannot be said of these two splendid concertos by Stenhammar, recorded for the first time together on one CD. The original orchestration of Stenhammar’s Piano Concerto No 1 is recorded here: a version which was long thought lost when the publishers were bombed during the second world war – a copy of the original was discovered in the Library of Congress in 1983. The twenty-two year old’s Opus 1 is a masterpiece, majestic and virtuosic at its opening; bringing the listener into a world of Nordic mystery at the start of the third movement; the finale ending with music of sad, reflective sweetness. The second concerto is a distinctly different work, with an novel, some have said ‘improvised’, structure, and a sense of tension between soloist and orchestra which is only resolved in the glorious virtuosic finale. Hyperion is delighted to present the distinguished musician Andrew Manze in his new incarnation as a conductor. Directing the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, he is truly a force to be reckoned with. Pianist Seta Tanyel has featured on previous RPC recordings, always gaining the highest critical acclaim; however her magnificent playing on this new disc transcends her previous achievements.

The recent revival of York Bowen’s music, very much spearheaded by Hyperion, has spawned a plethora of new recordings of his compositions, and won him many new admirers. Among the new releases, this disc of Bowen’s piano sonatas is a uniquely important collection. It contains three premiere recordings, including two recordings of previously unpublished sonatas performed (with special permisson) from the manuscripts. It is thus the first ever recording of the complete sonatas – an unmissable opportunity for piano enthusiasts. Hyperion is delighted to welcome back the young virtuoso Danny Driver who was enthusiastically acclaimed for his masterly, stylish and technically dazzling performances of Bowen’s Third and Fourth Piano Concertos, and described as an ideal performer of these works.

Concerto for String Orchestra, Sinfonietta, Symphony for String Orchestra, Music for Strings Trumpets and Percussion

This new disc from the New London Orchestra under Ronald Corp showcases the work of Grazyna Bacewicz (1909–1969), whose centenary is celebrated this year. It contributes greatly to the knowledge of her music outside her native Poland, where she is still an important and well-loved cultural figure, one of those who led to Polish music becoming one of the main contributors to European culture in the second half of the twentieth century. It contains the premiere recordings of both the Sinfonietta and the Symphony for string orchestra. Bacewicz was one of the most significant composers of the mid-twentieth-century, with strong roots in the culture of Paris, where she studied both composition and violin in the early 1930s. Her most striking music is that which draws on her experience of the neoclassicism of inter-war France. She emphasizes neoclassicism’s vitality and clarity while at the same time giving it a combination of delicacy and muscularity which is all her own. While she demonstrates both wit and joie de vivre, her music is never frivolous.

Oculus Non Vidit, Ave Maria No 3, Miserere Mei, Duo Seraphim, Felix namque es, Stetit Angelus, Gloria Patri, Hodie Christus Natus Est, Ubi Caritas, Ave Maria No 1

Rihards Dubra, born in Riga in 1964, spent his early years under a Soviet regime for which any public performances of sacred music constituted religious propaganda and were not permissible. During his studies with Adolfs Skulte at the Latvian State Conservatory, Dubra began to test the boundaries of political acceptance in the last remaining years of Soviet rule. He has now emerged from the largely secular tradition of choral music-making in Latvia as a distinctive voice, that of a composer devoting himself exclusively to the composition of sacred music. The purity of this endeavour is one that Dubra has admired in the work of so-called ‘holy minimalists’ such as Arvo Pärt and John Tavener. Dubra prefers to describe his own music as ‘a style of meditation’—one instilled with the essence of the Middle Ages ‘through the view of a man who lives in the twentieth century’. This recording represents a selection of pieces, from early experimentation to fully formed style—a style that fuses minimalism and neo-romantic melodies with the inflections and philosophy of Gregorian, Medieval and Renaissance music. The Choir of Royal Holloway is directed by Rupert Gough in this their debut recording for Hyperion.

Thomas Arne was one of the great survivors of eighteenth-century theatrical life: in his early twenties he put on an unauthorized production of Acis and Galatea that prodded Handel into taking English seriously as a language for theatrical works. It should therefore come as no surprise that in the three years from 1759 he has three smash hits of his own, each an original masterpiece that effectively created a new genre. Artaxerxes, the second of these, was the first attempt to set a full-blown opera seria libretto in English. The story of the rebellious captain of the guard's attempts to usurp the Persian throne in the fifth century BC had captured the attention of several composers, but Arne's opera particularly successful because it was an excellent vehicle for great singing.

KML RECORDS | KML1120 | CD | 8033712871202

Embryons Desseches, Next-To-Last Thoughts, Veritables Preludes Flasques for a Dog

Katia and Marielle Labèque’s first recording of the music of maverick composer Erik Satie Satie was a fascinating and intriguing composer, and one to whom Katia and Marielle Labèque have always been attracted. For their first recording of his music, the piano superstars have deliberately chosen the best-known pieces, those which, after having been thundered against when first they appeared before a public, are now in constant demand a hundred years later. After having taken it in turns to interpret his seminal Gymnopédies, “ancient dances for naked children”, Katia and Marielle divide the other pieces amongst themselves in harmony with their respective temperaments. Marielle, with her clear-sightedness and finely struck notes, chooses the eye-opening musical snapshots Sports and Games, and the task of demonstrating that the Genuine Floppy Preludes (for a Dog) will be in no way floppy or limp in her hands. As for the dreamier Katia, she plunges into the spiralling depths of the Gnossiennes where - as in any labyrinth drawn from the myth of the Minotaur at Gnosse, or Knossos - the winding ways that seem to lead outside inevitably take you round and round. Watch the mini-documentary

Sting Moon Over Bourbon Street, Shape Of My Heart, Radiohead Exit Music, Kate Bush Meditation from Wuthering Heights

Pianist Katia Labèque is one of the most acclaimed classical musicians of our day, an artist whose breathtaking virtuosity and dazzling live performances have seen her garner respect from all corners of the musical spectrum. As well as her legions of fans across the globe, Katia’s friends and admirers in high places range from Madonna, who cites her as one of her “favourite pianists in the world”, to Miles Davis, who dedicated two songs to her on his 1985 album You’re Under Arrest (‘Katia Prelude’ and ‘Katia’). In addition to experiencing considerable success as one half of classical duo The Labèque Sisters, Katia’s seemingly endless enthusiasm for new music has led to past collaborations with artists as diverse as Sting, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. Shape Of My Heart is a fascinating album that brings together a selection of these collaborations alongside brand new recordings of the music of Satie, Chopin and Radiohead. The album opens with two of Sting’s compositions, Moon Over Bourbon Street and Shape Of My Heart; the singer’s bold emotion combining with Labèque’s refined but assertive lyricism to excellent effect. Watch the mini-documentary

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA | LPO0042 | CD2 | 854990001420

Rarely heard in concert and even more rarely recorded, the Requiem by Antonín Dvorák captured on this CD from a live concert seems a near-forgotten masterpiece. Dvorák scholar Gervase Hughes cites this work for four soloists, chorus and orchestra as one of the composer’s finest sacred creations, ‘a deeply moving expression of faith on the part of a composer whose religious conviction never wavered’. It’s a conviction stamped through the composer’s illuminating, fervent score. Australian concert-goers who experienced the great British orchestra live in October 2009 will relish the opportunity to hear this performance of a magnificent choral masterpiece.

LSO LIVE | LSO0191 | CD4 | 822231119128

For the first time, Sir Colin Davis’s acclaimed LSO Live recordings of Sibelius’s symphonies appear together as a 4CD set. Sibelius is one of the composers with whom Sir Colin has been most closely associated throughout his career. His LSO Live recordings of the symphonies were made between 2002 and 2008 and have collected numerous awards. All seven symphonies, plus Sibelius’s early symphonic poem Kullervo, are packaged on 4 CDs in a beautifully designed box together with extensive notes and the complete text for Kullervo.

MARIINSKY | MAR0503 | SACD | 822231850328

Moscow Cantata, Marche Slave, Coronation March, Danish Overture

This collection features popular and rarely-heard works by Tchaikovsky, including the mighty 1812 Overture, a perennial favourite. Unlike the majority of his Russian predecessors, Tchaikovsky’s fame meant he received regular commissions for new work – he was the first ‘professional’ Russian composer. A new generation followed in his footsteps including Stravinsky and Prokofiev; for them, commissions were the norm. Many of the works for which Tchaikovsky was commissioned were required to celebrate great state and political events. The Danish Overture was written to mark the marriage of the future Tsar Alexander III to the Danish Princess Dagmar. He was later commissioned to to produce the rarely heard Moscow Cantata and Coronation March as part of the celebrations to mark Alexander’s coronation.

NAIVE | V5188 | CD | 822186051887

Reissue of the best-selling Los Impossibles: Spanish and Mexican Baroque music never sounded so fresh, so vital or so moving as on this astonishing release, now with new arwork and packaging and four bonus tracks, including a sultry Baroque-jazz fusion of the jazz standard Caravan! Here are songs of love, celebration and mourning that reverberate through the centuries.

Strauss R German Motets Op 62, Two Songs Op 43

Following their Gramophone nomination for a stunning Fauré Requiem disc (V5167), Accentus and Laurence Equilbey team with the Latvian Radio Choir for the ambitious masterpiece that is the Deutsche Motette, the peak of Straussian choral art.The German Motet is rarely performed or recorded because of the technical feats it requires of its interpreters. It calls for seasoned professional singers with keen ears, an extended vocal range, and absolute security of pitch. The overall compass spans four complete octaves, from the bottom C of the basses to the sopranos’ top D flat. In spite of clear tonal reference points, the web of harmonic turbulance, modulations, enharmonics and chromaticism remains entirely unsupported by instrumental accompaniment throughout this long composition (around twenty minutes). One must marvel at its instrumental character, with its progressive superimpositions of voices, dovetailings, contrasts, and above all its sonorous dynamics.

ONDINE | ODE11465 | SACD | 0761195114650

Olli Mustonen crowns his acclaimed cycle of complete Beethoven concertos with recordings of the famous Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos. He performs these virtuoso works simultaneously as pianist and conductor – a demanding practice in line with Beethoven’s intentions, rarely experienced in today’s concert life or on disc. Mustonen develops his visionary approach to these works together with the renowned chamber orchestra Tapiola Sinfonietta. The two earlier installments of the series have been hailed by the international press as 'thoroughly refreshing and convincing' - International Piano Magazine.

Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca, Overture

Star conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, who returns to Australia in November 2009 to lead Sydney Symphony in his Prokofiev Festival, is known as a great champion of Czech as well as Russian music. This release follows the great success of his acclaimed recording of Suk's Asrael Symphony (Gramophone Editor's Choice) and pays tribute to Bohuslav Martinu on the 50th anniversary of his death. The fourth Piano Concerto, subtitled Incantation, has been described by US journalist David Hurwitz as 'one of the 20th century's most exciting and unusual scores for piano and orchestra', while Frescos of Piero della Francesca remains one of Martinu's most performed works.

CHRISTOPHER NUPEN FILMS | A10CND | DVD | 814446010062

These two pioneering Tchaikovsky films featuring Vladimir Ashkenazy are unusual in that they do not use actors to represent the composer but are made entirely of Tchaikovsky’s own words and music and the words of a few of his closest companions. The result gives an exceptionally intimate picture of the inner landscape of Tchaikovsky’s work and artistic obsessions. They are essential viewing for Tchaikovsky fans. The first film, Tchaikovsky’s Women (70'15"), explores the women both in his private life and in his early music. Almost all of his best early work was inspired by deep identification with the plight of his suffering young heroines, an identification so complete that it spilled over repeatedly into his personal life with dramatic consequences: on one occasion leading to attempted suicide. The second film, Fate (85'35"), looks at Tchaikovsky’s strange relationship with Nadezhda von Meck, the most important attachment of his life, after his mother, while also following his increasing concern with the idea of fate as a controlling influence in his own life and as a motivating force in his later symphonies. Christopher Nupen ('king of the music documentary') and Vladimir Ashkenazy have been close friends since the sixties and have made several films together.

EUROARTS DVD | 2057758 | DVD | 880242577580

Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker Op 71, Stravinsky The Rite of Spring, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3,

Every year, the Berlin Philharmonic holds a kind of classical-music fête with a bright, cheerful concert to end the season. In 2009 about 22,000 people had come together at the Berlin Waldbühne to enjoy the traditional summer picnic concert. The theme of the evening was “Russian Rhythms”, and star conductor Sir Simon Rattle, the BPO and Yefim Bronfman, one of the most famous pianists in the world today, presented a superb selection of Russian music.

REPERTOIRE:
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, op. 71, Overture, The Christmas Tree, March, Pas de deux (Intrada) Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op. 30 Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps Lincke: Berliner Luft

OPUS ARTE DVD | OA1033D | DVD3 | 809478010333

Recorded live at the Bayreuth Festival in Summer 2009, this production marks the beginning of an exciting new long-term partnership between the Bayreuth Festival and Opus Arte. The prestigious music festival takes place each year in northern Germany in a theatre that Wagner himself personally supervised the design and construction of. The festival has become a pilgrimage destination for Wagner enthusiasts, who often have to wait up to ten years to obtain a ticket! Katarina Wagner, the great-grand daughter of Richard Wagner, is currently co-director of the festival together with her sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier. Tristan und Isolde was first performed in 1865 and provided inspiration to many composers including Mahler, Strauss, Szymanowski and Berg. It is widely acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertoire, and has been performed regularly since is premiere. This production, by renowned director Christoph Marthaler, stars leading Wagner exponents Robert Dean Smith and Iréne Theorin in the title roles, supported by the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Peter Schneider.

TONY PALMER FILMS | TPDVD152 | DVD | 604388727308

Rachmaninov's passionate music is more popular today than it has ever been. This 100-minute documentary, filmed in Russia, Switzerland and America, made with the full participation of the composer's grandson, celebrates the life and work of a remarkable musician and composer of genius who, forced into exile in 1917, became the greatest pianist of his day. Featuring soloists Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Mikhail Pletnev (with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado, and his own Russian National Orchestra), and Nikolai Putilin. The Kirov Orchestra and Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg (with which Rachmaninov was intimately associated) are conducted by Valery Gergiev. Tony Palmer's film, with Rachmaninov's own words spoken by Sir John Gielgud, is a unique and loving insight into a world long gone, but definitely not forgotten.