Music is the key

The French mezzo-soprano, Karine Deshayes, obtained a degree in Literature and Music at the Paris Sorbonne University. She then studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (Paris) with Mireille Alcantara. She has explored the baroque repertoire with specialists such as Emmanuelle Haïm, Christophe Rousset, William Christie, Il Seminario Musicale and Les Paladins. Karine Deshayes was awarded first prize at the "Voix d'Or" 2001 and the "Voix Nouvelles" 2002 competitions. She was also nominated for the "discovery of the year" in the "Artiste Lyrique" category at the "Victoires de la Musique Classique " 2002. Karine Deshayes is sponsored by The Singer's Development Foundation.  Karine Deshayes is one of the greatest Rossini singers on the international opera stage. In this first solo album, featuring excerpts from some of his most beautiful works, she traces the different stages in Rossini's life . ...

Sony Classical pre-releases Roots today exclusively in Sweden in advance of next week’s premiere performances of “Genesis” in Stockholm with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. The album, which is Martin Fröst’s first recording on the Sony label is set for international release on 29 January 2016. The stunning new recording and concert programme created by Martin features a kaleidoscope of repertoire ranging 2000 years, tracing the evolution of music through a continuous soundscape. ”The listener will search long and hard to find works and performances like these in which folk music, a religious atmosphere and an avant-garde technique are combined to create such inspired music for our age” writes Wolfgang Sander of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in the booklet note. Describing the programme – in which Martin features as both soloist and conductor – he comments “My sound-world journey travels through the sources of classical repertoire , and d...

This disc by the ever-outstanding Akademie für Alte Musik, Berlin, features "alternate universe" Johann Sebastian Bach concertos and includes a wholly new reconstruction of the Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052R, by the Akademie's concertmaster Midori Seiler . Whereas earlier reconstructions, of which there are several, used Bach's own harpsichord arrangement of the now-lost violin original, as her point of departure Seiler has pressed into service Bach "Son Number 2's" slightly earlier harpsichord arrangement of about 1734. Ironically, the younger Bach's ineptitude in converting the violin part into an effective keyboard solo has, for Seiler, provided additional clues to its true nature. Certainly this is a very effective rendering of what Bach's original might have sounded like, and Seiler's own performance of the solo part is a passionate and winning outing that will make one forget about such m...

This statement by Bach's biographer Philipp Spitta to sum up the Ciaconna in Partita No. 2 in D minor is in fact true of the entire Sei solo cycle. The sublimity and originality of these compositions can never be emphasised enough. Johann Sebastian Bach extravagantly draws on his rich fund of musical idiom to create harmonies and tone colours that reveal his masterstroke: by applying rigidly entrenched rules he gives free rein to the creative spirit. The rules of "pure composition", which until this cycle were applied only in large-scale polyphonic works for ensembles and in choral and keyboard works, are now being imposed by Bach on the little four-stringed violin in an uncompromising and, at times, awe-inspiring manner. Did I become a violinist to play Bach's solo works or do I play Bach's solo works in order to be a violinist? All I can say for sure is that my inner urge to play and master these pieces has been my motivation...

Now in her second year as a BBC New Generation Artist, Esther Yoo first came to international attention in 2010 when, aged 16, she became the youngest prizewinner of the 10th International Sibelius Violin Competition. In 2012, the American-Korean violinist was also one of the youngest ever prizewinners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition.  In 2015/16, Esther returns to the Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and Kansai Philharmonic orchestras and Orchestre National de Lille. She debuts with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, RTÉ Symphony, Iceland Symphony and KBS Symphony orchestras. Esther also revisits South America, following her successful tour with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy last season, performing with Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia and Filarmonica de Jalisco. Chamber music highlights include her Wigmore Hall debut with regular collaborator Zhang Zuo, and recitals in Oslo, Liverpool and Istanbul. Last season, Esthe...

Canadian-born French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras has been the featured cello soloist for the Ensemble InterContemporain for some time and appeared in this role on DGG's 1992 recording of Pierre Boulez's the Ligeti Cello Concerto with that ensemble. Queyras, however, doesn't just make contact to new music through composers who come through IRCAM, but also seeks it out on his own; Harmonia Mundi's 21st Century Cello Concertos combines three such commissions from composers Bruno Mantovani, Philippe Schoeller, and Gilbert Amy. When approaching this disc, one must be prepared for the reality that in Europe much "new music" of the twenty first century sounds like that of the twentieth, particularly the new music of the 1960s and '70s. While there are those, like Nicolas Bacri for example, who are finding ways to move on, these composers are in a sense defined by the degree to which they orbit the core experimental literature of the '60s, with Mantovani cycl...

French cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton is no stranger to developing projects that take her beyond the traditional repertoire; other CDs of her transcriptions include Chants juifs and Chants d'est: Songs from Slavic Lands. Here she juxtaposes her arrangements for three cellos of Monteverdi madrigals (some of which were made with Franck Krawczyk) with excerpts from Giacinto Scelsi's massive trilogy, The Three Ages of Man for solo cello. The Monteverdi selections are not from among his greatest hits, and divorced from the texts that the music so vividly illustrates, they come across as strangely abstract, more closely related to the sound world of Scelsi's modernism than it would have been possible to imagine. The Vita (Life) of the album's title is presented largely as a darkly meditative and sometimes disturbingly grim prospect; the tone is for the most part subdued, contemplative, and mysterious, with moments, particularly in the Scelsi, that erupt into angst a...

Mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter is an artist who continues to amaze with the undiminished luster and beauty of her voice, the depth and daring of her interpretation, and her commitment to exploring unfamiliar repertoire. Sogno Barocco is a recital of Italian songs , scenas, and operatic solos and duets drawn from the early to middle Baroque era. It's a mix of familiar pieces like Monteverdi's solo madrigal Si dolce è'l tormento, and "Pur ti miro" from L'incoronazione di Poppea and some real rarities (not to say oddities) such as Luigi Rossi's eccentric, starkly dramatic Lamento della regina di suezia, and Francesco Provenzale's even stranger, highly entertaining parody of it, Squarciato appena havea. Von Otter brings a lifetime of experience and probing intelligence to this intensely expressive repertoire, yet her voice is youthfully fresh and radiant, making for performances of unusual depth and vocal loveliness. Her dramatic sensib...

Fabrizio Chiovetta studied the piano and music theory at the Superior Conservatory of Geneva, his hometown. He obtained piano and writing diplomas in as well as the City of Geneva’s Adolphe Neumann Prize, an award bestowed upon particularly distinguished artists. He pursued his education with Dominique Weber at the Tibor Varga Academy in Sion until he obtained his Soloist Diploma in 2003 with the highest level of distinction. He has regularly worked with John Perry, Marc Durand and Paul Badura-Skoda - notably on the classical Viennese repertoire on original instruments - and has participated in the Master Classes of Gyorgy Sebok, Julian Martin, Yoheved Kaplinsky and Irwin Gage for the Lied. Recipient of the Göhner Foundation scholarship in 1999, he received the Audience Award at the Klaviersommer Festival (Cochem, Germany) in 2001 for his interpretation of Mozart. He has won the New Talents (Genoa, 2002) and the Orpheus (Zurich, 2003) competitions and has received the Honorary Menti...

This is Angela Hewitt’s first foray into Scarlatti on disc but she hopes there will be more. Sixteen down…539 to go! The ones we have here have been thoughtfully programmed so each is heard to the best advantage. Her booklet-notes are personal and engaging and, as ever, she wears her learning lightly. With so much experience playing music of the Baroque, you’d expect something highly personal from Hewitt. Even in a sonata as well known as the lilting Kk9, we hear it afresh, with no turn of phrase going unconsidered. In the bustling Kk159, replete with horn calls, she reveals as much interest in the inner parts as in the outer ones. Comparisons with other pianists are fascinating because they show how many different interpretative approaches these pieces can take. Hewitt’s view of Kk69 is relatively spacious, Romantic almost; Anne Queffélec is quite a bit faster here; but then turn to Marcelle Meyer and it’s quicker still, with an inevitability to her beautifully m...

B rahms planned his First Piano Concerto as a sonata for two pianos, but the music’s stormy grandeur soon needed bigger forces. He dreamed of composing a symphony, but the Beethoven’s shadow loomed too large, so the concerto plays out a massive wrangle: an intense, self-questioning young artist meets the corpulent orchestral sound of Brahms’s future symphonies. Some pianists go one way or the other in interpretation; Paul Lewis masterfully spans both . His account has clarity, muscle and steely pride, but also intimacy, vulnerability and volatility: the combination is magnetic. Conductor Daniel Harding goes for full-out symphonic bulk from the start and his Swedish orchestra sounds hearty and brooding – fuzzier-edged than Lewis’s metallic attack, but generally the partnership works. As a bonus, Lewis plays Brahms’s four Ballades Op 10; quiet, urgent and full of singing lines. ( Kate Molleson / The Guardian)

"If music be the food of love, play on,/ Give me excess of it,” commands Duke Orsino in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. And to celebrate today’s 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death, Rufus Wainwright has obliged, decking out a selection of sonnets in a dazzling array of musical genres from high opera, through grungey rock, sweet Seventies pop, minimalist piano ballads, world trance and Berlin cabaret. Those who have always found the Canadian singer-songwriter’s baroque pop over-egged and theatrical must suspect this is the album which will clinch their argument. Even as a fan, I read the list of contributors with a mixture of excitement and concern: Siân Phillips, Florence Welch, Carrie Fisher, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Eyre and – yikes! – William Shatner? Had Wainwright boldly gone too far this time? N ot at all. All My Loves turns out to be a box of delights: an album whose constantly shifting moods, romantic melodies and sly twists of musical wit are a perfect fit f...

Is there really any need for yet another recording of Mozart’s sonatas? Is it still possible to say something new when playing these compositions while maintaining respect for the score and for the composer’s indications? If Mozart were alive today, would he prefer to perform his sonatas on a fortepiano of the time or on a modern piano? These are questions to which it is not possible to give an unequivocal answer, but on which I have reflected a great deal, also profiting from the availability of the sources and of many recent philological studies. In the letter to his father cited earlier, written on 17 October 1777, Mozart declared his enthusiasm for a new Stein piano that he had tried out, which was provided with a rudimentary system for working the dampers (corresponding to the right pedal on modern instruments). Referring to the sonata in D he said that it “has an incomparable effect on Stein's pianos. The pedals, pressed by the knees, are also better made by ...

  There is really very little that need be said about these virtuoso performances of these two sweetly melodious concertos except to record that they are played as brilliantly as one would expect and that the sound is full and warm. Perlman has recorded Wieniawski's No. 2 before on HMV, as can be seen; possibly he has now an even silkier demeanour with it. It is perhaps this quality that leads me to prefer his playing above Chung's rather more forceful manner in the Saint-Saens (Decca). Perlman is particularly elegant in the slow movement of the Wieniawski, and of course he never makes the mistake of trying to inflate either work to the status of masterpiece. Gramophone [1/1984] reviewing the original LP

According to Newsweek magazine, Russian -born cellist Nina Kotova “ is a fantastically gifted cellist. Very expressive, imaginative... she has a powerful stage presence”. Time magazine states: “She is a musician of high seriousness and real talent”. She has been the subject of numerous features in Vogue, Elle, Hello, The Sun day Telegraph and the Wall Street Journal. Nina Kotova has appeared on the covers of Classic FM, Gramophone China, Il Venerdi Italia and Reader's Digest and on television on A&E’s “Breakfast with the Arts” and the “Charlie Rose Show”.  Nina Kotova studied at the Moscow Conservatory and the Musikhochschule in Cologne, giving her first performance as a soloist with orchestra at the age 11 and graduating summa cum laude. She made her Western debut at the Wigmore Hall, performed at the Barbican Centre in London in 1996 and made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1999, after which she released her chart -topping debut album for Philips Classics.  ...

Born into a family of musicians in 1985, Vassilena Serafimova is the first Bulgarian percussionist to be awarded the Second Prize of the 56th ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the First Prize of the Fifth World International Marimba Competition in Stuttgart. She won the Grand Prix of the 10th International Competition Music and Earth as a soloist as well as the First Prize as a member of the Percussion Ensemble Accent , founded by her parents Avgustina and Simeon Serafimov. She received the Young Musician of the Year Award in Bulgaria in 2008 as well as the First Prize of the Music Critics in the 18th International Festival of Central Europe in Slovakia.  In 2014, Vassilena made her debut in Carnegie Hall of New York. One year later, together with Thomas Enhco (piano), she was the first marimba player in history to perform at the French Awards Ceremony Victoires de la Musique . In 2016, the duo recorded their first album titled Funambules for Deutsche ...

Ivry Gitlis was born on August 22, 1922, in Haifa, Israel, to Russian parents. He received his first violin at the age of five and gave his first concert at age ten. When violinist Bronislav Huberman heard him play, he sent him to study at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won a first prize at age 13. After graduation, he studied with George Enesco and Jacques Thibaud, among others. In 1939, he went to England, and when World War II broke out, he worked in a British munitions factory and later in the entertainment unit of the British army. In 1951, he made his debut in Paris; he has gone on to give concerts all over the world. He has played with the most prestigious orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Philadelphia Philharmonic, and Israel Philharmonic. Ivry Gitlis is considered one of the most talented musicians of his generation, and many of his recordings are considered classics. His first recording, ...

Since his debut performances with the Orchestre de Paris in 1999 (conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch) and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (at the Lucerne Festival in 2000, conducted by Bernard Haitink), François-Frédéric Guy has established himself as one of the most fascinating pianists of his generation . He is widely regarded first and foremost as a specialist of the German romantics and above all of Beethoven. In 2008 Guy embarked on a major Beethoven project that has included recording and performing in concert all 32 Beethoven Sonatas and the 5 Piano Concertos. He is also a dedicated chamber musician and regularly performs Beethoven’s chamber music for strings and piano with the violinist Tedi Papavrami and the cellist Xavier Phillips. As part of the Beethoven project, he has performed the complete cycle of 32 piano sonatas a.o. in Washington, Paris, Monte Carlo, Metz and recently at the Festival Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André. In October 2013 the box-set of the live reco...

There is a self-selecting audience for this disc. People who want to know what the withdrawn original version of the Violin Concerto of Sibelius will have to hear this recording by violinist Leonidas Kavakos with Osmo Vänskä and the Lahti Symphony. Sibelius withdrew the version of the Concerto premiered in 1904 shortened it, tightened it and focused it and premiered a second version in 1905. The revised version became a warhorse in the stable of violin concertos, but the original version disappeared until this world-premiere recording was released in 1990.  Sibelius' original Violin Concerto is more expansive, more discursive, more overtly romantic, and more overtly virtuosic. By following a performance of the original version with a performance of the revised version, the weaknesses of the original are more obvious while the strengths of Sibelius' revisions are more apparent. Kavakos is a fine and fervent soloist who makes persuasive cases for each version of the work. Vä...

Ingrid performs repertoire that is very close to her heart: concertos by two nineteenth century heavyweights, Schumann and Mendelssohn.  Ingrid brings the lyrical romanticism of Schumann's iconic Piano Concerto to life whilst perfectly navigating the shifting colours and technical demands of this brilliant showpiece. The sparkling passagework and charming melodies which characterise Mendelssohn's innovative G minor concerto demonstrate Ingrid's innate skill and pianistic instinct. Following Ingrid's live performance of the Mendelssohn concerto one critic wrote: ‘In the beautiful second movement, time stood still.' With both composers giving equal focus to soloist and orchestra, the musicality of the SCO's award-winning musicians shines through as they partner Fliter perfectly. This also marks the recording debut of Antonio Méndez, who is fast becoming one of the most exciting conductors of his generation following engagements with a host of int...

Denis Kozhukhin’s playing is characterised by an extraordinary technical mastery balanced by a sharp intelligence, calm maturity and wisdom. Kozhukhin has that rare and special gift of creating an immediate and compelling emotional connection with his audience. Since winning First Prize at the 2010 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Kozhukhin has quickly established a formidable reputation and has already appeared at many of the world’s most prestigious festivals and concert halls including the Verbier Festival, where he won the Prix d’Honneur in 2003, Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, Berliner Philharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Rheingau Music Festival, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Herkulessaal, Rotterdam De Doelen, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Milan, Théâtre du Châtelet and Auditorium du Louvre Paris. In the 2015/16...

Dear Mr. Bach, I play the viola and I’m addicted to the sound of the viola and to classical music. Addicted to classical music because there are no limits, your imagination is as free as a bird. For a long time, it’s been my heart’s desire to record on the viola the notoriously monumental closing movement of the Second Partita you wrote for solo violin – the Chaconne. After bowing my way through thousands of miles of notes, I finally worked up the courage to record the piece. It seems you wrote the Chaconne after returning home from a long and exhausting journey on foot to discover that your beloved wife had passed away in your absence. A composition of fifteen minutes in length for a single instrument, offering great solace but making huge demands on the performer. A composition full of power and mystery. I actually really like the fact that there are so few indications on the music, as this lets your music generate its own impulsive response at the point when you star...

This album explores Brahms’s lifelong fascination with Hungarian idioms. The programme, following the Quintet, comprises a series of arrangements by the group’s cellist Stephan Koncz, which gradually loosen the strict discipline of a classical chamber group, moving towards the freely expressive style of a Hungarian restaurant band. The arrangements are marvellously well done, and the sequence ranges from the comfortable warmth of Brahms waltzes to the distinctly exotic sound of the Transylvanian medley. (Listeners will find some of these melodies familiar; they appear in Bartók’s Romanian Dances .) The Leó Weiner pieces, originally for clarinet and piano, transmit an atmosphere of peasant music, while the Hungarian Dances are arranged to give the impression of a gypsy band, with spectacular solo contributions from clarinet, violin and cimbalom. The performance of the Quintet is a fine one, with lovely clarinet tone, excellent overall sound and a deep understanding of the...

Andris Nelsons and the CBSO clearly relish the symphonic nature of the piece and their playing is one of the great pleasures here. The concerto’s opening theme could be by no one else, though the mood soon darkens with a cautionary figure sounded first by violas and cellos. Nelsons imbues this with an affecting resignation, Kleiber sounding more openly disturbed. Hough enters the conversation with great subtlety and he’s certainly unafraid to point out the score’s lyrical beauties, allowing the music to unfold with suppleness without underplaying its drama or, where required, heft. The glorious slow movement, which is launched by a New World-like horn solo, needs careful pacing: get it wrong and the question-and-answer writing can sound forced and overly sectionalised. Richter and Kleiber dare to take a slightly more drawn-out approach than this new recording, but both versions are compelling, and the CBSO players relish Dvořák’s unfettered wind-writing. Another blac...

Leonidas Kavakos, one of the world’s finest violinists, showcases virtuoso works for the violin: included on this album are some of the most exciting and challenging violin works ever written, alongside beautiful, lyrical encores. Displaying a formidable technique to stunning effect, Leonidas Kavakos is heard here at his very best ; his unique style stealing the show in a dazzling, wide-ranging progamme. Features the devilish and highly demanding violin writing of Italian Paganini alongside the Spanish influences of De Falla and Tarrega, the Czech allure of Dvorak, the elegance of Britten and Elgar, and the Russian spirit of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky All the works expertly recorded here are associated with great players of the past – touring virtuosi travelling across Europe, looking to impress. On our European journey we hear flashy showpieces, tender romantic pieces, and everything in-between. Leonidas Kavakos plays the Abergavenny Stradivarius of 1724 – a vio...

Artistic brilliance and innovative programming are the trademarks with which Nils Mönkemeyer has rapidly made his name as one of the 'most internationally successful violists' (Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung), and dramatically raised the profile of his instrument. Under his exclusive contract with Sony Classical, Mönkemeyer has released numerous CDs over the past years, all of which have won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. His programmes run the gamut from rediscoveries and first recordings of original 18th century viola literature, to contemporary repertoire and arrangements of his own. Mönkemeyer has been a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich since 2011 - the same institution at which he himself studied with Hariolf Schlichtig. Previous tenures include a two-year professorship at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden, and an assistant professorship at the Reina Sofia College of Music in Madri...

Nelson Freire has long been seen as a connoisseur’s pianist, but a series of superb recordings have raised his profile to the extent that he is now thought of as one of today’s universally recognised great musicians. Whether playing the great warhorses of the repertoire or the gentlest miniatures, he brings to his performances a level of quiet thoughtfulness that puts him in a class of his own. Born in Boa Esperança, Brazil, he began piano lessons at the age of three with Nise Obino and Lucia Branco, who had worked with a pupil of Liszt. He made his first public appearance at the age of five playing Mozart’s Sonata K. 331. In 1957, after winning a grant at the Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition with Beethoven’s Emperor concerto, he went to Vienna to study with Bruno Seidlhofer, teacher of Friedrich Gulda. Seven years later he won the Dinu Lipatti Medal in London and first prize at the International Vianna da Motta Competition in Lisbon. Since his inte...

Born in Paris in 1979, Antoine Tamestit was initially inspired by his teachers Jean Sulem, Jesse Levine and Tabea Zimmermann, and soon came to international prominence by winning, in rapid succession, the Maurice Vieux Competition, the William Primrose Competition, the Young Concert Artists Competition in New York, and the ARD Competition in Munich. With the support of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Foundation and several important awards (Deutschlandfunk-Förderpreis, Victoires de la Musique, Crédit Suisse), he quickly became one of the most sought-after violists of his generation. In his ceaseless search for musical encounters, Antoine Tamestit nourishes a passion for chamber music which has taken him from Lockenhaus to Verbier, Nantes, Kronberg, Lucerne, Schwarzenberg, and Jerusalem. His multiple collaborations with such musicians as the soprano Sandrine Piau in Schubert, the Hagen Quartet in Mozart and the pianist Nicholas Angelich in Brahms, to name but a few, have ...

Beautifully recorded, open, tangible and unprocessed, leading up to the Concerto Nelson Freire gives an unaffected recital of Chopin solos that embrace a spontaneous, beguiling and eloquent Impromptu, a Ballade that is at once direct yet elusive and most sensitively realised with a range of colours and dynamics, then a dreamy Berceuse followed by a trio of Mazurkas that are respectively earthy, teasing and mercurial -- the music's complexities unravelled without denuding inherent enigmas -- and to round things up a Polonaise that is noble and pulsating. With a detailed and alert accompaniment from Lionel Bringuier and the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne , Freire continues to demonstrate why he is one of the most discriminating pianists around, for this account of the F-minor Piano Concerto -- lively and malleable in the first movement, distinguished by strength, affection and old-world charm, then hauntingly expressive in the nocturne-like Larghetto, and finally da...