Johann Sebastian Bach

Called “adventurous and brilliant” by the New York Times, Hope was named “the most exciting British string player since Jacqueline du Pré,” by the London Observer.  A recent New York Times review summarized him as “a violinist of probing intellect and commanding style,” and continued: “In a business that likes tidy boxes drawn around its commodities, the British violinist Daniel Hope resists categorization.  Mr. Hope, a compelling performer whose work involves standard repertory, new music, raga, and jazz, emphasizes thoughtful engagement over flamboyant display.  In his most personal undertakings, he puts classical works within a broader context – not just among other styles and genres but amid history, literature, and drama – to emphasize music’s role as a mirror for struggle and aspiration.”

Eugen Jochum was born on 1st November, 1902 in Babenhausen, near Augsburg and died on 26th March 1987 in Munich. He showed prowess in music early even playing the organ at church services at the age of eight. Studying at the Augsburg Conservatory he moved to the Music Academy in Munich in 1922 primarily as a composition student but later studied conducting and worked as répétiteur at the Munich National Theatre.

In 1926 he made a successful concert debut as a conductor which led to his appointment at the Kiel Opera, where he was soon made first conductor. He acquired a repertory of over 50 operas and also conducted concerts at Lübeck over the next three years. Following a season in Mannheim (1929-30) he had two in Duisburg as Generalmusikdirector where a performance of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony brought him the appointment as musical director for Berlin radio before his 30th birthday in 1932. He also had a guest association with the Berlin PO which lasted all his career.

In 1934 he became Generalmusikdirector at the Hamburg Staatsoper and principal conductor of the Hamburg PO where he remained for fifteen years continuing to conduct Bartók, Hindemith and Stravinsky at a time when they were banned elsewhere in Germany by the Nazis. He also conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra when the Netherlands were occupied which brought him a continuing association in the post-war years.

He returned to Munich in 1949 as musical director for Bavarian radio, forming and training their Symphony Orchestra to international standard. His reputation grew particularly in the field of the German Romantic Symphony of Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner, especially the last where he was President of the German section of the International Bruckner Society for 37 years. He was also presented with the Brahms medal by the city of Hamburg. The London SO made him their conductor laureate for the season that saw him record his set of Beethoven symphonies.

John Ogdon was born on 27th January, 1937 in Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire and died on 1st August, 1989 in London. His first serious study of the piano was at the Royal Manchester College of Music where his contemporaries were Alexander Goehr, Harrison Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies; he also studied composition with Richard Hall, all of whom have music recorded in this collection. His prowess was noticed when he replaced an indisposed soloist in Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto in Liverpool and played almost at sight. At the age of 21 he made his London debut at the Proms in 1958 with Busoni’s Concerto (which he recorded in 1967).

In 1961 he was awarded the Liszt Prize in Budapest and the following year shared the coveted first prize at the Moscow Tchaikovsky competition with Vladimir Ashkenazy; this achievement launched his international career. His recordings from this time not only attest to his remarkable virtuosity and intense musicianship but also his determination to explore both rarer and modern repertoire and give them the performances that show them to their best advantage.

This collection therefore contains not merely the classics – concertos by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Schumann and Grieg and solos by Liszt and Chopin – but rarer concertos by Mendelssohn, Glazunov Bartók as well as the aforementioned Busoni. The major contribution to the catalogue of recorded music must be the solo piano works by the 20th century composers: Sir Michael Tippett, Alan Rawsthorne, Alun Hoddinott, Christopher Headington, David Blake, Robert Sherlaw Johnson and his teacher and colleagues from his days in Mancheser: Richard Hall and the previously mentioned Goehr, Birtwistle and Maxwell Davies as well as works by himself. One further work requires especial mention: Ronald Stevenson’s Passacaglia on DSCH, the composer’s tribute to Dmitri Shostakovich.

At over 85 minutes duration it has to be split across two CDs and the work together with Ogdon’s support of it yielded the highest praise.

Isabelle Faust hit the Classical charts earlier this year with her mesmerising recording of Beethoven and Berg with Claudio Abbado. She followed up with some welcome live appearances here in the UK, which included the Brahms' concerto at the Barbican with frequent collaborators Jiri Belohlavek and the BBCSO.

Isabelle's recordings have won prizes since her harmonia mundi debut in 1997 which earned her a Gramophone Young Artist Award. In 2010 her Beethoven Violin Sonatas with Alexander Melnikov also won. The afore-mentioned Beethoven-Berg has been awarded Gramophone Recording of the Month, Daily Telegraph Classical CD of the Week, Times CD of the Week, Classic FM Disc of the Week, Sunday Times CD of the Week, BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Month and CD Review Disc of the Week.

Now she returns to J.S. Bach for a second volume of what Andrew McGregor described in such glowing terms: "there’s some of the best-judged ornamentation I’ve heard in repeated passages. The recording is utterly self-effacing, in just the right way, and my only complaint is that the job’s half done...I’m impatient for the rest! Harmonia Mundi is the label, it’s released this coming Monday, and the notes are excellent as well." CD Review, BBC Radio 3, 27 March 2010

Isabelle is shortlisted for the Gramophone Best Artist Award 2012. Her next concert in the UK is at the Wigmore Hall, October 29 with Alexander Melnikov and Jean-Guihen Queyras.

Highlights from Bach's concerto repertoire, presented with a sure sense of style that combines musical quality with the sound of sensuous strings. Performed by a true "dream team" – Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim and the English Chamber Orchestra –, who are joined for the famous Double Concerto by Perlman's fellow violinist Pinchas Zukerman.

For a half-century he had the reputation of the trumpet soloist: Maurice André, who died in 2012. The best examples of his radiant tone are the recordings he made with different organists – a brilliant stroll through the golden world of Baroque music.