Franz Joseph Haydn

It is well known that Haydn was a favoured visitor to London towards the end of his life and spent much time in the English capital. In addition to the famous ‘London’ symphonies he wrote a considerable amount of other music whilst he was here, including chamber works and, particularly, songs, many of them to English words by his friend Anne Hunter. All of the famous ones are here, along with other, German, settings and the extended scena ‘Arianna a Naxos’, to an anonymous Italian text.

The courts of Mannheim and Esterházy possessed the best orchestras and instrumental soloists that were available at the end of the 18th century. Paris, however, with its various concert societies and large orchestras had become an important venue for such artists and especially for musicians who belonged to the new style.

Haydn’s symphonies and concertos by virtuosi such as Lebrun also enjoyed considerable success there; what is more, it was in Paris that the works performed here first appeared in print.

Les Agrémens aim at quality in their membership and work, with the participation of top-class instrumentalists from the main European baroque orchestras. By bringing in young Belgian musicians, they also seek to develop the careers of a new generation of artists, by encouraging them to practise early music on period instruments and giving them new opportunities in this field.

This set documents Glenn Gould the concert pianist in unprecedented depth. The recordings range in date from 1951, when Gould was just eighteen years old, to 1960, a few years before he gave up concert life for good. They include all of the genres in which he performed live—solo works, songs, chamber music, concertos. And they cover almost the whole range of his repertoire: the earliest work represented here, by Bach, dates from the early eighteenth century; the latest, by Ernst Krenek (who befriended Gould, and outlived him), was composed in 1943. In between are composers who were central to the young Gould’s repertoire: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schoenberg, and Webern. Included here are some of his warhorses but also several works of which he never made an authorized studio recording or broadcast, as well as a few interpretations that differ significantly from those in his official releases.

Michaela Paetsch Neftel and Wieslaw Pipczynski perform favourites from the virtuosic violin repertoire including Vitali's Chaconne, Paganini's Campanella, Kreisler's Liebeslied and Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy. All are excellently suited to an accordion accompaniment.

Brilliant Classics presents the debut recording of the young Italian virtuoso Vanessa Benelli Mosell. Vanessa Benelli Mosell rapidly develops her career, playing all over the world, playing with orchestras (Berliner Philharmonie) and solo (London Wigmore Hall recital)

For her debut CD Vanessa Benelli Mosell has chosen a demanding programme that displays her remarkable talents and exploit the expressive potential of the piano to the maximum. The repertoire spans just over 150 years – from Haydn’s dramatic minor key work of 1784, to Prokofiev’s 7th Sonata, the second of his three ‘War Sonatas’ completed in 1942.

Scriabin’s 1st Sonata was composed at a time of great personal turmoil rather than international carnage of war. He had damaged his hand (possibly due to an extreme practising regime) and had abandoned his career as a soloist – a bitter blow to the young composer.

In contrast to all the Sturm und Drang of the three sonatas in her recital,Vanessa Benelli Mosell turns to Liszt for some southern European sunshine. The highly virtuosic Rhapsodie espagnole of 1863 demands fearsome technique from the performer as the work traverses folk tunes from Iberia (Liszt noted these down during a tour in the 1840s) which are worked into a virtuoso set of variations.

Pascal Rogé said of Vanessa "...she is the most natural musical talent I have encountered in my entire life as a musician and teacher"

Karlheinz Stockhausen invited her to study with him in Germany. Her performances of Stockhausen Piano Pieces have received much critical acclaims and prizes during the Stockhausen Courses in Kuerten working closely with the composer until his death.

Vanessa received numerous distinctions throughout her career, including the "Elba Festival Antares Prize" given by Y. Bashmet, the Honour Diploma of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Prize "Maria de Lourdes Avellar"in Portugal. She is Laureate of the International Piano Competition "Principat di Andorra", "Delia Steinberg" International Piano Competition in Madrid and the "Alexander Scriabin" International Piano Competition in Paris. Vanessa Benelli-Mosell was appointed a Young Steinway artist recently.