Future Releases

As the present principal conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sakari Oramo has chosen works by Edward Elgar, a composer whose music he has been a fervent advocate of since his tenure at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Oramo’s commitment to Elgar has been rewarded with a medal of honour from the British Elgar Society.

Oramo has already led the RSPO through a series of high-profile projects which has recently included a very successful tour of Japan. Oramo will be making his debut performance as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the last night of the Proms.

All three works presented here have a melancholic tinge with Symphony No. 2 being dedicated to the memory of King Edward VII, accompanied by two smaller string works: Elegy and Sospiri (‘sighs’).

The closing disc in London Baroque’s survey of the rise and fall of the trio sonata.

Looking back over this eight-disc series, which opened with three Fantasias composed before 1620 by Orlando Gibbons, it becomes clear how far London Baroque has travelled. The series has taken in both staples of the repertoire and more or less unknown jewels, by composers still revered today or awaiting rediscovery.

Alexei Ogrintchouk performs three pillars of the oboe repertoire with the support of the renowned Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and the company of three highly respected young string players in the quartet.

As principal oboist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Alexei Ogrintchouk is an international soloist in his own right. His performances of J.S. Bach’s oboe concertos was judged to be ‘as astonishing as it is successful’ on the web site klassik-heute.de, with a sound described as ‘generous, rounded, warm and velvety’ in Classica.

To round off the programme Alexei has called on his father, the pianist Leonid Ogrintchouk, and together the two perform a transcription of the Violin Sonata in B flat major, K 378, composed during the same period as the two other works on this disc.

In June 2013 the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the expert direction of Thomas Dausgaard are joined by one of today's foremost Wagner singers. Named 'Singer of the Year' by Opernwelt magazine in 2012, Nina Stemme has been the Isolde of choice at Glyndebourne, Bayreuth and Covent Garden.

For this new release Nina performs the five Wesendonck-Lieder, of which two in particular, Im Treibhaus and Träume, were referred to by Wagner as 'studies' for Tristan and Isolde. Wagner himself prepared a version for violin and orchestra of Träume, and the ensemble includes this setting featuring principal violinist, Katarina Andreasson, as soloist.

The Wesendonck-Lieder are framed by two versions of the overture to Der fliegende Holländer, the rarely heard 1841 original version and the composer's final creation from 1860, with its new ending inspired by Tristan, composed three years earlier.

In the 1830s, Schott publishers commissioned Johann Nepomuk Hummel to make arrangements of Mozart’s orchestral works for piano, flute, violin and cello to help facilitate performances in a domestic setting.

Fumiko Shiraga’s performances were originally released on single discs between 2003 and 2006, to critical acclaim, including a Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’ and a ‘CD des Doppelmonats’ in Piano News: ‘This is how Mozart must sound, exactly like this…’.

Volume 4 of Bridge’s Fred Lerdahl Series offers music composed over a span of four decades.

This release includes a stunning performance by Grammy-winning ensemble, eighth blackbird.

This retrospective disk presents music composed by the late Elliott Carter over a period of more than 70 years.