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Pøemysl Vojta – pursuing the famous Czech horn tradition with aplomb.

Horn-playing has a long tradition in Bohemia, ranging from the 18th century (J. V. Stich-Punto) to the Tylšar brothers and Radek Baborák. And Pøemysl Vojta is without question a superlative pursuer of this line. He earned his most remarkable triumph in September 2010 at the ARD competition in Munich (1st prize, the audience award and two other special prizes).

Upon receiving the Beethoven Ring at the Beethovenfest in Bonn, he joined the ranks of young stars of classical music (Gustavo Dudamel, Julia Fisher, Lisa Batiashvili, etc.). For his debut album, Pøemysl Vojta, currently solo horn of the Staatskapelle Berlin, has chosen pieces by 20th-century Prague modernists.

As he himself puts it: “Works by unknown composers who experienced World War II, the German occupation, liberation, occupation by the ‘liberators’ and the bullying by the communist regime. May this recording be a reminiscence of that time and the people who lived through it.” In addition to reflecting the fraught epoch and Slavonic musicality in the Janáèek spirit, these works place extreme technical demands on their performers. Pøemysl Vojta, however, is up to the challenge and with true mastery duly demonstrates his belonging to the famous Czech horn tradition.

Janáček, Smetana, Prokofiev – Josef Špaček’s “Slavonic debut”.

Still only 26, the violinist Josef Špaček has already covered an enormous amount of ground. After completing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he attended Itzhak Perlman’s class at the Juilliard School in New York, and he has given solo performances under the baton of outstanding conductors (Bělohlávek, Eschenbach, Honeck, Hrůša).

In 2009 he won the Michael Hill International Violin Competition (New Zealand), in May 2012 he became a laureate of the closely observed Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels and in the same year led the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra as concert master at the chief conductor Jiří Bělohlávek’s inauguration concerts. For his Supraphon debut, Josef Špaček has chosen works by Slavonic composers. The two duets from Smetana’s From My Homeland are considered the counterpart to his cycle My Country, while Janáček’s Sonata, which was introduced to the world by Paul Hindemith as a soloist, is evidently the most frequently performed Czech violin sonata. And when it comes to Prokofiev, the Russian master’s music is a truly heartfelt matter for Špaček (as a soloist, he has executed both of his concertos). The pianist Miroslav Sekera is a wonderful partner to Špaček on the recording, as are the superb and inspiring acoustics of the Dvořák Hall of Prague’s Rudolfinum.

This programme does full justice to the modernity of Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa (1561-1613), covering both his sacred music and his madrigals. It reproduces all the subtlety and chromaticism of his music, strictly respecting the temperament used in the composer’s time.

An added attraction of this disc is that it alternates the Prince’s works with the music of his contemporary Ascanio Maione, scored for harp, harpsichord and organ.

A timely commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the death of Carlo Gesualdo, this recording showcases the outstanding artistry of the ensemble Concerto Soave and its director Jean-Marc Aymes.

This six-CD set marks the arrival of Tedi Papavrami on ZZT. It gathers together all his recordings for unaccompanied violin originally released on Aeon (Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, transcriptions of Scarlatti keyboard sonatas, transcriptions of various works by Bach, the Paganini Caprices, and the Bartók Sonata).

The box also includes an Ysaÿe sonata inspired by Bach, a sneak preview of the set of Six Sonatas for unaccompanied violin to be released in the autumn of 2013 along with the Sonata for two violins.

After the first volume released in October 2012, this second volume completes the cycle of Beethoven Quartets given simultaneously by the Belcea Quartet in concert and on disc. Recorded live, like its predecessor, in the superb concert hall conceived by Britten at Aldeburgh, this volume couples quartets from different periods, including the last two (opp.132 and 135) and the Grosse Fuge (op.133). Here is how the Belcea Quartet describes this great cycle: ‘These sixteen quartets written some two hundred years form one of the most complete and powerful musical statements ever made. The completeness lies in their unprecedented intensity and in the astonishing development that can be traced between the early and the late works – a thirty-year-long revolution which altered forever the way we experience music. There is no end to exploration of Beethoven’s riches and yet what is most compelling is that his music speaks so directly to us as human beings. What seems to be the predominant impulse driving this music is man’s yearning for freedom, the unquenchable desire to expand his limits and to learn the truth about himself in this process.’