New Releases

Featuring the exceptionally talented Jan Vermeulen, this latest disc from Etcetera shows his skill (on period instrument) for Schubert’s music. He is joined here for the Piano Trios by fellow musicians Christine Busch and France Springuel.

Following her sensational win at the International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2010, pianist Yulianna Avdeeva has given debut performances with the New York Phil in Warsaw and New York, and with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit.

Other highlights in her so far illustrious career, have included performances with the Czech Phil, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.

Upcoming debuts include a performance with the LPO conducted by Jurowski and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck.

She is known for performing on period instruments; in August 2011 and 2012, she performed Chopin’s Concertos on an Erard piano at the Festival of ‘Chopin and his Europe’ with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Orchestra of the 18th century with Frans Bruggen.

The instrument she performs on this recording is an Erard piano made in Paris in 1849, and she is accompanied by Orchestra of the 18th Century conducted by Frans Bruggen.

Bruggen was once the world’s most famous recorder-player, but these days is better known as one of the foremost experts in the performance of eighteenth century music.

The recording itself forms one of the most exciting surveys of Chopin’s music and is a truly stunning performance from this talented young Russian pianist and the Orchestra of the 18th Century.

Following their recording of Symphonies No 1 and 3, this release marks the second disc of Sibelius works from the award-winning Hallé under Sir Mark Elder.

The disc includes the long awaited recording of Elder’s interpretation of the ever-popular Symphony No. 2, a work closely associated with the Hallé who gave the British premiere in 1905.

It is coupled with the dramatic Pohjola’s Daughter, an orchestral show-piece with the Hallé here at the height of its powers, and the less well known and deeply evocative musical portrait of the sea, The Oceanides.

Together, the performances of these works perfectly illustrate the renaissance that has been achieved at the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder.

The 2nd Symphony was recorded live from sell out concerts in the Bridgewater Hall, of which critics said:

“The Sibelius reading was more arresting still… The whole elaborate, superbly integrated argument never lost focus for a moment.” Sunday Times

Wilhelm Kempff confirms his unique status in his Schwetzinger piano recital of 1962. The repertoire selected for this recital features miniatures of Jean-Philippe Rameau and François Couperin which show Kempff as the sonic acrobat and mystic colorist, equal to the challenges of the French clavicenists.

Although Marilyn Horne was 58 years old at the time of this concert, she appears at the height of her abilities as an artist on this CD. Among the recordings over the course of Horne's career, there are many Rossini operas and this all-Rossini program shows that she could also convincingly dominate the smaller forms as well. Contains some previously unavailable recordings.

The 44-year-old history of the Tokyo String Quartet, one of the best quartets in the world, comes to an end in June, 2013. The Quartet has decided that due to the retirement of two of its members, the entire ensemble would disband after 44 successful years. A certain sense of nostalgia definitely appears when hearing the music on this recording.

The purpose of this present collection of recording is to provide a document showing the vocal techniques of the ‘golden generation’ of Wagner interpreters.

It begins with a true icon of Wagner’s music: Kirsten Flagstad who performs not the famous 1952 recording of Brunhilde, but a 1948 version recorded in the Abbey Road studios), and carries on with Eileen Farrell (an American singer of rare versatility), George London singing Wotan and a serious list of other top quality performers.

The recordings are all taken from the period 1941-1959 and this release gives us a unique collection of the sheer quality of these Wagner performers, all of them ‘stars’ of their time.

Critics rightfully have called soprano Eli Kristin Hanssveen “the new opera diva”. Her spectacular voice has been the catalyst for a steadily rising career, and she is known for her unique charisma and acting talent. In 2002 she made her opera debut at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, where she has been soloist since 2010.