Paradis: Sicilienne

The soft, silvery tone of the harp and the rich, dark timbres of the viola make these instruments the ideal combination for playing a gentle night song or lullaby.

Chanson dans la nuit is a meditation amid the quiet of the night... Yet Jitka Hosprova and Kateřina Englichova are also able to make the night dance with their instruments. The listener can savour almost an hour’s worth of enchanting music for the viola and harp ranging from the Baroque masters to the French Impressionists. It is hard to believe that La fille aux cheveux de lin or Ravel’s Pavane were not originally created for these very instruments and that they can be played otherwise.

The programme was compiled for the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra’s enormously popular “For Mothers-To-Be” concert cycle. It makes a refreshing change to hear the bright sound of the violin replaced by the deeper colours of the viola, the brilliancy of the piano by the lambent tones of the harp, especially when the two instruments are in the hands of two such charming ladies and superlative musicians.

Their music finds its way directly to the heart. Chanson dans la nuit on the strings of the viola and harp – an hour of graceful music close to the heart.

Violinist Rudens Turku presents his fifth album for Avie, Sweet Remembrance, a personal selection of virtuoso miniatures and encores.

Since making his recording debut for Avie in 2005 with the sonatas of Brahms, Franck and Schumann (AV2080), Albanian-born, Munich-resident violinist Rudens Turku has amassed a devoted following and fan base for his effortless virtuosity and innate musicianship.

Following albums devoted to solo works, duos, and concertos, Rudens returns with a personal selection of miniatures and encores for violin and piano. Sweet Remembrance – the subtitle of Jascha Heifetz’s arrangement of Mendelssohn’s Song without Words - ranges from the romantic Salut d’amour by Elgar, Schön Rosmarin by Kreisler and Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs, to the energetic Scherzo from Brahms’ F-A-E Sonata and Shostakovich’s exhilarating Preludium. Interspersed with miniature masterpieces by great violinist-composers such as Paganini, Sarasate, Kreisler and Wienawski, the album boldly concludes with Ysaÿe’s commanding Second Sonata, itself written in remembrance of another great violinist, Jacques Thibaud.

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.

The music selected by Tina Chen and Hannibal for this recital is the soundtrack for a day dream, or the twilight accompaniment for a romantic dinner. The emphasis is on Melody – beautiful, finely arched musical lines that reach beyond the pressures of everyday life and transport you, to a quiet realm of song, warmly and realistically recorded in SACD, Super Audio Sound!

This recording also marks the CD debut of the charismatic, young concert violinist , Chen Yi, was the Gold Medal winner at the China International Violin competition (2008). As part of the Mendelssohn Bicentennial Celebrations, Ms. Chen was invited to perform the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in Beijing’s new National Center for the Performing Arts. In 2010 she will perform the Nielsen Violin Concerto as part of the Danish Gala Concert in EXPO in Shanghai. This major event marks artistic dialogue between Denmark and China.

The silver flute is the subtlest of instruments. Its velvet tones are infinitely soothing and seductive, inspiring composers to write some of their most intimate and personal music. This collection of Romantic masterpieces is performed on the Rolls Royce of flutes, a Louis Lot, which is to flautists what a Stradivarius is to violinists

recorded in Capitol Studio A, 46th Street, New York, 27 January and 3 February 1956