Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess)

Pierre Monteux conducts the LSO in classic recordings from 1959 and 1961, remastered and edited from stereo analogue tapes. In 1911 he was invited by Diaghilev to conduct his Ballet Russes and he led the premieres of 'Daphnis and Chloé', Debussy's 'Jeux', 'Petrushka' and the 'Rite of Spring', the last of which caused a notorious riot.

He became the musical director of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1961, at the age of 86, and had one of the longest musical careers exceeded perhaps only by Stokowski and Casals.

Karajan Adagio is the most successful classical collection of all time with nearly 4 million units sold since 1993. It has now been re-engineered, re-titled, and newly compiled for the 21st century.

“Adagio Karajan” was the ORIGINAL CLASSICAL CHILL-OUT ALBUM. Over two-and-a-half hours of the world’s most relaxing music – from the most accomplished conductor of all time. Emphasizing classical music’s unique power in transporting the listener away from the stresses and strains of modern-day living - All over the world, consumers are searching for an escape, and the soothing sounds of “Karajan Adagio” can provide that.

“Adagio” – the literal translation is “at ease”, with a slowness, with a tranquillity, and with a longing – the perfect antidote to the relentless pace of modern global living.

On this new disc, Maxim Rysanov and Ashley Wass present works illustrating the striking affinity between the timbre of the viola and the colours in French music.

The disc includes arrangements of music by Ravel, Fauré and Debussy: Alongside two Pavanes, the programme includes perennial favourites such as Après un rêve and Clair de lune.

Rysanov and Wass also perform two contemporary pieces by the Swiss-French composer Richard Dubugnon. Incantatio and Lied, both for viola and piano, are adaptations by the composer of existing works made especially for Maxim Rysanov.

For BIS Rysanov has previously recorded a solo disc with three of Bach’s cello suites and his own arrangement for viola and orchestra of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations.

Ravel orchestrated his piano pieces Alborada del gracioso and Pavane pour une infante défunte to great effect; the former gains in suggestive colour, and the latter evokes nostalgic pathos. Another orchestrated work is the Menuet antique, which is redolent of old French dance forms. Rapsodie espagnole, Ravel’s first major orchestral work, shimmers with expectancy and bursts into Spanish dance rhythms, themes he pursued in Pièce en forme de habanera. His earliest orchestral work, the ‘fairy overture’ Shéhérazade, is all that remains of a planned opera based on The Thousand and One Nights. The famous Boléro, an ‘orchestrated crescendo’ of undimmed power, has proved one of the most popular works in all classical music.

The best of Ravel, Ravel's greatest hits - they're all here on 2 CDs packed to the brim, containing all of Ravel's most memorable tunes.

Inevitably, the focus is on the immortal Bolero, beloved of the film industry. Ravel famously considered it to be his masterpiece, but claimed it had no music in it - an opinion with which many would take leave to disagree.

La Valse extends the theme of dance, the Rhapsodie espagnole the theme of Spanishry and exoticism, while the compilation ends with a flavour of jazz as exemplified in the Blues movement from the Violin Sonata and the Concerto for piano, left hand (which in the 1930s the famous pianist Alfred Cortot dared to play using both hands, incurring the composer's wrath).

Alice Ader’s first Debussy disc (Erato) won all the awards in the specialist press on its release twenty years ago and is still regarded as an unequalled benchmark. Now this unconventional pianist at last unveils her recording of the complete Ravel piano works.

And what better moment could there be than Debussy Year to present these two hours or so of music in dialogue, en Miroirs as it were, with the oeuvre of ‘Claude de France’? Ravel, the hot-blooded Swiss watchmaker, the discreet Lisztian, the mediocre pianist who made such extreme demands on his colleagues, the man of so many sublime paradoxes, deserves only the finest interpreters: those who take the time to explore his deepest recesses. Alice Ader, light-years away from the flashy gestures often encountered in this music, takes us to the very heart of one of the most secretive composers of his time.

Following a first solo recital (2008) and a successful Ravel-Prokofiev concerto recording (2010), this is the third recording of Russian pianist Anna Vinnitskaya for Naive.

The recording presents two of the heights of Ravel's piano repertoire, 'Gaspard de la Nuit' and 'Miroirs', performed many times in recital before this recording.

In both works, as well as in the mysterious 'Pavane pour une infant défunte', Anna Vinnitskaya displays the whole range of her skills: intense delicacy, amazing legato and control of dynamics, supple and a strong personal style.

Anna Vinnitskaya, aged 29, is developing an intense concert career in Germany, Belgium and the UK. She won First Prize at the Queen Elizabeth Competition in 2007 and an Echo Klassik award (Germany) in 2011 for her latest recording.

With one exception, a short piece by Jeanne Rivier entitled “Grave et Presto”, all the music on this new CD has either been arranged or composed for or by the acclaimed Dutch Saxophone ensemble known as the Amstel Quartet.

Featured composers range from Bach, Mozart and Brahms through to Ravel, Samuel Barber, and the popular contemporary composer Michael Nyman.

The four musicians that make up the Amstel Quartet first came together in 1997 after a tour with the National Youth Orchestra. Over the years since its inception the group has been the recipient of several prizes including the Concert Artists Guild Management Award, The Kersjes Prize, and the Gaudeamus Interpreters Concours. The Amstel Quartet have released 7 CDs to date most of which are available on Amstel Records.