The MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and its artistic director Philipp Ahmann present a collection of Felix Mendelssohn's choral music, which arguably represents the pinnacle of German nineteenth-century religious music. Ranging across psalm settings, motets, Latin verses, the Deutsche Liturgie as well as the ethereal chorus Denn er hat seinen ...
Composer: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Choral
Maestro Marek Janowski, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and the Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir present Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera (1859), together with a stellar cast, headed by Freddie De Tommaso (Riccardo), Lester Lynch (Renato) and Saioa Hernández (Amelia). Un ballo in maschera is Verdi’s tragicomic ...
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Opera
"Consolations" is Saskia Giorgini's second Liszt album, after her critically-acclaimed rendition of the composer's Harmonies poetiques et religieuses. Named after Liszt's six Consolations, the album also contains the Caprices-Valses, Valse Impromptu, Legendes and the world-famous Liebestraume. ...
Composer: Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Brad Mehldau presents The Folly of Desire, a song cycle inquiring the limits of sexual freedom in a post-#MeToo political age, together with tenor Ian Bostridge, one of the greatest song interpreters of our times. Setting poetry by Blake, Yeats, Shakespeare, Brecht, Goethe, Auden and Cummings, Mehldau’s music shifts seamlessly ...
Composer: Brad Mehldau (1970), Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Schubert: Unfinished & The Great Symphonies
Marek Janowski presents his first purely-orchestral Schubert recording, together with the Dresdner Philharmonie, performing the composer’s two final, groundbreaking and most famous symphonies. While the two movements of the “Unfinished” symphony in B Minor reach a level of perfection despite the work’s apparent incompleteness, ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Lebensmuth, Schubert: Streichquartette Nr.1 & 15
Lebensmuth is the final episode of Signum Quartett’s acclaimed Schubert trilogy, in which early and late string quartets are combined with song arrangements created by the group’s violist Xandi van Dijk. Schubert’s First String Quartet in G Minor, written when he was 13, ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre:
Tenor Karim Sulayman and guitarist Sean Shibe present Broken Branches, a conceptual album with music ranging from Dowland, Monteverdi, Britten, Rodrigo, Takemitsu, Harvey, and Chaker to traditional songs from the Middle East, scrutinizing the close cultural and musical ties between East and West. ...
Composer: John Dowland (1562-1626), Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012), Giulio Caccini (1545-1618), Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), Sayyed Darwish (1892-1923), Fairuz (1934), Layale Chaker (1990), Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Karina Canellakis offers the first fruit of her exclusive Pentatone collaboration with a recording of Bartók’s 4 Orchestral Pieces and Concerto for Orchestra, together with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, of which she is the Chief Conductor. The 4 Orchestral Pieces have a strong affinity with the stage works Duke ...
Composer: Bela Bartok (1881-1945)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance
Cappella Amsterdam and its artistic leader Daniel Reuss present their third Pentatone album with a recording of Alfred Schnittke’s Psalms of Repentance. Schnittke composed the piece in 1988 to commemorate the Christianisation of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in 1988, and based it on anonymous Russian texts from the 16th century about guilt and repentance. ...
Composer: Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Choral
"Love at Last" is pianist Lara Downes’ first Pentatone album, inspired by the poem Sachki, Sachki by the Odessa-born Jewish writer Shaul Tchernichovsky. Downes presents 24 pieces, many of them in world premiere recordings, of works by living composers around the globe. Spanning generations, continents and cultures, these diverse voices ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Countertenor Franco Fagioli makes his Pentatone debut with Anime Immortali, together with the Kammerorchester Basel, exploring the music that Mozart composed for castratos. Ranging from opera to sacred music and culminating in Exsultate, jubilate, the recorded works share a sublime and profound character, demonstrating ...
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
After critically-acclaimed recordings of Mahler’s Fourth and Fifth Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov continue their Pentatone Mahler cycle with a rendition of the composer’s Second, nicknamed “The Resurrection”. They are joined by soprano Christiane Karg, alto Elisabeth Kulman and the Prague Philharmonic Choir. Starting with a ..
Composer: Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Rising star violinist Chloe Chua makes her recording debut on Pentatone together with the Singapore Symphony, presenting Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside Locatelli’s Harmonic Labyrinth. With the Four Seasons, Chua returns to a piece that’s very dear to her, and which she won the joint-first prize at the 2018 Yehudi Menuhin International ...
Composer: Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Pietro Locatelli (1695-1764)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
The Ruisi Quartet makes its recording debut on Pentatone with Big House, bringing together music by Matthew Locke, Joseph Haydn and Oliver Leith. Spanning nearly four centuries, this combination of composers establishes a harmonious as well as dissonant relationship between past, present and future. ...
Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Matthew Locke (1622-1677)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
J.S. Bach & Pärt: Works for Violin & Chamber Orchestra
Arabella Steinbacher presents works for violin and orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach and Arvo Pärt, together with violinist Christoph Koncz, pianist Peter von Wienhardt and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Bach’s violin concertos have had a very special significance for Steinbacher ever since hearing the ...
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Arvo Pärt (1935)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Holland Baroque presents Bachs Königin, an album full of masterful organ works by J.S. Bach, transcribed for the orchestra by Judith and Tineke Steenbrink. These creative interpretations add unique colours and a fresh spirit to baroque monuments. Here is yet another chance to enjoy Bach’s genius. ...
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Tenor Ian Bostridge and the late pianist Lars Vogt present two nocturnal Schubert songs. While Der Wanderer an den Mond has a folksy walking rhythm, the repetitive chords of Nacht und Träume create a sense of being suspended in time, fully immersed
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers"
The Clarion Choir and its Artistic Director Steven Fox make their Pentatone debut with a recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s choral masterpiece, the All-Night Vigil, demonstrating their exceptional proficiency in Russian repertoire. The All-Night Vigil is an evening service that gradually moves towards daybreak, symbolizing the ...
Composer: Sergey Rachmaninov (1873–1943)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Cellist Johannes Moser and pianist Andrei Korobeinikov present Bohuslav Martinů’s complete cello sonatas. These works belong to the most significant twentieth-century repertoire for cello and piano. Reflecting Martinů’s troubled existence, defined by ...
Composer: Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Mari Kodama presents New Paths, exploring the young Johannes Brahms and his fascinating friendship with Clara and Robert Schumann. The album derives its title from Robert Schumann’s famous essay “Neue Bahnen”, in which he heralded the young Brahms as the most ...
Composer: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
