Throughout the seven decades of Annie Fischer’s (1914–1995) prolific career, her amazing talent for music was accompanied by a sound foundation in the art, exceptional skills, precision and an outstanding intelligence as a performer. Despite her superior technical skills, she never indulged in virtuosity for just virtuosity’s sake: she complemented her brilliant technique with varied key-pressing and a refined, sophisticated sound. The honesty, artless simplicity, purity and deep musicality of Annie Fischer’s piano performances can still be enjoyed today through the studio recordings.

There were occasions during the three decades when the LP record ruled supreme - from the 1950s to the 1970s - when the chemistry between an orchestra, its conductor and their record company combined to work a magic that the commitment of long-term recording contracts quite often made possible. Karajan and the Philharmonia; Ansermet and the Suisse Romande; Dorati and the Minneapolis; Münch and the Boston Symphony, Cluytens and the Paris Conservatoire and Previn and the London Symphony are all prime examples of such collaborations. All of these produced recorded performances that are as fine today as they ever were and are all well-represented in the current CD catalogues. Until now there has been one successful recording collaboration that seems almost to have slipped under the radar: the Pittsburgh Symphony, William Steinberg and the Capitol Records producer, Richard C. Jones.

An album combining works by Schubert, Piazolla and Lintinen, cellist Trey Lee is joined by the English Chamber Orchestra to perform compositions embracing the effects and impacts of climate change on both the environment and society. The album has two world premiere recordings of new arrangements for both cello and piano, and cello and orchestra by Trey Lee.

During the period of lockdown in 2020, tenor Alessandro Fisher and his wife spent many hours in their garden. A heightened awareness of the beauty of nature, the flowers in their garden and the changes to the garden as winter moved to spring, and then to summer formed the basis of this beautifully curated recital.

Elīna Garanča reflects facets of night-time on her latest Deutsche Grammophon release “When Night Falls”. The soprano chose a selection of orchestral songs, as well as works for voice and piano or guitar, that she performs together with the Orquestra Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, the Berlin Music Ensemble and the DG artists Albrecht Mayer and Raphaël Feuillâtre, among others. Commenting on the spectrum of rich colours from sunset to the silence of the night, Garanča notes: "I hope this music will allow listeners to tune out the world for a few minutes and completely immerse themselves in the special magic of the hours of night.”

Turning 90 in December 2013, Menahem Pressler was the pianist of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio for almost 55 years, and continues to enjoy a blossoming career as soloist and recitalist, while remaining committed to teaching. For the greater part of his life, Pressler has lived with the two great sonatas recorded here. As an epilogue to these two pillars of the piano literature, Pressler has chosen to play a particular favorite of his, Chopin's brief but exquisite Nocturne in C sharp minor, a work that he often performs at the end of his recitals.

This new album from one of today's most popular and sought after piano trios delves into the emotive essence of two young composers-Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Franz Schubert-whose compositions offer an encounter with poignant reflections on life, mortality, and ethereal beauty. Mieczyslaw Weinberg's op. 24 Piano Trio, conceived in 1945 amidst World War II's turmoil, embodies a haunting portrayal of unrest and despair. Infused with traces of klezmer music, this composition reflects Weinberg's personal journey as a Polish Jew fleeing wartime atrocities, crafting a musical narrative that echoes both tragedy and resilience.

The playing is strongly Romantic in character, emphasizing the violent contrasts and almost painful expressivity of the score; the ensemble can deliver feathery, near-inaudible pianissimos and powerful fortissimos with equal presence. Intonation is more or less flawless, and ensemble work is superb with all five parts often being equally audible with no loss of coordination. On each repeated listen I find new details springing out of the texture. There are occasional miscalculations—the cello pizzicati at the start of the adagio are a bit too prominent, though the reverberant acoustic (recorded in a church) could also be partly to blame—but for the most part everything is well judged.

The result really is something special, a performance of growing intensity and concentration, which gradually exerted an iron grip on me as listener – right up until a deeply moving ‘Der Leiermann’.

Carl Seemann's Complete Deutsche Grammophon Recordings box set features recordings with Fritz Lehmann, Berliner Philharmoniker, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Bamberger Symphoniker, Mnchner Philharmoniker, Ferdinand Leitner and many more. Highlights include his celebrated Mozart records on 11 CDs and his famous Beethoven and Brahms duo recordings with violinist Wolfgang Schneider.

Isaac Stern's influence will linger with violinists for many years, and his recorded legacy will endure as Sony finds new ways to repackage his extraordinary body of work. This Masterworks Expanded Edition consists of analog and digital recordings made between 1964 and 1996; except for the bonus track, this 2004 reissue corresponds to the second disc in the 2002 set, "In Tribute and Celebration." Schubert's Piano Trio in B flat major, which Stern performs brilliantly with cellist Leonard Rose and pianist Eugene Istomin, is the oldest recording here, but it is more enjoyable than it was on LP because the sound has been substantially improved through careful remastering.

Jos van Immerseel: “While since its foundation in 1987 Anima Eterna Brugge has grown organically into a symphonic orchestra, chamber music once again forms an important part of our repertory today. We will continue our journey through orchestral music, but want to broaden our base by including chamber music as well.”

In the latest chapter in Sir Andras Schiff’s ongoing documentation of Franz Schubert’s music, the great pianist plays the Four Impromptus D 899, and compositions from 1828, the last year of Schubert’s too brief life: the Three Pieces D 946 (“impromptus in all but name” notes Misha Donat in the CD booklet), the C minor Sonata D 958 and the A major Sonata D 959.

Alexei Lubimov belongs to the great russian tradition of musicians such as Richter, Gilels (Lubimov was one of the last student of Heinrich Neuhaus in Moscow) and to this generation of baroque pioneers together with Gustav Leonhardt, Juijken… He is also a major artist playing russian composers such as Denisov, Schnittke, Silvestrov… and Arvo Pärt…
Alexei Lubimov developed his outstanding international carrier with these three cultures in mind. He was in Brussels in 1968 to play Denisov piano pieces where he met the Kuijken brothers. He played John Cage and Terry Riley during the Soviet Union time.

Throughout history men have feared madwomen, burning them as witches, confining them in asylums and subjecting them to psychoanalysis – yet, they have also been fascinated, unable to resist fantasizing about them. For their new disc, Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have created a programme that explores the responses of a variety of composers to women whose stories have left them vulnerable and exposed. As a motto they have chosen an aphorism by Nietzsche: ‘There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness.’