Wer erkunden möchte, welche Brillanz und Farbenvielfalt das Spiel auf einer Blockflöte ermöglicht, sollte in dieses vielgestaltige Programm mit italienischen Sonaten hineinhören. Dorothee Oberlinger verfügt über eine phänomenale Technik, mit der sie jeden musikalischen Impuls umzusetzen und ihre Spielfreude ungebremst auszuleben vermag. Selbst in den rasantesten Läufen und vertracktesten Verzierungen bleibt die Artikulation glasklar, der Ton wunderbar präsent und konturiert.

These works, often thought of in terms of being ‘immature’, are currently under recorded. This is a pity because although lacking in the depth of Vivaldi’s next opus, the masterwork ‘L’Estro armonico’, these sonatas are sophisticated and artful studies.

These dozen sonatas fully constitute one-sixth of Corelli's published output and strongly influenced the form of the violin sonata in the early decades of the eighteenth century. The collection is in many ways a condensation of Corelli's four earlier volumes of trio sonatas; here are solo sonatas (front-and-center violin, accompanied by a continuo section of at least a keyboard and usually cello or gamba, sometimes with the addition of theorbo or some other member of the lute family), with the works divided between six church sonatas (sonate da chiesa, the format of Corelli's Opp. 1 and 3 trio sonatas) and five chamber sonatas (sonate da camera, in the manner of Opp. 2 and 4).

Isabelle Faust plays Bartok like a wonder-struck explorer confronting new terrains. She wrestles triumphantly with the First Violin Sonata's knotty solo writing, reduces her tone to a whisper for the more mysterious passages, employs a wide range of tonal colours and trans forms the finale's opening bars into a fearless war dance. This is cerebral music with a heart of fire and will brook no interpretative compromises: you either take it on its own terms, or opt for something milder.

Nel vastissimo catalogo delle opere di Antonio Vivaldi (circa 1.000 numeri considerando le appendici), la musica da camera rappresenta una parte non considerevole e, probabilmente, una delle meno note rispetto alla frequentatissima produzione concertistica e sacra, a cui si è agggiunta, negli ultimi anni, quella operistica. Per quest'ultima si pensi, ad esempio, alle recenti produzioni dell'etichetta "Naive" o alle arie d'opera riscoperte e magistralmente eseguite in forma di concerto da Cecilia Bartoli.

If you thought violinist Gidon Kremer and pianist Martha Argerich's 1986 DG recording of Schumann's two published violin sonatas was the last word in overwhelming passion in the German Romantic composer's late chamber music, try this 2008 ECM disc of the two published sonatas plus the unpublished sonata by violinist Carolin Widmann and pianist Dénes Várjon.

Mozart wrote his 17 Church Sonatas between 1772 and 1780, the period in which he was Konzertmeister to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Sometimes known as Epistle Sonatas, these short instrumental movements were designed to fill the gap between the readings of the Epistle and the Gospel at Mass, so clearly profundity was not something that was required of them. However, if an hour of sonata allegros seems to you like an indigestible prospect then the sheer charm of this music should quickly banish such unworthy thoughts. All under five minutes long, these are delightful pieces, not in the least bit 'churchy' and ranging in scale from chamber music for two violins and continuo (the majority) to symphony-style orchestral movements and a tiny concerto allegro for organ.

"The sonatas of Mozart are unique," said Artur Schnabel. "They are too easy for children, and too difficult for artists." It was performances like Mikhail Pletnev's that inspired Schabel's maxim. Pletnev's technique is awe-inspiring, and the smooth, room-sized sound he gets out of a grand piano promise wonderful things as one begins listening to the disc. But there's a certain refusal to fool with the music, a Zen detachment perhaps, that's necessary for a really good Mozart performance, and Pletnev does too much tinkering.

Ausgezeichnet mit einem Echo Klassik 2008 als »Instrumentalistin des Jahres« begeistert die Meisterin der Blockflöte immer mehr Menschen für dieses Instrument. Und in den Medien nicht nur die Fachpresse. Die Zeitschrift Brigitte etwa schrieb über sie: »Dorothee Oberlinger spielt mit einer Virtuosität und Bandbreite an Klangfarben, wie man sie niemals von diesem Instrument erwartet hätte.« Auf ihrer neuen CD präsentiert die Künstlerin Werke von Telemann, begleitet vom Ensemble 1700. In Telemanns außerordentlich umfangreichem Werk findet sich ein großes Repertoire für Blockflöte. Die hier eingespielten Werke, eine Solofantasie sowie Solo- und Triosonaten, stellen einen exemplarischen Ausschnitt aus Telemanns Flötenkammermusik dar und spiegeln die gesamte Bandbreite seines kompositorischen Schaffens wider.

Trois chefs-d’oeuvre, dont deux quasi inconnus, interprétés de surcroît par deux interprètes épatants, la fine et véhémente Valérie Aimard et le toujours poétique Cédric Tiberghien : …un disque réellement indispensable.

Prokofiev’s chamber music is stimulating, hugely varied, and impregnated with his distinctive brand of melody. Take the two Violin Sonatas – the First intensely dramatic, by turns rhetorical and contemplative, epic in its content; the Second altogether cosier, a reworking of a slightly earlier Sonata for the flute. Bell and Mustonen are well attuned to this music, their interpretations thoughtful and persuasive.

Rachel Podger's growing reputation among early-music enthusiasts is buttressed by this set of Bach's sonatas for violin and continuo. Her intonation is always on target, her tone sweet but not cloying. While she shares the understated interpretive stance of so many historically informed performers, she allows the emotions to shine through in, for example, the opening Largo of Sonata No. 5. And where the dancelike elements are to the fore, as in the Allegro of No. 6, she shows she can swing with the best.

Hitherto we have heard Rachel Podger only in early chamber works and as Andrew Manze's partner in Bach double concertos: here now, at last, is an opportunity to hear her on her own. And you couldn't be more on your own than in Bach's mercilessly revealing Solo Sonatas and Partitas, perhaps the ultimate test of technical mastery, expressiveness, structural phrasing and deep musical perception for a violinist. Playing a Baroque instrument, Podger challenges comparison with the much praised and individual reading by Monica Huggett: she has many of the same virtues – flawless intonation, warm tone, expressive nuances, clear understanding of the proper balance of internal strands – but her approach is sometimes markedly different.

These very recent recordings by Elisabeth Leonskaja, released on her label a few years ago, have been bought by Warner Classics at the occasion of her new signing as a Warner Classics artist.

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 wartime, emigration, longing for the homeland, yet also full of hope and life-affirming energy, the music seems entirely topical in our own troubled times. After their award-winning recording of works by Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff from 2016, Moser and Korobeinikov demonstrate their congeniality once more, fully realizing the extreme interdependence of cello and piano in these works.