Most of César Franck’s works received scant attention at the time of their composition and Hulda was never performed in his lifetime. The narrative is set in 14th-century Norway at the time of the great tribal kings, with marauding hordes spreading fear and terror throughout the land. Hulda is kidnapped and transferred from one tribe to the other, her family is killed and she herself is humiliated.

The title for this recording was inspired by the situation in which many ensembles and musicians found themselves after the arrival of the devastating Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Countries were locked down; concerts and recordings were cancelled; musicians everywhere were out of work.

Hans Rosbaud war von 1948 bis zu seinem Tod 1962 Chefdirigent des SWF-Sinfonieorchesters. Er formte das später so genannte SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg zu einem europäischen Spitzenensemble.

I’ll be traveling to New York in March for the launch concert of Thomas Mesa and Yoon Lee’s CD of works for ‘cello and piano, including my work Novella (Chapter One). The DiMenna Center website link is below:

William James "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, Basie formed his own jazz orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others. Many musicians came to prominence under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, the guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams. Count Basie introduced several generations of listeners to the Big Band sound and left an influential catalog.

Ne m'oubliez pas! This new release features music for piano and for piano and violin by the Curaçao composers Jan Gerard Palm (1831-1906), Jules Blasini (1847-1887), Joseph Sickman Corsen (1853-1911) and Miguel Senior (1877-1975). Pianist Ketevan Sharumashvili and violinist Jeroen Dupont are both young and exceptionally talented musicians who have won several first prizes at international music competitions. The title of the album is a piece composed by Jules François Blasini. Born to Maria Elizabeth Leon of Curaçao and the Corsican Jean Blasini. His father was then serving as the French consul to Curaçao. Blasini's adagio, Ne m'oubliez pas! (Do not forget me!), has a classical, touching and tender beauty.

Following his acclaimed release of the Brahms and Schoenberg Violin Concertos, Jack Liebeck returns to Orchid Classics with Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, as well as the lyrical Poème élégiaque for violin and piano, for which Liebeck is joined by Daniel Grimwood. Ysaÿe was hailed as the greatest violinist of his day until illness cut short his career as a soloist, prompting him to channel his energies into writing these sonatas dedicated to six of his most outstanding contemporaries, including George Enescu and Fritz Kreisler.

Navona Records presents VIRTUOSO, a collection of works by Frederic Chopin performed by piano prodigy Dmitry Ishkhanov. Featured on this album are the pieces Ishkhanov cites as Chopin’s most meaningful: the four Mazurkas of Op. 17, the Nocturne in C sharp minor of Op. 27, and the Etudes of Op. 25, considered by many as one of the most challenging repertoires to master.

Rockin' with Kay is a studio album by Kay Starr. It was released in 1958 by RCA Victor (catalog no. LPM-1720). It was her third album for RCA Victor.

Music of the Italian Baroque by woman composers and the men who encouraged them.

Belgian violinist, conductor and composer Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931) has been recognized as one of the greatest violin virtuosos of the 19th and early 20th centuries; regarded as the 'King of the Violin' by Nathan Milstein, his legacy has inspired generations of musicians. Ysaÿe was also a true avant-garde composer whose works feature revolutionary modern violin technique, unique expressive devices, profound musicality and harmonic originality, which eventually served as the bridge between the era of the Romantic virtuoso and contemporary music.

Violist Jesus Rodolfo makes his PENTATONE debut, accompanied by pianist Min Young Kang, with an album showcasing three iconic 20th-century Russian composers who all left their homeland: Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Stravinsky. Rodolfo presents selections of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata in G Minor in arrangements by Vadim Borisovsky, while Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne can be heard in his own transcription for viola and piano.

Paul Wranitzky moved to Vienna from his native Moravia at the age of 20, mixing with the likes of Haydn and Mozart. As the most important symphonist in Vienna in the late 1790s, his style influenced the early symphonies of Beethoven. The Symphony in D major ‘La Chasse’ reflects the popularity of hunting music, and is heard here for the first time in its expanded version. The overtures to Mitgefühl and Die gute Mutter represent Wranitzky’s skill as a composer for the theatre, as does the masterfully scored Symphony in C major in which the composer repurposes some incidental and ballet music.

Prokofiev first became fascinated by the violin upon hearing the playing of his private teacher, Reinhold Glière. A dozen years later Prokofiev wrote his Violin Concerto No. 1 – a work of contrasting open-hearted lyricism and whimsical playfulness that features a wild central Scherzo with dazzling technical gymnastics. By contrast, the Violin Concerto No. 2 is emotionally reserved and sardonic with an inspired plaintive and long-arching slow movement.

The combination of flute and guitar was a feature of early tango recordings – instruments central both to the genre and to the music of Astor Piazzolla. The composer’s quintessential Histoire du Tango charts the form’s evolution from its appearance in the barrios of Buenos Aires to its eventual assimilation by classical composers. The Six Études tanguistiques for solo flute is Piazzolla’s only work for a melodic unaccompanied instrument.