This fourth volume of late Cortot completes APR’s survey of the post-war recordings which the pianist made for EMI in the UK. We are now entering the era of tape recording, and apart from the Deutsche Ländler of 1951, all the other titles, which date from 1953-54, were recorded in this new medium. This gave the artist new freedom, as he was not restriced to the length of a 78rpm side for each take, and Cortot tackled much of his ‘big’ repertoire again. Sadly, by this time his failing health meant that many works remained unissued as they did not meet the standards of his earlier magnificent versions, however some old warhorses did stand the test of time, as can be heard in the Carnaval featured here. His playing may have become technically more fallible but the performances fully support the claim of the late Thomas Manshardt, one of Cortot's last pupils, that this period of Cortot's career 'is his greatest in thought and warmth and mastery’. The booklet contains a discography of all Cortot’s HMV sessions from 1953 to 1955.

To a unique degree, Ronald Brautigam has managed to combine highly successful careers as a performer on both the fortepiano and the modern piano. With close to fifty released CDs on BIS, his discography testifies to this, including complete cycles on fortepiano of the solo piano music by Mozart and Haydn, but also four recent discs of Beethoven’s piano concertos played on a modern Steinway. The present disc is the first in a projected series of Mozart’s piano concertos, for which Brautigam returns to the fortepiano – a copy of a 1795 instrument by Anton Walter – and is joined by the experienced period band Die Kölner Akademie conducted by Michael Alexander Willens. The programme includes one of Mozart’s earliest master-pieces, the ‘Jenamy’ Concerto (previously known as ‘Jeunehomme’) composed in 1777 before he had moved from Salzburg to Vienna. This is followed by Piano Concerto No.12 in A major, K 414, one of the first Vienna concertos, and a Rondo for piano and orchestra from the same period. Watch an interview with Brautigam

It is well-known that during the time of C.P.E. Bach, performers were expected to improvise embellishments when observing the repeats in the pieces they played. Professional musicians were highly skilled in such improvisation, but most amateur players probably had a hard time trying to come up with clever variations for the repetitions that they performed. In the Six Sonatas with Varied Reprises, published in 1760, Bach thoughtfully provided written-out ‘improvisations’ for sections that are to be repeated, explaining in his preface that the works were intended for ‘beginners and those amateurs who, because of their age or other circumstances, no longer have time or patience for diligent practice’. This should not be taken to mean that the six sonatas are easy to play – they actually make greater technical demands than many of his other keyboard works of the period, partly due to the fact that Bach has seized every opportunity to demonstrate his virtuosity in embellishing. ‘We only have to sit back (after having mastered the considerable technical demands) and enjoy the abundant richness of the variations, admire Bach’s apparently inexhaustible ability to compose, again and again, new melodic lines over the same harmonic progression – and wonder if we ourselves will ever be able to improvise such wonderfully varied repeats in our concert performances…’ -Miklós Spányi

By gathering six symphonic poems under the title Má Vlast (‘My Country‘), Bedřich Smetana created what is probably the most extensive portrayal of any geographical region in the history of music. In his cycle (composed between 1874 and 1879) Smetana combined the new genre of symphonic poem, a term coined by Liszt in 1854, with the then highly fashionable ideals of nationalistic music. The result was an instant success – not just on Smetana‘s home ground, but also internationally – and the various parts (especially 'The Moldau') still remain favourites in concert halls all over the world. Female warriors, Christian reformers, medieval fortresses and peasant festivals – all of these appear in the broad fresco in which Smetana depicted his beloved Bohemia. Ranging from idyllic to grandiose, the music is here performed by Claus Peter Flor and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, whose Asrael recording was described as 'world-class...one smoking hot performance' by an orchestra playing 'like a pack of demons'. -Classics Today

‘Each instrument is primus inter pares, every note is significant …’ is how the scholar Alfred Einstein described W.A. Mozart’s Divertimento in E flat major for string trio. What other work could then be more suitable for the first disc of a star-studded ensemble such as Trio Zimmermann, in which each member is very definitely first among equals? Composed in the same year as the three final symphonies, Mozart’s only real trio for violin, viola and cello is a weighty work – six movements and close to 50 glorious minutes of music – and the fact that Mozart chose the title Divertimento (from the Italian divertire: to amuse) for a piece of these dimensions has often been remarked upon. But to Mozart, there was no dividing line between ‘serious’ art and pleasure or amusement – and so, to quote Einstein once more, he gave us ‘the most perfect, finest thing that has ever been heard in this world’. To round off the disc, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit and Christian Poltéra have chosen to record Schubert’s first contribution to the string trio genre, the opening – and only complete – movement (Allegro) of his String Trio in B flat major, D 471, written in 1816 when the composer was only nineteen.

Thomas Dausgaard and his Swedish Chamber Orchestra met with critical acclaim for their performance of Schumann’s Second Symphony at the BBC Proms. Schumann’s symphonies have featured in Dausgaard and the SCO’s series ‘Opening Doors’ on BIS, in which Romantic symphonies are performed with smaller than usual numbers. The sequel to the Schumann recordings was a disc combining Schubert’s Unfinished and Great C major Symphonies, described in BBC Radio 3’s CD Review as ‘a crisp, clean account that somehow seems to strip away layers of silt to get a clear view of the colours underneath’. Dausgaard and the forty-odd members of the SCO now take on a composer whose symphonies often are regarded as the epitome of Romantic grandeur, not to say bulkiness – Anton Bruckner, and his Second Symphony. The recording thus becomes a sort of test of how the ‘Opening Doors’ concept can be applied to music from the High Romantic period. Dausgaard himself finds in this work ‘a feeling of a very personal prayer – as if Bruckner was meditating and improvising at the organ’ and describes the experience of performing it with the SCO as ‘a kind of collective chamber-musical improvisation with a strong symphonic undercurrent. I hope Bruckner would have liked it...’

Rated No.1 in the recent ABC Classical Top 100, Beethoven's Ninth was recorded live in 2007 in the presence of  the Pope in the Vatican. This memorable concert is now released in the highest audiophile recording quality as a Hybrid SACD. This is Beethoven’s masterpiece with a solo ensemble of international star singers led by Mariss Jansons.

The notion of Brucknerian 'cathedral edifices' best applies to his 5th Symphony in B-flat Major, a paradigm of the most complex polyphony in symphonic writing and a stirring assertion of faith, the yearning for divine light and hope. This concert recording was made in January 2010 in Munich - a city with a special affinity for Bruckner - during a guest appearance by Bernard Haitink with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The magnificent performance is presented at the highest level of (Hybrid) SACD sound quality. Haitink remains one of the most celebrated podium personalities active today.

In a spectacular concert cycle from January to March 1999, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lorin Maazel performed the complete symphonies of Bruckner in Munich’s Philharmonie in the Gasteig. Maazel had at his disposal an ensemble with a long, impressive Brucknerian tradition dating back to Eugen Jochum. The founding father and first Chief Conductor of the orchestra ranks as one of the most significant Bruckner conductors in the interpretive history of these works.

Hymn to the Sun is the debut CD of the Danish National Vocal Ensemble. The album presents some of the most prominent Danish 20th- and 21st-century composers of choral music, inspired by highly evocative texts: Poems by Hans Christian Andersen; the Psalms of the Bible, and ancient poetry worshipping the Sun.

This world premiere recording of Holmen's breakthrough sonic masterpiece from last year's Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is a marvel. Norwegian accordionist Frode Haltli builds an incredible 'cloud' of sound which can be heard in enveloping surround sound with the free promotional download included with the CD.

Globally recognised as the authoritative edition of Bach's works, häenssler CLASSIC's Edition Bachakademie set the standard for Bach interpretaion in the new millennium. Ten years later, with tens of thousands of copies of the original box set sold worldwide, the epic Bach Edition is now available once again, completely redesigned, streamlined and updated, and available at a new drastically reduced price. A celebration of a lifetime's work, conceived and realised in cooperation with the International Bach Academy under the artistic direction of Helmuth Rilling. The deluxe edition includes all 172 CDs in a handsome display box, two booklets of over 500 pages combined, and a newly produced CD-ROM with complete texts, translations and booklet notes.

Baritone Stéphane Degout has already featured in recordings of Brahms' and Fauré's requiems for Accentus. Newly signed to naive as a solo artist, here he presents a selection of French composers from Debussy and Ravel to lesser know, sumptuous French works. In 2011, Degout performs on the concert stage and in the opera theatre alongside Sir Simon Rattle, Magdalena Kožená, Juan Diego Flórez, Joyce DiDonato and other luminaries.

Transfiguration is Camilla Nylund’s long-awaited first album of arias. It captures the soprano's multi-faceted art with famous arias and scenes from operas by Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner, including the grueling final scenes from Tristan und Isolde and Salome. These arias reflect the lyrical and dramatic aspects of the acclaimed singer's current roles at such venues as Staatsoper Dresden, Vienna State Opera, and Bayreuth Festspiele.

A unique disc from two versatile and distinctive groups of performers: The King’s Singers and the WDR Big Band perform a new jazz version of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, arranged and directed by Bill Dobbins. Recorded live in concert, this performance captures the timeless and versatile nature of Bach’s work, retaining the integrity of the original whilst presenting it in striking new setting. Both groups are Grammy Award winners; The King’s Singers, famed for their precision and sound, and the WDR Big Band, one of Europe’s leading jazz ensembles.

'Since her full blooming on the operatic stage, Kirchschlager’s mezzo has grown enormously - and her performing character with it. She still knows how to hold a recital audience in the palm of her hand, but now there’s a newly expansive energy firing all she sings...Kirchschlager’s dark mezzo smouldered with sensuality', so wrote The Times after Angelika Kirchschlager and Roger Vignoles’ February 2010 Wigmore Hall performance of the same collection of Hugo Wolf and Richard Strauss songs. Kirchschlager is regarded as one of the most distinguished mezzo-sopranos of her generation and in particular is recognised internationally for her interpretations of Richard Strauss. Eminent piano accompanist and leading authority on the song repertoire, Roger Vignoles, is her long-standing musical partner. Now in this collection Kirchschlager and Vignoles collaborate to perform nine Strauss songs as well as Wolf’s lieder to texts by Eduard Mörike and Gottfried Keller. Wolf set 43 of Mörike’s poems to music during a period of intense creativity in which he developed a heady new musical language. Kirchschlager delights in the opportunity to convey this with glorious colouring of phrases which are fittingly matched by the piano.

Schönberg's mammoth opus and greatest public success, the Gurrelieder, premièred in 1913. No less than 150 musicians in the orchestra, five vocal soloists as well as three great German radio choruses appeared on stage at the Munich Philharmonie in the Gasteig in October of 2009 for this grandiose performance marking the Bavarian Radio Symphony's 60th anniversary and led by Chief Conductor Mariss Jansons. This is the only available DVD of the Gurrelieder, bonus features including interviews and an introduction to the work.

This 2-DVD set of Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performing Beethoven Symphonies Nos 7 – 9 includes a one-hour documentary: 'Discovering Beethoven with Christian Thielemann', featuring discussion and analysis of the symphonies in an entertaining conversational exchange, and Thielemann's interpretation explored in rehearsal footage, and comparative excerpts of the legendary Beethoven performances of Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, and Järvi. This is the first Beethoven Cycle of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in full HD and 5.0 sound; soloists in the Ninth are Annette Dasch, Piotr Beczala, Georg Zeppenfeld, Mihoku Fujimura. Also available: Thielemann Conducts Beethoven Symphonies Nos 4-6 (704908).

On the afternoon of 19 August 1950, a young boy in short trousers climbed the steps to the stage of the Sala Beyer in Buenos Aires to make his piano début. 50 years later, Daniel Barenboim returned 'to the scene of the crime' to give an ecstatically received recital at Teatro Colón: one of the major musical milestones of the decade. The documentary Multiple Identities  - Encounters with Daniel Barenboim: tracks the pianist-conductor from summer 1999 through Berlin, Chicago, Tel Aviv and Weimar up to this stage anniversary in Buenos Aires, in summer 2000, and ends with his controversial performance of Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde in Jerusalem in summer 2001. It is a film about music, about music-making and a celebration of a remarkable personality.

An intensely moving view of one of the leading musicians of our time. In several interviews, Abbado discusses artistic, musical and biographical aspects of his life. The film shows excerpts from rehearsals and concerts with some of his most beloved orchestras. Friends and colleagues offer their help characterising 'the silent thinker'.

Gioacchino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle was written in 1863, 'the last', the composer called it, of my 'péchés de vieillesse' (sins of old age). For its 1864 premiere Rossini arranged the work with only two pianos and harmonium. Partly for fear that it would languish in obscurity after his death, Rossini discreetly orchestrated the Petite Messe Solennelle during 1866-67, without losing its candor and subtlety. The resulting version had its first public performance on 28 February 1869, three months after the composer's death. 'Mr Chailly's genius for the Rossini style has ripened with the years. His performance has daring and velocity.' Gramophone

The long-hoped for production of Katya Kabanova with finally available on DVD: Karita Mattila's triumphant performance combined with Robert Carsen's magical direction. Recorded at Madrid's Teatro Real in December 2008 and greeted with overwhelming praise, 'no one can remain indifferent to this Katya, it’s amazing'. It stands out for the stunning beauty of Carsen's theatrical production, the magnificent direction, and the bold and powerfully poetic stage design. All the action takes place on a huge expanse of water, filled with the reflections of extraordinarily graceful images shaped by exquisite lighting. The cast, dominated by the remarkable Karita Mattila, is the perfect match for Janacek's masterpiece. The rare talent of conductor Jiri Belohlavek in the music of his countrymen provides a musical direction that brings out every element of the story; all the passion, subtlety, fragility and drama.