Violin star Julia Fischer has returned to the Pentatone label for a Double Album with 21 Stereo Selections spanning 117 minutes 34 seconds of music. The program is a window into an extensive catalog from the prolific violinist and an opportunity to sample her most intimate performances. The double album is titled Intimate and features the works of Khachaturian, Schubert, Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Glazunov. The music was selected to be an accompaniment for intimate moments. Each selection features Fischer’s beautiful tone playing melancholic melodies, affectionate duets, and comforting concertos.
Bach’s “Sonata [...]
Eldbjørg Hemsing is releasing a new album of Edvard Grieg’s violin sonatas. The album follows the acclaimed recordings of concertos by Dvořák and Shostakovich, by Tan Dun and Josef Suk. The Norwegian violinist is joined by Simon Trpčeski at the piano. Grieg’s violin sonatas mark a decisive phase in the composer’s artistic development. He completed the F major Sonata at the age of 22, after completing his studies at the Leipzig conservatory and it still bears the stamp of German romanticism. Two years later, in 1867, Grieg created Sonata No. 2 with a goal of a national culture, [...]
The excellent virtuoso pianist Nelson Freire celebrated his 75th birthday in 2019. To commemorate this event, Decca Classics is releasing an album titled Encores. With a musical repertoire that spans seventy years as a professional pianist, Freire has a wealth of material to choose from that he has mastered over his long career. The program is thirty tracks spanning over an hour and fifteen minutes, presenting well-known compositions, light fair, technical masterpieces, and rare gems. Twelve of the selections come from Evard Grieg’s Lyric Pieces with the other selections coming from Sgambati, Purcell, Scarlatti, Stojowski, Paderewski, Godowsky, [...]
A solo release gives every artist and an opportunity to display the salt within their core artistry. There is nowhere to hide within the cover of other instruments. Pianist James Fernando has crafted his first solo album, The Lonely Sailor. Stylistically Fernando leans heavily into the classical genre with an electronically altered piano. The album features eight original compositions that Fernando describes as a journey of personal growth. This is depicted by the piano at the onset of the album; the piano is pure and acoustic; as the album progress, each piece becomes more augmented until almost entirely electronic.
Opening with the [...]
