“The Armenian brother-and-sister team give passionate, deeply felt performances of all three sonatas...what gives these performances their particular strength is the performers' ability to project the crucial movements of harmony on which the se…
One of the most sought-after trios in the world, the Eroica Trio thrills audiences with flawless technical virtuosity, irresistible enthusiasm and sensual elegance. Whether playing the great standards of the piano trio repertoire or daring contempor…
A member of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2002, Stefan Schulz is one of the world’s leading bass trombonists. This recital programme was recorded live at a concert in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berliner Philharmonie. The programme was chosen to…
“The Brahms Violin Concerto has been recorded so often that exceptional performances should not be as rare as they are. But this is one of them...Chailly calibrates an ideal balance. Kavakos's violin tone is super-refined and elegant.” --BBC Mus…
“This is the Brahms piano concerto set we’ve been waiting for. Nelson Freire and Riccardo Chailly offer interpretations that triumphantly fuse immediacy and insight, power and lyricism, and incandescent virtuosity that leaves few details unturned, y…
“I want to hear more of Hardy Rittner, an exceptional talent...Dabringhaus und Grimm makes adventurous records. Here is one. If you're open to notions of 'historical' orchestral sound and to pianos in evolution when they were less standa…
“…the young Swede Martin Fröst plays with elegant phrasing and beautiful, even produced tone… In the two sonatas, he's perfectly matched by his compatriot Roland Pöntinen in performances which capture Brahms's serious, autumnal mood without …
"The idea of choosing piano works for a solo recording that explores the concept of fantasy may not seem all that original. But on this fascinating album the Israeli pianist David Greilsammer explores the concept in a program of striking divers…
“The expressive intensity of Mullova's playing goes hand-in-hand with an essential restraint.” --BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2007 Russian-born Viktoria Mullova is a violinist primarily known for her great virtuosity and a wide-ranging repertory th…
“The partnership of Julia Fischer and Yakov Kreizberg… really comes into its own in the symphonic proportions of Brahms's Violin Concerto. From Fischer's opening imposing entry, it's clear that Kreizberg and the Netherlands Philharmonic …
The essence of a concerto is the contrast and combination of a solo instrument with a larger instrumental ensemble. Having developed out of the Baroque concept of concerto grosso, the concerto genre was fully established in the eighteenth century, a…
One of the most charismatic and best-loved violinists of modern times, Germany's Anne-Sophie Mutter began her studies on the piano at the age of five. She shortly added violin lessons with Erna Hornigberger. In 1970 and again in 1974, she won fi…
“These fine performances make a strong case for them.” Sunday Times, 6th April 2014 “Everything sounds as though it has been thought through extensively...The Takács's Brahms is like a superbly engineered road: we always know where we're goi…
"The box set Great Piano Concertos has been produced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Naxos and draws on their extensive catalogue of concerto recordings. The recording quality varies from the older 1980’s recordings but there are some good…
“The warm, expansive music-making confirms even more clearly than before that the old view of this as one of Beethoven's weaker works is quite wrong. The three Soviet soloists revel in the multiplicity of ideas, with Richter in the spare piano p…
“Where Harnoncourt rather underplays the First Symphony, giving it a decorous Schumannesque feel, Rattle's reading is one in which the inwardness and charm of the exquisitely realised inner movements offset the breadth and lyric power of the sur…