At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Beethoven was one of the first composers to reveal the expressive and technical qualities of the cello, both in his symphonic works and in his chamber music. Some illustrious predecessors (Bach, Geminiani or Vivaldi) had already worked on the creation of an autonomous repertoire of concertos and sonatas for the cello, but Beethoven transformed the former instrument of accompaniment and support of the continuo into a true partner of a music based on dialogue, exchange, and contrast.

Simon Ghraichy is a French pianist of Lebanese and Mexican background. Ghraichy has performed as a soloist with orchestras and in chamber music and solo recitals in music halls across the globe: at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, as well as venues in France, Netherlands, Peru, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, and Egypt.

Hommage à Boulez celebrates Daniel Barenboim’s and Pierre Boulez’ association, starting in June 1964, that for length and multifariousness, has few parallels in the history of music.

Celebrated by his Chopin awarded recordings and cited by critics as one of those talents that only come along every few decades - has now turned to Bach. The now 31-year-old winner of the 2005 International Chopin Piano Competition, has been immersed in Bach since his childhood and has cultivated a strikingly natural eloquence in his mature interpretations of the composer’s keyboard works.

For her second Warner Classics release, young Italian pianist Beatrice Rana turns to a pinnacle of the solo keyboard repertoire and a composer she has described as “my first love”: Johann Sebastian Bach. Her interpretation of his epic Goldberg Variations bears out Le Monde’s judgement that “Beatrice Rana certainly has nothing left to prove when it comes to technique, but what makes an impression are her calm maturity and her sense of architecture,” and Gramophone’s that she is “a fully developed artist of a stature that belies her tender years.”

Emi Fujita (藤田恵美) is a Japanese singer. She debuted as a singer with her husband Ryuji Fujita as the duo Le Couple. Their 1st album was released in 1994. Fujita made her solo debut in 2001. Her series of "Camomile" albums are covers of popular western songs. Several of her solo albums have charted in Japan, including Camomile Best Audio, which reached #27 on the Oricon chart and is a 'best of' her Camomile series. She has also found some success in Southeast Asia.