The third of the ongoing series from the ‘nigh-on ideal’ partnership (Gramophone) of Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien. As before, the programme mixes the early—two works by the precocious ten-year-old—with the mature, and includes Mozart’s final violin sonata.

A new live recording of Bach’s St Matthew Passion (Matthäuspassion BWV 244), recorded in Pisa Cathedral during the Anima Mundi Festival as part of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra’s 2016 tour.

Hiroshi Wakasugi was a Japanese orchestra conductor. He premiered many of the major Western operas in Japan, and was honoured with many awards for cultural achievement.

Sir Colin Davis conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and chorus and a stellar cast of soloists in a concert performance of Weber's eerily fantastical opera, Der Freischutz. Der Freischutz is heralded as one of the cornerstones of Romantic opera, drawing on traditional German folk tunes and elements of Romanticism for the first time in the history of opera. The evocative and colorful orchestration is particularly impressive in the ''Wolf's Glen'' scene - long considered the most gruesomely expressive rendering of evil ever found in a musical score. Many listeners may be familiar with this opera without even knowing it; several of the melodies have been adapted as hymn tunes and the overture is regularly performed as a stand-alone work in the concert hall.

Specially written for Gergiev on the occasion of his 60th birthday, Rodion Shchedrin s 'The Left-Hande'r is a comedy of Russians and Englishmen, new technology, old traditions and strong drink. The premiere was given by the Mariinsky Opera in St Petersburg in July 2013. Rodion Shchedrin is one of music s greatest living humourists and his work is laced with pitch-black irony and deadpan wit. Based on Nikolai Leskov s classical satirical novella of 1881, 'The Tale of Cross-Eyed Lefty From Tula and the Steel Flea', The Left-Hander is a gloriously wry exploration of Russia s relationship with the West in general and England in particular.

When George Butterworth joined the army in 1914, his most recent works included the song cycle Six Songs from 'A Shropshire Lad' as well as the Rhapsody 'A Shropshire Lad', which he called 'an orchestral epilogue' to his settings of A. E. Housman's poems. The Rhapsody has since been described as 'one of the greatest of all English orchestral works' and when Butterworth left England to fight in the First World War, he was seen as one of the bright hopes of British music a hope that in August 1916 was extinguished in the trenches at the Somme.

The Karajan Official Remastered Edition contains official remastering of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 and 1984, which are now a jewel of the Warner Classics catalog.

"…Janowski's pacing and preparation of the orchestra is masterly. Reacting with sensitivity to the score, the tender & reflective scenes are given space to breathe without taxing the singers into strained tone. (…) The more one hears, the more one appreciates the vocal acting as well as the superlative orchestral contribution (make no mistake, there are at least 3 world class orchestras resident in Berlin today). This listener (at least) is eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Ring." ~sa-cd.net