The obvious point of reference here is tile Kronos Quartet's cycle of Schnittke string quartets, released as a complete edition in 1998. But after hearing Quatuor Molinari play the same pieces I don't think I'll be going back. In fact, if anyone wants it …

Initially a bassoonist, Marc Minkowski began conducting at an early age, notably under the guidance of Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux Memorial School in the United States. At the age of nineteen he founded Les Musiciens du Louvre, an ensemble that was to play an active role in the Baroque revival. After their success at the Wiener Konzerthaus in 2009 with a complete cycle of Haydn's 'London' Symphonies recorded live by Na+¯ve (their exclusive record label since 2007), Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble now release the complete Schubert symphonies.

Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante for cello and orchestra in E minor, Op. 125, makes the listener aware of the level of external and internal conflict under which the composer was laboring at the time of its composition in 1952, close to the end of his life. Prokofiev had suffered under the censure of the Soviet regime in the last decades of his life and worked hard to maintain his artistic integrity while avoiding offending the delicate aesthetic sensibilities of the authorities. The Sinfonia Concertante, his last major work, suffers for being a balancing act that didn't allow the composer to give expression to the full level of inventiveness that's held in check by his tenuous political situation.

Commanding the podium with his slender figure, theatrical shock of hair and penetrating blue eyes, Herbert von Karajan projected the hieratic image of the conductor as officiant of some quasi-mystic rite. And anyone who ever saw him conduct live or on his many audiovisual recordings will agree that in his performances, music did indeed become a religion and Karajan its high-priest. Karajan (1908-1989) embodied classical music in the general consciousness as an epoch-making conductor, media star, opera producer, festival director and festival founder.

Pairing Bruckners Symphony No. 3 with Wagner's Tannhäuser Overture, this album kicks off Deutsche Grammophon's new Bruckner Symphony cycle featuring Grammy-winning conductor Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. To highlight not only Wagner's influence on Bruckner, but also the differences between the two composers, selected instrumental works by Wagner will be included in each release in the cycle.