The Armida Quarter, darling of BBC young artists and due to perform at the Wigmore Hall, they will also play at the BBC PROMS on 29 August 2016 at the Cadogan Hall. The new album contains Beethoven Op. 59 No 1 and Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 10, two very difficult pieces. "Opus 59 is extremely challenging", remarks Martin Funda, the leader of the Armida Quartet. "One needs time to grasp these pieces. As performers, we are surprised again and again to note how quickly Beethoven star ts leading us into unfamiliar waters.

It may seem unlikely that Nikolai Roslavets would have consciously composed works in imitation of Alexander Scriabin, so that both composers would have pieces that could be matched up, title for title, as they are on this album by pianist Anya Alexeyev. But once one hears the music, the influence of Scriabin is obvious and omnipresent, so such a gesture on Roslavets' part as naming and numbering his pieces after Scriabin's doesn't seem farfetched. Roslavets' Two Poems, Five Preludes, and Three Etudes correspond to the identically named Scriabin works, which are paired here, and even the two piano sonatas have a superficial resemblance in their two-movement formats.

Treated to Yevgeny Sudbin's excellent recordings of music by Domenico Scarlatti, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, and Sergey Rachmaninov, fans of the brilliant Russian virtuoso can expect similarly high levels of energy and refinement in his exciting performances of piano pieces by Alexander Scriabin. The three sonatas and nine shorter works on this 2007 BIS release may make this album seem a bit like a synopsis of the composer's output, since all his styles are represented, and his characteristic expressions – from the early, Chopin-esque flavor of the etudes to the late mysticism evinced in the Sonata No. 9, "Black Mass" – are clearly laid out.

Since winning the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1990 Artur Pizarro pursues a truly international career. Renowned for his lyrical poeticism and outstanding virtuosity, this is Pizarro's debut recording for Linn.

Reminiscences is a collection of Chopin's best loved works for solo piano, each one of personal significance to Portuguese pianist Artur Pizarro, who in turn delivers sensitive and thrilling performances. Originally released in 2005, Chopin: Reminiscences is re-issued as part of Linn's ECHO series that offers a second chance to enjoy the best of the label's award-winning catalog. The inspiration for the title came from Artur's experience of Chopin frequently being played in his childhood home, as well as being the original name of the C sharp minor Nocturne. Artur plays a Bluthner grand piano, which responds phenomenally to his dazzling articulation, while giving huge sonorous depth to the sound.