Though pianist Artur Pizarro's performances of the solo parts in Beethoven's Third, Fourth, and Fifth piano concertos are consistently superlative, it's not too much to say that the real draw here is not the soloist but the accompanists. Because as fine as Pizarro's virtuoso playing is, Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra turn in performances of such force, sensitivity, and balance that they may well be the finest accompaniments for these concertos ever recorded. Pizarro is a strong and supple soloist whose dramatic account on the Third Concerto, lyrical reading of the Fourth Concerto, and imperious elucidation of the Fifth Concerto show his firm grasp of the music's escalating rhetoric.

GRAMMY® Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty creates colorful musical portraits in this recording, featuring larger-than-life personalities drawn from 20th-century American culture. Tales of Hemingway is a dramatic cello concerto, evoking the turbulent life, adventures and literature of author Ernest Hemingway. American Gothic is a dynamic concerto for orchestra, reflecting on the creative world of Iowa artist Grant Wood. Once Upon a Castle is a virtuosic sinfonia concertante for organ and orchestra, inspired by the rich history of the Hearst Castle, built lhigh upon the California Pacific coast by billionaire Randolph Hearst, the subject of Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane.

Technically speaking, Eine Alpensinfonie (= An Alpine Symphony) is not a symphony. For after 1911, Richard Strauss rejected his original plan to write a four-movement symphony based on the theme of a Tragedy of an Artist, and instead sat down to write a one-movement symphonic poem. He concentrated on the part he had first designated as the opening movement of the symphony and in which he provided a programmatic description of “the Alps”.

Founded in 2005, the Feininger Trio has dedicated itself to the intense, prolonged study of the piano trio. This release finds the ensemble navigating the works of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, two figures intimately associated with musical impressionism. Debussy wrote his Piano Trio in G Major at the young age of 18, and the piece abounds with the sonic surprises and experimentations indicative of a blossoming composer. In contrast, Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor demonstrates the artful considerations of sonority and balance of a composer well into his career. Also included in this release is Debussy’s playful Petite Suite for 4 Hand Piano, arranged for piano trio by David Riniker.

Comme le titre de son nouveau disque « A British Promenade » l'indique, la harpiste Sandrine Chatron nous propose une déambulation musicale dans l'Angleterre du début du xxe siècle. On y croise des compositeurs rares au disque, comme Herbert Howells ou Cyril Scott, mais aussi Benjamin Britten. Les pages qu'ils composèrent pour la harpe nous transportent dans les paysages côtiers ou plus champêtres de nos voisins anglais. Leurs évocations sont également déclinées par la chaleur du violoncelle d'Ophélie Gaillard et le lyrisme du ténor Michael Bennett qui viennent enrichir la palette sonore de l'époque en faisant contrepoint à l'expression plus pointilliste de la harpe.