A World Premiere Recording! Formed in Berlin as recently as 2007, the Notos Quartet presents the world-premiere recording of a work by Béla Bartók. For years the Hungarian composer’s Piano Quartet in C minor, op.20, was believed to be lost but was rediscovered following extensive research by the members of the ensemble, who prepared the present edition on the basis of the composer’s autograph score. In addition to this world-premiere recording, ‘Hungarian Treasures’ also features works by two other Hungarian composers who were friendly with Bartók: the First Piano Quartet in F sharp minor by Ernst von Dohnányi (1877–1960) and the Intermezzo for string trio by Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967).

For his new album, Nils Mönkemeyer chose works by William Walton, Max Bruch, and Arvo Pärt. The album starts with Walton’s Viola Concerto and continues with two of Bruch’s compositions: Mönkemeyer recorded Bruch’s Romance for Viola and Orchestra as well as an arrangement of his “Kol Nidrei” (originally for cello and orchestra). Finally, the album contains Pärt’s “Fratres”, arranged for viola, string orchestra and percussion. Mönkemeyer’s musical partners for the recording were the Bamberger Symphoniker conducted by Markus Poschner.

Karine Deshayes is one of the greatest Rossini singers on the international opera stage. In this first solo album, featuring excerpts from some of his most beautiful works, she traces the different stages in Rossini's life. She is accompanied by Raphaël Merlin (cellist of the Ébène Quartet) at the head of Les Forces Majeures, a collective bringing together musicians from prestigious chamber ensembles and top-flight orchestras.

Georgy Sviridov’s most impressive musical works featured the human voice: romances, cantatas, oratorios, and hymns. His instrumental chamber music is less well-known, but makes up a valuable and essential portion of his musical legacy. If we divide music into three types according to Boethius, we can affirm that musica humana is well and alive in Sviridov’s musica instrumentalis.

The Belfiato Quintet are yet another exciting Czech chamber ensemble active in the international arena. The members of the young wind quintet perform with renowned orchestras (the Czech Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, etc.), and both as individuals and collectively have garnered accolades at competitions (Kateřina Javůrková’s victory at the ARD Munich, first prize for the Belfiato Quintet at the competition in Semmering, Austria, etc.).

Antonio Meneses celebrates the 35th anniversary of winning First Prize and the Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, as well as his 60th birthday in August 2017, with his first recordings of three cornerstones of the cello concertante repertoire: Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor, Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto No. 1, and Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme.

The stunning new recording and concert program created by Martin features a kaleidoscope of repertoire ranging 2000 years, tracing the evolution of music through a continuous soundscape. ”The listener will search long and hard to find works and performances like these in which folk music, a religious atmosphere and an avant-garde technique are combined to create such inspired music for our age” writes Wolfgang Sander of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in the booklet note.