Lise Berthaud [b.1982] studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, with Gérard Caussé. In 2005, she won the Hindemith Prize at the Geneva International Competition, was short listed by the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2009 as 'Révélation de l’Année' (Newcomer of the Year) and since September 2013, Lise has been part of the prestigious BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme.

The Giardini Piano Quartet was born out of the bringing together of four artists who share great affinities: after more than ten years of musical and human complicity, Caroline Donin and Pauline Buet on the one hand, and Pascal Monlong and David Violi on the other, joined forces to concentrate on a repertoire that had long been close to their hearts. Beyond their love of music and their friendship, they approached this piano quartet repertoire with high standards and enthusiasm.

The artistry of Audrey Vigoureux joins two facets of pianistic playing in a unique synthesis: the fire of a passionate commitment and the crystalline clarity of a strong thought. By means of a very deep textual reading, full of intelligence and humility, she finds the foundations of a prodigiously lively spontaneity. Where others oscillate between their consciousness and their madness, the one making concessions to the other, Audrey Vigoureux achieves a continuous balance between the two.

Friedrich Cerha’s output has solid roots in an extended musical tradition, while spanning a wide arc from the beginnings of new music all the way to the present. This is not only due to the composer’s respectable age, but primarily to the great number of activities he has pursued in the course of his long life, along with the great variety of influences he has incorporated into his work.

Pourquoi ce titre surprenant « L'oreille de Proust » ? Parce que Proust était fou de musique et que ses goûts, à une époque où les salons parisiens accueillaient de la musique de chambre, des joutes pianistiques, d'innombrables mélodies, des transcriptions d'ouvres orchestrales, d'opéras, épousaient tout cet univers extrêmement varié .

Franz Liszt drove a wedge between music fans open to innovative ideas and more traditional listeners. As the creator of the symphonic poem genre and programme music, he initiated a veritable trend of thought towards a new poetics. Inversely, partisans of Brahms felt that Liszt ran counter to the very essence of abstract music. On this digital only release, pianist Jan Michiels relives from the inside this "war of the Romantics" between progressives and conservatives through refined, intelligent readings of works by Liszt, Brahms and Schumann. But the pianist also offers a reconciliation from Schönberg, in its transcription for solo piano, combining the "traditional" on the motif with a form based on Liszt’s strokes of inspiration.

Marking their latest collaboration with their conductor laureate Vladimir Ashkenazy, the Philharmonia return to disc with a stellar live-performance of Rachmaninov’s ebullient Symphony No.2 in E Minor. This is the second release in a new series of Rachmaninov’s symphonies, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy in live performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

In 2003 Kalevi Aho received the unusual commission of composing a complete concert programme. Kysymysten kirja, a meditative, philosophical song cycle using the Finnish translation of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's posthumous collection ‘The Book of Questions’. The poems included are made up exclusively of questions, of which Aho has chosen a number, combining them into eleven sets to be performed without a break. The concert leads immediately into the Viola Concerto, and ends with Symphony No.14, ‘Rituals’, scored for sixteen string players, wind quintet and two percussionists.

A major artistic statement from renowned pianist Renee Rosnes featuring seven new original compositions performed with saxophonist Chris Potter, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, bassist Peter Washington and legendary drummer Lenny White. Also includes a touching rendition of Bobby Hutchersons Rosie in heartfelt tribute to Bobby and his wife Rosemary, as well as a poignant reading of Alec Wilders The Winter of My Discontent. The title track was inspired by the work of Canadian artist Emily Carr whose famous 1935 painting "Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky" is featured on the albums artwork.

David Hazeltine makes his second contribution to Chesky's acclaimed New York Sessions series with this stunning set of compositions by revered Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. The combination of the sophisticated elegance of a jazz piano trio, delicate arrangements and Chesky's renowned recording techniques presents Hazeltine (and Jobim) like you've never heard before.