This 2-CD set presents an unprecedented survey of Mozart’s childhood visit to London in 1764-65. Ian Page conducts his outstanding period-instrument orchestra in a fascinating and wide-ranging programme which includes Mozart’s remarkable first symphony (composed when he was eight years old), along with his two other London symphonies and his first concert aria. The repertoire also explores the music that was being performed in London during Mozart’s stay, including works by J. C. Bach, Thomas Arne, Abel, Pescetti, Perez, George Rush and William Bates, many of which have not previously been recorded, and the large cast of soloists includes eight singers and harpsichordist Steven Devine.

Eldbjørg Hemsing has been a household name in her native Norway since childhood and made her solo debut with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 11. During and after her studies in Vienna, she has absorbed repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Tan Dun, a composer she has collaborated with on several projects in both Europe and Asia.

As a young boy he was trained by his mother to play piano but later decided to exchange the instrument for the violin. In 1928, convinced by Bronisław Huberman (a friend of the family), Szeryng went to Berlin to study under Karl Flesch. His debut concert took place in Warsaw in 1933 when he performed Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major with Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Bruno Walter. In the same year he played in Bucharest, Vienna, and Paris, achieving acclaim both from the audience and the critics. In the years 1933-1939 the artist continued to learn violin under Jacques Thibaud and Gabriel Bouillon and studied composition under Nadia Boulanger.

When Henryk Szeryng died in the spring of 1988 at the age of 69, the world lost one of the great aristocrats of the violin. A patrician in his bearing, rather like Heifetz, his gestures restricted to what is necessary, Szeryng's fidelity to the score can be heard in his recordings for Philips (the label with which he was most closely associated) and for Mercury and Deutsche Grammophon.

The lute by Sixtus Rauwolf heard on this recording was probably built in the last decade of the sixteenth century. Some hundred years later, in 1715, it was converted to suit the musical tastes and demands of the baroque period. For this disc, Jakob Lindberg has chosen works that could have formed part of the repertory of the presumably German owner of the instrument at around the time of its final conversion.

The year 1808 was a period of superlative productivity for Beethoven: In the midst of all this, Beethoven somehow found the time and energy to compose two major piano trios. They were completed while Beethoven was living with Countess Marie Erdödy, to whom the trios were also dedicated.

Rolando Villazón's latest album, Feliz Navidad, shares the magic of Christmas!

The poems and songs of the Gruuthuse Manuscript originated in Bruges around 1400, and the collection is named after the later owner, Lodewijk van Gruuthuse. The songs form the most well-known part of the collection: love songs, bawdy songs and drinking songs. The Gruuthuse Manuscript contains the largest collection of Dutch language songs from the medieval period, and it is the largest collection of songs with music notation. The form of the songs also attests to the fact that these songs were intended for connoisseurs. The poet uses formes fixes, the canonized forms of French songs of the late medieval times: ballades, rondeaus and virelais, and the wide variety of the forms used is remarkable.

Schumann and Schubert's music is never simply cheerful: their dark sides attack us suddenly, unexpectedly, either like a storm or by stealthily creeping up on us. Natalia Ehwald has selected two such works for the follow-up release to the highly acclaimed GENUIN production Fantasias for Piano: Schubert's late Sonata in A major and Schumann's early, "sad" Humoresque, op. 20. Ehwald does not try to smooth out anything; she never overlooks the roughness of the music but instead becomes involved, creating associations and thereby achieving a pianism of great suggestive power. This album is a lovely new discovery of two major works!

Holiday Spirits is the debut studio album by the men's a cappella singing group Straight No Chaser.
If the phrase “male a cappella group” conjures up an image of students in blue blazers, ties, and khakis singing traditional college songs on ivied campuses… think again. Straight No Chaser are neither straight-laced nor straight-faced, but neither are they vaudeville-style kitsch. Originally formed a dozen years ago while students together at Indiana University, the group has reassembled and reemerged after their video for ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ became a phenomenon with almost 8 million views on YouTube.