If the name of Henry Charles Litolff is familiar today only through the scherzo of his Concerto symphonique No 4, the absurdity of that ‘one-hit composer’ tag is clearly demonstrated by this release. These are among the finest examples of the piano trio genre still inexplicably absent from the standard repertoire.

Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, became famous for two reasons: the bloody double murder of his first wife and her lover, and his passionate and erotic view of profane love. The Madrigals chart the changes in Gesualdos style, and contain some of the most inspired and anguished vocal works in the entire madrigal repertoire, on the themes of love, rejection, death, suffering, joy and sorrow. Brimming with often astonishing and sometimes unpredictable melodic and tonal contrasts to express the agonies and ecstacies of love, Gesualdos Madrigals show him to have been one of the most inventive and eccentric musical minds of his age.

Vasily Petrenko is one of the most significant and galvanizing musicians alive. He became famous for his transformative work at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the oldest orchestra in the United Kingdom, where he refashioned the orchestra's sound, reconnected the organization to its home city and presided over a huge increase in ticket sales. Vasily is one of the most acclaimed classical recording artists alive and has won numerous accolades for his recordings of Russian repertoire, including two Gramophone awards.

Orlando (HWV 31) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel written for the King's Theatre in London in 1733. The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece"L'Orlando after Ludovico Ariosto"Orlando Furioso, which was also the source of Handel's operas Alcina and Ariodante". More an artistic than a popular success at its first performances, Orlando is today recognised as a masterpiece.