New Piano Albums

Lukas Geniušas:2023-11-03

Rachmaninoff – Sonata 1, Preludes Op. 32

“I know it goes against the grain, but I would name this sonata to be one of, if not the best Rachmaninoff’s solo piano work” says Lukas Geniušas of the First Piano Sonata, described by its author as ‘absolutely wild and indeterminately long’. Geniušas has recorded the unabridged, unpublished and unperformed version on the composer's own Steinway piano at the legendary Villa Senar on lake Lucerne in Switzerland.
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Wilhem Latchoumia:2023-11-01

Do Brasil – works by Heitor Villa-Lobos

Heitor Villa-Lobos founded his style on the melodic and rhythmic traditions of Brazil and enriched it with all the innovations he found among contemporaries such as Debussy and Stravinsky. The final work in this recital is the monumental Rudepoêma, inspired by the great Arthur Rubinstein and at the same time an ode to nature – "Rite of Spring meets the Brazilian jungle" as some have described it.
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Marina Staneva:2023-10-30

Mompou – Piano Works

Marina Staneva discovered Mompou only a few years ago through her teacher Alisdair Hogarth. "I dived into a whole new world of mystery and wonder... Paisajes take you to different scenes in Spain, the Chopin Variations are the perfect marriage between jazz and classical, and Cançons i danses have it all – Catalan folk tunes and rhythms, jazz influence, and the classic dance in ternary time signature."
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Claire Huangci:2023-10-27

Schubert – Late Sonatas and Pieces

For her 10th anniversary with Berlin Classics, Claire Huangci presents a weighty Schubert project – the late sonatas, Three Piano Pieces D 946 and a selection of songs from Schwanengesang. This music is what "I would like to take with me to a desert island. ... Schubert has accompanied me through all times", especially the late sonatas, which are at the centre of this triple album.
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Alexandre Tharaud:2023-10-25

Ravel – Piano Concertos,
Falla – Nights in the Gardens of Spain

“Ravel’s Concerto in G major is fresh and Mozartian in its colours, while his Concerto for the Left Hand is haunted by dark shades and suppressed fears” but both share "meticulous craftsmanship and jazzy touches", says Alexandre Tharaud.. De Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain began as a solo piano piece entitled Nocturne but was expanded for piano and orchestra at the request of the great pianist Ricardo Viñes.
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Víkingur Ólafsson:2023-10-24

J S Bach – Goldberg Variations

Víkingur Ólafsson has made a profound impact with his musicianship and visionary programming. Previous recordings of music by Philip Glass, J S Bach, Debussy, Rameau, Mozart and other have captured the public and critical imagination. The pianists entire 2023–24 season is dedicated to the Goldberg Variations which he brings on a world tour, performing the work across six continents throughout the year.
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Dmitry Masleev:2023-10-22

Tchaikovsky – The Seasons

Dmitry Masleev's very first piano score was Tchaikovsky's The Seasons. "I was just a boy then, exhilarated by every piece I discovered in it!... Looking at my baby boy, who was born at the beginning of this year, I feel that same energy of my childhood, the sincerity, curiosity, and fascination for each magical living sound... I have decided to record The Seasons to capture these sensations and to share them with my son and the rest of the world."
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Martina Frezzotti:2023-10-20

Amy Beach – Piano Music

Martina Frezzotti's debut album for Piano Classics featured music by Fanny Mendelssohn and was warmly welcomed by the international press (“Selection of the month” by BBC Music Magazine and Musica magazine). For her second album, she has turned to another woman composer that is receiving more and more attention in concert halls around the world, the American Amy Beach (1867–1944).
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Sonya Bach:2023-10-17

Mussorgsky – Piano Music

Sonya Bach has looked beyond the extremely famous Pictures at an Exhibition and composed an all-Mussorgsky album. She plays Night on Bald Mountain, Mussorgsky's Tone Poem that was revised and reorchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov and arranged for piano by Konstantin Chernov, and four of the 17 extant short works Mussorgsky wrote for piano solo.
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Matteo Bevilacqua:2023-10-14

Berio – Complete Piano Works

The piano was a constant presence throughout the life of Luciano Berio. From the charming early Petite Suite to the compelling drama of the Piano Sonata, one of his last works, Berio continued his profound explorations of this instrument’s timbres and possibilities. This recording marks the 20th anniversary of the composer's death in 2003.
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Igor Levit:2023-10-11

Fantasia – Bach, Liszt, Berg, Busoni

Igor Levit has made a specialty of tackling some of the most monumental works in the piano repertoire. The massive climax of this double album is Ferruccio Busoni’s homage to Bach, the Fantasia contrappuntistica, which Levit says “represents the final destination of the journey that I have been undertaking in terms of my repertory in recent years.” The works leading up to it are Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, Liszt’s B minor Sonata, and the Op 1 Sonatas of Alban Berg and Samuil Feinberg.
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Juliette Journaux:2023-10-09

Wanderer Without Words
Schubert, Wagner, Mahler

On her debut album, Juliette Journaux evokes the figure of the Wanderer and traces his solitary ramblings, sufferings and, finally, his retreat from the world. The album opens with Schubert’s “Der Wanderer” in a piano transcription by Liszt, followed by Schubert's Drei Klavierstücke D.946 and a number of Journaux's own transcriptions of music by Schubert, Wagner and Mahler.
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Pavle Krstic:2023-10-08

Stravinsky – Petrouchka & Early Works

This first installment of Krstic's “Stravinsky: Complete Piano Works” series dives into the composer's early compositions. In addition to the famous “Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka”, this album offers a rare glimpse into Stravinsky's formative years, featuring his early piano works, including the romantic Sonata in F-sharp Minor, the intricate Etudes, as well as other small pieces.
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Matthias Kirschnereit:2023-10-06

Time Remembered

Each of the 36 pieces on this double album contains a personal story and was chosen because of memories and incidents connected with it. Matthias Kirschnereit says: "For me, working on Time Remembered was and is an immensely exciting journey through almost 400 years of music history with a wide variety of genres and styles."
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Laurence Oldak:2023-10-05

Chopin

A personal selection of Chopin, from the luminous atmosphere of the Waltzes to the more melancholic mood of the Mazurkas and the dramatic density of works like the Polonaise-Fantaisie or 2nd scherzo. For Laurence Oldak, "Chopin resonates with my own story: I come from a Polish family who had to flee the pogroms by settling in France...This music has accompanied me all my life.”
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Cordelia Williams:2023-10-03

Cascade – Beethoven, Prokofiev, Schumann

Cascade celebrates the depth and intensity of the smallest forms. Prokofiev's Visions Fugitives is a variegated collection of 20 miniatures with hints of Chopin, Scriabin and Shostakovich. Schumann’s Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), his last major cycle for solo piano, conjures an enchanted landscape. Early and late Beethoven bookend the programme.
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Philippe Bianconi:2023-10-01

Ravel – Complete Piano Works

Philippe Bianconi first recorded Ravel’s piano music some thirty years ago. "It still moves me as much as ever, and at the same time I realise how far my view of this music has progressed. This new recording has made the connection I have always had with Ravel’s works stronger and more personal. I’ve rediscovered my delight in the Ravelian sound-world, but I’ve also come to grips with the darker side of his music."
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Yekwon Sunwoo:2023-09-29

Rachmaninoff. A Reflection

Yekwon Sunwoo played Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto when he became the first Korean to win the top prize at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2017. “It was also through Rachmaninoff’s pieces that I first truly learned how to listen to music and express myself musically… I wanted to include the word ‘reflection’ in the album title because this album is, in some ways, a way for me to look back on myself.”
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Vanessa Benelli Mosell:2023-09-27

Italia

Vanessa Benelli Mosell presents 300 years of Italian piano music. Starting in the early 18th century with Scarlatti's Sonata K 141, she arrives in 2015 with Ezio Bosso's piece Emily's room. On the way there are many tributes to Italian composers, including several who are famous for other things than their piano music, such as Puccini, Verdi, Respighi, Morricone, Rota and others.
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Ani & Nia Sulkhanishvili:2023-09-24

Flowers we are... – Kurtág, Bach, Ligeti

The twins Ani and Nia Sulkhanishvili bring together piano works by György Kurtág (born 1926) and György Ligeti (1923-2006), two of the most important and internationally successful composers of the post-war era, who have one thing in common – their Hungarian roots. Interspersed with Kurtág's Games are his four-hand arrangements of pieces from Bach's Orgelbüchlein.
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Duo Schiavo-Marchegiani:2023-09-23

Mozart for Two

Marco Schiavo and Sergio Marchegiani have played together since 2006, performing in prestigious venues all over the world. They are Decca artists and have recorded albums with music by Schubert, Brahms, Mozart (Concertos) and Kozeluch. Their two albums with Mozart’s Complete Works for Piano 4-Hands (the previous one was released in 2021) were recorded at Mozarteum in Salzburg.
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José Navarro-Silberstein:2023-09-21

Vibrant Rhythms – Ginastera,
Villa-Lobos, Sandi, Schumann

José Navarro-Silberstein combines Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze with various 20th-century works from South America, resulting in a colorful blend of contrasts. Imagination and conciseness unite these 31 short pieces, characterized by a "richness of alternating pulses, rhythms, and polyrhythms that intermingle with harmony and counterpoint."
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Helene Grimaud:2023-09-19

For Clara – Schumann: Kreisleriana, Brahms: Lieder Op. 32

Grimaud revisits Schumann's Kreisleriana, a work she has known since her teenage years and has recorded once before. Partnering with baritone Konstantin Krimmel, she pairs it with songs and pieces by Brahms, exploring not only on the Schumann-Brahms relationship, but also that which bound both men to pianist-composer Clara Schumann.
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Agnieszka Panasiuk:2023-09-17

Hindemith – Ludus tonalis

Ludus tonalis, "Tonal Games", has a similar structure to Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and combines the tradition of Baroque polyphony with 20th-century style. It was created during the composer’s stay in the United States – where he was lecturing in composition at Yale University – and was a great success; the first impression published in 1943 sold out quickly.
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