Classics Records

Already a concert artist at age six, pianist Anna Fedorova has made the transition from child prodigy to an international success. With more than 27 million views as of this writing, an online video of Fedorova performing the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, of Rachmaninov, is among the most-watched classical music videos of all time. Fedorova was born in Kiev, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, on February 27, 1990.

For both classical musicians and classical musicians, it’s pretty hard to think of an upside to the past period of Covid-themed havoc. However if there is one positive thing that this terrible period will have bequeathed to us for posterity, it’s the number of superb recordings that would never have happened without all those sudden gaps in previously packed performance diaries, and with this harmonious pairing of Haydn and Stravinsky we have yet another.

Recorded in St John's Church West Norwood, London in March 2022, this recording involves eighteen members of Florilegium, the exact same number Haydn had at his disposal when he composed these symphonies shortly after arriving at Esterhazy in 1761. Haydn’s first symphonies for his new employer, Prince Paul Anton Esterházy, form a group of three entitled "Morning", "Noon" and "Night". Perhaps these were a result of the Prince’s suggestion that Haydn write something programmatic along the lines of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. As symphonies for a small chamber orchestra, all three exploit the solo skills of each of Florilegium’s principals, from flute to double bass, not to mention heroic horns as well as spectacular violin and cello solos, each vividly characterised in an almost operatic way.Florilegium's previous Haydn London Symphonies recording was hailed as "first rate" by BBC Music Magazine. Florilegium is one of Britain's most outstanding period instrument groups specialising in music from the 17th and 18th centuries. Many of their recordings have garnered international awards over the years.

Bassoonist Andrea Bressan (Principal; Budapest Festival Orchestra) and violinist Giovanni Guzzo (Concertmaster; Camerata Salzburg & Guest Concertmaster; London Symphony Orchestra) have teamed up to record new – or never played – repertoire for bassoon and violin.

This is the first recording on Channel Classics with the Italian based MIB Ensemble. Compromising the best players from the top orchestras of Italy, the ensemble felt the need to create their own ensemble to fill the gap in repertoire and concert possibilities for wind instruments. The two major early composers having written for winds would indeed be Mozart and Beethoven so there is no better fitting pieces than two octets combined with the RondinoSerenade's first movement is anything but street music - no friendly and polite little piece of entertainment, but a serious, sometimes threatening eight-part wind music full of chromaticism, dramatic leaps and definitely unfestive dissonances. The Octet of Beethoven also has the classical four-movement structure but wrote the piece as an official concert piece.

Thomas Oliemans has had French chansons in his head for as long as he can remember: on a scratchy car radio or a cassette player, in the back seat for hours on end on the way to the Vendee or Dordogne, or softly issuing from a gramophone record in his father's study. When he started to learn the piano and got into the habit of singing along, it was obviously French chansons that he picked up by ear and sang entirely phonetically. The French teachers at Oliemans's secondary school enter him in the Concours de la Chanson, which he promptly (and nearly by accident) won. And all of a sudden, the path opened up for him to become a professional singer or pianist. It led into the world of classical singing, opera, lied and oratorio, but the chanson was never far away. On Formidable!, he is joined by Amsterdam Sinfonietta for a recital of old friends.

In this programme two musicians travel criss-cross through two centuries and six countries in search of melodious gems. Gems that really belong to somebody else’s ‘domain’. For here we listen to the giant of string instruments, the double bass, as it whets its appetite on the melodious and virtuosic repertoire of its smaller siblings, the violin, viola and cello. Surely, the double bass can sing compellingly too, and tackle the most daredevil escapades? Yes, it can, and in so doing it surfaces from those low and hidden orchestral depths in which its life and lot usually lie. For this recording the double bass and its faithful friend the piano, have journeyed extensively, bringing home a rich booty of musical discoveries, ‘stolen gems’ from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From Argentina, Germany, Austria, the USA, Russia and Italy

Founded in 1983 by Iván Fischer and the late pianist and conductor Zoltán Kocsis, the Budapest Festival Orchestra quickly became one of the world's more prominent orchestras. The handpicked young virtuosos who fill its ranks produce a beautiful sound and superior ensemble performances. Supported from the outset by the City of Budapest and the Hungarian Ministry of Culture, it quickly made a name for itself by attracting top conductors and soloists, and thanks to its proactive policy of recording and touring internationally.

Above the album worked the 'Iván Fischer & Budapest Festival Orchestra - Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 3 & 4 and Other Works (Digital Box Edition) ', and his release took place on 2021. The album has got songs with a total duration of more than an hour. A compilation is a compilation of original music.