Süddeutsche 2023

Raphaela Gromes from Munich is a highly virtuoso cellist who immediately seduces her audience with her personality, charisma and a certain magic. She received her earliest artistic training from her parents, both cellists themselves, with whom she had her first taste of the stage at the age of seven. She attended masterclasses with renowned cellists such as David Geringas, Natalia Gutman and Yo-Yo Ma. The young musician likes to tread unusual repertoire paths - and at the highest level: the Süddeutsche Zeitung attested to her "beauty of sound and poetry", the Neue Zürcher Zeitung "diabolical acrobatics and an infectious love of music-making".

This outstanding new release brings together two of the world’s most sought-after violinists in a pair of rarely-heard 20th-century Russian chamber pieces: Shostakovich’s Five pieces for two violins and piano, and Prokofiev’s Sonata for two violins. Both pieces explore the possibilities of two violins duetting and in dialogue, providing the perfect repertoire to showcase the natural rapport between these two exceptional violinists.

The Schumann Quartet dedicates its latest studio production "1923" to that year in which new musical paths were sought, found or questioned and at the same time the birth of radio heralded a new age for composers and the dissemination of their works. The CD programme brings together selected quartet music by Paul Hindemith, Alban Berg, Erwin Schulhoff and Leoš Janáček.