Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93

The trend in the 21st century has been to let the suppressed emotions detailed in the still-controversial Shostakovich memoir Testimony spill over into performances of his music, and this is all to the good: the emotional core of Shostakovich's music is the experience of living under repression at a fundamental level. But that's not to say soberer, more controlled readings don't have their place, as well, and conductor Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra deliver some here.

Les Dissonances made its first recordings for Ambroise-Naïve, the critical success of which led to the birth of its own label in March 2014. To celebrate its 10 anniversary, the orchestra’s new Shostakovich album, recorded live at the Opéra de Dijon, is presented complete with an extended tribute piece by Xavier Phillips in memory of his mentor, Mstislav Rostropovich, dedicatee of Shostakovich’s two cello concertos. It follows the label’s high production and design values, offering the disc as part of a hardbound book containing detailed programme notes, Phillips’ essay, artist biographies and monochrome photographs.

Alexander Rudin and the Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra here present two symphonies by Nikolai Myaskovsky — one of the most undiscovered composers of the 20th century. In his creative legacy, Myaskovsky equals his more famous contemporaries — Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

This collection of previously unreleased live recordings celebrates the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s centenary and the ten-year residency, from 2008 to 2018, of its principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Celebrated international pianist Peter Donohoe continues his series of Shostakovich releases with the contrasting pairs of Piano Concertos and Piano Sonatas, works covering some four decades of the composer's creative life.

“His performance brought a veritable roar of approval from the audience,” wrote the Irish Times, after Pavel Nersessian received the 1st Prize in the GPA Dublin International Piano Competition in 1991. Being one of the most remarkable pianists of his generation in Russia, he is known for his ability to play equally convincingly in the whole palette of the piano repertoire. He won prizes in the Beethoven Competition in Vienna in 1985, the Paloma O’Shea Competition in Santander, and the Tokyo Competition.

"The applause continues, even a few bravos can be heard: definitely get out again, take a grateful bow! Something full of verve and vigor to increase the enthusiasm even more? Or would you prefer something calm and quiet for the soul?" - Although encores have not always been at the heart of musical performances, they are often an integral part of the concert program. As a kind of bonus to his life's work, Robert Wolf, who was principal flute of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra for almost 40 years, and his daughter Agnes Wolf, piano, present the range of various encores from his many years of concert activity on the present CD "ENCORE". In addition to original works by W. A. Mozart, M. Blavet, C. Debussy, M. Ravel and J. S. Bach, there are also frequent arrangements of well-known pieces by C. W. Gluck, F. Schubert, D. Shostakovich, G. Fauré and J. Lanner, among others.