The Heifetz Collection

Cesar Franck's passionate and sunny Violin Sonata has long been regarded as one of the greatest in the repertoire, and is the work of a composer at the height of his powers. Richard Strauss's Violin Sonata, composed a year after Franck's in 1887, is the work of a young composer on the cusp of discovering his mature voice; lyrical and sumptuous, it has all the hallmarks of his later style. Performed here by distinguished violinist and conductor Augustin Dumay and French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie, this recording marks the duo's recording debut. In addition to the sonatas, this album includes two Franck rarities - Melancolie and the Prelude, Fugue and Variation Op.18 for organ, heard here in an arrangement by Dumay and Lortie. The recording concludes with the wonderful Heifetz arrangement of Strauss's song Auf stillem Waldespfad.

"Phénoménal Vengerov!" proclaims the cover of this budget box set, and for a one-word description that's not bad. Gifted with classic dark Slavic good looks, this Russian (in fact, Siberian) violinist has technique in abundance. In the music collected here, recorded for EMI between his signing in 2000 and an arm injury that temporarily sidelined him in 2006 and somewhat redirected his career, he's not so much a member of the "Russian school." In fact, the only Russian music on the three CDs is a transcription of the Rachmaninov Vocalise.

Here’s a collection unrivalled in its scope within the current catalogue, of orchestral works by one of the most prolific of 20th-century, Paul Hindemith, whose reputation as a purveyor of ‘useful’ music has perhaps overshadowed his colourful orchestrations and often powerfully dramatic transformations of a wide range of extra-musical inspirations. His masterpiece may be the opera he based on the life and work of the painter of the Isenheim alterpiece, Matthias Grünewald, but the Mathis der Maler symphony he derived from its music is hardly less emotive.

Conceived and recorded over the past 2.5 years by Sono Luminus, Imagine Christmas is the perfect album for your holiday celebrations, evoking a very deep sense of nostalgia while remaining wonderfully modern. Includes: Frosty the Snowman - Ensemble Galilei, December: Christmas - Bruce Levingston, White Christmas - Irina Muresanu & Matei Varga, Holly Jolly Christmas - Jasper String Quartet, Walking in the Air - Ronn McFarlane, Twas The Night Before Christmas - Cory Hills, Santa Claus Is Comin to Town - Kathryn Bates, Christmas Time Is Here - Caleb Nei, Joy to the World - Cuarteto Latinoamericano & Lydia Lewis, Good King Wenceslas - Stewart Goodyear, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Skylark Vocal Ensemble and Silent Night.