The New York Times 30 July 2022

The 40-year friendship between two musical titans, John Williams & Yo-Yo Ma, reaches a new peak with “A Gathering of Friends.” The incredible warmth & brilliance of composer/conductor John Williams is felt throughout this album of both his concert music (a newly revised Cello Concerto) and his legendary film music, including a powerful new arrangement of the Theme from “Schindler’s List,” brought to life by Yo-Yo Ma and the world-renowned New York Philharmonic. Another highlight from the John Williams film music catalog is Yo-Yo Ma’s performance of “With Malice Toward None,” an inviting and uplifting melody from the movie “Lincoln,” inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address.

The Danish String Quartet's Grammy-nominated Prism project, linking Bach fugues, Beethoven quartets and works by later masters, receives its fourth installment. The penultimate volume of the series combines Bach's Fugue in G minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier (in the arrangement by Viennese composer Emanuel Aloys Frster) with Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 132 and Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet No.2 (composed in 1827). As Paul Griffiths observes in the liner notes, these pieces "sound all the more remarkable for the exquisite brilliance and precision of the Danish players".

'The 94-year-old elder statesman of classical music' (The New York Times) joins forces with the Gewandhausorchester for a Schubert programme of Symphonies No. 8 ('Unfinished') and No. 9 ('The Great'), released just in time for his 95th birthday on 11th July 2022. The choice of repertoire for his late debut with Deutsche Grammophon was quickly made: Herbert Blomstedt, at 94 the world's 'longest-serving' conductor and still one of the most vital, chose Franz Schubert's last two symphonies, the 'Unfinished' in B minor and the 'Great' in C major. With the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which he presided over as Gewandhauskapellmeister from 1998 to 2005 and has since been closely associated with as honorary conductor, he had at his disposal an orchestra that is very familiar with Schubert's music.