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ATMA Classique is pleased to present Fables, a new solo recording by Canadian pianist Philip Chiu. The album pairs two piano transcriptions of music by Ravel with Mnidoonskaa (A Multitude of Insects), a 2021 work by Anishinaabekwe composer Barbara Assiginaak.One of Ravel’s best-known works, Mother Goose is heard here in a version for solo piano by Jacques Charlot, published in 1910. Though the composer’s String Quartet in F major is an early piece from 1903, Ravel’s playful, idiosyncratic language is already well established. Chiu performs a transcription of the quartet for solo piano by Lucien Garban, published in 1921.

Pianist Sheng Cai devotes his latest recording to piano works by the renowned Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Dedicated to composer Aleksandr Zatayevich and revised in 1940, Six moments musicaux, Op. 16 represents a turning point in Rachmaninoff's writing for solo piano. Abandoning the conventions of salon music, the work is imbued with heightened Romanticism and technical complexity. Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36 overflows with intertwined countermelodies in the style of Robert Schumann and with its astonishing virtuosity, follows in the footsteps of Franz Liszt. Rachmaninoff and his friend, the celebrated pianist Vladimir Horowitz, enjoyed transcribing celebrated opera arias, allowing themselves the freedom to change their interpretations spontaneously. It is in this same spirit that Sheng Cai transcribed and performs the piano transcription of the opera Aleko. "I try to create new sounds and colors on the piano which differ from[those in] the orchestral versions of these scores," says Cai. Long attributed to Rachmaninoff, the Polka de W. R. is in fact by German composer Franz Behr (1837-1898). In 1911, Rachmaninoff made this brilliant arrangement of his father's favorite polka. Sheng Cai studied at Shanghai Conservatory of Music and was a top prize winner at the 1998 National Competition. The following year, his family immigrated to Canada where he began studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He earned his Bachelor of Music Degree under full scholarship at New England Conservatory in Boston. His most important teachers include legendary pianists Anton Kuerti and Russell Sherman.

Ariane Brisson, flautist, and Olivier Hebert-Bouchard, pianist, present Mythes, an album of transcriptions of works by Claude Debussy, Leo Janacek, Maurice Ravel, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Karol Szymanowski. Inspired by the magical, mythical world of sprites and fairies, the program includes Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune in an arrangement by Gustave Samazeuilh; Janacek's Pohadka (A Fairy Tale); and Ravel's Sonatine pour piano in transcriptions by Ariane Brisson; along with Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending, and Szymanowski's Mythes for violin and piano, Op. 30 both transcribed by Ariane Brisson.

Digitally Remastered Anthology of One of the Best Selling Bands of the 1980's. Martin Fry and Co. Took the Glam Look of Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry, Dyed Him Blonde and Added Strings and a Funky Beat as Well as the Pathos of Eternal Romantic Tension. Their First Hits of "Poison Arrow", "The Look of Love" and "Tears Are Not Enough" were Enough to Secure them a Place in the Hearts of 80's Aficonados. As Years Went On, Members Changed as Well as Look of the Band but Fry Emerged Once More on the Bmg Label with the Under-appreciated "Skyscraping" Album, Whose Tracks Are also Included in this Collection. The Unique Third Disc Includes a Generous Helping of Hard to Find 12 Inch Mixes that Will Satisfy Ardent Fans.