Chandos Official

The piano remained the main instrument of Beethoven throughout his life, and this specially priced 4-CD box set represents his entire and sizeable output for piano and orchestra, starting with the early Piano Concerto in E flat,

The acclaimed British soprano Louise Alder returns for her second recital on Chandos, joined once again by star pianist Joseph Middleton.

Following the announcement by Tasmin Little of her intended retirement from the concert platform, we wanted to create an album that would stand as both a tribute to, and celebration of, her outstanding career as a performer.

Although Mendelssohn was a virtuoso and celebrated pianist, his anything but incidental piano work unfortunately leads a rather shadowy existence in concert today.

A few years ago I was pleased to record a selection of works by Bach in transcriptions by other composers (CHAN 9835). Now it is time for the conductors to weigh in on the matter. In a way it can be argued that, since most of these maestri wrote their versions for specific orchestras, there is an even greater coherency in these works.

There are few stranger, more recondite figures in the entire history of music than Nikolai Medtner. Recently he has been rescued from near oblivion by Hamish Milne, Geoffrey Tozer and Marc-Andre Hamelin in particular, who have, in their different ways, cast a penetrating and affectionate light on music which after repeated hearings subtly insinuates itself into the listener’s consciousness.

Towards the end of his life, short of money and heavil y in debt, Mozart had the opportunity to visit King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia – a famous patron of the arts and a keen and above-average musician.

Described as "easily the classiest brass ensemble in Britain" by BBC Music Magazine, Onyx Brass continues to be the leading light in establishing the brass quintet as a medium for serious chamber music, presenting it in the entertaining and articulate style that has become the group’s trademark.

Composed in the summer and autumn of 1781, Haydn’s Op. 33 Quartets were dedicated to the Grand Duke Paul of Russia and premiered on Christmas Day that year in the apartment of the Duke’s wife, the Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna. Nicknamed ‘the Russian quartets’, Op. 33 were some of Mozart’s favourites among Haydn’s works, and inspired Mozart to write his own set of six quartets, of 1785, dedicated to Haydn.