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Little is known about the cellist and composer Johann Stiastny, and what is known contradicts each other in the sources. František Jan Št’astný, also known as Jean Stiasny or, indeed, Johann Stiastny, was probably born in Prague around 1764. In his standard work The Violoncello and Its History, Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski wrote that Stiastny’s cello works “are qualified to be placed amongst the best productions of the older Cello literature, as they contained effects which for that period were entirely novel.” Alexander Hülshoff and Martin Rummel, two celebrated cellists of our time, present premiere recordings of Stiastny’s Trois Duos Concertans, Op. 6, creating a unique album for cello lovers and collectors of rare 18th century repertoire.

Pianist Charlotte Hu (formerly known as Ching-Yun Hu) presents Liszt: Metamorphosis, her debut album for PENTATONE. On it, Charlotte explores Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt’s chameleonic and evolving approach to composing – the metamorphosis of his music spanning from his early works inspired by Beethoven to the abstract tonality of his later works, as well as his incredible ability to transcribe and transform the music of other composers he admired.

Pianist Charlotte Hu (formerly known as Ching-Yun Hu) presents Liszt: Metamorphosis, her debut album for PENTATONE. On it, Charlotte explores Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt’s chameleonic and evolving approach to composing – the metamorphosis of his music spanning from his early works inspired by Beethoven to the abstract tonality of his later works, as well as his incredible ability to transcribe and transform the music of other composers he admired.

‘From my father, Hu Wei Ming, a violinist and professor at the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, I learned all the Violin duets by BÉLA BARTÓK at a very early age, and came to love them. When I discovered the close relationship between Bartók’s Hungarian folk traditions and the folk traditions of China, I was greatly surprised: the peasant songs of Sichuan’s minority people, the Yi, were very much like Hungarian folk music!’ Zen Hu These early discoveries were of decisive importance in leading me to undertake an unusual musical journey, together with Ning Feng.

On The Next Door Julia Hülsmann returns with the quartet from 2019’s Not Far From Here, and presents her unique pianistic voice in a varied programme of almost exclusively original music, composed by herself and her colleagues – tenor saxophonist Uli Kempendorff, Marc Muellbauer on double bass and drummer Heinrich Köbberling. A deep respect for the jazz tradition, as cultivated in the post-bop and modal jazz of the 60s, permeates this session and, with the quartet’s modern twist, sets the stage for highly expressive soloing and profound interplay.