Lev Psakis

Russian virtuoso Lev Vinocour tells us in his own liner note that he received tuition from Mikhail Pletnev while a pupil of Lev Vlassenko at the Moscow Conservatoire. At the time he heard Pletnev perform some of his arrangements of numbers from The Sleeping Beauty, and Vinocour records the whole Concert Suite here, alongside a selection of altogether more modest arrangements from the same ballet by Theodor Kirchner (1823-1903)…

These performances of Khachaturian's concertos for piano and violin are almost but not quite definitive. Both works are played by the performers for whom they were composed, Lev Oborin in the Piano Concerto and David Oistrakh in the Violin Concerto, and both receive performances of complete commitment, total dedication, utter authority, and unbelievable virtuosity.

Ronald Brautigam's piano playing throughout the concertos for piano and orchestra has all the vitality, expression and nimble finger work you would want. Conductor Lev Markiz keeps his players in check during the soloist's star-turns yet responds with verve when required.

Gathered here, the three discs with Felix Mendelssohn’s symphonies recorded in 2007 and 2008 by Andrew Litton and his Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra were warmly received by the reviewers when they were first released.