Lutoslawski Dohnanyi

Christoph von Dohnányi served as conductor of the famed Cleveland Orchestra from 1984 to 2002 and the rapport between conductor and orchestra produced some of the finest orchestral playing in this country. This recording of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 paired with Witold Lutosl'awski's homage to Bartok, the Musique funèbre offer the reason for the magic of this combination of ensemble and conductor. The Shostakovich is rich in sonorities and in first desk playing and von Dohnányi's control over these mighty forces makes this an immensely intense recording. The sound produced by Cleveland (captured by Decca Engineers) is huge but never less than beautiful.

The Radio Legacy is a compilation of the seven part Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the four box sets devoted to the orchestra s chief conductors Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Chailly, and also featuring more recent recordings with Mariss Jansons.

Decca’s first FFRR concerto recording available for the first time: Eileen Joyce / Tchaikovsky 2nd Piano Concerto – never released on 78rpm and long thought lost, the test pressings were recently found at the International Piano Archives in Maryland.

The latter half of the twentieth century was a period of turbulence – both artistically and culturally – and produced a wealth of provocative and often divisive music; much of which we are still coming to terms with, and much which has hugely influenced today’s pop culture and its music. 20C: Shaping the Century Volume II surveys a musical landscape of what are sometimes disparate compositional styles, and makes the repertoire accessible to everyone with an interest in this rich musical heritage. Decca’s and DG’s exceptionally-balanced survey of the music of twentieth century features one masterpiece from each featured composer, five composers per decade.Together this presents iconic works by 25 of the most iconic composers of the years 1950-2000.

Martha Argerich's annual appearances at the Lugano Festival are highly sought after by her fans. Featuring the Argentinean pianist plus any number of her friends and protégés in a huge range of repertoire, the performances are as enjoyable as they are unusual and as thrilling as they are insightful. EMI began releasing three-disc sets containing a selection of the Lugano Festival's finest performances in 2002. In this set from the 2007 festival, Argerich is joined by such old friends as cellist Mischa Maisky and violinist Renaud Capuçon and by such recent protégés as pianists Nicholas Angelich and Gabriela Montero in works that range from Beethoven's Piano Trio No. 4 through Glinka's Grand Sextet to Lutoslawski's Variations on a Theme of Paganini.

Austrian violin virtuoso Benjamin Schmid about this recording: “after 30 years of playing the master, the time felt right to improvise on Bach: Bach as the inventor of “walking bass“; master of improvisation; figured bass and Realbook; swing of the centuries; variation as form; Sarabande and Blues; Aria and leadsheet; pedalpoint and modal jazz; counterpoint and voicing; Cantata and Gospel; ultimate chamber music….. I just followed the temptation and inspiration took over!“ Benjamin Schmid was born in Vienna and grew up in Salzburg. Among other competitions, he won the Carl Flesch Competition in London 1992, where he was also awarded the Mozart-, the Beethoven- and the Audience Prize.