Opera 2023

On the occasion of the bicentenary of Pauline Viardot's birth in 2021, pianist Francisco Soriano set himself the task of making known one of the most interesting parts of Viardot's work: her Spanish-inspired songs in various languages, many of them unpublished. He was helped by his fellow artists on this recording, soprano Natalia Labourdette and mezzo-soprano Helena Ressurreicao, as well as researchers Nicholas Zekulin and Andres Moreno Mengibar and musicologist Miguel Lopez Fernandez. This album represents the fruit of those labours.

"Saint-Saëns Duos for Harmonium and Piano, is performed by award-winning acclaimed classical Accordionist Miloš Milivojević and Pianist Simon Callaghan.

La Ciudad de las Columnas (2004) by the Cuban composer, guitarist and conductor Leo Brouwer, is an evocation of various scenes of Havana, his home. It is subtitled Variations on Piece without title No. 1 which is called here “Andar la Habana” and is proceeded by the introduction.

For many years, star cellist and OPUS KLASSIK award winner Raphaela Gromes has championed works by women composers. Three of her albums, which have been highly praised by the press and the public, have featured music by unknown female composers, and she has a long-standing collaboration with the "Frau und Musik" archive in Frankfurt.

Heinrich Marschner, the leading German composer of Romantic opera between Weber and Wagner, was a progressive innovator, bringing to his music a new dimension – the supernatural anti-hero enmeshed in horror, such as the protagonist of Der Vampyr (1828). Before his psychological operas, however, Marschner composed a series of overtures and stage works exploring more conventional material. Dario Salvi continues his exploration of Marschner’s overtures and stage music in this second volume featuring a programme of all world premiere recordings. Salvi conducts the Hradec Kralove Philharmonic Orchestra in its first recording on the Naxos label.

Ruhadze plays Geminiani: the latest volume in a revelatory project breathing new life into the founding figures of the Italian violin school of the 18th century.

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is the opera in which "Richard once wanted to be completely symphonic," as his wife Cosima wrote. The Soloist Ensemble D'Accord, which features top international young musicians and whose special focus is on great music in a small format, presents this groundbreaking work in an extremely successful and gripping one-hour chamber music paraphrase for string septet by Martina Trumpp. It has (rightly) conquered a place on stages all over the world shortly after its premiere by the Soloist Ensemble D'Accord.

Aichi Chamber Orchestra
ACO was established in 2002 by the members consist of young players who graduated from Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music.

Established in 1952, the Munich Radio Orchestra has developed into a body engaged in a wide spectrum of musical activity. There have been gala concerts and opera concert performances in particular, under the direction of Marcello Viotti, as well as a Paradisi Gloria series devoted to the sacred music of the 20th century, concerts for children and young people, and theme evenings.

"I feel Catalan through and through, but in my music I want to express what I feel, what I admire and what attracts me, be it Andalusian or Chinese." Enrique Granados. "I hope that this album will allow a deeper understanding of the Goyescas, drawing not only the most common images of Spanish folklore such as the sevillanas or the bullfighters, but also a more complete picture of a diverse country. It was the inspiration for an artist like Goya who was at once deeply local and universal. It is this fascinating mixture of tradition and modernity, of Spain and Europe, that Granados liked and loved in his illustrious predecessor." Enrique Granados