Pentatone Flac

Johannes Brahms (1685-1750) is widely considered one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

After his acclaimed Mendelssohn album with cellist Johannes Moser, Alasdair Beatson presents his first PENTATONE solo album Aus Wien, on which he brings together piano music from Schubert, Schumann, Schoenberg, Korngold and Ravel. Ranging from treasures of late-Romantic and early atonal music to carnivalesque, grandiose dance pieces, the works on Aus Wien constitute a picture of the vibrant city of Vienna, a hub of musical creativity without parallel, and the capital of the waltz. Alasdair Beatson works prolifically as a soloist and chamber musician, and is renowned as a sincere musician and intrepid programmer. Aus Wien is his second PENTATONE release.

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and its Music Director Rafael Payare make their Pentatone debut with Mahler’s 5th Symphony. The album is also the first recording under Payare’s tenure, and the beginning of a longer recording relationship with the label. For Payare, the Fifth is the last symphony that shows Mahler still looking forward to what the future might bring, unlike his subsequent, much darker and existential works. Despite that optimism, there is enough tragedy and struggle along the way, resonating with Mahler’s life at the time of creation. Payare’s proficiency in late-Romantic repertoire coupled with the matured, distinctive sound of the Montréal players make this a collaboration to look out for.

The ultimate American "folk opera". The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop present a live recording with highlights of Gershwin’s self-proclaimed American “Folk Opera” Porgy and Bess, together with a stellar cast and the Morgan State University Choir. Since its premiere in 1935, Porgy and Bess has been one of the most significant attempts to – following Antonin Dvořák’s famous instruction of 1893 – create American classical music inspired by Afro-American styles such as jazz, spirituals and the blues. It has also proven to be a powerful catalyst for bringing more diverse casts to the opera stage. The hard-knock life at a Charleston waterfront tenement is presented here by an outstanding cast including Lester Lynch (Porgy), Angel Blue (Bess, Clara and Serena), Chauncey Packer (Sportin’ Life) and Kevin Short (Crown, Jake).

On her solo debut album Indomita, soprano Eleonora Buratto pays tribute to the greatest composers and most insurmountable heroines of Italian nineteenth-century opera, together with the Orchestra & Coro dell'Opera Carlo Felice Genova under the baton of Sesto Quatrini. For Buratto, these scenes from Bellini's Il pirata, Donizetti's Anna Bolena and Lucrezia Borgia, as well as Verdi's I due Foscari and Aroldo, constitute a core repertoire for any soprano moving into the dramatic post-1850 operas in which she is currently thriving onstage. The combined demand of agility and power of the indomitable women portrayed fit her voice like a glove, and the combination of pieces offers an illuminating perspective on the development of Italian opera during the nineteenth century. Eleonora Buratto is one of the most highly acclaimed lyric sopranos in the world. Besides the Orchestra & Coro dell'Opera Carlo Felice Genova and conductor Sesto Quatrini, Indomita contains contributions by mezzo-soprano Irene Savignano, tenor Didier Pieri and bass Giovanni Battista Parodi. All artists make their PENTATONE debut.

Lawrence Foster conducts Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West (1910), together with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Cluj-Napoca and a cast of seasoned Puccini singers, including Melody Moore (Minnie), Marius Vlad (Dick Johnson) and Lester Lynch (Jack Rance). Puccini’s “Spaghetti Western” is not only an exploration of the New World, with the delightfully charismatic saloon owner Minnie running the show, but equally of new music; a pioneering work full of harmonic innovation and state-of-the-art orchestration effects. The depth of the orchestration, as well as of the various ensemble scenes that are characteristic of the opera, fully comes to life in this studio recording.

"Violins of Hope" presents instruments that were owned by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust, representing strength and optimism for the future during mankind’s darkest hour. They have been refurbished by luthiers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein, founders of the "Violins of Hope" project.On this album, recorded live at Kohl Mansion, the instruments are used to perform two string quartet masterpieces by Schubert and Mendelssohn, alongside a new composition by Jake Heggie, inspired by the violins’ histories. Schubert’s unfinished Quartettsatz is often considered Schubert’s first mature work, and displays a typically Schubertian mix of impetuous agitation and sublime lyricism.

Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan present Brahms' two Cello Sonatas, alongside their arrangement of his Violin Sonata in G Major on the cello. This Brahms portrait is a logical next step after the duo's acclaimed interpretation of Beethoven's complete Cello Sonatas, released in 2022. While Beethoven's sonatas reveal the gradual ascendancy of the cello as the proper solo instrument over the piano, Brahms opens a new chapter in the history of the cello sonata, realizing a glorious marriage of equals between the two instruments. This congenial relationship between cello and piano is further enhanced by Weilerstein and Barnatan, whose musical partnership (in addition to their thriving solo careers) has been a stable factor over the years. Since signing an exclusive contract with PENTATONE, Alisa Weilerstein has released Transfigured Night (2018) as well as Bach's Cello Suites (2020), while also featuring on Old Souls (2019) and Inon Barnatan's Beethoven Piano Concertos Part 1 (2019), on which she performed the composer's Triple Concerto. This album was part of Inon Barnatan's complete Beethoven piano concertos recordings on PENTATONE, of which Part 2 appeared in 2020. 2021 saw the release of his solo album Time Traveler's Suite, while Rachmaninoff Reflections appeared in 2023, followed by Darknesse Visible in 2024. Brahms Cello Sonatas is the second PENTATONE album by Weilerstein and Barnatan. Their interpretation of Beethoven's complete Cello Sonatas appeared on the label in 2022.