Sonata Dante

Aimi Kobayashi is a leading young Japanese pianist, one of the ten finalists at the Chopin Competition in 2015. Born in Yamaguchi, Japan, on 23 September 1995, Aimi began her piano studies aged three, and made her first appearance with orchestra at the age of seven, followed by her international debut two years later. Since then, Aimi has appeared at the Carnegie Hall in New York no less than four times. Her international career continues to flourish: she was invited by various venues in Moscow, Poland and Brazil, amongst others.

The pre-eminent Lisztian of our day returns to Brilliant Classics for a symphonic sequel of transcriptions.

Firma Melodiya presents a recording of two-piano transcriptions by Franz Liszt and Camille Saint-Saëns performed by the piano duet of Ludmila Berlinskaya and Arthur Ancelle. Representatives of famous artistic dynasties and alumni of different music performing traditions, they began to jointly perform in 2011 and have won the listeners’ hearts in Russia, France and Switzerland.

Alessio Bax plays an Italian-inspired programme, picking his favourite pieces taken from a rich history of music from one of the most romantic countries in the world. He opens the programme with a J.S. Bach transcription of an oboe concerto by Venetian composer Alessandro Marcello, which reveals a deep insight into Bach’s mind.

Daniel Barenboim turns 75 in November 2017. Deutsche Grammophon celebrates his remarkable artistry as a pianist with an Anniversary Edition of his complete solo recordings on DG. This 38 CDs + 1 Bonus CD with rare first recordings from 1955 set presents a solo career spanning 60 years and shows his artistic development through very early recordings as a 13 year old to the present day. First CD release of over 300 minutes of re-mastered Westminster recordings. An original jackets collection.

Kurt Masur's achievement is defined above all by his relationships with two orchestras exemplifying vastly different traditions. Having spent some 20 years as Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, which traces it's roots to the 15th century, he became the transformational music director of the New York Philharmonic, an embodiment of the New World. Through all this, his musical integrity remained consistent. As the New York Times wrote: "He brought to the podium the ardent conviction that music-making was a moral act that could heal the world." Masur himself put things more simply: "My goal is meaningful playing… What counts is to be able to communicate the composer's meaning to the audience… When I conduct Beethoven, I wouldn't like to replace Beethoven. He should be in your mind, not me." This 70CD set consolidates the entirety of the catalogues that Masur built for EMI and Teldec between 1974 and 2009.

This CD features music by composer Franz Liszt from the play "Tom & Jerry in the Garden of Earthly Delights." For this performance, pianist Martin Oei commissioned animations and videos to illustrate the life of Franz Liszt. Martin's goal is to introduce a younger audience to classical piano music and the remarkable role Liszt played in the 19th century.