“In Juon’s piano trio”, as the members of the Boulanger Trio find, “we plunge into the most profound recesses of the soul. Everything acquires existential significance. This work truly captivates us: so much occurs within such brief moments”. This is where our performers find a bridge that connects Juon’s kaleidoscopic tone poem with PETER TCHAIKOVSKY’s colossal Piano Trio, op. 50, a musical epitaph for pianist and conductor Nikolai Rubinstein, who had been Tchaikovsky’s friend and mentor.

Gary Burton has had many stellar moments over the years, and in the 1990s, one of his finest achievements was Astor Piazzolla Reunion, a heartfelt tribute to the late Argentinean tango innovator and bandoneon master. Having toured and recorded with Piazzolla in the 1980s, Burton clearly had a strong appreciation of his legacy, and that appreciation comes through in a major way on arrangements of "Tanguedia," "Romance Del Diablo," and other gems by Piazzolla (whose risk-taking approach to tango generated as much controversy in tango circles as Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane did in jazz). But as passionately as Burton expresses his love of Piazzolla's distinctive music, the vibist's own identity doesn't become buried or obscured.

Brilliant mixture of well known and rather unknown highly virtuosic violin music from the 18th Century. Inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach and the importance of this works for various Italian composers of the time. Including a violin sonata by Johann Paul von Westhoff (1656-1705), a German Baroque composer and violinist. One of the most important exponents of the Dresden violin school, he was among the highest ranked violinists of his day, and composed some of the earliest known music for solo violin. There are actually no other recordings of this second violin sonata available.

Joseph Nolan marks his 10th release on Signum Classics with a recording on the remarkable 1738 Christian Muller organ of St Bavo in the Dutch city of Haarlem. Housed in one of the most spectacular organ cases in the world, the instrument's renowned clarity of tone makes it perfectly suited to Reubke's Sonata on the 94th Psalm, which forms the heart Nolan's programme alongside works by Bach, Buxtehude and Mendelssohn.

This CD with remastered sound contains the FM radio broadcast recording from the Paramount Theatre, Denver, Colorado, 13th April 1989.

Out Of Nations is a dream for a future world where humanity comes before nationality. Lety, Jonas, Christian, Ayman, Charis, Fabian and Khalil connected on a musical level before realizing that each one of them carried a different passport. The band breathes new life into familiar genres by playing original, danceable world music rooted in pop, funk & jazz.

A French orchestral programme par excellence, marking 100 years since the death of Claude Debussy. The relative absence of the Fantaisie for piano and orchestra from concert halls today is something of a mystery; all the colour, inventiveness, fluidity and pianistic and orchestral verve that characterise Debussy’s music can be heard here, with a central movement which is one of his most expressive pieces of writing. Bizet’s Symphony in C reveals all the clarity, directness, passion and sophistication that would later be associated with the composer of Carmen, while the richly imaginative orchestral textures of Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite plunge listeners into a realm of fairy-tale fantasy. This recording owes much to the virtuosity, enthusiasm and energy of the PKF – Prague Philharmonia and its conductor Emmanuel Villaume, and to the intelligence and poetic sensibilities of pianist Andrew von Oeyen.

The pianist Wilhelm Kempff (1895-1991) belonged to that tradition of German musicians – notably including conductors such as Furtwängler, Klemperer and Walter – for whom composition was hardly less essential a component of their musical personalities than performing, even if it was an activity they largely undertook privately. Working day to day with imperishable masterworks by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, they did not expect to meet such standards, yet their own creative voices required an outlet through more than recreation of others. Left cold by the musical innovations and developments of their own time in the work of Schoenberg and Stravinsky, they wrote in a heightened Romantic idiom, and in genres – especially song and chamber music – which lay separately from their own professional activity as performers.

At age 18, Soo-Min Lee already won 1st prize in Dong-A competition which is one of the biggest competitions in Korea. She studied with Prof. En-sik Choi in Seoul National University and after she finished Bachelor, she continued her studies in Cologne with Prof. Rainer Moog. She finished her Diplom with distinction and Konzertexamen in Musikhochschule in Cologne.

Guitarist Pat Metheny was a member of the Gary Burton Quartet/Quintet during 1974-1976. In 1989, after becoming a major star, he had a reunion with the vibraphonist that resulted in this excellent project. Performing laid-back and often introspective pieces by Polo Ortin, Vince Mendoza, Paul Meyers, keyboardist Mitchel Forman, and Metheny, the two principals swing lightly in a quintet with Forman, bassist Will Lee, and drummer Peter Erskine. Although Burton had to adjust himself a little due to his former sideman's prominence, the combination of vibes and guitar works quite well. The individual songs are not all that memorable but the group sound is quite attractive and Burton sounds inspired by Metheny.