Steinway & Sons begins their celebration of the Beethoven Anniversary year with a new recording from an artist who was born to play this music. These performances, recorded at Steinway Hall in New York, were immediately recognized as definitive recordings to serve in the essential series of Steinway Classics. Praised for her thrilling blend of fury and finesse (San Antonio Express-News) and regarded as a polished and serious-minded pianist (Gramophone), pianist Young-Ah Tak enjoys a remarkable international career with performances throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, Korea and Japan. Ms. Tak received her Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School, her Master of Music and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory as a recipient of NECs Presidential Scholarship, and her Doctor of Musical Arts from The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Tak currently serves as an Associate Professor of Piano and Head of the Piano Area at the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York at Potsdam.

Tchaikovsky’s Grande Sonate, in G major was dedicated to Karl Klindworth, and first performed at a private hearing in 1879, by Nikolay Rubinstein, founder of the Moscow Conservatory. Composed in the autumn of 1896, the Six Moments musicaux of Rachmaninoff adopt musical forms from previous eras: the nocturne, song without words, barcarolle, virtuoso étude, and theme and variations. Written in haste in order to meet the commission deadline (the twenty-three-year-old Rachmaninoff was desperately short of funds), the set evidences his virtuosity, and is full of portent of the music to come. Barry Douglas writes: ‘This recording project with Chandos Records is a personal salute from me to great masterworks of the Russian repertoire. I am an Irish pianist who, nevertheless, feels a deep affinity with Russian culture, and felt it even before I had the good fortune to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986. Our own Irish composer and virtuoso pianist John Field, who invented the Nocturne and taught a whole generation of Russian musicians, fermented the linkage between Ireland and Russia, and I feel very proud to help keep this synergy alive!’

One of the great violinists of our day, Gidon Kremer is someone I always want to hear. I am not so sure about his chamber orchestra however. One might say he leads and they follow. There is punctuality and alertness, and the set is not without moments when you feel everyone is listening to each other and involved in an integrated endeavour. Yet moments they are, unsustained, and the all-purpose vigour predominating in the outer movements, contrasted with a vaguely songful quality in the middle ones, leaves me longing for more subtlety and range.

This isn't the first disc to couple a transcription of Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata for cello with transcriptions of Schubert's lieder for cello – Mischa Maisky released a disc with a strikingly similar program a decade ago. But that's alright: it's still a great idea and while Maisky's disc was superb, so is this one by cellist Anne Gastinel. Maisky's technique may be more polished in Schubert's achingly beautiful Arpeggione Sonata, but Gastinel's technique is almost as strong and possibly more incisive. Maisky's tone may be warmer in Schubert's supremely lyrical lieder, but Gastinel's tone is nearly as warm and perhaps deeper.

Michael Tippet’s King Priam the re-telling of part of the original epic legend of Troy follows the Homeric characters through their love, loyalties and vengeance – leading to the fi nal slaughter of King Priam at the altar of his burning city. The opera also speaks of the inevitability and futility of war. Rodney Macann heads a strong cast in the title role, giving a compelling performance as Priam, alongside Sarah Walker’s moving portrayal of Hector’s wife, Andromache. Howard Haskin plays Priam’s rebellious son Paris, who elopes with Helen, wife of the Greek King of Sparta, thus instigating the great Trojan War. Nicholas Hytner’s innovative production is matched by the starkly stylised setting designed by David Fielding, which creates a timeless arena of war. Minimal costume and colour, frozen action and white light further enhance Tippett’s marvellously sparse music played with fearless conviction and driving impetus by the youthful Kent Opera Orchestra under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington.