Richter, when he was 46 years old, played in the United States, where all the great pianists of the day were known. Yet the arrival of Richter left them all astonished. Astonished before a greatness rich in novelty, excess, and defects. Many scholars saw Richter as a crazy genius who couldn't be taken entirely seriously. Many critics and a part of the public had to make the note easy effort of changing their parameters of judgment. Some critics, and the majority of the public were overwhelmed by the effects of that mysterious power we call charisma. And so Richter became Richter. On this release are beautiful masterpieces, the history of pianism at its finest.

Whereas Prokofiev was captivated by Romeo and Juliet , Ravel had shut himself away a quarter of a century earlier in Levallois Perret to compose Gaspard de la nuit , inspired by Aloysius Bertrand's collection of poems subtitled Fantaisies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot . In 1973, the Uzbek composer Dilorom Saidaminova paid tribute to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and composed The Walls of Ancient Bukhara , which offers a sonic view of the historic centre of the Central Asian city founded four or five centuries before the common era. Her compatriot Behzod Abduraimov was keen to pay tribute to this little-known composer and record her music, which, like the other two works on this album, is evocative and colourful.

This is the Prokofiev concerto cycle for the digital age. Yefim Bronfman relishes every steely flourish of this brilliant and angular music.

Daniel Hope's new album "Dance!" reflects his boundless interest in the most diverse styles and periods of music. The star violinist takes the listeners on a journey through seven centuries of music history and explores the rhythms that have set bodies in motion and lifted hearts since time began.

Claudio Abbado was undeniably the supreme Mahler conductor of our time. With his Lucerne Festival Orchestra he has set new standards in the field of classical music, especially in the interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler. The core of the orchestra is provided by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, itself an élite body of players. Soloists like violinist Kolja Blacher, clarinettist Sabine Meyer, oboist Albrecht Mayer, violist Wolfram Christ, cellist Natalia Gutman, the Hagen Quartet and members of the Alban Berg Quartet to name just a few, make the Lucerne Festival Orchestra a star-studded ensemble.

Abbado’s mature style ‘in embryo’ together with a fairly impressive example of what Decca could achieve at the Kingsway Hall back in February 1968 (the odd conspicuous edit notwithstanding). The Janacek is basically quite similar to Abbado’s 1987 BPO remake, save that the opening Allegretto is slower and rather less assured that it later became and the Moderato has a more incisive attack from the brass, especially at around the central climax.

A subtle and profound Spanish theme runs through Recuerdos – ‘Memories’. Violinist Augustin Hadelich has conceived an album that unites three works for violin and orchestra and a piece originally written for solo guitar. For Britten’s Violin Concerto, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 2 and Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy he is joined by the WDR Sinfonieorchester and its Chief Conductor, Cristian Măcelaru; he remains alone for Ruggero Ricci’s arrangement of Tárrega’s shimmering Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

The box comprises all (live) recordings made by Martha Argerich at the Lugano Festival, from 2002 to the last edition in 2016, and released by EMI Classics and Warner Classics. An impressive collection of 22CDs without equivalent. It includes a variety of genres: some solo piano music, lots of music for piano duo and among them many arrangements, chamber works and concertos.

Prokofiev’s chamber music is stimulating, hugely varied, and impregnated with his distinctive brand of melody. Take the two Violin Sonatas – the First intensely dramatic, by turns rhetorical and contemplative, epic in its content; the Second altogether cosier, a reworking of a slightly earlier Sonata for the flute. Bell and Mustonen are well attuned to this music, their interpretations thoughtful and persuasive.

Given that Sergei Prokofiev's 'Visions fugitives' are central to this recording, Visions is a fitting title for a CD devoted to works that differ greatly in style, atmosphere and artistic intent. The works include the stately court music of Henry Purcell, the elegantly classical world of Maddalena Lombardini, the exalted passions of Guillaume Lekeu, the existential fears of Elizabeth Maconchy, the controlled romanticism of Mendelssohn and the musical iconoclasm of Stravinsky.

In his ballets the great Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev continues the long and famous tradition of Russian ballet music, which culminated in the immortal ballets of Tchaikovsky (Nutcracker, Swan Lake). Prokofiev’s genius for characterisation produced such classical “hits” as the Montagues & Capulets (often used in films, commercial and even sporting events!), and the Love Scene of Romeo and Juliet. Also the Cinderella-Waltz from the Cinderella Suite became an evergreen. The ballet Stone Flower is the last Soviet ballet Prokofiev wrote, and although it is little known, it contains music of great beauty and power on an equal level as the famous ballets.

Wieder einmal lässt Thomas Clamor seine Sächsische Bläserphilharmonie ein musikalisches Feuerwerk abbrennen: Auf ihrer neuen CD entführen die Musiker uns nach Russland und alle, die noch keine Fans dieses Klangkörpers sind, tun gut daran mitzureisen! Höhepunkte gibt es dabei mehr als genug wie z.B. das Märchenreich von Strawinskys Feuervogel oder Tschaikowskys schwungvolles Capriccio Italien.

With this disc Demidenko completes his cycle of the Prokofiev Concertos with the London Philharmonic and Alexander Lazarev. The First Concerto launched the youthful composer's career—he wrote it for his graduation concert (his playing of it won him first prize) and its youthful high spirits and virtuosity make it an instant crowd-pleaser. The Fourth and Fifth Concertos are less well known though with the Fifth it is hard to see why. The Fourth was written for the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein who didn't like it (he didn't like Ravel's left-hand Concerto either!) and refused to perform it; hence it is only recently that the work has been taken up.