2020

Fröst Martin & Concerto Köln: Vivaldi [CD]

Bach: Brandenburg concertos/Orchestral suites/mm [5 CD]

Sometimes bad things can bring along something good. Many people used the corona lockdown as a welcome opportunity to unwind. Jonas Kaufmann took advantage of it to do something he had relegated to the back burner in recent years: to record lieder songs. Together with Helmut Deutsch, his longstanding partner at the piano, he used the time between April and June to record a good many lieder dear to the hearts of this stellar German tenor and his veteran accompanist.

Maier Amanda / Ethel Smyth: Rendezvos Leipzig [CD]

The dynamic young cellist who rocketed to fame as half of the genre-busting worldwide musical sensation 2CELLOS, HAUSER is releasing his first solo recording for Sony Classical - Classic, a collection of the most beautiful melodies from classical music and beyond, with the London Symphony Orchestra. Each piece on Classic is a longtime favorite of HAUSER's, which he chose to reinterpret for the cello along with arranger Robin Smith and producer Nick Patrick.<br/><br/>Following the release of HAUSER's acclaimed Classic album earlier this year, Sony Classical is pleased to announce a Deluxe CD+DVD edition of the album. <br/> <br/>The audio disc contains sixteen tracks, and includes some of the most beloved classical melodies ever written, each a personal, longtime favorite of HAUSER's - which he's carefully curated and rearranged for the cello. Among them are Bach's Air on a G String, the Nocturne from Borodin's String Quartet, Puccini's Nessun Dorma, Yiruma's River Flows in You, and tracks by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninov.<br/> <br/>"It's simple," says HAUSER when asked to describe Classic. "It's the most beautiful, the most romantic melodies ever written in classical music - by the greatest composers - played on the cello, the most beautiful and romantic instrument of all." HAUSER could hardly be blamed for calling each of the compositions on Classic "the most iconic" or "the most beautiful" or "the most romantic" melody in classical music. Because they are. Working alongside arranger Robin Smith and producer Nick Patrick, HAUSER has adopted these immortal compositions for the cello, letting them sing as never before with help from the London Symphony Orchestra. <br/> <br/>The video disc contains a specially-edited visual program comprised of all three of the Alone, Together solo performances that were filmed earlier this year at Croatia's Arena Pula, Krka Waterfalls National Park, and the historic old town of Dubrovnik. Captured at some of the Balkan country's most stunning locations, the longform performance features HAUSER's renditions of classic compositions, as well as popular themes from film and television - including Albinoni's Adagio, Song from a Secret Garden, and fittingly, Game of Thrones, which given that much of the television program was filmed within the medieval walls of Dubrovnik's old town, was an obvious choice for inclusion.<br/><br/>CD+DVD<br/>DELUXE EDITION

Ólafsson Vikingur: Debussy / Rameau 2020 [Digipack / CD]

Hauser: Classic 2020 [CD]