Adam Laloum / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Kazuki Yamada BRAHMS Piano Concertos

Adam Laloum, described by Le Monde as “a great artist and poet”, is recognized as one of today’s most exciting young French pianists. For his debut recording on Sony Classical, Laloum has chosen to record the two piano concertos by Brahms. Each is a titan of any pianist’s repertoire, making this choice a special statement of Laloum’s artistic confidence and strength. In the words of Le Monde, “Adam has that je ne sais quoi which captivates the audience.”

In his new recording of the Brahms concertos, Laloum is partnered by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the baton of Kazuki Yamada. “I worked with Kazuki a few years ago with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, which was a very good experience,” Laloum says. “Therefore I was eager to ask him to do this recording with me. It was a wonderful working relationship because we were searching out the interpretation together, really sharing something. We weren’t trying to ‘fix’ the music, but to let it breathe, just giving our natural energy.”

Contrasting the two Brahms concertos, Laloum says: “I feel a sense of large landscapes in the D minor Concerto, something much colder than the B flat major work, yet also there is a special kind of light within it. The main character of the first movement is very dark, but still, in this work you find many different colours and feelings. The Second Concerto to me contains more fantasy, with an extraordinary sense of noblesse and a different type of generosity: it is warmer and more human, particularly in the third and fourth movements. Although it is an immense work, sometimes in it he talks about simple things and even about humour – always with a lot of tenderness.”

Leif Ove Andsnes CHOPIN Ballades & Nocturnes

Chopin: Ballades & Nocturnes for solo piano by Leif Ove Andsnes, "a pianist of magisterial elegance, power and insight" (New York Times). 

Interspersing the Romantic master composer’s four Ballades – works immense in the range and power of their expression – with three of his nocturnes, the new album represents the Norwegian pianist’s first recording of Chopin’s music in more than a decade. 

"There were quite a few years where I didn’t play much Chopin. He felt complicated to me, and I was not at ease with him. Something has happened to me in the last ten years, I don’t know what it is, but now I experience his music as so unbelievably great, so unique a voice, much more than before. My relationship to this composer is much more intimate." (Leif Ove Andsnes)

Benjamin Appl / Concerto Köln BACH

Although a tad weak at the bottom end of the register, Appl’s lightish baritone, with its ravishing bloom, is well suited to Bach, and this is a thoughtful programme, enhanced by fine playing on period instruments by Concerto Köln, not least in the instrumental movements that break up the recital. (The Sunday Times)

Goldberg Septett / Heribert Breuer / Ulrich Noethen GOLDBERG VARIATIONEN IM DIALOG MIT MONTAIGNE

Until 2010 Heribert Breuer was professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin. He teached theorie of music and choral conducting. His artistic actitivity appoints in both domains: as founder and director of the Berliner Bach Akademie and as arranger of music from Bach, Mozart and composers of romanticism. Meanwhile he distinguished with an immense number of adaptations for different instrumentations. The most popular ones are his version of the “Arpeggione-Sonate” of Franz Schubert (violoncello, windquintet) and Bach’s “The Art of Fugue” for four quartets. Heribert Breuer’s versions are inspired arrangements, often supplemented by more voices and they truly reflect the spirit of the compositions. His version of the last Contrapunctus of The Art of Fugue was performed at the opening of the Bach-Festival Leipzig in the Thomaskirche. Breuer's arrangement of the Goldberg-Variations for septet (string trio, woodwind trio and harp) was recently recorded by Deutschlandradio Kultur.

His career as organist led him to nearly all the spanish cathedrals. In 2016 he played in Sevilla and Malaga. The focus of his repertoire is Johann Sebastian Bach.

BERNSTEIN Romance

Bernstein to relax and dream: the double album "Romance" portrays the conductor, composer and pianist from his most romantic side in celebration of his centenary on August 25^th.

Leonard Bernstein is still unforgotten today, still on his centenary in 2018, for his outstanding interpretations of great symphonic works by Mahler, Brahms or Beethoven, and his unique sense for emotional melodies in his own arrangements and compositions. Nobody can resist the charm of the love ballad “Maria” or the optimistically inspired song “Somewhere” from the “West Side Story”. On this album some excerpts of Bernstein’s great recordings are carefully selected, which include legendary musical companions: from Edvard Grieg's "Morgenstimmung" (Peer Gynt Suite) with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber to the nostalgic second movement "Largo ma non tanto" from the Violin Double Concerto BWV 1043 by Johann Sebastian Bach with star violinists Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin. And of course with Bernstein’s own music, “Maria” from the “West Side Story” or Offenbach’s famous “Barcarolle”. "Romance" is the ideal album to get to know one of the most famous classical artists of all time with romantic, relaxing classical music in high-quality recordings. 

The recordings are taken from the great Columbia Records catalogue. Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, working with outstanding soloists such as pianist Rudolf Serkin and violinists Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin. In the piano concertos by Mozart and Beethoven, he plays the dual role of the pianist and the conductor.