The Hungarian Dances (German: Ungarische Tänze) by Johannes Brahms (WoO 1), are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes, completed in 1879. They vary from about a minute to five minutes in length. They are among Brahms's most popular works and were the most profitable for him. Each dance has been arranged for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles. Brahms originally wrote the version for piano four hands (piano duet: two players using one piano) and later arranged the first ten dances for solo piano.

Although Hungarian by birth, it was only later in his career that Franz Liszt came to be regarded as a Hungarian national hero. His fifteen Hungarian Rhapsodies, piano pieces in Hungarian gypsy style, won wide popularity, and six of these were later orchestrated, with the help of flautist and conductor Franz Doppler, to whom Liszt himself gave full credit for the work. The six orchestrations are, themselves, lively instrumental pieces, performed on this recording by Antal Doráti & London Symphony Orchestra.

Universal Music presents the first volume of The Mercury Masters, featuring Byron Janis' rendition of Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 2" and "Two Preludes". Newly remastered, this collection comprehensively documents a golden era in American classical recording and many of these vividly characterized recordings are appearing in digital formats for the first time.

'Appalachian Spring' and 'El Salón Mexicó' are archetypical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast landscapes, cowboys and pioneer spirit. Yet, in the 20th century perhaps only Stravinsky was as adept in as many styles as Aaron Copland [1900-1990]. His Piano Concerto, first performed by Serge Koussevitsky, is a good example of Copland the modernist but he also wrote chamber music, ballets, operas and film scores, as well as teaching, writing and latterly conducting.