This crossover hit, the soundtrack to Jane Campion's film, is subtle, pretty, and just a little bit bland. Nyman keeps the theatrics to a minimum, crafting an evocative work that manages to be both personal and universal. He also lets the music run its course, never pushing or cutting off a piece until it says what it needs to. A towering commercial achievement from a decidedly non-commercial artist.

Zubin Mehta has had a decades-long artistic relationship and deep friendship with the Munich Philharmonic. Since conducting his first concert with the orchestra in 1987, he has been a regular guest there and in 2004 was named the orchestra's first and so far only "honorary conductor". Twenty years later, the orchestra celebrated this anniversary with the two piano concertos played by one of today's most celebrated and admired pianists: Yefim Bronfman.

The Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, is a symphony written by Johannes Brahms. Brahms spent at least fourteen years completing this work, whose sketches date from 1854. Brahms himself declared that the symphony, from sketches to finishing touches, took 21 years, from 1855 to 1876. The premiere of this symphony, conducted by the composer's friend Felix Otto Dessoff, occurred on 4 November 1876, in Karlsruhe, then in the Grand Duchy of Baden. A typical performance lasts between 45 and 50 minutes.

SOMM Recordings is pleased to release Volume 3 in its “major commemorative series” (ConcertoNet.com) Bruckner from the Archives. Many of the expertly restored and remastered recordings, like these performances of the Third and Fourth Symphonies, are appearing for the first time in any form.

SOMM Recordings honours Franz Schmidt, one of the great symphonic composers of the 20th century, on the 150th anniversary of his birth with this double-disc set featuring two of his masterworks. Revered in his day in his native Austria as the nation’s leading composer and an elite teacher, cellist and pianist, his name will not be known to many. This is due, at least in part, to a perceived association with the Third Reich (against which there is ample evidence). This first release on CD of two premiere recordings, meticulously produced and restored by Lani Spahr, showcases Schmidt’s unique harmonic language, exceptional contrapuntal skill and mastery of form, qualities which prompted Hans Pfitzner to call Schmidt’s Symphony No. 4 “nearer perfection than Bruckner, more honest than Richard Strauss and more original than Reger”.