The baritone Andrè Schuen releases his album Mozart, a beautifully curated project of Mozart arias, duets and songs. The album celebrates Schuen’s deep and longstanding relationship to the composer and his birth- and creative place Salzburg.

With his album "Concertos" the charismatic mandolinist Avi Avital fulfills a dream and collaborates with the renowned ensemble for historical instruments "Il Giardino Armonico" and its conductor and founder Giovanni Antonini. Together they interpret three concertos for mandolin by Emanuele Barbella, Giovanni Paisiello and Johann Nepomuk Hummel, as well as Avital's own arrangements of concertos by J. S. Bach and Vivaldi. Of the three original works for mandolin, two are from Naples.

“This is how I want to make music!” That was Avi Avital’s reaction when he first saw Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini play live in Jerusalem. He’s now joined by the ensemble and its conductor and co-founder on his latest album, entitled simply Concertos and featuring original concertos for mandolin by Barbella, Paisiello and Hummel alongside Avital’s own adaptations of concertos by J.S. Bach and Vivaldi. The album comes out on 17 November – pre-order it today and enjoy the new pre-release track ‘Paisiello: III. Allegretto’.

For his first album on Deutsche Grammophon, Joe Hisaishi, the revered Japanese composer whose work has become synonymous with the magical Studio Ghibli animations of director Hayao Miyazaki has created an exciting series of symphonic arrangements of his original soundtracks for such Ghibli classics as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and My neighbor Totoro. Fittingly titled A Symphonic Celebration, it presents state-of-the-art recordings of his extraordinary work for this much-loved artistic force in animated movie-making. Recorded in London by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer, its tracks are newly arranged by Hisaishi for symphony orchestra and features Grace Davidson, Avi Avital, Bach Choir and Stephen Morris.

A truly beautiful and unique tracklist with rarities including Víkingur Ólafsson’s new arrangement for piano of a Bach Cantata, rare transcriptions for guitar, for mandolin and even String Quartet; alongside familiar Bach masterpieces, all played by the world’s greatest classical artists, curated and presented Deutsche Grammophon.

Art of the Mandolin is Avi Avital’s first recording program consisting exclusively of pieces originally written for the mandolin. His personal take on the best existing repertoire for the instrument, and a showcase presentation of the fullest spectrum of its expressive potential.