A stunning version of Schubert's famous 'Death and the Maiden' String Quartet performed on period instruments by one of the leading string quartets of our time, the Quatuor Mosaïques. The 'String Quartet No.14 in D Minor', otherwise known as The Death and the Maiden, is considered one of the pillars of the chamber music repertoire. It's a work that shows Schubert struggling in a world in which he has a lost his bearings, but also yearning for heaven. It is his testament to death. This release also features one of Schubert's earlier quartets, the deeply foreboding D173 in G minor.

Philippe Herreweghe has always seemed well-attuned to the more mystical aspects of Bach’s music, an empathy clearly evident on his new CD of Advent cantatas. Though the opening chorus of BWV 36 seems a touch reserved, those of BWV 61 and 62 match precision with vigour, and Herreweghe’s team of soloists are in fine voice throughout. BWV 36 is a parody, based on an earlier tribute to a local teacher. Bach retained his original music for the arias, but replaced the recitatives with chorales, so the cantata alternates delightfully between dance movements and more formal hymn settings.

Ignaz’s is probably the least well-documented life of the Lachner brothers who numbered Franz and Vinzenz and who were born in Bavaria. Ignaz was a string player – violin and viola – and worked in Munich until Franz managed to secure him a job in Vienna in 1826. He composed and travelled widely, spending a period in Frankfurt between 1861 and 1875 where he conducted Wagner operas which he then cut to fit local taste. Though he achieved a degree of renown during his lifetime Lachner’s works have sunk almost without trace and I doubt whether many, if any, are now in print.

The program looks like what was conventional in the 1970s and 1980s: Beethoven, Mozart, and the obligatory entry from the early 20th century, in this case Webern. But what you get from Germany's Hagen Quartet, here celebrating its 30th anniversary, is anything but conventional. The group members state that their aim is "to illustrate such things as pauses, fermati, dissonances, and certain extreme emotional phenomena as vividly as possible." Indeed, this is a set of hyper-expressive performances.

Between 1965 and 1967 Benjamin Britten and Sviatoslav Richter teamed up at the Aldeburgh Festival for piano duo programs that were taped by the BBC for future broadcast. Music and Arts brought out this material on several CD issues, which stemmed from excellent tape sources. The selections on Decca's "official" release sound marginally fuller with less tape hiss. Do the performances live up to their legend? In most ways, yes. The dream team understates the theme of Schubert's ravishing Andantino Varié, yet opens up more as the four variations effortlessly segue from one to the next.

Patrick Gallois belongs to the generation of French musicians leading highly successful international careers as both soloist and conductor. From the age of 17 he studied the flute with Jean-Pierre Rampal at the Paris Conservatoire and at the age of 21 was appointed principal flute in the Orchestre national de France under Lorin Maazel, playing with many famous conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, Karl Böhm, Eugen Jochum and Sergiu Celibidache. He held this post until 1984, when he decided to focus on his solo career, which has subsequently taken him throughout the world.

Stars gab es am Discohimmel der siebziger Jahre viele, Sternchen noch viel mehr. Doch die Disco-Queen gab es nur einmal: Amanda Lear. Die einstige Muse Salvador Dalís begann ihre Karriere als Fotomodell und Mannequin, war später in mehreren Ländern als TV-Talkmasterin erfolgreich und ist inzwischen selbst eine geachtete und geschätzte Malerin. Der größte Teil ihrer Fangemeinde besteht jedoch nach wie vor aus Musikfreunden. Kein Geringerer als David Bowie war es, der die Frau mit der geheimnisvollen Aura und der markanten tiefen Stimme dazu ermunterte, Schallplatten aufzunehmen

Few musical partnerships have elicited such divergent critical opinions as Maurizio Pollini and Claudio Abbado in Brahms’s two piano concertos. Reviewing the First Concerto in April 1999, Richard Osborne found ‘a lack of quickness and intelligence in the inner-part playing’ while missing ‘any real sense of interaction between soloist and orchestra’. A year earlier Bryce Morrison, in his review of the Second Concerto, had found it ‘impossible to think of them apart, their unity [here] is so indissoluble’. BM also praised what he heard as ‘a granitic reading stripped of all surplus gesture, preening mannerism or overt display, intent only on the unveiling of a musical or moral truth’.

The music of Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnányi took a dive in concert program frequency after his death in the U.S. in 1960, when the fashion was for Bartók or still more progressive composers. It has been making a comeback, however, and this satisfying release by Britain's venerable Nash Ensemble, largely specialists in contemporary music, should only help it along. Dohnányi was classified as a conservative, and indeed there is a strong Brahmsian streak in his music.

Alessandro Piccinini, a contemporary of Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, hailed from a Bolognese family of lutenists that made its mark on Italian musical life for over one and a half centuries. Piccinini's two books of lute works are primarily influenced by the emergent Italian instrumental music, but French and Spanish influences can also be clearly heard. On the present recording, Monica Pustilnik performs selections from both books.

Patricia Petibon is equally at home in the music of Rameau and Caldara as she is in the humorous works of Bernstein. One of the more exciting singers of the day, this recording gives us a new insight into her huge talent. The recitals of this witty and talented French soprano have received great acclaim around the world. This new compilation serves as a great introduction to her unique talent and also demonstrates her great versatility. For versatility alone this collection is worth adding to the library - and that saying nothing about the aplomb she uses to carry off these pieces.

Founded in 1982, the Czech Boys Choir Boni Pueri carries on the tradition of a choir that has been active in the metropolitan chapter of St Vitus in Prague since 1252. The present ensemble, which has 200 members ranging from 4 to 19 years old, has performed more than 4,000 international concerts. Boni Pueri also performs at important state events, and has appeared alongside numerous distinguished artists. It is often invited to perform as a guest artist at festivals around the world, and also works closely with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

The case for performing Mozart's horn music authentically on its original natural (valveless) horn is a bit tougher than for music in other genres; it's hard to imagine that Mozart or his audiences wouldn't have preferred the smooth scale of the modern horn to the reedy, clarinet-like tone that emerges on chromatic notes even on a fine recording like this one. Yet the four concertos, two of them incomplete or incompletely transmitted, and the Horn Quintet in E flat major, K. 407, have been recorded often enough on natural horns.

This recording derives from a production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1974 conducted by Solti.The team of singers here is entirely strong and convincing . As Onegin, Bernd Weikl skillfully suggests a range of feeling: scorn, vindictiveness, regret and desolation. Teresa Kubiak is an endearing Tatyana, especially strong in the last scene. Stuart Burrows is unexcelled as Lenski. Almost stealing the show, is the Gremin of Nicolai Ghiaurov, whose solitary appearance in Act 3 is well worth the wait.

In the realm of music criticism and scholarship, Bach’s music is often hailed as the epitome of functional musical logic. Every note has its place, every chord has its function, and all musical elements are combined in a masterful display of contrapuntal craft with few recognised rivals. But despite the intellectual reverence to which Bach’s music is subjected, musicians are still able to find themselves intimately and affectively involved with his compositions.