Romeo and Juliet begins with 4 minutes of an intriguing, mysterious, adagio theme, followed at 5 minutes by an energetic, allegro theme. At 8 minutes we hear a beautiful, adagio melody over rippling French horns. After that, the existing themes are developed to express passion. Francesca da Ramini has an opening theme that evokes a netherworld. Thereafter Tchaikovsky extensively develops a powerful theme. Then at 10 minutes a clarinet begins a beautiful melody to be continued by violins then flute. Near the end the piece builds to a climax.

Itzhak Perlman made his public debut on American radio at the age of ten, and has since become universally acclaimed as one of the world’s greatest virtuosi. His range of repertoire is immense, and he plays chamber music with as much enthusiasm as he brings to concertos and solo recitals. Perlman is joined by fellow veteran Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in a stunning live performance of two of the great landmarks of the violin concerto repertoire.

Liszt’s Dante Symphony is a work of astonishing imagination. His evocation of the ‘Inferno’, the shade of Francesca da Rimini and her sad remembered love is marked by strokes of genius which, with bewildering frequency, pre-empt the mature Wagner (who was, incidentally, the dedicatee of the work). If the second and third movements – the ‘Paradiso’ was wisely commuted to a setting of part of the Magnificat plus a brief Hosanna – don’t quite match the sweep and control of the first, they have their own particular magic. Even so, the work has not acquired the popularity of the Faust Symphony. Barenboim’s new recording with the Berlin Philharmonic is thus particularly welcome. Not only does it augment the number of available recordings to four, it is also the most polished. Even performing ‘live’, the Berlin Philharmonic turns in a performance of near-perfection – the solo lines are a particular joy.

Involving, as it does, three master musicians and a fine chamber orchestra this was never likely to be be other than rewarding. It may not correspond with the ways of playing Mozart at the beginning of the twenty-first century which are fashionable at the beginning of the twenty-first century, but it has virtues – such as high intelligence, sympathy, certainty of purpose, grace, alertness of interplay – which transcend questions of performance practice. Looking at the names of the pianists above, we might be surprised by the presence of Sir Georg Solti, so used are we to thinking of him as a conductor. But the young Solti appeared in public as a pianist from the age of twelve and went on to study piano in Budapest, with Dohnányi and Bartok.

Making her debut on Decca, Alisa Weilerstein presents three major works of the cello repertoire with Daniel Barenboim leading the Staatskapelle Berlin. The star vehicle, naturally, is Edward Elgar's Concerto in E minor, which Weilerstein plays with commanding presence, rich tone, and emotional depth. Most listeners will be drawn primarily to this performance because of the piece's familiarity, and Weilerstein's charisma and passionate playing make it the album's main attraction. Yet listeners should give Weilerstein and Barenboim credit for following the Elgar with an important if not instantly recognizable or approachable modernist work, Elliott Carter's powerful Cello Concerto. Weilerstein is quite bold to play this intensely dramatic and angular composition, and while it's unlikely to appeal to the majority of fans who adore the Elgar, it deserves its place on the program for its seriousness and extraordinary displays of solo and orchestral writing. To close, Weilerstein plays Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei, a Romantic work that returns the program to a mellow and melancholy mood and brings the CD to a satisfying close. Decca's reproduction is excellent, putting Weilerstein front and center with full resonance, but not leaving the vibrant accompaniment of the orchestra too far behind her.

Daniel Barenboim has sometimes performed the music of Debussy, especially during the later part of his career, but Debussy interpretations are not something for which he is particularly known. Thus this release of Debussy works, on the rare side except for La Mer at the end, is commendable; it shows Barenboim, approaching his 80th year, continuing to take chances and explore new repertory. The show opens with the Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, L 73, not commonly heard, although it is really Debussy's only piano concerto.

Even though Vladimir Ashkenazy is most often celebrated for his brilliantly virtuosic interpretations of Romantic repertoire, his skills in playing works of the Classical era are just as worthy, as proved by this 10-disc set from London of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's piano concertos. These performances span a period from 1966 to 1988, capturing a youthful and vigorous Ashkenazy playing and conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard, in approved Mozartian fashion. All of the keyboard concertos are here, including the official 27 concertos for piano and orchestra, the Concerto for two pianos in E flat major, K. 365, the Concerto for three pianos in F major, K. 242, as well as the two Rondos K. 382 and K. 386. Ashkenazy's elegant playing has been highly praised by critics and placed on a level with his esteemed contemporaries Murray Perahia, Daniel Barenboim, and Alfred Brendel, all past masters of Mozart's primary medium of expression.

Bruckner did not assign a number to this Symphony that has been ascribed the number 0 "Die Nullte". He wrote it after his Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1866) and his sketches of an aborted Symphony (also 1869) in Bb major. The melodic structure, although familiar to modern listeners, was such a radical departure from mainstream Romantic Era Symphonies that it lead to criticism from the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Felix Otto Dessoff. Consequently Bruckner suffered a crisis in confidence, and this piece, (amongst others) was never performed in his lifetime.

Lang Lang's debut recording for Deutsche Grammophon showcased the young pianist's extraordinary gifts in celebrated recordings of Tchaikovsky's and Mendelssohn's First Piano Concertos. Mentor Daniel Barenboim led the forces of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Felix Mendelssohn was only nineteen years old when little sister Fanny noted in her diary: 'My birthday party was fun… Felix gave me a' song without words' for my album; he would later write more of those fine pieces. ' In total it became eight albums, each with six Lieder ohne Worte. Someone once compared them to wild flowers, with Chopin's Nocturnes being compared to orchids. And of course those so-called orchids are by far the best represented in the catalogs and discographies. Fortunately there has been at least one great pianist who has still looked back to the Lieder ohne Worte. This 1974 set of Mendelssohn's complete Songs without Words, which Barenboim plays with such affectionate finesse, has dominated the catalog for nearly two decades, according to The Penguin Guide.

J. S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier Daniel Barenboim "Das Wohltemperierte Klavier is not only the sum of everything that has preceded it, it also points the way ahead." Daniel Barenboim sees Bach's encyclopaedic collection of 48 preludes and fugues, with it's dual traversal of all 24 keys, as a work of pivotal importance and epic stature. His interpretation elicited a rapturous response from Gramophone magazine: "There is no sense of received wisdom, only a vital act of recreation that captures Bach's masterpiece in all it's first glory and magnitude; no simple-minded notions of period style or strict parameters but a moving sense of music of a timeless veracity."