This wonderful recording, made in 1982, has truly earned a place in Claves' treasure chest. It was one of the principal reasons for the revival of interest in the music of Franz Krommer, a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven who quite undeservedly fell into neglect. Two of Switzerland's most eminent soloists, flutist Peter-Lukas Graf and oboist Heinz Holliger, bring this vivacious music to life not only through their instrumental virtuosity, but also as conductors; each in turn directed the English Chamber Orchestra.

By ''Early Viennese School'' is meant the group of composers contemporary, in the capital city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with Haydn and Mozart. Not all of it is particularly early; indeed Albrechtsberger, Vanhal and Salieri lived well into the nineteenth century. And it is arguable whether the Viennese of this period really represent a 'school' in the sense that the Mannheimers, or even the North Germans, clearly do; Vienna was a great musical clearing-house, wide open to influences (French and especially Italian opera were much performed there all through this period), and it is perhaps better to regard Viennese composition of the time as representing a wide spectrum of dialect within the late eighteenth-century lingua franca.

Depending on one's tolerance for puzzles, Heinz Holliger's Violin Concerto is either a meaningful tribute to an obscure artist or an indecipherable jumble hidden behind layers of extraneous associations. Commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the work is an homage to the erstwhile last chair of the OSR's second violins, Louis Soutter; and, perhaps secondarily, to his teacher, Eugene Ysaÿe. No matter that Soutter was fired by Ernest Ansermet, and afterwards lived in poverty as an outcast.

In his Éventail de musique française, Swiss oboist and composer Heinz Holliger traverses a broad selection of French works for oboe and piano in a multichromatic programme of early 20th century music. As Holliger states in his liner note, “the closeness of the oboe to the human voice inspired my idea of opening up the richly coloured fan of French music through the still far too little known collection of Vocalises-Études.” Contained in this wide-ranging recital are compositions by Ravel, Debussy, Milhaud, Saint-Saëns, Casadesus as well as Koechlin, Jolivet and Messiaen – Holliger cultivated a personal relationship with several of the composers. On piano returns Anton Kernjak, who appeared on Holliger’s 2014 recording Aschenmusik, while French harpist Alice Belugou comes in to play on André Jovilet’s Controversia pour hautbois et harpe. The richness of the 20th century oboe-repertoire is on full display throughout and finds Holliger in engaging dialogues with piano and harp. Éventail follows the release of Heinz Holliger’s multiple awards-winning large-scale opera Lunea from 2022.

These recordings by I Musici, with soloists Salavatore Accardo (violin) and Heinz Holliger (oboe) display both attributes in spades. The recordings were made in 1975. While maybe not displaying the same cutting-edge tempi as the most recent competition (Federico Guglielmo and Il Arte Dell'Arco in the new Brilliant Classics Vivaldi edition) they are still very very good. If you see this set for sale I wouldn't hesitate to grab it.

The 150th anniversary of Charles Koechlin's birth in November 2017 is marked by the reissue of all the Koechlin recordings made by the Sudwestrundfunk. This release of Koechlin's orchestral works includes many world premiere recordings and gives a comprehensive overview of Koechlin's output- from the early orchestral songs to his orchestrations of works by other composers and to his huge later works. Koechlin's compositional style was very subtle, full of delicate, colorful combinations of instrumental sounds. Many of his colleagues allowed him to orchestrate their works, simply because Koechlin was a master of the art.

As Sir András Schiff turns 70 (in December 2023), this 78-disc edition celebrates an artist who has made a significant contribution to shaping Decca’s history through an array of artistic endeavours. Neatly divided into four sections – solo, concertante, lieder and chamber music, the set includes several currently unavailable recordings; the first international release of Beethoven’s complete Violin Sonatas, with Sándor Végh; four CDs’ worth of material recorded on Mozart’s fortepiano; and the booklet includes an interview with Misha Donat in which Schiff tells the story of his journey with Decca.

The famous oboist Heinz Holliger and the legendary musical ensemble recorded for the posterity one of the most pyramidal musical documents in the second half of the past Century. There's no any flaw. Every single bar is perfect. Holliger dominates not only the variegated tonal possibilities of the instrument, but he gives to each score the expected degree of expressiveness and feverish lyricism.

Mozart really liked the number 5. Aside from the group of six string quartets dedicated to Haydn, just about all of his greatest chamber works are quintets, and some of them are very unusual too. This particular set contains three magnificent late string quintets, the ever popular Clarinet Quintet, and weirdly wonderful Adagio and Rondo for Glass Harmonica, Flute, Oboe, Viola and Cello. A glass harmonica, by the way, is a set of water-filled glasses that you set spinning and play with moistened fingertips. It was invented (or at least perfected) by Benjamin Franklin, and was wildly popular in Mozart's day, particularly among amateur female performers. An excellent collection in every respect.

A couple of the concertos included here, RV 452 and RV 446, were only discovered in the 1960's, and while there is a discussion in the notes about their provenance (they "differ slightly, in terms of style, from what is generally regarded as undoubtedly authentic Vivaldi"), they have been accepted as having come from the master's pen. In any case, Heinz Holliger and I Musici perform these small masterpieces to perfection. The allegro of RV 463 exemplifies the glorious sound produced by I Musici - big, lush and swinging - and a modern musical approach that now ironically may be somewhat out of fashion.

For her new double-album Sol Gabetta teams up with excellent French pianist Betrand Chamayou, with whom she plays sold out concerts in major concert halls. The album features Mendelssohn's complete works for cello and piano and new, short pieces written by famous contemporary composers Wolfgang Rihm, Heinz Holliger, Francisco Coll and Jörg Widman specifically for this album, all of which were inspired by Mendelssohn’s beautiful "Lied ohne Worte, Op. 109." The album was recorded at the famous new Philharmonie de Paris.

Heinz Holliger's first full length opera is a radical reworking of the Snow White story, with libretto based on the version by Swiss author Robert Walser. The opera opened in Zürich to rave reviews, applauded for its energy, invention, wit and psychological insight. Soprano singer Juliane Banse was singled out for her exceptionally inspired performance in the title role. This New Series recording features the original cast, under the direction of the composer.

A countryman of Bela Bartók and a sometime teacher to both György Ligeti and György Kurtág, Sándor Veress emigrated to Switzerland from what was then part of Hungary in 1949. Settling in Bern, he collected various prizes and teaching posts while working in relative obscurity on who knows how many pieces–most of which have been unavailable. This collection is made up of a pithy trio of compositions dated 1938 (Six Csárdás), 1951 (Hommage à Paul Klee), and 1952 (Concerto for Piano, Strings, and Percussion), and they show what a deftly melodic force Veress was. He's thrilled by blustery string wafts, especially in the concerto, where the percussion adds drama and immediacy. But he also favors sweetly chipper string formations, which surprise the ear during the homage to Klee, especially given the dissonances fostered early on by the twin pianos. The closing piano miniatures of Six Csárdás are counterpoint-rich gems, played with sharp precision by András Schiff.