When Ilker Arcayürek and his pianist Simon Lepper conceived the album “The Path of Life”, it was important to them that it should not be a portrait of a singer and thus another “Best of Schubert” selection, but that a story should be told. The “programme” consists of five chapters, which are seen as stages of life: Love, Longing, Search for Inner Peace, Resignation, Redemption. Playful and in love, the cycle begins. Piningly follows the section of “longing”. Love alone does not fulfil the lyrical figure, which is why “Auf der Bruck” introduces an escape from existence and the “search for inner peace”. The lyrical I wanders, initially seeking happiness in nature and coming to the realisation in “Laughing and Crying” and “The Wanderer” that no matter where one turns, happiness is short-lived and elusive. Heartbreaking reflection is followed by a farewell to friends and life, before the epilogue is intoned with “Des Fischers Liebesglück”. Similarities to the “Leiermann” at the end of “Winterreise” are not coincidental.

The most complex work by Widor within the sound-world of a Cavaillé-Coll organ, played by one of today’s most eminent organists: a resounding commitment to the French tradition.

Elgar’s violin concerto – distinctively passionate and nostalgic – is one of the great late-Romantic concertos. “It is a huge piece,” says Renaud Capuçon “both in terms of its length and its romantic and noble nature.” This is Capuçon’s first recording with Sir Simon Rattle, here conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. When Rattle chose Elgar’s Enigma Variations for his inaugural concert as the LSO’s music director in 2017, he was celebrating the close historic links between the composer and the orchestra. Not only did the LSO accompany Fritz Kreisler in the premiere of the violin concerto in 1910, Elgar became its Principal Conductor the following year. Paired with the concerto on this album is his violin sonata, first performed in 1919. Renaud Capuçon, who calls the sonata “a work of nobility and tenderness”, is joined by one of the leading British pianists of today, Stephen Hough.

Andrè Schuen releases his debut album on DG after signing as an exclusive artist 2020. Together with his partner pianist Daniel Heide, he performs Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin. Andrè and Daniel have been performing together since Andrè’s early twenties, next to their stellar musical performance they are sparking with enthusiasm and wit in conversation with each other and the audience.

The preeminent violin and piano partnership of Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien give matchless accounts of Brahms's three Violin Sonatas. The works, which reveal the composer at his most lyrically reflective, are coupled with a fabulous encore by Clara Schumann.

Paris is Hilary Hahn’s comeback project after her one-year sabbatical. Now Hilary is back with her first album on Deutsche Grammophon in five years.

Bridging the end of Romanticism and the beginnings of Modernism, Gabriel Fauré is considered to be one of the most important French composers of the nineteenth and early- twentieth centuries. His music is a testament to the seismic changes that he lived through, undoubtedly reflected in his distinctive writing. This collection of Fauré’s works for violin and piano are performed on period instruments: an 1890s Érard piano and a violin by Guaneri, recreating the composer’s sound world. Duo Jane Gordon (violin) and Jan Rautio (piano) here celebrate their significant milestone of two decades of musical partnership, having collaborated together on hundreds of artistic projects.

From well-loved arias to new discoveries, this recording journeys through over a century of opera, with transcriptions for cello and orchestra stretching from Mozart to Puccini and including Verdi, Tchaikovsky and Offenbach. The curtain goes up on some of Ophélie Gaillard’s favourite pieces, which explore human passions through the voice of the cello, that most human of instruments.

When Kirill Petrenko performed Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony with the Berliner Philharmoniker in March 2017, one critic was ''stunned at how beautiful and breathtakingly exciting this music can be''. This first audio release of the orchestra and its new chief conductor reflects the whole sonority and intensity of the interpretation - and offers a taste of an exciting new beginning.

Amazing deeds and performances on the verge of acrobatics: this is how Emilia Giuliani’s executions are described in the chronicles of the time.She seems to intend to challenge the guitar she is holding and the audience,ready to marvel at the feats shown by the performer on the stage, enthusiastically applauds. But the skills of a virtuoso also lies in being able to conceal from the viewers the effort necessary to perform whirls and funambolic gestures. And Emilia’s, in particular, is a challenge in the challenge: in addition to demonstrating great dexterity in performing,those who play her music must also indulge in the daintiness of a musicality with a vocal imprint.The distinguishing feature of this musician,however, is herboundlesspassionforItalianoperaandespeciallyBellini’s:itisnocoincidencethatmost of her compositions are variations or fantasias on arias wrote by the Sicilian master.

Fyodor Amirov (piano) is a musician engaged in a variety of activities-from classical piano music to free improvisation, rock concerts and multimedia performances.

Two of today’s most brilliant tenors, Michael Spyres and Lawrence Brownlee, strike sparks off each other as they celebrate the star tenors of Rossini’s time, such as Andrea Nozzari, Giovanni David, and Manuel García. Amici e Rivali – ‘Friends and Rivals’ – comprises arias, duets and trios from seven of the composer’s operas, including the ever-popular Il barbiere di Siviglia and the rarely heard Ricciardo e Zoraide. The ‘duelling tenors’ are joined by the effervescent Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught, the prize-winning young Spanish tenor Xabier Anduaga, I Virtuosi Italiani and conductor Corrado Rovaris.

Acclaimed Japanese pianist Yu Kosuge unveils Wind, the third in her series of four Orchid Classics albums related to the four elements (Water, Fire, Wind, Earth). Kosuges inspiration for these releases stems from her relationship with the music of Beethoven, who was drawn to Greek legends. This led Kosuge to the Greek concept of the four elements as the basis of these albums. Beethoven is one of a varied selection of composers featured on Wind; Yu Kosuge performs his blustery Piano Sonata Op. 31, No. 2, known as The Tempest. There are evocative pieces from the French Baroque, by Couperin, Rameau and Daquin, and from the world of French Impressionism with three of Debussys fleet-footed Préludes. The release is completed with a piece by contemporary Japanese composer Akira Nishimura, and the atmospheric In the Mists by Janáek. Apart from technical perfection, which is not that unusual today, she possesses a stunning palette of expression and an exquisite and pearly touch.

Faniska is an opéra comique in three acts by Luigi Cherubini. The German libretto, by Joseph Sonnleithner, is based on the melodrama Les mines de Pologne (1803) by René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt.

Born on 12 July 1996. He is a student of Stefan Wojtas at Bydgoszcz Music Academy, having previously studied with Ewa Pobłocka and Paweł Wakarecy. He has won many prizes in international piano competitions, including first prize in the ‘La Palma d’Oro’ in Italy (2019) and first prize in the Rzeszów International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition (2014). In 2018 he won a competition at Indiana University for performances of works with orchestra. He has performed in concerts and festivals in Europe and the United States, at the Auer Hall of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ganz Hall of Roosevelt University in Chicago, NOSPR Hall in Katowice, and the philharmonic halls of Warsaw, Łódź and Pomerania.