SIBELIUS - 3 LIEDER AND SINFONIEN NOS. 2, 4 & 5 (2

With this collection, SWR Classic presents studio recordings from 1955 and 1961 of Symphonies Nos. 2, 4 and 5 and Three Songs for Bass and Orchestra featuring Kim Borg. Rosbaud’s lean and forensic approach to conducting is well suited to the Finnish master’s music as these recordings from the SWR archives attest.

PROKOFIEV - VIOLIN CONCERTOS NOS. 1 & 2 AND SONATA

Prokofiev wrote his ViolinConcertoNo.1– a work of contrasting open-hearted lyricism and whimsical playfulness that features a wild central Scherzo with dazzling technical gymnastics. By contrast, the Violin Concerto No. 2 is emotionally reserved and sardonic with an inspired plaintive and long-arching slow movement.

CHOPIN

Bel canto – the very words conjure up the idea of virtuosity, technical challenge. Chopin’s Sonata for cello and piano is all of that: an intense and extensive masterwork, its Largo one of the most beautiful elegies ever written, while its fast outer movements are a veritable tournament of skill between the two performers.

SHADOW PLAYS

In this fully improvised concert, recorded in March 2020, Craig explores sounds and silences, swirling colours, densities and forms, creating new music in the moment with both poetic imagination and an iron grip on his spontaneously generated material.

BEETHOVEN - SONATAS, OP. 30

The award-winning duo ensemble formed by Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt are returning to the masterworks of European chamber music with this new album that includes Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770–1827) three violin sonatas from Op. 30.

FAGERLUND - OCEANO: CHAMBER MUSIC

Some of Finland’s leading instrumentalists join forces on the present album, with French horn player Hervé Joulain making an appearance in Transient Light, which is dedicated to him.