NEW RELEASES ON WARNER CLASSICS AND ERATO

ELSA DREISIG

Soprano Elsa Dreisig follows her debut album Miroir(s) with a recital of songs in collaboration with pianist Jonathan Ware. Taking its title, Morgen, from one of Richard Strauss’s best-loved lieder, it interweaves his music (notably the Four Last Songs) with thematically linked works by Sergey Rachmaninov and Henri Duparc.

DIANA DAMRAU

The centrepiece of this album of Strauss songs is the sublime

Vier letzte Lieder, in which Damrau – born and trained in Bavaria – joins forces with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and its long-standing Chief Conductor Mariss Jansons, in what was to become his final recording. Her partner in a tempting and diverse selection of songs with piano is Helmut Deutsch.

FAZIL SAY

Marking Beethoven’s 250th birthday in a suitably heroic fashion, Fazıl Say has recorded all 32 of the composer’s piano sonatas. He sees the sonatas as “a sacred text for musicians”, adding that “when we interpret a composer’s work, we need to remain faithful to it. Compositions should be interpreted with the same freshness as a completely new piece of music”

ERIC LU

The 22 year-old winner and Dame Fanny Waterman Gold Medallist at the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition 2018 begins his Warner Classics exclusive contract with an exquisite new recital featuring Chopin’s 24 Préludes, Schumann’s Ghost Variations, and Brahms’ Intermezzo

No. 1, Op. 117.

ALEXANDRE THARAUD

World premiere recordings of three aesthetically diverse piano concertos that were written for Alexandre Tharaud. They are Left, alone by the Dane Hans Abrahamsen (b. 1952), Future is a faded song by the Frenchman Gérard Pesson (b.1958) and Kuleshov by the Argentian-born Frenchman Oscar Strasnoy (b.1970).

RENAUD & GAUTIER CAPUCON, FRANK BRALEY

Renaud and Gautier Capuçon are joined by their long-time recital partner Frank Braley in a dazzling programme of Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ and ‘Archduke’ Trios, the latter which Beethoven himself performed at his last public concert.

JOYCE DIDONATO

Joyce Didonato has staked a powerful claim on the multi-faceted title role of Handel’s opera Agrippina. Joining them on this recording is a cast of established and rising stars that includes Marie-nicole Lemieux, Franco Fagioli, Luca Pisaroni,

Elsa Benoit and Jakub Józef Orlin´ski.

PHILHARMONIA AT 75

A prestigious name since it came into being in 1945, the Philharmonia was established by legendary producer

Walter Legge as a high-calibre house orchestra for EMI.

The performances in this

24 CD box set here cover the period between 1946 and 1964, conducted by Karajan, Furtwängler, Toscanini, Klemperer, Giulini and Cantelli.