William Cornysh and Benjamin Britten were prolific writers of both sacred and secular music. Cornysh is actually two people, quite possibly father and son. Both were court musicians who excelled at writing complex and adventurous antiphons for the church, as well as beautiful secular songs for the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII. As far as who wrote what is concerned, the truth may never be known and so here they are linked as one. Britten is celebrated for his ability to mix sacred and secular expertly in order to showcase the voice in all its multifaceted glory. A perfect example of this is Sacred and Profane, where he gives us a fascinating mixture of the devotional and the rumbustiously secular. The final song ‘A death’ is a wicked blend of horror and gallows humour far removed from the melancholic canon Ah, Robin, gentle Robin by Cornysh.

Following last year’s completion of his highly-praised Beethoven cycle András Schiff returns to Bach with a superb interpretation of the six “Partitas”, recorded live in September 2007 at Neumarkt Reitstadl one of the best piano music venues in Eurpoe. The cycle, which in 1731 was the first group of works to be published by Bach himself, represents a unique stylistic synthesis of the suite form with a particular emphasis on most varied and imaginative opening movements. In his 1802 biography of Bach, Nikolaus Forkel famously wrote that “such splendid compositions for the clavier had not been seen or heard before… so brilliant, harmonious, expressive and constantly novel are they.” Compared to his London studio recording of 1983 this second rendering on disc demonstrates Schiff’s stylistic development towards more freedom, sonic depth and sheer pleasure of phrasing. The rather unorthodox sequence of partitas – 5 – 3 – 1 – 2 – 4 – 6 – draws an ascending line of keys leading from G major to e minor.

Vittorio Ghielmi, one of today’s most admired viola da gamba soloists, comes from a family of musicians (his brother founded Il Giardino Armonico with Giovanni Antonini). In parallel with his erudite and virtuoso readings of Marais or Graun, Vittorio Ghielmi is an artist who enjoys crossing borders. With his ensemble, Il Suonar Parlante, he seeks new musical languages and collaborates with leading figures of jazz (Uri Caine) and the masters of traditional music (Khaled Arman, Dhruba Ghosh).With Gypsy Baroque, he and his gypsy friends present a dazzling album bubbling over with life. He has gone to Transylvania in search of the gypsy music of the eighteenth century that was played on the frontiers of the Ottoman and Austrian Empires – music that influenced composers like Mozart and Haydn for their famous ‘Janissary’ pieces. For this recording, he places these gypsy tunes (only the melody is written) in perspective with orchestrations of the period. The Baroque specialists of his ensemble are joined by longstanding guest artists (the soprano Graciela Gibelli and the recorder player Dorothee Oberlinger) and traditional musicians like the Slovak violinist Stanislav Palúch and Marcel Comendant, a virtuoso exponent of the cimbalom and of improvisation. Going beyond the ‘documentary’ aspect, already fascinating, here is a genuine musical recreation!

For the seventh Lugano Festival, legendary pianist Martha Argerich continues her commitment to showcasing young new talent and exploring lesser-known composers and works. Joining Argerich are frequent collaborators such as Renaud Capuçon, Mischa Maisky, Stephen Kovacevich, while this year also features new faces like Lilya Zilberstein, Alissa Margulis, Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, and more!

In keeping with the adventurous programming, this set features lesser-known Russian composer Anton Arensky's deeply romantic piano quintet and famed pianist Mikhail Pletnev's Fantasia Elvetica (Swiss Fantasy), as well as chamber works by Piazzola, Janác¡ek, Ravel, Shostakovich, and others. There are also a number of infrequently-played works from staple composers like Mozart, Saint-Saëns, and Rachmaninov.

Innovative for its time, Brahms’s Piano Concerto no.1, premiered in Hanover in 1859, took some time to become established in the repertoire. It is a work that redefined the norms of the genre: the traditional confrontation between virtuoso soloist and orchestra is bypassed in favour of a balanced treatment and a more ‘symphonic’ approach. The 'Ballades' too derive from the impetus towards a renewal of forms, characteristic of the young Brahms’s output.

Paul Lewis is internationally regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. His cycles of core piano works by Beethoven and Schubert have received unanimous critical and public acclaim worldwide, and consolidated his reputation as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the central European classical repertoire. His numerous awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year, two Edison awards, three Gramophone awards, the Diapason D'or de l'Annee, the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and the South Bank Show Classical Music award. He holds honorary degrees from Liverpool, Edge Hill, and Southampton Universities, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours.
His multi-award winning discography for Harmonia Mundi includes the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, concertos, and the Diabelli Variations, Liszt’s B minor sonata and other late works, all of Schubert’s major piano works from the last six years of his life including the 3 song cycles with tenor Mark Padmore, solo works by Schumann and Mussorgsky, and the Brahms D minor piano concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding.
Paul Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. He is co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK, and the Leeds International Piano Competition.
This recording is the first of a series of discs of Haydn Sonatas Paul Lewis will be recording for harmonia mundi matching his recital touring program for the coming years, following his previous immersions in Beethoven and then in Schubert.

Excelling in Renaissance and baroque repertoire, the young British soprano Ruby Hughes pays tribute to Handel’s last prima donna, the Italian soprano Giulia Frasi. For her debut recording on Chandos she has chosen a selection of celebrated arias composed for Frasi by Handel, in his late oratorios Susanna, Solomon, Theodora, and Jephtha, and other composers of the era, whose works are now much less familiar, offering several modern premieres. Performed on period instruments by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Laurence Cummings, and recorded in surroundsound, this programme is unique of its kind.