The perfect introduction to ballet music as little ballerinas take their first steps into the magical world of ballet. From sugar plums to fairy princes and skating couples to waltzing flowers, each track is carefully selected to delight young listeners.  

As one of the leading interpreters of Russian music, and Benjamin Britten’s soprano for some of his works, including the mighty War Requiem, it may come as a surprise to some that Galina Vishnevskaya began her professional career in 1944, singing, of all things, Viennese operettas (in Russian translation!) in the chorus of a travelling […]

Late in the 1840s, Schumann entered a chamber music phase. It was, it is said, motivated partly by financial reasons – creating a body of chamber works that could be played by talented amateurs in their own homes. Many of the works on this disc date from 1849. Significantly, for collectors, one of these – […]

Each of the works on this disc is associated with a notable cellist who made a career in Russia: the ‘Rococo Variations’ with the German player Wilhelm Fitzenhagen (1843–90), the ‘Andante cantabile’ with Anatoly Brandukov (1859–1930), the ‘Chant du Ménestrel’ with the Polish player Alexander Wierzbilowicz (1849–1911) and the Shostakovich Concerto with Mstislav Rostropovich (1927–2007) […]