Brahms' piano quartets are the undisputed highlights of the composer's oeuvre. Hungaroton has recorded this album with some of the most prominent current classical artists, which allows the pieces to reveal their distinctive characteristics in a unique and unified atmosphere.

Within a very short time of about 10 years, Beethoven's technique of composing developed rapidly. The artists on this recording wanted to show the comparison between earlier and later pieces, and this is the basis of this new series of recordings. of Beethoven's Violin Sonatas on three volumes.

Cellists have cause to be thankful for the impracticality and swift demise of the arpeggione, which allowed the appropriation of Schubert’s wonderful sonata for their own instrument. Dénes Várjon’s 1851 Érard lends characterful zest both here and in Chopin, while bonuses include Steven Isserlis’s own transcriptions of songs by both composers.

“The harmonic quality and the inner freedom of the composition can be expressed very clearly through the possibilities of the piano. The personal meeting with Mahler's genius and his work was an inspirational journey and also a great adventure for us.”

Hungarian pianist Denes Varjon has made important contributions to the ECM New Series’catalog. This recording, his first solo release for the label, finds the renowned musician drawing comparisons between legendary works by Berg, Janacek and Liszt. The recital draws listeners in within moments; beginning with the brooding language of Berg’s Piano Sonata Op.1 and continues with Janacek’s impressionistic “In the Mists”. Finally, the album concludes with the transparent B-minor Sonata by Liszt. The beautiful account of these treasured pieces are rendered with immaculate phrasing, a must own!