Eric Lu, winner of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition, returns with a new recording of some of his signature Schubert piece. Nobuyuko Tsujii presents his widely celebrated interpretation of Rachaminoff’s third piano concerto alongside Domingo Hindoyan and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Reconstructed scores for the Mozart Mass in C minor and Claus Ogermann’s Symbiosis (co-written with legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans) are also on this week’s list. Finally, enjoy a collaboration between two virtuoso string quartets that was hailed by The Strad as a luxury casting.
New Releases Jan 19: Great Pianists
Eric Lu at the piano during the 2025 International Piano Competition (Photo: Bartosz Seifert)
Nobuyuki Tsujii has performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto the world over, from London to Australia, where Limelight Magazine deemed his performance “flawless” and “second to none.” On this new recording of “Rach 3” with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Domingo Hindoyan, Tsujii also presents solo transcriptions of songs by Rachmaninoff and Mikhail Pletnev’s suite of transcriptions of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. “Piano transcriptions are fascinating because the arrangers are usually outstanding pianists,” says the Japanese pianist and composer (who was born blind due to microphthalmia). They know exactly what is needed to get the maximum out of the instrument. It’s always a pleasure to play these pieces.”
American pianist Eric Lu, recent First Prize winner of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition, presents Franz Schubert’s Impromptus D.899 and D.935. Lu previously performed the Op. 90 Impromptus during the 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition, which he also went on to win. He says, “I have a real sense of a journey with these works, in particular with Op.90, having lived with them intensely in preparation, on stage and, finally, in the recording studio. For me, the Impromptus are some of the greatest jewels in the piano literature. They are magnificent, deep pieces of music, and the very essence of Schubert.”
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Clausen Trio, and Jean Thorel celebrate the enduring legacy of one of jazz’s greatest pianists. The album features three jazz, concerto grosso-like orchestral works recorded live. The influential Danish jazz trumpeter and composer Palle Mikkelborg was commissioned by the Danish Radio to compose his Bill Evans Suite for the Bill Evans Trio in 1969, comprising themes from famous pieces by Bill Evans such as “Waltz for Debby,” “Time Remembered,” “My Bells,” and “Walkin’ Up.” Thomas Clausen’s deeply personal For Pi is a tender jazz ballad infused with the spirit of Evans, orchestrated for strings and trio with Anders Malta’s lyrical trumpet adding poignant beauty. Symbiosis marks the third collaboration between the decorated German composer-arranger Claus Ogermann and Bill Evans, with the pair working together previously on two jazz albums with symphony orchestra. Symbiosis was originally composed solely for an album recording in 1974 and the full orchestral score was unfortunately not preserved for performance. In 2019, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra commissioned Singaporean composer Ding Jian Han to re-construct the orchestral score. This reconstruction was premiered in January 2023 and recorded for this album.
Two of the world’s leading string quartets, the Ebène and the Belcea, come together to perform octets written 75 years apart by two phenomenally gifted teenage composers: Felix Mendelssohn and George Enescu. Of the concert of the Mendelssohn and Enescu octets in Philadelphia in November 2024, The Strad said: “The phrase ‘luxury casting’ gets tossed around a lot, but seemed entirely appropriate here, as these two distinguished groups effortlessly fused their expertise – and had a blast doing it. The gutsy results had many people in the audience standing before the interval…” Born in Romania, George Enescu was just 18 and living in Paris when he wrote his octet in 1900, while Mendelssohn was even younger – a mere 16 years old – when he composed his octet in 1825 as a birthday gift for his violin teacher. If Mendelssohn’s mastery played a defining role in music of the 19th century, Enescu, as an emblematic figure of the earlier 20th century, is remarkable for his synthesis of influences … Viennese, German and French, all imbued with the spirit of Romanian folk music.
Jordi Savall presents the world premiere recording of a new performing edition of Mozart’s unfinished “Great” Mass in C minor, K. 427, restored and completed with historical rigor and musical sensitivity. Basing their score on Mozart’s own compositions and sketches, Savall and his fellow conductor/musicologist colleague Luca Gugliemi have fashioned a new version that The Times says “goes some way towards turning the torso into a roughly Mozartian whole.” Sopranos Giulia Bolcato and Elionor Martínez, tenor David Fischer, and bass-baritone Matthias Winckhler are the stylish soloists with Bolcato gaining two additional featured solos in the completed Credo and the new Agnus Dei sections. The singers of La Capella Nacional de Catalunya and the period instrumentalists of Le Concert des Nations turn in their customary responsiveness and virtuosity for maestro Savall.
