Recently awarded the prestigious Brahms Prize of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society, Kent Nagano and the Hamburg State Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor from 2015 until 2025, perform the last two symphonies by the Hamburg-born composer, recorded in concert. The most personal of Johannes Brahms’s four symphonies, the Third is both heroic and deeply troubled with each movement ending …

Named “Instrumental Soloist Revelation” at the 2025 Victoires de la Musique awards, Lorraine Campet has been principal solo double bassist with the Paris Opera Orchestra since 2024. In her debut solo album with pianist Nathanaël Gouin, Campet explores German Romanticism with works by Schubert, Robert Schumann, Beethoven, and Josephine Lang arranged for the double bass. Under the deep and warm …

On his ninth album on the Decca label, internationally renowned British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor celebrates Chopin’s genius with two of his most profound and contrasting works: the Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor and the Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor. Composed five years apart, these masterpieces showcase the range of Chopin’s emotional and musical brilliance. Grosvenor comments, …

Polish conductor and pianist Krystian Zimerman is joined by violinist Maria Nowak (co-leader of his Polish Festival Orchestra), violist Katarzyna Budnik (principal viola of the Sinfonia Varsovia), and cellist Yuya Okamoto (newly appointed cellist of the Ébène Quartet) to perform two piano quartets by Johannes Brahms. In an interview with Presto Music, Zimerman is disarmingly honest about the foursome having …

The duo of violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien present their tenth album for Hyperion Records. Previous collaborations for the label include acclaimed recordings of the complete violin sonatas of Brahms, Mozart, and Felix Mendelssohn, as well as complete works for violin and piano by Schubert and Ravel. “In a word, delicious” was Gramophone’s verdict on the duo’s last …

Pianist Jean-Pierre Armengaud is considered a leading interpreter of French music and a specialist in Impressionist and Expressionist repertoire. He has been director for musical programming at Radio France and is associate professor at the Paris-Sorbonne University. Following his acclaimed recordings of the complete piano works of Debussy, Armengaud embarks on a project to record all of Clara Schumann’s solo …

One of Britain’s best-known musicians, Nicholas Daniel has premiered hundreds of works for the oboe and made many critically acclaimed recordings. Daniel’s program with pianist Julius Drake features a wide selection of chamber music by Robert Schumann, alongside the Three Romances, Op. 22 by Clara Schumann. At the time these pieces were written, there was a rapidly growing interest in …

Isata Kanneh-Mason’s fourth solo album on Decca presents music by both Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. Most is for solo piano including arrangements of selections from Felix’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a pair of Songs without Words; and, new to the library, Fanny’s four movement Easter Sonata. The centerpiece work is Felix’s glittering Piano Concerto No. 1 performed with the London …