Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte

The widespread acclaim which met the release of Artur Pizarro’s first volume of Ravel ensured that the popular pianist would be back to record Vol. 2. “Phenomenal”, “scintillating” and “super-refined” were just some of the superlatives used to describe Pizarro’s performance. “The Complete Works of Ravel Vol. 2” surpasses the incredibly high standards set by Vol. 1 as Pizarro reaches new heights with an outstanding performance.

Pavane pour une Infante défunte, one of Ravel’s most popular pieces, is played beautifully in its original piano version.

The suite Le tombeau de Couperin pays homage to French music of the eighteenth century whose premiere elicited a warm and enthusiastic reception, a response which continues to this day.

Valse nobles et sentimentales is highly stylised and harmonically complex, and is considered of seminal importance for Ravel’s future writing.

Ravel himself considered the Sonatine too advanced for his supreme pianistic skills. Pizarro's virtuosity is apparent in his notable performance.

Sophie Cashell, the winner of this year’s BBC talent show Classical Star, launches her recording career with ‘Debut’. This piano recital disc will be available through Universal Classics and Jazz (UCJ), the UK’s leading classical label.

The recital comprises some of Sophie’s favourite piano music, pieces that have been influential in her career so far. Sophie, currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, won over the Classical Star judges (Charles Hazelwood, Jason Lai, Chi-Chi Nwanoku and Steve Abbott) with an impressive performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto no. 2.

The album was recorded in the Théâtre St Bonnet, Bourges, France, a theatre built just two years ago in an authentic 19th Century salon style similar to those where Chopin and Liszt would have played. The Gothic cathedral in Bourges provided Sophie with further inspiration, hence the choice of Debussy’s La Cathedrale Engloutie which appears on the disc.

This exciting release marks the first solo recital disc in some years by the world’s most celebrated violist Yuri Bashmet, and features high quality arrangements mostly not recorded before.

Reminiscences is a highly personal disc of Bashmet favourites and encores played over 30 years with his long-time piano partner Mikhail Muntian (who premiered Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata).

Marais’ haunting music for viol suits the viola well and forms the backbone of the recital, just as it did for his Carnegie Hall debut. Bashmet played Benda’s Grave at the Beslan Memorial concert with Gergiev in 2005, and the other beautiful arrangements (some by Bashmet’s teacher, the legendary Vadim Borisovsky) throw a new light on many old favourites.

Bashmet’s collaboration with ONYX has been highly successful - their first two discs of Russian string works (ONYX4007/ONYX4017) gained a Grammy Nomination and Award respectively. Their most recent disc of Tan Dun and Takemitsu featuring Bashmet as violinist, violist and conductor is getting equally great reviews (ONYX4027)