Tchaikovsky was already put in front of a piano at the age of four. Two years later, there was astonishment at his rapid progress. Although he never envisaged a career as a pianist, Tchaikovsky would compose much more for this instrument than one might think: numerous short pieces, including the famous Seasons, up until the late 18 Pieces, op. 72 (1893), whose waltzes, mazurkas and polacca would be a farewell to the dance rhythms that he loved so much… But also two sonatas, not to mention his two concertos, the trio op. 50 or his pieces for violin and piano, such as the melancholy Souvenir d’un lieu cher,
op. 42 (Reminiscence of a cherished spot) – contemporaneous with the Children’s Album, op. 39.

L'Association Osez-les-Arts invites you to discover the new album by Ensemble Double Face during an exceptional evening in Heiligenstein!

For his performance of Johannes Brahms’s symphonies, Kirill Petrenko returns to their roots – and to his own: in Meiningen. Hans von Bülow was the first to perform Brahms’s works there, before Fritz Steinbach succeeded him as court conductor in 1886. Thanks to Brahms’s regular visits to Meiningen, Steinbach became extremely familiar with his music during his 17 years at the court – and meticulously recorded the composer’s wishes as performance notes in the scores.

Two German Romanticism enthusiasts, Raphaël Sévère and Adam Laloum, have planned a trip for us on the wings of song. Transcribing for clarinet and piano some of the most beautiful lieder of Schumann, Wagner, and Brahms, without the help of words they have unveiled all their poetry and their indescribable colors.

Jazz pianist Lafayette Harris Jr presents 'All in Good Time', which promises to uphold the high standards set with his 2023 album 'Swingin' Up in Harlem'. That record earned some serious ink, with All About Jazz calling it "top-dollar… it simply does not get much better than this." Here, Lafayette's back in the Van Gelder Studio, this time with Jeremy Pelt, one of the most in-demand jazz trumpeters - voted Rising Star on trumpet for five straight years by both DownBeat and the Jazz Journalists Association, and praised for his melodic, post-bop approach that blends familiar elements with a cutting-edge musical vocabulary.

From the youthful sonic ecstasy of George Enescu’s Octet to the touching late composition Lachrymae by Benjamin Britten, Ensemble Resonanz and Tabea Zimmermann invite us to rediscover two profound, world-embracing works – full of inner motion, poised between reflection, melancholy, and transcendence.

In the second instalment of the Consone Quartet’s cycle, the foursome continues its exploration of Felix Mendelssohn’s string quartets, simultaneously delving into the work of his sister Fanny, with her only work in the genre. Despite its turbulent character, Felix’s String Quartet in E minor, Op. 44 No. 2, was written three months after the composer’s marriage, during a period of stability and creativity. In contrast, the String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80, was composed while he was recovering from shock, following Fanny’s premature death. It is a work of striking bitterness and agitation, an unambiguous reflection of his distraught mental state. Fanny’s String Quartet in E flat major is an attractive and well-crafted work, which, due to her family discouraging her pursuit of a career in composition, remained unpublished until 1988. It is given a vibrant performance here by the Consone Quartet, the first period instrument quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists.

An album of new orchestral works by Peter Fribbins. Gommecourt, a four-movement symphony with obbligato piano, traces the dramatic story of his grandfather, Tom Fribbins, at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. It is paired with the passionate, and at times wild, Cello Concerto, and the beautiful melodic lines of his Folk Songs for viola and chamber orchestra.

"This recording brings together two late masterworks by Brahms: the Op. 120 Clarinet Sonatas and the Op. 117 Intermezzi for piano, written in the tranquil setting of Bad Ischl.

If You Believed In Me began with an unexpected offer: “If you ever need an orchestra…” Jesse Harris’s friend and arranger Maycon Ananias had extra recording time with an Estonian orchestra and invited Harris to send a song.

Old Knew is Gregory Groover, Jr’s follow-up to his 2024 Criss Cross debut, Lovabye (Criss 1419), on which – in the exalted company of Joel Ross, Aaron Parks, Vicente Archer and Marcus Gilmore – he projected his soulful, reflective tenor saxophone voice throughout an 11-track recital of, as Groover puts it, original “love songs and songs of people I love.”

"Discipline & Punish" is the debut full-length album by the Tampa-based band Cold Steel, which was released on November 7, 2025, via Spinefarm Records. The album is a fusion of hardcore thrash and aggressive metal, and it was produced by Arthur Rizk

White Lies approached their seventh album, Night Light, with a fresh method: mastering the songs live before recording them. Inspired by the 1970s live-performance TV show The Midnight Special, the trio decided to rehearse and refine the tracks together in a room before entering the studio – a reversal of the process of finding the true spirit of songs only after touring them.

Following her acclaimed debut Diaries, pianist Tiffany Poon returns with Nature, an album that explores the evocative power of French music in capturing the beauty of the natural world from the delicate shimmer of water to the quiet mysteries of the forest and the animals found within. Nature, which Tiffany recorded at legendary Provence recording studio Miraval Studios (Pink Floyd, Sade, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) with producer Damien Quintard, brings together works by French composers across centuries, united by an instinctual admiration for the world around them.

Liverpool-born Sir Simon Rattle is one of the most fascinating conducting personalities of our time. Get to know the new chief conductor of the Chor and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks!