Jason Victor Serinus, Stephen Francis Vasta

Bruckner: Symphony No.4 "Romantic", Anima Eterna Brugge/Pablo Heras-Casado; Brahms: Concertos for Piano and Orchestra Nos.1 & 2; Works for Solo Piano Opp.116–119, Igor Levit, piano; Wiener Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann, cond.; Dvorák: Symphonies Nos.7–9; Nature, Life, And Love, Czech Philharmonic/Semyon Bychkov; The Kurt Weill Album: Symphonies Nos.1&2; The Seven Deadly Sins, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Joana Mallwitz, cond.; Katharine Mehrling, vocals.

Mozart: Symphonies 29 & 33, Clarinet Concerto; Bruckner, Bates: Symphony No.7; Resurrexit; Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II: Carousel; Sibelius, Prokofiev: Violin Concerto; Violin Concerto 1.

Beethoven: Triple Concerto; David Lang: Composition as Explanation; Yunchan Lim: Chopin Études; Urlicht: Songs of Death and Resurrection.

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4–6; Reinecke: Piano Concerto No.3; Konzertstück & Sauer: Piano Concerto No.2

Será Una Noche: Otra Noche; Bela Fleck: Rhapsody in Blue; Mahler: Symphony No.3 & R. Strauss: Death and Transfiguration; Maya Beiser × Terry Riley: In C; Schubert: String Quartet No.15 in G major D887 • String Quartet No.8 in B flat major D112; Stravinsky: Pétrouchka & Debussy: Jeux, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.

Neave Trio: A Room of Her Own; Gidon Kremer: Songs of Fate; Trio Zimbalist: Piano Trios of Weinberg, Auerbach, & Dvořák.

Wagner: Famous Opera Scenes
Nikolai Lugansky (piano)
Harmonia Mundi HMM 902393 (CD). Nicolas Bartholomée, prod.; Bartholomée, Ambroise Helmlinger, engs.
Performance ****
Sonics *****

Concert arrangements of operatic themes for piano, like Liszt's famous concert paraphrases, obviously provide an opportunity to display one's virtuosic keyboard technique. As Denis Morrier's program note for Harmonia Mundi indicates, however, transcriptions of Wagner served a second important purpose: spreading awareness of the composer's operas when they only played in a limited number of venues. There was no Spotify or Idagio back then!