Dejan Lazic receives prestigious ECHO Classic Award 2009 in the category 'best piano concerto recording 20th and 21st century' for his recording of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2"

Jan Brachmann, FAZ: "Form wird Drama: Wenn ein Pianist mehr kann als Klavier spielen, profitiert auch sein Klavierspiel davon."

Kultur SPIEGEL: "Schon wieder Rachmaninov? Jetzt erst recht!"


Attila Csampai, BR4 Klassik: "Kurzum: Ein Album für die Insel!"


Crescendo: "Lazic strahlt wie ein Komet am Pianistenhimmel."

BBC Music Magazine 2008 Award
for technical excelllence

Channel Classics is proud to announce winning the 2008 BBC music Magazine award for the best 'recorded' recording.

Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2
Britten Cello Suite No. 3
Pieter Wispelwey (cello); Sinfonietta Cracovia/Jurjen Hempel
Channel CCS SA 25308 (hybrid CD/SACD)

What our reviewer Erik Levi says: ‘
In the Shostakovich the sound engineers have succeeded fantastically in capturing the tricky balance between cello and orchestra in a life-like way. The bass drum, too, is absolutely terrifying and life-like in its presence, and there’s amazing clarity in the Scherzo movement.’


Mahler Symphony #4

Gramophone Editors choice of the Month
'Fischer and his brilliant Budapest band give us Mahler with the personal Touch.What no one will deny is the amazing unanimity and precision of the playing here and the superlative quality of the sound engineering.This is just one of the countless imaginative touches on an exceptional hybrid SACD which must surely be an Awards candidate for 2009. '

SA-CD.net
If you miss this disc, you will regret it for the rest of your life, believe me and if you don't know Mahler this is the nicest possible way of finding out... and yes, I will be playing it again today and tomorrow and..

ClassicsToday - USA 10/10
There is no better- conducted recording of Mahler's Fourth Symphony available than this one. Fischer's observance of dynamics is as telling as his handling of tempo and transitions. An adagio perfectly timed: about 22 minutes, with gorgeous string playing, ideally judged 'accelerating' variations, and a whopper of a climax at the end.
Fischer and Persson capture the music's innocence with unforgettable sweetness and joy.
You certainly won't go to sleep listening to this extraordinary, warmly engineered performance, but the contentment you will feel at its end is surely the stuff of dreams.

CLassicstoday- France 10/10
Décidément, Ivan Fischer s'affirme, au fil des parutions Channel Classics, comme l'un des chefs les plus intéressants de son temps.

The Guardian
Budapest Festival Orchestra's playing is exceptional in its dark-hued subtlety. It's a provocative, iconoclastic performance, and highly recommended.

BBC Music 5 stars
a performance that seems constantly alive, on so many levels without ever veering into the swooning excess of Bernstein at his worst. On the other hand it's a long way from the glossy coldness of too many modern versions.
One of the most musically satisfying recordings to appear in a long time.

Opus Haute Definition
After listening to this invaluable recording, the effect is quite simply miraculous. Soloists' balance, perfectly natural phrasing, details of the musical discourse lifted up as never before, as if suspended in space: its all there, and the impression of purity and transparency transforms the tones heard into veritable sonic poetry. The soprano Miah Persson participates in this feast of the senses with a voice that is both soft and fragile. it is first-class DSD, allowing the acoustics of the venue to blossom and breathe naturally. A great, a truly great Mahlerian. Bravo!

Papiruszportal/Hungary
Each section of the orchestra is simply phantastic, but special mention should be made of the soft, tender tone of the strings that bring to us every tiny but important detail in its full colour. This CD has its place among the top recordings of the work.

Planned recordings

• Channel Classics is always eager to work on projects that combine both challenging repertoire and Channel Classics artists.

The Netherlands Bach Society is working with Channel on a special project for the 2013 festival centered around the ‘Treaty of Utrecht’ 300 years ago. Frederik Handel wrote a special work for this occasion.   Te Deum HWV 278, and the Jubilate HHWV 279 . A world premier is also a part of this project. William Croft, a English composer also wrote a work specially for the ‘Treaty of Utrecht’ and has never been performed outside of its one time performance. Artistic director and conductor Jos van Veldhoven found the manuscript while researching material for this project.    

Rachel Podger has recorded 2 Haydn concertos with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In July, Rachel will be joining the AOE again to record the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Pavlo Beznosiuk – viola. Both using Stradivarius instruments on loan from the Royal Academy of Music London. This will be a September release.

Ivan Fischer is recording in July with his own Budapest Festival Orchestra the Dvorak 7th symphony together with Suite in A Major for Large Orchestra Op. 98/b (sometimes called the ‘American Suite’) This will be a 2010 spring release.

We are traveling to Krakow Poland this month to work with the esteemed Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. He will be conducting the Sinfonietta Cracovia with soloist Robert Kabara playing the Ist Violin concerto. In September we return to Krakow for the Concerto for horn with soloist - Radovan Vlatkovic. We have worked with this wonderful group in the past performing the Shostakovich 2nd cello concerto with Pieter Wispelwey.

Jared Sacks
Director / producer