A subtle and profound Spanish theme runs through Recuerdos – ‘Memories’. Violinist Augustin Hadelich has conceived an album that unites three works for violin and orchestra and a piece originally written for solo guitar. For Britten’s Violin Concerto, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 2 and Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy he is joined by the WDR Sinfonieorchester and its Chief Conductor, Cristian Măcelaru; he remains alone for Ruggero Ricci’s arrangement of Tárrega’s shimmering Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

Schuch: “Indeed, it’s quite exciting to look at what was going on exactly 100 years ago – perhaps because 1923 doesn’t seem all that distant to us. Certain events and circumstances seem to mirror one another a century apart. From a musical point of view, Erwin Schulhoff’s piano concerto is a truly interesting work that has not attained the recognition it deserves…“

This eagerly-awaited new release sees Simon Trpceski reunite with conductor Cristian Macelaru to record Brahms Piano Concertos. Their unrivalled chemistry, paramount in Brahms's chamber-like concertos, is on full display in these new performances which puts the two artists' musical affinity in the spotlight. These two contrasting concertos, one beginning in darkness, the other in light, mark Brahms's major contribution to the genre. With Trpceski's flawless technique and sensitive playing, pianophiles are in for a treat. Macelaru's orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester, joins the pair to complete the line-up; a perfect companion to their previous album, Shostakovich Piano Concertos, which garnered numerous accolades (BBC Music Magazine Concerto Choice, Le Choix de France Musique, among others).

Following their first album for Linn (Dvorák: Legends Op. 59, Czech Suite Op. 39), the WDR Sinfonieorchester and Cristian Macelaru pursue the same folk vein with two orchestral works by Béla Bartók. Based on a rather childish tale (prince, princess, fairies, and of course a happy ending!), the music of the ballet The Wooden Prince - recorded in full here - has all the ingredients of a masterpiece: masterful scoring for large forces, use of musical themes, an effortless amalgam of folk and late-Romantic elements. Composed in 1923 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the merging of the towns of Buda and Pest - alongside commissions by Ernö Dohnányi and Zoltán Kodály - the century-old Dance Suite is a six-movement work that has become one of Bartók's best known compositions. Born in Timi?oara, a short distance from Hungaria, Macelaru can boast an unparalleled understanding of Bartók, as evident here.

Cellist Edgar Moreau, with the WDR Sinfonieorchester and conductor Andris Poga, performs two concertante works from the mid-20th century: Mieczysław Weinberg’s Concerto in C minor (1956), and Henri Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain … (1970). Both were premiered by the great Mstislav Rostropovich, which creates a special link with Moreau: in 2014 in Paris, he won the Young Soloist Prize in the Rostropovich Cello Competition.

Concluding their series of the orchestral music of Johannes Brahms on Profil, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln present the Symphony No. 4 in E minor, the Academic Festival Overture, and the Tragic Overture on this third volume, thus rounding out a standard set of the seven works that are usually packaged together.

Hans Abrahamsen is one of the most important contemporary composers. Numerous productions have already been published by Winter & Winter and have attracted great attention from the public and the press. "Let me tell you" is one of the greatest worldwide successes in contemporary music. With the WDR production "Left, alone" Winter & Winter continues its canon with Hans Abrahamsen. Ten Sinfonias, Left, alone and Two Pieces in Slow Time can be heard on this album. Ten Sinfonias, recorded under the direction of Peter Rundel, Left, alone under Mariano Chiacchiarini with Tamara Stefanovich on piano and Two Pieces in Slow Time with soloists from the WDR Symphony Orchestra, form an exciting and multi-layered album with important key works by Hans Abrahamsen. A production with the WDR Symphony Orchestra.

After the successful release of "Vox Humana", Isang Enders turns his gaze towards the 20th century. Together with WDR Sinfonieorchester he has recorded various work by Hans Werner Henze and puts his work in the foreground on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death. The album includes "Ode an den Westwind", "Englische Liebeslieder", "Introduction, Theme and Variations" and "Trauer-Ode für Martina Geddes." The cellist Isang Enders quickly distinguished himself as a musician with new concepts and a constant search for clues, which he repeatedly proves with his particularly broad repertoire. With his early publication of the cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach, the FAZ describes his "overwhelming technical ability and precocious perception", which led to an "interpretation that can compete with the best".

The music of Johannes Brahms has long been close to Emmanuel Tjeknavorian's heart. Now, with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Cristian Măcelaru, he has recorded Brahms' Violin Concerto and Zwei Gesänge,op. 91 with Anna Lucia Richter and Andreas Haefliger. On this album he not only plays the violin, but also the viola.

Alban Gerhardt writes admiringly of Rostropovich and the legacy of marvellous works he inspired, but on the evidence of these extraordinary accounts of two of them, he need fear no comparisons with his great Russian forebear.