Reaching the highest level of prominence as both pianist and conductor, Mikhail Pletnev is a major figure on the contemporary Russian musical scene. He is also a prolific composer and a competent amateur violinist. Pletnev was born on April 14, 1957, in Archangelsk in the far north of what was then the Soviet Union. His family was musical; his father played and taught the bayan button accordion, and his mother was a pianist. When the family moved to Kazan in Russia's Tatarstan region, Pletnev began piano studies with Julia Shaskin. He moved to Moscow at 13 to study at the Moscow Central Music School with Evgeny Timakin, and a Grand Prix at the Jeunesses Musicales International in 1945 proved to be the first in a long series of prizes for the young pianist. At 15, Pletnev moved to the Moscow Conservatory for studies with Yakov Flier, whose teaching propelled him to gold medals in two of the Soviet Union's toughest events, the All-Union Competition in 1977 and the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1978.

En la ciudad de Nueva York, un enorme monstruo es destruido por un tren del metro… y su compañero reptiliano superviviente puede hablar. En Colombia, un científico se arrastra desde las profundidades de la Tierra, trayendo noticias de una nueva y milagrosa fuente de energía mineral…

Born in Moravia in 1759, Franz Krommer was trained as a violinist and organist. Relatively late in his carrier, in 1975, he settled in Vienna as a violin teacher, but he quickly earned a reputation as a composer, which is evident by the large number of his works published at the time.

Nada parece poder detener la ascensión de la joven Ptolomelle, la cantante más destacada de Caries-del-Cielo. No, nada. Excepto el Gremio de Ladrones, que la chantajea desde su infancia. Excepto ese guardia entrometido que la sigue a todas partes después de una noche de borrachera. Excepto su hermana, brillante pero sin emociones. Expepto el Danthrakon, un poderoso grimorio que parece haberse enamorado de su voz. ¿Los poderes del libro mágico son una bendición para Ptolomelle?

Glazunov’s ballet Les Ruses d’amour (also known as The Trial of Damis), is a charming choreographic realization of the French rococo, with a strong element of pastiche. Although the music is thoroughly Russian in its orchestral colouring and language, Glazunov makes imaginative use of earlier French dance melodies, and the score was praised by his former teacher Rimsky-Korsakov for its ‘unusual mastery of writing and extremely pictorial beauty’. The scenario concerns a duchess’s daughter, Isabella, who tests the Marquis Damis’s love by disguising herself as a maid servant.