November classical releases feature 15-year-old violinist debut and new cello album

Classical listeners will hear nine new album releases on Sunday Classical beginning Nov. 1. Host Mark Pinto presents the program from 3 to 6 p.m. The broadcast features selections from recordings by established veterans and emerging young talent.

Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov releases Mi Historia Americana: Sur. This recording follows his 2024 album My American Story North. The new disc contains solo and concertante works from Latin America and the Caribbean. Trifonov performs alongside Gonzalo Grau and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. The tracklist includes sonatas by Alberto Ginastera and Gabriela Lena Frank. It also features Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 and a suite based on Osvaldo Golijov’s St. Mark Passion.

Fifteen-year-old violinist Himari makes her debut on Decca Classics. Born in Japan, she is the youngest female artist to sign with the label. Her recording includes Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and a Fantasia on Themes from Faust. The album also contains miniatures by Sibelius, Chopin, and Godowsky. Chelsea Wang accompanies her on piano. The Berliner Philharmoniker performs under conductor Sebastian Weigle. Himari has previously played with The Philadelphia Orchestra and won top prizes at international competitions.

Celtic cellist Arlen Hlusko releases komorebi. The Japanese title describes sunlight filtering through trees. Hlusko, a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute, centers the album on Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5. He weaves movements from that suite with compositions by new American composers. Those new works draw from American bluegrass, Indian ragas, and Argentinian tango.

Vienna’s Radio Symphony Orchestra records three neoclassical works under conductor Simone Menezes. The album pairs Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony No. 1 with Villa-Lobos’ Sinfonietta In Memory of Mozart. It also includes Poulenc’s Sinfonietta. These pieces revisit the Viennese classicism of Mozart and Haydn for the 20th century.

Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta performs Saint-Saens & Lalo: Cello Concertos with Les Siècles. Conductor François-Xavier Roth leads the French period instrument orchestra. The recording presents Saint-Saëns’ First and Second Concertos. It also features Édouard Lalo’s dramatic D minor Concerto.

Mozart and Haydn influenced composers in the early 20th century. Granville Bantock: Orchestral Works features the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Rumon Gamba leads the ensemble through three Bantock pieces. The Hebridean Symphony displays a style mixing Wagnerian romanticism with English and Scottish folk music. The album also includes the Prelude to The Bacchae and the English Scenes suite. Elgar once called Bantock the most fertile musical brain of his time.

Other releases include The Beethoven Connection, Vol. 2 by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. This piano album features works by composers who lived in Beethoven’s shadow. Carl Czerny’s Funeral March on the Death of Ludwig van Beethoven joins sonatas by Hummel, Clementi, and Berger. Beth Taylor and Hamish Brown release The Deeps Have Music, a recital album of sea songs. Taylor performs repertoire in English, French, and German, including Elgar’s Sea Pictures. Laura Lootens releases Shape of My Heart, a guitar album spanning France and the Americas. Jess Gillam’s SHINE covers 900 years of music for saxophone, ranging from Hildegard of Bingen to David Bowie.