Classical labels veer toward crowd-pleasers

By Anastasia Tsioulcas

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Popular classical works performed by popular artists: That's the rather risk-averse line that some of classical music's biggest labels are largely toeing this fall as they prepare their core classical release schedules.

Piano projects figure heavily in EMI Classics' upcoming core classical schedule. Evgeny Kissin, who recently changed recording homes from RCA Red Seal/Sony BMG Masterworks to EMI Classics, debuts on the label with a pairing of the Schumann Piano Concerto and the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24, joined by conductor Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (August 28).

On the same day, EMI releases a Leif Ove Andsnes disc that commemorates the September 4 centenary of composer Edvard Grieg's death. The album pairs a new Andsnes recording of the Ballad in G minor, Op. 24, with Andsnes' previously issued reading of the Piano Concerto in A minor and some of the composer's Lyric Pieces.

EMI Classics' distinct trend continues October 2 when the label issues the latest recital by 26-year-old American pianist Jonathan Biss in an all-Beethoven program that includes the Sonatas No. 8, Op. 13 "Pathetique"; No. 15, Op. 18 "Pastorale"; No. 27, Op. 90; and No. 30, Op. 109.

Also on that date, Gabriela Montero's new album, whose title is still to be determined, appears in stores. The disc contains a collection of favorites by Handel, Albinoni and Purcell, among other composers, filtered through Montero's improvisations, as well as improvisations based on Vivaldi's ever-popular "The Four Seasons."

Speaking of that Vivaldi favorite -- and again on the same date -- EMI Classics releases violinist Sarah Chang's reading of the work, performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which is making its EMI debut.

On September 4, Sony Classical artist and longtime chart favorite Joshua Bell (the violinist who garnered quite a bit of mainstream media attention earlier this year by busking during rush hour in a Washington, D.C., metro station) unveils John Corigliano's "Red Violin" concerto. He recorded it with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop.

The concerto is an outgrowth of Corigliano's popular and Academy Award-winning score to the 1998 film "The Red Violin"; Bell, who recorded the violin tracks for the movie, has taken a suite version of the movie's music on wide-ranging tours in the years since.