The Hungarian label Hungaroton has just released three new CDs: the much-awaited recording of all five Beethoven piano concertos with Dénes Várjon, a selection of famous violin encores with Kristóf Baráti and a CD entitled "Singing Cello" with István Várdai.

Besides András Schiff  Dénes Várjon is the only Hungarian pianist to have recorded the integral of Beethoven's concertos. He is joined in this ambitious project by Concerto Budapest and András Keller as conductor. The studio recordings followed the concert performance of the works in two nights, a highlight and sensation of the 2014/15 Budapest concert season.

The title of Kristóf Baráti's new CD is "The Soul of Lady Harmsworth" which refers to Baráti's wonderful Stradivari. The repertoire of the CD features works by Tchaikovsky, Paganini, Ernst, Kreisler, Wienawski and Sarasate. His pianist partner is Gábor Farkas.

Most of the works on István Várdai's new CD are related to songs to which the title ("Singing Cello") also refers. Of particular interest are the transcriptions and first recordings of Lieder by Gustav Mahler and Robert Schumann. The more often played cello repertoire is represented here by works of Mendelssohn, Suk, Paganini, Rachmaninov, Kreisler and de Falla. Várdai's pianist partner is Julien Quentin.