Sonatas 2 & 6 CD

Moscow born and trained pianist Elena Kuschnerova, currently living in Germany, is the last discovery of Harold Schonberg (1915-2003), the former chief critic of the New York Times, and the only performing artist affiliated with great and controversial Russian composer Alexander Lazarevich Lokshin (1920-1987). She seems to be the only musician having its own Internet radio that hosts her entire output.

) Founded in 2000 and based in the Washington, D.C., area, the group is built around a core instrumentation of violin and basso continuo, but frequently collaborates with guest artists in order to allow a greater variety of repertoire. Additional information is available at ensemblegaudior .

Alexandra MacCracken, the founder and director of Ensemble Gaudior, has performed as a baroque violinist with the Washington Bach Consort, Opera Lafayette, and Modern Musick, as well as with other period-instrument ensembles in Richmond, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York. Before moving to the Washington area she taught at the University of Virginia, where she also played in the Piedmont Chamber Players, a faculty ensemble. Other highlights of her extensive experience as a chamber musician include membership in the Squareknot Quartet, whose repertoire ranged from the classics to innovative arrangements in popular, folk, and jazz styles; and more recently in the baroque groups La Stravaganza and Harmonia Nova. The holder of both bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Ms. MacCracken currently freelances on modern as well as baroque violin and in addition occasionally finds time to play Renaissance consort music on the treble viol. Her chief end in presenting the concerts at which these recordings were made can be summed up in J. S. Bach's motto "Soli Deo Gloria": to celebrate, glorify, and enjoy God forever, who included music among all the gifts of creation.