Global cello sensation HAUSER brings his artistry and passion to a new selection of classical music’s greatest melodies with the release of his new album Classic II, a follow-up to the worldwide success of 2020’s Classic. For the new album, which arrives Friday, April 19, HAUSER has chosen and realized 18 unforgettable melodies in revelatory new arrangements, which were recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Ziegler. Heralding the album’s arrival today alongside preorder is the release of HAUSER’s deeply felt interpretation of the romantic “Kiss the Rain” by the internationally acclaimed Korean composer and pianist Yiruma – listen here and watch the music video.
Wrapping up 2023 with the release of his first-ever holiday album, HAUSER shows no signs of slowing down in 2024, as he gears up for his first-ever solo U.S. tour this spring. Kicking off on May 31 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, FL, the tour includes stops at iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Tickets for HAUSER‘s 2024 U.S. tour are available now at HAUSERofficial.com/event-directory
“You can’t go wrong giving a beautiful, singing tune to the cello,” HAUSER says of his new album. “There is always a good chance that it will sound even better than the original!”
On Classic II, which he produced himself, HAUSER reunites with his creative collaborators on Classic – arranger Robin Smith, Ziegler and the London Symphony Orchestra. With Smith, he reimagined his favorite melodies in elegant new settings that feature the solo cello, perhaps the most “vocal” of all orchestral instruments. The melodies he chose were written originally for voice, piano, oboe or – in several instances – entire symphony orchestras, from the Baroque era to the present day. The goal was to make these melodies “sing” anew in the cello.
“This is such a pleasure for me,” HAUSER says, calling Classic II and Classic his “dream albums.” “It’s what I actually enjoy the most – when I come back to my roots, to the classical repertoire. When I was a little boy, this was my dream: to play with an amazing orchestra, in a good studio, on a good cello. These melodies are some of my earliest memories, when I fell in love with music. This comes naturally to me.”
Two of the melodies he chose for Classic II had a life-changing significance for HAUSER.
The cellist first heard the luminous “Song of the Moon” from Antonín Dvořák’s opera Rusalka when, as very young cello student in London, HAUSER was chosen to play in an orchestra accompanying soprano Renée Fleming in the aria for a Buckingham Palace performance for Prince Charles. The music itself so galvanized HAUSER that he transcribed it for himself – “a pivotal moment in my life,” he says, that opened up his awareness of how the cello could “sing.”
Years later, before HAUSER launched his career as half of 2CELLOS, the soulful Baroque elegance of the Albinoni “Adagio” inspired him to arrange the piece as a cello solo, to perform in a video he put together. He released it on YouTube, never imagining that it would trend in an epic way – earning some 91 million views. On Classic II, both works have been freshly reimagined to take advantage of HAUSER’s mature artistry and the sumptuous sound of the London Symphony Orchestra.
When HAUSER released Classic in early 2020 – before the COVID pandemic and the onset of global political turbulence – the cellist said of the music, “This is what the world needs.” Of Classic II, he makes the same point, adding, “The world needs this music now – more than ever.”
TRACKLISTING –
- Albinoni Adagio
- Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23
- Arioso
- Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2
- Slavonic Dance
- Emmanuel
- Kiss The Rain
- Serenade
- Song to the Moon (from Rusalka)
- Una Furtiva Lagrima
- Pathétique Sonata
- Intermezzo
- Tristesse
- Adagio d’Amore
- Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
- Postlude No. 3
- Adagietto
- Lullaby
