HAUSER Releases New Album "Classic II"

By Blessing Harper Apr 19, 2024 04:05 PM EDT

Today, global cello sensation HAUSERreleases his new album CLASSIC II, bringing his artistry and passion to a new selection of classical music's greatest melodies - LISTEN HERE. The follow-up to his worldwide success, Classic (2020), HAUSER chose and realized 18 unforgettable melodies in revelatory new arrangements for CLASSIC II, which were recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Ziegler.

Accompanying the album's arrival, is the release of HAUSER's rendition of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" is a masterful display of emotive cello playing, where every note is infused with profound sentiment. From the tenderly melancholic melodies to the soaring crescendos, HAUSER's interpretation captures the heartache and yearning at the core of Rachmaninoff's composition, delivering a performance that is both captivating and deeply moving with the picturesque music video capturing the mood - listen here and watch the music video.

With a growing fan base exceeding 1 billion audio streams and 4 billion video views globally, HAUSER will continue to WOW audiences with 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 (which is Sold Out!!), 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," HAUSERsays 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 Classichis "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, as HAUSER embarked on his solo career, the soulful Baroque elegance of the Albinoni "Adagio," inspired him to arrange the piece as a cello solo for a concert in 2017 at Lisinski Concert Hall in Croatia with the Zagreb Philharmonic. His emotive performance was captured live, and the video has amassed an epic 95 million views to date. 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."

HAUSER - CLASSIC II TRACKLISTING -