Viol consort Fretwork and mezzo soprano Helen Charlston explore the more reflective and sombre Christmas celebrations of Elizabethan England, in a collection of works by William Byrd, Anthony Holborne, Orlando Gibbons and Martin Peerson. With celebrations confined strictly to the 12 days from Christmas Eve to Epiphany, the preceding Advent was regarded as a time of religious introspection, with music composed to mark both fasting and feasting. Byrd’s consort songs for voice and 5 viols encompass this range, from the joyous Out of the Orient Crystal Skies – ending with an exuberant ‘Falantidingdido’, a word whose meaning is lost to history – to his Lullaby, a ‘song of sadnes and pietie’ that became one of Byrd’s most enduringly famous songs.

In 2021, Fretwork celebrates its 35th anniversary. In the past three and a half decades they have explored the core repertory of great English consort music, from Taverner to Purcell, and made classic recordings against which others are judged. In addition to this, Fretwork have become known as pioneers of contemporary music for viols, having commissioned over 40 new works. Acclaimed for her musical interpretation, presence and “warmly distinctive tone” (The Telegraph), Helen Charlston is quickly cementing herself as a key performer in the next generation of British singers. Helen won first prize in the 2018 Handel Singing Competition and was a finalist in the Hurn Court Opera Competition, and the Grange Festival International Singing Competition.

Granville Bantock was born into a wealthy family (his father was a highly respected gynaecologist) in central London in 1868. Poor health scuppered his parents plans for a career in the Indian Civil service, and eventually Bantock gravitated to music, studying at both Trinity College and at the Royal Academy of Music. Early conducting engagements took him around the world with a musical comedy troupe, before he was appointed as conductor of the New Brighton Tower concerts in Cheshire. He very quickly expanded the scope of the orchestra, and stage concerts featuring works by Joseph Holbrooke, Frederic Hymen Cowen, Charles Steggall, Edward German, Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford, Corder and others, frequently devoting whole concerts to a single composer. Edward Elgar commented that Bantock had 'the most fertile musical brain of our time', On Elgar's recommendation, he became the first Principal of the new Midland Institute School of Music, in Birmingham, and within seven years had succeeded Elgar as Peyton Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham, a post he held until 1934. His unique musical style combines the romanticism of Wagner with influences of English and Scottish Folk Music, as well as the exoticism of eastern music. He had many champions of his work, including Sibelius, who became the first president of the Bantock society formed after the composer's death in 1946.

Francisco Coll is one of the leading composers in today musical landscape. The only pupil of Thomas Ades, his music has been already performed by most important orchestras and such soloists as Kirill Gerstein and Patricia Kopatchinskaja. This portrait includes works composed along fourteen years, from 2009 to 2023. His brittle, explosive style is indebted to the surreal atmosphere and wild humour of Spanish modernism and further enriched by Spanish folk influences.

Mieczyslaw Karlowicz's six symphonic poems feature gobs of Straussian sonority in loosely organized forms, and while Antoni Wit's performances are actually a touch slower than the competition on Chandos, the playing of the Warsaw Philharmonic is so much more atmospheric, richly textured, and knowing than that of the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda that the music is transformed. In classic Romantic fashion, the programmatic basis of all of this music is darkly tragic (for example, Stanislaw and Anna have an incestuous love affair and the story naturally ends in death). Wit clearly understands the idiom and milks the music for all it's worth. Thus, the celebratory sequences in Episode at a Masquerade have an extra degree of feverish brilliance, and the repetitious opening of Lithuanian Rhapsody is spellbinding rather than merely monotonous--in short, these forces make the best possible case for Karlowicz.

This is a young man's music--he was only in his early 30s when he died in 1909--full of self-indulgent excess; but it's also brimming with promising talent. This sumptuously engineered production reminds us of just what a loss his early death represented for 20th-century Polish music, while allowing us to savor his all too meager legacy.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

For more than 50 years, Sir Simon Rattle, Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, has devoted himself intensely to the deeply personal, emotional, and autobiographical music of Gustav Mahler. Mahler conceived his symphonies as all-encompassing universes that reflect the full spectrum of human life. He famously said: “To me, a symphony means using every available technical resource to build a world.” To guide both orchestra and audience through these profoundly moving musical worlds, no conductor is better equipped than Sir Simon Rattle. Mahler's “Resurrection Symphony” explores one of humanity's most profound existential questions: the meaning of life. From the opening movement, originally titled “Totenfeier” (“Funeral Rite”), to the finale, in which the soloists and chorus proclaim “Aufersteh’n wirst du!“ (“You shall rise again!”), Mahler grapples with joy and suffering. The Second Symphony’s dramatic contrasts, emotional intensity, richly coloured orchestration, and crowning choral finale have made it one of his most beloved works. Now released on CD by BR-Klassik, the Munich performance of the symphony from March 2026 brings together a stellar cast in a superb interpretation of one of the defining masterpieces of the Late Romantic symphonic repertoire. Gustav Mahler wanted his Second Symphony to exceed any known format - and he also wanted it to tackle the key questions of existence: "Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? Is everything just one enormous, terrible joke? We have to solve these questions in some way if we want to carry on living," said the composer. Similar questions preoccupied him throughout his life, and with a special intensity during his time as an opera conductor in Hamburg. The Second Symphony, also referred to as the "Resurrection Symphony", is a complete expression of Mahler’s existential struggle; both its form and its overpowering sound make this utterly clear. The symphony took several years to compose – it was written between 1888 and 1894. In September 1888, the first movement – which at this point still bore the title "Totenfeier” (“Funeral Rite”) – was already complete. The second and third movements were not written until 1893 and Mahler only completed the entire work in 1894. Like most of Mahler’s symphonies, the work follows a "Per aspera ad astra" pattern (“through difficulties to the stars”). Starting with a funeral march in the main theme of the opening movement - the passing of a life full of vigour, pain, blows of fate, and only a few brief and beautiful moments - the symphony concludes with a triumphant resurrection movement. The premiere of the complete symphony took place on December 13, 1895 in Berlin under Mahler's direction; previously (on March 4 of that year) he had already performed the first three movements. The premiere of the Second Symphony thus took place after that of the Third. The reactions were initially subdued, but today the work ranks as one of the most popular of Mahler’s symphonies. - The Munich concert event of May 2011 is now being released on BR-KLASSIK as a CD – it is a star-studded, outstanding interpretation of one of the most important compositions in the Late Romantic symphonic repertoire.

With a spectacular cast and the staging direction of Stefano Poda, this production of Verdi's Nabucco presents the Arena di Verona in a postmodern aesthetic brought to light through a futuristic vision, cosmic symbolism and absolute abstraction. Anna Netrebko gifts the festival's audience with a powerful interpretation of one of Verdi's most demanding roles: her Abigaille is 'beautiful, vivacious, magnetic' (La Stampa) and 'tackles this formidable challenge with great confidence' (Rivista Musica). Amartuvshin Enkhbat is 'a marvellous performer of Nabucco, deeply moving' (Forum Opera). 'Pinchas Steinberg conducts the choir and orchestra of the Arena di Verona with verve, power, brio and fire' (Der Merker), a magnificent performance that culminated in a rendition of 'Va' pensiero' brimming with pathos and intensity.

With it's wonderfully poetic and sensual score, 'Rusalka' is Antonin Dvorak's most beloved opera, filled with musical effects that evoke the beauty and magic of a world inhabited by nymphs and water sprites. Jaroslav Kvapil's libretto is based on a famously tragic children's fairy tale, but in this acclaimed reinvention by directors Philipp Stolzl and Philipp M. Krenn Rusalka is depicted as a young woman from the dark fringes of society. She trades her power of speech to live in Hollywood at the side of a handsome movie star but is doomed to remain an outsider and a lost soul.

World Premiere Recording. Cappella Records proudly announces the release of Ukrainian War Requiem by multiple Grammy®-nominated composer Benedict Sheehan, performed by Axios Men's Ensemble and the tenors and basses of Pro Coro Canada, Edmonton, Canada, directed by Michael Zaugg. The recording was released at the three-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022). Benedict Sheehan's Ukrainian War Requiem is a powerful tribute to Ukraine's enduring spirit, honoring lives lost in war through music. Rooted in the tradition of the panakhyda (a memorial service for the dead), it blends ancient Ukrainian prayers, Latin texts, and Jewish melodies, symbolizing Ukraine's complex past, present, and future. Performed by the Axios Men's Ensemble and the tenors and basses of Pro Coro Canada under Michael Zaugg, this work commemorates the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, democracy, and faith. The Ukrainian War Requiem stands as a vigil for the fallen and a celebration of Ukraine's resilient heritage.

This volume explores the more intimate side of Eugene Zador's compositions, where his heartfelt creativity is at it's most personal. The Ode to Peace was written for the 17th anniversary of the United Nations and was premiered at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. The beauties of nature fail to compensate for lost love in his nostalgic song cycle From the Lonely Wayfarer, and in the Four Selected Songs grief, as well as love, is a constant companion. Both the Suite for Woodwind Quintet and the Brass Quintet show his mastery of characterisation and zesty rhythms.