This recording features rarely performed musical works by three renowned 20th-century Italian composers: Franco Margola, Giorgio Federico Ghedini and Vittorio Rieti. Margola was profoundly influenced by Alfredo Casella, whom he met while still a student of composition. After graduating, Margola began to compose his Piano Trio in A, and on hearing the piece, Casella immediately rated it among the best modern trios, including it in the repertoire of his own piano trio and performing it in Italy and abroad. The composition, in three movements, is characterized by drama and darkness, with moments of great expression but also fleeting, volatile brilliance. Its concision of articulation and form, its ability to consistently maintain a tight and fully logical discourse and its modern but comprehensible harmonic language all conspired to make this composition one of the most appreciated in Margola’s catalogue. In Due Intermezzi (Two Intermezzos), written by Ghedini at the age of 23, the sublime mastery of counterpoint and use of forms that would become the composer’s signature are already evident and accomplished. Each intermezzo has a distinct character: the first, marked “tranquillo” (calm), pervaded by an intimate atmosphere giving in to momentary expressive outbursts; the second tinged with irony and a buoyant spirit. Unlike Margola and Ghedini, who spent their entire professional lives in Italy (both renowned professors and eventually directors of conservatories), the advent of Mussolini’s fascism forced Rieti – who had Jewish roots and whose music was considered deviant by the regime – to emigrate first to Paris and then to the United States. He was a composer particularly admired by the American public and often performed there, despite being almost completely ignored in his native country.

This series marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner, which falls in 2024. It’s dedicated to Bruckner’s symphonies, most of them recorded in new transcriptions for organ by Hansjörg Albrecht. The 7th recording was made on the church organ of Hofkirche in Luzern with the transcription of Bruckner’s 6th Symphony by Eberhard Klotz. The bonus track on this volume is the composition “Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini” for organ by the Italian composer Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini.

Sonatas is an album of great contemporary works for soprano and alto saxophones, with piano accompaniment and solo.

In their debut album, the Sakuntala Trio presents the world premiere recording of Franz Schubert’s String Trio in B-flat major, D.471, in this innovative and compelling completion by Professor Brian Newbould. Of this first trio, only the first movement and the beginning of the slow movement, were penned by Schubert, before he abandoned the work, leaving a gem of a fragment. The album also features the second version of Schubert’s String Trio in B-flat major, D.581, together with a selection of Peter Warlock’s transcriptions of Henry Purcell’s Three-Part Fantasias.

Paganini was the first great ‘star’ of instrumental music, the precursor of the rock stars of today, able to induce collective hysteria as well as to dictate fashion and to influence the behaviour of entire generations. He did this by transforming the violin into an orchestra of multiple voices and timbral experimentation, in other words, stretching the very limits of what a single instrument could do.

This programme is particularly interesting, both for the quality of the performances as well as the new chamber-string versions created by Francesco Fiore and Salvatore Lombardo. It also juxtaposes extremely popular Paganini works alongside compositions not very often heard in the concert hall but which help flesh out our understanding of the artistry of a composer too often misjudged as merely an acrobat of the violin. In four of Paganini’s best-known compositions – the ‘Campanella’ (Bell) movement from the Violin Concerto No.2, the Moses Fantasy, the Witches’ Dance and the Cantabile – the solo violin is here accompanied by a string quintet. In the first three, the string quintet stands in for the orchestra with a consequent lightening of accompaniment. In the Cantabile, the original of which was for violin and piano (Paganini’s only piece to be accompanied by keyboard rather than guitar), the ‘heavier’ quintet accompaniment still manages to retain a discreet sense of enjoyable sophistication.

The next two works, Nos. 6 and 3 of the 6 Sonatas Op.3 for violin and guitar, are presented here in transcriptions for two or three violins. These two sonatas, written in the salon style typical of the age, delight the listener with the conversational nature of the violin writing. Finally come three compositions in their original versions, providing an excursion into a lesser-known, but still very interesting, area of Paganini’s chamber output. The three Duetti concertanti for violin and cello were written for the enjoyment of amateur players, each comprising two movements

This is a wonderful program of works for cello and piano by composers such as Libby Larsen, Samuel Barber, and George Walker.

In the pieces under this title, I sought to convey the complexity of our relation with the Divine. Inner Temple is that sacred place in our soul, heart and mind which contains the most precious spiritual treasures of each of us, a kind of a personal Holy of Holies. The Day of Atonement for all Jews is the most important, somber annual Holiday, a day of reflection, during which we ask Almighty’s forgiveness (and people’s forgiveness) for all our transgressions, mistakes and misdeeds during the past year. The two movements of this composition are filled with ritualistic fervor, with intensity of the searching spirit, and the mystery of connection to the Divine through repentance. At the very end of the 2nd movement, there is a moment of light – a token of forgiveness.

–Alla Elana Cohen

The trio sonata was one of the baroque period’s most popular instrumental forms. While in its ‘classic’ form it features two higher pitched instruments, a melodic bass instrument and basso continuo, there were several others, including a popular variant for one high-pitched instrument, one bass instrument and continuo, chosen by a substantial number of composers in the 17th century and beyond, and resulting in a significant number of compositions.

In this setup, the writing for the melody instrument is more virtuosic than in a ‘conventional’ trio sonata, and it performs more of a solo role, unlike in the trio sonata, where it is more a first among equals. At the same time, the bass instrument is used idiomatically instead of being relegated to a mere basso continuo. This contributed greatly to bolstering its role as a solo instrument, and it was given ever greater prominence as the second half of the 17th century progressed.

From the numerous Italian composers who wrote for this genre, for this album Mvsica Perdvta have selected the two who had the greatest influence on the establishment and development of chamber music: Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643) and Dario Castello (1602–31). The first edition of Frescobaldi’s Canzoni da sonare a uno, due, tre e quattro, published in Rome in 1628 (and later republished in a slightly different version in Venice in 1634) sits chronologically between the two books of Castello’s Sonate concertate in stil moderno, published in Venice in 1621 and 1629 respectively. While Frescobaldi’s canzoni can be considered the culmination of a genre that was already in decline, Castello ushered in a form that, evolving through countless different variants, would for centuries remain the leading chamber music genre. Castello’s style is faithful to the promise of its title: it still sounds very ‘modern’ for its time, especially when – as in this album – it is paired with the oeuvre of Frescobaldi, the epitome of the instrumental canzona.

Completing the CD is a short work by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (Venice, c.1580 – Rome, 1651), the only sonata that the composer known as the ‘Tedesco della tiorba’, or ‘German of the theorbo’, wrote for this ensemble, taken from Il primo libro di Sinfonie a quattro con il basso continuo (Rome 1615).The sonata à tre was one of the most typical instrumental forms of the Baroque era. While in its 'classical' form it calls for two treble instruments combined with a melodic bass instrument and basso continuo, it had several 'variants' in the ensemble, including the one for treble instrument, bass instrument and continuo, which was very popular. In this formation, to which a substantial number of composers (not only of the 17th century) dedicated an important number of compositions, the part of the treble instrument presents a more virtuosic and soloistic writing than that of the 'conventional' trio sonata. At the same time, the bass instrument, not reduced to the sole function of basso continuo, is treated as an equal melodic counterpart.

This new recording presents the two composers who most influenced the birth and development of instrumental 'chamber' music, namely Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) and Dario Castello (1602-1631). Whereas Frescobaldi represents the pinnacle of an older style, the works of Castello look forward and form the basis of the chamber music style of centuries to come. The soloist of this recording is David Brutti, playing the Cornetto, a hybrid instrument with the fingerholes of a woodwind and a brass-type mouthpiece. Renato Criscuolo plays the bass violin, and the organ or harpsichord is played by Nicola Lamon.

Götterdämmerung ('Twilight of the Gods') is the final opera of Wagner’s epic tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ('The Ring of the Nibelung') in which his visionary masterpiece reaches its cataclysmic conclusion. Betrayal and death, murder and remorse, lie at the opera’s heart, in a work that draws together every plot element in writing of blazing intensity. As the ring is restored to the Rhinemaidens, the age of the gods ends, with the opera offering the certainty of destruction but the consolation of renewal. Staged by the award-winning director Stefan Herheim, this innovative new production from Deutsche Oper Berlin features a leading international cast conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. The release includes "Making Of" documentary featuring interviews with Stefan Herheim and Sir Donald Runnicles, and behind the scenes footage.

Enoch Arden is an important work by Richard Strauss that is unfortunately seldom performed. Set to words by Alfred Lord Tennyson, it was originally composed with a German translation of the text. Here, the original Tennyson text is untilized, and wonderfully narrated by Marina Sirtis, who was a star of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as counselor Deanna Troi.

Gottlieb Muffat’s oeuvre, dedicated almost in its entirety to keyboard instruments and skilfully straddling the stile antico and stile moderno, deserves more detailed attention than it has ever been afforded. The majority of sources containing music by Muffat are unpublished, with only two collections published at the composer’s own behest during his years in the Emperor’s service in Vienna. One of these is the Componimenti Musicali per il Cembalo (Augsburg, 1739).

This collection contains 6 Suites and a Ciacona with 38 variations for solo harpsichord. The composer describes these seven works as capricci or galanterie to be performed in the stile moderno and to suit modern tastes. Although arranged in the conventional order of Allemande–Courante–Sarabande–Gigue, Muffat also added various optional dances, displaying no shortage of innovation. The first movements are introductory in nature, often fugal in form and varying in style and pace: Ouverture (Suites 1 and 5), Prelude (Suite 2) and Fantaisie (Suites 3, 4 and 6). The seventh piece in the collection, the Ciacona con 38 Variazioni, is a special case. As Christopher Hogwood suggests in his introduction to the modern edition (Orpheus, 2009), the Ciacona could be another tribute to the imperial family, as the number of variations matches the age Charles VI’s niece, Maria Amalia, would have been on 22 October 1739.

Muffat’s interest in contemporary harpsichord composition is most clearly evident in his transcription and reinterpretation of works by George Frideric Handel, based on a manuscript copy of the Suites des pièces pour le clavecin he held in his library. Muffat reworked the suites in Handel’s collection, suggesting new ornamentation, distributing the notes differently between the hands, changing the clefs and sometimes note values, and adding slurs and cadenzas. He then applied everything he had observed while rewriting Handel’s suites to his own Componimenti musicali: including a table of ornaments, which the composer asks be played with ‘art and discretion’; he considers the positioning of the player’s hands on the keyboard in his writing and avoids using multiple clefs on one line to prevent confusion; he describes the optimum way to use the thumb for accidentals; and he provides the correct technical interpretation of trills and slurs.

Study of the Componimenti reveals what could be defined as a pedagogical intent, as well as a clear desire to make the score unambiguous and accessible by means of his introductory instructions. The collection contributed greatly to setting a new benchmark for keyboard writing in the lands of the Viennese Empire.

Based in the Philadelphia area, James Freeman has a long reputation as a superb pianist and conductor. Here he plays a great program of works by Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, and Debussy.

The Linarol Consort is joined by acclaimed tenor, James Gilchrist, for this, the second volume of viol music composed for the wealthiest and most influential of German merchants of the sixteenth century, Jacob Fugger, who is held to be one of the wealthiest individuals in history. Recorded from a new edition of a manuscript held in the vast collection of the National Library of Austria, this rare recording champions viol consort pieces from some of the greatest German, Flemish and French composers of the time.

Multi-award-winning pianist, recording artist, educator and artistic director, Sophia Agranovich is “a bold, daring pianist in the tradition of the Golden Age Romantics… A tigress of the keyboard” – Fanfare. Her performances are captivating audiences by the “orison of uncommon beauty” – Audiophile, “the ideal balance she achieves between the intellectual and the emotional” – Fanfare, “interpretation that dares to be different”, “magnificent shading and superior musicianship” (American Record Guide). A Steinway Artist, Ms. Agranovich has performed in USA, Europe, Israel, and Canada. Recently she played solo concerts at the Pennautier Festival and Juan-les-Pins in France where she premiered compositions dedicated to her by Françoise Choveaux, and was invited to China and Brazil. Some of her prestigious venues are David Geffen Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium and Paul Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Roerich and Metropolitan museums, Steinway Hall and gal­leries, Bargemusic, Tenri Cultural Institute, Polish Cultural Foundation, Lambert Castle, Watchung Arts Center, Salle Cortot, Théâtre Na Loba, Ehrbarsaal, Gesellschaft für Musiktheater, Kaiser Hall. She also performed at libraries and numerous colleges and universities, such as the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rubin Academy of Music, National Music Academy of Ukraine and Lviv State Conservatory. Ms. Agranovich has collaborated with Mark Peskanov, Shlomo Mintz, Christopher Collins Lee, Andrew Litton, Alexander Mishnaevsky, Andrew Lamy, Brett Deubner, Gregory Singer, Anatole Wieck, Rupam Sarmah, Lili Haydn, Hamid Saeidi, Kathleen Supove, award-winning Emmy, Grammy, and Billboard top ten musical artists, and members of the major orchestras. Sophia Agranovich has released ten solo albums from 2010 through 2022, including seven on Centaur label. Her albums are charting in top 10 across all musical genres on One World Music Radio and on World Top Radio Airplay Charts. Her discography received outstanding reviews and includes ‘Romantic Virtuoso Masterpieces’ (works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Scriabin), ‘Franz Liszt – Bicentennial Tribute’ (‘Un Sospiro’, ‘La Campanella’, Rhapsodie Espagnole, Sonata in b minor); ‘Passion and Fantasy’ (Beethoven: ‘Appassionata’, Chopin: Fantaisie and Sonata in b minor); complete Brahms-Paganini Variations; Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Schumann-Liszt: ‘Widmung’; Schubert: ‘Wanderer’ Fantasie and Chopin: 4 Ballades; Schumann: Carnaval and Fantasie; Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie and Nocturne Op. 48 No.1, Liszt: complete Sonnetti del Petrarca, ‘Dante’ Sonata, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14; Chopin: Sonata in B-flat Minor, 4 Scherzi, Polonaise ‘Héroïque’; ‘In Celebration of 250th Anniversary of Beethoven’ (Fantasie Op. 77, Sonatas ‘Pathétique’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Tempest’): ‘Liszt: Rhapsodies, Études and Transcriptions’ (Hungarian Rhapsodies No. 6 and No. 13, Études d’exécution transcendante ‘Ricordanza’ and ‘Mazeppa’, Schubert/Liszt Ständchen. Erlkönig, Die Forelle). Ms. Agranovich was awarded 3 Gold and 12 Silver Medals from Global Music Awards, Winner of The American Prize in the Piano Solo division, 2 Gold Medals from Prestige Music Awards, Best Classical Solo / Best Classical Album / Hall of Fame from Akademia Music Awards, 4 Best Classical Piano Albums from Clouzine International Music Awards, Best Classical Artist (2) /Best Female Classical Artist/Best Classical Recording (3) /Best Instrumental Recording from Radio Music Awards, Best Classical Recording and Hall of Fame from Indie Music Channel, 4 Platinum awards in Best Classical Pianist/Best Instrumental Artist/Best female Artist/Best Classical Music categories, 3 Gold Awards in Best Female Instrumental Artist, Best Instrumental Music, Best Performance categories and Instrumentalist of the Year from LIT International Talent Awards, Best Classical Album from One World Music Radio, Steinway Top Teacher Award, Best Classical Album – Gold at One Earth Awards, Best Instrumentalist from InterContinental Music Awards, Industry Leader and Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Awards and more. Her albums and live concerts are broadcast worldwide, most recently in Brazil on Universidade FM 106.9 “Company of the Music”, in Canada on CKWR ‘Women in Music’, Berlin, Munich, Rome, New Zealand, London, Tokyo, Osaka, Paris, Tel-Aviv, WMNR Fine Arts Radio, NPR WLPR-FM “Art on the Air”, WQXR Greene Space live with Elliott Forrest, on WWFM “Between the Keys” with Jed Distler, WWFM “Piano Matters” and WQXR “Reflections from the Keyboard” with David Dubal. A native of Ukraine, Sophia Agranovich won the Ukrainian Young Artists Competition–currently Mykola Lysenko International Competition–at ten, being the youngest participant. At thirteen she performed Concerto in E minor by Chopin in Chernivtsi, Lviv and Kyiv. Her concerts were broadcast on national TV and radio stations. Her teachers in Ukraine were professors Anna Stolarevich and Alexander Edelmann, peers of Vladimir Horowitz in the class of Felix Blumenfeld and disciples of Heinrich Neuhaus. At fifteen, Ms. Agranovich entered the Juilliard School in New York City as a student of legendary professor Sascha Gorodnitzki, who himself was a student of Josef Lhevinne (peer of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin). While at Juilliard, she also studied with Nadia Reisenberg, a disciple of the St. Petersburg piano school of Leonid Nikolaev and student of Hofmann and Alexander Lambert – student of Franz Liszt. Ms. Agranovich earned Bachelor and Master Degrees from the Juilliard School, holding full scholarship and a Fellowship teaching Piano Minor at Juilliard. She won First Prize in the Bergen Philharmonic Competition. After graduating Juilliard, Ms. Agranovich began working towards her Doctorate at the Columbia University, but deferred that pursuit to raise a family, which led to her additional 23-year career in Information Technology. Having earned a certification in Computer Science, she worked as a systems analyst for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company where she received the Presidential Quality Award for Computer Systems Design and Support, and later as a senior programmer/analyst/project manager/vice president at Merrill Lynch. Ms. Agranovich also studied naturopathy, traditional Indian medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, receiving certifications in Yoga, Pilates, and other holistic disciplines. She taught Yoga and Pilates at the YMCA branch. Sophia Agranovich is an esteemed pedagogue, lecturer, master class clinician, adjudicator, and is a recipient of numerous teaching awards. Her students often win top prizes in regional, national and international competitions and are playing at prestigious venues and internationally. They had been accepted to Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New York University, Mannes College and other notable universities. Their performances were broadcast on radio and TV, including WWFM “Kids on Keys” and WQXR “Young Artists Showcase”. Ms. Agranovich is an active member of various professional music organizations, listed in “Who’s Who in America” and “Who’s Who in the World”, a voting member of NARAS (GrammysR) and GrammyU mentor, Artistic Director of ‘Classicals at the Circle’ music series at the Watchung Arts Center, Program Chair and Board member of Music Educators Association of New Jersey.

A capacious library of Baroque-era works bears the name of the Italian cellist Alfredo Piatti (1822-1901) as an assiduous and pioneering editor, arranger and promoter of music for his instrument. Much less familiar are Piatti’s own original pieces. This is the first modern recording and the only available collection on record of all six sonatas by a man hailed by Liszt as ‘the Paganini of the cello’. Ever true to his word and generous, Liszt presented Piatti with a replacement instrument after the Italian had been forced to sell his cello, having fallen into reduced circumstances. Piatti played with him in concert, as he did with Joseph Joachim and many other luminaries of mid-19th-century Europe. Of all his own music, Piatti was apparently proudest of the sonatas. They were written over an eleven-year period begun in 1885, during the last part of Piatti’s creative life, long established as a celebrity of musical life in Victorian London. He gave the first performances of each one at the series of Popular Concerts, and to huge acclaim. While many virtuosos have written for their own instruments, the cello sonatas of Piatti stand out for their artistic confidence, their balance of extroversion and well-wrought sensitivity to form.

All the Sonatas embody qualities associated with Piatti, especially in the handling of melody, which is distinctly operatic in its lyricism. The slow movements share the passion that Verdi put into the lead characters of his operas. In terms of construction they are also highly varied, while remaining true to the traditions of cantabile and display which underpin his Italian heritage. Born in 1987 in Piacenza, the cellist Lamberto Curtoni introduces this new recording of Piatti’s sonatas with an invaluable survey of the works within the context of their times and their place in the composer’s career.

The Ebor Singers, with director Paul Gameson, returns to the Resonus Classics label with an album of American Christmas music. The contemporary American Christmas choral tradition is a remarkable confluence of stylistic confluences, sacred and secular, which reflect the country’s cultural vibrancy more so than other times of year. Featuring works from composers including Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, Stephen Paulus, Susan LaBarr, Abbie Betinis, Timothy C. Takach, Jake Runestad, Matthew Culloton, René Clausen, Alfred Burt, Dan Forrest and Melissa Dunphy, the ensemble is joined by harpist Rachel Dent and oboist Jane Wright.

This is an album featuring favorite piano works by Ravel, performed beautifully by Taiwanese-American pianist Stephanie Shih-yu Cheng. She currently is Chair of the Keyboard department at the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.

Flores de musica pera o instrumento de tecla & harpa, is the only known work of Portugese composer Manuel Rodrigues Coelho. Printed in Lisbon in 1620 and boasting more than five hundred pages, Coelho’s Flores de musica is one of the largest music works printed in the seventeenth century. Celebrating the 400th anniversary of its original publication, a new edition in three volumes has been published with the research being used to inform this major new recording series. Organist Sérgio Silva performs on the 1762 Pascoal Caetano Oldovino organ of Elvas Cathedral, where Manuel Rodrigues Coelho started his musical studies and worked as an organist. Silva is joined by soprano Mariana Moldão and mezzo-soprano Maria de Fátima Nunes for the sung versos, which are accompanied on the smaller cabinet organ located near the chancel of the cathedral and built around the same time and by the same organ builder as the main instrument.

In their debut album, early music ensemble Fount & Origin present a musical meditation on the Franco-Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden’s altarpiece image of The Last Judgement at the End of time. This multi-paneled work survives as a monument of fifteenth-century art, relating in vivid detail and color van der Weyden’s dynamic and terrifying account of the world’s final moments. The nine polyphonic settings recorded here were composed in Europe in the mid- to late-fifteenth century and include works by composers such as Johannes Ockeghem, Johannes Regis, Johannes Martini and Antoine Brumel, with each piece thematically tied to an element or figure in the painting.

Laura van der Heijden joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Ryan Wigglesworth for this album of British cello concertos. Frank Bridge's Oration, composed in 1929 - 30 was intended as an outcry against the inhumanity of warfare, and a tribute to the victims of the First World War. It's arch form single continuous movement exhibits the intense chromaticism typical of Bridge's output from this era. Commissioned by the Ukrainian-born cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, Walton's Cello Concerto suffered a number of difficulties with regard to first performances (Piatigorsky suffered a mental breakdown; Walton missed the UK premiere because of a nasty road accident) but it has nevertheless become a staple of the repertoire. It was with this concerto that Laura van der Heijden won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, in 2012. The young British composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and then the University of Cambridge and King's College London, and rapidly established herself as one of the most talented and prolific composers of her generation. Earth, Sea, Air was written for van der Heijden, who gave the work's premiere in Glasgow in 2023, a week before making this recording with the same forces.