Le Testament de la Tante Caroline (‘Aunt Caroline’s Will’) remains one of Roussel’s least-known works. It’s an energetic and imaginative operetta that sits perfectly in the lineage of French musical comedy, with a plot that concerns the conditions attached to the mischievous aunt’s will. The text is inimitably Parisian and Roussel responded with graceful and elegant writing that for some contemporary critics evoked the music of one his orchestral masterpieces, Le Festin de l’araignée. The operetta is heard herein the revision requested by Roussel’s widow which cuts three acts down to one.

Marko Nikodijevic presents himself on this portrait with three large orchestral works interpreted by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) and the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt. The pieces look back to the past in different ways: sometimes they tie up with musical or cultural traditions, sometimes with personal memories. Like most of the composer's works “ABSOLUTIO“ unfolds from a simple but strict formal principle, in this case a three-note chord. Later, a spiral-like, whirling construction of ever-increasing gravitational pull arises, with the remote outlines of a ‘sonata form’. "abgesang", in turn, has very personal references to the composer's past. The work sets to music a symmetrically constructed poem by his former piano teacher Mátyás Molcer, which describes an autumnal cemetery landscape. It was written in 1995 when the composer's homeland, the former Yugoslavia, was in civil war. In "da ispravitsja / gebetsraum mit nachtwache" the composer goes back even further in his memories and deals with the cultural heritage of his homeland, with the music and liturgy of the Serbian Orthodox church. Using his characteristic, electronically inspired means such as reverberation, resonance and echo, he creates a dark, church-like acoustic space in this work.

New recordings of Goethe and Heine settings by a master Russian song-writer, by performers thoroughly versed in the composer’s complex harmony and heritage. While Nikolai Medtner only emigrated from Moscow to Berlin in 1921, eventually settling in London, the Russian composer traced a deep connection to German culture through the ancestry of his mother. He was familiar with the German language and culture from his childhood, and made his first visit to Berlin in the winter of 1904-5, then returned for most of 1907 and the summer of 1909. It can be no coincidence that these original-language settings of two of Germany’s greatest poets date from this period in Medtner’s life. In his mid-20s at this point, Medtner had become internationally known as a pianist of formidable technical and interpretative gifts, but he continued to compose and to teach, taking up a post at the Moscow Conservatoire in 1909. While Medtner’s pianism often lends the quicker songs a scintillating brilliance, such as the Elfenliedchen which is third in the Opus 6 collection of Goethe’s songs, the overall mood of the collection is imbued with the feelings of love and longing which are key-signatures of Romanticism (German or Russian). Medtner was always drawn towards musical contemplation of life’s deeper themes, and he accordingly sets both poets at their most philosophical and visionary, in the Wandrers Nachtlied of Goethe and the Bergstimme of Heine.

On this album, recorded in 2022, Ekaterina Levental and Frank Peters couple the Opp 6, 15 and 18 settings of Goethe with the three Op 12 settings of Heine: a unique but natural pairing on record. The booklet includes both original texts and English translations.

The fact that Genoël von Lilienstern's childhood falls in the 1980s is proven by his portrait album in many ways: On the one hand, it is synthesizers such as the Yamaha DX7 that shape the aesthetics and sound of his works; on the other hand, the radio, as the supplier for countless mixtapes at the time, is the focus, sometimes directly, sometimes more hiddenly. Booklet author Julian Kämper refers to their special quality when he describes von Lilienstern's recourse to pop cultural artifacts and practices of the Eighties: "Thanks to the new studio facilities of that decade, a distinctive sound was newly defined and perfected, a sound which, von Lilienstern maintains, has ‘never mouldered away’ and has remained all-pervasive to the present day through ceaseless daily bombardment on radio and television, in department stores and on the internet."

In “Voz Comercial”, for example, the Berlin composer uses transcriptions of radio commercials from Mexico and Peru; in “Big Picture”, in turn, a one-hour recording of worldwide Internet radio stations serves as the source material. In both works, the vocals of Johanna Vargas respectively Soetkin Elbers, take on a central role and, in their interplay with the Ensemble Garage, evoke an image that oscillates between excessive consumer society and acoustic reflection. In the two other pieces on the portrait album – “Couture” and “Top” - synthesizers dominate: von Lilienstern uses them as sound generators of a bygone era. In the case of Couture, they mix with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, so that the individual musical sources are sometimes no longer discernible.

Considered one of the most influential composers inspired by the natural world, Edward Cowie's collaboration with the exceptional Kreutzer String Quartet spans nearly a decade. This partnership has resulted in the recording of Cowie's first six quartets, as well as remarkable solo and duo works showcasing the quartet's unparalleled skill. Now, Cowie presents his seventh string quartet, "Western Australia," specially crafted for the Kreutzer Quartet, accompanied by four solo portrait pieces dedicated to each member. From the ethereal heights of Clifton Harrison's viola to the intricate melodies inspired by the habits of owls for Neil Heyde's cello, Cowie's compositions reflect a profound reverence for both the human animal and the natural world.

Delving into the heart of Australia's rugged landscape, Cowie's quartet captures the awe-inspiring vastness and ancient beauty of Western Australia. Each movement paints a vivid picture of the region's diverse landscapes, from the expansive horizons of the first movement to the primal origins depicted in the second, culminating in the mysterious allure of the Pinnacles in the final movement. Through his music, Cowie masterfully evokes the ever-changing landscapes and intricate ecosystems of Western Australia, inviting listeners on a transformative journey through time and space.

Additionally, the recording features four solo portraits, each a testament to the unique talents and personalities of the Kreutzer Quartet members. From Neil Heyde's emotive exploration of owls to Mihailo Trandafilovski's evocative interpretation of evolution, Cowie's compositions showcase the quartet's versatility and virtuosity. With each note, Cowie pays homage to his collaborators, celebrating their friendship and artistic prowess while pushing the boundaries of contemporary chamber music. Experience the extraordinary fusion of nature and music in Cowie's latest masterpiece, a testament to the enduring power of creative collaboration and the boundless wonders of the natural world.

The Kreutzer Quartet has established itself as one of the most sought-after string quartets in the UK. They appear regularly at the major London venues and have made many live and studio recordings for the BBC, and major networks all over Europe. They have taken their extremely eclectic programmes to Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Serbia, Montenegro, Sardinia, the US, Spain, Cyprus, Poland, and Lithuania. Recent critical and publicly acclaimed performances have been at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, de Doelen, Rotterdam, Quartet 2000, Manchester International, and the Vilnius Philharmonic Festival.

Max Richter's The Recomposed Four Seasons has become an iconic piece. Richter discarded about three quarters of Vivaldi's original and substituted his own music. The new version sounds a little hipper, lighter on its feet in places, darker and more cinematic in others. Artfully, but faithfully, Richter rearranges the notes on the page, revealing anew the radiant melodies and lush timbres of the music. This new recording enjoys the flamboyant fantasy and the technical prowess of Daniel Rowland as solo violin.

PTR1124

This album brings together three works for cello and piano. The first of them, Gabriel Fauré’s Cello Sonata No. 1, is a cornerstone of the repertoire for this medium. It was composed in 1917 and premièred by cellist Gérard Hekking and pianist Alfred Cortot.

The second, Gordon Crosse’s Wavesongs, is a modern masterpiece and written for this present recording’s cellist Alexander Baillie in 1983. The work ranks among Crosse’s most personal inspirations, as well as being an impressive composition in its own right. The third is a transcription of an early, appealing work by Maurice Ravel. Written in April 1897, and sometimes referred to as Sonate posthume, Ravel’s [First] Violin Sonata is among his earliest extant works.

In the course of their research for the five-part recording production "Beethoven's World 1799-1851" (2020), the casalQuartett came across not only Carl Czerny, one of Beethoven's two pupils, represented by his 28th String Quartet in A flat major, but also the Viennese composer Anton Eberl (1765-1807), who was Mozart's friend and pupil. As an outstanding pianist and composer, he achieved great popularity and, after returning to Vienna from St. Petersburg, had even more prominent supporters than Beethoven. His life ended unexpectedly at the zenith of his success in 1807. His music, as can be seen in the excellent recordings of the symphonies by Concerto Köln and the piano sonatas by Luca Quintavalle, is often surprisingly modern for its time. Like Mozart's late works and those of the new Beethoven, they augur the revolutionary dawn of Romanticism. The casalQuartett has received numerous awards, including the ECHO KLASSIK 2010, 2015, 2017, the Pizzicato Award Luxembourg, the DIAPASON Decouverte, the DIAPASON d'Or, the German Record Critics' Award and has been nominated three times for the ICMA Award and the American Grammy.

One of the key German composers before Bach with over 500 surviving individual pieces, Heinrich Schütz mainly composed church music. Credited with bringing the Italian style to Germany, he continued its evolution from the Renaissance into the early Baroque. Despite living most of his long life in Germany, Schütz made two trips to Venice in his twenties. The first was between 1609 and 1613, during which he studied under Giovanni Gabrieli. The second trip occurred in the late 1620s, possibly to meet and study under Monteverdi. These visits significantly influenced Schütz’s music as he blended the ornate and theatrical Venetian style with the more subdued Lutheran tradition. This album explores his solo cantatas alongside examples of the brilliant and virtuosic Venetian-style instrumental music.

Klaus Mertens had long been wanting to record the ‘Geistliche Lieder’ by Johann Sebastian Bach from Schemelli’s Musicalisches Gesangbuch (1736). Ton Koopman had been looking for the right program to showcase the beautiful Teschemacher chamber organ in Oosterland and realised it would actually be an ideal match with the program his friend Klaus Mertens had in mind. So in early 2023 Mertens and Koopman spent some (rather cold but) inspired days in Oosterland to record this selection of 24 songs, interspersed with six organ works.

In her New York orchestral debut with conductor Philippe Entremont, Anna Petrova was praised for her "ultra-smooth playing style" [New York Fine Arts Examiner]. She is an assistant professor of piano at the University of Louisville, KY, holds a PhD in musicology from the Manhattan School of Music, and performs frequently as a soloist and chamber musician. The album presents the music of four composers: Sergey Rachmaninoff, Sergey Prokofiev, Alexander Scriabin, and Pancho Vladigerov. Three Russians and one Bulgarian, the music of whom spans a total of 50 years, from 1892 to 1942. “The heart is an ancestral metaphor… For example, it has been sometimes thought as the secret seat of courage or of intelligence; or as a hiding place for emotions; or as a breakable, fragile and precious object that we treasure; as a place from which sincere feelings emanate; as the locus of romantic desire; as the deep, summarizing content of a person… Also, in many languages, the word "heart" comes from either the Latin root cor/cordis, or from the Greek root kardia. That is, Spanish (corazon), French (coeur), and Italian (cuore), to give an example, take the Latin root, while German (Herz) and English (heart) take the Greek one (kardia). But what is most important for my present purposes here, and what these two roots share amongst each other, is their connection to the Indo-European root kr, which has the original sense of "vibrating." Indeed, the two consonants sound like that when pronounced together, like a gentle vibration. Krrr.... In this very sense, too, a heart is a vibrating object, a vibrating, secret, treasured place - just like I wanted the piano and my playing of it to be in this album - a dear object that secretly vibrates with the sounds of my music.” (Anna Petrova)

Gity Razaz was born in Tehran, where she spent her formative years before moving to the United States in 2002. Razaz’s identity as an immigrant is integral to her artistic work, in terms both of the subject matter that attracts her and the musical structures she employs. The relationship between the grounded and the ephemeral inhabits much of her music: her choice of titles reveals a poetic sensibility, but her music is never purely cerebral. Instead it is often anchored by the visceral, as with the punchy rhythms and earthy colours of The Strange Highway for cello octet. That piece, which has given name to the album, takes its inspiration from a poem by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. Two other works on the disc also have extra-musical roots: Legend of Sigh is a retelling in music of an Azerbaijani folktale while Metamorphosis of Narcissus was inspired by the famous painting by Salvador Dalí. In both these works Razaz embraces electro-acoustic techniques as a means of enhancing her palette.

The five works on the disc were composed between 2007 and 2020, with the earliest piece being Duo for violin and piano. The latest work is Spellbound, a solo for viola inspired by the mournful sound quality of Persian instruments such as the ney and kamanche.

Cellist Nicholas Canellakis and pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown curate an eclectic playlist that is close to their hearts. Anchored by five Romances, the album features rarely heard gems alongside their own compositions and arrangements. Ranging from soulful to virtuosic to just plain fun, Romance celebrates 15 years of being affectionate, brutally honest, and creatively connected best friends and artistic collaborators.

Famous from an early age as a child prodigy, Philippa Duke Schuyler (1931-1967) had written numerous compositions and toured on five continents by the time she was twenty-three. She travelled extensively in Africa, often studying the local music traditions. Aspects of this potentially appear in The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The work was influenced by T.E. Lawrence’s similarly-titled memoir. Dr. Masterson received a B.A. in physics and a Performer’s Certificate from DePauw University, and a M.M. and D.M.A. in piano performance from the University of Connecticut. Her recent research involves the work of twentieth-century American women composers, and her doctoral research focused on the use of sonata form in mid-twentieth-century American piano sonatas.

Cut or Uncut?

Anton Bruckner would have been 200 years old in 2024. Instead of using flowery but ultimately helpless advertising slogans to promote the 100th release for the Bruckner Year, we are trying to encourage people to think about production processes in classical music with a special release. What is a recording actually about?

Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony twice in full length, each time on one CD. A live recording (uncut) and a studio production (cut) under identical conditions. Compare them! And don't allow your judgement to be swayed by different recording circumstances!

This comparison would not have been possible without András Keller and Concerto Budapest. András Keller follows an unbroken European tradition that stretches way back into the last century, perhaps even as far back as Anton Bruckner himself. And the monumental arches and climaxes in Anton Bruckner's music are perfect for every listener to ask themselves: What do I want from a recording? What moves me more, live or produced, cut or uncut?

Pietro Castrucci (1679-1752) was a student of Arcangelo Corelli. Moving to London in 1715 he became concertmaster of the newly-founded Royal Academy of Music opera house. He went on to be one of the first beneficiaries of the Royal Society of Musicians, and became a trendsetting composer. The works featured on this release are among his finest. These are wonderful, historically informed performances. The works on this release are performed by Gerald Elias, violin; Pamela Palmer-Jones, harpsichord; and Noriko Kishi, cello, this is the first complete recording in history of Castrucci’s inexplicably neglected Opus 1 sonatas, composed in 1718.

Gotterdammerung ('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 it's 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.

John Cage (1912-1992) holds his own special place amidst this stylistic pluralism. Although Cage did not specifically write a trio for horn, violin, and piano, his work Music For (1984) can be easily fleshed out in this instrumental lineup. Music For is a bundle of 17 parts that can be randomly associated with one another. Each possible combination represents an entirely valid version of the piece – ranging from a solo performance to piano duet, string quartet, or ensemble with voice. The version for horn trio is called Music For Three.

Ukrainian guitarist Marko Topchii (b. 1991), winner of the 2023 Guitar Foundation of America Competition, presents a diverse programme of music from across the centuries. Includes the world premiere recording of his countryman Konstantin Bliokh's Sonata No. 6 'Kharkiv'.