Almost twenty years after his death it is still difficult to properly evaluate the work of Russian composer Alexander Lokshin (1920-1987). His uncompromising stance led to numerous conflicts with the Soviet regime, resulting in him being banned from the Moscow Conservatory twice - first as a student and later as a teacher. Many of his works were suppressed either before or immediately after their first performances, and most of his eleven symphonies, symphonic poems and chamber music remained confined to his desk drawer, and are only now gradually coming to light. One reason for the almost systematic persecution was the fact that Lokshin often included vocal parts in his orchestral works. In several cases it was the text rather than the music which caused the work to be banned. One such instance is Symphony No. 9, where the poems by Leonid Martynov, in turns harrowing and sarcastic, form a veiled indictment of the Soviet system. At the première in 1976 baritone Yuri Grigoriev was choked by emotion. 'I didn't know if I was going to be arrested the following day', he later admitted. He wasn't - but the symphony was blacklisted. (Reportedly, Dmitri Shostakovich, who was present at the première, acquired the score and avidly studied the work, which he greatly admired.) This is the second disc of Lokshin's music on BIS, the first being BIS-CD-1156, with the composer's only purely instrumental symphony (No. 4, 'Sinfonia Stretta') and his Three Scenes from Goethe's Faust. Two of the present performers, conductor Michel Swierczewski and soprano Vanda Tabery, also participated on that disc, which received praise both for the performances ('outstandingly vibrant') and for the music, which one reviewer described as 'challenging late romantic modernism'. These two are joined by baritone Jeffrey Black and 'recreation - GROSSES ORCHESTER GRAZ', both of whom are appearing on BIS for the first time.

Since the 1960s, the Swedish Radio Choir has been recognized as a - not to say the - world-leading a cappella choir. Made up of 33 professional singers, the choir has been engaged by some of today's leading conductors, such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti and Esa-Pekka Salonen, for concerts, tours and recordings. This success story began in 1952 when the legendary choir conductor Eric Ericson became principal conductor of the choir. When the Estonian conductor Tõnu Kaljuste became the choir's first non-Swedish principal conductor, he introduced the choir to new repertoire in a particularly exciting collaboration. It is the fruits of this we can enjoy on the present disc: three works on sacred themes by Kaljuste's compatriot Arvo Pärt (of which one, Dopo la vittoria, was dedicated to Kaljuste and the Swedish Radio Choir) and Alfred Schnittke's short Voices of Nature and monumental Concerto for Choir. Using texts by the 10th century Armenian mystic Gregory of Narek - in a Russian translation - the 40-minute long Concerto has become a classic in the modern repertoire for choir. In several ways the work invokes the music of the Russian Orthodox Church, and in fact, Schnittke was reluctant to publish the work outside of Russia, as he feared that non-Russian performances would lack religious intensity. But as anyone will know who has listened to the Swedish Radio Choir's previous BIS release (BIS-CD-1048), such fears would be groundless in the circumstances. The choir's interpretation of Bengt Hambræus's Apocalipsis was described as 'breathtakingly exciting' by the critics - and their performance of the music of Schnittke and Pärt will surely make as big an impact. It is with great pride that BIS resumes the collaboration with the Swedish Radio Choir - with a recording of the Requiems by Duruflé and Fauré to look forward to!.

The ‘model Jewish settlement’ Theresienstadt concentration camp has become a symbol of the immense cynicism that the Nazi regime was capable of. At the same time, the composers and artists incarcerated there have come to be regarded as shining examples of how art can transcend all. Although the release of this two-CD set of Ullmann’s piano music coincides with the 70th anniversary of the composer’s death, it is thus rather intended as a celebration of his life and work as a composer.

As individual musicians, Katarina and Svante Henryson have carved out quite extraordinary careers: Katarina touring internationally as a member of the highly successful Swedish vocal ensemble The Real Group, and Svante appearing in the most varied collaborations – on the cello, double bass and electric bass, and as performer, arranger and composer – with musicians as diverse as Elvis Costello, Anne Sofie von Otter, Chico Freeman and Martin Fröst. The duo they form together, on the other hand, has been a more private affair, performing for their relatives at christenings and weddings, at birthdays and funerals. One reason for this has been the fact that they don’t only share a surname, but also two children, and when one of them toured professionally the other would have to be at home. Their duo repertoire has grown from zero to CD at the same pace as their children – and now the time has come to ‘go public’. Representing their own broad musical tastes, the repertoire is as varied as it gets: it is truly ‘High, Low or In Between’, with pop songs by Elton John and George Harrison rubbing shoulders with Prince’s funk hit Kiss, Bill Evans’s jazz classic Waltz for Debby and Tom Jobim’s bossa nova Chega de Saudade. These last two Katarina performs in the versions made immortal by the Swedish jazz singer Monica Zetterlund, while a third song to a Swedish text, Det växer från Edens tider, also displays its Swedish origins proudly through its folk-like idiom. A handful of tracks consist of original material by the performers themselves – Eyes of a Child they wrote together after the birth of their son – including three cello improvisations and Svante’s instrumental piece Green. In these, Svante’s cello – and his very special treatment of it – steals the spotlight, but in fact it plays such a major role throughout the programme that it becomes a third, equal partner of the duo!

The Swedish string ensemble Camerata Nordica and its artistic director Terje Tønnesen made their first joint appearance on BIS in 2013 with a critically acclaimed all-Britten program, released in conjunction with the ensemble’s BBC Proms début. The team now returns with another program of 20th c. music for strings – this time by four different composer: Bartók, Webern, Prokofiev and Hindemith, spanning the years from before WWI to a few days before the outbreak of WWII. These musicians are completely attuned to each other's dynamics, attack, phrasing, and blend.’ - Fanfare

We are proud to present a disc which will surely make its mark - the first CD of the young and extremely promising pianist Yevgeny Sudbin. For this occasion Mr Sudbin has chosen to record a selection of keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. These sonatas were compared by poet Gabriele d'Annunzio to 'a necklace which breaks, producing a resounding hail of glistening pearls.' Brought to the attention of a wider audience by Sudbin's great compatriot Vladimir Horowitz, the collection of 555 sonatas contains a wide variety of moods and colours which Yevgeny Sudbin in his carefully selected programme succeeds in bringing out - while at the same time proving his own versatility as a musician. In his liner notes, Sudbin himself likens the sonatas to 'an assortment of diverse characters at a masquerade'. Perhaps this is a result of the spirit in which they were written: in an introduction to the sonatas, Scarlatti asked the public not to 'expect any profound Learning, but rather an ingenious Jesting with Art.' Besides his more scholarly preparations, Yevgeny Sudbin certainly entered into this spirit when experimenting with his own kitten in order to find out if the theme of the famous Cat Fugue could actually have been produced by Scarlatti's cat walking on the keyboard. (This is one popular myth that Mr. Sudbin does not ascribe to!) Described by a reviewer in The Independent as 'a pianist of uncommon sensitivity and refinement' with a 'total confidence in his imaginative concept of each piece', Yevgeny Sudbin at the age of 24 is on the threshold of what promises to become a most successful career and this disc, filled with glistening pearls, ingenious jests and beautiful masks, is the proof.