Nicholas Isherwood made his début as Lucifer in Stockhausen’s Donnerstag aus Licht at Covent Garden, and has since collaborated closely with composers such as Crumb, Henze, Kurtág and Xenakis. His initial exposure to the music of John Cage left him less than convinced, but after corresponding with Cage he acquired a taste for it – something which soon developed into what he now calls ‘a love affair’. On ARIA, Isherwood presents most of Cage’s music for solo voice that is not included in the composer’s Song Books, and most pieces are here recorded for the first time by a male singer.

In the latest volume of his highly regarded series, Miklós Spányi has assembled a varied programme, showing different aspects of C.P.E. Bach and the context in which he was active. Two sets of variations are included, both of them intended for the rapidly growing market created by the increasing number of skilled amateur players. Such sets would typically be based on a popular song - such as 'Ich schlief, da träumte mir' ('I slept, and then I dreamt'), used by a number of Bach's contemporaries - and were often printed in periodical anthologies of music by different composers. In contrast to these more intimate pieces, the Sonata in E flat major and, even more so, the Sinfonia in F major, are examples of the orchestral style of writing that Bach at times allowed to spill over into his keyboard works. The Sinfonia is indeed an arrangement of his own symphony for orchestra, Wq 181. Two other, short pieces, both dated 1760 are included on the disc, one of which, Allegro in C major, was originally intended for use in a 'Spieluhr' (a musical box or clock) - a genre in which both Bach's father, Johann Sebastian, and Handel had written, and for which the young Beethoven would also compose. For a large number of discs in this series, Spányi has chosen to play on a clavichord - an instrument loved by Bach. Volume 17 is a case in point: selected as an Editor's Choice in Gramophone, the disc was described as 'the answer to clavichord fans' dreams'. For the present programme, however, Spányi has elected to perform on a tangent piano, a variant of the fortepiano with a number of possibilities for adapting the timbre and dynamics. The results are striking especially in the sets of variations, but also in the more 'orchestral' pieces with their rich timbres and dynamic contrasts.

This is the tenth Skalkottas CD produced by Bis since 1997. Very often these have been performed by Greek musicians and recorded by Greek production teams. Half of these discs have been of his chamber music. Each has been recorded and performed to the highest possible standards. The music is incredibly clever, complex, life-enhancing, joyous, shocking and tough by turns...The recording is clear, immediate and close...The performances are magnificent, bringing out all aspects of this emotionally complex music to its fullest extent. Highly recommended -- Gary Higginson, MusicWeb-International

Rondo of the Waves' is the title of the fifty-first volume of the BIS Sibelius recorded edition. This is a particularly engaging disc because of its brim full of splendid music while simultaneoulsy presenting a succession of previously unheard scores that will be of particular interest to anyone who enjoys the music of the great Finnish composer. The 'Waves' of the title are those of Sibelius' famous tone poem 'The Oceantides', described by one famous critic as the 'finest evocation of the sea which has ever been produced in music'. The tone poem that we know today had a long period of gestation, starting life as part of an orchestral suite and then undergoing two complete metamorphoses before evolving into the masterpiece that we know. Clearly Sibelius was fascinated with his original material and, in two preliminary versions of the tone poem he conducted some very striking experiments with it, producing music that is more extravagantly impressionistic and kaleidoscopic than anthing else he wrote. These important scores have lain forgotten since they were first produced and were performed for the first time in the autumn of last year by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä. Subsequent to their first public airing they were recorded by the same forces and are now available on disc for the first time - together with another 40 minutes worth of previously unrecorded orchestral scores by the master's hand. As well as the original materials, the disc also contains a fine performance of the final version of 'The Oceantides', lifted from last year's highly acclaimed 'Sibelius Tone Poems' (BIS CD1225)

Based on the short story by the same name by Sadeq Hedayat (1903–51), Iran’s first modernist writer, The Doll behind the Curtain is an opera from Iranian-Danish composer Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour and librettist Dominic Power. It explores themes of alienation, the mysteries of human sexuality and the dissonance, both musical and cultural, between East and West and tradition and modernity. Set in Le Havre and Tehran during the 1930s, the opera tells the story of Mehrdad, a shy Iranian student studying in the French harbour city. After having found a mannequin in a junk shop, he becomes obsessed with its flawless and unchanging beauty and brings it back home to Tehran. His infatuation and inner conflict cause him to destroy his own life and that of his fiancée Bita, struggling to compete with her silent rival. An original and challenging work of musical theatre, The Doll behind the Curtain was composed in 2015 and is Tafreshipour’s first opera as well as the first Iranian opera with an English libretto. It was premièred in London in 2015 and is here heard in a recording by the team that also performed it at the Royal Danish Opera in 2020.