Alessio Elia's (b.1979) compositions are inspired by the acoustic nature of the sounding universe, it's inner laws. Perhaps this is why, from the first moment of listening, these works feel organic natural and euphonic but also ordered, planned and clear. The composition Celestial Keys, which lends it's name to the whole album, does not claim to reveal universal truths in any sense, nor does it attempt to unlock a magic box containing deep secrets. As with the other works on the programme, Elia aims to demonstrate that the world is perhaps wider for perception than for reason. He reveals that each of these compositions represents 'an exploration of other dimensions. In Luminescences, we encounter the phenomenon of light; in Disappearing Rainbows, we explore the residual traces of colours. Dimensioni nascoste delves into the extra, hidden dimensions of string theory. Implicate Inklings unveils the implicate order of the holographic theory of the universe. Finally, Celestial keys transports us to the realm of angels and the supernatural.' Several of these works feature Elia's signature compositional approach: Polysystemism, which involves the simultaneous use of different tuning systems. Other information: Recordings date from August 2005 (Siena), September 2013, October 2015, May 2019 and November 2023 (Budapest). All works are given in their First Recordings. Booklet in English contains liner notes by Szabolcs Molnar, profiles of the composer, the conductors, the soloists, the orchestras and ensembles, as wel as the sung text for Celestial keys. - Alessio Elia is an Italian composer, born in 1979. Described as unicum in the compositional landscape of our times (Il Corriere Musicale) Alessio Elia has gained international recognition thanks to his Polysystemism, the simultaneous use of different tuning systems, discussed in many conferences and lectures, among them the one at "Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine" of the Cite de la Musique in Paris. Articles and essays on Polysystemism have been published by von Bockel Verlag, l'Universite de Strasbourg, the Hungarian Academy of Arts, and the University of Prague. - Elia has received commissions from internationally renowned orchestras, ensembles, festivals, and institutions, such as I Solisti del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Radio Bartok, Ligeti 100 Festival in Budapest, Oggimusica Festival, Chamber Ensemble UMZE, Antal Dorati International Conducting Competition, Stuttgart Kammerchor, Alter Ego Ensemble, and Festival di Nuova Consonanza. - His music has been performed, broadcasted and presented by illustrious institutions worldwide and published by Universal Edition Wien, and Universal Music Publishing - Editio Musica Budapest. - This new recording presents orchestral works by Alessio Elia: Disappearing Rainbows, Dimensioni Nascoste, a Clarinet Concerto, Luminescences and Celestial Keys: fascinating music of great beauty! - Performed by Concerto Budapest (Zoltan Racz), National Hungarian Radio Orchestra (Gergely Vajda), Concerto Budapest Ligeti Ensemble (Laszlo Tihanyi), and Chigiana Academy Ensemble (Mauro Bonifacio).

It took a move from his native Seville to Paris for Joaquin Turina (1882-1949) to discover an authentically Spanish voice for himself, principally encouraged there by his countryman Isaac Albeniz. The Piano Trio in F now numbers among the first works of Turina's maturity, though it was lost for many years and only rediscovered in 1999. The distance of over two decades between this early work and Turina's first numbered Trio is mirrored in stark terms by the contrast in idioms. An essentially outgoing, Romantic temperament has been refined by the passing of time and life into a more angular melodic style, supported by more chromatic and allusive harmony - no less 'Spanish' in it's way, perhaps even more so. This is the piece that for many years was Turina's best-known chamber piece, beyond the Danzas fantasticas which delighted many listeners to Alicia de Larrocha and (in their orchestrated form) Ernest Ansermet. Now the First Piano Trio may be appreciated in a broader context of Turina's writing for a notoriously challenging genre, and we hear how in each work the three instruments gain a greater degree of independence. From 1933, the Trio No.2 continues this process of refinement and distillation, notwithstanding the Brahmsian hemiolas which destabilise it's opening theme. Turina's masterpiece in the piano-trio genre is probably Circulo, a concise three-movement essay which he composed on the eve of the First World War. It charts the passing of a single day, from the slow stirrings of dawn to a dance in the middle of an Andalucian day through to the gradual falling of dusk, which begins in wild exuberance and ends in peace under a starry sky. The Orphelion Ensemble was founded in Vienna by the Spanish violinist Deborah Gonsalves Deborah Gonsalves and the Austro-German cellist Berthold Hamburger. For this new recording of Turina's trios, they are joined by the Spanish pianist An Eva Browning Artist-in-residence Associate Professor of piano at Texas Tech University, Daniel del Pino. Based in Spain, Orphelion gives concerts across the world with a flexible line-up of artists in order to pursue an artistically ambitious programme which sees them work with leading visual artists, writers and actors. - Joaquin Turina was born in Sevilla, Spain, where he received his first music lessons. Later he went to Madrid and subsequently settled in Paris, where he took composition lessons from Vincent d'Indy at his Schola Cantorum de Paris, while studying the piano with Moritz Moszkowski. Inevitably he came into contact with Debussy and Ravel, and his early compositions were clearly influenced by the Impressionists. However he returned to his native Spain and developed his own style in which the rich folklore, folk music and atmosphere of Spain is predominant. Together with Albeniz, Granados and de Falla he established the Spanish Nationalist School. - This new recording presents Turina's complete works for piano trio, clearly showing the development of his compositional style. It is music of great imagination, colouring and instrumental brilliance, in which the sounds and perfumes of Spain are nearly palpable. - Excellent performances by the Orphelion Ensemble, consisting of Daniel del Pino (piano), Deborah Gonsalves (violin) and Berthold Hamburger (cello).

This recital offers a fine mix of Bach's organ works, at larger and smaller scales, on the renowned historical instrument made by Alsatian organ builder Johann Andreas Silbermann of Strasbourg, a master of French baroque organ construction. It follows in a distinguished line of recordings of Bach made in the extraordinary acoustic of the Arlesheim Cathedral, by such luminaries as Walter Kraft, Karl Richter and Lionel Rogg. Situated just outside the city of Basel, the village of Arlesheim grew up around it's Cathedral, which was the church of the displaced cathedral chapter of the Diocese of Basel from 1679 to 1792. The first three years of this tenure saw the Bishop build not only the cathedral, but also a complete town centre with houses for the advisors and the administration of the See, using architect Franz Demess. A total refurbishment and enlargement of the Cathedral was begun in 1759, culminating in the installation of the Silbermann organ two years later. The organ builder was included in the renovation's planning from the start, such that modifications to the Cathedral's architecture were made with a view to enhancing the nave's musical acoustics. The instrument was restored by Metzler in 1959-62 and then again in 2005 by Gaston Kern. It is an example of the fusion of French and German organ building styles. Other information: - Recorded July 2012 in Arlesheim (Switzerland) - Booklet in English contains liner notes by the organist, a description of the organ with stop list, and a profile of the artist - This 2-CD set presents organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach, played on the Silbermann organ in the Dom of Arlesheim. - This organ in the Dom of Arlesheim is a masterpiece of Baroque organ building, built by Johann Andreas Silbermann in 1761. Located in the Arlesheim Cathedral (Dom) near Basel, Switzerland, it is one of the finest examples of Silbermann's work and one of the most historically significant organs in Europe. The organ is known for it's rich tonal qualities, combining both French and German influences, typical of Silbermann's style. It's elaborate case, decorated with gold leaf and intricate carvings, complements the interior of the Dom, enhancing the spiritual atmosphere during services and concerts. Despite restorations over the centuries, the organ retains much of it's original pipework and mechanical structure, ensuring an authentic sound. - The program includes favorite organ works, including the famous Toccata & Fugue BWV565, 3 Concerto transcriptions by Vivaldi, the Trio Sonata BWV 530 and several Choralvorspiele. - Played by Italian master organist Ivan Ronda, internationally acclaimed by guest appearances in such venues as Westminster Abbey and King's College Cambridge.

A valuable CD reissue for a rare and compelling 1986 account of Mahler's great testament of faith. A Dutch tradition in Mahler performance extends beyond the boundaries of the Concertgebouw. Orchestras in Rotterdam and The Hague have often performed the songs and symphonies, and been led by directors with a typically Dutch, humanistic sympathy for the complex texture of expressions and idioms in Mahler, his appeal to the great symphonic tradition as well as his liberation from it's strictures. Nowhere is that sense of tradition and innovation more finely balanced in his output than in the Second Symphony, which underwent the longest gestation of all his symphonies. The first movement began life as a standalone tone-poem, portraying a dream-sequence autobiographical rite of death in graphically Lisztian terms. Gradually something much more ambitious took shape, and the dream which the young conductor-composer had experienced, seeing his own death as if from afar, became eventually answered by a triumphant affirmation of faith in creativity, with his setting of the Resurrection-Ode by the poet Klopstock. Hearing this poem at a funeral finally gave Mahler the inspiration he needed to complete the symphony, and it has remained one of his best-loved works ever since, coming to embody within generations of it's listeners a force of death and renewal. Yet the autobiographical, five-movement form of the symphony has it's obvious precedents in the Pastoral Symphony of Beethoven and the Symphonie fantastique of Berlioz, and a successful performance such as this one underlines those connections. The Amsterdam-born Hans Vonk (1942-2004) served as Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague between 1980 and 1991. Both the playing and the direction in this performance are imbued with confidence and mutual assurance; the tempi are flowing but not hasty, and Mahler's structure is held together with a compelling force. First issued as a 'private' LP set by the orchestra in 1986, this CD reissue makes a significant contribution to the symphony's extensive discography. - Gustav Mahler's (1860-1911) Second Symphony, often referred to as the "Resurrection Symphony," was composed between 1888 and 1894, marking a significant progression in Mahler's artistic development. The symphony is expansive, spanning five movements, and delves into themes of life, death, and the afterlife. - The Second Symphony is renowned for it's emotional depth and grandeur. The opening movement sets a somber tone, with brooding melodies that reflect on human mortality. The subsequent movements explore contrasting emotions, from moments of sublime beauty to passages of intense anguish. The symphony reaches it's climax in the final movement, where Mahler introduces vocal soloists and a chorus. This dramatic conclusion contemplates the concept of resurrection and ultimate redemption, culminating in a triumphant and awe-inspiring finale. - This excellent and moving recording from 1985 features the Residentie Orkest The Hague conducted by Hans Vonk, one of the most prominent Dutch conductors of the 20th century. The vocal soloists are Maria Oran Cury and Jard van Nes; the featured choir is The Dutch Theatre Choir.

A unique recital of 20th-century chamber music, essentially melodic but expressively rich, woven seamlessly together by a Spanish-based duo. In the 20th century, many composers embraced the unique combination of the violin and cello, producing a diverse and captivating repertoire. Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger take the listener on an engaging journey from Reinhold Gliere's post-romantic Huit Morceaux for violin and cello (1909), Bohuslav Martinu's folk-influenced Duo No.1 (1927) to Erwin Schulhoff's avant-garde Duo (1925) and Don Jaffe's moving autobiographical suite, The Last Days (2000). These compositions showcase the immense artistic possibilities offered by the juxtaposition of the violin's virtuosity with the cello's depth of sound. Similarly, the duo repertoire of the 20th century shows the evolution of musical language as composers introduced special playing techniques, unconventional harmonies, and rhythmic complexity, pushing the boundaries of tradition. While Gliere, Martinu and Schulhoff are all established names, these works for violin and cello have not received the attention they deserve. They are all products of their composers' full maturity, and perhaps it is only a reluctance on the part of performers and listeners to embrace the possibilities of the violin-cello combination that has prevented them becoming much better known. In each case, the composers demonstrate that no piano is required to anchor the string instruments, when the imagination is fired up, the melodies are firmly shaped and the dialogue engaging. The case of Don Jaffe is different: born in 1933 in Riga, of Jewish descent, he eventually became renowned as one of the foremost cello teachers in the former Soviet Union. However, finding postwar Soviet culture hardly less anti-Semitic than the Nazi regime, he emigrated to Israel and later moved to Germany. He only began composing late in life: this four-movement duo draws on the composer's experience of observing a close friend's painful battle with a terminal illness. Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger are colleagues in the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia; as Orphelion, they have toured festivals across Europe and in India, Japan, and South America. - In the 20th century, several composers embraced the combination of the violin and cello, producing a diverse and attractive repertoire for this ensemble. From Reinhold Gliere's (1875-1956) post-romantic Duos for violin and cello "Huit Morceaux", Bohuslav Martinu's (1890-1959) folkloristic Duo Nº.1 to Erwin Schulhoff's (1894-1942) avant-garde Duo (1925) and Don Jaffe's (b. 1933) autobiographic "The final days", these compositions show the artistic possibilities offered by the rich combination of the violin's virtuosity with the cello's depth of sound. Similarly, the duo repertoire of the 20th century shows the evolution of musical language as composers introduced special playing techniques, unconventional harmonies, and rhythmic complexity, pushing the boundaries of tradition. - Played by the ensemble Orphelion, consisting of Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger.

A fine Danish chamber ensemble brings together a unique compilation of chamber pieces by an overshadowed contemporary of Messiaen. The music of Andre Jolivet (1905-1974) is slowly being revived after decades of neglect, enabling us to discover a distinctive voice in the kaleidoscopic variety of 20th-century French music. Jolivet never followed some of his better-known contemporaries - Messiaen among them - down the path of serialism, yet his harmonic technique exercised a hidden influence on them (including the young Pierre Boulez). The Serenade (1945) for wind quintet, opening this collection of chamber music, casts a mystic air in it's opening Cantilene before breaking off into wild peals of instrumental laughter in the Caprice. The world of Poulenc and Stravinsky is not so far away, but there is a grounded density to Jolivet's writing which is entirely individual. From 1968, the Controversia for oboe and harp finds Jolivet at his most gesturally experimental, drawing on the combined talents and innovative techniques of Heinz and Ursula Holliger. The flurries and confrontations of the Controversia could hardly be predicted from the composer of the reflective miniatures which make up the Petite Suite (1941) for flute, viola and harp, in the mould of Debussy's late sonata. Indeed the collection as a whole serves as an illuminating demonstration of Jolivet's range and his evolution through a career spanning the turbulent aesthetic struggles of the last century. The Pastorales de Noel (1943) for flute, bassoon and harp fulfil a brief for picturesque and festive illustration, whereas the sonatinas for flute and clarinet (1961) and oboe and bassoon (1963) swoop and flutter with unpredictably Stravinskian fluidity between their instruments. Modal and exotic scales, Spanish rhythms, Debussyan sensuality: all these diverse elements and more keep the listener (and musicians) on their toes in this music. The album is enhanced by a new essay from Paul Griffiths, a pre-eminent authority on new and modern music. - Andre Jolivet (1905-1974) is considered one of the most interesting French composers of the 20th century. His vast oeuvre includes nearly all musical genres. Actively open to all musical genres (he never had a proper conservatory education) he developed a personal style that was distinctly avant-garde. - This new recording presents a variety of chamber music in which the flute plays a prominent role: Serenade for Wind Quintet, Sonatine for flute & clarinet, Petite Suite for flute, viola and harp, Pastorale de Noel for flute, bassoon and harp, and other shorter pieces: music of dazzling colours, vivid and vibrant, but also at turns serene and melancholic. - Played with astonishing virtuosity and "joie de vivre" by the Danish Ensemble MidtVest.

An exciting young Dutch-based ensemble, performing on gut strings, brings flair and historically informed style to four little-known examples of repertoire from the dawn of the string quartet. Founded while it's members were students of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the Butter Quartet gives vibrant historically-informed performance focusing on Classical-era repertoire. Within it's short history, the Quartet has appeared at several important early-music festivals. At the 2019 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition, they were awarded a place in the prestigious EEEMERGING+ professional development scheme for young European ensembles. With this collection of rarely heard 18thcentury quartets from Italy, the Butter Quartet makes a thrilling debut on record. The individuality of each composer is accentuated by their mutual juxtaposition. In their booklet essay for the album, the Quartet members recount combing libraries for early quartets which have been overshadowed by Haydn's mastery of the genre. All of the composers featured in Scintilla were famous violin virtuosi, with the exception of Boccherini who was a cellist. Their work as performers was inseparable from the music they composed. Italian galant music and performers were characterized by gorgeous tone, operatic sensibilities, and elegant ornamentation. An E flat major Quartet by Gaetano Pugnani (1731-1798) retains traces of Baroque grammar to it's phrasing, while a C minor Quartet by Boccherini (1743-1805) is marked by the surges of pathos that belong to the key signature as reinterpreted by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Maddalena Sirmen (1745-1818) wrote six quartets of which No.5 in F major is a remarkably close-woven and reflective work, hardly a display piece in the tradition of her teacher Tartini but touched throughout with the spirit of subtle innovation we associate with Haydn. Finally, the C major Quartet of Felice Giardini (1716- 1796) is distinguished by an unusually rich viola part which may arise from the circumstances of it's composition in London, where the composer played his violin with both the painter Thomas Gainsborough and the Prince of Wales, who became King George IV

The masterpiece 'beyond Time' that is the Quatuor pour la fin du Temps first saw the light of day in Barrack 27 of the World War II prisoner-of-war camp Stalag VIII-A in Gorlitz, Silesia, performed by it's composer Olivier Messiaen on piano along with fellow prisoners Jean Le Boulaire on violin, Henri Akoka on clarinet and etienne Pasquier on cello. The unusual ensemble forces were dictated by what musicians were available in that environment of deprivation, and the prisoners' coping mechanisms in response to it played a part: Akoka's clarinet and the singing of birds during dawn watches with Pasquier inspired the 3rd movement, Abîme des oiseaux for solo clarinet. As Messiaen himself explained before the concert, it is the first six verses of the Book of Revelation Chapter 10 that inform the piece as a whole. Starvation in the camp had provoked in him vivid, colourful dreams of the Angel's Rainbow, and the End of Time represented eternity in the face of the mortality confronting the internees. The sensory deprivation he experienced while imprisoned caused (or exacerbated) his synaesthesia, such that his hearing of harmonies and his vision of colours became blended in his mind. The work's difficulty is well known; in Gorlitz, from musicians already unbalanced by Messiaen's unconventional rhythms, the composer demanded extreme and unusual instrumental effects: dynamic extremes, unheard-of force and maximum precision. Clarinettist Akoka complained about overly high notes and long phrases; violinist Le Boulaire about wide, inhumanly slow string melodies. But Messiaen's serenity at the piano instilled confidence, making the impossible possible and raising everything to a higher level. On a formal level, the eight movements of the Quatuor, linked by symbolic correspondences, reflect the biblical perfection of the number seven: the six days of Creation followed by the day of Rest, which is prolonged into Eternity becoming an eighth of indefectible light and unalterable peace. 'I composed this quartet to escape from snow, from war, from imprisonment and from myself,' Messiaen said. But the religious silence that enveloped the premiere demonstrated the Quatuor's ability to raise everyone in it's first audience along with him, above the barbarity, hunger and cold. Today, hearing this music that is 'alien to earthly beauty and pervaded by the idea of God', we perceive it's essence 'beyond Time', imbued with faith and religiosity. Other information: - Recorded February 2018, February 2019 and December 2023 in Perugia - Booklet in English contains liner notes by Donatella Meneghini and biographical information on the artists - Italian liner notes available at brilliantclassics. Com - Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) composed his Quatuor pour le fin du temps" (Quartet for the End of Time) 1940-41. The work was written during Messiaen's internment at Stalag VIII-A, a German prisoner-of-war camp, where he was held during World War II. Despite the harsh conditions, Messiaen composed this eight-movement piece for a unique ensemble: clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, which were the instruments available in the camp. - Inspired by the biblical Book of Revelation, particularly the angel's proclamation of the end of time, the Quatuor explores themes of eternity, divine grace, and apocalyptic vision. Messiaen, a devout Catholic, saw time as transcended by divine love, and the piece reflects his fascination with spiritual and mystical concepts. - The music is known for it's otherworldly beauty, complex rhythms, and innovative use of modes of limited transposition, which create a timeless, suspended feeling. The movements range from intense, fiery expressions of divine might to serene, meditative reflections on eternity. Premiered within the camp before an audience of prisoners and guards, Quatuor pour le fin du temps remains one of the most important and profound chamber works of the 20th century. - Played by Davide Bandieri, Francois Sochard, Joel Marosi and Maria-Liisa Marosi. - Davide Bandieri has already successfully released numerous recordings for Brilliant Classics, including the Complete Chamber Music Works for Clarinet by Von Weber (BC 95531) and, together with Joel Marosi and Maria-Liisa Marosi, Clarinet Trios by Fruhling and Zemlinsky (BC 95394).

Over the course of a long but ultimately frustrated career as a late-Romantic lyric composer, Francesco Cilea ascribed to one credo above all: 'Be Italian'. In L'Arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur, above all, he created masterpieces of the new style of verismo which kept sung drama in Italian at the centre of wider notions of what opera means. Everything he wrote, from large-scale stage works, to chamber pieces to the salon songs and miniatures gathered here, expressed his quintessentially Italian voice and aesthetic philosophy. 'The real instrument of expression of the passions is the divine human voice,' he once remarked, 'with which no instrument can ever compete.' Thus, in complement to his career as an operatic composer, he wrote a small but exquisite collection of songs gathered here by artists with considerable experience in the field of neglected Italian art-song. This collection opens with the charming Romanza which Cilea composed at the age of 17, evidently under the spell of Bellini's Norma. The more complex harmony of 'Bionda larva' from three years later mirrors Cilea's development as a stage composer, about to launch his first opera, Gina. Every sung line here is calculated, as it was in Monteverdi's day, to heighten an appreciation of the text, and the emotions underlying it, with a madrigalian illustration which always colours and never obscures the words. There are expressions of heightened erotic passion alongside simple religious devotion - a typically Italian paradox. As interludes, David Boldrini plays four evocative miniatures, functioning essentially as songs without words. He and Lenny Lorenzani have made a previous collection of Cilea's songs, but this new Brilliant Classics album was recorded in 2023 and features a different selection of repertoire. - Francesco Cilea (1866-1950) went into history as the composer of one opera, Adrienne Lecouvreur. However, this late romantic Italian left a fine oeuvre of chamber and solo works, wonderfully evocative music, full of subtlety and finesse, in the style of early Debussy, studies in sonority and instrumental colours. - This new recording presents a selection of art songs and piano works. The songs are typically Italian in their simple, fluid, and elegant vocal melodies, "The real instrument of expression of the passions is the divine human voice, with which no instrument can ever compete" As Cilea himself said in an interview. - Beautifully performed by Lenny Lorenzani and David Boldrini.

Many masterpieces have been composed over the centuries for the cello, that member of the string family whose timbre is said to most closely resemble the human voice. Scores of monumental works, both in the chamber and concerto genres, have been created for this attractive instrument: from Bach to Bloch, Boccherini to Britten. Dutch composers have also shown interest in the instrument, especially in the 20th century, composing works that feature not only the cello but also the abilities of virtuoso cellists they admired, whose playing breathes life into the Dutch music of this century, adding it's melodious voice to the music history of all nations. Henriette Bosmans (1895-1952) at first studied piano with her mother, only taking up composing at the age of 17. She sharpened her abilities in this art through lessons with Cornelis Dopper and Willem Pijper. Bosmans performed in various chamber music ensembles, appeared as a soloist and gave lessons, and as a pianist she championed contemporary music. She is particularly remembered for her art songs, chamber music and concertos. Her work evolved along her career from a Germanic style to one influenced by French impressionism, her Poeme for cello and orchestra being a fine example of the latter. The work is dedicated to Marix Loevensohn, principal cellist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, with whom she often performed. Willem Pijper (1894-1947) studied composition with Johann Wagenaar, and his progress was astounding: within a few years (from 1918 to 1922) he became one of the most advanced composers in Europe, each successive composition of his going a step further. Although considered a proponent of atonality, Pijper's harmonic complexity is always in service of musical expression. His Cello Concerto is also dedicated to Marix Loevensohn, who performed it at his own retirement concert as principal cellist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Feeling that the orchestra overshadowed the soloist at times, Pijper revised the Concerto's orchestration in 1947. The pianist and composer Leo Smit (1900-1943) studied composition at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Bernard Zweers and Sem Dresden. He taught analysis and harmony at the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1924 to 1927, after which he resided in Paris until 1933. There he came under Darius Milhaud's influence, which introduced a French aesthetic to his music, and he was exposed as well to Igor Stravinsky's neoclassicism. He returned to Amsterdam in 1937, establishing himself as a music pedagogue, and remained there until he was deported to Auschwitz in 1943, where he perished. His lucid, intelligent and subdued style is most clearly apparent in his chamber music. Smit also composed several orchestral works and concertos for various instruments, among them his Concertino for cello and orchestra. Hans Kox (1930-2019) studied piano with Jaap Spaanderman and composition with Henk Badings. His debut as a composer came in 1953, and he went on to receive numerous commissions from the Netherlands and abroad, with many of his works appearing on CD. He taught at the Conservatory in Utrecht. His Cello Concerto (1969) was commissioned by the Eper Muziekkring (the erstwhile Music Society of the eastern Dutch municipality of Epe) in honour of it's fifth anniversary. Other information: - Recorded December 1993 at the Concertgebouw Haarlem - Trilingual booklet in English, German and Dutch contains liner notes on the composers and the works - The Cello concertos by 20th-century Dutch composers reflect the dynamic evolution of classical music during this period, marked by a blend of modernism, neoclassicism, and unique national character. - This CD presents 4 Cello Concertos by Dutch composers: the late romantic language of Henriette Bosmans (1895-1952), the Neo-classical and sometimes jazzy idiom of Willem Pijper (1894-1947), the vibrant Concertino by Leo Smit (1900-1943), who tragically died in 1943 in the Sobibor extermination camp, and the Cello Concerto by Hans Kox (1930-2019). - Played by 4 outstanding cellists: Heinrich Schiff, Quirine Viersen, Pieter Wispelwey and Dmitri Ferschtman. The Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra is conducted by Ed Spanjaard. Another gem from the NM Classics catalogue, the label of music from The Netherlands.

Transcending the barriers of time, two 20-th century composers dialogue with a genius who lived centuries earlier. An immense painter, sculptor, architect, Michelangelo (1475-1564) wrote poetry expressing turmoil, restlessness, personal and professional anger, written in an energetic and passionate language. Both Dimitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten found inspiration in his texts, and by setting them to music they show their own feelings in a highly personal and characteristic way. - This new recording presents the "7 Sonnets Op. 22" by Benjamin Britten, and the Michelangelo Suite Op. 145 by Dimitri Shostakovich, both intensely expressive and dramatic, each in his own unique musical language. - Sung by Mark Milhofer and Mirco Palazzi, Marco Scolastra is their piano partner. Mark Milhofer's recording of the Folk Songs by Britten for Brilliant Classics received many excellent reviews, including a "Recommended Recording of the Month" on Musicweb.

This album features two compositions by Jean Sibelius from different moments in the Finnish musician's life. The Impromptu Op.5 for string ensemble is an early work from 1894, in which Sibelius uses some thematic materials from his solo piano impromptus Nos. 5 and 6 from the Op.5 set. The Romance in C Op.42 (1903) was composed during a difficult phase in the composer's life caused by excessive alcohol consumption, which prompted him to leave Helsinki and move with his wife near to Lake Tuusula, where he could dedicate himself to composition far from the temptations of the Finnish capital. The piece is divided into short sections in which the melodic ideas arise from fragments of the octatonic, or diminished, scale of alternating whole and half steps supported by dissonant harmonies that add further tonal instability. Samuel Barber's typically inspired melodic vein emerges from the very beginning in his Serenade Op.1 for String Quartet or String Orchestra, dating from 1928. Featuring chromaticism's and dissonant passages, a duality is established between a first, rhythmic and impetuous thematic idea and a lyrical melody. The final movement brings greater serenity and joy through the choice of a major mode and the adoption of a graceful and leaping theme whose fragments pass in counterpoint between one voice and another. When Benjamin Britten composed his Simple Symphony Op.4 he was just 20 years old, and he describes the idea in an introduction to the score: 'This "Simple Symphony" is entirely based on material from works which the composer wrote between the ages of nine and twelve [.]. Although the development of these themes is in many places quite new, there are large stretches of the work which are taken bodily from the early pieces - save for the re-scoring for strings'. In effect, Britten extrapolates eight themes from his juvenile compositional production, associates two of them with each movement and creates a structural mix between the four movements of a Classical symphony, the dances of the Baroque suite and popular folklore. Da pacem Domine is a Gregorian style piece composed by Arvo Pärt in 2004 to commemorate the victims of the Madrid terrorist attacks on trains, which killed 192 people. Pärt first composed a version for four voices on the text of a Latin prayer. That atmosphere of contemplation is preserved in his subsequent edition for chamber orchestra. The modal composition, in D Dorian, conveys the feeling of a search for calmness, a request from man to God for peace in the wake of such a tragedy. Scattered appearances of B flat and the leading tone (C sharp) mitigate and add a piquancy to the modal atmosphere.

World premiere recordings of beguiling flute sonatas written on the cusp of the early-Romantic era in Germany. Almost completely forgotten in our own time, Johann Christian Friedrich Schneider (1786-1853) once enjoyed substantial fame as a pianist, composer, teacher and musical organiser. He was born in 1786, 16 years after Beethoven, in the same year as Weber and the Brothers Grimm, and received his first musical education from his father. His talent was evident from an early age, as he learnt the piano and several other instruments. Breitkopf & Hartel published his Op.1, a set of piano sonatas, in 1804; he went to study in Leipzig, where he became organist of the Thomaskirche, and settled there for his 20s, giving the local premiere of Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto in 1811. A standard German work of reference from 1838 cites Schneider 'among the living German masters of music'. From the evidence of these four sonatas for flute and piano, it is hard to see why his name should have so comprehensively vanished from view. Schneider composed the first of them, his Op.18, in 1808, and it follows the same Classical exemplar as Beethoven's first eight violin sonatas, and all of Mozart's in being written for a pianist with an accompanying melody instrument rather than the other way around. Over the course of the following three sonatas, the flautist becomes more independent, and his Op.61 Sonata of 1827 requires a virtuoso. Schneider wrote the first three sonatas in a four-movement form, breaking ground in this way by elevating the flute sonata from it's previous association with pretty variation sets and pot-pourris of operatic themes. This originality extends to the finales of all four sonatas - notably the Second, which is cast in G minor against the prevailing G major tonality (foreshadowing in this way the 'Italian' Symphony of Mendelssohn). In his booklet essay for this new recording, the flautist Daniele Ruggeri pays tribute to the 'simple but bewitching' trios of each sonata, and to Schneider's 'profound understanding of the expressive character of the different registers of the flute' in the slow movements. Based in Venice, Ruggeri has played across the world and recorded for many major labels. With this album of Schneider he revives an unjustly neglected contemporary of Beethoven and Schubert, and does so on an instrument of the period. - Johann Christian Friedrich Schneider was a German composer, conductor, organist, and pianist of the early Romantic period. Born in Saxony, he was a highly respected musician during his lifetime, known for his contributions to church music, orchestral works, and chamber compositions. He earned his place in history as the pianist premiering Beethoven's 5th piano concerto. - Schneider's flute sonatas are elegant and expressive works that reflect the stylistic transition from the Classical to the Romantic era. Blending lyrical melodies with intricate harmonic textures, the sonatas are technically challenging and musically rewarding for performers. The flute sonatas follow the traditional sonata form, typically structured in three or four movements, combining virtuosic passages with expressive slow sections. - Played by Italian flutist Daniele Ruggieri and pianist Luigi Caselli.

A unique combination on record of chamber music by the Swiss composer, surveying the development of his voice and career through the medium of the flute. One of music's late starters, Martin grew up as the tenth child of a Swiss pastor and his wife, surrounded by the music of Bach and Mozart. Only once Ernest Ansermet had founded the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande in 1918 did the 28-year-old Martin begin to discover and become captivated by the sensuality of Debussy and Ravel, and this stylistic dichotomy continued to play out in his own music. Among the most polished and individual of his early works is the set of four love-sonnets composed in 1921 to poems by the 16th-century balladeer Pierre de Ronsard. Already the influence of modernism is apparent on the angular and even ascetic shape of Martin's melodic invention, and yet a gentle, atmospheric mood pervades the cycle; this, too, would become a hallmark of his sound-world. In 1939, Martin began what would become a series of instrumental ballades with the competition piece which is still his best-known work for flute. In the same year, he followed it up with a Ballade for alto saxophone which he then arranged for flute; both works are fine examples of Martin's ability to reconcile serialism with tonality. A neoclassical (or rather, neo-Baroque) spirit infuses the Sonata da Chiesa of 1940 with solemn, Protestant gravity, yet the flute part still sings with the lyricism of the early Sonnets. From after the war, the Trois Chants de Noel (1947) distil the mystery of Christmas into three brief settings of texts by the Swiss poet Albert Rudhardt (1894-1944). A trio of Minnelieder (1961) masterfully strips Martin's language to the bone in a distinctive 'late style', where flute and guitar support and punctuate the sung line with an archaically flavoured modernity. Almost all these works have attracted no more than one or two recordings, but gathered together by these expert Italian musicians, they paint a new and compelling portrait of Martin as a spiritually engaged modernist. - Frank Martin (1890-1974) was a Swiss composer, who lived for most of his life in The Netherlands. Hs oeuvre spans orchestral works, oratorios, and chamber music. Martin's style defies easy categorization, blending elements of neoclassicism, serialism, and Gregorian chant. His vocal works reflect his spiritual depth and musical mastery. - Frank Martin wrote a not a large but a significant number of works for flute, including the Ballade for flute and piano (1939), the Deuxieme Ballade for flute and piano (1939) and the Church Sonata for flute and organ (1941). Of these three, only the Ballade is an original work for flute, as the Deuxieme Ballade and the Church Sonata are the author's transcriptions of earlier scores. Also included in this new recording are works for soprano and instrumental ensemble, featuring flute, oboe, harp, viola and cello. - A fascinating collection of a highly original voice in 20th century music! - Played by Daniele Ruggieri, Monica Bacelli and several excellent Italian instrumentalists.

Francesco Molino (1768-1847) was born into a family of violinists in Ivrea, near Turin. There, and for a time in Genoa as well, he made a career as a virtuoso violinist himself, until at the age of 50, he moved permanently to Paris. Once in the French capital, Molino began a new phase of his musical career, which coincided with a significant increase in the number of works he published - almost all of which were dedicated to the guitar, both as a solo instrument and as part of chamber formations. Molino made a significant impact on the Parisian musical world, as is demonstrated by the huge success of the first edition of his Nouvelle Methode pour la Guitare, which had some 400 subscribers both in France and in other European countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy). Over the years Molino revised and added to the methos, and various editions of it were published in a number of languages, with a Spanish version even reaching Mexico and Havana. The works presented in this recording were all published as 'sonatas' by Molino, who explicitly stated that they were intended for performance by solo guitar. He uses three main structural types for these sonatas. The first has a romance as a first movement, followed by a rondo (Sonatas Op.1 No.1, Op.15 No.2 and Op.51). The second begins with a short maestoso introduction that is characterised by initial chords and octaves in succession, evoking the orchestral colour of certain operatic overtures. This movement ends with an interrupted cadence and is followed by a theme with variations, before a final rondo (Sonatas Op.1 No.2, Op.15 No.1 and No.3). The third type begins with an allegro first movement in sonata form (in bipartite 18th-century style, featuring two distinct themes with a tonic-dominant relationship) that is followed immediately by a final rondo (Sonatas Op.1 No.3, Op.6 No.1 and No.2). All the sonatas reflect Molino's evident mastery of the art of composition as well as a certain freedom in his approach to musical form. These elements, combined with a refined use of harmony and a deep understanding of the instrument, give the composer a highly personal stylistic language and make Molino one of the most interesting figures in the guitar repertoire of the 19th century. Other information: - Recorded June and October, Rome, Italy - Booklet in English contains liner notes by the artist, along with his biography - Claudio Giuliani plays a guitar by Antonio Mari´n Montero (Granada, 1995) strung with D'Addario Pro Arte EJ46 strings - Francesco Molino (1768-1847) was an Italian guitarist, composer, and violinist, born in Ivrea near Turin, Italy. At the age of fifteen, in 1783, he enrolled in the band of the Piedmont Regiment as an oboist, a post which he resigned in 1793. He dedicated himself to the guitar and built an impressive international career. Later he settled in Paris where he became a famous teacher. - This new recording presents the complete Sonatas for Guitar, characterized by their classical elegance and intricate melodic lines, reflecting the stylistic influences of his contemporaries such as Mauro Giuliani and Fernando Sor. - Molino's sonatas often feature a balanced structure, typically adhering to the classical sonata form with multiple movements including allegro, adagio, and rondo sections. The highly accomplished writing features rapid arpeggios, delicate harmonics, and dynamic contrasts. They form a challenge to the performer but a delight to the audience. - Brilliantly played by Claudio Giuliani, whose previous recordings for Brilliant Classics include works by Diabelli (BC 94614) and Cimarosa (BC 94172).