Classical Contemplative
220 products
Shostakovich & Escaich: Vitrail (Live)
B Records
CD
$20.99
Jun 07, 2024
Long-time accomplices, the Messiaen and Xenakis trios join forces to perform an intimate and moving version of Dmitri Shostakovich's last symphony, and mirror the world premiere recording of Thierry Escaich's Vitrail, a spectacular fresco specially composed for the occasion.
Timeless Horizons
Challenge Classics
CD
$16.99
Jan 23, 2026
With this album, Trio Fibonacci takes us on a journey through the meditative and deeply human universe of Ludovico Einaudi, a master of contemporary minimalism. His works, built around repetitive motifs and subtle harmonic variations, open up a space for contemplation and pure emotion. Many of the pieces presented here have been specially adapted by Trio Fibonacci for duo or trio, bringing new vibrancy and emotional depth to the music while remaining true to the spirit of the composer. With a total runtime of 71 minutes, Timeless Horizons guides listeners through Einaudi's most iconic pieces, including: "I Giorni" - a poignant elegy inspired by Malian folklore "Experience" - a powerful meditation on time and memory "Nuvole Bianche" - a serene and soothing classic "Una Mattina" - made famous by The Intouchables "Petricor" - evoking the scent of the earth after rain But there is much more: 13 pieces in total. The album blends Einaudi's signature repetitive motifs and subtle harmonic shifts with the Trio's expressive and fluid playing style. These arrangements offer a rare intimacy, drawing the listener into a world of silence, longing, and awakening. Trio Fibonacci made it's debut in 1998, with the press reporting that "to hear them is to enter into the world of miracles" (Le Devoir, Montreal).
Nico Muhly: No Resting Place
Linn Records
CD
$20.99
Apr 10, 2026
Nico Muhly and The Tallis Scholars present No Resting Place, a collection of world premiere recordings of works that Muhly wrote for The Tallis Scholars over the last 10 years, by invitation of their director Peter Phillips. Phillips says that Muhly "immediately understood our particular sound. A succession of masterpieces followed, each as powerful as the last." The title work, No Resting Place, is a setting of Jeremiah's Lamentations, interspersed with contemporary interviews with people from the Windrush generation. Recordare, Domine also sets texts from Lamentations, while Marrow is a setting of Psalm 63. Rough Notes, using cold textures, austere counterpoint, and unstable harmonies, draws from Captain Scott's diary on his doomed mission to the Antarctic. Prosperitie was written to celebrate Peter Phillips' 70th birthday, and A Glorious Creature praises the glory of the soul. This album marks the start of a new collaboration between The Tallis Scholars and Linn.
The Voice of the Beloved
PENTATONE
CD
$19.99
Nov 21, 2025
The Netherlands Radio Choir and Benjamin Goodson present The Voice of the Beloved, a powerful collection of 20th-century sacred choral works by Frank Martin, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, and Olivier Messiaen. At it's heart is Martin's Mass for Double Choir, a deeply personal expression of faith composed in 1922 and kept private for decades. It's austere beauty and luminous harmonies make it one of the most moving sacred works of the last century. Daniel-Lesur's Le Cantique des cantiques transforms the Song of Songs into a sensual and spiritual choral tapestry, weaving up to twelve voices into a radiant soundscape. Messiaen's O sacrum convivium, a brief but transcendent motet, completes the program with shimmering reverence. Following their acclaimed 2023 release Rheinberger & Mendelssohn: Choral Works, the choir returns with a recording that reveals the sacred not only in worship, but in the raw, expressive power of the human voice.
Organised Delirium
PENTATONE
CD
$19.99
Apr 04, 2025
Organised Delirium is pianist Tamara Stefanovich' personal exploration of the sonata form, centred around Boulez' Piano Sonata No. 2 which she studied in close collaboration with the composer, reigniting her passion as a performer. Boulez' Piano Sonata No. 2 represents a restructuring of music after it's destruction during World War II. Boulez' iconoclast piece is paired with twentieth-century sonatas by Eisler, Bartok and Shostakovich, each questioning the use of the term 'sonata', while the programme closes with a return the sonata's origins by way of Domenico Scarlatti. Appearing in the context of Boulez' centenary, this adventurous album reveals a strong kinship to Stefanovich' PENTATONE debut Influences (2019), and deepens our understanding of the sonata, it's history and it's many shapes. The New York Times lauded Tamara's recent concert performance of Boulez' Piano Sonata No. 2, stating that "Ms. Stefanovich's performance was staggeringly brilliant". Praised by The Guardian as "fearless, dazzling, exceptional", Tamara Stefanovich is one of today's most adventurous and sought-after pianists. After Influences (2019), Visions (2022) and Nicolaou: Etudes & Frames (2023), she now releases her fourth PENTATONE album.
Schumann: Diaries (2 LP Re-Issue)
PENTATONE
Vinyl
$54.99
Nov 29, 2024
Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of Tiffany Poon, "classical pianist of the new generation", with this deluxe vinyl edition of her PENTATONE debut album Diaries: Schumann. Through her vivid interpretation of Robert Schumann's masterpieces, Tiffany invites us on a journey through her musical diary. This album topped the Billboard Traditional Classical Albums charts in the first weeks of it's release. With a selection ranging from the introspective Kinderszenen to the passionate Davidsbundlertanze, she creates a tapestry that reflects the different aspects of her life and her personal growth. With this album, Tiffany invites listeners to connect with themselves and be vulnerable and imaginative, like Schumann's Eusebius and Florestan. This album also encourages daydreaming in open spaces, "feeling all the feels", without any judgement. Experience the brilliance of this rising star as she shares her innermost thoughts and musical prowess through the captivating melodies of Schumann. This special vinyl product contains a 12" booklet with exclusive photo content of Tiffany. Born in Hong Kong, Tiffany Poon has appeared with orchestras and in recital throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and China since she was first accepted to the Juilliard pre-college program at the age of eight. She made her PENTATONE debut in 2024 with Diaries.
Martin: Masses, Canticles & Motets
Linn Records
CD
$20.99
Nov 01, 2024
Following it's first album for Linn - a recording of motets by the English expatriates Philips and Dering - The Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, travels a few centuries forward, turning now to the vibrant and engaging choral music by it's Director of Music, Matthew Martin. The album showcases a collection of works written between 2004 and 2022, which includes some world premiere recordings. From simple mass and motet settings to more complex festival anthems and canticles, the music is broadly and unabashedly composed as an extension to a familiar twentieth-century English idiom, his varied style traversing both the Anglican and Catholic traditions with hints of less familiar European chant and polyphony. This is music choirs will wholeheartedly add to their repertoire.
Georgian Project
Ars Produktion
SACD
$21.99
Jan 31, 2025
Shorena Tsintsabadze: For me, there is no more beautiful place in the world than Georgia. Everything in it is beautiful and unique. I owe the development of my personality and character to my roots, my family and my motherland, which I am always proud of. With this project, I would like to present the music of Georgian composers from different eras, from the 19th century to the present, in order to give an impression of how the compositional traditions changed and how Georgian classical music developed. Despite the extraordinary musicality of our people, cultural traditions, folklore and Orthodox singing date back to the 4th century BC. Classical music emerged quite late (the first opera and ballet theatre in Georgia was founded in 1851 and the first opera "?" - "Twilight" was not written until 1923 by Zakhari Paliashvili). The reason for such a late development of classical music is the constant struggle for survival and the endless wars from all sides. Georgia is a state with more than 3,000 years of history and during this time there has not been a single generation, including myself and the younger ones, that has not experienced the horrors of war. Despite all this, we not only survived the fighting, but also preserved our culture, the Georgian language and script. Today, when Georgia has received the status of a candidate country and we have never been so close to Europe, the fate of my country is once again in danger. We are forced to fight for our rights and defend the constitution of our country, which is attacked from time to time by certain forces both inside and outside the country's borders. I really hope and want to believe that we will defend the interests of our country and give it the opportunity to continue on it's path towards European integration in order to become a worthy member of the EU family. I think that this album is relevant in the context of recent events and trends in the world. I believe that more people want to get to know our culture, art and music, which my album will definitely contribute to.
Langlais: Complete Music for Trumpet & Organ
Brilliant Classics
CD
$11.99
$14.99
Save 20%
Apr 18, 2025
- Jean Langlais (1907-1991) was a French composer and organist famous for his sacred music and his role as organist at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paris. - He was born on 15 February 1907 in La Fontenelle, Brittany, France. He lost his sight when he was only two years old due to untreated glaucoma. His disability did not prevent him from following his passion for music. He attended the National Institute of the Young Blind in Paris, where he studied piano and organ under Andre Marchal, and later the Paris Conservatoire, where he was a student of Marcel Dupre, Paul Dukas and Charles Tournemire. - In 1931, Langlais began teaching at the National Institute of the Young Blind, a position he held until 1976. His career as an organist took a major turn in 1945 when he was appointed titular organist at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmartre, a position he held until 1987. - Langlais was also a prolific composer. His musical output comprises over 250 works, including masses, motets, organ pieces, and chamber music. His compositional style combines elements of Gregorian, Baroque and modernism, characterized by a strong expressiveness and rich harmonic texture. - This new recording presents Langlais' complete works for trumpet and organ, a happy combination of s strongly melodic and a harmonic instrument. Presented are a set of Chorales, a Sonatina and series of small character pieces. - Played by Nicolas Bernard and Tommaso Mazzoletti, playing the Brondino Vegezzi-Bossi organ at St. Paul protestant church in Gland, Switzerland.
Hensel & Mendelssohn: Guess Who?
Alpha
CD
$20.99
Feb 28, 2025
Pianist Olga Pashchenko creates musical narratives with selections from Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words. As children, the two immensely prodigious siblings enjoyed using text to inspire their piano pieces, although which of them was the actual inventor of the genre remains a mystery. It is possible that they either co-created this genre, or even that Fanny could have been the creator of the genre traditionally ascribed exclusively to Felix. This music, although wordless, is bursting with poetry and well-suited to the Conrad Graf piano from 1836 that Pashchenko chose for this recording. The Graf piano, a brand favoured by Felix, has a recitative-like quality that Pashchenko uses to perfectly articulate the poetry inherent in these Lieder ohne Worte or as Fanny called them, Lieder fur das Pianoforte.
Hensel, Katzer & Scarlatti: tradizione e liberta
Ars Produktion
SACD
$21.99
Jul 19, 2024
Domenico Giuseppe Scarlatti (1685-1757) devoted himself to a single form like no other composer before him. The more than 550 mostly single-movement sonatas for the harpsichord influenced numerous composers throughout the ages, from his contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach and Frederic Chopin to 21st-century artists such as Georg Katzer. The four selected sonatas K 27, K 213, K 247 and K 268 represent only a small selection of his immensely varied oeuvre and yet they illuminate all the different aspects of his extraordinarily creative composing. Scarlatti himself modestly described many of his sonatas as "Essercizi per gravicembalo". His sonata works contain every conceivable technical challenge, as he himself was one of the most sought-after and virtuoso harpsichordists of his time. Georg Katzer (1935-2019) composed the Five Miniatures in 1971. They are primarily to be understood as gestural music. Although the playing technique is traditional with a few exceptions (the use of the elbows or rolling hands), the miniatures reveal a wealth of ideas in musical forms of expression that evoke the most diverse sensations in a short space of time and space. The work Due to my admiration for D.S. was composed by Georg Katzer in 2001. The close relationship between Fanny Hensel (1805-1847) and her brother Felix Mendelssohn encouraged both siblings throughout their musical careers. And yet, throughout her life, Fanny Hensel fought for even remotely similar recognition of her extraordinary talent as a pianist, conductor and composer. The Four Songs for Pianoforte, Opus 2, are among the few works published by Bote & Bock in 1846 during Fanny Hensel's lifetime.
Finnissy And The Guitar – Complete Works (1966–2022)
First Hand Records
CD
$21.99
May 08, 2026
Michael Finnissy's output for the guitar spans almost 60 years of his career and represents an enormous contribution to the repertoire of the instrument from one of Britain's most significant composers. Published a few days before Finnissy's 80th birthday, this bold and ambitious album celebrates this milestone by bringing together all of his works for solo guitar and guitar ensemble for the first time, in performances by Finnissy's collaborators and led by new music virtuoso and tireless guitar explorer Sam Cave.
BEETHOVEN: PIANO SONATAS VOL.8
HYPERION
CD
$18.49
May 31, 2019
The penultimate release in Angela Hewitt's cycle of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas features the Piano Sonata in F minor Op.2 No.1. The listener's understanding is again enhanced by Angela's illuminating booklet notes, in which she sets out her approach to performing these most canonic of works in the entire piano literature.