Franz Schubert's chamber music occupies a vital place in the Western classical canon, demonstrating both his lyrical genius and emotional depth. Though he is widely known for his lieder and symphonies, his chamber works represent some of the most profound and innovative compositions of the early Romantic era. The String Quintet in C major, D. 956, written just weeks before Schubert's death in 1828, stands as one of the towering achievements in chamber music. Scored for two cellos instead of the more common two violas, the work is known for it's rich, warm textures and emotional contrasts. The slow movement, in particular, is a masterclass in stillness and poignancy, often cited as one of the most sublime moments in all of chamber music. Schubert's string quartets trace his compositional development and deepening expressiveness. The Death and the Maiden quartet (D. 810) is especially significant, combining dramatic intensity with variations on his earlier song of the same name. The juxtaposition of lyrical beauty with stark fatalism reflects Schubert's own grappling with mortality and human vulnerability. His piano trios blend lyricism and formal sophistication. The trios are notable for their expansive melodies, rich harmonic language, and a sense of narrative continuity that hints at the symphonic. The violin sonatas (often referred to as "sonatinas") are earlier works, more modest in scope but filled with charm and grace. While not as emotionally profound as his later chamber works, they already display Schubert's melodic gift and innate sense of dialogue between instruments. The Trout Quintet (D. 667) is perhaps Schubert's most popular chamber work. It's unusual instrumentation featuring piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass and the famous set of variations on his song "Die Forelle" make it instantly appealing. Yet beyond it's surface charm, the work demonstrates Schubert's brilliance in crafting color and contrast, blending joy and depth seamlessly. Altogether, Schubert's chamber music reveals a composer capable of exploring the most intimate corners of the human soul. These works remain essential listening, offering profound insight into the expressive potential of small ensembles. Excellent performances by the Diogenes Quartet, the Amsterdam Piano Trio and the Berlin Philharmonic Octet.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of the Irish-born composer Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), SOMM Recordings is honoured to release his String Quartet No. 2 'Highgate' and String Quartet No. 4 'Harrogate' along with his Variations On an Irish Folk Tune. This follows SOMM's 2024 release of Wood's sixth and last String Quartet in a performance by the London Chamber Ensemble Quartet [SOMMCD 0692], which received a stunning review in The Observer, BBC Music Magazine, MusicWeb International, Klassik. Com and The Strad, and was a Gramophone recommended recording. Featured again on this album, the London Chamber Ensemble was formed in 2019 and is led by violinist Madeleine Mitchell. The ensemble has been praised for it's "high quality chamber music-making" (Musical Opinion) and it's "passionate and persuasive advocacy [and] gripping interpretations" (Gramophone. ) Charles Wood was born into a family of singers and musicians in Armagh, Ireland. He sang in the cathedral choir, became a student organist, and gained experience as a string player, particularly as a violist. By the time he was sixteen, Wood had begun to write chamber music. When, in 1883, he became one of fifty inaugural class members of the Royal College of Music-to study composition under Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and Sir Hubert Parry-he had composed at least one movement of a string quartet. By April 1885, he had completed his String Quartet No. 1. Two years after acquiring his degrees in 1890, Wood composed a second string quartet, which he nicknamed the 'Highgate,' (It seems that he drew the name from visits to see his brother, William, who was the music master at Highgate Grammar School. ) While a little reminiscent of Brahms, the string quartet does point to Wood's emerging individuality. The unusual third movement, for instance, makes use of a seven-bar ground bass coupled with an austere theme for his own instrument, the viola. In 1898, Wood married compatriot Charlotte Georgina Wills-Sandford.  When she was taking the waters in the famous Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate in August 1912, he completed his Fourth Quartet-hence the nickname. Wood's personal voice is evident in this quartet partly through his use of Irish folk melodies and dance tunes as thematic material; as in the captivating reel-like rondo theme of his finale, which is based on one of the Irish Melodies by the Irish writer Thomas Moore. A frequent source for many of Wood's Irish arrangements was Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909). His scintillating Variations on an Irish Folk Tune, dating from 25 August 1916, were based on Melody No. 749 of the 842 melodies in the collection.

Following her recital dedicated to exiled composers (BIS-2332), Sueye Park joins forces with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducted by Valentin Egel, to present concertante works for violin and orchestra by Karl Goldmark and Jean Sibelius. The two composers may belong to different generations and cultures, but their musical DNA is strikingly similar; both were virtuoso violinists who weathered financial and political storms, drew inspiration from Mendelssohn and Wagner, and penned masterful violin concertos. Their paths actually crossed in Vienna (1890-91), when Sibelius studied under Goldmark, and this brief but significant mentorship inspired violinist Sueye Park to pair their works on this album. At the heart of the album is Goldmark's Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 28 (1877), a sweeping, virtuosic masterpiece that marries Hungarian folk inflections with German Romanticism. Complementing this are Sibelius's exquisite shorter works: the late Suite JS 185, the lyrical Two Serious Melodies, Op. 77, and the highly expressive Humoresques, Op. 87. Together, this program celebrates two composers who were supremely at home writing for the violin-an instrument inextricably woven into the fabric of their musical identities.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) stands as one of the most compelling and complex composers of the twentieth century. Living and working in the Soviet Union, he was constantly caught between personal artistic expression and the demands of a highly restrictive political system. His music often reflects this tension, combining sharp irony, deep tragedy, and moments of bleak humor. Among his chamber works, the two piano trios hold a special place, offering an intimate window into his emotional world at two very different stages of his life. Shostakovich's Piano Trio No.1 in C minor, Op.8, was composed in 1923, when he was only sixteen years old. Despite his youth, the trio already shows remarkable maturity. Written in a single movement, it reveals a lyrical and introspective character, strongly influenced by late Romantic traditions. Long, singing melodies and rich harmonies dominate the work, especially in the piano part. More than twenty years later, in 1944, Shostakovich composed the Piano Trio No.2 in E minor, Op.67, one of his most powerful chamber works. Written during World War II and dedicated to the memory of his close friend Ivan Sollertinsky, the trio confronts themes of death, grief, and suffering. It's four movements range from haunting stillness to violent intensity. The final movement is particularly striking, incorporating Jewish musical elements that suggest both mourning and bitter irony, possibly alluding to the atrocities of the Holocaust. Also included are the 7 Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok, a vocal cycle for soprano, violin, cello, and piano in which each piece explores a different instrumental combination - from duos to the full ensemble. In these Romances, music becomes inward speech - whispered, often suspended over silence. Blok's poems, filled with dreamlike visions and disturbing symbols, become the very fabric of the composition: each word, each image, finds it's sonic counterpart in a language of subtle timbres, controlled dissonance, and unresolved tension. The result is a cycle of miniature music-theatre scenes in which the voice and instruments do not merely accompany, but engage in dialogue. Played with great intensity and commitment by the Trio Kanon and soprano Irina Dubrovskaya.

World-premiere recordings of chamber-music collections by an overlooked master of the French Baroque. With two previous collections for Brilliant Classics - the Premier livre de pièces d'orgue on 2CDs and Trois Livres de Pieces de Clavecin on 4CDs - Pieter-Jan Belder has become the pre-eminent modern exponent of Jean-Francois Dandrieu, as reflected by the enthusiastic welcome in Fanfare for the organ volume: 'The playing here... is simply terrific. [Belder] has completely absorbed the French Baroque idiom as a native musical tongue and speaks it with absolute fluency... For anyone who loves the organ repertoire of the French Baroque, this is an essential purchase; highly recommended.' In this latest collection, Belder invites the listener to delve further into the output of this Parisian musician, who left behind precious few examples of his art on his death in 1739, but who won the admiration of both fellow musicians and royal patrons, most notably Louis XV. Published as Opus 1 in 1705 and Opus 2 around five years later, these collections of trio sonatas and violin sonatas represent a thorough and skilful assimilation of 'modern' Italian grammar - and most notably the influence of Corelli - into French gesture and style. Opus 1 represents a remarkably mature and purposeful integration of styles: at just 23, Dandrieu confidently asserts a distinct voice by seamlessly integrating the expressive nuances of the French harpsichord school into this Italian framework. Dandrieu's Op.2 sonatas do not merely reflect Italian influence; they actively transform it: in their formal clarity and expressive depth they embody both the elegance of Versailles and the vitality of Rome. To complete this volume, Pieter-Jan Belder plays three books of harpsichord pieces from Dandrieu's accomplished youth: most of them very brief dances, no more than a minute long, deftly sketching an idea for the equal enjoyment of performer and listener. Like the chamber music sets, these have never been recorded complete before, and the set as a whole advances our appreciation for Dandrieu as a major figure of the French Baroque.

EVERYTHING CHANGED ON JANUARY 7, 2025 I never imagined we would evacuate our home in the Palisades-a place alive with laughter, music, and the joyful chaos of my husband, our two young daughters, and crazy rescue dog-never to return. So many dear friends lost everything: cherished family heirlooms, photographs, instruments, and music libraries that had taken a lifetime to build-all vanished in moments. That evening, from our hotel window, I watched the fires rage through the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains and sobbed, completely helpless. Yet from the ash and destruction, something profoundly beautiful emerged-much like the glowing fairy at the end of Fantasia, rising from Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. I commissioned Eric Whitacre to write a new work for violin and orchestra, and as the world changed, so did his composition. Little did I know that The Pacific Has No Memory would be born from these epic tragedies. This music has become salve for the soul-a warm, healing embrace for my broken heart. Tender and profound, it radiates love, hope, and renewal. I am eternally grateful to Eric Whitacre for creating this musical prayer and to the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for breathing life into it together. This recording is dedicated to all who were affected by the Los Angeles fires, and to the brave first responders who risked everything to save lives. - Anne Akiko Meyers

Between 1972 and 2018 the Ukrainian composer Yevhen Stankovych - born in 1942 and now the senior figure in Ukrainian music - produced a series of seventeen Chamber Symphonies, many of them doubling as concertos. This substantial body of music has remained largely unheard until now, even inside Ukraine, and should prove a major discovery for audiences everywhere. These works cover a kaleidoscopic range of moods - lyrical, rhythmically propulsive, bashfully hesitant, buoyantly assertive, elegiac, optimistic - expressed in a direct language with it's distant roots in the mild modernism of Berg, Britten, Janacek, Shostakovich and like composers. Stankovych's achievement is unparalleled in the history of music not simply because of the sheer number of his Chamber Symphonies - they also contain some of the finest music of the past half-century.

This album brings together major choral works by Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar, reflecting the richness of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British music. At it's centre is Parry's de Profundis, a large-scale setting of Psalm 130, widely admired by contemporaries for it's emotional depth, contrapuntal mastery, and expressive journey from penitence to hope. Parry's anthem God Is Our Hope and Strength complements it with a grand, confident vision of choral architecture and spiritual assurance. Elgar is represented by the intimate partsong The Snow and the charming Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands, inspired by Alpine landscapes and folk traditions, capturing a more personal and lyrical side of his art.

Milestones is a cross-genre project by violinist Hugo Ticciati and the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, bringing together music by Josquin des Prez, Igor Stravinsky, and Miles Davis. Conceived around shared anniversary years, the album reflects O/Modernt's practice of placing music from different periods and traditions into direct conversation. Instrumental arrangements and collaborative performances draw attention to common ground between Renaissance polyphony, early modernism, and jazz, particularly in approaches to rhythm, texture, and improvisation. Recorded in Germany and the UK in 2021, the project documents an ensemble-led approach that emphasises attentive listening, flexible roles for soloists, and collective music-making across stylistic boundaries.

Hungarian violinist Kristof Barati has established himself as one of the most captivating voices on the contemporary classical scene. Born in Budapest in 1979 to a violinist mother and cellist father, he spent much of his childhood in Venezuela, where by the age of eight he was already appearing as a soloist with major orchestras. His formative studies took him back to Hungary at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and later to Paris, where he studied with Eduard Wulfson-a pupil of legends such as Yehudi Menuhin, Nathan Milstein and Henryk Szeryng. Barati's artistry is defined by a compelling blend of technical precision and poetic expressivity. Critics have praised his "vast expressive range and impeccable technique," as well as his ability to let the music shine above all. He performs on the exquisite 1703 "Lady Harmsworth" Stradivarius, a tool of rare power and beauty, loaned to him by the Stradivari Society of Chicago. In recognition of his contributions, he was awarded Hungary's highest cultural honour, the Kossuth Prize, in 2014. While Barati's discography is impressively broad (encompassing Bach, Ysaÿe, Paganini, Mozart, Korngold and more), his relationship with Beethoven is especially noteworthy. Although his recorded output emphasizes the violin-and-piano sonatas (with Klara Wurtz) rather than only the concerto, his mastery of Beethoven's voice carries over beautifully into his concerto performances. His interpretation of Beethoven's concerto is marked by clarity of line, purity of tone, and a sense of respectful freedom. In the Allegro ma non troppo he finds an elegant balance between classical poise and Romantic impetus; in the Larghetto he offers a deeply lyrical calm; and in the Rondo he embraces spirited vitality without ever sacrificing musical integrity. Reviews of his performances emphasize how Barati "treats music with the greatest respect... knowing his instrument very well so that he can give himself as much freedom as he would want." For listeners seeking a fresh take on this cornerstone of the violin repertoire, Barati brings an interpretation that is both grounded and revelatory: one rooted in tradition, yet vividly alive for today's audiences. Bovenkant formulier This recording presents Barati with the Concerto Budapest, conducted by Andras Keller, one of Hungary's best orchestras and conductors.

Romanticism had many faces. Mozart's spirit still floated through musical life, and Beethoven's mighty music set the benchmark for every Romantic composer. Mozart's legacy was carried forward by two great pianists: Hummel, a pupil of Mozart, and Ries, a pupil of Beethoven. They each steered Romanticism in a different direction. Newspapers across Europe wrote of the 'wild Romanticism' of the bohemian Ries, now seen as a forerunner of Schumann. Meanwhile, the virtuoso Hummel enchanted and astonished his audiences. Around 1815, at the time of the Congress of Vienna, he was the most famous pianist in the world, and Liszt was crazy about his music. Schubert, by contrast, was the creator and embodiment of personal expressiveness in the Romantic era. He performed only in private circles and had no interest in empty virtuosity, even though he was a superb pianist whose instrument, according to contemporaries, would sing under his hands. This new recording presents the Piano Quartet in G major by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837), the Piano Quartet in F minor by Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838), and the Adagio & Rondo Concertante by Franz Schubert (1797-1828).

A new and complete survey of the attractive body of cello sonatas which, in his day, helped to make Antonio Caldara a Viennese rival to the fame of Antonio Vivaldi in Venice. Born in Venice as the son of a violinist, Caldara grew up as a chorister at the Basilica di San Marco, and won important posts in Mantua, Rome and Barcelona, as a maestro di capella to royal courts. But it was his move to Vienna during the 1710s which secured his name and his fortune. Becoming Vice-Kapellmeister to the Imperial Court in 1716, Caldara introduced the late Venetian style to Central Europe, and it's influence remained a determining factor in both church music and opera as well as instrumental music until long after his death in 1736. Through sacred works such as the oratorio Maddalena al piedi di Cristo, Caldara has won a following on record in the modern era. However, his surviving output of instrumental music has remained largely unexplored. Publishing his Op.1 Trio Sonatas in 1688, Caldara refers to himself as a 'musico di violoncello', and there can be no doubt from this collection that he knew his way around the instrument. They were composed between 22 April and 26 July 1735: Caldara's sheer facility has perhaps told against him, with a total output of over three thousand separate works. But he knew his craft, and melody seems to have come readily to him. A few Lezioni (Nos. 43, 23 & 1) from Caldara's published instruction method for learning the cello are included as preludes to Sonatas Nos. 8, 10 and 12. Most of the sonatas belong to the four-movement 'sonata da chiesa' form, but Caldara also used the three-movement archetype which became increasingly standard. There is no shortage of opportunities for virtuosic display, as well as for lyricism. These recordings are made by musicians immersed in the Italian late-Baroque world. In it's expanded form, L'Arte dell' Arco has made much praised recordings of Haydn and Vivaldi for Brilliant Classics, including a comprehensive box of Vivaldi's Concertos Opp. 1-12. These Italian musicians speak and sing Caldara's music with unforced fluency. - Antonio Caldara (1670-1736), an Italian Baroque composer, was born in Venice, where he was a chorister in the famous San Marco, with Legrenzi as his teacher. He soon spread his wings across Europe and held several important posts in Mantua, the Spanish court in Barcelona, Rome and eventually the post of Kapellmeister at the Imperial Court in Vienna. Caldara left a substantial oeuvre, consisting of instrumental music in the tradition of Corelli, sacred music and operas. - Caldara's sonatas for cello and basso continuo exemplify the transition from the late Baroque style toward the emerging galant aesthetic. These works are clearly written by a master of the instrument, as Caldara evidently was. The sonatas typically follow a four-movement structure, alternating slow and fast tempos, in the tradition of the sonata da chiesa. They blend lyrical, cantabile lines with virtuosic passages, showing the cello's agility and warm tone. - Played by one of Italy's foremost "Early Music" cellists, Francesco Galligioni, playing with fellow members of the ensemble L'Arte dell'Arco. He successfully recorded the complete cello concertos by Vivaldi, works by Dall'Abaco, sonatas by Lanzetti and others.

There are moments in music when time seems to pause, and with Arcangelo Corelli's music, I have experienced that enchanted stillness-where each note is not just heard but felt deeply. His music, elegant and radiant, is the gentle whisper of a bygone era, yet it breathes timeless warmth and light. Corelli's art is a delicate conversation between violin and continuo, a living breath of harmony and counterpoint that dances with noble grace. Each phrase unfolds like a tender story, where voices seek, answer, and embrace one another-like cherished friends sharing secrets across the ages. It was through my mentor, Ryo Terakado, and his luminous recording of the Violin Sonatas, Op. 5 that I first stepped into this radiant world. Since then, Corelli's melodies have been a constant companion-like a soft glow in the twilight, a source of inspiration and solace. Corelli's influence extends far beyond my own story. His style shaped the musical language of generations-admired openly by Francois Couperin, absorbed deeply into the work of Jean-Marie Leclair, and echoed, even centuries later, by virtuosi such as Pablo Sarasate and Niccolo Paganini. His music is both spiritual and earthly-a beacon of simplicity and profound beauty. I am deeply grateful to Ryo Terakado for guiding me to this wellspring of grace, to Kaori Uemura and Francois Guerrier for their artistry, and to our magical producer Guido Tichelman and the Byucksan Corporation for nurturing this project. - Eun-Shik Kim

Giuseppe Cambini, born in Italy in 1746 and based for most of his life in Paris, left so much fine music - over 600 compositions - that it is surprising that the year and place of his death remain uncertain. Among that huge output are over 100 string quintets using a second cello rather than another viola, giving them an unusually rich sonority. Cambini's elegant melodic manner and his spontaneous counterpoint help explain why his chamber music was so popular during his lifetime - but not why it has been forgotten since then: it's refreshingly natural style has something of Mozart's tunefulness and Haydn's bright craftsmanship, and it's more thoughtful moments occasionally look ahead to Beethoven.

September 2026, Metier Records presents Cliff Edge from Irish-born composer David Wallace: a striking new album of six works that illuminate his distinctive approach to material-led composition. Scored for forces ranging from solo bass clarinet to mixed chamber ensemble, the album presents a world where musical ideas behave like living organisms - shifting, resisting, and revealing themselves through pressure and transformation. The performers include Heather Roche, Chenyin LI, Jean Kelly (harp), James Widden (violin/viola), Heather Holford, and other leading UK and international soloists and chamber musicians. Wallace's compositional style blends classical elegance with modern innovation, often including elements of traditional Irish music, at times also featuring extended techniques or electronics. His music takes shape organically, instinctively allowing the music to go where it wants emotionally, balancing tradition with a fresh, contemporary perspective to create a unique voice. The pieces on Cliff Edge were written between 2006 and 2025 for different performers and circumstances, yet they share a common thread: each begins with a musical material that finds it's own path throughout the piece. These materials can be as simple as a grain of an instrument, the weight of a harmony, the friction between two lines, or the memory of a place. Some are intimate gifts; others are studies in instability or quiet acts of devotion. What unites them is a belief that music has it's own agency - that if you listen closely, the material will show you how it wants to unfold. At the heart of the album is the title work, Cliff Edge, a turbulent and finely etched piano piece that explores instability as a structural force. Surrounding it are five contrasting but deeply connected works: the fragile, breath-driven L'Oiseau mis en cage for bass clarinet; the ritualised, keening energy of Banshee for harp and voice; and H.B.J.W., a theme and five variations for violin and cello, written as a 50th birthday gift. The album also features Five Vignettes from the River Avon, a set of distilled landscape impressions for clarinet and basset horn, and Canticles, a luminous triptych for harp, flute, clarinet, and string quartet that closes the disc with a sense of quiet devotion. 'These works are not stories,' Wallace writes. 'They are environments. Each one begins with a material that behaves in a particular way, and the piece grows from listening to that behaviour.' David Wallace studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Richard Baker and in Ireland with Rhona Clarke, and his music has received international recognition, including awards from Boston Metro Opera and the Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize. Residencies at the Guildhall School, the Cork School of Music, and Clapham Chamber Concerts have shaped his distinctive voice, and his works are performed widely in the UK and abroad. He is Head of Junior Music Courses at the Guildhall School.

Among those composers contemporary to Mozart and Beethoven, Jan Ladislaus Dussek counts as the most original, imaginative and often extreme. His life, as turbulent and eventful as his music, took him across Europe, from Bohemia to Paris to London, winning along the way a reputation as a dazzling keyboard virtuoso at a time when the piano itself was undergoing rapid evolution. His own music, written to exploit that virtuosity but also to appeal to the expanding market among Europe's middle-class for domestic music-making, mirrors the temper of his times - not least in his violin sonatas, which Julia Huber and Miriam Altmann have been documenting in this ground-breaking cycle on Brilliant Classics. Volume 5 of the cycle opens with the Sonatas Op.5 Nos. 1 and 2, which Dussek completed in 1788 and dedicated to the aristocratic French pianist Helene de Montgeroult, who went on to survive the Revolution and become the first female teacher of piano at the Paris Conservatoire. Her own compositions are now belatedly winning justified admiration, and their originality may owe something to Dussek's example. These sonatas do not follow the convention for the time of compliant violin writing as an accompaniment to flashy keyboard fireworks: rather they are composed with the two instruments as equals: a balance which can be appreciated all the more satisfyingly when played, as here, on the instruments of Dussek's own time. While dating from two years later, published in 1790, the Op.12 sonatas are less ambitious in scale: two movements each, and dedicated to one of Dussek's wealthy patrons in London, Maria Cosway. The B-flat major Sonata Op.12 No.2 is particularly appealing with it's variation set on 'God Save the King', which Beethoven would soon treat as the subject for piano variations with similarly shrewd commercial motives in mind. Anyone following the series will be eager to collect the latest volume, but newcomers to the fascinating world of Dussek can start here, secure in the expectation of rich entertainment.

Divine Art is delighted to present Made in Germany, from Texas-based Olmos Ensemble, the first in an exciting series of albums catalogued by country, presenting rarely performed and unrecorded works for mixed chamber instrumentation. Originally formed by the principal players of the San Antonio Symphony, Olmos Ensemble has established itself as one of the premier chamber music organizations in Texas, and features leading musicians from across the United States. Made in Germany will be released as they open their 32nd Season. Each album in the series will feature a works of varied instrumentation, creating a unique collection of recorded chamber repertoire that only an ensemble like Olmos - through their remarkable access to top musicians around the United States - could bring together. The Ensemble's concert programming has won great acclaim for it's focus on showcasing neglected works by female composers, and Olmos is thrilled to bring this to their recordings as well, with each album in the series featuring works by women composers, including many premieres. Made in Germany features three composers of German origin: Richard Strauss, Rudolf Tillmetz, and Ruth Schonthal. The album includes the first recording of Laszlo Varga's highly regarded arrangement of Strauss' Don Quixote for six instruments: clarinet, French horn, violin, viola, cello and piano, which includes every core member of Olmos Ensemble apart from flute. As the original primary voices in the larger orchestrated work (all but piano), these six instruments work wonderfully together in recreating the thrilling tale of Don Quixote. Also included is the first professional recording of Rudolf Tillmetz's only chamber work, the Nocturne for Flute, Horn, and Piano, Op. 31. One of the few Romantic-era trios for this unusual instrumentation, the piece reflects the salon music tradition of late 19th-century Germany, emphasizing lyrical writing and equal interplay between instruments, and although not widely known is a valuable work in the horn and flute chamber music repertoire. German-born Jewish composer, Ruth Schonthal fled Nazi persecution early in her life, first moving to Mexico and later America to study with Paul Hindemith. Completing the album is a rare recording of her late-career Theme and Variations for Solo Flute, which distills her lifelong commitment to melodic expressiveness and emotional narrative into a unique work for solo flute. Future albums in this series will focus on the Czech Republic, America, Italy and Austria. 'We are excited to record music that has never before been paired together on an album and present to the classical music loving public a unique set of all-encompassing recordings that will range from solo works through nonets and possibly larger. With the group consisting of people living in entirely different parts of the US, Olmos Ensemble is unique in it's ability to maintain 31 (and soon 32) seasons of existence, all while presenting lesser known works in addition to insightful interpretations of the great standards.' Members of Olmos Ensemble on this recording are: Artistic Director Mark Teplitsky, Assistant Principal Flute of the Naples Philharmonic, previously second flute at Houston Symphony; violinist Eric Gratz, a soloist, concertmaster, chamber musician, and Artistic Director of the American Chamber Music Society in Chicago; Ilya Shterenberg, Acting Principal Clarinet of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (Canada), and Principal Clarinet of several orchestras across the US; cellist Julian Schwarz, first prize winner at the inaugural Schoenfeld International Competition 2013 and a founding member of the Frisson Ensemble; Jeff Garza, principal horn of the Oregon Symphony and the Bellingham Festival of Music; violist Colin Brookes, a founding member of the award-winning Ulysses Quartet, and award-winning soloist; soloist and chamber musician Elizabeth Dorman (piano), a regular guest Keyboard at the San Francisco Symphony, and faculty member of the San Fransisco Conservatory of Music.

Kraig Grady, an American based in Australia, is a microtonal composer. He explains it thus: 'Alternative tunings are a major inspiration for my compositional explorations. The pivotal point for me was meeting with tuning theorist Ervin Wilson and witnessing Harry Partch's U.S. Highball in 1975. I was convinced that working with different instruments and tunings was going to be a major artistic movement. I began studying tuning with Wilson which continued for as long as we knew each other. I'm interested in using acoustic instruments as sound sources to explore new acoustic phenomena that cannot be mistaken for electronic manipulation.' The starting point for the works on this CD was to record each performer playing individual notes in the given microtonal tuning with extreme pitch accuracy. The recordings are edited to capture the personal expressivity of the players and the individuality of their gestures in the recordings become inseparable from the composition process. These recordings of individual notes are then weaved together to form melodic lines and combined to build harmonies and shifting textures. Liner notes by Grady with illustrated samples.