From TV theme tunes to a folk-inspired 'circle dance on seven notes' by Villa-Lobos, Laurence Perkins-aided by a wide variety of accompanists-presents another pleasing miscellany of composers and works (no fewer than fourteen of each) demonstrating the many moods and expressive potential of the bassoon.
In this superb program structured around major pieces composed in the last ten years of Mozart's life, Anna Prohaska and Riccardo Minasi sweep away the image of the well-mannered figure that tradition has tended to impose. They paint a bracingly complex portrait of the Salzburger after his move to Vienna, subtly blending the maestro's historical expertize with the vigor and freshness of Resonanz, here in electrifying form.
It was love at first sight when Mathilde Vialle and Thibaut Roussel first encountered the English bass viol and Venetian archlute preserved at Paris's Museum of Music. Both instruments are heard in this program of English music from the second half of the seventeenth century, much of it never recorded before. The exceptional sonorities of their two period instruments are complemented by the virginal of Ronan Khalil and the tenor voice of Zachary Wilder for an album as subtle as it is sublime.
The Trio Wanderer pays tribute to Dvorak and his last two trios. Alongside the somber interiority and fiery intensity of the Trio No.3 in F minor, this program presents a new version of the famous Dumky Trio, to which the Wanderers owe their first great success on record. Passionate and melancholy by turns, it is also the most innovative and the freest of Dvorak's trios. A fine symbol for the Trio Wanderer, which has just reached it's thirtieth year of existence without ever ceasing to surprise and touch us.
Following on their exploration of 17th-century English song (Perpetual Night), Sebastien Dauce, the Ensemble Correspondances and Lucile Richardot find themselves on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the same century. They have unearthed a treasury of music both beautiful and rare: the sacred music of the Court of Stockholm. This is a fascinating musical voyage in the form of a meditation on the meaning of life, and it's ending.
Multiple Grammy-nominated Estonian bassoonist Martin Kuuskmann showcases the expressive power and versatility of his instrument in this compel]ing album featuring three concertos written for him by close collaborators: Tonu Korvits, Eino Tamberg, and Erkki-Sven Tuur. With the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra under Mihhail Gerts, this recording offers a vivid journey through contemporary Estonian soundscapes-from Tamberg's Stravinskyan dynamism and Korvits's folk-infused impressionism to Tuur's rhythmically charged reinvention. The album is a bold testament to the bassoon's modern voice from one of the instrument's foremost exponents.
Rising star Manami Suzuki makes her highly anticipated recording debut on Orchid Classics, following the pianist's historic win at the 12th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, where she became the first Japanese and first female laureate of the prestigious award while also earning the coveted Audience Prize. Showcasing the poise and vitality that captivated audiences during the Hamamatsu Competition, Suzuki presents Haydn's elegant Piano Sonata No.13 alongside Schubert's expansive and lyrical Sonata in G major, D.894, as well as works by Bach and Szymanowski. These masterpieces reveal Suzuki's exceptional sensitivity, profound expressiveness, and the range of her interpretive insight.
This though provoking and beautiful recital from Yuval Zorn reflects the Zeitgeist of our troublesome times. "This album was created during a time of war, the full impact of which is yet to be understood, and it's making provided me with a much-needed safe haven from the turbulence outside. Much like Debussy's "and the moon descends on a past temple" (from Images II), the music here embodies not only the decay of an old order but also the potential growth of a new one, with it's hopes and perils', says Yuval Zorn.
London, 1760. Handel had just died and George III acceded to the throne. During the reign of this monarch and his queen Charlotte, both discerning musicians, musical life in the British capital was to enjoy an exceptional revival. Virtuosos and composers from all over Europe flocked there, vying with each other in originality and modernity. La Reveuse offers us a chance to sample the heady climate of the age.
Seven years after their album, Debussy et le jazz, the artists of the Quatuor Debussy have conceived the idea of celebrating Ravel in three quite different ways. They have recorded a transcription by Alain Brunier of the French composer's famous Quartet, Ma mere l'Oye (the Mother Goose suite), as well as inviting vibraphone virtuoso Franck Tortiller to join in the fun by combining the original score of Le Tombeau de Couperin with jazz improvisations - an approach that Ravel, from all we know of him, would have greatly relished.
A visionary composer, Domenico Scarlatti pushed beyond the frontiers of keyboard writing, fusing radiant melodies with spirited rhythms and daring technical feats. In this compendium of his most attractive sonatas, Javier Perianes employs his consummate virtuosity with audible enjoyment, revealing all the richness and inventiveness of his adoptive compatriot's musical language.
The Far Flung Trio are Katherine Hunka (violin), Dermot Dunne (accordion) and Malachy Robinson (double bass): the name reflects their sense of fun and the eclecticism in their programing and performances. All leading Irish players, the trio is fueled by the sheer joy generated in playing together. This evident rapport is one of the elements that particularly delights audiences, and their aim has always been to deliver the highest calibre of musicianship in a way that is appealing and accessible to all. The trio's new album, Umbrellas, delivers a track list of their favorite pieces, by Gershwin, Piazzolla, Brahms and many more, performed with a freshness and fun that mark the Far Flung Trio apart.
Celebrated accordionist Bjarke Mogensen showcases the full expressive power of the classical accordion in this compelling album of 20th and 21st-century concertos. Concertos & Movements spans diverse sound worlds, featuring music by Ihor Shamo, Anders Koppel, and Ole Schmidt-three composers united by their innovation and curiosity. The centrepiece is Shamo's Concerto for Accordion and String Orchestra (1981), a rarely heard Ukrainian work blending cathedral-like sonorities with folkloric flair. Two movements from Anders Koppel's Accordion Concerto No.2 receive world-premiere recordings: the introspective Cadenza for solo accordion, and the rhythmically charged Allegro con brio, arranged for chamber ensemble. Ole Schmidt's Concerto No.2 (1963), another world premiere, is a virtuosic and jazzinflected work that was decades ahead of it's time. Across all works, Mogensen's dynamic interpretations are supported by Denmark's finest ensembles, including the Aarhus Chamber Orchestra under Magnus Plejdrup.
To mark it's tenth anniversary, The Fourth Choir presents Songs of Ourselves - a powerful and diverse collection of choral works that reflects the ensemble's mission to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and it's commitment to artistic excellence, inclusivity, and amplifying underrepresented voices. Spanning five centuries, the program features first studio recordings of works by living composers such as Kerry Andrew, Shruthi Rajasekar, and Stuart Beatch alongside Renaissance gems by Raffaella Aleotti, Caterina Assandra, and Vicente Lusitano. From the ecstatic longing of Emily Dickinson's "Wild Nights" to the poetic resistance of Mahvash Sabet in "The Imaginary Garden", these songs explore love, identity, nature, and protest. The music is united by a spirit of liberation and individuality while The Fourth Choir delivers a richly expressive, a cappella performance that honors the past while speaking urgently to the present. This is an album of courage, beauty, and choral artistry-offered with pride.
For their very first album with harmonia mundi, Robin Pharo and his ensemble Pres de votre oreille explore the highly poetical and personal world of William Lawes, the brilliant heir to Byrd and Gibbons. The gifted Lawes carried the instrumental arts and vocal music to an incredible height of perfection. This is a rediscovery to make the heart rejoice.
Forbidden love, the extremes of passion, and a soaring lyricism are all on display in Piramo e Tisbe. One of Hasse's very last operas, he broke the rules of opera seria and created a masterpiece. With a prestigious team of soloists, the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin restores it to life in all it's vivid colors, this work of astonishing modernity that was greatly admired by Mozart.
Brahms' Cello Sonata No.1 was composed at a time of great emotional upheaval in 1865. His mother was dying, and the composer having visited her in Hamburg, had immersed himself in the music of Bach for solace. The finale of the sonata has an uncanny resemblance to Contrapunctus XIII from The Art of Fugue. The second sonata is a product of the tranquil summer holiday Brahms spent in the scenic lakeside suburb of Hofstetten, outside Thun in Switzerland in 1886. The work is on a large symphonic scale in four movements, and in contrast to the earlier sonata's pensive and unsettled nature, is bathed in afternoon sunlight. Stanford composed his Ballata and it's companion, the Ballabile in 1918 for cello and orchestra. This is the product of the end of his compositional career, after his 7th and final symphony, and the large scale concertos. Effectively a cello concerto minus a first movement, Stanford made the version for cello and piano the same year. The Ballata is a delightful slow movement.
From the moving gentleness of a farewell to the world of childhood (Ma mere l'Oye) to the savage power of rituals from pre-Christian Russia (The Rite of Spring), Ravel and Stravinsky explore musical horizons of incredible modernity. The Kolesnikov-Tsoy duo offer a powerful yet poetic interpretation of these two masterpieces.
For their first harmonic mundi album, Florent Albrecht and his Ensemble L'Encyclopedie explore the mischievous world of the Mozarts, father and son. Whether in the well-known Toy Symphony, the tinkling bells of Leopold's A Musical Sleigh Ride or the 'How to compose all wrong' tutorial of Wolfgang's A Musical Joke, joy and fantasy are mixed with a portion of subtle wit - qualities shared by the polished stylistic approach of the performers.
