Ultra-sensitive poet of the keyboard Adam Laloum immerses us in the kaleidoscopic world of Schumann: the famous Kreisleriana and their outbursts of passion and reverie heard alongside the rather rarer Novelletten, a theatre of the intimate and fantastic. Everywhere Laloum revels in the emotional riches of a piano indwelt by the inner voice of romanticism.
This is not Julien Libeer's first Ravel recording, but for a long time he has wanted to explore the whole of Ravel's piano works, even a little more. For only the complete works, or nearly, are essential in order to square the circle. "And yet, we keep studying them with 'all we can bring as an offering', as Lipatti used to say. His music - lucid, ardent - wakes you up, keeps you on the edge. In passing, it seems to make amends for all that's imperfect about the world."
Brtish pianist Alexander Ullman, presents a program of Edvard Grieg's Moods, Songs and Lyric Pieces. The prize of the album, Alexander's own transcriptions of music from the Peer Gynt Suite No.1, which draws out the color of the orchestra from the piano, perhaps more than the composer's own. Like Chopin, Grieg was more comfortable creating exquisite miniatures rather than large scale orchestral works. Both produced concertos for the piano, and Grieg's example is one of the most popular in the repertoire, but it is in his small-scale solo works that his poetic musical expression had free reign. Alexander Ullman plays Book 10, Moods, and seven pieces from 1907, probably the last music Grieg composed. The program also includes a selection of songs arranged by the composer for solo piano.
Shostakovich regarded his 3rd String Quartet as one of his best works and initially gave each of the movements titles such as 'blithe ignorance of the future cataclysm' and 'Forces of war unleased', but then withdrew the titles shortly after completing the work. Why he did this we don't know, maybe he was wary of the Soviet authorities reading unpatriotic meanings into them. Whatever the reasons, the 3rd is a powerful statement containing the composer's dry humor, with a good dash of sarcasm, the sinister and the passionate. Saariaho's Terra Memoria, her 2nd String Quartet, bears the subtitle 'for those departed.' The composer said that "we continue to remember those who are no longer with us. Their life is complete, nothing will be added... our experiences of being with them, different aspects of their personality, certain memories haunt our dreams, some remain clear flashes which we can relive."
The two works on this album were commissioned by conductor Paul Sacher in the 1930s for the orchestra he founded in 1926, the Basel Chamber Orchestra. This orchestra was famous for it's adventurous programing, often combining baroque repertoire with contemporary works. Bartok's Divertimento nods at the baroque concerto grosso in it's use of individual groups of players, and the title 'divertimento' recalls Mozart's many examples of this form. By contrast, the earlier of the two commissions avoids any musical category - Bartok simply called the work Music for Strings, Percussion & Celeste. 'Strings' in this works title includes harp and piano, 'percussion' adds not only timpani, but snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, tam-tam and xylophone, and of course the sparkling sound provided by the celeste. It is a beautiful score, culminating in a brilliant finale with dance rhythms and folk dance syncopations.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner present two works that stand at opposite ends of Richard Strauss's creative life, effectively bookending the two World Wars of the 20th century. Strauss's depiction of a day in the life of an Alpine mountain was completed as the First World War took hold, while his deeply personal threnody for German musical life was written in the final months of the Second World War. Now in the fifth year of his tenure as Principal Conductor of the LPO, Ed Gardner continues to be one of today's most sought-after conductors. These recordings are a testament to the strength of the partnership between the LPO and Gardner, showcasing the Orchestra at both it's most epic and it's most intimate.
A memory of family evenings, this album created with the renowned musician and producer Rob Mounsey goes far beyond a simple recital: it is an intimate gathering, at the crossroads of ancestral recollection and musical imagination. Yiddish song, Romantic lied, opera arias, jazz, and Broadway musicals: a tenor already well-versed in early music ventures here across continents, generations, and repertoires. Each piece becomes the echo of a story shared between nostalgia, invention, and transmission.
This third and final album of the impressive complete set from the Cuarteto Casals immerses us in the twilight world of Shostakovitch's last three quartets. Legacy works of the years 1970-74, movingly marked by signs of his illness and acute awareness of approaching death, they strike the ear with their condensed formal daring and raw emotion.
On April 29, 1844 in Paris's Salle Erard, Charles-Valentin Alkan returned to the platform after an absence of six years. Bach, Scarlatti, Beethoven and Weber featured, as well as four of Alkan's latest compositions. Two of these appear on Andrew Yiangou's remarkable recital - the Op.22 Nocturne and the Op.23 E minor Saltarelle. The centre piece in the program is the misleadingly titled Sonatina in A minor, Op.61. This is a large-scale sonata of huge technical challenges. Busoni claimed that Alkan was, along with Chopin, Liszt, Schumann and Brahms was one of the five greatest composers for the piano since Beethoven. Alkan certainly discovered unheard of sonorities imbued with a disturbing power, and a preoccupation with the darker shades of human experience. Andrew Yiangou's program is a fascinating view into the musical world of one of the most enigmatic composers of the 19th century.
Jean Cocteau was many things: poet, playwright, artist, filmmaker, collaborator, self-inventor - each description fits, but none is sufficient. His work darts and pivots, one mask slipping as another appears. But beneath the surface, the same fixations recur, especially love, death, dependence and abandonment. This album stays close to his restlessness, touching melodrama, popular culture, prayer, aphorism, dance, cabaret and theatre, as styles collide, and the masks occasionally fall. At the centre of the program stands La Voix Humaine, Cocteau's searing study of love, loss and fractured communication, alongside a sequence of songs by Poulenc, Milhaud, Honegger, Auric and others reflecting Cocteau's wide artistic circle, where high art and popular culture meet without hierarchy. The result is not a comprehensive survey, but rather a carefully drawn portrait, shaped by affection and curiosity.
Karim Said became well-known after Christopher Nupen's film, Karim's Journey, documented his journey at age 14 from Jordan to the Purcell School in London. Daniel Barenboim had arranged for Karim to study at the school and has been a mentor. Karim was a member of the East West Divan Orchestra, created by Barenboim and Karim's uncle, the late Edward Said. Karim has established an orchestra in Amman and conducts and plays throughout the Middle East and Europe. For Karim's debut concerto recording, he is joined by his friend and fellow East West Divan alumni, conductor Domingo Hindoyan, and the chemistry between them is palpable. As Barenboim said of the young Karim, "What he already knows you cannot learn."
This new album brings together three works by Edward Picton-Turbervill, centred on Out of Eden, a large-scale meditation on humanity's relationship with the natural world. Written for the London Choral Sinfonia and a small group of instrumentalists, Out of Eden creates a rich sound world from modest forces, the score moving between moments of stillness and intensity as it combines choral writing with solo voices and instrumental color. The program is framed by two shorter works. Spell of Creation and Spell of Sleep, inspired by the poetry of Kathleen Raine, offer a more intimate contrast, while Songs of Eden, an instrumental suite, reflects on similar ideas in distilled form. Performed under Michael Waldron, the London Choral Sinfonia brings clarity and commitment to music that speaks with urgency but also restraint. Together, these works present a distinctive and thoughtful new voice in British choral writing.
The music for Assassin's Creed is here re-invented for piano, with the inspired playing of Nicolas Horvath. Recorded on a historic piano that formerly belonged to Nadia Boulanger, this album presents the iconic themes of the saga in a new artistic dimension, while totally respecting the milieu of the game. A landmark event, uniting musical demands with the culture of the video game.
A powerful meditation on grief, resilience, and the human spirit, Arirang marks the debut album of Korean-Canadian cellist Daniel Hamin Go. Drawing on music from across six centuries, the program interweaves works by Marin Marais, Caroline Shaw, Ernest Bloch, Franz Schubert, Claude Debussy, and newly commissioned pieces by Anna Pidgorna and Iman Habibi. Each piece speaks to universal experiences of sorrow and fortitude-from Marais's contemplative Les Voix Humaines, to Habibi's poignant Blood Moon, written in memory of Mahsa Amini, and Pidgorna's Grief Cycles, inspired by the Ukrainian lament Plyve Kacha Po Tysyni. At it's heart is the Korean folk song Arirang-a centuries-old melody of love and lament that becomes a recurring, evolving thread throughout the album. Composed and arranged by Taran Plamondon and Daniel Hamin Go, the final track transforms this cultural anthem into a moment of catharsis-a musical exhale that carries generations of pain towards light. For Daniel Hamin Go, Arirang is more than a debut-it is a statement of purpose, a present-day prayer for compassion, hope, and unity. Go's playing is rich in nuance, and his artistic vision is both deeply personal and universally relevant, honoring the past while speaking urgently to our times.
Brigitte Engerer recorded several albums for harmonia mundi that stand as benchmarks today. This box set brings together her complete recordings for solo piano - and what a pleasure it is to listen once again to these performances - so powerful, so colorful, and so absolutely right. From Beethoven to Mussorgsky via Schumann, and including her unmissable Chopin Nocturnes, this is a tremendous panorama of the artistry of this great pianist, lost to us far too soon.
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.
The majority of the repertoire is the result of a commissioning project from 2023, through which each composer was asked to set an excerpt from the Old Testament's Song of Songs - a source noted for it's radical approach to topics like sex, love, and feminism. Throughout Latvia's rich history of choral music, female composers have stood alongside their male colleagues and made equal contributions to the repertoire. Significant national figures from the late 19th and early 20th century like Jazeps Vitols and Emils Darzins are joined by Lucija Garuta. The works of Peteris Vasks are matched in stature and intensity by the compositions of Maija Einfelde. Today the innovative works of Andris Dzenitis and Martins Vilums share their position in the repertoire with works from Gundega Smite and Ruta Paidere
For this, the eleventh volume of his complete edition, Benjamin Alard has assembled all the keyboard masterpieces that Bach published under the heading Clavier-Ubungen I and II - the six Partitas, the Italian Concerto and Overture in the French Style, supplemented here by the brilliant Duetti from Clavier-Ubung III. Two remarkable harpsichords lend their voices to these expert readings: the sumptuous Hass of 1740, and for the first time in this recording venture, an English Kirkman built in 1757.
For their first CD exploring the world of Bach, Sebastien Dauce and his Ensemble Correspondances give new life to the young composer's first sacred cantatas - BWV 4, 106 and 131 - written in Muhlhausen. Combining the Lutheran tradition with a faint breeze from Italy, these works already reveal the dramatic invention and formal rigour of a fully functioning creative mind.
