In this wonderful recording, baroque splendor, atmospheric and stylish elegance and cheerful Christmas melodies are put together in masterful arrangements for a festive Advent trumpet gala. The outstanding trumpeters Gernot Kahofer, Manuel Lichtenwöhrer and Leonhard Leeb are supported by the organist Bernhard Macheiner and the drummer Thomas Mair. "Noble-blown trumpet concerts and poetic enchantment that will captivate you..." The ensemble from Vienna is praised by critics and audiences worldwide. Artistic brilliance and diverse, exciting programs merge into an evening full of emotions, regardless of whether they play in a concert hall, a church or a cathedral! The three trumpeters sound classics in new tones. All ensemble members are members of various ensembles, bands and formations and are outstanding soloists. "First-class musicianship and top-notch performance," as a well-known conductor enthuses, is a matter of course with this ensemble. The Vienna Wind School is world famous - it is a breathtaking experience to hear it live. Classical arrangements of famous works of classical music combine with festive baroque, pop songs and elegant original compositions.

In her own words, Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) had been gifted by nature with a "small, invisible engine" that allowed her to do in ten minutes what others needed an hour for. This inner drive can be demonstrated in all areas of this Polish artist's life. She was an excellent violinist from an early age, had success as a writer and wrote her first compositions as a teenager - all at a dizzying pace and yet the quality of her works are not superficial in the least. This new release by cpo is the second in a series of her complete symphonic works. After presenting her Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4, works from the early 1950s, Lukasz Borowicz and the WDR Symphony Orchestra perform more examples of Bacewicz's wealth of expression. These include the neoclassical outbursts of the Overture (1943) and the Second Symphony (1951), the sophisticated, already strongly timbre-oriented Variations for Orchestra (1957) and the Tre movimenti, in which Grazyna Bacewicz had achieved her "late" style - the so-called "sonorism", in which the colour of sound plays an essential structural role. After these "three movements", the "small engine" ran for almost another four years - this phenomenal musician had completed everything faster than the others. Her invisible drive can still be heard here today.

It was important to me to gather composers who expressed the European idea, be it in their origins, their education, their travels or their moves to different places of work Ludwig Guttler This is the idea behind the new album by trumpeter and conductor Ludwig Guttler. The occasion for this edition was Christmas, the holiday of holiday, but Ludwig Guttler would like to point to something fundamental. Hence the title: "Europa Cantat" - "Europe sings": Composers from all over Europe are brought together musically on this edition and thus make clear the similarities on both a musical and lyrical level.

The musical interests of Ludwig Guttler know no borders, but the festivity of Christmas in all it's magic is particularly close to Guttler's heart: "I want to bring a selection to the audience that does justice to the occasion and the wonderful music that was created for it," says Guttler about his motivation for the many Christmas editions he was part of in his career. The four best-selling Christmas albums of recent years are presented in this 4 CD Edition, with highlights of popular and heartwarming music for the most atmospheric time of the year

This program, presented by Max Volbers and the ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro, invites you to discover the astonishing diversity of Teleman's oeuvre. The focus is on works brimming with imagination, humor, and expressiveness-works that tell stories, bring characters to life, and transform moods into sound. Telemann dedicated some of his most significant original compositions to the recorder in particular.

Pitiful indeed-most pitiful-was the fate of the satyr Marsyas. (Ovid, "Metamorphoses") Apollo versus Marsyas-a musical contest pushed to it's ultimate limits. On it's new GENUIN album, the German-Spanish ensemble Marsyas Baroque transforms this ancient myth into a compelling musical narrative: an instrumental pasticcio that follows the unfolding story, interwoven with brief spoken texts that illuminate key moments along the way. Performed on historical instruments, works by Vivaldi, Telemann, Gesualdo, Reichenauer, and others enter into dialogue with a newly commissioned composition by Alessandra Bellino. Who decides the outcome of a contest over music itself? The answer is as unsettling as it is unforgettable.

The Rheinische Kantorei under their new director Edzard Burchards presents a truly inspired, thoroughly spiritual album to absolve us from the hustle and bustle of our modern life with devotion and love. Using the venerable motet as it's starting point, the ensemble tells the story of the cantors of St. Thomas, Leipzig. Over more than a century and a half, they strove to the best of their ability to fulfil this prestigious and demanding role. The journey begins with Tobias Michael, who took up his post in 1631 in a ravaged land to give due praise to the Lord, right up to Johann Adam Hiller, the classical composer who took over the post in the year of the French Revolution. Alongside them are a number of musicians whose hopes-whether justified or not-were dashed. This includes Johann Ludwig Krebs, a pupil of the pre-eminent Johann Sebastian Bach, who produced the programme's 'Overture': Jauchzet dem Herrn alle Welt, a pastiche in which some of the ideas of his friend Georg Philipp Telemann have been inserted. You wouldn't know it - because Love & Devotion are the common threads that bind this world together in it's very essence.

Miniatures of musical conversation - inspiration for every hour and every mood. In Duologues, Rachel Podger pairs up with eminent baroque instrumentalists Lucie Horsch, Jane Rogers and Alex Rolton in a delightful programme of duos (and a few trios for good measure), by J.S. Bach, Telemann, C.P.E. Bach and Boismortier. Playing duos was a staple of 18th-century domestic music-making and offers the players a unique chance to 'converse' spontaneously around all the prevailing emotions, in a varied combination of violin plus recorder, viola or cello. From the reflective to the dazzling, Rachel, Lucie, Jane and Alex invite you to be a part of these endlessly pleasurable and resourceful dialogues.

The LP version: When Baroque Meets Folk Energy In 'folk baroque', the music of Georg Philipp Telemann encounters the vibrant dance traditions of central Europe. The program grew out of a collaboration between recorder virtuoso Erik Bosgraaf and the Italian ensemble filoBarocco during the Gottingen International Handel Festival, initiated within the European support programme EEEMERGING+. At the heart of the project lies the fascinating Rostock Manuscript, a historical source long associated with Telemann's fascination with Central European folk traditions. For Bosgraaf and filoBarocco, the manuscript offers the perfect point of departure for exploring the meeting ground between Baroque repertoire and living folk music traditions. The ensemble shares a deep enthusiasm not only for historical performance practice but also for music that retains the energy, spontaneity, and expressive freedom of traditional dance music. Telemann himself was renowned for his openness to musical influences from across Europe. During his travels he encountered Polish and Hanna folk traditions that left a lasting impression on him. In his autobiographical writings, he vividly describes the impact of this music: it's rhythmic vitality, it's improvisatory spirit, and it's powerful melodic expression. These qualities fascinated him and found their way, sometimes subtly, sometimes quite directly, into his own compositions. Yet reconstructing the sound world of the eighteenth century presents a unique challenge. Unlike music from the twentieth or twenty-first centuries, there are no recordings to tell us exactly how this repertoire once sounded. Historically informed performance with this repertoire therefore requires re-composition. Musicians must piece together clues from written scores, historical treatises, instrument research, and contemporary descriptions. On the recording 'folk baroque' the musicians expand this process further by drawing inspiration from living folk traditions. Many rhythmic patterns, ornamentations, and expressive gestures that appear in Baroque music still survive today in Central European dance music. These traditions offer valuable insights into how such musical gestures might function in performance. The goal is not to recreate a supposedly 'authentic' past because that would be inherently impossible, but to create a musical interpretation that feels convincing, vibrant, and alive for modern listeners inspired by the timeless melodies of the Rostock Manuscript. For this reason, the program includes elements of improvisation and experimental playing techniques. While this approach may initially seem unusual in a Baroque context, it reflects the spirit of exploration that shaped the music of Telemann's own time. The musical notation in the Rostock Manuscript often provides only a framework rather than a fully fixed sound image. It invites performers to engage creatively with the material and rediscover it's inherent energy. The result is a concert experience that feels both historical and contemporary. The music is rooted in eighteenth-century sources, yet interpreted by musicians who are equally at home in the traditions of early music and in modern sonic experimentation. Ultimately, what connects this repertoire with today's audience is emotion. Instruments and styles may change over time, but the fundamental human passions expressed through music remain the same: joy, melancholy, longing, passion, and the irresistible urge to dance. When listeners begin to grasp the expressive language behind these works, the music suddenly feels remarkably immediate. It ceases to be merely a historical artefact and becomes a living experience, almost as if a sleeping frog had been awakened with a kiss

The Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum, under the direction of Reinhard Goebel and outstanding soloists such as Max Volbers on recorder and Clemens Röger on horn, present the first instalment in the series The Leipzig Collegium Musicum, Vol. 1: Music before Bach, offering a vivid exploration of a formative musical world. The term Collegium Musicum refers to an assembly of musicians who gathered regularly, under direction, to study and perform vocal and instrumental works, an idea that flourished in many cities, yet found particular resonance in Leipzig. By the early 18th century, this landscape of competing ensembles and personalities stood on the threshold of transformation, as musical life gradually evolved towards the later institutional structures that would shape the city's enduring legacy. In practice, however, these societies existed within a complex and often unsettled environment, where overlapping groups, shifting roles, and competing interests made the musical scene difficult to define and reconstruct with certainty. This programme offers a glimpse into that dynamic and, at times, elusive world, where music was shaped as much by collaboration and exchange as by individual voices. The works presented reflect a period before Bach's arrival in Leipzig, when compositional language was still evolving and stylistic boundaries were fluid. Drawing on influences from across Europe while asserting their own character, these pieces reveal a rich interplay of invention, contrast, and expressive immediacy. Composers such as Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Friedrich Fasch, and Georg Melchior Hoffmann were part of this environment, where musical ideas were shared, adapted, and developed through collective practice.

In her fourth CD release, recorder player Clara Guldberg Ravn turns to the recorder concertos of Georg Philipp Telemann. The recording reveals the full expressive range of this music, from elegant lightness and dance-like energy to moments of quiet melancholy and subtle humor. Together with members of Concerto Copenhagen, a vivid and well-balanced overall sound emerges, clearly highlighting the dialogic character of the works. Virtuosity consistently serves musical expression. This recording offers direct access to Telemann's recorder music and invites listeners to rediscover it's emotional depth and variety.