For this recording Organist Matthew Owens presents a diverse recital of some of the greatest Christmas music ever written for the instrument. Traditional tunes, whether Lutheran chorales, plainchant, French noëls, or medieval carols, have provided the inspiration for much Christmas organ music throughout the years, with much of this program made up of pieces based on such tunes, from J.S. Bach’s Canonic variations on Vom Himmel hoch to Louis-Claude Daquin’s Noël Suisse. This recital also draws on more contemporary sources and presents several world premiere recordings including Howard Skempton’s Christmas Bells and Gary Davison’s Seven Versets on Divinum Mysterium, both of which were written specially for this recording.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed his most renowned organ works — the Toccatas, the Fantasia in G minor and the Passacaglia in C minor — in Weimar, in the stylus fantasticus so beloved of his Northern German masters Buxtehude and Reinken. Bach here follows in his predecessors’ footsteps in all of these large-scale works: the freely inventive writing in the preludes is linked to the rigor of the fugal construction and so brings them to a majestic conclusion.

The Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble is – as the name implies – based in Stockholm, and consists of five of the city's leading musicians. Project-based and often inviting guest performers, the SSE is known for its imaginative programmes built around a particular event or concept and bringing together music from various genres and eras. For its first release on BIS the ensemble has taken Brett Dean’s Voices of Angels as their point of departure, a work scored for the same forces as Schubert’s ‘Trout quintet’ and inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s first two Duino Elegies: ‘Angels (it’s said) are often unable to tell whether they move amongst the living or the dead.’ Dean’s work from 1996 opens a programme which ranges from Bach to Sofia Gubaidulina, and includes various scorings for between two and six performers. The angels reappear in songs by Wagner and Gubaidulina performed by Christianne Stotijn, one of the ensemble’s guests on this disc – but it is also safe to assume that they are standing around the heavenly throne which Bach approaches in the chorale prelude ‘Vor Deinen Thron tret ich hiermit’ – here transcribed for strings. The same prelude is the subject of Gubaidulina’s Meditation, while the disc closes with a work by Gubaidulina’s friend Alfred Schnittke, namely his Hymn for cello and double bass.

The 6 sonatas for violin and harpsichord obbligato rank amongst the most beautiful chamber music that Bach wrote. They are overshadowed by the solo sonatas. This despite the fact that they are masterpieces in their own right, only without the aura of a magnum opus. The slow movements display a range of moods, from desolate and lonely to radiantly festive. Meanwhile, the fast movements are a mixture of high-spirited instrumental music and contrapuntal mastery. There are canons, fugues, chorale preludes and much more: practically a compendium of options. Daniel Gaede and Raphael Alpermann guide us through this treasure trove of curiosities with virtuosity and sensitivity. Once again: 2 albums for the price of one.

Founded in 1987 the annual Rarities of Piano Music Festival in the North German town of Husum is a major event. Danacord is proud to release the recording from the 3rd Festival in 2019 featuring again rare piano music played by some of the leading pianists of today. Among the highlights you will find the truly remarkable pianist Cyprien Katsaris and very rare piano works by Bizet and Fontana. Many of the works are first ever recordings and, as usual, all are unedited live performances. All lovers of piano music will want this release, not only because of the first class pianism from truly outstanding performers, but also because the quality of the often unknown and rare mostly romantic piano music is of such invaluable substance. Critics are raving about the piano sound and the long and informative booklet.

Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 form the final part of his monumental ClavierÜbung (Keyboard Practices) series and appeared in print in 1741. The work exploits the full technical and musical resources of the two-manual harpsichord and its player. Within the framework of its thirty elaborate variations on a 32-bar ground bass, the work presents a dazzling compendium of keyboard styles, from learned counterpoint through to the most audacious and modern abstract writing for an instrument with two independent keyboards. The present recording is one the final volumes of Peter Watchorn’s complete survey of Bach’s entire harpsichord output.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach has brought accordionist Viviane Chassot out of a serious personal crisis. Since she discovered how well the music of the Thomaskantor can be reproduced on the accordion, she has now created a Bach album - after Haydn and Mozart. With works from the Woltemperierte Clavier, the well-known ''Italian Concerto'' as well as other suites and partitas. The artist explains: ''The liveliness and power may jump out at us first when we hear Bach's music. But the composer did not have an easy life and anything but a straight path through life - he had to put up with many strokes of fate, became an orphan at the age of ten, lost his first wife at an early age; children also died. Death accompanied him throughout his life - and I think that these aspects of pain and loss always resonate in his music, even when it is superficially dancing or simply cheerful''. Bach and accordion - this combination is not exactly obvious. But Viviane Chassot says: ''What is very much in favor of the accordion as a possible instrument for Bach's music for keyboard instruments are the wind-like shaping possibilities that I have thanks to the bellows. With it and with differentiated articulation, I can make the music breathe and speak; I achieve dynamics and a variety of colors through diverse registration possibilities. And the virtuoso dance movements are given a musical - even archaic - touch on the accordion''.

Lawrence Golan's Fantasia for Solo Violin, written in 1993, was inspired by Ysaye's sonatas of 1924, which, in turn, were inspired by the unaccompanied violin works of J.S. Bach, dated 1720. Hence this recording represents the inspirational lineage of a composition spanning almost three centuries. Acclaimed for his vibrant, inspired performances, imaginative programming and evocative command of different styles and composers, American conductor Lawrence Golan has developed a reputation as a dynamic, charismatic communicator. He has conducted throughout the United States and in Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, El Salvador, England, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, and continues to develop relationships with orchestras nationally and abroad.

Bach’s famous and beloved Inventions and Sinfonias continue to captivate listeners, students and teachers today as they have throughout the generations. They are delightful discoveries playable by students of various ages and various stages of pianistic development, and provide an inexhaustible source of new ideas. Bach’s melodies sing, dance, and interact with each other and provide a path to understanding counterpoint, and specifically one of Bach’s favored forms, the fugue. These sparkling classics benefit from Paulina Zamora’s tender interpretations, as does the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. This is the third Delos album for the Chilean-American pianist, described by Gramophone as “a sincere and persuasive musician.”