The viola da gamba is not dead, despite a claim to the contrary in the Dictionary of Musicians by German composer, organist and cellist Ernst Ludwig Gerber (1746-1819). From the 16th century to the end of the 18th, the viola da gamba experienced a true apotheosis, becoming the favoured instrument for bourgeois entertainment, particularly in Germany, France, Italy and England, even if the instrument's origins lie in the Spanish Renaissance. Because of these associations with the aristocracy, but also because of advances in musical style that demanded more from the role of the lower member of the string family, the gamba lost ground to the newer cello during the French Revolution. Limited interest in the instrument persisted through the 19th century, until a rebirth occurred thanks to German cellists Christian Dobereiner (1874-1961) and Paul Grummer (1879-1965), and later the Austrian Karl Maria Schwamberger (1905-1967) and Swiss cellist August Wenzinger (1905-1996), a pupil of Grummer's and a founder, in 1925, of one of Germany's first early music ensembles. Wenzinger was appointed cello and viola da gamba teacher at Basle's new Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where Giacomo Nones (1929-2017) and Jordi Savall (b.1941) would become his pupils. Dobereiner was one of the most important pioneers at the dawn of modern research into historical performance practice, considered to have revived both the viola da gamba and the baryton from obscurity. From his Sarabande, in Handelian style, only the solo part has survived, and the basso continuo has been reconstructed by Matteo Malagoli. Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977) was an important Russian pianist and composer. He invented his own harmonic language, combining major and minor hexachords in a pentatonic scale that blended old Russian patterns and Georgian (Caucasian) harmonies. During a stay in France he became friends with Paul Grummer and in 1969 published a lovely Sonata da chiesa for viola da gamba and organ dedicated to Grummer and his daughter Sylvia. Giuseppe Selmi (1912-1987) was a gifted concert cellist, performing both with orchestra and piano. As a composer, he wrote several works for solo cello, with piano and with harp (he played in a duo with his wife Maria Dongellini). Following the gift of a viola da gamba (built by Paolo Leonori in 1952) from his wife in the 1970s, he became a passionate advocate for the instrument, writing works for it with harp or solo. Giacomo Nones (1929-2017) dedicated himself from a young age to classical music and the popular music from his native Trentino, studying violin, organ and viola da gamba, as well as musicology and organology. He has edited transcriptions and publications of Renaissance and Baroque music and has collaborated with various early music ensembles. Passionate about contemporary music, in particular 'computer music', he wrote his 10 small Algorithms for two viols with the use of a computer according to theories by the Russian mathematician Rudolf Zaripov. His only other viola da gamba works are the very different Partitas on the Lutheran chorale Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan for gamba and organ, and the Fantasia for solo viol on the Kyrie of the Gregorian 'Orbis factor' Mass. Riccardo Giavina (1937-2019) was a Piedmontese pianist and composer, later a teacher and headmaster at the 'Bonporti' Conservatory of Trento and Riva del Garda. A friend of Giacomo Nones, in April 1977 he dedicated his three short pieces for three viols (soprano, tenor and bass) to the other composer. Written in late Renaissance style, they are aimed at extending the original literature for viola da gamba into the 20th century. - Recorded April 2022 in Silvelle; July, August & December 2023 in Ponte nelle Alpi; and January 2024 in Trento (Italy) - Booklet in English contains liner notes and a profile of each of the composers - Matteo Malagoli plays a viola da gamba by Marco Salerno (Rome - Barcelona, 2004) - Cristina Centa plays a Salvi harp - Stefano Rattini plays a harpsichord by Fabrizio Acanfora (Naples, 1997) and at the Carlo Vegezzi-Bossi organ (1907; restored Mascioni, 2000) of the Trento Philharmonic Society

This recording explores the emotional depth, colour and inventiveness of Finnish concertante works for violin and orchestra. The pieces range across the transitional landscape of the country's national music during the 20th century, where mysticism, modernism, folklore and experimentation co-exist. Major figures such as Selim Palmgren and Aarre Merikanto are represented, as is charming film music by Einar Englund, writing under a pseudonym. Distinctive works by Vaino Haapalainen, Vaino Raitio and Nils-Eric Fougstedt complete the programme.

Composed during Antonio Vivaldi's stay in Prague in 1729-30, the Concerto for Lute RV 93 is the most celebrated example of a repertoire almost totally neglected today, but once extremely popular in the German-speaking world, particularly in the Habsburg lands of Austria and Bohemia. After offering us a reference edition of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach (2022) and a representative anthology of the output of Silvius Leopold Weiss (2024), Evangelina Mascardi concludes her 18th-century trilogy by illuminating a fundamental, yet hitherto largely sidelined, chapter in the history of the lute. Alongside the Vivaldi concerto, which guitarists have embraced since the early 1960s, making it one of his most acclaimed works, we find four genuine and practically unknown gems, such as those composed by Joachim Bernard Hagen and Karl Ignaz Augustin Kohaut, now given their first recording. Accompanied by the Estrovagante Orchestra, directed by Riccardo Doni, Mascardi ventures into the rococo idiom, the stylistic context for the final virtuosic showpieces of an instrument boasting a rich history, but destined-in the space of just a few years-to be definitively eclipsed.

The Polish-born composer, Marta Ptaszynska, studied under Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen, and since 1972 has worked in the United States where she forged cultural links between the two countries. Ptaszynska has composed in all major genres and has worked with many leading musicians and ensembles. Her harmonic writing is often refined and translucent, with an expressive intensity generated through contrasts. The orchestral works in this album illustrate her gifts for creating evocative atmospheres. Dedicated to and premiered by Yehudi Menuhin, the Concerto Grosso explores Baroque archetypes.

Nkeiru Okoye's When the Caged Bird Sings is a 'musical celebration' whose compositional voice, though rooted in the African American church, also embraces minimalism and improvisational elements. Delivering a message of adversity turned to triumph, it celebrates the transformative ability of African American women, partly evoking the experiences of the author and activist Maya Angelou. The work functions as a communal ritual that, like oratorio, opera, and theatre, brings together vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra in an experience that both commemorates and celebrates hope and possibility.

Florence Price had an abiding love of literature, setting poets affiliated with the Harlem Renaissance as well as Byron and Robert Frost, among others. Her largest choral work is Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, which sets a poem published in 1914 imagining Lincoln surveying the modern world with dismay. It's chorale-like passages and fugal finale, allied to her use of spirituals, gives the cantata a thoughtful, sometimes introspective grandeur. Song of Hope, which uses Price's own text, is an emotionally intense supplication that also draws on spirituals. Charming smaller settings devoted to the natural world, and two sacred numbers, complete the album.

Finnish Kaija Saariaho and Estonian Helena Tulve, two composers with highly individual voices, both explore instrumental color as a core element of their work. Saariaho's vocal works particularly reveal the full expressive richness of her music. Early pieces like Suomenkielinen sekakuorokappale and Nej och inte established her unique grammar of disintegrating sonic and semantic units; later works such as Lumen valosta and Kesapaiva further develop this approach with extended vocal techniques. Tulve's music "grows out from simple primary impulses, being influenced by natural patterns, organics and synchronicity." I Am a River, based on verses by the 13th-century Persian scholar, poet and mystic Rumi, explores the connection between choral music in resonant church acoustics and sensorial mysticism. Nachtliche Gesange, based on texts by exiled German-speaking Jewish poets, draws it's sonic material from the phonetic properties of the German language. These works of unusual beauty are entrusted to the expert voices of the Helsinki Chamber Choir under Nils Schweckendiek. This GRAMMY-awarded collaboration, previously heralded for their Saariaho album Renaissance (BIS-2662), promises a profound interpretation of these contemporary works for choir.

Miloslav Kabelac ranks among the most significant Czech composers of the 20th century. Alongside Antonin Dvorak and Bohuslav Martinu, he is recognized as one of the greatest Czech symphonists, and his work represents a cornerstone of Czech musical heritage. His work encompasses nearly all musical genres except opera, but at it's core are eight symphonies, each with a unique orchestration. With the czech conductor Jakub Hrusa the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra had a welcome expert for this recording, as he examines carefully these rich orchestrated scores of this still underrated music and composer.

The Pacifica Quartet presents The Korngold Collection, a landmark recording of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's complete string quartets and rarely heard chamber works tracing the composer's extraordinary evolution from prodigy of post-imperial Vienna to pioneering film composer in Hollywood. Described by The Daily Telegraph as "nothing short of phenomenal," the multiple Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet brings more than three decades of acclaimed artistry to this sweeping portrait of Korngold's chamber music. The three string quartets, written between 1923 and 1945, chart Korngold's artistic journey: the First Quartet pulses with adventurous harmony; the Second, composed just before his emigration from Austria, overflows with lush melody; and the Third, finalized after WWII, draws on themes from his iconic film scores, including The Sea Hawk and Between Two Worlds. Complementing the quartets are two early chamber gems: the radiant Piano Quintet in E major (1920), written in the wake of his operatic triumph, Die tote Stadt and performed with pianist Orion Weiss; and the vibrant String Sextet in D major (1914), a youthful work that helped establish Korngold's early reputation, featuring violist Milena P�jaro-van de Stadt and cellist Eric Kim. Praised for their "remarkable expressive range and tonal beauty" (The New York Times), the Pacifica Quartet has distinguished itself through a deep commitment to complete composer cycles, including The Soviet Experience, their celebrated survey of Shostakovich's 15 string quartets, plus quartets by his contemporaries.

This compelling debut album from composer Lucy Walker showcases one of the UK's most exciting emerging voices in choral composition. Written during her residency with St Martin's Voices, the works trace a journey of artistic growth and spiritual depth, from the hopeful intimacy of Today to the shimmering expansiveness of I saw eternity. Walker's music is deeply rooted in the choral tradition, yet distinctly contemporary her harmonic language radiant and text-driven, her textures luminous and finely woven. Under the sensitive direction of Andrew Earis, St Martin's Voices bring remarkable nuance and warmth to these performances, revealing the emotional resonance and craftsmanship in each piece. Whether drawing on plainsong, part-song or contrapuntal dance, Walker's voice is unmistakably her own lyrical, thoughtful, and full of light. This album is both a celebration of collaboration and a moving portrait of a composer whose music speaks with clarity, heart and vision.

Few contemporary composers have enriched the choral repertoire quite like Gabriel Jackson, and this recording from The Choir of Canterbury Cathedral is a luminous testament to his singular voice. Rooted in the grand traditions of English sacred music yet infused with a distinctly modern harmonic palette, Jackson's writing revels in soaring treble lines, shimmering textures, and a deep affinity for space and resonance. Under the direction of David Newsholme, the Choir delivers these works with a compelling combination of precision and fervour, illuminating the rich polyphony of Ave maris stella, the jubilant energy of Praise ye the Lord, and the grandeur of the Coronation Canticles. The Cathedral's organ, resplendent in Canterbury Concertos, emerges as a protagonist in it's own right. This is music that both honours tradition and expands it's boundaries, performed with eloquence and authority.

A Tree Is a Song presents first recordings of a collection of recent secular choral works by Cecilia McDowall, performed by The Rodolfus Choir under Ralph Allwood and Elinor Cooper. Written between 2012 and 2024, the programme sets texts by poets including Heather Lane, Se�n Street, Kate Wakeling, Sheila Bryer, Virginia Woolf, and Shakespeare. Several works feature obbligato cello played by Leo Popplewell. The pieces respond to a wide range of subjects, from nature and community to remembrance and the COVID-19 pandemic. Recorded in London in 2024, the album documents McDowall's distinctive approach to text setting, choral texture, and contemporary vocal writing.

Hugo Alfv�n was an accomplished writer and painter as well as musician and composer. Born in Stockholm in 1872, he studied first at Kungliga Musikh�gskolan (the Royal College of Music) and then in Berlin, Dresden, Paris, and Brussels. Influenced by Wagner and Richard Strauss, Alfv�n's style is also permeated with the influence of Swedish folk music. Festspel (Festival Play) was commissioned to inaugurate the new art nouveau building for Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern (the Royal Dramatic Theatre) in Stockholm, in 1908, the work is suitably rousing and celebratory for such an occasion. Alfv�n was asked in 1932 to write incidental music for a play by Ludvig Nordstr�m, to commemorate the 300-year anniversary of the death of the protestant Swedish monarch at the battle of L�tzen, at the end of the Thirty Years War, the suite that he subsequently extracted is a substantial work in it's own right. Cantus arcticus is perhaps Rautavaara's best-known work, and was commissioned by the University of Oulu, in northern Finland, to honour it's first formal doctoral graduation ceremony, in 1972, Rautavaara instead took his inspiration from the natural environment of the region, incorporating two-channel tape recordings of birdsong as part of the orchestral texture.

The four symphonies of Arvo Part were composed over a span of forty-five years, and bear little or no relationship with one another - four individual pieces that represent his output at separate parts of his creative journey. The First Symphony was composed in 1963, shortly after Part had graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory. It's two-movement structure looks to the baroque - Canons and a Prelude and Fugue - but the harmonic language is extremely advanced, giving off a distinct whiff of twelve-tone serialism. The Second Symphony, from 1966, in three movements, again employs a combination of serialism and textures hinting at Penderecki and the Polish school. Also in three movements, the Third Symphony (1971) reflects the time Part spent in the late 1960s studying chant and mediaeval music. Symphony No. 4 'Los Angeles' came much later (in 2007 - 08) and now the style is directly inspired by sacred music. Part took as his models two great litanies of the Orthodox Church: the Canon of Repentance, and the Canon to the Holy Guardian Angel. Unusually scored for strings, harp, timpani, and percussion, this final work is also cast in three movements. With her elegant, expressive body language, natural stage presence, and infectious musicality, Eva Ollikainen is one of the leading conductors of our time. This former student of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra since 2020.

In May 2026, Metier Records proudly presents American Ethos from acclaimed pianist Carolyn Enger, a stunning collection of works from a range of American composers, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, John Corigliano, Ned Rorem, William Grant Still, Florence Price, and many others. Released in time for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of America's Declaration of Independence, Carolyn Enger poses the question of how to characterise American composition over so many years and throughout times of such sharp division. How can a musical 'Ethos' be encompassed in all it's various styles, sentiments, and beliefs? "I wanted to have a broad feeling of Americana," Enger explains. "Voices that have been overlooked over the years then come to light because they influenced voices that we're very familiar with." Enger has long been a champion of the piano music of Ned Rorem, and American Ethos centers his work, The Wind Remains, alongside three selections from Soundpoints, each a brief moment of distilled emotion. Rorem then stands as a starting point for connecting Enger's vision of American composition threads. Contemporary composer Daron Hagen was Rorem's first student, and we hear his Five Nocturnes, telling of a family setting down for the night. Rorem's roots in American music go deep as well, having studied with composer Margaret Bonds, who was herself a student and friend of composer Florence Price. Enger presents the African-American sacred music traditions behind Florence Price's Adoration. Price influenced many American composers beyond Bonds and Rorem, including William Grant Still. Price's influence on Grant Still is easily heard in his evocation of the divine in Seven Traceries: A Suite for Solo Piano, of which Enger plays four. Perhaps one of the most famous of American voices is Leonard Bernstein, who spoke about the healing power of music as a response to violence, and several works in this collection connect to him. His Thirteen Anniversaries, by turn tender and whimsical, celebrates 13 family members, friends, and colleagues. One of these is composer Craig Urquhart, a former assistant, represented here by The Awakening, Urquhart's birthday offering to Bernstein, and Adieu, which followed the global pandemic and 2020 political upheavals. John Corigliano's An Anniversary for Lenny is an affectionate remembrance for a 2016 Bernstein centennial celebration, and Aaron Copland's 'Our Town' Three Piano Excerpts is similarly dedicated to Bernstein. Completing Enger's vision of a comprehensive, inclusive American ethos is 'The Vastland' from Under the Blue Dome by San Francisco-based composer of Native American descent JJ Hollingsworth, conjuring the Colorado plains, and Margaret Ruthven Lang's Twilight, the first woman to have a work performed by a major American orchestra. New York City-based writer and editor Steve Smith says in his excellent booklet notes: "What emerges in this collection of disparate yet interconnected lives and works is a patchwork quilt of individual voices, perspectives, and aspirations, woven together to form a more perfect union stronger than it's parts. The music they made, informed by shared stories and songs, brings to life the sky, stone, sinew, steel, and sentiment that make up this nation - an American ethos, expressed in sound". Internationally celebrated American pianist Carolyn Enger has gained critical acclaim for her exquisite lyrical playing and her deeply felt interpretations, with many performances across the United States and Europe. Her 2013 recording of Ned Rorem: Piano Album I was on The New York Times Best of Classical list that year, and her recent Metier recording Resonating Earth, an artistic response to the contemporary climate crisis, received glowing praise: "a thoughtful programme. Enthralling" (Nigel Simeone, International Piano). Ms Enger studied at the Manhattan School of Music and is a Steinway Performing and Recording Artist.

This album is a mastering of the concert performed by the Seikilos Quartet at the Fundacion Juan March on May 28, 2025. It features the world premiere recording of Quartet No. 10 (1945) and the Scherzo for String Quartet (1911) by Conrado del Campo (1878-1953), one of the most original and least known Spanish composers of the first half of the twentieth century. This recording is part of the Conrado Project. Launched in 2021, this ambitious initiative aims to present, for the first time, the complete body of his thirteen string quartets and to publish a comprehensive edition of the scores, most of which remain unpublished, along with the recordings released by the MarchVivo label. This initiative supports the recovery of a repertoire that has been unfairly consigned to oblivion.

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.

It was Prince Nikolaus of Esterh�zy's increasing infatuation with the baryton that compelled Haydn, the prince's Kapellmeister, to write an unprecedented body of 125 works for baryton trio. The instrument is more like a viola d'amore than a bass viol and has extra strings behind the neck that provide resonance and opportunities for plucking effects. The six works in this album are intimate expressions of great beauty, with a sustained level of invention, all of which reflect the prince's increasing confidence in the instrument. Volumes 1 and 2 are available on 8.574188 and 8.574504.

Close harmony singing is the vocal equivalent of a jazz big band, and this programme is the Vasari Singers' personal tour of a style in which they have excelled for years. Their connection with Ward Swingle and the pioneering Swingle Singers is explored in arrangements ranging from traditional folk songs such as the haunting Danny Boy, to favourites by The Beatles and the delicious harmonies of Stephen Sondheim. George Shearing's English musical background and American jazz influence combine in his Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare, and the album closes with a cleverly integrated and up-beat version of Duke Ellington's classic It don't mean a thing (if it ain't got that swing).

Sir Andrew Davis was a talented keyboard player as a child and teenager, and after study with Peter Hurford, at St Albans, he spent four years at the University of Cambridge as organ scholar at King's College, under Sir David Willcocks. It was this period of his life that sparked his love for and appreciation of the organ works of J.S. Bach, which remained a lifelong passion. Sir Andrew made all the transcriptions on this album for the BBC Philharmonic, and four of them were recorded in November 2023. Sadly, Sir Andrew died before the final recording sessions for the album could take place (September 2024): we are immensely grateful that he completed the arrangements, and very thankful to Martyn Brabbins for completing the recording with the sense of style, love, and affection that Sir Andrew would have admired.