The German composer Johanna Senfter was a student of Max Reger, who recognized her musical talent and encouraged her to pursue advanced studies in his composition class in Leipzig, which she completed with distinction in 1909. In 1910, she was awarded the Arthur Nikisch Prize for the best student composition of the year. Born into a well-to-do industrial family, she was financially independent and able to devote herself entirely to her creative work throughout her life. In addition to numerous chamber music pieces, she left behind nine symphonies. From the youthful Sturm und Drang of her first symphony (1914) to the thoughtfully moving ninth (1949), composed after two world wars, the development of her musical language can be discovered here with this world premiere recording.

These late works by Brahms are like a testament. But what is this secretive man revealing to us here? Or rather, what is he still trying to hide? Hiding it until the very end, arousing in us an irresistible desire to guess what it is? Perhaps that is where the beauty of these scores lies. - Piotr Anderzewski. A short album, a selection of jewels from Brahms' Late Piano works (Op. 116 to 119, with Op. 119 No.4 being the last piano piece Brahms ever wrote) presented in a carefully chosen order. Op. 116 to 118 represent the composer's late piano works, written during the final decade of his life. Here we find a more mature, intimate and subtle Brahms, far removed from the roaring Romanticism of his earlier works.

Conductor Robert Trevino's second album release of orchestral music by Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936), together with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, features Respighi's massive orchestral masterpiece, the Sinfonia Drammatica.

A first-ever complete recording for keyboard collections which capture the elegance and cosmopolitan style of Georgian-era English music. Maurice Greene (1696-1755) belongs to the generation that followed Henry Purcell and preceded Handel. Becoming organist of St Paul's Cathedral in 1719, and in 1735 organist and composer to the Chapel Royal, he wrote a good deal of church music which is still in use today: memorably simple but effective anthems such as Thou visitest the earth and Lord, let me know mine end. Much less well known-and most of it previously unrecorded-is Greene's corpus of instrumental music. Published in 1745, his Six Overtures in Seven Parts alternate a slow and solemn French-style overture with fugal allegros and elegant dance movements such as minuets, gavottes, or airs. The original orchestral scores have recently attracted a recording: Fernando de Luca has made his own arrangements for solo harpsichord, following a long-standing practice and retaining the essential exuberance of the overtures while inflecting them with refined dynamic shading. Rarer still are the 15 keyboard "Lessons": Italianate suites which bear witness to a transition from the contrapuntal Baroque style to a more galant idiom, under the influence of Italian exemplars such as Corelli and Geminiani, as well as the seductive charms of French culture which captivated the upper end of Georgian society and culture. William Boyce (1711-1779) studied with Greene and followed in the footsteps of his teacher by attaining the same distinguished posts at St Paul's and the Chapel Royal. Again principally known for his church music, he also wrote a collection of overtures which have retained popularity on the fringes of the catalogue. His Voluntaries for the Organ or Harpsichord (published posthumously in London, c. 1779) represent one of the final great expressions of the genre in their refined counterpoint and graceful harmonies. "Harpsichordist Fernando de Luca does a splendid job," remarked Fanfare magazine in a review of the Brilliant Classics album dedicated to the music of Pierre-Claude Foucquet: one of many comprehensive collections through which de Luca has revived lesser-known composers of the eighteenth century. This volume of Boyce and Greene stands as a notable addition to the library.

With this double CD She Composed - Music by Women Composers, an artistically compelling and culturally significant project comes to life - one that combines musical quality, pedagogical vision, and editorial care in an exemplary way. The album presents piano works by women composers from several centuries and diverse cultural backgrounds, thoughtfully arranged in ascending levels of difficulty: from short, characterful miniatures to large-scale works of considerable technical and expressive demands. At the heart of the project lies it's carefully designed pedagogical concept. The selected works accompany pianists from early stages of learning to an advanced, concert-ready level. The result is a musical pathway that makes both technical development and growing expressive depth audible.

This recording by Ciconia Consort, Couleurs de France, offers a rare and evocative journey through four lesser-known works for string orchestra by three prominent 20th-century French composers: André Jolivet, Jacques Castérède, and Daniel-Lesur. Jacques Castérède's connection to his French predecessors is evident in his use of modal, chromatic, and diatonic scales. A student of Olivier Messiaen, Castérède nonetheless forged a highly personal harmonic style within an extended tonal idiom, characterized by melodic clarity and accessibility. His compositions seem to harmoniously blend the various French styles of the 20th century. In his work, we hear the sonic fingerprints of Arthur Honegger, Daniel-Lesur, and his teacher Messiaen - all woven into a coherent, lyrical whole. Throughout his life, André Jolivet aimed to "restore to music it's original, ancient meaning, when it served as a magical, incantatory expression of the religious beliefs of human communities."* His later compositions continued this exploration, seeking music's original function as an emotional, ritualistic, and celebratory form of expression. His Symphonie pour cordes, commissioned by French radio and television, was composed in 1961 and premiered on January 9, 1962. The symphony demands exceptional technical skill from all performers. It is written in a freely atonal idiom and is characterized by intense dissonance. Daniel Jean Yves Lesur (1908-2002) was a French composer, organist, and teacher, closely linked to the group La Jeune France, alongside Olivier Messiaen and André Jolivet. His music often reflects a balance between tradition and modernity, combining rich harmonic language with a sense of spiritual depth. Lesur's output includes choral works, chamber music, and orchestral compositions, yet he remains less widely known than some of his contemporaries. Among his instrumental works is the Sérénade pour cordes (1949), a luminous piece that highlights his lyrical style and refined craftsmanship. Written for string orchestra, it embraces classical clarity while exploring colorful modal harmonies, characteristic of Lesur's personal voice. This recording is the fifth CD on Brilliant Classics by the Ciconia Consort (The Hague String Orchestra), a Dutch string orchestra conducted by Dick van Gasteren, an internationally active conductor who was Bernard Haitink's assistant during the Mahler Festival Amsterdam in 1995.

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The largest collection of piano nocturnes on CD, celebrating the art of the romantic piano song without words. Over a century of repertoire in all modern recordings, plus a new booklet essay exploring the history and context of the nocturne. Composers of the 18th century such as Haydn and Mozart wrote notturnos as serenades to be sung and played at night time, both on an operatic stage and as independent pieces for entertainment. The early 19th century saw a rapid evolution in the technological, the cultural and the musical development of the piano - as an instrument of longer sustaining power and greater volume than before, offering a broader palette of tone-colours, presenting composers with the potential to write quasi-orchestrally for a single instrument, as Baroque composers had done for the organ. At the same time, musical forms were becoming looser, more shaped by extra-musical inspirations in literature, poetry and the natural world. The Irish composer John Field was the first to publish nocturnes for the solo piano as standalone works, rather than as poetic interludes within larger pieces such as suites or sonatas. Having inherited the form from Field, Frederic Chopin then raised the nocturne to new heights of inward expression. As much as the salon became a place for pianistic display of technique, it also became a space for quiet soliloquy through the course of the 19th century, accessible to the rapidly expanding bourgeoisie with access to an instrument at home and to the education required to play it. Thus publishers commissioned nocturnes from both greater and lesser composers to satisfy an ever-growing market. The nocturnes in this box cover all the great names of Romantic-era piano writing, and many lesser-known ones too. Many of the performances are played on instruments of the period, enabling listeners to immerse themselves into a 19th-century world of softer and more gentle colours and expression. This new box also features an essay by Peter Quantrill outlining the history of the nocturne and it's lasting hold upon our affections and imaginations.

Following a first release devoted to string trios by Hungarian composers (BIS-2107), the Trio Boccherini now presents a programme dedicated to works composed in France and Belgium during the first half of the 20th century. In a culture that so brilliantly cultivated the art of conversation, it is hardly surprising that early French string trios were often referred to as "Conversations à trois." The programme opens with a trio by Jean Cras, a Breton composer who produced a body of high-quality work while serving as an officer in the French navy. His string trio is a major work that incorporates a wide range of styles, including North African influences alongside echoes of Bach and Bartók. The next work, Eugène Ysaÿe's Le Chimay, is an intense work that is demanding for performers, both technically and emotionally. The work was so named because of the venue of it's first performance, long after the composer's death. Rejecting the modernism then in vogue, Jean Françaix's Trio appears light, airborne, playful, even impertinent. Both funny and profound, the work stands out for it's unique poetic quality. The programme ends with an arrangement for string trio of Claude Debussy's famous Clair de lune, a work of timeless beauty.

World-premiere recordings of chamber-music collections by an overlooked master of the French Baroque. With two previous collections for Brilliant Classics - the Premier livre de pièces d'orgue on 2CDs and Trois Livres de Pieces de Clavecin on 4CDs - Pieter-Jan Belder has become the pre-eminent modern exponent of Jean-Francois Dandrieu, as reflected by the enthusiastic welcome in Fanfare for the organ volume: 'The playing here... is simply terrific. [Belder] has completely absorbed the French Baroque idiom as a native musical tongue and speaks it with absolute fluency... For anyone who loves the organ repertoire of the French Baroque, this is an essential purchase; highly recommended.' In this latest collection, Belder invites the listener to delve further into the output of this Parisian musician, who left behind precious few examples of his art on his death in 1739, but who won the admiration of both fellow musicians and royal patrons, most notably Louis XV. Published as Opus 1 in 1705 and Opus 2 around five years later, these collections of trio sonatas and violin sonatas represent a thorough and skilful assimilation of 'modern' Italian grammar - and most notably the influence of Corelli - into French gesture and style. Opus 1 represents a remarkably mature and purposeful integration of styles: at just 23, Dandrieu confidently asserts a distinct voice by seamlessly integrating the expressive nuances of the French harpsichord school into this Italian framework. Dandrieu's Op.2 sonatas do not merely reflect Italian influence; they actively transform it: in their formal clarity and expressive depth they embody both the elegance of Versailles and the vitality of Rome. To complete this volume, Pieter-Jan Belder plays three books of harpsichord pieces from Dandrieu's accomplished youth: most of them very brief dances, no more than a minute long, deftly sketching an idea for the equal enjoyment of performer and listener. Like the chamber music sets, these have never been recorded complete before, and the set as a whole advances our appreciation for Dandrieu as a major figure of the French Baroque.

From the early days of the twentieth century until the Anschluss forced him into American exile, Richard Stohr (1874-1967) was one of the more prominent personalities in Viennese musical life, as composer, teacher and author. Earlier releases in this series of recordings revealed him to have an individual voice, somewhere between Bruckner, Mahler, Korngold and Strauss. It can be heard in it's full glory in his Chamber Symphony of 1912, a sunlit score modest in it's orchestral demands but expansive in it's ambit and generous in it's ceaseless flow of gorgeous melody.

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.

Three major works for piano and orchestra by English composers, all eschewing the traditional nineteenth- century model of a bravura virtuoso soloist pitted against an orchestra, in distinctive ways. Together with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under George Vass, Clare Hammond presents an original programme that provides a unique perspective on how the piano concerto reflected musical currents in mid-twentieth-century Britain. William Walton's Sinfonia Concertante for Orchestra with Piano Obbligato began as a ballet score. After it was rejected by Sergei Diaghilev, Walton arranged his score into a leaner, more direct and more effective work that reveals the influences of Stravinsky, Poulenc, Rimsky- Korsakov, Borodin and, at times, Elgar. Benjamin Britten's Diversions was commissioned by the left-hand pianist Paul Wittgenstein. Enthusiastic about the challenge of writing for the left hand, Britten devised a work in variation form; he did not seek to conceal the soloist's one-handedness, but revelled in it while still retaining emotion and grandeur. Michael Tippett's Piano Concerto completes the programme. Inspired by a performance of Beethoven's Fourth Concerto, Tippett was convinced that a contemporary concerto could be written, 'in which the piano is used once again for it's poetic capabilities'. In his work, the orchestra does not merely accompany; the principal players shine when they get their opportunity for solos or close dialogue with the soloist.

Hugo Alfvén was an accomplished writer and painter as well as musician and composer. Born in Stockholm in 1872, he studied first at Kungliga Musikhögskolan (the Royal College of Music) and then in Berlin, Dresden, Paris, and Brussels. Influenced by Wagner and Richard Strauss, Alfvén'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. Alfvén was asked in 1932 to write incidental music for a play by Ludvig Nordström, to commemorate the 300-year anniversary of the death of the protestant Swedish monarch at the battle of Lützen, 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.

Troubled Times: Music and Espionage in Renaissance England explores sacred music written amid the religious and political instability of 16th-century England. Performed by The Queen's Six with The Rose Consort of Viols, the programme examines how composers navigated shifting allegiances, censorship, exile, and suspicion, from the Henrician Reformation to the Elizabethan settlement. Works by Byrd, Taverner, Morley, Philips, Ferrabosco, and others reflect strategies of adaptation, concealment, and survival, whether through recusancy, foreign travel, or service at court. Placing music within it's historical context, the recording highlights the complex relationship between faith, power, and artistic expression during a period of sustained upheaval.

Perhaps now overshadowed by his earlier ballet Checkmate, Miracle in the Gorbals was a tremendous hit for Bliss and the Sadlers Wells Ballet company. First performed in 1944, it was repeated in every season through to 1950. Based on a scenario by Michael Benthall (inspired by Jerome and Dostoyevsky), the ballet features the appearance of a Christ-like figure amid Glasgow's most infamous slum. This mysterious Stranger performs a miracle, reviving the Girl Suicide, who in despair had earlier thrown herself into the Clyde. The locals rejoice, but an Official (Benthall had in mind a priest) is jealous and, after a failed attempt to cast doubt on the virtue of the Stranger via the local Prostitute, has him slashed to death by a razor gang. Bliss's score employs a wide range of styles and harmonic language, and also exploits Leitmotifs for the principal characters. Originally titled Variations for Orchestra, Bliss' Metamorphic Variations was composed towards the end of his life, during a late surge of creativity. Two of the 16 movements were dropped at the first performance (given by the LSO and Vernon Handley in 1973) and for some reason were not re-instated at any of the work's later performances until that given by Michael Seal and the BBC Philharmonic in February 2025, the day before they made this recording.

It was Prince Nikolaus of Esterházy'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.

Rumon Gamba directs the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for the third instalment of his exploration of Overtures from the British Isles. As in the case of the previous volumes, the recorded repertoire is rarely played, and the album includes three world premiere recordings. All the works were composed in a period of eleven years, between 1938 and 1949, against the background of the horrific world events of that era. Presenting an eclectic mix of musical styles, the album, like it's predecessors, sheds light on some wonderful discoveries, passionately and enthusiastically performed by orchestra and conductor.

Anna Clyne, described as a 'composer of uncommon gifts and unusual methods' by The New York Times, is one of the most in-demand composers today, working with orchestras, choreographers, filmmakers and visual artists around the world. Clyne's unique voice combines tradition with postmodern techniques, giving her listeners a sense of musical adventure that is grounded in the past. From the beautiful elegy Within Her Arms to the defiant power of Restless Oceans, Anna Clyne's music strikes a positive and resilient tone.