Antonio Vivaldi's musical production for bassoon comprises no less than thirty-nine solo concertos. Within the musical landscape of it's time, this impressive musical legacy stands out like the silhouette of a mountain shrouded in mystery. If we consider that in Italy there is almost no evidence of the bassoon being used in the solo form after the 1680s, Vivaldi's contribution acquires a significance that is both extraordinary and enigmatic. When and for which events were his concertos composed and performed? And also, for which performers was such a vast, original and technically demanding production intended? It is not easy to find an answer to such questions. The composer's renewed interest in this instrument must have then derived from an encounter with a first-rate virtuoso, someone whose talent helped to stimulate the creation of an original repertoire, characterised by an extremely high technical and qualitative standard. These were definitely performers who were able to work in close contact with the composer over a sufficiently long period of time. Indeed, Vivaldi's writing was influenced and modelled on their technical skills, as testified by the eight concertos included in this recording.

We have wanted to record Bach's violin concertos with Sophie Gent ever since she joined Ensemble Masques in 2003, says Olivier Fortin, harpsichordist and founder of the ensemble that explores Baroque music with such passion. "Sophie is an exceptional musician with an extremely convincing, honest and unpretentious style". Another pillar of the group is Kathleen Kaji, who is the soloist for Telemann's viola concerto. "Telemann is a fantastic storyteller," she says, "who provides a plot, characters, costumes and props - and leaves you to put it all together". Two sinfonie by Albinoni link the concertos and shine a spotlight on each musician in the ensemble.

In his debut recital album, countertenor Hugh Cutting presents Refound with pianist Audrey Hyland. This programme revolves around songs that are the product of two roots, seen through two lenses. Cutting and Hyland build a recital celebrating rediscovery and reinterpretation, presenting songs that blend old and new in their construction, text, or context. It is a testament to the beauty of interpretation and revival. This theme unfolds in folk-inspired songs by Ravel and Vaughan Williams; ancient texts in Howells and Dvorak; an imagined past in Wolf and Hahn; emotional education in Beach, Rodrigo and Lama; Lehrer's parody; the recently rediscovered Mel Bonis; Piers Connor Kennedy's improvisation-adjacent Rough Rhymes (world premiere recording); and Jeremy Sams' new translation of Schubert's Abschied. Noted for his 'exceptional voice, lustrous and rounded' (The Times), Cutting is fast establishing a reputation for his narrative skill and vocal prowess. He cites Audrey Hyland, Head of Vocal and Opera at the Royal College of Music, as invaluable in his artistic development; Refound honours that relationship.

Mozart's piano concerto in E flat KV 271 has long been known as the 'Jeunehomme' - but it was discovered in 2004 that it was actually composed for Louise Victoire Jenamy; Mozart misspelled her name as 'jenomy' in a letter to his father in 1778 and so created a misunderstanding that lasted for over two centuries. Mozart composed his piano concerto KV 414 in Vienna in 1783; Evren Ozel, the soloist in these two works, says that this work "is more carefree and allows the performers to explore a gentler and more tender side of Mozart". It was only two years after his first violin concerto that Mozart - then 19 years old and concertmaster to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg - composed his second, KV 211; two more followed within the year. "The art of performing Mozart's music is to play it with simplicity and life while remaining true to the Classical style", says Jan Mracek, the second soloist on this, the twelfth volume in the Next Generation Mozart Soloists series conducted by Howard Griffiths.

The lute played a central role in the music of the 16th and a greater part of the 17th centuries. Whereas the organ occupied a leading position in the realm of church music, the lute was the most important solo instrument for secular music written at that time. Leaving the organ out of discussion, the lute was the most prestigious of 16th century instruments, eventually eclipsed in popularity and use by the harpsichord at the end of the 17th century. Nicolas Vallet, a Frenchman who lived in Amsterdam proclaimed it "the lute, rightfully called the King of all lnstruments." Lute-players during the 16th and 17th centuries fell into two categories. The first one was occupied by well-to-do amateurs who look to lute playing as an elegant hobby; and professional lute players occupied the second place, sharing their middle-class status with other craftsmen, like painters and furniture makers. The lute repertory of the 16th and 17th centuries covers a broad area of musical farms including: Arrangements of secular and non-secular songs from all West European countries either written for lute solo or with lute accompaniment. Arrangements of existing dances and new compositions for dances, such as: pavanes, gaillardes, passemezzi and allemandes. Arrangements and imitations of polyphonic instrumental music: fantasies and ricercares. Programmatic compositions such as portrayals of pitched battles (batailles) and carillon ringing (carillons). Compositions usually referred to as preludes intended to show the instrument in all it's technical glory. This rich selection of lute music composed in The Netherlands includes the composers Sweelinck, Adriaensen, Van Den Hove, Huwet, Valerius and Vallet. Played by one of the most distinguished lutenists of this time, Toyohiko Satoh. Reissue of a 1990 recording, originally issued on the NM Classics label.

The French harpsichordist Celine Frisch has an extensive discography, including many award-winning recordings devoted to Bach. Now she presents the Partitas, the famous and abundant collection of six suites that Bach composed from 1726 onwards - at the rate of one new partita per year - which he published as his Opus 1: As Celine Frisch points out, "Bach explores the possibilities of each dance in order to extend it's limits deploying an intense expressive palette that ranges from the most disarming tenderness through to the most poignant distress and unbridled joy".

For the first time, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and it's Artistic Director Peter Whelan have recorded what can be considered the ensemble's signature work, Handel's Messiah, an annual touring highlight in the IBO calendar. Surprisingly, this is the first recording on historical instruments by an Irish ensemble - given the work, a staple of oratorio music, was premiered in Dublin in 1742. That year, a struggling Handel came to the second-biggest city in the British Isles to rekindle his fortune. After the premiere (700-strong attendance; the ladies were asked to come without hoop-framed skirts and the gentlemen without their swords), Handel left Dublin a much richer man. The Irish Baroque Choir and an array of first-class singers (Hilary Cronin, Helen Charlston, Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca, Guy Cutting, Frederick Long, and Edward Grint) join the IBO to try and capture something of the atmosphere of that extraordinary moment, in a recording which traces back the origins of this enduring masterpiece.

This is the third album featuring the piano works of Karol Szymanowski, performed by the outstanding interpreter of his music, Joanna Domanska. The Sonata is the first major work in the young composer's output, an exceptional piece full of contrasts. The dark, dramatic mood of the outer movements collides with the more cheerful middle sections, particularly the charming pastiche of the minuet. Preludium and Fugue are early works that already astonish with their seriousness, depth of expression, and a sophisticated use of texture and harmony. The Variations, considered one of the most difficult works in the piano repertoire, are based on a wistful theme drawn from the music of the Podhale region. This album features the first-ever recording in which the monumental, virtuosic finale is presented in it's entirety, without the shortened version suggested by the composer himself. The works on the album showcase a spectrum of emotions: lyricism, flickering mystery, subtlety, mournful gravity, triumph, and bravura. While all the pieces demonstrate a typically 19th-century virtuosic pianism, the most prominent quality is the depth of musical expression.

William Shield rose from relatively humble beginnings to become the 'house' composer to Covent Garden, for which he wrote stage works full of panache and tunefulness. He met and befriended Haydn who was to prove a lasting influence. In 1782 Shield published his Six String Quartets, Op. 3, some of the most richly rewarding works of their type in 18th-century England. The transparency of parts, use of imitation, infusion of Sturm und Drang elements as well as the bucolic and folkloric writing, all demonstrate Shield's art, as does the progressive writing of the last of the six, in C minor.

English composer William Shield was famous for his operas and pantomimes. He was admired by Haydn who was to prove a lasting influence, and rose to become Master of the King's Music despite coming from a relatively poor background. His String Trios from 1791 were written in Rome and mark a striking new level of compositional attainment in the English chamber music repertory of the time. Shield's scores are studded with an enlightened cosmopolitanism, encoding Spanish, Russian, Slavonic and Haydnesque elements, cast in his ingenious and lyrically attractive blend of styles.

William Shield's early career as a violinist and violist took him to the centre of musical life in London, where he became principal violinist of the Covent Garden theatre orchestra in 1773. The publication of the Violin Duets later that decade marked the launch of Shield's success as a hugely popular composer. Each set of duets is neatly engineered, with many attractive details in the Italianate spirit of Op. 1. The Op. 2 set is more compact, developing arioso vocal styles, clever changes of texture, and folk elements such as hurdy-gurdy-like figurations.

Sir Georg Solti was a frequent guest conductor with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Born in Hungary in 1912, he played a decisive role in rebuilding the Bavarian National Theatre after the war. From the 1960s onwards, he was considered one of the world's leading conductors alongside Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan. Georg Solti returned to Munich once more for a special concert on February 10, 1984, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. Aged 71 and at the height of his career, he conducted excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. Works by these two Russian composers, as well as Bruckner and Mahler, suited him particularly well, as they sounded musically spirited and exceptionally transparent. Prokofiev's three-act ballet Romeo and Juliet was written in 1935 for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, but it's premiere did not take place until 1938, in Brno in the Czech Republic. At the special concert in Munich in 1984 with Georg Solti, fifteen numbers from the ballet music were performed in chronological order. Pyotr Tchaikovsky dedicated his Fourth Symphony - composed in 1877/78 at the same time as his opera Eugene Onegin - to his patron Nadezhda von Meck. Despite their lengthy correspondence, they never actually met. In a letter to her dated March 1878, Tchaikovsky outlined the feelings he had experienced while composing his Fourth Symphony, though no specific programme can be discerned from them.

The rich musical heritage of the Litvaks is only just beginning to be explored. The music by Jewish composers who were born in, lived in, or emigrated from Lithuania has been lurking in the background for many years. This new creative chapter opens with an album that features two prominent musical figures, the Lithuanian violinist Dalia Dedinskaite and the Canadian pianist Walter Delahunt. Together, they present a musical journey showcasing the creativity of the Litvaks, from Lazdijai in Lithuania to Hollywood in the USA. The album's title, Estrellita (The Star), is not only an allusion to one of it's pieces, but also a multi-sensory symbol. Estrellita, also the Star of David, is a light in the darkness, a star of remembrance. It illuminates the paths of personalities, destinies, and creativity, from those who left to those who stayed. The album Estrellita draws parallels between the lives and works of two legendary 20th-century Litvaks, Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) and Joseph Achron (1886-1943). It also opens up the musical world of Anatolijus �enderovas (1945-2019), one of the most prominent Lithuanian composers of the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century.

A world-premiere recording of works by a brilliant composer who died far too young at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her Ballads stand among the finest achievements in Polish piano music. Sarnecka's writing is intense and deeply reflective, marked by bold dissonances and sweeping, expertly crafted modulations. Pianist Marek Szlezer brings this forgotten music back to life with performances of striking emotional depth and powerful sonority-an ideal match for the expressive, dramatic voice of this gifted Young Poland composer.

Marco Momi (1978) studied piano, orchestral conducting and composition in Perugia, Strasbourg, The Hague, Rome, Darmstadt and Paris; from 2007 to 2010 he studied and worked at IRCAM in Paris. His music has been performed by Ensemble Intercontemporain, Nikel, Klangforum Wien, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, ASKO, Quartetto Prometeo, Trio Accanto, mdi, Trio Abstrackt, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, WDR Sinfonieorchester K�ln, Matthias Pintscher, etc. In music, composer Marco Momi has, for many years, offered a brilliant example of deductive logic applied to sounds and their combinations, a method based on musical structures and their psychological resonance. This monograph collection, which includes the complete Vuoi che cycle (Vuoi che i passi accadano*, Vuoi che perduti, Vuoi che nel fuori) as well as Almost Close (part of the Almost cycle, together with Almost Nowhere, Almost Quiver, and Almost Nowhen), is a mature and refined representation of Momi's musical thought.

Indeed, Vienna is so rich in composers [...], that it is but just to allow it to be, among German cities, the imperial seat of music, as well as of power. Sir Charles Burney, the famous observer of European music, was quite correct. This city on the Danube was bubbling over with talents and masters who all made their livelihood there. This included Johann Baptist Wanhal, one of the innumerable Bohemians that tried their luck in the shadow of the court palace. He contributed many beautiful pieces to his preferred medium of instrumental music. The small selection of the present production alone well demonstrates that Wanhal was able to hold his own in the symphonic genre next to Joseph Haydn, who was seven years his senior. Subtle orchestral colours, a fine sense for dramatic events, especially in the minor keys, and striking melodies are characteristic of the creations that were enjoyed not only in the old imperial city.

This album pays homage to the concept of the Schubertiad-the intimate gatherings held during the life of the "fourth Viennese classic," where the composer himself would sit at the piano, joined by the finest musicians, to perform Schubert's chamber works in the salons of wealthy friends. Much like these legendary soir�es, the album presents Schubert's most celebrated compositions from the final years of his life, brought to life by a group of exceptional young artists handpicked by Andrzej Pikul. The program features two expansive songs, enhanced by a wind instrument, which frame Schubert's iconic Sonata in A minor, written for the then-novel arpeggione, a unique instrument that, unfortunately, enjoyed a brief lifespan of less than fifty years. The album also includes Schubert's monumental Fantasy in F minor for Piano Four Hands. The centerpiece is a poignant miniature that evokes the melancholic yet beloved nature of Schubert-the composer who, despite his public charm, was often tormented by personal struggles. A unifying thread throughout the album is the piano, which, under the skilled hands of acclaimed chamber musician Andrzej Pikul, transports the listener into a world of musical camaraderie and enduring friendships.

Marcy Rosen and Diane Walsh present fresh readings of three masterpieces from the cello repertoire. Ms. Rosen studied Barber's cello sonata with Orlando Cole, who worked closely with Barber on the editing of the composition, later premiering the work with Barber at the piano at New York City's Town Hall in 1933.

Duality as essence The fullness of an almost empty space within which only two presences distil their separated essences; the completeness of only two subjects representing all the rest; the awareness in subordinating oneself to the magnetism of the subtracted and the missing; the consistency of silence, immobility and timelessness; the essential value of otherness. Each of the titles of these duets, all of a single word, carries semantic potentialities inherent in duality, a contradiction resolved in the ideal of recomposing dualism into unity. Ali (Wings), equivalent laterality as duality, which divides in two and equally holds together; Diade (Dyad), couple, duality, and in biology the chromosome of germ cells formed by two homologous chromatids united, maternal and paternal; Talea (Cutting), in botany the birth of a life through another that mutilates and grafts itself; Appulso (Appulse), in astronomy the apparent approach of a star to a planet, so that the star seems to touch it; Giano (Janus), the twoheaded god, who can look at the two entities future and past but not at the present, in charge of thresholds, of passages, who presides over all beginnings; Specchio (Mirror), the reflecting "other", in the mutual comparison of every couple or duo; Cenere (Ash), matter inclusive of the original fullness - simulacrum of what it was - and of it's dissipation, emblem of the invisibility to come; Gemina (Twin), that which is double, an adjective declined here, in Italian, in the feminine, leaving open the interpretation (double musical expression?, a double union of performers?... ), and in genetics the "bivalent pair" of chromosomes, which merges and then splits; Stati (States), in addition to being a noun - the word that in Italian in one of it's meanings is related to staticity, from the Latin status, "that which stands still" -, is also a past participle that makes the subjects exist in the same time for how they are now and for what they have "been", "stati" (thinking of this piece, divided into three parts, in the sequence stasismotionstasis: �You alone knew that motion is not different from stasis.� Eugenio Montale, from Satura); Stigma (Stigma), explicit imprint of an implicit owner of it, but also, in botany, the part of the pistil destined to receive and germinate; Etra (Air), a kind of air that, here, makes physical wind and metaphysical wind copresent, which mix in a haunted vortex... Osvaldo Coluccino

At the age of five, Accursio Antonio Cortese began studying music and the organ with his grandfather, D. Imbornone. At the V. Bellini Conservatory (now A. Scarlatti) in Palermo, he earned a Piano Diploma with O. Buogo and a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Composition with honors and special mention under M. Betta. He earned a Master's degree in Composition with I. Fedele at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with top honors. He specialized in film music composition with L. Bacalov and opera with G. Battistelli, both at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. He studied conducting with C. Caruso, choral music and choral conducting with M. Ghiglione. He furthered his knowledge of jazz music by attending international seminars in Siena and at Roccella Jazz. He has a substantial catalog of symphonic, chamber, sacred, operatic, and film compositions. His music has been performed in Italy, the USA, Argentina, Finland, Russia, Switzerland, France, and Romania, in prestigious venues. His music is published by Suvini Zerboni - Sugar Music (Milan), Sconfinarte Editions (Brescia), and Isuku Verlag (Munich).