What does it mean for Schumann's Kreisleriana to be Romantic? Is it the violent contrasts, the mercurial shifts in mood, the fragmentary architecture, the raw and unfiltered expression? Is it the breathtaking lyricism? Or is it the spectre of the tormented kapellmeister Kreisler haunting this work that dissolves the boundaries between music, literature, and psychological portraiture? Acclaimed virtuoso Paolo Giacometti brings both poetry and psychoanalysis to Kreisleriana and Kinderszenen, performing them on a resplendent 1838 E�rard born in the very year these works first saw the light.

Franco-Swiss violist Mathis Rochat presents British repertoire for viola and orchestra, pairing William Walton's well-known concerto with rarely recorded works by Herbert Howells and Arthur Benjamin. Featuring violinist Abigel Kralik, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the direction of Howard Griffiths, the program highlights romantic styles and lesser-known voices within the first half of 20th-century British music.

Nancy Dalberg's (1881 - 1949) songs were written in the period from 1909 to the beginning of the 1930s, and through her choice of lyrics she tells a lot about herself and her life. She grew up in a prosperous entrepreneurial environment, and early on she developed skills as a pianist. In 1901 she married First Lieutenant Erik Dalberg, who also had a significant artistic vein, and a few songs were thus written together. Due to an arm disease, however, she had to give up becoming a concert pianist, and with Johan Svendsen and especially Carl Nielsen as teachers, she acquired from 1909 on the compositional skills that, in addition to the songs and other smaller works, led to her string quartets and orchestral works, thus three of her songs are also available in an orchestral version. With the very personal choice of 47 mainly Danish poems, her songs take up a considerable amount of space, and she provoked her contemporaries with a sometimes quite rich piano accompaniment, whereby the soloist and pianist became more equal in the performance. The lyrics range widely from the cheerful to several more serious lyrics that revolve around the family and marital dreams that remained unfulfilled due to her lifelong health challenges and her husband's increasing mental illness, of the present selection, 9 songs have not previously been recorded.

The music of this album derives from the stage work SEMMELWEIS, whose initial creation and development came about with the generous help of the American Opera Project, Budapest Operetta Theater, The Bartok Plusz Opera Festival, the Charles P. Sloan Foundation, Ensemble Studio Theater, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Edward Andrews, Dr. Laszlo Rosivall, Dr. Ana Berlin, Dr. Warren Widmann, and many others listed in the thank-you section. It premiered at the Bartok Plusz Opera Festival in a production directed by Martin Boross, which ran in Budapest and toured throughout Hungary. The music of SEMMELWEIS underwent significant artistic development with help from director Martin Boross, music director D�niel Diny�s, dramaturg Di�na Eszter M�trai, and assistant director Julia Jakubowska. This album has deep roots and owes it's thanks to so many who have supported it, informed it, encouraged it, critiqued it, coached it, lent a listening ear to it, brought it to stages, performed in earlier live versions of it, helped find opportunities for it, etc. Much gratitude to: Ana Berlin, Eva Berlin-Lustig, Dr. Daniel Seidman, Luigi Porto, Matt Gray, D�niel Diny�s, Mila Henry, Charity Wicks, Hans Tashjian, Peter Thall, Tara Khozein, Troy Germanow Alejandro Berlin, Andr�s Tucker, Audrey Jakab, Bart�k B�la Chamber Chorus of Szolnok, Carola Timmel, Chaitanya Sangco, Charles Jarden, Conrad Cummings, Daisy Press, EMI Ferguson, Erwin Maas, �va Moln�r, Gy�rgy Lorinczy, Hermann Szabolcs, John Corigliano, Joy Tamayo, Karmina �ilec, Katelan Terrell, Nina Colosi, Ryan McAdams, Sandcastle New Music, Szilveszter P. Szab�, The Streaming Museum, Veronika N�dasi, Maryna Abigail Fisher, �kos Podr�czky, Alice Lustig, Amy Justman, Andr�s Juh�sz, Angel Orensanz Center, Balassi Institute, Bill Jones, Brett Umlauf, Brian Meece, Bryan P. Hurley, Ph.D., Carolyn Stem, Catherine Hancock, Charlotte Dobbs, Christopher Botta, D�niel Patk�s, Dina Rose Rivera, Dora Halas, D�ra T�si, Dr. Bernhard K�enburg, Dr. Jonathan Miller, Dr. Sherwin Nuland, Edward Bilous, Elaine Larson, Elena Kieffer, Elena Kowalsky, Eniko L�vai, Eszter Nemethi, Evan Fein, Ferenc Kumin, G�bor Csonka, Galapagos Art Space, Gary Shapiro, Gertr�d Andr�si, Glenn Fleshler, Glimmerglass Opera, Greg Knowles, Greta Berman, Guadalupe Peraza, Guy Coolen, Howard Lieberman, Ildiko Eri, Inge Ivchenko, James Paulk, James Schaeffer, Jennifer Panara, Jenny Horv�th, Jessica Miller-Rausch, Jessica Savage, JoAnn Dolan, Joanna Ebenstein, Joel Kalow, Joerg Ahlgrimm, John Brown, Mary Brown, John Lustig, Joseph Keckler, Josh Mertz, J�lia Hadi, Julianne Zahl, Julie Nagel, Kate Maroney, Kelly Horsted, Kendall Briggs, Kerry B. Grennan, N.P., Kiara Duran, Laura Kaminsky, Lee Streby, Lili Raubinek, Lisa Romain, Luke Canterella, Maeve H�glund, Marcy Richardson, Marguerite French, Martin Verdrager, Matthew Curran, McGinn Educational Center at Staten Island University Hospital, Megan Schubert, Michael Marcotte, Michelle DiBucci, Miron Kov�ts, Moirae Ensemble, Molly and Marvin Brooks, Music Theater Now, Musiktheatertage Wien, National Arts Club, Ned Canty, New York Academy of Medicine, Nissa Kahle, Norman Ryan, Opera Grows in Brooklyn, Opera on Tap, Operadagen Rotterdam, Patricia Price, Patrick Porter, Paul Dolan, Paul Haas, Paul Schneider, Paula Mlyn, Peter Flint, Phil Simmons, Raymond Lustig Sr., Regina Lustig, Robert E. Lee III, Ryan Andes, Samantha Martin, Samuel Katz, Samuel Zyman, S�ra Zal�nyi, Sarah Small, Sophie Delphis, Stephanie Griffin, Steven Osgood, Susan Jakab, Tam�s Keller, Tara Geer, Thomas Campbell Jackson, Thomas Desi, T�nde Frank�, Zita Vadasz, Gerd K�hl, Ildik� Barab�s, J�zsef Dreiszker, Kelly Guerra, Marton Szegedi, M�t� Vincze, Megan Ketch, Olivia Baseman.

Throughout history, the open landscapes and mythical cultures of the Nordic countries have triggered the imagination of artists. Finnish horn player Markus Maskuniitty and pianist Martin Sturfalt perform works which, although separated in time by more than a century, all draw their inspiration from from these areas of interest. The compositions gathered here approach these Nordic themes from different angles, blending traditional folk influences with contemporary classical techniques whilst exploring the horn's lyrical and dramatic capabilities and it's rich sound palette. Recent compositions by Piers Hellawell, Tryggvi M. Baldvinsson, Albert Schnelzer and Benjamin Staern are mixed with older works by Carl Nielsen, Hugo Alfven and Julius Rontgen, including the latter's Aus Jotunheim, a suite characterized by an irresistible Norwegian flavour throughout it's five movements, quoting everything from cattle calls to lullabies with plenty of rustic folk dancing in between. This imaginative program designed by Maskuniity and Sturfalt puts a spotlight on the unique character of the Nordic musical identity.

Chopin's nocturnes are widely regarded as some of the finest works for solo piano and continue to hold a prominent place in today's concert repertoire. He composed 21 of them between 1827 and 1846, and they have become a cen- tral part of the repertoire. Many of his compositions began as improvisations - musical ideas discovered at the piano and later carefully crafted into written works. There is so much more to say about it - but for me, it was partially through studying and playing it over time that I have come to understand it better. From the beginning, the goal was never to just record these nocturnes. �I wanted to learn and grow as a pianist and mostly as a musician. I wanted to understand how to shape storytelling at the instrument, to create a musical narrative through phrasing, colour, timing, and silence. And there is no better repertoire to explore that with, than with these nocturnes. - Marie Francois

Composer Rodion Shchedrin (1932-2025) was one of the leading figures of post-war Soviet music. This album by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Olli Mustonen brings together four of his works, including music from his ballet The Lady with the Lapdog, as well as a viola concerto, Concerto dolce, performed by Lawrence Power, one of the greatest violists of our time. Rodion Shchedrin passed away while this album - a monument to the unique friendship and artistic collaboration that Olli Mustonen and Rodion Shchedrin cultivated over the course of three decades - was in preparation.

These two quartets were written in the summer of 2021. There was a pandemic going on, and I spent most of the summer in my apartment, reading books and feeling the momentum of life melting away in the heat. Early that summer, I read Haruki Murakami's first novel, "Hear the Wind Sing," and in the introduction he tells an anecdote from a baseball game: "In the bottom of the first inning, Hilton slammed Sotokoba's first pitch into the left field for a clean double. The satisfying crack when the bat met the ball resounded throughout Jingu Stadium. Scattered applause rose around me and in that instant, for no reason and based on no grounds whatsoever, it suddenly struck me: I think I can write a novel." This story had an effect on me similar to the crack of the bat, as I'd never written concert music but had always wanted to. My only idea of how to start composing was to improvise at the piano. There are parts of the piano quartet that are direct transcriptions of these sessions, such as the cadenza-like development section of the first movement. But even the most structured-sounding passages began as improvisations before being arranged into an almost naively typical sonata structure. The piano quartet, while clearly an "early" piece, introduced me to my own language, and got me addicted to composing. I started writing Love and Levity, my first string quartet, immediately after finishing the piano quartet. The Renaissance Quartet wasn't even really a thing yet, but I knew who I was writing it for. I consider the piece to be, at it's core, Beethovenian: in it's thematic and structural tautness, but even more so in it's motion towards excess-staying on an idea for too long, playing something too fast or too slow, too quiet or too loud. The title came from this anachronistic romanticism, this desire to talk about big feelings, but always with a bit of humor, always a bit weird. Jazz and contemporary songwriting are as important to this music as the classical tradition. The scherzo movement, "Hermit's Waltz," is a jazz piece, complete with a transcription of an actual solo taken by guitarist Jacob Drab. The outer movements feature chords, melodies, and instrumental techniques taken from American folk musics such as rock, bluegrass, and the blues. These musics are not only emblems of New York, the city I call home, but contain the DNA of virtually all contemporary music. I leave it to you to discover what any of that means, and how it all came out. I want to thank my quartet mates, as well as Valerie, Brian, and Han, for making this music so much better than it is on the page.

The album Excursin Animato is a live recording of a unique project that Irena and Vojtech Havel, and the experimental-ambient duo Kora et le Mechanix, performed at the Alternativa Festival in 2006, created specifically for this festival. Here, the Havel couple for the first time combined their fragile, meditative music with electronics, which they had purposefully avoided until then (and even after). The album Excursin Animato is dedicated to the memory of the exceptional musician Vojtech Havel, who died a year ago. He and his wife Irena had been working together since the 1970s, recording a number of albums that mixed elements of European minimalism with Baroque and Eastern traditions. The depth and unpretentiousness of their expression have won them loyal fans at home and abroad and inspired many artists across genres. For their latest album Four Hands (Animal Music, 2024), they received the Czech Music Academy Award. The duo Kora et le Mechanix, formed by Michal Kor�n and Filip Homola, is celebrating 20 years of existence this year. They have established themselves as one of the most interesting electronic ambient projects in our country. The starting point of the collaboration with the Havel couple was their debut album Excursin (2006). The electronic compositions of Kora et le Mechanix (electronics, sampler, synthesizer, vocoder) are combined with the fragile world of acoustic music of Irena and Vojtech Havel (viola da gamba, cello, piano, and Tibetan bowls). The album Excursin also has a remix version, Excursin Forte (2007), featuring some of the most remarkable artists of the Czech and Slovak electronic scene. Excursin Animato thus concludes this trilogy.

Experience Louis Armstrong at the height of his powers with this definitive 1959 Copenhagen concert, captured just months before his life changing heart attack. Drawn from newly restored Danish radio tapes, SCCD 36513 showcases Armstrong’s All Stars in explosive form—fiery “Tiger Rag,” soulful “Basin Street Blues,” a powerful “Black and Blue/Do You Know What It Means” medley, and joyous favorites like “Mack the Knife” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Featuring Velma Middleton, Trummy Young, Peanuts Hucko, Billy Kyle, Mort Herbert, and Danny Barcelona, this release reveals Armstrong’s unmatched stamina and emotional depth. Liner notes are by Ricky Riccardi, the Grammy winning Director of Research Collections at the Louis Armstrong House Museum and one of the world’s leading Armstrong scholars. A major archival addition to the Armstrong discography, presented with SteepleChase’s renowned audio restoration.

The famous Rarities of Piano Music from Husum: When Peter Froundjian conceived a festival devoted exclusively to unknown and rarely played piano music, some might have thought the idea too ambitious or even foolhardy. It proved to be a stroke of genius, and since 1987 the strong support of audiences from many countries has been consistent. It has kept it's intimate atmosphere, with a maximum of 130 listeners in the Rittersaal of Husum castle, and 40 more beyond an open door, with a TV screen to keep in touch. It's influence around the world has been considerable, with more ambitious concert programmes in evidence and record companies willing to take on a wider repertoire. This disc contains a particularly large number of short pieces by fourteen different composers. However, the producers have arranged them thoughtfully into groups and sequences which should make for a coherent listening experience. If these examples encourage listeners to seek out other examples of music by the composers, then they have surely served their purpose. As usual Peter Froundjian made the initial choice of music, with the agreement of the performers. His co-producer Jesper Buhl and the team at Danacord took care of the technicalside, including the final order of tracks and the maximum duration to suit most CD players - about 80 minutes these days. The recordings are all taken from live performances with no editing. If the very occasional "noises off" can be heard, they only serve to show how quiet and concentrated the Husum audie ces are most of the time.

With "Collateral Flow," Leipzig-based pianist Clemens Christian Poetzsch and German guitarist, percussionist, and composer Reentko Dirks present their first joint album for piano and guitar. This unique work combines the romantic and melancholic elements of Poetzsch's sensitive piano melodies with Dirks' romantic and soothing guitar sounds to create a captivating musical journey."La Bicicleta Roja" opens the collection as a heartfelt homage to the unforgettable moment of learning to ride a bike, symbolizing the transition from security to independence. "Tidewater" unfolds as a dialogue between the artists, comparable to the repetitive waves rolling comfortingly onto the beach, an image of movement and transformation."Pendulum" interweaves with the visual narrative of an abandoned house and the inevitable passage of time. The gentle tones of "Riverine" reflect the tranquillity of a morning riverbank, while "Kleines Silber" celebrates the harmonious fusion of piano and guitar."Reflexion" becomes a canvas for emotional and creative expressions, while "Veer" reaches a fascinating dimension with it's unique sound experiment between prepared guitar and piano."Collateral Flow" is an invitation to immerse yourself in the beauty of sound and emotion. Immerse yourself in this musical masterpiece

Who knew? Certainly, we did not. When the eight of us met at WBEZ in Chicago on September 13, 2022, we thought we were taking the first step toward recording a new CD. It was a fine day in the studio, we got a bunch done and it sounded pretty great, but then we spent much of 2023 working on a chamber theater piece that split it's time between LA and Chicago, leaving not much empty space to go back into the studio. January 5 of 2024 was the next time we gathered to record, this time at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland - and there were a lot of us. There were the five core members of the group, with Tim Langen on fiddle, and James Oxley, tenor, for a total of seven musicians. Dan was producing, Charlie at the console, and Lindsey overseeing it all. Honestly, it was a tough session. We had been overly optimistic about what could be achieved, perhaps we were under-rehearsed, and I had cancer. This is not a poor-pitiful-me-moment. It's just a fact that sometimes when you have cancer and you don't know it, you haven't been diagnosed, nothing feels right, and indeed, nothing felt right. Even in the haze of exhaustion and infirmity, there were shining, glittering moments of extraordinary music making. Isaac brought his saxophone. Ensemble Galilei, known for early music/traditional music crossover had never, ever, recorded with something that modern. Cape Clear, a traditional Irish air would be played on sax accompanied by the viola da gamba. Who knew? Both instruments rumbled and sang, Isaac's saxophone riding the red-hot coals of grief, with the gamba, in the basement of it's range, providing a partner in darkness. James Oxley poured himself into, Come Away, Death, with Jesse Langen's extraordinary guitar giving space, air, and light to the tune. Bernard McWilliams, the session photographer, was there when the jig set was being recorded, a straight-ahead Irish set that Tim, Jesse and Isaac had assembled a few days before, and he looked me straight in the eye and said, "That is like hearing pure joy." The Boys of Barr na Sraide with it's perfect imperfection still makes me cry when I hear Isaac singing, And when the hills were bleeding and the rifles they were aflame To the rebel homes of Kerry the the Saxon strangers came And the men who fought the Auxies and beat the Black and Tans Were the boys of Barr na Sraide who hunted for the wren. There was a biopsy on April 15, I told my surgeon that my first free day to go under the knife was June 17. I had things to do. We had recording sessions already scheduled. As our producer, Dan Merceruio, and I listened to the tracks from December, there was music that soared and there were pieces that didn't quite rise. We needed a fiddler. I called Hanneke Cassel who lives in Boston, asked her if she might have one day to come to DC to record, and when she said, "Yes, if it's May 6, " we were good to go. I flew up for a rehearsal, we went over the tracks she would be working on, she created beautiful and compelling parts, and May 6 was one of those days of focused creativity that one never forgets. At that time, there were two projects in the works, on parallel paths. For the first time, we were going to record an early music CD in a conventional classical music style. Ensemble Galilei had always been known as a crossover group, meaning that while it was true that we performed early music, traditional music was always right around the corner. We never sought to achieve a level of historical performance practice that might engage early music audiences, until now. There were just four of us when we met to rehearse in the spring, and when the rehearsals were over and we were convinced that we had something to say that had never been said before, we scheduled a session for June 6-9. Kathryn Montoya and I were the early music representatives from Ensemble Galilei and we would be joined by the extraordinary lutenist, Ronn McFarlane and the peerless English tenor, James Oxley. Unfortunately, right before James was set to fly to the US from England, he tested positive for Covid. The studio at Sono Luminus had been reserved, Erica Brenner our producer, had her tickets, and Robert Friedrich, our engineer, had packed all the equipment. We were going to record. That studio is designed for a group to record together - sharing space, hearing the music as it is being played, feeling the resonance of the room. There is no isolation, no overdubbing, no fixing that pesky buzzy string in bar four that will be problematic later. The sound of the recording will be broader, there will be more room sound, and the process is inherently different. You can see each other, hear each other breathe. And if you make a mistake, it lives on in everyone's microphone. There is, after all, a plus and a minus to everything. Those days of recording with Kathryn and Ronn were astonishing. Because we had three days booked (and since we weren't recording any of the vocal music), we could focus, really take our time, stretch out and listen, and with Erica gently guiding us, rearrange, and go again. It is rare that time is your friend in the studio, and for us in those days, it was. We were able to book the studio with James for August 4-6, and there we met again. True confessions, two of the songs that James sang are profoundly important in my life, and the way that he sang John Dowland's Flow My teares and Go Cristall teares made playing the bass line, with Ronn taking the lute part, an exquisite experience. And I do hear it, in the recording. All of that intention, all of that seemingly effortless technique (which we know is not effortless) and the heart that they put into the performances, these are the things that one lives for in music. I called Collin Rae, the head of Sono Luminus, on the way home from the session, hoping that he might have a great name for this Ensemble Galilei early music spinoff and he suggested that instead of releasing two different projects under two different names, that we release a single recording as a two CD set. Lindsey Nelson, our executive producer, who seems to always have the wisdom and experience to guide us when we are in uncharted territory, was in the car during that phone call. It was a mind-blowing moment. There were so many things that made sense about it, and at the same time there were major obstacles. We had always been an ensemble that embraced a wide range of music, so putting early music and traditional music on the same CD was business as usual. But we had recorded in radically different sonic environments, intentionally, and how we would marry these diverse soundscapes was challenging. But Collin was right. It was crazy to spin off a different group, give it another name, and release a CD. And while it had never occurred to Lindsey or to me, a two-CD set was the perfect solution. The summer of 2024 was tough, and yet astonishing things kept showing up. A few years before, I looked at our Spotify page for the first time and saw that we had millions of streams. Our big cities were Paris, Seattle, and London, and our demographic was predominantly people in their late teens, twenties, and early thirties, not our usual concert audience - and they were not hearing the music on a Spotify radio station, they were listening and sharing with friends. This was happening all over the world. And then in August, Come, Gentle Night, the title track of a CD that was released in 2000 on Telarc, caught fire. All of a sudden, our top five cities were all in Turkey. The tune was streamed hundreds of thousands of times, again, shared from one person to another. People were listening. Radiation started for me in September. For my first session, which would be the longest, the tech asked what I would like to hear and I said, "Me. Us. Ensemble Galilei." He found Ensemble Galilei on Spotify and as I lay on the cold metal table, in the chilly, dimly lit room, I heard Following the Moon, the title track of a CD released in 1995. It was the second tune I had ever written, and it had been decades since the penny-whistle, harp, viola da gamba and fiddle soaring through space had crossed my consciousness. As I am listening, the machine delivering the radiation starts to rotate across the table, doing it's own, graceful, beautiful dance to the music. Then the next tune, and the next tune and what I realized, in that extreme and novel moment, was that there was a kind of hope and humanity in our music. You could hear it. You could feel it. I understood that people around the world were listening because these tunes offered them a place to be. Of course it did. We had been making music for thirty-five years because it's what we do, not because we ever had a big breakthrough, or there were sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall. Did it make a difference that now there were over twenty-one millions streams? Yes, actually it did. We weren't quite finished recording. We needed Jackie to sing As I Roved Out in a way that only he could do, and we needed a great first track for the first CD. Isaac was writing a new tune that would go with an old tune, and he and Jesse finished working on it on Friday, December 13th and aptly named it, The Last Minute. It changed a little after the concert on Saturday, we did it again in concert on Sunday so, sure, it was ready Monday morning. December 16th was the one day when Dan could fly north, and Jackie, Jesse, Isaac and I would all be in the area, so after our Sunday afternoon concert on December 15th the four of us drove to the studio, met Charlie, set up the microphones, chairs, headphones and whatever else we needed so that we could start recording right at 10:00am, but the next morning there was fog in DC so Dan's flight was delayed. Of course it was. In spite of the challenges we had an extraordinary day, clocked out at 6:00 and everyone made it to their airports on time. After Dan edited the tracks from Chicago and Takoma Park, after Erica edited the tracks from Sono Luminus, I got to work sequencing. Now that all of this music would be one project, we needed a single person to make the choices, to guide the process, to envision and manifest this opus. It was Dan. It had to be. He had been our north star for fifteen years and the hard decisions would have to be his. Some tracks would not make it into this recording and his expertise, compassion, and patience were essential. We also needed to get a proof of concept CD to Collin. None of us really knew for sure whether we could make these two very different sonic fields into one compelling project. When I downloaded all the tracks and started putting them into an order that made emotional sense, I started to hear the stories. But there were problems. There were moments in sequencing the two discs when there seemed to be no way to get from the early music to the Irish music, or back again, and then Kathryn and her recorder solos provided exactly what we needed. In an unexpected turn, the recorder which is so clearly identifiable as an early music instrument became timeless. In her hands, this instrument which is essentially a wooden tube with holes in it, became an expressive and infinitely transmutable pathway for traversing the cultures and centuries. It was miraculous. It would have been technically possible to have the early music recording and the traditional music recordings come close to matching in sound and space, but honestly, I came to love the differences. Robert, a master location engineer, had achieved a sound that included the room, with it's high ceiling and hardwood floor, and also brought the resonance of each of us close to the listener. Charlie, who had produced the very first Ensemble Galilei recordings, knew exactly how to place the microphones so that on that amazing guitar solo, Bruach Na Carraige Baine, the pure sound and the overtones would sparkle, and fill the ear. As I listened down through all thirty-four tracks and forty-seven tunes over two CDs, sometimes I felt like I was turning a corner, from one song to another, moving from an Irish hillside to a medieval castle, from one world to another - each of them compelling, expressive, and sonically exquisite. In the end, if the musicians have brought their hearts, souls, and years of mastery, if the recording team has entered into the space with wisdom, tools, patience and good will, if the executive producer is saying, "Sure, let's book one more session to make this the very best it can possibly be" then the opportunity exists for the listener to hear it all - the breath, the intention, the ensemble, the soloist, the fingers on the strings, the air as it comes out of the recorder, the hands on the regulators of the uilleann pipes, the tipper as it touches the head of the bodhran, the rosin on the fiddle's bow, and feathered end of the note on a viola da gamba. It is all there. What you do not hear on this recording is the harp being played by EG Emeritus member, Sue Richards. Never in the thirty-five years of Ensemble Galilei has there been a recording without Sue. Who are we without that grace, without her sense of beauty and joy? The answer must be that we are still making music, still telling stories, still finding our way into new territory, trusting our hearts and our sensibilities. Playing music together is a place where we meet, a place that we love, indeed, it is there I long to be. - Carolyn Surrick, March 10, 2025 Ensemble Galilei Isaac Alderson - uilleann pipes, Irish flute, whistles, tenor saxophone Jesse Langen - guitar Kathryn Montoya - recorders, whistle, shawm Jackie Moran - banjo, bodhran, egg shaker Carolyn Surrick - viola da gamba With Hanneke Cassel* - fiddle Gjendine's B�dl�t and Gjendine's Waltz, Boys of Barr na Sraide Tim Langen - fiddle Jig Set, When that I was a Tiny Boy Ronn McFarlane - lute James Oxley - tenor *Ensemble Galilei emeritus Barn Dance no.1 and Leaving St. Kilda were recorded at WBEZ in Chicago on September 13, 2022. Recording Engineer - Brian Doser Producer and Editing Engineer - Dan Merceruio Mixing Engineer - Charlie Pilzer Producer and Music Director - Carolyn Surrick Come Away Death, Io son un Pellegrino, Serbian Wedding Dance, Bruach Na Carraige Baine, Cape Clear, When that I was a Little Tiny Boy, Waltz no.1, Sliabh Geal gCua, Aggie Whyte's, The Old Blackthorn Stick, Old Simon the King, The Boys of Barr na Sraide and The Fair Maid of Barra, The Sporting Pitchfork and Scattery Island were recorded at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland from January 5-7, 2024. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Charlie Pilzer Producer and Editing Engineer - Dan Merceruio Producer and Music Director - Carolyn Surrick Hanneke Cassel recorded Gjendine's B�dl�t and Gjendine's Waltz, and added her incredible musical sense to The Boys of Barr na Sraide on May 6, 2024 at Tonal Park. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Charlie Pilzer Producer and Editing Engineer - Dan Merceruio Producer and Music Director - Carolyn Surrick Lament for Owen Roe O'Neill/Allen Water/ Licke-potjen, Fantasias no. 2 and 3, Life, Tweede Stuck, Galliard, Loftus Jones, Suzanna Galliard, Vierde Carileen, Oncques amour, Jesus in Thy Dying Woes, Zesde Petit Brande/Frere Frapar/La Perichone, and Love is the Cause of My Mourning/Miss Noble were recorded at Sono Luminus in Boyce, Virginia from June 6-9, 2024. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Robert Friedrich Producer and Editing Engineer - Erica Brenner Au joli bois, Beware Fair Maids, Flow My Teares, Go Crystall Teares, His Golden Lockes, and Venus Birds were recorded at Sono Luminus in Boyce, Virginia from August 4-6, 2024. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Robert Friedrich Producer and Editing Engineer - Erica Brenner Hewlett and As I Roved Out were recorded on December 16, 2024 at Tonal Park. Recording and Mixing Engineer - Charlie Pilzer Producer and Editing Engineer - Dan Merceruio Producer and Music Director - Carolyn Surrick Lindsey R. Nelson, Executive Producer. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Robert Friedrich, Five/Four Productions, LLC.� Produced by Dan Merceruio. Collin J. Rae, Executive Producer Joshua Frey, Layout Carolyn Surrick, Liner Notes Photography: Bernard McWilliams Cover Art: Amy Fenton-Shine

I am writing these words while the Middle East, my place of birth, my roots, is bleeding. There are no words that can describe the pain, loss and suffering I see in the land and it's people on a daily basis. Like me, my friends, family, and neighbors who live on the other side of these fences that were built to divide us, carry an excruciating pain that grows deeper as the wars continue - pain that will live in hearts and souls for generations to come. I wanted this project to bring people together through music. My grandfather, born in Syria and shaped by hardship, believed in peace until his last day. Because of him, I believe in peace, and I hope this is one belief I will never have to grieve. The sonic landscape of conflict-the sudden silence after chaos, the irregular heartbeat of distant artillery, that unnatural quiet following destruction-has inevitably found it's way into my musical language. These experiences of personal loss, collective grief, and enduring hope became the foundation for the music in this album, each piece exploring different sides and shades of mourning. Shades of Mourning This album began, unknowingly, at my grandmother's deathbed. I didn't realize then that the piece I wrote while she was taking her last breaths would grow into an album, nor did I yet know I was a composer. The room was dark and hushed, air hanging motionless as though time itself had paused. Outside, the world continued it's rhythms, but in that space, existence narrowed to the shallow rise and fall of her chest. "Shades of Mourning, " which opened this collection of compositions centered around the process of grief, is a passacaglia - a farewell to a woman who shaped my life in ways I'm still uncovering. It opened a door to composing as a form of grief, reflection, and memory-and became the foundation of this entire work. Roots While grieving my personal loss, I found myself reflecting on my family's history and how it shaped both my identity and my music. When composing "Roots, " I wanted to create something that contrasted with the first piece - something wild, unexpected, unapologetic. I wanted to capture that visceral feeling of blood connecting to soil, of heritage running deep in our ground. Each note seemed to carry the weight of stories passed down through generations, a lineage both heard and felt, resonant as ancient memory. I asked myself: what do our roots mean to us, and to others? How much of our history lives in our cells, and how much is rewritten with each generation? Intermezzo A few months after my grandmother's death, I found myself at an artist residency in the Catskills. After being so close to her in her final moments, I experienced a privilege that many don't get to experience - breathing fresh air amid some of the world's most beautiful scenery. The garden welcomed me with meticulous care, an explosion of green against the blue sky. Flowers nodded in gentle breezes, while the sunlight warmed my skin. My ears filled with nature's music - birdsong trilling above the steady, the murmur of the Hudson River flowing past. There, surrounded by life's persistent beauty, I found a stark contrast between loss and renewal. It was here that I met Purcell Palmer, the founder of the residency, who became a dear friend. She passed away just months later. I wish she knew how profoundly she and her home affected me, how much healing I found in the sanctuary she created. I dedicate "Intermezzo" to her memory. And Maybe You Never Used to Be As time passed, grief evolved beyond my personal loss to become a central theme in my life, as it has for so many others around the world. I found myself processing not just the death of loved ones, but the loss of friendships, ideas, ideologies, and deeply held values. Inspired by Philip Glass's minimalist works, I created this four-movement string trio to explore these different dimensions of loss. "And maybe you never used to be" - my first chamber music work - opens the collection with a question: what happens when the things we thought were certain begin to shatter? My Clouds of Grief During grieving, there comes a stage when you wake each day under a dark, inescapable cloud. It follows you-pressing down on your chest, shadowing every breath. The weight settles into your bones, as if colors drain from the world around you; food loses it's taste, becoming nothing but texture. Even laughter from passing strangers sounds distant and hollow, as though filtered through thick glass. I wanted the music to envelope listeners in this heaviness, to let them experience how it feels when grief becomes your constant companion, surrounding you in it's seemingly infinite darkness. The End of Times Perhaps the most delicate and lush movement of this collection. Through the subtle effects of mutes, I explored the strings' capacity to create delicate colors and textures, searching for sounds that could capture an existential question: What does the end of times feel like? At a certain point, it felt as though I was living through such an ending. In this movement, I grapple with uncertainty - will we find relief in our final moments, or will pain be our lasting legacy? The music whispers these questions through veiled tones and gentle dissonances. Imaginary World While wars, conflicts, and unthinkable violence continue to plague our world, I find myself seeking refuge in imagination. Grief, pain, and sorrow are collective human experiences that touch every aspect of our lives, appearing in different shades and meanings, leaving lasting imprints on our souls. In my imaginary world, no living creature suffers. We exist side by side, caring for each other despite our disagreements and painful histories, working together to leave this world better than we found it. Inspired by the Mishima Quartet, whose music offered me solace during dark times, I created this movement. May it bring you the same joy and comfort that this music brought me. Prelude & In My Blue How do we conclude this journey through love, loss and grief? "Prelude" opens the path to the final track "In My Blue." "In My Blue, " based on the theme of it's Prelude, travels through harmonic changes and rhythms, much like the way grief transforms over time. The music creates a sensation of gentle vertigo, as if the room slowly revolves around you-a melancholy dance in darkened space where shadows become partners and notes hang in the air like suspended memories. During my darkest moments, I found unexpected solace in music - not just in creating or practicing it, but in letting it become my sanctuary. Inspired by Chet Baker's 'Almost Blue' and referring to the gentle sway of Bossa Nova, I imagined a love story between people who know deep pain intimately, yet still find the courage to dance together. I wanted to end this album not in sorrow, but with the same quiet hope that music has always given me - the possibility that even after profound loss, we can still move forward. Together. Tamar Sagiv is a cellist and composer whose musical language bridges classical tradition with contemporary expression. Her work explores themes of memory, identity, and emotional resonance, often drawing on personal experiences to create sound worlds that feel both intimate and universal. Her original composition Roots-a reflection on heritage and belonging-was premiered at her Carnegie Hall debut in May 2023, and performed alongside her mentor, acclaimed cellist Matt Haimovitz, at the Cello Biennale Festival in Amsterdam. Originally from Northern Israel, Sagiv began her musical training at the Kfar Blum Music Center with Uri Chen and continued at the Israeli Arts and Science Academy in Jerusalem with Prof. Hillel Zori. She earned her Bachelor's Degree from the Buchmann Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, and completed both her Master's and Professional Diploma (PDPL) at the Mannes School of Music in New York City under Prof. Haimovitz's guidance. As a performer, she has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Israel and Germany, and played at venues including Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, National Bohemian Hall, and the New York Public Library. Her music has been broadcast on Israeli National Radio since she was 16. Sagiv has participated in masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Gary Hoffman, and Frans Helmerson, and attended festivals across Israel, Europe, and the U.S. Her achievements have been recognized by awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Ronen Foundation, and a Certificate of Honor from Maestro Zubin Mehta. In 2022, she performed the music of composer James Simon-who perished in Auschwitz-at Carnegie Hall. Her debut album on Sono Luminus highlights her distinctive compositional voice and virtuosic playing, establishing her as a powerful new voice in contemporary classical music. Acknowledgements I extend my deepest gratitude to my husband, my mom and family for their unwavering belief and support throughout my musical journey, especially during moments when I struggled to believe in myself. I am profoundly thankful to my teachers who have shaped me as a cellist and musician: Matt Haimovitz, Felix Nemirovsky, Justus Grimm, Chagit Glaser, Hillel Zori, and Uri Chen. They opened my heart and ears, teaching me how to truly listen and nurturing my artistic growth. Special thanks to Leerone Hakami and Ella Bukszpan for their beautiful playing, artistic contributions, and cherished friendship throughout this project. To Michael Winger, whose guidance is invaluable to my development. To Noam Rappaport, my trusted confidant with whom I could share my mind and inner musical world-your friendship and insights have been immeasurable. I am grateful to Michael Lahr and Gregoij von Leitis from Elysium - Between Two Continents for their cherished friendship and support and for the Catwalk Institute for providing me with the creative space needed to compose these works. My sincere appreciation goes to Yaffa Ronen and the Ronen Foundation for their continued support of my career and artistic development. Special thanks to Sono Luminus for believing in this project, and to Simone Dinnerstein, Paola Prestini, and Pavlina Dokovska for their inspiration, guidance and encouragement through the years. Recording, Editing, & Mixing Engineer: Wei Wang Mastering Engineer: Daniel Shores Producer: Tamar Sagiv Recorded at Skillman Music - Brooklyn, NY 11211 January 31 - February 13, 2024 Tamar Sagiv - Cello, Composition Leerone Hakami - Violin (Tracks 4, 5, 6, 7) (left) Ella Bukszpan - Viola (Tracks 4, 5, 6, 7) (right) Photo credits: Zan Wang & Apar Pokharel Liner Notes: Tamar Sagiv Layout: Joshua Frey Executive Producer: Collin J. Rae

The Guesthouse is about collaboration, inclusion, and the essence of welcoming which is the essence of an open door. It's my most ambitious project to date, sonically and compositionally. It involves so many incredibly talented people: some are in the front, playing music together with me, offering their insight, time, effort, and love, and some incredibly talented and hardworking people are behind the scenes, facilitating, allowing, and inspiring me to keep pushing forward. Musically speaking, the color palette on The Guesthouse is huge. It introduces many musical guests that I admire deeply: MARO, Immanuel Wilkins, Michael Mayo, and many more. It includes lyric writing for the first time, electronic instruments, guitars, trumpets, flutes, flamenco musicians, in-depth production work, my quartet, solo piano, odd meter explorations, improvisations, songs with no time, strings, two pianos conversing and more and more and more.. I dove as deep as I could into these deep waters. The result is my attempt to turn the creative chaos that lives in mind mind into one coherent artistic statement, always having a simple melody as a thread that tells the story of this collective. Shai Maestro Shai Maestro (b. 1987) is one of the most inventive and influential pianists of his generation. Since debuting with his own trio in 2011, he has developed a distinctive musical voice that is fluid, expressive, and profoundly lyrical. His artistry has made him a defining figure in contemporary jazz, merging improvisation, composition, and global influences into a sound that is both cinematic and deeply personal. Maestro began studying classical piano at the age of five and discovered jazz at eight through the recordings of Keith Jarrett and Oscar Peterson. At nineteen, he joined bassist Avishai Cohen's trio, co-writing the acclaimed Gently Disturbed and performing worldwide. In 2011, he formed his own trio, recording six albums that solidified his reputation as a singular voice in modern jazz. His years with ECM Records, under the guidance of Manfred Eicher, placed him among the lineage of pianists such as Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, and Chick Corea. With drummer Ofri Nehemya and bassist Jorge Roeder, he recorded his first ECM album "The Dream Thief", later joined by trumpeter Philip Dizack for the second - "Human", both expanding the expressive language of the modern jazz quartet. Today, Maestro continues to evolve artistically with a new quartet featuring keyboardist Gadi Lehavi, drummer Ofri Nehemya, and bassist Jorge Roeder. Gadi, the new wild card in the group, brings a distinctive energy and vision; his presence as another pianist opens fresh possibilities for dialogue, texture, and experimentation between two keyboards. This lineup functions as a powerful, cohesive engine driving Maestro's musical exploration, blending jazz improvisation with modern production into a sound that is organic, cinematic, and forward-looking. In 2025, Maestro signed a long-term partnership with the Paris-based label naive records, a defining milestone that opened an expansive new chapter in his artistic life. The collaboration with naive marked a moment of renewal and bold creative ambition, setting the stage for a period of profound exploration. The first fruit of this partnership was his solo piano album, Solo: Miniatures & Tales. Introspective and deeply personal, it revealed the most intimate side of Maestro's artistry; a work of quiet reflection, nuance, and restraint. This album stands in deliberate contrast to the broader, outward-looking vision of his forthcoming project, The Guesthouse, highlighting the duality at the heart of Maestro's creative world: the tension between introspection and expansion. In March 2026, Maestro will release The Guesthouse, a record that features Portuguese singer MARO alongside Immanuel Wilkins, and Michael Mayo. The album represents a bold leap forward, combining the sensitivity of modern jazz with electronic sound design and the harmonic depth of classical music. The Guesthouse creates a lush, cinematic space where boundaries dissolve, embodying Maestro's exploration of openness and collaboration.

With "Collateral Flow," Leipzig-based pianist Clemens Christian Poetzsch and German guitarist, percussionist, and composer Reentko Dirks present their first joint album for piano and guitar. This unique work combines the romantic and melancholic elements of Poetzsch's sensitive piano melodies with Dirks' romantic and soothing guitar sounds to create a captivating musical journey."La Bicicleta Roja" opens the collection as a heartfelt homage to the unforgettable moment of learning to ride a bike, symbolizing the transition from security to independence. "Tidewater" unfolds as a dialogue between the artists, comparable to the repetitive waves rolling comfortingly onto the beach, an image of movement and transformation."Pendulum" interweaves with the visual narrative of an abandoned house and the inevitable passage of time. The gentle tones of "Riverine" reflect the tranquillity of a morning riverbank, while "Kleines Silber" celebrates the harmonious fusion of piano and guitar."Reflexion" becomes a canvas for emotional and creative expressions, while "Veer" reaches a fascinating dimension with it's unique sound experiment between prepared guitar and piano."Collateral Flow" is an invitation to immerse yourself in the beauty of sound and emotion. Immerse yourself in this musical masterpiece

Pacific Triptych for piano was completed in August of 2019. It is based on an earlier unperformed version for full orchestra completed in 2006. So, the piano version recorded here acts as a premiere. As implied by the title, it's a three-movement score based on contrasting sections that reflect the majesty of the Pacific Coast, especially the drama of the ocean and the endless sky above. Seven Nuggets was completed on April 25, 2023. It was inspired by a group of uncut, yet brilliant gemstones. Each "nugget" or movement ends with a low bass note. Those same notes are then played in sequence - at mid-range - at the end of the seventh nugget before being resolved into a sixth chord in the final nine bars. An American Travelogue (Book 1) was completed on May 3, 2023. This four-movement piano suite was inspired by various American locations in the western, southwestern, and Gulf Coast of the United States. (Book 2 continues this exploration in locations in the rest of the country.) - P S L Peter Scott Lewis is a San Francisco based, yet internationally active composer of modern classical music. His music has been published by Lapis Island Press and Theodore Presser Company and includes an extensive catalog of solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral music. His numerous recordings have been released by Sono Luminus, Naxos - American Classics, New Albion, and Lapis Island Records. He also plays the piano and has recorded as both a conductor and guitar soloist. Blair McMillen is a prominent soloist, recording artist, new music specialist, ensemble leader, music festival director, and educator. He is known for his passionate advocacy of living composers and contemporary music, as well as championing very early keyboard music and more recent neglected masterpieces. McMillen has toured and recorded with, among others, The Knights, International Contemporary Ensemble, the New York Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Albany Symphony. Blair McMillen, piano Peter Scott Lewis, composer Recorded at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY May 19-20, 2024 Producer: Peter Scott Lewis Recording, Mixing, & Editing Engineer: Ryan Streber Mastering Engineer: Daniel Shores Piano Technician: Brigitte Sims Cover Art: Collin J Rae & Joshua Frey Layout: Joshua Frey Photo of PSL: Thomas Heinser � 2023 Instrument: 1987 Hamburg Steinway D 9' concert grand. Rebuilt by Klavierhaus and Arlan Harris in 2009. Published by Lapis Island Press (Subito Distribution)

Hik Hail to the hesitation Hik is an old Icelandic word for hesitation. Hesitation is the moment of pause or delay before saying or doing something. It is a glimpse in time filled with uncertainty, even doubt. "A feeling of uncertainty, doubt or indecisiveness facing difficult decision or situation. A state of being reluctant or hesitant to act, speak, or make a choice." This album is in many ways an ode to hesitation. It is composed by improvisation, and as a conversation between the violin and the organ, reacting and coexisting in sound and metrum. The feeling of hesitation is that glorious moment before playing on, lingering on an overtone or diving into next phrase. It can feel endless, wonderful, natural, weird, distressing or impossible, but mostly exciting, hopeful and mysterious. These pieces were composed in Laugarneskirkja in Reykjavi�k where we also recorded: August 7th, Hik and Tango These pieces were composed in Reykholtskirkja in West - Iceland, very close to where Una �s grandmother was born on the farm Rauthsgil in 1905: Disclosure 1, Disclosure 2, Fuga in G, Skylight 1 and Skylight 2.

R-O-R refers to the chemical compound ether, when two elements come together to create entirely different matter. This ethereal compound also gives it's name to the collaboration between Icelandic musicians Gy�a Valt�sdottir and �lfur Hansson, whose new album AUGA brings together the two musicians in a unique new work of cosmic alchemy. On AUGA the two musicians combine like electrons to create an expansive sound-world that feels like entering the landscape of a dream. The elements here are both earthly and alchemical: evocations of rain, geology, wind entangle with the oneiric and celestial. �lfur's self-made synthesiser soars and segues with sparkling harmonic threads of Gy�a's cello, creating a tapestry in which matter entwines with a luminous sense of the spectral. AUGA is a new direction borne from a long history of collaboration between the two. Both have worked on each other's previous solo projects, with Gy�a playing cello on �lfur�s album Arborescens, and �lfur working on arrangements and production for Gy�a's albums Evolution and Ox. A deeper collaboration began, however, when Gy�a and �lfur created the Icelandic Music Award nominated track 'Morphogenesis' for Gy�a's album Epicycle II. Partly created out of improvisation and partly composed in writing, and appropriately named 'Morphogenesis' for the biological process that causes an organism to develop it's shape, this explorative collaborative process set the path for the deeply symbiotic creation of AUGA. The resulting album is an elemental dreamscape of long-form music informed by the astral and eternal. The music made between the two has the quality of a kind of primordial plasma, with contours of melodies arising from thin air and swiftly shapeshifting into whorls of formlessness. On 'Petrichor', a track named for the scent of falling rain, a dew-drop string melody merges with the geological bedrock drones of �lfur's synthesizer. Elsewhere, the chemical evocations of tracks like 'Esters' and 'Onium Ion' take us on a spectral atomic journey through hydrogen and halogen, and the deep tremors of 'Vacuum' transport us through a sense of expansive geological deep-time. Speaking about the collaboration, Gy�a says; ROR is a realm which I love entering. When me and �lfur improvised for the first time together many years ago, we immediately went to this place, which was so clear, strong and familiar; like it had always been there, right behind the veil, and we were simply finding it again. I could never go there by myself, but when our tones met, we went there instantly. I love this realm, it is timeless, colourful and textural - a poetry of pure vibration. The music of R-O-R is a hologram made from two different beams of expression, forming a whole where sometimes neither instrument can be differentiated from the other. Carbon, silicon, horse hair and wood melt into one projection; a wormhole where both image and form, emptiness and void emerge in a dance of opposites. Gestures echoing into one another. AUGA is an ever evolving nebula of sound.

The piano dances: new recordings of ballet classics in sparkling keyboard arrangements. Born in Russia, living and working in Germany, Ekaterina Litvintseva has made a string of critically acclaimed recordings for Piano Classics, featuring the music of Chopin, Rachmaninoff and more. On her latest album, she turns to a trio of ballet scores which have always captivated audiences for the particular genius of their marriage between story and music. She opens with Prokofiev's own arrangement of 10 pieces from Romeo and Juliet, followed by Guido Agosti's arrangement of the Suite from Stravinsky's Firebird, and Mikhail Pletnev's virtuoso transcription of dances from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. As in any popular recital, there are three encores: a waltz from Delibes' Coppelia (arranged by Erno Dohnanyi), Les Sauvages by Rameau, and finally another foot-tapping dance from the French Baroque, extracted from an opera by Lully. In these transcriptions, the pianist becomes more than just a substitute for the orchestra; she takes the role of a storyteller and a conduit for the expression of the ballet. The reduction of forces brings a more intense focus on the melodic lines, the harmonic progressions and the rhythmic subtleties of the music. Prokofiev chose to recompose and distil the essence of pivotal moments in Romeo and Juliet rather than making straightforward arrangements. In their own ways, Agosti and Pletnev also demonstrate that the essence of ballet can be captured and reimagined in the hands of a skilled pianist. While their versions of Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky have become crowd-pleasing pianistic tours de force in their own right, they also retain the elegance and the fundamental pulse of the original dances. 'The 30-something Ekaterina Litvintseva has been amassing a distinguished discography, and this... is a fine addition, exhibiting the combination of sensitivity and self-assurance that have marked her playing up until now... you owe it to yourself to make the acquaintance of Dora Pejacevic.' (Fanfare, reviewing PCL10226)