Giacomo Puccini composed 16 chamber songs for voice and piano over a very long period, from the early 1880s to 1919. These pieces thus virtually follow the evolution of his creative career, from his early neoclassical influences to the more dramatic and passionate atmospheres of his mature period. They are small, refined gems that anticipate and reflect the Maestro's operatic lyricism; indeed, one of the main reasons for interest in these pages lies in their very close relationship with some of the most famous moments in Puccini's melodrama.

The Rheinische Kantorei under their new director Edzard Burchards presents a truly inspired, thoroughly spiritual album to absolve us from the hustle and bustle of our modern life with devotion and love. Using the venerable motet as it's starting point, the ensemble tells the story of the cantors of St. Thomas, Leipzig. Over more than a century and a half, they strove to the best of their ability to fulfil this prestigious and demanding role. The journey begins with Tobias Michael, who took up his post in 1631 in a ravaged land to give due praise to the Lord, right up to Johann Adam Hiller, the classical composer who took over the post in the year of the French Revolution. Alongside them are a number of musicians whose hopes-whether justified or not-were dashed. This includes Johann Ludwig Krebs, a pupil of the pre-eminent Johann Sebastian Bach, who produced the programme's 'Overture': Jauchzet dem Herrn alle Welt, a pastiche in which some of the ideas of his friend Georg Philipp Telemann have been inserted. You wouldn't know it - because Love & Devotion are the common threads that bind this world together in it's very essence.

Known for his highly versatile approach to bassoon playing and innovative programming, Bram van Sambeek teams up with pianist Hans Eijsackers to present their new album, Relics and Discoveries. The release features a programme of concert-tested works partially dedicated to the conservatory repertoire most beloved by bassoon students. Several pieces originated as Paris Conservatoire competition commissions from the institution's composition faculty. Tansman's engaging Sonatine, Koechlin's three slow movements, and Dutilleux's Sarabande et cortege each reflect their composers' fiercely independent personalities: each energetic, contemplative, and masterfully crafted. A major discovery is Fazil Say's substantial and colourful Suite. Originally for alto saxophone, it is arranged here for bassoon in it's original key of E flat minor to preserve the instrument's unusual tonal 'friction'. Kinan Azmeh's November 22nd, a meditative evocation of childhood sounds from a Damascus market, adds emotional depth. Closing the programme is Eugene Jancourt's arrangement of the Allegretto from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, a movement van Sambeek connects to both personal memory and climate activism. Together, these works challenge the misconception that the bassoon repertoire is limited, offering pieces that range from conservatory staples to newly unearthed gems.

On Sujoud, oud virtuosos Nizar Rohana and Yasamin Shahhosseini bring two distinct musical traditions into intimate conversation. Rooted respectively in Arab (particularly Egyptian and Levantine) and Persian music, their playing moves beyond dialogue toward a shared language: one in which composed structures and spontaneous expression continually meet. Rohana's original compositions and arrangements explore the full sonic range of two ouds, their individual voices remaining unmistakable while intertwining with remarkable sensitivity. Percussionist Ruven Ruppik adds colour, momentum and subtle rhythmic energy, deepening the music without disturbing it's spaciousness. The title Sujoud refers to an act of bowing in awe. Here, it becomes both a gesture of reverence and a symbol of perseverance. Created during years marked by conflict and separation, the album carries a quiet but resolute message of hope. It's music is dedicated to those enduring hardship, especially children searching for a path through darkness. With it's balance of precision and freedom, humility and intensity, Sujoud is a deeply human album: a meeting of traditions, personalities and inner worlds, shaped by attentive listening and mutual trust.

Tendresse et tragedie' brings together cellist Paul Marleyn and pianist Stephane Lemelin in a program dedicated to three figures of French music from the Belle epoque: Rita Strohl, Fernand de la Tombelle, and Gabriel Faure. Through these works for cello and piano, the two performers highlight a repertoire of great expressive richness, blending lyricism, dramatic intensity, and refinement, while breathing new life into lesser-known pieces, including the world premiere recording of Fernand de la Tombelle's Variations en forme de chaconne.

Three years ago, Careless Territories was an invitation to travel. It reflected a musical curiosity that willingly wandered across styles, moods and influences, allowing each composition to find it's own destination. Looking back, I realize that album was less about defining a musical identity than about embracing the freedom of discovering one. Straight Down the Middle was born from an almost opposite intention. Rather than broadening the horizon, I felt the desire to narrow the focus. This record is the result of a conscious decision to immerse myself in one musical language that has fascinated me for years: the modern post-bop tradition. It is a repertoire, an aesthetic and a way of thinking that continue to inspire me, yet one that remains relatively uncommon on the European jazz scene. Instead of searching for variety, I wanted to explore the richness that comes from commitment to write music that lives unapologetically within this tradition while allowing my own voice to emerge naturally. With the exception of Every Single Time, which briefly steps outside the frame, every composition on this album embraces that artistic trajectory. Hence the title: Straight Down the Middle. More than anything, this album is a tribute to the composers, improvisers and recordings that have shaped my musical imagination over the years, but also to Phil Abraham, Amaury Faye, Clement Daldosso and Raphael Pannier, whose generosity, trust and musicality brought these compositions vividly to life. If this record conveys anything, I hope it is the simple pleasure of five musicians sharing a language they deeply love, while adding, with humility, one more conversation to a tradition that continues to evolve.

A genre of high fantasy, complete with it's host of ghosts, demons, spirits and witches, usurped the place of the magical elements of Baroque opera in France during the 19th century,' writes Alexandre Dratwicki in the introduction to this programme, conceived by the Palazzetto Bru Zane and dedicated to 'le fantastique' in French symphonic music between 1850 and 1914. Gounod's La Nonne sanglante, Guiraud's La Chasse fantastique, Carraud's La Chevauchee de la chimere, and Schmitt's Le Palais hante-all these highly evocative titles set the tone, with the mysterious and strange atmosphere reinforced by the instrumentation and orchestration chosen by the composers for these overtures, ballets, or descriptive preludes, as in Hero et Leandre by Augusta Holmes and Ossiane by Marie Jaell-two unjustly forgotten composers whom the Palazzetto Bru Zane is working to bring to the public's attention. Their pieces are recorded here for the first time anywhere in the world. This repertoire is magnificently performed by the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, conducted by Pierre Dumoussaud, now music director of the Opera Orchestre Normandie Rouen.

Under the direction of Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal presents two landmark works created for Sergei Diaghilev's legendary Ballets Russes: Maurice Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe and Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. This prestigious company played a decisive role in shaping the image of an artistic modernity that challenged established norms in the early decades of the 20th century, with these two works leaving a lasting mark on the history of ballet and music. Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe, described by the composer as a 'choreographic symphony', is a vast musical fresco built on a refined orchestral palette, subtle harmonic writing, and a sophisticated blending of instrumental colours. Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, with it's innovative rhythmic language, harmonic construction, and powerful evocation of ancient rituals, became a landmark work of the 20th century. Together, these scores reflect the extraordinary creative energy surrounding the Ballets Russes and the composers who transformed the musical landscape of their time. This release extends the exclusive recording partnership between the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal with Rafael Payare and PENTATONE, including Mahler's Symphony No. 5 (2023), Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with Sonya Yoncheva and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (2024), Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande and Verklarte Nacht (2024), and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and Le carnaval romain (2025).

This first FHR release from US pianist Evan Mitchell features five works written by composers early in their careers. In music that bursts with inspiration, the promise and possibility of youth are on full display. Three of the composers on this album - Samuel Barber, Alban Berg, and Elliott Carter - went on to lead full lives, and these works grant us an early preview of their genius. The other two composers heard here each only lived to age 25: Vitezslava Kapralova succumbed to an illness and Gideon Klein perished at Auschwitz. Their light exists in wondrous, if only partly realised, musical legacies.

In a remote Spanish town, the free-spirited Carmen declares that any man she loves should beware. But even she is unprepared for what happens when she decides to seduce police officer Don Jose. Though initially uninterested in Carmen's charms, Don Jose - against the wishes of his mother and of Micaëla, the woman who loves him - soon abandons his respectable career for a life of danger with Carmen, joining her and her smuggler friends as they outrun the law. But Carmen quickly wearies of Don Jose's possessiveness, longing to return to her life of independence. When she turns her attention to the celebrated toreador Escamillo, Don Jose's jealousy and despair threaten to violently erupt. Damiano Michieletto's searing production casts scorching light on the lust, violence and passion of Bizet's ever-popular opera.

Les Chemins qui montent builds on Amel Brahim-Djelloul's first album dedicated to the Kabyle repertoire, giving it a new orchestral dimension. Thomas Keck has arranged songs by Idir, Djamel Allam, Djurdjura and Taos Amrouche, and set the poems of Rezki Rabia to music. Led by Benjamin Levy and the Cannes National Orchestra, the album presents these songs in a new light, enhanced by a focus on timbre, linguistic phrasing and rhythm. The ensemble reveals the timeless power of a repertoire that is perfectly at home in a symphonic concert.

Philzuid's eighth album is a live recording of Antonin Dvorak's The Wild Dove and Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 1. Dvorak was deeply fond of the poetry of his compatriot Karel Erben. The Wild Dove is one of four compositions in which Dvorak drew inspiration from Erben's poetry. Brahms spent more than two decades working on his first symphony, ultimately producing what would become his magnum opus. Both works are performed by the orchestra under the direction of chief conductor Duncan Ward.

Per il Luigi is the 17th volume of the complete Haydn 2032 collection and presents a number of Haydn's earliest symphonies; these had been composed to display the talent of the musicians who had joined the Esterhazy court orchestra during the same period as Haydn himself. The centre of the programme is the Symphony No. 13 in D major from 1763, whose orchestration includes four horns and whose final movement features a prefiguration of the famous theme of Mozart's 'Jupiter' symphony, to be composed twenty-five years later. The Violin Concerto in C major is marked fatto per il Luigi in Haydn's catalogue of works and was dedicated to Luigi Tomasini (1741-1808), a violin virtuoso born in Pesaro and a friend of Haydn. Two centuries later, the young Baroque violin virtuoso Dmitri Smirnov now brilliantly champions this repertoire with the Kammerorchester Basel under Giovanni Antonini.

Eugene Ysaye remains best remembered for his 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin: six diverse and contrasted pieces that have kept his name alive across the century since they were written. For the present album, each one of the sonatas was dedicated to a violinist whose style and manner of playing is accordingly reflected through the piece in question. Each work has been situated in the context of music by the performer or artist who inspired it. Written for violin and piano/piano 4-hands, these works are rarely performed. Programmed between each of the sonatas, these works create an intriguing way of listening to the Ysaye's 6 Sonatas for Solo violin. The Ysaye Sonatas, Op. 27, were played on violins made by Philipp Bonhoeffer. All other works were played on the 'Caspar Hauser' violin, made by Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù', c. 1724.

In bringing together in the same recording the trios of Alex de Taeye and of Lucie Vellere, we create a dialogue with two contrasting yet profoundly complementary voices of twentieth century Belgian music. They were contemporary, brought up in the same cultural climate, and they embody two faces of the same epoch: one, institutional and influential, a recognised figure of the academic milieu; the other, more intimate, almost clandestine, for whom chamber music was a refuge of liberty and sincerity. Their trios, though exceptional in their respective catalogues, share the same demand for clarity, balance and sensitivity. Each has an individual aesthetic: that of de Taeye, the inheritor of a bountiful, controlled post-romanticism; that of Vellere, imbued with an inner gentleness and a heightened sense of colour. Set side by side, these two works form a mirror portrait of a musical Belgium lying between tradition and modernity, between public illumination and poetic reclusion.

On Daydreaming, Italian saxophonist and composer Carla Marciano transforms memory, grief and love into an intensely personal musical journey. Dedicated to her father Giovanni, the album reflects the profound bond between father and daughter and the lifelong passion for music he inspired in her. Marciano's compositions move between intimate reflection, lyrical beauty and powerful improvisation. Her alto and sopranino saxophones are joined by her long-standing quartet (Alessandro La Corte, Aldo Vigorito and Gaetano Fasano with Dario Deidda appearing on acoustic bass). Several pieces are further enriched by the Philharmonic Orchestra of the 'Giuseppe Verdi' Theater in Salerno, conducted by Antonio Sinagra. Created during a period marked by the loss of both parents and Marciano's recovery from a serious road accident, Daydreaming is also a testimony to resilience and renewal. The music evokes childhood memories, shared songs, imagined embraces and the enduring presence of loved ones. It is an album about absence, but above all about gratitude, courage and a love that continues beyond time.

Layers The Album For centuries, spiritual singing was an inseparable part of everyday life of mankind. It accompanied the course of day, course of life and course of year and acted as a kind of measure to keep in touch with the flow of time. There were songs to sleep and wake by, pray for God's mercy in all situations possible and maintain a harmonious and modest life. These songs travelled through Europe mostly with the help of protestant pastors and songbooks, but blended into local folk heritage in every parish. Different versions of well-known chorales create a unifying web across Western culture while maintaining a distinct, irreplicable voice of the isolated communities. These songs, either straight from songbooks or transcribed during field trips by scholars of early 20th century, are the core of this album. Layers, so to speak, of spiritual singing reach seamlessly from Estonia, across the Swedish-speaking areas of Estonia to mainland Sweden and Norway, overseas to Iceland, making a stop at good old England where similar cultural processes took place a little earlier. Latin hymns translate into local languages, blend into folk tradition, get picked up again, make their way into art music directly or indirectly and become a source of inspiration once again. We encounter these songs in an environment where boundaries between social classes, styles of music, scenes and venues get blurred over and over, each time according to a whole different logic. We break a few canons, cliches and customs by approaching spiritual hymns with modern equipment, still making the vocals sound natural, timeless and unprocessed, vulnerable and enlightened. In our arrangements, we are aware of the tradition but treat the material with playfulness and a slight sense of irresponsibility. This is the layer we add to the heritage that has shaped our identities as individuals and nations, keeping the very core of human knowledge and spiritual existence alive and relevant.

« These two concertos by Joseph Haydn are cornerstones of the cello repertoire. For me, they belong to those works that accompany a cellist through the different stages and moments of life. I have always taken immense pleasure in performing them. This music, often described as 'solar,' moves me deeply through it's light, vitality, and energy, but also through a subtle sense of melancholy that occasionally emerges. Recorded both in a single day, the urgency and energy of the session will remain for me an unforgettable and unique memory. » Julie Sevilla-Fraysse

Two composers, two works devoted to Our Lady, and two ways of expressing sorrow and supplication through music. This recording brings together Domenico Scarlatti and Jose de Nebra around two of the great texts of Marian devotion. Scarlatti's Stabat Mater, one of the pinnacles of the sacred vocal repertoire, dazzles with it's imposing ten-voice writing and refined contrapuntal craft. Nebra's setting-composed within the milieu of the Real Capilla for a reduced ensemble-possesses remarkable expressive power and a pronounced theatrical accent. In his Salve Regina for solo soprano, strings, and continuo, Scarlatti explores a more intimate and virtuosic dimension in what is considered his final work. Nebra, by contrast, chooses an expressive restraint for the same text. La Grande Chapelle thus presents a compelling dialogue between two major figures of eighteenth-century music in the Iberian Peninsula, whose paths converged around the figure of Queen Maria Barbara of Braganza.

What happens when music becomes an act of rebellion? Step into Winchester Cathedral on a February morning in 964, a day which sparked a silent coup and forever changed the sound of worship. Nexus Winchester invites you into this charged moment, when canons - men of wicked and scandalous behaviour, not celebrating mass, marrying illicitly, living in gluttony and drunkenness, even trying to poison the bishop - were expelled, monks took their place, and some of the earliest polyphony in Western music arose from the conflict. Drawn from the Winchester Troper, these sumptuous works reveal a virtuosity and refinement that feel startlingly modern. Two voices entwine in the earliest known polyphonic masterpieces, fiddle and flutes drift between ritual and imagination, stories by the poet Wulfstan surface like whispered testimony, while voices and instruments open uncanny sonic spaces. A thousand years later, Ensemble Dialogos revives this repertoire not as a relic, but as living drama - where power, silence and song collide, and the past speaks urgently to the present.