This album, Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony, Op. 58 presents the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León under music director Thierry Fischer in one of the composer's most ambitious works. Recorded at the Jesús López Cobos Symphonic Hall, Valladolid, in July 2025, Fischer's approach treats the four-movement symphony as a single dramatic arc, shaped by the persistent return of the Manfred motif through scenes ranging from Alpine wandering to the subterranean palace of Arimanes. Neither a numbered symphony nor a symphonic poem but a hybrid of both, the Manfred Symphony is the largest symphonic work Tchaikovsky ever completed, in both duration and the scale of it's orchestral forces.

First release with Thomas Ades as Principal Guest Conductor of the 'pioneering' Halle Orchestra, featuring two of the composer's own works, coupled with landmark concerti by Tippett and Kurtag. This album marks the beginning of Ades' tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of the Halle Orchestra, a post he assumed in September 2026. It is Ades' first formal conducting title, having previously held positions as an artist and composer with orchestras and festivals in Europe and USA. Ades said of the appointment 'Composing is the most important part of my musical life, but conducting has always played an essential role. Working directly with orchestral musicians and soloists and shaping the interpretation of my music and that of other composers, has been an endless source of joy and inspiration. It feels like the right moment to have a deeper relationship with an orchestra over a number of years. My association with the Halle and The Bridgewater Hall goes back many years and make this pioneering orchestra the obvious choice'.

Brian Brockless (1926-95), London-born and -bred, was a conductor, organist, teacher and composer whose career embraced orchestral performance, sacred music, musical education and the revival of Renaissance polyphony. After studying with Herbert Howells, Matyas Seiber and Sergiu Celibidache, he taught harmony and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music and served for many years as Director of Music at a City of London church. This album - the first recorded survey of his music - ranges from works for string orchestra and piano to songs, sacred vocal music and music for organ, most of them prepared from unpublished manuscripts. The music as a whole is marked by an essential Englishness, one which looks to earlier traditions and also reflects the modernity of the second half of the twentieth century.

Pasturelands Cello Concerto The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. (Psalms 65:12, ESV) Pasturelands Cello Concerto was written in an accessible Americana style to highlight the picturesque settings of western grasslands and pastures of the United States. Composed in four movements, 'Awakenings', 'Great Plains', 'Calves at Play', and 'Open Range', this work expresses the daily and seasonal changes of God's natural forces on the ranches and ranges of America. There is a beautiful simplicity of life lived on the prairies and plains of the American West. A rough, rugged, self-reliant spirit nurtures life, yet this spirit also relies on God's seasonal elements to sustain it. From 'Awakenings', which opens the concerto as sunrise might open the day, to the fun and up-tempo third movement 'Calves at Play', Pasturelands urges the listener to enter into the simple yet ancient daily life of grazing cattle and fields full of swaying grasses. Grand Teton Suite is a symphonic work inspired by the grandeur, beauty, and untamed spirit of the Grand Teton mountain range. Through sweeping melodies, vivid orchestral colors, and contrasting moods, the music evokes the dramatic landscapes of the American West-from majestic peaks rising above the valley floor to tranquil alpine meadows and the ever-changing skies above them. The suite captures both the power and serenity of this iconic wilderness, inviting listeners on a musical journey through scenes of natural wonder. Rich orchestral textures and expansive themes reflect the scale of the mountains, while moments of intimacy portray the quiet beauty found within the landscape. Grand Teton Suite celebrates the enduring connection between nature and the human spirit.? American Patriot Hymn Composed in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, American Patriot Hymn is both a reflection on the nation's origins and a tribute to the enduring spirit of it's people. Central to the piece is it's use of texts attributed to Samuel Adams (The Source of Liberty) and John Quincy Adams (Narrations), whose words capture the philosophical and moral foundations of the American experiment. These elements are not merely decorative-they serve as the backbone of the work's narrative, illuminating themes of liberty, sacrifice, and civic responsibility. By setting these texts, the audience is projected into the voice of the Revolutionary era, inviting reflection on the ideals that shaped the nation's birth. Musically, American Patriot Hymn is grounded in a language that feels both familiar and freshly imagined. It's melodies evoke the character of traditional patriotic song-broad, singable, and resonant-while avoiding direct quotation. The original thematic material captures the essence of American musical identity: open intervals, noble contours, and a sense of forward motion that mirrors the country's ongoing journey. The orchestration reinforces this spirit, balancing moments of grandeur with passages of introspection. In this anniversary year, American Patriot Hymn stands as a musical statement of remembrance and renewal. It honors the vision of the nation's founders while acknowledging the continued responsibility of each generation to carry those ideals forward.

Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic present two of Dmitri Shostakovich's most powerful symphonic statements: the Fifth and Seventh Symphonies. For Bychkov, no music is more essential or closer to the bone than that of Shostakovich. He and the composer share a home city (Leningrad/St Petersburg); Bychkov grew up surrounded by people who had known the composer; and he was obsessed with Shostakovich's music from an early age. Bychkov has been conducting Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 he was a student at the Leningrad Conservatory in the early 70's. He first conducted it with the Czech Philharmonic in 2022 and, subsequently took the work on tour with the Orchestra conducting concerts in London, Amsterdam, Vienna and Paris. Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 also has special resonance for Bychkov, whose mother lived through the 900 days of the siege of Leningrad, still ravaging the city at the time of the second performance in the city. Bychkov first conducted the work with the Czech Philharmonic to open the 2021-22 season. This release continues the acclaimed partnership between the Czech Philharmonic and PENTATONE. Previous recordings with Semyon Bychkov include Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 1-5, released individually between 2022 and 2026 before being joined by the remaining symphonies in a complete Mahler box set; as well as the acclaimed recordings of Smetana's Ma vlast and Dvorak's Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 & 9 (2024).

Reference Recordings proudly presents American Triad, with works of Felix Borowski, Ernest Bloch and Beryl Rubinstein. Each composer in the 'triad' has a distinctive credo and style, and each wrote major works for piano and orchestra which are presented on this new album of rarely heard masterpieces - four of which receive their first commercial recordings. Piano soloist Daniel Glover has performed in 42 states and in 25 countries throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America and the Caribbean. He holds a master's degree from the Julliard School, and trained with luminaries including Thomas LaRatta, Nancy Bachus, Jerome Lowenthal, Abbey Simon and Eugene List. He has numerous competition awards including first prize in the prestigious Liederkranz Competition in 1990. Mr. Glover has served on the faculties of New York University, University of the Virgin Islands, University of San Francisco, Notre Dame de Namur University and the Summer Piano Workshop of Kent State University. He has recorded eleven previous albums. He resides in San Francisco and frequently performs locally. The San Francisco Classical Voice remarked, 'The elegance and civility of Glover's approach were musically unimpeachable.' 'Dazzling... a flawless sense of Lisztian style incorporating it's emotional depth.' American Triad was recorded March 31-April 4, 2025 with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, in beautiful and historic Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was conducted by the GRAMMY award-winning American orchestral conductor and multi-GRAMMY-nominated violinist, John McLaughlin Williams. This release was recorded and mastered by the superb engineering team of Baltic Mobile Recordings: Vilius Keras and Aleksandra Keriene. It was produced by the GRAMMY-winning producing team Encore Consultants LLC (Victor and Marina Ledin).

The final volume of this groundbreaking Thomas Jensen series encapsulates the series as a whole. New remasterings of rare studio recordings from the 1940s complement first-ever releases for live broadcasts from the 1950s and 60s. The repertoire demonstrates Jensen's excellence as a sympathetic concerto partner; an insightful interpreter of Sibelius; and a devoted advocate for the composers of his native Denmark. Note! ALL are first ever releases and all from unpublished radio broadcasts All the previous volumes are available and in stock.

Irish violinist Darragh Morgan, a tireless advocate for new music, here presents four concertos written for him over the past two decades by Frank Lyons, Brian Irvine, Bill Campbell and Ryan Molloy. Recorded with the Ulster Orchestra under David Brophy, this compelling programme reflects the richness of Northern Ireland's contemporary voice. Electronic transformation, folk-inflected rhythms and lyrical introspection coexist with passages of dazzling virtuosity, each work revealing a distinctive sound world. Together they form a vivid, cohesive portrait in which solo brilliance and symphonic imagination are fused with striking assurance and colour.

Between pastoral lyricism and modernist edge lies another, richly compelling story of twentieth-century British music. This programme brings together four distinctive voices - Ruth Gipps, Doreen Carwithen, William Alwyn and Elizabeth Maconchy - whose works chart an alternative path through an era often defined by aesthetic conflict. Featuring soloists Alex Mitchell, Alexandra Dariescu and Rachael Clegg, with Manchester Camerata under the inspired direction of John Andrews, these performances illuminate music of remarkable individuality and emotional range. From Gipps' Jane Grey and Carwithen's long-neglected Piano Concerto to Alwyn's Autumn Legend and the searching power of Maconchy's Life Story, this album reveals a British musical landscape far richer, more adventurous and more rewarding than received histories have long suggested.

Spain is my second musical homeland' - Ravel It is not without irony that prior to the 20th century some of the most famous 'Spanish' classical music was written by the French! Romantic-era intellectuals saw Spain as a seductive and magical attraction, with it's Moorish-style palaces and gardens, festivals, bullfights, costumes, castanets, and flamenco dancing and while Bizet's Carmen carries the greatest weight, pride of place actually goes to Camille Saint-Saëns whose 1863 Introduction and Rondo capriccioso for violin and orchestra already bore a Hispanic flavor (Carmen would not be written for another eight years). In Ravel's case, Spain was already in his blood, thanks to the influence of his Basque mother, but it was a marvel to many, including Manuel de Falla, that he should instinctively have achieved such an authentic sense of Spanish style. The idea for this project was the result of conductor Pierre Bleuse's desire to immerse himself with the musicians of the Odense Symphony Orchestra in the music of Ravel, especially the composer's Spanish-influenced music. The musicians have captured all the colors and details of articulation needed to bring this extraordinary music to life. French conductor Pierre Bleuse has established himself as one of the most dynamic and versatile musicians of his generation. Since 2021 he has served as Music Director of both the Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris, the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades. Bleuse is particularly admired for his interpretations of the French orchestral repertoire, especially Ravel. As you will hear on his OUR Recordings debut, his performances balance elegance with dramatic intensity, revealing both the brilliance of the orchestration and the expressive depth beneath it's shimmering surface.

SOMM Recordings celebrates the rich cultures of Cyprus with music inspired by this Mediterranean island and the legend of Othello, as conductor-composer Nimrod Borenstein and the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra perform works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Antonin Dvorak, Franz Schubert, and Borenstein himself. Previous Borenstein collaborations with SOMM include his label debut featuring three of his piano compositions [SOMMCD 281], and the release of his Shakespeare Songs, Mandolin Concerto, and Oboe Concerto [SOMMCD 719]. The CySO, is both a strong presence in the musical life of the island and a national symbol that represents the Republic of Cyprus internationally. The album's title work, Legends of Cyprus, composed by Borenstein for the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra in 2025, evokes an entire world of feelings, atmospheres, and magical stories. The composer describes the piece as a continuation of his exploration of richly contrasted orchestral colours and emotional worlds, but within a more concentrated single-movement form-a form akin to 'what the short story is to the novel.' Shakespeare set four of the five acts of Othello on the island of Cyprus, where the tragedy of Iago's manipulation of the Moorish general into believing the infidelity of the innocent Desdemona plays out. The gifted and tragically short-lived Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was commissioned by the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree to write incidental music for a 1909 production of Othello at His Majesty's Theatre in London. Three years later, Coleridge-Taylor drew from his theatre music a vibrant five-movement orchestral suite.  When Antonin Dvorak arrived in New York 1892 to take up the post of Director of the National Conservatory of Music, he brought with him Nature, Life, and Love, a cycle of three concert overtures. He had composed the third, Othello, earlier that year and conducted the premiere of the trilogy as part of a farewell concert in Prague. Although named a concert overture, Othello is close to being a symphonic poem in it's dramatic musical interpretation of Shakespeare's play and it's frenetic climax of the tragic events. Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus by the German playwright Helmina von Chezy concerns the attempts of the heroine to reclaim her throne despite the efforts of the governor to thwart her. The play closed after two performances in 1823 and is all but lost, though the music written by her friend Franz Schubert-which we know as his Incidental Music to Rosamunde-remains an absolute triumph of the Romantic era. It consists of nine numbers, and included on this disc are the famous Entr'acte No.3 and Ballet No.2.

1795 was a good year for music on all accounts: old grandmaster Haydn saw the performance of his 104th and final symphony, while young Beethoven was sketching out the final movement of his first. Acclaimed Texan period ensemble Philharmonie Austin juxtaposes the two on BEETHOVEN-HAYDN, rounding off the program with Haydn's much-loved early Cello Concerto No. 1. As close as the two symphonies may be chronologically, they differ markedly in spirit. The motor in Haydn's works is mercurial wit; the driver in Beethoven's symphonies, a rather primordial force that would later push chamber ensembles to expand to the gigantic dimensions of the modern orchestra. But Mark Dupere and Philharmonie Austin have a trick up their sleeves: they underline the revolutionary aspects of Haydn, and then trace them again in Beethoven. Original and clever — the old master would have been pleased.

Deutsche Grammophon presents The Poem of Life, a new album by composer, pianist, and producer Yu-Peng Chen. With this release, Chen turns to a more personal project: a symphonic suite for piano and orchestra in 12 movements, exploring different stages of life with a focus on reflection, expression and storytelling. This marks a new direction in his work, bringing together his experience in game music with a more intimate, concert-focused approach. Conceived as a reflective exploration of universal human experience, The Poem of Life traces an emotional and spiritual arc from birth to farewell. Through lyrical melodies and symphonic arrangements, Chen evokes the wonder of childhood, the trials of adulthood, and the serenity of later years - culminating in the final moments of life.

For more than 50 years, Sir Simon Rattle, Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, has devoted himself intensely to the deeply personal, emotional, and autobiographical music of Gustav Mahler. Mahler conceived his symphonies as all-encompassing universes that reflect the full spectrum of human life. He famously said: “To me, a symphony means using every available technical resource to build a world.” To guide both orchestra and audience through these profoundly moving musical worlds, no conductor is better equipped than Sir Simon Rattle. Mahler's “Resurrection Symphony” explores one of humanity's most profound existential questions: the meaning of life. From the opening movement, originally titled “Totenfeier” (“Funeral Rite”), to the finale, in which the soloists and chorus proclaim “Aufersteh’n wirst du!“ (“You shall rise again!”), Mahler grapples with joy and suffering. The Second Symphony’s dramatic contrasts, emotional intensity, richly coloured orchestration, and crowning choral finale have made it one of his most beloved works. Now released on CD by BR-Klassik, the Munich performance of the symphony from March 2026 brings together a stellar cast in a superb interpretation of one of the defining masterpieces of the Late Romantic symphonic repertoire. Gustav Mahler wanted his Second Symphony to exceed any known format - and he also wanted it to tackle the key questions of existence: "Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? Is everything just one enormous, terrible joke? We have to solve these questions in some way if we want to carry on living," said the composer. Similar questions preoccupied him throughout his life, and with a special intensity during his time as an opera conductor in Hamburg. The Second Symphony, also referred to as the "Resurrection Symphony", is a complete expression of Mahler’s existential struggle; both its form and its overpowering sound make this utterly clear. The symphony took several years to compose – it was written between 1888 and 1894. In September 1888, the first movement – which at this point still bore the title "Totenfeier” (“Funeral Rite”) – was already complete. The second and third movements were not written until 1893 and Mahler only completed the entire work in 1894. Like most of Mahler’s symphonies, the work follows a "Per aspera ad astra" pattern (“through difficulties to the stars”). Starting with a funeral march in the main theme of the opening movement - the passing of a life full of vigour, pain, blows of fate, and only a few brief and beautiful moments - the symphony concludes with a triumphant resurrection movement. The premiere of the complete symphony took place on December 13, 1895 in Berlin under Mahler's direction; previously (on March 4 of that year) he had already performed the first three movements. The premiere of the Second Symphony thus took place after that of the Third. The reactions were initially subdued, but today the work ranks as one of the most popular of Mahler’s symphonies. - The Munich concert event of May 2011 is now being released on BR-KLASSIK as a CD – it is a star-studded, outstanding interpretation of one of the most important compositions in the Late Romantic symphonic repertoire.

Beethoven's Seventh Symphony emerged at a biographical crossroads, between his definitive establishment as a leading composer and the onset of increasing isolation caused by his advancing deafness. At the time of it's premiere, it was the second-longest symphony ever written, surpassed in scale only by Beethoven's own Third, the 'Eroica.' Since it's first performance in 1813, there has never been a period in which it was not counted to the composer's most popular works. Since 2025, Francois-Xavier Roth-who had already served as Chief Conductor of the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg from 2011 to 2016-has been Chief Conductor of the SWR Symphony Orchestra. A musical visionary and remarkably versatile conductor, Roth has recorded and released all of Richard Strauss's tone poems, the ballets of Igor Stravinsky, the orchestral works of Ravel and Berlioz, as well as the complete symphonies of Bruckner, Mahler, and Schumann. With the present recording, Roth and the SWR Symphony Orchestra set a highly musical opening marker for a collaboration that promises to continue with great momentum in the years ahead.

Hans Winterberg grew up in Prague where he was one of a whole cadre of composers in the new Czech musical tradition. He claimed to have been inspired by Schoenberg, but in reality, he cultivated a Central European Impressionism which he skillfully blended with complex rhythms. The two works presented on this CD mark high points in Winterberg's oeuvre. The circumstances in which they were composed could not have been more different. While the Second Symphony was written during the darkest moments of his existence, he composed the Second Piano Concerto less than ten years later, in what was probably the brightest moment of his life, the early 1950s, when his breakthrough as a composer, which he had been unable to achieve in Czechoslovakia, now seemed certain in the young Federal Republic of Germany.

Henry Purcell Reimagined: Baroque Songs of Fate and Freedom In this recording, the Vox Orchestra, conductor Lorenzo Ghirlanda and soprano Marie-Sophie Pollak explore some of Henry Purcell's most captivating songs from King Arthur, The Fairy Queen, and Dido and Aeneas. At the heart of the programme lies a theme that remains strikingly relevant today: the confrontation with the inevitable-war, love, duty, and loss. Rather than presenting these works solely as excerpts from Baroque stage music, the performers highlight their original character as songs. Purcell's memorable melodies emerge with remarkable directness and emotional immediacy, while instrumental interludes function like modern introductions and codas. Bold string playing, expressive continuo, and vivid contrasts of tempo create a sound world that feels both historically informed and surprisingly contemporary. Marie-Sophie Pollak brings the diverse characters to life with exceptional expressive clarity, favouring direct communication over excessive ornamentation. The result is a fresh and compelling interpretation that reveals Purcell's theatre music as a timeless collection of songs, bridging the distance between the seventeenth century and today's listener.

Caspar Diethelm (1926-97) was one of the leading Swiss composers of the twentieth century. His free-tonal style - angular yet accessible - drew on the inheritance of several of his predecessors, above all Hindemith, Honegger (both of whom were his teachers), Martin and Schoeck, with Bartok adding rhythmic spice. These influences he combined with an awareness of modernism to form an individual and expressive musical language of his own. The three concertos recorded here are remarkable for the striking clarity of their orchestral textures; they also exhibit Diethelm's fondness for enlivening his narratives with surges of energy and touches of gleeful humour.

For the middle decades of the twentieth century Cedric Thorpe Davie (1913-83) was a mainstay of musical life in Britain - and in Scotland in particular - as an administrator, academic, choral director and, especially, composer. His many film scores brought him a wide audience, but the orchestral works he wrote for the concert hall are as good as unknown. The five works heard here, all in their first recordings, reveal craftsmanship of a high order and a natural melodic gift, in a style anchored in the soundworlds of Sibelius and Vaughan Williams - both of whom he knew personally - combined with a Scottish accent that gives this music a unique personal voice.