Sony Classical is pleased to announce the second solo album by exceptional young American organist, Cameron Carpenter, All You Need is Bach. Bach’s great keyboard masterpieces provide an ideal platform for Carpenter’s formidable creative gifts and the seemingly limitless possibilities of his dream instrument – his signature International Touring Organ. The album takes is cue from The Beatles’ classic “All You Need is Love”, where Bach’s Invention No. 8 in F major proudly rises out of the coda’s collage-like texture. Works include Contrapunctus IX from The Art of Fugue, Organ Sonatas in D minor and E-flat major, Prelude and Fugue in B minor, Invention No. 8 and, as the centerpiece, the great Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. The latter holds a special place in Carpenter’s affections. “It is undoubtedly one of the Top 10 masterworks of all music, no matter how you evaluate it.”

A virtuoso composer-performer unique among organists, Cameron Carpenter’s approach is to smash the stereotypes of organists and organ music. Described as “extravagantly talented” (New York Times), and “smasher of cultural and classical music taboos,” (The New Yorker), Cameron is the first organist ever nominated for a Grammy Award® for his debut album, Revolutionary. All You Need is Bach is the second recording made on Cameron’s new International Touring Organ. The organ, designed by Cameron himself, is a mobile digital organ that is artistically and sonically equal to any of the world’s great organs and will challenge the way the world thinks about organs.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the eruption of Romanticism was not only a disruptive element which was capable of distorting the aesthetic and conceptual canons of the music of the time but it also brought about a series of noteworthy technical improvements in the organological sector. Without this change a number of instruments could not have expressed what was requested by composers and performers involved in this new cultural and artistic revolution - a revolution that, within a few decades, was able to build new cathedrals on the ruins of European Baroque. This record is a tribute to the extraordinary adventure of the flute through the nineteenth century, which is when this instrument increasingly assumed a stylistically independent connotation, which allowed it to become part of that group of musical instruments (such as the violin and the piano) which appealed to the cultured and well-off middle classes. This was in particular due to it's capacity to "challenge" the human voice, the lyrical singing, reviving, through transcription, the famous lyrical works, the arias, well known and loved by both the aristocratic class and the humblest people alike. The choice of these compositions, therefore, focuses on the "belcanto" repertoire revised in light of the potential of the transverse flute.

A singer of passion, elegance and dynamism, excelling equally in Italian and French opera, Roberto Alagna has numbered among the world's leading tenors for more than 30 years. His idiomatic phrasing and diction have consistently attracted praise. His recorded catalogue is substantial. In the judgement of the authoritative Grove Book of Opera Singers his recordings document "the plangent lyricism of Alagna's tone and the appealing ardor and inner fire of his style". Referring to his interpretation of the title role of Verdi's Don Carlos, in the recording conducted by Antonio Pappano, the New York Times wrote, "His intensely lyrical yet refined singing was a genuine revelation"

This 33CD box contains complete operas - by Bizet, Donizetti, Gounod, Massenet, Offenbach, Puccini, and Verdi - recorded between 1992 and 2017 and originally released by EMI Classics, Virgin Classics, Warner Classics, and Erato. The box notably documents Alagna's productive artistic partnerships with soprano Angela Gheorghiu (his wife from 1996 to 2013) and conductor Antonio Pappano.

The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. Program #1 Music for the Theatre (Igor Stravinsky: Suite from the Firebird; Maurice Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2; Bright Sheng: Prelude to Black Swan) the legendary impresario Serge Diaghilev of Les Ballet Russes commissioned from Stravinsky and Ravel some of the greatest music for the ballet. His influence stretched from St. Petersburg to Paris to the New York City Ballet founded by Diaghilev's collaborator Georges Balanchine. Former NYCB Composer in Residence Bright Sheng captures the beauty of the dance with his Prelude to Black Swan. Program #2 What Makes a Masterpiece? This program is an exploration of the creative process, tracing the genesis of Beethoven's iconic symphony, and the development of a new work by a modern master. Introductory features will demonstrate how short rhythmic and melodic motives evolve into vast symphonic organisms. Interviews include leading Beethoven scholars and the All-Star musicians.

The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century. Program #7 Music's Emotional Impact This program delves into Tchaikovsky's dramatic personal life, his brief marriage, and his intense correspondence with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck whom he never met, and to whom he dedicated his 4th Symphony. The dramatic brass fanfares that for Tchaikovsky symbolized Fate find a modern echo in David Stock's Blast! Program #8 Mahler: Love, Sorrow and Transcendence Mahler's turbulent passions are expressed through his music. His settings of poems by Friedrich Rueckert explore themes of love, nature, and otherworldliness. Mahler was haunted throughout his life by the premonition of his own death. The first movement of his 2nd Symphony, which Mahler called 'Totenfeier' ('Funerary Rites'), draws stark contrasts between the composer's premonition of doom, and his vision of life. Modern reflections on these themes can be found in 'Adieu' by Bernard Rands and 'Of Paradise and Light' by Augusta Read Thomas.

Following on from their most successful album “sound escapes” (Capriccio C5239) the young, aspiring Signum Quartet address Bohemian music culture. Beside Antonín Dvorák’s famous String Quartet Op. 106 and Josef Suk’s Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale ‘St. Wenceslaus’ (1914), an impressionistic offering on the beginning of WWI, is the 1923 composed Five Pieces for String Quartet by Erwin Schulhoff, which experiments with dance forms and provides a most virtuosic challenge. “… the Signum Quartet, which must already be counted among the best ensembles of its generation…” (Pizzicato)

Classical Music

Recorded by the Air Force Band of the Golden Gate, Alla Marcia contains a series of marches for band. No other musical genre packs as much punch into a small package as does the march. The basic composition of the march is fairly simple: movement, dynamically portrayed, using the basic elements of rhythm, melody, and logical form. On Alla Marcia, Captain Chevallard and the Air Force Band of the Golden Gate illustrate these components with the power and subtlety characteristic of the march style. The tracks on this album represent eight nationalities, providing diverse music with universal appeal.

Alla Milanese (‘in the Milanese style’) explores the connections between musicians at the heart of Milan’s scene for experimental music, c.1592–1626. Alongside compositions from the city’s most illustrious musical families – Rognoni and Cima – The Gonzaga Band has sought to rediscover the music of their lesser-known contemporaries, including Biumi, Casato, and the nun-composer Caterina Assandra, to illuminate a rich and complex network of stylistic innovation at the dawn of the Baroque era.

ALLA NAPOLETANA, VILLANESCHE &

“Alla piffaresca, musica rinascimentale per strumenti alti,” presents a rich musical corpus, in which the ancient "pifari" are the perfect instrument to create the typical climax of Renaissance- open parties, and noble and popular festivals. With a main office in Soresina, La Rossignol is a society between artists and researchers that wishes to promote, to produce and to diffuse some initiatives with the goal of the spread of ancient music. Using a study of direct and indirect sources, musicological researches, historical, organological and iconographical investigations, particular attention to the spectacular side of their own work led the members of the group, since 1987, to an active artistic career in Italy, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, France, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Russia, India, China, Japan, Rumania, Cyprus, Espana, Syria, Lebanon, Moroc. Among the prestigious festivals in which they’ve performed we can remember above all Autunno Musicale in Como, International Venice Festival, Recitarcantando, le Colombiadi in Genova, le Settimane musicali in Ascona, il Carnevale di Venezia, and the International Reinaissance Festival of Israel.

For his solo recording debut, Ivan Moshchuk explores the bond between Medtner and Rachmaninoff. Their distinct piano cycles-Forgotten Melodies and �tudes-Tableaux-were conceived on the threshold of a violent epoch. Grounded in noble sensibilities, the sets reveal a portal to the idea of the Vergessene Weisen: the ideals of a veiled world. Here, the music becomes a lens for memory as a path that endures despite the relentless march of time.

Andreas Romberg explored new musical territory when he got the idea to include Turkish color in his fourth symphony. It was not until the romantic era that Oriental or Arabian color very deliberately was incorporated into symphonic music, whether in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (1888) or in Engelbert Humperdinck’s Maurische Rhapsodie (1898). Right in the first movement of his symphony Romberg used the title “A la turca” to get his audience to anticipate Turkish color. The gradually intensified initial part goes over into a passage with the expected percussion accents and swiftly whirling violin figures. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Concerto in A major, the last of his five violin concertos, is also regarded as a concert piece with Turkish color. In the rondo finale there is a famous interlude in A minor in which the violoncellists and double bassists beat the rhythm on the strings with their bow sticks. This too produces the popular “Alla turca” flair. Our soloist is the young Swiss musician Julia Schroder, and it is not least in the swift main part of the Haydn overture that things sound “Turkish”; here not only the timpani but also the bass drum and cymbals accentuate the rhythm. This album also marks the inauguration of our complete recording of the symphonic music of Andreas Romberg.

Volume 4 of Benjamin Alard's complete recording of Bach's keyboard works continues to explore the Weimar period. After � la fran�aise, we turn to Italy, where the Vivaldian concerto reigned in Venice. The young Bach created here a wonderful space of freedom between the transcriber and the improviser. Benjamin Alard performs on three exceptional instruments, including a magnificent 1702 harpsichord by Mattia de Gand, preserved in Treviso and recently restored.

The Civitas Ensemble, an enterprising chamber group founded by Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians, teams up with Czech violin virtuoso Pavel Šporcl and his wildly popular Gipsy Way Ensemble for a groundbreaking collaboration at the crossroads of Western classical and Romani musical traditions.

Alla Zingarese (“in the Gypsy way”) embraces the past with new arrangements of well-loved, Gypsy-infused works by Brahms, Enescu, Hubay, and Sarasate, while celebrating the present with new music by noted Czech composer Lukáš Sommer, written for the combined forces of Civitas’s violin, clarinet, cello, and piano and Gipsy Way’s violin, viola, string bass, and cymbalom (hammered dulcimer), plus a Sommer piece dedicated exclusively to Civitas. All the arrangements and Sommer’s two original compositions are world-premiere recordings. Highlights include Šporcl’s new version of his own Gipsy Fire, the title track from an earlier, best-selling Gipsy Way album. Alla Zingarese marks the Civitas Ensemble’s recording debut and the Cedille label debut for Gipsy Way. Years in the planning, the project is the outgrowth of the enduring friendship between Šporcl and Civitas violinist Yuan-Qing Yu dating back to their student days. Civitas and Gipsy Way recorded the album after premiering the program at packed concert halls in Prague and Chicago. The Chicago Tribune found it “unique” and “exhilarating.” Chicago on the Aisle called it “a trip through musical history . . . and a venture into new musical territory with surprises aplenty.”

Ever wondered where the worlds of progressive bluegrass music and microtonal synthesis might intersect? The EZRA ensemble is game to answer the question on their adventurous second album, Earth to EZRA. Convening in an intimate studio in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, the core quartet - composer and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Jones (guitars and vocals), Jacob Jolliff (mandolin), Max Allard (banjo) and Craig Butterfield (double bass) - teamed up with musical polymath Mark Stewart and keyboardist Xak Bjerken to craft a complex recording that is by turns whimsical, uplifting, haunting and otherworldly. And you can dance to it. More succinctly, Elizabeth Ogonek describes the project, in her liner notes for the CD package, as "a wild, surreal, and totally joyful album - a 'cycle' to be listened to from beginning to end." The sonic beast at the center of Earth to EZRA is a microtonal organ designed by David Rothenberg and built by synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog in the mid 1960s. The 478-key instrument divides the octave into 31 equal parts, but was never actually functional until 2023, when electronic music scholar and instrument builder Travis Johns began the meticulous process of making the organ playable.

This release features the work of Julius Rontgen, a German-Dutch composer who produced a great deal of classical repertoire. The composer’s grandson wrote of this release, “This deliberate selection from Julius Rontgen’s extensive song repertoire represents an important new step towards a revaluation of his total oeuvre and the unlocking of Dutch musical heritage in general…” (Jurriaan Rontgen) Robbert Muuse and Micha van Weers are passionate musicians who are constantly pushing themselves to explore the field of forgotten works. Muuse is a baritone who is frequently sought after for both operatic and concert repertoire. Pianist Micha van Weers has performed alongside Muuse for many recitals.

The sister duo Anouchka & Katharina Hack are set to release their new album "Alle Menschen werden Schwestern," a heartfelt exploration of the deep bond between sisters. Through compositions by the Boulanger sisters, Fanny Hensel, and Felix Mendelssohn, as well as their own spontaneous improvisations, the duo creates a musical dialogue that captures their inseparable connection. The album also features a specially (re)composed track by Marina Baranova, inspired by Beethoven's "Alle Menschen werden Bruder," which serves as the album's title piece. This release promises to make the unique, intuitive understanding between siblings both audible and profoundly moving.

The fact that Bernhard Lewkovitch turned 85 in May this year defies the real picture of a vital and prolific composer. Upbringing and educational background in Roman Catholic environment gave Lewkovitch a unique insight to the liturgy and its music. Combined with his interest and experiment in contemporary music both his sacred and secular works brought him considerable fame. This album is the squeal of “All My Springs” Kontrapunkt 32283 (1998).

Alle Mine Kilder, 48 Danish Mo

ALLEGHENY JAZZ QUARTER

In its latest project, the Chorus sine nomine, one of Austria’s leading choirs, under its director Johannes Hiemetsberger, has turned to a very special work: the Miserere by Gregorio Allegri in an arrangement for saxophone and three choirs a cappella by Vladimir Ivanoff. + The setting of the 51st Psalm from the 1630s, which is uniquely captivating due to its simplicity, was a fixed component of the liturgy of Easter week in the Sixtine Chapel in Rome for over 250 years and soon achieved cult status because of the high penalties on its ‘pirate copy’.

The haunting tones of Allegri's Miserere are unique and instantly recognizable even to those who know little sacred choral music. Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli is certainly his best known work. Along with his Stabat Mater it combines exquisite contrapuntal poise with a translucent setting of the words, whereby music and text complement each other to the detriment of neither. The chromaticism and blossoming cadences of Lotti's eight part Crucifixus have made it a work loved by both choirs and listeners.

I was delighted to find John Ireland’s fresh and gently ecstatic Passiontide motet had been included. The ladies of Tenebrae sing it with a marvellous sense of open-eyed wonder. The two Russian items are also most successful although I did wonder why the Rachmaninov piece was sung in English. It’s given a beautiful performance even if these English singers lack the sheer amplitude of sound that a Slavic choir would have at its disposal. The offering by Sheremetiev was completely new to me – indeed, I can’t recall hearing any music by this composer before. Now ye heavenly powers, which is sung in Russian, is for male voices. It’s described in the notes as “quietly powerful” and that’s a very apt description. The music is mainly subdued in tone and the piece has a grave beauty that’s most attractive. Even more affecting is the other Eastern European piece, Kodály’s Esti Dal. This setting of a Northern Hungarian song is a little gem. It is sung in the original language and features a lovely soprano solo, one of several solos during the course of the programme, all of which are taken excellently from within the choir’s ranks.

Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia is a terrifically inventive piece of music in which the composer shows real flair in his writing for unaccompanied choir, even if Auden’s text seems rather high-flown in its imagery and somewhat verbose. Tenebrae not only rise to its manifold challenges but also surmount them with ease. They are excellent too in Holst’s splendid setting of Psalm 148, receiving marvellous support from Jeremy Filsell at the organ.

But in many ways the best is saved for last. Sir William Harris’s sumptuous setting for double choir of words by Edmund Spenser is, for me, one of the glories of English church music. It moves from the rarefied celestial atmosphere of the quiet opening to the blazing conviction and excitement of the passage at “And those eternall burning Seraphims” – Tenebrae are marvellous here – before the pacific mood returns at the close. The performance of this miniature masterpiece is thrilling in every respect. Indeed, I feel that here Nigel Short and his singers come close to realising the “endlesse perfectnesse” of which Spenser speaks.

This is an outstanding disc, which I have enjoyed greatly. The sheer quality of singing has always impressed me on the previous discs I’ve heard from this choir and, indeed, when I’ve heard them live. This new release is as good as any I’ve heard from them. The engineering is excellent and the disc comes with a good booklet including full texts. Another winner from Tenebrae!

-- John Quinn, MusicWeb International

Although the output of Gregorio Allegri was not large, it covered almost every musical genre of the time, from strict polyphony to monody, instrumental music and the cantata. He is now remembered principally as the composer of the nine-voice Miserere, written around 1638 for the Holy Week celebrations and made famous in the nineteenth century version which requires a high C in the coro favorito. Five years of bibliographic and musical research in Italy and abroad have permitted the rediscovery of the well-rounded personality that his contemporaries recognized in Allegri, and, from this point of view, quite apart from a world premier recording of exceptional importance, the pieces contained in the Altemps manuscripts undoubtedly constitute a new chapter to add to the history of sacred music.

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee is largely considered by critics and audiences alike to be the world’s leading bel canto tenor. His previous release on Delos was an enchanting array of Rossini arias which garnered him a Grammy nomination. Brownlee has a rich and varied repertoire, which is evident on this release. He has mixed standards such as Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, and L’elisir d’amore and Bellinis’ I Puritani with lesser-performed pieces like Donizetti’s Rita and La Favorite. For this release, as in his previous, Brownlee is joined by Lithuania’s Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra and the Kaunas State Choir. The brilliant interpretations and sensitive reading from conductor Constantine Orbelian lend themselves beautifully to Brownlee’s impeccable voice.

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REVIEW:

The tenor’s renown owes much to his breathtaking flair for executing Rossinian fiorature, but the expansive melodic lines of Vincenzo Bellini and the dramatic bel canto of Gaetano Donizetti are equally apt outlets for Brownlee’s prodigious gifts. Avoiding the forcing that compromises many singers’ endeavors in this repertory, Brownlee’s singing on Allegro io son possesses an evenness spanning the full range that, though perhaps easier to control in the recording studio than in the theatre, cannot be faked. As with the sincerity of his expression, the authenticity of his vocalism is remarkable, especially as it is employed in the performances on this disc.

­– Voix des Arts

Classical Music

ALLELUIA - Remember My Soul

Classical Music

Few can predict the impact a composer may have, but those who experience the vision and tutelage of a true musical inspiration surely know it. American composer Allen Sapp left such a mark on artistic culture, and LIVE PIANO WORKS pays tribute to his legacy with recordings from the Ohio State University Music & Dance Library's Allen Sapp Collection. Each piece on the two-volume collection highlights a studied and academic approach to composition, with deep, expert exploration of idioms and techniques. This album features performances by Sapp's wife, Norma Bertolami Sapp, recorded live over a period spanning three decades at the Patricia Corbett Theatre at University of Cincinnati College - Conservatory of Music, and a historic recording of Sapp himself from 1961.