Founded in 1994, chamber ensemble The Chinese Virtuosi is made up of some of the best Chinese classical musicians of the present day. The ensemble’s concert debut took place at the Festival of Asian Arts in Hong Kong. Devoted to preserving Chinese folk and classical music, all of the musicians are world performers and have won numerous awards and competitions in China and internationally. Primary instruments in the ensemble include the zheng, guqin, pipa, ruan, dizi, xiao, guanzi, erhu, and percussion. A full description of the instruments is included in the CD booklet.

This album, The Genteel Companion, is named after a book of the same name which was published in 1683 and contained tunes and instructions for the recorder. +Including compositions by John Baston, George Frideric Handel, William Croft, and more, this album is a broad look at recorder music of the Baroque era. The works here are performed by Richard Harvey on the recorder, and other outstanding musicians on period instruments.

Classical Music

Following on from the unmitigated success of the choral album 'Kyrie,' 'Scenarios' is a new collection of Miniatures for Piano composed by Richard Harvey and performed by his friend, the renowned concert pianist, John Lenehan. Exquisitely recorded in the unique Yehudi Menuhin Hall in Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, these pieces have been drawn from Richard's notebooks dating back to his student days and also from impressionistic memories with a distinctive wash of Mediterranean sunlight and color pervading the collection. Childlike in places and pensive in others, the music is a travel pass to warmer climes and shared memories. Having come through the ranks of a quintessentially British musical upbringing via Tiffin School, The Royal College of Music, and as a member of the British Youth Symphony Orchestra, Richard started composing in his early teens. He toured the USA and performed his own music at Madison Square Gardens, all before he was twenty. Like many other classical composers in the modern age, he also accepted commissions for TV and film music, and became best known for his work in this field until the turn of the millennium. Alongside rave reviews for his Concertos for Recorder Virtuoso, Michala Petri and for the legendary Violist, Roger Chase, Richard also won a British Academy Award for his score for Alan Bleasdale's epic political drama "GBH" and has four Ivor Novello nominations under his belt. Beyond that, it's fair to say that his film and TV scores are too numerous to mention, although in 2017 he was honored with an "Annie Award" for his score for the animated picture "The Little Prince" which he co-wrote with his long standing friend and collaborator, Hans Zimmer, following on from the success of his much praised contribution to The Da Vinci Code movie featuring Tom Hanks.

The Legend of Suriyothai is a score written by British composer Richard Harvey for a Thai film by Chatrichalerm Yukol.. The historical epic portrays the life of Thai historical figure, Queen Suriyothai. Richard Harvey is a BAFTA Award-winning composer and musician. He is best known for his television and film soundtracks, and has scored more than 50 feature films in the USA, UK, and Europe.

This is the first title of the Altus label to be released in North America. Altus is a Japanese label specializing in the live recording of orchestral music. The orchestras and conductors are among the most important in the European musical landscape. On this release, we have the State Orchestra of Stuttgart conducted by Lothar Zagrosek in a basic repertoire: Beethoven’s Third followed by Bartok’s folkish Dance Suite.The Württemberg Stuttgart State Orchestra has a history of over four hundred years, established in 1589 as the Court Orchestra of Württemberg. Berlioz praised the orchestra, when he appeared with it as conductor, and in the 1880s Stuttgart was one of the first to stage the complete Ring cycle, conducted by the then general music director Herman Zumpe, who had assisted Wagner at the first Bayreuth Festival. The tradition of first performances has included the première of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos in 1912, conducted by the composer, in 1921 of a one-acter by Hindemith, and in recent times works by Orff, Penderecki, Glass, Zender, Riehm and Hölszky. Lothar Zagrosek took over the helm of the orchestra in 1997, and has been responsible for a number of important and innovative performances. In 2002 the orchestra was named Orchestra of the Year by Opernwelt. The work of the orchestra has included recordings and DVDs, in addition to symphony concerts and chamber music performed by members of the orchestra.

Esteemed British composer, Richard Harvey, returns with a sublime album of new choral works recorded in Estonia by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conducted by Heli Jurgenson. Additional performances feature The Latvia Radio Choir conducted by Sigvards Klava. And the strings of the Hungarian Film Orchestra. This new album features ten new compositions for mixed choir, some of which are also scored for string orchestra, organ and various soloists. The recordings were made in the awe inspiring acoustic of St Nicholas Church Museum, Tallinn in Estonia. The texts are sourced from traditional works in most cases with other inspiring libretti from British poets Archibald Lampman and George Herbert.

The Great Within- The Forbidden City is a score written by British composer Richard Harvey for a film by Francis Gerard for Discovery Channel Pictures. The pieces paint a portrait of life in China during the last 150 years of imperial rule. Richard Harvey is a BAFTA Award-winning composer and musician. He is best known for his television and film soundtracks.

The eight exceptional pieces recorded here take the listener through the rapid evolution of the solo concerto for recorder. From the virtuosic writing of Vivaldi through the Concerto Grosso of Alessandro Scarlatti, to the sophisticated musicality of Sammartini and Naudot, all are brought together in this collection, and all present a solution to the problem of writing for the recorder’s soft, non-dynamic tone with orchestral accompaniment. Richard Harvey, British composer and conductor, directs the London Vivaldi Orchestra for this recording.

Commissioned by Richard Gregson-Williamson in 1989 for the Exeter Festival, Plague and the Moonflower by Richard Harvey takes the listener into an uneasy world, teetering on the precipice of the millennium, and tortured by fear. Alongside the scoring by Harvey is an exceptional libretto by Ralph Steadman. Performing on this recording are the Choir of New College, Oxford, under the direction of Edward Higginbottom, the New London Children’s Choir, under the direction of Ronald Corp, and the English Chamber Choir.

The Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1962. Principal conductors over the years include the well-known names Hiroshi Wakasugi, Heinz Rogner, Gerd Albrecht, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. Sylvain Cambreling joined the YNSO in April 2010 as the ninth Principal Conductor and has energetically pursued a broad range of activities. The French-born conductor is a musician with big ideas. A thought-provoking, colorful and dramatic artist, he has a flair for grabbing the attention of audiences, yet his originality is rooted in thorough knowledge of musicology. Following the initial release of this album, in March 2015, the YNSO embarked on its first European tour in 12 years, with concerts scheduled in vibrant classical music centers such as Berlin, Cologne and Brussels. The tour was met with astounding aplomb.

The Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, was founded in 1962 by Japan's three leading media companies--The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper company, Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV) and Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV). The orchestra performs around 100 concerts each year true to its founding mission of dedicating to promoting the universe of classical music in Japan. On this release, the ensemble pairs Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Bartok’s The Miraculous Mandarin Suite. French-born conductor Sylvain Cambreling is a musician with big ideas. A thought-provoking, colourful and dramatic artist, and persuasive champion of contemporary music, he has a flair for grabbing the attention of audiences, yet his originality is rooted in thorough knowledge of musicology.

These three new choral works on the Easter theme continue composer Richard Harvey’s creative collaboration with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Swiss conductor Jérôme Kuhn. The texts are by Welsh/English poet and priest George Herbert (1593–1633), the Pre-Raphaelite Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) and the Irish republican poet Joseph Mary Plunkett (1887–1916). The Easter Songs were recorded in the stunning acoustic of the medieval Fortress Cathedral at Haapsalu, in Western Estonia. The three songs are performed by the 26-member Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, with an instrumental ensemble of two violins, cello and harp.

Shroud for a Nightingale is a compilation of the television drama music of British composer Richard Harvey. The title piece, Shroud for a Nightingale, is arguably the world’s best-known piece of viola music currently. Richard Harvey is a BAFTA Award-winning composer and musician. He is best known for his television and film soundtracks, and has scored more than 50 feature films in the USA, UK, and Europe.

British composer and conductor Richard Harvey is a BAFTA award winner, a respected orchestral conductor and a virtuoso performer on a wide range of Western and exotic instruments. Richard has written several large-scale choral works, including his Te Deum, a complex Magnificat and the popular Kyrie for the Magdalene that formed a highlight of the music for the film of The Da Vinci Code. “Kyrie for the Magdalene is a stunning plainsong-inspired liturgical lament which the internationally celebrated modern choral composer John Tavener would be proud to call his own.” (Movie Music UK) This collection of original choral music is beautifully performed by the Latvian Radio Choir and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Esteemed soprano Amy Haworth performs as soloist on the first, fourth, and eighth tracks.