Saxophonist, clarinettist, composer and visual artist Marcel Barta entered the Czech jazz and improvisation scene while still a student and has since become one of it's core members. He is a founding member of the electro-jazz quintet MUFF, the cult jazz sextet Vertigo and the duo DoMa Ensemble. Besides collaborating with many foremost artists from different genres on the home and international scene, he has been dedicating himself to composition, writing scenic music for the theatre company Farma v jeskyni (Farm in the Cave), among otherprojects. He is the recipient of multiple Czech Music Academy Awards in the jazz category, having also been nominated for the same award on a number of occasions. While Episodes from the Spinning Ball is the first recording to feature Barta's work exclusively, the eponymous composition is his first piece for a large ensemble. As composer and arranger he has taken part in dozens of projects and recordings, many of which were released by the label Animal Music. The new album brings a recording of a concert performance featuring the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, which took place as part of the jazz-symphonic crossover series New Horizons in February 2025 in the DOX+Multifunction Hall in Prague. Composed on a commission from the orchestra, the work formally resembles a suite in three parts. It is performed, however, as a continuous flow of music. In the author's own words, the piece "is an attempt to evoke a story that reflects my own planetary experience. The rotating ball in the title is a geoid, the shape of our own planet." Combining composed music with improvisation, the piece bears traces of Barta's original style, known for example from his work for Vertigo or Muff. It is rooted in jazz and contemporary classical music and unfolds like an elaborate story in which densely composed soundscapes interweave with delicate melodies and fine-grained instrumentation and whereorder coexists with improvisation and melancholy passages alternate with psychedelia and humour. The jazz band in the recording features, alongside Marcel Barta himself, trombonist stepan Janousek, keyboardist and synth player Vojtech Prochazka, double bassist Milos Klapsteand drummer Jan Chalupa. The whole jazz-symphonic ensemble is conducted by Bastien Stil who has had ample experience leading crossover projects.

Saxophonist, clarinettist, composer and visual artist Marcel Barta entered the Czech jazz and improvisation scene while still a student and has since become one of it's core members. He is a founding member of the electro-jazz quintet MUFF, the cult jazz sextet Vertigo and the duo DoMa Ensemble. Besides collaborating with many foremost artists from different genres on the home and international scene, he has been dedicating himself to composition, writing scenic music for the theatre company Farma v jeskyni (Farm in the Cave), among otherprojects. He is the recipient of multiple Czech Music Academy Awards in the jazz category, having also been nominated for the same award on a number of occasions. While Episodes from the Spinning Ball is the first recording to feature Barta's work exclusively, the eponymous composition is his first piece for a large ensemble. As composer and arranger he has taken part in dozens of projects and recordings, many of which were released by the label Animal Music. The new album brings a recording of a concert performance featuring the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, which took place as part of the jazz-symphonic crossover series New Horizons in February 2025 in the DOX+Multifunction Hall in Prague. Composed on a commission from the orchestra, the work formally resembles a suite in three parts. It is performed, however, as a continuous flow of music. In the author's own words, the piece "is an attempt to evoke a story that reflects my own planetary experience. The rotating ball in the title is a geoid, the shape of our own planet." Combining composed music with improvisation, the piece bears traces of Barta's original style, known for example from his work for Vertigo or Muff. It is rooted in jazz and contemporary classical music and unfolds like an elaborate story in which densely composed soundscapes interweave with delicate melodies and fine-grained instrumentation and whereorder coexists with improvisation and melancholy passages alternate with psychedelia and humour. The jazz band in the recording features, alongside Marcel Barta himself, trombonist stepan Janousek, keyboardist and synth player Vojtech Prochazka, double bassist Milos Klapsteand drummer Jan Chalupa. The whole jazz-symphonic ensemble is conducted by Bastien Stil who has had ample experience leading crossover projects.

Krasa Quartet, a young ensemble specializing in music by Jewish authors from the Terezin Ghetto, are releasing their debut album, with compositions by Hans Krasa, Erwin Schulhoff and Karel Ancerl. Krasa's Theme with Variations and his String Quartet, Schulhoff's Divertimento for String Quartet and Ancerl's Two Student Fugues all come from early stages of these composers' careers, before the political events in the aftermath of the First World War drastically affected their lives. In 2012, four young musicians who met during their studies at the Prague Conservatory decided to found their own ensemble. The members of Krasa Quartet - Marie Forestova, sarka Petrikova (first violin), Jan Paloucek (second violin) and Daniel Menhart - were then of similar age as these authors would have been while working on their early compositions. Now, having gained experience performing at festivals in Czechia and abroad and participating in master classes (Pavel Haas Quartet, Hagen Quartet), the quartet are relaesing their debut album. Besides quartet classics, such as, for example, works by Ludwig van Beethoven, the ensemble's repertoire encompasses 20th-century music, with special emphasis on works of Hans Krasa and other Terezin authors. Krasa Quartet regularly collaborate with foremost instrumentalists, including pianists Jan Bartos and Marek Kozak, as well as with choirs and dance ensembles. For several years, the ensemble performed as part of the ballet production Vertigo at the National Theatre in Prague.

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.

Petr Ostrouchov's music from the film zelary (2003) is being released for the first time as a purely musical soundtrack without dialogues, in a newly mixed and arranged version. The film, directed by Ondrej Trojan, won two Czech Lions (Czech and Television Academy Award) and a number of nominations, including the most prestigious one - an Oscar nomination for the best foreign language film. Although almost 22 years have passed since it's release and the composer had been considering the idea of ?releasing the score on vinyl for some time, the final impetus for the album's release was this year's departure of the legendary film conductor Mario Klemens, who had participated in number of film soundtracks and who also conducted the orchestra during the recording of the music for the film zelary; the album is dedicated to his memory. Petr Ostrouchov received his first (out of eight) nomination for the Czech Lion award and the award for best music from the festival in Karachi, Pakistan. "zelary was only the second feature film with my music and a very important one for me. As a beginner and amateur, I composed and arranged music for the orchestra and had the opportunity to work with conductor Mario Klemens. Moreover, the film resonated very well, it received an Oscar nomination, I received my first nomination for the Czech Lion Award and Viera Langerova brought me the award for best music from the festival in Karachi, Pakistan, where I "beat" Alexandre Desplat and John Williams in my category, both these facts seemed absurd to me. The soundtrack was released on CD 22 years ago, the music was interwoven with dialogues from the film, as was usual back then, and the CD has long since been unavailable. The idea of ?releasing the music from zelary in newly mixed versions and in a different way has matured for many years, the film has certainly not been forgotten, on the contrary, it still has it's audiences and the "music from zelary" has opened many doors for me. I compiled the recordings into a more or less fluid flow of music, without dialogues, with only a few folk songs of great female ensemble from the Beskid Mountains called Grunik," says Petr Ostrouchov about the album's release.

In 2025, PMP is proud to release Trillium X, a sixth opera by Anthony Braxton, on the occasion of his 80th Birthday. A limited deluxe 8-CD box set including both, a live recording of the world premiere in Prague, a studio recording realized at the famous Darmstadt Summer Course, a 6-hour of exclusive audio-visual materials documented a complete world premiere, documentary film In the Garden of Trillium X, and in-depth conversation between Anthony Braxton, Swiss conductor Roland Dahinden and German writer and Braxton's scholar Timo Hoyer. Braxton spent five years working on his opus magnum. He has been significantly involved in all Trillium performances, including this one. He has accompanied the rehearsals from the very beginning. However, the leading man in charge was Roland Dahinden, his long-time fellow from Wesleyan University. Dahinden and incredible PMP Orchestra represent the ongoing generational change in creative music. "X is a dream-logical world unto itself, a place to get lost in for a handful of hours, like Wagner, but strictly according to Braxton-ian rules of order and exploration." - Josef Woodard, DownBeat, 5-stars

String Serenades by Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) and Josef Suk (1874-1935) have become a stable part of the repertoire of Czech chamber string orchestras, providing them with an opportunity to prove their performing mastery, and are very popular with the listeners. This album is a re-edition of the recordings by the Czech Chamber Orchestra from 1994 (Dvorak) and 2000 (Suk) that were released in 2001 by WALDMANN label. Along with it's re-release on CD by Animal Music it is now being released also on streaming platforms for the first time. "In their pieces, Dvorak and Suk both drew on the older form of classical serenade, a kind of musical diversion in the best sense of the word, a form that reached the peak of it's popularity a century earlier as it was performed for the entertainment of the musicians and their music-loving audiences alike," says the musicologist Vaclav Holecek in the album's liner notes. This recording was made at a time when the Czech Chamber Orchestra performed under the leadership of the conductor, violinist and composer Ondrej Kukal (b. 1964). During his tenure, the orchestra was experiencing it's heyday. Interpretatively and dramaturgically, he followed the principles of the orchestra's founder, Vaclav Talich, who founded the orchestra in 1945 with some of his best students from the Prague Conservatory. Thanks to it's rigorous rehearsal routine and precise as well as enthusiastic approach to performance, the orchestra soon won a renown on the Czechoslovak stages and abroad, and collaborated, under Talich's baton, with foremost international soloists, including Pierre Fournier, Germaine Leroux, and others. The initial phase of the orchestra's promising career came to an end in 1948, when the Czechoslovak Communist regime banned Vaclav Talich from performing in public. In 1958, Josef Vlach (1923-1988), the first violin of the original Czech Chamber Orchestra and Talich's student and collaborator decided to revive his teacher's initiative. Under Vlach's leadership, the ensemble appeared on stages in Czechoslovakia, across Europe, Asia and America, and was a regular guest at prestigious festivals, including the Prague Spring Festival and the Salzburg Festival. Collaborations with soloists included Henry Szeryng, Yehudi Menuhin, Leonid Kogan, Ivan Moravec, and Josef Suk, to name just a few. After Josef Vlach's demise, the Czech Chamber Orchestra performed on irregular basis for some time. Nevertheless, the new first violin, Vlach's daughter, violinist Jana Vlachova took over the artistic leadership of the orchestra and also followed in the steps of her father and Vaclav Talich before him. Vlachova invited artists of her own generation into collaboration, among them the conductor, violinist and composer Ondrej Kukal (b. 1964) who became the orchestra's next leader. Under his leadership between 1993 and 2003, the Czech Chamber Orchestra maintained a regular concert calendar once again. After Ondrej Kukal gradually curtailed his conducting career due to a serious illness (he currently dedicates himself fully to composition), the conductor Andreas Sebastian Weiser collaborated with the orchestra. Today, the Czech Chamber Orchestra performs on special occasions only.

Vladimir Misik is back with a new album, Vteriny, mesice a roky (Moments, Months and Years). The album is Misik's third collaboration with the producer Petr Ostrouchov and follows the prize-winning projects, Jednou te potkam (Once, I Will Meet You; 2019) and Nocni obraz (Night Image; 2021). The album is comprised of fifteen new songs, with lyrics by Vladimir Misik and Michael zantovsk�, songs based on poems by Jan Skacel, Jiri Dedecek and Frantisek Gellner, and one text tailored directly for Misik by Tomas Belko, a one-time fellow band-member of Ostrouchov in Sto zvirat. In the studio, Misik surrounded himself by ten musicians, with the Blue Shadows quartet at the core, which also performed on the previous recordings, featuring Josef stepanek and Petr Ostrouchov on the guitar, Matej Belko on the bass guitar and Martin Novak on the drums. The other players include pianist Jan Steinsdorfer and Hammond organist Ondrej Pivec (now living in the USA), who both were involved on the album Nocni obraz as well, guitarist Lukas Martinek, double bassist Tomas Liska and two special international guests - the Cuban-American percussionist Michito Sanchez and the British performer on the pedal steel guitar B.J. Cole - who both have featured in projects of illustrious colleagues such as Sting, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Depeche Mode, Crosby, Stills and Nash, James Taylor, David Gilmour, R.E.M., Bjork, Stevie Wonder, and others. The album is released on CD and as a 2LP and includes a comprehensive booklet with studio session photos and the lyrics.

Trobairitz (female troubadours) is a cycle of songs for women's choir and ensemble, written by the contemporary Czech composer and pianist Michal Nejtek for the Tiburtina Ensemble based on the texts of medieval troubadours who lived and composed at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries in Occitania. Barbora Kabatkova, the artistic director of the Tiburtina Ensemble, encountered the troubadours' poetry years ago while working on another project. The hitherto unknown world of female poets fascinated her and inspired her to study further, and after receiving an offer from the director of the Prague Spring festival to premiere a new full-length work with her ensemble, she did not hesitate to revive the forgotten world of female troubadours. In the short historical period of the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, women in the area of ?today's southern France enjoyed an unprecedented freedom and rights, and it is from the period of 1180 and 1230 that most of the poems of medieval troubadours survive. Although they were most likely originally set to music, as was the custom at the time, troubadour poems survive without music, with one exception. On this recording, they therefore appear in a new, contemporary musical form and offer the listener the opportunity to look into the world of medieval female poets, into the feelings, wishes and desires that they express in their texts, albeit tender and warm, often more directly and concretely than men. Four poems are sung on the recording in Occitan and four in Czech translation. The Tiburtina Ensemble is accompanied by leading period instrument players of international renown - Marco Ambrosini (nyckelharp), Margit ubellacker (dulcimer) and Catalina Vicens (organetto), and one of the most sought-after Czech drummers, Martin Novak. The 50-minute long work premiered in 2022 at the Prague Spring Festival and is being released in it's world premiere on this recording.

The jazz quartet 2in2out was founded by saxophonist Nela Dusova and guitarist Jan Lacina, who are also the authors of the band's modern jazz repertoire. The duo invited drummer Adam Sikora and now also Slovak double bassist Peter Korman. In recent years, 2in2out has managed to develop from an originally student project into one of the most interesting Czech jazz acts. In 2024, the quartet will release it's debut album, Living Stories. The album was created in collaboration with long-time bandmates, double bassist Klara Pudlakova and drummer Adam Sikora. Living Stories presents a view of the world through the eyes of two jazz artists and authors with different aesthetic approaches, yet united in their musical narrative. "What I appreciate most about 2in2out's compositions are the original ideas, interesting formal solutions and also the overlapping of content, which is far from always commonplace in modern jazz today, and I would dare to say that it is often lacking." David Doruzka, leading Czech guitarist and pedagogue

Czech trumpeter Jiri Kotaca and Swedish pianist Alf Carlsson release a new album with their band, featuring nine of their own original compositions. Besides being firmly rooted in the tradition of modern jazz, the album, entitled Our Stories, draws on various other styles by which the individual players swear, including jazz rock, modern mainstream, pop, and Scandinavian lyricism. Alf Carlsson and Jiri Kotaca, both respected musical personalities, first met in Rotterdam and then during Alf's visit to the Czech Republic, which eventually turned into a short common tour and later into a proper band as the two leaders were joined by two of the most sought-after jazz Slovak musicians of the youngest generation - double bassist and bass guitarist Peter Korman and drummer Kristian Kuruc. The band has been performing in this line up ever since. The new album, which is published five years after their critically acclaimed debut Journeys, will be introduced on a tour including Czechia, Slovakia and other countries. Eager listeners can get a tasting of the album and listen in advance to Alf �s piece Alf �s Groove, which is now being released on all digital platforms, and to Relief by Jiri Kotaca, which will be available as of 10 May.

The new album of double bassist and composer Jaromir Honzak is a live recording of an eight-part suite for jazz quintet and orchestra performed by the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra and Honzak's all-stars Czech jazz quintet, composed of David Doruzka (guitar), Lubos Soukup (saxophone, clarinet), Vit Kristan (piano, rhodes), Martin Novak (drums, percussion). The suite was performed within the concert series of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra "New Horizons" which combines jazz and symphonic music. The suite entitled "Blues of a String Hanging in the Wind" was written by Jaromir Honzak and based on the composition of the same name, which he created back in 2008 for a string and jazz quartet on the occasion of a special Jazz concert at the Rudolfinum. A year later, it appeared on Honzak's studio album "Little Things" (Animal Music, 2009). Tomas S�kora, pianist, composer, arranger and curator of the New Horizons programme, was in charge of the arrangements for the orchestra. Jaromir Honzak says about the piece: "I have never been drawn to a large cast in music before, I have always been a type of chamber musician. So here I said to myself that I will try to think as "chamberly" as possible when working for a symphony orchestra. As usual, I first decided to learn from listening to similar works, or even to study some scores, but in the end my usual routine prevailed, based rather on my intuition. Our subsequent cooperation with Tomas was very efficient and pleasant. Tomas was great not only as an unusually skilled and fast orchestrator, but also as an empathetic and helpful assistant." Jaromir Honzak gave the individual parts suitable names that are meant to help the listeners grasp the music. The atmosphere and storytelling of the album, which arises when listening to the music, is also evoked by the artwork of the Japanese artist Kotone Utsunomiya, which she created specifically for this album. The author of the graphic design is Andrea Vacovska from Studio Najbrt.

Zdenek Liska Archives is a project aimed at releasing a sequence of vinyl records featuring a selection of original recordings of film music by this important Czech composer, from his personal audio-tape archive. The first album of the collection contains music from three short films by Jan svankmajer from 1966 to 1977 - Don sajn (Don Juan), Leonarduv denik (Leonardo's Diary) and zvahlav aneb saticky Slameneho Huberta (Jabberwocky). Out of a total of ten short films by svankmajer, which Zdenek Liska provided music for, the recordings of these three films have been preserved in his home archive. In the album's booklet, Jan svankmajer highlights Liska's brilliant film-composing skills: "What was amazing about Liska's music was that, unlike most other composers, he didn't attempt to go with the mood of the film and milk the emotions but listened to the rhythm of the movie itself. Especially in an animated film, this helped to greatly enhance the sense of the picture's pace and drama. He was able to discover rhythms in films that even their authors weren't aware of." The album is released in the year of Jan svankmajer's 90th birthday. The work of this exceptional surrealist artist is represented by a retrospective exhibition presenting works by Jan and Eva svankmajer in the Central Bohemian Region Gallery or a program section dedicated to his film work in the Dafilms online cinema.

The legendary husband-and-wife duo-Irena and Vojtech Havlovistarted to work togetherin the mid-80s andsince the very beginning have hada very unorthodox approach to bothhistorical and modern compositional techniques and interpretative procedures. Graduallythey created their typically unclassifiable, multi-layered sound and stylethat is howevereasily discernableand appreciated by audienceseven far beyond the bordersofthe CzechRepublic. Their music is poetic, meditativeand inspired by non-Europeanculturesas well asminimalism. They recorded and released several very original CDs which earned themacclaim both at home and abroad. They have been appearing in concert across the CzechRepublic, Europe, Canada, the USA as well as Africa and Japan, thanksto the collaborationwith avant-garde artists Petr Nikl and Jana Svobodova. Irena dna Vojtech Havlovi are alsowriting music forshort and featurefilms, documentariesand theatre (film Little Crusader byVaclav Kadrnka was awarded by the Czech Film and TVAcademy for the best film score). Intheir music, they are using various musical instruments-cello, piano, viola da gamba, bells, tibetian bowls and others. On their newalbumFour Handsthey bringnew compositions for4 hand piano and organ. The album �s release will be accompanied by several videos andtouring in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Star pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard presents Landler, a collection of delightful dances composed by Franz Schubert. Rustic and cheerful, these miniatures display a fascinating side of Schubert's musical persona. Their simplicity is deceptive, as these dances are frequently shaken up by Schubert's harmonic wandering soul, yet remaining lyrical, picturesque and tuneful. For Aimard, there is a kinship between Schubert's Landler and Kurtag's Jatekok, pieces that he often performs side by side, sharing a combination of playfulness and Modernism that also calls the great twentieth-century miniaturist Anton Webern to mind. By avoiding almost any repetition, Aimard evokes a sleepwalker's journey rather than a series of dances. 8717306260343 PNTA5187034.2 44281755 .00 17.99 .16 PENTATONE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 05/24/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/42/4327442-3147656.jpg 53 1 N BOULANGER / BRITTEN / COLEMAN PATH TO THE MOON The performers write: 'Selecting the repertoire for our album Path to the Moon, we wanted to explore a number of possibilities for binding together a programme. To place different works alongside one another is a wonderful way of bringing out new and unusual qualities in each piece. William T. Horton's fantastic image The Path to the Moon immediately inspired a flurry of ideas, including works on the subjects of both night and the moon, as well as pieces which invoke the exploratory nature of humankind's voyage to the moon. Britten wrote his Sonata for Cello and Piano only two years after the first object made by humans had touched the surface of the moon, in 1959. Humans throughout history and from all cultures have been drawn to and taken inspiration from the moon and we have tried to reflect this in our eclectic choice of song repertoire: from Toru Takemitsu to Nina Simone and from Lili Boulanger to Florence Price. As we hope you will hear on this album, Walker's Cello Sonata rings with echoes of the sound-worlds of blues and jazz and is infused with a beautiful lyricism. We really believe that Walker's Cello Sonata deserves to become a staple of the chamber music repertoire and are absolutely thrilled to offer you a recording of it in the context of our own exploration of a path to the moon.' 095115227428 CHN20274C.2 44079871 .00 21.99 .26 CHANDOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 02/16/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/86/4289986-3147683.jpg 51 1 N CROSBY / DARVILLE / JASINSKI BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY Lyricism and melody are often vainly sought in contemporary composition. American composer Richard Crosby goes against the grain on BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY, a selection of compositions so aesthetically sublime, yet so profound, one wonders if this is still music, or someone mesmerizingly peeling back the layers on existence itself. BY THE WATERS OF MEMORY features two scintillating chamber duos with piano - one a viola, the other a cello sonata - as well as a charming tetralogy of Latin dances for piano and oboe. But perhaps the greatest revelation arrives in the form of trenchantly beautiful solo piano pieces, which bear all the hallmarks of unadulterated classical-romantic genius. If Schubert had been an American, he would have sounded like this. 808857120847 NVON6598C.2 44080341 .00 16.99 .18 NAVONA COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 02/16/2024 07/10/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/81/4290081-3147975.jpg 32 1 N SCHUMANN / STAVANGER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SYMPHONIES 1 & 2 After Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schubert, Jan Willem de Vriend starts a new symphonic cycle dedicated to Schumann. This is the first recording with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra both for the conductor and for Challenge Classics. More than ever through this new and exciting collaboration de Vriend gives a thoroughly original account of the first two symphonies. Just like the French critic Jean Charles Hoffele puts it, de Vriend is always 'striking'. 608917295825 CLLE72958C.2 44115944 .00 18.99 .25 CHALLENGE CLASSICS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 03/08/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/74/4293774-3149141.jpg 16 1 N RICHTER / ROWLAND RECOMPOSED - VIVALDI'S FOUR SEASONS Max Richter's The Recomposed Four Seasons has become an iconic piece. Richter discarded about three quarters of Vivaldi's original and substituted his own music. The new version�sounds a little hipper, lighter on it's feet in places, darker and more cinematic in others. Artfully, but faithfully, Richter rearranges the notes on the page, revealing anew the radiant melodies and lush timbres of the music. This new recording enjoys the flamboyant fantasy and the technical prowess of Daniel Rowland as solo violin. 608917297829 CLLE72978C.2 44115951 .00 18.99 .23 CHALLENGE CLASSICS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 03/01/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/75/4293775-3133569.jpg 29 1 N PRATTE / ZILLIACUS / RAITINEN QUARTETS FOR HARP & WINDS World Premiere Recordings! French-Swedish harpist, Delphine Constantin-Reznik, presents the two quartets by the Swedish-Bohemian composer and harp virtuoso, Anton Edvard Pratte (1796-1875): Opus 154 for harp and wind trio, and Opus 155 for harp and string trio. As Pratte did in the 1850s, Swedish-French harpist, Constantin-Reznik (who rediscovered Pratte's music), performs the quartets along with Sweden's foremost musicians such as multiple Grammis Award winner, Cecilia Zilliacus, and members of the Zilliacus Quartet, who released their first quartet album in 2023 to great international critical acclaim (dBCD207). Constantin-Reznik herself was nominated for the Swedish Grammis Award last year for her performance of Andrea Tarrodi's harp concerto, 'Choryn' (dBCD204). 7393787242125 DBPD212C.2 44116026 .00 18.99 .20 DB PRODUCTIONS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ELECTRONIC & COMPUTER 03/01/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/83/4293783-3143379.jpg 14 1 N GRIEG / ABRAVANEL / UTAH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PEER GYNT SUITE NO. 1, OP. 46 PEER GYNT SUITE Maurice Abravanel's recordings of Grieg's orchestral music with the Utah Symphony set the benchmark for these works in the mid-1970s. Newly remastered from the original tapes these classic Vox recordings now sound better than ever. The Elite Recordings for Vox by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings. 747313303984 VOX3039A.2 44281946 .00 19.99 .21 VOX COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 05/24/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/61/4327461-3148435.jpg 13 1 N OLNEY,DAVID REAL LIES 011671120423 PHIO1204.2 37985028 .00 15.99 .19 PHILO RECORDS COMPACT DISCS POP FOLK/AMERICANA/SINGER-WRITER 01/01/1997 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/33/4331633-3407111.jpg 2 1 N BERLIOZ / ZINMAN / BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE 089408027123 TLAC80271.2 37753337 .00 15.99 .24 TELARC COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 09/05/2008 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/09/4332309-3407212.jpg 2 1 N SCOTTO,RENATA ITALIAN OPERA ARIAS 074646052426 SNY60524C.2 38090790 .00 17.99 .19 SONY SRM EXCLUSIVE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CLASSICAL VOCALS 08/30/2012 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/65/4333465-3177768.jpg 2 1 N RUSSIAN MUSIC & REVOLUTION: 1890-1917 / VARIOUS RUSSIAN MUSIC & REVOLUTION: 1890-1917 / VARIOUS 074646169926 SNY61699C.2 38091933 .00 17.99 .18 SONY SRM EXCLUSIVE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 03/29/2013 3 1 N TOTAL ECLIPSE / O.S.T. TOTAL ECLIPSE / O.S.T. 074646203729 SNY62037C.2 38092466 .00 17.99 .19 SONY SRM EXCLUSIVE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL SOUNDTRACKS & FILM SCORES 03/29/2012 1 1 N WEILL / STEVENS,RISE / GREEN,ADOLPH / KAYE,DANNY LADY IN THE DARK 074646286920 SNY62869C.2 38092930 .00 17.99 .23 SONY SRM EXCLUSIVE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL SHOWTUNES / B'WAY 08/31/2012 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/78/4333478-3177780.jpg 1 1 N BOSTON POPS / WILLIAMS MUSIC FOR STAGE & SCREEN 074646414729 SNY64147C.2 37572198 .00 17.99 .21 SONY SRM EXCLUSIVE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 11/07/2013 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/84/4333484-3177809.jpg 1 1 N ALVAREZ,MARCELO / LICITRA,SALVATORE DUETTO Duetto presents tenors Marcelo Alvarez and Salvato re Licitra in a program of romantic ballads writte n and arranged specially for them. One of the feat ured composers on the album is Francesco Sartori, known for having composed Andrea Bocelli's biggest hit songs. 696998795723 SSRM87957.2 38099311 .00 7.98 .25 SONY SRM EXCLUSIVE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CLASSICAL VOCALS 06/24/2003 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/86/4334086-3177982.jpg 0 1 N SAYAO,BIDU SINGS DEBUSSY MOZART PUCCINI & MORE 074646322123 SSRM63221.2 38093227 .00 17.99 .25 SONY SRM EXCLUSIVE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL OPERA / OPERETTA / ORATORIO 05/13/2014 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/01/4334101-3177808.jpg 5 1 N MOZART / TAFELMUSIK / TOLZER BOYS CHOIR / WEIL REQUIEM 074646076422 SSRM60764.2 38091391 .00 17.99 .25 SONY SRM EXCLUSIVE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CLASSICAL VOCALS 08/30/2012 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/13/4334113-3177771.jpg 0 1 N CHOPIN / MENDELSSOHN / PROKOFIEV / GOULD PIANO SONATA 3 074645262222 SSRM52622.2 37569464 .00 24.99 .25 SONY SRM EXCLUSIVE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 04/30/2012 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/29/4334129-3177976.jpg 1 1 N ANTAL,MATYAS / CONCENTUS HUNGARICUS / JANDO,JENO MOZART: PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 17 & 18 4891030502055 NXS8550205B.2 44315344 .00 19.99 .24 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 04/01/1990 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/41/4334141-3178023.jpg 0 1 N RAKSIN,DAVID SUITES FROM LAURA & FOREVER AMBER 078635149029 RCMA1490.2 44315887 .00 17.99 .22 RCA MASTERWORKS COMPACT DISCS POP EASY LISTENING 07/01/1991 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/94/4334394-3384330.jpg 0 1 N BEETHOVEN / ROSAND VIOLIN SONATAS 047163350320 VOX3503.2 38240966 .00 35.99 .42 VOX COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 01/01/1995 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/73/4334573-3178009.jpg 79 1 N ZIMMERMANN / ROYAL PHIL ORCH / BERGLUND TCHAIKOVSKY: VLN CTO / BRUCH: VLN CTO 5099709312922 SYNX093129.2 37573652 .00 17.99 .26 SONY MASTERWORKS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 04/21/2011 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/99/4334899-3492576.jpg 22 1 N KERMES,SIMONE DRAMMA 886919639629 SYNX1963962.2 38110849 .00 17.99 .23 SONY MASTERWORKS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CLASSICAL VOCALS 07/31/2012 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/8/9/8/4/2024898.jpg 3 1 N AHMEDOVA / EILERTSEN / PETURSSON HLASKONTRABASOKTET - KALEIDOSCAPES The unique musical formation Hlaskontrabas Oktet, consisting of four female singers and fourdouble bassists, releases a new Nordic" album called Kaleidoscapes. The album, which wasrecorded last summer in Iceland and then in the fall at Sono Records studios in the Czech Republic, takes the listener on a musical journey through landscapes that are mysterious, fragile, wild and beautifully melancholic. The nine compositions have been written directlyfor Hlaskontrabas by leading contemporary composers from Norway (Mats Eilertsen, Nilsokland), Iceland (Ragnheidur Grondal and Gudmundur Petursson, Petur Thor Benediktsson), Israel (Adam Ben Ezra) and the Czech Republic (Petr Wajsar, Beata Hlavenkova). Ridina Ahmedova and Petr Tichy, the founders of the band, also contributed each by one piece to thealbum. Ridina says about the recording: "Often you record one instrument at a time, but wechose the path of playing together, live. This way the record gives the listener the right 'live' feeling." Hlaskontrabas Oktet was formed in 2019 as an extension of the original duo project foundedby Czech vocalist, composer and performer Ridina Ahmedova and double bassist and composer Petr Tichy. At the very beginning of the idea to expand the duo to four voices and four double basses was the idea to use live musicians instead of a looper, which Ridina and Petr used to layer tracks over each other in concerts, and to bring their own musical soul to the songs. But it turned out that writing pieces directly for the octet offered the opportunity to arrange and think musically in a completely different way. And the octet soon started to live on it's own. A vibrant, unique and inspiring life. The song Funkle, which was released as the first single, was also accompanied by a documentary video from the octet �s journey to Iceland. The second single, which will be released on April 12, is the track Mysterious Ride by Israeli double bassist Adam Ben Ezra.

On her new album; trumpetist and composer Štepánka Balcarová; the recipient of the Andel Award for the best jazz album of 2022; delves deep into human emotions. She quotes her recent experience of becoming a mother as her main source of inspiration: “Certain emotions receive a totally new dimension with motherhood. I used to think I knew what it meant to be angry or indignant; for example; and was able to rationalize such emotions; draw relevant consequences and thus come to term with them. With children; however; one often finds oneself in situations that don’t allow for such distancing. This immediacy affects both negative and positive emotions. I’ve come to see them in an entirely new light.” In the eight compositions comprised in her new album; Štepánka represents eight basic human emotions; as they have been defined by American psychologist Robert Plutchik: joy; trust; fear; surprise; sadness; disgust; anger and anticipation. A concert programme based on the concept of Emotions was premiered in 2022. Štepánka Balcarová recorded the album with a Czech-Polish quartet featuring Nikola Kolodziejczyk (piano); Jaromír Honzák (double bass) and Grzegorz Maslowski (drums). The same line-up also collaborated with her on the album Life and Hapiness of Julian Tuwim (Animal Music 2017) and the live album Štestí (Happiness; Radioservis 2022) which includes orchestral versions of the repertoire for which Štepánka Balcarová received the Andel Award.

The legendary husband-and-wife duo-Irena and Vojtech Havlovistarted to work togetherin the mid-80s andsince the very beginning have hada very unorthodox approach to bothhistorical and modern compositional techniques and interpretative procedures. Graduallythey created their typically unclassifiable, multi-layered sound and stylethat is howevereasily discernableand appreciated by audienceseven far beyond the bordersofthe CzechRepublic. Their music is poetic, meditativeand inspired by non-Europeanculturesas well asminimalism. They recorded and released several very original CDs which earned themacclaim both at home and abroad. They have been appearing in concert across the CzechRepublic, Europe, Canada, the USA as well as Africa and Japan, thanksto the collaborationwith avant-garde artists Petr Nikl and Jana Svobodova. Irena dna Vojtech Havlovi are alsowriting music forshort and featurefilms, documentariesand theatre (film Little Crusader byVaclav Kadrnka was awarded by the Czech Film and TVAcademy for the best film score). Intheir music, they are using various musical instruments-cello, piano, viola da gamba, bells, tibetian bowls and others. On their newalbumFour Handsthey bringnew compositions for4 hand piano and organ. The album �s release will be accompanied by several videos andtouring in the Czech Republic and abroad.

LENKA DUSILOV�, a six-time winner of the Czech Music Academy Awards, is one of the most original presences on the Czech music scene. Nine years after the release of her previous solo album and six years after she recorded her last album with Baromantika, LENKA DUSILOV� comes with a new long-awaited album, REKA ("River"), which introduces a new sound, a new team of musical partners and a number of personal themes. The album originated in collaboration with the producer PETR OSTROUCHOV who had also initiated, for example, the successful award-winning album of Vladim�r Mi��k, "Jednou te potk�m" from last year. The sound has been significantly determined by the presence of the beat maker and electronic wizard AID KID (a member, among others, of Zv�re jm�nem podzim and the Kittchen project, the latter in collaboration with Jakub K�nig). Multiple layers of sound have been created by mixing experienced performers from various genres, including jazz, pop and electronic music. In one of the tracks, LENKA DUSILOV� has been joined by MONIKA NACEVA and IVA BITTOV� with whom she has appeared recently. The overall sound of the album is characterized by the variety and density of sounds, moods and effects, including sound-on-sound looping and vocal layering. "The title of the album - simply RIVER (REKA) - metaphorically reflects the dynamism and fluid characteristics of a system which is influenced by it's surroundings - the terrain, weather and natural and human-induced events in the landscape. This is what all "rivers" have in common and what makes them unique as well," explains LENKA DUSILOV�.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Treetop is the eponymous debut album by the contemporary chamber jazz trio of Berlin based accordionist Vojta Drnek, Prague based trombonist Richard �anda and Bratislava based double bassist Michal �elep. Their diverse repertoire reflects many aspects of Treetop's musical journey, spanning from jazz influences or folklore inspiration to contemporary musical concepts as well as pieces by Bart�k or Grieg which are also part of the album, presented on it in new arrangements. Most of the album's repertoire is nonetheless penned by Vojta Drnek and Richard Sanda. Besides their own tunes, it also includes an arrangement of Charlie Haden's "Silence" and one Czech folk song. The unusual setting of the band is the result of a unique synergy and musical and personal understanding between the three musical personalities. They inspire each other and the cooperation between the three "leaders" is very natural and fluid. The album's release has been preceded by the single and video release of Richard Sanda's composition "Flower She Loves the Most".

Recorded in NYC, where Mr. Pivec now resides, “The Green Card Album” showcases keyboardist Ondřej Pivec as composer, player, arranger and producer. His American experience markedly steers the new album's sound in the direction of r-'n'-b, gospel and “black” pop; Mr. Pivec considers it his “bidding farewell to jazz”. This album features a number of American instrumentalists and singers, with only one Czech represented – saxophonist and fellow NYC- transplant Karel Růžička, Jr..

Though he is better known as a caricaturist and author of cartoons (regularly published throughout the last three decades by most of the major Czech daily newspapers), he has alongside developed a very colorful music career which stands miles apart from his work in humor. He has three albums under his belt as singer and songwriter and has authored scores of songs and lyrics on various aspects of the world disclosing his own take on life. In the poetry of his lyrics and the simple melodies of the songs, Kemel comes across as either an introverted solitary performing on the guitar or accordion or as a charismatic front man of his own band in which actor Vladim�r Javorsk� has also played a central role. Kemel's new album VLC� STOPY (Wolf Trail) originated out of a first-time collaboration with producer Petr Ostrouchov and Blue Shadows band who also have met on Vladim�r Mi��k's two latest albums. Besides Ostrouchov, who has co-authored some of the album's repertoire, it features guitarist Josef �tep�nek, double bassist Jarom�r Honz�k and drummer Martin Nov�k, as well as guest-vocalists Vladim�r Javorsk� and Marie Puttnerov�. Kemel's new album brings a collection of authentic songs and uncomplicated stories with are endowed, however, with overreaching meanings and implications, all in a lively and riveting performance by a group of experienced studio musicians.

Classical Music

This year, the outstanding Czech pianist and composer Karel Ru�icka (1940-2016) would celebrate his eightieth birthday. To mark this occasion, Animal Music releases, four years after the artist's death, the last album recorded by Ru�icka in 2010, which never came out during his lifetime. The recent discovery of the recording amounts to coming upon a precious treasure. In it, Ru�icka returns to the sphere of solo-piano recording in which he first excelled in his album "Zahrada radosti" (The Garden of Joy) in 1981. "Garden of Silence" presents an astounding medley of moods in pensive and playful pieces by Ru�icka which confirm his remarkable gift for melodies and his reputation as an unsurpassable performer and improviser