Why Poesia? Because this album explores the cello as a lyrical instrument, with resonances close to the human voice. From the bel canto of Mercadante, a little-known but refined opera composer, to Vanherenthals' flamboyant Rhapsody on the Themes of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, each work evokes the vocal universe, sometimes with modesty, sometimes with exuberance.

The Flemish Music Heritage series is a journey of discovery, reviving remarkable pieces of musical heritage. Forgotten scores are brought to light, and familiar compositions are given a fresh perspective. In close collaboration with the Study Centre for Flemish Music, the recordings are founded on intensive research in libraries and archives and meticulously prepared score editions.? The works, expertly selected by connoisseurs, are performed by valued musicians and ensembles who passionately restore neglected and forgotten composers to the recognition they deserve. With these vibrant composer monographs, Antarctica Records aims to broaden horizons and enrich the repertoire with rediscovered treasures from the past. This third volume of the Flemish Music Heritage series focuses on piano works by Joseph Ryelandt (1870-1965). Spanning nearly five decades of his creative output, the recording features five piano works-including two early sonatas, the expressive Six Preludes, and two later works that highlight Ryelandt's evolution toward a more transparent, neoclassical style. Performed by Jozef de Beenhouwer, who has championed Ryelandt's music for decades, the album sheds light on a versatile and refined voice in Belgian musical history.

Spain and the guitar - an inseparable combination. Serenades of Spain goes beyond cliches, unveiling the rich musical heritage of both the country and the guitar, and takes the listener on a journey through three guitars: baroque, romantic, and classical - both solo and in duo with voice or cello. Featuring works by Spanish composers and those inspired by Spain, this album blends Flemish Renaissance court music, Baroque dances, expressive romanticism, neocasticismo, impressionistic colors, and folklore - a vibrant mosaic of Spain's musical history and the guitar.

Debut album by a young talented Russian guitarist. Well constructed programme based on Leo Brouwer and Agustin Barrios. An engaging listening from start to end, thanks to the Kurenchakova's prowess and eloquence and to the warmly resonant recording.�"Lux Amoris Aeterni" ("The Radiance of Eternal Love") is an album about divine love in the language of music, expressed through the gentle timbre of the classical guitar.

CORO: inspired by Luciano Berio's 31-song composition of the same name, George de Decker painted a cycle of 31 canvases. The key sentence Berio took as his starting point comes from a poem by Pablo Neruda: 'Venid a ver la sangre por las calles' (Come and see the blood in the streets) - a caustic reference to General Pinochet's seizure of power in Chile in 1973. For the exhibition of this cycle of paintings, de Decker wrote a composition for female voices. On the soundtrack, he incorporated vocal recordings of Els Van Laethem, Anne Marie Honggokoesoemo and Herlinde Ghekiere. At the request of pianist Geert Callaert, he added a piano part, so that CORO ultimately became a composition for solo piano, with a soundtrack with female voices. CORO is preceded by two new scores in the same sound idiom.

This second volume of the Flemish Musical Heritage series focuses on art songs by�Gustave Huberti (1843-1910). Songs are performed by two leading Belgian singers (soprano and baritone). Texts are in German, Dutch and French. The result is a pleasant portrait of a gifted composer in his different life periods.

World Premiere Recordings: This is a rediscovery of�forgotten scores as the piano sonatas�Joseph Ryelandt haven't been recorded before. Fittingly performed by Jozef de Beenhouwer who has dedicated hilmself to Flemish music for which he received the�Lifetime Achievement Award of Klara in 2010.�Expertly Curated Works: Produced in close collaboration with the Study Centre for Flemish Music (Studiecentrum Vlaamse Muziek), guaranteeing scholarly and artistic depth.�Cultural Enrichment: This is the first album of the new Antarctica series "Flemish Music Heritage" as well as the first volume out of 3 albums dedicated to�Ryelandt's piano music.

First recording by a youngest piano duo of sisters, who already won several competition. The recording is a real business card with music by Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Piazzolla. Technically impeccable and full of energy, they convey to the audience the enthralling emotions of Liszt and Rachmaninoff piano duo masterpieces.

As I have sought to elucidate, all of the concertos in my repertoire tell a unique story, driven by technical virtuosity and artistic vision. In the hands of Jan Michiels, who performs the piano concertos, and clarinettist Roeland Hendrikx - with whom I collaborate for the first time in this project, I find that these fundamental characteristics of my style come to life in the richest possible way. - Robert Groslot

Cross-Genre Fusion: Stagioni transcends musical boundaries, seamlessly blending classical, jazz, blues, and rock elements. Mayke's composition acts as a bridge between classical traditions and diverse musical worlds, offering a symphonic ode to life and nature through four distinct seasons.�Versatile Sound Exploration: Mayke's use of the E-cello goes beyond traditional norms, showcasing a diverse range of sounds and orchestrations.

On its first recording the Belgian ensemble Boho Strings showcases the versatility of composer Wim Henderickx, whose repertoire ranges from experiments in modernism to nearly silent transcendent soundscapes. Inasmuch as the works featured on this album are revisions of earlier work- some specifically prepared for this recording- they capture the progress in a career which spans three decades. The most audible development is Henderickx’s heightened sensitivity to inspiration from the East, which lends exoticism and the occasional melancholy to a diverse but reassuringly recognizable oeuvre. Acclaimed soloists are featured on these tracks, including Roeland Hendrikx, Valerie Debaele and Lin Chin Cheng.

Sofie Vanden Eynde writes of her newest release: “Would it be possible to articulate the inner reality of a burnout musically: to make a burnout audible, tangible, understandable and, who knows, avoidable? The result is Vanishing Point / Verdwijntijd, an autobiographical recital, a musical narrative, a journey: somewhere between fragile comfort and cautious happiness. Vanishing Point / Verdwijntijd can be listened to in different ways: not only as a lute recital, but also as a radio play with voice, lute and soundscapes.”

IZVORA invites you to a sparkling, poetic and refined universe, surrounded by original compositions and arrangements and a sound that is sometimes intimate, and sometimes displays the virtuosity of the artists. Although we're used to accordion player Christophe Delporte magnifying the music by Astor Piazzolla, it's another, more secret fantasy, that he shares with the ex-pianist of the "Framboise Frivole". A fantasy that is sprinkled with passionate inspiration, flirting with classical, jazz, and world music. Yves Gourmeur (piano) is, above all, an eclectic piano player, but also a composer with great melodic power, and a talent for combining several musical genres. Rhonny Ventat (sax), the wind turbine of the group, seduces you with bewitching, sensual melodies, but also with improvisations that are sometimes dazzling, sometimes soothing. Together with the flawless precision of percussion player J�rome Baudart and the exceptional, smooth and caressing bass lines by Adrien Tyberghein (double bass), IZVORA takes you on a musical and sensual trip. Flamboyant, between festive delusions, tenacious rhythms and lyrical melodies; daring to improvise, this quintet with multiple influences covers our souls with weightlessness, a soft, sweet and salty kiss.

This recording is a synesthetic homage to music which explores the passion, lust, love, hallucination, and healing induced by herbs and flowers. It is a sensuous quest for the melting point at which very different repertoires and literatures dissolve into an unctuous and euphonious balsam for the mind and the soul. In it's own inimitable interdisciplinarity, the Belgian ensemble Zefiro Torna takes us from Norway to Greece, from Virgil to Emile Verhaeren, and from Hildegard von Bingen and Guillaume du Fay to music newly composed in honor of the power of plants. A truly intoxicating experience. Vocal-instrumental ensemble Zefiro Torna is reframing early music in an extraordinary way. The ensemble is a hybrid collective of musicians who are able to seamlessly shift between ancient, traditional, and jazz music.

Piet Jozef Swerts is one of Belgium's prime composers of accessible music in the postmodernist vein. On his first Antarctica release, he sets himself the considerable challenge of assembling a largescale piano texture from smaller sonatas without relying on worn out romantic formats. Following the example of Bach's Wohltemperierte Klavier, Swerts writes and plays polyphonic music with a modern twist, taking off with Scarlatti at his jazziest, but also echoing Mozart, Wagner, and Purcell. Framed in the Baroque tradition, the new music of Swerts sounds scintillatingly smart, but not cerebral. And his straight strung piano embodies the old-new paradox by fusing modern Steinway comfort with the color and register versatility of a pianoforte.