On Plan BE, the Four Aces Guitar Quartet takes you on a journey through Belgian music history and presents its own arrangements of music by some iconic composers who have put Belgium on the international map. From Josquin Desprez’s subtle polyphony to the gypsy swing of Django Reinhardt, brought to you on four classical guitars by the internationally acclaimed ensemble Four Aces Guitar Quartet.

With the present album Continuado, we are building on the Piazzolla tradition in many ways. We play some of his staple works – think Oblivion – as well as hidden gems like Vayamos al Diablo and Concierto para Quinteto. Our very own Inti de Maet provided an arrangement of Piazzolla’s Libertango. We have also included work from local composers, who have added their own, personal, contributions to the tango nuevo genre.

In 1938, at the Reichsmusiktage in Düsseldorf, the Nazi regime opened an exhibition around music with the theme: 'Entartete Musik'. They collected examples of what they considered degenerate music. Gustav Mahler, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Mischa Spoliansky; these were just a few names on the long list of depraved composers. On this album, this music and more.

Now, Voyager, sail… (First Symphony), Op. 130 is Robert Groslot’s first symphony. The title refers to a poem by the American author Walt Whitman. And the “Scherzo” movement shares a link with the Beatles song, Getting Better from the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Groslot borrows musical motives and paraphrases them in his musical language. A unique selling point of the present recording is that the solo part of the Violin Concerto is performed by German virtuoso Linus Roth.

A disc for harp not mainly addressed to harpists, but to all contemporaty music lovers. A disc for harp with compositions not by harpist-composers, but from composers in the canon. A spectacular Concerto for Harp and Orchestra (Brussels Philharmonic) composed in 2022 by the American composer Geoffrey Gordon is the core of the recording. The Concerto is preceded and followed by solo harp music by two living composers (Toshio Hosokawa and James MacMillan) and by the famous In a Landscape by John Cage. Two world premiere recordings.

Antarctica label launches a new series named Spring and focused on debut recordings by a selection of compelling musicians whose talents and creativity are characterised by noteworthy essence and individuality. The first release is by Romanian pianist Cristian Sandrin who chose an original and engaging programme of music by Enescu, Ravel and Scott, highlighting the mutual influences of three composers of three different countries, all working in Paris. The recording took place in highly reputed Potton Hall under the technical responsability of Ben Connellan. Produced by Rachel Smith.

Between 1965 and 1970, Astor Piazzolla composed the 'Four Porteño Seasons' or 'Four Seasons of Buenos Aires', for his New Tango Quintet. It is an evocation of the different atmospheres of the Argentinian capital depending on the different seasons. The atmosphere of each piece is never utterly joyful or completely sad, which is also one of the characteristics of tango music: tragedy and joy go hand in hand and intertwine. Four Seasons (2016) for accordion, violin, cello, double bass, percussion and piano was composed at the request of accordionist Christophe Delporte for the Astoria Ensemble, to which it is dedicated. The titles of the four movements that make up this work are deliberately enigmatic, but each refer to a particular season. It's for the audience to guess which and why.

I Will Come Back is a chamber opera by Robert Groslot, based on the book I'm coming back by Adriaan van Dis, who also wrote the libretto. The chamber opera is accompanied by Six Poems by William Butler Yeats. On this album, Groslot excels in his compositions combining literature and musical grammar. The opera is performed by soloists Héloïse Mas and Thomas Oliemans, accompanied by the Vlaams Radiokoor and Brussels Philharmonic soloists. Over the past decade, Groslot has primarily been a prolific composer with a unique position in the contemporary music landscape. Groslot eschews the atonal excesses of modernism, deliberately pushing for accessibility to the listener and playing pleasure for the performer, but he never succumbs to the cinematic banality of postmodern music. In the compositions to which this recording is devoted, an extra dimension emerges: Groslot's literary imagination and the intuitive fusing of linguistic and musical grammar which transpire in the chamber opera I will come back and the Six Poems by William Butler Yeats.

Robert Groslot’s Concerto for Bass Guitar and Orchestra represents the next step in the evolution of the bass guitar. Groslot’s composition pushes the instrument to its technical limits, while creating a unique symbiosis between the soloist and the orchestra. Although he may not be the first composer to write for the bass guitar in a symphonic setting, Groslot brings a level of artistry and sophistication to the composition that will continue and accelerate the legitimation of the bass guitar within contemporary classical music.

All things Mozart have been said and done, you’d think. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. The exegesis of the Mozart-verse is a full-time job to many. The works on this recording alone raise a bunch of questions of which several remain unanswered. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s story for clarinet and string ensemble hasn’t been fully written yet. Part of it is voiced through some of the most often performed works in the repertoire. Still, every clarinetist is left with the challenge to get hands-on with the music and put a personal, original spin on it. To accomplish this, one has to be willing to do the necessary homework, returning to the source - and to go about it diligently.

Sergei Rachmaninoff, Leoš Janácek and Guillaume Connesson are seemingly very different. Nevertheless, in their compositions for cello and piano, they all wrote eloquent and articulate pieces that manage to do one and the same thing. They tell distinctive yet expressive stories which, almost immediately, bewilder us and trigger our imagination. Even though Rachmaninoff’s piece is sizable, we should note that Janácek’s Pohádka is based on an epic Russian poem and that Connesson’s “Les Chants de l’Agartha” in turn drew inspiration from mythological tales. It’s quite amusing to realize that all three pieces end with a sort of “dance for a king”, whether it be a Tsar, a King of the World or a forceful pianist and his cantillate cello friend. There are quite a few triangular relations between the pieces but overall, what strikes us is that both Connesson’s and Janácek’s works portray specific “scènes” rather than telling an overarching story. It is swift storytelling in a fun but flowing way. Even Rachmaninoff’s four more elaborate movements are little gems on their own. It’s little surprise that the sonata’s third movement is often performed separately or as an encore. From a musical perspective the piano in all three pieces is not merely an accompaniment or a supporting guide but a true brother in arms (or partner in crime, as you please).The role of the pianist is very much equal to that of the cellist. At many important turning points it sets the right mood, the precise ambiance, and frequently introduces a musical theme. This last aspect is especially noticeable in the Rachmaninoff sonata. Emmanuel and Damien act as two narrators performing chamber music with a great deal of affection. At the end of the day such outstanding music requires a duo of equals searching for balance between the corresponding lines, to create a sincere interpretation.

This piano project is a meditative state of playing which immerses the listener in a bath of colors. You can hear a whole range of colors and atmospheres with influences from jazz, classical and neo-classical music, ethnic influences and, here and there, even a bit of Americana. Hoogewijs seeks to go back to his early roots, before he composed film music, where names like Joni Mitchell, Weather Report and even Stravinsky and Debussy were major influences. Best known as the composer of scores and themes for popular Flemish and Dutch television series, feature films, and documentaries, Johan Hoogewijs also produces radio tunes and music for modern dance productions and events. If not in his studio, Johan Hoogewijs most likely can be found on stage, playing piano.

"The hour between night and dawn ... when most people die, sleep is deepest, nightmares are most real. It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their worst anguish, when ghosts and demons are most powerful. The hour of the wolf is also the hour when most babies are born." (INGMAR BERGMAN) Tina Reynaert wants to create a platform for new piano music that has not yet been performed or discovered. The authenticity of contemporary acoustic music deserves to be recorded and to reach a wider audience. “The Hour of the Wolf” is a compilation of what she believes to be canonical works from the period 1990 to 2021.Tina’s journey began some years ago, when she started collecting piano pieces by composers from all over the world. She asked a number of them to compose and dedicate a piece to her. Given all the new musical developments and idioms of the twentieth century (atonality, serialism, multiple serialism, spectralism, extended techniques, ...), Tina wanted to discover how composers work today. What is their musical signature? Which new works illustrate the times in which we live? What more can be added or has the power to transform? This album is an attempt to answer such questions.

A Symphonic Journey from Philly to Utopia contains world premiere recordings of some of the works Dirk Brossé has written over the past 10 years. These works reflect the beauty of the world Brossé sees around him; they are a mirror to his soul. For these recordings, Brossé conducted Brussels Philharmonic. Dirk Brossé, an internationally acclaimed conductor and composer, is currently Music Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He is also Professor of Composition and conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Ghent, Belgium. A highly-regarded, award-winning composer, Brossé’s body of some 400 works encompasses concerti, oratorios, lieder, chamber music and symphonic pieces, as well as scores for cinema, television and stage, including the Emmy-nominated score for the BBC/HBO series, Parade’s End.

Behold the Lamb of God, or better still: listen to it. At the invitation of clarinet virtuoso Eddy Vanoosthuyse, three Belgian composers translated Flanders' most famous painting in new music. Alain Crépin's dazzling Lamb Gods Impressions are performed on clarinet by the commissioner himself. Johan Duijck conducts the Flemish Radio Choir in his ethereal L'Homme Désarmé, while Dirk Brossé unveils The secret of The Mystic Lamb, a marvelous quest in which the Brussels Philharmonic sparkles alongside Vanoosthuyse’s solo clarinet. Listening to the Lamb: a divine delight.