The Orchestra of Douai from the region Hauts-de-France presents the great composers of their region on this new CD, Edouard Lalo and Albert Roussel. The Symphonie Espagnole is well known to any music enthusiast. Svetlin Roussev plays it so brilliantly, that the Spanish rhythms are electrifying

the listener from the first to the last note. Roussel unfortunately is less known than Lalo - after listening to this CD, people may wonder why. The Concert pour Petit Orchestre spans from poetic lines in the Andante to a captivatingly dynamic waltz, the conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow carves out all subtle nuances. And like in the Symphonie Espagnole, Kantorow takes the role of the sensitive accompanist in the final piano concerto by Rossel. Together with the soloist Alain Ra s he shows the countless colours of this wonderful music.

“I consider it to be the best I’ve written so far.” That’s what Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote in a letter to his father about the Quintett KV 452. The ensemble 4.1 , called the Easy Rider of Vienna Classics (Hamburger Abendblatt), approaches this ingenious work with unlimited joy. The Debut-CD of the ensemble 4.1 comprises apart from the Mozart-Quintet the world premiere recording of the romantic opus of Theodoor Verhey and the rediscovery of the great Quintet written by the pianist Walter Gieseking, both works of surprisingly good quality.

The Capella St. Crucis from Hanover conducted by Florian Lohman present Romantic Choir music for Advent and Christmas.

Main work on the disc is the “Cantus missae”, the Mass in E-flat minor op. 109 by J. G. Rheinberger. Apart from that, you can find a mix from sacred music

to more folksy music which has been sung in the families during Advent, on Christmas Eve or by young people’s choir in front of the doors.

There are compositions by F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, J. Brahms, M. Bruch, M. Reger, P. Cornelius and some more on the disc.

This album is the musical calling card of a brilliant ensemble that has set itself the goal of making baroque music accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. Presented as a homage to one of the most important German baroque composers the Bremen Baroque Orchestra under it's artistic director Néstor Fabián Cortés Garzón it's debut album with works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach's works in particular give the ensemble the opportunity to demonstrate the orchestra's creative and avant-garde spirit. An inquiring and innovative spirit aiming to incorporate the latest knowledge and explore new ways of interpretation.

In her first solo album Annette John takes the listener on a journey across the flute music of the last 1100 years.

The CD starts with the “Da pacem Domine”, one of the earliest sacred melodies of the 9th century and draws the line further to Jacob van Eyck, Bach and Telemann (and others) to finally reach Violeta Dinescu. With all this Annette John shows an impressive versatility and a great security of interpretation. All works are played with the most suitable instrument for each work - a fascinating variety of recorder sounds.

The name is the programme: The CD of the Jagdhornbl ser Usedom is a collection for parforce horn in E flat, from very different eras and cultures. It centres on the hunting music traditions of the German-speaking lands and France.

The time span goes from the Fanfares nouvelles by Marquis de Dampierre from the mid-eightenth century all the way to composers active today such as Heinrich, Paccard or Comte.

Vivid large-scale fantaisies stand alongside not only extracts from operas but also Des J gers Wanderliedchen by Wunderer and the arrangement of the folk song Kein schoner Land. The varied and colourful overview of hunting music on the disc is completed by hunting fanfares and for small ensemble and by extracts from instrumental Masses.

New chamber music for bassoon and piano - isn't there enough of it already? We think: No! Far too often, the bassoon has a shadowy existence in the backyard of the orchestra - it can be so charming and create amusing, cryptic or melancholy-gloomy moods. Especially when Berthold Große (Stockholm), a master of his instrument, brings the music to life. Since 2002 he has been acting solo bassoonist of the Royal Swedish Orchestra (Kungliga Hovkapellet) in Stockholm. In addition he is a welcome guest with many prestigious Scandinavian orchestras including the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Opera Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Norrbottens Kammarorkester in northern Sweden, one of the few orchestras in Europe that gives concerts north of the Arctic Circle!

The present release features music for cello solo of the 20th century from Scandinavia. Kati Raitinen began playing the cello at the age of nine (under the guidance of Csaba Szilvay in Helsinki). A year later, she pursued her studies at the youth department at the Sibelius Academy, where, in 1988, she was admitted to the soloist class and studied four years under Prof. Martti Rousi. 1992-1995, she studied under Prof. Frans Helmerson at the Edsberg Institute of Music in Stockholm, and she finished off her studies with soloist diplomas in both Stockholm and Helsinki. In 1995, Kati Raitinen was appointed alternating solo cellist of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera in Stockholm and during the 1998/1999 season, she was engaged as 1st solo cellist at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. After having been employed as solo cellist of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, she held the same position in the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, whereafter she returned to her former position with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera in Stockholm. As a soloist, Kati Raitinen has appeared with a number of orchestras in Sweden and Finland, and she is also a keen chamber musician, e.g. in the Avanti! Ensemble and often performs in duos and piano trios.

With the first 6 flute sonatas by Martinus Ræhs, the Danish recorder player Clara Guldberg Ravn brings a jewel of musical literature back to the attention of the interested public. The young flautist's debut album offers an exciting and varied listening experience. Each of the 6 sonatas gets it's own character through the different instrumentation, which is underlined by the sensitive and pointed playing. This recording more than lives up to it's title: "Who enchants this meeting so?"

For the 400th anniversary of Praetorius' day of death, the ensemble put together a collection of vocal and organ compositions quite representative for his ouevre. The recording was made at St. Mary's Church in Lemgo, using a Scherer organ dating from 1613. Founded by Jeroen Finke in 2015, La Protezione della Musica has quickly developed into a recognized ensemble for historically informed performance practice. The focus of our work is primarily on the music of the early baroque. Our audience is enthusiastic about virtuosity, coupled with the joy of playing and the commitment to not only (re-) perform well-known works.

After publishing the very successful CD “El Gale n 1600”, the ensemble “Los Temperamentos” presents the new CD “Amor Y Locura” - Love and Madness.

With this new publication “Los temperamentos” addresses a question as old as mankind itself: Can there be passion without insanity? Is passion, after all, emerging from insanity? While listening to this fascinating new recording of the young label arcantus, the audience is introduced to the baroque composers’ various takes on this matter. A music full of wild thirst for revenge and baroque reverie interwoven with wonderful intimate moments and lively, danceable improvisations.

Klangspuren - the debut CD of brass band Blechklang captivates with groovy beats and hot sounds. BlechKLANG is a brass band oriented to the English original setup.

The Brass Band formation enjoys a growing popularity in German-speaking countries. With this production the winners of the first German Brass Band Championship show the impressive range from the most tender pianissimo to the radiant, powerful brass band sound. The conductor Alexander Richter excels with a perfect intuition for musical nuances and subtleties of this exciting publication. Apart from classics of brass band music like “Legend in Brass”, “St l Himmel”, “Oregon”, the album includes the new Jena interpretation of the secret hymn of the brass band scene: “The Floral Dance”.

And the “African Odyssey” by Richard Grantham is an impressive world premiere recording.

Founded by Jeroen Finke in 2015, the Ensemble La Protezione della Musica has quickly developed into a recognized ensemble for the performance of music from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. With this double album, the musicians dedicate themselves to the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Cyriacus Kieling (1670-1727), a composer from baroque Saxony-Anhalt. This Passion is written in a mixed style between Schütz and Bach, which is partly very emotional, and contains many short, song-like, expressive arias, figuratively designed recitatives and virtuoso choirs. The Gospel text is very arios and is strongly reminiscent of the sound aesthetics of the histories of the 17th century. In it's musical structure with choirs, chorales, recitatives and commentary arias, the Passion also points in advance to the monumental, high baroque settings of the St. Matthew Passion, for example by Johann Sebastian Bach, which was composed around 20 years later. The very young musicians from the area, including the Thomanerchor in Leipzig and the music academies in Leipzig, Bremen and Weimar, play extremely lively and gripping music, and after listening to this world premiere you will be looking forward to further projects with this ensemble.

Having known each other for many years in different settings and occasions, the four trombone players Jrgen van Rijen, Joseph Alessi, Stefan Schulz und Michel Becquet decided to condense the joy of playing together into a CD recording - "Just for Fun!" Their different styles and backgrounds and their roots in different parts of the (music) world turned this recording into a musical dialogue on highest level. And the enthusiasm of the World Trombone Quartet will hopefully be shared by the listener - simply "Just for Fun".