The musical interests of Ludwig Guttler know no borders, but the festivity of Christmas in all it's magic is particularly close to Guttler's heart: "I want to bring a selection to the audience that does justice to the occasion and the wonderful music that was created for it," says Guttler about his motivation for the many Christmas editions he was part of in his career. The four best-selling Christmas albums of recent years are presented in this 4 CD Edition, with highlights of popular and heartwarming music for the most atmospheric time of the year

Compositional shadow play, philosophical unfolding: the piano etudes by Pascal Dusapin are far more than technical studies for aspiring pianists. Pianist Wataru Hisasue now releases a GENUIN album with works by Dusapin. Hisasue was not only successful at the 2025 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels but also received a special award at the ARD Music Competition for his interpretation of Dusapin's "Did it again", which he now presents here as a world premiere recording. The young pianist devotes himself to the oscillating, almost magical sonic ramifications of the French composer at the highest technical and tonal level. A must-hear!

The Christmas compilation 'Sind die Lichter angezundet' brings together the most beautiful and time-honoured treasures from the Eterna archive on two CDs. Available on CD for the first time ever, the album offers numerous recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s, with a focus on children's, youth and boys' choirs. The most beautiful and best-known Christmas melodies are contrasted with regional carols, rarely performed and recorded works and almost unknown gems - the perfect comprehensive and varied musical accompaniment to the Advent season and Christmas Eve.

David Matthews and Peter Sheppard Skaerved have been collaborating on a series of works for violin and viola for many years now, with Matthews setting Sheppard Skaerved formidable technical challenges, and Sheppard Skaerved surprising Matthews by finding a way to overcome the difficulties in his path. Behind all the pyrotechnics, this partnership is generating one of the largest, and most musically rewarding, body of compositions for violin and viola by any living composer. Many of Matthews' pieces record his experience of nature or offer tributes to friends, with the works heard in this third volume also tracing a journey from darkness to light.

Tenor Richard Resch presents a moving Christmas album that explores the season's deeper meaning through sacred and folk music. Named after Jochen Klepper's powerful Advent hymn, the album traces the symbolic journey from darkness to light, weaving together Baroque masterpieces, traditional carols, and lesser-known gems from across Europe. With works by Rosenmuller, Briegel, Graupner, Buxtehude, and others, the recording offers a musical meditation on hope, faith, and the light born at Christmas. Highlights include the mystical Maria durch ein Dornwald ging, the Byzantine chant Miladuka, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Von guten Machten-a testament to trust in the darkest of times. For Richard Resch and his ensemble, this album is both personal and profound. "These pieces remind us that Christmas is not just a tradition-it's a message of light in the midst of night."

One of Saxony-Anhalt's oldest and most tradition-rich orchestras presents a compelling combination of two major orchestral works on GENUIN, marking the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus's relocation from Weimar to Dessau: the Anhaltische Philharmonie of the Bauhaus city Dessau, under it's general music director Markus L. Frank, pairs Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (in Ravel's orchestration) with Feininger Fractals by Eisenach-born composer Thomas Buchholz (b. 1961) - two orchestral works closely connected to visual art. The finely spun textures of Buchholz, who in this work engages with Bauhaus master Lyonel Feininger, and the endless colors of Mussorgsky/Ravel are in the best hands with this Dessau ensemble. Magnificent but not pompous, virtuosic yet full of meaning, the orchestra plays with intelligence and nuance under it's chief conductor.

Composer Helge Burggrabe presents his release entitled HAGIOS as an album for reverie and reflection. The musical spectrum of this collection of songs ranges from devout silence to powerful songs of jubilation. Memories of Romantic songs are often recalled when the Elbcanto vocal ensemble and the pianist Christoff Fankhauser sensitively immerse themselves in the compositions, some of which are in canon form. With a lightness that summons the music of the spheres, the musicians open up an imaginary space, a sonorous prayer that encourages pause for thought, reflection and participation. "My personal memories all lead back to the voice of my mother. The songs she sang me in the evenings when I went to bed, and as I fell asleep, gave me comfort and a sense of audible security," recalls Burggrabe. His HAGIOS song collection is meant to convey precisely that "audible security"; moments of personal devotion that are perceived as sacred and curative. With those childhood memories in mind, Burggrabe went in search of the secret power of song for his HAGIOS album. What he has found are melodies that in some cases are centuries old: monks of all faiths have always cloaked themselves in song in order to find peace and quiet. Consequently, for HAGIOS Burggrabe has arranged Gregorian chant alongside Taize hymns, as well as the eponymous Hagios ho Theos (Holy is God) from the Orthodox liturgy. Helge Burggrabe was born in Magstadt in 1973 and sang to his heart's content as a child. After studying in Hamburg, he quickly established himself throughout Europe as a composer of contemporary church music. He achieved his career breakthrough in 2006 with the oratorio to the Virgin Mary Stella Maris to mark the millennium celebrations for the cathedral at Chartres. His work Lux in Tenebris, a commissioned work to mark the 1200th anniversary of the diocese of Hildesheim, was premiered very recently.

From the outset, Sir Simon Rattle's conducting career has been marked by a spirit of innovation and renewal - and contemporary music in all it's facets continues to play a significant role in his work. So it was only natural that, upon taking up his post as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, he should dedicate a concert to musica viva. The programme featured the world premiere of Vito �uraj's "Automatones" as well as Luciano Berio's "Coro". Sir Simon Rattle has conducted the latter piece several times before, but this performance marks the first recording under his baton. This is due to the unique demands that the composition places on recording technology: choir singers and orchestra musicians are positioned in pairs on the podium to overcome the visual and acoustic separation of choir and orchestra voices. This presented a particular challenge to the Bavarian Radio recording team, but they rose to it successfully, as can be heard on the new CD from BR-KLASSIK. Composed between 1975 and 1976, Luciano Berio's "Coro", for forty voices and orchestra, takes anonymous folk poems by the Sioux, the Navajo and the Zuni, as well as song texts from Polynesia, Peru, Croatia, Venice, Piedmont, Chile, and the Song of Solomon - all of them reflecting the deeply human urge for freedom - and combines them with the moving poetry of Pablo Neruda, whose death coincided with the bloody suppression of the Allende democracy in Chile by Augusto Pinochet in September 1973.

Peter Schreier is one of the legendary tenors of the twentieth century. The foundation for his exceptional 60-year career is his intensive involvement with Protestant church music, whether as a boy alto of the Dresden Kreuzchor at a young age, or later as an outstanding evangelist. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the linchpin of his career. The tenor is accompanied by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Erhard Mauersberger, Johann Sebastian Bach's 14th successor as cantor of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. For the first time, this album is now released on CD.

In German usage, it has become customary to refer to older compositions for keyboard instruments-unless explicitly written for harpsichord or organ-as "Clavierwerke" (keyboard works). Since the boundaries were fluid, these sonatas for a pedalless "Clavier" can certainly be interpreted on a suitable pipe organ. The organ at St. Cyriakus Church in Duderstadt offers just such possibilities, despite various modernizations: Created by Johannes Creutzburg between 1733 and 1735, the instrument belongs to precisely the same period when young Johann Ludwig Krebs completed his training with Leipzig's Thomaskantor, Johann Sebastian Bach. In these six sonatas-rediscovered only in 2009-the student speaks a distinctly different language from his teacher: playful, carefree, occasionally "dallying", and always galant are these pieces from his hand.

Deluxe edition in lavish packaging and an extensive booklet lovingly furnished with full-color pictures, including complete vocal texts. This recording from 1974/1975, which was highly praised by the specialist press, unites outstanding soloists (Arleen Auger, Annelies Burmeister, Peter Schreier, Theo Adam, Michael Wittig) with the Dresdner Kreuzchor and the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra (first trumpeter is once again Ludwig Guttler). Under the direction of Martin Flamig, the ensemble reaches top form here. Radiant chorales, yet with great attention to detail, and powerful arias characterize the recording, which also leaves little to be desired in terms of recording technology. A well-balanced overall sound, clear weighting of vocal solos and orchestral accompaniment. The members of the orchestra deserve to be mentioned individually, as each instrument is excellently cast.

Joseph Swensen offers an intimate and cosmic symphonic fresco in the form of the Saga Trilogy, captured on this b-records disc. Composed in the wake of the pandemic, this trilogy explores the composer's inner world like an ancestral legend waiting to be discovered. Performed by the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, the music draws on reminiscences of Messiaen and the poetic spirit of Hafiz. From the cosmic pulsation of Primordial Cosmos to the mythological clamour of the SAGA concerto and the spiritual light of Song of Infinity, allow yourself to be swept away by this vibrant and deeply rooted work, which exists on the border between the visible and the invisible.

It is surely proof of great dedication that an American-born Swedish conductor would, in the mid-1970s, go behind the Iron Curtain in order to take up a post as principal conductor of an orchestra. Both the conductor and orchestra have fond memories of Herbert Blomstedt's Dresden years, from 1975 to 1985. The recordings of all of Beethoven's symphonies conducted by Blomstedt are proof of an intensive and artistically outstanding collaboration.

The novelty for this year's Christmas season sets new standards in brass music. With 'Brass Christmas', the well-known ensemble German Brass presents it's second Christmas album on Berlin Classics and demonstrates it's great strengths as a recipe for success: high virtuosity, brilliant musicality and a high degree of humour and charm. This is not classical brass music, but a completely new sound that enchants and delights the audience anew in every concert and recording. It is not without reason that the ensemble, consisting of ten solo brass players and university professors, was honoured with the Echo Klassik 2016 award. Brass Christmas includes the most beautiful melodies to prepare the listener for the Christmas season with a cosy, warm feeling. With tranquil sounds such as the Evening Blessing from Humperdinck's opera 'Hansel and Gretel', festive melodies from George Frideric Handel's Messiah and classical Christmas carols from Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio, German Brass creates a festive atmosphere in typical brass style. As always, the works are arranged by the ensemble's musicians themselves and convey the very own German Brass charm, presenting the original works with the utmost respect for the composers. This time, German Brass completely dispenses with an extended instrumentation and relies entirely on the possibilities of the brass ensemble.

When the voices of the Thomaner-chor sing a Christmas song in a cold winter's night, everyone knows that the best time of the year has begun. With the best that the catalogue of the choir of St. Thomas Leipzig has to offer for Christmas, this extensive edition fits exactly into the most contemplative time of the year.