Palestrina's Song of Songs is one of the most beautiful and intimate collections of Renaissance sacred music and this album brings together all 29 settings performed by The Sixteen in one place. The cycle shows Palestrina at his most expressive and human, while still maintaining the balance, purity and clarity of text that he is famous for. Compared to some of his more formal liturgical works, Palestrina's Song of Songs have a more sensual and lyrical feel, reflecting the poetic and romantic nature of the text. Unusually for sacred music the Song of Songs are deeply romantic and sensual, yet Palestrina treats them with spiritual elegance, conveying the emotion through subtle harmonic shifts and melodic shaping.

Sandrine Piau and David Kadouch are reuniting for a project that the French soprano conceived as the second part of a diptych begun with Voyage intime (Alpha 911). This time we enter the world of childhood, but even though this album is called Contes, 'these aren't stories for children,' says David Kadouch. Actually, these stories might even present themselves in a way that provokes anxiety-dark and menacing Sandrine Piau continues: 'Folk tales and legends often serve as an initiation, and they also act providentially as pebbles that guide us through the forest of our most secret atavistic fears.' With their well-known and recognised expertise, Piau and Kadouch bring together composers from a variety of linguistic and artistic backgrounds-Hahn, Debussy, Ravel, Wolf, Strauss, Zemlinsky, Poulenc, Shostakovich-and introduce us to fascinating female composers such as Jeanne Bernard (1895-1965), Wally Karnevo (1914-2015), Louise Didier (1872-1955), and Ilse Weber (1903-1944).

Alexandria, 48 BC: Caesar lands in Egypt and is handed the severed head of his rival Pompey. What follows is an opera of power, revenge, and seduction; Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy at war for the throne, Pompey's widow and son bent on vengeance, and Cleopatra winning Caesar by disguise, appearing as Virtue among the Muses to sing him into love. The English Concert and Harry Bicket continue their Handel series on Linn with this full, unabbreviated Giulio Cesare, written in 1724 for the castrato Senesino and the soprano Cuzzoni, and rarely recorded complete. Christophe Dumaux sings Caesar and Louise Alder is Cleopatra, with Beth Taylor, Paula Murrihy, John Holiday, Morgan Pearse, Meili LI, and Thomas Chenhall. This recording is the culmination of an international tour. After the ensemble's Carnegie Hall performance, The New York Times wrote: 'This ensemble sets a standard for Handel performance.'

Following the huge success of it's first Delos recording ('hallmark powdery blend and intonation so pure' - The New York Times), the GRAMMY Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, under the leadership of Music Director Tim Keeler, is now turning to fourteenth-century's most celebrated composer Guillaume de Machaut. Although born in obscurity around 1300, Guillaume was to enjoy a stellar career that saw him hold various prestigious positions, including at the Cathedral of Reims. This album presents music from both facets of the composer's life, which today we might see as incompatible. With the Messe de Nostre Dame, we see Machaut the devout cleric of a major cathedral. Conversely, songs such as Douce dame jolie and Riches d'amour, among others, show Machaut the courtly poet-composer who sings of the emotional experience of secular love for his noble patrons.

The French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, a leading figure in contemporary classical music and an insightful interpreter of the core piano repertoire, has joined Alpha Classics and launches the partnership with an album that has long been close to his heart: Schonberg's piano works. He has waited more than forty years to record them - a journey that began in 1973 when, as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, he performed Schonberg's Opus 11 live on TV after winning the Olivier Messiaen Competition. At a time when the composer's music was often misunderstood, Aimard developed a lasting connection to it's originality and expressive power. In this long-awaited recording, he traces the composer's artistic evolution through five landmark piano works, from the Expressionism of Op. 11 (1909) to Op. 33b (1931), written on the eve of Schonberg's emigration to the United States and reflecting both Brahmsian tradition and a world in transition.

As an endless source of inspiration, Ovid's Metamorphoses have left a lasting mark on our culture for over two thousand years. Combining some of it's episodes with music by Antonio Vivaldi, Stage Director Barrie Kosky creates a pasticcio for our times, a fascinating new work of rich imagination and breathless narratives. With a leading cast of singers assembled by Cecilia Bartoli, and with the participation of actor Angela Winkler, Hotel Metamorphosis stands out as 'a panopticon of human emotions'. Vivaldi expert Gianluca Capuano conducts Les Musiciens du Prince - Monaco, presenting a unique variety of Vivaldi's arias, ensembles and choruses, music with a particularly powerful emotional charge. 'What a brilliant evening of theatre.' (BR Klassik) / 'Checking into this hotel guarantees a luxury stay.' (Kurier) / 'the musical Champions League.' (Deutschlandfunk Kultur)

As an endless source of inspiration, Ovid's Metamorphoses have left a lasting mark on our culture for over two thousand years. Combining some of it's episodes with music by Antonio Vivaldi, Stage Director Barrie Kosky creates a pasticcio for our times, a fascinating new work of rich imagination and breathless narratives. With a leading cast of singers assembled by Cecilia Bartoli, and with the participation of actor Angela Winkler, Hotel Metamorphosis stands out as 'a panopticon of human emotions'. Vivaldi expert Gianluca Capuano conducts Les Musiciens du Prince - Monaco, presenting a unique variety of Vivaldi's arias, ensembles and choruses, music with a particularly powerful emotional charge. 'What a brilliant evening of theatre.' (BR Klassik) / 'Checking into this hotel guarantees a luxury stay.' (Kurier) / 'the musical Champions League.' (Deutschlandfunk Kultur)

With a sublime cast and the revolutionary staging by Ulrich Rasche, this Salzburg Festival production of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda transforms a bel canto masterpiece into an evening of theatre. The conflict between Maria and Elisabetta becomes tangible through contrasting costumes, a constantly shifting space of rotating platforms, and projected images. Lisette Oropesa's Maria showcases 'a truly wonderful display of vocal intelligence, human warmth and a completely effortless, natural tone' (Süddeutsche Zeitung), while Kate Lindsey's Elisabetta conveys the fury and despair of the English monarch with striking intensity. Under the baton of Antonello Manacorda and with the outstanding contribution of the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, this production conquers through rhythm, movement, and physical presence as expressive forces. 'Lisette Oropesa imbues all of this with vocal mastery and emotion. Beyond pure virtuosity, she shapes the inner workings of the character into operatic drama.' (Der Standard)

Jose Antônio de Almeida Prado's music is the result of a unique combination of influences, moving through different styles and techniques while always displaying a recognisably strong personal imprint. Chamber music accounts for a large part of Almeida Prado's output. The Trio de Fontainebleau is infused with the ambience of his studies in France with Nadia Boulanger. The Balada is characteristic of the composer's mature style, with textures based on resonances, free modalism, consonant 'transtonal harmony,' and alternation between simple and complex rhythms. Trio Marítimo evokes the Portuguese poetry of Fernando Pessoa, while the Cello Sonata, with it's richly expressive palette of references, was considered by the composer to be one of his greatest achievements.

In Addio Amore, Kammerorchester Basel, soprano Jeanine de Bique, and countertenor Terry Wey present a programme of searing intensity and refined expressive beauty, exploring the fragile threshold between love and loss in 18th-century opera. Inspired by a world in which singing was not merely an expression of virtuosity, but the most direct language of the heart, this recording explores the emotional core of the farewell moment-when lovers, friends, and heroes are torn apart, and music becomes the only source of consolation. Across arias and duets of striking intimacy, the album reveals how composers from Albinoni to Hasse transformed separation, abandonment, and death into some of the most poignant musical utterances of their time, creating a shared language of expressive extremes where tenderness and grief exist side by side. For Jeanine de Bique and Terry Wey, this is a debut album on PENTATONE, while Kammerorchester Basel appeared on Anime Immortali (2023) and Haydn Stabat Mater (2023).

With a sublime cast and the revolutionary staging by Ulrich Rasche, this Salzburg Festival production of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda transforms a bel canto masterpiece into an evening of theatre. The conflict between Maria and Elisabetta becomes tangible through contrasting costumes, a constantly shifting space of rotating platforms, and projected images. Lisette Oropesa's Maria showcases 'a truly wonderful display of vocal intelligence, human warmth and a completely effortless, natural tone' (Süddeutsche Zeitung), while Kate Lindsey's Elisabetta conveys the fury and despair of the English monarch with striking intensity. Under the baton of Antonello Manacorda and with the outstanding contribution of the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, this production conquers through rhythm, movement, and physical presence as expressive forces. 'Lisette Oropesa imbues all of this with vocal mastery and emotion. Beyond pure virtuosity, she shapes the inner workings of the character into operatic drama.' (Der Standard)

Ivan Fischer and Channel Classics release a recording of Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Recorded live in October 2025 at the spectacular Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, this is the first volume of a Mozart trilogy, with The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro to follow in the coming years. With a dream duo (Andre Schuen as Don Giovanni and Luca Pisaroni as Leporello) and a first-rate cast, Ivan Fischer presents his vision of Mozart's masterpiece: 'In a nutshell the first two bars of this opera describe the story: the fight between order and rebellion. The basses repeat their constant bottom note three times, finally overpowering the revolutionary syncopations of the violins. The energetic, defiant violin notes represent Don Giovanni, the man, who doesn't accept any rules, who doesn't know limits. He follows his own instincts, uses and misuses his power, his wealth, his servant, to follow one goal only: his passion. On this journey he kills, he hurts, damages others, without any remorse or even second thoughts. He is perfectly free, happy, liberated from inner doubts and outer control, from all the regulations of what we call morality.'

Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers is the landmark work of early Baroque music. It sits at the crossroads of Renaissance polyphony and the new dramatic style heard in his first opera, L'Orfeo. 'The Vespers' redefined what sacred music could sound like - emotionally immediate, virtuosic, both looking back to the past and driving forward into the future. Monteverdi specialists I Fagiolini and Robert Hollingworth have waited until their 40th birthday to record the 1610 collection. This is a lifetime's work with every nuance of drama and colour brought out in their one-to-a-part performance.

The San Diego Symphony Orchestra is one of the United States' leading orchestras. Led by Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare, the Orchestra has experienced an explosive artistic expansion, transforming it's repertoire and forging a distinctive sound. The recent renovation of Jacobs Music Center - a premier concert hall and architectural landmark - now allows that artistry to be heard in all it's power, color, and nuance. Launching a new collaboration with Delos, the musicians have recorded live at Jacobs Music Center Shostakovich's monumental Symphony No. 7. Known as the 'Leningrad' - the symphony was composed during the notorious and brutal siege of the city - the work is emotionally and historically supercharged. As the first recording captured in the hall's newly renovated acoustics, it sets the tone for an exciting new partnership!

Recipient of the prestigious Brahms Prize of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society in 2024, Kent Nagano and the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, of which he was principal conductor from 2015 until 2025, perform the first two symphonies by the Hamburg-born composer, recorded in concert. Completed in 1876 after more than twenty years of hesitation, Brahms's First Symphony in C minor, Op. 68, bears the full weight of it's long gestation. Rooted in late Beethoven - Hans von Bulow famously called it the 'Tenth' - it traces a compelling per aspera ad astra journey: from the chromatic, drum-led opening's Faustian struggle, through a luminous slow movement and buoyant third, to a finale that breaks triumphantly into radiant C major. Critically admired but not widely loved, it remained music for connoisseurs. Composed swiftly during the summer of 1877 at the Worthersee, Brahms's Second Symphony in D major, Op. 73, stands in luminous contrast to it's brooding predecessor. Freed from the pressure of a symphonic debut, Brahms produced a work of natural ease and lyrical abundance: from the horn-launched opening movement to the enchanting third-movement minuet and the exuberant finale, it extends it's warmth - in Hanslick's words - to 'connoisseurs and laymen alike.'

WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS of three works by Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) from soprano Anu Komsi, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sakari Oramo, including the composer's final orchestral work, Vista, inspired by a scenic Interstate 5 highway to San Diego.

A manifesto of Italian romanticism, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor is a tale of dark atmosphere and turbulent love. Teatro alla Scala presents it's new production under the signature of stage director Yannis Kokkos, whose sober vision remains faithful to the libretto with elegance, emotion and the expression of passions over any gesture of modernity. Conductor Riccardo Chailly leads a splendid vocal cast: Lisette Oropesa delivers a compelling Lucia of vocal refinement and emotional depth, while Juan Diego Florez brings elegance and lyrical intensity to Edgardo. The Orchestra and Chorus give an exceptional interpretation, creating a 'beautiful, rich, ominous sound' (Bachtrack). 'Riveting. Florez and Oropesa did not disappoint on the opening night... The chemistry between them is electrifying from the opening duet. (FINANCIAL TIMES)

Following the critical and public success of Mahler's Symphony No. 9, Philipp von Steinaecker and the Mahler Academy Orchestra continue their recording of Mahler's symphonies on period instruments with the Fifth Symphony. For this recording, the new Breitkopf & Hartel Urtext edition was used, which includes the composer's numerous corrections. The Mahler Academy Orchestra is part of the Gustav Mahler Academy in Bolzano, founded by Claudio Abbado. It brings together young professional musicians and experienced instrumentalists from Europe's leading orchestras. Under the artistic direction of Philipp von Steinaecker and with an ensemble of instruments carefully replicating that of the Vienna Philharmonic around 1900, they return to the roots of Mahler-era performance practice and shed new light on these masterpieces. The Gustav Mahler Academy's originalklang project is a co-production of the Busoni-Mahler Foundation in Bolzano and the Euregio Kulturzentrum Gustav Mahler Toblach Foundation. It is held under the patronage of Marina Mahler, the composer and Alma Mahler's granddaughter, for whom the famous Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony was written after her meeting with Gustav in 1901.

Having made numerous recordings for BIS both as a clarinettist and as a conductor, Michael Collins had yet to offer us one of the masterpieces of the clarinet chamber repertoire: Johannes Brahms' Clarinet Quintet. Here he performs alongside the Escher Quartet, whose latest recording devoted to Janacek's quartets (BIS-2670) has earned critical acclaim. While the combination of clarinet and string quartet offers rich potential, Mozart's glorious clarinet quintet cast a long shadow that few composers dared to enter. Composed at the twilight of his career, Brahms's quintet is an elegiac masterpiece. It radiates aching nostalgia and a poignant sense of lost love, ultimately settling into a melancholy serenity. It's emotional directness is occasionally surprising yet never sacrifices subtlety. Max Reger modelled his own Clarinet Quintet on those by Mozart and Brahms. In this final composition before his untimely death, Reger pushes tonal limits without compromising structure. Seamlessly integrating the clarinet, he creates a beautifully balanced ensemble capable of both powerful outbursts and delicate textures. Straddling the dawn of the 20th century, Reger's remarkably rich work pays profound homage to the past.

True Concord's newest album, HERE I AM, features two world-premiere recordings of works by Jocelyn Hagen. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci has been performed more than 50 times around the world since 2019, incorporating visuals, sound, light and movement. Here I Am was inspired by conductor Eric Holtan's suggestion that Hagen should write a piece celebrating the women's suffrage movement and the centennial of the 19th Amendment in 2020. This piece is performed with live-concert projections of portraits of 47 inspiring women from across the world and across time, whose words form the libretto. HERE I AM was recorded in outstanding fidelity by engineer John Polito and produced by GRAMMY-award winner Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles. Recorded May 28-31, 2024.

For this fifth volume in the Lockenhaus Festival series, under the artistic direction of Nicolas Altstaedt, the cellist presents two works by the Finnish composer Olli Mustonen (born 1967, a student of Rautavaara), including Heavenly Lights (Taivaanvalot) for tenor, cello, and piano, performed here by Ian Bostridge, Nicolas Altstaedt, and the composer at the piano. The English tenor premiered the work in 2016 in it's original chamber version, recorded here for the first time. Mustonen will create an orchestral version in 2020, but the original piece is nevertheless titled Symphony: 'This work was a revelation to me the moment I discovered it. We are immersed in the era of Finnish bards and the folk poems of the Kalevala, a legendary and mystical world whose stories touch us all, regardless of our country of origin,' says Altstaedt. 'A closeness to folk art like the one Kodaly sought and found': his Sonata, Op. 4 (1909-1910), his Sonatina (1920), and the Sonata that Mustonen wrote in 2006-all for cello and piano-also make up this exhilarating and spellbinding program.

A tireless adventurer and eclectic soul, Joseph Bologne de Saint-George is revisited here through a unique portrait that reveals the many facets of his talent. A true polymath born in Guadeloupe, he combined the arts and arms: an outstanding fencer, military adviser and violin virtuoso, he was even Marie Antoinette's teacher. Theotime Langlois de Swarte and the Orchestre de l'Opera Royal thus shine a light on this flamboyant personality who rose above the societal constraints of the 18th century.

Violinist Patrick Yim presents an album of world-premiere recordings, Bamboo Grove, featuring the music of Chen Yi and Zhou Long - two of the most distinguished voices bridging Chinese and Western musical traditions. Rooted in a profound artistic lineage and shaped by lived history, this recording captures a rare moment of creative intimacy: works brought to life during a residency at the University of Notre Dame in April 2024, enriched by close collaboration with the composers themselves. Their stories - spanning the Cultural Revolution, formative studies in Beijing, and artistic refinement in New York - resonate through music that is at once deeply personal and culturally expansive. Drawing on an encyclopaedic knowledge of Chinese musical heritage alongside a command of Western compositional technique, Chen and Zhou reimagine the expressive potential of string instruments with striking originality. Across the programme, the violin and viola are transformed into evocative vessels of ancient sonorities: echoes of the guqin, erhu, pipa, and xiao emerge through intricate textures, extended techniques, and a vivid palette of colour. Zhou Long's Bamboo Grove unfolds as a poetic meditation on the nonconformity and spontaneity of the Seven Sages, while Chen Yi's works-from the pioneering Xian Shi to the richly imaginative Suite for Viola and Chamber Winds-blend folk traditions with bold experimentation. Tales from the Nine Bells conjures an otherworldly soundscape inspired by myth and poetry, it's shimmering textures and percussive energy revealing a unique sonic vision. Throughout, narrative depth and timbral invention intertwine, creating a sound world that feels both ancient and immediate. With exceptional sensitivity and virtuosity, Patrick Yim brings this music to life, offering a compelling portrait of cultural confluence and artistic imagination.

Born in Manchester in 1953, Peter Donohoe studied at Chetham's School of Music for seven years, graduated in music from Leeds University, and went on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Derek Wyndham, and then in Paris with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. He is acclaimed as one of the foremost pianists of our time, for his musicianship, stylistic versatility, and commanding technique, a critic concluding in Musical Opinion that 'I cannot imagine a living pianist capable of improving upon Donohoe's outstanding artistry'. Following his previous volume of Grieg's Lyric Pieces (CHAN 20254), this double-album presents the remaining 39 pieces, alongside the Ballade, Op.24. Born in Bergen in 1843, Grieg is widely regarded as Norway's 'National Composer'. Grieg wrote for the piano throughout his career, but eschewed the German Sonata in favour of miniatures, which he named Lyriske stykker (Lyric pieces). Often influenced by the folk-music of his native Norway, these works were published in 10 volumes. Rather than recording them sequentially, Peter Donohoe has arranged the pieces in an order of his own choosing.

Whether as a phone ringtone, in hotel lobbies, or in commercials for luxury goods, Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons have achieved a presence in everyday life today that the composer could not have imagined 300 years ago. However, it would be a shame to overlook the innovative testament to Baroque inventiveness that these violin concertos are, given their enormous popularity. With this recording, the Berliner Barock Solisten and Daishin Kashimoto invite listeners to rediscover the atmospheric nuances of The Four Seasons - and to listen to it with fresh ears.

REFERENCE RECORDINGS proudly presents a landmark recording, the first commercial project to feature Joel Thompson's music exclusively, which brings together this ascendant composer and the Kansas City Symphony led by Michael Stern. The career of composer Joel Thompson has seen a meteoric rise since the premiere of his breakout choral work Seven Last Words of the Unarmed in 2015. Each of it's seven movements sets to music the last words of an unarmed Black man before he was killed. Joining them are some of the most important performers of today focused on the same crucial topics: cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and the Sphinx Organization's vocal ensemble Exigence, led by Eugene Rogers. This is powerful music of profound insight and uncompromising conviction, brought to life by the passion and artistry of eminently skilled collaborators.

Nur zwei Mal hat der japanische Dirigent Seiji Ozawa (1935-2024) das Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munchner Konzerten geleitet - doch beide Male wurde nichts weniger als Musikgeschichte geschrieben! I'm Juli 1983 dirigierte Ozawa i'm Herkulessaal der Munchner Residenz Strawinskys Le sacre du printemps und Beethovens Egmont-Ouverture sowie dessen Erstes Klavierkonzert mit Martha Argerich als Solistin, das als CD bereits erschienen ist (CD 900701). Und i'm Januar 1990 prasentierte er sich in der Philharmonie i'm Gasteig mit dem hier erstmals auf CD vorgelegten Programm - mit beispiellos beeindruckenden Interpretationen von Beethovens Funfter Symphonie und Strauss' Tondichtung Ein Heldenleben. In Beethovens funfter Symphonie bestaunte bereits der erste Rezensent E. T. A. Hoffmann das in jener Musik zum Ausdruck gebrachte dramatische Ringen des Menschen durch Nacht zum Licht', das auf rein musikalische Weise gestaltet ist, in struktureller Dichte und auerster Stringenz. Erst in der zweiten Halfte des 19. Jahrhunderts wurde das Werk dann zur Schicksalssymphonie', i'm Sinne jenes heroischen Bildes des Menschen und Kunstlers Ludwig van Beethoven, das sich mittlerweile eingeburgert hatte. Demnach sollte die Symphonie das Leiden und uberwinden des titanisch mit dem Schicksal ringenden Beethoven, insbesondere mit dem personlichen Schicksal seiner Ertaubung behandeln. Eine romantische Anschauung vom Kunstler als leidendem Auenseiter wurde nachtraglich dem Leben und Werk Beethovens aufgepfropft, vor allem seiner funften Symphonie. Um das Leben eines Helden geht es auch in Richard Strauss' Tondichtung, die entstand, als er das Amt des Berliner Hofkapellmeisters antrat. Auch mit diesem Werk wollte er (wie etliche seiner Zeitgenossen) an Beethoven oder die von jenem geschaffene musikalische Ausdruckskraft anknupfen - mit den Mitteln seiner Zeit. Die Tondichtung Ein. Heldenleben, die ihre Urauffuhrung am 3. Marz 1899 in Frankfurt am Main erlebte, liee sich einem Brief Strauss' zufolge als moderne Variante der Eroica deuten, die auch formal auf die klassische Sonatenhauptsatzform zuruckgreift. In der Partitur fehlen die programmatischen Erlauterungen; die uberschriften der sechs Abschnitte wurden erst unmittelbar vor der Urauffuhrung formuliert - vermutlich nicht einmal von Strauss. Trotzdem machte man dem Komponisten, den man als Personalunion seines Helden' sah, den Vorwurf tonender Selbstdarstellung.

Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Gil Rose present the world premiere recording of Lysistrata, or The Nude Goddess, an opera by Mark Adamo. Far removed from the fa-miliar outlines of Aristophanes' ancient comedy, this daring reimagining reshapes a ca-nonical text into something far more psychologically intricate and musically electrify-ing. Set within a richly variegated score of shifting textures and mercurial transformations, the opera unfolds as a labyrinth of mirrored themes - where melodies change alle-giance, identities blur, and every gesture carries double meaning. The familiar premise of women withholding intimacy to halt war becomes the starting point for a deeper ex-ploration of desire, power, and identity. Adamo's libretto dismantles classical certain-ties, replacing caricature with complexity, and recasts Lysistrata as a figure who must confront not only the politics of war, but the far more disquieting ambiguities of love itself. Under the leadership of conductor Gil Rose, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project has become an unsurpassed advocate for 20th and 21st century American music. Alongside Adamo, this marks their collective return to PENTATONE, following their GRAMMY-nominated recording of John Corigliano's The Lord of Cries (2023).

Sibelius's Scaramouche, a ballet-pantomime commissioned in 1912 by his publishers, for a play by Poul Knudsen. His story line reflects the immense early twentieth-century interest in clowns and the commedia dell'arte, and in erotic desire, death, and the macabre, the same phenomena that produced Stravinsky's Petrouchka and Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire. Best known as a composer of piano music, Sibelius' younger contemporary Selim Palmgren also wrote music for the theatre, and his score for the fairy-tale play Tuhkimo ja kuninkaantytar (Tuhkimo and the Princess), dates from 1902-03. Larin- Kyosti's play recounts the adventures of a passionate youth, Tuhkimo, and combines features of the familiar Cinderella story with elements drawn from a wide range of folk tales and fables. Einar Englund studied composition with Palmgren (and later Aaron Copland). His soundtrack for Erik Blomberg's 1952 film Valkoinen peura (The White Reindeer) was particularly acclaimed and won best prize for original music in the Jussi Awards (the Finnish Oscars) in the year of it's release. Kalervo Tuukkanen taught for three years at Viipuri University before serving as Kapellmeister in Pori, on Finland's Baltic coast, in 1942- 44. He was one of the founding members of Suomen Saveltayat (the Finnish Composer's Association) and his composition Karhunpyynti (Bear Hunting) was awarded a silver medal in the 1948 Cultural Olympics in London (where Finland impressively topped the medal table). Joulusarja (Christmas Suite) is taken from his 1953 score for a production of the play Die Erzahlung des letzten Hirten (The Tale of the Last Shepherd) and it's five movements covers the key moments in the Christmas story.

Pianist Lukas Geniusas pays tribute to the fantasy, a form synonymous with freedom, dear to the Romantics. Schubert sets the figure of the wanderer to music in his Lied Der Wanderer, which, a few years later, would give rise to a large-scale instrumental work: the Fantasy in C major, D. 760 (1822), later known as the "Wanderer" Fantasy. It's four-part structure could be that of a four-movement sonata cycle, but these sections follow one another without interruption in a continuous process, like an uninterrupted journey. Fascinated by this work, Liszt wrote his transcription for piano and orchestra in 1851, two years before his famous Sonata in B minor, which is also monothematic and unfolds as a single, vast movement. More in line with the classicists, Tchaikovsky cultivates virtuosity and instrumental brilliance in his Concert Fantasy of 1884. With the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, conducted by Modestas Pitrenas, Geniusas offers a rare (if not unprecedented) pairing of these two fantasies, separated by just over six decades.