At a time of heightened expectations for greater philological rigour in publications and musical productions, the Milano Saxophone Quartet offers a unique recording with arrangements of works by Gabrieli, Scarlatti/Sciarrino, Verdi and Puccini. Many performers study manuscripts, meticulously follow the original tempo markings and play on period instruments with the goal to create an experience as close as possible to the composer‘s original conception; others appropriate musical scores that were not originally intended for their own instruments. Consequently, the arrangements selected for this recording will seem more like recreations: not only do they show the influence of the arranger but also that of the musician and of his or her own cultural, musical and instrumental background.

Classical Music

The young Austrian harpist Elisabeth Plank has already won several awards at international competitions - the latest one, a Primo Premio Assoluto, in April, 2016 at the international competition ''Musica Insieme''. For her debut album, she has selected a varied program that is intended to give an insight into the variety of the harp repertoire - even away from typical sounds.

A virtuous classic violinist with a predilection for Eastern European gipsy music; a jazz violinist experienced when it comes to punk rock; an accordionist, master of improvisation, with the rhythms of the Balkans running in his blood, and a bassist who likewise feels at home be it in symphony orchestras, jazz combos, or funk bands.. Founded in 2007, Uwaga! pleasurably steps across any borderline seperating genres. By doing so, their acoustic crossover repertoire reflects the individual focus of each of the four musicians. Yet, these focuses conflated, and over the years, a very unique sound emerged somewhere in between classical music, jazz, gipsy music and modern pop. On this recording the ensemble carries its vision of music without borders to extremes by presenting brilliant late-romantic orchestra sounds, dancing Balkan grooves as well as spontaneous joy of playing in brand new arrangements and compositions from its own spring

Full of adventure, I Pizzicanti set about making this album a reality. They came up with the idea for the project together with C�line Pasche, with whom the musicians share a love of the Italiano style. After lots of searching and playing the original repertoire with recorder, they were able to capture the spirit of this Italian style with the artistic means of historical transcription. As members of the new generation of upcoming artists, the musicians Nadja & Chani Lesaulnier, Rafael Becerra and Jonathan Pesek founded the group I Pizzicanti in the year 2009. I Pizzicanti, with all it's members being graduates of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, is perpetuating the movement of rediscovery of the 17th, 18th and 19th century repertoire by using the techniques of the historically informed performance practice. The common ground of shared aesthetic principles allows I Pizzicanti to pursue a research for liberty, creativity and spontaneity while paying due respect to the integrity of the historical masterpieces. In a productive dialogue process the dynamics of the group evolve around the distinct personalities of it's members. I Pizzicanti is devoted to the recreation and promotion of baroque musical practice like the proficient playing of several instruments and the art of transcription.

Pianist Elena Margolina enjoyed a highly distinguished musical education, graduating with a piano concert diploma from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and, summa cum laude, from the University of Music in Detmold in 1996. She has made numerous recordings for radio, television and also several CD recordings. On her latest recording she plays three piano pieces and a sonata by Franz Schubert.

• A wide-ranging survey of woodwind quintet works extending from the classical to the modern era. • Founded in Denmark in 2002, the Carion Ensemble have won multiple medals in competition, including a Bronze at the Osaka Int'l Chamber Music Competition in 2011. • The ensemble have performed across Europe and elsewhere, and collaborate with other musicians to expand, revitalize and renew the woodwind quintet repertoire.

The Mannheim court conductor Ignaz Holzbauer (1711-83) was one of the few colleagues to whom Mozart paid his respect. + Dedicated to the care of the Mannheim school, the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester recorded two piano concertos – KV414/488 – by Mozart and one symphony – № 4 – by Holzbauer for the first installment of Ars Produktion’s new recording-series. + The Croatian pianist Matea Leko has already had over 200 performances on Croatian and European stages. + Swiss conductor and pedagogue Johannes Schlaefli is highly regarded for his sharp eye for detail and technical instruction.

Ensemble matis is made up of young musicians of various nationalities who originally met at the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya in Barcelona, and ultimately came together to form the current group at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel. Since the ensemble's inception in the autumn of 2012, they have worked together intensively in formations contingent on the repertoire and have attempted to share and expand upon their experiences in their joint music-making. With Japan, Austria, Switzerland, and South Korea, many different cultures are represented in the ensemble, which enriches and consistently makes the collaboration exciting. The ensemble has specialized in the performance of Baroque chamber music and, as the name ''Matis'' implies, pay sspecial attention to small details, nuances, and timbres in the music and in ensemble playing. The ensemble's goal is to bring the music with its wealth of color closer to the audience and to bring to life different expressive values. The image of a dream, of a soap bubble, of the short blossoming of a rose - probably at no time was the visualization of transience so colorfully an doriginally, so profoundly and full of allusions, so diversely and also so sensually depicted in painting as in the seventeenth century. It was a time of upheaval in which violence, war, epidemics, and hardship collided with great economic prosperity and highly sophisticated courtly art, in which teh fervor of the most diverse religious beliefs was radically lived out, and in which there prevailed, alongside the omnipresence of death, an incredible desire for a life full of joy, as short as it might be. The Dutch painter Evert Collier created works of great virtuosity - his still lifes, number among the particularly opulent of their genre. Time and again he incorporated known, identifiable musical compositions - including those by Jacob van Eyck that can be heard on this release - in his pictures, and one of the most beautiful examples is the ''Vanitas'' still life in Leipzig.

This program represents a journey of evolution from the late romantic to the early modern style at the turn of the 20th century. These pieces sit at the stylistic crossroad between traditional tonality and form and a more mystical form of expression. The common thread among the works is their emotive power that transcends style and form, creating an emotionally intense portrait of this epoch in music history. This release is made in conjunction with the Swiss Education Group, which is a Swiss alliance of hospitality management schools. The Swiss Education Group is proud to promote young talent and support Yuuki Wong and Elizavetha Touliankina in their musical journeys.

The first half of the 18th century can be described as the last revival of the traverso flute before it fell into a slumber, from which it awakened again decades later named as "Bohmflote" (transverse flute). In this time a variety of magnificent, virtuosic chamber music by Diabelli, Carulli or Giuliani originated. On this record the works are impressively interpreted by Ensemble Consolazione. Ensemble Consolazione has existed in the current formation since 1995, and originally played twentieth-century literature for flute and guitar on modern isntruments. The two Czech musicians discovered their common interest in early music and historical instruments, and so the duo began with the historical performance of virtuoso "duo concertanti" from the early nineteenth century already during their studies at the Prague Conservatory. Since 2002, Ensemble Consolazione has played exclusively on original instruments or copies thereof, dedicated itself intensively to research on historical interpretation techniques, and resurrected forgotten repertoire for this formation from archives and library collections.

Classical Music

With this recording, Duo Aliada proves the point, re-discovering music of the past and presenting it with an amazing display of instrumental virtuosity, classical transcription authenticity and glorious sonority. Duo Aliada is based in Vienna and features Michal Knot on saxophone and Bogdan Laketic on accordion. Knot and Bogdan strive to paint new colors of the past by their fresh interpretation of well known classics. This new release provides compositions by Handel, Bartok, Vivaldi, and many others!

Classical Music

Classical Music