How fascinating must it have sounded when Johann Sebastian Bach competed with an entire orchestra at the organ? Under the direction of Jörg Halubek, the baroque ensemble il Gusto Barocco becomes a musical think tank. Together, they attempt to reconstruct three of Bach's organ concertos, which today are primarily treated as harpsichord concertos. The recordings of the soloist ensemble presented here convey a tangible and unique impression thereof.

Robert Schumann’s song cycle Dichterliebe, Op. 48 (1840), is widely considered the composer’s most celebrated cycle of Lieder and, along with Franz Schubert’s marginally earlier cycles Die Schöne Müllerin (1823) and Winterreise (1828), constitutes part of the central core of the genre in musical literature. Based on German poet Heinrich Heine’s Lyrisches Intermezzo, a 65-poems spanning collection first published in 1823, Dichterliebe in a way even represents the epitome of romantic poetry set to music. Both Heine and Schumann were progressive spirits who bent genres and rewrote the rules of their crafts. Therefore, it only seems appropriate that the Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu, a forward-thinking mind in today’s contemporary music world, would do his part in bending genres by tackling this song cycle and updating its structure and vocabulary with the language of the 21st Century.

Sophie Dervaux's new album "Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos" is part of her larger project to record all of 39 of Vivaldi's bassoon concertos. This album presents the first 6 concertos of this journey; RV474, RV497, RV481, RV501, RV484, and RV473. Apart from the violin, Vivaldi wrote as many concertos for no other instrument than the bassoon, knowing expertly how to write for this instrument to highlight it's unique qualities. Vivaldi's concertos have accompanied Dervaux throughout her musical career, from her beginning with the bassoon in her youth to now being a member of the Vienna Philharmonic. Sophie Dervaux recorded this album with the Barock orchestra La Folia and their leader Robin Peter M�ller, playing a modern instrument as she feels this is how she herself can offer the best version of her interpretation to the listener.

Founded in 1841 under the participation of Constanze Mozart, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg today enjoys the highest reputation worldwide for its lively and style-conscious Mozart interpretations. In numerous ways it connects the Viennese Classical period to the music of the 19th/20th and 21st centuries. The orchestras constant preoccupation with his core repertoire also shapes its approach to the music of later periods. Thus chamber-musical transparency, articulatory clarity and nuanced sonority are a trademark that makes the Mozarteum Orchestra special and recognizable, also when playing the music of other composers. The Mozarteumorchester Salzburg proves once again its unrivaled position as interpreters of the Mozart stylistic and uses the organ sonatas as a departure into other stylistic periods. It Includes two world premiere recordings of Henze‘s "Konzertmusik" and "Three Mozart Organ Sonatas".

Extase is the new concept album by pianist Mario Haring. It is an unusual piano program with special guests that captures the energetic format of a party weekend in Berlin. It draws parallels and reconciles romantic indulgence with the mechanics of the modern age. Virtuosity meets sensitivity and makes for a fantastic and diverse musical journey. This album inspires. It offers the opportunity to open up to complex compositions and to unleash new levels of consciousness, far removed from the mundane, through devotion to music.

"Transformation" is the debut album of Austrian cellist Jeremias Fliedl, laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition who is at the beginning of an international career. On this album, he presents works such as Tchaikovsky's famous Rococo Variations and Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 in a version for 9 cellos, with all parts recorded and produced by him. Jeremias Fliedl plays the famous "ex-Gendron" Stradivarius from 1693.

"After Hours" is the new concept album by the Faure Quartett. The world famous piano quartet consists of the same for members since íts founding in 1995. They present an album full of encores from composers such as Debussy, Strauss and Dvorak. These pieces are lined by original compositions dedicated to the ensemble by composer friends such as Jarkko Riihimaki. Two other friends, clarinettist Matthias Schorn and soprano Annette Dasch, make appearences as soloists. Encores defy the convention and have the potential to be surprising and engage the listeners in a special way and exactly that is what this album does.

The large-scale Bach Organ Landscapes project featuring J.S. Bach’s entire organ oeuvre recorded on a range of instruments aims to provide an overview of organ-playing and organ-building traditions that were key to Bach’s composing. With a keen eye to the unique cultural organ legacy of the places associated with Bach, Halubek has placed Bach’s original sound at the heart of his project. The recordings are accompanied by digital material that offer an almost tactile access to the great composer’s sound universe. This album represents the experimental phase of J.S. Bach, which is linked to Arnstadt.

Founded in 1841 under the participation of Constanze Mozart, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg today enjoys the highest reputation worldwide for its lively and style-conscious Mozart interpretations. In numerous ways, it connects the Viennese Classical period to the music of the 19th/20th and 21st centuries. The orchestra's constant preoccupation with his core repertoire also shapes its approach to the music of later periods. In this recording, the Mozarteumorchester brings chamber-musical transparency, articulatory clarity, and nuanced sonority to the highly romantic music by the late Richard Strauss. The selected repertoire on this Album highlights the individual sections of the orchestra.

The album “Vetra” features folk music taken from the material collected and written down by Ludvig Mathias Lindeman, in Valdres. Lindeman found his “raw material” in the tunes and folk melodies played and sung in villages and small communities off the beaten track in various parts of Norway, and which had been handed on directly from person to person, and which in the process had been moulded into a style which we can call traditional music – in our case traditional Valdres music. We cannot get away from the local element. Folk music and folk songs in Valdres are closely connected to the local scene: its nature and animal life, its seasons, and its people. Folk songs and short verses refer to people by name, and stories tell of animals and underground creatures. Folk music is very much part of the folk history and identity of Valdres. This album can be a modest contribution to this identity.

Dominik Wagner celebrates the warm and deep sound of the double bass in his new Album „Double Bass Rhapsody“. An Album featuring only the double bass. A concept that has never been done before.

It features new arrangements of masterworks of the classical music repertoire as well as two celebrated songs from the Pop-World. These pieces and songs can be heard in a completely new way through the warm and comforting sound of the bass.
Dominik Wagner, who has won countless prizes, is joined by three other world-class-bass-players.

Felix Klieser meets the renowned ensemble of the Wiener Concert-Verein in a magical Christmas sound. All pieces - newly arranged for horn and chamber ensemble - are the highlights of Christmas music. Handel's"Tochter Zion", Bach's “Christmas Oratorio” to Telemann, Buxtehude, Charpentier, and Humperdinck‘s „Evening Prayer" as well as traditional such as"Deck the hall","Veni, veni Emmanuel","Carol of the Bells" or"Silent Night" round off the programme.

KultBlech is the brass ensemble of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra. KultBlech presents an album with subtly arranged and masterfully played Christmas music for brass! Under the baton of Steven Verhaert the one of a kind arrangements written especially for KultBlech Dresden by Markus Höller & Hans Reiner Schmidt make the christmas time humorous, lively and emotional! KultBlech Dresden takes you on an extraordinary Christmas musical journey around the world - and this every year! An album for the whole family!

CONTENTS:

• Joy to the world
• Engel auf den Feldern
• Hirten auf Reisen [Teil 1]
• Little drummer boy
• Weihnachten in Deutschland
• Amazing grace
• Euch ist ein Kindlein heut geborn
• Hirten auf Reisen [Teil 2]
• Weihnachten in Europa
• Stille Nacht
• Frohes Fest und gute Nacht
• You raise me up

Matthias Hofs (trumpet) and Matthias Janz (organ) present a program of works by English masters from the Renaissance to the late Baroque. The instrumental combination of trumpet and organ let this repertoire resound in festive splendor. The musical performance is historically informed and played on modern instruments. Among the works on this album are songs from “The Musical Entertainer 1737”, English Dances and Trumpet Voluntaries by George Frideric Handel, John Stanley and many more.

For her 10th anniversary with Berlin Classics, the US pianist Claire Huangci presents herself and her label with a weighty recording project, Schubert's late sonatas D 894, D 958, D 959, and D 960, as well as the Three Piano Pieces D 946 and a selection of songs from Schwanengesang. She accompanies the baritone Thomas E. Bauer in four of the songs and plays two in an arrangement by Franz Liszt. To be heard in a box with three albums under the title META.

META stands for the importance of Schubert's music in Claire Huangci's personal and musical life. Schubert's compositions, which she has played since her earliest youth, "show my development, that reflects unconscious emotions," as she writes in the booklet. Schubert's music is "the music I would like to take with me to a desert island...Schubert has accompanied me through all times", especially the late sonatas, which are at the center of the META box.