On this release, lutenist Toyohiko Satoh plays music from the court of Vienna around 1700. A special discovery on this album is the suite by Adam Franz Ginter, who was a famous castrato singer in that time, but who also composed some pieces for the lute. This recording is a tribute to this largely forgotten musician who most probably had a short and rather sad and lonely life. The following suite by Saint-Luc contains a “Tombeau for Francois Ginter” and was composed to lament the early death of this extraordinary singer, lutenist, and composer. Toyohiko Satoh studied at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. His first recital was at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan concert hall in 1965. He went on to study lute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and just two years later, in 1970, he recorded the first album devoted entirely to the solo baroque lute. Since then he has been involved in numerous lute recordings, and has concertized throughout the world.

Maximilian Ehrhardt plays 18th century harp music from Wales on a Welsh triple harp, combining traditional Welsh melodies with famous works of 18th century composers like Handel, Vivaldi and Corelli. All works on this album are taken from three unique manuscript collections from the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, and John Parry's 'A collection of Welsh, English, & Scotch Airs with new Variations.' These collections show that the harpists played all kinds of music ranging from variations on traditional songs and melodies, harpsichord music, violin concertos and sonatas, opera arias and even orchestral pieces. The complexity of the writing shows the outstanding musicianship and virtuosity of the Welsh harpists. Most of the pieces have never been recorded so far and thus present an exciting new perspective on the rich repertoire of Welsh harp music.

This album explores music for viola da Gamba and organ from 17th-century Austria, played by Viktor Töpelmann and organist Daniela Niedhammer on original instruments from that time. The recording took place in a small village church in Austria, which houses an original church organ from 1662. The viola da gamba used for this recording is a bass viol built by Hans Khögl in 1674. Together with the special acoustics of this beautiful church, the two musicians dive deep into the emotional and intimate music of that era, creating a meditative and most pleasant listening experience.

This release features piano sonts by the Japanese composer Akira Ifukube (1914-2006), interpreted by Chiyomi Yamada, voice, and Reiko Yamada, piano. Ifukube, who also composed the theme song of the famous film “Godzilla,” wrote these magical pieces based on traditional songs from native tributes of northern Japan. The sound and style of this music is somewhere between western contemporary and eastern traditional music, creating a unique fusion of musical and aesthetic elements. The piano songs are complemented by an epic piece for classical guitar solo by Ifukube, played by the Dutch guitarist David van Ooijen. Chiyomi Yamada studied music first in Tokyo and then at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in The Netherlands. Since 2002 she has lived in Japan, where she has been developing a new project on the shared Japanese European cultural history.

Dr. Rebecca Stewart together with the vocal ensemble Seconda Pract!ca explores the music of Josquin Desprez and his contemporaries Brumel and Willaert, commemorating the 500th anniversary of his death. The central piece of this recording is the famous Missa Mater patris by Josquin. Founded in 2012 by international musicians gathered in The Netherlands for their studies, Seconda Prat!ca has become one of the leading ensembles of the new generation of early music performers. The ensemble’s main goal is to bridge the gaps between performers and audience, revitalizing western musical heritage by bringing it back to a shared living experience. We achieve this through a continuous mixing of media, performance, research and musical excellence. Since 2013 Seconda Prat!ca has become part of the EEEmerging project, an initiative of the European Comission to support young developing ensemble specializing in Early Music.