Telemann's twelve Fantasias, TWV 40:2-13 hold endless fascination, not only for flutists, but for a variety of instrumentalists. These works represent a unique, thorough, and systematic exploration of writing for unaccompanied flute. Leonard Garrison brings these great works fully to life. Leonard Garrison is University Distinuished Professor of Flute and Associate Director of the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho, flutist in The Northwest Wind Quintet and The Scott\/Garrison Duo, and Principal Flutist of the Walla Walla Symphony. A recipient of an Idaho Commission on the Arts Fellowship, a Presidents Mid\-Career Award at the University of Idaho, and 2016 prizes as Instrumental Soloist and in Chamber Music from The American Prize, he is faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. He has recorded eleven critically acclaimed albums for Albany Records, Capstone Records, and Centaur Records and been a soloist on National Public Radios Performance Today, winner of the 2003 Byron Hester Competition, concerto soloist on both flute and piccolo, and a frequent performer at National Flute Association conventions.

Benjamin Carr (1768-1831) was born in London. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1793. Carr was prolific as a composer, writing operas, pantomimes, masses, sacred hymns and anthems, many songs, and a prodigious amount of music for organ and pianoforte. Kirsten Johnson is a pianist, composer and recording artist of international acclaim. She has recorded 18 albums of solo piano music with Centaur, Nimbus, Delos and Guild. This includes the complete piano music of Arthur Foote, James Hewitt and Amy Beach, and world premiere recordings of Albanian piano music and Dmitri Kabalevskys op. 1. Kirstens compositions have been played around the world. Brno, for cello and piano, was performed at the Festival OSMOSE in Brussels, Belgium. Flute Vibes was premiered at Exeter College, Oxford, U.K. The premiere of Remembrance, Journey and Dance (in a version for clarinet, bassoon and piano) was given in New York City by Vent Nouveau. Dr. Johnson received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, conducting much of her research in Albania and in the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.

Classical Music

Finnish composer Jaakko Mantyjarvi (b. 1963) has written some of the finest choral music of the past 50 years. To date, this semi-professional musician, whose output consists mostly of choral works, has had over one hundred of them published. Founded in 2009, the chamber choir Cor Cantiamo’s mission objective is to perform and promote contemporary choral music and foster new composers for the art form. Eric A. Johnson D.M.A. is Cor Cantiamo’s Founding Artistic Director.

This is Volume 10 in Centaur's complete traversal of the keyboard works of Francois Couperin, performed by Mark Kroll. This is a landmark edition of these complete works. Mark Kroll has made a specialty of Couperin throughout his long and distinguished career. Mark Kroll has performed on four continents as a harpsichordist and fortepianist, in both solo recital and as a collaborative chamber musician. Highlights include an appearance as the official guest of the city of Barcelona; featured soloist in Germany's Regensburg Early Music Festival, France's Festival Ambronay and the Bordeaux Hummel Festival; two concerts for the Czech Republic's Prague Spring Festival; and recitals at Lisbon's Gulbenkian Foundation, Rome's Conservatorio Santa Caecilia and Associazione Musicale Romana, Poland's Dni Bachowski, and Slovenija's Radovljica Festival.

This is an album of classic works collected in the classic book, "The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion," compiled by William Walker in 1835. This is a truly amazing compendium of these classic pieces, in beautiful arrangements. Curtis Leonard Raybon writes of this project: "The Sacred Nine Project presents problematic works from American music or poetic history and asks the audience to consider what we can learn from them today. It all started when I, trying to avoid copyright issues, sought out an original source for my HOLY MANNA arrangement. I found a facsimile of Southern Harmony, and was delighted to leaf through it's virtual pages. There I saw the usual and welcomed suspects like "Amazing Grace" and "Wondrous Love." However, I was alarmed to find many tunes that not-so-subtly advanced the shame-based theology of the time. In each Sacred Nine Project so far, I revive works that have fallen out of use. If these disturbing musical and poetic pieces did not survive the natural selection, then good! Why revive them now? Well, the takeaway is often thus: the initial audience reaction may be to be self-congratulatory: Look how far we've come! But when we really stop to think, we see that the more austere and primitive texts we sing are dead and buried, but the sentiments they represent are alive and well. Religion is still shaming people ("RRR" and the upcoming "Conversion"). Well-meaning white people from centuries past are complicit in today's insidious racial unrest ("Cora L, Imposter," and the upcoming "Saints Bound." The Sacred Nine Project opens old wounds to help heal fresh ones."

This is Volume 6 in Centaur's complete traversal of the organ works of Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937), performed on classic American organs by Joby Bell. Joby Bell brings to his performances a contagious affability and a keen sensitivity toward increasing an audience's appreciation for organ music. His recital programming demonstrates a varied and interesting repertoire, always enhanced by illuminating program notes designed to emrace all audiences. Bell is featured on several recordings. Born in 1968, Joby Bell attended high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied piano with Marian Hahn and Robert MacDonald. He earned the Bachelor of Music degree in organ and piano from Appalachian State University and the Master of Music and Doctor of musical Arts degrees in organ from Rice University.

This new release is the eighth and final volume in this superlative cycle of the complete Haydn Piano Trios, performed by The Mendelssohn Piano Trio. Four works are featured, including Piano Trio in F Major, Hob. XV: 37, Piano Trio in E-flat Major Hob. XV: 29, Piano Trio in C Minor, Hob XV: 13, and Piano Trio in G Major, Hob XV: 32. The Mendelssohn Piano Trio was founded in 1997, and since their inception have performed more than 500 concerts in the United States, Europe, and Asia. They have also recorded an impressive fifteen albums, including the present cycle. The trio is pianist Ya-Ting Chang from Taiwan, violinist Peter Sirotin from Ukraine, and cellist Fiona Thompson from England. “…the fine young Mendelssohn Piano Trio presented a program so lush, substantial and richly flavored you wanted to eat it with a knife and fork.” (The Washington Post)

Contemporary composer David Loeb continues his series of albums for Centaur Records. Guitarist Paul Smith had previously played some of Loeb’s works, and he suggested an album of compositions which comprise narrative or pictorial points of departure rather than abstract theoretical pieces. David Loeb took up the challenge, and this intriguing album is the result. Composer David Loeb was born in 1939 to a family which took music and the arts very seriously. He studied first with Peter Pindar Stearns at the Mannes College of Music, and then received his master’s degree from Yale. His catalog of compositions is quite remarkably extensive and diverse. In addition to the typical assortment of works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and voice, he has also composed extensively for Asian instruments and for early music instruments. Sometimes, he even brings the two worlds together and scores for combinations like four shakuhachi and four viols.

This new release is a showcase of French masterworks by composers including Debussy, Ravel, and more. Kathleen Karr is the Principal Flutist of the Louisville Orchestra and Flute Professor at the University of Louisville. In 2012, she was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Professor Award for the University of Louisville. At the University of Louisville, Kathleen teaches all applied flute students , flute ensemble, flute studio class, flute literature, flute pedagogy, chamber music coaching and performs with the faculty woodwind quintet. A frequent soloist with the Louisville Orchestra, Kathleen has most recently performed the Mozart G Major Flute Concerto with the Louisville Orchestra during the 2014-15 season. Kathleen has taught flute and chamber music at the Interlochen Arts Camp (Interlochen, Michigan), Bellarmine University, Centre College (Danville, Kentucky) and Indiana University Southeast. Dr. Denine LeBlanc teaches music in the Jefferson County Public School system where she has taught for over twenty-five years. From 1978 until its closure in the spring of 2020, she taught piano in the Community Music Program at the University of Louisville School of Music.

Alfred Desenclos and Jean Langlais were both superlative composers of choral music, yet most of their works are performed far too infrequently. This album offers superb performances of some of the best choral works by these great French masters. Initially called the ‘Madrigal Singers,’ the USC Thornton Chamber Singers were first formed in 1939 under the direction of Max T. Krone — a professor of music education, composition and choral music, as well as the dean of USC’s former Institute of the Arts. In 1942, Krone brought Dr. Charles C. Hirt, then the director of the Glendale High School choirs and a USC alumnus, to the school as both a lecturer and as Director of the Chamber Singers. Hirt later established and became chair of the Choral and Sacred Music department. In 1956, the Chamber Singers adopted its current name in a move designed to better reflect the group’s repertoire.

This is a program of great choral works, including one work from the 1500s, works from the 20th Century, and one work, Black Pierrot that was commissioned by R. Paul Crabb for the ensembles on this album. R. Paul Crabb, University of Missouri's Director of Choral Activities, earned degrees in Music Education, Vocal Performance and Choral Music Education. His ensembles have performed at state, regional and national conventions and have traveled extensively in Mexico, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Russia, Bulgaria and Australia. Crabb served as assistant conductor at the Russian/American Choral Symposium for two years where his choir was invited as the resident American choir at the Moscow Conservatory. He served for one year as a visiting professor in Salzburg, Austria, where he taught and worked with the choir of the Salzburg Cathedral. He has taught conducting in Taiwan, eighteenth-century music in England, and studied sixteenth century polyphony in Italy with the renowned Peter Phillips. More recently he served as Guest Visiting Choral Professor at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary - the first American selected for that position.

Let's meet at the Horizon features four contemporary works. All four prominently feature the double bass, for which there is a far too limited repertoire. This album is an important contribution to the recorded bass literature. Violinist Karen Lord-Powell enjoys a varied career as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, and teacher. She teaches violin, chamber music, and orchestral repertoire at the Frost School of Music, and is a member of the leadership team for the Experiential Music Curriculum, Frost's innovative approach to musicianship training. Formerly Principal Second Violin of the Louisville Orchestra, Karen's orchestral experience includes work with the Indianapolis and Houston Symphonies, and with renowned conductors such as Stephane Deneve, Mariss Jansons, and Leonard Slatkin. She has appeared as Concertmaster of the Louisville Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Miami Bach Society, and has been a featured soloist with the Glenelg Chamber Orchestra, the Northwestern Chamber Orchestra, and in recital at the National Governor's Convention in Washington, D.C. Brian Powell is associate professor of Double Bass and String Music Education at the FROST SCHOOL OF MUSIC. He is a former member of The New World Symphony, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. He has also performed with the Louisville Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Florida Philharmonic, and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he received recognition in several solo competitions, including his win at the Aspen Music Festival Double Bass Solo Competition.

Krassimira Jordan is Professor Piano and Artist-in-Residence at Baylor University, and has established for herself an international reputation as both a concert pianist and a recording artist. He has an impressive list of international prizes to her name, including the International Piano Competitions “Alfredo Casella” and “Alessandro Casagrande,” as well as the Mozart “Clara Haskil” Prize. She currently records and performs frequently as one half of the Vienna Piano Duo alongside fellow pianist Thomas Kreuzberger. She has chosen some of her favorite and most-performed works for this recording, including works by Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

This is an album of Baroque works, arranged for and performed on Accordion by master accordionist William Popp. The great Baroque works are magnificent in many different mediums, and this album is a great example of this. William Popp began his studies on the piano at the age of six and on the accordion at the age of eleven. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in performance from the University of Denver where he studied accordion with Robert Davine. He has performed and toured extensively on accordion and harpsichord with the United States Air Force Strings and has appeared with this group at such prestigious venues as The White House, the State Department, and the Kennedy Center. William Popp has also performed in concert with members of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Denver Symphony Orchestra (now the Colorado Symphony Orchestra), the 21st Century Consort, National Musical Arts, and Colorado Chamber Players. He has toured throughout the world with the USAF Strings and has appeared as a soloist in Beijing, China.

This is a great program of contemporary works for clarinet and piano, and one work for clarinet, piano, and violin. These are all immediately accessible, appealing works. Christopher Ayer, a native of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, is Professor of Music at Stephen F. Austin State University, where he coordinates undergraduate and graduate clarinet study, and performs with the Stone Fort Wind Quintet. He has studied with Thomas Martin, Associate Principal Clarinetist with the Boston Symphony, and Ronald de Kant, former Principal Clarinetist of the Vancouver Symphony. Prior to his appointment at SFA, Dr. Ayer was the clarinet professor and orchestra conductor at Eastern New Mexico University. He holds graduate performance degrees in clarinet from the New England Conservatory of Music and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Jillon Stoppels Dupree's love of the music of J.S. Bach began when she was a youngster in a children's chorus. This love has continued to this day, and it is evident in these beautiful performances. Described as “one of the most outstanding early musicians in North America” (IONARTS) and “a baroque star” (Seattle Times), harpsichordist Jillon Stoppels Dupree has captivated audiences in cities ranging from London to Amsterdam to New York. Her world premiere recording of Philip Glass’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra (heralded as “superb” by the New York Times) was released to high acclaim in fall of 2006 on the Orange Mountain Music label. Her playing can also be heard on the Meridian, Wild Boar, Decca and Delos record labels; and she has appeared live on BBC England, Polish National Television, CBS Television and National Public Radio.

On this new release the Fischer Duo beautifully performs the two Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano. This album also includes Two Songs for Alto, Viola (or Cello) and Piano, Op. 91, performed with cello alongside mezzo soprano Abigail Fischer. Since 1971 when they started playing together, the Fischer Duo has delighted lovers of chamber music across the country with performances described as "boldly imaginative and technically assured," (Boston Globe), "intense and persuasive" (Gramophone), and "Soaring lines with both beauty and intensity" (New York Times). The Fischer Duo has been widely praised by music critics for its choice of repertoire. Thoroughly versed in the classical repertoire of Brahms, Beethoven and Schumann, the Fischer Duo has acquired an equally impressive reputation for rediscovering neglected works of the past and for commissioning new pieces from masters such as George Rochberg, Richard Wilson, Samuel Jones, Augusta Read Thomas, Pierre Jalbert and over 20 more.

Robert Schumann wrote some of the greatest works ever written for piano, four hands. Martha Fischer and Bill Lutes turn in beautiful performances of this great music. Martha Fischer is professor of piano at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, where she heads the collaborative piano program. A sought-after accompanist and chamber musician, she has performed throughout the United States and Europe with many internationally recognized singers and instrumentalists. In a review of Fischer's recording with trombonist Mark Hetzler, American Voices II, American Record Guide wrote: "At least half of the credit for these superb readings must go to her, for she is a marvelous pianist, profound interpreter, and expert collaborator." Bill Lutes an independent piano teacher living in Madison. From 2000 to 2011 he was Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin/Madison where he served as vocal coach for the University Opera. As pianist he has performed nationally as soloist and collaborative musician. Mr. Lutes received degrees piano performance from the Universities of Kentucky and Wisconsin-Madison, and the Artist's Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music.. He has taught piano and masterclasses at the Interlochen Arts Camp and at the Selma Levine School in Washington D.C.

Andrew Rudin is truly one of the pioneers of original classical music composed for and performed on Synthesizer. The works on this album date back as far as 1966, at the very beginning of the era of the synthesizer. Rudin’s reputation was established in the 1960’s through his association with Robert Moog and a pioneering series of synthesized compositions, most notably his Nonesuch album, Tragoedia. Throughout the 1970’s many of his compositions were theatrical in nature, involving collaborations with ballet and modern dance, film, television, and incidental music for the stage. His one-act opera, The Innocent was produced in Philadelphia in 1972 by Tito Capobianco. A number of these works blended electronically synthesized sound with traditional instruments and voices. Particularly of note among these works is the inclusion of his music in the soundtrack of the film Fellini: Satyricon. Among the dance groups and choreographers with whom he has worked are Dance Theatre Workshop, Jeff Duncan, Murray Louis, The Pennsylvania Ballet, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Louis Falco, and four collaborations with Alwin Nikolais. The 1980’s saw the completion of his full-evening opera Three Sisters, on a libretto by William Ashbrook from the play by Chekhov, as well as many works for traditional instruments, both orchestral and chamber music. After his graduation from The University of Pennsylvania, where he studied primarily with George Rochberg, he joined the faculty of The Philadelphia Musical Academy, remaining there for the next thirty-seven years, as it eventually became part of the present University of the Arts.

Liviu Marinescu is a contemporary composer who writes music that deserves a serious hearing. This album includes Harmonic Fields, Shadows, Focus, Echoes, and Sway. Nimbus Ensemble, Young Riddle, Dzovig Markarian, Daniel Kessner, Aaron Smith.

In the time of J.S. Bach, religion in general, and devotional music in particular, were a far more embedded and important aspect of people’s everyday lives, and the number of composers needed to meet the demands of the many church services was considerable. Heart & Soul: Devotional Music from the German Baroque, casts light on some of the more important but also more, varyingly obscure figures providing the music necessary, excluding Bach himself but inclusive of a great uncle, Johann Christoph, as well as Buxtehude, Scheidt and others than active. Founded in 1998 by harpsichordist and conductor Matthew Dirst, Ars Lyrica Houston is an ensemble dedicated to high caliber, historically-informed performances of 17th-18th c. music. Since 2000 Houston’s classical music scene has expanded significantly; the organization’s growing list of commercial recordings have earned a Grammy® nomination and have brought international attention to Houston as an early music center. The British counter-tenor Ryland Angel has built an international reputation on both the opera and concert stage, in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to new operatic commissions. “His voice … cradle one’s self in this delicious sound to imagine how the songs of the heavenly cherubs expressed similar enchantments.” (Opera Magazine)

The compositions on this album are all set to texts by female Jewish poets. All of the poets featured in these works were either in the Holocaust, or fled just before the Holocaust to avoid Nazi oppression. These vocal works feature Nanette McGuiness.

Little is known about the life of German violinist and composer Johann Jakob Walther. It is said that he was a violinist in the orchestra of Cosimo III from 1670 to 1674, and afterwards was concertmaster at the court of Dresden. Forty of Walther’s compositions are extant, and are contained in two volumes: Scherzi da Violino solo con il basso continuo, published in 1676, and Hortulus chelicus, published in 1688. This release features his Hortulus Chelicus, which scholars believe was composed between 1650 and 1688. In this collection, Walther wrote at a new, higher technical playing level for the violin. The musicians featured on this recording perform on period instruments- Baroque violin, harpsichord, and Baroque cello.

Founded 1992, the Apollo Ensemble of Amsterdam, under its artistic leader David Rabinovich, has emerged as one of Europe’s leading authentic period instrument Baroque chamber music groups. + Built around a core of key players, the Ensemble expands as needed, even to orchestral size when necessary, and has developed an outstanding reputation for its recovery and reinterpretation of Baroque Jewish music. + This Centaur release features the Ensemble and harpsichordist Marion Boshuizen in three of Bach’s Sonatas for violin and harpsichord, including the alternate version of Sonata VI.