Musicians have long known about the existence of Telemann's Fantasias for viola da gamba, but until very recently no surviving copies had ever been located. Fortunately a single print edition was identified by two musicologists in the Lower Saxony State Archive in Germany. In 2016 these important pieces were at last presented to the world in a modern edition which includes a complete facsimile of the original print. John Dornenburg has made numerous recordings for Centaur Records. After many years based in San Francisco, he is now based in the U.K.

Classical Music

Bass-baritone Jacob Will made his New York Philharmonic debut as a soloist in the American premiere of the “Messa per Rossini,” a performance televised live nationwide. An experienced concert artist, Mr. Will has appeared with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladamir Ashkenazy and with the Cabrillo Festival under the baton of Dennis Russell Davies. He has sung with the San Francisco Symphony in the “St. Matthew Passion,” with the international Bach Festival of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, in the “St. John Passion,” and with the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra in Frank Martin’s “Le mystere de la Nativite.” A native of Harstville, South Carolina, Mr. Will attended Furman University and graduated from the University of South Carolina and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He participated in the Merola and Adler Fellowship Programs of the San Francisco Opera and has been a prizewinner in various international singing competitions including the Munich Competition and the Queen Elizabeth Competition of Brussels. On this release, Mr. Will sings the poems of Edgar Allan Poe, as set to music by composers Judith Cloud, N. Lincoln Hanks, John Valerio, and Tayloe Harding.

This is an album of works by contemporary composer Brian Buch composed between 2017 and 2018. Much of the music is inspired by the composer's own poetry and Gregorian polyphony: "a music that seems to defy a sense of time." Brian Buch received his Doctorate in Music Composition from Boston University and his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition with an emphasis in Piano Performance from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Brian teaches at Berklee College of Music, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New England Conservatory, and privately teaches composition, classical and jazz piano, music theory, and a unique ear-training system discovered by Alla Cohen in developing perfect pitch.

This is an eclectic program for solo flute by Israeli flutist and composer Yael Acher "KAT" Modiano. Most the of the program is made up of compositions by the performer/composer, but the program also includes one work each by J.S. Bach and Claude Debussy. It all works together as a compelling program. Critical praise for Modiano’s previous performances has been vast. “Spell binding, action packed and deeply original" (Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen) “A bold, daring Bach –solo by the flutist Yael Acher, which initiates the spatial body energy in the beautiful pillar-yard, with her crispy tones and her androgynous jacket suit movements.” (INFORMATION, Copenhagen)

Time Flies is an album of sixteen contemporary solo harpsichord works. All of these works have been composed within the last twenty years. Harpsichordist Elaine Funaro is “regarded as one of the leading performers of new music for harpsichord” (Classical Music: The Essential Listening Companion). She is a popular presence at contemporary and early music festivals around the world, and was the first, now past, president of the newly merged Historical Keyboard Society of North America, and is currently the Artistic Director of Aliénor, the American-based international competition for new harpsichord music. Elaine Funaro performs on a custom-made contemporary harpsichord, the Kingston Opus #333, which is decorated throughout by original artwork from North Carolina artist Lisa Creed.

This is Volume 3 in Centaur's ongoing series of the complete organ works of Charles-Marie Widor (1844 - 1937), performed by Joby Bell. This recorded cycle is a labor of love for Joby Bell, who has a special affinity for Widor's works. Since 2004, professor Joby Bell has served on the faculty of the Hayes School of Music, where he teaches organ and church music studies. His church music teaching emphasizes the practical knowledge needed for a solid undergraduate foundation toward successful work and further studies in sacred music. His organ teaching specializes in practice techniques, memorization, service playing, choral accompanying, and maintaining grace under pressure - lessons always best taught by example. Dr. Bell is known for "the breadth of his repertoire, technical virtuosity, and for the personal warmth which shines through in his performances. " His acclaimed blog at www. JobyBell. Org deals with a comprehensive range of organ-related topics including teaching philosophies, recital preparation, church music, and professional concerns.

This is Volume 7 in Centaur's ongoing series of the complete keyboard works of Francois Couperin, performed on harpsichord by Mark Kroll. Mark Kroll has performed Couperin's works throughout his performing life, and it shows in these wonderful recordings. Mark Kroll has been acclaimed as one of the world's leading harpsichordists and fortepianists. During a career spanning more than fifty years, he has appeared as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician on four continents, winning critical praise for his expressive playing and virtuosity. He has played under the batons of conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis and Charles Dutoit, and served as harpsichordist for the Boston Symphony since 1979.

This is Volume 1 in what will be the complete organ works of Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937). In this series, five magnificent Aeolian-Skinner and E.M. Skinner instruments render Widor symphonies and other works with an "American Classic" accent. Joby Bell clearly loves these works, and proves to be an ideal performer for them. Organist 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 embrace all audiences. His acclaimed blog deals with a comprehensive range of organ-related topics including teaching philosophies, recital preparation, church music, and professional concerns.

Contemporary American Composer David Loeb: "The choice of the trombone of pieces might engender some surprise, but the trombone has the necessary diversity of resources." These great works will make this point abundantly obvious. David Loeb was born in 1939 in New York into a family which took music and painting very seriously. He studied composition with Peter Pindar Stearns at the Mannes College of Music in New York, and then completed a master's degree at Yale. His catalog of compositions is unusually extensive and diverse. In addition to the expected assortment of works for orchestra, various chamber combinations, soloists, and voice, he has also written many pieces for Asian instruments (in addition to Japanese, some for Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Mongol) and for early Western instruments (in addition to viols, some for lute, harpsichord, and recorder). He has often brought these instruments together in unique combinations, such as four shakuhachi and four viols; flute, guitar, koto, and shakuhachi; and khaen, flute, guitar, cello, and percussion.

The two Brahms Sonatas for Viola and Piano are unquestionably two of the greatest chamber works for viola. Here we have the addition of a great arrangement for viola and piano of the Brahms Sonata for Cello & Piano in E minor, Op. 38. Violinist Manchin Zhang and pianist Albert Tiu are ideal performers for this literature. Zhang Manchin is Principal Violist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. She was formerly the first Asian player and youngest member in the history of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) when she was appointed Assistant Principal Viola by music director Neeme Järvi in 1994. Zhang has worked closely with conductors and soloists such as Claudio Abbado, Lorin Mazel, Simon Rattle, Zubin Metha, Michael Tilson Thomas Isaac Stern Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman Gil Shaham, Midori, and Emanuel Ax. During her tenure at the DSO, she was a resident artist at the Interlochen Center for the Arts a member of the DSO Chamber Music Ensemble and DSO String Quartet, and a participant and performer of the Chamber Music Festival at Blue Lake in Great Michigan area. Albert Tiu is the Associate Professor of Piano at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, he studied with Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, with Michael Lewin at Boston Conservatory, and with Nita Abrogar-Quinto and Nelly Castro in the Philippines. A recipient of Juilliard’s William Petschek Award and a prizewinner of competitions in Calgary (Honens), Helsinki (Maj Lind) and Santander (Paloma O’Shea), he won the First Prize and two concerto prizes in the 1996 UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa.

The Dvorak Requiem is a major requiem mass that is far too seldom heard. One of the reasons is doubtless it's sheer scale: a work scored for large forces running typically about 95 to 100 minutes. This is a major work that deserves to be heard far more often. Established in 1956, the Philharmonic "Mihail Jora" of Bacau, Romania, today gathers a group of approximately 70 musicians, of which the best are the chamber orchestra "Tescana", the members of the renowned "Trio Syrinx". (Dorel Baicu - flute, Adrian Petrescu - oboe, Pavel Ionescu - bassoon). The repertoire of the orchestra contains parts of symphonic music, vocal-orchestral and chamber, a great variety of periods and musical styles: Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism and Contemporary. Apart from the weekly concerts, the Philharmonic organizes several national festivals: "Orpheus of Moldova", "The days of contemporary music", "The workshop of young composers".

Born in 1884 in Cincinnati, Wintter Watts, a prolific yet largely forgotten early twentieth-century composer, wrote music filled with beauty, warmth, and depth. This recording of his songs shows just what has been missed through performances of his music being so rare. American tenor John Carlo Pierce enjoys an international reputation for beautiful sound and incisive acting. He holds a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Connecticut. He was recently assistant professor of voice at New Mexico State University, and director of the Doña Ana Lyric Opera, the university’s educational opera program. He has directed productions of Dido and Aeneas, Serse, Orphée aux enfers, and Suor Angelica. In his current position as associate professor of voice at Colorado State University, he teaches lyric diction, opera history and literature, and has directed Serse and Die Zauberflöte. He is joined by fellow Colorado State professor, Joel Bacon.

If German Romantic composer, Heinrich Marschner (1795-1861) is remembered today, it is for his dark, supernatural operas. Each of these operas happens to feature a baritone in the title role, which was quite unusual for the time. He also composer 420 songs, and a shockingly large number of them were composed specifically for baritone. This recording demonstrates how masterful Marschner truly was in composing for baritone. Jeffrey Williams has been hailed by Baltimore Sun, as “very likable, a winning performance sung with much confidence, phrasing everything stylishly,” by Miami Herald as possessing a “commanding, sizeable, effortless, manly baritone” and by Opera News as a “versatile, fearless performer.” Williams has received numerous awards including an Arleen Auger Memorial Fund Study Grant, the Cynthia Vernardakis Award at the Orpheus National Voice Competition, a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Mid-South Regional Finalist, the Baltimore Music Club Prize in Performance, and the George Castelle Award in Voice. He is currently the Mid-South Regional Governor of National Opera Association (NOA), on the Executive Board of the Tennessee Chapter of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).

Schubert moved to Vienna in early 1817, which was the center of musical activities in Europe at that time. Schubert focused strongly upon composing piano sonatas, and the result was these four superb works. Korean-born pianist Sookkyung Cho brings these sonatas truly to life. Noted for her sensitive and imaginative (New York Concert Review) playing, Sookkyung Cho has been captivating worldwide audiences with her personal, thoughtful expressionist style. She has appeared in venues such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Sarasota Opera House, Baltimore Museum of Art, Montreal Conservatory, Beaux concerts de la releve in Quebec, Château de Fontainebleau in France, and Zijingang Theater at Zhejiang University in China, among others, and was recently heard on Chicagos WFMT.

Lawrence Golan's Fantasia for Solo Violin, written in 1993, was inspired by Ysaye's sonatas of 1924, which, in turn, were inspired by the unaccompanied violin works of J.S. Bach, dated 1720. Hence this recording represents the inspirational lineage of a composition spanning almost three centuries. Acclaimed for his vibrant, inspired performances, imaginative programming and evocative command of different styles and composers, American conductor Lawrence Golan has developed a reputation as a dynamic, charismatic communicator. He has conducted throughout the United States and in Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, El Salvador, England, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, and continues to develop relationships with orchestras nationally and abroad.

Russian composer Nikolai Medtner left behind an amazing body of works for solo piano. This is the first volume in what will be an integral recorded edition of Medtner's solo piano works, performed by Frank Huang. Frank Huang is a Steinway Artist and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Piano at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Previously, he was a faculty member at The College of Wooster and The Cleveland Institute of Music. Described by New York Concert Review as a "thoughtful and accomplished performer" and that his playing was "impressive for it's maturity and refinement," Mr. Huang has gained international recognition for his artistry and technical command.

This is an album featuring path-breaking works for orchestra and for violin and orchestra. Lutoslawski, Verese, and Ligeti certainly need no introduction. Conductor Christian Baldini is also a first-rate composer. Two superb violinists, Miranda Cuckson and Maximilian Haft are featured performers. "Christian Baldini brings symphonic revival" commented the Buenos Aires Herald on Baldini's recent concerts at the Teatro Argentino featuring Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and Varèse's Amériques. Based in California, Baldini conducts regularly several international orchestras including the Munich Radio Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra (of Argentina and the US), Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto (Portugal), San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and Ensemble Dal Niente. Baldini recently made his debut conducting Verdi's Aida in London for English National Opera, and has conducted new productions at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, where he received the National Critics Association Award for best operatic performance.

Alban Berg left behind a wonderful group of songs. These early songs were unpublished during Berg's lifetime. They deserve a serious listening. This album presents these songs in the excellent performances they so richly deserve. Steven Kimbrough is an internationally known operatic, concert, and musical theater singer (baritone), and recording artist, who has performed on the professional stages of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. He has been described as a remarkable singer, with a cultivated, easily flowing baritone of fine quality and a rare command of words and rhythms. (The New Yorker) Margaret Jackson is a professionally trained opera singer who has traveled all over the world. She is also an expert in musicology and Western music history.

In the early 19th-century, a rivalry existed between two of Italy's greatest guitarists/composers, Francesco Molini and Ferdinando Carulli. This album features not only the complete Molino works for flute and guitar, but also the Carulli Concerto for Flute and Guitar. Both composers are wonderful, as are these performances. Diversity of styles is a hallmark of Roberto Alvarez’s concerts and recitals. As a matter of fact he feels just as comfortable performing classical, baroque or avant-garde music as well as Celtic, jazz or rock. He has received various international prizes, such as the Diploma of Honor in the Torneo Internazionale di Musica, Concurso Internacional de Música “Paper de Musica” de Capellades, the Ángel Muñíz Toca Award and the Ciutat de Manresa Prize. Born and raised in Singapore, Kevin Loh is a recipient of the Fellowship of the Royal Schools of Music, the 2018 Goh Soon Tioe Centenary Award and the 2010 HSBC Youth Excellence Award for Musical Excellence. He was talent-scouted by The Yehudi Menuhin School via his YouTube channel when he was only 12 years old and was awarded a grant by The Rolling Stones to study at the prestigious music school as their first Asian guitarist.

This is a great album of works by the master of music of the Argentine tango, Astor Piazzolla, and works by Juanjo Mosalini, who is deeply steeped in the music of this tradition. If this album doesn't get you up on your feet, dancing, nothing will! Juanjo Mosalini was born into a musical family- his father and grandfather both played bandoneon, and they raised him to be deeply rooted in Argentina’s musical traditions. He began playing bandoneon at eight years old. In 1999 he founded the first bandoneon course in Europe at the Conservatory of Music in Gennevilliers.

Bootleg is a project from Russ Zokaites showcasing Appalachian inspired music based on fold music or elements of folk music. The six year commissioning project was premiered in February 2020 at Morehead State University, and is his debut recording. The project has received widespread critical praise. "Russ Zokaites shines in this diverse and colorful album made during one of the most trying times in modern history. From chamber music to fully orchestrated concertos, he finds a unique and warm voice that takes you on a musical journey into many different landscapes. I particularly enjoyed the lush interplay of cello, piano, and bass trombone in "Serenity" by Martin Hebel, and the funky looped beats and harmonies of "A Strange Wayfarer" by William Timmons." (John Romero Principal Trombonist Metropolitan Opera Orchestra)

This album brings together players, wind instruments, and associated traditions from four continents. The compositions were written over a span of more than twenty years. They illustrate very different responses to the many compositional challenges presented by trying to create a complete sound world entirely through the use of melody. David Loeb was born in 1939 in New York into a family which took music and painting very seriously. He studied composition with Peter Pindar Stearns at the Mannes College of Music in New York, and then completed a master's degree at Yale. His catalog of compositions is unusually extensive and diverse. In addition to the expected assortment of works for orchestra, various chamber combinations, soloists, and voice, he has also written many pieces for Asian instruments (in addition to Japanese, some for Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Mongol) and for early Western instruments (in addition to viols, some for lute, harpsichord, and recorder). He has often brought these instruments together in unique combinations, such as four shakuhachi and four viols; flute, guitar, koto, and shakuhachi; and khaen, flute, guitar, cello, and percussion.

This is volume 9 in Centaur's traversal of the Complete keyboard works of Couperin, performed on harpsichord by Mark Kroll. Mark Kroll has performed Couperin's works throughout his long performing life. He 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; performances and lectures in Beijing and Shanghai; 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. Mark Kroll has been one of the few harpsichordists to devote a significant part of his career to the contemporary literature for the instrument. He has commissioned and premiered a large number of works, and released several recordings of this repertoire.

Sophia Agranovich adores the piano works of Chopin, and it shows in these deeply-felt performances. Internationally acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator, Sophia Agranovich is “a bold, daring pianist in the tradition of the Golden Age Romantics…A tigress of the keyboard” – Fanfare. Her performances are captivating audiences by the “orison of uncommon beauty” – Audiophile, “the extraordinary dramatic urgency”, “the ideal balance she achieves between the intellectual and the emotional” – Fanfare, “interpretation that dares to be different”, “magnificent shading and superior musicianship” – American Record Guide. Sophia Agranovich is an esteemed pedagogue, lecturer, master class clinician, adjudicator, and is a recipient of numerous teaching awards. Her students are consistently winning top prizes in regional, national and international competitions and are performing at prestigious venues. Ms. Agranovich is active member of various professional music organizations, listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World, a voting member of NARAS, Artistic Director of ‘Classicals at the Circle’ music series at the Watchung Arts Center, Program Chair and Board member of Music Educators Association of New Jersey.