Volume 2 in Centaur’s ongoing cycle of the complete Pieces de Clavecin of Francois Couperin presents Huitieme Ordre, Dixseptieme Ordre, and Vingt-Troisieme Ordre. These works were recorded at The National Music Museum, Vermillion South Dakota on a 1785 Jacques Germain harpsichord by harpsichordist Mark Kroll. Mark Kroll has been heralded as one of the world’s leading harpsichordists and fortepianists. During a more than five decade career, he has performed on four continents, winning critical praise wherever he goes for his expressive playing and virtuosity. He frequently appears with noted ensembles and has performed under conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, James Levine, Kurt Masur, and Charles Dutoit. Since 1979 he has served as harpsichordist for the Boston Symphony. He also serves as Artistic Director and Conductor of Opera New England.

The Grieg & Dohnanyi Sonatas for cello and piano are both significant 19th century chamber works, written in true Romantic style. Ronald Leonard was for 24 years Principal Cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mr. Leonard is currently Gregor Piatigorsky Professor of Violoncello at the USC Thornton School of Music. Pianist and Taiwanese native Ya-Ting Chang is a founding member of the Mendelssohn Piano Trio.

The Handel Album is the Aulos Ensemble's fifth in a series of critically acclaimed releases for Centaur Records, which include a collection of Christmas music, as well as albums dedicated to Rameau, Telemann and the Bach family. Soprano Dominique Labelle, whose voice has been called "angelic," "silvery," and "vibrant", is noted for her probing explorations of the repertoire from the Baroque to new music. This selection of Handel's masterful operatic arias and other vocal excerpts is interspersed with individual movements from his instrumental Trio Sonata and Concerto masterpieces.

Recorded Live in Europe, These Three Great Sonatas for Cello and Piano By Three Composers - Francesco Cilea, Leon Boellmann and Alberic Magnard - Who Straddled, or Nearly So, the 19th and 20th C., Are Played By the Veteran Talents of Cellist Simca Heled and Pianist Jonathan Zak. Mr. Heled and Mr. Zak, Together with Pianist Uri Pianka, Founded the Superb Yuval Trio, a Famed Grouping That Persisted for Over 25 Years. All Three Works Are Rarely Heard and Not Often Recorded, Making This Recording a Valuable Document of Too Little-Known Stellar Craftsmanship Played with Welcome, High Musicianship.

Violinist Kinga Augustyn and the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra presents this illustrious program of works by Max Bruch, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and Jules Massenet. Kinga Augustyn is a Polish-born and New York City-based versatile classical concert violinist and recording artist gaining worldwide recognition through her performances as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She has been described as “an adventurous performer valuable to New York’s scene” (NY Concert Review), “stylish and vibrant… playing with verve and superb control” (The Strad Magazine), and “beyond amazing, one hell of a violinist!” (The Fanfare Magazine). Her repertoire ranges from early baroque, which she sometimes performs on a baroque violin, to modern, oftentimes written especially for her.

�This is the third volume in the ongoing complete series of Beethoven Symphonies in transcriptions for piano. � This album features Paul Kim's own transcriptions for two pianos, played by Paul Kim and his son Matthew, of the Symphony No. 3, op. 55, the "Eroica." and the 15 Variations and Fugue in E-flat Major, Op. 35, more commonly known as the "Eroica Variations.

Deems Taylor (1885-1966) was one of America's truly original 20th Century composers, his works crossing between serious classical and a somewhat more popular vein. An ASCAP Board of Directors member for over thirty years, he also served as ASCAP President from 1942-48. Of the 24 songs featured on this Centaur release, sung by soprano Elizabeth Tryon accompanied by George Small, virtually all, if not all are receiving their first recordings. Ms. Tryon, often referred to as "two voices in one artist" sings both classical music and Top 40 pop, making her a perfect candidate for this literature.

Daniel Schlosberg presents this album of French Baroque keyboard music with the tongue-in-cheek title, Gaul Me Maybe. The album contains works by French Baroque composers Jean Henri d’Anglebert, Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer, Francois Couperin, and Marin Marais. A Bach selection is also included- Overture in the French Style, BWV 831. Pianist Daniel Schlosberg has been described by the Boston Globe as an “expert pianist,” and his performances have gained accolades for their “intellect and passion” (Washington Post). He is currently on faculty with Notre Dame University.

Hailed by Malcolm Bilson as a musician "who will doubtless make an important contribution to the musical life of this country," pianist and fortepianist David Hyun-su Kim holds degrees from Harvard, Yale, and Cornell Universities, and a doctorate from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He has performed internationally, with past appearances throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Australia. His concerts have been praised as "emotionally expansive" and "idiomatically perfect," and, after a 2013 performance in Maine, Camilla Cai wrote that "his interpretations are spectacular." Caf� Momus's Leah Harrison described a recent performance of Davidb�ndlert�nze as "splendid and moving... His Florestan was elegantly calamitous, and his melodies representing Eusebius were like a dear friend whispering arcane truths to only you." The present release is Kim's first solo album.

The academic and composer of international acclaim William Bergsma (1921-94) is known for his opera, the Wife of Martin Guerre, works for full orchestra, string quartets, a woodwind quintet, Tangents for Piano, and other works for voice, chorus, and band. He founded the University of Washington Contemporary Group in the mid-1960s. In musical style, he has been characterized as a composer who "never deserted tonality". Deserving rediscovery, this Centaur release features two works for solo piano and the title work, for piano, horn and violin.

Cellist Guy Fisherman and bassist Robert Nairn perform the music of Domenico Dragonetti and Robert Lindley. Fisherman was recently appointed Principal cellist of the Handel and Haydn Society and Nairn teaches double bass and direct the Baroque Ensemble at Pennsylvania State University.

Kansas City based William Jewel College Concert Choir led by Dr Anthony Maglione is known for it's imaginative concert repertoire that ranges from Baroque to Contemporary music. The Trumpet Sounds figures heavily in the contemporary classical choral tradition with an impressive diversity in the featured composers including those not frequently found in contemporary choral repertoire. Dr. Maglione's eight movement cantata for voices and trumpet, based on Walt Whitman's poem The Mystic Trumpeter closes this intrepid release with it's world premiere debut recording.

Hungarian composer and virtuoso Franz Liszt gained renown across Europe in the early 19th century for his unmatched piano skills. By 1940 he was considered by many critics to be the greatest pianist of all time. Liszt was also a diverse composer, and made many contributions to the musical world, most notably the invention of the symphonic poem. He was also one of the most significant representatives of the New German School. The lieder of Franz Liszt are some of his most beloved works. On this recording, American tenor Daniel Weeks performs these compositions with magnificent insight. Pianist Naomi Oliphant beautifully accompanies.

This is an amazing program of piano works by contemporary Italian composer Roberto Piana, brilliantly played by Italian pianist Antonio-Pompa-Baldi, who now has nearly 20 albums on the Centaur label. This album consists of two major works: 25 Preludi Pittorici, and Piano Sonata. Antonio Pompa-Baldi is an award-winning concert pianist and a beloved professor of music at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Maestro Pompa-Baldi’s talent is powered by boundless technical prowess and a genuine love of music. We hope this website gives you a worthy preview of his art. “Pompa-Baldi demonstrated both brilliance and structural insight… He also showed himself to be an ensemble player of considerable sensitivity, seeming to relish the partnership of other instruments.” (The Boston Globe)

Founded by five Julliard graduates in 1973, The Aulos Ensemble was one of the first American "original instrument" ensembles. Its accomplishments over the past four decades have given it pre-eminence in the early music movement. After one of their concerts the New York Times boasted “This was authentic Baroque performance at its best.”