ARCHANGELS

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2022.

Following the compass of an entrancing debut, Flore Laurentienne's Volume II presents another palette of rich orchestral sound, where changing forces of water inspire metaphorical markers that navigate passages of life and loss. Mathieu David Gagnon resumes his voyage into environment and emotion with Volume II, drawing inspiration from the rivers and rugged wilderness of the composer's native Quebec. In his return as Flore Laurentienne - the namesake of an inventory documenting St. Lawrence Valley flora - Gagnon assembles vivid melodic motifs and delicate modulation with a vast string ensemble to emulate the tides of human experience. Listeners of Volume I will recognise Gagnon's signature approach towards reworking and reframing an emblematic melody or concept across a series of works in Volume II, a process he likens to that of a painter creating multiple sketches of the same view. Continued from the first album, the enigmatic "Fleuve" series is conjured to evoke the multiple personalities of the great St. Lawrence River, and the "Navigation" works ("III" and "IV") wade through dappled progressions and expansive streams of string, the latter of which harbors the gentle meanderings of improvised clarinet. In the world of Flore Laurentienne, complexity emerges from simplicity as the composer roams familiar environments in constant flux. Gagnon extracts beauty through repetition and constraint, utilizing the writing style of counterpoint for which one of his greatest musical inspirations, Johann Sebastian Bach, is renowned. The lilting waves of "Canon" possess the eponymous formation of melodic 'leader and follower' motif, and magnify the softness of the album's eighteen string musicians into a force of full euphoric resonance. In Volume II, Gagnon continues his expansion of classical composition archetypes to meet a new realm of sonic romanticism. Thematic conventions of wandering the pastoral sublime become altered into glimmering refractions, relaying the emotional and kinetic power of natural energies. Volume II forms an estuary where streams of auditory microcosm reach a horizon of dynamic contrast, and reflect the parallel tenors of nature and humankind. Flore Laurentienne's Volume II will be released October 21, 2022 via RVNG Intl. And Costume Records. A portion of the proceeds from the album will again benefit The Saint-Laurent Action Fund, which promotes the conservation of ecosystems and the maintenance of uses of the St. Lawrence River and it's Gulf by supporting projects for the preservation, enhancement and rehabilitation of the river, as well as projects for education and awareness of issues of the St. Lawrence River.

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.

WHOLE HEART

Master pianist Christian Zimmermann joins young string players as collaborators on this Brahms chamber music album. The recording features Polish violinist Maria Nowak, violist Katarzyna Budnik-Garadzka, and Japanese cellist Yuya Okamoto. [Performers] Christian Zimmermann (piano), Maria Nowak (violin), Katarzyna Budnik (viola), Yuya Okamoto (cello) Recorded: June 2021, April 2023 Switzerland *This product will be available for purchase on Friday, and will be delivered after the day of release.

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.

Song, the 2022 album from cellist Sheku-Kanneh Mason, features music from across the entire spectrum of classical, folk, jazz and pop - all personally curated by Sheku. The eclectic mix of styles are tied together by one thing - the unique singing voice of Sheku's cello. On Song, Sheku collaborates with friends and family, including jazz pianist Harry Baker, singer-songwriter Zak Abel, and soprano Pumeza Matshikiza.

CHOPIN: 24 PRELUDES OP 28 ETC

EARLY RECORDINGS: MOZART / BEETHOVEN / PROKOFIEV

RAVEL: GASPARD DE LA NUIT / SONATINE / VALSES

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2024.

PIANO CONCERTOS FOR TWO & THREE PIANOS

Renowned as a great interpreter of Brahms, Jacqueline du Pre, here at the peak of her art and technical abilities, delivers the latest version recorded with her husband Daniel Barenboim in May-August 1968. A pillar of the cello repertoire, the Two Sonatas benefit from a new remastering in 192kHz/24-bit from original tapes by Art & Son Studio, Annecy.

The sufferings of Jews under the Nazi regime were reflected in their music and musical life. Music offered women and men interned in ghettos and camps a way to express their humanity in inhuman conditions, to escape, revolt and cry for freedom. The act of singing is a human act of artistic performance that creates another world for the singer and the audience, writes Dr. Gila Flam, Director of the Sound Archives at Israel's National Library. "Cry, My Heart, Cry," the second volume of the Fortunoff Video Archive's Songs from Testimonies project, features 13 new songs performed by Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble and Sasha Lurje. These songs were originally sung by survivors Fortunoff Archive testimonies in three languages: Yiddish, Polish and French. The widely diverse compositions presented on the album recreate a multidimensional image of people's lives and the multiple identities they carried. 001. In Dinaverke 002. Dem Rebns Shikse 003. A Dermonung Funem Appellplatz 004. Kidush Hashem 005. A Valts 006. Shray, Hertsale, Shray 007. Une Fleur Au Chapeau 008. Shtubeneltsto 009. Chlopek-Roztropek 010. Hej Tam Na Gorce 011. Siekiera, Motyka 012. W Saskim Ogrodzie 013. Himlen, o Himlen

ENSAMBLE PIECE

The 2-LP set includes highlights from Bach's greatest masterpieces performed by first-class musicians: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mstislav Rostropovich, Ton Koopman, Alexandre Tharaud, David Fray, Sir Neville Marriner, Fabio Biondi, Emmanuel Pahud, Beatrice Rana, Sigiswald Kuijken

IRMA AN OPERA BY TOM PHILLIPS

Vinyl LP pressing. 2024 release. Nonesuch Records releases Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and So Percussion. The album follows their 2021 Grammy Award-winning Nonesuch debut, Narrow Sea, and their first record as a band, 2021's Let the Soil Play It's Simple Part, with Shaw on vocals backed by So-Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting. Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift) co-produced with them on both Let the Soil... and Rectangles and Circumstance. Sliwinski says. "For this album, Caroline, Eric, and I sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped it's expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake... The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson."