In a remote Spanish town, the free-spirited Carmen declares that any man she loves should beware. But even she is unprepared for what happens when she decides to seduce police officer Don Jose. Though initially uninterested in Carmen's charms, Don Jose - against the wishes of his mother and of Micaëla, the woman who loves him - soon abandons his respectable career for a life of danger with Carmen, joining her and her smuggler friends as they outrun the law. But Carmen quickly wearies of Don Jose's possessiveness, longing to return to her life of independence. When she turns her attention to the celebrated toreador Escamillo, Don Jose's jealousy and despair threaten to violently erupt. Damiano Michieletto's searing production casts scorching light on the lust, violence and passion of Bizet's ever-popular opera.

What if a shopping centre could become a place of presence? In 'Concert for a Space and Time' (2019), the Danish-American composer Lil Lacy stages an 'alternative Christmas concert' among the escalators and glass lifts. Singers emerge unnoticed from the crowds, strings sound from the building's heights and depths, and stone, steel, wood and glass dissolve into their elemental origins-an invitation to let go, look up and rediscover connection in the most unexpected of places.

In bringing together in the same recording the trios of Alex de Taeye and of Lucie Vellere, we create a dialogue with two contrasting yet profoundly complementary voices of twentieth century Belgian music. They were contemporary, brought up in the same cultural climate, and they embody two faces of the same epoch: one, institutional and influential, a recognised figure of the academic milieu; the other, more intimate, almost clandestine, for whom chamber music was a refuge of liberty and sincerity. Their trios, though exceptional in their respective catalogues, share the same demand for clarity, balance and sensitivity. Each has an individual aesthetic: that of de Taeye, the inheritor of a bountiful, controlled post-romanticism; that of Vellere, imbued with an inner gentleness and a heightened sense of colour. Set side by side, these two works form a mirror portrait of a musical Belgium lying between tradition and modernity, between public illumination and poetic reclusion.

Layers The Album For centuries, spiritual singing was an inseparable part of everyday life of mankind. It accompanied the course of day, course of life and course of year and acted as a kind of measure to keep in touch with the flow of time. There were songs to sleep and wake by, pray for God's mercy in all situations possible and maintain a harmonious and modest life. These songs travelled through Europe mostly with the help of protestant pastors and songbooks, but blended into local folk heritage in every parish. Different versions of well-known chorales create a unifying web across Western culture while maintaining a distinct, irreplicable voice of the isolated communities. These songs, either straight from songbooks or transcribed during field trips by scholars of early 20th century, are the core of this album. Layers, so to speak, of spiritual singing reach seamlessly from Estonia, across the Swedish-speaking areas of Estonia to mainland Sweden and Norway, overseas to Iceland, making a stop at good old England where similar cultural processes took place a little earlier. Latin hymns translate into local languages, blend into folk tradition, get picked up again, make their way into art music directly or indirectly and become a source of inspiration once again. We encounter these songs in an environment where boundaries between social classes, styles of music, scenes and venues get blurred over and over, each time according to a whole different logic. We break a few canons, cliches and customs by approaching spiritual hymns with modern equipment, still making the vocals sound natural, timeless and unprocessed, vulnerable and enlightened. In our arrangements, we are aware of the tradition but treat the material with playfulness and a slight sense of irresponsibility. This is the layer we add to the heritage that has shaped our identities as individuals and nations, keeping the very core of human knowledge and spiritual existence alive and relevant.

Two composers, two works devoted to Our Lady, and two ways of expressing sorrow and supplication through music. This recording brings together Domenico Scarlatti and Jose de Nebra around two of the great texts of Marian devotion. Scarlatti's Stabat Mater, one of the pinnacles of the sacred vocal repertoire, dazzles with it's imposing ten-voice writing and refined contrapuntal craft. Nebra's setting-composed within the milieu of the Real Capilla for a reduced ensemble-possesses remarkable expressive power and a pronounced theatrical accent. In his Salve Regina for solo soprano, strings, and continuo, Scarlatti explores a more intimate and virtuosic dimension in what is considered his final work. Nebra, by contrast, chooses an expressive restraint for the same text. La Grande Chapelle thus presents a compelling dialogue between two major figures of eighteenth-century music in the Iberian Peninsula, whose paths converged around the figure of Queen Maria Barbara of Braganza.

« These two concertos by Joseph Haydn are cornerstones of the cello repertoire. For me, they belong to those works that accompany a cellist through the different stages and moments of life. I have always taken immense pleasure in performing them. This music, often described as 'solar,' moves me deeply through it's light, vitality, and energy, but also through a subtle sense of melancholy that occasionally emerges. Recorded both in a single day, the urgency and energy of the session will remain for me an unforgettable and unique memory. » Julie Sevilla-Fraysse

What happens when music becomes an act of rebellion? Step into Winchester Cathedral on a February morning in 964, a day which sparked a silent coup and forever changed the sound of worship. Nexus Winchester invites you into this charged moment, when canons - men of wicked and scandalous behaviour, not celebrating mass, marrying illicitly, living in gluttony and drunkenness, even trying to poison the bishop - were expelled, monks took their place, and some of the earliest polyphony in Western music arose from the conflict. Drawn from the Winchester Troper, these sumptuous works reveal a virtuosity and refinement that feel startlingly modern. Two voices entwine in the earliest known polyphonic masterpieces, fiddle and flutes drift between ritual and imagination, stories by the poet Wulfstan surface like whispered testimony, while voices and instruments open uncanny sonic spaces. A thousand years later, Ensemble Dialogos revives this repertoire not as a relic, but as living drama - where power, silence and song collide, and the past speaks urgently to the present.

Following her first recording of concertos for Channel Classics (CCS47825), the Franco-Hungarian pianist Suzana Bartal pays tribute to her Hungarian roots with a programme that showcases a variety of styles, from Liszt and his Gypsy influences to Bartok, who, through his campaigns to collect folk songs, immersed himself in folk and peasant music. Erno Dohnanyi's Ruralia Hungarica, composed in 1923, is more post-Romantic in style, although the composer himself also occasionally turned to folk music.

This box set represents the culmination of Viktoria Mullova's celebrated series of Beethoven Violin Sonata recordings - a distinguished body of work produced in collaboration with pianists Kristian Bezuidenhout and Alasdair Beatson that has earned consistent critical acclaim since it's inception in 2009.

Christoph Graupner had spent five years as an opera composer in Hamburg before the Landgrave Ernst-Ludwig called upon him to take up the position of Hofkapellmeister in Darmstadt in 1709. He became the best-paid music director of his time and would continue to define the musical style of the court until his death in 1760. His relative isolation there apparently enabled and allowed him to develop a personal style that does not exactly conform to the norms that had been set during the past centuries through the reception of Bach's monumental oeuvre; the slow rediscovery of Graupner's music has also meant that he was not included in the musical picture we now have of that era. This album presents a varied sample of Graupner's musical activities during his almost fifty years in service in Darmstadt - we hope that it will spark the listeners' curiosity to discover more of this extraordinary composer.

Irish violinist Darragh Morgan, a tireless advocate for new music, here presents four concertos written for him over the past two decades by Frank Lyons, Brian Irvine, Bill Campbell and Ryan Molloy. Recorded with the Ulster Orchestra under David Brophy, this compelling programme reflects the richness of Northern Ireland's contemporary voice. Electronic transformation, folk-inflected rhythms and lyrical introspection coexist with passages of dazzling virtuosity, each work revealing a distinctive sound world. Together they form a vivid, cohesive portrait in which solo brilliance and symphonic imagination are fused with striking assurance and colour.

A festive classic, including some of Tchaikovsky's - and indeed, the classical ballet canon's - most instantly recognisable tunes, Peter Wright's production of The Nutcracker has been enchanting children and adults alike since it's first performance by The Royal Ballet in 1984. Julia Trevelyan Oman's designs bring the story wonderfully to life, from the 19th-century German home of the Stahlbaums - which features a Christmas tree that transforms beyond one's imagination - to the Kingdom of Sweets, where everything is sugar and sparkle.

The 15 romances from Ludwig Tieck's Magelone represent Johannes Brahms' only true song cycle. With his reputation as an ideal accompanist it is clear that Brahms was extremely familiar with the examples of his predecessors Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann, and as such was able to convey an authenticity of feeling with this work. Set in medieval times, Die schone Magelone is a wonderfully epic yarn in which Count Peter falls in love and elopes with the fair Magelone, leading to disaster and dramas equaling that of any romantic opera.

Matthew Martin stands among Britain's leading composers for choir and organ. Performed by The Choir of Canterbury Cathedral under David Newsholme, with Jamie Rogers at the organ recently rebuilt by Harrison & Harrison, this programme reflects Martin's close association with Canterbury. The album spans the jubilant Psalm 150, first heard in Manchester, and the direct, concentrated writing of the Coventry Missa brevis, to the stillness of Ave verum and the dramatic narrative of When David heard. An Evensong sequence reveals Martin's instinct for liturgical form, while the organ work concludes the collection with clarity and purpose. Several pieces are recorded here for the first time, offering a focused survey of a distinctive contemporary voice.

Japanese guitarist Koki Fujimoto presents a recital of evocative pieces from France, Spain and Japan. He begins with his own arrangement of Ravel's Alborada del gracioso, a work shimmering with Spanish guitar evocations, and continues with one of Sor's finest masterpieces, the Fantaisie et Variations brillantes. Miguel Llobet was one of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century and a prolific composer for the instrument. His mastery of harmony and melodic expressiveness can be heard in the exquisite miniatures celebrating Catalan folk music. They preface two expressive works from Japan - Fujimoto's Aki no Sankan Nigiri and Tropical Count by Sunao Isaji. Ansgar Krause's arrangement of Debussy's earliest known piano piece, Danse bohemienne, concludes the album.

Renowned oboist Celine Moinet releases her 5th album with Berlin Classics. The program features a virtuosic Baroque selection of oboe concertos, highlighting brilliance, elegance, and expressive depth, including concertos by Franz Xaver Richter, Jean-Marie Leclair, Alessandro Besozzi, and Carlo Besozzi. It is a vibrant journey through the rich and rarely explored Baroque oboe repertoire, that showcases Moinet's refined tone, technical mastery, and stylistic sensitivity across diverse European traditions.

Among Leo Delibes's output of some twenty operas, Jean de Nivelle falls within his mature period, between Le Roi l'a dit and Lakme. The work's premiere at the Opera-Comique on 8 March 1880 was a resounding success. The press praised the charm of the melodies and the quality of the libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille, remarking on the coexistence of two styles in the score: one melodic and light, typical of opera-comique, and another in which the vocal writing seemed more serious, the orchestration richer and the harmonies more complex. It is true that the listener frequently feels a dramatic sweep 'that transports one into the realm of grand-opera', to quote Le Menestrel. Beyond it's intrinsic interest, Jean de Nivelle reveals the growing seriousness that had come to dominate the opera-comique genre. So much so, indeed, that critics regretted the retention of spoken dialogue (however characteristic of the genre) in Delibes's work. But recitatives were soon added to facilitate it's international dissemination. It is this version that the Palazzetto Bru Zane has reconstructed and decided to record.

Moonrise is the first album recording from young British composer Christopher Churcher (b.2004), bringing together works written between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one while studying at the University of Oxford and singing with Somerville College Choir. Performed by the choir under Will Dawes, the album presents both a cappella and piano accompanied pieces-from music for Advent to works celebrating queer identity, and secular settings reflecting on light and the passing of day. It is an intimate and assured collection, moving between moments of contemplative stillness and radiant, lyrical choral writing. Moonrise offers a compelling first introduction to Churcher's developing voice, alive with clarity, warmth, and immediacy of expression.

Reaching Farther: Clare College 1326-2026 marks the 700th anniversary of Clare College, Cambridge, with a programme of choral music commissioned for and closely associated with the Choir, performed under Director of Music Graham Ross. The recording spans works by composers with direct connections to Clare, from William Denis Browne's canticles composed as a student in 1911, through to world premiere recordings of new commissions including Nico Muhly's title anthem, Heloise Werner's canticles, and a setting by current undergraduate Thomas Alban. Also included is a rare first recording of a work by former Clare Organ Scholar Ayo Bankole, recovered after considerable research.

John Adams is a composer whose works are shaped by the full breadth of American music, while being equally grounded in Classical and Romantic traditions that inform his sense of structure, harmony, and expressive line. Both Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Road Movies combine this aesthetic with a distinctive rhythmic drive that has made these some of his most enduring pieces, while Roll Over Beethoven demonstrates how far Adams has been able to move away from traditional minimalism. With the lyrical eloquence of arias from his stage works, and the 'Satie meets Bill Evans' transparency of I Still Play, this program is a vivid reminder of what makes John Adams one of the most versatile and influential composers of our time.

A festive classic, including some of Tchaikovsky's - and indeed, the classical ballet canon's - most instantly recognisable tunes, Peter Wright's production of The Nutcracker has been enchanting children and adults alike since it's first performance by The Royal Ballet in 1984. Julia Trevelyan Oman's designs bring the story wonderfully to life, from the 19th-century German home of the Stahlbaums - which features a Christmas tree that transforms beyond one's imagination - to the Kingdom of Sweets, where everything is sugar and sparkle.

In a remote Spanish town, the free-spirited Carmen declares that any man she loves should beware. But even she is unprepared for what happens when she decides to seduce police officer Don Jose. Though initially uninterested in Carmen's charms, Don Jose - against the wishes of his mother and of Micaëla, the woman who loves him - soon abandons his respectable career for a life of danger with Carmen, joining her and her smuggler friends as they outrun the law. But Carmen quickly wearies of Don Jose's possessiveness, longing to return to her life of independence. When she turns her attention to the celebrated toreador Escamillo, Don Jose's jealousy and despair threaten to violently erupt. Damiano Michieletto's searing production casts scorching light on the lust, violence and passion of Bizet's ever-popular opera.

East meets West: Japanese-American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers pairs the world of French music with contemporary Japanese works on her AVIE Records debut. Sonatas by the fathers of French impression - Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel - foreshadow Olivier Messiaen's Theme et variations, whose chordal structure evokes Toru Takemitsu's Distance de Fee. Anne gives the world premiere recording of Birds in Warped Time II by Japan's most prominent living composer, Somei Satoh, whose work she is closely associated with, having also performed and recorded his Violin Concerto. Newly reissued: repackaged artwork and remastered audio in HD stereo and Immersive Audio, we're excited to be releasing this stunning programme on 180g Vinyl LP for the very first time.

East meets West: Japanese-American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers pairs the world of French music with contemporary Japanese works on her AVIE Records debut. Sonatas by the fathers of French impression - Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel - foreshadow Olivier Messiaen's Theme et variations, whose chordal structure evokes Toru Takemitsu's Distance de Fee. Anne gives the world premiere recording of Birds in Warped Time II by Japan's most prominent living composer, Somei Satoh, whose work she is closely associated with, having also performed and recorded his Violin Concerto. Newly reissued: repackaged artwork and remastered audio in HD stereo and Immersive Audio, we're excited to be releasing this stunning programme on 180g Vinyl LP for the very first time.

John Dowland's Songs and Ayres are among the most important song collections of the European Renaissance. They combine a distinctive musical language with an extraordinary poetic expressiveness: intimate love songs, profound melancholy, subtle humor and moments of unexpected lightness unfold into a richly varied panorama of human emotion. 400 years after Dowland's death, the Lautten Compagney Berlin turns to this unique universe in a carefully curated selection drawn from his five songbooks presented on their new album Behold a wonder here. Iconic works such as Flow my tears, Come again, Time stands still and the title piece Behold a wonder here are placed alongside less frequently heard songs, revealing the remarkable breadth and depth of Dowland's art. The richly colored ensemble - vocal consort, Renaissance lute, theorbo, Renaissance guitar, cittern, orpharion, viol consort as well as organ and harpsichord - creates a multi-layered sonic world in which every nuance of the music becomes audible. With their distinctive sense of timbre, clarity of text and stylistic precision, the Lautten Compagney Berlin brings these masterpieces to life with freshness, elegance and expressive power. Behold a wonder here presents John Dowland as a composer of timeless modernity, whose songs continue to move listeners through their emotional depth, melodic beauty and immediate expressive force. This recording reveals the richness of the English Renaissance in all it's colors.

Between pastoral lyricism and modernist edge lies another, richly compelling story of twentieth-century British music. This programme brings together four distinctive voices - Ruth Gipps, Doreen Carwithen, William Alwyn and Elizabeth Maconchy - whose works chart an alternative path through an era often defined by aesthetic conflict. Featuring soloists Alex Mitchell, Alexandra Dariescu and Rachael Clegg, with Manchester Camerata under the inspired direction of John Andrews, these performances illuminate music of remarkable individuality and emotional range. From Gipps' Jane Grey and Carwithen's long-neglected Piano Concerto to Alwyn's Autumn Legend and the searching power of Maconchy's Life Story, this album reveals a British musical landscape far richer, more adventurous and more rewarding than received histories have long suggested.

The Chiaroscuro Quartet continues it's thrilling journey through Beethoven's string quartets with three works that chart the composer's development in the genre. The 'Razumovsky' Quartets (1806), commissioned by Count Razumovsky for his house quartet led by Schuppanzigh, expanded the genre's scale beyond Op. 18, baffling early listeners with their symphonic ambition. The first two were released last March (BIS-2688). The third and final quartet of the set, Op. 59 No. 3 in C major, which opens this recording, is the most accessible, with a Mozart-indebted introduction, a Slavonic-sounding Andante, and a flamboyant fugal finale. The F minor Quartet, Op. 95 ('Quartetto serioso', 1810), written amid personal turmoil, is starker and more radical - compressed, harmonically abrupt, and structurally fragmented, ending unexpectedly in a light F major coda. Finally, the Grosse Fuge (1826), originally the finale of Op. 130, represents Beethoven's most uncompromising achievement: a vast, dissonant fusion of fugue and variation that baffled contemporaries but was later hailed by Stravinsky as timeless and revolutionary. Together these works chart Beethoven's progression from conversational classicism to visionary modernism.