In September 2026, Ekkozone proudly presents Nsambia Mpungun from Cuban composer Louis Franz Aguirre, one of the foremost Latin American composers of his generation, and featuring three of his fiercest champions and interpreters, Karolina Leedo (flutes), Mina Fred (viola), and Adam Ørvad (accordion). This intoxicating collection of premiere recordings of solo and chamber works for viola, flute, and accordion bears all the hallmarks of Aguirre's mystical and spiritual musical universe. Many of the works are inspired by the Cuban Santeria religion and it's religious texts, realised in his unique, visceral musical language. In 2011, Aguirre had the idea to bring together, in a single ensemble, these three musicians who were both able and willing to confront the particular challenges of his music, saying, 'We have shared fifteen years of close collaboration-years of exploration, dedication, and deeply rewarding musical exchange, resulting in the works on this album. My gratitude to them is both profound and enduring.' Nsambia Mpungun for amplified solo viola and singer unfolds as a work of transcendental, mystical, and ritual intensity, shifting between a wide spectrum of complex scratch sounds and a more contemplative dimension. Olakun II for viola and accordion has a profound physicality, paying tribute to the powerful and mysterious marine Orisha of the Afro-Cuban tradition. Oggún Adeolá for flute, viola, and accordion reveals Louis Aguirre's most intimate, quiet, and mystical side. A theme presented in the bass flute is followed by eighteen variations, ending with a solo accordion chorale. The continually evolving, organ-like sonority pays homage to Bach. Fantaisie-Impromptu (after The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí) for accordion is Aguirre's homage to Salvador Dalí, directly inspired by the Spaniard's masterwork The Persistence of Memory. In an unusual twist for the Cuban avant-garde composer, there is also a nod to Franz Schubert: a shadow of the Fantasia in F minor for four-hand piano. In Aguirre's own words, 'It's a melted Schubert, like Dalí's clocks.' The final work, Gardens of the Beloved (Three Tropes for Solo Alto Flute/Flute), is conceived as an instrumental monodrama based on texts by the Persian poet Rumi, combining Christian and Islamic references with Aguirre's ever-present connection to Afro-Cuban and Carnatic traditions. Multi-award-winning composer, violinist, and conductor Louis Franz Aguirre was born in Cuba in 1968 and is now based in Denmark. His music has been described by critics as 'music from hell' and 'not for the faint-hearted.' His numerous works include operas, orchestral and chamber music, works for soloists, vocal music, choral, electronic, and didactic music. He has received commissions from leading international ensembles and soloists, and his works have been performed at major festivals across the world. He was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Camagüey Symphony Orchestra from 1995-2002 and has appeared as a guest conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra of Havana and the Santiago de Cuba Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he taught at the Camagüey Music Conservatory and was the Artistic Director and Chairman of the Camagüey International Festival of Contemporary Music (1996-2002), which he founded.
The Australian Horn, Vol. 1 - A Century of Chamber Music
Toccata
CD
$20.99Sep 04, 2026
Classical music in Australia is barely two centuries old, and many of it's riches remain as good as unknown, both at home and abroad. This album of chamber music featuring the horn - itself a largely unfamiliar genre - charts the evolution of Australian music in microcosm, from Romanticism via modernism to a sound suggesting the open space of the outback. This repertoire is as good as unknown at home and further afield, though all of it has personality and presence, and should prove of interest to the international horn-playing community and to audiences more generally.
September 2026, Metier Records presents Cliff Edge from Irish-born composer David Wallace: a striking new album of six works that illuminate his distinctive approach to material-led composition. Scored for forces ranging from solo bass clarinet to mixed chamber ensemble, the album presents a world where musical ideas behave like living organisms - shifting, resisting, and revealing themselves through pressure and transformation. The performers include Heather Roche, Chenyin LI, Jean Kelly (harp), James Widden (violin/viola), Heather Holford, and other leading UK and international soloists and chamber musicians. Wallace's compositional style blends classical elegance with modern innovation, often including elements of traditional Irish music, at times also featuring extended techniques or electronics. His music takes shape organically, instinctively allowing the music to go where it wants emotionally, balancing tradition with a fresh, contemporary perspective to create a unique voice. The pieces on Cliff Edge were written between 2006 and 2025 for different performers and circumstances, yet they share a common thread: each begins with a musical material that finds it's own path throughout the piece. These materials can be as simple as a grain of an instrument, the weight of a harmony, the friction between two lines, or the memory of a place. Some are intimate gifts; others are studies in instability or quiet acts of devotion. What unites them is a belief that music has it's own agency - that if you listen closely, the material will show you how it wants to unfold. At the heart of the album is the title work, Cliff Edge, a turbulent and finely etched piano piece that explores instability as a structural force. Surrounding it are five contrasting but deeply connected works: the fragile, breath-driven L'Oiseau mis en cage for bass clarinet; the ritualised, keening energy of Banshee for harp and voice; and H.B.J.W., a theme and five variations for violin and cello, written as a 50th birthday gift. The album also features Five Vignettes from the River Avon, a set of distilled landscape impressions for clarinet and basset horn, and Canticles, a luminous triptych for harp, flute, clarinet, and string quartet that closes the disc with a sense of quiet devotion. 'These works are not stories,' Wallace writes. 'They are environments. Each one begins with a material that behaves in a particular way, and the piece grows from listening to that behaviour.' David Wallace studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Richard Baker and in Ireland with Rhona Clarke, and his music has received international recognition, including awards from Boston Metro Opera and the Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize. Residencies at the Guildhall School, the Cork School of Music, and Clapham Chamber Concerts have shaped his distinctive voice, and his works are performed widely in the UK and abroad. He is Head of Junior Music Courses at the Guildhall School.
Ludvig Norman Strings are back, this time featuring pianist Kiyo Wada and accordionist Minna Weurlander in Ylva Skog's captivating chamber music. Ylva Skog (born 1963) is inspired by many genres, such as jazz, latin, and pop music, but melts everything down to her own, special music pot. The title track, Trote, for string quartet and accordion is followed by Skog's piano quintet, piano sextet, and her two, short string quartets. Not to be missed if you are interested in enjoyable contemporary music!
Divine Art is delighted to present Made in Germany, from Texas-based Olmos Ensemble, the first in an exciting series of albums catalogued by country, presenting rarely performed and unrecorded works for mixed chamber instrumentation. Originally formed by the principal players of the San Antonio Symphony, Olmos Ensemble has established itself as one of the premier chamber music organizations in Texas, and features leading musicians from across the United States. Made in Germany will be released as they open their 32nd Season. Each album in the series will feature a works of varied instrumentation, creating a unique collection of recorded chamber repertoire that only an ensemble like Olmos - through their remarkable access to top musicians around the United States - could bring together. The Ensemble's concert programming has won great acclaim for it's focus on showcasing neglected works by female composers, and Olmos is thrilled to bring this to their recordings as well, with each album in the series featuring works by women composers, including many premieres. Made in Germany features three composers of German origin: Richard Strauss, Rudolf Tillmetz, and Ruth Schonthal. The album includes the first recording of Laszlo Varga's highly regarded arrangement of Strauss' Don Quixote for six instruments: clarinet, French horn, violin, viola, cello and piano, which includes every core member of Olmos Ensemble apart from flute. As the original primary voices in the larger orchestrated work (all but piano), these six instruments work wonderfully together in recreating the thrilling tale of Don Quixote. Also included is the first professional recording of Rudolf Tillmetz's only chamber work, the Nocturne for Flute, Horn, and Piano, Op. 31. One of the few Romantic-era trios for this unusual instrumentation, the piece reflects the salon music tradition of late 19th-century Germany, emphasizing lyrical writing and equal interplay between instruments, and although not widely known is a valuable work in the horn and flute chamber music repertoire. German-born Jewish composer, Ruth Schonthal fled Nazi persecution early in her life, first moving to Mexico and later America to study with Paul Hindemith. Completing the album is a rare recording of her late-career Theme and Variations for Solo Flute, which distills her lifelong commitment to melodic expressiveness and emotional narrative into a unique work for solo flute. Future albums in this series will focus on the Czech Republic, America, Italy and Austria. 'We are excited to record music that has never before been paired together on an album and present to the classical music loving public a unique set of all-encompassing recordings that will range from solo works through nonets and possibly larger. With the group consisting of people living in entirely different parts of the US, Olmos Ensemble is unique in it's ability to maintain 31 (and soon 32) seasons of existence, all while presenting lesser known works in addition to insightful interpretations of the great standards.' Members of Olmos Ensemble on this recording are: Artistic Director Mark Teplitsky, Assistant Principal Flute of the Naples Philharmonic, previously second flute at Houston Symphony; violinist Eric Gratz, a soloist, concertmaster, chamber musician, and Artistic Director of the American Chamber Music Society in Chicago; Ilya Shterenberg, Acting Principal Clarinet of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (Canada), and Principal Clarinet of several orchestras across the US; cellist Julian Schwarz, first prize winner at the inaugural Schoenfeld International Competition 2013 and a founding member of the Frisson Ensemble; Jeff Garza, principal horn of the Oregon Symphony and the Bellingham Festival of Music; violist Colin Brookes, a founding member of the award-winning Ulysses Quartet, and award-winning soloist; soloist and chamber musician Elizabeth Dorman (piano), a regular guest Keyboard at the San Francisco Symphony, and faculty member of the San Fransisco Conservatory of Music.
Kraig Grady, an American based in Australia, is a microtonal composer. He explains it thus: 'Alternative tunings are a major inspiration for my compositional explorations. The pivotal point for me was meeting with tuning theorist Ervin Wilson and witnessing Harry Partch's U.S. Highball in 1975. I was convinced that working with different instruments and tunings was going to be a major artistic movement. I began studying tuning with Wilson which continued for as long as we knew each other. I'm interested in using acoustic instruments as sound sources to explore new acoustic phenomena that cannot be mistaken for electronic manipulation.' The starting point for the works on this CD was to record each performer playing individual notes in the given microtonal tuning with extreme pitch accuracy. The recordings are edited to capture the personal expressivity of the players and the individuality of their gestures in the recordings become inseparable from the composition process. These recordings of individual notes are then weaved together to form melodic lines and combined to build harmonies and shifting textures. Liner notes by Grady with illustrated samples.
Led by the Russian-born violinist Sasha Jacobsen, the Musical Art Quartet was was one of the preeminent quartets established in the US. In fact, the famed cellist Gregor Piatigorsky proclaimed that the Musical Art Quartet was the greatest quartet he ever heard. First violinist Jacobsen made numerous solo recordings before he established the Musical Art Quartet, but is probably best known as the fourth and final name of the popular Gershwin song "Mischa, Jascha, Toscha and Sascha", the forenames of four renowned Russian-Jewish violinists: Elman, Heifetz, Seidel and Jacobsen. Furthermore, the violist in the Musical Art Quartet was none other than Louis Kaufman, a major violin soloist in his own right. Jacobsen formed the Musical Art Quartet in 1926, and this CD features the ensemble's complete recordings of quartets by Haydn and Schubert made for the Columbia label in the late-1920s. Their recording of Haydn's Cmajor Quartet, op.54 no.2, is the first complete recording of a Haydn quartet ever made. Although the Quartet lasted for over two decades, this CD contains the group's only recordings of the quartet repertoire. Supplementing this historic CD release are comprehensive notes by the chamber music expert Tully Potter.
While the music world is getting ready for next year’s 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth, this year’s bicentennial of the birth of the Polish national composer Stanislaw Moniuszko has gone practically unnoticed outside Poland. For this reason, this new recording of his two string quartets is all the more welcome. The composer who would become the celebrated master of the operas Halka and The Haunted Manor wrote these quartets during or shortly after his Berlin study years and in a style continuing to draw on the vocabulary of classical models. At the same time, the twenty-year-old student displays a sense of humor, melodicism, and chamber finesse that not only make for a genuinely rewarding listening experience but also are worth hearing again and again. A “late” creation by Moniuszko’s young fellow Pole Juliusz Zarebski is being presented here together with the quartets. At the end of his life this favorite pupil and confidant of Franz Liszt wrote an absolutely “avant-garde” piano quintet that might have launched a bold and daring oeuvre but ended up serving as a farewell: when this virtuoso pianist and composer delighting in experiment died in 1885, he was a mere thirty-one years old.
I made my first public appearance as a soloist the same year I graduated and pursued advanced studies in Copenhagen with Emil Telmányi and in Berlin with Willy Hess from 1919 until 1921, and when I returned home, I succeeded in securing a position as a violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra." But already not long afterwards in 1923 he presented himself as a candidate for the leader of the Berlin Philharmonic, which after the death of Artur Nikisch in the previous year now had Wilhelm Furtwängler as it's chief conductor. He won the position over 14 competitors and relates himself: "That was quite something for an enthusiastic young violinist! From the last desk of the second violinists on Kgs. Nytorv to the highly responsible first desk in Bernburger Strasse, enjoying a close working relationship with such a great figure as Wilhelm Furtwängler.
This album presents a selection of chamber works that offers a compelling cross-section of the composer's musical imagination, as well as the fluency with which he moves across a richly varied stylistic landscape. The outstanding performers respond with complete assurance to the intentions of one of the most frequently performed composers of his generation. Adrian Robak explores unconventional instrumental combinations and a wide spectrum of sonorities, while remaining in meaningful dialogue with the aesthetic currents of earlier decades. His music impresses and moves through the sincerity of it's expression-an artistic voice that has earned him growing recognition on concert stages in Poland and abroad.
In this third volume of Edward Gardner’s Walton series with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, James Ehnes leaves his violin to tackle the taxing soloist role in the Viola Concerto. In a recent Strad interview, Ehnes confesses: ‘This is a piece I have loved since I was a teenager, so it is wonderful that the opportunity has come my way to record it... With Walton’s Viola Concerto, none of the writing is impossible but a lot of it is close. And in a way that is exactly where you want it to be: on the edge of technical limitations. There’s a tremendous amount of excitement in that.’ This album in surround sound also features two much later works: the 1957 Partita for Orchestra and the Sonata for String Orchestra, adapted in 1971 from the String Quartet in A minor of 1945 – 47. There is a striking contrast between the uncomfortable modernism of the up-and-coming young composer’s Viola Concerto and the relaxed brilliance of the mature Partita. But the Sonata shows Walton late in his life re-engaging as an arranger with his earlier manner, and so with the characteristic vein of restless unease that runs through most of his output.
-----
Ehnes and Gardner take us back to pre-Menuhin tempos, only a fraction slower than William Primrose’s pioneering 1946 recording. There’s a grand sweep to the performance which is wholly engaging in its refusal to wallow. Ehnes’s burnished viola tone is noble and warm. Gardner conducts a lithe performance of the Sonata for string orchestra, and a suitably boisterous Partita to fill out the disc.
Enescu: Piano Trio & Piano Quartet No. 1 / Tarara, Carr, Hong, Solaun
Naxos
CD
$19.99Feb 25, 2022
Chamber music was a crucial element in Enescu’s output and these two works, separated by seven years, represent very different phases of his compositional development. The large-scale Piano Quartet No.1 marks the climax of his early maturity. The Piano Trio in A minor, however, was unknown until 1965 and represents a more transitional stage – a compact but intricately expressive work with an animated and compelling sequence of variations at its heart.
"This evocative and powerful music has certainly been given its deserved attention through the beautiful and dedicated playing on this excellent album." -Gramophone
Here is a recording of rarities on two counts. Not only is the music of Kryukov, Vasilenko, Frid, Krein and Bogdanov-Berezovsky little known outside of Russia, but viola sonatas are as welcome as they are scarce. Romantic lyricism, the influence of Scriabin.
Guarnieri: Choros, Vol. 2 / Tibiriçá, São Paulo Symphony
Naxos
CD
$13.99$19.99Save 30%May 13, 2022
In his Choros, Guarnieri wrote music that conjures up the landscape and essence of Brazil. These very personal concertos reveal the composer’s refined instrumental combinations and elegant contrapuntal writing, while their dance rhythms are vivacious, drawing on the baião, maracatu and embolada. The Chorosin this second volume represent all stages of Guarnieri’s compositional development. Also included is the delightful and inventive Florde Tremembé, an early work with choro-like features. The first volume is also available on Naxos.
REVIEW:
This release, the second of two, contains Guarnieri’s Choros for clarinet (1956), piano (1956), cello (1961) and viola (1975). All four abound in high-spirited dancelike passages with syncopated Latin rhythms, alternating with music of pastoral lyricism, and usually end in a celebratory, carnival atmosphere.
The later pair, for strings, are slightly more modernist: the composer even employs a 12-tone row in the viola concerto, but his lightness of touch and Brazilian exuberance are not affected (Guarnieri hated 12-tone music and penned articles about how unnatural he found it – then wrote some to prove he could!) The program also contains an early work for chamber orchestra, Flor de Tremembé (1937), which is jazzy with echoes of Gershwin.
This disc is even more fun than Volume 1. The musicians are absolutely at home with Guarnieri’s idiom: Roberto Tibiriçá’s tempos are spot on, the soloists are terrific, the sound first rate. This Choros for Clarinet should be as popular as the Clarinet Concerto by Copland (who, incidentally, was the composer’s friend and benefactor in the US).
This is Garry Walker's third CD for Toccata Classics after two well-received releases of Havergal Brian works with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. On this recording he explores Matthew Taylor's Viola Concerto, a work that "reinforced his status among the most significant living composers for string quartets" (International Record Review).
Following on from the first two releases, volume 3 concludes the complete set of Mozart string quintets on this release. Once again they are palyed by the Auryn Quartet with Nobuko Imai, viola. ''The Auryn Quartet and Nobuko Imai again fully convince with one much elaborated and at the same time very natural Mozart. Their music making is supported by the outstanding recording quality and gives us a stunning opportunity to rediscover these incomprehensibly not so popular works under the best possible conditions. (Pizzicato)
Hans Gál (1890–1987) wrote extensively for the viola, including several remarkable works dating from the first decade of his new life in Edinburgh, where he took refuge after the Nazis seized power in his native Austria. His poignant Suite Concertante for viola and orchestra – effectively a concerto for the instrument – is joined here by three substantial chamber works, all infused with Gál’s trademark lyricism. Hanna Pakkala, the violist in all four works here, is the principal viola of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and also plays in the Kokkola String Quartet; and Toccata Classics is delighted to welcome the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and its chief conductor, Sakari Oramo, to its roster of artists.
Schubert: String Quintet, D. 956 / Poltera, Auryn Quartet
TACET Musikproduktion
SACD
$26.99Jan 01, 2021
The TACET label, famous for ist visionary, high-quality repertoire policy, uses new technology to search for new ways of using the auditorium for musical experiences. Andreas Spreer, owner and manager of the label Tonmeister of this recording, places the listener right in the middle of the musicians: opposite the viola, with the violins at front left and right and the two cellos behind his or her shoulders. This configuration is most definitely unusual and takes some getting used to; but what three-dimensionalness it gives to Schubert’s wonderful – and wonderfully played – String Quintet! The themes become tangible thanks to the masterful interpretation, the structure of the work is intuitively understandable, and the attribute “acoustically transparent” should really be redefined after this recording. (Kulturspiegel)"(…) Ever wondered what it was like to play in a chamber group such as this? Well, choose your instrument and sit close to that speaker. You’ll get a pretty good idea." (Audiophile Audition)
The string quartet offers countless possibilities of interplay between the different instruments. If you add a fifth person to the mix, in this case the viola player, Nobuko Imai, with the Auryn Quartet, then it not only gives the whole sound a comparatively orchestral quality but also considerably increases the methods at the composer's disposal. These are just two reasons why Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's combination of 2 violins, 2 violas, and a cello have become so well-loved. In this release many ingenious, refined and playful themes, the whole inexhaustible richness of Mozart's ideas are realized even more clearly.
This is vol. 2 of the "Haydn Quartets" by W. A. Mozart, played by Auryn Quartet and in the guise of TACET Real Surround Sound. After strong recommendations for the previous Auryn/Imai Mozart string quintets recording (Audiophile Highlight in Stereo, klassik-heute recommendation, nomination for ICMA) and lots of praise for the previous version of this recording there is not a lot to say. Except maybe that once again TACET Real Surround Sound musically reaches far beyond normal stereo. Every magical detail of the interaction between Matthias Lingenfelder, Jens Oppermann, Stewart Eaton und Andreas Arndt becomes clear. An ambitious multichannel recording is no high tech version of stereo, and for many listeners it is equal to a live concert. A stunning recording!
Mozart: Complete Viola Quintets / Fine Arts Ensemble
Music and Arts Programs of America
CD
$32.99Aug 01, 2005
For players and listeners alike, the viola quintets of Mozart stand among the highest examples of chamber music. There are many who would not hesitate to name the most often heard of them (the C major and G minor) as representing some of the finest music in our heritage, in any category. The Fine Arts Quartet, which recorded these masterpieces for Vox, was a distinguished American ensemble, tracing its beginnings to the early 1940s in Chicago.
Almost forty years after his first recording on Chandos, this unique limited-edition release gathers some of the best and most-awarded recordings on the label by one of the most prolific conductors of all time: Neeme Järvi. It highlights a 200+ discography that explores an astonishingly wide repertoire, with selections from the legendary complete series of Prokofiev’s symphonies and Tchaikovsky’s ballets to the groundbreaking discoveries of composers such as Atterberg or Suchon. It features nearly a dozen of the numerous orchestras with which he has collaborated, including the RSNO, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, all here celebrated at their best. Offered at a very special price and retaining the original covers, this product also includes very special notes by James Jolly, Editor in Chief of Gramophone, as well as exclusive photos and interviews with figures central to Järvi’s extraordinary musical life.
Past praise of previously released material included in this set:
Prokofiev: Symphony No 6, Waltzes Suite / Järvi, SNO
As in all of his Prokofiev symphony recordings–this was the first, by the way–Järvi really digs into the music. The engineering is as big and bold as the performances. This recording deserves classic status.
– ClassicsToday
Smetana: Má Vlast / Järvi, Detroit Symphony
Järvi and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra deliver an expansive reading of the complete work, and their feeling for the music's vivid imagery and richly Romantic expression is spot on.
Stamitz: Quartets for Clarinet / Campbell, Maytan, Swantek, Mahave-Veglia
Audite Musikproduktion
SACD
$21.99Feb 26, 2013
Carl Stamitz's Clarinet Quartets Op. 8 and Op. 19 are amongst the earliest compositions for clarinet and string trio and document the increasing significance of the clarinet in the second half of the eighteenth century. These quartets demonstrate Stamitz's profound understanding of the instrument and also allow an illuminating insight into his idiom. With his sensitive interpretations, Arthur Campbell manages to emphasise the cantabile quality of the clarinet, which dominates all the quartets recorded on this SACD.
Arthur Campbell was born in Canada and studied at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA, where he was taught by the renowned clarinetist and pedagogue Robert Marcellus. He has won numerous international and national competitions, including the International Clarinet Competition and the National Music Festival of Canada. An internationally sought-after clarinet virtuoso, Arthur Campbell has toured throughout the USA, Canada, Europe and Asia. He regularly presents international master classes at universities, conservatoires and conventions. Arthur Campbell was appointed professor at the Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids Michigan, where he has been teaching a class of clarinet students from across the globe.
