With But remember what you have had, Stephen O'Malley continues and expands his musical approach by transposing it to multiphonic electroacoustic writing and acousmatic listening. Drawing not only on his extensive experience as a composer and live instrumentalist, but also on the countless studio production and mixing sessions he has taken part in the course of his many projects (in solo, with SUNN O))) or KTL, to name but a few), Stephen O'Malley's work on this new piece is ambitious, engaging in an inspired research that delves into the deep intricacies between polyphony, intonation and timbrality, enhanced by melodic motifs. To do this, O'Malley summons up his own very personal sound universe, constellated with amplified textures, instrumental sustained tones and raw energy, in order to diffract them into wavefronts, waves and blows that weave a complex, rich and fascinating matter. But remember what you have had stands out as an important work in Stephen O'Malley's repertoire: it brings together the multiplicity of his musical approach in an exemplary way, while laying the foundations and promises for the future of an already extraordinary journey.

Hampus Lindwall's Brace for Impact might just be the first album of post-internet pipe organ music. It's an album of five new contemporary classical compositions, all performed by the composer himself on the 78-stop grand organ at St. Antonius church in Dusseldorf, Germany. Featuring the electric guitar of SUNN O)'s Stephen O'Malley on the title track. A highly visceral forty-five minutes of music with undeniable elemental power.

An album of firsts - all these works are receiving world premiere recordings, and this is the only album devoted to music for strings by Welsh composers. Most listeners will be familiar with works for strings by Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Tippett - they are some of the most famous works in the repertoire. The works on this album reveal that composers in Wales were also writing outstanding works for strings at the same time. Grace Williams was taught by Vaughan Williams, and her haunting Elegy leaves a deep impression on the listener. Morfydd Owen's brief Romance reflects her all to short life - tragically cut short in 1918 at just 26. Her trajectory as a composer was set high. William Matthias, one of the better known of Welsh composers, studied with Lennox Berkeley and was a child prodigy. Best known for his music for choir, he also wrote three symphonies and three piano concertos. His deft and polished Music for Strings displays his technical prowess to the full. Paul Mealor is one of the current generation of composers from Wales, studying with Mathias. His music was performed at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011, and Wherever You Are was the Christmas No.1 single in the UK in the same year. Arwel Hughes studied with Vaughan Williams and was a key player in the establishment of music at BBC Wales, becoming Head of Music in 1965. He composed in all fields, from oratorios, religious music, chamber and orchestral music - the latter often drawing on Welsh legends and history. Christopher Woods powerful Aberfan is a musical memorial to the harrowing tragedy that occurred on October 21, 1966 when a coal spoil tip engulfed a school killing 116 children and 28 adults in surrounding streets.

This is Edward Gardner's sixth release on LPO Label, and the third that celebrates the 20th anniversary of the label in 2025. This Britten program was recorded at London's Royal Festival Hall (Sinfonia da Requiem and The Prince of the Pagodas) and Saffron Hall (Winter Words). A bold, early masterpiece written at just twenty-six and originally commissioned to commemorate Japan's 2600th imperial anniversary, Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem was rejected for being too solemn, but emerged as his only major purely orchestral work and a powerful response to the growing threat of war. Winter Words Britten's poignant song cycle originally for tenor and piano, set to texts of 8 poems by Thomas Hardy is presented here in a new orchestration by Robin Holloway-a world premiere recording. The Prince of the Pagodas, Britten's ballet with Edward Gardner's distilled concert suite from The Prince of the Pagodas-another world premiere recording-fulfils Britten's unrealised ambition to arrange his full-length ballet into a dramatic orchestral suite.

Sublime private-press piano improvisations channeled from another world by Willem Nyland. Remastered from the original tapes and reissued for the first time, with in-depth liner notes by Matt Marble of the American Museum of Paramusicology. A Columbia-educated chemist by profession and a self-taught pianist by affinity, Willem Nyland (1890-1975) is known as a spiritual teacher in the tradition of Greek-Armenian mystic George Gurdjieff. In the mid/late 1960s, a split with Gurdjieff led Nyland to start his own group in upstate New York. There, after a Friday night lecture on "The Work" and a shot of brandy, Nyland would launch into remarkable piano improvisations on a specially tuned baby grand, sometimes playing for over an hour. Each improvisation was meticulously recorded and cataloged, a major part of Nyland's teachings. 16 of these recordings were released as standalone LPs on Nyland's own Gauge Hill Press, with artwork by Hungarian American decorative artist Ilonka Karasz, Nyland's wife of over 50 years. These records, with their cascading, deeply emotional playing and beautiful cover art, have become highly coveted by collectors and "paramusicologists." Each contains depths of spiritual information and lyrical, almost visual instrumental storytelling. Nyland deftly and subtly shifts moods and tones throughout these truly inspired extended improvisations.

To inaugurate their collaboration with harmonia mundi, Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra have recorded a program as subtle as it is unexpected, with two seldom-heard masterpieces of 1913. From the bitingly ironical Shakespearian portrait of an ageing knight (Falstaff), to an existential meditation inspired by Poe (The Bells), both these 'literary' scores dramatically prolong the enchantments of a dying romanticism.

Reverie is a soundtrack of atmospheric chamber music for violin, cello, and piano by sisters Rebecca Foon and Aliayta Foon-Dancoes, and marks the first full-length album collaboration between the two players/composers. Reverie melds cellist Rebecca's post-rock and semi-improvised sensibility forged from over two decades playing in DIY/indie bands like Esmerine, Thee Silver Mt. Zion, and Set Fire To Flames, with violinist Aliayta's more recent trajectory from award-winning virtuosic performer to academically-shaped explorations of interdisciplinary composition. Following several years in London at the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, Aliayta's move to Princeton in 2023 for a Composition PhD put the sisters back on the same continent, regularly meeting and collaborating at Rebecca's Lost River studio in Quebec's Laurentian mountains. Working with co-producer Jace Lasek (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Patrick Watson, The Besnard Lakes), the result is an immersive suite of thematic variations that balances intimacy and detail with wide-spectrum spatial lushness. Subtle electronic interventions and gently blown-out acoustics ebb and flow throughout, further conveying Reverie's overriding mission to weave a meditative pastoralism with the underlying anxiety, sorrow, and tragedy of ecocide.

Mark Molnar has been a linchpin of the Ottawa experimental music scene for over two decades, spanning contemporary classical, electroacoustic, industrial/noise, and improv. As a string player in a wide range of projects, an organizer and curator of innumerable shows, and via his own avantgarde label Black Bough Records, Molnar's unflagging contributions to independent music culture in Canada's capital city have been significant. EXO is his Constellation debut: a remarkable and bracing suite of post-classical composition on which Molnar plays every instrument. Meticulously self-recorded, primarily with strings, harp, and piano, EXO balances thematic melodicism, polytonality, and dissonance across three elegiac pieces of exquisitely expressive dynamism. This is exacting modern chamber music that blends formal and harmonic complexity with a solemn emotive sensibility accessible to a broad audience. Listeners that yearn for some edge and disquietude in a landscape of often all-too-approachable post-classical music should find EXO eminently worth their time and attention. While Molnar is a highly trained string player, and studied music under Aubrey Wolfe, microtonality with James Tenney, and composition with R. Murray Schafer, his trajectory has been entirely and intentionally outside the academy, signalling a socio-artistic commitment to DIY culture, forged from an early passion for the sonic worlds of post-hardcore, post-punk, no-wave, free improv, power electronics, and other independent/underground musics. His classically-informed works have been described as "tense currents of musical modernism invigorated with punk's raw vitality." EXO carries an undercurrent influenced by dark industrial and ambient metal in particular, with microphones purposely placed to pick up the low-end frequencies of the piano body, and of a bass drum positioned as a resonant skin in the acoustic space; an electroacoustic strategy organically meshed to the crisply defined and pristinely recorded pointillisms and polychords of strings, harp, and piano, which feed into this noisefloor of crepuscular sub-bass disquietude and decay. It's a production aesthetic that lends EXO a distinct undertow of tension and feeling, a sort of roiling maximalism where the chamber instrumentation traces arcs and waves of form and flow as if drawn from a dark, impervious ocean below. It also reinforces the profound hermeticism of Molnar's process, as a forbiddingly solitary creative act of immersion and navigation. The album artwork, featuring semiabstract stills of the sea by British photographer Ed Allen, further reifies this metaphor.

One of Elgar's greatest works, The Dream of Gerontius is his setting of Cardinal Newman's poem about a dying man's journey from his deathbed to his judgment before God and his placement in Purgatory. The work is not a traditional oratorio; instead, it is a hauntingly beautiful and transformative journey of the soul. Elgar himself said of it, "I've written it out of my insidest inside." This BBC recording was captured live at the Royal Albert Hall during the 2022 BBC Proms season. Edward Gardner conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, with the Halle Choir, in what was described by The Guardian as a "perfectly judged performance." The recording features a cast of three world-class soloists - Allan Clayton, Jamie Barton, and James Platt - celebrated for their individual excellence and compelling interpretation of their roles.

Alexander Melnikov returns to Rachmaninoff with an exploration of the poetic world of the Variations on a Theme by Chopin. He traveled to Lake Lucerne to record this album on the master's own piano at Villa Senar, Rachmaninoff's last summer home. To accompany this eminently lyrical music, he joins forces with luminous soprano Julia Lezhneva and invites us to discover some of the Russian composer's most beautiful songs from this period of intense creative ferment.

POMES PENYEACH

From the youthful sonic ecstasy of George Enescu's Octet to the touching late composition Lachrymae by Benjamin Britten, Ensemble Resonanz and Tabea Zimmermann invite us to rediscover two profound, world-embracing works - full of inner motion, poised between reflection, melancholy, and transcendence.

Although LPO Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis has appeared on previous LPO Label releases alongside other conductors, this marks the first major release devoted entirely to her work with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Both symphonies were recorded live in London at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has a rich legacy of compelling Tchaikovsky interpretations with Vladimir Jurowski and Vasily Petrenko. Karina now stands with this legacy in the seventh Tchaikovsky release on the LPO Label.

In this vibrant and colorful orchestral program from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Domingo Hindoyan, Chabrier's Espana opens proceedings. The composer's interest in Spain was most likely the result of his friendship with the artist Edouard Manet, whose paintings depicted Spanish themes. The conductor of the premiere was Charles Lamoureux who persuaded Chabrier to visit Spain in the summer of 1882. This work was the catalyst for French composers who followed to explore Spanish influences. Manual de Falla commented on Debussy's Iberia "Without knowing Spain, or without having set foot on Spanish ground," he noted, "Debussy has written Spanish music. He came to know Spain through books and paintings, through songs and dances performed by native Spaniards."

Vinyl LP pressing.

Yehudi Menuhin was one of the 20th century's most celebrated violinists and conductors. This collection of early recordings from Parnassus highlights Menuhin's artistry in his younger years. Featuring works from Schumann, Brahms and Enescu this is a collection any violin enthusiast should have in their collection.

Exclusive Japanese reissue from Universal. During his brief 54-year life, Carl Richter made an indelible mark on the history of Bach performance, recording 76 of Bach's church cantatas and one secular cantata, along with monumental works such as the Matthew Passion and the John Passion. His extraordinary achievements remain a benchmark for excellence in interpreting Bach's music.

Exclusive Japanese reissue from Universal. During his brief 54-year life, Carl Richter made an indelible mark on the history of Bach performance, recording 76 of Bach's church cantatas and one secular cantata, along with monumental works such as the Matthew Passion and the John Passion. His extraordinary achievements remain a benchmark for excellence in interpreting Bach's music.

Exclusive Japanese reissue from Universal. During his brief 54-year life, Carl Richter made an indelible mark on the history of Bach performance, recording 76 of Bach's church cantatas and one secular cantata, along with monumental works such as the Matthew Passion and the John Passion. His extraordinary achievements remain a benchmark for excellence in interpreting Bach's music.

LIMITED EDITION. George Szell's reputation as a perfectionist is legendary, and these recordings, taped between 1949 and 1970, offer a vivid portrait of a conductor whose clarity, discipline and structural command set new standards in orchestral performance. The New York Times praised his 'uncompromising precision and taut rhythmic control' and critics have long admired the 'incisive, diamond-cut playing' he drew from orchestras, yet also the elegance and lyricism that balanced his rigour. These recordings, described by Gramophone as 'models of orchestral refinement and integrity' bring together Szell's complete legacy for Decca, Philips and Deutsche Grammophon, preserving performances that still set benchmarks of style and authority. Besides purely symphonic repertoire, including Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Dvorak's Eighth and Brahms's Third Symphonies, a fiery account of the incidental music for the composer's Egmont, and luminous versions of Rosamunde (Schubert) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn) the set also includes concerto recordings with Clifford Curzon (Mozart, Brahms and Tchaikovsky) and his sole recording for Deutsche Grammophon, Dvorak's Cello Concerto with Pierre Fournier. Included by way of bonus is a 30-minute rehearsal extract for the recording of Handel's Water Music - never before published. Even while involved with the Cleveland Orchestra (from 1947 until his death in 1970) Szell continued to work with the great European ensembles in London, Amsterdam and Vienna even after taking up the post in Cleveland. Their mutual respect and affinity is evident throughout this set. Szell may have earned his reputation as a podium autocrat, but he knew how to get the best out of orchestras, who valued the fact that he never wasted a word or a gesture. The 1962 account of Brahms's First Concerto with Clifford Curzon was acclaimed as a definitive recording on it's first release, and has hardly been toppled from that peak since. Also made with the LSO, the Handel collection is more of a period piece, featuring Hamilton Harty's reorchestrations of the Water Music and Fireworks Music, but Szell's Romantic-era phrasing holds it's own charm. A fascinating new essay by Tully Potter surveys the life and career of a conductor who never settled for anything less than perfection. The booklet includes rare session photographs.

YSAYE: SIX SONATAS FOR SOLO VIOLIN

George Butterworth, one of the pre 1914 generation lost in the Great War, left a small but enduring body of work. He was introduced to folk music by Vaughan Williams, but he was also a dancer and collector of folk songs and dances - especially those from Sussex. It is however his A.E Houseman inspired orchestral rhapsody, A Shropshire Lad, that has become his most famous composition and seems to conjure up a powerful sense of the countryside of that county, and melancholy at the waste and futility of war. Holst, like Butterworth was a friend of Vaughan Williams, and together the two of them collected folk songs from around England. Holst also taught at the school for girls in Hammersmith, London and the St Paul Suite is a personal thank you to the school. Folk songs imbue the two Songs without Words. Holst became friendly with Thomas Hardy, and it was on a night walk (at the urging of Hardy) that the inspiration for Egdon Heath came to Holst. The 15-minute-long work capture the 'singularly colossal and mysterious in it's swarthy monotony' as Hardy described the area of moorland in his novel The Return of the Native. The high trumpet at the close of the work is surely sounding from post war sad shires.

WHITACRE: CLOUDBURST AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS

Each of Beethoven's piano concertos is a world unto itself, gripping and moving in it's own way and for it's own set of reasons. But even in this company, the Concerto no. 4 stands apart. It's opening phrase, inward-facing and played by the piano alone, immediately establishes that it is a work without precedent or parallel. It is full of contradiction - poetic and grand in equal measure - and makes an indelible impression on the listener. Many pianists will say it is the Beethoven concerto they love most; I am among them. It is fitting that this work inspired the strangest, most surreal companion piece of the Beethoven/5 project: Salvatore Sciarrino's Il Sogno di Stradella. Described by the composer as a concerto "not only of sounds but of resonances, near and distant," the work toggles back and forth between the composer's own spectral language, and one which evokes the 19th century. It is impossible to describe and utterly compelling. Recording these works live but without audience with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic was an intensely intimate experience. It is extremely gratifying to finally share these performances with music-lovers not just in Stockholm, but throughout the world. (Jonathan Biss)

The Piano Guys return with Unstoppable, a fan favorite album now on both CD & vinyl featuring their signature cinematic take on today's biggest hits. Includes stunning renditions of "As It Was," "When You're Gone," and "Easy on Me." Own the music you love in a beautifully packaged release from the viral sensations who redefine instrumental music. Don't miss this must-have addition to your collection!