Revered for his Hammond organ work, soul-jazz grooves, and his three-decade career leading The James Taylor Quartet, maestro keyboard player James Taylor releases his first album of classical works. His long association with Acid Jazz Records continues, as the label also steps into the classical world for the very first time. Recorded solo on a Steinway grand piano, Taylor performs some of his favorite pieces from the classical cannon, with familiar tunes alongside lesser-known works on this beautiful, atmospheric recording. His interpretations show a deep love of classical music. Always one to evolve, just as the James Taylor Quartet introduced Herbie Hancock to the indie scene of the late '80s, Taylor in turn introduces his audience to a new repertoire, with a remarkable, fresh and modern solo classical piano album.

If music... showcases star countertenor Jakub J�zef Orlinski in 17 songs and arias by three composers of the Baroque era: Purcell, Handel and Fux. Perhaps unexpectedly, he is partnered not by an ensemble of period instruments but by a pianist - his long-standing colleague Michal Biel. "On this album we have combined arias and songs that inspire and speak to us, " says Jakub J�zef Orlinski. "I love thinking of albums as pages out of my diary. They are a statement of where I am as an artist." As Michal Biel, who draws on all the possibilities of a Steinway grand piano, freely admits: "If music... is not an answer to the question of how to perform these masterpieces with historical authenticity." He sees each aria or song as "a carefully considered transcription that reveals it's appeal transcending instrumentation".

Following the international success of PLANET, LETTER, and NOCHE, Sofiane Pamart returns with MOVIE, his most ambitious and deeply personal solo album to date, conceived as the first "film" he has ever scored himself. Spanning 20 tracks, the album marks a major artistic turning point, blending intimate piano compositions with cinematic scale and featuring the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra alongside 14 international collaborators including Wyclef Jean, Celeste, SIA, J Balvin, Nelly Furtado, FKJ, and others. MOVIE reflects Pamart's evolution into a defining figure in contemporary piano music, underscored by over one billion global streams, mastering by Grammy winner Matt Colton, landmark performances such as the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony, and historic achievements including selling out Accor Arena, an upcoming Stade de France performance, and high-profile collaborations ranging from Formula 1's Charles LeClerc to global pop and hip-hop icons.

With this fifth volume, Jonathan Biss concludes one of the most ambitious and innovative Beethoven release series of the 21st century. Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto is many things, but foremost, it is a thrillingly taut construction, grabbing the listener by the collar and not letting go. It is the first work to take full advantage of the dramatic potential inherent in the concerto genre, pitting the soloist against the orchestra in often uneasy confrontation. In it's slow movement, it becomes something completely different, the tonality transporting us to a faraway place, time suddenly elastic, ferocity giving way to spirituality. The whole piece is a marvel. It is therefore very exciting to hear a voice as singular as Caroline Shaw's grapple with Beethoven's concerto and the process through which it was conceived. Shaw writes that her Watermark is "woven from strands and patches and patterns" of the earlier work. She imagines Beethoven imagining it, and in doing so, creates something wholly original. "This album brings to a close the Beethoven/5 project, which has challenged and stimulated me for the past decade. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with the ten remarkable pieces that comprise it."

From the tenderness of Faur�'s songs to the famous Sonata by Franck, via Honnor�, B�sser and Enescu, the viola here champions the French School in it's widest sense: full of lyricism, sophistication and intensity, here is a program to match the abilities of Timothy Ridout and his partner at the piano, Jonathan Ware.

Gobi Canticle brings together eleven works for solo violin, violin and viola, and violin duo by ten composers of Asian heritage, many presented here in first recordings. Performed by Natalie Lin Douglas and Patrick Yim, longstanding advocates for new music with extensive experience commissioning, premiering, and recording contemporary repertoire, the album spans a wide expressive range from ritual and folk-derived sound worlds to contrapuntal studies and contemporary virtuosity. At it's centre is Lei Liang's Gobi Canticle, shaped by Mongolian musical traditions, microtonal inflection, and percussive string techniques. Zhou Tian's Duo provides a compact, high-energy showpiece, while Chen Yi's Energetic Duo distils rhythmic drive and color into a striking miniature. Several works draw on literary and seasonal imagery: Kai-Young Chan's Echoes of the Autumn Night reflects Tang-dynasty poetry through Cantonese speech rhythms, and Jungyoon Wie's Dan Poong traces the quiet transformation of autumn leaves. Across the program, composers engage imaginatively with string technique-scordatura, harmonics, ricochet bowing, hocketing, and microtonal tuning-creating a palette that is both refined and immediate. The result is a coherent collection that highlights individual compositional voices while revealing shared concerns with timbre, gesture, and cultural memory. Recorded in Watertown, Massachusetts, Gobi Canticle documents a significant body of contemporary duo repertoire and showcases two performers deeply committed to new music and collaboration.

Mozart composed the concerto for two pianos in 1779, and performed it with his sister Nannerl. It is a less adventurous work than the previous concerto, No.9 K271, but it is an altogether more successful work than No.7 for three pianos K242, which the composer arranged for two pianos. It is brilliant in nature, especially the finale. It foreshadows in places the great Sinfonia Concertante K364, but does not match the grandeur of that work. No.24 K491 from 1786 is one of the greatest of Mozart's concertos. The dark, turbulent and tragic mood undoubtedly had an influence on Beethoven's C minor concerto.

Venezuelan trumpet virtuoso Pacho Florez wowed the packed Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms concert given by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under their chief conductor Domingo Hindoyan last year. Pacho and Domingo have a real chemistry on stage, they are old friends going back to their time in the Simon Bolivar Orchestra. This album showcases Pacho as composer as well as soloist - his own brilliant concerto Albares is vibrant, rhythmic and wonderfully written for the instrument. It, like the two other concertos on the album by Sierra and Ortiz have more than their fair share of ear worm tunes, and you won't be able to resist smiling and swaying to the infectious music.

Little is known about Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord. Are they early works or products of his late period? Do they form a cycle, or are they a collection of independent pieces? Long-time musical partners Atsushi Sakai and Christophe Rousset set out to record these enigmatic works, in which the gamba, as so often in Bach, becomes at once the voice of lamentation and an instrument of dialogue with the divine.

Northern Flowers presents two of the cello repertoire's most beloved masterworks receive authoritative, deeply felt performances from one of Russia's most distinguished cellists in this new studio recording from Moscow's "Palace on the Yauza." The album leads with Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, written to represent the atmosphere and styles of what Tchaikovsky believed to be the less complicated age of the 18th century. The work pays homage to Mozartian classical styles throughout the series of charming variations. Dvor�k's Cello Concerto in B minor was composed during his last year in New York City during his famous American trip, though, he wrote in the manuscript, "I finished the Concerto in New York, but when I returned home to Bohemia I changed the end completely as it stands here now." And the melodies certainly reflect the Bohemian countryside he loved so much. Together they make an ideal programme, contrasting Dvor�k's sweeping Bohemian passion with the refined wit and tenderness of Tchaikovsky's tribute to the rococo era. At the centre of it all is Marina Tarasova, a winner of International Competitions in Prague, Florence and Paris and a laureate of Moscow's Tchaikovsky International Competition. Partnering her is the Orpheus Radio Symphony Orchestra under it's principal conductor Sergey Kondrashev, a graduate of the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory who trained under the legendary Mark Ermler and Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Parnassus is proud to present a new collection of first commercial releases of spectacular live performances from pianist Sviatoslav Richter. Taken from recordings made by audience members and live broadcast sources, and now remastered and restored by Gene Gaudette of Urlicht Audiovisual, Richter Supreme is a must-have collection for Richter fans. Devotees of Richter know that even he had those supreme moments in which he exceeded his extremely high standards. When producer Leslie Gerber listened to the centerpiece of this recording, a recital at Hunter College, New York in 1965, he was convinced that this performance qualified as "Richter Supreme". Throughout the performance of works by Schubert, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Prokofieff, and Rachmaninoff, the listener experiences Richter at the very height of his powers, technical prowess allied to the most penetrating musical interpretation. This concert may not introduce any new Richter repertoire, but gives us the opportunity to listen in on a master musician at the height of his powers. Completing the set are two further rarities: a 1988 Tokyo performance of Hindemith's ferocious Suite '1922', which shows Richter bringing out all the music's challenging qualities, and building the finale to an apocalyptic frenzy unlike his earlier studio recordings, and an early 1958 Budapest broadcast of the Bart�k Second Piano Concerto with the Hungarian State Orchestra under J�nos Ferencsik. A treasurable document of greatness.

A gifted singer and a brilliant multi-instrumentalist - with a legendary mastery of the recorder - David Munrow was a transformative force in early music. In 1967, alongside Christopher Hogwood, he founded the Early Music Consort of London, an ensemble that would redefine historical performance. His prolific discography on Warner Classics and Nonesuch remains a treasure trove of reference recordings, testifying to his immense virtuosity, eclecticism, and pioneering spirit. When he died in May 1976, at only thirty-three, Munrow left behind a recorded legacy that, in it's breadth and significance, rivalled - and in some respects surpassed - that of far more senior figures. His output ranged from the twelfth century to the high Baroque and the great vocal masterpieces of the Renaissance - with occasional forays into the twentieth century. A world-class director and a compulsive collector of instruments from around the globe, Munrow brought ancient sounds vividly to life with an infectious energy that continues to resonate today.

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Douglas J. Cuomo's 'a raft, the sky, the wild sea' is a powerful concerto written for Grammy-winning saxophonist Joe Lovano, blending contemporary classical form with the expressive freedom of jazz. Structured in three movements, the work moves between moments of stillness and turbulence, inviting the listener into an unfolding, present-tense musical journey. Commissioned by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Winston-Salem Symphony, the piece reflects a close creative partnership between Cuomo and Lovano, whose artistry and openness shape the music from within. Performed here with the Winston-Salem Symphony conducted by Michelle Merrill, the recording captures a distinctive sound world of lyricism, risk and emotional clarity. Dedicated to refugees and displaced people around the world, a raft, the sky, the wild sea is both a personal meditation and a broader reflection on human journeys across uncertain terrain.

In this third volume of the series, A Life in Music, Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants take us to C�then (1717-1723) where Bach enjoyed one of the happiest times of his life. With a group of distinguished soloists, they help us rediscover some of the outstanding works of these inspiring years, including the famous Cantata the composer dedicated to his patron and friend, Prince Leopold.

Unspoken explores the piano-duet repertoire as a space of intimacy and shared imagination. Pianists Wu Qian and Juho Pohjonen present a program that moves between intimate lyricism and virtuosic display, centred on works for piano four hands. At it's heart are the two major duets by Felix Mendelssohn, framed by a striking rediscovery: the Sonata in F major by Sophia Maria Westenholz, whose bold harmonic language and orchestral sweep bridge Classical clarity and early Romantic ambition. The program is completed by the characterful four-hand writing of C�cile Chaminade and Amy Beach, offering contrasting worlds of colour, scene and poetic miniature. Recorded with warmth and clarity, Unspoken reflects the piano duet at it's most intimate: two musicians sharing a single instrument.

Maksimal brings together three major works by Daniel Temkin, music shaped by vivid physical images and a search for the forces that connect experience, memory, and place. At it's center is the violin concerto Maksimal, written for and performed here by Francisco Fullana with Ryan McAdams and the Maksimal Ensemble. Bright, agile, and rhythmically charged, the three movements balance solo virtuosity with quicksilver ensemble dialogue, nodding to Baroque concerto principles while stretching them into larger, continuous arcs. Dreamed Landscapes turns to the piano, with Ryan MacEvoy McCullough tracing three impressionistic studies inspired by galaxies, glaciers, and canyon horizons. Rather than literal depiction, the music focuses on colour, resonance, and the inner sensation of inhabiting these spaces. Completing the program is Ocean's Call, performed by the Aizuri Quartet, a work inspired by California's Pacific coast. From misty harmonics and brittle wind textures to expansive, storm-driven waves, the piece unfolds as a meditation on nature's power and calm. Recorded across Houston and New York, Maksimal is Temkin's second solo album on Orchid Classics: a focused, immersive portrait of a composer drawn to sound as landscape, motion, and shared human experience.

The myth of Orlando Furioso, conceived by Ludovico Ariosto in the 16th century, is one of the most fertile for dramatic and musical imagination. Between chivalrous heroism, romantic torment and psychological turmoil, it explores the limits of passion and the fractures of the human soul, offering Baroque composers an ideal terrain for expressing the tension between reason and madness, order and chaos. This program bears witness to this, traversing the many faces of Orlando through excerpts from operas by Vivaldi, Handel, Steffani, Fux and Porpora, where recitatives, arias and instrumental movements mirror his inner world.

Both accomplished musicians based in Bayreuth, Anna Bon and Wilhelmine von Bayreuth devoted a significant part of their output to the flute, the instrument of choice of Frederick II. Their sonatas reveal a marked taste for bold harmonies and a remarkable sense of invention. Several decades earlier, �lisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre had already dazzled the court of Louis XIV with her violin sonatas, described by the Sun King as "very beautiful" and above all "original, a quality found all too rarely today." Too rarely performed, these works find in Marta Gawlas, in her first solo album, a sensitive and inspired interpretation, fully equal to their uniqueness and poetic depth.

For the third volume of their Schubert 200 series, Samuel Hasselhorn and Ammiel Bushakevitz celebrate the composer's refound exuberance. After the sunlit summer of 1825, 1826 was a year of renewal for Schubert, bringing an astounding rush of artistic energy. These Lieder, pitched between nostalgia and quiet confidence, sing of a hope transcending the vagaries of life.

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Undreamed Shores brings together three major contemporary string quartets written for and performed by the Jupiter String Quartet, works the ensemble has lived with in performance over many years. In To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, Michi Wiancko traces a sequence of vividly imagined musical scenes inspired by the natural world. Across seven concise movements, the music reflects on fragility, ecological loss, and kinship, gradually moving toward a quietly hopeful call for collective responsibility. Composed during the pandemic, Stephen Andrew Taylor's Chaconne/Labyrinth is built around a repeating harmonic cycle, using just intonation to evoke the tension of being caught between stasis and searching. Familiar material continually returns, reshaped by a sense of uncertainty before leading toward clarity. Completing the album, Kati Agocs's Imprimatur (String Quartet No. 2) unfolds as a continuous rhapsodic meditation. Musical ideas are repeatedly transformed, moving between darkness and light, and culminating in a serene, luminous conclusion. Together, these works form a thoughtful exploration of contemporary quartet writing, each offering space to reflect on our shared humanity and to find moments of hope and light in challenging times.

Following the international success of PLANET, LETTER, and NOCHE, Sofiane Pamart returns with MOVIE, his most ambitious and deeply personal solo album to date, conceived as the first "film" he has ever scored himself. Spanning 20 tracks, the album marks a major artistic turning point, blending intimate piano compositions with cinematic scale and featuring the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra alongside 14 international collaborators including Wyclef Jean, Celeste, SIA, J Balvin, Nelly Furtado, FKJ, and others. MOVIE reflects Pamart's evolution into a defining figure in contemporary piano music, underscored by over one billion global streams, mastering by Grammy winner Matt Colton, landmark performances such as the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony, and historic achievements including selling out Accor Arena, an upcoming Stade de France performance, and high-profile collaborations ranging from Formula 1's Charles LeClerc to global pop and hip-hop icons.

The music for Assassin's Creed is here re-invented for piano, with the inspired playing of Nicolas Horvath. Recorded on a historic piano that formerly belonged to Nadia Boulanger, this album presents the iconic themes of the saga in a new artistic dimension, while totally respecting the milieu of the game. A landmark event, uniting musical demands with the culture of the video game.

LEFTOVERS