Allar Kaasik has enjoyed a long and fruitful career, in his native Estonia as well as abroad. Reflecting on it in the liner notes to this very personal album, he singles out one particular aspect: the ambition to embrace the very latest compositions by Estonian composers. Performing in churches as he often does, Kaasik finds music resounding in a church a part of the Holy Service. This is reflected in many of the works which have been written for him, with composers such as Galina Grigorjeva and Kuldar Sink enriching the tradition of Estonian church music. Among Kaasik’s many partners in performing these works, several appear on the present disc, including two eminent choirs – the State Choir Latvija and Estonian National Male Choir – as well as the Latvian organist Kristine Adamaite. A focal point of the programme is the cello concerto Pro et contra by the most celebrated of all Estonian composers, Arvo Pärt. Kaasik is supported by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peeter Lilje and the recording has a particular significance – originally released by Melodiya in 1989, it was the first recording of Pärt’s music published on disc in the Soviet Union following the lifting of the unofficial ban on his music. The remaining works on Timeless Light were all recorded between 2014 and 2016.

Classical Music

STALIN COCKTAIL VLADIMIR SPIV

Arvo Pärt’s piano works range from his first public statement as a composer, the Zwei Sonatinen, to his latest, the life affirming miniature Für Anna Maria. Moving away from his 1960s atonal language, Pärt found an essence of truth in music embodied in the simple lines of Für Alina. Lamentate is a vast monument which the composer has described as a lament ‘not for the dead, but for the living’. Multi award-winning pianist Ralph van Raat has been praised for his ‘sensitive and technically refined’ playing of Hans Otte’s Book of Sounds (8.572444) (MusicWeb International).

The Queen of Instruments meets one of the international leading organists, Iveta Apkalna. The repertoire of the new album includes Vasks' "Viatore" and "Te Deum" as well as Part's famous "Spiegel i'm Spiegel", "Pari intervallo", "Trivium" and "Annum per annum". Two of the most important contemporary composers are united on one album, celebrating Part's 90th birthday in 2025 and Vasks' 80th birthday in 2026. Also a milestone in music history is captured on this release: it is the first ever solo organ recording made on the organ of the Ventspils Concert Hall "Latvija" - one of the most remarkable concert instruments in Norther Europe.

For his third solo album for Alpha, keyboard polyglot Anthony Romaniuk returns to the piano, exploring the seven modes: derived from the major scale, the basis of ancient Greek music but nowadays endemic in folk, jazz, and beyond, each one containing a world of character and mood. Starting with John Adams' Phrygian Gates, Romaniuk devised a programme comprising music by Pärt, Ligeti, Radiohead, and Björk, with his own original compositions; arrangements of traditional Catalan and English/Scottish music; and improvisations. Continuing his search for a personal and original sound, Romaniuk uses two pianos, including a Klavins upright grand piano (from the collection of Nils Frahm), which, thanks to it's massive soundboard and four-metre-long bass strings, overwhelms the listener. The addition of various analogue and digital audio effects, together with innovative recording techniques, brings the listener into a unique sonic landscape, approaching that of a sound installation.

The Queen of Instruments meets one of the world's leading organists, Iveta Apkalna. The repertoire of the new album includes Vasks' Viatore and Te Deum, as well as Pärt's famous Spiegel i'm Spiegel, Pari intervallo, Trivium, and Annum per annum. Two of the most important contemporary composers are united on one album, celebrating Pärt's 90th birthday in 2025 and Vasks' 80th birthday in 2026. Also captured on this release is a milestone in music history: it is the first-ever solo organ recording made on the organ of the Ventspils Concert Hall "Latvija"-one of the most remarkable concert instruments in Northern Europe.

This album of contemporary organ repertoire features fascinating works that display a wide array of influences. Barry Jordan’s Praise Song, heard here its 2018 revision, draws on modern worship songs and African drumming rhythms, an element that also suffuses part of Thierry Escaich’s Évocation II, a work of electrifying intensity and vibrant color. Arvo Pärt’s starkly beautiful Annum per annum is featured alongside Theo Brandmüller’s last work Sternenklänge. Dialogue vers les étoiles by Christian von Blohn – a student of Brandmüller – acts as a moving posthumous dialogue with his teacher.

Three great choral and orchestral works of the 20th century are gathered together in outstanding interpretations on the new album from BR-KLASSIK: Arvo Pärt's "Berlin Mass" for choir and string orchestra from 1990, Francis Poulenc's "Stabat mater" for soprano, mixed choir and orchestra from 1950, and Igor Stravinsky's "Symphony of Psalms" for choir and orchestra from 1930. The soprano Genia Kühmeier, the incomparable Bavarian Radio Chorus and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra - two undisputedly world-class ensembles! - under the direction of Mariss Jansons guarantee the highest listening pleasure.

The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, famed for his magical sounds, created his "Berlin Mass" as a commission for the 90th German Catholic Convention in Berlin. It was premiered in 1990 for four mixed solo voices and organ. In 1997, Pärt reworked his Mass, written in the so-called "Tintinnabuli" style, for choir and string orchestra. Francis Poulenc wrote his "Stabat mater" in response to the unexpected death of his friend, the artist Christian Bérard. Like other sacred works written after his visit to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, where he found his Catholic faith, this one ranks among his most important compositions. Igor Stravinsky's well-known "Symphony of Psalms", a three-movement symphonic work for choir and orchestra, was written in 1930 as a commission for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The unusual orchestration – with strong woodwind and brass, percussion instruments, two pianos and only the bass strings (violoncellos, double basses without violins or violas – gives the work its distinctive sound.

REVIEWS:

Just how much we miss Mariss Jansons is manifest in this Munich concert of three sacred works. Jansons, who died in November 2019, aged 76, was not principally noted for religiosity or choral masterpieces, but his shaping of this triptych is so masterful that one can hardly imagine them presented with greater coherence or sincerity.

This is altogether an outstanding record of the conductor’s art. Jansons was one of the greats. Happily, Bavarian Radio have more of his big nights coming out of their archives.

-- Ludwig van Toronto

Approaching these works with the great seriousness they deserve, Mariss Jansons and the choir create wonderous moods and make the music float in evocative fashion.

-- Pizzicato

The phrase 'Baltic music' is not just a label, but a key that unlocks the rich creativity of composers living around the Baltic Sea. However, it is more than a specific style, mood, or aesthetic. It is about a diverse landscape of Baltic music, each piece being a unique story of individual experience, desire, and reflection of identity. The Baltic identity manifests itself in the most diverse ways, as a cultural tapestry that is both engaging and intriguing. The album Baltic Prayer opens up part of this landscape, united by the motifs of peace, and a conversation with oneself, others, or God. Works by the Lithuanian composers Anatolijus senderovas and Jurgis Juozapaitis, by the Latvian composer P?teris Vasks, and by the Estonian composer Arvo Part, are presented. Next to them are some stylistically close compositions by the Norwegian star of choral music Ola Gjeilo, the British composer John Tavener, and the Ukrainian Myroslav Skoryk.

The phrase 'Baltic music' is not just a label, but a key that unlocks the rich creativity of composers living around the Baltic Sea. However, it is more than a specific style, mood, or aesthetic. It is about a diverse landscape of Baltic music, each piece being a unique story of individual experience, desire, and reflection of identity. The Baltic identity manifests itself in the most diverse ways, as a cultural tapestry that is both engaging and intriguing. The album Baltic Prayer opens up part of this landscape, united by the motifs of peace, and a conversation with oneself, others, or God. Works by the Lithuanian composers Anatolijus senderovas and Jurgis Juozapaitis, by the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, and by the Estonian composer Arvo Part, are presented. Next to them are some stylistically close compositions by the Norwegian star of choral music Ola Gjeilo, the British composer John Tavener, and the Ukrainian Myroslav Skoryk.

The piano trio began to be embraced by Estonian composers around the turn of the 20th century. Composers of that era, many of whom were educated in St. Petersburg, were greatly influenced by the then Russian capital’s rich musical life. Estonia’s own national musical awakening was later spearheaded by these very composers. The piano trio POLL-VAREMA-POLL was founded in 2013 by Mihkel Poll (piano), Mari Poll (violin) and Henry-David Varema (cello), and since then has performed in Europe as well as in Russia and China, at venues such as the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia and the Estonia Concert Hall. All three artists have prominent recital, orchestral, teaching careers and are recognized for their distinctive creative perspectives. They are enthusiastic champions of the piano trio genre, per-forming the widest possible range of repertoire from Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms to con-temporary composers. Works by Estonian com-posers including national classics Artur Lemba and Heino Eller, and modern-day composers such as Erkki-Sven Tüür, Arvo Pärt and Riho Esko Maimets have an important place in their concert programs.

The Concerto Copenhagen and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir celebrate the 90th birthday of Estonian composer Arvo Part. The new recording under the musical direction of the Estonian chorus master and conductor Tonu Kaljuste is the perfect 'birthday serenade' for their renowned compatriot. The repertoire includes "Silouans Song", "Stabat Mater", "Trisagion", "Berliner Messe", "Festina Lente" with a unique combination of historical/period instruments and contemporary choral singing.

Eight years ago, a two-album collection of piano music by Arvo Pärt became a Brilliant Classics best-seller (95053, now reissued on LP), with Jeroen van Veen’s playing capturing both the zeitgeist and the rapturous stillness of the Estonian composer’s aesthetic. ‘Jeroen van Veen’s recording can stand alongside the best from any source, and this set is worthy of high praise in every regard’ (MusicWeb International). ‘All played with insight and a crystalline tone… almost unbearably beautiful’ (BBC Music Magazine). This sequel reprises a selection of those ‘modern classic’ recordings, and adds a trio of newly made recordings for cello and piano. Jeroen van Veen is joined by his pianist wife Sandra, and cellist Joachim Eijlander, to present a portrait of Pärt the man and the composer, attentive to and yet at times purposefully isolated from the turbulent currents of music in the second half of the last century.

The album opens with a new recording of Fratres in its familiar cello-and-piano guise, and continues with masterpieces of ‘new simplicity’ from the 1970s such as Für Alina and Pari Intervallo. Such pieces began to set out the harmonic world of ‘tintinnabuli’, characterized by open and slow-moving harmonies, for which Pärt later became famous worldwide. The Ukuaru Valss affords a rare glimpse of the composer’s lighter side, before an extended version of Für Alina and then the unearthly, imperishable echoes of Spiegel im Spiegel, which distils the sound of Part as much as any other single piece. The album concludes with Pärtomania, a newly written 20-minute tribute to the composer’s soundworld by Jeroen van Veen, scored for the same string-instrument and piano combination as Fratres and Spiegel im Spiegel. Van Veen himself discusses the unique world of Pärt’s music in a booklet introduction.

This album by pianist Reinis Zarins and the Trio Palladio is a special personal tribute to composer Arvo Part (b. 1935), one of the most influential composers of our time. This album includes Part's timeless piano works together with a selection of his chamber works, including the famous Fur Alina, Fratres and Spiegel i'm Spiegel alongside his early works. The programme also includes two special dedications by two Latvian composers, Georgs Pelecis and Andrejs Selickis, who both as composers have been greatly influenced by Arvo Part's example and ideas. These two works, written in 2025 for Arvo Part's 90th birthday, receive their first recordings.

Arabella Steinbacher presents works for violin and orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach and Arvo Pärt, together with violinist Christoph Koncz and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Bach’s violin concertos have had a very special significance for Steinbacher ever since hearing the A Minor Concerto at the age of four, an experience that made her decide to become a musician. This seminal work is performed here alongside the E Major Violin Concerto and the Double Concerto in D Minor, on which she is joined by violinist Christoph Koncz. The Bach concertos are framed by two of Arvo Pärt’s most profound and enigmatic pieces: Fratres and Spiegel im Spiegel; the former in the version for violin, string orchestra and percussion, the latter rendered in a version for violin and piano, together with Peter von Wienhardt. Bach and Pärt may be centuries apart, but for Steinbacher, they have a spiritual and sacred origin in common, and their music resonates deeply with her. Arabella Steinbacher is a multiple award-winner with an extensive Pentatone discography, including Mozart’s complete violin concertos (2014 and 2021), Four Seasons (Vivaldi & Piazzolla, 2020), Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos (2015) and many others. Christoph Koncz and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester make their Pentatone debut.

REVIEWS:

I’ve long been a fan of Steinbacher’s; I’ve raved about her playing in a wide variety of repertoire: Bartok, Brahms, and Hindemith and Britten. Here she plays two Bach Violin Concertos: in E major and A minor, and a Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, with another fine violinist, Christian Kontz. Once again Pentatone provides fine accompaniment: the agile and stylish Stuttgarter Kammerorchester.

Two Arvo Pärt pieces bookend the three Bach concertos. His Fratres comes in many versions; this one, for violin, string orchestra and percussion, is from 1992. This is a suitable prelude to the meat of the program: hushed and reverential, but in the end as dramatic a curtain raiser as a Rossini overture. The final piece, Spiegel im Spiegel, in its original 1978 version for violin and piano, acts as a kind of valedictory encore. Once again, Arabella Steinbacher has a fine partner, in pianist Peter von Wienhard.

-- Music for Several Instruments (Dean Frey)

From the evidence of this new Pentatone album of Bach concertos, Steinbacher's artistry of the violin reveals an ever-increasing maturity. The lovely slender tone, flawless cantabile and sheer love of melody she has displayed in her earlier recordings is still there, along with an increased awareness of the harmonic basis of the great works of music she performs. And her sure hand in shaping the graceful contour of a given melody is more skilled and knowing than ever.

-- Audio Visual Club of Atlanta (Phil Muse)

This recital brings together two established classics from the 20th century with lesser-known works from the repertoire for violin and piano. Alongside Ravel’s Sonata, a work that reveals the influence of jazz on the French composer, and Prokofiev’s wartime Sonata, Op. 94a, an idiomatic arrangement of its original version for flute, we find compositions by Arvo Pärt, Lili Boulanger and Grazyna Bacewicz, which, at times meditative, at times lyrical, at times folk-inspired, testify to the richness of this repertoire. These works are here performed by Johan Dalene, the Swedish-Norwegian winner of the 2019 Nielsen Competition. The present disc is violinist’s fourth release on BIS, following a recording of the Nielsen and Sibelius Concertos named Editor’s Choice by Gramophone and awarded the 2023 Swedish Grammis Award for Best Classical, the Tchaikovsky Concerto described as ‘one of the finest violin débuts of the last decade’ in BBC Music Magazine, and ‘Nordic Rhapsody’, a violin and-piano recital that was awarded distinctions such as Diapason d’or and Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice. As with that release, Dalene is given here the expert support of Christian Ihle Hadland who has also appeared on other much-lauded recordings, most recently one dedicated to Saint-Saëns’ violin sonatas.

REVIEW:

The young violinist Johan Dalene was named Gramo­phone’s Young Artist of the Year in 2022 and has performed with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Czech Philhar­monic, and San Francisco Symphony. He’s also made his mark in Halls Wigmore and Carnegie, and on this brilliantly assembled collection of works by Arvo Part (Fratres), Maurice Ravel (Sonata in G major for violin and piano), Lili Boulanger (Nocturne), Sergei Prokofiev (Sonata No.2 in D major for violin and piano), and four short works by Grazyna Bacewicz.

The collection’s common thread is a pen­chant for piquant harmonies, atmosphere, and mysticism. Bacewicz’s early “Witraz” (Stained-Glass Window), which she com­posed in 1932 at the age of 23, is unforget­table. If you can begin to imagine magical flashes of light and color diffused through a stained-glass window, dancing across the room as they metamorphosize into sound, you’ll get a sense of how special this miniature sounds. Dalene’s Strad whispers, flashes, darts, and whirls as Hadland shines beside him through light and shadow.

Thanks to the iconic ECM New Series recording by Gidon Kremer and Keith Jarrett, Part’s early mystical masterpiece achieved fame just a few years after it was completed. Where Kremer begins with a whisper, Dalene is far more forthright, his tone irresistibly fresh and gleaming, and the recording benefits from superior engineer­ing. The touching poetry of Boulanger’s subtle miniature stands in sharp contrast to Prokofiev’s fabulous scherzo and circuslike finale. Ravel, too, revels in character, humor, amiability, and spice. The finale brings to mind someone chasing a mosquito around the room with a rolled-up copy of Stereophile in hand.

-- Stereophile

The debut album Pangea by violinist Lea Bruckner combines the idea of expanding and illuminating the musical diversity of classical music. The selection of works takes the listener on a journey through 9 countries, musical styles such as impressionism, minimalism and jazz influences as well as the influence of folklore on composers. In addition to well-known names such as Maurice Ravel, Arvo Part and Bartok, there are also names such as Aleksey Igudesman with his perfomative Flamenco Fantasy, the Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz Coleridge Taylor Perkinson and William Kroll. Another highlight is the famous Melody by Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk. Lea Bruckner will be accompanied by Tamilla Guliyeva and Gabor Ladanyi.

Revolving around the first recording of Sir James MacMillan's Kiss on Wood for viola and piano arranged and performed by Rachel Yonan, this album explores the polarity of light and darkness. Minimalist composer Arvo Pa¨rt's beloved Fratres and Spiegel i'm Spiegel bookend the program. The concept of light infuses these pieces with their intense clarity and search for transcendent meaning. Fratres (Brotherhood) evokes the struggle between good and evil with it's contrasting voices. Spiegel i'm Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror) is pure and stable as it sonically imagines the infinite reflection between two mirrors. Pa¨rt's deeply spiritual music links to MacMillan's devotional Kiss on Wood which invites the listener into a place of stillness and silence as it reaches for an essence of meaning beyond words. MacMillan sounds out the darkness of loss, yet finds delicate rays of hope to fill the long spaces. Paired with these intense yet static twenty-first century works are Schumann's miniature character pieces Ma¨rchenbilder (Fairytale Pictures) that use an emotional palette ranging from bright and playful to deeply melancholic. The programmatic title of each work-Fratres, Kiss on Wood, Ma¨rchenbilder, Spiegel i'm Spiegel- hints at meaning that cannot be expressed by words alone, but must be illuminated by the music.

How do we even measure time? It is sometimes said that time is as old as humankind, but of course it isn’t. It’s just something we created out of a need for... what exactly? Earliest known evidence suggests we were measuring time already 5000 years ago. That way we could create predictability, for example concerning planting and harvesting. From there on we could more easily schedule and organize, which then helped us building a more sustainable life. When we had found a mutual understanding of what we would call time then other systems could be developed, kind of like a third-party software.

Music notation works as a fine example. Today our life is synchronized “to the beat.” Not only is every single footstep kept track of by our telephones or every breath by our smart wrist watches – even our thoughts are as good as monitored as we scroll casually through advertisements on social media. Without us even realizing, the idea of time and synchronicity is apparently encrypted so deep in our consciousness that the thought of viewing the world without it is beyond our comprehension. That doesn’t change the fact that time as we understand it has not always been the same. Our ideas on time have changed throughout the centuries and will most probably continue to do so. The works on Sonic Alchemy are of composers who offer a new perspective on how we can perceive time, each in their own way. - Páll Ragnar Pálsson

An audiophile LP transfer presents a highly praised recording of a monumental tribute from one great artist to another.

Arvo Pärt, likely the most performed living composer, found inspiration to compose Lamentate in 2002 from a work by sculptor Anish Kapoor. Kapoor's sculpture, titled Marsyas, alludes to the classical legend of the satyr who challenged Apollo to a musical contest and faced a brutal fate for his audacity. Occupying the vast expanse of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London, Kapoor's sculpture evokes humanity's Promethean daring in abstract form. In response, commissioned by the Tate, Pärt crafted his largest work of instrumental music.

Upon encountering the sculpture, Pärt remarked, "my first impression was that I, as a living being, was standing before my own body and was dead, as in a time-warp perspective, at once in the future and the present. Suddenly, I found myself put in a position in which my life appeared in a different light." Comprising 10 movements spanning 40 minutes, Lamentate transcends grief for a specific individual, elevating its themes to more universal concerns.

"Death and suffering are the themes that concern every person born into this world," Pärt reflects. "Accordingly, I have written a lamento – not for the dead, but for the living, who have to deal with these issues for themselves. A lamento for us, who don’t have it easy dealing with the pain and hopelessness of the world." Pärt's composition contributes to a tradition of semi-sacred or secular liturgies of grief, remembrance, and transfiguration, echoing works like Brahms' German Requiem, Strauss' Four Last Songs, and Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls.

This Spanish-made version, previously released on CD and digital formats, garnered critical acclaim for its dedicated performance and the depth of field in its engineering. The new transfer to the analogue format of LP underscores the richness of the recording's sound.

Spiegel i'm Spiegel Celebrating Arvo Part at 90 This album, titled after one of Arvo Part's most beloved works, is a meditative tribute marking the composer's 90th birthday on September 11, 2025. On Spiegel i'm Spiegel, music becomes a mirror: between composers, across centuries, and within the listener. At it's heart are three works by Part-Fratres, Da pacem, and Spiegel i'm Spiegel-each embodying his signature language of stillness and spiritual clarity. They are framed by pieces that resonate with his sensibility: Olivier Messiaen's contemplative Louanges, Johann Sebastian Bach's luminous Sonata for Viola da Gamba, and Alfred Schnittke's brooding Cello Sonata. Performed by Onute Grazinyte and Edward King, with the Aidija Chamber Choir led by Romualdas Grazinis, this collection invites deep listening. From Bach's elegant counterpoint to Messiaen's timeless devotion, each work reflects a shared search for the eternal. A sonic meditation on peace, prayer, and presence-this is music that mirrors the soul. Recorded at Studio Residence Paliesius, May 2025

Death and suffering are the themes that concern every person born into this world. The way in which the individual comes to terms with these issues (or fails to do so) determines his attitude towards life, whether consciously or unconsciously … This is the subject matter underlying my composition Lamentate. Accordingly, I have written a lament – not for the dead, but for the living, who have to deal with these issues for themselves. This was how composer Arvo Pärt referred to his largest instrumental work to date and these are precisely the questions – death and suffering – which run through this recording.

Pärt, born in 1935 in Paide (Estonia), knows what he is talking about: harassed by the Soviet authorities who branded his art as over-modern and excessively religious, he underwent a profound personal crisis that led him to unfathomable suffering, reclusion and an end to his first phase of composition. As part of his subsequent artistic resurrection in the mid-nineteen seventies, he began to produce music which he defined as «tintinnabuli», inspired by the pealing of bells and based on sacred texts, mostly in Latin or in the Slavic language used in Orthodox church liturgy. Pärt himself described his style as follows: " … I must search for unity … everything that is unimportant falls away. Tintinnabulation is like this. Here I am alone with silence. I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me".

REVIEW:

The pianist Pedro Piquero studied in his home country of Spain and then the US. He has pursued a dual career of pianist and translator, producing definitive editions of foundational texts of Zen Buddhism and in 2017 becoming a Buddhist monk. This search for spiritual wisdom and transcendence makes him a performer of rare insight when addressing the music of Pärt.

-- Classical Music Daily

In the late 1960s, the composer Michael Nyman coined the term "minimalism" to describe a new musical aesthetic characterized by a certain simplicity and economy of means. One of the composers associated with this movement, La Monte Young, embraced the term with enthusiasm, while others like Steve Reich and Philip Glass nuanced it with terms such as "music without intention" or "music with a repetitive structure". The term "hypnotic music" might also be appropriate for some works by Simeon ten Holt or Arvo Part, provided we are attuned to the monotonous hum of rain, have a fondness for grey-the languid greys of overcast days-or appreciate a certain suspension of the world. Considered to be the most gifted and promising pianist of his generation in Poland, Szymon Nehring is the only Pole to have won first prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv (2017). He was also a finalist at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw with only 19 years of age. Szymon Nehring performes with orchestras such as Sinfonia Varsovia, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchester philharmonique de Marseille and Orchestre Paseloup in France and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, collaborating with conductors such as John Axelrod, Lukas Borowicz, Sylvain Cambreling, Karina Canellakis, Pablo Heras-Casado, Marzena Diakun, Lawrence Foster, Giancarlo Guerrero, Jacek Kaspszyk, Grzegorz Nowak, Pawel Przytocki, George Tchitchinadze, David Zinman and Omer Meir Wellber. He also performed and recorded with the late Krzysztof Penderecki, among other works Mr. Penderecki´s piano concerto.

Julian Walder (*2000 in Vienna) is first prize winner of numerous international competitions, including the NYIAA - New York International Artists Association Violin Competition. He is the Grand Prix winner in all categories at the Grumiaux Competition in Belgium and was awarded, among other distinctions, the 3rd prize at the 2023 International Henri Marteau Violin Competition in Germany. The Chaconne by BACH, a source of inspiration for countless composers over centuries, forms the heart of this CD. Around this fundamental Baroque masterpiece, many currents, influences, admirations, and tributes have emerged. The title of the CD, "(R)-EVOLUTION", encompasses the word "evolution," signifying how, through the adoption and application of Bach's compositional techniques, his structures continue to live on in many works across the ages. The "revolution" refers to the deliberate transformation of his defining style by other composers over time.

The concept of metanoia - that which goes beyond thought - most commonly describes a change in the way of seeing and thinking about things. With this recording, Italo-Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes and her chamber orchestra "K", together with the choir "Sequenza 9.3", go on a musical journey to find moments of metanoia in the lives and works of composers such as Giacomo Puccini, Arvo Pärt, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Alexander Borodin as well as Johann Sebastian Bach. Simone Menezes is a visionary musician, known for her creativity and innovative spirit and ability to brilliantly combine classical and contemporary repertoire. Whether as the founder and artistic director of chamber music ensemble “K”, as a coveted guest conductor with many of the world’s most respected orchestras or in her stunningly creative projects in partnership between music and other arts, Simone Menezes has established herself as a rising artist of a new generation.

The pieces featured on the present album are staples of Belfiato Quintet’s modern repertoire and are, above all, music close to their heart. Each of them occupies a special position in the ensemble’s history. Carl Nielsen’s Wind Quintet is the very first work they explored and performed, while their rendition of Cinq danses profanes et sacrées at the 2011 Henri Tomasi International Woodwind Quintet Competition in Marseille earned the prize for the best interpretation of a Tomasi composition. And the other works included on the album have played significant roles in the ensemble’s career too. The five pieces, dating from between 1922 and 1964, represent their creators’ specific “elements”, as well as the diverse music traditions of their native countries. Yet the album’s title may also refer to five highly distinct figures who – perhaps precisely owing to their being so distinct – form a superbly harmonized ensemble that possesses a remarkable variety of tone quality and shades of expression. Belfiato Quintet are indisputably a world-class ensemble, with regard to the present album’s repertoire and beyond. Belfiato Quintet – five elements chiming in perfect harmony.

In an age of resurgent conflict and frenetic demands on our attention, Angel of Peace offers a slice of tranquillity in many forms courtesy of luminous, purifying music traversing six centuries. This album centres on the power and beauty of poetry in music, bringing together the exquisite simplicity of the songs of 12th-century Abbess Hildegard of Bingen with John Taverner's joyous large scale antiphons composed some 400 years later. Leap forward to more recent times and we hear new settings by Will Todd and Anna Clyne of words by Cardinal Newman and Rainer Maria Rilke. Commissioned for solo violin with choir, both works heighten the intensity of the poetry through the fascinating musical dialogue between strings and voice. Arvo Part, marking his 90th birthday, brings us full circle with his serene clarity. These timeless voices resonate with our deepest need for stillness and with each work we hope to share a moment of peace and connection through the timeless language of music.

This album allows us to appreciate the versatility of the young performer Anna Urpina, whose goal has been to approach each score from a historically informed perspective. The compositions of c. XVII and XVIII (Castello, Biber, Corelli and Telemann) are recorded with Baroque violin (with gut strings) and bow next to the harpsichord. In addition, the tuning is half a tone lower (415 Hz) than is usually used in the current repertoire (442 Hz). Period techniques have also been put into practice, as well as Baroque flexibility in ornamentation and improvisation. Summoning a single key instrument to give life to the basso continuo allows us to compare in a more direct way the works belonging to the two historical periods, since the scores of c. XX and XXI (Webern, Pärt, José Luis Turina and Guix) are performed with modern violin and piano. In fact, following this idea of highlighting to the maximum the contrasts and constants that relate the eight compositions, the pieces have been ordered by combining one of each period instead of following a chronological order, thus generating quite a stimulating hybrid narration. An original proposal which highlights the sophisticated sound and artistic potential of the “four-chord lyre”, as Biber used to call the violin.

The four symphonies of Arvo Part were composed over a span of forty-five years, and bear little or no relationship with one another - four individual pieces that represent his output at separate parts of his creative journey. The First Symphony was composed in 1963, shortly after Part had graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory. It's two-movement structure looks to the baroque - Canons and a Prelude and Fugue - but the harmonic language is extremely advanced, giving off a distinct whiff of twelve-tone serialism. The Second Symphony, from 1966, in three movements, again employs a combination of serialism and textures hinting at Penderecki and the Polish school. Also in three movements, the Third Symphony (1971) reflects the time Part spent in the late 1960s studying chant and mediaeval music. Symphony No. 4 'Los Angeles' came much later (in 2007 - 08) and now the style is directly inspired by sacred music. Part took as his models two great litanies of the Orthodox Church: the Canon of Repentance, and the Canon to the Holy Guardian Angel. Unusually scored for strings, harp, timpani, and percussion, this final work is also cast in three movements. With her elegant, expressive body language, natural stage presence, and infectious musicality, Eva Ollikainen is one of the leading conductors of our time. This former student of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra since 2020.