On the eight solo improvisations that make up Dark Radiance, percussionist, performance artist and composer Ying-Hsueh Chen takes listeners on a journey through subtle musical movements that meticulously weave the past into the present in a remarkable manner. Nearly every piece is devoted to a single instrument, and each, for the most part, emerges from a single musical gesture or action, creating sounds from the thunderous to the delicate without overpowering or losing them.

James D. Hicks takes a musical voyage with organ music of today, from the USA, to Iceland and Norway and back again, in Volume 17 - a double-CD - of his Nordic Journey series. Recorded in Bodo Cathedral, Norway, and in Hallgrimskirkje in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Composing is a fundamental need for me and a way to express myself. Composing is part of my life and opens up unimagined spaces for me in the creative process. My goal is to make these accessible and understandable to an audience. It is important to me to only write what can be heard. Therefore, I am not interested in abstract and (overly) complicated structures, but rather in organic processes that can be understood. For me, it is less about intellectual comprehension than about a vigilant (emotional) re-experiencing. Only then can the music unfold the effect that is appropriate to it's very special power.

There is an evaporating quality to the music of Icelandic composer and conductor Daníel Bjarnason, with sounds that can start softly or loudly, serenely or fiercely, but ultimately dissipate into intangible air. This album, conducted by the composer himself, showcases this characteristic in three captivating works in all-new versions. In Bow to String, the three movements undergo a mesmerizing transformation from a pounding passacaglia to an exhale of frozen breath. In Over Light Earth, the sounds tremble before dispersing to the far edges of the orchestra. And in the Larkin Songs, Bjarnason reflects on fleeting companionship and love.

Beginning with the intimate, hushed textures of the solo piano cycle '12 Nocturnes' (2000-14), a night music that drifts from sundown to sunrise, and unfolding into the Piano Concerto No. 3, 'La sera estatica' (2021) - an ecstatic evening touched by the fleeting magic of twilight, where new encounters and possibilities quietly awaken, captured live at it's world premiere by the Copenhagen Phil under John Storgårds - this album immerses the listener in Bent Sorensen's (b. 1958) profound love of the piano and extraordinary poetic imagination.

Jerrick Cavagnaro, the First Prize Winner in the 2024 American Guild of Organists' (AGO) National Competition in Organ Improvisation (NCOI), releases his debut solo album with Pro Organo, performing upon the historic, renovated pipe organ of Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston. The program contains both repertoire selections and several of Mr. Cavagnaro's organ improvisations in a variety of musical styles.

The bandoneon was remarkably popular as part of Argentinian culture during the 20th century and was brought into the Western mainstream through Astor Piazzolla's 'nuevo tango'. It was invented in Germany in around 1850, and for a while became a familiar part of musical life there. Andre Parfenov's dramatic and evocative Bandoneon Story delves into the instrument's rich history turning it into a surprisingly varied audio journey, exploring it's humble origins, expressive poetic palette and artful dance syncopations to create a cinematic historical panorama.

Highly acclaimed organist Stephen Farr presents an album of organ works by composer Francis Grier, performed on the American-built Dobson Organ of Merton College, Oxford.

Grier demonstrates an individual approach to timbre and texture in writing for the organ and shows fascinating traits which are a testament to a wide range of musical, and non-musical, influences extending beyond the bounds of the cathedral world to experiences drawn from his years in India.

The album features "A Celebration for All Saints," commissioned by Farr and first performed in 2022, "De Profundis" scored for organ and cello, performed here by Indira Grier, "Flourish and Reverie" dating from shortly after Grier’s return from India in 1990, and "Wir haben schwerlich," composed to join works by a variety of composers in the Orgelbüchlein Project.

Now on vinyl! The accordion is an instrument that is deeply rooted in Lithuanian folk music. Today, the accordion is also recognized as a versatile instrument of classical music, a change in perception that has largely been promoted by Martynas Levickis, one of the most internationally sought-after musicians in his field. With its lightness and melancholy, Astor Piazzolla’s music has fascinated the young accordionist from an early age, and so it goes without saying that he is dedicating himself to this exceptional composer in his anniversary year. Together with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra he recorded "Aconcagua" live in concert. For conductor Modestas Pitrenas, Piazzolla's concerto - named posthumously after the highest mountain in the Americas - "conveys the climb to the roof of the earth in all its facets and symbolism: freedom, longing, loneliness, pain, transfiguration, peace." Levickis has a long and close collaboration with the chamber orchestra "Mikroórkestra". Together they present their interpretation of "Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas," Piazzolla's timeless masterpieces of many styles that capture in music the four seasons in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires.

Composer William Ortiz was born in Puerto Rico, but raised in the U.S. Nonetheless, his Latino identification plays a major role in his music, which can readily be heard in this superb album of his works.

Leaps & Bounds: The Music of Lance Hulme presents a compelling survey of Dr. Lance Hulme's oeuvre, showcasing his intellectual rigor, inventive compositional techniques, and engagement with diverse cultural and historical contexts. The album features works that exemplify Hulme's mastery of structure and colour. Sirens' Song, a symphonic triptych inspired by Homer's Odyssey, integrates 19th- and early 20th-century orchestral techniques with modern thematic exploration. Wildcat, originally commissioned by the Rascher Saxophone Quartet, reflects a vivid sonic depiction of kinetic energy and joy, drawing on personal and cultural narratives. Hulme's JethroZen juxtaposes the rock-inspired flute idiom of Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) with the meditative timbres of the Japanese Shakuhachi, bridging Eastern and Western musical traditions. Folk idioms and tonal frameworks are reimagined in Appalachian Advent, while Sax Attractor employs mathematical attractor sets as a metaphor for musical cohesion, yielding a meticulously structured saxophone sonata. Setting the Diamond offers an innovative engagement with medieval chant, integrating Hildegard von Bingen's hymnody with electronic and acoustic counterpoint to create a nuanced dialogue between past and present. Hulme's works balance intellectual depth with emotional immediacy. An Eternal Flame, dedicated to the people of Ukraine, demonstrates his ability to embed profound human narratives within intricate compositional frameworks. Slapdash Redux, with it's virtuosic interplay and rhythmic ingenuity, exemplifies his fascination with spontaneous energy and contrapuntal complexity. This album is an essential addition to the repertoire of contemporary classical music, inviting scholars, performers, and listeners to explore the intersections of tradition, innovation, and cultural dialogue in Hulme's work. Leaps & Bounds offers a vivid portrait of a composer who traverses disciplinary boundaries with intellectual acuity and artistic finesse.

The view into "infinity" gives freedom! Man lives in his narrow temporal space and, with his mind focussed only on the supposedly 'real' sensory world, grasps only the outside of his being: he loses himself in the multiplicity of things. A feeling for the cosmic interconnectedness of all beings has been lost. In the prison of materialism, man cannot free himself from such polarity - that is why he is ruled by strife, war, egoism, lust for power and possessiveness. The three musical works on this CD offer a glimpse into the liberating infinity beyond things: In THE BIRDS, the world of birds is evoked - even according to principles of mystical alchemy - which are evolutionarily related to dinosaurs and have always been associated with deities, divination and boundless celestial freedom. In FATAL HARMONIES, the deadly harmonies of the Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo, the exaggerated disruption of a contradictory existence is presented, death and negative energies are diametrically opposed to bold genius - extreme light begets extreme shadow in polarity. THE BELLS traces the archetype of bells, whose sound has been waking people up for thousands of years, leading them to transcendence and infinity. With the end of material thinking, of earthly persistence in polarity, judgement and comparison, PEACE could come - because in the face of eternity and infinity, good-evil or mine-his have lost all meaning. This is why the theme of 'peace' takes centre stage twice on this CD - in the concluding 'Dona nobis Pacem' and in the middle movement 'The Swan - The White' of the violin concerto, because this is based on the peace hymn 'El Can't des Ocells' (Song of the Birds) by the Catalan cellist and humanist Pablo Casal, which he played as an encore to every concert throughout his life.

The Gentle Erasure of Time, the arresting and spellbinding debut solo album from Dublin-based American violist Nathan Sherman, is a collection of new commissions for solo viola and electronics. Sherman creates an immersive soundscape that shifts between haunting, mesmerising passages and intense, cinematic moments. Featuring works by distinguished composers Nicole Lizee, Karin Rehnqvist, Jonathan Nangle, Linda Buckley, Benjamin Broening, and Sam Perkin, this album explores themes of memory, movement, and beauty, establishing a vibrant conversation between acoustic and electronic realms. The album opens with Jonathan Nangle's Erasure of Time, in which Sherman's viola plays a central role within an intricate layering of effects and electronic synthesis, moving through sonic landscapes with a sense of almost perilous intensity. Each piece is a distinct sound world, blending the viola's organic resonance with imaginative electronic textures to create an atmosphere that feels both grounded and otherworldly. The delicate interplay of sound elevates the viola's voice in an entirely new setting, inviting listeners to engage with each carefully crafted moment. Linda Buckley's The Thin Veil provides a lyrical and meditative close to the album, capturing a final, ethereal reflection on the album's core ideas. This piece, rich with Buckley's characteristic beauty and introspection, rounds out The Gentle Erasure of Time as a powerful exploration of what electronic elements can bring to contemporary classical music. Sherman's technical skill animates each composition with precision and intensity, revealing his deep connection to this repertoire. Known for his versatile musical interests and collaborations, Sherman has performed across both classical and experimental genres, contributing to ensembles like the Ficino Ensemble, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and the Irish Baroque Orchestra. This album builds on his innovative career, inviting listeners into a sonic experience that reimagines the potential of viola and electronic music together. The Gentle Erasure of Time is a remarkable achievement from an artist at the height of his creative powers. Audiences are encouraged to turn up the volume and experience the textured depths and spatial richness of a bold new vision for the viola.

This album features a selection of African Art Music songs for voice and piano. The genre typifies the creative convergence of Western Art Music with African Folk Music traditions.

Maciej Sledziecki and Marion Worle show just how exciting the world of the pipe organ is today as the ensemble gamut inc. The retro-futuristic duo uses self-programmed software to dock onto the MIDI consoles of church organs, control their stops in a manually impossible way and perform sound synthesis with surprising results. Their annual AGGREGATE festival in Berlin is a meeting place for the international "New Organ Movement" scene: electronic musicians, composers and organists from different backgrounds present various positions on the so-called hyper organ. With "AGGREGATE - New Works for Automated Pipe Organs", WERGO presents a selection from the 2021 and 2022 festival editions. The new works, fragments, improvisations, adaptations of existing pieces (such as the adaptations of Conlon Nancarrow's "Studies for Player Piano" for organ), interactions between organ and electronics as well as algorithmic playing instructions for performers thus show an intermediate state and at the same time provide a breathtaking outlook on new possibilities for the organ. The leading roles are played by the organs of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the Auenkirche and the Chapel of Reconciliation.

Enno Poppe has 'tailor-made' concise ensemble works for two of the most important ensembles of contemporary music: "Gold" - a purely vocal work for the SWR Vokalensemble - and "Korper" - for the Ensemble Modern. In the three-part a cappella work "Gold" (one of only two choral compositions to date), Poppe indulges for the first time in his love of the lustfully excessive texts by Arno Holz (1863-1929), one of the most important representatives of German Naturalism and literary Modernism. The poems are parodistically related to less humorous high literature. The SWR Vokalensemble's supple miracle sound appears confidently in various combinations, sometimes fanned out in 24 voices as in old vocal polyphony. "Korper" takes us to another end of the scale of possible sounds. Here, the 21 soloists of the Ensemble Modern form a formidable big band, augmented by appropriate woodwind and brass instruments (including saxophones, of course). Here, however, Poppe is more concerned with exploring and expanding what the big band provides as a 'sound body', i.e. The colors, dynamic and rhythmic possibilities, with the means of New Music, an art that the Ensemble Modern has truly perfected. As so often with Poppe, the piece "Korper" goes through multiple processes of intensification and collapse. In the climaxes, the physicality of the music is almost overwhelming. Nevertheless, the nuclei of the piece are the intimate, thinly scored moments when the electric strings ever so gradually rise up with the percussion, or when a saxophone, a keyboard, or a trombone steps out of the thicket of sound and is allowed a few moments of self-discovery.

Edward Cowie is one of the most notable voices in contemporary music and considered by many to be the "leading contemporary composer of music that is related to the natural world" (Fanfare). A remarkable polymath, Cowie is renowned as a composer, visual artist, and natural scientist. Because They Have Songs is the fourth in Cowie's epic series of duo-works featuring cycles of stunning 'sonic portraits' of birds he has encountered on his travels across the world, exploring the relationships between the bird singers, and where and how they sing. It follows three highly acclaimed releases featuring birds of the UK (Bird Portraits MSV 28619), Australia (Where Song Was Born MSV 28620) and the US (Where the Wood Thrush Forever Sings MEX 77104), each highlighting 24 distinct bird species. This latest release, the fifteenth to feature his music on the Metier label, is devoted to 24 avian wonders of Africa. The title of the album is taken from a traditional African text which says, "Why do birds sing? Because they have songs". Edward Cowie went on safari to remote parts of Botswana, across dense bush and open plains where giraffe, wildebeest, zebra and antelope roam, through vast wetlands, majestic rivers and lakes, and shrub-dotted deserts. On his journey he sketched what he saw (included in the album booklet) and transcribed the natural sounds of insects, the noises of animals in movement, and the magnificent and powerful voices of African birds in all their moods and colours. The result is a vibrant and awe-inspiring interweaving of not only the sounds of singing creatures but also the rich environment in which they sing. The album has revelatory performances from Gerard McChrystal, justly hailed as a "magician" on saxophone, partnered with Richard Shaw's superb craftsmanship on piano, a comprehensive coupling of technique and imagination. Cowie's earlier albums in the bird song sonic portrait series received resounding praise worldwide and are poised to become iconic chamber masterpieces on the global stage: "You may well be thinking 'but Messiaen has already done it'. But Cowie's approach is gentler, almost more loving." -MusicWeb "imaginative, captivating and really very moving" -The Strad "Cowie is an endlessly inventive composer and this is a treat" -BBC Music Magazine

Despite three decades apart, renowned Australian flautist Laura Chislett and composer Edward Cowie, with their instruments as extensions of thought, craft a rich tapestry of sonic colours and inventive possibilities. This profound ritual of spontaneous outpourings invites listeners on an immersive journey, experiencing the direct transmission of sensory encounters through eight tracks that shape the discovered music of the moment. The album, a testament to their enduring creative connection, offers a unique fusion of musical expression and the natural world, inviting audiences to join in this extraordinary sonic exploration created through skilled and instinctive improvisation.

The creative synergy between Chislett and Cowie, first sparked in 1989 during Cowie's tenure at The Australian Arts Centre in Townsville, North Queensland, resonates with a unique connection rooted in shared musical sensibilities and a deep appreciation for the natural world. Fast forward to 2022, when Laura travelled to England for a transformative recording project with Cowie, unaware that it would coincide with his decision to return to Australia. Motivated by a desire for a final adventure in the expansive Australian landscape, 80-year-old Edward Cowie embraced the opportunity to explore untapped musical potential since his departure in 1995.

The resulting album, a captivating collection of improvisations, bears witness to the duo's shared experiences and draws inspiration from both the Australian and British landscapes. The improvisations pay homage to the sonic narratives of birds, land, sea, and sky, interwoven with influences from revered visual artists like Kandinsky, Rothko, Pollock, and Heather Cowie, whose artwork is on the cover.

ART DECADE is a wide-ranging collaboration that unites composer, producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Evan Ziporyn with Toronto's renowned ContaQt ensemble, led by arranger and percussionist Jerry Pergolesi. Featuring all-new interpretations of 'art rock' and ambient classics from the early '70s psych-prog output of King Crimson, David Bowie's "Berlin trilogy," and Brian Eno's Ambient 1-4 series, ART DECADE is more than just a tribute album. "Our goal is not to 'elevate' or legitimize this music," Ziporyn and Pergolesi reveal in the album's liner notes. "It's towering artistic achievement and profound influence on an entire generation is self-evident. Instead, by revisiting and inhabiting these groundbreaking works, we hope to ensure they remain a vibrant, celebrated part of the musical repertoire, retaining their punkish sense of gleeful adventure as they continue to subvert expectations and venture into uncharted territory."

The title 'Vida' of Misha Cvijovic's portrait album combines meanings from different languages - life, sight, healing and myth. The composer's music is equally multi-layered, resulting from her exploration of varying sonic and artistic perspectives. Booklet author Carl Rosman explains: 'A keen awareness of stage and physicality is constantly present, in works whose language is typically gestural, eclectic, and direct - although not without irony and polyvalence.' The album has three focal points: it begins with early compositions such as 'Lica Persefone', 'Tikkun Olam' and 'Cirque du Soleil'. As part of a young generation of composers from the former Yugoslavia who are significantly shaping the local contemporary music scene, Cvijovic also uses the ?-time rhythm of the Balkan region in the latter work, among others. She transfers this into a kaleidoscopic sound world in which the trumpet (Marco Blaauw) stands out with short acrobatic solos. The album also includes works such as 'Penumbra', 'Carbon' and 'Emotional Logic - Anger', which depart from the classical mainstream and take greater risks in improvisation and form, for example by expanding the ensemble with the timbres of accordion, baritone saxophone and electric guitar in 'Penumbra'. With 'Iktsuarpok' and 'Incandescent', the focus finally shifts to electronic and electroacoustic sound. Five of these works were recorded especially for this album in collaboration with the Ensemble Musikfabrik and Deutschlandfunk Kultur. The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Enno Poppe can also be heard, as well as Sebastian Berweck on the Minimoog and the Trio Splitsignals Berlin.

Yongbom Lee's music is characterized by continuous streams of sound and a finely balanced interplay between instrumental and electronic elements. Shaped by his intercultural background, Lee is particularly interested in the intersections and distances between contrasting concepts - such as the foreign and the familiar, or the conscious and the unconscious. Booklet author Leonie Reineke elaborates: "Ambiguity is another concept associated with the focus on spaces, a theme running through all the compositions on the album. Suspended states, associative developments, as when dreaming, and musical situations in which anything can develop from anything else recur time and again." The work "Imaginary Rooms", performed by Ensemble Recherche, moves between a progressive narrative and fragmentary snapshots. In "Dépaysement", the composer again explores the coexistence of opposing ideas: the first movement grants the musicians of the Broken Frames Syndicate improvisational freedom, while the second is written in a strictly traditional manner. The title piece, "Continuous Deformation", for cello (Kyubin Hwang) and live electronics (Yongbom Lee), reflects his engagement with neuroscience - linking the performer's sound production and brain activity, and guiding listeners through overtone landscapes.

New music with entertainment value can be found in the works of Benjamin Scheuer. On the surface, his music surprises with humorous, crazy sounds and playful elements. In the background, Scheuer shapes his compositions, which often consist of various miniatures, in a very precise and complex way. "His preference for whimsical sounds, dislocated vocals and weird gestures is, of course, evidence of a wild sense of humor, but at the same time it demonstrates an indestructible musicality and, yes, seriousness," says booklet author Gordon Kampe. In the song cycle "Impulsive Lieder", which gives the album it's title, Scheuer illuminates an idea, a particular sound or a process in each track, dissecting and exaggerating them. The use of the simplest electronic means lends the pieces a lo-fi-aesthetic and often leads the listener astray. In addition to three ensemble works, two solo pieces, interpreted by Vanessa Porter and Nikolai Rosenberg, complete the portrait both as audio and video. Here it becomes clear that Scheuer makes use of a broad palette of sounds: rubber pig, kazoo or unrolling party horn can be heard as well as traditional instruments. And last but not least, his compositional focus lies on people and their voices, as in "Lachtherapie" (Laughter Therapy), in which the pianist amazes with crazy nuances of laughter.

Multifaceted tonal colours, virtuosity, and a field of tension between ruptures and connections characterize the music of Turgut Ercetin. In particular, he illuminates the in-between spaces in a wide variety of dimensions. As Paul Griffiths explains in the booklet, the composer explores "the space between instruments or groups, between harmony and noise [...], between spectra, between what is played and what resounds from the performance space." At the center of the album lies the cycle "Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wortern" ("The Phoneme Between Two Words"). The largest part, (b), draws on one of Turgut Ercetin's research fields: vanished architecture, here referring to two demolished Byzantine buildings. In this work, the SWR Symphony Orchestra as a modern orchestra meets a Baroque ensemble with musicians from the ELISION Ensemble. However, the two formations do not appear as opposites but as mutually interacting seeds. The smaller pieces (a) and (c) function as fanfare and epilogue: they condense the themes of fusion and separation, ultimately leading the ELISION musicians back to modern instruments. Ensemble Musikfabrik is featured in two works on this album: "Resonances (b)" and "Thousand Dead Bodies Under My Bed, All Cloaked with the Breath of the Living". The latter recalls how the past continues to live on - in art, in memory, in trauma. Within three interlaced ensembles, an interplay unfolds: characteristics drift from one group to another, while the very nature of the piece as a whole gradually shifts.

Premiered online between October and November 2020, Campaign Songs is a collaboration with Kronos Quartet intended to galvanize voter turnout in the upcoming election. Recorded in isolation by each member of the Quartet, the eight short pieces that comprise Campaign Songs were accompanied by specially-made video works touching on racial, climate, and economic justice issues. The pieces, arranged by Michael Gordon, draw from the canon of American patriotic, political, and folk music, including Woodie Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” “God Bless America,” (a campaign song for both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his 1940 opponent Wendell Willkie), “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” (a campaign song for James A. Garfield), “America the Beautiful” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” (Limited edition 7-inch vinyl)

Vladimir Guicheff Bogacz's music thrives on surprises. Behind every note, there are unexpected twists and turns, which in turn lead to an exuberant sea of sound. Genre boundaries are deliberately crossed or not recognised at all. New music meets jazz meets South American folklore. Booklet author Rainer Nonnenmann summarises Guicheff Bogacz's musical approach as follows:"Hardly anything in his music is what one would expect from a particular instrumentation, genre, section or style. Existing traditions and narratives are questioned anew, turned around or dissolved."

In “encuentros casuals”, for example, the Uruguayan-born composer draws on the music of jazz saxophonist Eric Dolphy or makes the cello in “igualito, igualito, igualito” sound like the guitar of Chilean singer Violeta Parra. “Vos, seguime” – recorded by Ensemble Musikfabrik – reflects on the classical piano trio, with its expansion simultaneously leading to its deconstruction. Finally, the members of Kollektiv3:6Koeln are allowed to complete an almost 35-minute tour de force in the ensemble composition “Heimlich”: In it, Vladimir Guicheff Bogacz explores the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, in order to develop a grab bag of artistic possibilities.