CUGATE CLASSICS proudly presents: "Works For Choir" by ARVO PART, one of the most important and influential composers of our time. Remastered by HELMUT ERLER at D&M Berlin and available as 180gr LP, CD and DL. ARVO PART (born 1935 in Paide, Estonia) doesn't need to be introduced to anyone who has the slightest interest in classical music, and his audience reaches far beyond the regular attendants of symphony halls. After first serialistic compositions, "Credo" (1968) was a turning point in PART's life and work, being the first piece carrying a religious title and expressing a creative crisis that PART answered by lesser compositions and studying medieval and Renaissance music in search for a new musical language. In 1976 he returned with "Fur Alina" and introduced his new (and self-developed) style that would become his trademark sound which made him the famous and honoured composer he is now. The album "Tabula rasa" opened the next important chapter in his career: the ever continuing close relation to Manfred EICHER and his ECM label where many of the composer's works have been released since. "Works For Choir" presents several compositions for choir from the period from 1989 to 1991, recorded in Vilnius with the award winning VILNIUS MUNICIPAL CHOIR JAUNA MUZIKA under the artistic direction of VACLOVAS AUGUSTINAS. For this reissue, all tracks have been remastered by Helmut Erler at D&M Berlin for best possible sound. The VILNIUS MUNICIPAL CHOIR JAUNA MUZIKA choir was founded in 1989 by the conductor and composer Remigijus Merkelys and has since won several prizes, among others six Grand Prix in 16 international choral competitions around the world, and in 1993 it was awarded with the highest prize, the Grand Prix Europeo, in a competition organised by the International Federation of Choral Music.

Lutenist Noslen Noel Chaves Borges presents this new release, Con Sentimiento. Recorded at J.C. Records Studios in Guines, Cuba, he is joined by a team of excellent musicians, including bassist Carlos Alvarez Cairo, clarinetist Luis Alvarez Cairo, and percussionists Yordanys O, Farril and Yosvany Castro Fernandez. The lineup of songs that Noslen has chosen all evoke deep feeling, and include tunes like Jose M. Rodriguez’s Paisajes Naturales, Ibrahim Ferrer’s Camino Por Vereda, and the title track, Con Sentimiento by Noslen himself.

Very early in her childhood, Jasmin Seidl found her deep connection to music. At the beginning, a glockenspiel. Then came the piano lessons. A passion for the instrument developed and she immersed herself into the classic compositions of the past, followed by confrontations with jazz and free improv. A detachment from learned structures. Then, at one point, it did not go any further. After a long pause from the piano and a stint in a fold band, a love for simple melodies developed that did not shy away from subtle tensions. And then, the piano returned. A very personal approach in performance and compositions emerged and merged with an appreciation for score music. This release will appeal to fans of Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter, Mils Frahm - and others in the neoclassic genre.

Cugate Classics is pleased to release the complete symphonic works of the Georgian composer Giya Kancheli plus “Light Sorrow” and “Mourned By The Wind”, all in newly remastered versions. Djansug Kakhidze conducts the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra.

Giya Kancheli (1935 - 2019) was and still is the best-known Georgian composer, celebrated for his mastery of silence and his (deceptive) simplicity. Giya Kancheli’s career as classical composer started in the 1960s after first attempts with chansons and popular songs, his first symphony was accomplished and premiered in 1967 in Tbilisi, conducted by Djansug Kakhidze. Actually, as Kancheli emphasized repeatedly, many of his works were composed assuming that his close and lifelong friend Kakhidze will conduct them.

In total, Kancheli composed seven symphonies, the opera “Music For The Living”, the liturgy “Mourned By The Wind”, “Light Sorrow”, music for films and theatre plays and a number of chamber works like “In l’istesso tempo” (1997) or “Chiaroscuro” (2010), released on ECM and interpreted by Gidon Kremer.

Kancheli’s compositional approach is deeply rooted in the music of his Georgian origin and blends modern elements with a beautiful but deceptive simplicity, a melancholic tone and a captivating silence - qualities he shares with the great Arvo Part. But Kancheli developed his own musical idiom, and his death on October 2nd, 2019 is a great loss for the world of classical music.

Cugate Classics honours the great Georgian composer with an selected CD program: all seven symphonies plus “Light Sorrow” and “Mourned By The Wind”, all in newly remastered versions and conducted by the critically acclaimed and award-winning Kakhidze.

”... a great musician of the modern age ...” - Rodion Shchedrin

” ... the biggest philosopher among today’s composers ...” - Volker Tarnow / Fono

On this release, saxophonist and bandleader Raul Guttierrez (IRAZU, AFRO CUBAN ALL STARS ORCHESTRA) - who has a strong interest in a variety of Cuban styles - pays homage to the king of mambo, Pérez Prado, backed by a line-up of highly skilled musicians – namely his Cuban Big Band. They recreate some of the immortal masterpieces, presented here in the versions by the arrangers Tolly Ramirez and Horacio González (director of the orchestra of the famous night club Tropicana in Havana.) This is a recording that should be listened and danced to experience the full musical virtuosity and richness in details and nuances – a truly worthy tribute to PÉREZ PRADO, "The King of Mambo!”

Cugate Classics is pleased to release the complete symphonic works of the Georgian composer Giya Kancheli plus “Light Sorrow” and “Mourned By The Wind”, all in newly remastered versions.

Djansug Kakhidze conducts the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra. This edition gives us Kancheli’s “Light Sorrow” and “Mourned by the Wind”. Giya Kancheli (1935 - 2019) was and still is the best-known Georgian composer, celebrated for his mastery of silence and his (deceptive) simplicity. Giya Kancheli’s career as classical composer started in the 1960s after first attempts with chansons and popular songs, his first symphony was accomplished and premiered in 1967 in Tbilisi, conducted by Djansug Kakhidze. Actually, as Kancheli emphasized repeatedly, many of his works were composed assuming that his close and lifelong friend Kakhidze will conduct them.

In total, Kancheli composed seven symphonies, the opera “Music For The Living”, the liturgy “Mourned By The Wind”, “Light Sorrow”, music for films and theatre plays and a number of chamber works like “In l’istesso tempo” (1997) or “Chiaroscuro” (2010), released on ECM and interpreted by Gidon Kremer. Kancheli’s compositional approach is deeply rooted in the music of his Georgian origin and blends modern elements with a beautiful but deceptive simplicity, a melancholic tone and a captivating silence - qualities he shares with the great Arvo Part. But Kancheli developed his own musical idiom, and his death on October 2nd, 2019 is a great loss for the world of classical music. Cugate Classics honours the great Georgian composer with an selected CD program: all seven symphonies plus “Light Sorrow” and “Mourned By The Wind”, all in newly remastered versions and conducted by the critically acclaimed and award-winning Kakhidze.

“... a great musician of the modern age ...” Rodion Shchedrin

“ ... the biggest philosopher among today’s composers ...” Volker Tarnow / Fono

For this album, Raul Gutierrez gathered a huge array of skilled musicians in the studio, including percussionist Aristides Soto "Tata Guines", pianist Adolfo Argudin, and percussionist Luis Conte, best known for his collaborations with Madonna and Santana. Recorded in 2008 and only available previously in Latin America, Son Elegante presents Latin American classics including Manteca, Mambo Inn, Cuban Fantasy and Perez Prado's Caballo Negro, bringing the listener back to the golden age of the big band.