Bengt Forsberg, one of Sweden's most outstanding pianists, renowned for many CDs and awards, releases now a sensational solo album with music of composers that most people have never heard of. Why? Because the composers were women, and often had to step back for the men. Their works, however, are brilliant and deserve indeed a better destiny than be covered by dust in the archives. A few recordings of some composers such as Beach, Tailleferre, Bacewicz and Carwithen do exist previously, but in for example Aulin's and Almén's cases it's really a matter of world premieres on CD! - DB Productions

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Swedish composer Gunnar de Frumerie is considered one of the 20th century’s most important composers. Frumerie’s style is likened to that of Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Prokofieff, and Scriabine. These works have not been frequently recorded due to their difficulty. Performing these piano works is Swedish pianist Mats Widlund.

The 150th birthday of the Danish iconoclastic composer Carl Nielsen is celebrated with the second volume of his works for violin featuring one of Sweden's brightest new violinists, Cecilia Zilliacus joined by the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Blendulf.

Classical Music

There are only world premiere recordings on this concluding Volume 3 of the wonderful music of Amanda Maier (1853-1894), including a recently re-discovered masterpiece: the piano trio in E flat! The previous two volumes of this remarkable, Swedish-German violinist and composer, married to composer Julius Röntgen, have been great successes. On this third volume, violinist Cecilia Zilliacus's and Bengt Forsberg's loving playing is backed up by cellist Kati Raitinen, second violinist Julia-Maria Kretz, and Johanna Persson, viola. Rising-star-pianist David Huang also appears in a four hand piece. Swedish violinist and composer Amanda Maier was the first female graduate in music direction from the Royal College of Stockholm. She performed concerts in Sweden and abroad, and began composing her first works, which she often premiered. With this album, her entire catalogue is now available.

Despite the musicians’ young age, the Dahlkvist Quartet now celebrate their 10th Anniversary with their debut album. The whole album contains music of Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi, whose composer portrait “Highlands” was nominated for the Swedish Grammis Award 2016 in the category “Classical Album of the Year.” Her string quartets invite you to a particular, dreamy musical world, which are as easy to the ear as they are difficult to perform. The Dahlkvist String Quartet was formed in 2007 and has established itself at an international level and as one of the most sought after chamber music groups in Sweden. Nominated “Rising Star” 2012-2013 by Stockholm Concert Hall, the Dahlkvist Quartet performed a concert tour across Europe organised by ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) in distinguished concert halls, such Wien Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Paris Cité de la Musique and Budapest Palace of Arts. The Dahlkvist Quartet is made up of the Warsaw-born violinist Bartosz Cajler and Stockholm-born Dahlkvist siblings, Kersti (violin), Jon (viola) and Hanna (cello). All of the quartet members studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm as well as individually in France, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands.

Tobias Brostrom is one of the hottest, young Swedish composers today, and on this album Vasteras Sinfonietta presents his Cello Concerto with Mats Rondin, and Samsara-Double Concerto with Hugo Ticciati/violin, and Johan Bridger/marimba. Apart from the Vasteras Sinfonietta and members of the Swedish National Youth Orchestra conducted by Johannes Gustavsson, essens:1 interprets the bonus work 'Dreamscape' for electric violin and electric clarinet.

Västerås Sinfonietta and Johannes Gustavsson present fantastic music of the composer trio Britta Byström, Ylva Skog, and Andrea Tarrodi. In 2011 these composers released their works for piano trio on dB Production. Now they offer selected orchestral works for volume 4 in the listener-friendly contemporary music series “Total Tonality.”

This new release features even more world premiere recordings of the music of Amanda Maier (1853-1894). Amanda Maier was a Swedish-German composer, was married to fellow composer Julius Rontgen and was a close friend of Edvard Grieg, Johannes Brahms, and other great musicians of the time. The first volume of her music, released in 2016, was a huge success. On Volume 2, leading Swedish violinist Cecilia Zilliacus and pianist Bengt Forsberg perform Maier’s beautiful violin sonata, and Nine pieces for violin and piano. Soprano Sabina Bisholt makes her recording debut with her interpretation of Maier’s great songs. Eight of these seventeen tracks are world premiere recordings.

Karl Nyhlin is one of Sweden's foremost lutenists. His debut CD was highly praised in Swedish and internatinal press, and this follow up album features renaissance lute "standards" by English and Scottish composers, including John Dowland, Daniel Bacheler, Philip Rosseter, John Danyel, John Sturt, and Robert Johnson. "Nyhlin plays sweetly, most beautifully, and with lovely phrasing. He always keeps the interest alive thorugh delicate nuances and subtle changes." - North Sweden Courier on Nyhlin's debut CD

Anna Petrini is one of Sweden's leading recorder players, and this is her debut solo album. On Crepuscolo, she performs contemporary works for the Paetzold contrebass recorder and electronics by Fausto Remotely, Malin B+�ng, Dominik Karski, Oscar Bianchi, and Mattias Peterson.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Swedish award-winning string orchestra, Musica Vitae, directed by violinist Malin Broman and accompanied by pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips, is showcased here in a sparkling performance of Felix Mendelssohn's challenging Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra. The concerto is coupled with Felix's sister, Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn's, String Quartet, here for the first time recorded in an arrangement for string orchestra. As a bonus, Malin and Simon also perform four songs by Fanny, arranged for viola and piano. Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra is the ensemble that brings live music - indeed the music of life - to each and every individual member of the audience. The vast realm that is art music is handled with the utmost precision and elegance by it's 15 string players. The repertoire consists of baroque and romantic as well as modernist and contemporary music from a wide variety of genres. Musica Vitae appear on stages big and small in Sweden and abroad. Internationally, the orchestra has been warmly greeted in China, the United States, Greece, Switzerland, Germany and Spain to name but a few countries.

Classical Music

Two of Sweden's finest, award-winning musicians are back: Cecilia Zilliacus, violin, and Bengt Forsberg, piano. This time you can enjoy their intimate and astonishing interplay on their new album, "Swedish Violin Treasures", with wonderful but neglected works by Swedish late-romantics Helena Munktell, Harald Fryklöf, Algot Haquinius and Ika Peyron. With one exception it's all world premiere recordings! Cecilia Zilliacus is one of Sweden’s most accomplished violinists, working across the Nordic countries and Europe. Her versatile repertoire of solo and chamber music works has led her to cooperate with a vast number of composers and orchestras. As a soloist, she has performed with most Swedish symphony orchestras as well as many Nordic and European orchestras, such as BBC Wales, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra and Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. Bengt Forsberg is a Swedish concert pianist most famous for his numerous collaborations with the mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. He participated in her project to record songs written in the concentration camp of Terezín. Forsberg has a reputation as a champion of neglected music and composers. He is highly acclaimed as a recital accompanist and regularly plays alongside Mats Lidström and Nils-Erik Sparf.

“Art is a field that has always been open to women, and where they have also accomplished a great deal. It can not be denied that whilst women have had success in the performing arts their achievements in the creative arts have not been so illustrious. As for Swedish women in particular they have won great acclaim abroad but always as performers. Consequently many people rush to the assumption that women do not have the ability to create significant works of art. Objectively, there is no evidence to suggest this is true or false with regard to the field of music. On the other hand, it should be assumed that a woman, given the same conditions as a man, can create equally impressive works of art. All efforts in this area should be met with respect even by those who have been skeptical to previous attempts. Amongst those, who have seriously dedicatedly applied themselves to redressing this imbalance in Swedish music, Laura Netzel holds a special position.” (F. Herman) Laura Netzel (1839-1927) is yet another Swedish composer of forgotten treasures. Malin Broman and Simon Crawford-Phillips are back with their third album on dB Productions, this time along with soprano Sabina Bisholt and the Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra. This chamber music album present never before recorded works for violin & strings, violin & piano, and selected songs and piano pieces by this remarkable composer, just waiting to be discovered by a broader public.

Amanda Maier (1853-1894) and Julius Rontgen (1855-1932) were a couple in both music and love. This new album includes world premiere recordings of Amanda Maier's preludes, Julius Rontgen's piano suite "Julklapp" (Christmas Gift), and the piano suite "Zwiegesprache" (Dialogues), that the young couple composed together. In addition to this, you also get Rontgen's brilliant variation work "Neckens Polska," which he dedicated to his future bride. This release is charming, beautiful, and highly romantic music at it's best, performed by one of Sweden's most outstanding musicians: the award-winning pianist Bengt Forsberg.