Vyacheslav Artyomov is considered by many to be Russia's greatest living composer. His music is deep, ultimately spiritual and brilliantly crafted, with influences from the Russian symphonic tradition colored by Mahler, Scriabin, Honegger and Messiaen to name a few - but melded into a unique voice. The Divine Art Artyomov Retrospective (which to date has received wonderful reviews internationally) is a mix of new recordings and former Melodiya releases. This is the eleventh album, containing a selection of studio and live concert performances of chamber works for slightly unusual combinations: flute quartet, and saxophones much to the fore. Apart from 'Hymns of Sudden Wafts' and Clarinet Sonata these are all premiere releases. The works are performed by some of the best of Moscow's orchestral and chamber musicians and represent a somewhat lighter (though the term is relative) side to Artyomov's work than his massive, granitic symphonies.

Three major organ works: one from Liszt, one of the masters of high Romanticism and bubbling virtuosity; the powerful Heroic Sonata of Jongen and the first commercial recording of the delicately figured piece 'The Dancing Pipes' by Jonathan Dove, one of today's most appreciated composers. This superb program is titled 'Transformations' as each piece contains musical transformations of themes; it also reflects the transformation of the fine Norman & Beard organ at Cheltenham College Chapel - this is it's first recording since a full restoration in 2017. Alexander Finch studied at the Royal College of Music and was organ scholar at Keble College Oxford. He gave over 100 recitals as resident organist at Lancaster Town Hall and continues to undertake a busy concert and broadcasting schedule (sadly his planned August 2019 debut at Notre Dame Paris is 'on hold'. Alexander was appointed College Organist at Cheltenham in 2004 since when he has played daily in the Chapel as well as giving regular recitals; he oversaw the 2017 restoration and manages the work of both students and visiting recitalists.

Santiago Mantas leads the European Union Chamber Orchestra Wind Octect on this release of Mozart's Wind Serenades. These Serenades are among Mozart's most joyful and melodious compositions and this fine performance by the young musicians of the EUCO Wind Octet certainly displays the exuberance and high spirits of the young composer. Santiago Mantas has toured over thirty countries as both conductor and concert pianist and is also a successful composer of music for feature films and documentaries.

This recording of recorder sonatas by Handel and an 18th c. transcription of the Royal Fireworks Suite is the work of three Melbournians who have made important contributions to early music performance in Australia for over thirty years. Published By John Walsh c. 1750, this is the only recording of the adaptation of the Fireworks Music (originally for flute, violin or harpsichord) in this arrangement. All instruments are faithful reproductions of authentic originals, historically accurate, carefully researched and tuned to a version of period temperament, giving each key its own character.

• Carson Cooman (b. 1982) is one of America's most prolific and talented composers; his work appears on over twenty labels. music has been performed worldwide in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to a hot air balloon basket. This is the third CD of Coomans music to be made by Erik Simmons. Tfeatured instrument is the Main Organ of Laurenskerk, Rotterdam, Netherlands built by & Son in 1973,the largest entirely mechanical action instrument in Europe.

Carson Cooman is many things musical–organist and Composer in Residence at the Memorial Church, Harvard University; writer, critic and consultant, concert organist, and above all a highly prolific composer of music in a wide variety of genres, from orchestral to song. His organ compositions come in many styles, from liturgical models, to substantial secular pieces such as his organ symphonies, preludes and fugues. On this album a range of works, most composed in 2017-9, which are ideal for the rich and atmospheric sound of the chosen instrument. Erik Simmons is a superb organist, making his 13th Cooman organ album for Divine Art. He is again playing the wonderful ‘Sun Organ’ of St. Peter &Paul, Görlitz, recorded through the Hauptwerk system.

The British composer Robin Stevens is a great talent waiting to be discovered by the global music community. His varied, stimulating and expressive work is exemplified by this collection of music for wind instruments, ranging from the jolly and accessible (yet very difficult to play) Concert Rondoto the darker, deeper and meaningful Grief’s Portrait. Stevens has a brilliant touch, and also is an excellent pianist, cellist and guitarist and plays all three instruments here, alongside some of the foremost instrumentalists from the musical hotspot of Manchester, England: John Bradbury (principal clarinet, BBC Philharmonic); John Turner (recorderist: Academy of Ancient Music etc.); Richard Simpson (principal oboe, BBC Symphony), Janet Simpson (former principal keyboardist, Hallé Orchestra); and freelance soloists Sarah Miller (flutes);Helen Peller (bassoon) and Lindsey Stoker (horn).

Of these two great classical quartets which look forward so much to the heights of the Romantic period, one (“Death and the Maiden”) is almost universally loved. The almost contemporary A minor quartet is sometimes referred to as the ‘Rosamunde’ because of its strong thematic links to Schubert’s incidental music to that play. Both are here played on period instruments, with gut strings, in what is an authentic and thoroughly top-class performance by one of our foremost string ensembles. The Fitzwilliam Quartet has just celebrated its 50thanniversary.Acknowledged as one of the finest British quartets of our age they are equally at home in the classics, playing period instruments, or in the modern and contemporary repertoire, having had personal links with Shostakovich who called the Fitzwilliams “the preferred performers of my quartets”.

“The wide dynamic palette echoes a Schubert who wanted, with these two works, to "clear the flight towards the great symphony". The texture captivates, suggests individualities and unfolds beautiful lines, swinging between mystery, worry and melancholy.”
– Fabienne Bouvet (Classica)

The major work in this second album of Rachmaninov’s works in the Russian Piano series is the First Sonata, a pinnacle of high late Romanticism. Less well known are the Moments Musicaux but they too are masterful pieces. Alfonso Soldano is professor of piano performance at the Giordano Conservatory in Foggia, Italy, following similar posts at Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome and in Trani. He was a student of Ciccolini and is renowned for his virtuosity. He was awarded the International Gold Medal for ‘Best Italian Artist’ in 2013 and has won many other competitions and is also a busy writer and transcriber. His previous recordings for Divine Art, of the music of Bortkiewicz and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, received glowing reviews. His Rachmaninov (Rachmaninoff for the American readers!) is equally magical.

Carson Cooman is many things musical – organist and Composer in Residence at the Memorial Church, Harvard University; writer, critic and consultant, concert organist, and above all a highly prolific composer of music in a wide variety of genres, from orchestral to song. His organ compositions come in many styles, from liturgical models, to more gritty and substantial pieces such as his organ symphonies and preludes and fugues. This album contains several fine works including the Third Organ Symphony. Erik Simmons started playing the organ at age 10 when he was a chorister at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glendale, California. His primary organ teacher was Richard Slater. Erik has furthered his studies by working with Lanny Collins, Barbara Baird, and Lee Garrett, and through master classes with various clinicians, including Harald Vogel. Erik holds a BA in applied mathematics and MS in mathematical modeling from Humboldt State University. He has recorded many albums, including an album of the organ music of American composer James Woodman.

This album of Mozart Sonatas is presented by pianist Diana Boyle. This two-disc set contains eight of the beloved composer’s piano sonatas, perfected by Boyle at her secluded hilltop home in Portugal. These works were recorded in England in 2014.

Peter Hope is an English composer whose name is not well known to the public, but some of his music certainly is. A veteran of the light music genre, he has been a fulltime composer and arranger for fifty years, working for many years with the BBC Concert Orchestra- many of his arrangements becoming classics in their genre, also writing music for the marriage of the Crown Prince of Spain and many other public events. His theme tune for BBC TV news ran for over a decade, known to practically every person in the UK. Since 2000 he has concentrated on more serious and extended compositions, though retaining a commercial sense of approachable style. This album features four wind sonatas and two other works, performed by instrumentalists of high caliber and renown. All the works are receiving the premiere recording and one is being considered as the music for an animated film based on the music itself.

Marian Sawa (1937-2005) began serious studies at the age of 14 at the Salesian Organ School, Przemyšl, Poland. He toured actively as an organ performer and from 1966 taught organ at several prestigious schools. As a composer he wrote about 800 pieces in various genres, centred round his music for organ. His music builds on the Polish post-Romantic tradition, knitting fragments from folk tunes and hymns into his work, drawing strongly on Gregorian chant and traditional Polish material. Sawa’s personal and individual voice makes his music very recognizable and though little known in the West to date, he can be considered perhaps the greatest Eastern European organ composer of the 20th century. The pieces on this album, composed between 1971 and 2005, demonstrate vividly the range, variety and often enormous power of his compositions. Carson Cooman (b.1982) is an American composer with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms – ranging from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His music has been performed on all six inhabited continents. As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 300 new works have been composed for him by over 100 composers from around the world, and his organ performances can be heard on a number of recordings of which this is his fifth for Divine Art. This recording of the exquisite Fleiter organ (2014) at St. Ludgerus, Billerbeck, was made using the Hauptwerk remote digital access system.

Carson Cooman is many things musical- organist and Composer in Residence at the Memorial Church, Harvard University, writer, critic, and consultant, concert organist, and above all a highly prolific composer of music in a wide variety of genres, from orchestral to song. His organ compositions come in many styles, from liturgical models, to substantial secular pieces such as his organ symphonies, preludes and fugues. Here are a fine set of fantasias on well-known seasonal tunes and some new compositions, to celebrate Christmas in fine style (and suitable for listening all year round.) Erik Simmons is a superb organist, making his twelfth Cooman organ album for Divine Art. He is playing the wonderful ‘Sun Organ’ of St. Peter & Paul, Gorlitz, recorded through the Hauptwerk system.

Beethoven's three most famous sonatas have received hundreds of recordings. Why another, especially from a company like Divine Art which usually avoids duplicating repertoire? Because we believe that each piece of music demands a performance tailored to the composition, and that recently, every recording of a major work seems to sound the same. Beethoven's sonatas are fiery, storm-filled works which require playing not only of consummate skill but also total passion and commitment. They receive that here, together with a piano of individual character, with a "visceral" quality (to quote Goldstone), and ideal for this music. But this CD contains two special tracks: We offer the world premiere recording of Moscheles' arrangement of the Overture to "Fidelio". And also, two alternative versions of the first movement of the "Pathetique" Sonata, one incorporating Goldstone's belief regarding the correct execution of the exposition repeat. We could not pack any more onto a disc!

The major work here is the suite The Seven Heavens, for choir and chamber ensemble; also we have seven pieces for unaccompanied choir. All are brilliantly performed by Cor Cantiamo, the accomplished and acclaimed professional ensemble which is the current Choir in Residence at Northern Illinois University, USA, under its founder and conductor Eric A Johnson. Since its inaugural concert with Morten Lauridsen in 2010, Cor Cantiamo has developed a mission to work with contemporary composers resulting in many commissions and recordings. James Whitbourn is a Grammy-nominated composer and ‘a truly original communicator in modern British choral music’ (The Observer). His works are admired for their direct communication to performers and audiences. This is the seventh album devoted entirely to his choral music. His eclectic inspirations include C.S. Lewis (The Seven Heavens), Anne Frank (the very popular Annelies), notable individuals, NASA space missions and liturgical texts. In all, his music is altogether delightful.

“From one piece to another, the language surprises with its variety, even if it remains suggestive, accessible, consonant, generous. James Whitbourn knows how to communicate. Remarkably interpreted… speaks to the heart and will conquer you.”
– Christophe Steyne (Crescendo)

“Imaginative…attractive… deeply moving. The performances could hardly be improved upon. Diction is clear, the choral sound is very well blended, and the music-making is both musically and dramatically satisfying. In sum, this release is one of the most enjoyable collections of new choral music that I have encountered in quite some time.”
- Henry Fogel (Fanfare)

This third double CD set completes Gilbert Rowland's survey of these Handel's groundbreaking solo keyboard music, works that began to free the form from the formal constraints of Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue. Forty-plus years of recitals, appearances at major festivals in several countries, together with regular broadcasts, have helped to establish Gilbert Rowland's reputation as one of Britain's leading harpsichordists. The standard of playing is very high indeed... a most enjoyable recording. (The Consort on Vol.1)

Carson Cooman is many things musical - organist and Composer in Residence at the Memorial Church, Harvard University, writer, critic and consultant, concert organist, and above all a highly prolific composer of music in a wide variety of genres, from orchestral to song. His organ compositions come in many styles, from liturgical models, to more gritty and substantial pieces such as his organ symphonies and preludes and fugues. The music in this programme, most of which was composed in 2016 and 2017, is varied and consists of a delightful mix of secular concert works and liturgically based pieces. Erik Simmons is a fine organist, making his eighth Cooman organ album for Divine Art. He is playing the Rosales organ of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon, recorded through the Hauptwerk system. This is volume 8 of this highly praised series. Previous volumes have been heralded as momentous and groundbreaking by fans and critics alike.

2 CDs for the price of 1. Bach's Art of Fugue is a great musical enigma; left strangely unfinished, it is thought perhaps to have been intended not for performance but as a definitive guide to the writing of fugues, or a personal musical message meant as the composer's greatest legacy in any event it is a supreme masterpiece and here is given a brilliant and individual interpretation, in which Diana Boyle (whose Metier CD of the 48 Preludes and Fugues, Book II is also highly praised) brings out classical-style emphasis and phrasing, bring the music alive more than in traditional dry and academic accounts. The recording omits the optional 'canons' but includes the 'Inversus' sections of Contrapuncti 12 and 13.

For over fifty years, Britain’s foremost recorder player, John Turner, has composed a carol and sent the score as his Christmas Card. Until now just a personal gift to his friends, John was persuaded to record a selection, which has led to this beautiful album. Presented by the chamber choir Intimate Voices (which also performs as Voces Intimae) and featuring sopranos Sasha Johnson Manning, Eleanor Gregory and Philippa Hyde in solo and duet pieces, with obbligato harp and oboe in some, this is a lovely mixed programme of Nativity carols, composed very much in traditional style, in new settings of ancient texts. John Turner is a fine composer but is chiefly known as a recorder player and champion of contemporary composers, with dozens of recordings to his credit, many from Divine Art and Métier.

Roman Statkowski (1859-1925) studied with Anton Rubinstein and Rimsky-Korsakov, later becoming a teacher and inspiring many leading Polish musicians of the 20th c. As a composer his taste was late-Romantic; his large piano music output excels, sparkling in the best tradition of Chopin. Statkowski gave up composition in 1904, devoting the rest of his life to teaching. Pianist Barbara Karaśkiewicz has toured and played across Europe and South America with a broad repertoire, championing rarely-heard composers. This is her fourth album and second recording of several of these pieces.

There is a tradition among the Greek peoples of the singing of carols ('Kalanda') on Christmas Eve. This album is a set of carols newly composed by Greek-Cypriot composer Cilia Petridou. As musical works they also qualify as art-song in fine performances by three excellent sopranos. For those who love Christmas music but want something new, this album will fit the bill. The three sopranos each take a number of solo carols and form a trio for the last two; Lesley-Jane and Alison have both worked with the composer for some time and also made several highly-praised recordings for Divine Art and Metier. Cilia Petridou was an accomplished pianist until her career was ended by major surgery since when she has concentrated on composition. Moving with her family to the UK after the Turlish invasion of north Cyprus which destroyed their home town of Famagusta, her music is often informed by that political tragedy, but her Kalanda are bright and full of joy.

This recording was inspired by David Evans’ reconstruction of a Thuringian harpsichord, c.1715, and a desire to find appropriate repertoire. These performances explore the musical heritage of Bach and Handel and recreate the harpsichord sound they and their contemporaries may have heard. The Thuringian in question is a unique instrument, fundamentally different in sound and touch from typical 18th c. harpsichords of the German, Franco-Flemish or ‘International’ schools. Much evidence exists to suggest both Bach and Handel would have been well acquainted with this style of instrument.

It is always good to welcome to our company a musician of the stature of Burkard Schliessmann, and also to present our first multichannel SACD in luxury packaging.

This album demonstrates once again the sheer genius of Bach but also the individual and highly considered interpretative style of the performer. Schliessmann is not a purist demanding rigid tempi and 'traditional' baroque styling but recognises the inner soul of the music and brings it to life in a new way - thus this recording will be welcomed as a new approach even to those who know the works very well.

Also a special inclusion on the disc is BWV 906, which Bach left as a Fantasia and an unfinished Fugue. The Fugue was completed by Busoni who also inserted the Adagio, BWV 968, which was arranged for piano either by one of Bach's sons or by the publisher Altnickol. It makes for a highly rewarding complete work.

Of the five English composers featured on this release, only two are really known at all – Coleridge-Taylor for Hiawatha and Boughton for The Immortal Hour – but all wrote wonderful music in Romantic style – rather under the shadow of Elgar, Delius, other prominent figures. Rosalind Ellicott had much success and performances in the 1880s before moving from orchestral to chamber music; Forrester was less prolific, concentrating on his teaching career, but has a fine impressionist voice. Warner was very well known as a violist and member of the London String Quartet; he was very busy as a composer with several chamber works, two operas and over a hundred songs to his name. The Trio featured here won the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Prize. Trio Anima Mundi is one of Australia’s finest chamber trios; since its founding in 2008 it has won several international awards and made special efforts to unearth and perform forgotten but worthy works as well as the newest pieces of today. Their previous Divine Art album won rapturous acclaim.