Schattenspiele brings together several facets of Gebhard Ullmann's remarkable creative world, blurring the boundaries between composition and improvisation, structure and spontaneity. Developed over many years, these works reflect an artistic journey of constant reinvention, where musical ideas evolve through performance, reflection and collaboration. From the atmospheric Kleine Symphonie with Berlin's adventurous LUX: NM ensemble to the vibrant colours of Hell und Bunt for the Aduma Saxophone Quartet and the deeply personal solo bass clarinet works, the album reveals Ullmann's unmistakable voice: lyrical, adventurous and endlessly imaginative. The recording captures this music with exceptional intimacy and clarity. The ensemble works were recorded at Berlin's renowned Bonello Studio, where performances were preserved almost entirely live, retaining their organic energy and immediacy. The solo works and saxophone quartet were recorded at Guy Sternberg's celebrated Low Swing Studio, centred around it's lovingly restored vintage Neve console, whose warm, transparent sound perfectly complements the expressive depth and rich sonic palette of Ullmann's bass clarinet and chamber music. Together, these extraordinary recording spaces help bring every nuance of Schattenspiele vividly to life!

This album brings together Johannes Brahms' two masterful sonatas for cello and piano, works often regarded as "veiled symphonies" for their symphonic breadth within the chamber music form. Written over two decades apart, these sonatas showcase Brahms' profound love for the cello-an instrument he studied in his youth-and his deep engagement with musical traditions stretching from Bach to Beethoven. The E minor Sonata, Op. 38, conceived as an homage to Bach, unfolds with striking intensity, combining Romantic expressiveness with contrapuntal rigor. It's expansive first movement, dance-inspired minuet, and fugal finale embody Brahms' ability to blend historical influences with fresh emotional resonance. The F major Sonata, Op. 99, composed during a highly fertile summer by Lake Thun in 1886, reveals a very different Brahms: fiery, impassioned, and boldly lyrical. Written for cellist Robert Hausmann, the work opens with stormy piano tremolandi and soaring cello lines before moving into a tender, hymn-like slow movement. A dramatic scherzo brimming with rhythmic energy and a playful yet triumphant finale close the sonata, capturing both Brahms' intellectual depth and his more exuberant side. Contemporary critics may have disagreed on it's merits, but the F major Sonata has since stood as a cornerstone of the cello repertoire. In this recording, cellist Livia Stanese and pianist Wenjiao Wang bring their artistry and international experience to Brahms' sonatas, illuminating their balance of structural mastery and heartfelt intensity. Their interpretation underlines the works' timeless appeal: music that is both deeply rooted in the traditions of the past and unceasingly alive in the present.

A Sonic Dialogue Across Borders and Disciplines String Quartets brings together three visionary composers-Stephan Thelen, Gebhard Ullmann, and Udo Agnesens-in a compelling exploration of contemporary string quartet writing. Performed with striking intensity and nuance by the Al Pari Quartet, this album spans a landscape of sonic textures, rhythmic complexity, and deeply personal expression. The Composers & Works Stephan Thelen contributes two powerful pieces-"Urgent Call" and "Continuum in 9"-bridging minimalist structure and progressive rock energy. Drawing from his background as a mathematician and founder of the band Sonar, Thelen's music embraces polyrhythmic layering and mathematical precision while retaining an almost visceral emotional charge. "Urgent Call" is a driving invocation of Thelen's sonic ideals, while "Continuum in 9" melds crackling textures with electric urgency, breaking boundaries between concert hall and rock stage. Gebhard Ullmann's String Quartet No. 1 unfolds as a meditative, melodic journey across movements that shimmer with emotional clarity. A prominent jazz saxophonist and clarinetist, Ullmann here turns to composition as a space of reflection. His quartet opens with ethereal sul tasto textures and builds into complex interrelations of melody, memory, and transformation. Inspired by themes from his own creative archives, Ullmann's music resonates with a sense of transience and transcendence. Udo Agnesens, represented by String Quartet No. 23, offers the most introspective contribution. Though a prolific composer with over 30 quartets to his name, Agnesens often writes without seeking performance-his focus lies in creation over dissemination. The 23rd quartet is marked by a solemn pace and emotional depth, demanding immense control from the performers. It draws listeners inward, revealing it's subtle beauty through patience and restraint. "If you don't have the time to really listen to the music," he says, "maybe you should be doing something else". The Al Pari Quartet Founded in 2017 by students of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, the Al Pari Quartet-Dominik Kossakowski, Alicja Miruk-Mirska, Wiktoria Trzebowska, and Elzbieta Rychwalska-Dobrowolska -has become a formidable force in contemporary chamber music. Their work on this recording demonstrates not only technical mastery but deep interpretive insight. They deliver each composition with clarity, warmth, and expressive sensitivity, bridging the complex rhythmic structures and emotional demands of each piece.

World premiere recording. Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1673-1763), musician at the court of Louis XIV, was one of the first great French flutists. He composed several works for his instrument of choice, the transverse flute. Around 1721 Hotteterre published in Paris the collection entitled Airs et brunettes. At the end of the book, there are twenty-one pieces for solo flute, with ornamentations. They are very delicate pieces, undoubtedly intended for pedagogical practice or simply for personal delight.

On their third album, Building Bridges (2024), Syrene Saxophone Quartet temporarily leave their rocky islands in the azure seas and put their feet firmly in the Dutch clay. The art of building bridges, both physical and metaphorical, requires a delicate balance. It is a dance between curiosity and caution, between the urge to explore and the need to stay safe. Composers Jacob Ter Veldhuis (1951), Douwe Eisenga (1961) and producer Kypski (1978) have taken to the pen, resulting in three solid works from Dutch soil.

Gramophone:  immense technical fluency... innate musical quality... exceptionally well-mannered performances... Lugansky's tone is beautifully rounded and unforced in all parts of the dynamic spectrum (a truly Russian prerogative) and passages of delicate filigree are spun off with a no less enviable elegance and lightness. Musicweb: The piano playing is truly outstanding, with the young Russian giving the sort of red-blooded readings that have one thinking of a young Richter, Gilels or from our own time, Kissin or Pletnev... This is altogether outstanding Soviet pianism

Finally available a never before released recording of Alberto Rasi and Roberta Invernizzi recorded in 2012. Madrigals composed at the turn of the 17th century for solo voice accompanied by a consort of viols. As usual in Rasi's always well-conceived discs, vocal pieces are interpsersed with instrumental ones making up for a thoroughly pleaing listening from start to end.

Daria: Each track of this project has a personal story - of search, connections, trial and error, life's twists and turns, of my dear friends and people who taught me important lessons. It is literally a part of my life, just as these songs once became part of the lives of the people who sang them. Have a nice journey!