Among the most distinctive voices in contemporary Irish music, Deirdre Gribbin has established an international reputation for chamber works of striking individuality and expressive depth. The works featured on this recording exemplify a sound world shaped by colour, texture, and an extraordinary sense of time, inviting listeners into spaces of reflection and emotional resonance. Central to this programme is Kindersang, a song-cycle based on the historically significant Kindertransport, a work that gives voice to the experiences of displaced children during the Second World War, while also resonating powerfully with the realities faced by children in the present day. It's dialogue between voice and violin creates an intimate and often haunting exchange, underscoring themes of memory, separation, and survival. Alongside this stands Soul Outsider, a chamber work inspired by the portraits of Lucian Freud, in which cello, clarinet, percussion, and electric guitar engage in a striking and dynamic interplay. Here, contrasting timbres and textures mirror the psychological intensity and layered humanity of Freud's imagery. Rooted in an awareness of history, memory, and landscape, Gribbin's music draws subtle connections between heritage and contemporary experience. Lyricism, connected to folk sources and tradition, emerges through a profound sense of place, atmosphere, and human experience, carefully crafted yet immediately engaging.

This first FHR release from US pianist Evan Mitchell features five works written by composers early in their careers. In music that bursts with inspiration, the promise and possibility of youth are on full display. Three of the composers on this album - Samuel Barber, Alban Berg, and Elliott Carter - went on to lead full lives, and these works grant us an early preview of their genius. The other two composers heard here each only lived to age 25: Vitezslava Kapralova succumbed to an illness and Gideon Klein perished at Auschwitz. Their light exists in wondrous, if only partly realised, musical legacies.

Eugene Ysaye remains best remembered for his 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin: six diverse and contrasted pieces that have kept his name alive across the century since they were written. For the present album, each one of the sonatas was dedicated to a violinist whose style and manner of playing is accordingly reflected through the piece in question. Each work has been situated in the context of music by the performer or artist who inspired it. Written for violin and piano/piano 4-hands, these works are rarely performed. Programmed between each of the sonatas, these works create an intriguing way of listening to the Ysaye's 6 Sonatas for Solo violin. The Ysaye Sonatas, Op. 27, were played on violins made by Philipp Bonhoeffer. All other works were played on the 'Caspar Hauser' violin, made by Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù', c. 1724.

Printing music was expensive in the 18th century and copying manuscripts was commonplace. The works in this premiere recording are part of a collection of five volumes of recorder music titled Sinfonie dei varij autori bearing the name Paolo Antonio Parensi (1688-1749), who was thought to have been an amateur musician in Lucca, Italy. Several of the works in this collection are by Robert Valentine (c. 1674-1747) but there is little know about his life: he was from Leicester, England, but left for Rome in his early 20's to carve out his career. We don't know what his connection to Parensi was, but this collection is a hugely valuable source of Italian recorder repertoire from the earlier part of the 18th century. Several of his sonatas were also published by Walsh & Hare, but this premiere recording presents his Opus 11 as it appears in Parensi manuscript, as 12 recorder and basso continuo sonatas. Valentine wrote over 60 works for the recorder - his output makes him one of the most prolific composers of recorder repertoire in the early 18th century.

This recording brings together the complete works for clarinet and piano by Paul Ben-Haim, Mordecai Seter and Tzvi Avni, three central figures in the development of Israeli art music. All three composers were born and trained in Europe before settling in Israel, where each forged a distinctive musical voice shaped by new cultural surroundings and traditions. From Ben-Haim's richly lyrical writing, influenced by Mediterranean and Middle Eastern elements, to Seter's more introspective and historically informed approach, and Avni's later exploration of modern and experimental styles, these works offer a compelling overview of a changing musical landscape. The clarinet, long associated with both Western chamber music and Jewish musical tradition, serves as a unifying voice throughout, revealing a repertoire of striking contrast, colour and expressive depth.

Best described as a delicate classical bagpipe, the musette's patronage by Louis XIV meant that it became a novel plaything of composers, performers and makers seeking Royal favour. However, by the 1760s it had become an integral part of French culture and music-making, featuring in music for the theatre, court and salon, and played by amateurs and virtuosi alike. Disappearing with the French Revolution, the musette was only rediscovered during the 1960s and this album showcases the instrument's unique sound world in combination with baroque flute, baroque cello and harpsichord. Played on original instruments, the works on this album by composers such as Boismortier, Naudot and Dupuits showcase the instruments' virtuosity. A duo by Chedeville for two musettes references the musette's pastoral history and the harmonically exciting trios by Dugue and Naudot are offset by the beautiful simplicity of solo works by Braun and Dornel for flute and harpsichord respectively.

I have walked out of the body and into the mountain. I am a manifestation of it's total life, as is the starry saxifrage or the white-winged ptarmigan.' Plain Air is a musical response to one of the most extraordinary and celebrated works of nature writing in English, The Living Mountain by the Scottish writer Nan Shepherd. This 53-minute work places Shepherd's stunning, crystalline prose within an expansive and elemental musical landscape. Pianist Siwan Rhys (GBSR Duo) creates an environment of spacious stillness, surrounded by a halo of electronic tone, while singer Lucy Goddard (EXAUDI) retraces Shepherd's path, reciting her text simply as she goes deeper into the mountain world and into herself. Plain Air's slow unfolding across almost an hour of music creates a deeply immersive listening experience in which Shepherd's unique poetic voice, and the transcendental beauty and mystery of the Cairngorms, are vividly brought to life.

Philip Moore is a prolific British composer, who was organist and Master of the Music at York Minster for 25 years. Before moving to York he held posts at Guildford Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral and Eton College. He retired from the York Minster in 2008 and was appointed Organist Emeritus. The Archbishop of York awarded him the Order of St William. Moore's sacred choral music is extremely popular with church choirs around the world. This recording features a number of works specially written for St Albans Cathedral Choir and the album also includes five premiere recordings.

Following a successful concert series of Felix Mendelssohn's complete organ works at St Paul's Cathedral in 2021, Samuel Bristow marks the 30th anniversary of the installation of the Mander organs at Chelmsford Cathedral by recording Mendelssohn's revolutionary set of Organ Sonatas, Op. 65. The sonatas contain such a wide breadth of moods and textures that an equally wide range of colours can be explored on both contrasting yet complementary instruments. This album acts as a testament to the completion of a unique musical vision, with Mendelssohn's music a perfectly fitting vehicle to celebrate their strengths.

Domenico Scarlatti is one of the few composers from the age of Bach and Handel, whose year of birth he shared, to have enjoyed continuous fame and the presence of his keyboard music in the general repertoire since his lifetime. Though Scarlatti wrote over 500 sonatas for keyboard there is a wide variety in these works. Some are deeply serious others are light and almost humorous. Some sound like courtly dances others like street songs. This ability to cover a wide range of styles and moods is one of the hallmarks of Scarlatti's work. Asako Ogawa has chosen a varied and uplifting collection for this present album, presented in superb sound.

Chopin sans Chopin is Adam Golka's highly personal tribute to Frederic Chopin, featuring works inspired by Chopin instead of music by the master himself. The album includes a plethora of international composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including choices inspired by Golka's Polish-American background and unique family history. The album includes a world premiere recording of the 1894 Mazurka in E minor by Natalia Janotha (1856-1932). This is Golka's fourth solo album on FHR.

Michael Finnissy's output for the guitar spans almost 60 years of his career and represents an enormous contribution to the repertoire of the instrument from one of Britain's most significant composers. Published a few days before Finnissy's 80th birthday, this bold and ambitious album celebrates this milestone by bringing together all of his works for solo guitar and guitar ensemble for the first time, in performances by Finnissy's collaborators and led by new music virtuoso and tireless guitar explorer Sam Cave.

Michael Stephen Brown's debut album as a composer of all-original works has it all: tributes, emotional detours, and even a breakup etude he probably should've kept under lock and key, you'll find lost loves, lifelong mentors, children who never grew up, an arrogant violist - because what's an album without one? - and a legendary pianist couple who walk twelve blocks daily reciting poetry to each other. Performers include Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, Anne-Marie McDermott, Osmo Vänskä, Erin Keefe, Susanna Phillips, Paul Neubauer, and Brown himself.

An album of new orchestral works by Peter Fribbins. 'Gommecourt', a four-movement symphony with obbligato piano, traces the dramatic story of his grandfather, Tom Fribbins, at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. It is paired with the passionate, and at times wild, 'Cello Concerto', and the beautiful melodic lines of his 'Folk Songs' for viola and chamber orchestra.

Featuring the first recording of BRITTEN's Les Illuminations, Op. 18 sung in English, from a brand new translation by Timothy Ades. Also includes the original French version. Coupled with Samuel BARBER's dramatic masterpiece Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24, written just a few years after Les Illuminations. Among the most personal and powerful music ever written for the human voice, Britten and Barber's masterpiece settings of texts by Rimbaud and Agee continue to resonate intensely. Taken together, they form bookends to the cataclysms of the 20th century, with it's two life-shattering world wars. The colours, verbal and harmonic, of such human drama are a dazzling mix, running the gamut of life in dramatic flux. Mild mannered it is not, though parts are hauntingly beautiful.

J.S. Bach's 'The Art of Fugue' is considered his monumental final statement, a work renowned for it's architectural complexity and spiritual depth. This recording presents the work on the celebrated Metzler organ of Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, an instrument noted for it's clarity. The performance approaches the score not as an abstract exercise but as a coherent dramatic journey, where registration is used to clarify the structure and character of each movement. The chosen arc builds towards the unfinished fugue, treating it as a purposeful fragment that invites reflection on the work's inherent possibilities, offering a compelling interpretation of one of the repertoire's most significant compositions.

A prevailing feature of music of the 16th century and earlier was a split between the deployment of voices and instruments: occasionally replacing each other, or used in alternation - a more concerted effort in writing dedicated instrumental music with increasing degrees of complexity and virtuosity was taking place. The penchant for writing stories about love in it's many forms continued, finding a new home in the developing operatic works as well as the ever-popular madrigal genre, as composers continued to find ways to describe the joy, grief, despair and ecstasy of the human experience of love. Cupid's Ground Bass is a celebration of these developing musical aesthetics of early 17th century Italy, focusing particularly on the composers' language of love in all it's forms.

Joseph Gibbs is one of the 18th century's best-kept secrets; his music is characterful and individual, fusing the best of Italianate virtuosity with English and quirky Gibbs-ian humour. Despite the obvious brilliance of his compositions, the 8 Solos for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1 of c. 1746 are one of only two published sets of music, and there are scant references to Gibbs in the years after his death. However, the re-emergence of his portrait (painted by Thomas Gainsborough) in the early years of the 20th century sparked a curiosity and interest in Gibbs's music, which has been described as amongst 'the finest English violin sonatas of the century'.

For over two decades, Matthew Schellhorn has championed the creativity of living composers through commissions and premières, bringing new music to a wider audience. This album draws together a selection of eclectic and captivating piano works united through shared interpretative insights and deep artistic connections.

This album is inspired by the fantastic physicality and variety of dance forms in which composers from Granados to Shostakovich excelled. There are some hidden gems as well as pieces that will be familiar to all - and they have the novelty, as transcriptions, of all having been 'stolen' from the original. These arrangements are creative, fun and often virtuosic. -Includes Shostakovich's 'Three Fantastic Dances' released in the composer's 50th death anniversary year -Includes Ravel 'Piece en forme de habanera' released in the composer's 150th birth anniversary year

We begin with one of Shostakovich's earliest chamber works, the Cello Sonata, originally premiered by cellist Viktor Kubatsky with the composer at the piano. Kubatsky later transcribed the cello part for the viola with Shostakovich's approval. His version, along with subsequent transcriptions by Evgeny Strakov and Annette Bartholdy, adapted certain passages to suit the viola. For this recording, I chose to remain as faithful as possible to the original cello version, raising some passages by an octave to accommodate the viola's range. This is followed by Shostakovich's Impromptu, a brief but captivating piece discovered in 2017. The album concludes with Shostakovich's Viola Sonata, which stands as one of the cornerstones of the viola repertoire. Not only is it his final composition, but it's also one of his most profound. In this work, Shostakovich seems to bid a poignant farewell, weaving in quotations from his earlier pieces and even paying tribute to Beethoven in the final movement.

Bach's English Suites are a set of six keyboard suites, each featuring a prelude and a series of stylised dance movements. While named 'English, the suites are more closely related to the French Baroque style, featuring intricate counterpoint, technically demanding passages, and a grander scale compared to Bach's French Suites. Papastefanou's Baroque style and technique is first-class in her brand new recording of these technically high demanding Suites. A natural Bach player who plays with panache, high skill, individuality with an attractive style and touch, Papastefanou's has produced another high quality recording of Bach, in this her 6th album for FHR.

This abum contains the premiere recording of 6 Sonatas, Op. 63, originally published in 1737 (edition published by Atelier Philidor in 2021). The compositions are exquisite and expressive and have not been heard since the mid- 18th century since the engraved score has only recently been discovered. They are quintessentially French in their general musical style, making extensive use of prescribed ornamentation. The pardessus de viole enjoyed a considerable vogue in France towards the middle of the 18th century. For too long the pardessus de viole, which has an almost indentical range to the violin, has been commonly regarded - even without being heard - as a kind of toy instrument. Now we know otherwise after experiencing how similar, except for it's different register, the pardessus instrument is to all the other members of it's family, including the familiar bass viol. The recent discovery of Boismortier's Op. 63 for two 6-string pardessus de viole is an exciting and important find and FHR are very happy to publish the first recording.

A collection of solo piano music conjuring soundscapes of changing timbres and tonal hues conveying the beauty of Baltic culture. The Latvian Lucija Garuta (1902-1977) and the Estonian Ester Magi (1922-2021) are two of the most important pianist composers of their generation. Exploring their similarities and differences is an album of virtuosic pianism that encapsulates the essence of Baltic song, a deep connection to nature and the mysterious world of Baltic folklore.

After 25 years, this Bela Bartok album is seeing the light of day! The Global Music Network originally recorded this album in 2000 but unfortunately went out of business before the recording could be released. I am delighted that First Hand Records now presents these recordings for all Bartok fans... I am convinced that that the revised version of the Bartok Viola Concerto is a more effective and stronger work than the original version of the concerto and no doubt closer to Bartok's intent. The Duos are also delightful to play and hear in these excellent arrangements of Peter Bartok. (Paul Neubauer)

Mozart's Divertimento in E flat, K563 plays a central role in the musical life of our ensemble. It's musical complexity and the depth of expression which Mozart achieves through only three voices are seemingly miraculous: it is one of those pieces which constantly rewards rehearsal. One simply never gets tired of playing it! When the opportunity to record this masterpiece arose, we were faced with the challenge of what to play alongside it. Our dear friend Rob Fokkens had written two short movements for string trio which seemed to fit beautifully with Mozart's music: Rob's translucent harmonic and rhythmic style offers unique expressive possibilities. The chance to commission the great Julian Joseph was not to be missed, and his work, Bring it!, wonderfully demonstrates his brilliance and lyricism, and the subtly of his harmonic language. We sincerely hope you enjoy listening to the music on this album as much as we loved preparing it!

This recording sets Ravel's String Quartet in F major, a work that is known and much loved alongside three lesser-known quartets by the French composers Louis Durey (1888-1979), Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) and Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), three of the composers from Les Nouveaux Jeunes who later became Les Six. The friends met and lived in Montparnasse, Paris and composed their quartets around 16 years after Ravel completed his. Ravel's innovative and progressive style as demonstrated in his quartet marked the beginnings of a transitionary period in quartet writing and one that was continued by Durey, Tailleferre and Milhaud with these young composers heralding modernism and signalling a break with the past and the search for new forms of expression. By placing these works alongside one another, this albums gives a fresh and interesting context for the listener and hopefully fosters an interest in the music of this fascinating period of history.

The music recorded on Arc I [FHR127] expresses foreboding from the brink of disaster. The music on Arc II [FHR128] was written by composers dealing with tragedy. At last, Arc III is a set of pieces born from the bright points of life. Peace, hope, love, ambition, optimism and the divine - the inspirations are myriad. These compositions spring from the million shades of happiness. Orion Weiss has performed internationally as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. This is his sixth album of solo piano music, his third for First Hand Records. Full biography available at orionweiss. Com

Shura Cherkassky (1909-1995) was a Russian-American concert pianist known for his performances of the romantic repertoire. He was one of the last pianists to come from the Golden Age of Pianism, whose playing was characterised by a virtuoso technique and singing piano tone. Cherkassky early on in his career earned a reputation for spontaneity, creativity, and technical perfection in his playing. His sound was unique and became almost instantly recognisable and was famous for never playing the same piece the same way. In addition to the standard virtuoso repertoire, especially that of Chopin, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff, Cherkassky also performed works by Hofmann, Hindemith, Morton Gould, Britten, Luciano Berio, Alban Berg, Stockhausen, Boulez and other 20th century/contemporary composers. The stimulus of a live audience always produced a more compelling performance from Cherkassky than he would give in a recording studio. Presented here are all the recital performances, totalling over five hours, which he gave at the Ambassador Auditorium between 1981 and 1989, published for the first time.

To Anglican church musicians around the world, Herbert Murrill is well-known for his wonderful Magnficat and Nunc Dimittis in E major. But there is a treasure trove of other music waiting to be rediscovered, including his many songs which are featured here in first recordings.