For the third in this series of recordings drawn from his archive of concerts with Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa (see also Prokofiev and Rimsky-Korsakov on FHR146; Abril, Falla and Weber with Teresa Berganza on FHR153), alvaro Cassuto has turned to music from the late Classical and mid-Romantic eras in a coupling of Schubert and Wagner. Written less than 15 years apart, these two pieces inhabit very different aesthetics while having a common link in Beethoven.

This recording contains two compostions by Welsh composer Matthew Owain Jones, String Quartet No. 1, 'Deletia' and Wind Quintet along with his arrangement of nine movements from Carl Nielsen's ballet Aladdin, Op. 63 for chamber ensemble. All three works on this album are premiere recordings and performed by Denmark's leading chamber ensemble Ensemble MidtVest. Jones is widely regarded as a unique, visionary musician and educator. Alongside composition, Jones is one of the leading violists and violinists of his time, recording 25 solo and chamber albums to date, premiering numerous concertos and commissioning dozens of works.

Classical Music

In 1935, the German composer Hans Pfitzner wrote a rousing cello concerto for Rohan de Saram's teacher, Gaspar Cassade. with an abundance of irresistible qualities, the work possesses extraordinary richness and delight. There is an almost Chopin-like quality to the solo part and the orchestral accompaniment is reminiscent of Delius. A self-described anti-modernist, Pfitzner's best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina, loosely based on the life of the great sixteenth-century composer. This recording, featuring de Saram accompanied by the Netherlands Radio Orchestra led by Bohumil Gregor, marks the work's first appearance on CD. The concerto is coupled with two Indian influenced chamber works by John Mayer, the Prabhanda for cello and piano and the Ragamalas for cello and tanpura.

Classical Music

Classical Music

First Hand Records presents violinist Sasha Rozhdestvensky in the world premiere commercial recording of Shostakovich's unfinished Violin Sonata. This recording includes an extra 28 bars of a development section found in Shostakovich's original manuscript that does not appear in the published score, and is completed by an eleven-bar coda written by conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The work is coupled with the Violin Sonata Op. 43. The program also contains world premiere commercial recordings of Shostakovich's Andantino from the String Quartet No.4, his piano duet arrangement of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and his chamber transcription of Gaetano Braga's La Serenata.

O Voo da Mosca (Flight of the Fly) is a collection of luscious, evocative Latin American dance music stylishly arranged and performed by The Ambar Music Group. The ensemble is a collaboration of three Colombian musicians and a Russian violinist. In addition to classical training, some of the group's members have also been involved in traditional music from a very early age. Their repertory is carefully chosen in a way that allows each member to express their individual personalities, thus offering an original interpretation at each performance.

Classical Music

This new release is an exciting, varied program of fun and colorful songs ranging from baroque composer Henry Purcell to present day American composer William Bolcom. Featuring the award-winning soprano Julia Kogan, In Jest is a great example of the art of the coloratura soprano. Julia Kogan is an award-winning American-French coloratura soprano, writer, and presenter. She has performed in venues around the world. Her work has been featured in numerous broadcasts on television and radio, as well as in the press. She is joined for this release by pianist and conductor Tyson Deaton, who has collaborated worldwide with the most famous artists, including Michael Norsworthy and Linda Wang.

Isabelle Aboulker is a well published composer and this release coincides with the 2018 score publication of Isabelle Aboulker: M�lodies Pour Voix Et Piano [Alphonse Leduc] an anthology of melodies for voice and piano including some of the Aboulker's most popular songs. The majority of these songs feature on this present recording. There is something for everyone in this collection of Isabelle Aboulker's most beautiful melodies: the passionate vocalises of Je t'aime sit alongside limpid fables by La Fontaine (The Crow and the Fox, The Lion in Old Age and more), while the unnerving eeriness of the merchant of souls in Au March� de Saint-Paul contrasts with the light humor of the Savoir-vivre cycle, and the melancholy accents of Lettre d'amour make way for the irresistible charm of L'Inconstante. Isabelle's prosodic clarity and voluptuous focus on the evocative power of words speak of a deep attachment to the legacy of French song composers. In turn impetuous or melancholy, this thrilling music knows how to aim straight for the heart.

References to lilies and roses and many other flowers abound in both secular and sacred texts that were set to music from across European medieval repertoire from the 12th to the early 15th century. These two flowers in particular provided a rich symbolism: lilies represented purity and brightness in a sacred context. Roses are often used to represent love, secular or sacred. Both flowers were strongly associated with the Virgin Mary – the lily particularly is associated with the annunciation, the biblical scene in which the Angel Gabriel appears to Mary to announce that she will give birth. Countless painting and altarpieces show Gabriel presenting a lily to Mary. The Telling has a growing reputation for creating intimate, staged concerts to bring medieval music off the page and reach wider audiences. Formed in 2009, The Telling draw from a pool of leading musicians who perform for the Society of Strange & Ancient Instruments, I Fagiolini, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Carnival Band and The Dufay Collective.

This recording is the culmination of 10 years of research by Dr. Emily Baines, and it brings to dazzling life the fascinating and effervescent performance style found in eighteenth-century mechanical musical instruments. It contains never before heard transcriptions of music found in eighteenth-century barrel organs and musical clocks, set for the live performers of Amyas ensemble and a number of other collaborators.

Dr. Baines is a recorder player, lecturer, and musical director working throughout Europe, also specialising in a wide variety of historical woodwinds. She she wrote her doctoral thesis on the role of mechanical musical instruments as sources for 18th-century performance practice. Baines performs regularly for many period instrument ensembles, contemporary groups, music festivals and theatres across Europe.

In addition to her performing schedule, Baines is a lecturer in Music at Brunel University London, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Shakespeare's Globe Higher Education department, and is regularly invited to other H.E. institutions for guest lectures and practical workshops.

Since childhood, Michael Brown has been inspired by composers who were also tremendous pianists and it has been his life's passion to explore both of these disciplines. While the list of musicians who fall into this category is long, three of the greatest composer-pianists include Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, and Leonard Bernstein, whose works are included in this album. Not only did these artists approach music from this dual perspective of a composer and performer, but their compositional craft was undoubtedly influenced by their relationship to the piano. Their music continues to surprise and exhilarate. Also, included are works by Michael Brown. Equally acclaimed as a pianist and composer, Michael Brown has been described as "one of the most refined of all pianist-composers" (International Piano) and "one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers" (The New York Times). His unique artistry is reflected in his creative approach to programming that often interweaves the classics with contemporary works and his own compositions.

The dramatic and atmospheric suite 'Dhammapada', by Anglo-Indian composer John Mayer, reissued by FHR 40 years after the album was recorded. New hi-resolution transfers and remastering, improve what was already a brilliantly recorded album and features a stellar group, including some of the leading figures of 1970s UK jazz-scene such as Tony Coe and Henry Lowther. 'Dhammapada' has previously been out of print on CD for a number years and currently not available in any format. This release also includes two other works by John Mayer, 'Portraits of Bengal' and 'Tantrik Dances', which were recorded at the 1974 Cheltenham Festival and are published by FHR for the first time. Both works feature Mayer’s characteristic East-West fusion style, giving an excellent complimentary album coupling to 'Dhammapada'.