In two virtuosic parts, the brilliant and internationally renowned pianist Lucas Debargue reinterprets-and even reimagines-the repertoire of the illustrious American composer George Gershwin in a unique and personal way. The first part of the album, recorded during a memorable evening at the Philharmonie de Paris in September 2025 on Stephen Paulello's unique SP/287 piano, features the famous Three Preludes and Concerto in F, accompanied by the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Elim Chan. Also included: a highly personal version of Rhapsody in Blue, enriched with the pianist's own cadenzas. The second part, recorded at the Paulello Studio, is entirely devoted to twelve virtuosic etudes composed by Lucas from Gershwin's most popular songs, spanning all chromatic keys. This cycle represents the most ambitious creation of his career as a pianist to date, affirming a deep commitment to freedom and invention, while placing itself in the tradition of the great composers who wrote their own etudes. Gershwin's most celebrated works appear reimagined: The Man I Love, Someone to Watch Over Me, Ain't Necessarily So, They Can't Take That Away From Me, I Got Rhythm plus 20 variations on the theme of Summertime! Internationally acclaimed pianist Lucas Debargue's Gershwin Variations stand as an ambitious and unprecedented project, born from the desire to explore a radically different universe after recording Scarlatti sonatas and the complete solo piano works of Faure. This double album is an ode to George Gershwin, an unclassifiable composer standing at the crossroads of classical music and jazz, whose singularity inspired Lucas to create a work equally impossible to categorize. The Gershwin Variations is neither a classical album nor a jazz album, but a hybrid work reflecting the anticonformist spirit and the American dream embodied by Gershwin. Lucas offers a bold and poetic reinterpretation in which counterpoint, shifting harmonies, and unconventional rhythms reveal the richness of Gershwin's melodies. He invites listeners to rediscover a repertoire where popularity is never synonymous with triviality, and where music becomes a space for freedom, daring, and vitality.

Countertenor John Holiday presents Over My Head, a striking and deeply personal debut that reflects both the breadth of his artistry and the clarity of his artistic voice. Praised as one of the finest countertenors of his generation, Holiday brings together a thoughtfully curated programme spanning spirituals, contemporary works, and art song. From intimate moments at the piano to collaborations with pianist Kevin Miller, the album includes works by Hall Johnson, Robert L. Morris, H. Leslie Adams, world premieres by Theo Morrison and Carlos Simon, and arrangements by Holiday himself, highlighting repertoire shaped by curiosity, individuality, and expressive depth. Rooted in themes of resilience, faith, and love, Over My Head offers a heartfelt musical journey that speaks with both intimacy and conviction. Each work has been selected for it's emotional resonance and it's ability to connect across time and experience, forming a narrative that feels both personal and universal.

An exciting release from SOMM Recordings, featuring the Russian-born pianist Nikolay Medvedev, is the aptly named Fusions, which brings together the music of George Gershwin and Nikolai Kapustin-two diverse pianist-composers who share the influence of jazz in their work-while also highlighting the virtuosity of Earl Wild, one of the greatest American pianists of the 20th century. George Gershwin, whose compositions spanned jazz, popular, and classical music, hardly needs introduction, yet the unique fusion of jazz and classical forms of Nikolai Kapustin-who was born the year of Gershwin's death in 1937-was limited to a niche audience in Russia, until his music became internationally known in the early 2000s. These classical and jazz infused works are vividly performed by award-winning pianist, Nikolay Medvedev, whom BBC Music Magazine has named "a pianist with poise and precision," while the Berliner Morgenpost has described his performances as "a mesmerizing combination of technical mastery and emotive depth." What sets Nikolai Kapustin apart as a composer is that, although his music inhabits jazz idioms naturally, everything in it is carefully notated on the page and not improvised as traditional jazz would be. His Second Piano Sonata, which opens this programme, dates from 1989. It's an optimistic four-movement work that blends classical sonata form with jazz elements, requiring high-level technical skill to manage it's complex, syncopated rhythms. The sophisticated harmonic and rhythmic language that Kapustin derived from jazz fusion, bebop, and stride piano is also very much in evidence in his Eight Concert Études of 1984. These are not intended to be played together as a set, and this recital features five études, ranging from a thrillingly atmospheric stylisation of South American carnival time to Joplinesque ragtime riding above a powerful left-hand stride. Kapustin's 1984 Variations for piano, which close this recital, are in the classical form of variations while seeming to contain every conceivable jazz influence. The rousing finale in particular is one of Kapustin's most exhilarating compositions. Had George Gershwin not died tragically at the age of 38, he might have completed his projected set of Twenty-Four Preludes for solo piano. As it happened, he wrote eight, and the first Three Preludes were published as a set in 1925. Prelude I is an exercise in energetic syncopation, Prelude II is a lyric blues, and Prelude III closes the set brilliantly with rugged rhythms and further syncopations. In 1932, Gershwin was persuaded to publish The George Gershwin Song-Book for solo piano, and in the 1950s Earl Wild-named by music critic Harold C. Schonberg a "super-virtuoso in the Horowitz class"-released two collections of his own unique versions of Gershwin songs. His 7 Virtuoso Etudes after George Gershwin-including Fascinatin' Rhythm and the haunting The Man I Love-raise Gershwin's inherent genius to an exceptional level of concert standards.

Sensuous contemporary ballet meets the energy of musical theatre in four distinctive short works showcasing the extraordinary versatility of The Royal Ballet's Artistic Associate, Christopher Wheeldon. His hugely successful career, spanning ballet to musical theatre from London to New York and beyond, has garnered international acclaim. These exceptional pieces - Fool's Paradise, The Two of Us, Us and An American in Paris - are a feast for the senses highlighting the Tony- and Olivier-award-winning choreographer's remarkable range. This collection is a testament to Wheeldon's diverse expression and creativity.

Sensuous contemporary ballet meets the energy of musical theatre in four distinctive short works showcasing the extraordinary versatility of The Royal Ballet's Artistic Associate, Christopher Wheeldon. His hugely successful career, spanning ballet to musical theatre from London to New York and beyond, has garnered international acclaim. These exceptional pieces - Fool's Paradise, The Two of Us, Us and An American in Paris - are a feast for the senses highlighting the Tony- and Olivier-award-winning choreographer's remarkable range. This collection is a testament to Wheeldon's diverse expression and creativity.

With 'An American Dream?', Barbara Hannigan explores the concept of The American Dream. "I grew up in awe of America. I am still in awe, but largely in a nostalgic way. With this repertoire, I want to express my admiration for the incredible creativity and tenacity of composers who shaped a musical language that was truly their own." The Canadian conductor and soprano collaborates with her long-term partners, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, on this programme of works by American composers. With 'the fair' as a recurring theme across the repertoire, the image on the cover shows a carousel horse that is at a standstill. A pretty, painted object - but the floor is cracked and half the lights are burned out. Nostalgia and memory are mixed with underlying darkness and destruction. From George Gershwin's masterpiece Porgy and Bess - an opera about love, addiction, racism, and hope - Robert Russell Bennett's iconic arrangement of A Symphonic Picture is featured. Inspired by watching the silent film Nosferatu, Aaron Copland composed the vibrant Dance Symphony. The Carousel Waltz (arr. Don Walker) is the overture to the Broadway musical Carousel by Richard Rodgers. For the grand finale, Barbara Hannigan reunites with American composer and arranger Bill Elliott in their joint creation, At the Fair, a suite which includes a multitude of American songs and themes, including Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair? and Jule Styne's famous hit Don't Rain on my Parade.

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.

Petter Udland Johansen has been known for years as an exceptional interpreter of early music. With his distinctive voice and keen sense of style and text interpretation, he has made a name for himself as a specialist in repertoire from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. Now he is opening a new chapter: on his album Where Is Love, the versatile singer turns his attention for the first time to the great songs of the American Songbook timeless classics by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers and other masters. Johansen is joined by Christian Gutfleisch, his ideal musical partner at the piano. Gutfleisch performs on a Bluthner grand piano from 1910, whose warm, velvety tone forms a poetic bridge between past and present. The instrument seems to carry within it the sound world of the very era in which many of these songs were written - while offering an abundance of color and intimacy that perfectly suits the duo's chamber-like approach.

The coming together of the percussionist and marimbist Vassilena Serafimova and the Quatuor Ardeo,(Ardeo String Quartet) the encounter of two worlds that inspire new repertoires as well as moods and impressions, recreated partly through original arrangements. This is a subtle balance between the marimba coupled with the vibraphone and the strings: the former, pulsating and silky, brings a more pronounced rhythmic dimension and occasionally takes on a concertante role; the latter offers a warm lyricism and a texture at times dense or transparent, but always supple. A delicate balance, too, when it comes to paying homage to the works without diminishing their original artistic strength. As the works and arrangements unfold, the journey takes shape like a voyage journal where age-old traditions meet fresh inspirations. Melodies in a Bottle aims to be less a programme than a passage, one of maritime or urban perspectives, of real or imagined landscapes, of music whose history is rewritten with every note. A meeting space where curiosity becomes an attractive driving force.

The rich musical heritage of the Litvaks is only just beginning to be explored. The music by Jewish composers who were born in, lived in, or emigrated from Lithuania has been lurking in the background for many years. This new creative chapter opens with an album that features two prominent musical figures, the Lithuanian violinist Dalia Dedinskaite and the Canadian pianist Walter Delahunt. Together, they present a musical journey showcasing the creativity of the Litvaks, from Lazdijai in Lithuania to Hollywood in the USA. The album's title, Estrellita (The Star), is not only an allusion to one of it's pieces, but also a multi-sensory symbol. Estrellita, also the Star of David, is a light in the darkness, a star of remembrance. It illuminates the paths of personalities, destinies, and creativity, from those who left to those who stayed. The album Estrellita draws parallels between the lives and works of two legendary 20th-century Litvaks, Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) and Joseph Achron (1886-1943). It also opens up the musical world of Anatolijus Šenderovas (1945-2019), one of the most prominent Lithuanian composers of the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century.

The Puerto Rican pianist JESÚS MARÍA SANROMÁ (1902-1984) came to the USA to study and subsequently built his career there. He had a very wide repertoire and gave the US premieres of many contemporary works, including Ravel's G major Concerto, but was equally at home in the classics or Gershwin. He had a long association with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and their summer festival brand, the 'Pops', resulting in the series of concertos reproduced here. All are conducted by Arthur Fiedler (1894-1979), who led the 'Pops' for an astonishing 50 years from 1930. Their Gershwin Rhapsody was a huge hit, and the MacDowell and Paderewski were first recordings. We have filled out the set with Sanromá's first recording of a selection of dances by Juan Morel Campos, his 19th-century Puerto Rican fellow countryman.

After a remarkable debut in Vienna's Musikverein back in 2023, "The Philharmonic Brass" released their first album "Overture!" conducted by Tugan Sokhiev. Under Riccardo Muti's conductorship, the group reached a new peak in it's young career and launched the acclaimed album 'Italiana!' in spring 2025. To meet the highest audiophile standards, Supreme Classics is now re-releasing the first album, "Overture!" as a Hybride SACD and digitally in Dolby Atmos. "Overture!" includes virtuoso arrangements of some of the best-known overtures including Verdi's La Forza del Destino and Gershwin's Cuban Overture.

Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova's new release, Liberte, is a cultural and musical dialogue between France and America. The influence of jazz plays a central role in this tribute to French and American composers whose work transcends genres and borders. Performed together with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon under Pablo Gonzalez, the album's core pillars are Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Also featured are short solo pieces that echo it's central themes: three miniatures by Germaine Tailleferre, Time Peace, a miniature by Andrew Blickenderfer, and the jazzy Valse from Partita No. 5 by Fedorova's compatriot Myroslav Skoryk. Two French chansons round out Liberte, an album where freedom, jazz, and the shared spirit of France and America meet in music.

At the heart of this project lies "I Loves You, Porgy," a timeless composition from George Gershwin's 1935 folk opera Porgy and Bess. The melody, built on just five simple notes, is unforgettable-a testament to Gershwin's genius. Inspired by it's charm, we decided to center our album around this piece. While "I Loves You, Porgy" has been a staple for countless jazz musicians, our approach was not merely to improvise on it. Instead, we aimed to create "variants"-transformative interpretations that grew from this iconic piece. It's a unique exploration inspired by Geroge Gershwin.

For All We Know is the pure document of a magical concert evening in the LOFT in Cologne: without cuts and without any subsequent embellishment. A piano trio that plays standards, including ubiquitous ones such as "Stella By Starlight" and "Body and Soul": a case of decent, basic jazz? By no means! "We're really creating weird stuff," pianist Thomas Ruckert said. Weird, because it is completely detached from the usual conventions of standard interpretation.

2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss Sohn. An occasion for the Duo Praxedis (harpist Praxedis Hug-Rutti and pianist Praxedis Genevieve Hug) to rearrange selected compositions by the composer for harp and piano. The Baba Bussi album also includes works by other composers who have a close connection to Vienna and are firmly rooted in it's musical tradition. It is a tribute to Johann Strauss and to Vienna as the 'world capital of music' - and is being performed for the first time with this delightful instrumentation.

UN is the result of many hours of practice, concerts and a lot of work done, but above all it is the result of five people who, although time has passed and making five very different lives coincide with each other has become difficult, can't wait to meet up to play together, giving life to a project that connects the contemporary Italian repertoire to the American Jazz and Blues ones. Luciano Berio, through the blasts of Call, captures the attention and prepares the listener for the inexorability of the four movements of For Brass by Giuseppe Garbarino; an electric History of Mok by Alessio Manega involves and charges the audience with energy which Corrado Saglietti, with his Blues and Encore from the Any Time Brass Quintet collection, welcomes and transforms into dance, transporting the listener overseas. Who better than Duke Ellington and George Gershwin to squeeze the juice of so much passion? Summertime is just one of the themes that greet listeners with the same warmth felt by the musicians when recording them. Erika is still trying to understand if she is reading an 8 or a B on the score; Michele consolidates his career as Major with the patience that distinguishes him; Marina, extricating herself from the numerous instruments that she inexplicably plays at a level beyond human comprehension, is determined to divide Nicolò and Federico, engaged in their usual umpteenth and eternal squabble: immersed in their very well known calm and relaxed mood, the five members of the Canaja Brass Quintet have never been so proud to wish you happy listening.

Anna Geniushene and Lukas Geniusas both have brilliant careers as soloists: Anna won the silver medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022 and now records for Fuga Libera, while Lukas' two Rachmaninov recordings, a recital of solo works (ALPHA997) and songs with Asmik Grigorian (ALPHA796), have both won major awards. Partners in life and in art, they form a highly virtuosic and tightly knit duo. This highly varied programme pays tribute to American music with works by Gershwin, Stravinsky, Copland and McPhee, a succession of melting-pots that create fusions of classical music, jazz, Mexican music and Balinese rhythms. The spectacular and rebellious Fourth Ballad from Frederic Rzewski's North American Ballads (1978-79) is also included. This musical odyssey concludes with the vast fresco that is John Adam's magnificent Hallelujah Junction (1996).

Musical fireworks flare and dazzle in this New Year's concert! This live recording of the 2024 New Year's concert is Philzuid's seventh album - and it's a very different New Year's concert with Latin rhythms and American dance in the foreground. Chief conductor Duncan Ward takes us from Gershwin's lively Overture from Strike Up the Band to a radiant Adriana Bignagni Lesca in Montsalvage's Cinco canciones negras. The dancing continues with Bernstein's On the Town: Three Dance Episodes and ends with a premiere: the first recording of the swinging Cuban Suite by young composer Jenny Pena Campo.

The Sonus Quintet is Germany's first reed quintet, consisting of clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, oboe, and bassoon. This unusual combination of woodwind instruments allows for imaginative and airy sounds beautifully showcased on the ensemble's GENUIN debut album. The program includes the quintet's own transcriptions and the original composition "Refraction" by David Biedenbinder from 2015. The album title "Light" is reflected in various ways in the works: Gershwin's "An American in Paris," Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," and Grieg's famous "Air" from the "Holberg Suite."

'Close Harmony' is the latest musical offering from Grammy Award winning and internationally acclaimed vocal group The King's Singers. A combination of newly recorded works and tracks from their The Library EP series, the album takes a deep-dive into one of the most beloved and unique corners of their music library: the close-harmony arrangements. New arrangements feature from composers Daryl Runswick (such as an imaginative, exciting version of Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture) and John Rutter (Jerome Kern's The Way You Look Tonight) showcasing the diversity of both their talent and the repertoire they present.

A rather unique piano trio The repertoire for piano trios is plentiful and varied. Composers such as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven preferred to write for piano, violin, and cello. The repertoire for the combination of piano and two saxophones is rather limited in comparison. This is mainly to do with the fact that the instrument was first developed around 1840 by Antoine Joseph Sax, who opened a workshop in Paris in 1842 and built saxophones in seven different sizes. His patron, Hector Berlioz, was one of the first to incorporate the instrument into his orchestral compositions, and Jules Massenet used it prominently in his opera Werther in 1892, but the saxophone became more popular in French military music and, of course, in jazz, where it has been used as a solo instrument since around 1920.

Around Gershwin is star accordionist Richard Galliano's tribute to George Gershwin, in-terweaving his music with works by early twentieth-century composers such as Debus-sy, Rachmaninoff, Satie, Ravel and Faure, as well as new compositions of his own. Seen through the lense of Galliano's masterful musicianship, these pieces create the sensa-tion of a sonic odyssey.

Presented as 'An Experiment in Modern Music' when it was premiered in 1924, Rhapsody in Blue made George Gershwin famous, and he soon set to work on a version for solo piano, recorded here by Claire Huangci. In her first solo disc for Alpha Classics, Claire was keen to celebrate this centenary alongside her roots in America, where she was born, studied music and made her debut as a concert artist at the age of nine. The brilliant improviser and transcriber Earl Wild (1915-2010) took Gershwin's songs (Liza, Fascinatin' Rhythm, Somebody Loves Me, I Got Rhythm, Embraceable You, Oh, Lady Be Good, The Man I Love) to form the basis of his Seven Virtuoso Etudes for solo piano. Equally virtuosic is the Op. 26 Sonata by Samuel Barber, whom Vladimir Horowitz (who premiered the work in Havana in December 1949) regarded as one of the few Americans capable of writing for the piano. The New Hampshire-born composer Amy Beach took her inspiration from the folk music of both the New World and the Balkans, while retaining her harmonic language inherited from the Romantics. Her Variations Op. 60 (1904) bear witness to these influences.

Each of the pieces in this programme is like an ephemeral castle that I can take refuge in when I feel like it, says Sebastien Llinares. The French guitarist, who stands at the crossroads of classical, jazz and contemporary music and also produces the programme Guitare, guitares on France Musique, here puts his playing at the service of every kind of music. Jimi Hendrix's Castle Made Of Sand was the inspiration for this programme; Sebastien Llinares hears in it the unchanging open string that the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos so often used. His journey continues with tributes to famous songs by Bernstein, Gershwin and Rodgers & Hart, an evocation of Rufus Wainwright and Baden Powell in the forms of the Habanera and Bossa Nova - not forgetting a tribute to Django by John Lewis as well as Leonard Cohen's eternal Hallelujah, which takes on the air of an ancient canario when played on the classical guitar. Two bagatelles and an impromptu composed by Llinares himself complete the family portrait.

Referring to a musical work of the century such as George Gershwin's popular opera "Porgy and Bess" entails enormous risks. This is especially the case when this popular work has spawned many ubiquitous song classics. Hans Ludemann also believes: "You have to have a good reason to tackle this" and, of course, a coherent concept for a new, own approach. This has succeeded brilliantly with "Porgy's Dream". The very personal homage of Ludemann and trumpeter Reiner Winterschladen is not content with competent interpretations in the usual jazz style. The duo is based on selected themes and unfolds an intense atmosphere in it's freely interpreted pieces, which thoroughly lives up to the original work.