The Six Partitas are a collection of keyboard pieces that were first published by Johann Sebastian Bach himself in 1731 as 'Clavier Ubung OPUS 1', while he was Kapellmeister at the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and Music Director of the city of Leipzig. Guitarist Azusa Shimizu performs superb arrangements for guitar of these masterpieces by Hiroshi Saito

Two iconic masterpieces of the twentieth century come together on this exceptional release that will be available on vinyl and digitally: Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" and Maurice Ravel's "Bolero". Recorded at Valencia's renowned Palau de la Música, the album combines a live performance of Rodrigo's celebrated guitar concerto and the rarely heard "Tiento Antiguo" (June 2024) with a studio recording of Ravel's mesmerizing Bolero (February 2026). Together, these works reveal two distinct yet complementary visions of musical Spain, viewed through the lenses of one of Spain's greatest composers and one of France's most brilliant orchestrators. At the center of the recording is acclaimed Croatian guitarist Ana Vidovic, whose artistry, technical mastery and expressive depth have made her one of the leading guitarists of her generation. She is joined by the Orquesta de Valencia under the direction of Alexander Liebreich, whose dynamic leadership has further strengthened the orchestra's position among Spain's leading symphonic ensembles. From the poetic lyricism and emotional intensity of Concierto de Aranjuez to the irresistible rhythmic momentum and dazzling orchestral colors of Bolero, this release captures music of enduring beauty, passion and brilliance. The combination of live spontaneity and studio precision makes for a compelling listening experience and a distinguished addition to any classical vinyl collection.

The Cardinal and the Roller, in all it's storytelling and collaboration, captures the power of music to bridge worlds and connect to the shared humanity within us all. At it's heart is the coming together of two ensembles: an American choir led by Dr. Cameron LaBarr and a South African choir led by Dr. Michael Barrett. The Missouri State University Chorale and the University of Pretoria (TUKS) Camerata are both highly respected choral ensembles, yet they differ in many ways. By all expectations, the distinct cultures and sounds of these choirs should not seamlessly work, yet from the very first note they sang together, it was unmistakably clear that this would be an extraordinary project. The album features sixteen tracks, equally representing musical traditions from the United States and South Africa. Ultimately, The Cardinal and the Roller encapsulates the spirit of this album. It reminds us that at the core of humanity lies in a deep longing for connection, integrity, and purpose-to live meaningfully and in harmony with one another. It is our hope that this album creates space for reflection and emotion, and that it leaves you with a renewed sense of hope and joy.

With Every Petal Tells a Story, guitarist and composer Tiago Lageira presents an intimate musical portrait of love, commitment and the transformation of becoming a parent. Rooted in personal memory, the album unfolds like a sequence of emotional chapters: from the first spark of romance to marriage, from expectation to birth, and from uncertainty to the overwhelming discovery of a love growing beyond oneself. Lageira's music carries the imprint of several worlds. Born in Portugal and shaped by the traditions of Fado and Brazilian rhythm, he later immersed himself in Amsterdam's jazz scene, absorbing the language of improvisation, harmony and storytelling. His playing combines melodic sensitivity with rhythmic fluidity, bringing together Portuguese lyricism, modern jazz colours and a deeply personal sense of narrative. Across seven original compositions, Every Petal Tells a Story invites a rich cast of voices and instrumental guests. The album features Vanessa Torrens Juaneda, Anna Serierse, Hermine Deurloo, Jina Sudemi, Iris Feijen and Marisa Petraglia, each adding a distinct shade to Lageira's musical world. From the atmospheric opening of 'Under the Shadow of the Lotus' to the reflective closing piece 'Futuro Incerto,' the album moves through tenderness, wonder, doubt and devotion. The title reflects the album's essence: every moment, every memory and every fragile detail carries meaning. Like petals gathered from different seasons of life, these compositions form a story of love in bloom: vulnerable, resilient and profoundly human. Every Petal Tells a Story is both a personal dedication and a universal invitation: to listen closely to the quiet turning points that shape our lives, and to hear in them the music of becoming.

The very first notes of this CD are enchanting: the delicate sounds that Kanahi Yamashita draws from the strings of her guitar immediately transport us to a world filled with sounds and songs that illuminate the various facets between night and dream. In the songs by John Dowland and the variations by Segei Rudnev, the darkness and depth of the night allude to death and it's eternal silence. Frank Martin's composition, Quatre pieces breves, reflects both the tranquility and the restlessness of the darkness, much like Benjamin Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland. The journey through the night concludes with the 1953 piece Alba by Swiss composer Hans Haug, whose gentle string sounds herald the dawn - the night ends and a new day begins. Full of hope, tenderness, and melancholy, qualities so characteristic of Kanahi Yamashita's playing. Kanahi Yamashita was born in Nagasaki in 1997 and received her musical training from her parents, the renowned - and recently deceased - guitarist Kazuhito Yamashita and composer Keiko Fujiie. From a young age, she performed worldwide in a duo with her father. At the age of 13, she made her solo debut in Turin. She has lived in Berlin since 2015, where she studied at the Berlin University of the Arts with Prof. Thomas Muller-Pering and at the Nuremberg University of Music with Prof. Bjorn Colell, graduating with honors in 2026.

On Disambiguation, guitarist and composer Christy Doran joins forces with Indian tabla player Imran Khan for a vivid, border-crossing duo album that brings together rock energy, blues feeling, jazz improvisation, Irish melodic traces and the subtle rhythmic flow of Indian classical music. Doran's guitar language is instantly recognizable: shimmering textures, sharp rhythmic accents, eruptive solos, intricate patterns and a fearless sense of movement. After six decades of musical exploration, he returns here with renewed clarity to the roots that have shaped his playing: blues, rock, Hendrix, McLaughlin, improvisation and, more recently, the Irish music of his family heritage. Echoes of Uilleann pipe melodies can be heard in pieces such as 'Ode to Johnny Doran' and 'Dark Slender Boy', where folk material is transformed into Doran's own highly personal sound world. Imran Khan's tabla provides both pulse and atmosphere. A distinguished player of the Delhi Gharana, Khan brings warmth, clarity and expressive depth to the music. His gently shifting rhythmic patterns open a space in which Doran's acoustic and electric guitars can move freely between drive, abstraction, lyricism and intensity. The album title points to a kind of artistic clarification. The ambiguities are not simplified, but illuminated. Across pieces such as 'Disambiguation', 'Haute Savoie', 'Taal Pravaah' and 'Mantra On An Irish Stream', the duo creates music that is fluid, forceful and deeply rooted, yet always open to surprise. Disambiguation is a meeting of two distinctive musical voices: Christy Doran's expansive guitar art and Imran Khan's refined tabla tradition. Together they create a sound that is direct, exploratory and full of depth.

Playful and with an acute ear for the full range of possibilities of the human voice, Perttu Haapanen has established himself as one of the most exploratory and intellectually curious composers of vocal music active in the Nordic countries. His output includes works for a wide variety of musical formations, but the human voice is central to much of it. He combines a deep understanding of traditional choral sonority with a modernist fascination for extended techniques and structural rigor and a post-modern interest in the deconstruction of text. In his writing, Haapanen examines the full range of sound production available using the human vocal apparatus. We hear singing, of course, but also whispering, speaking, shouting, Sprechgesang, breathing sounds, whistling, lip smacks, tongue clicks, grunting as well as nasal tone and falsetto. Haapanen's use of text is also far from traditional: he is as interested in words for their sonic qualities as he is in the meanings they convey, separating them into their individual phonemes or using similar-sounding words in quick succession to create a sonic image. The subject matter explored in these texts is varied, but notable in a number of Haapanen's works is his interest in the themes of playfulness and of childhood - although not necessarily the innocent variety. The Helsinki Chamber Choir has a diverse repertoire, as shown on it's previous, acclaimed albums for BIS which range from late Renaissance Christmas hymns via 19th-century Finnish songs to spring to 20th-century modernism. Particularly highly regarded for it's work with new music, the choir under it's artistic director Nils Schweckendiek here takes the step into the 21st century, and proves it's expertise in a highly demanding programme.

The origins of the tango are debatable, but few would disagree in naming Carlos Gardel the first great figure of the genre. Beginning his career as a folk singer, Gardel is also generally regarded as the creator of sung tango, tango canción. In the course of some 25 years, he wrote a large number of songs, recorded numerous discs and acted in several films, achieving international stardom. All the Gardel songs heard here featured in films produced between 1932 and 1935. Lending its title to the present album, Guitarra, guitarra mía was the last song Gardel recorded, shortly before he died in a plane crash in June 1935. Only months earlier, he had encountered a young boy who had a walk-on part in his last film – a striking coincidence, as the boy was Astor Piazzolla, alongside Gardel the most influential figure in the history of the tango. In contrast to Gardel, however, Piazzolla was for a long time the black sheep of traditional tango, eager to explore art music and jazz and to incorporate elements of both in his own music, which became known as nuevo tango. Written for the ensembles that he played and toured worldwide with, pieces such as La muerte del ángel and Vuelvo al sur became immortal. Himself a bandoneon player, Piazzolla often included guitar in his ensembles, but did not compose for solo guitar until in the 1980s, when he wrote the Cinco Piezas that close the disc.

Along with numerous arrangements, these have entered the guitar repertoire and are here performed by the German guitarist Franz Halász, who on recent releases for BIS has impressed the critics to the point of winning a Latin Grammy Award in 2015 with a disc of chamber music by Radamés Gnattali.

REVIEW:

Not only does this bring the music of Carlos Gardel and Astor Piazzolla to a wider audience, with beautifully phrased performances throughout, but it leads us—for those like myself with little background in the Tango—to extensive video clips from the films Gardel made in the 1930s. Both well worth investigating.

-- Lark Reviews

Cesar Guerra-Peixe (1914-1993) was a Brazilian composer, violinist, and musicologist whose work reflects a deep engagement with both European classical traditions and the rich diversity of Brazilian folk music. Initially influenced by modernist and serialist techniques, Guerra-Peixe later shifted toward a nationalist style, incorporating rhythms, melodies, and structures derived from regional traditions across Brazil. This transition marked a significant phase in his career, as he sought to create a distinctly Brazilian voice within the concert music tradition. Although Guerra-Peixe is not primarily known as a guitar composer, his contributions to the instrument are notable for their craftsmanship and cultural authenticity. His complete works for solo guitar are relatively few compared to major guitar composers, yet they hold an important place in the Brazilian guitar repertoire. These pieces reflect his ethnomusicological interests, often drawing on northeastern Brazilian musical idioms, such as baiao, maracatu, and frevo. Through these influences, Guerra-Peixe infused his guitar music with rhythmic vitality and expressive nuance. His guitar works demonstrate a clear understanding of the instrument's technical and expressive possibilities. Rather than treating the guitar merely as a harmonic accompaniment, he explores it's capacity for polyphony, timbral contrast, and rhythmic complexity. The writing is idiomatic, making effective use of open strings, varied articulations, and dynamic contrasts, while remaining accessible to skilled performers. Played with great feeling for the idiom by Flavio Nati, one of Italy's foremost guitarists, winner of the Golden Guitar. He played in Carnegie Hall New York as soloist in the guitar concerto of Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

Portraits for Guitar brings together bold contemporary voices and rich cultural traditions from the Afro-Cuban, Caribbean and European sound worlds. Performed by Ahmed Dickinson Cardenas and Helen Sanderson, this unique album weaves together rhythm, vivid colour, contrast and a deep sense of travel and place into an irresistibly compelling and engaging narrative.

Italian guitarist Francesco Molmenti plays the historic Antonio de Torres 1884 guitar from the 'Carlo Carutti Collection, ' located at the Ala Ponzone Civic Museum in Cremona. Antonio de Torres Jurado (Almeria, 13 giugno 1817 - 19 novembre 1892) stands as a central figure in the history of guitar making. His contribution was crucial in defining the dimensions, shape, design, and construction technique of the modern classical guitar. Thanks to his work, the instrument acquired the features that still distinguish it today. Torres' training most likely took place in Granada. This formative period coincided with what is known as the first era of his activity, which ended in 1869. During these years, the technical and artistic level achieved by the Spanish luthier was particularly high, confirming him as one of the greatest makers of his time. After a break of several years, Torres began in 1875 what is defined as the second era of his production. This phase, which continued until his death in 1892, was characterised by a perfect balance between shape, proportions, weight, and dimensions, elements that made his guitars models of reference for generations of luthiers. The more than one hundred known guitars built by Torres were admired and often imitated: over the years, many instruments were attributed to him, even if they were fakes, sometimes made by renowned and skilled luthiers. A representative example of Torres' work is the guitar preserved in the Carlo Alberto Carutti collection. Built in Almeria, the instrument features a label with the date 1884 and progressive number 59, placing it in the 'second period' of the luthier's creative activity. This era was characterised by the use of more economical woods such as cypress and mahogany, which Torres alternated with finer materials such as maple and Brazilian rosewood intended for top-end instruments. Different options that did not affect the sound quality of the guitars made by the Almeria luthier. Two elements give coherence and unity to the programme of this recording. First, all the selected pieces share the presence of a female name in their title; moreover, almost all the composers are of Spanish origin (with the exception of Claude Debussy) and lived during the period in which Antonio de Torres (Almeria, 1817-1892) built his guitars. It is known that Julian Arcas, Francisco Tarrega, Miguel Llobet, and Antonio Jimenez Manjon played instruments crafted by Torres. Of the other composers, fewer biographical details are known, but the aesthetics of their works perfectly match the timbre and sensitivity of the nineteenth-century guitar. The programme also includes two compositions by non-guitarist composers: La maja de Goya by Enrique Granados and La fille aux cheveux de lin by Claude Debussy. The former, in Miguel Llobet's transcription, is ideally connected to the selection of Catalan songs; the latter, conceived as a 'bonus track, ' is a poetic homage to the French composer and to his ideal dialogue with Spain - a country he never visited, yet deeply evoked, as in La soiree dans Grenade.

Franz Schubert's 'Die schone Mullerin' receives a deeply personal and strikingly intimate new interpretation in this recording by tenor Markus Miesenberger and guitarist Christian Haimel. Based on Wilhelm Muller's timeless poems, the cycle follows the emotional journey of a young miller's apprentice consumed by love, longing, jealousy and despair. Rather than presenting another traditional version of this beloved masterpiece, the artists return to the sound world of Schubert's Vienna through the use of a gut-strung Biedermeier guitar, revealing the songs with extraordinary transparency, fragility and emotional immediacy. In this setting, the famous cycle becomes what Miesenberger calls 'an authentic reflection of the soul of a broken man,' where voice and guitar move together with breathtaking lightness between hope and heartbreak. An essential part of this album's unique atmosphere is the remarkable recording environment itself: in sound engineer and producer Bert van der Wolf's celebrated High Street Studio in Heerewaarden, the Netherlands. Housed in a church renowned for it's natural acoustics, profound silence and immersive sound quality, the studio offered the perfect space to 'open new spaces' within Schubert's music. Combined with Van der Wolf's visionary engineering and the warmth of historical instrumentation, the recording creates a vivid new sonic perspective - intimate yet modern, pure yet expansive - allowing listeners to experience 'Die schone Mullerin' with a sense of immediacy and emotional depth rarely heard before.

Most guitar recitals emphasise the vigorous Spanish and Latin American heritage of the instrument. This album takes a different approach, travelling round the fringes of Europe, with music from Albania, Estonia, France, Serbia, Greece and the British Isles, these largely lyrical works chosen because they were inspired by issues and events that underline the dignity of the human condition. They allude to a surprisingly wide range of subjects: peace-time reconciliation, love and loss, ethnic identity, personal courage, environmental degradation and bittersweet recollections of childhood - in music for calm reflection.

PEOPLE. PLACES.' is the result of a personal process of professional rediscovery and artistic redefinition. I arrived in Europe in 2019 thinking of myself as a guitarist who composes, and life circumstances led me to see myself now as a composer who plays the guitar. I have been making music since I was four years old, and the guitar was the instrument that, during my teenage years, led me to decide to become a musician and through which I became a professional, an artist. Composing, on the other hand, better represents the meaning music has for me today: as an expressive and revolutionary tool, for change, transformation, and development. - Martin laies

Paul Smith had previously recorded two albums of my solo guitar music, so with more than enough new pieces ready, a third album seemed destined. He also kindly introduced me to Ekaterina Skliar, who has joined him for two works, playing mandolin and domra. This latter instrument comes from Russia. It has three strings tuned in fourths, and it's sound resembles both the balalaika and the mandolin. David Loeb

Hans Werner Henze. Royal Winter Music. Two Sonatas on Shakespearean Characters marks an important stage in Stefano Grondona's recording career: after years of sustained engagement with it and public performances (roughly from 1982 to 1995), the musician returns to confront this pivotal work of twentieth-century guitar repertoire. At the same time, in the manner and outcomes of this traversal, the record bears witness to an oblique and little-trodden modality of approaching compositions that, like this one, embody peculiarities and contradictions of the more cultured guitar repertoire. The physiognomy of this work, as Marek Orszulik argued (Aspects of the Historical Development of Repertoire for the Guitar. A Case Study of Hans Werner Henze's Royal Winter Music, Sonatas on Shakespearean Characters, University of Alberta, 2016), reconciles the sonata, understood as a genre of large-scale form and monumental architecture, with the Character Piece, a rhapsodic, dramatic, and psychological composition. In the introductions to the printed editions published by Schott, Henze makes clear that, through the Royal Winter Music cycle, he intended to engage with a series of key characters from Shakespearean theatre (to whom the different movements of the sonatas are dedicated), who appear and disappear through the guitar's sonic textures.

TYRANNIDE was conceived from the desire to explore the theme of cante jondo as a universal expressive archetype, not confined to the Spanish tradition but deeply rooted in human nature. It's primordial character - often expressed through the insistence of the semitone and microtonal inflections - becomes a symbol of the human condition, forced to confront suffering, death, and their inexorable musical reflection. A tyranny, indeed: that of a lament that does not belong to a single people or era, but which runs through the history of music, re-emerging in the form of appoggiaturas, suspended tensions, and melodic lines filled with longing. Cante jondo, originally connected with Andalusian flamenco, thus becomes, in the programme of this recording, a universal musical principle, capable of manifesting itself even in languages far removed from the Spanish tradition. The programme includes two works never previously recorded: Cantar de mio Cid by the French composer Jean-Dominique Krynen and the Concerto Trois Graphiques by Maurice Ohana in it's original arrangement for guitar and piano. Around these two central works unfolds a musical journey that places cante jondo in dialogue with different historical and stylistic contexts, revealing it's surprising expressive continuity.

A protege of legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, Arturo Sandoval has been awarded 10 Grammy® Awards, and been nominated 19 times. He has also received 6 Billboard Awards as well as an Emmy Award for his composing of the entire underscore of the HBO movie based on his life, "For Love or Country", that starred Andy Garcia as Arturo. Considered one of the world's most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn, he is also recognized worldwide as a renowned classical artist, pianist, and composer.

For this recording, an eight-stringed liuto forte in g/415 Hz, scale length 58 cm, belonging to Michael Haaser, was used (tuned g' d' a f c G F D). The liuto forte is a further development of historical lutes, in a sense a modern lute. Due to it's special construction and the use of heavier individual strings (in contrast to the stringed strings of historical lutes), liuto forte instruments are ideally suited for performers transitioning from the guitar to the lute.

Franco Margola (1908-1992) occupies a distinctive place in twentieth-century Italian music as a composer who combined modern clarity with a deep respect for classical balance and lyric expression. Born in Brescia, Margola was trained within the Italian conservatory tradition and soon developed a style often associated with neoclassicism: transparent textures, well-defined forms, and an elegant restraint that avoided both romantic excess and radical avant-garde experimentation. Throughout his career he wrote extensively for chamber ensembles, voice, and solo instruments, consistently favoring intimate musical dialogue and refined craftsmanship. Among his most important contributions to the guitar repertoire are the five Sonatas for guitar, composed over several decades. These works reflect Margola's close engagement with the instrument's idiomatic possibilities while maintaining a strong structural rigor. Rather than treating the guitar merely as a vehicle for virtuosic display, Margola emphasizes musical architecture, motivic development, and subtle harmonic color. Each sonata presents a different perspective on form and expression, yet all share a characteristic clarity of line and balance between melody and accompaniment. Stylistically, the guitar sonatas draw on classical models-especially the sonata principle and dance-like movements-while incorporating twentieth-century harmonic language, including modal inflections and gently dissonant sonorities. Rhythmic vitality and contrapuntal writing are frequent features, demanding both technical control and musical sensitivity from the performer. At the same time, Margola's lyrical impulse remains central: slow movements often unfold in long, singing phrases that highlight the guitar's natural warmth and expressive resonance. Played by Valerio Celentano, who graduated in classical guitar with honors from the Conservatory of Music "Giuseppe Martucci" in Salerno under the guidance of Antonio Grande. He has participated in several masterclasses with famous guitarists such as Alirio Díaz, Pavel Steidl, David Russell, Jyrki Myllärinen, Mario Gangi, and Carlo Marchione. He studied for several years with Oscar Ghiglia and Frédéric Zigante. He won prizes in many international music competitions. For Brilliant Classics, he recorded guitar works by Georges Migot.

Em Julho is the second album by singer Elsa Johanna Mohr and guitarist Flávio Nunes, following their 2023 debut Passadinha. Recorded in Bonn in August 2025, the album brings together Brazilian classics and original songs in an intimate, warm setting shaped by voice, guitar, and subtle rhythmic detail. The repertoire moves from "Água de Coco" and "Tico-Tico no Fubá" to Mohr's own compositions, including "Beijo da Lua," "Jaguar," and the title track "Em Julho." Drawing on Mohr's deep connection to Brazilian language and culture and Nunes's virtuosic seven-string guitar playing, Em Julho blends Música Popular Brasileira, singer-songwriter intimacy, and jazz-inflected elegance. The result is a musical summer of warmth, longing, and Brazilian joie de vivre-light, lyrical, and transportive.

This album presents a selection of chamber works that offers a compelling cross-section of the composer's musical imagination, as well as the fluency with which he moves across a richly varied stylistic landscape. The outstanding performers respond with complete assurance to the intentions of one of the most frequently performed composers of his generation. Adrian Robak explores unconventional instrumental combinations and a wide spectrum of sonorities, while remaining in meaningful dialogue with the aesthetic currents of earlier decades. His music impresses and moves through the sincerity of it's expression-an artistic voice that has earned him growing recognition on concert stages in Poland and abroad.