The hour-long emotional tour-de-force with cellist Mark Prihodko and pianist Viktoria Korolionok evokes a soul-searching journey that spans a century of romantic repertoire following the music-making traditions of Ysaye, Gershwin, and Rachmaninov. Cerdanyenca takes its title from the eponymous sonata, written by Catalan composer Marc Migo Cortes, who dedicated this masterwork to Prihodko, his great friend. Conceived at the Juilliard School in New York, where Prihodko held the prestigious Kovner Fellowship while completing his Bachelor’s Degree in the studio of Richard Aaron, and Migo Cortes was completing his Ph.D. in the studio of John Corigliano, Sonata Cerdanyenca continues the tradition of the grandiose twentieth-century masterworks for cello and piano. Cultivating the lifetime synergy between composer and cellist, Prihodko and Migo specifically drew inspiration from the artistic collaborations between Rostropovich and Britten, and Piatigorsky and Strauss. The newly commissioned and internationally premiered Sonata has won the prestigious Pau Casals Festival International Award in 2019. In this extremely demanding monumental piece, the composer portrays the legends of his home region of La Cerdanya, from the tales of La dona d’aigua (the seducing water-woman) to the echoing Sardana Dances of Catalonia. His use of folkloric elements contextualizes hundreds of years of storytelling in an engaging acoustical play, expertly guided by Korolionok and Prihodko.

Spanish percussionist Noè Rodrigo is one of the most talented musicians of his generation. Having performed all over Europe and the US at most major concert halls and festivals, he has premiered more than 50 pieces by composers of over 20 nationalities. His interpretations of the percussion “classics” have been described by critics and audiences as highly virtuosic, technically impeccable and musically complex while featuring a large palette of colours. With PARAULES, (Words) Rodrigo brings to life seven works by essential composers of the XXth Century: Xenakis, Sciarrino, Mantovani, Denisov, Spanish music never before recorded (Torres and Vallejo) alongside more recent pieces (Borzelli). Seventy minutes where the young artist is able to show a stunning versatility, embracing every aesthetic with intelligence and accuracy, aiming for unique interpretations. If in the beginning music was a verb, like singing, shortly after it became percussion: initially, doubling the prosody of the voice; later, introducing a growing range of rhythms and colours that have made it the most heterogeneous, surprising and multicultural of all the instrumental families. In Sciarrino’s words (PARAULES): 'a wooden percussion instrument can hardly sing, but at the same time I wonder if it cannot speak, shout, moan or murmur’.

The Brahms vocal compositions (for their quality and abundance – over 400 of them) made Brahms a “worthy heir to Beethoven” in Germany, throughout Europe, and finally in France, where Ravel was the first and one of the few to admire “the beauty in his melodic ideas, their quality of expression and above all the brilliance of his orchestral language”. Schoenberg also later praised the innovation of his musical language in his Style and Idea. The excellence of Brahms’ work was summed up by Joseph Joachim, the celebrated Hungarian violinist, composer and conductor who worked with Brahms, and who described his music as “pure as a diamond, soft as the snow”. Schumann also praised the serenity and optimism of the tone with which Brahms ended his most sombre and tormented pieces: “Over choppy waves finally a rainbow shimmers, as the nightingale’s song accompanies the capricious flight of the butterfly”. This album compiles some of the most important vocal & orchestral works that best define the German composer.

With this album Soinuzko begiradak - TAKE 2, the members of the Zukan Trio continue to demonstrate that they are much more than three extraordinarily virtuoso musicians who approach contemporary music with rigour, energy and enthusiasm. None of them limit themselves to playing their own instruments, but act as multi-instrumentalists of infinite and interdisciplinary possibilities. This versatility and this common way of understanding sound and artistic career, without historical cushions and guided by an unwavering commitment to current creation, especially Spanish, makes them unique and difficult to imitate. And, for this reason, the Zukan Trio and the new paths they open for us will leave their mark on history.
The project Soinuzko begiradak – TAKE 2 (Sonorous glances) was born at the same time as the Zukan Trio. The very instrumental nature of the group, made up of a txistu (a three-hole flute) (Jon Ansorena), an accordion (Maria Zubimendi) and a percussion (Gorka Catediano), made it necessary to develop an essential activity parallel to performance: the search for composers who would contribute to the development of the ensemble’s repertoire through a network of commissions. When the trio was founded in 2014, there was only one original piece written for txistu, accordion and percussion, Otxate, by David Cantalejo. Today, in 2023, the Soinuzko begiradak - TAKE 2 project has generated more than 40 compositions offering us as many unique visions of this unusual timbral combination.

The album Se hace saber (Let it be known) by the Valencian horn player María Rubio shows off the modern instrument in its purest essence without forgetting its history, displaying the huge range of sonorous and artistic options that it has to offer solo or together with rather unconventional colleagues. All in all, a very Mediterranean contemporary portrait of the horn in the XXI century through the visions of eight national and international composers.
With this eclectic selection of works and creators, María Rubio shows us in this album her engagement with today’s creation, especially that connected to her region of origin. At the same time, the recording Se hace saber has become a tribute to her technical skills, her virtuosity and her versatility, as well as the own trajectory as a horn player. Nine works of very different aesthetics which show off the intrinsic characteristics, history and the multiple facets of this fascinating and, still very unknown instrument.

The third protagonist of the series MUSIC & WORDS by Facundo Agudín and Musique des Lumières, in collaboration with Ibs Classical, is the Russian-American writer of Jewish origin Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), winner of the 1987 Nobel Prize. Musique des Lumières has commissioned six works from five composers from very different backgrounds who, inspired by Brodsky’s texts, use music to honour this uncompromising intellectual and key figure in world literature.
On The Brodsky Album, Facundo Agudín and Musique des Lumières present six works commissioned and composed between 2020 and 2022 of homogeneous aesthetics. In particular, the vocal delivery seems to reflect the immensity of the Russian’s poetic lyricism. Two of them, Brodsky, Vivaldi and Stravinsky by Pablo Ortiz and Barcarolle oubliée by Joan Magrané fixate on one of the pinnacles of his literature: Watermark. Christmas Ballad by Andreas Pflüger and Nativity by Pablo Ortiz recall Brodsky’s peculiar penchant for writing Christmas texts from his personal identity as a creator. A Song by Hinako Takagi values the polyphony and rhythm of his poetic language and, finally, The Saints and the Aint’s by Paul Suits sets to music relevant physical and temporal spaces present in the work of the poet, essayist, and translator who is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the Soviet era.

It was Diaghilev who persuaded Falla of the opportunity involved in making a great ballet from the material of "El Corregidor y la Molinera", not being satisfied with that farce which, moreover, delighted the public of his time. However, it should be emphasised, that the pantomime involved a formula particularly favoured by Falla as it was based on a silent performance, both in terms of dialogue and incident. Today we can return to “El corregidor y la molinera” not as a mere attempt at “El sombrero de tres picos”, but, from our own perspective, as a more faithful testimony to Falla’s proverbial wish, still outside the spectacular dimension of Massine and Diaghilev. Falla, on his side later separated “Le Tricorne” from its scenic nature by transforming the score into two orchestral “suites”, which gave birth to “El sombrero de tres picos” as a symphonic creature, without transitions and with a much less relevant vocal contribution. These “suites” are in fact the most widely disseminated and best-known version of the work.

Mosaicos is a cross-section of today’s musical creation in Spain. The Musicalis Trio is contributing to the ongoing configuration of our artistic history, helping generate a new and valuable repertoire for the instrumental combination of clarinet (especially the bass clarinet), violin and piano. On this map of Spanish stylistic diversity at the commencement of the 21st century we travel from the sonic exaltation of Parra to the timbral speculation of Sánchez-Verdú, passing on the way the luminosity of Torres, the eclecticism of Greco and the lyricism of Paús. The added value of the members of the Musicalis Trio starts with their rigorous and enthusiastic interpretation of this music, demonstrating their exceptional capacity of adaptation to each language. The Musicalis Trio was formed in 2008 within the ambit of the Spanish National Orchestra. During the past 15 years of shared work and intensive concert activity, its three members (Eduardo Raimundo, clarinet and bass clarinet; Mario Pérez, violin; Francisco Escoda, piano) have forged the group’s identity, whose fundamental purpose is “to re-create the chamber music of history’s great composers.” In fact, on their first CD, Contrasts, they imparted their personal vision of five key works for the atypical combination of clarinet, violin and piano, all of them written in the first decades of the 20th century: the suite from Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat (1919), the “Adagio” from Alban Berg’s Chamber Concerto (1925), Khachaturian’s Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano (1932), Milhaud’s Suite for Clarinet, Violin and Piano (1936) and Bartok’s Contrasts (1938).

In Spain, the term tono humano was used during the Baroque period to refer to secular songs performed at urban spectacles or entertainment events such as theatrical performances, poetry contests, court parties or private concerts. These pieces often provided the musical setting for feasts; travels; promenades; soirées; academies where aristocrats, poets and musicians gathered; and meetings of influential people. Even clerics and nuns enjoyed their free time listening to, playing, singing and composing tonos humanos. The programme on this CD invites us to feel different emotions and reminds us of situations caused by love: suffering, inconstancy, jealousy, loneliness, disillusionment, coquetry, etc. In short, the listener will find in this compilation the first monographic recording focused on the CPMM, an exquisite source from a Golden Age in the history of the Music in Spain. The tonos and instrumental pieces included on this CD reflect the variety of airs, the richness in musical styles and the diverse influences (Italian, Portuguese, French…) during the transition from the Baroque period to the Enlightenment. The main topic, Cupid’s power over gods and mortals and the consequences of his arrow shots, reminds us still today that love conquers all.

Sabina Puértolas and Rubén Fernández Aguirre, through their masterly interpretation of six Italian and six Spanish songs, immerse us in the seductive plasticity of the two-faced sound universe of the Navarrese composer Emilio Arrieta, a member of the “bella armata armonica” (beautiful harmonic army) – using Donizetti’s words - trained in the 1940s at the Milan Conservatory, who cultivated his instinct in the paradise of La Scala Theatre. Let us be captivated by the beauty of this repertoire, of immense quality and interest, which returns to the music stands of the 21st century, thus revealing part of our past. Los Cisnes en Palacio (Swans in the palace) by Alberto García Demestres, draws from many musical sources, both popular and cultured, from a viewpoint and use of contemporary tools in favour of the lyricism of sound and the emotive understanding of phrasing. It is, of course, a work of great difficulty. This tour de force is made up of cadences/moan, acuti and sovracuti senza tetto, a wide palette of colours and emotions.

The Spanish violinist Pablo Suárez presents the complete collection of the Six sonatas and partitas for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach founded on one of his most profound, ambitious and personal approaches, Sei Solo. Sei Solo is a proposal including not only the performance of the composer’s original music, but also the contributions offered by the researcher Helga Thoene which are based on the discovery of the possible existence, among some of the movements, of chorales by the composer himself. For this, she has counted on the collaboration of the soprano Manon Chauvin, the countertenor Gabriel Díaz, the tenor Fran Braojos, the bass Simón Millán, and the cellist Marco Pannaría.

The delicate textures of the vocal registers, combined with the solemnity of the cello, represent a perfect complement for this original purpose. With this idea, the Madrid-born musician introduces himself into the most intimate, human, introspective and sentimental language of the German composer’s personality, grounding his interpretation on a wide spectrum of colours, essences, nuances and timbres provided both by the placement of gut strings in the instrument used (a Nicola Gagliano violin dated 1780 in Naples) and by the natural acoustics of the environment selected for this project (the interior of the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Paz in the town of Gójar in Granada). The sonority, which has been created taking into consideration characteristics quite similar to those that could be found in 18th century instruments, finds its particular personality in parameters such as luminosity, clarity, definition and direction, through a performance in which excellent technical mastery, together with marvelous control in the development of the music, allow harmonic, melodic, affective and sensorial gestures to predominate at all times.

Maestro Suzuki has performed numerous pieces which, inspired by his artistic merits, were composed especially for him by great creators of contemporary music such as Toru Takemitsu, (To the Edge of Dream for guitar and orchestra), Takekuni Hirayoshi (Requiem, for guitar and orchestra), Leo Brouwer (Retrats catalans and Beatles Story for guitar and chamber orchestra), Larry Coryell , From Broadway for guitar and string orchestra), etc..., some of which we find in this recording. This is a CD conceived with great delicacy in which the figure of Segovia stands out as the inspiration for a repertoire that crosses borders and styles, and which has generated worldwide recognition of the guitar both as a concert instrument and as a catalyst and transmitter of emotions of enormous scope due to the richness of the language and the endless possibility of techniques it encompasses. Close your eyes and enjoy.

Madrid-born Eduardo Costa Roldán, has premiered more than thirty chamber and symphonic works. Composition of educational materials is one of his main creative concerns. Tempo de Huida and Berlín 1928, two of the works included in this album Perfil del aire, were born with a clear didactic purpose. The other four titles (Diálogo de sombras, Tríptico, Escenas de la vida de Poulenc and Dos imágenes) were commissioned by renowned flautists. Julián Elvira is Spain’s leading name in experimental music for the flute, both from the performing and academic world. His comprehensive classical training, his commitment to the performative component in his projects, along with his attraction to the sounds of different cultures, make Elvira a unique flautist. Sofya Melikyan, brings her expertise on the keyboard as well as her aesthetic affinity with Costa’s musical expression. Trained in her native Armenia and later in Madrid, Paris and New York, Melikyan values rigour, technique and great expressiveness in her interpretations. A collection that allows us to get to know the author’s different creative stages and his varied profiles through the flute. As Luis Cernuda writes in his first collection of poems, from 1927, entitled Perfil del aire (the book from which the composer has taken the name of this album): “Guardada está la dicha / en el aire vacío” (“Happiness is enclosed / in empty air”).

The cellist Roger Morelló has intercalated three sarabands from the Suites for Cello Solo by Johann Sebastian Bach. The first is the one included in the Suite No. 1, whose prelude served as primary material for the work by Marc Migó. The second saraband that appears is the one from the Suite No. 2, which is in the key of D minor, and the third is the E flat major saraband. Along with these pieces, we encounter the Suite for Cello Solo by Gaspar Cassadó – a renowned Casals pupil and one of the most legendary violoncellists of the twentieth century as well as a composer. Along with this piece, Morelló has added his cello arrangement of an original work for viola da gamba from Les voix humaines by Marin Marais, which is the piece that lends this album its title. Side by side with these historical references that have become timeless, Roger Morelló includes two contemporary works. One of them is formed by the Variations on the name of Casals by Marc Migó, a work commissioned by Morelló himself, to whom it is also dedicated. The other contemporary composition that Morelló wanted to include on this album is a work that he commissioned from Elisenda Fábregas, who in turn dedicated it to him. It has Catalan dances as its title and consists of four dances.

The most important chamber music, as well as beautiful, written for violin and piano. Fantastic version offered by this duo of artist Tchijik-Urroz. The Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano in G Major, Op. 78 can be heard as a compendium of the characteristics of Brahms’s very personal embodiment of Romanticism. Brahms’s second Sonata for this medium was composed in the summer of 1886 while vacationing in the Bernese Oberland. Brahms gave the work the formal title of “Sonata for Piano and Violin,” perhaps indicating that the piano part is as important (or more) than the violin part. Sonata no. 3 in D Minor, Op. 108, Brahms achieved a maximum level of economy of means. Composed between 1886 and 1888, it was dedicated to Brahms’s champion Hans von Bülow, a friend and colleague who had once been a staunch supporter of Wagner—before they fell out and became enemies.