In this wonderful recording, baroque splendor, atmospheric and stylish elegance and cheerful Christmas melodies are put together in masterful arrangements for a festive Advent trumpet gala. The outstanding trumpeters Gernot Kahofer, Manuel Lichtenwöhrer and Leonhard Leeb are supported by the organist Bernhard Macheiner and the drummer Thomas Mair. "Noble-blown trumpet concerts and poetic enchantment that will captivate you..." The ensemble from Vienna is praised by critics and audiences worldwide. Artistic brilliance and diverse, exciting programs merge into an evening full of emotions, regardless of whether they play in a concert hall, a church or a cathedral! The three trumpeters sound classics in new tones. All ensemble members are members of various ensembles, bands and formations and are outstanding soloists. "First-class musicianship and top-notch performance," as a well-known conductor enthuses, is a matter of course with this ensemble. The Vienna Wind School is world famous - it is a breathtaking experience to hear it live. Classical arrangements of famous works of classical music combine with festive baroque, pop songs and elegant original compositions.

His playing flashes with summer lightning... His reflexes are nervy and rapid, and he dispatches every outlandish difficulty with an astonishing ease and fleetness.' (Gramophone), 'Exhilarating, and a real revelation' (Guardian), '"larger-than-life swaggerunflinching technique,..thrillingly demonic." (Guardlian). Vincenzo Maltempo's recordings for Piano Classics have consistently been praised with the highest superlatives, for both his uncanny technical facilities and his deep musical insight. His first Alkan recordings established him as first class virtuoso, while his further recordings with works by Liszt, Scriabin, Schumann, Dukas, Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms showed a musician with a keen sense of emotional depth. This extraordinary CD presents a wildly varying selection of encore pieces, short works of either intimate lyrical character or of dazzling virtuosity, a true extravaganza of pianistic fireworks!

Star conductor Herbert von Karajan is best known today for his studio recordings. However, although as a media pioneer he recognised the technical possibilities for creating recordings, he always considered the live concert to be the ideal. The radio recordings with the Berliner Philharmoniker, which were made in Berlin between 1953 and 1969 and which we present to you in this edition - mostly as first releases - represent an exciting paradox in this respect: they are snapshots that capture the spontaneity of the live performance, the magic of the unique musical moment. Never before has it been possible to experience Karajan the live artist and his joint work with the Berliner Philharmoniker as vividly as in this comprehensive edition.

The soundboard is painted with flowers, fruits, and animals and decorated with a typical light-blue ornamental border. Around the soundboard, the walls are adorned with block-printed wallpaper. The lid contains a landscape painting, which was added later, an idyllic stream landscape with four staffage figures: The observer watches a boy gazing intently into the water, a young woman carrying provisions or something similar home, and a couple, who are also only visible from behind. A bridge and a mill enliven the rural scene.' If the corresponding technical terms 'soundboard,' 'ornamental border,' or 'lid' were missing, the reader would hardly associate this vivid, florid description with a keyboard instrument. In such a manner, the renowned harpsichordist and expert in historical performance practice and basso continuo, Wolfgang Brunner, describes the instrument dated 1628 by Andreas Ruckers, from the Flemish harpsichord-making dynasty of the Ruckers family, which is heard on this recording featuring the six French Suites by J. S. Bach.

The Odessa-born pianist Boris Bloch uses this CD box set to lend weight to his desire to transcend the boundaries of human life through art in order to attain higher insights. The set includes 13 CDs with works by, among others, Scarlatti, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky. 'This edition bears the title 'Aveu passionne'-on the one hand because of the Tchaikovsky piece of the same name (in English, 'Passionate Confession'), and on the other because of my most intimate connection to all the works gathered here,' says Boris Bloch. 'Of his diligence'-as Lessing puts it-'everyone may boast.' Well then: this edition documents nothing more and nothing less than the eternal and unattainable goal of grasping at the stars beyond. Robert Musil posed the question: 'What remains of art?' He gave his own laconic answer: 'We remain, as changed beings.'

Recorded in 1997 and 1998 and released in 1999 as Rachel Podger's seminal solo debut albums, J. S. Bach's complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin are re-released today. Hailed at the time by The Irish Times as 'Clearly, a violinist to watch out for,' Podger more than fulfilled that early promise. In approaching these works, Podger sought to find 'the language of these works, to understand their complexity, to search for the meaning in every phrase... and finally come out the other end with something clear and beautiful.' More than 300 years after their composition, Bach's Sonatas and Partitas continue to astonish performers and listeners alike: a piece of wood, a few strings and a bow, and an almost unbelievable world of expression. As Podger observes, 'Every note and expression has it's rightful place and nothing ever seems too elaborate or deprived of something or too intense. The music flows with a confidence that balances our intellectual, emotional and spiritual interests.'

WHY THIS CD In 1966, shortly before Fritz Wunderlich's death, Polydor released a record entitled 'Eine Weihnachtsmusik', sung and narrated by Hermann Prey, Fritz Wunderlich and Will Quadflieg. Alongside the well-known Bible verses from Luke 2, verses 1-20, the two singers added ten popular Advent and Christmas carols. Interspersed among these are several pieces of music in the style of pastoral music (Albinoni and Telemann). Taking inspiration from the brilliant production by Hermann Prey, Fritz Wunderlich and Will Quadflieg, I put together a concert and a similar recording 60 years later as a family project. As Hessischer Rundfunk was interested in recording the concert and went on to broadcast it twice at Christmas 2025, this CD - now available - was subsequently produced in collaboration with the label hanssler CLASSIC.

Austrian guitarist Rosa Franziska Maier - laureate of numerous international competitions - releases an imaginative musical collage with GENUIN, comprising works spanning three centuries. Centered around William Walton's "Five Bagatelles" are compositions by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Johann Sebastian Bach, Giulio Regondi, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Isaac Albeniz. In Maier's richly colored and precisely articulated guitar sound, these works evoke a wide range of luminous moods, forming an imaginary museum bathed in the light of a Mediterranean summer evening.

Michael Schoch is equally at home on both the piano and organ - the best prerequisite for this recording of Reger's piano transcriptions of Bach's organ works! Lucid transparency characterises the performance of the celebrated ARD prizewinner, fed by a deep familiarity with both worlds, which Reger would also have appreciated.

Ludwig Guttler has been one of Germany's best known and most versatile trumpeters for more than 50 years. His concert activities have taken him beyond Germany across the whole of Europe. Shortly before his 75th birthday, he looks back and dedicates himself in this Edition to the continent united in music: Europe. Selected works and composers allow Guttler to show how music anticipated the political unification of Europe centuries ago. The individual works in this set, representative of many thousand such works and composers, demonstrate what paths music took in past times, what ground it's creators covered and how their paths crossed. National boundaries may have kept changing, but music-makers stayed in touch with each other, emulated or challenged each other and picked up the latest fashions. Composers cross-fertilized each other at these points of intersection and created what we know now as "European classical music". But they were not the only ones who regularly exchanged notes with their colleagues. Their compositions made the rounds too - from that day to this, but very much so even in those days of slow travel. Ludwig Guttler observes: "Sometimes it is the long journeys that indicate the works were durable, long-lived, exceptional - masterpieces, in fact." The spectrum of this Edition ranges from Bach and his contemporaries Vivaldi, Telemann, Pisendel, Zelenka, Neruda and Hasse by way of travellers Haydn and Mozart to Dvorak, who made it across the Atlantic. Guttler himself knows better than practically anyone else how to draw together these threads. His intensive research throughout Europe has caused many forgotten works to see the light of day and enjoy the acclaim of audiences. He has made his own contribution to historically informed performance practice with the reconstruction of the corno da caccia. Edition Europa is also a retrospective. "Less in the sense of reflection than as a review of what has been achieved," says Guttler. "I have been blowing the trumpet for 60 years now, conducting, fighting for what I believe in." But even at 75, he is not ready to sit back. He still has a full concert diary and still spends a lot of time on his "excavations". His goal? "I should like to bring to life as much good music as possible with my colleagues, and show what truly unbelievable riches are still awaiting us."

Step into a world of musical elegance with this release featuring solo piano interpretations of the most famous compositions by J.S. Bach. This album is a celebration of Bach's genius, showcasing the intricate beauty and emotional power of his work through the expressive medium of solo piano. Performed by Tim Allhoff who has collaborated with an impressive array of musicians and ensembles, including Larry Grenadier, Jeff Ballard, Robbie Williams, Jules Buckley, Vision String Quartet, and many more, this collection promises to deliver a rich listening experience that bridges tradition and innovation. Each piece is thoughtfully crafted to highlight the depth and complexity of Bach's compositions, making them accessible and captivating for both seasoned listeners and newcomers alike.

Has it really been a full decade? Yes - this October, Dresden celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Frauenkirche's consecration. People still remember the "call from Dresden" in 1990, which was followed by various phases of reconstruction, which was largely financed by donations thanks to many helpers. The surviving stones were first carefully salvaged, sorted and then used in the subsequent construction work from 1996. As a result, the church, which had been destroyed in February 1945, was finally reconsecrated in 2005 and became a symbol of reconciliation and peace. Throughout this entire process, the trumpeter and ensemble leader Ludwig Guttler has rendered outstanding services to the Frauenkirche. With tireless motivation in the public sphere, through active participation in the concrete organizational implementation and, last but not least, through countless concerts in aid of the reconstruction, the famous Dresden native has played a very significant role in making this vision a reality. We took this anniversary as an opportunity to ask Ludwig Guttler to select pieces from his numerous recordings that have something to do with the Frauenkirche. He gladly complied and found works that have a connection to the history of music or that he often performed at this location - already during the shell construction, but of course also in the years after the consecration. Recordings from the Frauenkirche, some of them live, are of course also included. With it's beautiful and informative presentation, this CD is not only attractive for Guttler fans in the run-up to Christmas, but also makes a special gift.

It was important to me to gather composers who expressed the European idea, be it in their origins, their education, their travels or their moves to different places of work Ludwig Guttler This is the idea behind the new album by trumpeter and conductor Ludwig Guttler. The occasion for this edition was Christmas, the holiday of holiday, but Ludwig Guttler would like to point to something fundamental. Hence the title: "Europa Cantat" - "Europe sings": Composers from all over Europe are brought together musically on this edition and thus make clear the similarities on both a musical and lyrical level.

When the voices of the Thomaner-chor sing a Christmas song in a cold winter's night, everyone knows that the best time of the year has begun. With the best that the catalogue of the choir of St. Thomas Leipzig has to offer for Christmas, this extensive edition fits exactly into the most contemplative time of the year.

Peter Schreier is one of the legendary tenors of the twentieth century. The foundation for his exceptional 60-year career is his intensive involvement with Protestant church music, whether as a boy alto of the Dresden Kreuzchor at a young age, or later as an outstanding evangelist. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the linchpin of his career. The tenor is accompanied by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Erhard Mauersberger, Johann Sebastian Bach's 14th successor as cantor of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. For the first time, this album is now released on CD.

The musical interests of Ludwig Guttler know no borders, but the festivity of Christmas in all it's magic is particularly close to Guttler's heart: "I want to bring a selection to the audience that does justice to the occasion and the wonderful music that was created for it," says Guttler about his motivation for the many Christmas editions he was part of in his career. The four best-selling Christmas albums of recent years are presented in this 4 CD Edition, with highlights of popular and heartwarming music for the most atmospheric time of the year

In memory of the great tenor Peter Schreier, Berlin Classics released a reiussue of the 4-CD box "Vom Knabenalt zum lyrischen Tenor", which was originally released in 1995. The CD box contains recordings of lieder, opera arias, arias from cantatas and oratorios and also from his time as a boy alto in the Dresdner Kreuzchor. A cross section of the entire career of a singer whose enormous talent was already discovered and supported in his childhood by the former conductor of the Dresdner Kreuzchor, Rudolf Mauersberger. Additionally the CDs are accompanied by a short biography, which gives an exciting overview of Peter Schreier's career stages.

The fourth stage of Francesco Tristano's Bach journey with naïve is the complete set of six French Suites (BWV 812-817, c. 1722-1725). This work often leaves performers somewhat disconcerted, and few performers play it in it's entirety. It's spareness and almost ingenuous simplicity conceal the quintessence of aesthetic form. The restrained writing and the radical brevity of it's ideas and motifs belie a subtle chemistry of contrasts, for example in the Suite in E major, BWV 817. This gem, comprising nine finely balanced movements, offers an almost unique overview of the Baroque dance repertoire (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gavotte, Bourrée, Gigue, Polish Minuet, Little Minuet {à la française}). Francesco Tristano performs the revised version of the Suite, prefaced by the Prelude in E major from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier. The cycle of six French Suites remains the first through which this Luxembourg pianist immersed himself deeply and enduringly in Bach, admiring as he does their quiet beauty and curious serenity. For him, the French Suites are lyrical and melodic yet also incisive, as if imbued with vivid spontaneity and without the slightest hint of haste. Density through compression is perhaps the true aim of the French Suites-after the expansion of forms at work in the six English Suites (the only earlier surviving set of French-style suites by J. S. Bach; see naïve V 8828, 2025)-before we reach the miraculous synthesis achieved in the first part of the Clavier-Übung (the six Partitas; naïve V 8619, 2024). In this new stage of his journey with Bach-a composer whose complete keyboard works he ultimately hopes to record-Francesco Tristano favors a really warm sound, very soft, underscoring the more intimate tone of the collection (e.g. Suite BWV 814, Allemande; Suite BWV 815, Sarabande; Suite BWV 813, Air), in marked contrast to the more trumpet-like atmospheres that emerged from the double album comprising the six English Suites, for instance, released in spring 2025. With his customary delicacy, Breno Rotatori faithfully conveys the quest for purity that permeates these compositions in his six sumptuous photographs, one for each of the six Suites, all of them in black and white.

Follow the Star: On their new GENUIN album, the award-winning Octavians invite listeners on a musical journey through the Christmas season. Traditional chorales, timeless Christmas classics, and beloved melodies from different countries come together in distinctive arrangements to create an atmospheric program that moves between anticipation, silence, and festive joy. The unmistakable a cappella sound of the German vocal ensemble makes the warmth, intimacy, and quiet message of Christmas immediately tangible.

J.S. Bach's first Clavier-Übung - the Partitas - is an important work which holds a particular status: it is the first major publication by a great musician at the height of his maturity - he was 46 - and already a living legend. A large part of the challenge it poses can be found in this contradiction; that a hurdle must give the impression of ease. Art must conceal art itself. My intention was to play them as I would wish to hear them, such as I thought they might be heard: here then is a proposal. And if this proposal incites a desire to delve further, my goal will have been achieved. This is the second half of the recording made with the fabulous 1751 Henri Hemsch harpsichord in 2021-2022, in Royaumont Abbey.

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

With Improvised Bach, cellist Víctor García García invites listeners into the living, breathing world of Johann Sebastian Bach, where composition, performance and improvisation were once inseparable arts. Centred around Bach's Partita No. 1 for Solo Violin-performed here in a rare historical cello transcription-the album reimagines the composer's music through newly improvised preludes, doubles and ornamented repeats, all rooted in Bach's original harmonic language while revealing fresh expressive possibilities. In 2024 Victor was awarded First Prize at the Bach International Competition in Leipzig. He is a Professor of Historical Cello at the HKU Utrecht Conservatorium and also in Scotland's St. Andrews University. Research is an important part of his work besides his musicianship. Rather than treating Bach's masterpieces as untouchable monuments, Victor García García approaches them as a vibrant musical language that continues to evolve in performance.. Drawing inspiration from eighteenth-century improvisational practice, each improvised piece becomes a musical dialogue across three centuries, capturing the spontaneity of the moment while remaining deeply faithful to Bach's style. The result is a compelling recording gives listeners the opportunity to hear familiar works with renewed curiosity, imagination and wonder.

Pitiful indeed-most pitiful-was the fate of the satyr Marsyas. (Ovid, "Metamorphoses") Apollo versus Marsyas-a musical contest pushed to it's ultimate limits. On it's new GENUIN album, the German-Spanish ensemble Marsyas Baroque transforms this ancient myth into a compelling musical narrative: an instrumental pasticcio that follows the unfolding story, interwoven with brief spoken texts that illuminate key moments along the way. Performed on historical instruments, works by Vivaldi, Telemann, Gesualdo, Reichenauer, and others enter into dialogue with a newly commissioned composition by Alessandra Bellino. Who decides the outcome of a contest over music itself? The answer is as unsettling as it is unforgettable.

This attractive program brings together a fine selection of solo and concertante works for organ, as played by the young and highly talented Czech organist Adam Suk. Probably the best-known and most frequently performed organ concerto with orchestra ever was written by French composer Francis Poulenc. Although several separate parts can be recognized in it's course, it is written as an uninterrupted single-movement flow of music. The mood of the concerto is deep, dark and introspective, yet it bears all the typical hallmarks of Poulenc's music: distinctive melodic invention, a sense of contrast, and subtle irony. Another organ concerto presented here is by Franz Xaver Brixi, a Bohemian who worked at the Benedictine Church of St. George at Prague Castle, where he wrote several organ concertos specifically for this venue - a form that was not at all common at the time. The Organ Concerto in D major retains the classical three-movement structure (fast-slow-fast). In style, it is more of a classical work, light and free of the complex 'Bachian' Baroque polyphony. As a start of the program we here three works for organ solo by Pachelbel and Johann Sebastian Bach, whose Sinfonia from Cantata No.29 'Wir danken dir Gott, wir danken dir' BWV29 whose festive tone is enhanced by three trumpets with timpani and an unusually virtuoso organ part. Adam Suk (born 2005) won several national and international competitions and builds an impressive career both as soloist and with orchestras, like the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice. Vahan Mardirossian leads Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice in the concertante works on this recording.

Jonathan Ferrucci, one of the most exciting young pianists, presents his eagerly awaited second recording for audite. Following his highly acclaimed performances of Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccatas, Ferrucci now turns his attention to one of Bach's best-known and most demanding keyboard cycles: the six "English Suites", a universe of Baroque music comprising concertante preludes and French dance movements.

The elegant and courtly world of Bach's chamber music, explored through his longstanding affection for the intimate sound of the viola da gamba. Bach owned a viola da gamba and may very well have played it himself, along with the violin and the keyboard family. While the instrument was already becoming obsolete during his lifetime, to be replaced by the stronger and more reliable sound of the cello, Bach evidently enjoyed writing for it, and perhaps for the virtuoso instrumentalists with whom he came into contact, firstly as Capellmeister at the court in Cothen, and then as Cantor of St Thomas's Church in Leipzig. The measured eloquence of the gamba is heard at it's most affecting in the St John and St Matthew Passions, where Bach used it as an obbligato instrument at points of most inward contemplation. His writing for it as a chamber-music instrument, in the three sonatas BWV1027-1029 which have come down to us, is less florid, though at points no less challenging. The quick movements engage in lively discourse with the continuo, while the slow sections draw out the gamba's potential to sustain a long singing line. What makes this new recording unique is the transcriptions of other chamber-music pieces: the Sonatas BWV527, 1019, 1023 and 1030. BWV527 is more familiar as a trio sonata (for organ or chamber group); BWV1019 and 1023 are drawn from the collection of six sonatas composed for violin and harpsichord; 1030 is more familiar as a flute sonata. However, the melody line of all four works fits sympathetically onto the wide register of the gamba. Through these new recordings, Rainer Zipperling and Pieter-Jan Belder draw us into Bach's domestic circle with their unforced and gently persuasive accounts. Zipperling has played with many of Europe's most renowned early-music groups such as the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, La Petite Bande, Ricercar Consort and Camerata Koln. He has regularly performed with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists as principal cellist and gambist. He also worked with Claudio Abbado and his Orchestra Mozart, performing the Brandenburg Concertos. He is joined here by Pieter-Jan Belder, who has made so many first-class recordings of Baroque repertoire for Brilliant Classics, as both instrumentalist and conductor.

On the Bach and Sauer organs of St. Thomas Church Leipzig, the outstanding young organist Julian Emanuel Becker has recorded his new GENUIN album. On this album, works by Johann Sebastian Bach stand alongside Julius Reubke's 'Sonata on the 94th Psalm' (1857) and Tilo Medek's haunting 'Broken Wings' (1975). Thoughtfully conceived and compellingly interpreted, the program explores expectation, hope, and redemption at one of the most important places in the Bach tradition.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Partitas for solo violin BWV 1002, 1004, and 1006 are remarkably visionary works. Within the established framework of the dance suite, Bach pushes the expressive and technical possibilities of the instrument to unprecedented heights. Few works from the period display a comparable level of compositional and instrumental complexity. The practice of adapting violin music for the viola da gamba is well documented from the rise of both instruments through the middle of the eighteenth century, making the transcription of Bach's Partitas a thoroughly natural undertaking. With it's affinity for both polyphony and the jeu d'harmonie, as well as for the dance-suite tradition itself, the viola da gamba provides these works with a new perspective. While nothing in the instrument's original repertoire matches the density of harmonic and contrapuntal writing that Bach achieves in these Partitas, the pieces take on a new dimension when heard on the viola da gamba. They are transformed without losing their identity, like a familiar landscape seen from a different vantage point: certain details appear in a new light, yet the subject remains the same.