A new recording of poetic and spiritual works for soprano, female choir and orchestra by Bulgaria's leading composer. Spassov's work is characterized by a deep philosophical, meditative and even brooding strain that is very much connected to his Slavic sensibility and linked with the revival of the Orthodox traditions in Bulgaria and the world-wide reemergence of non-western and folk musics of many kinds.
"A beautifully written and performed program" - American Record Guide

Stadler: Jazz Alchemy

Thracian Rhapsody, Vol. 2

WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER: BOOK 1

Jo+�o Carlos Martins demonstrates in this reissue-the sixth album in his monumental and legendary Labor Records set of the Complete Keyboard Works of J.S. Bach-that Bach remains Bach even in his simplest and always ingenious creations. Martins gives a spectacular performance of one of Bach's most sunny and southern works, his Italian Concerto for solo keyboard.

Outstanding duo Solomiya Ivakhiv and Angelina Gadeliya give a stunning performance of these compositions for violin and piano, penned by Ukrainian composers over the span of a century. The pieces on this disc represent musical shifts and currents that dominated between the years 1919 and 2014. The program includes the late romanticism of Kosenko, Lyatoshynsky's expressionistic Violin Sonata, the neo-folklorism of Myroslav Skoryk, and the "Postscriptum" sonata by one of the most celebrated Ukrainian composers of our time, Valentyn Silvestrov.

BOSSA IN THE SHADOWS

Salzman: Nude Paper Sermon

Alfred Schnittke, the outstanding maverick of Soviet music in the late 20th c., was a man haunted by the ghosts of his predecessors – classical, twelve-tone, Russian mystical and otherwise. Trapped in an oppressive Soviet Union, he made his living writing film music and developing a unique ‘polystylistic’ technique which blended classicism, modernism, Russian tradition and his own personal mysticism. The brilliant young pianist Angelina Gadeliya, born in Soviet Georgia and brought up in the Ukraine, later emigrated to the United States where she became a leading advocate of Schnittke’s music and, at the same time, an expert in the influences which shaped his musical personality. This unique program includes music by Mozart, Webern, Shostakovich (based on Glinka) and Scriabin as well as two impressive works by Schnittke himself (his Variations on a Chord and Sonata No. 2).

The Blues & Salvation

FAURÉ Romances sans paroles, op. 17: Andante quasi allegretto; Allegro molto; Andante moderato. Valse-caprice in A, op. 30/1. Impromptu in f, op. 31/2. Mazurka in Bflat, op. 32. 8 pièces breves, op. 84: Improvisation in c sharp; Fugue in a. 9 Préludes, op. 103: No. 1 in D flat; No. 2 in d. RAVEL Berceuse.1 ENESCU Molto moderato e cantibile. AUBERT Moderato. SCHMITT Rapide. KOECHLIN Andante, calme e très expressif. LADMIRAULT Allegro moderato. ROGER-DUCASSE D’une extrême lenteur

A new recording by the young Yugoslav virtuoso Vladimir Valjarevi? pays homage to the great French composer, Gabriel Fauré. In 1922, seven of Fauré's pupils were commissioned to write music for an album in his honor. Among those who contributed were Maurice Ravel, Georges Enesco, Charles Koechlin and Florent Schmitt. These works of homage alternate with piano music by Fauré himself including some of his most grateful and attractive pieces which stand directly between the tradition of Couperin and Chopin and the innovations of his student Ravel and Debussy.

"Here are piquant sidelights on Ravel and Enescu, while a small but fetching taste of Ladmirault or Aubert may prompt a lifelong follow-up. Sound is warm and spacious, but detailed and immediate. Informed liner notes by the redoubtable Eric Salzman, with blurbs on each piece, confect a final elegance. Enthusiastically recommended." - Adrian Corleonis, FANFARE

Includes work(s) by Marcelle de Manziarly. Soloist: Viktoria Lakissova.

Tribute to Bird and Monk

Includes work(s) by Alexandër Peçi.

Includes work(s) by Florent Schmitt. Soloist: Pavlina Dokovska.
Includes work(s) for piano by Béla Bartók. Soloist: Pavlina Dokovska.