Johann Georg Pisendel, who later became concertmaster of the famous Dresden Court Orchestra, was fourteen years old when he first came into contact with the music of Antonio Vivaldi. He then immediately immersed himself in his scores. He copied out all of the Venetian's compositions that fell into his hands for his own use in order to practise the violin, an instrument that he himself later mastered. When he later travelled to Italy with the entourage of his lordship, he got to know the 'prete rosso' and the latter took such a shine to his visitor that he gave him a number of concertos and sonatas 'fatto per M. Pisendel' to take home with him. Five of these highly virtuosic, almost explosive concertos come together in these new recordings by Arte dell'Arco with it's soloist and director Federico Guglielmo to create a rousingly inspired testament to a historic friendship between artists.

Today, his work "has no significant presence in recordings or concert life," states the boundless internet for those seeking information on the life and work of composer, pianist, and priest Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750-1817). This perception, however, will have to change in the foreseeable future, for what has recently resurfaced from the legacy of this versatile Wurzburg-born musician awakens a curiosity that deepens with each encounter and is rewarded with ever-surprising creations. Now, alongside the three highly acclaimed chamber works released by cpo in November (555 499-2), two of his once widely performed symphonies join the spotlight, as well as one of the six piano concertos he composed - pieces that served both to showcase his classically refined, virtuosic eloquence and to bring universal delight in his presence.

Play, Music! Songs from Shakespeare's Plays

Born in Venice around 1652, Marc'Antonio Ziani was an eminent operatic composer who, at the zenith of his career, moved to serve the Habsburgs in Vienna, where he was to die in 1715. Damira placata is the second of his operas and it's plot centres on Damira, a queen in ancient Egypt, and her struggles to win back the love of King Creonte. Conceived for the puppet theatre, the singers and instrumentalists were hidden from sight to heighten the illusion. It is a quintessential Venetian opera - declamation melts into eloquent musical gestures, recitatives are full of pathos, arias have constant rhythm, and the central characters are strongly defined.

On Darknesse Visible, Inon Barnatan brings together French and British composers with works by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy Thomas Ades and Ronald Stevenson. The album title is derived from Ades's piece of the same name and conveys some of the aspects that Barnatan finds most fascinating about the music on this album: all the pieces are inspired by stories or poems, and in all of them dark and light are intertwined. Ades and Stevenson both take their inspiration from existing pieces, by Dowland and Britten respectively. Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit and La Valse showcase the evocative power and colour of his music, while Debussy's Suite Bergamasque contains the world-famous Clair de lune.

This album presents a stunning collection of recent cantatas by acclaimed composer Cecilia McDowall, performed by the Choir of Royal Holloway, Orchestra Nova, and conductor George Vass. Known for her 'spicy rhythms and colours' (Gramophone), McDowall's music weaves vibrant textures and emotional depth, drawing listeners into a compelling journey. The featured works explore diverse themes, from the haunting beauty of ice in The Ice is Listening, to the celestial wonders of Music of the Stars. Also included is the chamber orchestra version of A Winter's Night, a joyful Christmas cantata. McDowall's distinct choral voice shines through, blending introspective reflection with exuberant energy, making this an essential addition to the choral repertoire.

Following the release of the first three quartets of the Op. 33 set in May 2023 [BIS-2588], a recording that was hailed by critics for it's 'extraordinarily faithful reading that goes straight to the heart of the works' (Diapason) and won numerous awards (including a Diapason d'or, Choc from Classica and Supersonic from Pizzicato), the Chiaroscuro Quartet presents the last three quartets in this set. Having already recorded Op. 20 and Op. 76, this ensemble, whose unique sound has been described as 'a shock to the ears of the best kind' (The Observer) here continues it's historically informed and illuminating journey through Joseph Haydn's string quartets, a long- term project that started in 2020. Dubbed the 'Russian Quartets' and dedicated to the Russian Grand Duke Paul, the future Tsar Paul I, these works show Haydn at his most eccentric and non- conformist. For this set, Haydn felt the need to write music more in keeping with the public's lighter, more 'popular', less 'scholarly' tastes, with a livelier sense of rhythm. With their stylistic advance over the preceding quartets, it can be said that in real terms they mark the birth of the classical quartet genre. Mozart drew inspiration from them for his own quartets 'dedicated to Haydn'.

Re-Release of an important item of the back catalogue. The present recording shows the highly acclaimed premiere from 2009 of the original version of Shostakovitch's opera. It represents also the debut of conductor Ingo Metzmacher at the Vienna State Opera. The opera was premiered in 1934 in Leningrad. After Stalin visited a performance in 1936 and then published a scathing review about it, colleagues and critics, who had previously approved of the opera, turned against Shostakovich. It was only about 30 years later that the piece was performed again in the Soviet Union, however, in a toned-down version under the name "Katerina Ismailova". This version was also performed internationally. The original version came to Western Europe only in 1980. The Vienna State Opera performed the original version of Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk for the first time in 2009 - that premiere is to be heard on the present album.

Brahms's Third Piano Quartet gestated for a long time - the first sketches were made in 1855, whilst the work was not completed until 1875. Numerous commentators tie the work to Brahms's infatuation with Clara Schumann, who certainly heard many of the various iterations of the piece before it's final version. But Brahms did not write programme music, and whatever his motivations may or may not have been, the result is, like the rest of his output, pure music. Louise Heritte-Viardot was a French singer, pianist, conductor, and composer. She was born in Paris, the eldest child of Pauline Viardot-Garcia and Louis Viardot, and sister to the violinist and conductor Paul Viardot. Her singing career was cut short by illness, but with the help of Clara Schumann she found a second career as a singing teacher at the Hoch Conservatory, in Frankfurt. In contrast to Brahms's quartet, Viardot's work is extremely programmatic. Titled I'm Sommer (In Summer), it comprises four movements which also carry evocative titles: 'Morning, in the Woods', 'Flies and Butterflies', 'Sultriness', and 'Evening, under the Oak-tree'.

A Western is Michael Gordon's extended musing inspired by the legendary 1950s film High Noon, starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. It's about the Wild West, the way of the gun, classic American TV fantasies, and of course the good guys versus the bad guys. Caroline Shaw's How to fold the wind is a mesmerizing choral work that expands on the vocal acrobatics the composer has explored with her Grammy-winning ensemble Roomful of Teeth. The piece is inspired by Japanese origami, using speech, inhaled notes, wordless melodies and innovative vocal effects to fold individual voices together into a complex whole. Released together as a "split album" on CD, the two works mirror each other in a compelling array of contrasts and similarities. Each was recorded by one of Denmark's premier vocal ensembles -�A Western by Theatre of Voices, How to fold the wind by Ars Nova Copenhagen -�with each performance conducted by Paul Hillier. And although the lyrical forms of each piece couldn't be more strikingly different, somehow they elevate each other into a revelatory listening experience that expands the scope of modern choral music.

After 25 years, this Bela Bartok album is seeing the light of day! The Global Music Network originally recorded this album in 2000 but unfortunately went out of business before the recording could be released. I am delighted that First Hand Records now presents these recordings for all Bartok fans... I am convinced that that the revised version of the Bartok Viola Concerto is a more effective and stronger work than the original version of the concerto and no doubt closer to Bartok's intent. The Duos are also delightful to play and hear in these excellent arrangements of Peter Bartok. (Paul Neubauer)

The Arcadia Quartet reaches the penultimate release in it's acclaimed complete Weinberg string quartets series with this volume, featuring Quartets Nos 3, 9, and 14. As in previous volumes, the works are taken from contrasting periods of Weinberg's compositional development, and so present a varied programme that works in it's own right. Quartet No. 3, composed in 1944, could be considered as the first 'mature' quartet, and is set in three movements. The Ninth Quartet, composed in 1963, dates from his self-described 'starry decade', when his work was championed by a significant group of enthusiastic performers, including Emil Gilels, Leonid Kogan, Kirill Kondrashin, Rudolf Barshai, and the Borodin Quartet. Quartet No. 14 dates from 1978, three years after the death of Weinberg's great friend and mentor Shostakovich: a time when Weinberg was questioning and renewing his artistic identity. The album also includes the short Improvisation and Romance, from 1950.

To mark the 150th anniversary of Bizet's death and the premiere of his immensely popular Carmen, Alpha Classics and Le Palazzetto Bru Zane now pay tribute to Celestine Galli-Marie, the singer who created the title role. A remarkable actress and singer, she created sixteen roles in fifteen years at the Opera-Comique, including Ambroise Thomas' iconic Mignon and Jacques Offenbach's Fantasio. Eva Zaicik is delighted to take on the roles created by such a colourful artist: 'Celestine embodied a certain idea of artistic and feminine rebellion. Her voice, charisma and unique theatrical approach brought to life characters who were free, complex and often struggled with the norms of their time.' Supported superbly by Pierre Dumoussaud and the Orchestre National de Lille, the French mezzo not only brilliantly embodies characters created by Bizet, Massenet, Offenbach and Thomas but also breathes new life into arias by Paladilhe, Poise, Deffes, Masse, Guiraud, Cohen and Grisar.

Revolving around the first recording of Sir James MacMillan's Kiss on Wood for viola and piano arranged and performed by Rachel Yonan, this album explores the polarity of light and darkness. Minimalist composer Arvo Pa�rt's beloved Fratres and Spiegel i'm Spiegel bookend the program. The concept of light infuses these pieces with their intense clarity and search for transcendent meaning. Fratres (Brotherhood) evokes the struggle between good and evil with it's contrasting voices. Spiegel i'm Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror) is pure and stable as it sonically imagines the infinite reflection between two mirrors. Pa�rt's deeply spiritual music links to MacMillan's devotional Kiss on Wood which invites the listener into a place of stillness and silence as it reaches for an essence of meaning beyond words. MacMillan sounds out the darkness of loss, yet finds delicate rays of hope to fill the long spaces. Paired with these intense yet static twenty-first century works are Schumann's miniature character pieces Ma�rchenbilder (Fairytale Pictures) that use an emotional palette ranging from bright and playful to deeply melancholic. The programmatic title of each work-Fratres, Kiss on Wood, Ma�rchenbilder, Spiegel i'm Spiegel- hints at meaning that cannot be expressed by words alone, but must be illuminated by the music.

For her fourth recital on Alpha Classics, mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey has chosen to record two cycles, Schumann's well-known Frauenliebe und Leben and Faure's La Chanson d'eve, a much more unfamiliar work. What the two cycles have in common is that a woman is their protagonist: "both works deal with innocence, discovery, joy, sorrow and ultimately a deeper understanding of life that only experience can offer", says Kate Lindsey, who has named this new album Samsara, a Sanskrit word that evokes the cycle of life, from birth to death. Eric Le Sage, a great specialist in the music of Faure and Schumann, is the ideal partner for this introspective journey, which also features extracts from Schumann's sublime Myrthen as well as Faure's famed Clair de lune and Chanson d'amour.