As all volumes of the complete recording of Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonatas are released on CD, all the booklets also contain texts on the music. Thomas Seedorf has accompanied the series as musicologist from the beginning. In most cases, Christoph Ullrich contributes his own thoughts. Both very different. In each volume, both have a theme that is particularly appropriate to the sonatas collected. In this case, Thomas Seedorf focuses on the music-historical categorisation of Scarlatti, which is particularly interesting in comparison to his two colleagues born in the same year, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Christoph Ullrich devotes himself to the 'being a child' of artists in general, that of Domenico Scarlatti in particular and his own. Both texts are very enriching. Not much more needs to be said about the music. Anyone who has listened to one of the 13 volumes already released knows about the delightful standard of Christoph Ullrich's Scarlatti. Enjoy listening!

- This disc presents the first recording of the Canzonettas & Cantatas Op.3 by Giovanni Battista Mazzaferrata (c.1640-1681), an Italian composer and organist from Pavia, the pupil of Tarquinio Merula. He held positions as Maestro di cappella at Vercelli Cathedral and at the Accademia della Morte in Ferrara. - These vocal works are on secular poetry, mostly dealing with Love, expressing both blissful happiness or tormented frustration. - The emotions in the text are expressed by Mazzaferrate through modulations, cadences and an original use of chromatism. - Beautifully sung by the three vocal soloists Carlotta Colombo, Marta Fumagalli and Mauro Borgioni. The Instrumental Ensemble includes trombone, guitar and organ/harpsichord.

Step into the world of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's timeless chamber music, masterfully brought to life by the Goldmund Quartet. This album captures the emotional breadth of Mendelssohn's compositions-from the youthful passion of his String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 to the profound grief of the String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80, written after the loss of his sister. The Goldmund Quartet's nuanced interpretation also shines in their adaptation of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, where joy, reflection, and romantic melancholy are seamlessly expressed through their exquisite string playing. Celebrated for their technical brilliance and heartfelt sensitivity, the Goldmund Quartet invites you to rediscover Mendelssohn's music-a journey through love, loss, and hope that bridges the past and the present.

In 1974 SteepleChase released Perceptions SCCD 31022 by pianist Connie Crothers (1941- 2016) who was one of the prominent students of legendary Lennie Tristano. Now, 50 years later SteepleChase is proud to present Crothers' mentees jazz pianist/free improviser/singer Caroll Leibowitz and alto saxophonist Nick Lyons in tandem inviting us to their unique soundscape that encompasses the past, present and future of jazz. "... almost telepathic... hypnotically engaging..." (Roger Farbey - All About Jazz on Liebowitz-Lyons previous release)

Luis Humberto Salgado was one of Ecuador's most influential composers. His output encompasses nearly every genre of western European concert music, and seamlessly blends both nationalist and modernist styles. Most of these miniature pieces were inspired by the musical folklore of Salgado's home country, while works such as the Sanjuanito futurista and the Violin Sonata are more modernist. From the lullaby Aldita to the folk-dance infused Piano Quintet No. 2, these world premiere recordings reveal a vibrant and creative voice.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco always remained faithful to a tonal musical language. He is mostly known today for his guitar works, but his output is much richer and more varied than is widely appreciated. Castelnuovo-Tedesco selected Heinrich Heine's more ironic poems in the three collections recorded here, adding light-hearted quotes from Schumann and Verdi in his cycle The Stories of Joseph. Also included are unpublished songs such as La canzone di Usigliano with it's references to Tuscan folk songs, and the Three Sonnets from the Portuguese, which reflect the romantic and dreamy character of texts by Elizabeth Barret Browning.

The composer Hans Schaeuble was born in Arosa on 31 May 1906 and died in Zurich on 19 December 1988. His parents were both from Germany. He created 26 operas of all genres and instrumentations, totalling 51 works. All four of these works were premiered before his death on 19 December 1988. He spent the last 20 years of his life revising his oeuvre, sometimes several times, but always marginally: - Wealthy from birth, he established the Hans Schaeuble Foundation to support young musicians and musicologists, who primarily take on the works of the founder. The Music for Clarinet and String Orchestra op. 46 from 1961 is the middle of three wind concertos that Schaeuble apparently composed according to plan between 1959 and 1962. The symphonic-concertante Music for string orchestra with obbligato piano op. 33, composed in January and February 1949, is Schaeuble's third of a total of five works for piano and orchestra. The Music for 2 Violins and String Orchestra op. 18 is the first of only two violin concertos from Hans Schaeuble's pen. Schaeuble wrote the only 'real' one, the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra op. 24, at the beginning of the war and completed it on 15 December 1940 in Arosa. Composed in Berlin in 1935, the present music op. 18 was published by Bote & Bock in Berlin in 1936, according to Schaeuble. However, no copy of it has survived either in the estate or in the libraries; worse still, the autograph score and the parts were apparently stored by the publisher and were destroyed during the war.

Composer Richard Festinger's Then and Now includes five chamber works for various instrumentations, featuring Collage New Music, Cygnus, Windscape, Calefax, and other accomplished performers. Festinger's aesthetic springs from the pitch centered modernists of the late 20th century, but is also informed by his background studying jazz with such luminaries as Gary Burton, shaping his music not so much in terms of feel or expression, but in the way in which he approaches harmony and motivic development.

The view into "infinity" gives freedom! Man lives in his narrow temporal space and, with his mind focussed only on the supposedly 'real' sensory world, grasps only the outside of his being: he loses himself in the multiplicity of things. A feeling for the cosmic interconnectedness of all beings has been lost. In the prison of materialism, man cannot free himself from such polarity - that is why he is ruled by strife, war, egoism, lust for power and possessiveness. The three musical works on this CD offer a glimpse into the liberating infinity beyond things: In THE BIRDS, the world of birds is evoked - even according to principles of mystical alchemy - which are evolutionarily related to dinosaurs and have always been associated with deities, divination and boundless celestial freedom. In FATAL HARMONIES, the deadly harmonies of the Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo, the exaggerated disruption of a contradictory existence is presented, death and negative energies are diametrically opposed to bold genius - extreme light begets extreme shadow in polarity. THE BELLS traces the archetype of bells, whose sound has been waking people up for thousands of years, leading them to transcendence and infinity. With the end of material thinking, of earthly persistence in polarity, judgement and comparison, PEACE could come - because in the face of eternity and infinity, good-evil or mine-his have lost all meaning. This is why the theme of 'peace' takes centre stage twice on this CD - in the concluding 'Dona nobis Pacem' and in the middle movement 'The Swan - The White' of the violin concerto, because this is based on the peace hymn 'El Can't des Ocells' (Song of the Birds) by the Catalan cellist and humanist Pablo Casal, which he played as an encore to every concert throughout his life.

To celebrate Maurice Ravel's 150th anniversary in 2025, Kebyart sets out to explore his unique compositional legacy, despite the composer never having written for saxophone quartet. The album includes Kebyart's transcriptions of Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin and Pavane pour une infante defunte, alongside arrangements of French Baroque works by Rameau, highlighting both Ravel's admiration for ornamentation and his influence on today's composers. New pieces by Mikel Urquiza and Joan Perez-Villegas engage with Ravel's musical philosophy, delving into his radical simplicity, subtle rhythmic layers and inventive structures. Through these works, Kebyart aims to unravel Ravel's complex yet elegant style, blending the past with the future in a journey of musical discovery.

The songs we sing give words to personal experiences from our lives. Some have been part of our individual repertoires for years. Others we wrote together. But as applicable as they are to our own personal situations, they now feel more than anything like Goleine songs. When you make music together, share life experiences and beliefs, you get to know each other very well. It's beautiful how a song can transform through a new collaboration. It breathes differently, reinvents itself, and creates a sense of belonging. That's what we've found in each other-a musical family.

American Record Guide:�The music is melodious and the playing and sound exemplary.

The Pernambuco Quartet owes it's creation to luck, chance and passion, when four musicians emblematic of their culture came together around the rich traditions of the Pernambuco region - a unique alchemy of poetry, rhythms and music. Outside Brazil, the carnivals of Bahia and Rio are the best known, but the carnival of Recife (one of Brazil's oldest cities, founded in 1537), capital of the state of Pernambuco (Nordeste region), emanates a very special charm, characterised by a generous musical and artistic variety: frevo (carnival music and dance), maracatu (music, dance and procession against a backdrop of Afro-Brazilian worship), caboclinhos (dramatic music and dance linked to indigenous traditions), and so on. This first album by the Pernambuco Quartet is a magnificent journey through the music of Pernambuco, from the quays of Recife to the sert�o, from the city to the arid hinterland, carried by the voice of Antonio Marinho, the flute of Cesar Michiles, the guitar of Breno Lira, the percussion of Lucas dos Prazeres and their shared inspiration.

Goffredo Petrassi's reputation was established in 1932 when his Partita (available on Naxos 8.572411) won critical acclaim. Petrassi then composed his Concerto for Orchestra, the first of eight, which, upon it's 1935 premiere, secured his reputation outside of Italy. The Second Concerto from 1951 reveals more avante-garde tendencies, while the Third Concerto from 1952-53 is animated and playful.

Danish cellist and composer, Josefine Opsahl, joins the Neue Meister roster with her debut album, "CYTROPIA". This album showcases Opsahl's innovative fusion of acoustic and electronic soundscapes, navigating the delicate balance between tradition and renewal, virtuosity and intuition. "CYTROPIA" features Opsahl's brand new electroacoustic compositions alongside her unique reimaginations of material from J.S. Bach's majestic Six Suites for unaccompanied cello, offering a fresh and compelling listening experience.