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.

This seventy-fourth volume of the Vivaldi Edition of the na�ve label is dedicated to the opera Arsilda, a work of great dramatic variety that greatly stimulates the insatiable imagination of the Venetian. This major work is defended here with ardor and fluidity by Andrea Marcon, his musicians of La Cetra, and seven singers in perfect artistic communion, including the mezzo-sopranos Benedetta Mazzucato and Vasilisa Berzhanskaya in the two main roles (Arsilda, and Lisea).

On Milestones, violinist Philippe Quint offers a deeply personal exploration featuring works by trailblazing women composers who have shaped his personal and artistic journey. This recording includes concertos written especially for Quint by Errollyn Wallen and Lera Auerbach, as well as a new work by Lora Kvint - Quint's mother, marking their first collaboration. With each composer bringing a unique perspective and distinct voice to the album, Milestones focuses on life's pivotal moments such as Wallen's second movement of the concerto inspired by a Yiddish Lullaby sung to young Philippe by his grandfather and Auerbach's multilayered violin concerto reflecting the distortion of memory by future experience. Multiple Grammy Award nominee Philippe Quint is recognized as one of America's leading violinists. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, with a distinguished history spanning over 125 years, ranks among Europe's finest ensembles. Andrew Litton, one of the most celebrated American conductors and a renowned pianist, joins this remarkable collaboration. This release marks the PENTATONE debut for all artists.

Edward Gardner's Schubert cycle concludes with the 'Great' Symphony No. 9 in C major. Having (remarkably) composed a symphony a year between 1813 and 1818, the onset of syphilis and it's intrusive treatment seemed to shake the composer's confidence as a symphonist - the Ninth is the only symphony after those first six that he actually completed. This is attributed by many to a wonderful holiday with friends in the high Austrian Alps that seems to have re-ignited his enthusiasm. The nickname 'Great' may originally have arisen to distinguish it from the 'little' C major Symphony (No. 6), but is apt, as the Ninth is on so much greater a scale than any symphony before it, which can run to almost an hour in some performances. The soprano Mary Bevan joins Edward Gardner and the CBSO in a selection of orchestral songs that complete the album. One was orchestrated by Schubert himself, the others are settings by Britten, Berlioz, Brahms, and Reger.

This seventh instalment of Masaaki Suzuki's critically acclaimed series of the complete organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach includes eleven pieces from a manuscript known as the Leipzig Chorales. Conceived around 1739, this collection contains no new compositions, but rather 'reworkings' of organ chorales dating from the years 1708-17, when Bach was in Weimar. The chorale arrangements are based on established Lutheran melodies that particularly appealed to Bach. Bach took great care with this project, selecting the best of his organ music from earlier in his career, and saw it as his legacy for the future. This recording also includes the six Schubler Chorales (named after the collection's publisher), which take chorales he had already included in his religious cantatas and adapt them for the organ. Together with the Orgel-Buchlein and the third book of the Clavier-ubung, the Leipzig Chorales and the Schubler Chorales represent the pinnacle of Bach's sacred organ music. On this recording, Masaaki Suzuki plays the Arp Schnitger organ of the Martinikerk in Groningen, the Netherlands, one of the largest and most famous baroque organs in Northern Europe. Arp Schnitger was the leading organ builder in northern Germany in the seventeenth century, and his admirers included Buxtehude, Handel and Bach himself.

This recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich under it's Music Director Paavo Jarvi, is the first in a complete cycle of Mahler symphonies. Jarvi has of course conducted Mahler's works many times in his career, but has waited for the right moment to record the complete cycle in the studio: the right moment not only in his life as a musician but also in his relationship with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich; the maturity and power revealed in the orchestra's recordings for Alpha Classics have been hailed by the music press since 2019. "Mahler truly opened up a new universe with the Fifth, in which he initiated an incredibly personal style of music-making." says Paavo Jarvi. "It is the very nature of it's opening - a military funeral - and of it's tragedy, in conjunction with the very idea of beginning a symphony in this way, which signals that something completely different is in store for us".

Soprano Rosa Feola, Cappella Neapolitana and maestro Antonio Florio pay tribute to Niccolo Piccinni, master of the 18th-century Neapolitan opera tradition, with Son regina e sono amante. Deliberately avoiding his most famous work, La buona figliola, the album offers arias from his French and Italian operas, including some in Neapolitan vernacular. Given her origins, Feola is the ideal ambassador to bring the once world famous Piccinni back into the limelight. Soprano Rosa Feola has received many accolades for her achievements, and is a regular guest at the most important opera houses worldwide. Cappella Neapolitana and it's artistic director Antonio Florio have played a seminal role in the rediscovery of Neapolitan music since it's foundation in 1987. All artists make their PENTATONE debut.

Santtu conducts Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 is the fifth album from Philharmonia Records. Largely interpreted as depicting Stalin's regime in Russia, the orchestra delivers tragedy, violence and gloom before the brief but triumphant finale. Conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, this performance was recorded at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in April 2024.

After their very successful album with duos by Franz Alexander Possinger (Musicaphon M56996), Katja Gruttner and Christian Goosses now turn their attention to another master of the Viennese scene, Franz Anton Hoffmeister. He is one of the most productive of Viennese composers; the diversity of his oeuvre reads like a kaleidoscope of musical genres known at the time. He wrote sacred works as well as the German-language magic operas that were so popular at the time. In addition, there is talk of no fewer than 70 symphonies (44 of which are confirmed), 15 string quartets and an incredible 34 string quintets - more than the output of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven combined!

Cos� fan tutte, a comic opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, is noted for it's sophisticated ensemble writing and Mozart's nuanced portrayal of the characters' emotional journeys. The opera's overture, and arias such as "Come scoglio" and "Un'aura amorosa", showcase the composer's melodic genius and ability to convey complex psychological states through music, making it one of Mozart's most performed and beloved operas, celebrated for it's wit, intricate musical textures and insightful commentary on the human condition. This great opera is here arranged for wind quintet by Ulf-Guido Schafer, a multiple Echo-Klassik award-winning clarinettist who has held principal posts with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie (1989-94) and the NDR Radiophilharmonie (1994-present) and boasts a distinguished career as a soloist and chamber musician (in ensemble acht, the Trio Roseau, the NDR's Arte-Ensemble, and the Ma'alot Quintett). Schafer has also made a name for himself as an arranger and composer. He was twice awarded the Echo-Klassik for CDs with the Ma'alot Quintett featuring his arrangements of Dvorak (2006) and Rossini (2010), respectively. Other information: - Recorded May 2024 in Trivolzio (Italy) - Booklet in English contains liner notes by Lorenzo Fazzini and a profile of the ensemble - Mozart's operas enjoyed such success and popularity in their time, that tunes from them were whistled in the street and arrangements of them were widely spread. - One of the most popular forms of arrangement was for Wind Ensemble, and already during Mozart's life these were often performed on all kind of occasions. - This new recording presents an arrangement for wind ensemble by Ulf-Guido Schafer, a highly successful clarinetist, composer and arranger, winner of several ECHO Klassik Awards. - Founded in 2019, the Spiritum Wind Quintet consists of Lorenzo Fazzini, Luca Etzi, Riccardo Nanni, Vincenzo Riccio, and Giacomo Alfano. All of them have won prizes in (inter)national competitions, and each enjoys a successful individual solo career.

The previous volumes of William Bland's piano sonata cycle have met with ecstatic praise from the international press. American critic Ken Meltzer writes: "Compelling music, superbly performed. A marvelous presentation of the Romantic piano in full flight." And from British critic Colin Clarke: "The range of expressive tools is vast. It's grand music, with grand playing from Kevin Gorman. It is fervently to be hoped that this series continues." The Atlanta Audio Society wrote of Vol. 2: "In the last analysis, this is one of the best new piano recordings of the year." The brilliant 30-year old American pianist Kevin Gorman's new recording presents premieres of two sonatas: No. 6 in c minor, Bestiary - con Amore (2001) and No. 15 in e-flat minor (2004).

Trumpet was meant to have a bright future after Handel and Bach, but history decided otherwise. Relegated to a military signal role with timpani, it had to wait until the later Romantic period to flourish once again. A brainchild of Andrew Balio, this album showcases his own transcriptions of works from the golden age of chamber music, inviting trumpeters out of the cold and into the cozy world of Brahms, Schumann, and Schubert. Pianist John Wilson partners Andrew for these new arrangements of Brahms's clarinet sonatas, Schumann's Adagio and Allegro, and Marchenbilder, and Schubert's lied 'Auf dem Strom', in which tenor Nicholas Phan gives voice to the text. Thanks to Andrew, trumpeters and music lovers can now enjoy an expanded repertoire which invites us into an entirely new soundworld.

Paul Wranitzky began composing late in life compared to his friend Mozart, but quickly rose to become the most important symphonist in Vienna by the end of the 1790s. The dramatic Grande sinfonie caracteristique pour la paix avec la Republique francoise depicts the French Revolution and France's subsequent war with Austria. Political complications saw it's performance in Vienna forbidden by Imperial decree, but this did not end Wranitzky's success at court: the exuberant Symphony in D major and the charming 'Hunt Symphony', both unpublished, come from the collection of the Emperor's brother.

We know that key influences on Flamenco date back to Islamic Iberia or the Al-Andalusian era of Spain between the 8th-15th centuries. Yet the first mention of Flamenco by name is not until 1774, where it appears in an epistolary novel, Cartas Marruecas, by the playwright and soldier, Jose de Cadalso y Vazquez. In collaboration on with soprano Victoria Couper, kanun player, Konstantin nos Glynos, and oud/Flamenco guitarist, Ignacio Lusardi Monteverde, this album seeks to explore this question by tracing the influences on Flamenco through Arabic music alongside Sephardic song and the Spanish composers of the late-16th to 18th centuries. What happened in these intervening centuries?

The Choir of St John's College, Oxford, directed by David Bannister, sings music associated with Christmas, together with youthful work by Imogen Holst and Benjamin Britten. Looking towards the sixtieth anniversary of Elizabeth Poston's Penguin Book of Carols (1965), initially undertaken with Ralph Vaughan Williams, the recording presents music associated with these two composers and the works they edited, alongside newer pieces exemplifying and revivifying the English carol tradition.