Joseph Haydn's The Creation - a musical masterpiece that was celebrated from the very beginning. For Simon Rattle there is no question that Haydn's Creation contains everything. The whole world. It looks both towards the past and far into the future of everything music can be. It is balance and revolution at the same time - a true work of the Enlightenment. "Magnificent choruses, graceful melodies, the finest polyphony, all firmly anchored in an optimistic view of humanity - anyone who doesn't automatically feel better after hearing it really needs help, " says Simon Rattle with a wink. "The Creation is healthy in a very honest way, " he adds. But health also includes a good dose of humour, and Haydn provides it, even in a setting as sacred as the Creation story. At the same time, a work radiating light also casts a few shadows on our own present. What has remained of the spirit of the Enlightenment? And what have we done with "this world, so great, so wonderful"? To mark his inauguration as Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle chose Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation. After two concerts on September 21 and 22, 2023 in Munich's Herkulessaal, the work was performed on September 24 in the historic basilica of Ottobeuren in Upper Swabia, together with the three outstanding soloists Lucy Crowe, Benjamin Bruns and Christian Gerhaher. The Munich recording of the inaugural concerts is now being released on 2 CDs by BR-KLASSIK. With this late work, Joseph Haydn celebrated his greatest triumph: The acclaim he received for his oratorio The Creation placed all his previous successes firmly in the shade. He was already very famous as a symphonic composer, his string quartets had won him the adoration of countless nobles and amateur musicians, and his late masses had secured the unwavering approval of his Esterhazy prince. However, at it's first performance in 1798, "The Creation" caught the spirit of the age - and continues to do so today. The work unites Haydn's orchestral finesse with powerful choruses, combining the vivid account of the creation story with subtle musical interpretation and making it a musical manifesto, as it were, of the Age of Enlightenment. In this regard, the oratorio has enjoyed an unbroken performance tradition, and continues to pose a challenge to every world-class ensemble today. In 1946, one year after the end of the war, Haydn's masterpiece was the first oratorio ever to be performed in the basilica in Ottobeuren - at that time still in the organ loft. The 1986 performance by the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein remains legendary to this day.

The most comprehensive set on record of the sonatas by a pivotal figure in the English Classical piano school, including several first recordings. Johann Baptiste Cramer (1771-1858) was identified by the influential pedagogue Edward Dannreuther as 'one of the fathers of the church of pianoforte playing'. Born in Germany, he moved as a child to London with his family - his father Wilhelm was a violinist and conductor - and took lessons with a notable emigre of a previous generation, Muzio Clementi. Cramer came to follow in his teacher's footsteps, as both a pianist and a publisher. At one stage, his books of studies were scarcely less popular than the examples of Carl Czerny. He spent a good deal of time on the Continent, including in Vienna, where he won the friendship and admiration of Beethoven. In turn, Cramer became the English publisher of the composer's Fifth Piano Concerto, and was probably responsible for it's lasting nickname as the 'Emperor'. Cramer's own music is scantily represented on record by a few albums of studies, a concerto here and a sonata there. But as Simone Pierini demonstrates, Cramer's sonatas exhibit impressive variety, chronicling both his development as a composer and the technical evolution of the piano in the late-Classical and early-Romantic eras. He composed as many as 200 sonatas between 1790 and 1830, and Pierini presents a representative selection. They belong to the world of Clementi and Dussek but also Beethoven and Chopin in their elegant minuets, their minor-mode expressions of pathos and their virtuosic flourishes written to show off the skill but also the musicianship of any executant. Anyone with an interest in early-Romantic piano music will find Cramer's sonatas a delightful discovery. No stranger to the Brilliant Classics catalogue, Simone Pierini plays them on three fortepianos of the period, by Conrad Graf, Joseph Hasselman and Matthias Muller. He also contributes a full and illuminating booklet essay on Cramer's life and work. '[Pierini] plays with tremendous energy and conviction... A major addition to the catalogue.' Fanfare (de Montgeroult, 96247) 'His playing offers crisp clarity of texture and ornament... this is an interesting composer well worth adding to the fellowship of clavecinistes.' Gramophone (Le Bret, 96930).

This CD by The Counterpoints, entitled Italophilia: Discovering the Italian style in Handel's London, investigates the Italian musical influences on English baroque music in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.�Already in 1683, Henry Purcell (1659-1695) had written in the foreword of his Sonatas of three Parts that he had 'faithfully endeavour'd a just imitation of the most fam'd Italian Masters'. In later years, the impact of these Italian Masters would only increase, reaching it's apogee in the work of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759). This CD contextualizes Handel's work with composers he influenced and was influenced by, both in England and Italy.

Among the most interesting personalities needing to be rediscovered in the musical world of late-nineteenth- century Italy, a very distinctive one is undoubtedly the Piedmontese composer Pietro Eugenio Luigi Hugues (Casale Monferrato, 27 October 1836 - 5 March 1913). The available information about Hugues is no longer as scanty as it used to be. Thanks to the data obtained by archive researches, Hugues has been revealed as an unexpected figure: he was not only a renowned flutist, organist and composer, but also an important geographer, a university professor, and one of the main supporters of the study of geography in Italian schools. His life shows surprising similarities with that of a contemporary of his, the flutist-composer-chemist Aleksandr Borodin (1833-1887). So this recording is quite precious. In the first place, because of it's monographic character (it is the first disc entirely devoted to Luigi Hugues); secondly, for the exclusive performance of original works such as Sonata in C major op. 119, Studio da Concerto in D minor op. 3, Sonata Romantica op. 57, Capriccio "Le Silfidi" op. 29 no. 2, Sonata Fantastica op. 100, "Dans le Bois" op. 67 and, lastly, Sonata in Fa Op. 95: a masterly selection among the best original works of Hugues's vast production of flute pieces (which is even more vast after the recent discoveries). These works are essential for understanding the deep soul, the truest nature of this composer.

Armonico Consort present their next instalment of works by Franceso Scarlatti, this time his only surviving oratorio 'Il Daniele nel Lago de'Leoni' or Daniel in the Lions' Den. Scarlatti's Daniele conforms in all general aspects to the typical Sicilian oratorio of the late-seventeenth century, which was itself closely modelled on Roman practice: four or five singers inhabit character roles, without a separate narrator, together with a chorus often consisting of the soloists singing in ensemble.

The Franco-American cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton has always sought to make music a language open to the world. A prizewinner in the Rostropovich Competition at the age of twenty-five, she is the interpreter of choice for many contemporary composers, among them Pascal Dusapin and Wolfgang Rihm, and has collaborated with actresses such as Fanny Ardant and Charlotte Rampling, as well as the film director Chantal Akerman. Sonia Wieder-Atherton's partnership with Alpha Classics comprises three recordings of Bach's Cello Suites, beginning with this recording of Suites Nos. 1 and 2. This and the following two volumes (Suites 3 to 6) feature photos by the great Sarah Moon: "For me, playing Bach's Suites is always at some point or another seeing the image of Giacometti's hands tirelessly moulding clay until a face appears. (...) To get to grips with the Bach Suites is an experience very close to that. It's a question of digging into the string until the phrase is born, as well as the right way to breathe it. (...) And then came the encounter with Sarah Moon. When my desire to record the Bach Suites was born I dreamt of her images. Because, when I look at them, I imagine the creation of the world, the separation of the waters, the appearance of the earth, before history begins."

A mystic realm tinged with the scent of foreign spices, bewitching music, vivid color and sensual delights... Orientalism sparked a new wave of romanticism in Western art in the 19th century, which had a profound influence on artists. At the time, The Arabian Nights had long been popular in Russia, in a French translation by Antoine Galland that indulged the Francophile passion for all things Arabic. For Rimsky-Korsakov who had a life-long fascination with fairytales especially those from the exotic setting of the mythical Orient,"Scheherazade"was an ideal theme. Born into a family of Russian naval officers, music and the sea became his passion since childhood and he graduated from the Naval Academy of St. Petersburg to become a naval officer himself. While pursuing his musical studies, he embarked on numerous ocean voyages, visiting Brazil, America, Europe etc The Oriental Ballet Suite "Thousand and One Nights" was originally conceived as an orchestral work, first published for piano solo in 1927, and then arranged for orchestra by the composer himself. It gained popularity immediately after it's release and was broadcast on several radio stations.

Pianobasso's low-key and stripped-down arrangements of classical pieces has brought them international success with many listeners all over the world. This time they have chosen to go a little outside their established concept and instead record Christmas music consisting of Christmas carols and art music with a Christmas theme. The album is called Tranquillo - Sacred Christmas and will be released on November 22. Pianobasso is a duo that consists of pianist and arranger Thomas Gustavsson and double bassist Andreas Gustafson. On their previous albums, they perform well-known classical choral and orchestral works with their own arrangements and a personal expression, which means that they do not always follow the usual norms for this genre.

This album features five superb contemporary works for flute, viola, and piano, all in beautiful performances.

This project began in the mind of tenor Richard Novak as a way to bring Father Mychal Judge's life - and the lessons it offers about the power of love, hope, faith, tolerance, courage, and joy - to the world in the form of a song cycle. __Kevin Salfen

This latest issue in APR's ongoing French Piano School series is perhaps the most important yet. The set brings together some of the earliest and rarest piano recordings ever made, not just in France, but worldwide, and includes the complete solo recordings of all the pianists featured except Wurmser. Many are reissued for the first time. The French office of the Gramophone Company was a pioneer in bringing serious artists into the studio and the results are a legacy of the utmost historical importance. So too are the early Fonotipia recordings of the only Herz pupil to record, Roger-Miclos, and the later Columbia electric recordings of Plante, made in his 90th year. With Saint-Saens, Diemer and Plante we can hear pianists who were born in the first half of the 19th century - a unique window into the past. The latest digital technology has been applied throughout and, amongst other improvements, we are now able to hear Pugno's wonderful recordings, hitherto flawed by a notorious vibrato caused by the unstable recording turntable used in 1903, with their pitch stabilized.

When Francesco Bartolomeo Conti came to Vienna in 1701, aged just twenty, he quickly found employment as a theorbo player in the imperial court chapel. His virtuoso skills with the plucked instruments of the time must have been considerable and would have been enough to secure him a good living. But Conti was also a remarkably creative spirit who, on his death in 1732, left behind an impressive quantity of stage works, some of which were widely performed - not least thanks to their original, imaginative instrumentation and their immense variety of expression, ranging from the drastically comic to filigree, vocal-instrumental dialogues and thus encompassing the whole world of "affects". Led by the soprano and harpist Hana Blazikova and the countertenor Valer Sabadus, flanked by the ensemble nuovo aspetto under the direction of theorbist Michael Ducker, this production presents a small musical anthology whose fascinating content is just 300 years old.

Barthold Heinrich Brockes was an influential German poet who added reflective and descriptive poetry into the texture of his Passion. Among several musical settings, the most famous is the one by Handel. This acclaimed staged version transports Handel's Brockes Passion into the opera house, widening the work's historical narrative to embrace the creation of the world, bringing a message of human greed and destruction into direct contact with the present day. The Handelfestspielorchester Halle, on period instruments, is conducted by Michael Hofstetter.

Since it's foundation in 2017 and it's inaugural performance on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the Carmen Wurth Forum, the Wurth Philharmonic Orchestra has been impressing audiences with a broad repertoire ranging from classical to contemporary compositions in it's role as the orchestra in residence. The orchestra is a further milestone in the Wurth Group's cultural commitment, in addition to it's artistic activities. Claudio Vandelli has been principal conductor of the Wurth Philharmonic Orchestra since 2020. With it's powerful sound and nuanced interpretations, the Wurth Philharmonic Orchestra brings music of exceptional quality to it's home region of Hohenlohe, making it unique in the region as a professional symphony orchestra.

To mark the 400th anniversary of Orlando Gibbons's death, organist and harpsichordist Stephen Farr presents a stunning tribute to one of England's greatest composers of the early seventeenth century. Gibbons, who served at the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey, was celebrated for his virtuosity and innovation, bridging the Renaissance and Baroque eras. This album explores the full breadth of his keyboard oeuvre, from intricate fantasias and evocative pavans to lively dances and variation sets. The album includes the Fantasia for Double Organ, showcasing Gibbons's mastery of contrapuntal invention, and the poignant Pavan and Galliard Lord Salisbury, composed in honour of the composer's noble patron. Farr's insightful interpretations reveal the expressive depth and technical brilliance of Gibbons's music. A compelling homage, this recording underscores Gibbons's lasting influence on English keyboard music.