Laments of lost and betrayed love from 17th-century Italy: musical portraits to be set beside contemporary paintings by Gentilesschi in their contained power and violence. While the featured composers in this recital were born and worked in contrasting provinces of Italy, most of them shared common goals and aesthetic principles. The text came first, and the music was always servant to it. The sweet torment of a broken heart drew from them long-breathed melodies, supported by spare but painfully chromatic harmony. The melody itself was always articulated according to the shape of the text, fitting one to the other like a hand in a silk glove. Eleni Lydia Stamellou and Konstantin Shenikov have made their own selection from a rich treasury of available repertoire in this vein. The album takes it's title from the final track, 'Oblivion soave', drawn from Monteverdi's final opera, 'L'incoronazione di Poppea'. The aria exemplifies Enlightenment values of humanism which inspire self-examination as well as 'sweet oblivion'.They include perhaps the most famous lost-love song of all, at least until the age of Lieder, Caccini's 'Amarilli, mia bella', and comparably familiar masterpieces in the genre such as Monteverdi's 'Si dolce 'l tormento' and Peri's 'Tora, deh torna'. There is also space for the no less subtle art of Andrea Falconieri, as well as several songs by Barbara Strozzi, one of the most successful women composers of the time; indeed, she was the most prolific composer - of either gender - of printed secular vocal music in Venice around the middle of the 17th century. Eleni Lydia Stamellou is a Greek soprano, specialising in this Renaissance-era repertoire as well as new music and Lieder. As a member of Music Aeterna, she has sung operatic roles conducted by Teodor Currentzis including Despina (Cosi fan tutte) and Pierrot in Schoenberg's cabaret-monodrama. The lutenist Konstantin Shenikov has been a regular member of early-opera productions led in Russia by Andrew Lawrence-King. - A beautifully conceived program of Renaissance and early Baroque songs and arias, sung by Greek soprano Eleni Lydia Stamellou, accompanied on the lute by Konstantin Shenikov. - The featured composers are Monteverdi (1567-1643), Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Caccini (1551-1618), Strozzi (baptized 1619-1677), Peri (1561-1633) and Falconieri (ca. 1585-1656). The secular texts deal with Love, in both it's sublime fulfillment and it's melancholy abandonment. - Greek soprano Eleni Lydia Stamellou won Second Prize at the Ferruccio Tagliavini Competition in Austria, with Dame Joan Sutherland as the president of the jury. She subsequently attended masterclasses given by Teresa Berganza, Edda Moser and Christa Ludwig. She sang in opera productions with MusicAeterna conducted by Teodor Currentzis. Her specialization is Renaissance/Baroque and Contemporary Music. She sang in productions of Berio and Hersant.

For the Fourth Volume of their Schumann Collection, Pierre and Theo Fouchenneret, along with their fellow musicians in Quatuor Strada, take us through the year 1842. It was a prolific period for the composer being the year of the three String Quartets, Opus 41, and the Quintet for Piano and Strings, Opus 44.

On her captivating journey, Susanne Frohlich explores not only the vast family of recorder but also their literature. She presents some of the results of her studies in her new GENUIN album, which features Japanese music from 400 years ago alongside contemporary compositions, including several world premiere recordings. Listeners will experience works by Markus Zahnhausen, Chaya Czernowin, Gerriet Krishna Sharma, Sarah Nemtsov, and even Susanne Frohlich herself. This album pushes the boundaries of recorders that have been technically enhanced, unveiling fascinating soundscapes like never before!

A unique recital of 20th-century chamber music, essentially melodic but expressively rich, woven seamlessly together by a Spanish-based duo. In the 20th century, many composers embraced the unique combination of the violin and cello, producing a diverse and captivating repertoire. Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger take the listener on an engaging journey from Reinhold Gliere's post-romantic Huit Morceaux for violin and cello (1909), Bohuslav Martinu's folk-influenced Duo No.1 (1927) to Erwin Schulhoff's avant-garde Duo (1925) and Don Jaffe's moving autobiographical suite, The Last Days (2000). These compositions showcase the immense artistic possibilities offered by the juxtaposition of the violin's virtuosity with the cello's depth of sound. Similarly, the duo repertoire of the 20th century shows the evolution of musical language as composers introduced special playing techniques, unconventional harmonies, and rhythmic complexity, pushing the boundaries of tradition. While Gliere, Martinu and Schulhoff are all established names, these works for violin and cello have not received the attention they deserve. They are all products of their composers' full maturity, and perhaps it is only a reluctance on the part of performers and listeners to embrace the possibilities of the violin-cello combination that has prevented them becoming much better known. In each case, the composers demonstrate that no piano is required to anchor the string instruments, when the imagination is fired up, the melodies are firmly shaped and the dialogue engaging. The case of Don Jaffe is different: born in 1933 in Riga, of Jewish descent, he eventually became renowned as one of the foremost cello teachers in the former Soviet Union. However, finding postwar Soviet culture hardly less anti-Semitic than the Nazi regime, he emigrated to Israel and later moved to Germany. He only began composing late in life: this four-movement duo draws on the composer's experience of observing a close friend's painful battle with a terminal illness. Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger are colleagues in the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia; as Orphelion, they have toured festivals across Europe and in India, Japan, and South America. - In the 20th century, several composers embraced the combination of the violin and cello, producing a diverse and attractive repertoire for this ensemble. From Reinhold Gliere's (1875-1956) post-romantic Duos for violin and cello "Huit Morceaux", Bohuslav Martinu's (1890-1959) folkloristic Duo N�.1 to Erwin Schulhoff's (1894-1942) avant-garde Duo (1925) and Don Jaffe's (b. 1933) autobiographic "The final days", these compositions show the artistic possibilities offered by the rich combination of the violin's virtuosity with the cello's depth of sound. Similarly, the duo repertoire of the 20th century shows the evolution of musical language as composers introduced special playing techniques, unconventional harmonies, and rhythmic complexity, pushing the boundaries of tradition. - Played by the ensemble Orphelion, consisting of Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger.

Una poesia muta: Art in early Cinquecento Venice is the result of a collaboration between SWR radio, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and The Marian Consort. Specially curated by the Stuttgart museum, Germany's first ever exhibition devoted to Vittore Carpaccio and his contemporaries has inspired The Marian Consort to devise an album to accompany this artistic journey. Being one of the most prominent painters of the Early Renaissance in Venice, Carpaccio is likely to have been acquainted with the music and the composers recorded here, since all have strong links to the city at that time. If some of them are well-known today - Josquin, Jean Mouton, Adrian Willaert - others deserve wider recognition. The Marian Consort and it's director Rory McCleery have assembled a typically fascinating programme, matched with superb singing.

Marien Hymns Masterpieces of musical Marian devotion over the centuries, composed by the greatest composers of the time as well as well-known traditional hymns, interpreted by renowned soloists and ensembles such as the Gachinger Kantorei Stuttgart under Helmuth Rilling, Renata Tebaldi, the Don Cossack Choir Serge Jaroff or the Stuttgart Hymnus Choir Boys' Choir.

A fine Danish chamber ensemble brings together a unique compilation of chamber pieces by an overshadowed contemporary of Messiaen. The music of Andre Jolivet (1905-1974) is slowly being revived after decades of neglect, enabling us to discover a distinctive voice in the kaleidoscopic variety of 20th-century French music. Jolivet never followed some of his better-known contemporaries - Messiaen among them - down the path of serialism, yet his harmonic technique exercised a hidden influence on them (including the young Pierre Boulez). The Serenade (1945) for wind quintet, opening this collection of chamber music, casts a mystic air in it's opening Cantilene before breaking off into wild peals of instrumental laughter in the Caprice. The world of Poulenc and Stravinsky is not so far away, but there is a grounded density to Jolivet's writing which is entirely individual. From 1968, the Controversia for oboe and harp finds Jolivet at his most gesturally experimental, drawing on the combined talents and innovative techniques of Heinz and Ursula Holliger. The flurries and confrontations of the Controversia could hardly be predicted from the composer of the reflective miniatures which make up the Petite Suite (1941) for flute, viola and harp, in the mould of Debussy's late sonata. Indeed the collection as a whole serves as an illuminating demonstration of Jolivet's range and his evolution through a career spanning the turbulent aesthetic struggles of the last century. The Pastorales de Noel (1943) for flute, bassoon and harp fulfil a brief for picturesque and festive illustration, whereas the sonatinas for flute and clarinet (1961) and oboe and bassoon (1963) swoop and flutter with unpredictably Stravinskian fluidity between their instruments. Modal and exotic scales, Spanish rhythms, Debussyan sensuality: all these diverse elements and more keep the listener (and musicians) on their toes in this music. The album is enhanced by a new essay from Paul Griffiths, a pre-eminent authority on new and modern music. - Andre Jolivet (1905-1974) is considered one of the most interesting French composers of the 20th century. His vast oeuvre includes nearly all musical genres. Actively open to all musical genres (he never had a proper conservatory education) he developed a personal style that was distinctly avant-garde. - This new recording presents a variety of chamber music in which the flute plays a prominent role: Serenade for Wind Quintet, Sonatine for flute & clarinet, Petite Suite for flute, viola and harp, Pastorale de Noel for flute, bassoon and harp, and other shorter pieces: music of dazzling colours, vivid and vibrant, but also at turns serene and melancholic. - Played with astonishing virtuosity and "joie de vivre" by the Danish Ensemble MidtVest.

With this new album, the Euridice Choir, Bologna achieves a major objective with regard to the divulgation of some choral works by two authors, Ildebrando Pizzetti (Parma 1880 - Rome 1968) and Giorgio Federico Ghedini (Cuneo 1892 - Genoa Nervi 1965), who are at the top of the history of 20th century Italian choral music; unfortunately most of these masterpieces seldom find place in concert programs and are, by consequence, little known. These compositions are set on very different stylistic sides) but their musical quality outlines a clear profile of the expressive depth and aesthetic consistency of Italian choral music from the early 1900. The imposing polyphonic structure of Pizzetti's Requiem and the "neo-Madrigalism" (as defined by Massimo Mila) adopted by Giorgio Federico Ghedini are based respectively on the suggestions of Gregorian chant and on the stylistic modules of the Renaissance compositional heritage, whose recovery constitutes the founding cornerpiece of this music.

A pupil of the famous Nicolas Lebegue, Nicolas de Grigny quickly dazzled his peers with the daring complexity of his writing. His compositions, veritable Baroque gems, captivated even Johann Sebastian Bach, who meticulously copied his entire organ book. The singular work of the former organist of Reims Cathedral is restored in all it's splendour by Michel Bouvard and Francois Espinasse on the keyboards of the Great Organ of the Chapelle Royale.

Francisco Coll is one of the leading composers in today musical landscape. The only pupil of Thomas Ades, his music has been already performed by most important orchestras and such soloists as Kirill Gerstein and Patricia Kopatchinskaja.�This portrait includes works composed along fourteen years, from 2009 to 2023. His brittle, explosive style is indebted to the surreal atmosphere and wild humour of Spanish modernism and further enriched by Spanish folk influences.

This album presents Rune Glerup's (b. 1981) String Quartet No. 2, crafted for and dedicated to Quatuor Diotima, alongside his Clarinet Quintet featuring Jonas Frolund. Glerup's quartet, steeped in Beckettian echoes, captures the absurd beauty of life's endless loops, from park strolls to barroom reveries. The Clarinet Quintet, a labyrinth of musical nods - from Boulez to Brahms - fuses past and present in a tribute to the voices that shaped Glerup's own, creating a sound world both familiar and intriguingly new.

This recording sets Ravel's String Quartet in F major, a work that is known and much loved alongside three lesser-known quartets by the French composers Louis Durey (1888-1979), Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) and Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), three of the composers from Les Nouveaux Jeunes who later became Les Six. The friends met and lived in Montparnasse, Paris and composed their quartets around 16 years after Ravel completed his. Ravel's innovative and progressive style as demonstrated in his quartet marked the beginnings of a transitionary period in quartet writing and one that was continued by Durey, Tailleferre and Milhaud with these young composers heralding modernism and signalling a break with the past and the search for new forms of expression. By placing these works alongside one another, this albums gives a fresh and interesting context for the listener and hopefully fosters an interest in the music of this fascinating period of history.

By 2014 eric Montalbetti had amassed 20 years of experience as Artistic Director of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, all the while he had also been composing, something he had been engaged in since childhood: an activity he did not publicly reveal until 2015. Conscious of the heritage of Debussy and Messiaen ('my very first heroes') as well as skilled in the serialism of Boulez - whose teaching courses he attended at the College de France - and fascinated by the sonic nuances of spectral music, eric Montalbetti seeks a point of convergence, a possible synthesis enabling him to blend modality and serialism, without rejecting the harmonic contours of composers such as Murail. This new album dedicated to Montalbetti's work includes a Flute Concerto, whose commission was encouraged by Emmanuel Pahud: it's telling title is Memento vivere (Remember that you must live).

Paul Huang and Helen Huang have been exploring the repertoire for violin and piano for now a decade. As a way of celebrating their fruitful and enriching collaboration, they have devised this album as an ingenious game of mirroring. The title of this second album for na�ve is not accidental, as the two musicians offer highly diverse perspectives. This new recording focuses first on two sonatas composed by Francis Poulenc (1942-1943) and Sergei Prokofiev (1938-1946) during the second world war of the 20th century, respectively at the opening and closing of this album. Between these two pieces, Spiegel i'm Spiegel by Arvo Part (1978), a page with ethereal lines, a moment of introspection and calm that becomes a space for contemplation and reflection necessary in this otherwise dense and angular programme.

In this 1720 score, Johann Sebastian Bach laid the foundation that would shape the future of the violin in Western music. While building on the contributions of earlier composers, his meticulous craftsmanship-a true compendium of the instrument's virtues-and his vision in terms of musical conception and performance render these Six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin a cornerstone. No self-respecting violinist can ignore them, as they serve both as a fundamental study and a lofty aspiration. There is no separation between the performer and the music; their expressive power and technical demands require a lifelong dedication. This is exactly what the excellent violinist Gisella Curtolo tells us: In Spanish, grabar means to leave a mark on a surface, on stone... on a CD. It is something lasting, like a "sculpture of sounds." It is a way to communicate the culmination of our journey, akin to scaling a mountain and reaching the summit, achieving something "epic" that we have been carefully preparing and envisioning year after year. There comes a moment in musicians' life when they feel like the right time to "record" what they have been playing, teaching, and perfecting for many years. This is how I felt as I approached the recording of this immense masterpiece, one of the pillars of the repertoire for violinists of the past, present, and surely the future.