It was on American soil that Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) began the composition of his Cello Concerto. Free of all prejudice, he had taken a keen interest in Amerindian and Afro-American cultures during his long stay in the United States of America. Moving himself between classical, jazz, improvisation, and world music as part of his trio or his duo with accordion, Raphael Jouan could not but be receptive to the open-mindedness of the Czech composer. And when, for his recording debut with orchestra, he decided to measure himself against this emblematic work, it was in order to live a collective adventure, under the sign of sharing, with musicians close to his heart.

Bach: Tenor Arias Johann Sebastian Bach wrote more than 200 cantatas. This recording explores a selection of 12 tenor arias from his cantatas, ranging in instrumentation from rich tutti orchestra to intimate obbligato instruments. Leif Aruhn-Solén has been in demand internationally as a tenor in the field of early music for over 20 years. He is an acclaimed Evangelist and tenor soloist in Bach's oratorios and cantatas with both modern symphony orchestras as well as some of the world's foremost baroque orchestras: the Camerata of St. John, Brisbane; the Netherland Bach Society; the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Concerto Copenhagen; the Oslo Philharmonic; New Trinity Baroque, Atlanta. Göteborg Baroque has established itself as one of the leading Scandinavian baroque ensembles. Founded in 2003 by it's artistic director Magnus Kjellson, who conducts the ensemble from the keyboard of an organ or a harpsichord in a historically informed way, the ensemble regularly performs important and well-known works as well as re-premiering works that have been ignored or forgotten for hundreds of years. The recording was made possible thanks to a generous donation by Alfred Hagen and through the joint generosity of more than 160 individuals in an unprecedented Swedish crowdfunding campaign for a classical music recording.

Armenian piano virtuoso Tigran Hamasyan returns with Manifeste, out February 6, 2025-a powerful fusion of jazz, progressive rock, and Armenian folk. Recorded across five countries, the album blends rhythmic complexity, cinematic depth, and spiritual intensity, featuring longtime collaborators and the Yerevan State Chamber Choir. Manifeste is a bold declaration where the human, digital, and sacred unite in sound. Following The Bird of a Thousand Voices, Hamasyan continues his artistic exploration with Manifeste (2025)-a bold, multi-dimensional statement recorded between 2023 and 2025 across studios in Yerevan, Athens, Moscow, Los Angeles, and beyond. Entirely composed and produced by Hamasyan, Manifeste fuses his signature rhythmic complexity and spiritual depth with a more cinematic soundscape, where Armenian folk roots, progressive rock intensity, and choral mysticism intertwine. The album unfolds like a ritual sequence-from the meditative "Prelude for All Seekers" to the powerful "National Repentance Anthem. " Collaborators include longtime partners Marc Karapetian (bass) and drummers Arthur Hnatek, Arman Mnatsakanyan, Matt Garstka, and Nate Wood, alongside contributions from cellist Artyom Manukyan, trumpeter Daniel Melkonyan, guitarist Nick Llerandi, and the Yerevan State Chamber Choir conducted by Kristina Voskanyan. Each piece radiates Hamasyan's fascination with transcendence and transformation, whether through the fiery rhythmic drive of "Dardahan" and "Ultradance, " the haunting choral layers of "One Body, One Blood, " or the intimate dedications "Years Passing (For Akram)" and "A Window from One Heart to Another (For Rumi). " In Manifeste, Hamasyan brings together the human, digital, and sacred-a declaration of unity through sound, where modern technology meets ancient resonance. In addition to awards and critical acclaim, Hamasyan has built a dedicated following worldwide, as well as praise from Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, and the late Chick Corea. "With startling combinations of jazz, minimalist, electronic, folk, and songwriterly elements. Hamasyan and his collaborators travel musical expanses marked with heavy grooves, ethereal voices, pristine piano playing and ancient melodies. You'll hear nothing else like this. " (NPR)

Following the success of Bach: Tenor Arias (2020), tenor Leif Aruhn-Solén and Göteborg Baroque under the direction of Magnus Kjellson return with a new recording: Bach: Tenor Arias, Vol. 2. This album presents twelve more tenor arias from Johann Sebastian Bach's vast cantata output-a repertoire rarely heard in concert halls. With these carefully curated selections, the recording sheds new light on Bach's extraordinary vocal writing for the tenor voice and highlights gems that, despite their brilliance, have long remained in the shadow of his more familiar works. For over 25 years, Leif Aruhn-Solén has been in demand internationally with a special focus on baroque repertoire, and Göteborg Baroque has established itself for more than 20 years as one of Sweden's leading baroque ensembles. Together they continue their exploration of Bach's endlessly rich musical universe.

This is the last release of a six-release album series presenting all violin concertos by Mozart. Together with the the Spanish violinist and conductor Robert Gonzales-Monjas, who is the chief conductor of the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the orchestra proves once again it's unrivaled position as interpreters of the Mozart stylistic. The album will be released during the Salzburg Mozartwoche in January 2026

Considered a lesser-known gem of the operatic repertoire, Smetana's Dve vdovy ('The Two Widows') is set in a Bohemian country estate in which the contrasting personalities of recently widowed cousins Karolina and Anezka are tested by the attentions of gentleman-farmer Ladislav. Smetana's expert theatrical craftsmanship seamlessly blends Czech dances and choruses with beautiful cavatina-like solos. With the humane warmth of it's chamber-like comedy and deftly transparent orchestration, Smetana created a style of conversational opera in The Two Widows that was much admired by Richard Strauss.

Il Bajazet was commissioned in 1735 to open Verona's carnival season. Vivaldi chose a libretto by Agostino Piovene drawn from the well-known story of the defeated Ottoman sultan, King Bajazet, captured by Tamerlane who duly falls in love with Bajazet's proud daughter, Asteria. Vivaldi was in his late maturity when he completed the opera, modifying his music to suit contemporary taste, and using the pasticcio form, incorporating some arias written by other, mostly Neapolitan, composers. Repurposing of this kind was wholly acceptable at the time and such works enjoyed great popularity. The conductor and Vivaldi specialist, Federico Maria Sardelli, has integrated lost arias, clarified the use of historically appropriate orchestration, and brought the opera to rich theatrical life.

The Detmold Horn Players, led by Michael Höltzel, their legendary founder and director as well as influential teacher, present Hubertusmesse (St. Hubert's Mass), one of the very first recordings by the Detmold-based audiophile label MDG. The outstanding sound, technical craftsmanship, and, above all, musical quality of these sensational works for parforce horns, including several historical hunting fanfares from Bohemian, French, and Austrian traditions, are something quite extraordinary and vouch for the consistency with which MDG has been inspiring music lovers and sound enthusiasts around the world ever since.

Perfectly Free brings together two contemporary cello concertos-Osvaldo Golijov's Azul and Anna Clyne's DANCE-in a live recording that cellist Maja Bogdanovic describes as a deeply personal journey of discovery. Both works received their Dutch premieres during the Stift International Music Festival with the Phion Symphony Orchestra, under the batons of David Cohen (Azul) and Xandi van Dijk (DANCE). Golijov's Azul is portrayed as a poetic, otherworldly tapestry of colors and styles, ranging from Baroque influences to Piazzolla-inflected rhythms, enriched by an unusual orchestration featuring a prominent accordion and a wide spectrum of exotic percussion. The concerto unfolds like a cosmic vision-at times improvisatory, at times prayerful-culminating in sound worlds that evoke radio signals, stardust, and distant galaxies. Clyne's DANCE, inspired by Rumi's poetry, contrasts this with a five-movement exploration of raw emotion and virtuosity, stretching the expressive and technical boundaries of the cello. Moving from fragility to rhythmic intensity, from Baroque purity to diabolical energies, the work blends folk elements, lyrical lines, and personal nostalgia-including a final, haunting dedication to the composer's father. Bogdanovic emphasizes the profound artistic partnerships behind the recording, noting the rare creative "telepathy" experienced with Golijov and the intuitive collaboration with van Dijk. Golijov says: "Perhaps the greatest joy I know in music is telepathy between composer and performer. I am beginning to get used to it when I experience it with life-long collaborators who instantly understand the music I only understand myself after months of working on it. But I am startled when telepathy happens with a musician I have just met. This is what happened with Maja: No need for words to explain anything. Maja understands Azul better than I understand it myself. This gives me a great sense of relief. I know I don't need to be present for my music to live in the world. I am grateful to Maja for that. David Cohen and the Phion Symphony Orchestra prove to be ideal shipmates in this Azul recording that I love dearly. To have it paired with Anna Clyne's gorgeous music makes the recording even more special and closer to my heart." The project reflects the "Perfectly Free" spirit of the Stift Festival-fearless, generous, and adventurous-capturing not only two landmark contemporary concertos but also the shared inspiration of the musicians who brought them to life.

Hans Backenroth bass Roger Svedberg vibrafon Daniel Tilling piano Oscar Johansson Werre drums

For the first time, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and it's Artistic Director Peter Whelan have recorded what can be considered the ensemble's signature work, Handel's Messiah, an annual touring highlight in the IBO calendar. Surprisingly, this is the first recording on historical instruments by an Irish ensemble - given the work, a staple of oratorio music, was premiered in Dublin in 1742. That year, a struggling Handel came to the second-biggest city in the British Isles to rekindle his fortune. After the premiere (700-strong attendance; the ladies were asked to come without hoop-framed skirts and the gentlemen without their swords), Handel left Dublin a much richer man. The Irish Baroque Choir and an array of first-class singers (Hilary Cronin, Helen Charlston, Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca, Guy Cutting, Frederick Long, and Edward Grint) join the IBO to try and capture something of the atmosphere of that extraordinary moment, in a recording which traces back the origins of this enduring masterpiece.

Diego Conti's recent composition for string quartet/quintet can be placed in the aesthetic context which can be roughly defined, given any inevitable historical and conceptual adjustments, as post-modern. There is a multitude of approaches to sound, according to various different and diverging strategies (ranging from the prolongation of serial combinatorial rows on material and stylistic morphology in Ligeti to modulation/pluri-linguistic modelling in Berio, from the synthesis of minimal iteration and tonal orders in figures such as John Adams or Louis Andriessen to the clearance of practices and languages of other creative-musical areas). Seventies' art music has gradually abandoned the teleological, progressive tendency of it's historical path. The language of composition has ceased to recognize the essential reference point in it's most advanced frontier and has become a complex macro-area at it's core, widely accessible, and able to be explored in all it's domains even as far as the confines of the avant-garde frontier thanks, above all, to an interplay involving many possible directions, crossings, and even multiple settlements. The recording is the result of the collaboration between the composer and the Chaos String Quartet, which was formed within the student environment of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, one of the most prestigious international musical institutions.

A fascinating and still enigmatic figure, Anna Bon di Venezia was one of the few professional female composers of the 18th century to secure a place in European courts. A virtuoso, singer, and composer, her career unfolded across Venice, Bayreuth, and Nuremberg, where she published her three collections of works between 1756 and 1759. Little is known about her: the only definitive biographical details come from the dedications and title pages of her publications. Anna studied under Candida della Pietà, a viola teacher and former student of Antonio Vivaldi. Even in her early years, she was recognized as a talented musician and soon distinguished herself as a composer. The collection presented here, Six Sonatas for Harpsichord, op. 2, was published in Nuremberg in 1757 during Anna's stay at the court of Bayreuth. The sonatas are dedicated to Ernestina Augusta Sophia, Princess of Saxe-Weimar, who was Anna Bon's pupil before marrying the Duke of Hildburghausen. Annarosa Partipilo excels in her meticulous performance, playing a late 18th-century fortepiano.

The publication of the pieces included in this album aims to promote and disseminate a lesser-known chamber music repertoire among national and international concertgoers, a repertoire that undoubtedly deserves cultural and musical appreciation in every era for it's intrinsic originality. The two composers featured in this edition certainly need no introduction: Francesco Cilea, tied to the operatic tradition and bel canto, author of famous operas such as L'Arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur, and Alessandro Longo, the first to revise all 555 of Domenico Scarlatti's harpsichord sonatas, as well as the author of the well-known 12-volume Tecnica Pianistica. Longo was also the founder of the renowned Neapolitan musical journal L'Arte Pianistica. Gianfrancesco Federico on violin, Giuseppe Currao on clarinet, and Ugo Federico on piano guide us through these compositions, which are of great interest for understanding the Italian musical landscape of the early 20th century.

On the occasion of the 2025 Kreisler anniversary year, the exceptional violinist Benjamin Schmid posed the question: What happens for the violin in Vienna roughly 100 years after Fritz Kreisler? The result is this phenomenal recording with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna under Lorenz Aichner, featuring orchestrated works by Kreisler and the world premiere recording of the Concerto for Beni for Solo Violin and String Orchestra (2023) by Georg Breinschmid, born in Vienna in 1973. To quote the dedicatee, it is a "magnificent violin concerto that, from my perspective, shares much with the musical understanding of Fritz Kreisler: music with unadulterated joy of playing, which devotes itself immediately and as artfully as possible to the parameters of melody, harmonic experience, and dance-like (or groovy) rhythm. There is always a close relationship to instrumental virtuosity and sonority - something very strongly pronounced in both composers." The album includes Fritz Kreisler's Preludium and Allegro "in the Style of Pugnani" and the Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta in arrangements for (string) orchestra. Kreisler's Concerto in One Movement, based on the first movement of Paganini's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 6, is presented here in an arrangement for wind orchestra, recorded with the Salzburg Wind Philharmonic under Hansjörg Angerer.

We're worried by it, stressed out from it, frightened of it - and yet we're fascinated by it. Chaos has always been perceived as a threat, but also as the foundation of life. Various creation stories explain how the world arose out of disorder, out of "mayhem". In like manner, it is anarchic spirits in particular that are credited with the ability to create masterpieces of creative art. This conception was perhaps most neatly expressed by Friedrich Nietzsche: "You must have chaos within you, if you are to give birth to a dancing star." The present album is made up of works which, if you like, harbour the sound of chaos. Originally written for a wide variety of instruments, these pieces are arranged here for string quartet and are connected by improvised interludes - linking passages for which the Hungarian composer Samu Gryllus has provided the basis. The Chaos String Quartet emerged from the iconic violist joke: "Well-established, world-famous string quartet looking for a new first violin, second violin... and cellist." That's exactly how it happened. On Cornwall's rugged coast, during a Prussia Cove masterclass, after an illuminating lesson, a sight-reading session, and a candlelit dinner, Sara invited Susanne to form a quartet. After that first conversation, it took some time to find two other brave musicians, both beyond their mid-twenties, who were willing to embark on the exciting, sometimes complex, and risky adventure that is a string quartet. Fortunately, Eszter and Bas joined soon after, with great enthusiasm. As usual, naming proved a challenge. Some suggested using the first violinist's surname; others, a Greek god. A few warned, "Don't start with A - there are too many." Then came a provocative idea: why not call it Chaos? Furthermore, the quartet enjoys inspiring the next generation, sharing it's experience as Young Artists in Residence at Vienna's University of Music and Performing Arts, cheekily sparking a little chaos among the artists of tomorrow. Their recognition as BBC New Generation Artists (2023-2025) and regular appearances at venues like Wigmore Hall, Musikverein, and Concertgebouw illuminate a journey where unpredictability becomes inspiration-reminding us that from the origins of chaos can emerge music of unique order and profound beauty.

A profoundly personal and curated new recording of duets by violinist Daniel Lozakovich, joined by pianist Helene Mercier, inspired by his own reflections on childhood and the redemptive power of music. The album combines cornerstones of the Romantic repertoire (Vocalise, Apres un reve, Nocturne, La fille aux cheveux de lin) with rare incursions into chanson (La chanson d'Helene, Autumn Leaves, Youkali).

Since their founding in 2007, the Madrid-based ensemble Sigma Project has premiered more than 85 works and introduced hundreds more to audiences from Teatro alla Scala in Milan to Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Their commitment to commissioning new works is the saxophone quartet's parallel to the Kronos Quartet. Juan Antonio Cuéllar's Cuatro Artificios is a four-movement work that follows the classical structure of the quartet or symphony (Allegro-Adagio-Scherzo-Allegro Finale) and draws on both Baroque and early 20th-century techniques. Each movement is an artificio: a skillful and inventive creation. From Fanfarrias (Fanfares) and it's rhythmic ostinatos and canon to Tocatas (Tocattas), a dizzying moto continuo culminating in an explosive finale. Carolina Noguera Palau's Cánticos del Azar utilizes extended techniques to evoke the chirimías caucanas (flute-led ensembles from Cauca), while also introducing dance-like rhythmic patterns that evoke Cali's vibrant dance culture, emphasized by expressive markings in the score such as con sabor (with spice), sonero (in the style of son music), or movido (swinging). The title of Rodolfo Acosta's Pidiendo agua, traían leña (Asking for water, they brought firewood) is drawn from The First New Chronicle and Good Government, a 1615 Peruvian chronicle describing how chapetones (newly arrived Spaniards) and Indigenous Peruvians were often caught in linguistic misunderstandings. The piece's form is conceived as a series of unrelated episodes that challenge monothematic development. Instead, the episodes function as what Acosta calls "single isles" that one must "visit" without pretending to understand them through the same logic. They are meant to be grasped in their uniqueness. The collaboration between the Spanish ensemble Sigma Project and the Colombian composers featured on this album evokes the narrative behind the work. This collaboration is a 21st-century update of the encounter between the Spanish and the Abya Yala people (the Americas)-an encounter rooted not in conquest, but in mutual recognition and respect for difference.

Do you love Brahms? Then you will also want to discover the works of Amanda Maier and Robert Fuchs: three violin sonatas, all composed or published in 1878, are now presented by Duo Codax on GENUIN. The album combines Brahms' G-major Sonata with two rarely performed works in a similar style for the same instrumentation-an engaging look at the musical environment of the time. With great sensitivity for tonal balance and phrasing, Verena Louis (piano) and Adam Markowski (violin) shape the long, sweeping lines, warm colors, and passionate accents of this music: a beautifully recorded, outstanding release for chamber-music lovers!

English mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately presents an album of songs by Madeleine Dring. Born in 1923 to a theatrical family, Dring was admitted to the Royal College of Music at the age of nine. She went on to study composition with Herbert Howells, also taking lessons from Gordon Jacob and Ralph Vaughan Williams. She made her career in the theatre, earning a reputation for being able to create catchy numbers at short notice. Sadly, she died at the early age of fifty-three, of a brain aneurysm. The disparate nature of her musical legacy is often attributed to the piecemeal nature of her career; consequently, resurgence of interest in her work has lagged behind that of her contemporaries Elizabeth Lutyens, Elizabeth Maconchy, Grace Williams, and Ruth Gipps. Kitty Whately and Julius Drake have chosen widely from among her output, and end with Dring's version of Cole Porter's 'In the Still of the Night'.

Commissioned by the Propaganda Department of the Soviet State Music Publishing House to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, the Symphonic Dedication to October eventually became Shostakovich's Second Symphony, and was first performed, in Leningrad, in 1927. It is a short, through-composed work of around twenty minutes, it's structure involving four sections. It opens with a Largo meant to portray the primordial chaos from which order emerged, and ends with a choral setting of To October, a poem by Alexander Bezymensky, praising Lenin and the October Revolution. The symphony shows a marked departure in style from Shostakovich's first symphony, and is far more modernist and avant-garde. The Second Symphony made little impression, in Russia or the West, and is rarely performed. In contrast, the Fifth Symphony received a standing ovation at it's première, one that lasted for over half an hour, and was acclaimed both by state officials (for delivering everything that they had asked of Shostakovich) and by the public (who heard it as an expression of the suffering to which it had been subjected by Stalin). The Fifth Symphony is one of Shostakovich's best-known and most performed works, and has become standard repertoire for orchestras around the globe.

Sebastian Berner is one of the most prominent trumpet players of his generation: in 2022, he won first prize at the Maurice André International Competition in Paris and is principal trumpet of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. While Henri Tomasi's trumpet concerto, composed in 1948, is fairly well known, the Concertino for Trumpet and Orchestra, composed in 1913 by the Belgian Joseph Jongen, is much rarer, and the concerto by his pupil Léon Stekke, dated July 1937, is being recorded for the first time. Another world premiere is Charles Koechlin's Chants de Kervéléan, transcribed in 2008 for trumpet and orchestra by Robert Orlidge. Finally, Florent Schmitt's Suite in Three Parts was premiered in it's orchestral version in 1956 by Maurice André.

Winner of the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022 and an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2023, the Isidore String Quartet makes it's recording debut on Delos. Formed at The Juilliard School and coached with members of the Juilliard String Quartet past and present-the name Isidore comes from the legendary violinist Isidore Cohen, one of the Juilliard Quartet's early members-the quartet is rapidly making a name for itself on the international concert scene. The album Adorations is a celebration of chamber music at it's essence: a tapestry of joy, human connection, and the enduring resonance of lives intertwined. Each work on the album reflects a unique form of adoration, offering it's own expression of wonder, reverence, and the profound beauty of shared musical experience. Comprising Joseph Haydn's String Quartet in C major, Op. 20, and Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 44, the recital also features Samuel Barber's celebrated Molto adagio and Florence Price's Adoration.

With works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Fritz Kreisler, the Amadeus Trio presents a multifaceted programme that combines Viennese chamber music tradition, lyrical depth and virtuoso esprit. Beethoven's famous 'Gassenhauer Trio' captivates with it's wit and elegance, Schubert's first piano trio with it's formal breadth and poetic expressiveness, while Fritz Kreisler's miniatures bring the unmistakable Viennese charm into the modern age with a wink. Founded in 2020, the Amadeus Trio brings together three internationally renowned soloists who share a passion for chamber music and intense dialogue with each other - and with the audience. The members of the trio have already performed with leading orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and have appeared in major concert halls such as Carnegie Hall New York, Wigmore Hall London, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Tonhalle Zurich, the Vienna Musikverein and the Konzerthaus. The Amadeus Trio performs internationally in Europe and Asia and received standing ovations at it's debut in the sold-out Vienna Konzerthaus. Today, the ensemble stands for lively, high-class chamber music that draws inspiration from tradition and brings it into the present with fresh energy and immediate expressiveness.

In 1800, France was passionate about Haydn's music. The Paris Opera decided to stage a French version of his oratorio La Creation du Monde (The Creation of the World) in Paris, which had been completed two years earlier and premiered in Vienna. The first French performance of the work took place on December 24, 1800, a date that became historic because Bonaparte, First Consul and future Napoleon, decided to attend and narrowly escaped an explosion that killed 40 people and destroyed 15 houses... This French version has now been revived thanks to Julien Chauvin, who almost by chance came across the first edition (piano-vocal) of the French version of The Creation and who, with Le Concert de la Loge, the Choeur de Chambre de Namur, and leading vocal soloists (Julie Roset, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, and Nahuel Di Pierro), now presents the very first recording of it: "Haydn succeeds in developing an incredible palette; the orchestra is really there to personify and colour the verses, " says the conductor.