Music lovers all over the world appreciate the unique sound of Viennese strings. However, there is another special sound - that of the Viennese oboe. Sebastian Breit, principal oboist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, puts his instrument in the spotlight on an album released by Supreme Music. These are discoveries from the 'golden era' of the Viennese oboe. These rarities charmingly demonstrate why the Viennese oboe is 'different from the others'. All of the pieces were written specifically for the Viennese oboe at the time of their creation. They are compositions penned by Alexander Wunderer (1877-1955), himself an oboist with the Vienna Philharmonic, Hans Gal (1890-1987) and Karl Pilss (1902-1979). Listening to these pieces, interpreted with great dedication, one becomes aware of how significant the instrument has been in shaping the much-praised Viennese sound.

After a remarkable debut in Vienna's Musikverein back in 2023, "The Philharmonic Brass" released their first album "Overture!" conducted by Tugan Sokhiev. Under Riccardo Muti's conductorship, the group reached a new peak in it's young career and launched the acclaimed album 'Italiana!' in spring 2025. To meet the highest audiophile standards, Supreme Classics is now re-releasing the first album, "Overture!" as a Hybride SACD and digitally in Dolby Atmos. "Overture!" includes virtuoso arrangements of some of the best-known overtures including Verdi's La Forza del Destino and Gershwin's Cuban Overture.

Joseph Gibbs is one of the 18th century's best-kept secrets; his music is characterful and individual, fusing the best of Italianate virtuosity with English and quirky Gibbs-ian humour. Despite the obvious brilliance of his compositions, the 8 Solos for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1 of c. 1746 are one of only two published sets of music, and there are scant references to Gibbs in the years after his death. However, the re-emergence of his portrait (painted by Thomas Gainsborough) in the early years of the 20th century sparked a curiosity and interest in Gibbs's music, which has been described as amongst 'the finest English violin sonatas of the century'.

Kent Nagano and Jan Vogler, the American in Germany and the German in the United States, perpetually crossing the Atlantic and calling both continents home, embody and live this once so powerful transatlantic ideal in every respect. For they are bound by much more than a deep artistic friendship and their collaborative work. They share-even more comprehensively-a worldview and understanding of life based on the Western, humanistic canon of values that Europeans once carried across the Atlantic to their new world... "It was precisely this transatlantic idea that drove me when Jan and I developed this project a few years ago," says Kent Nagano. "Hamburg was the link to the New World not just for the people of Hamburg, but for millions of Europeans." This was to be reflected in a musical work capable of carrying this idea into the future. For good reason: for years, the continents have seemingly been drifting apart. The world-renowned conductor does not hide his concern about this development. "It was also important to me to anchor the transatlantic idea in the next generation through children's and youth choirs on both sides of the ocean, who could work together and spend time with each other." The result is the oratorio "An einem klaren Tag - On a Clear Day" for cello, choir, and orchestra. The participants in the project underscore the thematic concern: the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, texts by the well-known German poet Ulla Hahn set to music by the young American composer Sean Shepherd, who made a name for himself in the United States at a very early age, various youth choirs from Germany and New York, along with the German star cellist Jan Vogler and Nagano as the American conductor of the Hamburg State Opera, who grew up where America is farthest from Europe-in a fishing village on the American West Coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles ... (Excerpts from booklet notes by Inge Kloepfer)

Composer Adam Roberts' Book of Flowers is a celebration of the large scale collection of character pieces, participating in a tradition that traces from Schumann to Chopin to Debussy to Crumb. Performed by piano virtuoso Conrad Tao, Roberts explores an expansive range of expression and techniques on the keyboard, fashioning many short components into work of epic scope.

... four of the brightest young stars in classical music today. We are enjoying another golden era thanks to Quartet Integra. -Martin Beaver, First Violin, Tokyo String Quartet Producer's notes: Yarlung Records returned to Zipper Hall at Colburn School in April, 2025 to record the debut album for Quartet Integra toward the end of the quartet's 3-year residency in Los Angeles. They had just returned from acclaimed performances in Wigmore Hall in London. The quartet left again after our recording for summer concerts (and a little bit of family time) in Asia before moving to Paris and Hannover in the autumn. Quartet Integra begins a two year residency in Paris at the Centre Europeen de Musique de Chambre and will continue study with Oliver Wille at the Hochschule fur Musik, Theater, und Medien in Hannover. We will miss the Quartet badly in Los Angeles and hope they return soon. This extraordinary young ensemble, Kyoka Misawa and Rintaro Kikuno on violins, Itsuki Yamamoto on viola, and cellist Ye Un Park play Classical, Romantic, Contemporary and Renaissance music equally well. In fact, we explore all four eras in this recording. We begin with Beethoven's last published work, String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Opus 135, written in 1826. Beethoven wrote this piece at the height of his Romantic powers, but the quartet looks back with irony and nostalgia to his classical period. Next, Quartet Integra tackles Ligeti's 1968 ground-breaking Sonata No. 2, which they played for me at their audition and which won me over immediately. Kyoka, Rintaro, Itsuki and Ye Un find beauty and repose in this seat-belts-required 25-minute work full of extended techniques and mid-20th-Century sound world while communicating humor and transcendent energy. Kyoka said "When people hear the name Ligeti, many tend to associate it with contemporary music and assume it will be difficult to listen to. But in reality, that's not the case. Especially the String Quartet No. 2, which we're performing this time - it's wild and destructive, yet it holds a kind of breathtaking beauty. It feels almost like watching a movie." Mike Wechsberg, an audience member at our special live concert recording session commented heartily how "Ligeti is not the sort of music I normally like, but THIS was magnificent! Bravo Quartet Integra!" We ended the concert with Green Mountains, Now Black, a new piece by David S. Lefkowitz which he completed in the spring of 2025. Donna Morton commissioned David's piece for Yarlung Artists and Quartet Integra through Yarlung's sister organization Coretet. Donna and her group have steadfastly supported new chamber music including from composers Caroline Shaw, Diego Schissi (who won a Latin GRAMMY® nomination for Nene, which he wrote for Yarlung's Sibelius Piano Trio), Jamie Thierman, Eric Nathan and Benjamin Taylor among others. Donna serves on the boards of both Yarlung Artists and Coretet, and we relished the opportunity to collaborate again as Coretet celebrates it's 10th Anniversary and Yarlung celebrates it's 20th. Beethoven wrote his last major composition, String Quartet Op. 135, in 1826. This was his final statement in his groundbreaking series. Opus 135 premiered in 1828, performed by Ignaz Schuppanzigh and his famous ensemble, a year after Beethoven died. When the members of Quartet Integra suggested we record this work on their debut album instead of Schubert's "Rosamunda" Quartet written only two years earlier, I initially demurred. Who needs yet another superb performance of Beethoven's final masterpiece?" I complained. "Who needs yet another Rosamunda?" Quartet Integra 'cellist Ye Un Park responded within milliseconds. She had a point, and I'm glad we recorded the Beethoven instead, at least on Quartet Integra's first Yarlung album! The ensemble had just performed Beethoven's first string quartet in London's Wigmore Hall in London, as well as "Rosamunda, " and they were game to expand their horizons and capitalize on their "Beethoven High." They also wanted to utilize the superb acoustics at Colburn School while the quartet was still living in Los Angeles, and we knew Zipper Hall would do the Beethoven special justice. Our recording concludes with David S. Lefkowitz' Green Mountains, Now Black. David's piece offers quotations from Monteverdi's earliest extant opera Orfeo (one of my favorites in the operatic literature) and additional quotations from Monteverdi's final opera The Coronation of Poppea, including it's magical and ever-so recognizable love duet between Poppea and the emperor Nero at the end of the opera. Instead of merely transposing my favorite arias, choral passages and this famous duet for string quartet, David wrote a work that explores the very nature of what it means to be a string quartet. And he experiments with the genre, pushes boundaries, and incorporates his own despair witnessing the burning of much of Los Angeles in the spring of 2025. David and his wife Laurie could see flames and smoke not too far away from their home as he composed this work. Nero himself famously allowed a good chunk of downtown Rome to burn, exercising (and bragging about) his dubious leadership in the process. David layers Octavia's farewell to her beloved city with the giddy love duet between Octavia's husband, the emperor, and his mistress Poppea, to tell the story of David's own distress while writing the piece. Green Mountains, Now Black not only refer to Monteverdi himself (Green Mountain) but the fire which turned so many of our spring green mountains to char in Los Angeles. Despite David's gloom and worry during our fires, his iridescent string writing shows itself proudly and his many glorious and lyrical passages outnumber the darker ones. As musicians, the members of Quartet Integra communicate superbly with audiences and with each other as they explore the depths and details of these musical scores. With generous support from Sel, Nick and Martin at Colburn School, we worked with Quartet Integra on April 13-15, 2025 and ended our recording session with a live concert for invited guests from the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society on April 15th. You can enjoy videos of this concert on YouTube's YarlungChannel. Fellow recording engineer and equipment designer Arian Jansen and I used SonoruS Holographic Imaging technology in the analog domain to refine the stereo image, Yarlung's SonoruS ATR12 to record Agfa-formula 468 analog tape, the Merging Technologies HAPI to record 256fs DSD in stereo and surround sound and the SonoruS ADC to record PCM. We used our friend Ted Ancona's AKG C24 microphone previously owned by Frank Sinatra, and Yarlung Audio vacuum tube microphone amplification designed and built by Elliot Midwood. In closing, it was Donna Morton and Martin Beaver who suggested Yarlung support Quartet Integra and Martin coordinated their audition. The Quartet has been lauded as the most exciting ensemble to emerge from Japan (and Ye Un from Korea) since the famous Tokyo String Quartet formed in 1969 at Juilliard. I love a certain symmetry here: two of the non-Japanese born musicians playing as members of the Tokyo String Quartet were Yarlung Special Advisor Martin Beaver, who became principal violin in 2002, and Clive Greensmith, who joined Tokyo as cellist in 1999. Both Martin and Clive performed with the Tokyo Quartet until the ensemble gave their final concerts in 2013, and now Martin and Clive co-direct Chamber Music at Colburn School and have mentored the four members of Quartet Integra. Before their Colburn residency, Quartet Integra won a four-year fellowship with Suntory Hall's Chamber Music Academy where they were coached by Tokyo Quartet members Koichiro Harada, Kikuei Ikeda and Kazuhide Isomura. This is generational integrity and communication worthy of Kyoka, Rintaro, Itsuki and Ye Un. As we celebrate Yarlung's 20th Anniversary, we are enjoying thinking back to our original inspiration. We began working with young musicians starting international concert careers and sharing their transformative performances with the world. Yarlung Records takes it's name from the Yarlung Valley in Central Tibet, which legend holds as a meeting place between heaven and earth. It is in this valley, at the site of Yambulakhang Castle in our Yarlung Records logo, where Heaven and Earth touched in order to transform humanity. What could be a better metaphor for the transformative power of great music? I feel a deep connection between this mythical name for our record label and Quartet Integra. Hearing them play and working with these four good-natured and talented people reminded me why we created Yarlung Records in the first place. Despite my earlier comment, Quartet Integra is not a Japanese ensemble. Three of their members come from Japan and one from Korea, but they are inherently international. Quartet Integra lived in California these past years, and as indicated will spend the next several years in France and Germany. Their ties to the famous Tokyo String Quartet increase the Japanese-ness of Quartet Integra, but Tokyo String Quartet was actually founded in 1969 at Juilliard in New York City, not Japan. In planning their album cover, this image of the Toyosaki Kompira Shrine Torii Gate on the west coast of Hokkaido jumped out at us, and reflected Quartet Integra's refreshing vitality. As does the inspiration for the name of Yarlung Records, a Torii gate symbolizes a portal to the sacred in Shintoism connecting everyday reality with transcendence. -Bob Attiyeh, producer

Dvorak stated elsewhere that he had always remained a simple Bohemian folk musician at heart. Born in 1841, the son of a butcher, he grew up in the countryside. He always heard Bohemian folk tunes, probably even in his mother's womb. Folk music was clearly part of Dvorak's DNA, and a Slavic folklore tone permeates the two works on this CD. 0028948677955 CAVM4867795.2 45383021 .00 17.99 .19 CAVI-MUSIC COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/31/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/27/4445227-3422550.jpg 4 1 N BALLESTRA,JEAN-LUC CARRARA: VOCI DA HEBRON Cristian Carrara is one of the most original Italian composers of his generation. The opera Voci da Hebron ('Voices from Hebron') is set during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Carrara's expressive depiction of this scenario is one in which fear, anger and incomprehension sit side-by-side with the need for communication, at a time when dialogue is difficult and peace is, at times, a mirage. This land that is home to grief and misunderstanding is also a place in which love can survive and ultimately flourish. 730099060370 NXS8660603.2 45383519 .00 19.99 .21 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/10/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/00/4445400-3422659.jpg 10 1 N TETZLAFF,CHRISTIAN ELGAR & ADES: VN CONS Star-violinist Christian Tetzlaff, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor John Storgards present in this album two major British violin concertos written between a century, in 1910 and 2005. Elgar's passionate violin concerto, completed in 1910, is a classical-romantic violin concerto in three movements. This huge and highly emotional work was in the wake of modernism neglected for several decades before entering into standard concerto repertoire. Here Christian Tetzlaff follows the model of the early recordings of Elgar's concerto with substantially quicker tempos compared to most modern recordings, and having a great influence on the impact of the piece. Ades' violin concerto 'Concentric Paths', is already a modern classic and no doubt one of the most important concertos written during this century. With it's very demanding violin part the work has all the elements of a true concerto, allowing the soloist to sing with his instrument. The beauty of this music lies that everything is written so clearly. 761195148020 OND1480.2 45383533 .00 18.99 .27 ONDINE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/03/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/45/4445745-3422683.jpg 84 1 N LEE,WARREN GOUNOD: PNO WORKS During his time in Italy and later in Leipzig, Charles Gounod was drawn by the balance of sonic beauty and proportion to be found in the music of Palestrina and J.S. Bach. He developed an innate desire for simple directness as can be heard in the excerpt from the Messe solennelle de Sainte Cecile and the Meditation sur le premier Prelude de J.S. Bach, now better known as Ave Maria. Gounod's talents for melody and mood painting are demonstrated in his Romances sans paroles, while his sense of wit can be heard in the famous Marche fune'bre d'une marionnette. 747313453474 NXS8574534.2 45383472 .00 19.99 .16 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/10/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/77/4446477-3422665.jpg 10 1 N BRIGGS,SARAH SMALL TREASURES In her first solo recording for AVIE in 2019, Sarah Beth Briggs' performances of music by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms were described as 81 minutes of pianistic Heaven" by International Piano Magazine. In her latest offering, Small Treasures, Sarah returns to two of those composers' greatest sets of miniatures: Schumann's piano cycle Waldszenen and Brahms's 4 Klavierstu¨cke, Op.119, his final statement for solo piano. Alongside these, Sarah sets Schumann's much loved Arabeske from earlier in his composing career and the delightfully fleeting Impromptu by his wife Clara, together with her 4 Pie'ces fugitives, much lauded in her lifetime. The remaining 'Treasures' transport the listener to 20th-century France, comparing works by two members of Paris's composing circle 'Les Six' - Francis Poulenc's evocative 3 Novelettes (written across a 30-year time span) and Germaine Tailleferre's Sicilienne. As an encore, Sarah - a former International Mozart Competition winner - ends with a tiny gem by Wolfgang Amadeus: his 1789 Kleine Gigue in G in which light-hearted playfulness mingles with forward-looking chromaticism, miraculously seeming to find common ground with all of the works from the subsequent two centuries included on Small Treasures.

The Flemish Music Heritage series is a journey of discovery, reviving remarkable pieces of musical heritage. Forgotten scores are brought to light, and familiar compositions are given a fresh perspective. In close collaboration with the Study Centre for Flemish Music, the recordings are founded on intensive research in libraries and archives and meticulously prepared score editions.? The works, expertly selected by connoisseurs, are performed by valued musicians and ensembles who passionately restore neglected and forgotten composers to the recognition they deserve. With these vibrant composer monographs, Antarctica Records aims to broaden horizons and enrich the repertoire with rediscovered treasures from the past. This third volume of the Flemish Music Heritage series focuses on piano works by Joseph Ryelandt (1870-1965). Spanning nearly five decades of his creative output, the recording features five piano works-including two early sonatas, the expressive Six Preludes, and two later works that highlight Ryelandt's evolution toward a more transparent, neoclassical style. Performed by Jozef de Beenhouwer, who has championed Ryelandt's music for decades, the album sheds light on a versatile and refined voice in Belgian musical history.

During the reign of Le Roi Soleil Louis XIV, music played the fundamental role of defining and consolidating the centrality of power, both in the sphere of sacred music with the grand motets and in the sphere of opera with the comedies-ballets, tragedies-lyricas and operas-ballets by Lully, Charpentier, Delalande and Campra: music had to represent the grandeur and divine nature of the sovereign, the power and splendor of the French crown. This is the cultural and musical context of Francois D'Agincour. Born in Rouen in 1684, he studied in his home town until the age of 17 with Notre-Dame organist Jacques Boyvin. He continued his training probably with Lebegue in Paris, where he was employed as organist at Sainte Madeleine-en-la-Cite for five years. Appreciated and very prominent, in 1714 he became one of the four organists of the Chapelle royal at Versailles, replacing Louis Marchand. He then also took up the post at Saint Jean in Rouen in 1726 and spent the last thirty years of his life between Versailles and Rouen. The only printed collection published by him in 1733 contains 4 ordres for harpsichord, inspired by the descriptive nature of the titles and compositional style by those of Francois Couperin. Next to the dance forms of the suite emerge the pieces de caractere, most of which are rondeaux. The descriptive titles refer to single portraits (e.g., L'Empressee, La Pressante Angelique), double portraits, natural scenes, genre scenes, and places. Played on two different harpsichords, copies of a Hemsch and Dulcken instrument, by Marco Borghetto, who won First Prize at the Wanda Landowska Harpsichord Competition 2023.

We know Satie as a loner, but it is less well known that Satie had also been in love. He had a brief and stormy affair with the painter Suzanne Valadon. The portrait she made of him is on the cover of this album, as pianist Guillaume Coppola has conceived it as an intimate portrait of the composer, "one masked by a veil of modesty or provocation and which lies between antique and oriental inspiration, mystical phases, humour and cabaret". The miniature Bonjour Biqui and the motif of the Vexations possess rare allusions to Valadon and become commas between these chapters, as does Desespoir agreable, whose title alone seems to sum up Satie's life and work. This tribute is released to mark the centenary of Satie's death; whilst the famous Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes feature on the programme, the album also presents rare and infrequently recorded discoveries that testify to the richness of the works that the whimsical Satie had created.

The popularity of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik is a testament to the work's unique elegance and refinement, maintaining it's status as one of the most popular pieces in the classical canon. The transformational skills that resulted in this masterpiece have their roots in Mozart's adolescent travels where he assimilated various musical traditions. Also featured are the three delightfully original Divertimenti, K. 136-38, which are a celebration of Mozart's experiences in Italy and a prelude to the musical treasures to follow.

Third album of the Akhtamar Quartet with Cypres, Origins combines classical and folk heritage with contemporary creation, inviting everyone to explore shared stories and universal emotions. Since it's creation, the Akhtamar Quartet has enjoyed intertwining classical and folk music and exploring different cultures. This approach is evident on each of it's albums, while promoting a contemporary composer (Eugenie Alecian for Legende armenienne, Cypres - CYP1681, and Judith Adler de Oliveira for Enluminures, Cypres - CYP1684). From Antonin Dvorak to Jelena Dabic, a Serbian composer born in 1982, the music becomes eternal poetry and transports us through the ages. This is an essential recording for chamber music lovers. It celebrates both the romantic heritage, embodied by Dvorak's mature style, and the opening up to a new generation of female composers. With Anzhamanak by Jelena Dabic, this contemporary piece offers a unique sound experience with original timbres and reveals the full expressive power of the Akhtamar Quartet.

Featuring the first recording of BRITTEN's Les Illuminations, Op. 18 sung in English, from a brand new translation by Timothy Ades. Also includes the original French version. Coupled with Samuel BARBER's dramatic masterpiece Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24, written just a few years after Les Illuminations. Among the most personal and powerful music ever written for the human voice, Britten and Barber's masterpiece settings of texts by Rimbaud and Agee continue to resonate intensely. Taken together, they form bookends to the cataclysms of the 20th century, with it's two life-shattering world wars. The colours, verbal and harmonic, of such human drama are a dazzling mix, running the gamut of life in dramatic flux. Mild mannered it is not, though parts are hauntingly beautiful.

In 1919, the cellist Marix Loevensohn commissioned a duo sonata from Henriette Bosmans for one of his recitals. Bosmans delivered-and in doing so, opened the "cello-focused" chapter of her early oeuvre, soon followed by two concertos, a Poème with orchestra (555 694-2), and several works with piano accompaniment. Inspired partly by Loevensohn and partly by her friend Frieda Belifante, what emerged was a collection that testifies to a talent as self-assured as it is sensitive: The sonata's imposing outer movements frame tender lyricism in the spirit of Brahms and Debussy-like splashes of color; the three Impressions flirt with various eras and landscapes; the Nocturne for cello and harp luxuriates in dreamy excess-and the sensitive spirit melts away in blissful surrender

This symphony is the creation of a giant, and it surpasses all of the master's other symphonies in terms of it's spiritual dimension, it's fearsomeness, and it's grandeur. It's success is almost unprecedented, despite the most ominous warnings of a variety of Cassandras, and that includes several close colleagues. The work was a complete victory of light over darkness, and the storm of enthusiasm which broke out with elemental force when the individual movements had faded away was mighty. In short, it was a triumph that a Roman emperor could not have wished for more beautifully. (Hugo Wolf)

An album of new orchestral works by Peter Fribbins. 'Gommecourt', a four-movement symphony with obbligato piano, traces the dramatic story of his grandfather, Tom Fribbins, at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. It is paired with the passionate, and at times wild, 'Cello Concerto', and the beautiful melodic lines of his 'Folk Songs' for viola and chamber orchestra.

With my second album, "All Things Will Clear Up, Eventually", I want to encourage people to pause-to take a moment to truly feel the struggles in their lives, reflect on themselves, and engage in introspection. It's like lying on your back and gazing at the clouds, watching them appear, shift, and eventually dissolve. You begin to see shapes and patterns-new things you wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't taken the time to look a little longer. I believe that pausing and "gazing at the clouds" is essential for our mental well-being. It keeps us from fleeing into the rush of daily life and ignoring the difficult parts. Instead, it invites us to slow down and attentively observe what surfaces and moves within and around us. And I believe that pausing gives hope. These are the moments when, even in the midst of difficulty, we slowly begin to notice new possibilities and beauty-the blue sky between the clouds, the childlike images hidden in the darker ones. I believe my music can play a comforting and empowering role in this process.

Close your eyes and surrender to Hypnos, god of sleep. Zefiro Torna pours a hallucinatory elixir of dreams, solitude, secret fantasies, and soothing whispers. Baroque masters like Kapsberger, Dowland, Moulinie´, and Huygens drew inspiration from night and sleep. The enchanting voice of Lore Binon pierces the darkness, carried by Jurgen de bruyn's theorbo and lute. Lean back and drift away into... Somnia.

William Smethergell's oeuvre presents an intriguing challenge. Since little more is known of his life than his birth date and the fact that he worked as an organist at two London churches and as a violist at the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, we must form our impression of him solely through his music. That impression is certainly favorable-at least if we go by the two sets of six overtures published as Op. 2 (1778) and Op. 5 (1780): "Brilliantly scored, richly orchestrated works-ingenious, lively, and full of variety, bearing witness to Smethergell's great melodic inventiveness," was the verdict of klassik-heute on Op. 5 (CD 555 540-2), which Douglas Bostock and the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim introduced to us in 2023. The same ensemble now completes the dozen with the equally attractive Op. 2, a collection widely admired in late 18th-century London and beyond, and is now winning new friends.

When Johann Heinrich Rolle was born, Bach was 31 years old; when he died, Mozart, then in Vienna, was nearing his 30th birthday. In retrospect, it is tempting to count him among the countless "transitional" musicians who distanced themselves from the Baroque, embraced the fashionable galanteries of the time, and thus helped pave the way for the Classical era-as if they had foreseen what was to come. Rolle's career was indeed typical of his era: organist in Magdeburg, student of law, later active in Berlin-first as a legal advisor, then as a violinist and violist in the service of Frederick the Great-before returning to Magdeburg as organist, cantor, and municipal music director. In addition to a wealth of oratorios and cantatas, he produced a substantial body of instrumental music which, as this symphonic-concertante selection shows, places him firmly within the stylistic currents of his time: light-footed, elegant, spirited, and transparent-in short, so galant that the listener is delightfully engaged from start to finish.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886), though primarily known for his groundbreaking work as a pianist and composer, had an indirect but meaningful relationship with the harp. While he did not compose extensively for the instrument, he recognized it's expressive capabilities and occasionally incorporated it into his orchestral and vocal works. His appreciation for the harp's unique timbre is especially evident in pieces like the Dante Symphony and Les Preludes, where the harp adds a celestial or ethereal texture that complements his dramatic musical narratives. Liszt's circle of influence also brought him into contact with harpists of his time, and he occasionally arranged pieces that could be adapted for the harp. His transcription of Schubert's Ave Maria, for instance, has become a popular work among harpists. Though he never wrote solo harp compositions, the lyrical and arpeggiated nature of his piano writing shares similarities with harp technique, suggesting an understanding of the instrument's expressive qualities. This beautiful program presents arrangements of works by Liszt which are especially suitable for performance on the harp: Ave Maria, Schubert's Standchen, 6 Consolations, 3 Liebestraume, Angelus. The harp arrangements are by several famous harp players and composers from the end of the 19th century. Beautifully played by Anna Pasetti, one of the leading harp players of today. As a musicologist, she is the author of about 300 publications on the history of the harp and it's repertoire (including 5 monographs), but she also has numerous recordings to her credit, mostly dedicated to the unknown harp repertoire that she herself rediscovered.

Die Geigerin Natalia van der Mersch und die Pianistin Natalia Kovalzon spielen in dieser Aufnahme die drei Sonaten fur Violine und Klavier von Edvard Grieg bieten. Ihre Spielweise, brillant, dynamisch und zugleich der interpretativen Tradition verpflichtet, fuhrt dazu, die Eigenheiten und Starken dieser drei Sonaten neu zu entdecken, die sich in ihrer Sprache und in ihrer Aussagekraft sehr voneinander unterscheiden - mit Momenten lyrischer Abschweifung, aber auch mit Hohepunkten virtuoser Gestaltung, insbesondere in der dritten Sonate, einem charakteristischen Werk aus der vollen Reifezeit des Komponisten. Grieg schreibt: "Die drei Sonaten gehoren zu meinen besten Kompositionen und reprasentieren verschiedene Perioden meiner musikalischen Entwicklung: die erste ist naiv und ideenreich; die zweite ist von nationalem Schwung inspiriert; die dritte ist die mit dem weitesten Horizont."

A winner of both the Charles Ives Scholarship and Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Russell Platt is currently a Professor at Vanderbilt University. In earlier years, Platt was an editor at The New Yorker, where he won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Music Criticism in 2010. This recording presents premiere performances of Platt's music, including songs composed for Metropolitan Opera tenor, Paul Appleby.

APR's landmark issue on three CDs of Nicolas Medtner's complete solo recordings, which included fifteen 78-rpm sides of previously thought lost Columbia recordings from 1931 and an unpublished HMV recording of his Violin Sonata No 1, are here reissued as a set. Medtner was a magnificent pianist, and these are definitive performances of many of his most important compositions. We can also hear him in Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, the only music other than his own, he was to record. For this issue we have added a track - his recording of the Russian Round Dance for two pianos where he is joined by Benno Moiseiwitsch - and made some further refinements to the sound quality of the transfers.

French-Hungarian pianist Suzana Bartal joins Sebastien Rouland and the Saarlandische Staatsorchester in this release of two warhorses of the Romantic repertoire, Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor and Camille Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor. Although not successful at it's premiere with the composer at the piano, Saint-Saens' 2nd went on to be beloved by the public, and is probably the most played of his 5 concertos for piano. Very few pieces of music are as iconic as the only concerto Grieg ever completed: his famous Piano Concerto in A minor. Liszt famously sight read and lavished praise on it when it was written in 1870, and it has been a perennial favourite since then.