Under the direction of Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal presents two landmark works created for Sergei Diaghilev's legendary Ballets Russes: Maurice Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe and Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. This prestigious company played a decisive role in shaping the image of an artistic modernity that challenged established norms in the early decades of the 20th century, with these two works leaving a lasting mark on the history of ballet and music. Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe, described by the composer as a 'choreographic symphony', is a vast musical fresco built on a refined orchestral palette, subtle harmonic writing, and a sophisticated blending of instrumental colours. Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, with it's innovative rhythmic language, harmonic construction, and powerful evocation of ancient rituals, became a landmark work of the 20th century. Together, these scores reflect the extraordinary creative energy surrounding the Ballets Russes and the composers who transformed the musical landscape of their time. This release extends the exclusive recording partnership between the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal with Rafael Payare and PENTATONE, including Mahler's Symphony No. 5 (2023), Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with Sonya Yoncheva and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (2024), Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande and Verklarte Nacht (2024), and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and Le carnaval romain (2025).

The latest musica viva CD presents three contemporary works for double-bass, performed by the renowned double-bassist Frank Reinecke (born 1960), who was a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1984 to 2024 and is in great demand at international festivals as a soloist and chamber musician. Working closely with renowned composers, Reinecke has premiered numerous works, including Flucht ('Flight/Escape') by Nikolaus Brass (2009) and iv 18 by Mark Andre (2021), both of which can be heard here in recent recordings. Born in Paris in 1964, the composer Mark Andre creates existential spaces of experience in his music that are characterised by subtle processes of change. At the heart of his thinking lies the question of disappearance, which relates to all musical parameters. Above all in his chamber music, which is as delicate as it is focused, the devout Protestant proves himself to be a sensitive explorer of sound. His solo work for double-bass iv 18 ('For they were afraid'), commissioned between 2018 and 2021 by musica viva of Bayerischer Rundfunk and the Berliner Festspiele / Musikfest Berlin, was premiered by Frank Reinecke at the Musikfest Berlin in 2021. This recording of the work was made between November 7 and 9, 2023 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. Nikolaus Brass regards the three movements he composed for solo double-bass in 2009 under the title Flucht ('Flight/Escape') as studies or etudes for the instrument. The first movement highlights various 'gestures of the line', which in the third movement are narrowed down to a single gesture, that of the glissando. In the central movement, the core of the instrument is brought to the fore. The title Flucht can be interpreted musically in several dimensions. Frank Reinecke gave the work it's world premiere in Hamburg in June 2013. This recording was made on June 20 and 21, 2012 at the Himmelfahrtskirche in Munich-Sendling. Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) composed the first version of In Freundschaft ('In Friendship') in 1977 as a birthday present for the clarinettist Suzanne Stephens, and also wrote a version of it for the flute at the same time. In 1978, he revised the work and, on that occasion, wrote versions for the oboe, trumpet, violin and viola. Further versions followed for the basset horn and almost all other orchestral instruments. A first version for cello, prepared in 1981, can also be played on the double-bass. This live recording of Frank Reinecke's performance was made during a musica viva concert on November 6, 2020 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. ? Impressive performances of three original contemporary compositions for solo double-bass by renowned double-bass player Frank Reinecke: Mark Andre (born 1964): iv 18 ('For they were afraid') (2022/23) Nikolaus Brass (born 1949): Flucht (2009) Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007): In Freundschaft (version for double-bass; 1977/2008) ? Andre and Brass wrote their respective compositions for Frank Reinecke (born 1960), who performed the world premieres, and dedicated them to him. In 1998, Stockhausen also dedicated a double-bass version of his work to Reinecke ? Three exciting contemporary pieces for the 'wonderful instrument' (Nikolaus Brass, 2025), performed by a world premiere performer

Finnish-Dutch cellist Jonathan Roozeman presents a programme featuring contemporary works for cello by Finnish composers. For some of the pieces, he is accompanied by pianist and composer Johannes Piirto. Centered around a sonata by music veteran Kalevi Aho, the program's six works reflect the diversity of contemporary Finnish music, all having been composed within the last fifteen years. Sauli Zinovjev's 'Sustained' appears as a ghostly, discordant, fragmented reflection of music from the Romantic period. Cecilia Damstrom's 'Aveo' was composed for people who suffer from long COVID and who have had to bid farewell to their normal lives. 'Recitativo' by Sebastian Fagerlund, a commission from a cello competition, challenges not only the cellists' mastery of their instrument but also their interpretative abilities. 'Sanasi, kiveen uponneet' by Outi Tarkiainen, a composer who brings to her music the perspective of someone born in the north, in Finnish Lapland, features powerful soundscapes inspired by natural phenomena as well as human themes touching on the deepest emotions of mankind. The programme concludes with 'We Lie Down Only to Get Up Again' by Lauri Porra, a composer who exemplifies the multifaceted nature of contemporary Finnish music. This work evokes the atmosphere of a summer morning with warmth, perhaps even with a touch of longing.

Active as a composer since the mid-1960s, Daniel Bortz is widely regarded today as one of the most important composers in Swedish musical history. His music has always been characterised by it's simplicity and precision, which highlight the power of his emotionally charged messages. The three works presented here share a common thread of a personal kind: the collaboration with violinist and violist Malin Broman. She has been a direct source of inspiration for all three works; First as a member of the Kungsbacka Piano Trio, later as artistic director of the string orchestra Musica Vitae, and finally as soloist in Double Concerto for One. In her various roles, she has functioned both as an interpreter and a catalyst. About Double Concerto for One, Broman said: 'An incredibly beautiful and dramatic work. Daniel's music is close to song; it feels as though you are singing when you play.' The concerto is followed by Sinfonia 14, written for string orchestra alone. This large-scale, emotionally intense work features volcanic outbursts alongside moments of stillness. The Piano Trio concludes the program with a powerful, driving opening, a deeply emotional slow middle movement, and a finale of irresistible energy.

Kraig Grady, an American based in Australia, is a microtonal composer. He explains it thus: 'Alternative tunings are a major inspiration for my compositional explorations. The pivotal point for me was meeting with tuning theorist Ervin Wilson and witnessing Harry Partch's U.S. Highball in 1975. I was convinced that working with different instruments and tunings was going to be a major artistic movement. I began studying tuning with Wilson which continued for as long as we knew each other. I'm interested in using acoustic instruments as sound sources to explore new acoustic phenomena that cannot be mistaken for electronic manipulation.' The starting point for the works on this CD was to record each performer playing individual notes in the given microtonal tuning with extreme pitch accuracy. The recordings are edited to capture the personal expressivity of the players and the individuality of their gestures in the recordings become inseparable from the composition process. These recordings of individual notes are then weaved together to form melodic lines and combined to build harmonies and shifting textures. Liner notes by Grady with illustrated samples.

Sebastian Fagerlund is among Finland's most celebrated contemporary composers, crafting works of vivid narrative and emotional depth across orchestral, operatic, and chamber genres. This recording features four works for various instrumental combinations that demonstrate Fagerlund's skill in linking his compositions through strong spiritual and stylistic connections. Beneath for string orchestra occupies a space between concerto and ensemble piece. The solo violin-a "first among equals"-emerges from and merges with the orchestra, tracing a journey from rising chord sequences through energetic passages to quiet resolution. Remain, a piano trio completed the day Russia invaded Ukraine, weaves quotations from Ravel, Bach, and Brahms into three emotionally charged movements, dedicated to the people of Ukraine. Materie, a solo violin work written for the Kuopio Violin Competition, balances technical brilliance with expressive nuance, unfolding in two powerful waves between contemplation and intensity. Finale Stilla for violin and piano moves from introspective exploration through energetic climaxes to a hauntingly quiet, mysterious conclusion. Intertwined with all four works is violinist and conductor Malin Broman, who appears both as a soloist and part of the Kungsbacka Piano Trio, while also conducting the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra.

Composer, flautist, and producer Allison Loggins-Hull's genre-defying style is vibrantly brought to life on Patchwork, an album of six new chamber works celebrating the culmination of her three seasons as a Composing Fellow with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Michael Finnissy's output for the guitar spans almost 60 years of his career and represents an enormous contribution to the repertoire of the instrument from one of Britain's most significant composers. Published a few days before Finnissy's 80th birthday, this bold and ambitious album celebrates this milestone by bringing together all of his works for solo guitar and guitar ensemble for the first time, in performances by Finnissy's collaborators and led by new music virtuoso and tireless guitar explorer Sam Cave.

On Italian Perspectives, the Bamberger Symphoniker and Riccardo Frizza trace the revival and evolution of Italian instrumental music. Giuseppe Martucci's Symphony No. 1 in D minor, completed in 1895, illuminates the Italian symphonic tradition often overshadowed by opera, blending Brahmsian rigor with striking, passionate outbursts. Respighi's Trittico Botticelliano brings Renaissance paintings to life with luminous chamber orchestration, while his masterful orchestrations of Rachmaninoff's *5 Études-Tableaux* reveal a rare synthesis of Italian colour and Russian narrative depth. From desolate seascapes and dramatic funeral marches to the playful, suspenseful tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Respighi transforms piano works into vivid orchestral landscapes, preserving every nuance of Rachmaninoff's originals. Riccardo Frizza, featured on PENTATONE in The Three Queens and Signor Gaetano (2022), leads the Bamberger Symphoniker in their PENTATONE debut, bringing these works to life with precision, colour, and expressive intensity.

Quatuor Diotima presents Lachenmann: String Quartets, a powerful testament to their 25-year collaboration with visionary composer Helmut Lachenmann. Known for pioneering "instrumental musique concrete," Lachenmann redefined the sonic possibilities of the string quartet. Their first meeting in 1998, originally just a one-week workshop, sparked a deep artistic bond and a shared fascination with his radical approach to sound and listening. This album is the result of hundreds of hours spent in rehearsal, performance, and conversation - a tribute to a composer who has become a central figure in contemporary music. Lachenmann: String Quartets captures not only the evolution of a musical language, but also the story of a transformative and enduring partnership. The quartet returns to PENTATONE following their acclaimed releases Metamorphosis Ligeti (2023), Bruckner & Klose: String Quartets (2024), and Boulez: Livre pour Quatuor (2025).

Following his acclaimed recording of Kurt Weill's symphonies 1 and 2 and excerpts from The Silver Lake (BIS-2579), HK Gruber and his congenial partner, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, present three more works by the famous musical theatre composer, this time featuring sopranos Wallis Giunta and Jennifer France and violinists Katerina Andresson and Benjamin Herzl. This release opens with the ballet-chante satire The Seven Deadly Sins, a scathing critique of capitalist society that highlights the perpetual struggle between money and morality. Anna, a young girl, is sent away from her family with the mission of bringing back enough money to build a house on the Mississippi. The cantata The New Orpheus, which blends the very different styles of aria and song, tells the sad story of the singer who sets out to conquer the dreary walls of modern cities to save Eurydice, and with her, all of humanity. Finally, the Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, a central work from Weill's early creative period, displays a theatricality that heralds the stage works to come. An exciting programme showcasing Weill's inimitable language of mixing the sophisticated and the popular, the melodic and the dissonant, the complex and the streetwise.

Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (c.1561-1613) was a Renaissance composer known for both his groundbreaking music and the infamous murder of his wife and her lover. While historical records about his personality are limited and contradictory, his music-especially his 104 madrigals-is notable for it's bold harmonic experimentation, centuries ahead of it's time. Composer Peter Navarro-Alonso, long fascinated by Gesualdo, created the hour-long piece In flagrante delicto in collaboration with violinist Christina Åstrand and conductor Paul Hillier. The composition explores the darkness of Gesualdo's psyche through musical quotations and has been performed and recorded by Ensemble Stralo and Theatre of Voices. Peter Navarro-Alonso is a composer focused on drama, sound, and the human mind, known for exploring timbre and the concept of hope. He has written vocal, chamber, orchestral, and electroacoustic works, and received Denmark's top music honor in 2023. Paul Hillier is a renowned singer, conductor, composer, and writer, known for founding the Hilliard Ensemble and Theatre of Voices. With nearly 200 acclaimed recordings, multiple awards, and honors from both the British and Danish monarchs, he has led major chamber choirs across Europe and is especially noted for his collaborations with composers Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich. Ensemble Stralo, founded in 2016 by four Danish soloists and chamber musicians, combines strings, winds, and keyboard to create a unique and flexible sound. They perform music from the Renaissance to contemporary works, offering distinctive and engaging concert experiences. Recorded November 16-18, 2024, in Garnisonskirken, Copenhagen, by producer Preben Iwan in HD audio format (96 kHz / 32-bit). Available in Dolby Atmos format.

Sarah Saviet and Joseph Houston formed their duo in 2019 through a mutual devotion to an intimate, powerful, and transcendental sound language created by the violin and piano. In this album, the Saviet/Houston Duo trace a path through a shifting landscape of melodic contour, with duos by Michael Finnissy, Enno Poppe/Rebecca Saunders, Lawrence Dunn, Iannis Xenakis, and their own collaborative composition. Each work reflects in different ways the intricate contradictions and the powerful complexity of contemporary life.

Helmut Lachenmann, who celebrates his 90th birthday in the music year of 2025, has composed several milestones in contemporary classical music. Sir Simon Rattle and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra are dedicating themselves to some of these exceptional works. In his tuba concerto Harmonica, Helmut Lachenmann explores the limits of sound - with music that oscillates between eruption and silence, by means of "strictly constructed denial" (Lachenmann) and by deliberately disrupting the familiar, and eludes socially preformed listening expectations. This appeal to the audience's self-awareness remains as relevant as ever. The soloist is Stefan Tischler, principal tuba player of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the live recording with the BRSO conducted by Sir Simon Rattle was made on March 22, 2025. Klangschatten - mein Saitenspiel by Helmut Lachenmann deals with the "verso" of sound, it's suppressed and "unwelcome" components. The spectrum here ranges from toneless or muffled sounds to differently coloured noise and clear tones. Lachenmann himself described the piece as " an offer of expressive intensity that reflects the bourgeois longing for beauty and seeks to fulfil it, that is, to overcome it." The work was performed by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Matthias Herrmann on May 23, 2025 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. Helmut Lachenmann, born in Stuttgart in 1935, is one of the most renowned German composers of contemporary music. He studied piano, music theory and counterpoint in Stuttgart and composition with Luigi Nono in Venice. The first public performances of his works took place in 1962 at the Venice Biennale and at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. He taught composition in Hanover (1976-1981) and in Stuttgart (1981-1999), and has given numerous master classes in Germany and abroad. His works are performed by internationally renowned players and orchestras all over the world. Helmut Lachenmann has received numerous awards, including the German Music Authors' Prize of GEMA (2015) for his lifetime achievements and, most recently, for his compositional work, the 'President of the French Republic Prize' from the Academie Charles Cros (2025).

Violist Jonathan Bagg unearths three overlooked gems of the mid-20th century chamber repertoire by Marion Bauer, Ulysees Kay, and Margaret Bonds. Joined by pianists Emely Phelps and Mimi Solomon, Bagg sheds light on well deserving repertoire by three composers whose contributions to the larger musical field went far beyond their fine music.

Throughout history, the open landscapes and mythical cultures of the Nordic countries have triggered the imagination of artists. Finnish horn player Markus Maskuniitty and pianist Martin Sturfalt perform works which, although separated in time by more than a century, all draw their inspiration from from these areas of interest. The compositions gathered here approach these Nordic themes from different angles, blending traditional folk influences with contemporary classical techniques whilst exploring the horn's lyrical and dramatic capabilities and it's rich sound palette. Recent compositions by Piers Hellawell, Tryggvi M. Baldvinsson, Albert Schnelzer and Benjamin Staern are mixed with older works by Carl Nielsen, Hugo Alfven and Julius Rontgen, including the latter's Aus Jotunheim, a suite characterized by an irresistible Norwegian flavour throughout it's five movements, quoting everything from cattle calls to lullabies with plenty of rustic folk dancing in between. This imaginative program designed by Maskuniity and Sturfalt puts a spotlight on the unique character of the Nordic musical identity.

Mystics & Cynics is a mesmerizing journey through the sacred and the subversive, the ecstatic and the irreverent. Featuring the world premiere of Taumelnd von Glut (Reeling in the Light)-a stunning new song cycle by composer Boris Bergmann, setting the passionate poetry of Otto Braun to music for the first time. Braun's youthful idealism and later disillusionment echo through Bergmann's evocative score, creating a deeply moving meditation on love, war, and loss. This striking new work is woven into a tapestry of mystical and iconoclastic masterpieces: the luminous chant of Hildegard von Bingen, the playful defiance of Erik Satie, and the radical vision of John Cage. Mystics & Cynics invites listeners on a journey through war-torn poetry, cabaret whimsy, and transcendental meditation-where every note is both a question and an answer. An essential release for adventurous ears.

Hakan Hardenberger and Roland Pontinen have enjoyed a fruitful artistic relationship for over forty years. They have played, toured and recorded together and have devoted much time and energy to repertoire ideas. 'For us to create a new programme is an exciting, stimulating and fun process', says Pontinen. 'A process that often mirrors our mutual interest in jazz, film and other art forms. The idea of juxtaposing works of contrasting characters, or composed centuries apart, can often shed new light on the music itself.' We are treated here to recently composed works, arrangements, favourites of both musicians and standards from the Great American Songbook. The centrepiece of the programme is Three Autumns by Staffan Storm, atmospherically connected to Anna Akhmatova's poetry, a reflection on elegiac autumn moods. Among contemporary composers, Mark-Anthony Turnage and HK Gruber, who have provided Hardenberger with more works than any other composers, are also represented. Roland Pontinen contributes two pieces, one of them a meditative work inspired by the simplicity and mood of Thomas Newman's masterful film scores. Legende by George Enescu reflects the impressionistic style of the composer's teachers. The recital is also interspersed with shorter pieces, arrangements and reinterpretations of classic American songs, and includes legendary jazzman Ornette Coleman's Chanting, a favourite encore in Hardenberger/Pontinen programmes - always improvised, every time different.

From the outset, Sir Simon Rattle's conducting career has been marked by a spirit of innovation and renewal - and contemporary music in all it's facets continues to play a significant role in his work. So it was only natural that, upon taking up his post as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, he should dedicate a concert to musica viva. The programme featured the world premiere of Vito Žuraj's "Automatones" as well as Luciano Berio's "Coro". Sir Simon Rattle has conducted the latter piece several times before, but this performance marks the first recording under his baton. This is due to the unique demands that the composition places on recording technology: choir singers and orchestra musicians are positioned in pairs on the podium to overcome the visual and acoustic separation of choir and orchestra voices. This presented a particular challenge to the Bavarian Radio recording team, but they rose to it successfully, as can be heard on the new CD from BR-KLASSIK. Composed between 1975 and 1976, Luciano Berio's "Coro", for forty voices and orchestra, takes anonymous folk poems by the Sioux, the Navajo and the Zuni, as well as song texts from Polynesia, Peru, Croatia, Venice, Piedmont, Chile, and the Song of Solomon - all of them reflecting the deeply human urge for freedom - and combines them with the moving poetry of Pablo Neruda, whose death coincided with the bloody suppression of the Allende democracy in Chile by Augusto Pinochet in September 1973.

The works of violinist and composer Nicolaus Richter de Vroe (*1955) have been and are regularly performed by the most renowned organisers and festivals of new music. The musician began his training at the Special School for Music in Dresden, now known as the Sachsisches Landesgymnasium fur Musik Carl Maria von Weber. After studying the violin at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, he performed with various chamber music, improvisation, and experimental ensembles. In 1980, he joined the Staatskapelle Berlin and completed his composition studies with Friedrich Goldmann and Georg Katzer at the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic. In 1982, he founded the Ensemble for New Music Berlin (East), which quickly became an important platform for contemporary music in the GDR. From the mid-1980s onwards, Richter de Vroe performed his own works and appeared as a performer at all ARD radio stations, as well as at international festivals. In 1988 he joined the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and, one year later, founded the XSEMBLE Munich - an ensemble characterised by experimental programming and stylistic openness. In 1996, he co-founded the Munich Society for New Music, dedicated to promoting contemporary music. Alongside his work as a composer and performer, Richter de Vroe has been a regular guest at Goethe Institutes worldwide since 1994, delivering lectures and giving portrait concerts and presentations of his work. In 2008 he was admitted to the Saxon Academy of Arts. Richter de Vroe's composition TETRA?b IV for four soloists and orchestra was commissioned by musica viva of Bayerischer Rundfunk in 2002. The world premiere, which is recorded on this CD, features Isao Nakamura (percussion), Irvine Arditti, Mike Svoboda (trombone), Isabeella Beumer (voice) and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Rundel, and took place on November 15, 2002 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. - Although the large orchestra is joined by four soloists, the work is not a concerto or concerto grosso. The solo parts are so distinct that it would be challenging to have them compete in a concert setting. They also appear successively, each characterising a longer section of the work with their own style, and they can only be heard performing together towards the end. The vocalist's solo is based on a poem by the experimental Russian poet Daniil Kharms. Richter de Vroe's artistic affinity with Kharms' thinking is expressed in the title TETRA?b IV - the Russian word "Tetra", in which only the last letter is written in Cyrillic, means "notebook" - as well as in the composer's experimental approach to the text. Shibuya Movements for orchestra was also commissioned by musica viva of Bayerischer Rundfunk in 1991/92. This CD features a recording of the world premiere on May 15, 1992 by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Cristobal Halffter, performed in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. Euforia for orchestra was composed in 2009, and it's world premiere on October 31, 2009 by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons also took place in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz.

The works of violinist and composer Nicolaus Richter de Vroe (*1955) have been and are regularly performed by the most renowned organisers and festivals of new music. The musician began his training at the Special School for Music in Dresden, now known as the Sachsisches Landesgymnasium fur Musik Carl Maria von Weber. After studying the violin at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, he performed with various chamber music, improvisation and experimental ensembles. In 1980, he joined the Staatskapelle Berlin and completed his composition studies with Friedrich Goldmann and Georg Katzer at the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic. In 1982, he founded the Ensemble for New Music Berlin (East), which quickly became an important platform for contemporary music in the GDR. From the mid-1980s onwards, Richter de Vroe performed his own works and appeared as a performer at all ARD radio stations, as well as at international festivals. In 1988 he joined the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and, one year later, founded the XSEMBLE Munich - an ensemble characterised by experimental programming and stylistic openness. In 1996, he co-founded the Munich Society for New Music, dedicated to promoting contemporary music. Alongside his work as a composer and performer, Richter de Vroe has been a regular guest at Goethe Institutes worldwide since 1994, delivering lectures and giving portrait concerts and presentations of his work. In 2008 he was admitted to the Saxon Academy of Arts. Richter de Vroe's Violin Concerto was composed between 2018 and 2020 as a commission from musica viva of Bayerischer Rundfunk, kindly supported by the Friends of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The world premiere, recorded on this CD, was performed by Ilya Gringolts and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Johannes Kalitzke on October 28, 2022 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. - The initial inspiration for Richter de Vroe's Violin Concerto came from Ilya Gringolts' interpretation of Gyorgy Ligeti's Violin Concerto. The concerto begins with an introduction, followed by a first cadenza accompanied by individual instruments in a drone-like manner. This is followed by the first nocturne, which features sounds reminiscent of natural lutes. In the so-called 'Main Movement', "things get pretty crazy! There's a real frenzy with lots of momentum and variety, not to mention a lot of - how shall I put it - 'nasty surprises'!" (Richter de Vroe) Avenir for organ, choir and orchestra was also commissioned by musica viva of Bayerischer Rundfunk in 2013/14. This CD features the recording of the world premiere on June 6, 2014, performed by Wolfgang Mitterer on the organ and accompanied by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Johannes Kalitzke.

While the three composers featured on this recording are not, in the public perception and sometimes even in that of the performers, among the most significant exponents of Viennese music in the first half of the twentieth century, their remarkably expressive and virtuoso writing is deeply rooted in fin-de-siècle Vienna. They were banned by the dictatorships of the 1930s and then blacklisted in the aftermath of the Second World War by the young European avant-garde, and it is only in recent years that the beauty and opulence of their works have been rediscovered. Vienna-born conductor Sascha Goetzel writes about the works performed here with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire: 'With Korngold, Schreker and Krenek, we're not just hearing music - we're entering a dialogue between past and present, tradition and rebellion, myth and modernity [...] Korngold embodies the emotional sincerity and creative ambition of the late Romantic tradition. Schreker immerses us in the subconscious - mythical, unstable, and rich in feeling. Krenek breaks through the facade, injecting irony, jazz and fragmentation into the orchestral form [...] In their own ways, each composer pushes back against inherited conventions to discover new languages of sound.'

Three major works for piano and orchestra by English composers, all eschewing the traditional nineteenth- century model of a bravura virtuoso soloist pitted against an orchestra, in distinctive ways. Together with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under George Vass, Clare Hammond presents an original programme that provides a unique perspective on how the piano concerto reflected musical currents in mid-twentieth-century Britain. William Walton's Sinfonia Concertante for Orchestra with Piano Obbligato began as a ballet score. After it was rejected by Sergei Diaghilev, Walton arranged his score into a leaner, more direct and more effective work that reveals the influences of Stravinsky, Poulenc, Rimsky- Korsakov, Borodin and, at times, Elgar. Benjamin Britten's Diversions was commissioned by the left-hand pianist Paul Wittgenstein. Enthusiastic about the challenge of writing for the left hand, Britten devised a work in variation form; he did not seek to conceal the soloist's one-handedness, but revelled in it while still retaining emotion and grandeur. Michael Tippett's Piano Concerto completes the programme. Inspired by a performance of Beethoven's Fourth Concerto, Tippett was convinced that a contemporary concerto could be written, 'in which the piano is used once again for it's poetic capabilities'. In his work, the orchestra does not merely accompany; the principal players shine when they get their opportunity for solos or close dialogue with the soloist.

The three works on this recording bear witness to the changes that took place at the dawn of musical modernism. The reappraisal and reinterpretation of traditional musical genres and innovations led to new ways of organising and addressing the harmonic, melodic, timbral and rhythmic elements of music. Polish composer Karol Szymanowski developed a highly personal musical language that prioritises tone colour, an approach that is perfectly suited to the triptych Mythes, inspired by legends from ancient Greece. Here he developed a new mode of expression, a fusion of the violin and the piano into a single entity with the use of extended violin techniques. The Hungarian Bela Bartok assimilated Szymanowski's contribution and composed his two sonatas for violin and piano in quick succession at the beginning of the 1920s. These two works, as daring as they are demanding, skilfully blend the influence of contemporary composers such as Debussy and Schoenberg with elements of Central European folklore. Frank Peter Zimmermann, whose recent recording dedicated to Bartok's two Rhapsodies and Stravinsky's Violin Concerto (BIS-2657) has received international critical acclaim, performs these landmark works with pianist Dmytro Choni, his regular partner since 2023.

Pianist Nicolas Stavy, who has already made recordings devoted to works by Boris Tishchenko (BIS-2189) and Dmitri Shostakovich (BIS-2550), now presents the first instalment of a complete survey of Alfred Schnittke's compositions for solo piano. This recording presents works from various periods of the Russian-German composer's career - from the 1950s, which the composer described as the 'years of obscurity', to the 1990s, a time shaped both by world fame and serious illness. While Schnittke wrote relatively little music for the piano, each work reflects - or sometimes anticipates - the phases of the composer's creative development. The Five Preludes and Fugue and the Prelude and Fugue belong to Schnittke's first creative phase, when he was still under the influence of Shostakovich. The Little Piano Pieces, composed for the composer's six-year-old son, are an example of his 'polystylism', juxtaposing and combining music of various styles from the past and present. The Sonata No. 2 and the Five Aphorisms, both from 1990, return to a more ascetic and abstract language, with a bleaker tone, no doubt echoing his serious health problems.

Three works by three women composers from three different countries, each piece with it's own original idiom, are performed here by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra under the direction of it's dynamic conductor and artistic director Malin Broman. Three works that assuredly deserve a wider audience! The Sea Sketches by Welsh composer Grace Williams open the programme. Inspired by the beaches of Glamorganshire and by it's seascape, this five-movement work seems in constant motion and evolution. One can practically taste the salt spray and feel the power of the waves. The second work is Grazyna Bacewicz's Fourth String Quartet, played here in an arrangement for string orchestra. Bacewicz was an important figure on the Polish music scene in the mid-20th century, and her quartet is an approachable work - something that has undoubtedly contributed to making it her best-known composition - with influences of folk music and passages which, according to Malin Broman, can only be described as heavenly. Vienna-born Johanna Muller-Hermann's String Quartet, also in an arrangement for string orchestra, concludes the programme. Exciting, beautiful and powerful, this work with it's post-romantic language is a testimony to the golden age of Vienna, when the music of Mahler, Strauss and her teacher Zemlinsky reigned supreme.

Sueye Park is no stranger to solo violin recitals. After her recording of the Paganini Caprices (BIS-2282) and a recital entitled Journey through a Century (BIS-2492), both critically acclaimed, she brings us another solo project, Echoes of Exile, an undertaking that finds it's raison d'être in today's very turbulent times. Park offers us different perspectives on the topic of exile with works composed between the 1920s and 1950s, by great composers who left their country as a result of political circumstances as well as by others who went into their own inner exile. Two pieces by composers who left their native lands for artistic reasons, Enescu and Ysaye, frame three substantial and very contrasting works by composers forced into exile, either because their existence was threatened or because of a feeling of alienation within their respective countries. The works of Bartok and Ben-Haim show composers who, in their longing for their homelands, succeeded not only in emphasising the value of their culture even more strongly, but also in anchoring it within the environment into which they had entered. Zimmermann's sonata, with it's unique expressive language, evokes the concerns of a young composer in the devastated Germany of the post-war period.

On Darknesse Visible, Inon Barnatan brings together French and British composers with works by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy Thomas Ades and Ronald Stevenson. The album title is derived from Ades's piece of the same name and conveys some of the aspects that Barnatan finds most fascinating about the music on this album: all the pieces are inspired by stories or poems, and in all of them dark and light are intertwined. Ades and Stevenson both take their inspiration from existing pieces, by Dowland and Britten respectively. Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit and La Valse showcase the evocative power and colour of his music, while Debussy's Suite Bergamasque contains the world-famous Clair de lune.

The internationally renowned pianist Yulianna Avdeeva presents Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, one of the most important works in the piano repertoire. This monumental cycle harks back to Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier and is considered one of the most demanding works for piano ever written. Avdeeva joins an elite group of pianists who have undertaken the challenge of performing the complete opus, which is rarely heard in it's entirety. To complement this iconic work, Avdeeva also presents the completion of an alternative Prelude and Fugue in C-Sharp Minor, discovered by leading Shostakovich expert Olga Digonskaya and completed by composer and Shostakovich biographer Krzysztof Meyer. Shostakovich sketched an initial prelude in C-Sharp Minor in 1950, but then decided to compose a new prelude-fugue pair in this key, which eventually found it's way into Opus 87. The sketch of the original prelude was found in the Shostakovich archive in Moscow in 2005; Krzysztof Meyer completed the fragment in 2019 and added his own fugue "in the style of Shostakovich". This discovery adds a new and exciting dimension to the cycle and will be an important part of the story behind the album.

Musica viva KALITZKE AND FERRARI Johannes Kalitzke: Zeitkapsel - Totentanz fur großes Orchester ("Time Capsule - Dance of Death for large orchestra") Luc Ferrari: Histoire du Plaisir et de la Desolation ("A Story of Pleasure and Desolation") On November 10, 2023, Johannes Kalitzke presented himself in a double role as conductor and composer ("the one makes you want the other") in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz with the world premiere of his Zeitkapsel - Totentanz for large orchestra ("Time Capsule - Dance of Death for large orchestra"), commissioned by musica viva, as well as with Luc Ferrari's Histoire du Plaisir et de la Desolation, a sonic search for "new sensuality". - Both compositions can be experienced in this CD live recording of the musica viva concert. Johannes Kalitzke (born 1959) is a renowned German conductor and composer. Zeitkapsel - Totentanz for large orchestra was commissioned by Bavarian Radio's musica viva in 2022-2023. The world premiere documented on this CD took place on November 10, 2023 in Munich. Sebastian Schottke was responsible for the sound direction. Representing time capsules in the material sense, the orchestral piece contains musical artifacts from different times and cultures that were rediscovered at a later date and that characterise the sonic context of the piece, above all the first ever acoustic recording in history: a recording of sound waves on wax paper from 1860. Fragments of it can be heard at the end of the piece, like a revelation. Histoire du Plaisir et de la Desolation for orchestra by Luc Ferrari (1929-2005) was written in 1979-1981 as a Radio France commission for the Orchestre National de France, and was premiered in Paris in 1982 by that orchestra under the direction of Michael Luig. Orchestral music is not necessarily what one associates with the name Luc Ferrari. The composer, who died young, became known primarily as an exponent of musique concrete, opening up new creative paths in his use of tape technology. His sonic quest leads from the promising opening movement Harmonie du diable to the double-edged nature of pleasure (Plaisir-Desir), only to fail brilliantly with the "rupture of all logic" in the final Ronde de la desolation. ? Johannes Kalitzke conducts the world premiere of his orchestral piece Zeitkapsel - Totentanz for large orchestra; live recording from the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz as part of Bavarian Radio's musica viva concert series ? He also conducts the impressive and rarely performed orchestral piece Histoire du Plaisir et de la Desolation by the French composer and sound artist Luc Ferrari ? The conductor and composer Kalitzke conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Johannes Kalitzke, conductor