The main purpose of this edition is to assist those "desirous of learning" with some suggestions and information that might be helpful in the process of learning, understanding and performing the works of Bach. These suggestions should not be taken as a "must" to follow, but are simply meant to assist in the comprehension and practical execution of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) and to encourage further exploration. This Edition is available in 2 Books, or as 48 separate 'Preludes and Fugues' scores.

In Dmitry Sitkovetsky's transcription, Bach's Goldberg Variations are revealed in a new light: a refined dialogue between violin, viola and cello, where each voice breathes and listens to the others. TrioFenix delivers a strikingly clear interpretation, combining architectural rigour, expressive freedom, and sonic poetry. Backed by nearly twenty years of musical complicity, these three chamber musicians breathe new life into one of the masterpieces of the Baroque repertoire, in a version that is as vibrant as it is intimate.

Five significant 20th-century compositions for violin and cello. Works by Xenakis, Ravel and Honegger reflect the composers' French roots, while a diverse, forward-looking harmonic language contrasts with such traditional forms as the sonata and passacaglia, the latter in Norwegian Johan Halvorsen's Passacaglia for Violin and Cello after Georg Friedrich Handel; Austro-Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff's Duo for Violin and Cello completes the programme. Manuel Lipstein has already released his first solo album, Roots, on OehmsClassics.

Following her highly praised debut album, Yasmin Rowe returns to Willowhayne Records for an engaging and delightful programme, in which she returned to Holy Trinity Church, Hereford for this recording. Now resident in Melbourne, Australia, Yasmin has gained critical acclaim as a soloist, collaborator and recording artist in Europe, Asia and Australia. As well as her concert hall recitals, she has given many free-to-air concerts As well as her concert hall recitals, she gives many live-to-air performances, appearing as a frequent guest on Melbourne-based 3MBS Radio since 2019.

Embark on a captivating journey bridging time and soundscapes with Lithuanian pianist Guoda Gedvilaite's latest GENUIN album. Featuring works by Johann Sebastian Bach at it's core, this recording interlaces Bach's original compositions, his arrangements of other Baroque pieces, and romantic piano works by famous pianists such as Wilhelm Kempff and Egon Petri. The meticulously curated album is elevated by the ethereal works of Domenico Scarlatti, a contemporary of Bach, played with brilliance and profound depth, culminating in a masterful blend of artistry.

The debut album by the young Trio Contrasti takes us on a journey through time with a mosaic of sounds in which epochs and cultures enter into dialogue. Romanticism gave the art world a new paradigm of thought. Music took the leading position among the arts; the freedom of formal design, initiated by the content, unfolded. The quest for national self-identification and the rapid development of national styles in art began. Romanticism opened the way for a dialogue between epochs and cultures that continued into the 20th century. Three works that have no direct connection to each other are nevertheless in a common context. When viewed through the prism of a romantic paradigm, they can be seen as milestones on the path through epochs and cultures.

The Cenci (1951–52) is Havergal Brian’s operatic realisation of Shelley’s gruesome tale of incest and parricide in Renaissance Italy. The score calls it simply an ‘Opera in Eight Scenes’, but it rarely goes in for grand tunes; instead, its dark colours reflect Shelley’s fascination with the struggle between good and evil. Stylistically, it is an unusual but highly effective hybrid: a music-drama focused on the intense delivery of Shelley’s text, with the declamatory style of the vocal lines echoing such recent oratorios as Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher, and the freewheeling orchestral writing producing something of a vocal symphony.

Skillfully crafted, meticulously executed and utterly enjoyable, Giulia Nuti's solo recordings include three anthologies of keyboard music, the last two released with Arcana. These albums feature historically significant instruments carefully chosen by the artist to enhance the repertoire with which they are associated: Le Cœur et l’Oreille (2017), recorded on the 1658 Louis Denis harpsichord and, more recently, The Fall of the Leaf (2022), featuring the splendid Italian “Rucellai” virginal built around 1575.

Her albums have been met with critical acclaim and awards, such as the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (German Record Critics’ Award) and the “Diapason d’or”.

For her fourth solo recital album, Giulia Nuti explores a different path, performing one of the pinnacles of keyboard literature, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Partitas. In this recording, she uses a splendid harpsichord by Christian Kuhlmann (2016), a copy of the magnificent Henri Hemsch of 1751.

Sony Classical releases the full cycle of Bruckner’s symphonies recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann on 11 CDs. The box set, featuring the composer’s nine numbered symphonies, his ‘Study Symphony’, his ‘Nullified’ symphony, and a 172-page booklet. This release constitutes the first complete recording of the Austrian composer’s symphonies from the orchestra under a single conductor. Christian Thielemann enjoys a strong rapport with the Vienna Philharmonic and has established himself as one of his generation’s most esteemed interpreters of the Romantic Austro-German repertoire.

Past praise for previously released CDs included in this set:

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 / Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic

This new Bruckner Fourth deserves a strong recommendation. It is a reading of undeniable power and presence.

-- Fanfare

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 / Thielemann, Vienna Ohilharmonic

Overall, there’s an aliveness to the music, inspired by the concert setting, which adds another reason this Bruckner Eighth is so satisfying. If you want to hear Thielemann at his best, conducting a stupendous orchestra, that’s precisely what we have here.

-- Fanfare

Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 . Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic

Thielemann's interpretation has intimacies hard to find in other versions, and a vulnerability movingly communicated in the Vienna Philharmonic’s super-empathetic playing.

-- BBC Magazine

This final release of Capriccios Bruckner Symphonies - The Complete Versions Edition includes his very first and last Symphony. In March 1861, Anton Bruckner completed his counterpoint studies with the renowned teacher Simon Sechter who had also taught Schubert. His graduation signaled the end of an extended compositional hiatus. Bruckner's F-Minor Symphony was conceived in the classical and early romantic tradition of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann. Bruckner's Ninth: his best (as some say) symphony, certainly his most daring and, thanks to the missing finale, his most mysterious. It is where Bruckner meets Mahler and, while working on it, his maker. He wanted to write a finale, of course, but too much remains missing. What is left, is a heavenly Adagio, which quietly fades away with references in the brass to the two preceding symphonies. Thus ends Bruckner's uncompleted life's work.

Bach's six suites for cello (BWV 1007 to 1012) are considered the must-haves of the instrument's repertoire. In this recording, Valérie Aimard offers a generous version that radiates without ever seeking effect for its own sake. With finesse and subtlety, the performer honors Bach's greatness.

While pursuing its constant search for music to study and rediscover, Zefiro undertook another important challenge by recording, in 2017 and 2015 respectively, the Brandenburg Concertos and Overtures, two pinnacles of the 18th-century instrumental literature. For this project Alfredo Bernardini waited until he could count on a select band of musicians who were not only in a perfect symbiosis of spirit and intent, but also equipped with the indispensable virtuosity and long-standing familiarity with the works. Thanks to the historical insight and human energy displayed by the ensemble, the interpretative results are both vivid and profoundly moving.

The recordings acquired not only prestigious awards such as Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice, Diapason d’or, Choc de Classica and Toccata’s CD of the month, but also specific acknowledgements for Overtures nos. 3 (France Musique) and 4 (SRF 2 Kultur), judged to be the best-ever versions. After being out of the catalogue for some time, they are now gathered together for the first time in an elegant box set.

Vom Reden und Klingen showcases the artistry of Laurens de Man, the first organist to be awarded the prestigious Nederlandse Muziekprijs. The album is a highly original recital consisting entirely of program music (music that depicts a story). These organ pieces by Bach, Mozart, Kuhnau, and Kurtag are therefore rare specimens of program music outside the 19th century. Laurens de Man plays the newly reconstructed Contius organ at the St.-Michielskerk in Leuven, Belgium

We know Gabriel Fauré the composer well but little the pedagogue. This recording aims to highlight the influence of the composer in France and even in Europe when, in 1896, he became professor at the Paris conservatory taking over from Massenet. The program of this disc wishes to bring together one of the work of his last period and compositions by his illustrious students: Ravel, Lili Boulanger and Enescu.

With this LP, IBA is beginning to release a new series of live concert recordings from the immense sound/video archive of Idil Biret from the 1950s to 2020. On the first LP, Schumann's Fantasie Op. 17 from the New York concert at Alice Tully Hall in 1972 and Liszt's Sonata in B minor from the Paris concert at Salle Gaveau in 1978 are included. These two performances of the works were significant milestones in Biret's concert career, opening up to her the stages of the Soviet Union and East Germany.

The large-scale Bach Organ Landscapes project featuring J.S. Bach's entire organ oeuvre recorded on a range of instruments aims to provide an overview of organ-playing and organ-building traditions that were key to Bach's composing. With a keen eye to the unique cultural organ legacy of the places associated with Bach, Halubek has placed Bach's original sound at the heart of his project. The recordings are accompanied by digital material that offer an almost tactile access to the great composer's sound universe.

Anton Bruckner finally received the award of an honorary doctorate of the University of Vienna on 11 December 1891. For Bruckner, receiving the doctorate fulfilled a long-time wish. He had spent most of his life pursuing academic credentials and applied for honorary doctorates at Cambridge University in 1882 and at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Cincinnati in 1885. Two days later, Hans Richter conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in the first performance of the second or so-called “Vienna” version of the composer’s First Symphony, which he had dedicated to the university in gratitude for the degree. The changes Bruckner made in the revised version of the First Symphony are not as extensive as those he made to the Third, Fourth, and Eighth Symphonies during the late 1880s and early 1890s. His revisions to the First Symphony did not affect the overall form of any of the movements. He changed many details of orchestration, articulation, and phrase length, some of which are difficult to notice on first hearing. The 1891 autograph score is, nevertheless, the composer’s final word on how he wanted his First Symphony to be performed and understood.

The idea for this album came about during the recording of its predecessor Cinema Suites (BBC Music Magazine’s “Screen Choice”, Album of the Week on WDR3 etc.), when the Morricone family sent Marco Serino a number of rarities that they hoped could also be recorded, particularly “Dedicated to Maria” (from the film The Sleeping Wife) that the composer had dedicated to his wife. These works, along with others that Serino rediscovered in his own archives, make up the backbone of Cinema Rarities, an ideal sequel to the previous recording.

After twenty years as Ennio Morricone’s chosen violinist, Serino continues his exploration of the compositions for violin and orchestra, but this time with a particular focus on pieces that, besides being less well known to the wider public, all share a degree of “Italianness”.

The main nucleus of the program consists of three suites named after three Italian film directors (Silvano Agosti, Mauro Bolognini and the Taviani brothers), with whom Morricone worked closely. Although the respective films did not achieve the international acclaim of those directed by Sergio Leone or Giuseppe Tornatore, which featured in the previous recording, they inspired the composer to come up with new and distinctive solutions, such as “Love Remembered” from The Inheritance, considered by Marco Serino to be one of the most beautiful.

Equally quintessentially Italian are the two extracts from the scores for The Lady Caliph directed by Alberto Bevilacqua, including the lovely “Nocturne” and the brief “Quasi un Vivaldi” (from Sergio Sollima’s film Revolver), which herald by almost a decade remakes like Gian Piero Reverberi’s Rondò Veneziano. A unique place is occupied by Four Adagios, a collection of four pieces chosen by the composer himself (including the iconic “Whoever” and “Deborah’s Theme”), which in this arrangement for violin cites the main theme of the first movement of the Beethoven Concerto. Dedicated to Serino and performed worldwide under the baton of Morricone, Four Adagios speaks to the artistic partnership between composer and violinist, their mutual professional respect and deep friendship.

Born in London in 1886, violinist/violist Rebecca Clarke was also a composer who produced a significant number of works; her songs and chamber music were particularly notable. Although her output became neglected after the Second World War, it experienced a renaissance in the 1970s. The performances on this album take the listener on a journey through the eloquence and profundity of Rebecca Clarke’s creative world. This is OehmsClassics’ second album featuring Judith Ingolfsson (violin, viola) and Vladimir Stoupel (piano), furthering the label’s commitment to presenting musical discoveries.

Bruckner’s Second Symphony is a rare enough encounter in its 1877 version, but it’s virtually unperformed in the 1872 original version. This is not owing to some deficiency of the earlier ideas compared to the later alterations. It’s mainly habit and convenience because to get new parts and re-learn something ostensibly known, that differs in a great many details, means an extra expense of effort and resources. That’s a shame, really, because it is decidedly worth discovering the original, not-yet-ironed-out rawness of Bruckner’s early masterpiece, which was something unheard of at the time – but needn’t remain unheard now.

Second instalment in the ongoing symphonic cycle Scriabin/Ono. The grandiose and particularly colourful Third Symphony by Alexander Scriabin in an opulent and gorgeous account by Kazushi Ono conducting the Brussels Philharmonic. This music demands the highest possible degree of sheer beauty of tone by the orchestra. Here it is achieved thanks to the musicians and the conductor, but also thanks to the avantgarde Dolby Atmos/Immersive recording by MotorMusic studio. EPRC 0061, Scriabin: Symphony no.2 was 2024 Critic's Choice by American Record Guide. Classic Voice (ITA): "The outcome is no less than overwhelming." BBC Music Magazine (UK): "The Brussels Philharmonic strings relish Scriabin's ardent and sensuous melodies."

By his own reckoning, Bruckner began his career as a professional composer when he was thirty-nine years old. With a mere exercise for a symphony under his belt – the unnumbered one in F minor – he was now ready to write his first true symphony. The world was not. First performed in 1868 in Linz – badly – the work flopped and was put aside until nine years and five symphonies later, when it was gently adjusted. A subsequent performance in 1884 was Bruckner’s “most successful Viennese performance to date”, prompting, perplexingly, a thorough revision that would be the 1891 “Vienna” version. This recording uses the unadulterated 1868 “Linz” version.

This recording highlights the tremendous contribution of black composers to the repertoire of church and concert organists. Includes organ works by composers from the late nineteenth century to the present day. The masterfully arranged spirituals and dynamic original compositions can add the perfect touch to a worship service. Artist Nathaniel Gumbs has been recognized as "one of 20 outstanding organists under 30 years old for his achievement in organ performance and church music (The Diapason magazine, 2017). The Newberry Memorial Organ, in Woolsey Hall at Yale University, heard on this recording is one of the most renowned Romantic organs in the world.

As an instrument from Italy, one that was exotic and evocative of Mediterranean atmospheres, the mandolin was very much in fashion in France until the end of the Century of Enlightenment: a fact also confirmed by many iconographic and musical sources. Pizzicar Galante, an ensemble that stands today as a benchmark for the interpretation of the galant literature for mandolin and continuo, has been acclaimed for the “finesse, creativity and spirit” (Olivier Fourés, Diapason) and “communicative energy” of its performances (Sébastien Llinares, France Musique).

For its second recording with Arcana, it offers a compilation of the finest music played during the veritable “golden age” enjoyed by the mandolin in Paris from the 1760s to the Revolution. It is a rare and unexplored repertoire in which the dazzling virtuosity of Anna Schivazappa, a specialist in historical mandolins, dialogues with the beguiling and charismatic voice of Marc Mauillon.

“Since Beethoven, nothing has been written that even comes close!”

The great conductor Arthur Nikisch made this remark to Bruckner’s former student, Joseph Schalk and also his fellow conductor, Hermann Levi, described the piece as “the most significant symphonic work since Beethoven’s death.”

Arthur Nikisch conducted the first performance in the Stadttheater, Leipzig, on 30 December 1884, with Bruckner in the audience. While the performance was not a total triumph, it brought the sixty-year-old composer significant international recognition for the first time. During the composer’s lifetime, the Seventh, especially its Adagio, was his most popular symphony, and it remains among his most beloved and frequently performed works.

In her new album "Solitude," soprano Katharina Konradi embarks on a musical journey to explore solitude. On this journey, she is accompanied by poets and composers from different time periods. The Cosmos Quartet from Barcelona joins her on her journey. Art songs by composers such as Robert and Clara Schumann, Franz Schubert, and Hugo Wolf, as well as folk songs and French chansons, are waypoints on this journey on which they explore the various facets of solitude together. Miniatures for solo soprano by the Hungarian-French composer György Kurtág serve as transitional elements, providing subtle and sophisticated coherence. Among the special rarities of the recording are the two Catalan songs by the violinist, composer, and conductor Eduard Toldrà.

The soprano, born in Kyrgyzstan, captivates audiences and critics alike with her vocal brilliance and cultivated emotional depth. The Cosmos Quartet matches her with its honest elegance and compelling expressiveness. Although the Cosmos Quartet and Katharina Konradi only met at the beginning of rehearsals for "Solitude," a very special magic immediately revealed itself, inherent in the combination of Katharina Konradi's voice and the Cosmos String Quartet. "String quartet and voice blend incredibly well together – even though the four instruments already form a perfect sonic structure on their own. I always enjoy being surrounded by so many different colors while singing," describes Katharina Konradi about the collaboration.

The result of this collaboration and shared journey is an album characterized by emotionality, a variety of moods, and the highest musicality. It invites one to linger, to listen closely, to find tranquility in the beauty of music, and to draw strength from it.

With Pierre Boulez's 2nd Piano Sonata Idil Biret not only makes her American recording debut, but also presents the first U.S. recording of this important contemporary work. Composed in 1948, this sonata occupies a position that exerted a causative influence upon Boulez's subsequent music. It's experimental and ground-breaking nature may be better understood if one regards it as having grown out of a response to Webern's Variations (1936), the companion piece on this album. The rigid, geometric patterns of Webern's work, the classical purity of it's encompassing organization, seems to have served as a base of departure for Boulez's broadened structures that are equally rigid but incomparably more complex. It is this very complexity that conceals the strict framework of the entire composition and projects it as the product of an ardent improvisatory impetus. It demands from it's interpreter a similar approach, along with technical prowess and intellectual control of the highest order. It was only a matter of course that this work, together with influences emanating from other sources (chiefly John Cage), should lead the path not only to open-form and aleatory compositions, including Boulez's own 3rd Piano Sonata, but also, through it's new pianistic language, urge the development of a whole new generation of virtuoso pianists. (Ilhan Mimaroglu, 1973)

In this new recording of contemporary works for saxophone and piano, Max Goldberg and Annabel Thwaite present a programme of contemporary works by European, American and Australian composers, including the world premiere recording of Welsh composer Edward-Rhys Harry's The Ballad of Lady Barham, the philanthropist who established schools and churches in the Gower peninsula through her own funding. Max Goldberg demonstrates the lyrical and expressive qualities of the saxophone as a solo instrument throughout this recording.

The internationally acclaimed pianist Adriana von Franqué takes a musical journey through Paris on her GENUIN debut album. The world-concerting musician, known for innovative concert formats and unusual program selections, focuses on the delicate and poetic aspects of the "City of Lights". With a sensitivity for sound and clarity, she plays music by Lili Boulanger, César Franck, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Simon Laks from Warsaw. The result is floating, atmospheric, finely crafted music that seems to incorporate the Tuileries Garden, the banks of the Seine, or the intricate lacework of the Eiffel Tower…

Among Bruckner’s Symphonies, the Fifth is his contrapuntal masterpiece; the grandest until the Eighth. The tour-de-force of a finale gives us an idea of what the finale of the Ninth might have been like. Its magnificent dark and halting opening with the descending bass line – so effectively recalled in the finale – is inimitable. Although long available only in a disfigured version by Franz Schalk, it is also distinct for never having been the subject to revision or, perhaps, even doubt on the part of Bruckner – who never heard it performed with an orchestra. And yet, when Bruckner wrote this masterpiece, he was still far from establishing himself as a composer in Vienna and his spirits were as low as ever, writing a friend that “my life has lost all joy and delight – in vain and for nothing.” A radiant pinnacle from amid darkness.