No one has surpassed Marais: only one has equalled him, and that is the famous Forqueray: with these words, in 1752, a contemporary praised one of the last great virtuosos of the viola da gamba. Known for his formidably difficult and technical musical style, Forqueray's world is nonetheless immensely rich: through the works of the father Antoine, his son Jean-Baptiste and his nephew Nicolas-Gilles, an august lineage emerges whose grace and genius never ceased to inspire. At times proud, even bellicose, at other times deeply tender, the viol pieces by this Forqueray family plunge us into a flight of expressions of passions whose vivacity is equalled only by their intensity. Myriam Rignol, as a distant granddaughter, accompanied by her exquisite Timbres, delivers in this complete work a powerful homage to these 18th-century chamber music icons who, in their image, could never be anything other than virtuoso.

American Record Guide:�The music is melodious and the playing and sound exemplary.

Catrin Finch releases Notes to Self, her first solo album in a decade, featuring personal tracks dedicated to her 13-year-old self. Accompanied by letters, the album reflects on her 40-year career, exploring vulnerability, transformation, and life under public scrutiny. As a gay woman, cancer survivor, and mother, Finch channels her struggles and triumphs into music, marking a bold, introspective evolution in her artistry.

Dublin native Aoife Ní Bhriain is one of her generation's most versatile and gifted violinists, a dazzling musician who commands both the classical world and her Irish traditional heritage. From across the Irish Sea and the west coast of Wales, harpist Catrin Finch has also built an impressive classical career and ventured into unchartered musical territory, most notably through her international award-winning collaborations. Double You, their debut album as a duo, features an exquisite collection of new compositions that draw inspiration from various genres, taking listeners on a captivating journey on the wings of the bees across the Irish Sea and inspired by the cultures of their home countries.

Polyphonic 14th-century Italian secular music seems to emerge out of nowhere in the history of music. Nevertheless, this tradition – which often goes by the name Ars Nova – fits seamlessly into the history of Italian culture. Our knowledge of it has been pieced together from relatively few sources, which nevertheless reveal three distinct phases. In its first phase, Italian Ars Nova spread out from universities, including those of Padua and Bologna, which had strong links with the dominant and contemporaneous French Ars Nova. In the second phase, the centre of 14th-century Italian polyphony seems to shift markedly to Florence. The final phase, which bridged the late 1300s and early 1400s, shows the influence of intense cultural exchange brought about by an international circulation of musicians and poets caused by the political instability of the papacy’s return from Avignon to Rome and the consequent heightened mobility among the various courts and their entourages.
This phase is reflected in such sources as the renowned Squarcialupi Codex. Compiled in Florence around 1415, it contains over 350 compositions (madrigals, ballate and cacce) and is the source of the majority of the tracks on this album. Francesco Landini (c.1325/35–1397) is represented by five of his 141 ballate and the virelai ‘Adiu, adiu dous dame’. Also from the Codex are one ballata by Andrea da Firenze (c.1350–1415) and two ballate and a caccia by Antonio ‘Zacara’ da Teramo (1355–1416). Three instrumental tracks complete the album, two of them from the ‘London’ Manuscript (British Library) compiled in Florence, probably in Medici circles. In addition to mostly polyphonic music by Landini and other Florentine composers, this tome features several anonymous instrumental works including the lively dances ‘Chominciamento di gioia’ and ‘Tre fontane’. The madrigal ‘Aquila altera’ has a different background entirely: the version presented here is the instrumental arrangement found in the Codex Faenza, a unique volume assembled in the early 15th century containing around 50 Italian and French polyphonic compositions for organ.

Bridge Records announces the release of Volume 21 the Complete Crumb Edition, a monumental recording project begun in 1982, and completed 42 years later with this final installment. The Grammy award-winning Crumb series documents the late American composer's complete catalog of works, spanning Crumb's seventy-five year compositional career. Project producer David Starobin writes that “the series benefited tremendously from George's participation in the recording and post-production of these documents.” This last volume includes compositions from the beginning, middle, and end of Crumb’s career and features the world premiere recording of the composer's penultimate composition, the percussion quintet Kronos-Kryptos (2020), performed by Ensemble 20/21 of the Curtis Institute of Music. The record also includes Crumb's second acknowledged composition, the Sonata for Solo Violoncello (1955), performed by cellist Timothy Eddy, as well as two performances of Crumb's piano solo, Processional (1983), played by pianists Gilbert Kalish (keyboard version) and Marcantonio Barone (alternate version with extended piano effects).

The German-Greek pianist Danae Dorken belongs to the elite of a new generation of internationally sought-after artists. The current album is a tribute to the great Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis on the 100th anniversary of his birth, which is on 29 July 2025. Theodorakis compositions blended classical, folk, and modern elements, often expressing the struggles and spirit of the Greek people. The Staatskapelle Weimar under Kornilios Michailidis are accompanying the pianist with the Suite No. 1 and the Helikon Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra.

The piano works on this CD date from different periods in Gian Francesco Malipiero’s creative life. From his unpublished juvenilia to the late Ricercar toccando, from the evocative Poemi asolani of 1916 to the disillusionment of the pieces written in the years following the First World War: a range of works that bear witness to the development of the composer’s conception of the piano miniature as a kind of intimate diary, between nostalgic impressions and aphoristic humour.

One of Saxony-Anhalt's oldest and most tradition-rich orchestras presents a compelling combination of two major orchestral works on GENUIN, marking the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus's relocation from Weimar to Dessau: the Anhaltische Philharmonie of the Bauhaus city Dessau, under it's general music director Markus L. Frank, pairs Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (in Ravel's orchestration) with Feininger Fractals by Eisenach-born composer Thomas Buchholz (b. 1961) - two orchestral works closely connected to visual art. The finely spun textures of Buchholz, who in this work engages with Bauhaus master Lyonel Feininger, and the endless colors of Mussorgsky/Ravel are in the best hands with this Dessau ensemble. Magnificent but not pompous, virtuosic yet full of meaning, the orchestra plays with intelligence and nuance under it's chief conductor.

This release features Ravel's works alongside pieces from composers who inspired him, including Chabrier, Haydn, Borodine, Couperin, and more. Marina Baranova seamlessly blends classical and neoclassical elements, creating a unique musical language that is distinctly her own. Each track invites you to appreciate the dialogue between these great composers, showcasing Baranova's exceptional talent and interpretative skills.

These classic Vox recordings feature two former music directors of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in their prime - Walter Susskind (Smetana) and Jerzy Semkow (Rimsky-Korsakov). Newly remastered from the original tapes.

In the discussion on women and classical music, perhaps no other instrument draws such a strong association with feminine stereotypes as the harp. Once the instrument of choice for respectable young ladies, it was considered suitable for the domestic sphere and the world of private salons. And yet, as the harp made it's way out of the home and into the concert hall, it's publicity was championed by male performers, playing the music of male composers. Often overlooked are the women-performers and composers alike-who revolutionized the instrument and gave it a solo voice. Birds of Paradise celebrates the artistic voices of women as both performers and creators. This album showcases living composers Reena Esmail and Angelica Negron and legendary harpist and composer Henriette Renie. Featured works include Renie's Trio, the first major work written for this combination of instruments, alongside the world premiere recording of Negron's Ave del paraiso and the first recording of Esmail's Saans as arranged for harp, violin, and cello. Listeners are invited to experience this dynamic sound world, full of color and warmth, created and performed by women.

Pianist Tuija Hakkila enjoyed a close friendship with composer Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) that lasted for over 40 years until the composer's death in 2023. Tuija Hakkila played a pivotal role in Saariaho's creations for the solo piano and harpsichord. Although Kaija Saariaho wrote several compositions featuring the piano, the composer felt that writing music for solo piano was particularly challenging due to the restrictions of the instrument. Although few in number, Saariaho's piano works are 21st century gems continuing the path set by Debussy's late works and Messiaen.

Debut album by a young talented Russian guitarist. Well constructed programme based on Leo Brouwer and Agustin Barrios. An engaging listening from start to end, thanks to the Kurenchakova's prowess and eloquence and to the warmly resonant recording.�"Lux Amoris Aeterni" ("The Radiance of Eternal Love") is an album about divine love in the language of music, expressed through the gentle timbre of the classical guitar.

The music of Alan Hovhaness, one of America's most prolific composers, enchants with his signature synthesis of East and West. Influenced by his Armenian heritage and a fascination with nature and spirituality Hovhaness sought to create music "for all people, music which is beautiful and healing." This collection of works featuring the violin includes several premiere recordings. Concerto No. 2, one of a series of ten concertos for various instruments, requires the soloist and ensemble to play using distinctive effects including tone clusters, melisma, and playing without strict measure. Evocations of Armenian liturgy contrasted with dizzying Scottish jigs can be heard in the Violin Sonata.

Enrique Granados was one of the leading figures of the late-19th-century Spanish nationalist and impressionist school of musicians. The much-loved Danzas espanolas is a collection of piano pieces that represents Granados's refined blend of Romantic lyricism and Spanish folk imagery. This charming and charismatic journey through Spain is presented here in a colourful transcription for two guitars. Fabio Rizza's 2024 arrangement of the evocative Capricho espanol completes the programme.

Inspired by the idea of 'music of the spheres' and the interaction between space and men, the album reflects Sumino's multi-faceted artistry and melts old and new music into one unique listening experience. The album includes an intriguing variety of music recorded on concert grant and upright piano and ranges from Baroque to Romanticism (Bach, Purcell, Chopin, Ravel, Debussy); includes iconic film and contemporary composers such as Hans Zimmer and Ryuichi Sakamoto, plus Hayato's own arrangements of popular works such as Ravel's "Bolero" and Mozart's "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Five of Hayato's own unique compositions appear, including melodic and relaxing solo piano tracks, perfect for streaming and playlisting. "Human Universe" musically explores the idea of "Music of the Spheres", a concept that traces back to the ancient Greeks, who believed that celestial bodies in the universe emitted sound bringing music and harmony.

This sequel to the Gramophone Award-nominated Americascapes album (ODE 1396-2) by the Basque National Orchestra and Robert Trevino is a thrilling and a deeply personal journey into the music of three American composers. All three composers had very unique aesthetic worlds and with two of the composers conductor Robert Trevino also had direct artistic collaboration. Where my first 'Americascapes' album looked at lesser-known major American works that had influenced European composers (rather than the other way around), for this follow-up, I went back to a more basic thought - "What is America?". Since America is many things to millions of people, I realise that my question had to mean, "What is America to me? (...) Selecting the composers for this American Opus took well over a year. Yet I eventually refined the list to these three composers, with all of whom I feel a close kinship and all of whom are deeply meaningful to me. Two of them I even had a direct artistic relationship with. As a group, they also embody some of the diversity and the radically different aesthetics that thrive in the Americas." (Robert Trevino)

REVIEW:

The hunt for buried treasure is quite an industry these days, but coming up with gold is far from guaranteed. No problem, it appears, for Robert Treviño and the Basque National Orchestra. American Opus is the sequel to 2021’s excellent Americascapes (Ondine ODE 1396-2) and once again the Mexican-American conductor demonstrates a gift for sorting the wheat from the chaff. With the Revueltas set beside the Crumb and the Walker, Americascapes Volume 2 is a complex, thoroughly satisfying national portrait.

— Limelight

This recording presents the entire output to date for guitar of Toshio Hosokawa, one of Japan's most prolific composers for the instrument. His affinity for the guitar stems from his familiarity with popular songs accompanied by the guitar and from his knowledge of the koto, a traditional Japanese instrument from which he has adopted certain playing techniques. Although the works gathered here call for a variety of forces - guitar solo, guitar and voice, guitar and instrumental ensemble - they all present a fundamental aspect of Toshio Hosokawa's output: the music seems to be born like a calligraphic line 'at the limit of time and space'. Here, the guitar is no longer just an instrument familiar to both classical and popular music: in Hosokawa's works it is a medium that transmits the primordial motion of the soul, which has woven poems and songs since ancient times. Familiar with Hosokawa's world, guitarist Jacob Kellermann, together with Christian Karlsen (with whom he has already recorded works by Toru Takemitsu on BIS-2655), the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and soprano Ilse Eerens, presents a soundscape on the edge of dreams, both seductive and subtle, modern and timeless.

Having dedicated his first two albums for Arcana to Johann Sebastian Bach (Little Books, A480) and Georg Friedrich Handel (Winged Hands, A499), Francesco Corti turns to Domenico Scarlatti, the third great keyboardist of the 1685 generation. For this recording, he selected a group of sonatas copied in the years 1752 and 1753, strictly organised in pairs. Concentrating on works from the same period, it showcases the composer's extraordinary ability to stretch the boundaries of the sonata form and to extensively elaborate his thematic material. Instrumental virtuosity and an experimental approach to the harpsichord sound go hand in hand with an astonishing formal freedom, combined with a playful sense of structure and expectation. Corti has chosen to perform these sonatas on a Humeau harpsichord, a copy of Italian models (courtesy of Bertrand Cuiller), and record them at the Royaumont Abbey.

Together with it's artistic director Julian Azkoul, the United Strings of Europe develop engaging programmes with the aims of finding threads between different works and epochs, musical cultures and backgrounds, of blending the familiar with the new and of encouraging people to listen to works in different ways and discover new repertoire. For it's new release entitled Hommages, the ensemble celebrates musical traditions, from the myth of Apollo and the muses of Greek Antiquity to legends of the 20th century, Carlos Gardel and Astor Piazzolla, renewed by contemporary voices. Inspired by dreams and recollections of the past, this imaginative programme features recent works alongside the world premiere recording of Julian Azkoul's arrangement of Igor Stravinsky's neo-classical ballet Apollon musagete, composed during the 1920s. While Dobrinka Tabakova's Organum Light, here recorded for the first time, was inspired by Einstein's theory of quantum light, Osvaldo Golijov has returned to his Argentinian roots for Last Round, a tribute to two legendary compatriots. As for Olli Mustonen (who can be heard as a pianist on several other BIS recordings), his Second Nonet is a timeless work in which we hear echoes of the Balkans, music from the Romantic period and Nordic moods. A further work by Mustonen, Apotheosis, another world premiere recording, concludes this varied programme on a dramatic note, inspired by Bach's chorale preludes.

The Barcelona Clarinet Players commissioned six prominent Latin American composers to write new works for clarinet quartet and wind band. During their 2021–2022 season; they recorded each work with a different wind band in the United States or Latin America; and the result is a captivating album of extraordinary musical richness and diversity that showcases the unique aesthetic of each composer and the artistry of the performing ensembles.

• SIGNUM saxophone quartet will release their first album on Berlin Classics
• Feat. Alexej Gerassimez (Percussion) and Eckart Runge (Cello)
• The quartet has made a name for themselves in various exciting projects (e.g. working with Alexej Gerassimez for his solo album on Berlin Classics)
• With Chameleon they show how colorful the sound of the saxophone is with a diverse selection of music from classical (Glazunov, Bloch, Haydn, and more) as well as pop and rock

After his latest recording, devoted to Bach's Sonatas and Partitas in his own arrangement, Franz Halasz returns to Spanish music with this recital devoted to Federico Moreno Torroba. The composer of many of the best-known zarzuelas, Moreno Torroba did not initially seem destined to specialise in guitar music. It was his symphonic poems that caught the attention of the legendary guitarist Andres Segovia, who commissioned Moreno Torroba's first compositions for guitar despite the composer's unfamiliarity with the instrument. The compositions gathered here showcase a composer who, although deeply rooted in the Spanish musical tradition, was attuned to what was being done elsewhere, including the music of Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky, and who created a personal language marked by impressionism that would later influence guitar music throughout the twentieth century, from Heitor Villa-Lobos to Leo Brouwer. The winner of a Latin Grammy, Franz Halasz is a highly acclaimed guitarist who has himself contributed to the repertoire of his instrument by making arrangements of Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albeniz. On a guitar built in 1936 by the legendary luthier Hermann Hauser, Halasz turns the instrument into a multi-faceted prism through which the musician can 'break the light of music' into orchestral sound, in the words of Segovia.

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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.

Composer Rodion Shchedrin (1932-2025) was one of the leading figures of post-war Soviet music. This album by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Olli Mustonen brings together four of his works, including music from his ballet The Lady with the Lapdog, as well as a viola concerto, Concerto dolce, performed by Lawrence Power, one of the greatest violists of our time. Rodion Shchedrin passed away while this album - a monument to the unique friendship and artistic collaboration that Olli Mustonen and Rodion Shchedrin cultivated over the course of three decades - was in preparation.

A mystic realm tinged with the scent of foreign spices, bewitching music, vivid color and sensual delights... Orientalism sparked a new wave of romanticism in Western art in the 19th century, which had a profound influence on artists. At the time, The Arabian Nights had long been popular in Russia, in a French translation by Antoine Galland that indulged the Francophile passion for all things Arabic. For Rimsky-Korsakov who had a life-long fascination with fairytales especially those from the exotic setting of the mythical Orient,"Scheherazade"was an ideal theme. Born into a family of Russian naval officers, music and the sea became his passion since childhood and he graduated from the Naval Academy of St. Petersburg to become a naval officer himself. While pursuing his musical studies, he embarked on numerous ocean voyages, visiting Brazil, America, Europe etc The Oriental Ballet Suite "Thousand and One Nights" was originally conceived as an orchestral work, first published for piano solo in 1927, and then arranged for orchestra by the composer himself. It gained popularity immediately after it's release and was broadcast on several radio stations.

This album contains the symphonic suite "Scheherazade" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and the short composition "The Enchanted Lake" by his student Anatoly Lyadov.

In 1887-88, after the sudden death of his brilliant friend Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov composed those three orchestral works which crowned his Russian national period and has made his name a permanent part of the worldwide concert repertoire: the "Capriccio espagno"l, the symphonic suite "Scheherazade", and the concert overture "La Grande Pâque Russe". With Scheherazade Rimsky-Korsakov did not tell a story, he rather set individual, unconnected episodes and images to music.

Anatoly Lyadov has a reputation of being lazy – based solely on Rimsky-Korsakov’s opinion of him – yet his ambition was for every piece of music he created to be flawless. One consequence of this was that his entire œuvre consists entirely of miniatures. The "Enchanted Lake" does not tell a story but is purely impressionistic music about a Russian forest lake, on a level with Ravel and Debussy. Conductor Dmitri Kitayenko conducted various orchestras in Moscow, became chief conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic in 1976, and took over the Symphony Orchestra of the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt am Main in 1990-96. He went on to hold principal positions with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul and finally, in addition to his worldwide activities as a guest conductor, was appointed Honorary Conductor of the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne.

As a winner of numerous national and international youth competitions, Robert Neumann (born 2001) was awarded with the International Classic Music Discovery Award 2017. In 2018, the Jury of the SWR (radio broadcasting corporation in Southwest Germany) chose Robert as the"SWR New Talent". For his debut CD at SWRmusic, Robert was awarded the OPUS KLASSIK Young Artist of the Year 2021. The young pianist made his orchestral debut with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra when he was eight, and since then he has appeared with other orchestras, including the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, German State Philharmonic Ludwigshafen, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra, SWR Symphonieorchestra, Praga Philharmonic Camerata and the Gewandhaus Orchestra. For his second album, Robert Neumann chose two works which can easily be placed side by side and that are both close to the pianist’s heart. Robert Schumann‘s Kreisleriana is about a character from several tales by E. T. A. Hoffmann and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition describes walking from one work of art to the next. Both are programme music pieces with somewhat comparable ideas but, as Neumann puts it: „One idea deals with a real character, the other one doesn’t […]. And I think both show in an exemplary manner how flawlessly and also in different ways a great Romantic cycle can be structured, formed.