The final volume in the historically important collection of rare recordings with the Danish versatile conductor Launy Grøndahl features the opera The Black Spider, an unknown masterpiece by the Swiss conductor Heinrich Sutermeister. In addition to never-before-released broadcast recordings, this volume collects the very first 78RPM recordings made by Grøndahl with his Olympia Orchestra in 1923. All previous volumes, from Volume 1 to this final release, are available.

The ensemble Pandolfis Consort, the countertenor Nicholas Spanos and the Czech Ensemble Baroque Choir present works by the Neapolitan composer Nicola Antonio Porpora on this album entitled "SALVE". The music on this album forms an imaginary concert program: In the first part, there are three Marian antiphons framed with introductory and connecting individual sonata movements composed a few years earlier in London. The second part features Psalm 127 "Nisi Dominus". Together, this is the music composed by Porpora for the feast of the Assumption for the Ospedaletto in Venice in 1744. Common to all the vocal pieces is the concentration on the sonorous, uplifting voice with infinite coloratura, the virtuoso part of the first violin and, in one case, the counterpart of the choir, which is scored here as soloist voices. This reduction to the essentials, to solo instruments, to the core of the music, has for many years been the focus of the Pandolfis Consort, founded by violist Elzbieta Sajka-Bachler, performing on period instruments

Falk and Schleiermacher once again prove to be the ideal interpreters of this multi-faceted music: from the smoky nightclub of the "Rue Chagrin" to the synagogue; past the children's playground to the cotton fields of America with hints of the blues - great art in a small form!

The Athens State Orchestra is the oldest symphony orchestra in Greece. On the occasion of Mikis Theodorakis' 100th birthday, GENUIN evokes the spirits of his homeland and of classical antiquity in three symphonic works by Greece's most famous composer-works that played an important role toward the end of his life: from the early "Sinfonietta" in a new version, through the folk-inspired "Rhapsody for Guitar and Orchestra," to the equally moving nine-part "Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra," Theodorakis's last orchestral work. The young, rising Kornilios Michailidis leads Greece's premier orchestra with verve, while the album's soloists contribute at the highest standard of playing to these remarkable recordings!

In 1907, Florent Schmitt composed music to accompany a ‘mimodrame’ danced by Loïe Fuller, La Tragédie de Salomé. His score is bursting with colour, energy, and voluptuousness – and also with oriental influences stemming from his travels to Morocco and Constantinople, where he discovered the howling dervishes. The final scene features the heart-rending ‘Chant d’Aïça’, an oriental melody sung by a soprano. This music, though bold and modern for the listeners of 1907, nonetheless aroused the admiration of another composer, Igor Stravinsky, to whom Schmitt dedicated the Symphonic Suite he subsequently derived from the work. However, Alain Altinoglu, at the helm of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra of which he has been Music Director since 2021, has chosen to record the original version of this landmark of early twentieth-century French music. The beautiful Chant élégiaque, in its 1911 version for cello and large orchestra, completes this programme.

Avant de devenir le maestro des bandes originales cultes comme Mission: Impossible ou Bullitt, Lalo Schifrin etait un virtuose du piano et un grand innovateur du jazz et de la bossa nova. Avec un sens de l'arrangement dejà exceptionnel, il arrange et compose pour Dizzy Gillespie ou Quincy Jones. Ce coffret 3 CD, realise par Olivier Julien reunit les premiers enregistrements publies sous son nom et nous plonge dans les debuts eclatants d'un jeune pianiste de jazz argentin lumineux, en passe de devenir l'un des plus grands compositeurs d'Hollywood. Patrick FReMEAUX Before he became the maestro of iconic film scores like Mission: Impossible or Bullitt, Lalo Schifrin was already a piano virtuoso and a major innovator in jazz and bossa nova. With an already exceptional knack for arrangement, he arranged and composed for Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones. Curated by Olivier Julien, this 3-CD box set brings together the first recordings released under Schifrin's name, offering a captivating glimpse into the brilliant early days of a young, luminous Argentine jazz pianist on the cusp of becoming one of Hollywood's greatest composers. Patrick FReMEAUX CD1 : RENDEZ-VOUS DANSANT À COPACABANA AVEC LALO SCHIFRIN, SON PIANO ET SES RYTHMES - MOULIN ROUGE - LES OIGNONS - FASCINATION - CABELLO ROJO - MON HOMME - MAMBOP - PIGALLE - SeReNADE MeDITERRANeENNE. SPECTRUM - RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET - AZURE - THE MOON WAS YELLOW - RUBY - BLACK BEAUTY - WHEN THE WIND WAS GREEN - BROWN PRELUDE - WHITE ORCHIDS - BLUE IS THE NIGHT - SCARLET RIBBONS (FOR HER HAIR) - PURPLE PASTEL. CD2 : PIANO ESPAÑOL - FRENESI - THE BREEZE AND I - CAPRICHO ESPAÑOL - MY SHAWL - CARAVAN - MALAGUENA - CHA CHA CHA FLAMENCO - WARSAW CONCERTO - HULABLUES - JUNGLE FANTASY - ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE - EL CUMBANCHERO. LALO = BRILLIANCE (THE PIANO OF LALO SCHIFRIN) - THE SNAKE'S DANCE - AN EVENING IN SAO PAULO - DESAFINADO - KUSH - RHYTHM-A-NING - MOUNT OLIVE - CUBANO BE - SPHAYROS. CD3 : BOSSA NOVA, NEW BRASILIAN JAZZ - BOATO - CHORA TUA TRISTEZA - POEMA DO ADEUS - APITO NO SAMBA - CHEGA DE SAUDADE - BOSSA EM NOVA YORK - O AMOR E A ROSA - O MENINO DESCE O MORRO - MENINA FEIA - OUcA - SAMBA DE UMA NOTA SO - PATINHO FEIO (UGLY DUCKLING). PIANO, STRINGS AND BOSSA NOVA - THE WAVE - INSENSATEZ - YOU AND ME (VOCE E EU) - LALO'S BOSSA NOVA (SAMBA PARA DOS) - SILVIA - MURMURIO (MURMUR) - MARIA - RAPAZ DE BEM - SAMBA NO PERROQUET (PARROT SAMBA) - RIO AFTER DARK - TIME FOR LOVE - I'm LOOKING OVER A FOUR-LEAF CLOVER. BONUS CD3 : QUINCY JONES ET LALO SCHIFRIN - SOUL BOSSA NOVA - LALO BOSSA NOVA. DIRECTION ARTISTIQUE : OLIVIER JULIEN

Floð og Fjara is Gulli Gudmundsson's new project. The Icelandic bassist has been a cornerstone of the Dutch jazz scene for many years. His new trio has a chamber music-inspired setup. With pianist Jeroen van Vliet and trumpeter Koen Smits, he has found two musicians who share his pursuit of similar sound ideals.

Darius Milhaud a 25 ans lorsqu'il debarque a Rio de Janeiro en fevrier 1917, en plein carnaval. Puis il voyagera, fin 1919, en Martinique et aux USA. Sejours nourris de decouvertes sonores qui feront qu'il deviendra un precurseur de l'intrication des musiques du monde et de l'ecriture erudite europeenne des les premieres decades du XXe siecle. Philippe LESAGE In February 1917, Darius Milhaud went to Rio de Janeiro. He was 25, and he disembarked when the Carnival was in full swing. He stayed until the end of 1919, then travelled to Martinique and the USA. During his three stays he discovered remarkable sounds that would make him a precursor, in the first two decades of the 20th century, of the intricate relationship between world music and the scholarly classical music of Europe. Philippe LESAGE CD1 : LE BOEUF SUR LE TOIT : MINNEAPOLIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, DIR MITROPOULOS - ATe EU : OITO BATUTAS - ATe A VOLTA : OITO BATUTAS - APANHEI-TE CAVAQUINHO : ERNESTO NAZARETH - SCARAMOUCHE : MARCELLE MEYER & DARIUS MILHAUD - BREJEIRO : BANDA DO CORPO DOS BOMBEIROS DE RIO DE JANEIRO - GRAÚNA : OITO BATUTAS - ESCOVADO : ERNESTO NAZARETH - SAUDADES DO BRASIL : DARIUS MILHAUD - SAUDADES DO BRASIL : JACQUES FeVRIER - SAUDADES DO BRASIL : LE TRIGENTUOR LYONNAIS - DANSES DE JACAREMIRIM : LOUIS KAUFMAN & ARTUR BALSAM. CD2 : LA CReATION DU MONDE : ORCHESTRE DU THeaTRE DES CHAMPS-ELYSeES, DIR DARIUS MILHAUD - CARNAVAL a LA NOUVELLE-ORLeANS : ARTHUR GOLD & ROBERT FIZDALE - SOUNDS OF AFRICA : EUBIE BLAKE - I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY : WIENER & DOUCET - KING PORTER STOMP : JELLY ROLL MORTON - 3 RAG-CAPRICES : VIENNA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, DIR HENRI SWOBODA - SOUVENIR DU BOEUF SUR LE TOIT : WIENER & DOUCET - HANDFUL OF KEYS : FATS WALLER - LE BAL MARTINIQUAIS : ROBERT & GABY CASADESUS - EN L'AI MONE LA : STELLIO - CINeMA FANTAISIE : RENe BENEDETTI ET JEAN WIENER. DIRECTION ARTISTIQUE : PHILIPPE LESAGE ET TECA CALAZANS

Based on a story by Gogol, Modest Mussorgsky's unfinished Sorochintsi Fair is a comic opera in which amorous encounters intermingle with a devil's curse. Potentially a compelling and original drama, Salammbo was Mussorgsky's first attempt at an opera. Both works are world premiere recordings of chamber versions arranged by Fabrice Bollon, using only original material as their basis.

This live recording immortalizes Christophe Rousset's performance at the Fundacion Juan March in Madrid on January 8, 2025, a featured event in the Earning a Living concert series. Francois Couperin's keyboard compositions illuminate the role of royal patronage as the modus vivendi for musicians of the Early Modern period. Couperin's treatise, L'Art de Toucher le Clavecin, is here interwoven with a selection of his Pieces de clavecin, giving rise to a portrait gallery in music, each inspired by anonymous figures who inhabited the French court. This set of pieces de caractere, whose allusive and encoded meanings remain largely enigmatic today, is presented in groupings by tonality, each offering a window into the refined world of Baroque palace life and it's intricate web of connections.

Early music specialist Federico Maria Sardelli conducts his Modo Antiquo ensemble in this live performance of Cavalli’s Il Xerse – a highly innovative dramma per musica premiered in 1655. Recorded during the the 48th Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, Italy, the cast includes the countertenor Carlo Vistoli and soprano Ekaterina Protsenko. A Blu-ray and DVD of this performance were released in June this year on the Dynamic label (DYN-57983 & DYN-37983).

REVIEW:

Francesco Cavalli’s Il Xerxe was first performed in Venice in 1655. The plot essentially consists of the efforts of the Persian Xerxes to win over the beautiful vassal Romilda, who is, however, in love with the king’s brother, Arsamene. The other main characters are also involved in the intrigues: Amastre, the woman already promised to the Persian king, and Adelanta, Romilda’s sister, who would love to see herself on the Thorn.

Countertenor Carlo Vistoli sings the title role with a warm and round, well-managed voice, which also convincingly conveys the character of the fickle figure. With her powerful voice, Gaia Petrone succeeds in interpreting Arsamene in a vocally worthy and credible manner. Ekaterina Protsenko sings a very attractive Amastre, and Caterina Lippo is also convincing as Romilda. The other roles are satisfactorily cast as well. Frederico Maria Sardelli leads the excellent Orchestra Barocca Modo Antiquo in a spirited, flowing and energetic performance.

-- Pizzicato

After completing his Goyescas, the pianist and composer Enrique Granados wrote that he had happily succeeded in "writing something significant". And who would want to contradict him? The six scenes, some of them very extensive, are based on drawings by the great Spanish artist Francisco Jose de Goya. They form a cycle that is glowing with inspiration from the first to the last bar, and whose technical difficulties achieve the kind of transcendence that Franz Liszt in particular had achieved in the 19th century. His technical prowess is entirely devoted to picturesque and highly emotional expression, from humorous whimsy to the most grave of tragedies. The young Dina Stojilkovic has recorded Goyescas for cpo on a Steinway B built in 1895, an instrument that Granados might well have had under his virtuoso fingers at the time.

Carpathian Tales is a project of the artist's heart that has been formed over two years. It represents a musical dedication to her second home Romania - full of personal stories and compositions that capture the spirit of the country and paint a multi-faceted picture of the Carpathians. Each piece is accompanied by it's own story. All works combine the unmistakable energy of folk themes, pure emotionality and show a varied spectrum from melancholy to dancing virtuosity. These are special arrangements and first recordings that come together on this album. For this album, Lelie Cristea also went in search of works that would be equal in beauty and character to the pieces by Enescu and Porumbescu. She herself was surprised by the musical treasures she found and her expectations were far exceeded. All the works are united by their expressive character, which is characterised by folk themes and a wide spectrum of colours. Sensual ballads give way to virtuoso character pieces that joyfully invite you to dance. What always attracts one almost magically is the emotional depth of the compositions. It is up to the performer and, of course, the listener to allow this completely and to immerse themselves in the respective work. Then the pulse of the works begins to connect with your own, and the journey begins. With Carpathian Tales and further planned concept albums, Lelie Cristea fulfils her wish to record and capture special works from classical, film and salon music in exclusive arrangements.

Soundscape of the Corpus Christi procession in Valencia (17th-18th centuries) The Feast of Corpus Christi, established in 1264 by Pope Urban IV, became one of Valencia's most important and magnificent celebrations. It's origins are tied to a Eucharistic miracle that occurred in Valencian territory-the Miracle of the Corporals of Llutxent-Daroca around 1239. This connection helped Valencia become one of the first cities in the Iberian Peninsula to organize a general Corpus Christi procession, beginning in 1355. By the 17th century, the celebration had evolved into a grand public spectacle, rich in music, theatre, and ritual. On the eve of the feast, a parade called the Cavalcada del Convit invited the populace to participate, while the afternoon featured traditional religious theatre in Valencian (els Misteris) and choreographed dances commissioned for the procession. The main procession was a stunning display involving the whole of Valencian society-from guilds to the highest civic, royal, and ecclesiastical authorities. A rich musical tapestry accompanied every step: folk instruments like the dolcainaand tabal, dramatic theatre music, ceremonial city bands, plainchant from clergy, and elaborate polyphony performed by the Cathedral's chapel. In 1672, municipal musician Josep Gomar compiled a manuscript preserving the texts and music of these plays and rituals. Today, this music offers a rare glimpse into the soundscape of baroque Valencia. This concert brings those sounds back to life, allowing audiences to relive the awe and splendor of the city's most cherished feast. Imagine yourself on a Valencian street in the late 1600s, watching and hearing the vibrant procession pass by-an unforgettable journey into the soul of a city's tradition.

Bicinia and Love Villancicos in the Uppsala Songbook. "Villancicos (songs) by various composers for two, three, four and five voices, now freshly revised..." (Venice, 1556) - this is the name under which the Duke of Calabria's Songbook (or the Uppsala Songbook) was printed. The selection of villancicos it contains is grouped under three themes: popular songs and pastoral songs; Christmas carols, and love songs. In this album we can listen to a selection from this songbook of works for two and three voices, some of them instrumental works under the title 'Polyphonic song themes", which are structured as exercises in composition around Gregorian techniques.

Laments of lost and betrayed love from 17th-century Italy: musical portraits to be set beside contemporary paintings by Gentilesschi in their contained power and violence. While the featured composers in this recital were born and worked in contrasting provinces of Italy, most of them shared common goals and aesthetic principles. The text came first, and the music was always servant to it. The sweet torment of a broken heart drew from them long-breathed melodies, supported by spare but painfully chromatic harmony. The melody itself was always articulated according to the shape of the text, fitting one to the other like a hand in a silk glove. Eleni Lydia Stamellou and Konstantin Shenikov have made their own selection from a rich treasury of available repertoire in this vein. The album takes it's title from the final track, 'Oblivion soave', drawn from Monteverdi's final opera, 'L'incoronazione di Poppea'. The aria exemplifies Enlightenment values of humanism which inspire self-examination as well as 'sweet oblivion'.They include perhaps the most famous lost-love song of all, at least until the age of Lieder, Caccini's 'Amarilli, mia bella', and comparably familiar masterpieces in the genre such as Monteverdi's 'Si dolce 'l tormento' and Peri's 'Tora, deh torna'. There is also space for the no less subtle art of Andrea Falconieri, as well as several songs by Barbara Strozzi, one of the most successful women composers of the time; indeed, she was the most prolific composer - of either gender - of printed secular vocal music in Venice around the middle of the 17th century. Eleni Lydia Stamellou is a Greek soprano, specialising in this Renaissance-era repertoire as well as new music and Lieder. As a member of Music Aeterna, she has sung operatic roles conducted by Teodor Currentzis including Despina (Cosi fan tutte) and Pierrot in Schoenberg's cabaret-monodrama. The lutenist Konstantin Shenikov has been a regular member of early-opera productions led in Russia by Andrew Lawrence-King. - A beautifully conceived program of Renaissance and early Baroque songs and arias, sung by Greek soprano Eleni Lydia Stamellou, accompanied on the lute by Konstantin Shenikov. - The featured composers are Monteverdi (1567-1643), Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Caccini (1551-1618), Strozzi (baptized 1619-1677), Peri (1561-1633) and Falconieri (ca. 1585-1656). The secular texts deal with Love, in both it's sublime fulfillment and it's melancholy abandonment. - Greek soprano Eleni Lydia Stamellou won Second Prize at the Ferruccio Tagliavini Competition in Austria, with Dame Joan Sutherland as the president of the jury. She subsequently attended masterclasses given by Teresa Berganza, Edda Moser and Christa Ludwig. She sang in opera productions with MusicAeterna conducted by Teodor Currentzis. Her specialization is Renaissance/Baroque and Contemporary Music. She sang in productions of Berio and Hersant.

A prevailing feature of music of the 16th century and earlier was a split between the deployment of voices and instruments: occasionally replacing each other, or used in alternation - a more concerted effort in writing dedicated instrumental music with increasing degrees of complexity and virtuosity was taking place. The penchant for writing stories about love in it's many forms continued, finding a new home in the developing operatic works as well as the ever-popular madrigal genre, as composers continued to find ways to describe the joy, grief, despair and ecstasy of the human experience of love. Cupid's Ground Bass is a celebration of these developing musical aesthetics of early 17th century Italy, focusing particularly on the composers' language of love in all it's forms.

A follow up to their album Vivaldi X2, this new offering from baroque specialists Las Serenissima combines further double concerti by Antonio Vivaldi with works for violin, cello, oboe, recorder and continuo. The previous album received rave reviews including Recording of the Month from BBC Music Magazine. These are some of Vivaldi's most colourful and joyful works, and with director Adrian Chandler at the helm listeners can look forward to further baroque excellence from this dynamic ensemble.

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.

Embark on a captivating musical journey with Roby Lakatos as he delves into the soul-stirring rhythms of Tango. Teaming up with the renowned Gang Tango, the King of Gypsy violinists invites you to explore the rich traditions of Tango from across the globe. From timeless classics like Oblivion and La Cumparsita to undiscovered jewels such as Rookgordijnen and Vale Mousiki, this album is a veritable treasure chest for lovers of passionate music-making.

The distinguished Japanese composer, Toshio Hosokawa, has been honoured with numerous awards as well as a steady stream of commissions and acclaimed performances. As with many of Hosokawa's concertos, Ceremony sees the flute soloist as a 'person' and the orchestra as the 'universe and nature' - the flautist's breath echoing like the winds of nature and becoming a song that awakens the spirits. A complimentary work to Hosokawa's The Raven (Naxos 8.573724), Futari Shizuka - The Maiden from the Sea is a single-act opera, the ancient tragic tale of which resonates with the fate of refugees around the world today.

Had Alberto Ginastera not been born just three years after the scandalous premiere of The Rite of Spring, he could easily have been considered one of the earliest followers of the "pagan" Stravinsky. Although wild rhythms of ancient dances, volcanic eruptions of complex sound layers, and martyrs of all kinds permeate his works, they are never random in form. His First String Quartet from 1948, for example, follows a traditional path, with some bows losing a bit of horsehair during performance - not unlike his Piano Quintet, premiered in Venice in 1963, which explores the limits of what is possible in seven extremely concise sections that the composer described as "neo-expressionistic". Maurice Ravel's unique String Quartet acts as an "impressionist" antipode and delicate counterpoint in this context.

Ukrainian American folklorist and singer Nadia Tarnawsky leads the women of Cappella Romana with special guest folklorists from Ukraine, Inna Kovtun and Hanna Tishchenko, to perform this unique offering of Ukrainian wedding songs. The songs sung in preparation for the wedding employ the vocal techniques of village singers, while the chants and choral works sung during the wedding ceremony itself reflect the sublime style more prevalent in church singing. From the engagement through the crowning of the young couple, the rituals of a traditional Ukrainian wedding are accompanied by songs. Traditionally performed by the women belonging to the families of the young couple, these songs help bring forth good health, prosperity, and many children. These songs were collected by Nadia Tarnawsky in Ukrainian villages, often from women over 80 years old, before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Eastern Orthodox understanding of repentance doesn’t dwell on morose sorrow for past transgressions. Instead it focuses on deliverance and optimism: repentance, from the Greek metánoia, is a change of mind, a fundamentally positive redirection. This recording presents Arvo Pärt’s Orthodox choral works for the first time as a service (or office) of supplication (Greek paráklesis, Slavonic molében). The office is built around the singing of a Byzantine poem called a kanon, on this occasion three odes from Pärt’s monumental Kanon Pokajanen (Kanon of Repentance).

Compositions by Pärt likewise comprise the other elements of this office: a Gospel reading marks the center of the service (The Woman with the Alabaster Box) completed by psalmody, Orthodox hymns, and fervent prayers. Pärt’s transcendent “Prayer after the Kanon” eventually gives way to silence, to the prayer of the heart. Cappella Romana transforms hearts and minds through encounters with the sacred musical inheritance of the Christian East and West, bringing to life these ancient and diverse traditions, especially of Byzantium, and their interactions with other cultures. Cappella Romana is devoted to the stewardship of this precious jewel of world culture. Arvo Pärt: Odes of Repentance is Cappella Romana’s 31st release.

REVIEWS:

In this album, the stars, the galaxies, all the wonders of a distant universe seem to touch us through the medium of sound. Whether or not one is knowledgeable about Eastern sacred music, this is an album of supreme artistry to cherish, heed, and enjoy.

Under the direction of Alexander Lingas, Cappella Romana’s Odes of Repentance is a selection of Arvo Pärt’s Orthodox works woven into a service of public and private prayers of supplication and renewal. While Pärt is widely identified with works having an Eastern spiritual flavor, his pedagogical background derives from Western classical music and the musical traditions of the Roman Catholic church. However, since his conversion to Orthodoxy some 50 years ago, the public has come to associate Pärt with music as inspired by Eastern Christianity.

Odes consists of 12 spellbinding tracks which give voice to the human yearning to be cleansed of past mistakes and to make positive changes in one’s future life. As the excellent booklet notes in Church Slavonic and English tell us, these prayers are less an expression of sorrow than they are an affirmation of rebirth. This renascence is expressed eloquently through Pärt’s music in an imaginative flow of melodies, modal harmonies, unexpected twists and turns, and the composer’s unique tintinnabuli technique.

What I found most absorbing in this recording was the variety of musical utterances, the splendid multiplicity of sounds, rhythms and tremors. Something new is lurking around the corner of every measure, sometimes as puzzling as our own contemplated destinies.

The album begins with an Ode from the Triodion and two Slavic Psalms (Psalm 131, “Lord, my heart is not haughty” King James Version [KJV] and the Doxology Psalm 116). The Ode is the first of three in this recording from the Triodion, a liturgical book used in the Eastern Church during Lent. Seven selections from the Kanon of Repentance shine at the heart of the album.

These tracks could not be more different. Slow staccato notes tiptoe under a silvery upper register in the third track while an almost Western sensibility shapes the sound of the fourth (did I hear a touch of Mahler?). The swinging rhythms and unexpected pauses of Kanon Ode 9 remind us that “we aren’t in Kansas anymore”, but, rather, in a world that sometimes stretches far beyond the Western orientation of many listeners.

The album also includes a sung “reading” from the Gospel of Matthew, “The Woman with the Alabaster Box” (“There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.” KJV). Pärt’s music floats effortlessly from the ensemble and melts into the next selection, scattered with little discords.

This is Cappella Romana’s 31st album. While the group specializes in the sacred music of the Christian East and West, it is known largely for its stewardship of the music of Byzantium and the works of Arvo Pärt. Those of us raised in Western cultural traditions have missed much if we have ignored or been deprived of the legacy of Eastern sacred music, old or new. There is a core of authenticity in Pärt’s work that has endeared it, even in his lifetime, to millions around the world.

-- ConcertoNet

As a boy, Francesco Cavalli was a member of San Marco Basilica's Chapel, then directed by Claudio Monteverdi, from whom he probably received tuition. In time Cavalli's fame as an operatic composer spread across Europe and he succeeded Monteverdi in San Marco to reach the apex of success in Venice. He also wrote sacred music, published in two great printed collections. The first collection, published in 1656, contains his Missa a 8 voci Concertata, an imposing and magnificent work of exceptional complexity for eight soloists, two four-voiced choirs and many instrumentalists. In this recording it is performed in the context of an All Saints' Day liturgy by Ensemble Locatelli, directed by Cavalli scholar, Bruno Gini.

Shortly after the election of the last chancellor of the German Empire on 30 January 1933, the political catastrophe known as the "seizure of power", composer Paul Frankenburger was on his way to Palestine. The former British Protectorate, regarded by Western culture as a developing nation, profited considerably from the arrival of the this Munich native, who renamed himself Paul Ben-Haim ("Son of Heinrich") and then did a large amount of pioneering work. After the recordings of the two symphonies by this influential teacher and administrator, we now present an extensive anthology of concertante works under the direction of violinist LIV Migdal. These include the Yizkor fantasy, duos for violin and piano, and selected art songs. They leave no doubt that Paul Ben-Haim was an inimitable voice in Israel.

Mignone: Doze Valsas

Ausias Parejo won the 2022 'Alhambra' International Guitar Competition at the age of 17. In this programme he includes works by Leo Brouwer, Ponce and Guastavino, as well as works by Juan Erena, Lorenzo Palomo (a premiere recording) and Ausias's father Ruben.

"Echos de la Terre," the first album with Cypres by the highly promising Trio O3, is intended as an aural journey into the immensity and immeasurability of the world around us. Each composition resonates with one of the fundamental elements present in nature. However, the element earth, mentioned in the title of the CD, is not directly linked to any of the four pieces. Rather, it is light (Fiorini) that appears as a crucial element alongside air (Kõrvits), fire (Saariaho), and water (Crumb).

Interpreting these complex works as if they were their mother tongue, Lydie Thonnard, Eugénie Defraigne, and Lena Kollmeier, thanks to their mastery of unconventional playing techniques, bring them to life and fuse their distinct instrumental voices into a harmonious whole, lavishing the listener with unexpected pleasures and profound emotions.

Francisco Mignone was a leading figure in the Brazilian music scene of the 20th century, with a free-flowing style and gift for melody that instantly communicated with audiences. He was part of the first generation of modernist Brazilian composers that included Villa-Lobos and Guarnieri. Mignone's two early unnumbered sonatas emulate the French influence of Faure and Debussy, but it was not until the 1960s that he returned to the genre. The First and Second Sonatas share a fragmented, experimental character that juxtapose varying forms of tonality and metre, while the Third Sonata features national rhythmic and melodic elements. These sonatas represent some of the most significant works for violin and piano to come from Brazil.