Praised for it's versatility and keen interest in new music, the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and it's chief conductor Fredrik Malmberg present a programme devoted to a cappella works in a modern yet accessible style by American or American-born composers. The album opens with a triptych based of adaptations of ancient Gaelic poems, Reincarnations by Samuel Barber, known for his opulent, post-romantic language as expressed in his famous Adagio for Strings. Jeff Beal, one of Hollywood's most prolific and respected composers, wrote The Salvage Men, based on texts by Oscar Wilde and contemporary Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Kay Ryan. This cycle, according to Beal, offers 'a wholly fresh, contemporary view on the themes of transformation and our chosen response to pain'. Daniel Nelson's The New Colossus, based on a text by the 19th-century writer Emma Lazarus inspired by the Statue of Liberty, aims to convey musically the majesty and beauty inherent in the idea of inclusion. Finally, two works by Eric Whitacre, a composer whose works have become popular with vocal ensembles across America: A Boy and a Girl, a delicate piece based on a poem by Octavio Paz, and Three Songs of Faith, on texts by E.E. Cummings, a cycle that presents Whitacre's personal faith and his reflections on the spiritual and the unknowable.

Experience the rich and vibrant sounds of Europe's Romantic tradition with our latest CD featuring music by four talented composers. Discover the little-known talent of Sigurd Lie, a highly skilled violinist and composer from Norway who studied with leading teachers in Leipzig and Berlin. Immerse yourself in the enchanting folk tale inspiration of Lie's "Huldra aa'n Elland" for violin and orchestra and be captivated by the playful and seductive solo violin performed by the renowned violinist Ragnhild Hemsing. Follow in the footsteps of Lie's compatriot, Johan Svendsen, a famous violinist and composer who studied in Leipzig and Paris and is best remembered for his Romance for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 26. Svendsen's work was admired by Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe and was reprinted 65 times. This CD is a must-have for any lover of the Romantic era, the diverse sounds of Norway and Europe, and the virtuosic performances of Hemsing.

Spanish percussionist Noè Rodrigo is one of the most talented musicians of his generation. Having performed all over Europe and the US at most major concert halls and festivals, he has premiered more than 50 pieces by composers of over 20 nationalities. His interpretations of the percussion “classics” have been described by critics and audiences as highly virtuosic, technically impeccable and musically complex while featuring a large palette of colours. With PARAULES, (Words) Rodrigo brings to life seven works by essential composers of the XXth Century: Xenakis, Sciarrino, Mantovani, Denisov, Spanish music never before recorded (Torres and Vallejo) alongside more recent pieces (Borzelli). Seventy minutes where the young artist is able to show a stunning versatility, embracing every aesthetic with intelligence and accuracy, aiming for unique interpretations. If in the beginning music was a verb, like singing, shortly after it became percussion: initially, doubling the prosody of the voice; later, introducing a growing range of rhythms and colours that have made it the most heterogeneous, surprising and multicultural of all the instrumental families. In Sciarrino’s words (PARAULES): 'a wooden percussion instrument can hardly sing, but at the same time I wonder if it cannot speak, shout, moan or murmur’.

This is a wonderful program of Latin American piano works, performed by Israeli pianist Gila Goldstein.

Bittersweet - Sophie Pacini's own collection of encouraging masterpieces that feels like a gentle embrace in the midst of crises and challenges. In a world often dominated by uncertainty and stress, the music on this album offers a powerful solace - a reminder that beauty, pain and hope are mysteriously intertwined. Inspired by an intimate, moving concert in a women's shelter in Munich, the ECHOKlassik Award winner was passionate about giving hope and light to many otherpeople in dark hours with a compilation of her personal heartfelt pieces. It is probably the most personal album project to date by the Munich-born artist, who -unintentionally dubbed a "wunderkind" - had to fight against discrimination, exclusion and resentment from an early age and always drew all her strength from her music. Each piece on "bittersweet" is a little encouragement, a reminder that even in themost bittersweet moments of life, the beauty of music can lead to new strength. Sophie Pacini's interpretation, between virtuosity and sensitivity, opens doors to aworld that provides encouragement in difficult times - and shows that true strengthlies especially in fragility.

Music without remembrance is not possible, affirms pianist Sophie Pacini, and "Rimembranza" is the title she has chosen for her 6th solo album. Here, the music deals with hope and doubt, pain and deliverance, bitter loss and - most of all - memory. At the album's core she has placed two works she finds strongly connected with pain, transience, and death: Mozart's Sonata in A minor K.310 and Schubert's Sonata in A minor D 784. Mozart's mother died in Paris shortly before he wrote his sonata. His twelve variations on the French folk song "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman!" thus already bear the seed of the Sonata in A minor in themselves. "They are Mozart's rimembranza addressed to himself", she suggests. With their plaintive title harking back to the past, these variations open the curtain on Sophie Pacini's album. Before it falls again, we hear Schubert's two Impromptus Op. 90: sounding like excerpts from his sonatas, they "brush against our memory like two bittersweet rimembranzas from the past", she muses. The last act is introduced by Schubert's "Standchen" on a love poem by Ludwig Rellstab. The subject of love likewise closes the album; from the film "Cinema Paradiso", we hear the love theme composed by the recently departed Ennio Morricone and his son Andrea - a tribute track to Sophie Pacini's second homeland, Italy.

Franco Alfano was a major musician and teacher who enjoyed considerable success with his operas during his lifetime, but who has been overlooked for decades. Generally regarded as the regenerator of the Italian art song, the works featured in this album offer a generous overview of Alfano’s vocal output, from his Opus 1 Cinq mélodies, written in 1896 when he was a twenty-one-year-old student at Leipzig, to Due liriche per canto, violoncello e pianoforte from 1949, five years before his death. Anna Pirozzi has established herself as the leading Italian dramatic soprano of today, performing on the most prestigious international opera stages. She is joined here by the acclaimed pianist Emma Abbate and renowned cellist Bozidar Vukotic.

Pianist Mira Gill is of East-Indian descent. Born in Salt Lake City, she is now based in New York City. The piano works of Samuel Barber are a specialty of hers, and it shows in these superb performances.

This is a wonderful program of works for cello and piano by composers such as Libby Larsen, Samuel Barber, and George Walker.

Stuttgart-born mezzo-soprano Christina Baader has been a much sought-after musician for many years, not only as an opera singer and soloist, but is also an internationally successful visual artist. To mark the 100th anniversary of Gabriel Faure's death, Christina Baader and Gert Hecher, piano, are presenting an album by the title MONDE ET MYSTeRE with a selection of his songs as well as those by Henri Duparc, who also played a significant role in establishing an independent French art of song. The expressive songs are based on poems by famous French poets such as Paul Verlaine, Charles Baudelaire, Armand Silvestre, Theophile Gautier, Rene-Fran�ois Sully-Prudhomme and Jean Lahor. Together with Gert Hecher, a specialist in the restoration of historical keyboard instruments, two grand pianos from 1868 and 1879, respectively, from the famous erard piano manufactory in Paris, which at the time had a similar status to Steinway & Sons today, were chosen to best emphasize the different tonal and stylistic elements of the works of the two composers.

The Crown of Life continues the Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford's exploration of overlooked treasures in twentieth-century English choral music under Owen Rees. At it's centre is the first recording of Kenneth Leighton's Missa Christi (1988), the composer's final large-scale sacred work, commissioned by Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis. Alongside it are world premiere recordings of Harold Darke's Blessed Is the Man That Endureth Temptation and Imogen Holst's Out of Your Sleep Arise and Wake. Works by Rebecca Clarke and Gustav Holst complete the programme, offering a richly varied portrait of composers linked by study with Stanford and united in sacred expression.

Recorded on the same day after the quintet session (SCCD 31046 Duke’s Delight) in a New York studio in 1975 this attractive trio recording “comprises nearly 40 minutes of sheer unpretentious enjoyment.” (Mark Gardner - Jazz Journal UK) Duke Jordan’s long association with SteepleChase started with Jordan’s visit to Copenhagen in 1973. The collaboration yielded impressive hoard of highly acclaimed albums including SCCD 31011 Flight To Denmark). This session with the very best sidemen New York could offer - the veteran bassist Sam Jones and the great drummer Al Foster (who joined Miles Davis shortly after this session - enabled Jordan to display his attractive personal touch featuring Jordan’s own melodious compositions. 180g Audiophile Vinyl

Both these violin concertos have been long-neglected for the same reason: their composers were much better-known for their achievements in musical theatre rather than for their works for the concert-hall. Robert Russell Bennett studied composition in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, and his output includes seven symphonies. He also orchestrated some of the highest-profile musicals in Broadway history, including works by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hammerstein. (Richard Rodgers modestly claimed that Bennett's skills in instrumentation had made his music 'sound better than it was'). Vladimir Alexandrovich Dukelsky changed his name to Vernon Duke at the suggestion of his friend Jacob Gershovitz - better known as George Gershwin. Duke received a rigorous training in classical music at the Kyiv Conservatory; was friends with Prokofiev and composed ballet scores for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris, as well as three symphonies. He remains better known as the creator of hit shows, such as Cabin in the Sky, and as the composer of numerous songs that became jazz standards, including 'April in Paris'. Chloe Hanslip, Andrew Litton, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra perform both concertos with aplomb, and Andrew Litton also takes the role of pianist in Bennett's Hexapoda.

Kenny Drew (August 28, 1928 / New York – August 4, 1993 / Copenhagen) spent the last three decades of his life in Copenhagen as a stalwart of vibrant European jazz scene. He left quite a number of outstanding recordings both as leader and sideman on SteepleChase. Here on his first trio recording for the label, Kenny Drew is backed by – to quote Melody Maker – Danish bass wizard Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and intelligent purveyor of rhythm Albert “Tootie” Heath. Dark Beauty whose album cover is graced by a portrait photo of his daughter Sabrina is one of the most popular albums of his recording career. “...extremely charming main stream jazz..” (Swing Journal) “...brilliant!” (Jazz Magazine) “Kenny has a relaxed, attractive style, free from embellishments or dramatic devices, but capable of generating happy swing…” (C.W. Meloday Maker on SCS 1016) 180g Audiophile Vinyl

Laura van der Heijden joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Ryan Wigglesworth for this album of British cello concertos. Frank Bridge's Oration, composed in 1929 - 30 was intended as an outcry against the inhumanity of warfare, and a tribute to the victims of the First World War. It's arch form single continuous movement exhibits the intense chromaticism typical of Bridge's output from this era. Commissioned by the Ukrainian-born cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, Walton's Cello Concerto suffered a number of difficulties with regard to first performances (Piatigorsky suffered a mental breakdown; Walton missed the UK premiere because of a nasty road accident) but it has nevertheless become a staple of the repertoire. It was with this concerto that Laura van der Heijden won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, in 2012. The young British composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and then the University of Cambridge and King's College London, and rapidly established herself as one of the most talented and prolific composers of her generation. Earth, Sea, Air was written for van der Heijden, who gave the work's premiere in Glasgow in 2023, a week before making this recording with the same forces.

In the 1950s, American composer Morton Feldman (1926-1987) developed his own unique, meditative style of music, combining open, quasi-functional sounds into a musical flow. His works generally do not follow any formal concept; they are slow, calm, sometimes very extended sound meditations, mostly moving in the finest piano-pianissimo nuances. With these recordings made at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne, the participating artists present the first complete recording of all of Feldman's piano works for more than two hands. The piano duo elaeis - Jovita Z�hl and Philipp Kronbichler - collaborated with other pianists and singers. The recordings include several first recordings, such as Pianos and Voices, recorded for the first time on five grand pianos with five sopranos, and the recently discovered Trio for Two Pianos and Cello with Rohan de Saram, long-time member of the Arditti Quartet, playing the violoncello. The fame of Feldman's late work temporarily overshadowed our appreciation of his earlier compositions, the importance of which is amply demonstrated in this album. - A magnificent release to mark the composer's 100th birthday!

Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) wrote vocal chamber music over the whole of her career, from Wandrers Nachtlied, her first completed composition, in 1903, through her overhaul of Lethe, in the winter of 1976-77. Taken together, her songs and duets constitute one of the greatest and most distinctive contributions to the vocal repertoire of the twentieth century.

Her fifth recital album on Signum Records, celebrated soprano Mary Bevan returns with a selection of French songs, featuring works by composers including Britten, Ravel, Debussy and Faure.

Esteemed pianist James Iman releases his highly anticipated album, "Iman III," marking the third instalment in his groundbreaking series. Delving into a diverse repertoire, Iman's latest offering showcases a unique blend of piano works that resonate with the complexities of the human experience. The genesis of "Iman III" amidst the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the resilience and creative introspection that defined it's conception. Originally planned for recording prior to the pandemic-induced lockdowns, the project encountered delays, allowing Iman ample time to refine and redefine it's thematic underpinnings. The resulting album is a testament to the profound evolution of artistic vision in the face of adversity. Iman's eclectic program transcends traditional narrative structures, inviting listeners into a labyrinth of musical abstraction where each piece engages in a nuanced dialogue with it's counterparts. From Klaus Huber's haunting exploration of silence in "Ein Hauch von Unzeit II" to Alban Berg's masterful interplay of chromaticism and counterpoint in his Piano Sonata Op. 1, "Iman III" offers a multifaceted journey through the annals of musical expression. In Morton Feldman's "Last Pieces," Iman embraces the freedom afforded by the composer's experimental notation, weaving a tapestry of sound that defies conventional constraints. Emulating the randomness inherent in Feldman's ensemble works, Iman navigates the delicate balance between structure and spontaneity, inviting listeners to immerse themselves in a realm of deliberate and enjoyable ambiguity. Betsy Jolas's enigmatic "B for Sonata" serves as a fitting conclusion to the album, epitomizing the composer's innovative approach to form and rhythm. Through meticulously crafted rhythmic freedoms and evolving tonal landscapes, Iman breathes life into Jolas's introspective exploration of musical minimalism and existential inquiry. "Iman III" attests to James Iman's unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of artistic expression. With each track meticulously curated to resonate with the soulful intricacies of human experience. James Iman is a critically acclaimed pianist known for his innovative approach to repertoire and profound musical insight. With a career spanning decades, Iman has established himself as a prominent figure in the contemporary classical music scene, captivating audiences worldwide with his dynamic performances and meticulous attention to detail. "Iman III" marks the latest chapter in his ongoing quest to redefine the boundaries of artistic expression through the transformative power of music.

One of the most celebrated pianists of our time performs Schubert's posthumously published works for piano - remixed & remastered for Hybrid SACD.

With their long-awaited new album Max Richter Remixed the Trio Fibonacci invites us to rediscover the genius of Max Richter through their own completely new and original transcriptions for piano trio. Following the centuries-old tradition of adapting music for chamber ensembles, the Fibonacci's interpretations renew our listening of these contemporary masterpieces thanks to new instrumental colours, always delivered with their signature passion and elegance.

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.

His 17th album with Signum Classics, the Welsh pianist, Llyr Williams, brings a profound musical intelligence to his work as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. His second album of Robert Schumann works explores a selection of works that span a substantial part of Schumann's life. Llyr Williams' long and successful collaboration with Signum Records includes the 8-disc box-set 'A Schubert Journey' (2020), the 12-volume 'Beethoven Unbound' (2018), a 'Wagner Without Words' double album (2014) and highlights from Liszt's 'Annees de pelerinage' (2012).

Guy Braunstein, who was concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for nearly fifteen years, pursues an international career as soloist, conductor and composer. His lifelong passion for the music of the Beatles led him to compose this suite for violin and orchestra which includes all the greatest hits of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, performed here with the Liege Royal Philharmonic under a longstanding musical partner, the Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra. This large-scale rhapsody, based on a dozen Beatles songs, pays tribute to a group of musicians who were greatly influenced by Classical and Romantic composers. To accompany this first recording, two English works for violin and orchestra, The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams and the rarely performed Violin Concerto of Frederick Delius, which - like so many Beatles hits - was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London!

Sir Adrian Boult (1889–1983) was probably Britain’s most authoritative interpreter of the music of Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. He formed close relationships with both composers; particularly with Vaughan Williams; giving premieres of three of his symphonies.

Featuring several world-premiere recordings, the most comprehensive set ever released of Pizzetti's song output. Art song occupies a substantial space in Pizzetti's oeuvre, with over 40 pieces, and yet the composer is still remembered mostly for his opera Murder in the Cathedral, and more tangentially for chamber and choral pieces such as the Cello Sonata and Requiem. Pizzetti composed songs for almost his entire life as a composer, starting with Nuvole (1899), a romanza still unpublished, up to the Tre canti d'amore, which belong to the group of his last works, from the second half of the 1950s. Pizzetti wished to distance himself from the Italian tradition of song writing for the salon of salon writing: in 1914 he wrote that 'a new period for vocal chamber music in our country is about to begin.' His choice of authors is singular, and serious: Petrarch, Michelangelo, Victor Hugo, as well as contemporary Italian versions of Greek lyrics by Sappho and the classical-era tragedians. Another running thread is nature, and a love for his native region of Parma. Pizzetti often set poets from the region such as Mario Silvani's Sera d'inverno (1907), an evocative winter landscape, and a set of three 'tragic sonnets' by Alfredo Zerbini. Alas, like other songs here, they were never published, despite the poet's entreaty to the composer: 'I ask you to do it for our beloved dialect, if you do not want to do it for me. Through the music of a great musician, who knows, even our poor dialect may aim high!' Alfredo Blessano's booklet essay gives invaluable context to this absorbing and richly varied collection of 20th-century song. Performing together as the 'Vansisiem Lied Duo', Paola Camponovo and Alfredo Blessano have previously recorded the complete songs of Gian Francesco Malipiero (96153). 'The songs are lovely, and the performances excellent. They are strongly closely attuned to each other, and their committed performances here are much more than readings.' (Fanfare) - The Complete Songs (Liriche) by Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968) form a significant portion of his vocal output, bearing witness to his deep connection with Italian literary traditions and his ability to translate poetry into expressive music. As one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century, Pizzetti was known for his lyrical style, drawing inspiration from both the past and the modern era. His songs often set texts by prominent Italian poets such as Gabriele D'Annunzio, who shared Pizzetti's interest in themes of nature, mysticism, and the Italian cultural heritage. - Pizzetti's liriche demonstrate his skillful blend of text and music, characterized by a refined melodic line that closely follows the natural inflection of the language. His approach to vocal writing is often declamatory, allowing the poetry's meaning to guide the musical expression. Harmonically, the songs exhibit a rich, modal language influenced by Renaissance and early Baroque music. The thematic variety in his Complete Songs ranges from intimate, introspective reflections to more dramatic, impassioned expressions, always maintaining a close relationship between word and sound. - Sung by the Vansisiem Lied Duo: Paola Camponovo and Alfredo Blessano. This duo already showed their affinity with the idiom in their much praised recording of the complete songs by Malipiero on Brilliant Classics (BC 96153).

His 16th album with Signum Classics, the Welsh pianist, Llyr Williams, brings a profound musical intelligence to his work as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. His new album of compositions by Johannes Brahms offers a comprehensive exploration of Brahms' introspective and expressive piano works. In addition the album features Variations on a theme by R Schumann, Op 9 - harking back to Williams' celebrated album of works by Robert Schumann (SIGCD756) released in January 2024. ? "... The performances are always immaculate, their working out totally lucid; it's unquestionably thoughtful, authoritative playing." - The Guardian. Llyr Williams' long and successful collaboration with Signum Records includes the 8-disc box-set 'A Schubert Journey' (2020), the 12-volume 'Beethoven Unbound' (2018), a 'Wagner Without Words' double album (2014) and highlights from Liszt's 'Annees de pelerinage' (2012).

- The 20th century saw an immense and revolutionary development in musical styles and language, some radically parting from the fundamental musical traditions. This CD presents works for flute and piano by composers who adhered to their own, personal musical language, expressing only their own feelings of beauty, emotion and esthetics, without following current trends or theories. - Presented are the following composers: Rhene Baton, Francis Poulenc, Albert Roussel, Darius Milhaud, Ernst Krenek, Paul Hoffer, Samuel Barber, Ferenc Farkas, Franco Margola, Giuseppe Mule, Jean Michel Damase, Luciano Michelini: a very diverse selection of accessible, highly enjoyable music. - Gian-Luca Petrucci has been first flute in several of the top orchestras of Italy. He was professor at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. As a scholar he published monographs on several (Italian) composers: Mercadante, Briccialdi, Gazzelloni, de Lorenzo and Mozart. His previous recordings for Brilliant Classics include works by Frederick The Great (BC 96538), Bohm (96862) and Mercadante (BC 96152).

Max Richter's The Recomposed Four Seasons has become an iconic piece. Richter discarded about three quarters of Vivaldi's original and substituted his own music. The new version sounds a little hipper, lighter on its feet in places, darker and more cinematic in others. Artfully, but faithfully, Richter rearranges the notes on the page, revealing anew the radiant melodies and lush timbres of the music. This new recording enjoys the flamboyant fantasy and the technical prowess of Daniel Rowland as solo violin.

The latest volume in a critically acclaimed series presents modern recordings of Dussek’s exhilaratingly diverse cycle of piano sonatas on instruments of his own time.

This enterprising series has reached the trio of ‘Grand Sonatas’ Op. 35, probably first published in 1798, when Dussek dedicated them to Gabrielle Pleyel (wife of the piano manufacturer Ignaz Pleyel) and Muzio Clementi, the composer, publisher, and piano manufacturer who developed new, more powerful-sounding and reliable piano actions. Dussek, like Beethoven, seized on such technological innovation and produced music of new turbulence such as the C minor Sonata Op. 35 No. 3. The sonata’s opening Allegro bursts with vitality and violence, which becomes all the more vivid when played on a piano from Dussek’s time, straining to contain the music’s expressive reach, as it is here.

The instrument used on this album is a 1798 fortepiano from the firm of Longman-Clementi. Accordingly, the touch and sound correspond more closely than any other piano previously used on recordings of this repertoire. Dussek lived in London during the 1790s and worked closely with the manufacturer John Broadwood to extend the range of keyboard instruments. The English fortepiano lent itself naturally to the harmonic fullness of Dussek's preferred textures, and in reverse, the instrument's characteristic sound and touch inspired and shaped the development of Dussek's compositional style.

Op. 69 No. 3 belongs to a collection of sonatas which Dussek composed with an optional violin part. Nos. 1 and 2 in the set have already received historically informed recordings in a separate Brilliant Classics project, with Julia Huber and Miriam Altmann, but this series presents the piano-only version which all the same contains the full argument of the sonata. In partnership with Bart van Oort, Petra Somlai contributed to Volume 9 in this series, which was welcomed in Fanfare magazine with glowing praise: ‘Both musicians have the requisite technique, and their execution of Dussek’s virtuoso writing is impressive… Both artists play with sensitivity and attractive tone. The recorded sound is fine, with admirable warmth and detail.’