Melancholic
403 products
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Echoes of Exile
$21.99SACDBIS
Aug 01, 2025BIS-2332 -
Johann Jakob Froberger: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 4
$25.99CDAthene
Oct 10, 2025ATH23215 -
Beethoven: The Last Three Sonatas
$21.99CDChandos
Feb 20, 2026CHAN 20362 -
Britten: Les Illuminations, Op. 18 (In French and English);
$21.99CDFirst Hand Records
Jan 23, 2026FHR150 -
Arensky & Rachmaninoff: Romances
$20.99CDSOMM Recordings
Feb 20, 2026SOMMCD 0716 -
Alfano: Concerto for Violin, Cello & Piano, Piano Quintet
$14.99CDBrilliant Classics
Oct 10, 2025BRI97310 -
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Remembrance
$20.99CDHaenssler Classic
Mar 13, 2026HC24012 -
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A Cello Galaxy of British Women Composers
$18.99CDDivine Art
Jun 20, 2025DDX21134 -
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Spanienreise
$19.99CDArs Produktion
Feb 06, 2026ARS38689 -
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Echoes of Exile
Arnold, Horovitz, Stanford & Finzi
Gade, Gardel, Mononen & Piazzolla: World Tangos Odyssey
Reinhard Goebel & Berliner Barock Solisten, Vol. 2
Johann Jakob Froberger: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 4
Beethoven: The Last Three Sonatas
Pergolesi: La Serva Padrona; Livietta e Tracollo
Guitar Recital - Marko Topchii
Orchestral & Chamber Music
Tiersen: Island (Biovinyl)
An audiophile LP transfer for an
immersive tribute to a remote island
off the coast of Brittany.
Having become celebrated for his score
to Amélie (2001), the French composer
moved to the island of Ushant
(Ouessant/Eusa), and this album is a
musical tribute to his home, comprising
ten pieces about ten specific places on
the island. In 2016, Tiersen published a
collection of pieces called Eusa, which
Jeroen van Veen has combined with his
2021 collection, Kerber, named after a
chapel on the island, to produce Island.
The album has been a best-seller on CD
for its contemplative mood and beauty.
Among the 10 tracks, some offer the
perfect soundtrack for contemplation on
a long walk or staring out of a window on
a train journey. Others seem predestined
to be background music for study or
relaxation. The pieces sound at times
dreamy and wistful, at times bittersweet,
at other times happily playful. With each
song, your imagination can easily conjure
a scene from a movie: a breakup after a
fight in a cosy café or a nature
documentary showing two baby birds
opening their eyes for the very first
time.
This isn’t a collection about isolation;
it’s more an expression of awareness of
your own environment and your place
within it: a sonic encapsulation of the
hyper-local. Tiersen relates this
approach to a night spent studying the
stars – which he himself does. ‘You can
look at things that are thousands of
light years away and relate your own
existence to this really cosmic element,’
he says. ‘But you get that same feeling
with the things all around you.’
Finzi: Clarinet Concerto; Dies Natalis; Preludio
Britten: Les Illuminations, Op. 18 (In French and English);
Arensky & Rachmaninoff: Romances
Alfano: Concerto for Violin, Cello & Piano, Piano Quintet
Gurney: Songs, Vol. 2 / Farnsworth, McElroy
Myaskovsky & Shostakovich: Cello & Piano Sonatas
Weinberg: String Quartets, Vol. 5
Handel, Bach, Mozart & C.P.E. Bach
Remembrance
Howells & Wood: Quartets
Dear to Us (2 LP vinyl edition)
Music for Piano & Piano Quintet / Angel Stanislav Wang
Angel Stanislav Wang (b. 2003, California), winner of the 2022 Jaén Prize International Piano Competition, presents his debut recital featuring Liszt’s monumental Sonata in B minor, and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor accompanied by the Bretón String Quartet, plus excerpts from Granados's Goyescas and the competition imposed work Poema a un amor eterno by Laura Vega.
A Cello Galaxy of British Women Composers
Gods, Ghosts & Monsters
This debut album, from Germany-based ensemble Conceptus, features music for tenor and ensemble by Butterworth, Warlock, Holst, and Bridge, in addition to Timothy Collins’ Sea Song. Collins has composed and arranged extensively for the ensemble.
Sea Song – Timothy Collins
Originally composed in 2018 and set to the poignant poetry of Katherine Mansfield, this evocative piece delves into themes of aging, sorrow, and loss. Conceptus has brought Collins' musical narrative to life with an accompanying 10-minute music film available on Apple Music and YouTube.
Six Songs from a Shropshire Lad – George Butterworth
Delving into themes of nostalgia and the tragedy of lost youth, this collection, originally composed in 1911, captures the essence of Alfred Edward Housman's timeless poetry. Collins' arrangements embellish the poignant resonance of Butterworth's work, forever etched in the annals of English song.
The Curlew – Peter Warlock
Peter Warlock's masterwork, "The Curlew," meticulously arranged for Conceptus by Timothy Collins. Woven from the poetry of William Butler Yeats, this haunting composition, originally scored for string quartet, cor anglais, and flute, delves into macabre imagery and desolate landscapes.
Hymns from the Rig Veda Opus 24 – Gustav Holst
"Hymns from the Rig Veda" is transfigured by Conceptus with these arrangements from Timothy Collins. Drawing inspiration from ancient Sanskrit texts dating back to 1500 BCE, Holst's choral triumph offers a reverent exploration of Hindu philosophical thought. Experience the profound resonance of Holst's sacred compositions as Conceptus breathes new life into these timeless hymns.
Three Songs by Frank Bridge
From the reflective tones of "Come To Me In My Dreams" to the mythological allure of "Love Went A-Riding," Conceptus navigates the emotional depths of Bridge's compositions with grace and finesse.
Conceptus is an international, multi-faceted, and multi-disciplinary ensemble with membership drawn from Germany, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia. Formed in 2021, the ensemble is dedicated to bringing new life to great works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and beyond, with a particular emphasis on Late Romantic British vocal music and song cycles.
Conceptus has also commissioned works by award-winning German composer, organist, and conductor Christoph Ritter, whose Requiem is set for a world premiere and recording in 2024. Conceptus Artistic Director, Scott Robert Shaw, released his acclaimed debut “The English Tenor” on Divine Art in 2023.
Spanienreise
Between Two Worlds - Ben-Haim, Engel & Prokofiev / Guy Yehuda
Weinberg: String Quartets, Vol. 4 / Arcadia Quartet
The Arcadia Quartet’s acclaimed survey of Weinberg’s String Quartets continues with this fourth volume containing Quartets Nos 6, 13, and 15. Quartet No. 6 was composed in 1946, the composer dedicating it to his friend Georgiy Sviridov, whom he had met in Shostakovich’s circle. The Quartet is a summit of his early achievements, and its musical language is strikingly advanced in relation to traditional Soviet works in the genre. It was banned by the authorities, and as a result, Weinberg wrote no more quartets until after the death of his mentor Shostakovich. String Quartet No. 13 was composed in 1977 and dedicated to the Borodin Quartet. It comprises a single movement lasting some fourteen or fifteen minutes, making it the shortest of all Weinberg’s quartets. String Quartet No. 15, from 1979, is in many respects the most radically conceived of all Weinberg’s quartets – certainly its nine-movement design suggests so. In expressive terms, too, it is one of the most elusive. The movements carry no titles or expressive directions, and, as in the case of his previous two quartets, Weinberg confines himself to metronome indications, avoiding all specification of character.
REVIEWS:
The Arcadia Quartet's underlying technical finesse and emotional commitment duly reinforce this music’s stature.
— Gramophone
Whatever the music’s texture and temperature, the Arcadia group plunge in without fear, doubly armed with their sturdy technique and total commitment to Weinberg’s cause.
— The Times (U.K.)
Vaughan Williams - A Birthday Garland / Roderick Williams & Susie Allan
SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce Vaughan Williams – A Birthday Garland, the debut on disc of baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Susie Allan’s popular concert tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams originally marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 2022.
Curating a “fantasy birthday party concert” in tribute to “the grand-daddy of 20th-century English song”, Williams has assembled pieces by RVW and 18 fellow composers. The result is a wide-ranging celebration of the rich variety of English song over a century and more that pays tribute to Vaughan Williams’ influence with songs inspired by poets ranging from Shakespeare and Tennyson to W.B. Yeats and Walt Whitman.
First recordings include Herbert Howell’s The Sorrow of Love, a setting of the Irish poet Seamus O’Sullivan; Sarah Cattley’s A Square and Candle-lighted Boat, treating verses by RVW’s cousin, Frances Cornford; and Roderick Williams’ own distinctive take on William Blake’s The Shepherd.
The 30-song recital includes songs by RVW’s teachers (Stanford, Parry, Wood, Bruch, Ravel), friends (Holst, Gurney, Howells, Butterworth, Finzi and others), and pupils (Grace Williams, Ina Boyle, Ruth Gipps, Elizabeth Maconchy and Madeleine Dring). Vaughan Williams’ biographer Simon Heffer provides authoritative booklet notes.
SOMM’s previous Vaughan Williams releases include the widely acclaimed four-volume Vaughan Williams Live series (SOMM ARIADNE 5016, 5018, 5019-2, 5020); Mark Bebbington and Rebeca Omordia’s “compelling” (International Piano) survey of his Piano Music (SOMMCD 0164); and the “priceless document” (MusicWeb International) coupling the Fifth Symphony and Dona nobis pace (SOMMCD 071).
Roderick Williams and Susie Allan’s previous SOMM releases include Celebrating English Song (SOMMCD 0177), lauded by Gramophone as “a treat”; the Ivor Gurney-focused Severn & Somme (SOMM 057), “strongly recommended” by BBC Music Magazine; and Somervell’s A Shropshire Lad and Maud (SOMMCD 0615), “performances of much beauty, empathy and sensitivity” (British Music Society).
In the Mirror - Music by Women Composers
