Music and art are inexorably bound together, and this playlist of inspirational and relaxing classical works provides the perfect background to time spent drawing and painting. From the iconic ? rst notes of Promenade from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, to Murphy’s sublime Scintillation from And then at night I paint the stars, these works span a multitude of hues and tones, from Higdon’s Pale Yellow to Bliss’s Purple. Prime your canvas, prepare your palette and immerse yourself in a world of colour and sound.

The pieces on this album originate largely from the Christmette by Michael Praetorius. In addition, nativity hymns by a range of different composers from the same era have been compiled. In Lutheran style the compositions on this album include solo pieces, choir arrangements, double choral motets, instrumental pieces and of course the church organ repertoire. The listener can also hear pieces, which were not necessarily meant for Christmas, but fit the program very well. The function of some of the pieces is liturgical, like “Gloria,” “Our Father,” or the mighty Entrance-Prelude. Two other pieces are meditative moments about the name of Jesus. Many of the songs are well-known. However, the arrangements for soloists and/or choir from Praetorius and his contemporaries are rarely performed. The Early Music ensemble Margaretha Consort was founded in 2009. The ensemble is based in the Netherlands, but the singers and instrumentalists are from all over Europe.Over the years a very skilled team has been created, where knowledge, musicality, and congeniality go hand in hand.

The three previously unpublished and unrecorded chamber works in this programme were all written after Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s enforced move to the United States from his native Italy. Evoking the emotional day on which the composer sailed into New York for the first time, the Third Violin Concerto was composed for Jascha Heifetz specifically as a duo for violin and piano. Established as a highly regarded teacher and composer of film music, Castelnuovo-Tedesco rediscovered the joy of chamber music making as part of the Hollywood musical community. He considered the Sonata for Violin and Cello, Op. 148 his finest in this genre, while the String Trio, Op. 147 recalls the shores of the Mediterranean.

The German-Canadian Amadeus Guitar Duo and South German Duo Gruber & Maklar have known each other for many years from encounters at guitar and music festivals. Their love of varied programming prompted them to devise a concert featuring works for one, two and four guitars. Guitar Gala Night brings together the most beautiful works for guitar solo, duo and quartet in the European and Latin guitar repertoire in a spirited evening of virtuosic, lyrical and expressive music. This attractive program joins an eminently collectable series of themed albums from the Amadeus Guitar Duo, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Performing over 80 concerts annually both as a duo and now including repertoire with orchestra, as well as broadcasting both for radio and television, this is a duo with an extensive fan base that eagerly acquires each new release, ensuring a high volume of sales and an enduring popularity. Gruber & Maklar has performed throughout Europe and across the globe. Guitar Review wrote in 2000 that “their technique is spectacular, their musical understanding cannot be overstated, their ensemble with each other is outstanding and… they deserve to be recognized as one of the finest guitar duos in the world.”

Alexander Moyzes’ symphonic cycle is the best-known by a Slovak composer. His synthesis of Slovak influences and contemporary trends in European music informs every strand of his compositions. The Symphony No. 7, Op. 50 is his largest and most powerful orchestral statement, which he dedicated to the memory of his young daughter. Peasant scenes, folk dances and exceptional lyric beauty form the bedrock of a passionate and dramatic work. Written as a response to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, Symphony No. 8 ’21.08.1968,’ Op. 64 is a brooding lament that shares affinities with Shostakovich’s symphonic writing. This album is volume 3 in a series of reissues from the Marco Polo label. These releases remain as the only easily accessible reference, and with recordings and performances that still sound fresh and invigorating, we felt it was time for a revival. Of the original release, International Record Review wrote: “the Seventh Symphony… opens, in a beautiful albeggiante pastorale- quite the loveliest thing I’ve heard from Moyzes- which leads into a jolly, even rumbustious, folk dance. Ladislav Slovak, who died in 1999, does Moyzes as proud in these two releases as in the previous recordings in the cycle: reliable playing, good sound.”

This is one of those discs you’d be tempted to overlook: seven works by seven different composers, most of them unknown (except for Villa-Lobos and Guarnieri), scored or arranged for violin and piano, and played (very well) by performers who aren’t exactly household names. I dismissed it initially, but that was a mistake. My close friend was curious and gave it a listen. He was hooked. “Play track three,” he insisted, and so I did (sound clip). I was hooked too. It just goes to show that you can’t judge a CD by its cover. You’ve got to listen. If only there were more hours in the day!

So, that delicious third track is the last of César Guerra-Peixe’s Three Pieces for Violin and Piano, and very fetching they are. The major works, though, are Guarnieri’s powerful Violin Sonata No. 4; a splendid transcription for violin and piano by these players of Léa Freire’s soulful Three Songs; Villa-Lobos’ curiously touching “The Martyrdom of Insects,” with a finale that gives The Flight of the Bumblebee a run for its money; and Ernani Aguiar’s inventive Meloritmias No. 4 for solo violin. The other pieces, Edmundo Villani-Côrtes’ “Clear Waters,” and Radamés Guattali’s “Night Flower,” would make terrific encores to any chamber music recital.

All that remains to be said is that violinist Francesca Anderegg and pianist Erika Ribeiro play all of this music with the same care and loving attention to detail that obviously went into choosing the program. You can audition the whole thing through at a sitting or take it in bits. Either way, you surely will enjoy this hour of vibrant, songful, alternately spiky and spicy music that’s consistently captivating and worth your attention. Fine sonics too. Thank you, Shawn.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

Dale Kavanagh is one of the most prominent classical guitarists of her generation. As a soloist and a member of the acclaimed Amadeus Guitar Duo she has performed all over the world and is the dedicatee of numerous compositions. Domeniconi’s ‘Variations’ are based on a famous Anatolian folk song, while the highly original language of Britten’s evocative ‘Nocturnal’ has its starting point in a song by John Dowland. Cooperman’s Walking on Water was inspired by Peter Sellers’ last film ‘Being There,’ and Ponce’s ‘Folia de Espana’ is often considered one of the most magnificent guitar pieces ever written. Between 1986 and 1988 Canadian-born Dale Kavanagh was a top prizewinner in Spain’s Segovia Competition, Italy’s Gargnano Competition, Switzerland’s Neuchatel Competition, and first and special prizewinner in Finland’s Scandinavian International Guitar Competition. She performs internationally as a soloist and in the Amadeus Guitar Duo with German guitarist Thomas Kirchhoff and has given recitals in more than 70 countries.

This album brings together a selection of religious compositions by Giacomo Meyerbeer, including several works presumed lost until their recent discovery. These rediscovered pieces stand out for their masterful quality and highly individual style, such as the Hymne An Gott, which demonstrates Meyerbeer’s sensitivity and skill with text. Other gems include the luminous Pater Noster and the melancholy Prelude et Cantique, which draws on the spirituality of the late Middle Ages and was of great significance to the composer. The soprano Andrea Chudak studied at the Hochschule fur Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin as well as the Institute Musiktheater of the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in Karlsruhe, and attended masterclasses with Peter Schreier and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, among others. She has won many prizes in national and international competitions, and has sung as a soloist at the opera houses in Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern, Stuttgart, at the Staatsoper Berlin, and the Theater an der Wien since 2001.

Nikolai Kapustin’s music is renowned in contemporary circles for its witty and seamless fusion of jazz idioms and formal classical structures. In recent years, the composer has forged a formidable association with American flautist Immanuel Davis, who here interprets his highly sophisticated ‘Flute Sonata, Op 125’ with great virtuosity. ‘Divertissement’ explores the different jazz harmonies available from the four instruments, contrasting with the textural transparency of ‘A Little Duo.’ Flutist Immanuel Davis is a higly versatile performer who enjoys playing the entire span of the flute repertoire. He has performed as a recitalist and masterclass teacher worldwide. He has appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician at Carnegie Hall, MoMa’s Summer Garden Series, and more. Educated at the Juilliard School, Davis received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees as a student of Julius Baker. He has been flute professor at the University of Minnesota since 2001.

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach’s oldest son, enjoyed a reputation as one of Germany’s finest organists, but his career was one of mixed fortunes and he died in poverty. The dating of his Six Duets is the subject of speculation, but their level of technical sophistication is quite remarkable. Each instrument is given equal status in music that is full of the kind of joyous brilliance, passion and free-mindedness of spirit that transcends virtuosity and the stylistic boundaries of W.F. Bach’s period. Patrick Gallois belongs to the generation of French musicians leading highly successful international careers as both soloist and conductor. From the age of 17 he studied the flute with Jean-Pierre Rampal at the Paris Conservatoire, and at the age of 21 was appointed principal flute in the Orchestre national de France. Today, he has a wide repertoire both as a conductor and a flautist, with a predilection for contemporary music. Kazunori Seo was born in Japan in 1974. He began his music studies first with his parents, and then in Paris at the Paris Conservatoire where he was awarded the Premier Prix in flute in 1998. A prizewinner of international competitions, he has gained recognition as one of the world’s outstanding flautists through numerous appearances as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.

Seen as the successor to Beethoven by many of his contemporaries, Johannes Brahms combined traditional form with an originality o fmusical language that has inspired generations of composers. His two string quintets are, like Mozart's, scored with two violas for richness of texture and harmonic depth. The positive mood of the First String Quintet reflects the sunny resort of Bad Ischl where Brahms composed during the spring of 1882, while his Second String Quintet combines symphonic breadth with nostalgic melancholy in what was originally intended to be his final chamber work. Formed in 1987, the New Zealand String Quartet has established a distinguished international reputation over the past three decades. The ensemble's discography includes all the quartets by Mendelssohn, Bartok and Berg, and this recording completes their three albums of Brahms chamber music for Naxos.

JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic have made previous Respighi discs for Naxos, but none as fine as this. In fact, this is as impressive a recording of the composer’s Roman Trilogy as any in the catalogue. Everything about the program, from the order of the works (Festivals, Fountains, Pines), to the quality of the playing, to the bright and punchy sonics, bespeaks an effort to do it right. Falletta and team give the music the respect that it deserves. Given how many mediocre versions of this repertoire there are, that’s saying a lot.

Roman Festivals is the noisiest of the three works, and some would say the least musically interesting. Falletta tears into the piece with unashamed glee. The opening crowd scene, with its roaring lions and violent climaxes is cataclysmic, while the closing “La Befana” has color and chaos without degenerating into total cacophony. The Fountains of Rome nearly always comes off well. The only risk is in taking its outer sections too slowly, which Falletta does not. It’s a beautifully flowing performance. The Pines of Rome’s first three sections are all well characterized and sensitively done, but let’s face it: no one cares if the final march doesn’t come off. Here, it does, with pulverizing force. A terrific disc.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

Alexander Moyzes is considered one of the leading composers of his generation, his style skillfully fusing inspiration from both his Slovakian heritage and contemporary European trends. The premiere of his Ninth Symphony took place in 1971, only three years after the Soviet-led invasion of his homeland, and the work’s dark and dramatic atmosphere depicts the tragedy and hopelessness of this period. By contrast, the serene colors of the Tenth Symphony avoid political connotations, and the piece is stylistically typical of the composer’s last decade in its technical virtuosity, formal elegance and brilliant artistic design. The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra was established in 1929 as the first professional symphony orchestra in Slovakia. The orchestra is currently led by conductor Mario Kosik.

Alberto Nepomuceno was a herald of Brazilian musical nationalism. He was one of the first composers in his country to employ elements of folklore in his compositions, he encouraged younger composers such as Villa-Lobos, and his music was conducted by Richard Strauss. The Prelude to O Garatuja, an incomplete opera, is one of his best-known works and an example of a truly Brazilian lyric comedy. Serie Brasileira is a vivacious suite that employs maxixe rhythms and ends with the feverish batuque dance, while the Symphony in G minor is one of the earliest such examples by a Brazilian, a heroic and lyric structure revealing the influence of Brahms.

REVIEW:

Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920) was a major force in the development of Brazilian music at the turn of the twentieth century. He worked as a composer, conductor, and educator, tirelessly promoting Brazilian music and the use of Portuguese as an “art language.” The three orchestral works presented here are typical of his work. The Prelude to O Garatuja (1904), an incomplete lyric comedy, uses obvious national themes and offers nine minutes of high-spirited fun as well as a lightness and elegance found in all of the pieces on this disc.

The Brazilian Suite of 1891 had me immediately thinking “Grieg,” and it came as no surprise to learn that Nepomuceno befriended the Norwegian composer during his studies in Europe and saw him as a model. All the same, the work is beautifully scored and in several places quite personal in expression–its four movements representing “Dawn at the Mountains,” a gentle Brazilian dance intermezzo, “Napping in a Hammock,” and a gutsy concluding “Batuque” with a notable part for some native percussion (a reco-reco, or guiro).

Nepomuceno’s Symphony in G minor dates from 1893, the same year as Dvorák’s “New World.” It’s a much more conservative piece than that, although the opening movement has a nice rhythmic swing to it, and both the slow movement and scherzo feature characterful melodic ideas. The scherzo, in particular, mixes a sort of Mendelssohnian delicacy with sudden military interjections from the trumpets and timpani that are very effective. The finale, though, as with so many late romantic symphonies, disappoints. It’s based on the rhythm of the first allegro in Schumann’s “Spring” Symphony, repeated endlessly. Despite a charming second subject, the movement never really gets off the ground, and the ending, with piccolo, cymbals and triangle making a predictable entrance, is unmotivated and ineffective. A good effort, in other words, but a true symphonist Nepomuceno evidently was not, and that’s no crime.

The Minas Gerais Philharmonic, a relatively new group founded only in 2008, plays all of this music very well under Fabio Mechetti. The ensemble has good discipline, and reveals some fine players occupying the principal woodwind and brass chairs. They are also quite well recorded in what sounds like a flattering acoustic space, the Sala Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte. I look forward to further releases from these forces. Minas Gerais is a region perhaps best known as a source of gems and minerals for collectors, and I’m happy to report that the region’s jewels include more than just the rocky kind. Nepomuceno’s output may have been uneven, but his music is worth getting to know, and a disc like this offers an ideal introduction.

– ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

The songs on this album are not as well known as other works by these three composers, but this more intimate form of expression often goes straight to the heart and soul of their work. Tchaikovsky wrote songs throughout his life, and it is easy to find autobiographical parallels in his chosen themes of love and longing. Rimsky-Korsakov's songs are characterized by tender lyricism, while Rachmaninov's wordless Vocalise has become one of his most famous melodies. Margarita Gritskova was born in 1987 in St. Petersburg. She is a prizewinner of the Luciano Pavarotti Competition in Modena, and the Concurso Internacional de Canto 'Villa de Colmenar Viejo' in 2010. She has performed in Carmen under the direction of Mariss Jansons in St. Petersburg, and appeared at world renowned festivals across the globe.

Agustin Barrios Mangore’s first public appearance was as ‘the Paganini of the guitar from the jungles of Paraguay.’ This flamboyant image was soon retired, but his legacy as a composer has endured and flourished, as have the recordings he made as the first guitarist to take advantage of new technology from as early as 1910. Ranging from romantic enchantment to fearsome virtuosity via works with Bach-like restraint, this programme embraces Barrios Mangore’s art from his earliest known piece, Abri la puerta mi china, to the reconstruction of the substantial Diana Guarani from a recording made in 1943. Celil Refik Kaya was awarded First Prize at the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition in 2012 and has since received multiple awards from several prestigious American guitar competitions, as well as the Rising Young Musician of the year from the Donizetti Classical Music Awards in Istanbul in 2017.

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REVIEWS:

Celil Refik Kaya is an eminent guitarist and the technical challenges, which are sometimes quite testing in Barrios’s music, are negotiated elegantly and effortlessly. The recording and production at large are in the safest of hands with radar couple Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver in charge and with Graham Wade’s all-embracing liner notes as guide book. There is also uncommonly extended playing-time, more than 84 minutes! You get a lot of music for your money.

– MusicWeb International

Barrios has the twin virtues of a disciplined, classical backbone and a lushly romantic outlook. Celil Refik Kaya brings a spontaneity to the more hackneyed salon pieces, and suitable gravitas for the more complex works. Virtuosity and musicianship galore are on display in this superb release.

– Music for Several Instruments

Grace Williams (19 February 1906 - 10 February 1977) was a Welsh composer. Born in the coastal town of Barry, near Cardiff, Grace learned piano and violin and developed her musical skills early. She won the Morfydd Owen scholarship to Cardiff University in 1923 where she studied under Professor David Evans and in 1926 she proceeded to the Royal College of Music, London, where she was taught by Gordon Jacob and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Williams is regarded by many as one of Wales finest composers. She wrote two symphonies, the earlier being the first symphony ever composed by a Welsh composer, a mass, one opera, numerous other pieces for orchestras and chamber ensemble, as well as accomplished vocal works. She was also the first British woman to score a feature film, with Blue Scar in 1949. Her chamber music, recorded here for the first time, spans 40 years.

With its roots in ancient Greece and Rome, the oboe has evolved from the rustic medieval shawm and the French Baroque hautbois to become the modern instrument we know today. Italian composers provided the first works befitting of its expressive nature, and ever since, great writers such as J.S. Bach, Handel and Mozart have been inspired by the instrument’s unique, emotive qualities, using it as a medium for some of their most beautiful and delicate melodies. With an equal ability to shine in a chamber setting or to rise above an orchestra, and its distinctive timbre, expressive character and versatility, the oboe continues to be an inspirational and joyful instrument.

Monteverdi's Ninth Book of Madrigals, published posthumously, and the 1632 Scherzi musicali ('Musical Jokes') are thematically linked by the recurring theme of war for the sake of love. Prefaced with a Sinfonia by Biagio Marini and featuring one of Monteverdi's towering masterpieces, Zefiro torna, the Ninth Book comprises the few remaining late madrigals, a number of canzonette, as well as works with the same titles and verses from the earlier Eighth Book, here performed in completely different musical settings. Recorded complete, and in historically informed fashion, this is the final volume in the series. Italian early music ensemble Delitiae Musicae was established in 1992. The ensemble has been making recordings for over 20 years, and significant projects include Verdelot's Missa Philomena praevia, and four widely acclaimed albums dedicated to masses of Palestrina that were awarded the Choc du disque and the 9 de Repertoire in France.

Carl Reinecke's melodic gift, mastery of counterpoint, and idiomatic command of chamber repertoire, in particular, exemplify why he was acclaimed as one of the great representatives of German High Romanticism. His Cello Sonatas were composed over four decades. The First teems with freshness and a Schumannesque lyricism, while the Second is a more experimental work, with a notably quizzical slow movement. Virtuosity, solemnity and caprice are features of the Third Sonata, while the Three Pieces, Op. 146 offer an enticing contrast of songfulness and dance. Austrian cellist Martin Rummel is not only the last pupil of the legendary William Pleeth, but with the release of nearly 50 albums, one of the most distinguished cellists of his generation. He continually gains worldwide praise for his recordings of previously undiscovered music. First Prize winner of the prestigious Concours de Geneve in 2001, Roland Kruger has performed in venues such as the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, and the Kolner Philharmonie festival. As a soloist, he has worked with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre National de Belgique and the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, among others.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote that ‘the cello is an instrument I’ve always particularly loved,’ and this is reflected in the deft way he exploits its colors and techniques in chamber works recorded here that include unpublished gems and a world premiere. The sophisticated Cello Sonata and Sonatina also reveal the composer’s skill as a pianist, giving equal roles in a symbiotic relationship that tests both players’ virtuosity. Impressionist flavors in I nottambuli or ‘Night Owls’ contrast with a Toccata that blends fireworks with lyricism, as does the Jewish soulfulness of the popular Chant hebraique with the playful Scherzo that uses the English traditional tune ‘Sumer is icumen in.’

The doyen of Australian guitarists, Timothy Kain, has always encouraged the creation of vibrant new music for the instrument and has worked closely over the years with the four composers presented here. In Richard Charlton’s ‘Sonata of Forgotten Dreams,’ non-standard tunings allow cascade-like harmonics to infuse the music, while Mark Isaacs contrasts jazz-like chords with classical color in Five Bagatelles. Phillip Houghton’s ‘The Goldfish Suite’ brings iridescent color and atmosphere, and ‘Mosstrooper Peak’ is Nigel Westlake’s alternately reflective and energetic solo piece evoking remote locations on the country’s east coast, shrines to the memory of his son.

Gaetano Donizetti is renowned as a leading composer of the Italian romantic bel canto opera style during the first half of the 19th century. But in his earlier years and as a student of Simon Mayr his dramatic genius came to the fore in his settings of psalm texts for Vespers, a form then still popular in Italy both in secular and liturgical contexts. Donizetti's Vesper Psalms are characterized by beautifully shaped operatic melodies and colorful orchestration on a grand scale, creating moments of real rhetorical force- outstanding features of works that have lain undiscovered in manuscript form for two centuries.

His appointment in 1757 as maestro di capilla and organist at the Escorial, the royal palace established by Philip II of Spain, allowed Antonio Soler to mix with fellow court musicians, among whom was Domenico Scarlatti, whose influence was to remain profound. Soler wrote some 150 sonatas, his greatest compositional memorial, most for the young prince, Don Gabriel. The works in this volume reveal Soler’s mastery of dashing bravura and his exploitation of a full keyboard range in Sonata No. 88, felicities of hand-crossing in Sonata No. 89, and his awareness of the contemporary influence of Haydn in Sonata No. 92.

In an exciting collaboration, guitarists Adam del Monte and Mak Grgic journey through the wide landscape of Spanish and Latin American music. With brand new arrangements they explore classics of Iberian Romanticism from Albeniz and Granados as well as promoting the vivid ethnic rhythms of Ginastera and the beautiful filmic nostalgia of Carlos Gardel, master of the tango-song. The bittersweet poetic richness of Hector Stamponi is balanced by del Monte’s own original flamenco dances, which take the genre into vivid new directions. Adam del Monte and Mak Grgic make up Duo Deloro, who are in the vanguard of the new Classical/Flamenco movement.

Herbert Howells' style, immediately recognizable for it's long melodic lines, rhapsodic nature and rich harmonies, defined the sound of English cathedral music in the 20th century. His studies in London imbued his works with sophistication and a French influence, which were intertwined with a nostalgic 'heartache' for the 'real Gloucestershire,' as can be heard in String Quartet No. 3. The charming little character stories in 'Lady Audrey's Suite' tell of countryside and church, while the Piano Quartet in A minor is dedicated "To the Hill at Chosen and Ivor Gurney who knows it," portraying a favorite local vantage point at different seasons as well as poignantly remembering a lost friendship.

Innovative music printer Pierre Attaingnant published the first editions of keyboard music ever to appear in France in 1531. Only one copy of each of these seven tiny but crucially important volumes has survived, in which anonymous composers made arrangements of some of the most beautiful chansons, motets and dances from the reign of Francois I- keyboard music that shows France at the forefront of developments in this field. Glen Wilson has corrected the countless errors in these original sources, restoring this rare and enchanting music and allowing it to shine in it's original glory.

Havergal Brian's late creativity is almost unparalleled in musical history- in the last two decades of his life he wrote 25 symphonies. No. 7, the last of his truly large-scale symphonies, was inspired by Goethe's autobiographical account of his time as a student in Strasbourg. Symphony No. 16 is a tough single-movement work, evoking Ancient Greece and the savagery of the Persian Wars. In bright contrast The Tinker's Wedding is a sparkling comedy overture based on the play by J.M. Synge. The New Russia State Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1990. In 2002 Yuri Bashmet became it's director, opening a new chapter in it's history and bringing his own inimitable manner of interpretation, whereby each concert evokes the feeling that the music is being created anew.

Described by Gabriel Faure as the 'Samson of Music,' Vincent d'Indy enriched French musical culture considerably as it made it's transition into the 20th century. His orchestral works in particular demonstrate great skill and creativity, with his eclectic style often drawing inspiration from other composers, especially Wagner. At other times his music integrates Gregorian chant or French folk tunes, as in two of the works that feature on this recording, Medee and Karadec, both drawn from his incidental music for plays. Based on a poem about a lonely fairy, d'Indy's superbly crafted symphonic poem Saugefleurie is permeated by Wagner's influence while remaining quintessentially French.

Acclaimed violinist Ellen Jewett’s explorations of Turkey’s musical traditions led to her discovery of Saygun’s Partita, a dense and expressive sister to Bartok’s solo sonata that weaves a beautiful tapestry of colors by combining a rich Romanticism with traditional folk elements. Onur Turkmen’s Beautiful and Unowned is inspired by the unique dreamlike atmosphere of Cappadocia, while Mahir Cetiz’s Soliloquy is a monologue that ranges from cries to whispers. Both of these recent works were commissioned by Ellen Jewett, and the entire programme was recorded in the unique acoustics of a hand-carved Cappadocian cavern. Ellen Jewett has enjoyed a varied career, performing in major concert halls worldwide. She was a member of the prize-winning Audubon Quartet for eleven years, which was critically acclaimed by The New York Times. As an advocate for new music, Jewett has worked with many composers and performed countless premieres. Other chamber music collaborations include performances with Yo Yo Ma, Maxim Vengerov, Colin Carr, Johannes Moser and Idil Biret.