The Spanish composer Manuel Castillo wrote prolifically in a wide range of genres. His works for guitar, many of which are unpublished, reveal a keen awareness of the instrument's expressive and virtuosic potential, whether in the passionate energy of the Sonata or the evocative imagery of the beautiful Kasidas del Alcazar, inspired by the kasidas (an Arabic poetic form) of the 20th-century Sevillian poet Joaquin Romero Murube. The masterly Quintet with Guitar is an important addition to the small body of twentieth-century works for guitar and string quartet.

Award-winning composer and music theoretician Roman Berger is widely respected for his stand against political repression in Eastern Europe during the last century. Most of the works on this recording are dedicated to the members of The Berger Trio, one of Slovakia’s leading ensembles. They include a commemoration of the composer’s late wife and other aspects of parting. The composer himself has written ‘… for me expressionism is neither a style nor an aesthetic, nor an “anachronistic” fashion: it is the result of life experience. The drama of existence leads to drama in art.’

Although orchestral music and operettas such as Tom Jones (Naxos 8.660270-71) were Edward German's main focus as composer, he wrote a dozen or so works specifically for violin and piano, mostly during his time at the RAM, London, UK, where he was recognized as a gifted violinist, and the years immediately following. Many of these salon pieces were written for his own use, including his earliest known compositions. From the beguiling charm of the Chanson d'Amour to the haunting Souvenir, these works are exquisitely crafted miniatures, several of which have remained unheard for over a century.

Joaquín Rodrigo, composer of the renowned Concierto de Aranjuez(Naxos 8.579053), is acknowledged as one of the great Spanish composers of the 20th century. His music extends the Romantic Impressionist tradition of Albéniz, Granados and Falla, and is inspired by the French style and color Rodrigo experienced during his studies in Paris. From the thrilling and virtuosic Elogio de la guitarra to his swan song in the Dos pequeñas fantasías, Rodrigos guitar music explores the Spanish nature of the instrument and blends tradition with innovation. Always filled with variety, contrast and compelling atmosphere, his oeuvre is now appreciated as one of the central pillars of the entire guitar repertoire. Since his concert debut at the age of six, Turkish American guitarist and composer Celil Refik Kaya has received many high accolades. He was the youngest contestant to win First Prize in the 2012 JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition, and is a prizewinner of international guitar competitions across Europe and the US. In 2017 he was named Rising Young Musician of the Year by the Donizetti Classical Music Awards in Istanbul and awarded a prestigious fellowship from Harvard Universitys Dumbarton Oaks. Kayas first recording, Jorge Morels Guitar Music was critically acclaimed by American Record Guide.

The Belgian composer, Marcel Poot, was one of the most striking musical figures of his time, with a spicy compositional style that exemplified his zest for life. His cycle of seven symphonies, the earliest of which show the influence of Ravel, Stravinsky and jazz, reveal a clear preference for Classical balance and non-programmatic form. Predominantly tonal, the symphonies are notable for their rhythmic energy, colorful orchestration and lyricism. Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4-7 are first recordings.

The music of the Prague-born prodigy Erwin Schulhoff has become increasingly popular in recent decades. He moved through successive creative phases and, on this recording, Spectrum Concerts Berlin focuses on music written between 1924 and 1927. The Cinq Études de jazz explore the “rhythmic intoxication” he described in a letter to Alban Berg, while the Duo for violin and cello and the Violin Sonata No. 2 offer striking parallels to similar works by Bartók, Kodály, and Debussy. The String Sextet contains violent contrasts and almost Cubist montage and was a key work in Schulhoff’s artistic development.

At a time when there were limited opportunities to attend the opera house, and before the existence of recordings, the operatic fantasy proved a popular and ingenious way to spend great melodies to a wider audience. Some classics of this genre are heard in this second volume - not least Wilhelmj's arrangement of Handel and Kreisler's beautifully tranquil arrangement of Gluck - but there are also memorable examples from Verdi and Hubay's piquant opera Le Luthier de Cremone, as well as two vivid contemporary examples that continue the genre into the twenty-first century.

After exploring the music of his Sephardic ancestry on the acclaimed recording Latino Ladino (Naxos 8.57366), Yaniv d’Or brings a refreshing perspective to the Dichterliebe from Schumann’s proverbial ‘year of song.’ French songs of the 19th and 20th centuries offer d’Or’s exotic voice further dimensions in the floating harmonies of the young Duparc and Debussy, including Reynaldo Hahn’s beautiful Bach pastiche, and concluding with the classical simplicity of Poulenc’s first songs. The unique countertenor voice of Yaniv d’Or has confirmed his status as one of the rising stars of the modern international music scene. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, receiving the International Vocal Art Institution Prize and the Gottesman Award. Making his debut as Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare for Gothenberg Opera, and at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma as Elbas in Journey to the End of the Millennium by Bardanashvili, he received critical acclaim. Other roles include Artemis, Orfeo, Delfa, Melindo and Jehoyakim. He is currently collaborating with Drottningholms Slottsteater on a newly constructed opera of Salomone Rossi’s life. He has performed widely throughout Europe, has appeared in recital at Versailles Palace and regularly appears at Wigmore Hall. He is the recipient of a Gramophone Award for his album Liquefacta Est… with Ensemble NAYA on Naxos.

In addition to his operatic achievements, Franco Alfano composed an impressive body of chamber and instrumental works, including the little-known music for piano heard on this recording. His early career as a virtuoso pianist is reflected in works ranging from the Quatre Pieces, with their tributes to Schumann and Mendelssohn, to the Danses napolitaines, inspired by the Neapolitan canzone, the neo-classicism of the Cinq Danses de Cleo de Merode and the quirky rhythms of the Danses roumaines. Recordings of Alfano’s chamber music can be heard on Naxos’ earlier releases. His opera Cyrano de Bergerac, with Placido Domingo in the title role, is available on Naxos DVD and Blu-Ray.

Henry Vieuxtemps was a towering figure in the line of 19th-century violinist-composers, receiving admiration from Wagner, Chopin and Berlioz. A virtuoso in the Paganini tradition, Vieuxtemps was also one of the first to employ a full Romantic orchestral palette in his concertante works and to imbue them with a true ‘symphonic’ conception, as these examples show. They include the Duo brillant, Op. 39 – a dramatic and expressive mini double concerto for violin and cello, the bravura caprice Old England, Op. 42 and the Air varié, Op. 6 with its rich lyricism, four variations and dashing coda. As a soloist, orchestra concertmaster, chamber musician, and educator, violinist Reto Kuppel has been a prominent contemporary figure on the German musical scene. A winner of the International Château de Courcillon Violin Competition, he has performed throughout Europe, Asia and the US. Kuppel studied with Andreas Röhn at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School. He studied chamber music with Ralf Gothoni, Herman Krebbers and Felix Galimir, and is an avid chamber performer, also appearing with string quartets.

It was a pivotal meeting in the mid-1920s that marked the beginning of an enduring musical and personal friendship between Alexandre Tansman and the Spanish virtuoso guitarist Andres Segovia. Tansman’s legacy for the instrument ranges over a 57-year period, inaugurated by a dazzling Mazurka and represents Segovia’s ‘most advanced commitment to modern music.’ This first volume presents suites and dances inspired by Italy, Poland and Eastern Europe, and includes Suite in modo polonico, heard here in its original version, not the Segovia-authorized collage. Andrea De Vitis has meticulously researched the original manuscripts to resolve any doubts and omissions in published editions.

The prolific and internationally admired composer Jan Van der Roost is represented here by three compositions that are very different in style and inspiration. His much admired tone poem Spartacus is a homage to Ottorino Respighi, whose sense of color and imagination have long fascinated Van der Roost. The expressive "mountain poem" Poeme Montagnard depicts the wonderful natural scenery of the Aosta Valley and the Sinfonietta "Suito Sketches" consists of four contrasting movements exploring the qualities and virtuosic possibilities of the modern wind orchestra. Based in Osaka Prefecture, Philharmonic Winds OSAKAN is Japan's first professional wind ensemble.

Pauline and Paul Viardot were members of the famous Garcia family, Pauline's father the world renowned operatic tenor Manuel, and her son Paul a violin prodigy who rubbed shoulders with Europe's elite and became a friend and colleague of Saint-Saens. Pauline's 'Six Morceaux' were composed as a gift to her young son. Beyond his 'Sonatas,' much of Paul Viardot's music consists of the short 'salon' works on this recording. They are considered "a treasure of melodies" by Reto Kuppel, and an evocation of 1920s Paris and French elegance. Violinist Reto Kuppel has performed throughout Europe and the United States and has appeared as a soloist with many German orchestras, including the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Concertino Hamburg, the Ensemble Haar, and the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied with Andreas Rohn at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Hamburg, and with Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School in New York. His solo albums have been highly acclaimed by both critics and audiences.

Carl Czerny penned an astonishing amount of music, including the numerous potpourris, fantasies, teaching pieces and studies for which he became known. This recording features the delightfully entertaining Concertino in C major, Op. 210/213, as well as the highly enjoyable Rondino, a work based on an enchanting theme taken from Daniel Auber’s opera comique Le Macon. A pupil and lifelong friend of Beethoven, Czerny was just 21 when he wrote the pastoral Second Grand Concerto in E flat major. Begun only twelve days after he had given the Viennese premiere of his mentor’s Emperor Concerto, the same choice of key seems a fitting homage to the grand master he so revered.

Transcriptions occupied Ferruccio Busoni from early in his career, but his famously Romantic version of the Chaconne in D minor contrasts with the later and more austere Sonatina brevis based on Bach's Fantasy and Fugue in D minor, BWV 905. Music from Bach's The Art of Fugue is invoked in the rarely heard Edizione minore version of the Fantasia contrappuntistica, and the Ten Chorale Preludes include the glorious Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. Sir Edward Elgar considered Busoni 'the greatest musical mind of his time,' and Wolf Harden's playing of Busoni has been described as 'the clear current benchmark' (BBC Music Magazine)