Charles-Marie Widor was a hugely influential and venerated musician in his day, and his innovative organ symphonies are both a pinnacle of the repertoire and a testament to his creative and technical mastery of the instrument. These spectacular works are in the grand Romantic manner, but Widor was keenly aware of his musical ancestry, referring to music of the past such as Bach's St. Matthew Passion in the opening of the Third Symphony. The Scherzo of the Fourth Symphony is one of Widor's finest symphonic movements, exploring the organ's sonic beauties. The original E major Scherzo from the Symphony No. 2, which Widor subsequently replaced with a Salve Regina can be heard on Track 6.

Originally published in London in 1771, these six Sonatas for cello and basso continuo were arranged for cello and piano by the influential Italian virtuoso cellist Alfredo Piatti in the 1870s and are performed here on modern instruments.

The richness of contemporary choral music is explored on this recording of works by some of today's leading composers from across three continents. Eric Whitacre's dramatic setting of Lorca's poetry is contrasted with Frank Ticheli's serene setting of There Will Be Rest, in which he attempts, in his own words, to "capture [the poem's] purity of spirit and delicate lyricism". Arvo P�rt has crafted an atmospheric setting of John Henry Newman's 1843 sermon Wisdom and Innocence. David N. Childs' Do Not Go Gentle, a setting of Dylan Thomas' famous poem, embodies a foreboding and ominous undercurrent of desperation in the face of impending death. Vox Humana is a new 24-voice chamber choir based in Dallas, Texas.

While children' voices have been heard in church music for centuries, music specifically composed for young choristers is a relatively recent, and most welcome, development. As the attractive and diverse music by the fourteen composers represented on.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was born in the city of Bonn, but moved in 1792 to Vienna, where he spent the rest of his relatively short (he died aged 56) yet highly productive life. While best known, perhaps, for popular large-scale orchestral works such as his concertos and symphonies, he also composed string quartets and other chamber music, songs and, of course, a large amount of music for his 'own' instrument, the piano. In each genre, Beethoven was to some extent a path breaker, transforming the models he inherited from his predecessors or the approach taken by his contemporaries into something radically unique and bequeathing to posterity music that pushed the bounds of politely regulated Classicism towards the highly personal drama of Romanticism. When the young Beethoven arrived in Vienna, he quickly established himself as a virtuoso pianist-contemporaries had quite simply never heard anything like him before-and though deafness ended his career as a pianist, he continued to compose, ultimately publishing 32 piano sonatas (some early sonatas remained unpublished), several sets of piano variations, bagatelles and dances between 1793 and 1822, a representative selection of which are featured on Easy-Listening Piano Classics. Many of Beethoven's piano sonatas have names that describe their character, though not all of these originated with the composer. For instance, 'Path�tique' is an abbreviation of Beethoven's full title 'Grande sonate path�tique' (that is, 'passionate' rather than 'pitiful'); the 'Moonlight' was so named by a music critic who thought of moonlight shimmering upon Lake Lucerne when he heard the first movement (Beethoven simply gave it the sub-title Quasi una fantasia, 'Like a fantasy'); the 'Kurf�rstensonaten' are pre-Viennese sonatas dedicated to the Elector (Kurf�rst) of Cologne; 'The Tempest' comes from Anton Schindler's claim that the sonata was inspired by Shakespeare's play; 'Pastoral' was provided by one of Beethoven's publishers. In addition, Beethoven composed many shorter piano pieces, which he referred to as 'Kleinigkeiten (Small Things) or Bagatelles', though these should not be underestimated: while some are popular in style and suitable for amateur performers (such as the famous, and probably misnamed 'F�r Elise') others are highly characterful miniatures that one writer has described as 'lapidary, fragmentary, yes, even ironic'-true harbingers of Romanticism. Many of his dances (Minuets, L�ndler, Ecossaises and so forth) also combine charm and sophistication. Whether composing large-scale serious works for the enjoyment of connoisseurs or smaller popular pieces primarily designed to entertain, Beethoven was very interested in the piano, maintaining close contact with leading piano manufacturers in Vienna and London. The demands he made on both performers and the instrument itself contributed to the development of the modern concert grand. One observer wrote that when Beethoven played the piano 'the music of the man's soul passed over his countenance. He seems to feel the bold, the commanding, and the impetuous, more than what is soothing or gentle. The muscles of the face swell, and it's veins start out; the wild eye rolls doubly wild, the mouth quivers, and Beethoven looks like a wizard, overpowered by the demons whom he himself has called up.' Yet, whether seeking the sublime or appealing to the lighter sentiments, Beethoven's music always communicates 'From the heart... to the heart'.

The bandoneon is a type of concertina which has been an essential part of traditional tango ensembles forthe past century. Award-winning Italian composer Roberto Di Marino explores the breathtakingly virtuosoand sensual qualities of this distinctive instrument in his Concerto, with its driving syncopated rhythms andmelodies which tug at the heartstrings. Ástor Piazzolla singlehandedly created the ‘nuevo tango’ genre, andhis haunting Oblivion is one of his most intensely expressive creations in this style. He described the FiveTango Sensations as “a musical farewell to life”.

Jacques Cast�r�de composed in almost every genre, from stage and symphonic works to competition pieces, with music that remained rooted in expressive melody. This third and final volume of his flute music presents witty neo-Classicism in the 5 Bagatelles, and the composer's delight in popular music with the post-Debussian 12 �tudes, works that are both communicative and vibrant. In the Divertimento we meet the composer at his most compulsively subversive, as an expert melodist, harmonist and contrapuntalist, in music as zany as it is disarming. South African native Cobus du Toit has performed in Russia, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, France, Australia and, as a concerto soloist, has performed with orchestras around the globe. Pianist Doreen Lee has appeared on all three volumes. She has performed with notable artists such as the Tak�cs Quartet, violist Geraldine Walther, Colorado Symphony principal horn Michael Thornton, flautists Christina Jennings and Katherine Kemler, and cellist Johannes Moser, among others. She is also the pianist of the du Toit/Lee Duo, formed in collaboration with flautist Cobus du Toit.

Following the success of the 1st Chopin Festival Hamburg 2018 (available on Naxos 8.574058), the 2nd Chopin Festival Hamburg 2019 continues it's unique approach of inviting pianists to perform on original historic instruments and, by way of comparison, on a modern grand piano in the same concert. Performances range from Chopin heard on his Pleyel 'pianino' of 1832 to the most technically advanced Shigeru Kawai grand piano built in 2019. Listeners are invited to discover 'old' and 'new' in completely fresh ways through these multifaceted interpretations. Pianist Tobias Koch has always been fascinated by the expressive potential of period keyboard instruments, playing these in unorthodox and spirited performances, 'with disarming spontaneity', as a large German weekly put it. He has long been considered one of the leading interpreters in the field of Romantic performance practice, the German Radio MDR Figaro writing: 'Koch's playing conjures up images that appear just as quickly as they fade away. Koch's playing is infectious, every moment is an adventure.' H�l�ne Tysman has recorded Chopin for the Oehms Classics label, her playing summed up as 'Brillant!' (RTL), 'Dazzling!' (BBC Music Magazine), and 'A pianistic cosmos' (S�ddeutsche Zeitung). Janusz Olejniczak is a pianist, pedagogue and occasional actor who won the Fryderyk Chopin International Competition in Warsaw (1970) and the A. Caselli Competition in Naples (1974). Tomasz Ritter won the 9th Arthur Rubinstein Memorial International Young Pianist Competition in Bydgoszcz in 2011. In September 2018, he received the Main Award at the 1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in Warsaw.

Johann Strauss II the ‘Waltz King’ was the most famous and enduringly successful of 19th c. light music composers, captivating not only Vienna but the whole of Europe and America with his tuneful dances and marches. Of these dances none was more of a ‘snapshot’ of contemporary musical life than the quadrille. Its six distinct sections invited the use of musical highlights from the latest theatre hits, and Strauss the Younger was at the forefront of those writing quadrilles using the themes of others, from Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl to Offenbach’s Orpheus, and his own operetta masterpiece Die Fledermaus.

Classical Music

British music for the clarinet was hugely indebted to the elite interpreters who inspired this important repertoire. they included Frederick Thurston, who first performed three of the works on this recording. Sir Arnold Bax's sonata, much admired and imbued with Celtic folklore, is heard in a version that restores the manuscript's original phrasing. the pieces by roger Fiske and Iain Hamilton are heard in Premie. re-recordings, while Richard Rodney Bennett's duo Concertante was commissioned by the eminent soloist in this recital, Nicholas Cox.

In the interwar period, Giovanni Salviucci was recognized as one of Italy's most talented composers alongside Luigi Dallapiccola and Goffredo Petrassi but his early successes and all future hopes were quashed by his untimely death in 1937. The Serenade for 9 Instruments, at times rhythmically restless, at others tender and cantabile, and the angular, harmonically daring, neo-Classical Chamber Symphony for 17 Instruments, are two of his most forward-looking compositions. The unpublished String Quartet, at the heart of which lies an Adagio molto of extraordinary emotional impact, is a true gem. This release of the complete published chamber music stands as a vibrant testament to a future curtailed of a composer described by Petrassi in a letter to Casella, Salviucci's teacher and mentor, as 'il migliore di noi tutti' ('the best of us all').

The international success of Faust after it's premiere in 1859 completely overshadowed all of Gounod's subsequent operas. He had known Goethe's masterpiece for two decades and brought to the text his gifts for memorable melody and rich orchestration. Added to this, the plot of Faust's ageing and the heroine Marguerite's redemption, offered the opportunity for the most spectacular stage effects. Heard here in it's 1864 London version with an additional air and without spoken dialogue or ballet, Faust represents 19th-century French opera at it's peak.

In the last decade Luxembourgian composers have written a vivid body of orchestral music that takes in a wide range of inspirations. Ivan Boumans explores the field of biology in Meiosis where the music undergoes transformations, whereas for Roland Wiltgen it is celestial mechanics that drives Orbital Resonances. The idea of transformation is also important to Marco P�tz as he generates exciting 'chordal clusters'. Inspired by a fresco, Jeannot Sanavia's H�lice is a study in agitation, while Tatsiana Zelianko charts the death and rebirth of a butterfly in music of passionate drama.

Named after a scribe at Madrid's Royal Chapel, the Guerra Manuscript is a vital source of the tono humano, a form of secular song characteristic of and exclusive to the Spanish Baroque, from a period when solo accompanied songs were at their most popular. Accompanied by double harp or harpsichord, these texts deal with subjects such as the pain of unrequited love and the balance between suffering and joy, also drawing on mythology and the natural world to symbolize the many facets of the human condition. This is the penultimate volume in a complete edition of these 17th-century gems.