With over 30 leader/co-leader albums on SteepleChase, Andy LaVerne stands as one of jazz's most quietly fearless innovators. His new project, Crystal Night, expands the dynamic chemistry of his acclaimed trio-bassist Mike Richmond and drummer Jason Tiemann-by adding vibraphone's rising star Sasha Berliner, whose artistry evokes the spirit of Bobby Hutcherson and Gary Burton while charting her own path. This quartet offering features ten newly written LaVerne compositions, each meticulously designed to explore subtle harmonic colors, metric shifts, and emotional depth. From the title track's crystalline lyricism to the explosive energy of "Power Play" and the gently introspective "Second Thoughts," Crystal Night is a study in texture, trust, and ensemble clarity. "If you haven't known Andy LaVene ever, This ine is a perfect introduction. It's lyrical, musicaly intensive and most eloquent." (Ole Mayyiemen - Jazz Special on SCCD 31818 Genesis)

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755) was a prolific French composer of the Baroque era, known for his accessible and elegant music. He played a significant role in the development of chamber music in France and published music without the traditional patronage system, making him one of the first composers to live comfortably off music sales alone. His output includes operas, cantatas, concertos, and a wide range of instrumental works that were often geared toward amateur musicians and the expanding market of domestic music-making. Recorded here is the entire Op.34 of Boismortier's catalogue, consisting of a collection of six sonatas for 4 parts (three sopranos and basso continuo) published in Paris in 1731. The three soprano parts are completely equal to each other, while the performance practice of the time allows the interchangeability of instruments, so that they may be played by either the violin, the flute or the recorder. The sonatas are characterized by graceful melodies, rich harmonic textures, and conversational interplay between the two instruments. Each sonata typically follows a multi-movement structure, alternating between lively dance movements and expressive slow sections. Performed with grace and spirit by the Italian Ensemble Labirinto Armonico, featuring 3 violins, flute, viola da gamba, archlute and spinet. They play on period instruments.

The term violoncello was particularly fluid in the early 18th century: it referred to a wide range of bowed stringed instruments of different sizes and shapes, generally with four or five strings; some of these instruments were held between the knees and others were supported by the arm. So when Bach's wife, Anna Magdalena, wrote Suites � Violoncello Solo senza Basso (Suites for Solo Cello without Bass) on the title page of her manuscript copy, we cannot be entirely sure what type of instrument she was referring to. It is said that Bach himself played both the violin and the viola exceptionally well, and it is quite possible that he originally composed the suites for his own use and played them on a violoncello piccolo held on the arm, using viola fingerings. It is, however, also possible that he composed these works for other virtuosi known to him, these including Gregor Christoph Eylenstein, concertmaster of the Weimar court orchestra, and the Leipzig violinist Carl Gotthelf Gerlach. While being excellent violinists, they were also known as experts on the cello and viola d'amore. These considerations-and the observation that certain suites seem particularly well suited to specific instruments-inspired Ronan Kernoa to record the six suites on six different instruments.

Schuberts�Divertissement sur des motifs originaux francais�D 823 und Moscheles'�Sonate in h-Moll�fur Klavier vierhandig - sind anspruchsvolle vierhandige Klavierkompositionen, die virtuose Elemente mit melodischem Reichtum verbinden. Zudem zeigen sie eine Affinitat zur franzosischen Musiktradition.

SOMM Recordings presents an intriguing pairing of chamber works that share the unusual and expressive instrumentation of piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass: Johann Nepomuk Hummel's 'Military' Quintet in C major and Franz Schubert's Piano Quintet�in�A major, his Trout Quintet. Extraordinarily, this is a first recording of Hummel's 'Military' Quintet.' It is an amazing find by the virtuoso double-bass player Leon Bosch, Artistic Director of the mixed-instrument chamber ensemble I Musicanti,�with whom he performs here. They're joined by Peter Donohoe, laureate of the Tchaikovsky Competition and acclaimed as one of the foremost pianists of our time. Johann Nepomuk Hummel's gift as a composer was matched by his excellence as a pianist. A child prodigy, Hummel was taught and housed by Mozart for two years, and he studied further with Clementi, Haydn, Albrechtsberger, and Salieri. Hummel's mastery as a pianist and his compositional personality, admired by Liszt, shine through in his two piano septets featuring winds, brass, and strings, which he also arranged for a combination not uncommon at the time of piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. It was in October 1829, nearly a year after Schubert's death, that Hummel completed�his 'Military' Piano Septet No. 2. For publication in Vienna the following year, he also prepared a piano quintet version, again arranged for that ensemble of piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass.�The Septet's scoring-for piano, flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, cello, and double bass- already included four of the five of those instruments, so in effect�the alternate version redistributes the wind and brass parts among four strings with added viola. It is this version that receives it's premiere recording on this release. Franz Schubert's Trout Quintet came about during a walking holiday in the Alps in 1819, when he made the acquaintance of Sylvester Paumgartner, an amateur cellist who promoted chamber concerts in his home. He greatly admired Schubert's lied, Die Forelle ("The Trout"), and he commissioned a set of variations based on the song's melody. At the time, Paumgartner had brought together a group of musicians to perform Hummel's Piano Quintet in E flat minor-the arrangement Hummel made of his first piano septet-and suggested that Schubert write his new variations for that same quintet ensemble of pianist, violinist, violist, cellist, and double bass player. Schubert being Schubert, he not only composed a set of five variations on Die Forelle, but he created a five-movement quintet that featured the variations as the fourth movement of a work that has become one of the most renowned and beloved in the chamber repertoire. It is Schubert's first mature chamber work. He was twenty-two years old.

Signed copies of our October release COLCD 141. Choral settings of Shakespeare, Wordsworth, James Weldon Johnson, Charles Causley and others, by John Rutter

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).

During his time in Italy and later in Leipzig, Charles Gounod was drawn by the balance of sonic beauty and proportion to be found in the music of Palestrina and J.S. Bach. He developed an innate desire for simple directness as can be heard in the excerpt from the Messe solennelle de Sainte Cecile and the Meditation sur le premier Prelude de J.S. Bach, now better known as Ave Maria. Gounod's talents for melody and mood painting are demonstrated in his Romances sans paroles, while his sense of wit can be heard in the famous Marche fune'bre d'une marionnette.

Cristian Carrara is one of the most original Italian composers of his generation. The opera Voci da Hebron ('Voices from Hebron') is set during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Carrara's expressive depiction of this scenario is one in which fear, anger and incomprehension sit side-by-side with the need for communication, at a time when dialogue is difficult and peace is, at times, a mirage. This land that is home to grief and misunderstanding is also a place in which love can survive and ultimately flourish.

Dvorak stated elsewhere that he had always remained a simple Bohemian folk musician at heart. Born in 1841, the son of a butcher, he grew up in the countryside. He always heard Bohemian folk tunes, probably even in his mother's womb. Folk music was clearly part of Dvorak's DNA, and a Slavic folklore tone permeates the two works on this CD. 0028948677955 CAVM4867795.2 45383021 .00 17.99 .19 CAVI-MUSIC COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/31/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/27/4445227-3422550.jpg 4 1 N BALLESTRA,JEAN-LUC CARRARA: VOCI DA HEBRON Cristian Carrara is one of the most original Italian composers of his generation. The opera Voci da Hebron ('Voices from Hebron') is set during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Carrara's expressive depiction of this scenario is one in which fear, anger and incomprehension sit side-by-side with the need for communication, at a time when dialogue is difficult and peace is, at times, a mirage. This land that is home to grief and misunderstanding is also a place in which love can survive and ultimately flourish. 730099060370 NXS8660603.2 45383519 .00 19.99 .21 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/10/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/00/4445400-3422659.jpg 6 1 N TETZLAFF,CHRISTIAN ELGAR & ADES: VN CONS Star-violinist Christian Tetzlaff, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor John Storgards present in this album two major British violin concertos written between a century, in 1910 and 2005. Elgar's passionate violin concerto, completed in 1910, is a classical-romantic violin concerto in three movements. This huge and highly emotional work was in the wake of modernism neglected for several decades before entering into standard concerto repertoire. Here Christian Tetzlaff follows the model of the early recordings of Elgar's concerto with substantially quicker tempos compared to most modern recordings, and having a great influence on the impact of the piece. Ades' violin concerto 'Concentric Paths', is already a modern classic and no doubt one of the most important concertos written during this century. With it's very demanding violin part the work has all the elements of a true concerto, allowing the soloist to sing with his instrument. The beauty of this music lies that everything is written so clearly. 761195148020 OND1480.2 45383533 .00 18.99 .27 ONDINE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/03/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/45/4445745-3422683.jpg 141 1 N EIMOLD,FORREST MICHAEL FINNISSY: ORGAN WORKS Ahead of the 80th birthday of one of Britain's most singular compositional voices, this double album presents the complete organ works of Michael Finnissy a body of music as rich in intellectual depth as it is in imagination. Performed with careful nuance by acclaimed American organist Forrest Eimold, these works span over six decades and chart the evolution of a composer constantly challenging himself to think beyond presumed forms. At the heart of the collection are Finnissy's four Organ Symphonies: bold, searching works that pay homage to and wrestle with the legacies of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler, while also evoking the French organ tradition of Vierne and Widor. Why even write a Symphony?" Finnissy asks in a personal note for this release. "To explore and learn. To challenge oneself with the abiding presence of awe-inspiring history... to locate a rhetoric which fearlessly approaches the 'higher world of knowledge.'" From the youthful drama of�... ere the set of sun... �(written as incidental music for�MacBeth�in 1965) to the industrial solemnity of�Blackburn�(2022), the album presents not just a body of work but a kind of inner autobiography. The�Hymn-Tune Preludes - transformations of Sacred Harp and Norwegian folk melodies - offer a striking contrast: intimate, harmonically volatile, and unhitched from convention. Even the earliest works here, like the student piece�Xunthaeresis, reveal the seeds of a language already driven by risk and complex expression. Forrest Eimold, a formidable interpreter of 20th and 21st century keyboard music, brings dazzling technique and interpretive depth to this music. His command of registration, colour, and pacing allows each piece - from the vast landscapes of the symphonies to the epigrammatic preludes - to speak with clarity and conviction. Recorded on a range of instruments, including the organ of the UK's Blackburn Cathedral, this is a release release which anchors Finnissy's contribution to the organ repertoire as one of bold imagination and philosophical depth. It also continues Metier's retrospective celebrations for Finnissy's 80th year, with further releases to follow.

On December 1, 2024, Ivan Repusic, chief conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra, conducted a concert performance of Frano Parac's opera Judita at Munich's Prinzregententheater. This two-act, seven-scene opera is about the siege of a city by brutal foreign invaders. The biblical story of Judith, who liberates her homeland of Bethulia from it's Assyrian occupiers by killing Holofernes, certainly has parallels with Croatian history, particularly that of the city of Split. From the mid-15th century onwards, the country repeatedly fought against incursions by the Ottoman Empire - and Split in Dalmatia was particularly vulnerable to the attacks of the Turks, who advanced to it's gates. The poet Marko Marulic (1450-1524) alludes to these events in allegorical form in his epic Judita, completed in 1501. One of the earliest poetic works in the Croatian language, it established Marulic's reputation as the father of Croatian literature. To celebrate the 550th anniversary of the author's birth in 2000, and in commemoration of the 1, 700th anniversary of the foundation of Split, Frano Parac, a composer born in Split in 1948, chose the epic Judita as the basis for his first opera. It premiered on July 14, 2000 at the Croatian National Theatre in Split. The live recording made in December 2023 is now being released on CD by BR-KLASSIK, supplemented by Dance of the Baroness (Ples Barunice) from Parac's 1985 dramatic ballet Carmina Krle�iana, based on texts by the expressionist-modernist writer Miroslav Krle�a. First published in 1990 in a piano version, the dance is a rewarding and effective piece for pianists - and it's orchestral version is equally impressive.

Shostakovich was known for his fun-loving attitude during his early years as a composer. The colourful incidental music for The Shot - reconstructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald from the original piano scores - vividly evokes the raucous life of experimental youth theatre in Leningrad during the late 1920s. This carefree world had changed dramatically by 1934 when Shostakovich completed his music for The Human Comedy - a work that creates a charming atmosphere of Parisian escapism. Discarded movements from his first opera The Nose form an entire orchestral suite. The programme concludes with Mark Fitz-Gerald's reconstruction of the March of the Anarchists, transcribed by ear from the film The Vyborg Side.

William Shield rose from relatively humble beginnings to become the 'house' composer to Covent Garden, for which he wrote stage works full of panache and tunefulness. He met and befriended Haydn who was to prove a lasting influence. In 1782 Shield published his Six String Quartets, Op. 3, some of the most richly rewarding works of their type in 18th-century England. The transparency of parts, use of imitation, infusion of Sturm und Drang elements as well as the bucolic and folkloric writing, all demonstrate Shield's art, as does the progressive writing of the last of the six, in C minor.

Bachkantaten - broken eyes

Three major works for piano and orchestra by English composers, all eschewing the traditional nineteenth- century model of a bravura virtuoso soloist pitted against an orchestra, in distinctive ways. Together with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under George Vass, Clare Hammond presents an original programme that provides a unique perspective on how the piano concerto reflected musical currents in mid-twentieth-century Britain. William Walton's Sinfonia Concertante for Orchestra with Piano Obbligato began as a ballet score. After it was rejected by Sergei Diaghilev, Walton arranged his score into a leaner, more direct and more effective work that reveals the influences of Stravinsky, Poulenc, Rimsky- Korsakov, Borodin and, at times, Elgar. Benjamin Britten's Diversions was commissioned by the left-hand pianist Paul Wittgenstein. Enthusiastic about the challenge of writing for the left hand, Britten devised a work in variation form; he did not seek to conceal the soloist's one-handedness, but revelled in it while still retaining emotion and grandeur. Michael Tippett's Piano Concerto completes the programme. Inspired by a performance of Beethoven's Fourth Concerto, Tippett was convinced that a contemporary concerto could be written, 'in which the piano is used once again for it's poetic capabilities'. In his work, the orchestra does not merely accompany; the principal players shine when they get their opportunity for solos or close dialogue with the soloist.