Hannah Mathilde von Rothschild was born in Frankfurt on the 5th of March 1832 and showed her musical talent early, being an excellent pianist and composer. Mathilde spent her childhood between Vienna and Frankfurt, and was greatly encouraged in her musical studies by her mother who brought her children up to be trilingual and to have a deep appreciation of art and music. Fr�d�ric Chopin was a frequent performer at the salon of James and Betty de Rothschild, in rue Laffitte in Paris, and taught various Rothschild ladies, including the 16 or 17 year-old Mathilde who would have taken lessons from him during one of her frequent visits to her cousins. Rothschild's international lifestyle results in a rich and varied collection of songs; the genre of song provided the ideal vehicle for Rothschild's thorough understanding of languages with sympathetic yet astute settings of French, German and English texts. In 1867 the esteemed musician Sir Charles Hall� told Louisa de Rothschild that 'no-one can have any idea of your cousin's rare and delightful talent; her compositions are charming, full of tender grace and sparkling originality.' She was asked by many leading singers to compose for them, including Christine Nillson, Selma Kurz and Adelina Patti. Her most famous song Si vous n'avez rien � me dire, was written for her friend Adelina Patti, who often sang this as an encore and made a recording of it in 1905.

Performed deep into the night, raga Darbari is characterized by solemnity as well as a deep sense of longing and devotion. The gravitas of this raga tests the very limits of any master vocalist. Darbari stands at the very pinnacle of the repertoire. It is derived from the ancient South Indian raga Kanada, which uses the same notes as teh natural minor scale, and is therefore often referred to as Darbari Kanada. It creates a sense of spiritual awakening that arises from the unique collection of melodic contours and ornaments that blossom in performance. The profound emotions of Darbari are flawlessly evoked in this recording by Mashkoor Ali Khan, or Khan Sahib as we respectfully call him. The raga is not necessarily somber, however, and can be joyful as portrayed in the drut bandish which deals with anticipation and reunion. Khan Sahib and the great vocalists of his lineage, the Kirana gharana, shine in their renditions of deep and emotional ragas which unfold over a slow tempo and are well suited to an extended barhat (development of raga). This provides a vehicle for them to display their mastery of the raga, meticulously delineating each note in a myriad of ways, and working around the musical polarities of the vadi and samvadi (the principal and main supporting notes). For these reasons Darbari remains one of the much-favored ragas within the Kirana gharana.

Schubert wrote eleven complete sonatas between 1817 and 1828. He also composed movements for several sonatas which he left unfinished. Sonata in A minor D. 784 is one of the most important singular works in Schubert's output that stays apart from his previous and later sonatas. It is an austere, almost minimalistic work that achieves a profound and lasting impact. It is one of the darkest and most unsettling pieces he ever wrote and one of the most confessional. This relatively short sonata, by Schubert's standards, is one of the most authentic, prophetic and enigmatic works ever written. Sonata in A major D. 959 was writte in 1828, the last year of Schubert's life, very rapidly alongside the sonatas in C minor and B-flat major, just a few month before his death. The speed, quality and quantity of Schubert's output in the last year of his life are a marvel. In his last year, Schubert wrote some of the most important work that sums up his ideas, inspiration and ambitious as a composer. These incredible works were written by the artist at the peak of his creative powers with clarity and precision. In these works, including the last three sonatas, Schubert points the ways to resolving the perennial conflicts of existence: his final message seems to be that of acceptance and reconciliation. Towards the end of his life, Schubert was learning to accept death as a promise, as a blessing.

My justification for arranging these works for two harpsichords derives from the preface to Fran�ois Couperin's L'apoth�ose de Lully (1725) in which he describes the manner in which he often played trio sonatas on two harpsichords: 'Trios... can be played on two harpsichords... I play them with my family and pupils with very happy success, namely, by playing the first treble part and the bass on one of the harpsichords, and the second treble part and the same bass on the other harpsichord tuned to the same pitch. Furthermore, with two harpsichords whose compasses extend down to bottom FF, a fifth lower than the organ, opportunities are presented for playing the bass down an octave, at both 8-foot and 16-footpitches, and both the harpsichordists' right hands have the potential to fill in some continuo chords when opportunities arise. The result is a transformation of these famous trio sonatas, giving them a character that is neither better nor worse than interpretations on the organ, but very different and no less exciting. (David Ponsford)

Andrew Matthews-Owen writes of his new release: “I have long enjoyed performing and recording a wonderful variety of contemporary music by some of our most exciting and innovative composers. Most of this repertoire has been for voice and piano, or chamber ensemble, affording me the joy and privilege of working with numerous fine and distinguished musicians. This [album] is however my first recording of contemporary music for solo piano, and has been a revelatory and inspiring experience. Introducing music written in our own time is at once a joy and a responsibility. Often, and despite our best efforts , some very good scores are heard on only a handful of occasions. For many listeners it will be their first encounter with a new composer. Thus a clear belief in the sound world of every composer one premieres is vital not just to the success of a new piece by to winning or losing potential admirers for living composers. The composers on this disc dwell in very different yet equally marvellous sound worlds.”

Thanks to the tireless advocacy of the pianist Simon Callaghan, the music of the Derbyshire-born Roger Sacheverell Coke has started to emerge from the obscurity in which it has languished since the composer's death in 1972. Despite showing considerable early promise, Coke remained an outsider in British musical life. His three cello sonatas frame the years 1936 to 1941 a very productive period in Coke's life. Thanks to the tireless advocacy of the pianist Simon Callaghan, the music of the Derbyshire-born Roger Sacheverell Coke has started to emerge from the obscurity in which it has languished since the composer's death in 1972. Despite showing considerable early promise, Coke remained an outsider in British musical life. His three cello sonatas frame the years 1936 to 1941 a very productive period in Coke's life. Dedicated to Coke's mother Dorothy, the first cello sonata is cast in four movements, the sonata exhibits many of the hallmarks of Coke's music. The first movement is a typically ambiguous blend of romantic lyricism and grave chromaticism, with cello and piano treated as equal partners. A slow introduction gives way to an angular theme that dominates the movement and builds to a tense contrapuntal climax, with solo passages for the pianist punctuating the musical discourse. Coke exploits extremes of register in both instruments: high spare unison passages in the piano, at times seeming to prefigure late Shostakovich, and rich, dark sonorities in the cello.

Leoš Cepický graduated from the East-Bohemian Conservatoire in Pardubice in 1985 under Professor Ivan Straus. He started his promising career in his early teens, when he won the first prize and Laureate title at the Jaroslav Kocian International Violin Competition. Leoš was a founding member of the Wihan Quartet, formed in 1985 at the Prague Academy of Performing ARts. In 1988 the Quartet won the first prize at the prestigious Prague Spring competition and three years later they won the London International String Quartet Competition. Between the years of 1717 and 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach held the post of Kapellmeister at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. It was the only engagement in Bach's career that was not linked with church music obligations and this allowed him to devote himself predominantly to isntrumental music.

Modest Mussorgsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff each had very different attitudes towards piano performance and composition. Mussorgsky studied the instrument under Anton Gerke’s tutelage but established himself principally as a composer, one of ‘The Five’ who strove to achieve a uniquely Russian identity in their music. Tchaikovsky was not a pianist of any remarkable attainment. However, in addition to his three piano concertos, he contributed to the instrument’s repertory two sonatas and over one hundred miniatures, most of them grouped in various collections. He was also an early influence on Rachmaninoff, who became renowned as a conductor and pianist, no less than as a composer, and eventually enjoyed an international reputation and popularity in all three arenas.

Two composers universally loved, the greater part of their output long established as essential concert repertoire, with the notable exception of their songs. Tchaikovsky wrote 103 songs, beginning with his Op. 6 set, published in 1870, and continuing at regular intervals until the set Op. 73, written in 1893, the last year of his life. Rachmaninoff published 83 songs, his Op. 4 set appearing in 1893, followed by six more groups of songs, ending in 1916 with his set Op. 38: seventy-one songs in all, the balance being made up of works originally withheld from publication. We are fortunate to have so many, bearing in mind that Rachmaninoff left Russia in 1917, and during his twenty-six years of exile completed six significant works. Opera News hails Lyubov Petrova as a “soprano of ravishing, changeable beauty, blazing high notes and magnetic stage presence.” She is perhaps most noted for her appearance as Queen of the Night on the 2006 film The Magic Flute directed by Kenneth Branagh. Pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman is one of the most versatile and constantly interesting musicians of our time. His vast repertoire encompasses music from the Baroque to 20th century composers.

Pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman is one of the most versatile and constantly interesting musicians of our time. His vast repertoire encompasses music from the Baroque to 20th century composers. A regular guest soloist with leading symphony orchestras in the United States and abroad, he appears in the most prestigious concert series and music festivals all over the world. A sense of nostalgia is palpable in the works of Franz Schubert. The great exponent of the search for lost time, marcel Proust, sought to immortalize the past by remembering it. Schubert longed for what could have been, but never was. He dreamed of the life he should have has, but never did. Unlike the great Viennese composers, Schubert never held a real career in a musical establishment, and he only performed in private houses. He is often described as the last classical and first romantic composer. “As for me, I shall never turn my inmost feelings to personal or political account: what I feel in my heart I give to the world, and there is an end of it” (Franz Schubert)

My justification for arranging these works for two harpsichords derives from the preface to Fran�ois Couperin's L'apoth�ose de Lully (1725) in which he describes the manner in which he often played trio sonatas on two harpsichords: 'Trios... can be played on two harpsichords... I play them with my family and pupils with very happy success, namely, by playing the first treble part and the bass on one of the harpsichords, and the second treble part and the same bass on the other harpsichord tuned to the same pitch. Furthermore, with two harpsichords whose compasses extend down to bottom FF, a fifth lower than the organ, opportunities are presented for playing the bass down an octave, at both 8-foot and 16-footpitches, and both the harpsichordists' right hands have the potential to fill in some continuo chords when opportunities arise. The result is a transformation of these famous trio sonatas, giving them a character that is neither better nor worse than interpretations on the organ, but very different and no less exciting. (David Ponsford)

Classical Music

Ian Watt and Paul Coles come together to create Fire Dance which they both describe as "a vibrant and richly evocative selection of musical thoughts inspired by various cultures and countries. Ian Watt has performed throughout the world, giving solo performances and mastercalsses. Paul Coles has a rich understanding and experience in regards to the guitar, his knowledge spanning over four decades. His music has often been described as reminiscne tof the Classical Spanish composers.

Your Kiss sets a love poem by e.e. cummings, I have found what you are like, and at first glance it is telling that the poem in question is one that exudes love without ever actually mentioning the word itself. Instead, the perfumes conjured by cummings' words slowly float, swirl and eddy in the air until they finally come to rest on the last two words, which furnish the work's title. As with the words, so with the music, as the soprano similarly floats her rhapsodic melismas, and piano chords gently anchor her in Thomas' harmonic fields. Love knows no time, Cummings seems to say, and Thomas slows time down with her music to prove his (and her) point. (Paul Pellay) The present arrangement is scored for tenor and piano.

From the very earliest days of their formation in 2009 Harmonia Sacra has been strongly committed to the performance of new choral works and the support of both established and emerging choral composers. Almost every one of the choir’s concerts has included contemporary works, with names such as John Tavener, Arvo Pärt, Eric Whitacre, James Macmillan and David Bednall featuring prominently. Every year, on Advent Sunday, in the ethereal acoustics of the church of St Thomas the Martyr, Bristol, the choir performs a very popular Advent Reflections evening concert, the programmes of which typically comprise appropriate seasonal choral music, as well as world premieres of new contemporary choral works. The long-term relationship which the choir has forged with Lawrence Whitehead, in particular, has produced three works which, together with the majority of items on this album, are recorded here for the first time. These have been juxtaposed with new works by Robert Hugill, Jonathan Lee, David Bednall and Peter Leech, many of which are set to texts which deal with the subjects of heavenly light and remembrance, hence the title of the album. The choir is extremely grateful to Adrian Farmer for providing the inspiration for this project, which is dedicated to the memory of the very fine organist and composer Christopher Manners LRAM, who died suddenly in 2013.