Jeannette Sorrell, the celebrated founder-director of Cleveland-based Baroque orchestra Apollo's Fire, first fell in love with the harpsichord upon hearing three masterpieces by Johann Sebastian Bach: the composer's concertos in D Minor, BWV1052 and F Minor, BWV1056, and his Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 (for Harpsichord, flute & violin). Jeannette and Apollo's Fire recorded these works between 1999-2004, with the subsequent 2010 album release debuting on the Top 10 of Billboard's Traditional Classical Albums Chart. This 25th anniversary reissue brings together a new programme of Jeannette's favourite Bach harpsichord concertos.

Having grown up in an ex-mining community - beginning my musical training in the local brass bands in which my whole family continue to play - this music is close to my heart. Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra is a love letter to that music and those communities. Drawing on banding's cultural legacy and musical style it is a celebratory work that puts the brass band front and centre. Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra is a five movement piece in two parts. Part one looks at the mediums geographical, industrial, and socio-economic roots; whilst Part two explores musical aspects synonymous with the music: high lyricism and dazzling virtuosity. � Gavin Higgins

A product of Samaras's operatic maturity, Tigra, heard here in a faithfully orchestrated version by Byron Fidetzis, is a ravishing love story set in medieval Venice. With it's innovative harmonic language, musical Orientalism and Franco-Italian influences it helped pave the way for the emerging Greek National School. Epinikeia is reminiscent of Samaras's famous Olympic Anthem of 1896, whilst Chitarrata is a youthful work composed in Paris. World premiere recordings.

Petros Petridis, one of the leading composers of the Greek National School, sought to combine the polyphonic approach of Byzantine music with the form of the oratorio in Saint Paul. Conductor Byron Fidetzis has prepared this definitive edition from the composer's original manuscripts. The album also features Fidetzis's 1986 recordings of Petridis's Symphony No. 1 'Hellenic' and the Kleft Dances. World premiere recordings.

Swedish classical guitar soloist, chamber musician and guitar teacher.

Having been a horn player my whole life, it's perhaps surprising it has taken me so long to write a piece for my instrument. But in my 40th year I felt finally ready to write a horn concerto. When thinking about this piece I went back to my roots. I grew up surrounded by trees in the Forest of Dean, at the borderland between England and Wales, and have been fascinated by woodlands ever since. Though abstract, this piece - in three movements - is an exploration of forests and trees and the undergrowth. The first movement entitled Understorey (pertaining to life on the forest floor) begins slowly in the key of E? - a nod to the opening of the Ring Cycle's evocation of nature; but also a reference to some of the most famous horn concertos by Strauss and Mozart. The second movement Overstorey (life in the canopy) begins 'like falling leaves' and features expressive horn solos against sparse orchestration. The third and final movement is entitled Mycelium Rondo (the network of fungal hyphae - affectionately known as the Wood Wide Web - that connects all forest plant life). Like all good horn concertos - and as the title suggests - this movement takes the form of a rondo. � Gavin Higgins

Illuminations, Fanfare Sinfonia is an optimistic, colorful, virtuosic, and vivid "Gratitude Fanfare." Encoded in the music are the rhythms of words. For example, the first two notes of the piece encode "Thank You!" There are many two-note "thank you" figures played throughout the composition whereby each player keeps adding onto the collection of "thank you" messages. The three-short-note-motive encodes the word "Grat-i-tude." The timpanist plays a main motive for which the encoded words are "We give you our gratitude." The composition, full of variations of the timpani motive, portrays an accumulation of appreciativeness.

The central thread linking all the works featured in this recording is their assimilation of various elements of Jewish music, whether directly stemming from Chassidic folk traditions, or relating to material directly associated with religious worship. Each composer responds to this music in different ways, attempting in varying degrees to integrate it within the structural conventions of a Western European musical mainstream. By doing so, the music projects a multitude of emotions and feelings.

“There is not enough music which highlights and celebrates the diverse background of composers and the fact that this album focuses on Jewish musical traditions makes it a hugely important progression in how the classical music industry is moving into a more culturally representative industry.” -- Jocelyn Lightfoot, Managing Director of the LCO

Imitations of country life enjoyed great success during the reign of Louis XV. In musical terms, popular instruments such as the hurdy-gurdy and the musette enjoyed a truly golden age and inspired a vast repertoire that often evoked rural pleasures. These instruments were not only played by aristocratic amateurs but also by professional virtuosi such as l’illustre Danguy and Colin Charpentier, who delighted the French court as well as the audiences of the Concert spirituel. These imitations of rural life combine with instrumental virtuosity to form the basis of this programme, in which we hear the hurdy-gurdy and the musette in instrumental works and cantatas.

Long celebrated as one of the finest violinists in history and the leader of an exemplary string quartet, Adolf Busch (1891-1952) is slowly being discovered also as a major composer, with a style close to that of his good friend Max Reger. As with Reger, Busch combines effortless counterpoint, warm harmonies, a strong sense of orchestral colour and an ear for a good tune - as witness the five works to be heard here, four of them in their first recordings and the other in it's first modern recording.

Johann Strau�'s Die Fledermaus (The Bat) has been part of the Bayerische Staatsoper's repertoire since 1895 and has always been performed there by star-studded casts. In December 2023, the curtain rose on a spectacular new production of this piece. Director Barrie Kosky gave the "operetta of all operettas" a new look: a society, an entire city dances towards the abyss in a colourful, lavish set (stage design: Rebecca Ringst, costumes: Klaus Bruns). The setting is Vienna, the city of the golden operetta era, where Die Fledermaus premiered in 1874. A volcano boils beneath the glamour of feather boas and tutus. Not only for Gabriel von Eisenstein, the bat's revenge becomes a nightmare when, during a glittering masked ball at the residence of Prince Orlofsky, a fake marquis and a fake chevalier, an alleged Hungarian countess and plenty of budding artists meet for a raucous party. Glasses are clinking, relationships are shaken, there are lies, there is love, and dancing (choreography: Otto Pichler). The people celebrate while they still can, true to the motto: "Happy is the one who forgets...". General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski - in his third new Munich production together with Barrie Kosky - brings new aspects of the score to the fore. Diana Damrau makes her role debut as Rosalinde, Georg Nigl interprets her husband Gabriel von Eisenstein, Katharina Konradi appears as Adele and Martin Winkler as Frank; other roles feature Markus Bruck (Dr. Falke), Sean Panikkar (Alfred), Kevin Conners (Dr. Blind) and Miriam Neumaier (Ida). The actor Franz Josef Strohmeier and the tap dancer Max Pollak, among others, play the six-fold frog.

This compactdisc acquires considerable value because it presents the compositions for solo instrument that mark Vincenzo (alias Giulio) Gualtieri's return to acoustic music. A return that takes advantage of all the experiences gained with electronic music over the last twenty years. It is a refined interactive project, refined both in the sense of research and investigation and in that of style and refinement. The anthology presents solo pieces that are close from a chronological point of view and from that of the compositional basis, with many aspects in common, especially regarding rhythm. The entire group of instruments presents solutions of notable importance and is very interesting for the constant study of sound. Gualtieri's is even a painful investigation, supported with profound participation both by the Author and by the magnificent interpreters, who are the ones who give life to the compositional project, set it in motion, compose the sound, in an incessant interactivity between the ideas and emotions of the Author and their vision of the music, of the final result... Renzo Cresti

Abracadabra (Suncatchers) was co-commissioned by Aspen Music Festival and School, Robert Spano, Music Director and Oberlin class of 1984, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Abracadabra (Suncatchers) unfolds across 15-minutes a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the world-class musicians of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and superstar conductor Timothy Weiss.

Johann Strau's Die Fledermaus (The Bat) has been part of the Bayerische Staatsoper's repertoire since 1895 and has always been performed there by star-studded casts. In December 2023, the curtain rose on a spectacular new production of this piece. Director Barrie Kosky gave the "operetta of all operettas" a new look: a society, an entire city dances towards the abyss in a colourful, lavish set (stage design: Rebecca Ringst, costumes: Klaus Bruns). The setting is Vienna, the city of the golden operetta era, where Die Fledermaus premiered in 1874. A volcano boils beneath the glamour of feather boas and tutus. Not only for Gabriel von Eisenstein, the bat's revenge becomes a nightmare when, during a glittering masked ball at the residence of Prince Orlofsky, a fake marquis and a fake chevalier, an alleged Hungarian countess and plenty of budding artists meet for a raucous party. Glasses are clinking, relationships are shaken, there are lies, there is love, and dancing (choreography: Otto Pichler). The people celebrate while they still can, true to the motto: "Happy is the one who forgets". General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski - in his third new Munich production together with Barrie Kosky - brings new aspects of the score to the fore. Diana Damrau makes her role debut as Rosalinde, Georg Nigl interprets her husband Gabriel von Eisenstein, Katharina Konradi appears as Adele and Martin Winkler as Frank; other roles feature Markus Bruck (Dr. Falke), Sean Panikkar (Alfred), Kevin Conners (Dr. Blind) and Miriam Neumaier (Ida). The actor Franz Josef Strohmeier and the tap dancer Max Pollak, among others, play the six-fold frog.

Michael Haydn did not achieve the same exorbitant quantity of instrumental music as his older brother, since he had to compose a large amount of sacred music because of his position; but the surviving symphonies and chamber music in particular are not lacking in novel and "original" character traits. This becomes clear, for example, in the six string quartets recorded here, which he wrote sometime in the 1770s or 1780s. Here, personable elegance and subtle humour are combined with a quiet touch of tragic drama to create a very unique candour that reveals a world view that is as moving as it is entertaining, somewhere between the masterpieces of his brother Joseph and Amadeus, who was around twenty years younger.

Arnaud Marzorati and his singers, 'Les Lunaisiens', are unrivalled specialists in the popular French songs of the past centuries. Here they tackle two great monuments of 19th-century France: the writer Honore de Balzac, and songwriter Pierre-Jean de Beranger, a poet and composer highly famed in his day for his genius in depicting society in all it's social diversity, from the poorest to the very richest. During this period Balzac was also making his sharply drawn portrayals of more than 5,000 characters in the course of his great opus of around 90 novels bearing the overall title of The Human Comedy. Here the 'Lunaisiens' have recorded musical settings of a wide selection of witty and often satirical verse, reflecting all the Parisian themes that obsessed Balzac: social climbing, money and greed, corruption, love and betrayal. With the participation of Lucile Richardot and Cyrille Dubois, Arnaud Marzorati and his ensemble give an enthusiastic account of Balzac's extraordinary human menagerie. As Marzorati concludes: 'The Human Comedy was greatly inspired by song.'

Gabriele Manca studied piano under Bruno Canino and composition under Giacomo Manzoni at the Conservatory in Milan. He won the prize "Musica nel nostro tempoCasa RICORDI", the prize "Neue Generation in Europa", WDR (Koln), Biennale Musica (Venice), Festival d'Automne (Paris) for the European Year of Music. In 2000 he obtained the Japan Foundation Uchida Fellowship, thanks to which he was able to work on the music for Noh Theatre at the Toho Gakuen University. His music has been played during the most important concert series and festivals of new music. He has held numerous workshops, masterclasses and conferences at the Irino Foundation, the Senzoku University Tokyo, the Toho Gakuen University, the Tokyo College of Music, the University of Melbourne and the Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Santiago, Chile, where from 2006 to 2013 he was visiting professor; since 2015 he has held several masterclasses at the CENART in Mexico City. He teaches composition at the Conservatory in Milan. Il dodicesimo studio was written in memory of Antonio Sardi de Letto, who, in 2008, had recorded the first eleven piano studies on the CD Studi per il XXI secolo ("Studies for the 21st Century"). Senti! Aspetta! Was composed in two stages: the first part was completed, for solo piano, between 2018 and 2019, to which the instrumental 'coda' was added in 2020, a sort of enormous 'reverberation' of what had been heard before. Offese fantastiche is a series of seven very short pieces for solo piano that each explore an elementary musical idea that is presented radically in it's bare nakedness.

Sylvius Leopold Weiss was born in the then Bohemian province of Silesia (now in Poland) in 1687 and grew up under the strong influence of Losy, which can be seen clearly in his early compositions. After his Italian sojourn (1710-14), Weiss became deeply involved with the Prague musical milieu and, according to numerous documents, he must have spent much time there even after he was invited by Augustus the Strong, on the 23rd of August 1718, to become an "Electoral Saxon and Royal Polish Chamber Musician" at his court in Dresden. In the years between 1717 and 1724 he worked closely with Johann Christian Anthoni von Adlersfeld at the Prague Music Academy to create one of most extensive collections of his music ever assembled, what we now know as the "London Manuscript." Also, in this period he worked with the Prague lute maker Thomas Edlinger to improve upon the 11-course instrument normally used by adding two bass courses to extend its range. Two different solutions were possible: using thicker or slightly longer strings. The thicker strings didn’t sound very good, so the extra length was decided upon. The added bass courses were placed on a newfangled contraption attached to the side of the pegbox, called a "bass-rider." This is the kind of lute I play for this recording. By the way, lutes were strung in gut and not in metal, as they often are today, and I have continued this tradition for the present recording. The Dresden manuscript includes many of Weiss’s best-known works that are found in other manuscripts as well, but it also contains a number of expansive sonatas composed late in life that are unique to this source. A few of them are in Weiss’s own hand, but the rest were probably copied by the Saxon minister for war, Friedrich Wilhelm Raschke, who, according to Crawford, "seems to have gained access to what must have been Weiss’s personal archive of music."

FORTUNA DESPERATA was the most popular Italian song of the fifteenth century century and one of the most popular works of the entire Renaissance. The Mirabile Consort has recorded old and contemporary variations of this song for recorder ensemble

Meet the Sarahbanda - the Cuban band with a twist! Formed as part of the popular�Mozart y Mambo�project by Sarah Willis of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Sarahbanda explores the captivating Cuban dance rhythms in a way never heard before. How? By featuring an instrument not typically included in traditional Cuban band music - the French horn. The sound of Sarah�s horn combined with Cuban grooves played by some of Cuba�s most talented musicians creates an exciting and passionate group unlike any other. With their exclusive new arrangements of some of Cuba's best known songs such as�Chan Chan�and�Sandunguera,�original compositions by members of the band, and some classical-meets-Cuban surprises, the Sarahbanda brings a whole new sound - fresh, innovative, irresistible and one you simply have to get up and dance to!

The new CD Time is breathing by the Sbaffi Campi Duo is released on Stradivarius, with Leonardo Sbaffi on saxophones and Cristina Campi on piano. A singular musical journey between present and past that develops, with a free and passionate approach, a listening journey characterized by contamination, in the wake of musical solutions that broaden horizons and outline stories, images and emotions, in an eclectic meeting between the classical and contemporary repertoire. The album opens with two medleys, the result of elaborations by the Duo: Discontinuous Vibrations and Cellular Armonies, with songs by G. I. Gurdjieff, Claudio Monteverdi, G. F. Handel, Arcangelo Corelli, J. S. Bach. "The CD - declares the Duo - is nothing other than our reading of what we live, of what happens and of what happens to us. The work is conceived as a fractal, the individual pieces are entities having their own structure which then go on to constitute another, larger but identical one. This is the purpose of the two medleys, where centuries-old songs intertwine and overlap to form a single work. "Vibrazioni Discontinuous and Armonie Cellulari are followed by Paul Hindemith's Sonata and the first ever recording of Last Cloud by Alberto Napolitano, a piece which, states the composer, "finds it's expressive modernity in memory". To complete the programming of the CD, the Debussy's Rhapsody, an integral part of the work which can be downloaded by connecting to the website stradivarius. It. The booklet of the album is enriched by images, texts and poems in an enthralling meeting of the arts.

The young Wolfgang, aged only 10, composed the oratorio Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (The Duty of the First Commandment) in 1767 on his return to Salzburg after a fabulous tour of Europe with his father Leopold and his sister. It's rich and varied orchestration reveals Mozart's precocious talent in using instrumentation to enrich the musical narrative and accentuate the emotions of the drama. The libretto depicts a half-hearted Christian who, thanks to Divine Mercy and Justice, is led back to the path of virtue by the Spirit of Christianity, despite the temptations of the Spirit of the world. Camille Delaforge and Il Caravaggio gracefully underline the harmonic skill of this most famous of musicians.

At his arrival in Venice in 1613, Monteverdi, ever the tireless worker, finally found a challenge that suited him: he would compose every day, both sacred and secular music, for the glory of God or his patrons. In the twilight of his life, he gathered his works into a corpus, intended to inspire musicians during the celebration of religious services. This recording is a musical testament to his carefully preserved life's work. Vincent Dumestre and Le Poeme Harmonique pay tribute to the brilliant composer who set the tone for all 17th-century sacred music.

The word "mobile" denotes both the noun (a decorative structure that is suspended so as to turn freely in the air) as well as the adjective (lively, sprightly, spry, energetic, vigorous; animated, travelling, flexible, versatile, changing, fluid, and on the move). On this mobile, three circa 4-minute dances are hanging. Between them are moments floating in the air until the suspended mobile is activated and set into motion. To be performed with dancers when feasible. Dance Mobile is a spin-off of material Augusta developed in her much longer ballet. Commissioned by the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Eastman School of Music.

Relatively speaking, bassoon concerti are rare. CARNIVAL shows off different attributes of the instrument and soloist with inventive music that seamlessly embraces lyrical, jazzy, spirited, stately, expressive, and many other qualities. This music is fun to play because it is engaging to bring to life Thomas' distinctive, personal, clever sonic-storytelling.