Roll up, roll up! All aboard the 19th century Zri celebration cruise from Vienna to Odessa! Our legendary house band are as stylishly up to the moment as ever, reimagining the latest hits by Herren Rossini, Strauss, Schubert and even Dr Brahms with an intoxicating Romani twist!

The composing traditions of the nine Balkan countries are as good as unknown in the rest of the world. In this revelatory piano recital, the Albanian pianist Amir Xhakoviq presents a glittering array of keyboard jewels from his own country and it's neighbours, ranging from wild and energetic toccatas to timeless evocations of bells and other ancient traditions, with a surprisingly wide range of references, from folk-music to Scarlatti and jazz.

Christmas chez Liszt, imagined by one of the UK's most exciting piano virtuosos. Composed and compiled by Liszt between 1873 and 1881, the 'Christmas Tree' suite has more to offer than carol transcriptions and twinkly sketches of festive joy. It begins with one of the composer's typically free transcriptions of a plainsong Christmas hymn harmonised in the 17th century by Michael Praetorius, and takes in the procession of the Magi towards Bethlehem and a lullaby at the cradle, but also cuts away to contemporary times with a sparkling scherzo to depict the lighting of candles on the tree. The last four of the suite's twelve movements bear only tenuous connections to the festive season, yet they bring some of the most memorable inspirations of all: evocations of evening bells, of 'Yesteryear' in the composer's searching late style, and then Hungarian- and Polish-themed themed pieces. As Mark Viner remarks in his detailed booklet introduction to the album, there is nothing quite like Weihnachtsbaum even in Liszt's own prodigiously varied catalogue. It is impossible to categorise, and yet every bar sounds uniquely Lisztian. Perhaps even less familiar to most listeners, on account not least of it's sheer scale, is the vast three-part oratorio which Liszt based on the life of Christ. Liszt made solo-piano transcriptions of two Christmas-themed orchestral movements from the oratorio's first part, picturing in turn the Shepherds at the Manger and, once more, the 'march' of the Magi. In complement, Mark Viner presents the composer's pianistic translation of the ancient carol Christus natus est. Mark Viner's recordings for Piano Classics have attracted international acclaim. 'The melodies in his hands are not simply played, they are sung on the piano!' (Fanfare, reviewing a previous Liszt album, PCL0116). 'If Alkan could play it as Viner does here, no wonder he was the only pianist in front of whom Liszt was hesitant of playing.' (Gramophone, reviewing Viner's latest volume in his Alkan cycle, PCL10275).

The third and final installment of the Schumann recording series by South Korean pianist Jimin Oh-Havenith includes Carnaval op. 9 and the Davidsbundlertanze op. 6, two summit works from the 1830s which, with their unique combination of intensity and sensitivity, are undoubtedly among Schumann's best-known piano cycles and are particularly beloved by performers and audiences alike.

Paul B�ttner was born in Dresden in 1870 and studied violin and oboe there at the Conservatory. Over the years, B�ttner increasingly established himself as a fantastic musician in Dresden. But he stayed virtually completely unknown before 1915, when the famous Arthur Nikisch premiered his Symphony No. 3. Since then, B�ttner was named one of the greatest and most important contemporary symphonists in succession to Brahms and Bruckner. His Symphony No. 4 from 1917 continued the success and was performed by many different orchestras. In 1933, his music was marked as "unwanted," and the regime deleted him completely from the public music culture.

One of the most important sources to be copied in the 14th century, the Codex of Las Huelgas is an anthology of chants from the 13th century that are prime examples of the Ars Antiqua. It includes many original pieces, as well as some that can be found elsewhere in various Spanish sources, and others that originally came from the Notre-Dame school. Two specialist Italian vocal groups share in the epic project of recording the entire Codex, with these two discs constituting the first instalment.

The performing styles of Armoniosoincanto and the Gruppo Vocale Garda Trentino are tonally different but share similarities in their approach to interpreting the various pieces. The young voices of the Gruppo Vocale Garda Trentino offer a luminosity and a rhythmic effect that creates a brilliant, precise vocal quality, always expressive and communicative. Armoniosoincanto presents interpretative impulses that are more reflective and controlled – partly in response to the texts, and partly due to the group’s vocal timbre, which is more mature in certain respects. That is not to say that this timbre is any less brilliant where required, nor any less mellow in the psalmodic formulations.

These performances are based on the transcriptions published by the Codex’s first editor, Higinio Anglès, in El CoÌdex Musical de Las Huelgas (Muìsica a veus dels segles XIII–XIV) (1931) and on Juan Carlos Asensio’s work El Códice Polifonico de Las Huelgas: aspectos codicológicos y notacionales – La Música en el Monasterio de Las Huelgas en tiempos de su Códice Polifònico (Editorial Apuerto, 2001).

After a pilgrimage to Rocamadour I had the idea of composing a clandestine work which could be prepared in secret and then performed on the long-awaited day of liberation. With great enthusiasm I began Figure Humaine and completed it by the end of the summer. I composed the work for unaccompanied choir because I wanted this act of faith to be performed without instrumental aid, by sole means of the human voice.”
– Francis Poulenc

“The day the Americans arrived, I triumphantly placed my cantata on the studio desk, beneath my flag, at the window.”
– Francis Poulenc

“Francis, I never heard myself.
Francis, I needed you to understand me.”
– Paul Éluard

I believe that great art is often the product of great difficulty and tribulation, in many cases for the artist themselves. I also think art borne out of a time of societal turmoil can be even more profound, and can shed light today on what it was like to live and endure through tragedies of the past.

Figure Humaine is one of the ultimate artistic achievements from a time of turmoil. Composed by Francis Poulenc in 1943 in occupied France, it was composed in secret, inspired by the resistance poems of the surrealist poet Paul Éluard (poems that were distributed under plain cover during the occupation). It is one of the most profound pieces in the a cappella choral repertoire, if also one of the most difficult. Scored for double choir in six parts each, it is a vocal gauntlet which requires unmatched concentration and musicianship from every singer involved to mount a successful performance. Given that the piece was written at a time when victory was by no means assured, I believe that the difficulty of the work was intentional; to be worthy of the expressive task of communicating Éluard’s wartime thoughts, I think Poulenc believed that a choir must possess outstanding commitment, dedication, and skill. 
Because of its challenges, Figure Humaine is rarely performed. Soon after founding Skylark, I began to feel that this was a piece we simply had to share. But at only 20 minutes in length, I struggled to find the appropriate way to present it to allow people to truly engage with the work. While on a walk in 2014, I realized that we were approaching the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, as well as the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, occasions that presented a unique opportunity to share music of both time periods. 

I set out on a journey to find the appropriate Civil War-era songs to pair with the Poulenc movements. Figure Humaine sets forth an intense emotional progression, cycling between despair and optimism against a backdrop of gathering madness. It was critical to find pieces that would make sense musically and textually in the context of Poulenc’s work.

It was a fascinating journey. Through exploring my own musical heritage, I soon discovered that Alice Parker arranged Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye for the Robert Shaw Chorale in the late 1960s. Consultation with other Skylarks revealed several brilliant arrangements from Ron Jeffers, and a search through the Duke University Historical Sheet Music Archives uncovered several pieces that I never knew existed. The discovery that Abide with me (one of my favorite hymns) was written during 1861 was particularly poignant. Where no appropriate arrangement existed, I filled in myself with very simple editions. In all cases, the goal was to create as simple and honest an expression of the songs as possible. Against the foil of Poulenc’s monumental achievement of the choral art, we aim to juxtapose the simple, the familiar, the universal.

Through sharing this program, we hope to take you on an emotional and historical journey, a journey that we hope will illuminate the struggles of people who endured these two great wars, a journey that can shed light on nightmares of the past through the art that emerged from them, and most importantly, a journey that will affirm the incredible power of the human spirit to endure in times of tragedy.

– Matthew Guard, Artistic Director

SOME NOTES ON THE AUDIO/RECORDING PROCESS WE USED The singular sound of "Dreamspace" comes from fusing two sonic goals. By using a number of different microphones in various positions and distances, we create a comprehensive perspective on the piano and Michael Mizrahi's dynamic approach to performance, as well as a� realistic and life-like final "image" of the piano and Mizrahi's playing. The listener is situated in a specific place in the performance space while simultaneously experiencing sounds that could be heard from a number of listener positions. Bringing those two goals into harmony, aiming for both a multi-perspective and realistic soundworld, is what leads to the sounds you are hearing.� NOTES ON DREAMSPACE Dreamspace is a destination and state of mind.� Give dreams space. This record gives space for dreaming. Keep dreaming.

Manuscripts Don’t Burn is a famous line in Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita – the retelling of Faust, the 20th-century cult novel of an artist surviving in a Totalitarian regime, the love story, the burlesque with giant, vodka-drinking cats, and vampiric theater administrators.

I first read the book as a kid, growing up in Soviet Odesa. I took it with me when my parents and I immigrated, as Jewish refugees running from antisemitism, through Austria and Italy, to the United States. Crossing the border, I worried that guards would discover my book, and I would be severely punished. Throughout the years, the book played a role in my life. My childhood best friend from Odesa reread the book in adulthood and decided to find me - we are now together for 20 years, with two kids. I read the book to my mother as she was dying from brain cancer.

Bulgakov’s novel weaves through my own newly published memoir, Weight in the Fingertips - A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage (Backbeat Books, October 2023). I consider this very personal recording to be something of a mirror image to my memoir, as it intertwines the literal images from Master and Margarita with more autobiographical themes and layers.

The five premieres, written for me and recorded here, are vastly different in styles and aesthetic. The understated, elegant Master and Margarita Suite by Veronika Krausas complements the wild, theatrical, brooding and extended techniques-filled “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” by Maya Miro Johnson. Mike Garson’s Psalm to Odesa, an improvisatory ballad, with bits of my own improvisation based on a well-known Odesan song, sets off “Voices” by Ljova, a piece for piano and historical recordings of Jewish cantorial and klezmer music. Both take me back to my home city, currently under vicious attack, like the rest of Ukraine. The poetry I recite, sing and hum while performing the four-movement Godai - the Four Elements - is rounded off by the propulsive bravura whirlwind of Hero. Fasil Say’s Black Earth takes the listener on a journey from Odesa across the Black Sea - a Turkish ballad and jazzy beats alternate with improvisatory melisma of a Turkish lute, played on muted strings of the piano. The rarely heard Notturno of Fanny Mendelssohn connects a gifted female voice to the others on this disc, as well as, perhaps, to the dark, impassioned character of Margarita. In Master and Margarita, “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” is spoken by Satan when he retrieves the manuscript of a novel presumed burnt – and in Clarice Assad’s “Godai”, Steve Schroeder’s poem depicts the loss of a manuscript in a fire.

The lieder of Schubert, transcribed for solo piano by Liszt, riffs on the mythical and the Faustian lore found also in Master and Margarita: Gretchen (Margarita) at the spinning wheel, a mystical love story by the sea, a monstrous Elf King and the death of a child, of innocence, of joy - one’s worst fear.

This collection of music speaks to my love of dialogue between music and words. As in my Music/Words series, where I pair poets with musical programs in the form of a recital/reading, the connections between text and sound here are not just literal but emotional, based on memory, intuition, dreams, and hopes.

- Inna Faliks

Our knowledge of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji is based more on his reputation than on his work. A marginal figure in twentieth-century music, he is renowned for the length and complexity of his compositions. After forbidding the performance of his music, he earned a small income through his writings as a critic and essayist of great wit. His best-known works are for solo piano, many of which have been released by BIS. This disc presents first recordings of his music for chamber ensemble and chamber orchestra plus several world premiere recordings of art songs, including a new arrangement and the first completion of a fragment. The American collective Wild Beautiful Orchestra, made up of instrumentalists and singers renowned for their versatility and enthusiasm, and it's founder, conductor Chappell Kingsland, together with flautist Sharon Bezaly in the longest work, present this programme featuring previously unreleased music by the maverick composer. There is no doubt that this extraordinary variety will expand our collective appreciation of Sorabji's genius and that this album will serve as an entry point to his unique musical imagination.

The strength and richness of Estonian classical music has it's origins in two contrasting schools - the international outlook taught by Heino Eller in Tartu and the craftsmanship fostered by Artur Kapp in Tallinn. This album presents Eller's complete output for cello and piano in it's first recording, complemented by works by two of his more important students, Eduard Oja and Eduard Tubin. Villem Reimann and Herman Kand, both students of Kapp, had very different careers, Reimann an established professor in Soviet Estonia, and Kand dying unknown in American exile at only 46. This is the first recording of any of his music.

Star pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard presents Landler, a collection of delightful dances composed by Franz Schubert. Rustic and cheerful, these miniatures display a fascinating side of Schubert's musical persona. Their simplicity is deceptive, as these dances are frequently shaken up by Schubert's harmonic wandering soul, yet remaining lyrical, picturesque and tuneful. For Aimard, there is a kinship between Schubert's Landler and Kurtag's Jatekok, pieces that he often performs side by side, sharing a combination of playfulness and Modernism that also calls the great twentieth-century miniaturist Anton Webern to mind. By avoiding almost any repetition, Aimard evokes a sleepwalker's journey rather than a series of dances. 8717306260343 PNTA5187034.2 44281755 .00 19.99 .16 PENTATONE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 05/24/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/42/4327442-3147656.jpg 52 1 N LLOYD,GEORGE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN & STRINGS - VIOLIN & PIANO It is significant that, when Lloyd turned his attention to writing concertante works for the violin, he avoided using full orchestral forces. His sensitivity to issues of balance and scrupulousness in scoring in his operas was matched by his determination that the solo instrument in his concertos should not be overwhelmed by thick orchestral textures. As he put it, 'I don't really like the relationship between the violin and the big modern orchestra. I hate to hear that poor little fiddle being totally swamped'. 9790708217718 LYR72 44457518 .00 56.99 .53 LYRITA SPECIAL PRODUCTS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 08/02/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/03/4352803-3211472.jpg 9 1 N BROTONS / DOPPLER / ARIMANY COMPLETE FLUTE MUSIC EDITION VOL. 13 Addendum! After already 12 CDs comprising the Dopplers' complete music for flute(s), including various arrangements, Flutist and mastermind Claudi Arimany presents additional works he discovered in different libraries after the last release. Arimany spent decades researching this project, inspiring many famous musicians to become involved in it's realization and he close now again another gap in musical history. 845221054599 CIO5459.2 44459789 .00 21.99 .21 CAPRICCIO COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 09/06/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/30/4353030-3202052.jpg 25 1 N LLOYD / GOLDSTONE / ROSCOE PIANO WORKS SOLO & DUO As a violinist, Lloyd was drawn to stringed instruments rather than the keyboard. His wife, Nancy had a very different attitude to the piano, however. Having been brought up listening to records of Alfred Cortot, among other great pianists, she had developed a genuine passion for the instrument. She was always urging her husband to write a piano concerto, but it was not until the early 1960s that those years of persuasion paid off and Lloyd wrote Scapegoat, the first of his series of four piano concertos. Now the composer had overcome his previous aversion to the keyboard, as he put it, 'Suddenly, everything I thought of, I thought in terms of the piano'. From this dramatic change of heart emerged several works for solo piano. � Paul Conway 5020926242327 LYR2423.2 44459963 .00 20.99 .22 LYRITA COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 08/02/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/54/4353054-3201865.jpg 12 2 N TANEYEV / SPECTRUM CONCERTS BERLIN VIOLIN SONATA PIANO QUINTET, OP. 30 Sergey Taneyev's supreme mastery of European classical technique placed him outside the more nationalist trends of the day. The Violin Sonata in A minor is neo-Classical in it's reserved and often song-like moods and expressions, and contrasts dramatically with the grand scale of the Piano Quintet in G minor. 747313456673 NXS8574566.2 44460112 .00 19.99 .20 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 08/09/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/69/4353069-3201978.jpg 60 1 N CHOPIN / MALTEMPO NOCTURNES (COMPLETE) Deeply felt new recordings of these landmarks in Romantic piano literature on a modern Steinway grand, by an Italian artist with an active interest in the lineage of piano history. On recordings for Piano Classics ranging from Beethoven to Alkan and beyond, the Italian pianist Vincenzo Maltempo has demonstrated a deeply informed understanding of Romantic piano literature, both in the nuts and bolts of it's composition and in the field of it's reception. According to a Fanfare review for album of Schumann, 'This impressive young Italian pianist displays a great love and dedication towards this music. Maltempo, who was born in 1985, begins with smouldering technique, no surprise for someone who has made a name for himself as a fearless interpreter of the briar-patch scores of Alkan. ' In his own booklet introduction to his latest recording, Maltempo explores the nature of a Chopin tradition, as handed down to us from accounts of the composer's own playing, his instructions to his students, and then the early recordings made by renowned interpreters such as Cortot and Pugno. 'What their recordings share is a relatively free or liberal interpretation of elements in the score that are now treated more rigidly. Their application of rubato is more subtle, their pedal technique does not cloud the sound but clarifies melodies and harmonies. They communicate a wide and infinitely varied dynamic range, and a diaphanous warmth of phrasing, without falling into mannerism or sentimentality". ' These qualities, therefore, are the guiding lights to his own playing of the Nocturnes. Maltempo has chosen to record them on an 1888 Steinway piano, distinguished by the clarity of articulation which has always been a Steinway hallmark, but bestowing on these quintessential pieces of nocturnal poetry a softer and more rounded palette than we are accustomed to find on modern pianos. These recordings are, in the best possible sense, 'historically informed', without being bound either to the barline or to doctrinal notions of a 'correct' Chopin performance. They are, instead, as free and as personal, yet as imbued with the inner spirit of the score, as it seems the composer wished to find in his performers. - Any new recording of the complete Nocturnes by Frederic Chopin rouses the interest: in the field of countless existing recordings, does the pianist have something new to say? Inspired by but not imitating the great masters of the Golden Piano Age, Vincenzo Maltempo presents the Nocturnes as dramatic tone poems with a strong narrative, based on the art of rhetoric and Belcanto. As a means to the expression of his ideas, he found an 1888 Steinway grand with an exceptionally wide dynamic range and singing tone. The result is an enervating and moving journey through these eternal masterpieces! - Italian pianist Vincenzo Maltempo, one of the most interesting pianists of the young generation, made his name in his staggering recordings of unjustly forgotten romantic repertoire: Transcendental Studies by Lyapunov (Piano Classics, PCL0124) received 5 stars in several classical magazines (a. o. The French Diapason). His recording of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies received rave reviews, a Gramophone Editor's Choice: "extraordinary breadth and nobility... little short of perfection... ", "9/9, close to ideal" (Jed Distler Classicstoday. Com). His recordings of Alkan have "confirmed his place in the restricted circle of Alkan's best performers, 5 stars" (Diapason), "Exhilarating, thrillingly demonic, 5 Stars" (Andrew Clement in The Guardian).

The heyday of the lyra viol began before 1600 in England and lasted nearly a century. 'Lyra way' is characterised by variant tunings and notation in lute-style tablature. Frequently used tunings were named, lyra way (d'-a-f-c-F-C) itself being the first. It dominated up to around 1620, along with a group of tunings named after composer and viol virtuoso Alfonso Ferrabosco II-e. g. Alfonso way (d'-a-e-A-E-AA) and Alfonso way in eights (d'-a-d-A-D-AA). These tunings extend the range of the viol down, with wider intervals than normal between the open strings. The lyra viol was at this time the usual solo instrument for professional and gentlemen amateur violists. Many of the gentlemen learnt to play during legal studies at the Inns of Court, where they also took part in masque productions. Although the repertoire survives mainly in manuscript, a handful of collections printed in London between 1600 and 1612 include music for lyra viol. Tracing broad links between the bass viol and the Jacobean stage-albeit with quite different roles in the public theatre and court masque environments-is easy enough. The viol is referenced in the plays for the public theatres-often metaphorically-and features in contemporary accounts of theatre visits. In the public theatres it provided song accompaniment and instrumental items as required, played by the actors themselves or by hired musicians. In open-air theatres the robust sound of the lyra viol carried better than the lute for accompanying songs and it was capable of substituting for a consort of viols in smaller scale productions. However, what was to be played at any given cue or to which tunes the song texts were sung is rarely clear. The surviving lyra viol repertoire is mostly in the common dance forms, context will suggest what is suitable: a stately pavane, vigorous galliard, airy almaine, or light-hearted coranto or toy. Well-known popular tunes were also harnessed to underscore the meaning of a scene. Song accompaniments would have been worked up on the spot and perhaps never written down-the new tunings enabled semi-improvised performance with easy chords. Leading viol players such as Ferrabosco, Robert Taylor, John Coprario and later William Lawes had posts at court and enjoyed theatrical connections-the friendship and collaborations between Ferrabosco and playwright Ben Jonson are well-documented. Others, such as Joseph Sherlye or William Corkine were London-based freelancers, and scarcely appear in official records. Those working at court contributed regularly to masque productions, but these used lavish ensembles, violin or wind bands for dancing, or lutes for song accompaniment. Here the intersection with the lyra viol is the large number of masque dances and songs which were arranged for home consumption by the gentlemen amateurs in whose lyra viol manuscript collections they survive. Composer/teachers such as Taylor served as intermediaries, making or copying arrangements for their pupils. The music on this album is drawn from two prints, Ferrabosco II's Lessons for 1. 2. and 3. Viols, 1609 and Corkine's The Second Book of Ayres, 1612, and four manuscript collections. The 'William Ballet Tablature' is one of the earliest lyra viol manuscripts, copied over two decades 1600-1620 by at least four anonymous contributors. The 'John Browne Bandora and Lyra Viol Book' dates from a little later. A landowner and music collector, Browne served as Clerk of the Parliaments for much of his long life. Country gentleman Sir Peter Leycester of Tabley Hall near Chester had presumably learned to play lyra viol during his time at Gray's Inn, he began work on his large manuscript collection Lessons for the Lyro=Viole in 1640. The 'Manchester Lyra Viol Book', an even more ambitious retrospective collection than Leycester's, was probably compiled in the 1650s. Despite it's late date it includes a good deal of Jacobean music in lyra way and Alfonso way tunings, it is the source of nearly half the pieces in this selection. Apart from grouping by tuning copyists did not trouble themselves much with ordering the pieces, and were often casual with titles and composers' names. This album has been compiled to highlight the theatrical connections, but it also reflects the eclectic nature of the sources-pieces with a clear link to court masques mingle with those which could easily have been heard in public theatres, and others arguably less likely to have been. Assembling a sequence of pieces into a suite was still left to the performers in the Jacobean period: here the final ordering and grouping aims to produce a satisfactory listening experience within each set and as a complete sequence.

Ravel, Wagner & Liszt: Transcriptions for Piano 4-Hands

Greatest ever Danish pianist in concert - His activities as a soloist and his increasingly comprehensive work as a teacher were central to his ?nal years from about 1950 until his death in 1967. Here I am thinking not only of his teaching as a professor at the conservatoire, but even more of his efforts to stimulate and encourage interest in classical music. One of his tools was television. TV was completely new. Many people were interested in it, and in Denmark only one channel was available. This was Danmarks Radio, which only transmitted a few hours daily. It opened up a unique opportunity for Schiøler to gain access to “the general public” in this way. There were many broadcasts which had the title “About the Piano” in common. In this series the sound track of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy has already been included in Vol 4. Besides the music, viewers could also hear Schiøler’s eloquent, inspiring and appealing introductions. Volume 6 also includes an example from these broadcasts. Schiøler introduces and talks about Saint-Saëns’ Variations for two pianos on a theme of Beethoven. The theme is the trio from the minuet in the Sonata in E?at, op. 31 no. 3. The variations make considerable demands on the two pianists, who constantly cast little bits of the theme to each other which they then have to grab in such a way that it never affects the pulse and continuity of the music. It demands perfect synchronization between the two players, here Schiøler and his pupil Peter Westenholz (1937 – 2008). And it is a joy to listen to them playing together! The recording was made in Schiøler’s own home on his two Hornung og Møller concert grands.

This recording is a reflection of several performances that took place over time and in varying acoustic environments, including collaborations with contemporary and aerial/vertical dance.

The Cage works tend to be binary in form, and while meditatively free flowing in spirit, the architecture is clean and easily understood. The Bach works—four movements that make up a sonata—offer a multitude of interpretive options, including an approach that wanders through the harmonic labyrinth without regard to pulse and traditional notions of time, magnifying minute rhetorical statements along the way. It can be such that the Bach works represent the dreamscape while the atonal prepared piano pieces of Cage represent structure. This might be in opposition to many listeners’ expectations.

We know little about Pierre de Manchicourt's biography and recordings of his music are rare. "Beauty Farm" takes up the cudgels for this Franco-Flemish master of the Renaissance, who is probably only known to insiders. The album "Manchicourt - Masses" sheds a representative light on the sacred music of the composer, who worked as Kapellmeister to Philip II in Madrid in the last years of his life. Four masses - including the first recording of the "Missa De Domina" - show that Manchicourt was one of the grand masters of vocal polyphony.

A new recording of two major Reger cycles, by a fast-emerging British piano talent. 'To fathom his all-powerful might, no human may accomplish' - this is the text, from a duet in Bach's Cantata BWV128, which Reger takes as the subject of his Bach Variations, and it may fairly be advanced that Reger accorded Bach a comparably divine status. At the age of just 31, Reger had by this stage assimilated not only Bachian counterpoint but it's transformation through the ears and imaginations of Schumann and Brahms and others, and he proceeds to treat the theme with astonishing freedom, testing the technique of the performer while reaching for the limits of the theme's musical possibilities over the course of 14 variations. The cycle concludes with a mighty fugue - or fugues, on separate subjects (of Reger's own devising, eventually welded with the Bach theme). In his booklet essay, Eden Walker remarks that the final bars are 'some of the most colossal and victorious of any in the entire piano repertoire.' By contrast, as a salutary demonstration of Reger's versatility, the Traume am Kamin present him at his most relaxed and intimate, and anyone who has found it hard to warm to Reger will surely find in this cycle a delightful entry-point to an often forbidding catalogue. 'Dreams by the Fireside' - Reger's knotty chromatic harmony still underpins the progress of these Romantic sketches, but now disguised by a touch of the 'lateness' that comes over many artists towards the end of their lives or careers, whether or not they were aware of it. This cycle was Reger's final piano cycle before his death in 1916, aged 41, and the mood of the cycle is perhaps also marked by a necessary escapism from the violent bloodshed around him. Born in 1995, Eden Walker has become a specialist in the ultra-virtuoso end of Romantic piano writing at the hands of composers such as Alkan, Busoni and Godowsky (and Reger). Based in Hamburg, he now teaches at the Staatliche Jugendmusikschule, as well as furthering his own studies and giving concerts across Germany and the UK.

New recordings of late Beethoven at his
most heroic and visionary.
Andrea Molteni plays Scarlatti with ‘ringing
tone and virtuosic agility’ reported Fanfare
magazine of the Italian pianist’s collection of
sonatas on Piano Classics (PCL10233). The
Art Music Lounge praised his bold
juxtaposition of Petrassi and Dallapiccola
(PCL10222) as ‘a strange but wonderful
album’, noting that ‘Molteni sparkles as he
rips through the music with energy and
élan’.
These qualities hold him in good stead for
the rigours of late Beethoven. With his
‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata of 1818, the
composer challenged pianists and listeners
alike to assimilate a work unprecedented in
its length and complexity. Motivically linked
by a descending third through the eventful
course of its four movements, the Sonata
opens with a precipitous Allegro. A mordant
Scherzo then introduces a long and
spiritually engaged slow movement, before
the mighty finale hurtles towards its epic
conclusion through a densely wrought
fugue. In each aspect, then, the Sonata
outlines blueprints for what would become
known as Beethoven’s late style, whether
expressed in solo, chamber, orchestral or
vocal music. The most celebrated single
result of that late style is the Grosse Fuge
which Beethoven wrote as the finale to his
String Quartet Op.131. Persuaded by his
publisher to substitute it for a less arduous
conclusion, Beethoven left this mighty fugue
to stand on its own, and so it has stood ever
since, as a ferocious yet rewarding exercise
of concentration and contrapuntal art.
Molteni presents it in a 19th-century
arrangement made by Louis Winkler which
has attracted surprisingly few recordings.
At the centre of Molteni’s recital, the Sonata
Op.110 offers salutary contrast. Here too are
examples of heroism, rustic humour and
melancholy, but distilled to an essence of
vitality.

New, fun-filled arrangements—with historical authenticity on their side—bring bright and breezy curtain-raisers by a once-celebrated contemporary of Mozart to life.

In a career not much longer than Mozart’s, Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) wrote an astonishing total of 64 works for the stage—as well as substantial collections of symphonies, concertos, and sonatas—that were performed across the length and breadth of Europe.

Cimarosa specialized in lighthearted comedies, for which he supplied stylishly upbeat scores, shot through with Italianate lyricism, and a kind of impetuous vigor which was all his own. This quality makes his overtures particularly suitable for transcription to the kind of plucked-ensemble chamber versions heard on this enterprising new album. During the period after unification, the mandolin became a popular instrument much as the ukulele and the balalaika did elsewhere: relatively easy to learn, highly portable, and well suited to being played in ensemble as a kind of instrumental choir.

The Anedda Quintet have devised a unique synthesis of the two approaches, adding a strong bass component to the classic quartet line-up. This collection of Cimarosa is mainly comprised of modern arrangements by the composer Michele Di Filippo, who had already collaborated with the Anedda Quintet for a previous Brilliant Classics album of Rossini arrangements (95904). In adapting these orchestral scores, Di Filippo aimed to make the melodies sing out while preserving a sense of dialogue, tension, and drama between instruments.

Following a long and rich tradition of composers who wrote for percussion (Edgard Varese, Harry Partch and John Cage, Lou Harrison) over the past 30 years, Augusta has composed extensively for percussion designing works including concerto for percussion quartet and orchestra, percussion playing bells from all around the world, quartets, solos, and two octets for percussion and string quartet. Additionally, many of her 65 orchestral works feature percussion.

Part of the British Music Society series, this work presents Grace Williams’ songs and folk-song arrangements in world premiere recordings. The acclaimed Welsh baritone Jeremy Huw Williams is accompanied by the Australian pianist and composer Wendy Hiscocks.

Three classics from Grimm's fairy tales musically retold by Berlin composer Mark Scheibe. Narrator Meike Droste and the recorder players of the Boreas Quartet Bremen bring the fairy tale characters to life in vivid language and new verses. The ensemble's entire range of instruments is used: from the tirilating sopranino to the donkey-like contrabass recorder.

Although he had famous students (i.e. Szymanowski) and teachers (Moniuszko), few listeners know much, if anything, about Zygmunt Noskowski. And yet, for most of the 19th century, he was the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland. His Third Symphony and his symphonic poem Steppe, Op. 66 blend sweeping Romanticism with Polish folk spirit. The symphony's seasonal journey is lush and lyrical, starting with spring and ending with the optimistic outlook to the next. Steppe evokes Poland's vast landscapes with Borodinesque colors. Under Antoni Wit, these overlooked gems shine anew and make for intriguing listening for lovers of melodic symphonic music.

Miloslav Kabelac ranks among the most significant Czech composers of the 20th century. Alongside Antonin Dvorak and Bohuslav Martinu, he is recognized as one of the greatest Czech symphonists, and his work represents a cornerstone of Czech musical heritage. His work encompasses nearly all musical genres except opera, but at it's core are eight symphonies, each with a unique orchestration. With the czech conductor Jakub Hrusa the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra had a welcome expert for this recording, as he examines carefully these rich orchestrated scores of this still underrated music and composer.