Guided by his idol George Balanchine, Hans Van Manen has striven all his life to create meaning in his choreography. Alongside conversations with colleagues and collaborators, in the documentary Moving to Music, van Manen talks about his life and work, and from where his inspiration came in ballets that are charged with drama and eroticism. Also included are three complete works from Dutch National Ballet - the early Metaforen; Adagio Hammerklavier, which presents the slow movement of Beethoven's Op. 106 sonata performed live on stage with three couples in various configurations; and Frank Bridge Variations, a late masterpiece that plays with balance and counterpoint to music by Benjamin Britten. Total playing time: 127 minutes (Documentary: 52 minutes � Ballets: 75 minutes). Language: English � Subtitles: English, German, Japanese, Korean. HD 16:9 � PCM Stereo � BD 50 � Region: A, B, C. Photos: Front cover � Erwin Olaf; Back cover Courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam � Erwin Olaf. Documentary � 2022 RM Creative � Ballets � 2017 La Belle T�l� - Festival Montpellier Danse - Mezzo. � 2024 Naxos Rights (Europe) Ltd � Made in Germany.

A follow up to their album Vivaldi X2, this new offering from baroque specialists Las Serenissima combines further double concerti by Antonio Vivaldi with works for violin, cello, oboe, recorder and continuo. The previous album received rave reviews including Recording of the Month from BBC Music Magazine. These are some of Vivaldi's most colourful and joyful works, and with director Adrian Chandler at the helm listeners can look forward to further baroque excellence from this dynamic ensemble.

The 'grande dame of the guitar' remembered through a new recording of her own music. Maria Luisa Anido (1907-1996) was born in Argentina and grew up in a household where the guitar was central. Her father brought home many of the great performers, whom she heard and who heard her. Miguel Llobet, himself a student of Tarrega, became one of her early teachers, though the most important was Domingo Prat. She met Andres Segovia after one of his concerts when she was about 10 and he was in his early 20s, and her own recordings rival those of Segovia's for both technical finesse and a natural feeling for the colours and rhythms of the Spanish guitar tradition. Cinzia Milani remarks, in an introduction to her new recording of Anido's own compositions, that 'there are moments when the technical essence of Anido's handing of the fretboard, especially in the higher registers, is so particular that one has the impression of knowing exactly what her hands were like.' Milani concludes her album with Anido's first and perhaps best-known piece, the Barcarola which she composed at the age of 20. Llobet lavished well-earned praise on her in response: 'I have read and played your Barcarola; the voices are carried magnificently with admirable taste of their natural characteristics; the tone colours are perfect. Bravo, very well done.' This is only the second album ever dedicated to Anido's music, making Cinzia Milani's recording a landmark contribution to guitar music on record, and to the extensive guitar library on Brilliant Classics. The most substantial collection here is a sequence of nine Impresiones Argentinas, which effectively form a survey of the folk music of her native land. Individual movements take up Indian, mestizo, pampan and North-western Creole melodies and rhythms. The Impresiones Argentinas are marvellously relaxed and earthy pieces, speaking unaffectedly of everyday experience, and no wonder that Anido charmed Soviet audiences with them during her 1960s tours, before settling for a while in Cuba. The Aire Norte�o and Cancion del Yucatan equally draw on south-American roots, while a trio of Preludios Nostalgicos belong to the repertoire of many modern guitarists. Anido was a major figure on the landscape of the 20th-century guitar, and Cinzia Milani has made a devoted tribute to her art. - Maria Luisa Anido (1907-1996) was born in Moron, in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied guitar with Domingo Prat in Argentina and Miguel Llobet in Spain. From 1925, she frequently performed in Argentina together with Llobet. Her first London appearance was in 1952 at the Wigmore Hall, and she spent several years in the 1960s performing and teaching in Russia. Later she became professor at the conservatory of Buenos Aires. By the mid-1980s she moved to Spain, where she spent the rest of her life. - Maria Luisa Anido has been one of the few female composer-performers of her time. Her works for guitar, exquisite miniatures, are inspired by the rich folklore and music of her native Argentina. - Played with winning affection by Cinzia Milani, one of the foremost female guitarists of today, who has already issued a Tribute to Ida Presti, and Teresa de Rogatis, issued on Brilliant Classics.

Masterpieces of Baroque piano literature, in critically acclaimed recordings by pianists with a fine sensibility for the 18th century. Recordings made between 2005 and 2023; new booklet essay; an ideal budget introduction to the world of the Baroque keyboard, full of elegant dances and virtuoso playing. This survey of Baroque composers ranges from the high-point of 18th-century keyboard writing, the Goldberg Variations of Bach, to little known gems such as the sonatas by Espona, Galuppi and Giustini. It places the three great masters of the Baroque - Bach, Handel and Rameau - in the context of their influential predecessor, Sweelinck, and then those composers such as Galuppi and Espona who write in a new, galant style which overlaps with the Classicism of Mozart. Some of the artists on these recordings are still in their 20s, having grown up with a culture of historically informed performance practice which they then bring to their handling of a modern piano. Others, such as Yuan Sheng and Wolfram-Schmitt Leonardy, have been playing these pieces for many decades, and bring to them a career's worth of experience in teasing out the meaning and rhetoric of 18th-century phrasing and harmony on an instrument which none of the composers ever encountered. Handel is represented not by the familiar Eight 'Great' Suites but by an imaginative collection of earlier suites. Scarlatti's fertile invention is generously celebrated with 35 of his sonatas. Bach predominates, naturally, with the Six Partitas and the Italian Concerto as well as the Goldbergs, thus representing the stylistic range of his output. Keyboard styles from all over mainland Europe make an appearance, in the Dutch/Italian nobility of Sweelinck, the Hispanic-Italian flavour of Scarlatti, the French accents of Bach and Handel, and native French of Rameau, and the exuberantly Italian flourishes and proto-operatic gestures of Galuppi and Giustini. There is something here for everyone.

The Ukrainian violin virtuoso Solomiya Ivakhiv presents a selection of Ukrainian Christmas carols arranged for violin and orchestra by Bohdan Kryvopust - the much-lauded composer whose works have been performed internationally. Accompanying Ivakhiv in these world premiere recordings is the Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serhii Khorovets.

It is, quite simply, excellent, rich in the most beautiful 'affects', wonderfully transparent in sound, with a slight touch of swing in the fast movements that really allows this music to blossom, lively in the allegro, and wonderfully sentimental (but by no means saccharine) in the slow movements. This is what a reviewer wrote to us in his evaluation of this recording before it's release. Indeed, these concertos, recorded here for the first time on period instruments, possess a distinctive beauty that makes them "worth the fuss". In these virtuoso and weightless creations, their composer Joseph Umstatt (1711-1762) proves himself a connoisseur and master of the gallant style that took the entire music world by storm at the time - how else could he have spent the last decade of his life as court composer and kapellmeister to the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg?

One of the key German composers before Bach with over 500 surviving individual pieces, Heinrich Schütz mainly composed church music. Credited with bringing the Italian style to Germany, he continued its evolution from the Renaissance into the early Baroque. Despite living most of his long life in Germany, Schütz made two trips to Venice in his twenties. The first was between 1609 and 1613, during which he studied under Giovanni Gabrieli. The second trip occurred in the late 1620s, possibly to meet and study under Monteverdi. These visits significantly influenced Schütz’s music as he blended the ornate and theatrical Venetian style with the more subdued Lutheran tradition. This album explores his solo cantatas alongside examples of the brilliant and virtuosic Venetian-style instrumental music.

SOMM RECORDINGS announces the first appearance on disc of three historic live recordings by Sir Adrian Boult to mark the 40th anniversary of the pre-eminent British conductor’s death, including his complete 1949 account of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, Stravinsky’s Capriccio (1948), and Vaughan Williams’ Fourth Symphony (1965).

Boult had led the UK premiere of Berg’s excoriating opera in 1934, although only Act II of that performance survives. This complete 1949 recording with the BBC Symphony, Heinrich Nillius as Wozzeck, and Suzanne Danco as Marie – only the second UK performance – adds to Boult’s and the opera’s stature on disc. Recorded live in London’s Royal Albert Hall, it is a remarkable document of an exhilarating performance.

Boult’s pioneering championing of ‘new’ music is also heard in his recording of Stravinsky’s Capriccio, with the BBC Symphony and the prodigiously gifted Australian Noel Mewton-Wood at the piano.

Boult’s rare outing in 1965 with the Royal Opera House Orchestra saw him returning to a work he premiered 30 years earlier, Vaughan Williams’ Fourth Symphony. Under Boult’s baton it is a stirring and startling statement of loss and grief.

A bonus track features a revealing discussion of his 19-year tenure at the head of the BBC Symphony by Boult with Bernard Keeffe for BBC Radio in 1965.

In a new arrangement for solo harp, celebrated harpist Gwyneth Wentink presents Dutch composer Simeon Ten Holt's Canto Ostinato and Aforisme No. 2 (a transcription by Jeroen van Veen on behalf of Simeon Ten Holt). "I first heard Canto Ostinato on piano in 2011 and I felt as if I was on fire. THIS is something I wanted to play on the harp: I clearly recall the zeal and enthusiasm I felt at the time. I was buzzing with curiosity, excitement and vitality. Exploring various musical genres, arranging music for the harp and working in interdisciplinary settings is something that has always been important to me. Playing the harp, one is being confronted with a rather restricted repertoire, and one almost evidently scans the horizon for what else one can arrange, commission and/or discover" - Gwyneth Wentink.

His first recital album on Signum Records, internationally acclaimed pianist Melvyn Tan brings a new perspective to Beethoven's Piano Sonatas 30, 31 and 32. Exploration, insight and imagination are vital ingredients in Melvyn Tan's blend of artistic attributes. He established his international reputation with pioneering performances on fortepiano and continues to cast fresh light on music conceived for the piano's early and modern forms.

Massenet's Werther is one of those masterpieces that were rejected or shunned at the time of their creation. Sketched in the 1880s, the score was turned down by the director of the Opera-Comique and had to make do with a premiere in German, far from Paris, before finally being heard in Paris in 1893. It gradually established itself as one of the composer's most personal works, in which he showed himself to be as fine a colourist as he was a master of the art of the 'motif de rappel'. In adapting Goethe's novel, Massenet and his librettists gave greater prominence to the character of Charlotte, thus placing the struggle between duty and passion at the centre of the narrative. The role of Werther, originally assigned to a tenor, was also sung by the baritone Mattia Battistini with the composer's approval. Provided the singer makes skilful use of voix mixte, this version gives the work a melancholy colouring ideal for portraying it's hero's suicidal temperament. Tassis Christoyannis follows this approach in exemplary fashion, opposite the reserved yet moving Charlotte of Veronique Gens. Both singers give the text the preponderant role allotted to it by French operatic tradition.

This recording brings together four Hungarian composers who, each in their own way, contributed to the development of a new national musical style at the beginning of the twentieth century. They managed to write music that was respected internationally and that both nurtured them and raised the general standard of music in Hungary.

Leó Weiner’s (dubbed the ‘Hungarian Mendelssohn’) and Erno Dohnányi’s string trios were composed during their student years, yet both works have become significant milestones in the limited repertoire for this instrumental combination. Elegant and occasionally reminiscent of Brahms, they also incorporate subtle touches of local folklore. Zoltán Kodály, alongside Béla Bartók, one of the most important Hungarian musicians of the century, composed relatively little chamber music, but his Intermezzo, also an early work, evokes the folk music that the composer had begun to collect for his ethnomusicological research. The least familiar and youngest of the composers represented here, László Weiner, met a tragic fate. His Serenade, composed while he was studying with Kodály, reveals the exceptional talent of a composer whose body of work remains small. Less ‘Magyar’ than the other works presented here, his Serenade recalls the intense and concentrated atmosphere of Viennese ‘modernist’ works.

Music of Hanseatic Cities II Music from old Gdansk After the European Hanseatic Ensemble under the direction of Manfred Cordes made a stop in Stralsund in 2023, the journey now leads to Gdansk. And here too, the travelling company has unearthed numerous 17th century treasures of sacred music; organ pieces, choral movements, fascinating scenes such as the battle of Archangel Michael against his adversary... Once again an image of turbulent times appears before us, in which faith was to be strengthened, not least due to the spirit of music. However, what transpired behind the scenes is thought-provoking - the story of how good Christians and accomplished artists schemingly tried to force each other from their posts is the stuff of historical novels. The accompanying music can be found here.

This is the first recording not only of Ave Maris stella and Laudate pueri but also the original D-major version of Bononcini's Te Deum. The work has been newly edited here from it's English eighteenth-century sources. These works were written during Bononcini's time in London, and a few months after his arrival the country was ravaged by a smallpox epidemic, which also saw the first introduction of inoculation against disease in England. It's fitting therefore that this recording was made in the early summer of 2021, six months after the COVID-19 vaccination programme began in the UK. Despite the challenges that this caused, director Owen Rees says "it was heart-lifting to be able to bring this project to fruition after many months during which singing was silenced".

The pre-eminent Lisztian of our day returns to Brilliant Classics for a symphonic sequel of transcriptions. In 2018, Brilliant Classics issued Leslie Howard and Mattia Ometta playing the 12 symphonic poems of Liszt in the composer's own transcriptions for piano duo (95748). The set won glowing reviews: 'Not only do Leslie Howard and Mattia Ometto navigate Liszt's technical challenges with fluency and ease,' wrote Jed Distler for Classics Today, 'but they also treat the scores seriously... Howard's excellent annotations and Brilliant Classics' budget price further clinch my recommendation for collectors.' As before, Leslie Howard supplies his own, invaluable insights to accompany this trio of symphonies in Liszt's transcriptions for piano duo. As with the symphonic poems, Liszt remains utterly faithful to the originals, preserving the spirit and sound of the orchestral scores without compromising the texts and, in the case of Beethoven's Ninth, being scrupulously attentive to his hero's great masterpiece. Howard and Ometta observe all of Beethoven's (and Liszt's) repeat markings in the Scherzo, presenting the fullest and most authentic text available. The Faust Symphony has long been recognised as Liszt's greatest orchestral work, and it ranks with the B minor Piano Sonata and the oratorio Christus as the noblest of his musical achievements. The two-piano version reached it's final form by 1863, before Liszt added a short, ethereal passage to the coda of the second movement in 1880, and these bars are added in the present performance. By it's side, the Dante Symphony has often been overlooked and unjustly disparaged. Yet few compossers have depicted hell and damnation as vividly as Liszt (despite the composer's own deep and optimistic Christian faith) in the opening Inferno movement, and it's companion portrait of Purgatory is a wholly original musical conception whose harmonies prefigure many things later familiar from Wagner's Parsifal or the symphonies of Bruckner. Rather less familiar is Liszt's transcription of his Rakoczy March for two pianos and eight hands, for which Howard and Ometta are joined by Leonora Armellini and Igor Roma. Unlike his solopiano transcription of Beethoven's Ninth, this piano duo version incorporates all the vocal parts within the instrumental texture.

The new focus on Bohemian classicism in
the second half of the 18th century,
manifested in recent recordings and articles
in professional journals, has amply
demonstrated the calibre of these
composers and the quality of their music.
Among them, Josef Mysliveček enjoyed
considerable fame during his lifetime. He
was known to such important figures as the
soprano Caterina Gabrielli and was a friend
of Mozart’s, who esteemed him.
Mysliveček’s like many of his
contemporaries strove for musical success
and economic independence through opera
composition, a career that was high-profile
but also challenging in the late 18th
century. And he did not consider the
fortepiano to be as important a vehicle of
expression, unlike Mozart, as can be seen in
his meagre solo keyboard output.
The Six Divertimenti are single-movement
compositions, and while probably
intended as didactic, they are not sterile
exercises for amateurs but exquisite
pieces that satisfy the most discerning
palates. The Six Sonatas are short but
brilliant pieces, based on the galant style
transmuted into a pre-classicism very akin
to the Mannheim school, with energetic
first movements with a symphonic flavour
alternating with elegant and delicate
minuets.
Given the small number of Mysliveček’s
compositions for solo fortepiano, it was
decided to include two additional, rare
pieces worthy of this monograph: two of
his Wind Octets Op.1 in a contemporary
solo keyboard transcription by Václav
Vincenc Mašek. Mysliveček’s writing
features remarkable counterpoint,
compressed by Mašek into an exemplary
arrangement.
This recording is intended as the first on
historical instruments (there is already a box by
Clare Hammond on modern piano with the
Divertimenti for fortepiano, the six Sonatas and
the Concertos for fortepiano and orchestra).
The arranged Octets (most likely never
previously performed, let alone recorded) are
offered as world premieres.
Other information:
● Recorded April 2022 in Colloredo di Prato,
Udine, Italy
● Bartoccini plays a late-18th-century Venetian
fortepiano (Divertimentos) and a Paul McNulty
fortepiano after Anton Walter (Sonatas and
Octets)
● Booklet in English contains liner notes by the
artist and his biography

There are many reasons to consider Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787) one of history's most unique musicians. He was a gambist, a player of an instrument long associated with an aristocracy that was then at the height of it's decadence. But today he would be labelled "avantgarde" as one who embraced the newest musical styles and indeed genres, playing a key role in the development of the symphony. This album opens with the Symphony in C from his Opus 10 set of six symphonies. Featuring an instrumentation of two oboes, two horns, two violins, viola and basso, the score has all the hallmarks of the era's symphonic music. Abel's only vocal work of note is the aria "Frena le belle" which he contributed to the pastiche opera Sifare. So inspiring is the music, it is regrettable that Abel did not find greater repute in the vocal repertoire. Abel's updated catalogue (AbelWV, publ. Gunter von Zadow, 2023) includes 420 works, of which 29 are concertos for solo instruments. These follow the typical pattern, with three movements (first and third played fast in the home key, the second more slowly in a separate albeit related key) starting and ending in orchestral ritornellos, which are also interposed between each solo. That notwithstanding, the Flute Concerto in E minor has a very particular structure consisting of three movements all in minor keys. The viola section was reconstructed by Wolfgang Kostujak. The Harpsichord Concerto in D Guntersberg, 2022) derives from a manuscript produced by two unidentified copyists. This score, bearing an Italian title without reference to the pianoforte, suggests it was composed while Abel was still in Germany. Of the numerous concertos Abel himself performed as solo gambist during his life in London, tragically, none remain. The two on this album (Guntersberg) therefore merit some explanation. The Concerto in A comes to us from an unfinished manuscript by an unknown copyist, with no mention of the work's composer, but a comprehensive analysis of the music has led Thomas Fritzsch to attribute it to Abel. Kostujak has reconstructed the parts for first and second violins, viola, and a few passages for basso. The Concerto in G is none other than the Cello Concerto in B flat, in turn the same as the Flute Concerto in C. Such repurposing of works is not exceptional in Abel's catalogue, and a detailed analysis provides ample evidence that this was intended for viola da gamba in the original version. Other information: - Booklet in English contains liner notes by the director, Alejandro Marias, and profiles of the soloists and the ensemble - The Spanish liner notes are available for download at www. Brilliantclassics. com

From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, the overture became an orchestral piece intended to precede a large-scale dramatic work. This recording brings together twelve overtures from Mozart’s operas. They foreshadow the action, sometimes stylistically, sometimes by quoting themes that will appear later, to create a dramatic impression before we even see anything on stage – think of the memorable overtures to Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte.

The twelve overtures brought together here cover 21 years of Mozart’s career: from Mithridate, composed when he was just 14, which testifies to the young composer’s familiarity with the galant style then in vogue, to La Clemenza di Tito (1791), the high point of his work in the opera seria genre that was to disappear with him, not forgetting masterpieces such as Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte.

The Kölner Akademie, playing on period instruments, and its conductor Michael Alexander Willens demonstrate Mozart’s unrivalled ability to capture the audience’s attention with these brilliant overtures, some of which are among his most famous works, both on stage and in concert.

REVIEW:

The interpretations are very fresh, the playing virtuosic. The historical instruments provide a clear, crisp, and transparent sound, which is reproduced by the sound engineers with good spatiality and balance, with a clean and beautifully present bass.

-- Pizzicato

Together with pianist Michael McHale, Michael Collins continues his exploration of the chamber repertoire for clarinet. After exploring French music (BIS-2497) and the Brahms Sonatas (BIS-2557), he now turns to British music with this recital covering a hundred years of music for clarinet and piano which reflects the special relationship between English composers and this instrument. The earliest works on this recording are the Three Intermezzi and the Sonata by Charles Villiers Stanford, who made no secret of his debt to Brahms. As with his Viennese counterpart, Stanford's music is poised yet seductive and, in this case, beautifully conceived for both instruments. Known for the strength of his vocal music, Gerald Finzi also makes the clarinet sing in his Five Bagatelles composed during the Second World War. Light and touching, they appear as a personal reinterpretation of the baroque dances found in Bach's instrumental suites. Not surprisingly, Marcolm Arnold's Sonatina has always been popular with clarinettists, with it's energy and it's nods to jazz and dance music. Last but not least, Joseph Horovitz, the last composer in chronological order, is represented by his Two Majorcan Pieces and his Sonatina. Once again, the music is playful and makes an excellent showcase for the clarinet.

Sibelius studied the violin in his youth, and actively entertained the prospect of a career as a professional violinist for much of his student life. After graduating from the Helsinki Music Institute, in 1890, he went to Vienna to continue his studies, and while there he even auditioned (unsuccessfully) for a place in the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. So, it comes as no surprise that the instrument plays an important place in his compositional output. What might be surprising is that he wrote only one concerto – this might perhaps be due to the difficult conception of the work. The first performance received mixed reviews, and led to extensive revision of the score. It was only when Jascha Heifetz in the 1930s started to perform the concerto regularly that it gained its place in the standard repertoire. Although there was no second concerto, Sibelius’s numerous other works for violin and orchestra are no mere miniatures, as the recordings on this album amply demonstrate. The acclaimed international virtuoso James Ehnes is accompanied here by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner.

At the Festival Hall, on 24 April, 1960, an 80-year-old Sir Thomas Beecham gave what would turn out to be the final concert he conducted with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. SOMM Recordings is releasing the last work on that historic programme as part of it's continuing Beecham Collection of live recordings-the Bacchanale from the opera Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saens. Unbeknownst to them, the audience's tumultuous reception of this performance proved to be a farewell to Beecham on the London concert platform. In June 1960, he suffered a cerebral thrombosis and never conducted again; he died on 8 March 1961. Jon Tolansky, a former musician at the Royal Opera House who has since specialised in making documentary features on composers and performers, recalls hearing this programme as an 11-year-old. "I had never heard anything remotely like it," he says, "as Sir Thomas, now standing fully upright on the podium, became a generator of electric lightning and as the Royal Festival Hall seemed to be shaking, most especially in the last two minutes or so, in a catastrophic earthquake." This historic release also includes live recordings of Saint-Saens's First Cello Concerto and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Once again, audio restoration is by the renowned audio recording engineer Lani Spahr,�whose work has recently been honoured with four Gramophone�Magazine Editor's Choice Awards-for Bruckner from the Archives Vols I and IV and, more recently, Bliss, the Composer Conducts and E.J. Moeran's music conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. Beecham was always what The Times called "a quietly persistent advocate for Saint-Saens," and he offers attentive support to the 1958 reading of Saint-Saens's First Cello Concerto by Ukrainian-born soloist Mischel Cherniavsky. The concerto is in one continuous movement with three tightly structured sections sharing interrelated ideas. Cherniavsky came from a family of nine musically gifted children, and he played in the Cherniavsky Trio with two of his brothers from 1901 until 1934, after which he was mostly based in London and France. The live performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade on this release was given at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 March, 1957. This fell right in the middle of recording sessions when the orchestra was immersed in the piece for three days, which goes some way to explaining the glorious quality of the playing in the concert. What Rimsky-Korsakov described as the "various fairy-tale wonders" he had in mind when composing the work come across in Beecham's live performance with a freshness and brilliance that make for an unforgettable experience. A 24-year-old Steven Staryk became leader of the�RPO shortly before these recordings, earning the title "king of concertmasters" from�The Strad�magazine. About his performance on this concert The Times wrote "the solo playing of the new leader, Mr Steven Staryk, must have due acknowledgment."

This disc is a double tribute. The first work, Pictured Within, is a collective effort conceived as a major project to mark the 60th birthday of conductor Martyn Brabbins, whose reputation in new music and British music is beyond reproach.

Following the pattern of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Pictured Within is a series of 14 variations on a theme, each of which takes up the character of the equivalent variation in Elgar’s work, the difference being that here 14 different composers have each contributed a variation in tribute to Brabbins.

Also on the SACD is Jaakko Kuusisto’s Symphony, a fitting tribute to the composer, conductor, and violinist who passed away in 2022. Illness left Jaakko no time to complete his work, so it fell to his brother Pekka – who conducts here – and Jari Eskola to finish it. The result is a powerful piece, full of familiar themes and melodies derived from Jaakko’s existing compositions, to which are added autobiographical extra-musical elements. The moving conclusion is a collage of fragmented phrases inspired by the signals emitted by lighthouses and ships, as if Kuusisto’s spirit had been sent out to sea.

Rued Langgaard's remarkable opera 'Antikrist' confronts the decline and fall of Western civilisation, critiquing modern lifestyles and ways of thinking, which resonates with our times more than ever before. Never performed in the composer's lifetime, 'Antikrist' blends Romantic and contemporary styles to create a score that is both seductive and opulent, while the lack of a conventional plot creates space for an ironic and sarcastic expos� of contemporary civilisation's weaknesses. This spectacular Deutsche Oper Berlin production was acclaimed in 'The New York Times' as a 'riotously colourful, boldly stylised staging [in] a near-breathless swirl'.

Niklas Sivelov plays the Sonatas opus 2 by L. van Beethoven on a Graf Hammerklavier.

I dream of forever being able to build programmes and recordings, as I do here, out of a pure desire to play. These mischievous, naive desires for play and musical pleasure are the only things that drive me. In this new album devoted to J.S. Bach, I explore a wide variety of works, each telling it's own story, which could be arranged in different ways or listened to separately. The aim of this new album, my first solo work devoted to Johann Sebastian Bach, is simple but so important to me: to delight the ears and, may I hope, the heart, with a few pieces that I place in the pantheon of the Kantor and that have been with me for a long time, recorded here on a magnificent harpsichord by Philippe Humeau. And a new adventure with Ramee - an invaluable label if there ever was one - is just beginning! Bertrand Cuiller