This double album includes two recordings never published before: Robert Hacomplaynt's Marian Antiphon: Salve Regina, and Robert Fayrfax's Magnificat 'Regale', both from the Eton Choirbook. The other recordings in the album include works from the Early English Polyphony era, by composers John Taverner, Christopher Tye, Thomas Morley and last but not least Thomas Tallis

Wilhelm Furtw�ngler is a musical titan, one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century. Some would say he is the greatest of all. A supreme, inimitable interpreter of the Austro-German symphonic repertoire, and of Wagner's music dramas, he remains a towering point of reference for performers and audiences. The unparalleled scope of this 55CD set makes it an essential for the music-lover. Not only is it the first collection to unite Furtw�ngler's entire catalogue of studio recordings, it also encompasses every live recording he made with a view to commercial release. Painstaking research has even unearthed a treasury of previously unpublished material, recorded in Vienna and Copenhagen. The highest artistic and technical standards have been applied in curating this set: each recording has been fully and scrupulously remastered in high definition, while the accompanying commentary and documentation, both authoritative and exhaustive, further illuminates Furtw�ngler's philosophy and his genius for bringing a score to life with apparent spontaneity.

Classical Music

Premiered at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2022 - with Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming and Kelli O'Hara as it's stars - Kevin Puts's The Hours was praised by The New York Times as "sincere and persuasive... fervent... and soaringly lyrical". The opera returns to the Met's schedule in May 2024. Based on both the award-winning 2002 film directed by Stephen Daldry and the original novel by Michael Cunningham, The Hours interweaves characters and events from three different periods of the 20th century. Joyce DiDonato, who takes the pivotal role of writer Virginia Woolf, says that: "Even though it deals with death head-on, the piece is life-affirming and tells a timeless story. The characters' struggles are shared universally, and by highlighting them through the different personalities and periods, hopefully everybody can find a part of themselves in the story."

This audio recording showcases the opera The Hours, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts, which played to sold-out audiences at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City during it's world-premiere staged production last season. Featuring a libretto by Greg Pierce, adapted from Michael Cunningham's acclaimed novel and inspired by Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, the powerful story concerns three women from different eras who each grapple with their inner demons and roles in society. Joyce DiDonato (interpreting the role of Virginia Woolf) is joined by Renée Fleming as Clarissa Vaughan and Kelli O'Hara as Laura Brown, among others in this superstar cast, conducted by Yannick Nezet-Séguin.

The first album from Nathalie Stutzmann as conductor features Dvořák's well known Symphony No. 9" From The New World" and the lesser known American Suite. Nathalie Stutzmann studied conducting with legendary Finnish teacher Jorma Panula, and has benefited from the mentoring of Simon Rattle and the late Seiji Ozawa. She holds two major posts in the USA - Music Director at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra - and has guest engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Bayreuth Festival amongst others. Simon Rattle told the NY times: "Nathalie is the real thing. So much love, intensity and sheer technique."

Campra Requiem; Rameau & Mondonville Motets Le Concert D'Astree (Artist), Emmanuelle Ha�m

B�sra Kayik�i on Places: Places is a continuation of my solo piano album Eskizler (Sketches), which was the result of my first compositional endeavours, studies written in early 2019. Those experiments in music reminded me of the sketches I would make in my work as an interior architect, at the start of a new project. I was profoundly influenced by the way these two disciplines - architecture and music - work with the same principles, one addressing the ear and the other the eye. It was inevitable, therefore, that I would follow an architect's process when writing music. I devised my musical templates using methods I derived from architecture. And with this new album, Places, I feel I have taken those sketches a step further. I can hear them evolving, in a way. Sometimes I'll try to construct a specific place I have in mind, one that I miss, but sometimes it's just about an emotion. There are moments in life that make me believe places are also spaces in which we take refuge, and that we find shelter in our emotions, too. Those emotions become a shield, a roof over our heads protecting our inner peace.

The string quartets of Debussy and Ravel, composed within a decade of each other, make a natural pairing. The Arod Quartet, celebrating it's 10th anniversary in 2023, sets these two belle époque masterpieces in a present-day context with a third work: Al Asr, by the young French composer Benjamin Attahir. The scope of this Erato release is further expanded with a DVD documentary about the Arod Quartet, entitled Ménage à quatre and directed by Bruno Monsaingeon. His first experience of the Arod Quartet was a revelation: "Had I ever heard such sheer strength of attack, such dramatic power, such a variety of sonic colour or dramatic range - all combined with such prodigious delicacy of phrasing?" It was in 2017 that the Arod Quartet gave the premiere of Benjamin Attahir's Al Asr, a substantial work which takes poetic inspiration from the Muslim afternoon prayer and the intense heat of the moment midway between noon and sunset. "Al Asr is dedicated to my wonderful friends in the Quatuor Arod," says Attahir. "They have brought it to life in a way I would never have dared to dream."

This was something I'd had in mind for a long time..." says pianist Alexandre Tharaud, "to put together an album for the sheer pleasure of it, in collaboration with dear friends and paying tribute to the wonders of the piano duet repertoire." The aptly named 4 Hands offers 18 tracks, each just a few minutes in length, each featuring Tharaud sharing a piano keyboard with a different partner. The repertoire ranges wide - from Bach to Glass by way of such composers as Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Fauré, Satie, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Piazzolla. 15 of Tharaud's fellow performers are celebrated pianists - among them the late Nicholas Angelich, Mariam Batsashvili, Bertrand Chamayou, David Fray, Víkingur Ólafsson, and Beatrice Rana. The other three, all stars in their musical fields, are shown in a new, pianistic light: cellist Gautier Capuçon, countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and singer-songwriter Juliette. "The piano duet is one of life's miracles," continues Tharaud. "First and foremost, it is the most intimate way of playing chamber music... It was a joy to record this album... If hearing these pieces prompts people to buy some sheet music and enjoy playing duets together - just as we did in the recording studio - then I will have achieved my aim.

A wonderful collection of 15 of the favorite and most popular carols for the Christmas season, performed by the world-famous Choir of King's College, Cambridge.

A towering figure in French music of the later 19th century, C�sar Franck created a distinctive fusion of German Romanticism and French Classicism, enriching the symphonic, chamber, instrumental, vocal and sacred repertoires. As a teacher and mentor he gained admiration for his modesty and generosity while exercising a powerful influence on younger disciples such as Vincent d'Indy, Henri Duparc and Ernest Chausson. The C�sar Franck Edition gathers together all his masterworks - among them the Symphony in D, Violin Sonata, Pr�lude, Fugue et Variation and, of course, 'Panis Angelicus' - in enthralling performances by musicians of the first rank. Running to 16 CDs, the collection includes a CD of transcriptions and arrangements, proving their fascination for a still greater diversity of interpreters than Franck might have imagined. The five CDs of historical recordings - dating back as far as 1907 - testify to the continuing growth of his reputation after his death in 1890, and to the vibrant performing tradition engendered by his genius.

This album presents the core of the violin repertoire - Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Kreutzer Sonata," says Nemanja Radulovic. While these Beethoven masterpieces have been recorded countless times, Radulovic's approach to each of them has an element of innovation. For the concerto, he has expanded Double Sens, the chamber ensemble he founded in 2008. "I wanted to retain the special character of Double Sens as an ensemble which plays without a conductor and explores new ways of interpretation... In our recording of the concerto, we wanted to convey a range of emotions - courage, risk, joy, love, rage, sadness, nostalgia, and magical serenity and tenderness." Rather than playing the grandly scaled Kreutzer Sonata in partnership with a pianist, he performs it here in his own arrangement for solo violin and five-part string ensemble. "While remaining faithful to Beethoven, I allowed myself to exercise my imagination.

Innovator, erudite, entertaining and acclaimed conductor Sir Roger Norrington founded the Sch�tz Choir, became founding music director of Kent Opera and established the London Classical Players, the period-instrument orchestra. His recordings of historically informed Beethoven's complete symphonies with the later that opened his collaboration with EMI received unanimous critical acclaim. The success led to a busy and productive recording programme that covered music from Purcell and Handel to Wagner, Brahms and Bruckner, encompassing orchestral works, choral works and opera. A rich and varied collection of recordings released under EMI, Virgin and Warner Classics that illustrates the Guardian's observation: "arguably the most important British conductor of the last half century... a man who has emphatically changed classical music for the better."

Conductor John Nelson and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg record Berlioz's orchestral song cycle on a libretto by Th�ophile Gautier, Les Nuits d'�t�, sung by (bari)tenor Michael Spyres. This is the first ever recording of the original 1856 version by one single voice.

Eric Tanguy's focus on "imagination, poetry and an interior world" has helped to make him one of the most widely performed French composers of today. Belonging in a line that leads back from his mentor Henri Dutilleux to Messiaen and Debussy, he does not identify with any specific 'school' of composition. His aesthetic has also been shaped by the music of Sibelius and his technique is characterised by intricate use of modes. "There is rigour and purpose behind my music," he says, but I don't expect the listener to have to decode it... It's the feeling that matters." The album In a Dream takes it's title from a piece for violin and piano, one of the eight chamber works on it's programme. Composed between 1999 and 2019, they are performed here by violinists Alexandra Conunova and Rosanne Philippens, viola-player Lise Berthaud, cellist Edgar Moreau, clarinettist Pierre G�nisson, pianists Suzana Bartal and David Kadouch, and string ensemble Quatuor Diotima.

"We take you on a journey that leads to new places - beyond the places you know," is how Jakub Josef Orlinski describes the idea behind his album Beyond. The multiple award-winning countertenor has already been celebrated by international critics for his selection of works for his album Facce d'amore. Now he has put together an extraordinary program of vocal and instrumental works by 18 composers of the early Italian Baroque. They were important figures in their day, but their names have since been almost forgotten. Alongside Claudio Monteverdi, Giulio Caccini, Johann Caspar Kerll and Francesco Cavalli are certainly among the musicians who are still known today - but they are rarely heard: Names such as Pallavicino, Marini and Jarzebski.

Together with musicologist Yannis François, the countertenor delved deep into the repertoire of the 17th century and unearthed a repertoire that is second to none: "This music reaches beyond its time. It is still lively, vibrant, moving and entertaining," says Orlinski enthusiastically. His selection includes ten world premiere recordings, for example the aria "Dolcissime catene" from Giovanni Cesare Netti's opera La moglie del fratello. The album is also a varied compilation of arias, cantatas, madrigals, concerti and purely instrumental works such as sonatas and symphonies. In the original sound ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro, Jakub Josef Orlinski has found a musical partner full of esprit and enthusiasm.

Probably the best recent version available of Aida with the finest possible cast of singers and a wonderful conductor. It was previously available in deluxe casebound 3CD original version (0825646106639) which was too expensive to remanufacture. In addition the total number of CDs was reduced from 3 to 2 by combining the first two which were short. The original cover remains unchanged, but the rest of the artwork is designed according to the Home of Opera Series. 'Who needs elephants when the music sounds this good?' declared The Times of this milestone recording event in Rome with it's 'luxurious, surely never-to-be-repeated cast'. Once again proving his mastery of Italian opera, Sir Antonio Pappano moves between sumptuous grandeur and touching intimacy.

Maxence Cyrin's second album for Warner Classics, presenting piano compositions with synthetic layers on some tracks. Contemplative, imaginative, an invitation to travel - this album is inspired by a trip Maxence made to the south of Portugal. The pieces refer to the sea (Faro Bay, Varech, The Island) as well as to the passing of time (Dust, Seasons, Antica).

With Roots, his first Warner Classics album, violinist Nemanja Radulovic draws on a diversity of cultures in a musical tour of the world. Roots has it's roots in the pandemic. "Throughout this period I had the time to think profoundly about music... When the lockdown started I tried to create music, tried to practise, but I couldn't." As a listener, the music that really made Serbian-born Nemanja feel alive - in addition to Mozart - was music that reflected the traditions of it's place of origin. "I realised how much music could connect people, through it's sheer joy," he says. "I realised that there was one thing I could offer to a world that lockdowns had forced behind new borders. And that was to reconnect it all through music... through world music, which is the basis of classical music." He takes his journey in the company of his own ensemble, Double Sens, whose members come from both France and the Balkans. "The pieces selected for this album are very personal. My wish is that each of you discovers a world without borders through this music."

Lars Vogt (1970-2022) early recordings collected here provide a document of an artist who always remained authentic, both to himself and to music. Lars Vogt never sought absolute truth, but truthfulness instead meant all the more to him. The man and the artist were always very close, never currying favour and never detached from the world. He was, instead, open and natural. "It's incredibly gratifying when you notice that you can perhaps light a little spark, a little flame for music in people, and when music helps you to find the path to your own soul."

Opera audiences in 19th-century Paris may never have visited India, but they loved to dream about it. After the successes enjoyed by Lesp�cheurs de perles and Le roi de Lahore Delibes knew what he was doing when he chose to set an adaptation of Pierre Loti's exotic Indian novel Rarahu and duly scored a hit with his opera Lakm� at the Op�ra-Comique in 1883. The opera is nothing without a star in the title-role.

Destination Paris is a concept album from our best-selling core classical artist, following the success stories of Intuition (84,000), Emotions (145,000), and Sensations (63,000). Well-known lean-back repertoire from popular film melodies to French chansons to classical pieces - including "La Foule" by Édith Piaf, the main theme from Summer of '42 by Michel Legrand, "Beau soir" by Debussy, Sicilienne by Fauré, and "Chi Mai" by Ennio Morricone. Recorded with pianist Jérôme Ducros, the Maîtrise de Radio France, and the Orchestre de chambre de Paris under conductor Lionel Bringuier. Jean Jacques Goldman, one of France's most popular songwriters and composers, wrote a new song for this album, "Pense à nous", for cello, children's choir and orchestra and made a special arrangement of his "Envole-moi". Paris will be a worldwide destination in 2024 as the hosting city of the Olympic Games, for which Gautier's album will be the perfect soundtrack.

P�ques � Notre-Dame is an album of choral music for Easter, performed by members of the Ma�trise Notre-Dame de Paris, which offers training and performance opportunities to talented children, teenagers and adults. Spanning six centuries and the musical cultures of France, Italy and Germany, the album includes the last polyphonic work to be performed at Notre-Dame before fire devastated the great cathedral amidst preparations for Easter in 2019. The conductor is Henri Chalet, director of the Ma�trise, and the organist is Yves Castagnet, who also composed three of the works on the programme, recorded in the basilica of Sainte-Clotilde, another major church in Paris. As Henri Chalet says: "We know that Notre-Dame will rise again."

Gautier Capu�on's new album Sensations is a mix of popular music, classical (Smetana's Moldau), film (John Williams's Schindler's List), and well-known French songs ("La Vie en Rose", Jacques Brel's "Quand on n'a que l'amour").

A singer who inspired the greatest admiration and affection, Victoria de los Ángeles was, in the words of Opera magazine, "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century". In the opera house, the recital hall and on recordings, she captured her audience's heart with a voice of beauty and warmth and interpretations of grace and sincerity. This 59CD box unites all the recordings in her Warner Classics catalogue, made between 1948 and 1977, and encompasses complete operas, collections of arias and a rich treasury of song, above all from the soprano's native Spain. "Communication should be the most important motivation for a singer," she said, "My only goal is to 'talk' to people through my singing so we can all enjoy the music together."