Born in Rochester, New York, David Evan Thomas has written in a variety of genres: band, orchestral, chamber music, songs, and seventy choral works. This is the first album of his piano music.

Derek Scott, born in Birmingham in 1950, has an international reputation as an historian of the British music hall and other forms of light entertainment. But he is an outstanding composer in his own right – a master craftsman and natural tunesmith, who manages to unite good humour, unerring technique and deep feeling in music of immediate appeal. Although the works recorded here represent his most recent harvest of orchestral music, for many of them he revisited material composed earlier in his career, using it as the basis for a series of new scores, some exhibiting a very English sense of whimsy, others concerned with deeper matters – one, indeed, inspired by the war in Ukraine.

Among the musical genres that were most appreciated and cultivated in Vienna in the early eighteenth century, one that stands out decidedly is the chamber cantata. The Italian cantatas, which were favourite compositions for the cultivated entertainment of the court, were abundantly circulated in manuscript form and collected in a great quantity of books that made chiefly between the eighteen-tens and the eighteen-forties. Now these cantatas are scattered in collections and libraries that have been the object of important musicological studies.

The six cantatas presented in this recording are all drawn from the Mus.Hs.17567 manuscript in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek of Vienna, and were quite probably all composed there around 1710-1712. It is an extremely interesting handwritten-copy collection formed of twelve compositions that are attributed with certainty to Giovanni Bononcini (three), Francesco Conti (three), Antonio Caldara (three), Emanuele d’Astorga (two), and Andrea Stefano Fioré (one). The two symphonies by Caldara (for solo cello) and Giovanni Bononcini are completing the listening of this cd by the Aurata Fonte ensemble, already protagonist of the recording of some great Italian Baroque music discovery (TC670202, TC611990).

This new release contains the Kit-Kat Band’s original LP recordings from 1979, revisited and presented as a new album for a whole new generation to enjoy. The Kit-Cat band was the house band of the Kit-Cat night club in London that first opened its doors in 1924. The 10 piece band was assembled by Britain’s best-known band leader, Jack Hylton, and was directed by Boston saxophonist, Al Starita. Producer Chris Ellis recently rediscovered this album which he produced in 1979. Upon hearing it again, he felt that it was worthy of being represented to a new audience. Ellis kept the original notes by Brian rust, and the cover art was given to Ellis by his friend Margret, Duchess of Argyll.

Since adopting a new artistic profile, the Hague Philharmonic is demonstrating more than ever that symphonic music can still be meaningful to large and diverse audiences in the 21st century. At the new Zuiderstrandtheater in Scheveningen, the orchestra's home venue, prior to concerts audiences are treated to a lively RO-starter pre-program of live music and interviews. Everything on this recording fits like a glove - musicians, conductor and sound technique are at the highest of their abilities. Soprano Renate Arends and baritone Thomas Oliemans are internationally acclaimed soloists with both beautiful and strong careers in opera, oratorium and song.

From the producers: "There's a lot of great Jewish holiday music out there, and we were listening to one of our favorite world music programs during the holidays. That's when it occurred to us that we could do our own Khanike album, one that reflects our interests and highlights Yale's extraordinary arrangements and compositions, with music that could be enjoyed by a wide range of listeners, from little kids to serious music appreciators. And it provided a perfect opportunity for an idea that we had been discussing for some time- an entire album arranged for vocals and strings. It also gave us a perfect opportunity to join forces with Sara and David, whom we met through the Mark O'Conner Strings Camps; Amos; and Alex from the Hausmann Quartet. We wanted the repertoire to present a sense of how Khanike was and is celebrated by different cultures around the world. The Ladino songs were traditionally sung by women in the kitchen as they prepared for the holiday. There is a particular feeling of intimacy, comfort and family that was true of how we musicians felt about each other, both musically and personally, and that is really satisfying. When you listen to these songs, you'll hear the musicians thinking out loud and sharing inspiring thoughts and ideas with each other. Each of us has our own personal references, ranging from classical to jazz and blues, to Middle Eastern, klezmer, bluegrass, and Texas Swing. You'll hear all of this as we fuse seamlessly with each other."

Overtures

Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, Capriccio Italien, Romeo & Julie

The idea of arranging movements from Prokofiev' popular ballet Romeo and Juliet for brass band and percussion is not as strange as it may first seem, since Russia boasts a great brass band tradition.

Charles Ives wrote almost two hundred songs. Although his reputation rests on orchestral, chamber and piano music, it is Ives's songs that represent the heart of his creative thinking. The expressive variety encountered is accordingly vast: indeed, the gradual evolution of Ives's songwriting is analogous to the wider evolution of American music during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This new edition includes all the songs that Ives completed. The alphabetic approach ensures that each volume (of which this disc is the fourth of six) contains a representative cross-section.

After acclaimed recordings of music by the great masters, Lucas Debargue shines much-needed light on a composer he is determined must be heard: Milosz Magin (1929 – 1999). ‘Magin’s style is capable of both enchanting and surprising us,’ the French pianist says. ‘Few composers of his time were so open to cultivating the art of writing beautiful melodies.’ Born in Poland in 1929, Magin settled in Paris in 1960. After a car accident in 1963 he traded a career as one of Poland’s greatest pianists for that of an imaginative composer who would never forget the traditions of his homeland. Magin’s greatest inspiration was Chopin, another Pole who made Paris his home and whose piano works Magin recorded for Decca. The two composers are buried next to one another in Paris. Magin’s music shares much of the same lucid, distilled quality as that of his forbear, as well as a pianistic elegance that speaks of France and Poland in equal measure. ‘His music has been resonating in my mind’s ear for the last twenty years,’ says Debargue, whose first piano teacher was a student of Magin and ‘admired him not only as an inspired composer but also as a pianist and as a teacher whose advice on interpretative matters had often proved invaluable to her. His music has played a crucial role in my life. I grew up with it’, continues the French pianist. The pieces written for children, especially Magin’s Miniature Polonaises of which he presents Nostalgie du pays, were one of the first works he learnt with his first piano teacher.  When Debargue included Magin’s Nostalgie du pays at a recital in Paris, the composer’s granddaughter Alexandra contacted him. A correspondence began and a world of unpublished music saw the light of day.TRACKLIST1.           Andante pour violon et piano    Concerto No. 3 pour piano, cordes et percussions    2.           I. Allegro con fuoco - Allegro Appassionato    3.           II. Allegro    4.           III. Presto    5.           IV. Adagio    6.           V. Allegro con fuoco    7.           Vocalise No. 2 - Andantino    8.           Vocalise No. 3 - Vivace    9.           Nostalgie du pays, extrait des Miniatures Polonaises    Concerto Rustico pour violon, cordes et percussions    10.         I. Allegro    11.         II. Andantino    12.         III. Presto    13.         Vocalise No. 1 - Andante    14.         Vocalise No. 4 - Andantino    ​​​​​​​15.         Stabat Mater pour cordes et timbales

Classical Music

This three-disc set is part of the 25-disc box set Un siècle de musique fracaise, which explores French music from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. These discs profile French composer Maurice Ravel, and include his famous Concertos for piano, and orchestral works.

Classical Music

Jan Vogler presents his 2nd recording of Schumann's Cello Concerto but this time, with his own orchestra, the Dresden Festival Orchestra, consisting of more than 50 members from Europe's most renowned early music ensembles. In addition to the concerto, the orchestra plays Schumann's Second Symphony. The repertoire presented here connects the Dresden Music Festival and its orchestra to the productive Dresden period of Schumann's work since both works were composed during that time. The Second Symphony was written between December, 1845 and October, 1846 in Dresden, the Cello Concerto immediately followed after he had left the city.