Nominated for a GRAMMY® Award!

Tenor Karim Sulayman and guitarist Sean Shibe present Broken Branches, a conceptual album with music ranging from Dowland, Monteverdi, Britten, Rodrigo, Takemitsu, Harvey, and Chaker to traditional songs from the Middle East, scrutinizing the close cultural and musical ties between East and West. This musical exploration ties in with the artists’ personal experience of a dynamic, in-between identity, as they grew up in the West having ethnic roots in the East (Lebanon and Japan respectively). Broken Branches explores the wood of the guitar and its relatives, as well as the splintering of history known as diaspora. Karim Sulayman has garnered international attention as a sophisticated and versatile artist, and won a Grammy Award for Classical Solo Vocal in 2019. Multi-award-winning guitarist Sean Shibe brings a fresh and innovative approach to the traditional classical guitar, while also exploring contemporary music and repertoire for electric guitar. He continues his exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE after his well-received Camino (2021) and Lost & Found (2022).

REVIEWS:

It’s a thoughtful and idiosyncratic project, one carried through in several arrangements and realizations by the two musicians that blur the line between song and art song into something broadly ‘folkish’.

-- Gramophone

This is an eclectic album, built on friendship, which explores the performers’ own sense of identity, memory, diaspora, often in their own arrangements. Sulayman, a Lebanese-American singer, light-voiced and flexible, brings intensity to traditional Sephardic song, and new inflections to John Dowland, Claudio Monteverdi and Benjamin Britten (his six songs from the Chinese).

-- The Observer (U.K.)

Cappella Amsterdam and its artistic leader Daniel Reuss present their third Pentatone album with a recording of Alfred Schnittke’s Psalms of Repentance. Schnittke composed the piece in 1988 to commemorate the Christianisation of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in 988, and based it on anonymous Russian texts from the 16th century about guilt and repentance. It is one of the most impressive large-scale works for a cappella choir written in the twentieth century, setting intensely emotional texts to equally expressive music, and approaching centuries-old Orthodox musical traditions through the lens of late twentieth-century music. This recording uses the original manuscript, which differs in multiple ways from the published score, resulting in an interpretation that aims to be closer to the composer’s intentions. Since its foundation in 1970, Cappella Amsterdam has shown an exceptional mastery of contemporary and early vocal music, with acclaimed excurses to Romantic repertoire as well. Daniel Reuss has been Artistic Leader of Cappella Amsterdam for over three decades now, and has worked with several renowned choirs and ensembles. Their PENTATONE debut album In Umbra Mortis (2021) won an Edison Klassiek Award, and was followed by David Lang: the writings in 2022.

Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard joins forces with the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen for a recording of Bartók’s complete piano concertos. A pianist himself; Bartók imbued his three concertos with multiple aspects of his compositional persona; ranging from complex and innovative (the First) to exuberant (the Second) and serene (the Third). The result is a fascinating slice of his musical life. This all-Bartók release marks the first Pentatone collaboration between Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony; an ensemble he has reshaped through creative performance concepts and expansive new media projects.

A renowned champion of twentieth-century music; Pierre-Laurent Aimard has released multiple acclaimed albums in his exclusive contract with Pentatone; including Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux (2018) and Visions de l’Amen (2022); along with Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata & Eroica Variations (2021). He also joined Tamara Stefanovich in Etudes and Frames (2023); with music by Vassos Nicolaou. Salonen returns to the label for the first time since his recording of Stravinsky’s Perséphone (2018); the San Francisco Symphony previously appeared on the 2005 Pentatone release Young America.

REVIEWS:

You know just within a couple of minutes these recordings are going to be special. As Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony sweep thrillingly into the First Piano Concerto’s Allegro, Pierre-Laurent Aimard luxuriates in the space they leave him on a superbly recorded disc…‘Definitive’ is a daft word to use about an interpretation. How can we truly know? But superlative this absolutely is.

-- The Sunday Times (★★★★★)

Ultimately, then, we’ve got something special here: a fresh take on some canonic works by a conductor and soloist whose bread-and-butter is this very fare. It’s an undertaking that flatters all parties involved musically, technically, and intellectually. Best of all, it draws out the latent mellifluousness of Bartók’s writing, even when, outwardly, that’s at its most hard-edged.

-- The Arts Fuse

In the second concerto I particularly admired the middle movement, with its opening on slow strings – which were silent in the first movement – and the fast toccata-like middle section generated exactly the right kind of excitement.

The third concerto is more different from the other two than they are from each other. It is mainly serene and graceful, remarkably so when one considers that it was written in wartime, in exile and when Bartók knew he did not have long to live...Aimard, slightly to my surprise, provides beautifully elegant phrasing and articulation and shows himself as much at home in the graceful writing here as he did in the much more challenging writing in the first two concertos...The recording is impeccable.

-- MusicWeb International

[Aimard] is aided and abetted every step of the way by the San Francisco Orchestra and its new(ish) music director...Salonen approaches these works as unapologetically modernist, and he has inspired the orchestra to shed the richly upholstered colors they developed under MTT for a less weighty, more severe color palette that ensures laser-like clarity even in the densest contrapuntal passages. The middle sections of concertos 1 and 2’s slow movements are particularly telling, and listen to the wind’s precision and leanness in the first concerto’s opening movement, which gives the music a mechanical brilliance. Pentatone’s engineers ensure the bass drum has plenty of impact. When Salonen conducted these concertos for Bronfman in Los Angeles, the Sony engineering highlighted that orchestra’s cinematic sound. Here we have a quite different sound palette that embraces a greater variety of hues in a true concert hall acoustic. 

Characterful...strongly recommended.

-- The Classic Review

Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka presents Molieri, a program of opera arias by Mozart and Salieri, together with the Czech Ensemble Baroque under the baton of Roman Válek. Thanks to fictional works such as the film Amadeus, Antonio Salieri is often scapegoated as the man who allegedly caused Mozart’s untimely death out of professional envy. Despite the fact that this is obviously not true, Salieri’s popularity has suffered from this popular myth-making, and most of his operas have sunk into oblivion. Molieri brings the two composers together, focusing on bass-8 baritone arias from their opera buffas. Famous arias from Mozart’s Da Ponte operas are heard in a completely different light when paired to excerpts from Salieri’s Falstaff, Axur, La grotto di Trofonio, and La scuola de’ gelosi. It also makes clear why Salieri enjoyed such success, as well as why great composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, and Liszt all wanted to study with him. Given the importance of Prague for Mozart’s operatic successes, the music fits the players of Czech Ensemble Baroque like a glove, and Plachetka possesses the optimal combination of vocal authority and agility to sing these buffo roles.

Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka frequents the world’s most prestigious opera houses, and is a MET regular, equally at home in dramatic and comic repertoire. The Czech Ensemble Baroque is one of the most important period instrument ensembles of the Czech Republic, and was founded by Roman Válek in 1998. Plachetka, Válek and the ensemble all make their Pentatone debut.

REVIEW:

Adam Plachetka is a widely experienced singer, especially of the Mozart roles heard here, to all of which he brings a handsome, healthy tone, firm diction and a sense of character. Several arias include apt decorations and, where appropriate, his own cadenzas. The solid quality of the Czech Ensemble Baroque under Roman Válek, meanwhile, is evidenced in a couple of overtures, the familiar Figaro, plus a powerful account of Salieri’s dramatic introduction to La grotta di Trofonio.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Pentatone presents a new album full of world-premiere recordings of orchestral songs by Hans Sommer, sung by an excellent quartet of soloists – Mojca Erdmann, Anke Vondung, Mauro Peter and Benjamin Appl – together with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the baton of Guillermo García Calvo. Sommer was a Liszt student whose operas were performed and praised by Richard Strauss, but sunk into relative oblivion due to his unusual career path and independence from major publishers. The songs were discovered recently and can finally be presented to the world.

Focusing mostly on Goethe poetry, combining high Romanticism with folk styles, Sommer’s songs are colorfully orchestrated, harmonically audacious, and often highly dramatic and evocative. This album release, commemorating Sommer’s 100-year death anniversary, sheds light on a fascinating chapter in music history, and will hopefully contribute to a renaissance of this unsung hero. The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin has a vast Pentatone discography, including Wagner’s complete operas, symphonic works by Mahler and Strauss, as well as multiple concerto recordings with renowned soloists. Mojca Erdmann, Anke Vondung, Mauro Peter, Benjamin Appl and Guillermo García Calvo all make their Pentatone debut.

Nominated for a GRAMMY® Award!

Karina Canellakis offers the first fruit of her exclusive Pentatone collaboration with a recording of Bartók’s 4 Orchestral Pieces and Concerto for Orchestra, together with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, of which she is the Chief Conductor. The 4 Orchestral Pieces have a strong affinity with the stage works Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and The Wooden Prince, conceived in the same period. The Concerto for Orchestra is one of Bartóks final works, full of folk tunes, and utterly colourful and virtuosic for all the instruments. As such, it’s an ideal piece to showcase the congeniality between the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and its star Chief Conductor. Internationally acclaimed for her emotionally charged performances, technical command and interpretive depth, Karina Canellakis has become one of the most in- demand conductors of her generation. She makes her Pentatone debut as Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra that returns to the label after its participation in Gordon Getty’s Beauty Comes Dancing (2018).

Nominated for a GRAMMY® Award!

The Clarion Choir and its Artistic Leader Steven Fox make their Pentatone debut with a recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s choral masterpiece, the All-Night Vigil, demonstrating their exceptional proficiency in Russian repertoire. The All-Night Vigil is a nocturnal hymn that gradually moves towards daybreak, symbolizing the Resurrection of Christ. This message of light and hope emanating from the darkness is both universal and very topical in the troubled world we find ourselves in. On this recording, many of the movements are preceded by the original Kiev and Znameny chants on which Rachmaninoff based his composition, adding another layer to this mesmerizing piece. Steven Fox is the Artistic Leader of the New York-based Clarion Choir since 2006. Generally considered as one of the most exceptional US choirs, their recordings of Russian choral repertoire have received multiple Grammy nominations.

REVIEW:

The U.S.-based Clarion Choir has specialized in Russian choral music, and they are a logical choice to take on this quite difficult work. Director Steven Fox  forges a distinctive sound in which quieter passages are quite delicate. These contrast sharply with the almost gravelly vocal textures usually heard in the work, but in climactic passages, Fox gives his group a fascinating kind of focused power that carries a good deal of ecstatic emotion. The sound engineering from New York’s Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is ideal.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

Musical America has just announced its awarding of Conductor of the Year to Semyon Bychkov. To learn more, click here.

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After their critically-acclaimed recording of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov continue their Pentatone Mahler cycle with a rendition of the composer’s Fifth. The Fifth Symphony marks an important turning point in Mahler’s symphonic output, away from the prominence of vocal movements in his previous symphonies. And whereas the Fifth seems to follow a teleology from darkness to light like its predecessors, the trajectory is much less straightforward, and full of enigmatic turns. Bychkov’s exceptional eye for detail and pacing make him an ideal guide through this work, while the Czech Philharmonic is capable of letting all the colors of Mahler’s score shine.

The Czech Philharmonic is one of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras, with a rich tradition of performing Czech masters and music from Central Europe. Semyon Bychkov has led the greatest orchestras of the world, and is Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic as of the 2018/2019 season. Orchestra and maestro made their Pentatone debut with a recording of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony (2022), kicking off a complete Mahler cycle.

REVIEWS:

Bychkov is careful to keep the strings’ lyric funeral-marches objective, and it’s fascinating how the Adagietto sounds otherworldly until the cellos bring in a richly portamentoed human warmth.

The pace generally keeps things on the move – crucial in what I think of as Mahler’s trickiest movement, the ‘stormy, vehement’ sequel to the opening ritual, paced to perfection – though there are a couple of unmarked slackenings in the outer movements. Only here does Bychkov seem to me to fall briefly victim to seeing ‘nicht eilen’ (don’t hasten) and ‘unmerklich etwas einhaltend’ (imperceptibly somewhat holding back) either side of the last big build and slamming on the brakes.

I’d have liked a bit more wildness in the central Scherzo, though the end is uproarious, and from the opening trumpet solo through the lopsided horn obbligato at the dancing heart of the work to the reassertion of the chorale at the end, the brass both individually and collectively play their parts in underlining that this is still very much one of the world’s great orchestras. In all there’s clarity and beauty of tone. The luminous recording captures both high and low frequencies with exceptional vividness.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Bychkov’s version opens up a very different way of seeing this virtually ubiquitous symphony and he delivers on that vision with great panache and total commitment from all involved. Bychkov has emerged in the last few years as an unmissable conductor and the thought of what he might do with the Sixth symphony after hearing this Fifth has me tingling with anticipation.

-- MusicWeb International (David McDade)

Watch our interview with Lara Downes on Love at Last!

Love at Last is pianist Lara Downes’s first Pentatone album, inspired by the poem Sachki, Sachki by the Odessa-born Jewish writer Shaul Tchernichovsky. Downes presents 24 pieces, many of them in world premiere recordings, of works by living composers around the globe. Spanning generations, continents and cultures, these diverse voices are united in a stubborn belief in the possibility of humanity, brotherhood, peace, and compassion, and in the everlasting power of love.

An iconoclast and trailblazer, Lara Downes’s dynamic work as a sought-after soloist, a Billboard Chart-topping recording artist, a producer, curator, arts activist and advocate positions her as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene. She was honored as 2022 Classical Woman of the Year by Performance Today.

Hear Downes's appearance on NPR's Morning Edition, discussing Love at Last!

REVIEWS:

It's not unusual for an artist to include a message to listeners on an album; it's less common for said message to be included as a concluding audio commentary. Such a move is, however, wholly consistent with Lara Downes' character: rather than share her message through the impersonal medium of the written word, she connects with immediacy using her voice, the illusion fostered of the artist speaking directly to you. Those who've been following the pianist throughout her career are familiar with her generosity of spirit, her resolute belief in the potential of human beings, her hope for peace, and her embracing vision. One comes away from a Downes recording, Love at Last no exception, renewed and uplifted.

An activist, mentor, and trailblazer, Downes expresses her appreciation for a vast array of artists from multiple countries and eras on her Pentatone debut. In a seventy-five-minute programme recorded in Mt. Vernon, New York in September 2022, pieces by J. S. Bach and Schubert sit comfortably alongside covers of standards and world premiere recordings of works by living composers from around the globe.

The journey, while scenic, panoramic, and ever-changing, is long; things move quickly, however, when the selections are compact in length and most two to three minutes at a time. Naturally, certain pieces register more strongly than others; what's never wanting, however, is investment on her part: she commits herself fully to the project and penetrates to the essential core of each piece. The evidence is audible the moment Jaroslav Ježek's haunting “Dawn” introduces the set until Shawn E. Okpebholo's arrangement of “Amazing Grace” ends it twenty-three songs later. Along the way, hope, sorrow, and tenderness surface, with a number of pieces written during the pandemic and confronting feelings of isolation and longing.

Downes' poised renderings of Bach's stirring “Wachet Auf” (“Sleepers Awake”) and Schubert's “Frühlingsglaube” (“Believe in Spring”) exemplify her general approach: refraining from embellishing on the material gratuitously, she opts instead to focus on themes and let their poetry emerge in its fullest possible form.

Downes' humanitarian values find expression in eloquent, life-affirming material such as Debbie Friedman's “Laugh at All My Dreams,” Margaret Bonds's “I Believe: Credo No. 2,” Gabriel Kahane's “Little Love,” and Valentin Silvestrov's “Lullaby.” One of the more interesting new compositions is Sean Hickey's “Fluid” for the way it both references gender fluidity and, by incorporating rhythmic and harmonic elements from Debussy's La Mer and Joni Mitchell's “River,” water. Memorable too are pianist Mariel Mayz's elaborate re-imagining of Sammy Fain's “I'll Be Seeing You,” the popular tune known through recordings by Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday, and Dobrinka Tabakova's enchanting “Simple Prayer for Complex Times.”

Downes' positive outlook isn't a reflection of childish naïveté or an obstinate refusal to acknowledge reality: she knows the world is fraught with problems and sees like the rest of us many parts struggling with debilitating issues. Even so, she determinedly holds to her values of love and compassion. For her, “this is the hour to awake from our sleep and greet a new dawn.” Like other recordings in her esteemed discography, Love at Last shines like a light fighting to overcome darkness and symbolizes the inexhaustible power of hope and resilience.

-- Textura

Arabella Steinbacher presents works for violin and orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach and Arvo Pärt, together with violinist Christoph Koncz and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Bach’s violin concertos have had a very special significance for Steinbacher ever since hearing the A Minor Concerto at the age of four, an experience that made her decide to become a musician. This seminal work is performed here alongside the E Major Violin Concerto and the Double Concerto in D Minor, on which she is joined by violinist Christoph Koncz. The Bach concertos are framed by two of Arvo Pärt’s most profound and enigmatic pieces: Fratres and Spiegel im Spiegel; the former in the version for violin, string orchestra and percussion, the latter rendered in a version for violin and piano, together with Peter von Wienhardt. Bach and Pärt may be centuries apart, but for Steinbacher, they have a spiritual and sacred origin in common, and their music resonates deeply with her. Arabella Steinbacher is a multiple award-winner with an extensive Pentatone discography, including Mozart’s complete violin concertos (2014 and 2021), Four Seasons (Vivaldi & Piazzolla, 2020), Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos (2015) and many others. Christoph Koncz and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester make their Pentatone debut.

REVIEWS:

I’ve long been a fan of Steinbacher’s; I’ve raved about her playing in a wide variety of repertoire: Bartok, Brahms, and Hindemith and Britten. Here she plays two Bach Violin Concertos: in E major and A minor, and a Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, with another fine violinist, Christian Kontz. Once again Pentatone provides fine accompaniment: the agile and stylish Stuttgarter Kammerorchester.

Two Arvo Pärt pieces bookend the three Bach concertos. His Fratres comes in many versions; this one, for violin, string orchestra and percussion, is from 1992. This is a suitable prelude to the meat of the program: hushed and reverential, but in the end as dramatic a curtain raiser as a Rossini overture. The final piece, Spiegel im Spiegel, in its original 1978 version for violin and piano, acts as a kind of valedictory encore. Once again, Arabella Steinbacher has a fine partner, in pianist Peter von Wienhard.

-- Music for Several Instruments (Dean Frey)

From the evidence of this new Pentatone album of Bach concertos, Steinbacher's artistry of the violin reveals an ever-increasing maturity. The lovely slender tone, flawless cantabile and sheer love of melody she has displayed in her earlier recordings is still there, along with an increased awareness of the harmonic basis of the great works of music she performs. And her sure hand in shaping the graceful contour of a given melody is more skilled and knowing than ever.

-- Audio Visual Club of Atlanta (Phil Muse)

Pentatone re-issues Julia Fischer’s epoch-making Mozart Violin Concertos recordings, starting with her readings of the famous 3rd and 4th concertos, as well as the Adagio in E Major and Rondo in B-flat Major, first released in 2005. Fischer performs them together with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Yakov Kreizberg, with whom she developed a highly congenial partnership. When first released, Gramophone praised these performances as “full of disciplined subtlety and astonishing interpretative maturity.” After many years, this legendary recording now returns to the market in an attractive Stereo version.

REVIEW:

These performances are full of disciplined subtlety and astonishing interpretative maturity. The G major Concerto, K216, is lush and spirited, the traditional-style performance lacking nothing in warmth. The relaxed, cantabile style of her playing in the final movement serves the dancelike nature of Mozart's music.

-- Gramophone (reviewing the 2005 SACD version of this release)

With Water & Fire, B’Rock Orchestra and Dmitry Sinkovsky present Handel’s Water Music alongside his Music for the Royal Fireworks. Both works were written for royal open-air ceremonies, were likely substantially drowned out by the noise of fireworks and the waves of the Thames during their first performance, and were never played again during Handel’s lifetime. Since then, they have, however, become favourites of the public, and they contain some of the most appealing instrumental music of the baroque era. B’Rock performs these works with an ensemble that approaches the ca. 50 musicians that Handel originally employed, conveying the pomp and splendour while also highlighting the coloristic richness and refinement of Handel’s scores. B’Rock Orchestra is one of today’s most forward-thinking period orchestras with a desire for encounter and exchange. The ensemble returns to Pentatone after having released Schubert’s complete symphonies with conductor René Jacobs between 2018 and 2022, as well as Antwerp Requiem c. 1650 (2022). Dmitry Sinkovsky is in demand as a conductor, violinist and countertenor, and previously appeared on Pentatone with Monteverdi: Il delirio della passione (2021).

A Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - January 2023

"A perfect control of rhythm allows for beautifully expressive playing"

Cellist Johannes Moser and pianist Andrei Korobeinikov present Bohuslav Martinů’s complete cello sonatas. These works belong to the most significant twentieth-century repertoire for cello and piano. Reflecting Martinů’s troubled existence, defined by wartime, emigration, longing for the homeland, yet also full of hope and life-affirming energy, the music seems entirely topical in our own troubled times.

After their award-winning recording of works by Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff from 2016, Moser and Korobeinikov demonstrate their congeniality once more, fully realizing the extreme interdependence of cello and piano in these works. Johannes Moser has a vast Pentatone discography, consisting of releases with cello concertos of Dvorak and Lalo (2015), Elgar and Tchaikovsky (2017), Lutoslawski and Dutilleux (2018), works for cello and piano by Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn (2019) and Francesco Velázquez’s cello concerto (2022). His recording of works for cello and piano by Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev (2016), performed together with Andrei Korobeinikov, was awarded with a diapason d’or and ECHO Klassik 2017.

REVIEW:

Johannes Moser and Andrei Korobeinikov capture the rapidly shifting emotions in all three works while maintaining an unflappable rhythmic poise – no mean feat in such complexly syncopated music. The result are performances in which clarity and precision seem to take on an expressive power of their own.

Pentatone’s engineers do both players proud – balance between the two instruments is close to perfect – and the recording is significantly enhanced by the perceptive booklet note. Simply put, this is the most satisfying account of Martinů’s cello sonatas on record.

-- Gramophone

cantoLX, B’Rock Orchestra and conductor Frank Agsteribbe present Antwerp Requiem c. 1650, an album showcasing the exceptional wealth of musical life in Antwerp in the age of Rubens. Philippus van Steelant’s recently-rediscovered Requiem settings are unique in their exuberant splendor, tied to a funerary culture that embraced the glory of life.

B’Rock Orchestra is one of today’s most forward-thinking period orchestras with a desire for encounter and exchange. The ensemble returns to Pentatone after having released Schubert’s complete symphonies with conductor René Jacobs between 2018 and 2022. cantoLX approaches vocal music with stylistic excellence and vocal purity. Their artistic leader Frank Agsteribbe was one of B’Rock’s founders, and brings the two ensembles together for this recording. cantoLX and Agsteribbe both make their Pentatone debut.

Nominated for a GRAMMY® Award!

Read our exclusive ArkivMusic interview with star Anthony Roth Costanzo

Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Gil Rose present the world premiere recording of The Lord of Cries, a breathtaking opera by John Corigliano and Mark Adamo. Telling the story of Euripides’s The Bacchae with the characters of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the piece explores the power of sexual desire and humans’ need to blame and attack others for what they can neither resist nor accept in themselves. Corigliano returns to opera for the first time since his The Ghosts of Versailles, introduced by the Metropolitan Opera, made an international sensation in 1992. The brilliant cast—most of whom introduced their parts in the world premiere in 2021—is led by star countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo in the title role. Multi-award winning composer John Corigliano’s music has been commissioned, performed, and recorded by many of the most prominent orchestras, soloists, and chamber musicians in the world. The Pentatone recording of The Ghost of Versailles, released in 2016, won two Grammy Awards. Composer-librettist Mark Adamo’s four previous operas, including Little Women (1998) have been staged, recorded, and broadcast hundreds of times on five continents. Under the leadership of conductor Gil Rose, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project has become an unsurpassed advocate for 20th and 21st century American music; they make their Pentatone debut with The Lord of Cries.

Cappella Amsterdam and its artistic leader Daniel Reuss return to PENTATONE with a world premiere recording of David Lang’s the writings. For this cycle, Lang has chosen five texts from the Old Testament tied to Jewish holidays. These writings share a universal appeal, a focus on what it means to be human. Lang’s austere and repetitive score makes a profound emotional impact, fully in line with the poetry of the subjects recited. This album comes with insightful program notes by the composer, as well as an evocative analysis by his esteemed colleague Nico Muhly.

Since its foundation in 1970, Cappella Amsterdam has shown an exceptional mastery of contemporary and early vocal music, with acclaimed excurses to Romantic repertoire as well. Daniel Reuss has been Artistic Leader of Cappella Amsterdam for over three decades now, and has worked with several renowned choirs and ensembles. Their PENTATONE debut album In Umbra Mortis (2021) won an Edison Klassiek Award. Multiple award-winning composer David Lang is one of America’s most performed composers, whose deceptively simple pieces can be fiendishly difficult to play, requiring incredible concentration by musicians and audiences alike.

REVIEWS:

Assembled over 14 years, the writings is a collection of settings of texts from the Hebrew Bible that are particularly associated with holidays; they are enchanted unaccompanied choral pieces, jewel-like in their crystalline beauty and performed with just the right degree of gentle detachment by Cappella Amsterdam under Daniel Reuss.

-- The Guardian

This stunning disc features the Cappella Amsterdam ensemble on a world-premiere recording of David Lang’s The Writings, a cycle of choral works based on selections from the Hebrew Bible. Each of the scriptural extracts is associated with a different Jewish holiday, the work as a whole creating a sort of map of the Jewish liturgical year from Sukkot (a weeklong holiday during which ancient Israelites were expected to travel to the temple in Jerusalem) to Tisha B’Av (which commemorates the destruction of both Solomon’s Temple and the Second Temple). The music is, as one might expect, solemn in tone and cyclical in structure; perhaps a bit more surprisingly, it is also consistently consonant and tonal — though the mood is often dark and brooding, there is always light peeking through, and the performances by Cappella Amsterdam are absolutely exquisite.

-- Baker & Taylor CD Hotlist

First released in 2005, Julia Fischer’s multiple award-winning recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas & Partitas has proven to be an evergreen. In 2017, it was re-released as a lavish 3LP boxset, as well as a re-designed 2SACD edition. This legendary recording now returns in a more affordable Stereo version. This album is a RE-RELEASED VERSION of PTC5186095 (first released in 2005).

Bach’s remarkable Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin are revered for their boundless inventiveness, technical ingenuity and emotional depth. With their brilliant preludes, stately dances and complex four-part fugues, the demands on the performer are enormous – from rapid scale passages, double stopping and arpeggios, to the skill and concentration required to create the illusion of separately moving and interweaving voices. The set is full of surprises. Sonata No. 3 contains a colossal fugue of increasing complexity and difficulty (and at over 350 bars, one of his longest). Partita No. 3 is one of Bach’s sunniest works, with the virtuoso Prelude and the charming Gavotte being regularly performed as encore pieces. Most famous of all is the legendary Chaconne from Partita No. 2, a kaleidoscopic series of variations as deeply felt and cathartic as anything Bach wrote and an incontestable milestone in classical music.

Julia Fischer’s recording for PENTATONE was showered with praise upon its first release in 2005. “Classic accounts by Milstein and Grumiaux have been usurped by this extraordinarily gifted newcomer” enthused BBC Music Magazine. “Her mastery is beyond question,” affirmed Gramophone magazine “her ability to trace a smooth, even line a source of pleasure itself.” It also achieved the rare distinction of garnering three of France’s most prestigious awards: the Diapason d’Or from Diapason; the CHOC from Le Monde de la Musique; and the highest rating from Classica-Repertoire.

After critically-acclaimed recordings of Mahler’s Fourth and Fifth Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov continue their Pentatone Mahler cycle with a rendition of the composer’s Second, nicknamed “The Resurrection”. They are joined by soprano Christiane Karg, alto Elisabeth Kulman and the Prague Philharmonic Choir.

Starting with a funeral march, passing through the introspective alto song “Urlicht” and ending in choral bliss and euphoria, Mahler’s Second is a deeply spiritual and personal contemplation on the secret of life and the possibility of overcoming death. For Bychkov, the symphony “shows the life cycle in all its struggles: suffering, joy, irony, humour, love and doubt.” The Czech Philharmonic is one of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras, with a rich tradition of performing Czech masters and music from Central Europe.

Semyon Bychkov has led the greatest orchestras of the world, and is Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic as of the 2018/2019 season. Orchestra and maestro released recordings of Mahler’s Fourth and Fifth Symphony (both 2022) on Pentatone, kicking off a complete Mahler cycle. Elisabeth Kulman has participated on several Pentatone releases, while Christiane Karg makes her Pentatone debut.

REVIEW:

You marvel at the fresh depth and breadth that Bychkov and his players find within this towering work. The Russian-American conductor doesn’t labor over the funeral march, and in the shattering final movement he draws performances of exquisite balance, control and stillness. This is turning out to be one of the truly great Mahler sets.

-- The Sunday Times (U.K.)

Marek Janowski presents Schumann: Complete Symphonies, a comprehensive collection recorded together with the Dresdner Philharmonie. After a fruitful decade as a composer for piano and voice, Schumann then began writing symphonic works in 1841, marking a new phase in his life. Recorded between 2021 and 2023, Janowski interprets Schumann’s symphonies with great vitality and intensity in this release that celebrates the culmination of his tenure as chief conductor with the orchestra.

Marek Janowski is one of the most celebrated conductors of our time. This remarkable recording of Schumann’s complete symphonies follows 2023’s Schubert Unfinished & Great Symphonies (also with the Dresdner Philharmonie), complete recordings of Bruckner, Brahms and Beethoven’s symphonies, several works by Richard Strauss, and Wagner’s ten mature operas. From 2019 to 2023 Janowski was chief conductor and artistic director of the Dresdner Philharmonie, and also realized complete recordings of Beethoven’s Fidelio (2021), Puccini’s Il Tabarro and Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana (both 2020) with the orchestra.

On her third Pentatone album Brahms Lieder, Anna Lucia Richter returns to the German lied, making her recording debut as a mezzo-soprano with a recital of Brahms songs, together with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz. Brahms is particularly suitable for this recording debut as his songs fit the mezzo-soprano voice like a glove, and the pieces presented here range from love poetry and dark Romanticism to folk songs, including the world-famous Wiegenlied. Richter’s profound engagement and knowledge of the German lied is perceivable in each song she performs, as well as in her insightful liner notes text for the booklet, in which she links the project to the notion of twilight (Dämmerung). Bushakevitz’s poetic playing offers the perfect tone for both the gloomy and the idyllic pieces. Anna Lucia Richter belongs to the most exciting young singers of her generation. Brahms Lieder is the third fruit of her exclusive collaboration with Pentatone, after her Monteverdi portrait Il delirio della passione (2020) and her Schubert album Heimweh (2019). Ammiel Bushakevitz enjoys a flourishing career both as a solo pianist and lied accompanist, and makes his Pentatone debut.

REVIEW:

As a soprano her earlier Schubert album “Heimweh” was one of the most compelling song albums I’ve reviewed and I named it as one of my Critic’s Choice albums of 2020. I confess that I miss her lighter voice, but the change to mezzo allows her to use her middle range, where she is most at home. The choice of Brahms for her debut album as a mezzo confirms her decision.

I can name no album of Brahms songs I’ve enjoyed more than this. That is due partly to the selection of 20 of his best and most performed songs, including some of his folk song settings. Mostly it is because of Richter’s exemplary ability as a lieder singer. Pentatone’s sound quality is superlative.

-- American Record Guide (Robert A. Moore)

Sean Shibe’s second PENTATONE album Lost & Found is an ecstatic journey containing music by outsiders, mystics, visionaries, who often have more than one identity and lay claim to various artistic traditions, genres, or audiences. The repertoire ranges from Hildegard von Bingen to Olivier Messiaen, Moondog, Julius Eastman, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Meredith Monk, Shiva Feshareki, Oliver Leith and Daniel Kidane. Stretching ten centuries, these pieces are bound together by Shibe’s unique electric guitar sound and aesthetic.

Multi-award-winning guitarist Sean Shibe brings a fresh and innovative approach to the traditional classical guitar, while also exploring contemporary music and repertoire for electric guitar. He continues his exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE after his well-received label debut Camino (2021).

REVIEWS:

Hear more about Lost & Found on NPR's All Things Considered!

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin returns to Pentatone together with soprano Christina Landshamer, presenting La Passione, a collection of dazzling concert arias on love, longing and loss by Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, paired with the latter’s “La Passione” Symphony. Ranging from pastoral simplicity to exuberant outrage, the program offers some of the finest vocal writing around 1800, including some of Beethoven’s rare and little-known excursions to Italian bravura opera, as well as one of the most dramatic and expressive symphonies of the eighteenth-century.

The Akademie für Alte Musik is generally seen as one of the best period-instruments ensembles of today, and has a substantial Pentatone discography, including CANTATA with Bejun Mehta (2018), Handel’s Concerti grossi op. 6 (released in 2019 and 2020). Telemann’s Miriways (2020), Handel’s Messiah (2020) and Haydn’s L’isola disabitata (2021). Christina Landshamer featured as Marzelline on Beethoven’s Fidelio (2021).

Alon Sariel makes his PENTATONE debut with Plucked Bach, a program exploring Bach’s cello suites performed on different mandolins, lutes, baroque guitar and oud, concluding with Sariel’s own Bach-inspired Mandolin Partita. Bach’s suites are often considered to be “the cellist’s Bible”, but the transferability of his music between instruments – a practice to which the composer himself also contributed frequently – seems to justify this fresh approach. Sariel aims to realize the timeless and universal character of Bach’s music in a multifarious sound world of plucked instruments, through a program that employs an interplay of light and dark, embodied by the first and second suites respectively.

Another objective has been to bring out the youthful élan of this music, composed years before Bach’s Passions. Altogether, this album presents Bach’s music in a new, enticing light. Alon Sariel is one of the most versatile performers of his generation, whose guiding principle is a changing perspective; giving new life to existing material, as well as creating completely new works.

REVIEWS:

It’s a pleasure to hear Israeli lutenist Alon Sariel once again...Sariel’s artistic insight is just as keen as I remembered it. Here, he plays several mandolins and lutes, baroque guitar, and oud, all of which are displayed on the album cover and all are performed with his usual class and style.

The program of Sariel’s arrangements of various Bach cello suites begins with the Prelude from Suite No. 5 in C Minor, arranged for mandolin, an instrument whose classical voice is usually heard, if at all, in song accompaniments. Here, Sariel makes a fine impression for it as a plaintive, searching voice. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, heard in Sariel’s arrangement for lute, establishes the instrument’s authentic voice right off in an urgently strummed 2-part setting. Gavottes I and II from Suite No. 6 in D Major make a nice encore, clarified in thought and feeling. Suite No. 2 in D Minor, if anything, makes an even finer impression as a lute arrangement, beginning with a slow, contemplative Prelude with a haunting echo. As an encore, the Sarabande from this suite is performed once again, this time in Sariel’s arrangement for the Oud, an instrument of North African or Arabic origin without frets and with a short neck and, most importantly, a distinctively low, passionate voice that makes for a fine arrangement in this instance.

Sariel concludes the program with his own Mandolin Partita for what would appear to be a round-backed Neapolitan model. It is in six movements: a mystery-laden Prelude, intriguing Allemande, florid Courante with cascading notes, gently poignant Sarabande, Minuets I & 2 characterized by lively syncopations, and a Gigue handsomely decorated with grace notes. All of which reveal his knowing grasp of the Baroque style.

-- Audio Video Club of Atlanta