An album dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach piano solo, follows Alexandre Tharaud's very original Four Hands project. The protean French pianist brings a programme concentrating on Bach on the piano - in this instance mostly in his own transcriptions such as the Lute Suite BWV 996, the Johannes-Passion BWV 245 and many others. The album also features a few Bach HITS: Sicilienne BWV 1031, the famous Bach/Gounod Ave Maria and the Adagio from the Keyboard Concerto BWV 974, after Alessandro Marcello Adagio.

In themselves, Beethoven's quartets represent an odyssey, a round-the-world voyage," says Quatuor �b�ne. The French ensemble is marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth with a global tour of 21 countries. In the course of their Beethoven Around the World tour, the �b�ne will make live recordings in seven different cities: Vienna, Philadelphia, Tokyo, S�o Paulo, Melbourne, Nairobi and Paris. This first release, recorded at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, comprises the first two 'Razumovsky' Quartets, op 59 No 1 and op 59 No 2.

This album brings together world premiere recordings of three aesthetically diverse piano concertos that were written for Alexandre Tharaud. They are Left, alone by the Dane Hans Abrahamsen (b. 1952), Future is a faded song by the Frenchman G�rard Pesson (b.1958) and Kuleshov by the Argentian-born Frenchman Oscar Strasnoy (b.1970). Strasnoy has said that his concerto was "inspired by Alexandre Tharaud's unique and inimitable phrasing and clarity of playing." No doubt those words could apply to all three works on the album.

Delos is thrilled to announce a new collaboration with GRAMMY� Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer. Famed for it's "accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, of color and swagger of style" (Boston Globe), the group makes it's label debut with Joy to the World. This new Christmas collection blends tradition with innovation, combining Renaissance motets and fresh arrangements of classic carols with contemporary compositions, including two new commissions from Joanna Marsh. Showcasing the ensemble's extraordinary ability to move seamlessly and expertly between styles, Chanticleer's first Delos release conjures a wintertime world of magic, light, and wonder.

The Netherlands Radio Choir and Benjamin Goodson present The Voice of the Beloved, a powerful collection of 20th-century sacred choral works by Frank Martin, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, and Olivier Messiaen. At it's heart is Martin's Mass for Double Choir, a deeply personal expression of faith composed in 1922 and kept private for decades. It's austere beauty and luminous harmonies make it one of the most moving sacred works of the last century. Daniel-Lesur's Le Cantique des cantiques transforms the Song of Songs into a sensual and spiritual choral tapestry, weaving up to twelve voices into a radiant soundscape. Messiaen's O sacrum convivium, a brief but transcendent motet, completes the program with shimmering reverence. Following their acclaimed 2023 release Rheinberger & Mendelssohn: Choral Works, the choir returns with a recording that reveals the sacred not only in worship, but in the raw, expressive power of the human voice.

Following her acclaimed debut Diaries, pianist Tiffany Poon returns with Nature, an album that explores the evocative power of French music in capturing the beauty of the natural world from the delicate shimmer of water to the quiet mysteries of the forest and the animals found within. Nature, which Tiffany recorded at legendary Provence recording studio Miraval Studios (Pink Floyd, Sade, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) with producer Damien Quintard, brings together works by French composers across centuries, united by an instinctual admiration for the world around them. Guided by intuition and deep personal connection, Tiffany's curated selection featuring pieces by Ravel, Debussy, Rameau and Daquin, moves beyond the structured rigor of Germanic tradition into the fluid, sensuous soundscapes of the French repertoire. Inspired by Rameau's belief that music is rooted in nature itself, she curates a program reflecting her love of animals, woods, and water - translating them into vivid musical expressions. Nature is a testament to music's ability to mirror the natural world, inviting listeners to embrace it's beauty with instinct and abandon.

On the snow-swept island of Skiathos, a miraculous Christmas Eve unfolds. Weaving together spoken word with song, this recording brings to life To Christ, at the Castle by the Dostoevsky of Greece, Alexandros Papadiamantis. Papa Frangouli and his flock brave treacherous seas and cliffs to reach a neglected sanctuary, where they kindle fires that illuminate ancient frescoes. But as the Divine Liturgy begins, shipwrecked sailors cry for rescue, demanding another act of courage. Composed by Kyriakos Kalaitzidis following the eight modes of Byzantine chant and sung in rhyming, fifteen-syllable Greek verse by author Vasiliki Nevrokopli, Christmas at the Castle tells an epic story: how a broken promise and unexpected adversity lead to redemption and celebrations of unforeseen grandeur on Christmas Eve.

William Bolcom was awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his 12 New Etudes for piano, and his music has always revolved around works for the instrument on which he still performs as a soloist and accompanist. This collection of mostly premiere recordings reveals student pieces that negotiate twentieth century musical battles between the avant-garde influences of Boulez and Messiaen and Bolcom’s love of Schumann, as well as later work that embraces the 1960s ragtime revival and draws inspiration from friends and colleagues in every phase of his distinguished six-decade career. Elegantly performed by friends of the composer, this wide-ranging program is summed up by Bolcom as ‘cleaning house’ in the Charles Ives tradition.

REVIEW:

Anyone suitably provoked should accordingly investigate this set, each of whose discs is well planned as a standalone sequence. Piano tone is clear but never clinical and Bolcom’s own notes, informative and laconic, complement his music unerringly.

-- Gramophone

This extremely useful set gathers together all of Bolcom’s piano music that you don’t already have in your collection. There are many delights here, and some fascinating revelations about the development of this most versatile pianist-composer who has always resolutely refused to respect musical genre boundaries. …There are two delicious rags, separated by almost forty years, student pieces that show the composer coming to terms with the avant-garde polemics of the 1950s and 60s, and a concert paraphrase of an operatic aria in the popular ‘Neapolitan Song’ style.

-- Records International

What was originally mooted, by Klaus Heymann of Naxos, as a complete retrospective of the piano music of William Bolcom, eventually materialized as this 3-CD collection of works not easily available elsewhere. The compositions span 1956-2012, with music from his teen years to the present day, so you get a good overview of works from all periods of his career. Four pianists were engaged for the task, all with connections to the composer. Most of the recordings were set down in New York in 2014.

The music has been beautifully recorded with an attractively clear piano sound in each case. The excellent accompanying liner notes provide personal reflections and background to the pieces played, by the composer himself. On my first encounter with Bolcom’s music, I would offer a warm recommendation for this most enjoyable release.

-- MusicWeb International

The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and it's chief conductor Karina Canellakis continue their Bartok journey with the composer's only opera, Duke Bluebeard's Castle, starring mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham (Judith) and bass-baritone Gabor Bretz (Bluebeard). One man, one woman, and a dark castle with seven mysterious doors are all it takes to create a psychological thriller full of suspense and intense emotion. Karina Canellakis and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra received a Grammy nomination for their recording of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra and 4 Orchestral Pieces, which BBC Music Magazine praised as "enticing and brilliantly engineered", while Gramophone lauded how orchestra and conductor "paint the soundscapes with both finesse and fire." For Canellakis, Bartok's opera recorded here is "an homage to life itself, to life's brevity and fleeting beauty, to being human, to love, and to death." 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 returns to PENTATONE as Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra continuing their Bartok cycle that began with the aforementioned Concerto for Orchestra in 2023. Rinat Shaham and Gabor Bretz are sought after by the world's greatest opera houses and have long-standing experience performing Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle with various orchestras and conductors around the world.

This Land is a probing, nuanced reflection on the kaleidoscopic diversity of stories and journeys that have converged and collided throughout American history, from an art-ist renowned for her musical explorations off the beaten path. Downes celebrates the beauty of the American experiment while offering an unflinching acknowledgement of it's flaws and failings, ultimately embracing the power of hope and humanity as a pathway to finding common ground and building a brighter future. At the heart of this deeply personal collection is Edmar Colon's radical new reimagining of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, celebrating the centenary of it's premiere while reflect-ing on an American century of immigration and transformation. An iconoclast and trailblazer, Lara Downes' dynamic work as a sought-after soloist, a Billboard Chart-topping recording artist, a producer, curator, arts activist and advo-cate positions her as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene. She was honored as 2022 Classical Woman of the Year by Performance Today. She returns to PENTA-TONE after her 2023 album Love at Last.

On her third PENTATONE album Nostalgia, Magdalena Kožená presents Bartók’s Village Scenes, Mussorgsky’s The Nursery and a selection of Brahms songs, together with acclaimed pianist Yefim Bronfman. Sung in Slovak, Russian and German, these songs on love, longing and innocence show three master composers transforming folk traditions into their unique musical styles. Kožená demonstrates her vocal mastery once more, and this recording with Bronfman is the result of a two-decades-spanning congenial artistic partnership.

Nostalgia is star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená’s third album as part of her exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE, after having presented the baroque cantatas recital album Il giardino dei sospiri and the songs in chamber-musical setting project Soirée in 2019. Yefim Bronfman, whose commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike, makes his PENTATONE debut.

REVIEW:

Mezzo Magdalena Kožená’s third release on Pentatone is easily the best yet – which is really saying something. Kožená and Yefim Bronfman make a thoughtful partnership, the Israeli-American pianist a collaborator more than capable of matching Kožená’s storytelling commitment. The dramatic give and take between them is the principal joy here in songs by Brahms, Mussorgsky, and Bartók united by ideas of childhood, innocence, and love.

-- Limelight

This very special release includes the legendary concert of the Original Three Tenors - José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, conducted by Zubin Mehta at the Terme di Caracalla, Rome 1990 on the eve of the Football World Cup in Italy, watched by 1.6 billion spectators worldwide. For the first time available on Blu-ray, digitally remastered! This edition includes the new documentary The Three Tenors - From Caracalla to the World featuring recent interviews with José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Zubin Mehta, Pavarotti‘s widow Nicoletta Mantovani, Lalo Shifrin, Brian Large, Mario Dradi, Paul Potts, Sir Bryn Terfel, Norman Lebrecht, Didier de Cottignies and many more. Previously unpublished backstage material shows the tenors unadorned and offers a fascinating insight into what takes place beyond the spotlight in Rome, 1990 and the sequel in Los Angeles, 1994. The film takes a completely new look at the concert legends. For the first time, they talk about José Carreras‘ struggles with leukemia, their rivalries and friendships, their spectacular contract poker and life as an opera star.

Learn more about the VOX Label, the Elite Recordings production team, and the reissuing of these classic Utah Symphony recordings on the Naxos Classical Spotlight Podcast!

Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra’s recordings of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral works, originally released on Vox in 1974, remain much admired to this day. These classic recordings of Symphony No. 4 and Romeo and Juliet make a welcome return to the catalogue, newly remastered in 192kHz / 24-bit high-definition.

REVIEWS:

These sonically remastered recordings are from Maurice Abravanel’s legendary Tchaikovsky Integrale. The remastering probably couldn’t make the violins sound much fuller and warmer, but the slight limitations as far as the Utah orchestra and the somewhat treble-emphasized recording, especially in the Fantasy Overture, can’t really detract from the quality of Abravanel’s delicate, spontaneous, elegant and tense interpretations. In the Fourth Symphony, Abravanel by no means overplays the darker side of the music, expressing fatum feelings as well as nostalgia.

-- Pizzicato

Although the Salt Lake Tabernacle was far from an ideal recording venue, its oval domed shape being highly reflective, the Elite Recordings team did their best to deaden the space. The end result is excellent, the orchestra sounding as though it is playing in a large hall, but nothing is blurred.

As for the performances, they are also excellent, Abravanel careful not to overplay the dramatic elements to the point where they start to sound hysterical. That is not to say the playing lacks energy, for it certainly does not. This is simply very good, straightforward, well-played, and excellently recorded Tchaikovsky. Good stuff.

-- Classical Candor (Karl Nehring)

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

A complete, previously unreleased performance in brilliant stereo sound quality by the legendary Bill Evans Trio. Audio transferred from the original stereo tape reels and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab. Recently found in the Kongsberg Jazz Festival archives, it was widely believed that this concert had not been recorded, and as such it doesn't appear on any of the Bill Evans discographies! Featuring Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morell on drums.