Rising-star period keyboardist Julian Perkins makes his solo Resonus Classics debut with a new recording of the French Suites by J.S. Bach. Seldom recorded on the clavichord, thought to be Bach's keyboard instrument of choice, the Suites' versatile, expressive, and lyrical qualities are expertly revealed by Perkins on this, the gentlest and most intimate of all keyboard instruments. Performing on two instruments by the maker Peter Bavington, the program is completed with two further suites: one earlier partita by Johann Jakob Froberger, and one more contemporary suite by Georg Philipp Telemann, previously attributed to Bach himself.

The term division refers to a particular type of improvisation or composition that flourished in England in the middle of the seventeenth century. Simply put, division music involves splitting longer notes into shorter ones and larger intervals into smaller ones. In order to ‘divide’ you need a subject, or theme, and this was most often a pre-existing vocal melody or a repeating ground-bass. Following on from his critically acclaimed recording of solo English viola da gamba works (Tickle the Minikin), founder member of Fantascus, Robert Smith, is joined by the prolific and celebrated viola da gambist, Paolo Pandolfo, for this album of English duos for the instrument. Featuring a selection of seventeenth-century repertoire from Christopher Simpson, John Jenkins and Simon Ives, this album is packed with divisions for duo, which are often intensely virtuosic. Also featured are a selecon of preludes from Christopher Simpson’s The Division Viol and an addional prelude by Smith himself.

Sent to press just days before his untimely death in August 2015, John Scott's last recording is Dancing Day, a programme of works for Christmas, made with his beloved Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys of Fifth Avenue, New York. Recorded in the home of the choir in Manhattan, the recording is centred around two works for treble voices and harp performed annually by the boys of the choir under John's direction - Benjamin Britten's inimitable A Ceremony of Carols and John Rutter's companion piece Dancing Day. Completing a compelling disc that features medieval texts and themes are further works for treble voices - Britten's A New Year Carol and Patrick Hadley's I sing of a maiden. The boys are joined by the men of the choir for works by Matthew Martin, Philip Ledger and William Mathias. Also included is John's own arrangement of the simple traditional Dutch carol King Jesus hath a garden, penned whilst organ scholar of St John's College, Cambridge.

The gifted Japanese-born harpsichordist, Mie Hayashi makes her Resonus Classics debut with this recording of the complete Premiere Livre de Pi�ces de Clavecin by the French Baroque composer Joseph-Nicholas-Pancrace Royer. Representing the majority of what remains of Royer's solo keyboard works, this compelling collection of mostly character pieces demonstrates a unique and distinctive voice from Paris in the first half of the eighteenth century. Hayashi offers vivid performances on a stunning copy of a 1749 double-manual Jean-Claude Goujon instrument by Andrew Garlick. Mie Hayashi studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Laurence Cummings and John Toll, and then at the Royal College of Music with Robert Woolley. She was awarded the Lincoln Scholarship and Century Fund. During her studies she also won the Croft Sherry Ensemble Prize with the chamber ensemble Abendmusik, as well as the Ruth Dyson Keyboard Prize and Amadeus Fortepiano Prize. She released her debut solo album in 2016, and is also a founding member of The Herschel Trio.

Following their acclaimed first installment of Franz Joseph Haydn's six Op. 20 string quartets, the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam returns with the remainder of the works from this hugely significant collection - the E-flat major, D major and A major quartets. Earning Haydn the title of the 'father of the string quartet', these works are said to have defined the medium for the next 200 years. It is in his lauded Op. 20, where Haydn connects old and new worlds and creates an all-encompassing universe. The Dudok Quartet Amsterdam is one of the most versatile and appealing string quartets of this time. The quartet's aim is to share the heart of music through captivating performances and an open approach of the audience.

Following their critically acclaimed debut album of piano trios by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on period instruments, (Resonus RES10168), the Rautio Piano Trio returns to Resonus Classics in 2018 with a recording of spectacular and often virtuosic works for piano trio by Ludwig van Beethoven, Ferdinand Hiller & Franz Schubert. With a programme that includes the world premiere recording of Hiller’s Piano Trio No. 6 in C minor alongside Beethoven’s middle-period, Op. 170 ‘Ghost’ Trio and Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-flat major ‘Notturno’, D897, the Rautio Piano Trio presents three striking and individual works each notable for their use of a nocturne, evoking the quiet night-time and an atmosphere of poetic reflection. With these three significant works the development of this most important of chamber genres can be seen throughout this programme - the style and scale of these works taking the piano trio in new directions, increasingly Romantic and even symphonic in nature. A fascinating document of this transitional period in musical history.

Lost the world for centuries, the recent redciscovery in 2015 of George Philipp Telemann's Twelve Fantasias for viola da gamba, represents a major addition to the solo repertoire of the instrument. In the year of the 250th anniversary of Telemann's death, acclaimed Amsterdam-based gambist Robert Smith brings these long forgotten works back to life with this striking recording of the complete set of fantasias in a vital addition to the Telemann discography.

Following her recording of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Shakespeare Sonnets, acclaimed pianist Emma Abbate continues her series of landmark recordings dedicated to Italian twentieth-century vocal chamber music, with this remarkable collection of songs by Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968). Abbate is joined in this fascinating journey through Pizzetti's unique sound world by star mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp in a programme covering half of his output for the genre. At times dark and intense, and with many moments of real beauty, these songs show a composer at the peak of his powers. The Neapolitan pianist Emma Abbate enjoys a demanding career as a piano accompanist and chamber musician, working with some of the finest singers and instrumentalists of her generation. She has performed in duo recitals for international festivals and concert societies in Salzburg, Lisbon, Naples, Ischia, and Koscierzyna, and at man prestigious UK venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Royal Opera House, and at the Aldeburgh Festival. Based in London, Emma is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a staff coach at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Following the international success of their first album on Resonus, Venice 1629, Jamie Savan with his acclaimed period group The Gonzaga Band continue their exploration of lesser-known music in the Venetian orbit. Here they uncover a forgotten masterpiece by Amadio Freddi, maestro di cappella of Treviso Cathedral during Monteverdi's tenure at St Mark's in Venice. Luminous vocal textures and sparkling instrumental writing, together with harmonic originality and melodic invention combine to reveal a fascinating composer with a unique voice, heard again for the first time in this world premiere recording. The Gonzaga Band was formed by cornettist Jamie Savan in 1997, with a mission to explore the intimate relationship between vocal and instrumental performance practice in the Early Modern period. The ensemble takes it's name from the ducal family of Mantua: the Gonzagas were powerful and influential patrons of the arts in the late Renaissance, who employed Claudio Monteverdi as their maestro della musica at the turn of the seventeenth century. Monteverdi wrote some of his most innovative music for the Gonzagas: his third, fourth and fifth books of madrigals, the operas Orfeo and Arianna, and of course the Vespers of 1610.

The name of Walter Willson Cobbett (1847–1937) is synonymous with chamber music from the first half of the twentieth century – his contribution to the genre was immense, particularly through his many commissions and the prize for chamber music that bore his name. The Berkeley Ensemble have sought to build on this unique legacy, introducing ‘The New Cobbett Prize for Chamber Music’. This new recording from the ensemble, brings together the three winning works from the inaugural competition with the work that won the first original competition – William Hurlstone’s Phantasie for string quartet. Also included is A Purcell Garland, three arrangements of a composer who inspired Cobbett by Oliver Knussen, George Benjamin and Colin Matthews.

Piano duo Vicky Yannoula & George-Emmanuel Lazaridis make their debut appearance on the Resonus Classics label with the first volume of a landmark series of Carl Czerny’s arrangements for four hands of the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven. A prolific and trusted arranger of many of Beethoven’s works, Czerny creates fascinating and faithful versions of these popular works that display the impressive virtuosic and orchestral range and capabilities of the instrument. Yannoula & Lazaridis begin with two of Beethoven’s best-known works – the first and fifth symphonies.

Missouri-based choir Kantorei of Kansas City and their director Chris Munce return to Resonus Classics with a sparkling recording of carols and motets for Christmas. With a compelling programme of Renaissance and contemporary works for the festive season that presents the Christmas story and the journey to Bethlehem, including a number of world premiere recording. Kantorei explores rarely heard works by Renaissance composers such as Giovanni Bassano, Melchior Vulpius, Jakob Reiner and Blasius Amon combined with contemporary composers including Matthew Culloton, Ivo Antognini, R. Douglas Helvering and Kim André Arnesen among others.

In celebration of John Joubert’s ninetieth birthday, Wells Cathedral Choir with their director Matthew Owens present a new recording of recent choral works from this prolific veteran composer. Featuring works commissioned for and first performed by the cathedral choir at Wells, this programme has at its heart the extended St. Mark Passion, a profound and heartfelt retelling of the well-known passion story. Completing the album are the expansive Missa Wellensis and Joubert’s vivid and powerful setting of Lucis iste. The Wells Cathedral Choir was hailed in 2011 by an international jury from Gramophone Magazine as the greatest choir with children in the world, and the sixth greatest overall. The choir celebrated its 1100th birthday in 2009: boys sang first at Wells Cathedral in 909 and the full choral tradition dates back over 800 years. In 1994 the choral foundation at Wells was enriched by the addition of girl choristers. Today the choir consists of 18 boy choristers, 18 girl choristers, and 12 Vicars Choral. The boys and girls usually sing separately with the Vicars Choral but occasionally come together for larger events and tours.

This new release presents vocal works by the early-twentieth century Czech composer, Pavel Haas. Featuring four song cycles composed by Haas at various stages in his life, this captivating album includes the world premiere recording of Fata Morgana, Op. 6, which was Haas's first major work composed following studies with Leoš Janáček in 1922. Pianist Lada Valešová is joined by an exceptional array of singers as well as the acclaimed Navarra Quartet in what is thought to be the first complete album devoted to the music of this composer.

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, Fifth Avenue, New York with their director John Scott release a compelling recording of the contrasting Requiems by close contemporaries Maurice Durufle and Herbert Howells. Completing the album is Ralph Vaughan Williams’s setting of Mr. Valiant-for-Truth’s speech from John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” This album is the final release in this series of recordings from the Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys and their late director John Scott. The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is considered by many to be the leading ensemble of its kind in the Anglican choral tradition in the United States. The Choir performs regularly with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, or with the period instrument ensemble, Concert Royal, as part of its own concert series. Its primary raison d’être, however, is to provide music for five choral services each week.