Since the release of the chart topping Alehouse Sessions in 2017, and a world wide tour, Bjarte and the boys and girls have been busy on this new album which moves the alehouse project on from dour Puritanism of Cromwell's Commonwealth, to the hedonistic Restoration of Charles II, and the Glorious Revolution that saw William III and Mary II replace the unpopular James II. The alehouse musical culture developed into playhouses, and music halls, selling tickets and subscriptions. Operas, masques, dance, jesting (the first stand-up comedians maybe?), all this prepared the way for the first public concert hall to be established. Nights in these places though would still be bawdy - stage fights, cross dressing, elements of pantomime, songs sung to popular tunes of the day, satire - always a good draw, and a good number of rustic clowns, bawdy wenches and fools thrown in for good measure! Think of these back rooms as a very English mix of Shakespeare, commedia dell arte, juggling with music by Purcell, folk tunes, and sea shanties. After the misery of the Commonwealth and Cromwell's dictatorship, the public were in the mood to party! Playhouse is your invitation to the party - enjoy!

ESTHER BIRRINGER DEBUSSY: IMAGES I & II BALLADE MASQUES - For her second solo recital album for Rubicon, Esther Birringer turns to Debussy with a recital that includes both books of his Images. Composed in 1901-5 (book 1) and 1907 (book 2), the composer was very pleased with Images. He wrote about the first set, "Without false pride, I feel that these three pieces hold together well, and that they will find their place in the literature of the piano... to the left of Schumann, or to the right of Chopin." Esther Birringer began playing piano aged three, and made her debut as soloist with an orchestra aged just six. A meteoric career has followed both in Europe and around the world where Esther both performs, teaches as well as promoting young talent. RUBICON

The final volume of the complete Sibelius Symphonies from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Owain Arwel Hughes contains the ever popular 5th coupled with the beautiful less well known 6th, and the ground breaking single movement 7th, the composer's final word on the symphony. His 8th, apparently completed, was consigned to the fire by Sibelius. The first volume in this cycle was made a Gramophone Editors Choice and was praised for the performances, interpretation and the recorded sound.

A new cycle of the symphonies is a big event for any orchestra. Over the past few years, the superb Solistes Européens Luxembourg and their chief conductor Christoph König have been recording all these ground breaking masterpieces. As you would expect from this orchestra and conductor, these are individualistic and searching interpretations.

MOZART: COSI FAN TUTTE (ED. IAN WOODFIELD)

The Jubilee Quartet follow their critically acclaimed debut album of Haydn with two contrasting quartets by Schubert. The sunny and joyful D.87, his 10th quartet dates from his 16th year. Already the singing quality of the writing is apparent. The late G major quartet, the composer's 15th and final quartet dates from 1826. The emotions here are extreme - dramatic, violent, painful, menacing, introverted and innocent. Written on a large scale, this work is a groundbreaking masterpiece that stands shoulder to shoulder with the late Beethoven quartets.

A wonderfully and sensitively curated recital of piano music with light and darkness, or night and day as the central theme. Water, fantastical dreams and visions also inhabit the world conjured by Maria Martinova from the music of Debussy, Ravel and the contemporary Swiss composer Georges Zanon, who's two movement work gives this album it's title. Martinova's pianism is by turn dazzling, tender and dramatic as she interprets the vivid sound world of these composers.

We live in a time of turmoil, flux, stress and crisis. The stresses and strains of modern life during and after the pandemic, war raging in Ukraine, climate change, energy shortages, soaring cost of living, large numbers of refugees seeking safe haven, lack of trust in our leaders - this is the reality of life in the 2020s. The Kuss Quartet's new album draws upon music composed over the past 250 years that embraces emotional turmoil, suffering, and psychological stresses. Some of the music was composed during periods of deep personal trauma for the composers. This very same music can also bring about a mood of reflection, solace, and contemplation. This is music for our times, as powerful and relevant now as it was when new.

Classical Music

In her intriguing new album, viola da gambist Johanna Rose places a prelude by Sainte-Colombe (father) in front of the six movement Bach suite in D minor, and finished the D major Bach suite with a chaconne by Sainte-Colombe. The third 'suite' is an all family affair with music by both father and son, fashioned into a suite by Rose.

Robert Kahn was born in Mannheim, Germany in 1865 and died in Biddenden, England in 1951. An influential professor of music at the Berlin Hochschule. His compositional style was along the lines of Mendelssohn, Schuman and Brahms, he was an admirer of Reger, whose contrapuntalism no doubt had an influence. He avoided large scale romantic forms, and became famed for his songs, choral works, chamber music and the huge Tagebuch in T�nen, (Music from the Tree of Life) a collection of solo piano works, suites for piano and lieder that run to over 1100 pieces. With the rise of the Nazis, Khan was branded "degenerate" by the National Socialists. He was thrown out of his teaching positions, and in 1937 left for the UK, settling in Kent and composing right up to his death. This album from the Ensemble �migr�, is a fascinating introduction to a composer that political extremism and hatred tried, and failed, to erase. Ensemble �migr�: Danny Driver, piano / Christopher Gould, piano / Emily Sun, violin / Ingrid Pearson, clarinet / Flora Bain, horn / Gemma Rosefield, cello / Norbert Meyn, tenor/director

2021 release. Montgeroult, Viotti, Mendelssohn and Weber: Violin Sonatas.

Obscurus is an exploration of the obscured, in a program which showcases some of the most incredible trumpet writing of the 20th and 21st century, as well as several reimagining's of older, more mainstream works for other instruments, arranged for trumpet. "I wanted this album to have some thread that ran through the program - I love piecing together works which complement each other in new and interesting ways, and the concept of obscurity; things being hidden or veiled in some way, is a commonality with every piece." All of these works have their own very distinctive voice and presence, whether representing dim shapes shrouded in mist; a usually clear voice distorted and changed by grains of sand; a wordless song; ruins and dances lost to time and memory - or simply the line beyond which we cannot see; that of death.

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) effectively founded Russian literature, elevating his mother tongue to match the wit and penetrating observation of the French, Spanish and English writers he admired. He was revered even through the Soviet years, the hundredth anniversary of his death being grandly commemorated in 1936 during Stalin's reign. It was for that occasion that the two sets of Pushkin songs by Russia's leading composers of that time - Prokofiev and Shostakovich - were originally composed. In later life, Shostakovich became friends with the English composer, Benjamin Britten, who also befriended the cellist and pianist Mstislav Rostropovich (a sometime pupil of Shostakovich's) and his wife the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. It was specifically for the latter two artists that Britten in 1965 composed The Poet's Echo.

Alessio Pianelli's debut album is a beautifully curated, affectionate, and eclectic musical tribute to his native land, the island of Sicily. "For A Sicilian Traveller, I investigated the richness of Sicily's culture through the music of other composers who have explored - some more explicitly than others - that central aspect in the tradition of art music. Sicilian culture is like a mosaic in which each tile represents one of the many civilisations that have traversed the island over the centuries. Each tile maintains it's original identity while contributing to a collective design that is greater than the sum of it's parts. It is for this reason I have chosen to travel with my cello through music from such a wide variety of cultures."

Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor op26, Stenhammar Violin Sonata in A major op19 / Christian Svarfvar (violin), London Philharmonic Orchestra Joana Carneiro conductor, Henrik M�we piano* Christian Svarfvar has emerged as one of Scandinavia's most sought after concert violinists. His debut album of the three Grieg Violin Sonatas was praised by the Financial Times 'buoyed by Svarfvar's fearless expression, rock-solid technique, stylistic acumen, Christian did us and Grieg a big favour and we must hear more from him' Svarfar has worked with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated in chamber projects with Martin Fr�st, Maxim Rysanov, Tabea Zimmermann, Janine Jansen, Clemens Hagen, and with contemporary composers Steve Reich, Kaija Saariaho, Howard Shore and Anders Hillborg. - For his first album for Rubicon, Christian has recorded perhaps the most famous and best loved of all 19th century concertos, Max Bruch's evergreen first Violin Concerto, and paired it with the Wilhelm Stenhammar's warmly romantic Violin Sonata. The same composer's two Sentimental Romances conclude the disc.

Debussy was seriously ill at the outbreak of World War I, and struggled to compose. A wartime performance of the Saint-Sa�ns Septet prompted the composer to consider writing chamber music for the first time since his string quartet of 1893. The plan was for a sequence of six sonatas for diverse instruments, harking back to the 18th century practice in France. He viewed these works as a memorial to the young French soldiers killed in the trenches. The Cello Sonata was premiered in Paris in 1916 by a young infantryman on a cello made from an ammunition box and an old door. His health declining further, the Violin Sonata turned out to be his last work. The final three sonatas were never composed. This album concludes with three rarely heard piano pieces completed by Robert Orledge including the world premiere recording of A Night in the House of Usher.

Cellist Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, of the Kuss Quartet, delivers a very personal musical exploration of the emotions of a musician, away from their homeland, discovering new worlds, and searching for their inner voice and inner world. "When you leave your homeland, you leave behind something very important that is hard to describe in words. It is that light and air which you unconsciously love, it is the smell of spring, the kindness of people under whose warm gaze you flourish and of course, the sounds of music. How lucky we musicians are to be able to collect all these precious things into one whole - into music, into melodies that are always with us in our head and heart; melodies that belong to us all, that we can reproduce and relive at any time. By leaving one country you give yourself the chance to discover another world, where new motifs and colors accompany you like a guide, in the search for your own voice and your own inner world. This recording is an illustration of my musical journey, during which I meet friends old and new with equal joy."

The four great Mozart concertos on this new album from Elizabeth Sombart span from 1785 to 1791, his final year. The range of emotions these works convey is extraordinary. No.20 in D minor left the audience at the premiere reeling. It is terse, angry and full of passion. The C major concerto No.21 in contrast, is sunny, bright and full of optimism. No.23 in A major is bathed in a feeling of warm contentment. The wistful and heartfelt Adagio is especially striking. No.27 in B flat of 1791 is an autumnal work of intense sadness, almost as if the composer sensed his life was coming to an end.

The Kuss Quartet, renowned for their penetrating and searching performances of quartet repertoire spanning from Haydn to Birtwhistle, celebrate the Beethoven anniversary year with this boxed set of his complete string quartets. Recorded live in Tokyo's Suntory Hall, the Kuss Quartet performs on the four Stradivarius instruments collectively known as the 'Paganini Quartet.' Among the most cherished possessions of the famed virtuoso, these superb instruments were loaned from the Nippon Music Foundation.

The title What Remains of String Quartet No.4 (2019) by Joey Roukens can be understood in various ways. On a poetic level, the words correspond to the character of the music, which often seems to hark back to 'something remaining' from a previous era - ruins, ghosts, scraps or memories. This interpretation, both of the words and of the music itself, marked the beginning of the associative exploration that led to this album of the same title. A fascinatingly curated program from the Dudok, drawing on music from the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries, with 20th century works by Messiaen and Reich, and into the 21st century with the work that provides the album's title, the 4th String Quartet by Roukens, commissioned by the Dudok Quartet. Both Reich and Roukens' music was influenced by Gregorian chant, and the early organum and polyphonic music that followed. Time, travel, locomotion - journeys through time and the memories of these journeys all come together on this thrilling new album from the Dudok Quartet, Amsterdam.

Arwel Hughes (1909-1988) was the tenth son of a Welsh coal miner, and his progress through life was a remarkable one. Along the way, he studied composition at the Royal College of Music where his tutors were Gordon Jacob, Gustav Holst and, importantly, Vaughan Williams. During WWII, he worked for the BBC, becoming Head of Music for BBC Wales. He actively encouraged and supported the music of his Welsh contemporaries who included Daniel Jones, Grace Williams, Alun Hoddinott and William Mathias. Arwel Hughes composed a symphony, two operas, three string quartets, a mass, much choral music and shorter orchestral pieces. The oratorio Dewi Sant (Saint David) was composed for the festival of Britain in 1951 as the main Welsh contribution. The text was written by his friend and colleague at the BBC, Aneurin Talfan Davies. The text is based on the life of the patron saint of Wales, David (c520 - 588AD). Davies drew inspiration from the 11th century Latin Vita, by Rhygyfarch who was the son of a Bishop of St Davids. The sound world of the oratorio has flashes of Wagner and Vaughan Williams, and, similar the latter composer, never looses sight of the fact that this music should be performed by amateur performers as well as professional choruses and orchestras. It is a work of great skill, and is both melodious and dramatic. This recording, conducted by the composer's son, is the first recording in the original Welsh.

DVORAK: SYMPHONY NO.9; COPLAND: QUIET CITY

Sofya Melikyan's fascinating album has as it's inspiration the great Ricardo Vi�es, composer and pianist, champion of young progressive composers (he was Satie's favorite performer of his music), whose friends included among others Picasso, Gide, Colette, Cocteau. Cocteau said of him "Vi�es does not play, he elucidates". To define Vi�es "the shining light of contemporary art", as Adolfo Salazar described him in 1918 as the pianist of the French avant-garde is absolutely correct, albeit quite inadequate at the same time. Like his compatriots Granados and Malats, he was a student of de B�riot, and taking First Prize in piano at the Paris Conservatoire in 1894 followed by his first recital at the Salle Pleyel on 21 February 1895 marked the launch of a career that, over the course of four decades, would prove to be as frenetic as it was thrilling. Vi�es's insatiable curiosity for so-called 'modern music' and his ever restless temperament, always eager to discover neglected repertoire of the present day and to present it to the public as well as music from the past, became apparent very early on, as in his recital of 18 April 1898 at the Salle �rard, at which he gave the premiere of the Menuet antique by one of his first and greatest friends in Paris, Maurice Ravel, or in his historic cycle of four concerts that he would give in the same hall between March and April 1905 devoted to 'Keyboard music from it's origins to the present day'.

SCHOENBERG: VERKLARTE NACHT: HONEGGER: SYMPHONY 2