Bach, in his time, could never have envisioned his music being recorded. When we first embarked on our journey with the Oxford Bach Soloists, our focus was not on recording. We were immersed in the live experience, discovering Bach's vocal works chronologically, in real-time. It was about living the music as all those who performed and heard it did, tracing his steps through each note and phrase. Featuring two of our core Soloists, Nick Pritchard and Yu-Wei Hu, this album presents three of Bach's Cantatas. These include possibly his earliest vocal work, Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4), his only extant tenor cantata, Ich armer Mensch (BWV 55), and the much-beloved cantata, Ich habe genug, showcased here in it's arrangement for high voice and flute (BWV 82.2). This recording is a celebration of our journey with Bach, and an invitation to experience his timeless music through our own journey of dedication and discovery.

Dedicated to Bramwell Tovey, this album of world premiere recordings by celebrated composer Roderick Elms features soloists Carlos Bonell, Derek Hannigan (bass clarinet) and Joanna Smith and Roderick Elms himself, with the BBC Concert Orchestra under the baton of Barry Wordsworth.

Santtu conducts Shostakovich is the fourth album from Philharmonia Records, featuring Shostakovich's colourful Sixth Symphony alongside his subversive and sardonic Ninth Symphony. Conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, these performances were recorded at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in 2023.

A stellar line up of soloists, conductor, choir and orchestra combine forces in the remastered 2 CD set of Mozart's arrangement of Handel's much loved 'Messiah'. In April 1742, shortly after the first performance of Messiah in Dublin for the city's Charitable Musical Society, the Dublin Journal reported that the oratorio 'was allowed by the greatest of Judges to be the finest Composition of Musick that was ever heard'. Sir Charles Mackerras continues the constantly evolving performance history of one of the world's most enduring masterpieces.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - MOTETS VOCES8SENESINO PLAYERS JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - MOTETSSINGET DEM HERRN EIN NEUES LIED, BWV 225FURCHTE DICH NICHT, ICH BIN BEI DIR, BWV 228LOBET DEN HERRN, ALLE HEIDEN, BWV 230JESU, MEINE FREUDE, BWV 227KOMM, JESU, KOMM, BWV 229DER GEIST HILFT UNCER SCHWACHHEIT AUF, BWV 226

The Goossens Messiah, recorded for the first and only time by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus under Sir Thomas Beecham, has stood as a landmark of the classical catalogue for sixty years. Goossens’ richly orchestrated version is set to reach a new audience thanks to Maestro Griffith and DCINY, New York City’s leading promoter of classical music. They gathered at Abbey Road Studios in London in July 2019, to record the work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a chorus comprising of sixty members of The Jonathan Griffith Singers, drawn from around the world and sixty members of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. The new recording has captured the score’s vibrant tone colors in thrilling high-definition sound.

An acclaimed conductor, educator and lecturer, Dr. Jonathan Griffith has led performances across North America, Europe, and Asia. Griffith is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY), which has brought together, under Griffith’s artistic leadership, thousands of musicians and choral singers in concert at prestigious venues across the United States, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Disney Hall. The founder and Music Director of the Distinguished Concerts Orchestra, Griffith also oversees DCINY’s mentoring program for conductors. Founded in 1983 as a single choir of 100 of the best singers in the nation, the National Youth Choir is now the flagship ensemble of an Arts Council England National Portfolio youth music organization and registered charity, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain (NYCGB), which runs five membership choirs, a nationwide outreach programme for schools and Music Hubs, and provides professional training for the next generation of choral singers, composers and leaders.

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REEVIEW:

Dishing up a rich, lusciously executed bowl of nostalgia, Jonathan Griffith conducts with evident relish and affection. And if Griffith’s choral forces don’t always have the penetrative heft to cut through the orchestral high jinks at their most excitable, they crown the final chorus with a resplendent ‘Amen’.

– BBC Music Magazine

When Michael Nyman started reinventing the English baroque back in the 1980s, one critic described the result as “pump- action Purcell”. This recording combines these two singular musical styles through the stunning voice of countertenor Iestyn Davies and viol consort Fretwork, serving as the bridge across three centuries. The programme combines bold harmonies, wondrous inventions, and melodies that will haunt your dreams – whether from the 17th century or the 21st. Recorded following a concert tour of the programme, the release includes the premiere recording of a new commission from Michael Nyman, Music after a While – based upon Purcell’s song, or more particularly upon its strikingly original bass-line, with its insidious rising chromatics. This was a near-perfect concert, contrasting two composers whose links are stronger than many people might think and performed by musicians at the top of their profession.” Early Music Reviews, following a concert of the programme.

The prodigious Norwegian treble Aksel Rykkvin returns to the recording studio with a new album of Baroque works, accompanying the MIN Ensemble under trumpeter Mark Bennett and the ensemble director Lazar Miletic. Featuring both instrumental pieces and excerpts from operas and oratorios by Handel, Rameau, Albinoni and Rittler, this release further documents Aksel’s unique talent as a performer and interpreter of Baroque music. Praise for Aksel’s previous release (Aksel!) and performances is widespread and positive: “A mature, musical performer [...] an accomplished and adult [release]” (Gramophone) “A remarkable performance - pure,confident, technically perfect and hauntingly beautiful” Classic FM “Freakishly good, with a musical assurance and richness of tone that are almost superhuman” Financial Times “A superb debut ... Exceptionally polished performances” (BBC Music Magazine)

The latest instalment in Min-Jung Kym's Sounds for the Soul series.

Following her acclaimed Brahms release on Signum Classics in May 2021, Leeds International Piano Competition Winner (2015), Anna Tsybuleva, releases a new album of Debussy's 24 Preludes pour solo piano. Tsybuleva has been described by as embodying "superb pianism and intelligent musicianship" (Gramophone Magazine) and "A pianist of rare gifts: not since Murray Perahia's triumph in 1972 has Leeds had a winner of this musical poise and calibre" (International Piano Magazine). Praise for Tsybuleva on Signum Classics "One is speechless. As far as their performance is concerned, the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the soloist and the conductor Ruth Reinhardt are an extremely eloquent team that realizes their musical ideas together. You can hear a direct and gripping Brahms, without any airs, without frills - music that speaks to you directly" - Piano News

'Close Harmony' is the latest musical offering from Grammy Award winning and internationally acclaimed vocal group The King's Singers. A combination of newly recorded works and tracks from their The Library EP series, the album takes a deep-dive into one of the most beloved and unique corners of their music library: the close-harmony arrangements. New arrangements feature from composers Daryl Runswick (such as an imaginative, exciting version of Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture) and John Rutter (Jerome Kern's The Way You Look Tonight) showcasing the diversity of both their talent and the repertoire they present.

Classical Music

Ian Jervis, Jan Hartley, Julian Forsyth, Simon Butteriss, Daniel Gillingwater, Simon Masterton Smith, Marilyn Cutts, Rosamund Shelley, Katie Lovell, and Andy Morton star in this new version by Tony Britten based on the opera by Verdi and Boito.

Classical Music

Classical Music