In the 1990s, Donald Fraser scored a hit with his orchestral arrangement of Marin Marais’ baroque classic The Bells of Genevieve which reached the Top 5 of Billboard’s Classical Chart and remains a radio evergreen to this day. Numerous commissions for arrangements followed for musicians such as The King’s Singers, Yehudi Menuhim and the English Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, AVIE released Don’s large-scale orchestration of Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet and choral version of Sea Pictures, which charted in the Top 10 of the UK Specialist Classical Chart. Don now returns to the art of arranging smaller scale, classic works by John Dowland, Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi and others, including new versions of his own “Amen” from A Christmas Symphony which was written for and premiered by soprano Jessye Norman, a new remix of The Bells of St. Genevieve and orchestrations of four Elgar art songs that evoke the album’s title, Songs for Strings.

Let yourself be whisked away on a Tropical Holiday with music from around the Caribbean- Haiti, Martinique, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, and other island nations. Put your sunglasses on and get into the summer mood with irresistible dances. The cumbia is perhaps internationally the best-known form of music and dance from Colombia. It has African roots with a great deal of Spanish and Indian influence. In fact, Colombians consider the cumbia to be the meeting place of these three cultures. It's pace makes it one of the most danceable styles found within South America. Another well-known dance featured on this album is the salsa. Since the salsa's appearance in the early 1960s, it's impact and planet-wide expansion has been phenomenal. Broadly speaking, salsa is essentially an urban, popular dance music with deep roots in Cuban music. It's origins have been traced back to two main styles still heard in Cuba today: the Spanish influenced guajira and the Afro-Cuban son.

The Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford explore the works of choral music icon Herbert Howells, in an album that sets his works alongside pieces that his music inspired and influenced (such as Nico Muhly’s Like as the hart for choir, solo violin and percussion) as well as works that in turn influenced him. The release features two world premiere recordings by David Bednall – settings of two Marian antiphons that 'complete' the partly-lost set of works that Howells wrote for Westminster Cathedral. Led by their director Owen Rees, the Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford is among the finest and most active university choirs in the UK. Its wide-ranging repertory includes a rich array of music from Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces to contemporary works, including commissions. Their recording of David Bednall's Christmas work Welcome All Wonders was met with critical praise: "An excellent [album]: the singing is incredibly tight, in the manner to which it has become increasingly accustomed under its musical director, Owen Rees, and Bednall’s writing is ingenious, embedded in a profound understanding of the workings of the choir and organ – both as distinct entries and as a partnership." (Gramophone)

Ireland is not only the green island, but also the land of legends and singers. All this is reflected on the second GENUIN album by the Irish clarinetist John Finucane. The exceptional wind player brings together music from his homeland written from 1911 to the present day. Without exception, these are genuine discoveries, and not only because of the world premiere recordings and works written for John Finucane himself. Even in the most modern of times, the magic of the past is still alive, and contemporary musical language is inspired by the spirit of the Irish harpists: from Stanford to Bax, from Ferguson to Trimble, this album is an Irish blessing! John Finucane has been Principal Clarinet with Ireland's RTE National Symphony Orchestra since 1995, and has also been active as a soloist, chamber musician, and conductor in Ireland and abroad. Described by Gramophone Magazine as "an outstanding virtuoso" on the release of his album 'Clarinet Variations,' he has worked with the Ulysses Ensemble, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, and Irish Film Orchestras. He appears regularly on radio and television programs, and he has a particular affinity to chamber music, working with many groups across Europe.

Beauty is a question of view. For some it consists in perfection, symmetry; others perceive it only when ruptures, cracks, relativizations add to the impression. Herbert Joos has called his orchestra suite, which he premiered on the occasion of being awarded the 2017 Baden-Wurttemberg Jazz Prize for Lifetime Achievement, "Change of Beauty." This fits a process of musical creation that the star chef and bass trumpeter Vincent Klink laconically commented upon his encomium at the award ceremony at the Stuttgart Theaterhaus as follows: "I assert at this point that perfection curtails freedom and completely runs counter to a humanism of the Joosian kind." Ergo, beauty can endure only in a state of flux. An insight that coincides with Herbert Joos's experience in the course of a dazzling career as a musician. The trumpeter, flugelhorn player and composer appeared on the jazz scene at a time when certainties were crumbling. Born in 1940 and influenced by musical individualists like Miles Davis, Chet Baker, and Billie Holiday, Joos first learned the craft of imitation in ensembles such as the Modern Jazz Quintet Karlsruhe, but at the same time experienced the beginnings of the aesthetic resistance. In no time at all he sent jazz tradition packing into the museum.

An axiom is a self-evident truth. Everything on this album represents different aspects and shades of truth. On their debut recording, Axiom Quartet probes the soul and delivers a deeply satisfying statement on truth and inner fulfillment. Each track is a whirlwind journey of soul-searching expression. From the bravado of "Insight" into the confounding swirl of "Hindsight," and on to the profoundly elegant "Pur Ti Miro," this recording turns tempo and style on a dime leaving the listener exhilarated. While "Insight" is the exhilarating realization of truth, "Little Lies" bends truth. Axiom Quartet's arrangement of the Fleetwood Mac classic is a refined, yet provocative update that feels surprisingly at home in a chamber setting. An understated dignity adds depth to country-folk standard "Wagon Wheel," with a delicate banjo dancing under the Quartet's strings. In "Everything Means Nothing to Me" an artist painfully expresses the truth in his heart while Billie Holiday begs a lover to not tell her the truth in "Don't Explain." "Axiom" is a work about seeking truth and reason, only to have had the answers present from the beginning. Karl Blench wrote all of the arrangements and original compositions for this album. There are small moments of music, also original compositions of Karl Blench, between each of the longer sections of this album. They blend and blur the ideas of the music that comes before and after them to portray the grayer tones of truth. Known for creating and performing programs that mix traditional string quartet repertoire and transcriptions of works from a variety of genres, Axiom Quartet introduces audiences to extraordinary music from different genres and creates new fans of the classical repertoire.

The growing genius of a titan of English music comes vividly into focus in a stunning collection of Edward Elgar's music for chorus and orchestra from the Brighton Festival Chorus and BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth. The voice was at the center of Elgar's musical life as a child, and it was to play a defining role in his own compositions. Spanning 26 years - from the imposing setting of Ecce sacerdos magnus ('Behold the great priest')* in 1888 to the richly realized psalm settings of the 1910s, it is possible to chart in these often moving, occasionally monumental works the development of Elgar's prowess in setting the voice. The muscular and poetic Op.34 Te Deum and Benedictus and consoling Offertory Anthem, O Hearken Thou are heard alongside two contrasted psalms - the mighty Great is the Lord and bold and vigorous Give unto the Lord - that have become cornerstones of the English choral tradition. Two sunny, secular works show Elgar balancing delicacy and deliberateness with consummate skill. Based on a play by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the Iberian-accented Spanish Serenade is courtship of exquisite beauty and warmth. Scenes from the Bavarian Alps sets words by the composer's wife, Alice, to produce six animated and colorful songs that conjure the sights and sounds of happy holiday visits by the recent newlyweds. Behold the Great Priest presents a treasure-trove of Elgar's choral compositions intriguingly mapping out his development towards the full-scale masterpieces of Sea Pictures, The Apostles and The Dream of Gerontius.

Bohuslav Martinu honed his songwriting craft in between composing larger orchestral works, his yearning for home reflected in the Four Songs to Czech Folk Texts written during desperate times in the Second World War. Sourced from previously unpublished manuscripts, this unique programme presents world premiere recordings of earlier songs written during summer holidays in Policka, as well as the Three Songs after Poems by Guillaume Apollinaire, long thought to e lost but miraculously unearthed just weeks before this recording. Pianist Giorgio Koukl regards these songs as similar to pearls, "born out of hardship, pain and discomfort and, after a while, becoming precious and admired."

For many years a solo member at the Vienna State Opera and sought after at international opera stages, Austrian baritone Clemens Unterreiner continues to perform in concert halls and churches alike. So it comes as no surprise that the Austrian star baritone abandons the dramatic repertory for this new release and presents a selection of the most beautiful German Christmas carols. Together with the ORF Radio Symphonic Orchestra, some of the most timeless melodies and contemplative songs are featured on this album, preparing inimitably for the holy days of the celebration of God’s love. In a second part, Clemens Unterreiner recites festive poetry by writers such as Heinrich Heine, Joseph von Eichendorff, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Stefan Zweig, Clemens von Brentano or Joachim Ringelnatz.

On the occasion of the 200th birthday of the song Stille Nacht (Silent Night), the Salzburg baritone Rafael Fingerlos, who grew up in the Stille Nacht community of Mariapfarr im Lungau, and his piano partner Sascha El Mouissi wish to approach the subjects of "stillness“ and "night“ in a completely new manner. The intentionally secular, loving selection of poetry settings of the most widely varied romantic composers forms a counterpoint to the repertoire of customary Christmas albums. Well-known settings and precious musical-literary rarities result in an especially variegated and profound sound, a deeply moving listening experience. Twenty-four musical numbers following a clear dramaturgy, including three world premiere recordings (piano miniatures by the young, up-and-coming Salzburg composer Jakob Gruchmann), will remind listeners of a secular Advent calendar. After the third transitional miniature by Gruchmann, the calendar finds its spiritual fulfilment with the world famous Christmas song Stille Nacht (Silent Night) on the 24th place. This masterwork by Joseph Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber has been recorded here in the original version for two male voices and guitar, including all six verses.

Troels Jensen has finally established his dream project: a large band consisting of rhythm, reeds and voices—respectively The Healers, The Blues Horns and The Belles of Joy—Miriam Mandipira is now a featured member. Together they let the music roll along like a well-oiled freight train, through rockers and ballads, be they originals or standards. The Dane Troels Jensen started out as a cornetist in a New Orleans band, then moved on to bluegrass, country and western. With his bottleneck guitar in hand, he was spotted by legendary blues and gospel singer and guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe. She spurred him to follow her way, which he did as a vocalist, pianist and guitarist in the Delta Blues Band, a mainstay on the European scene for half a century. Miriam Mandipira was born and grew up in Zimbabwe. As a small girl, she became interested in music and through television, she became smitten by blues, gospel, jazz and soul. She studied classical music, lieder and musicals at school and became well versed in technique and performance. Before her graduation she had to make a choice, and returned to her first love in music, the one that had grabbed her emotions. Professionally, she sang jazz and blues in Zimbabwe, then Africa, before she reached Denmark ten years ago. Her voice carries the legacy of the greatest singers of jazz and soul like Billie Holiday, Etta James and Aretha Franklin. Mandipira and Jensen has performed together on numerous occasions to great critical acclaim. Their new project My Love promises to bring together the best from the jazz and soul tradition with a lively, modern spirit produced by a large band where each member gives their all to the music.

The more you lose yourself in the wonderful world of the Christmas Carols, the deeper you want to dive into them. It was like this with the MDR Radio Choir, and we can be happy that the much-loved Geniun album of this top ensemble and its leader, Philipp Ahmann, will be followed by a second. What treasures are there to discover: an endless variety of songs with a broad range of expression and mood, sung lovingly and with the highest level of musical skill! Carols such as Macht hoch die Tur (“Life up your heads”) or O du frohliche (“Oh how joyful”) stand side by side along treasures from England, France, Japan, and many countries. At the latest from the second verse on you will begin to hum along.

Pianist and composer Alexander Scriabin, according to one calendar, was born on Christmas Day, 1972. His highly idiosyncratic figure as both man and musician endeared him to the poets of his time, who were able to understand him, but made him unpopular with contemporary composers, who were too different from him. He was a small man, with genteel and affected mannerisms. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory and graduated in 1892 with perfect marks and a medal for merit. He was often struck by nervous fits and tormented by dark thoughts. He was a strange man, who walked with an unusual skip. His early musical production reflects his great skill as a pianist (which was universally acknowledged.) His writing builds on the tradition of Chopin and Liszt. In Scriabin’s vision there is a creator Spirit that permeates matter with light and the matter brought to life becomes “waves” (A in Russian, a word that evokes a cadenced flow). Sound, which exists because it propogates through spherical waves, and color, both constituitive elements of matter, are defined by their vibrations. Sound and color fill up the cosmos, a cosmos made of time and space.

This cleverly planned new recital represents a uniquely valuable addition to the catalogue and focuses attention on English piano music which is less well known but no less delectable. Our programme ranges from some of the most famous names in music to those best-known in other areas of the art - and has been carefully chosen to present a uniquely fascinating conspectus of piano music by British composers of the last 100 years. There are such rarities as Benjamin Britten's brilliant early suite 'Holiday Diary', the great composer in lighter mood, and the magnificent virtuoso set of Six Studies for Piano by Kenneth Leighton, alongside a rare collection of Impressionist pieces by Gustav Holst - showing him to be as much a master of the keyboard as his 'Planets' suite is of the orchestra. John Ireland (Britten's teacher) is represented by his haunting Ballade of London Nights, and we have a significant premiere recording of Ireland's most famous song - Sea Fever - arranged for solo piano by Roderick Williams, best-known as one of the finest of all living British singers, now appearing on disc in a new light. Both the world premiere Goodwood-by-the-Sea and the piano arrangement of Sea Fever were written by Roderick Williams especially for Maria Marchant and dedicated to her. Ronald Stevenson's 'Peter Grimes Fantasy' takes us back to Benjamin Britten - a wonderful homage from one major British composer to another.

Colonel Lowell E. Graham and the United States Air Force Band and the United States Air Force Singing Sergeants present this cheery album of old and new Holiday classics. Originally released in 2000, this album has stood the test of time and will be just as enjoyable this holiday season as it was nearly two decades ago. Traditional songs include sing-a-long favorites Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Up On The Housetop, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, and others, while newer pieces include Pat Ballard’s Mister Santa and Barry Manilow’s Because It’s Christmas. What better way to say "Season's Greetings" than with this special collection of music from The United States Air Force Band that appeals to the youthful, more playful side of our human experience?