The Italian organist Massimiliano Sanca proposes in this CD (Vol.2 of a project of five cds of Bach complete Organ works) the famos Triosonatas. 1733). In 1727 Johann Sebastian Bach started drafting a manuscript of organ music which included the Leipzig Chorales and the Canonical Variations BWV 769, as well as the six trio sonatas for organ (BWV 525/530). "Trio sonatas" in this case refers to the fact that the two manuals and the pedal are handled independently, though closely related to each other, in "a musical discourse, as if they were three different instruments dialoguing between each other through notes and figures" (N. Harnoncourt). We ought not to forget that in Bach's time, "to play" in the German language was not expressed through the verb spielen, as it is today, but through vortragen, whose translation means "to deliver a speech" through the organ, violin, and so on. Bach did not name the whole work, but he titled each sonata instead, such as "Sonata a 2 Clav. And Pedal by J. S. Bach". According to his biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, the trio sonatas might have been composed between 1727 and 1732, in order to introduce Bach's oldest son Wilhelm Friedemann (who was, from Johann Sebastian point of view, the most gifted of his sons) to the organ practice. As a result, my own interpretation is aimed at highlighting every technical, discoursive and sound detail that Bach teaches us through the use of rhetorical musical figures. The choice of registers in the recording and interpretation performed here is meant to "paint through sounds" the "colour" and feeling into the movement of each sonata, also expressed through "affections" in the different tonalities in a very crystal clear way. Massimiliano Sanca plays on the organ made by Ilic Colzani (2007) for the Sanctuary of Vallio Terme (BS). It is made with mechanical transmission, is strongly inspired by the production of the famous organ builder Gottfried Silbermann, who worked in Germany in the first half of the 18th century in close contact with Johann Sebastian Bach. But this is not a copy, but a totally original project that combines the particular sounds of the pipes made according to the construction specifications and the measures adopted by Silbermann.

The new CD Time is breathing by the Sbaffi Campi Duo is released on Stradivarius, with Leonardo Sbaffi on saxophones and Cristina Campi on piano. A singular musical journey between present and past that develops, with a free and passionate approach, a listening journey characterized by contamination, in the wake of musical solutions that broaden horizons and outline stories, images and emotions, in an eclectic meeting between the classical and contemporary repertoire. The album opens with two medleys, the result of elaborations by the Duo: Discontinuous Vibrations and Cellular Armonies, with songs by G. I. Gurdjieff, Claudio Monteverdi, G. F. Handel, Arcangelo Corelli, J. S. Bach. "The CD - declares the Duo - is nothing other than our reading of what we live, of what happens and of what happens to us. The work is conceived as a fractal, the individual pieces are entities having their own structure which then go on to constitute another, larger but identical one. This is the purpose of the two medleys, where centuries-old songs intertwine and overlap to form a single work. "Vibrazioni Discontinuous and Armonie Cellulari are followed by Paul Hindemith's Sonata and the first ever recording of Last Cloud by Alberto Napolitano, a piece which, states the composer, "finds it's expressive modernity in memory". To complete the programming of the CD, the Debussy's Rhapsody, an integral part of the work which can be downloaded by connecting to the website stradivarius. It. The booklet of the album is enriched by images, texts and poems in an enthralling meeting of the arts.

SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce the new solo piano album War Poems by phenomenal Ukrainian pianist Maria Narodytska. With this, her debut album on SOMM Recordings, she makes a bold and impassioned, yet inclusive artistic statement, using solo piano works of various historical periods, written in the midst of conflict (our own included), to ask listeners to reflect on the ravages of war and safeguard the flickering flame of hope in peace. As the vastly talented composer of a work on this recital, Narodytska writes as a Ukrainian, but performs her programme as a member of the artistic community and a world citizen. Her recital unites her own composition and that of another contemporary Ukrainian composer, Artem Liakhovych, with the war-time work of past masters: Poland's Szymanowski, who was born in the centre of modern-day Ukraine and sheltered there as he wrote his Masques near the end of World War I; his compatriot Chopin, who wrote his Opus 40 Polonaises from a new home in Paris after the Revolutions of 1830; and Shostakovich, whose Second Piano Sonata he began during a family evacuation amid the Siege of his native Leningrad (St Petersburg) in World War II. Maria Narodytska plays six of Artem Liakhovych's 24 Postludes for solo piano, his "War Notebook", composed in the wake of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In Liakhovych's words: "This cycle is my reaction to the war in Ukraine, written during the evacuation in Uman. It covers all tonalities, but in a contrary motion [to the circle-of-fifths key sequence in Chopin's 24 Preludes, for example]. This is due to the importance of the postlude as an epilogue, an afterword, encoding a certain ending of time, even a reversal of it." Of Narodytska's own composition, After, she says: "I wrote this piece shortly before the recording, and for me it is a direct reflection of the war in Ukraine. While writing it, I was imagining what happens after one gets a call that no one would want to get or reads the news that no one would like to read. It's the kind of 'after' as in: 'life got divided into before and after'." A prize winner of the Takamatsu, Santa Cecilia and WorldVision International Music Competitions, Maria Narodytska has also achieved wins in many more major competitions while continuing to give concerts worldwide and serving as a much sought-after teacher and jury member.

Pianist Malcolm Martineau is the brilliant initiator of this new one-of-a-kind series on Linn. The Brahms Songbook has set the unprecedented goal to record Brahms's lieder by complete opus number. In this second instalment, Malcolm is joined by star mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly and bass-baritone Hanno Muller-Brachmann in five sets that were composed and published over a period of thirty years: Op. 72, Op. 105, Op. 43, Op. 48 and Op. 57. In a time when the middle-class was growing, song-writing was both lucrative and pleasurable, offering a myriad of ways to explore perennially popular topics like unrequited love. Yet, in the lieder recorded here Brahms immerses us in a heightened emotional world, distant from the drawing rooms and concert halls of the bourgeoisie.

Mozart's flute concertos are of course a Holy Grail for flutist Francois Lazarevitch, one that he has decided to tackle together with his ensemble Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien in connection with their work on sources of interpretation. He has recorded the two concertos for flute and orchestra on a one-keyed flute, a copy of an instrument made in Mozart's time, and the concerto in C for flute and harp on an eight-keyed flute - a flute with a C foot - with Sandrine Chatron playing a period harp by Francois-Joseph Naderman. As Mozart left no original cadenzas for the flute concertos, Francois Lazarevitch has here created his own, drawing inspiration from the cadenzas Mozart composed for his piano concertos. The Menuets and Gavottes in the final movements are particularly highlighted by the ensemble's expertise in music for dancing: "after a first movement that is a little solemn and a second that is more lyrical, the final movements are often a moment for release in dance," concludes Lazarevitch.

Mozart was 22 when he travelled to Paris in 1778, accompanied by his mother. Although he did not achieve the success he had hoped for, his visit to Paris was a major turning point in his personal life and artistic development. Marked by the disillusionment that led him to despise the Parisian public and by the tragedy of losing his mother, his sonatas for pianoforte are tinged with an intense gravity, mirroring the inner turmoil experienced by the young prodigy. At the same time, the castrato Albanese charmed the capital with his Romances, which were popular with the public and from which Mozart drew some of his inspiration. Arnaud de Pasquale, at the keyboard of a superb replica of a 1749 Silbermann pianoforte, takes us back to the Paris of the 1770s, where musical practice was nothing but effervescent, and invites us, with grace and sensitivity, into the tormented intimacy of the genius.

After a first Brahms recital that made a great impression (Alpha 851) and Mozart concertos (Alpha 1039) praised by the press for their naturalness (Gramophone) and fluidity (Le Monde), Jonathan Fournel, winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition at the age of 27 and now an important figure on the international stage, has decided to record a programme that he has already performed extensively in concert: "I like Chopin's 3rd Sonata because the melodic lines don't need any embellishments, they're already beautiful - in the same way that the Mona Lisa doesn't need any make-up. The same is true for Szymanowski's more virtuoso pieces. Szymanowski is a bit like a Scriabin who developed at full speed and who at times approached the Viennese style. I like that because there's research to be done inside, but it's not virtuosity à la Rachmaninov. What I like about these composers is that every element counts and expresses something."

His ninth solo album on Signum Records, Alessio Bax combines exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique and is without a doubt "among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public" (Gramophone). Here he presents an album of works for dancing, including tangos and waltzes spanning three centuries. Featuring composers such as J S Bach, Manuel de Falla and Franz Liszt a variety of cultures are showcased in this album for solo piano, and features contributions to an arrangement by Bax himself.

The Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin continues it's PENTATONE Mozart series with the composer's 29th and 33rd symphonies. These works are coupled with his ravishingly beautiful Clarinet Concerto, performed by Ernst Schlader in the original edition for basset clarinet. Schlader, a specialist in historical instruments, has written an essay on the basset clarinet for the album booklet that includes a rare historical image showing the original shape of the instrument used in the years after the concerto's premiere. The first release of this series was longlisted for the Preis der deutschen Schalllplattenkritik. The Akademie fur Alte Musik is generally seen as one of the best period-instruments ensembles of today, and has a substantial Pentatone discography, including CANTATA with Bejun Mehta (2018), Handel's Concerti grossi Op. 3 and 6 (released in 2019 and 2020), Telemann's Miriways (2020), Handel's Messiah (2020), Haydn's L'isola disabitata (2021), La Passione with Christina Landshamer (2022), a recording of Mozart's Paris and Haffner symphonies and Oboe Concerto with Xenia Loffler (2023), and Telemann's Ino (2024).

The second in their award winning series, the Calidore Quartet return with a three disc album of the Middle Quartets. Their Beethoven performances have been described as 'shockingly deep' by LA Times. The first album of Late Quartets won the Chamber Music Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024. Their interpretation is informed by their diverse set of mentors which include Alban Berg, Emerson, Guarneri and yet still uniquely representing the sentiments, aesthetics and research of their generation. Their interpretations of Beethoven are already critically acclaimed with performances at the Lincoln Centre planned as part of their residency.

With this new b•records release, Victor Julien-laferriere and the Orchestre Consuelo lay the foundation for a titanic edifice: the complete nine symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven. Supported by the Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, which lends the exceptional acoustics of it's abbey church, this four-year project marks a decisive step for the young orchestra of variable geometry. Composed mainly of chamber musicians, the ensemble forges a meticulous and passionate collective identity in this first opus dedicated to Symphonies no. 1, no. 2 and no. 4, which already bear witness to the search for comprehensibility and universality of language characteristic of Beethoven's symphonic corpus.

Nathan Granner presents tenor arias by Paer, Mozart, Gluck, Salieri and Bologne, showcasing the rise of the tenor in the late eighteenth century, as well as the Enlightened spirit of the age. The Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, under the baton of Clelia Caffiero, partners with Granner to navigate a vast emotional landscape of classical period arias producing a timeless and compelling musical experience. Nathan Granner enjoys a unique and diverse performing career, allowing him to leverage his golden age timbre in many projects and productions. He returns to PENTATONE after having sung the title role in a highlights recording of Gordon Getty's opera Goodbye, Mr. Chips (2022), of which a complete recording with Granner in the same role will appear on the label in 2025. The Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille has appeared on PENTATONE multiple times, on albums ranging from Martinu Double Concertos with the Kodama and Nemtanu sisters to re-citals by Lisa Delan and Kevin Short (all in 2018). Clelia Caffiero makes her PENTATONE debut.

Now focusing on original compositions (along with some Indian chants and a piece by Claude Debussy), this album also distinguishes itself from the previous two albums by presenting a new sonic landscape.  Blending the rich timbres and textures of both the acoustic and electric sonic worlds of the musicians, we were looking to get a strong, direct, full sound that still retains enough detail and acoustic warmth.

Around Gershwin is star accordionist Richard Galliano's tribute to George Gershwin, in-terweaving his music with works by early twentieth-century composers such as Debus-sy, Rachmaninoff, Satie, Ravel and Faure, as well as new compositions of his own. Seen through the lense of Galliano's masterful musicianship, these pieces create the sensa-tion of a sonic odyssey.

Roll up, roll up! All aboard the 19th century Zri celebration cruise from Vienna to Odessa! Our legendary house band are as stylishly up to the moment as ever, reimagining the latest hits by Herren Rossini, Strauss, Schubert and even Dr Brahms with an intoxicating Romani twist!

Guided by his idol George Balanchine, Hans Van Manen has striven all his life to create meaning in his choreography. Alongside conversations with colleagues and collaborators, in the documentary Moving to Music, van Manen talks about his life and work, and from where his inspiration came in ballets that are charged with drama and eroticism. Also included are three complete works from Dutch National Ballet - the early Metaforen; Adagio Hammerklavier, which presents the slow movement of Beethoven's Op. 106 sonata performed live on stage with three couples in various configurations; and Frank Bridge Variations, a late masterpiece that plays with balance and counterpoint to music by Benjamin Britten. Total playing time: 127 minutes (Documentary: 52 minutes · Ballets: 75 minutes). Language: English · Subtitles: English, German, Japanese, Korean. NTSC 16:9 · PCM Stereo · DVD 9 · Region: 0 (Worldwide). Photos: Front cover © Erwin Olaf; Back cover Courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam © Erwin Olaf. Documentary © 2022 RM Creative · Ballets © 2017 La Belle Télé - Festival Montpellier Danse - Mezzo. © 2024 Naxos Rights (Europe) Ltd · Made in Germany.

Karl Bohm and the Staatskapelle of Dresden Historical Recordings 1937, 1939, 1942 "I headed the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden for nine years - the most wonderful and meaningful time of my life", wrote Karl Bohm in 1973 for the 425th anniversary of the orchestra. He was forty years of age in 1934, when he moved up the Elbe from Hamburg to assume direction of the Dresden State Orchestra and Opera. There, his sensitive yet dramatic style of conducting, his vigour and intellectual resilience, his feel for classical form and unerring sense of tempo (not to mention his strict discipline and utterly infallible hearing) very soon won the respect and trust of the musicians and singers in his charge; they did after all represent one of the best orchestras and most capable opera ensembles in Europe. Every season, Bohm conducted nearly all the Staatskapelle concerts and about 70 opera performances, setting new standards above all in the Mozart, Wagner and Strauss repertoire (including the world premieres of Die Schweigsame Frau and Daphne, the latter work being dedicated to him). In this extraordinarily extensive activity, he set his stamp on the ensemble, whose guest performances confirmed it's international ranking. Even in his first year in Dresden, he made recordings in the Semperoper, which always had to be especially prepared for the purpose. They included numerous individual symphonic works and items from opera, as well as lavish projects that were technically difficult to record at the time.

Schubert Vol. 3 Looking ahead to 2028 and the 200th anniversary of the composer's death, the Alinde Quartet will annually release a disc of Schubert string quartets for the next eight years, alongside a specially commissioned work. Finding the ideal sound world for Schubert's quartets is by no means easy, yet the Alinde strikes a near-ideal balance between internal clarity and textural warmth, shone through by sparkling intonation.

Polyphonic Dreams, Busoni II Victor Nicoara, piano After moving to Berlin in 1894 Busonis reputation as a pianistic titan was cemented: his encyclopaedic piano recitals, caused a stir with audiences and critics alike. His compositions were also starting to garner some notice as well as bemusement - Busoni, not neatly subscribing to any of the major musical camps from the turn of the century, was as difficult to categorise then as he is now. Astonishingly well read and cosmopolitan, Busoni t

With one exception, this CD box contains my complete piano works from 2010 to 2020, which are being released on CD for the first time. Operas 76, 86 and 116 are dedicated to Ana-Marija Markovina, who also premiered them. (Stefan Heucke) This CD-Box is a great stroke of luck. Stefan Heucke's work is an impressive testimony to the musical interweaving of genres and themes, of new and historical forms and techniques of expression, of music and literature. The fact that Heucke's complete piano works from 2010 to 2020 are being released on CD for the first time with this CD box set makes one literally 'sit up and take notice'. The compositions are brilliantly performed by pianist Ana-Marija Markovina. Both Stefan Heucke and Ana-Marija Markovina have known one another for a long time; their collaboration is a stroke of luck for the music scene in this country and beyond.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH THE FIRST CANTATA YEAR 2 CDs / Vol. 4 BWV 138, 95, 48, 162.2, 109, 89, 163 GAECHINGER CANTOREY // HANS-CHRISTOPH RADEMANN The ensemble of the Bachakademie, the Gaechinger Cantorey, plays under the direction of Hans-Christ

The Open Chamber Orchestra of Paris perform the concertos in chamber form, with Maestro Yair Benaim - who conducts the earlier concertos from the podium in the traditional manner - taking the first violin part, achieving a still closer assimilation with pianist Dana Ciocarlie, throwing into greater relief the spirited lucidity of her playing and demonstrating the versatility of these musicians, both individually and as an ensemble. The sound of the concertos when performed this way is at once slenderer and lither. What one may feel is lost when the works are divested of their mellifluous woodwind colours is more than compensated for by the greater clarity of the ingenious interplay of lines and voices in Mozart's conception

As much as the now popular sentence naming Shostakovich "the Beethoven of the 20th Century" is debatable, nobody can deny an amount of contact points between the two composers: above all, the favorite musical mediums and the engagement in historical and political coeval affairs. However, we think that nothing like their Late String Quartets can offer material for a comparative listening and analysis. In both cases we can easily detect what Edward Said defined and discussed as the "Late Style". And in both cases we are in front of a complex and vibrant dialectic between a process of abstraction and a moral imperative to stick to the "hic et nunc". Such an intellectual and existential confrontation is fruitfully without solution and offers a never-ending space to insights and interpretations. Here we propose Alma Quartet's outlook first instalment.

On the one hand, the despair of humanity facing the irrevocable fading of the seasons, on the other, the sublime eternity of nature's renewal... These are the two worlds developed by Thierry Malandain in Les Saisons, a ballet interweaving The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi and The Four Seasons of the Year by Giovanni Antonio Guido. The Orchestre de l'Opera Royal de Versailles, under the direction of Stefan Plewniak, delivers a nuanced interpretation of these well-known arias, freshly accompanying the dancers of Malandain Ballet Biarritz.

The biographies and the music of Debussy, Ravel, and de Falla contain multiple hidden reflections, many elements that mirror each other. These reflections are so clear-cut that it becomes difficult in many cases to make out the original image. Music inspired by Iberia and the piano as an instrument were certainly common ground, on which the three composers engaged in a lively artistic exchange. The Romantic piano repertoire has appropriated music of the most diverse origins. Considering the particular instrument that originally inspired it, we could almost call the result regeneration rather than mere transcription, as if the music were reborn in it's pure form. The works included on this CD showcase guitar, harp and piano in just such a complementary relationship. Indeed, Maurice Ravel personally noted in his score of Miroirs for the pianist Vlado Perlemuter, that he should imitate the guitar or the harp in certain passages. In his article La guitara, Manuel de Falla in his turn writes of how marvellously Debussy depicts the artistic qualities of the instrument, without ever having used the guitar at all in his works. Having grown up with the Romantic tradition, many pianists of the time had difficulties doing justice to the new musical imagery of Symbolism. Chronicles from the time reveal a certain impatience in composers, who required from interpreters a new technique and a different use of the sustaining pedal. Unlike the piano, both guitar and harp emit softer, less defined contours, in keeping with the melancholic and equivocal timbres of Debussy and Ravel. Ever since his student days, Maurizio Grandinetti's main interest has been broadening the musical horizons of his instrument. He is currently soloist, chamber musician and improviser. His career so far has taken him to the most important festivals and concert halls in numerous European countries, Brazil, the USA and China. For 14 years Consuelo Giulianelli was professor for harp at the Stella Matutina Private Music Academy in Feldkirch, Austria. Alongside studies with Mirella Vita and Ursula Holliger, that she completed with distinction, she attended courses by Marielle Nordmann and Pierre Jamet, who premiered the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp by Claude Debussy.

Both works are a legacy. Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata is the only document that such an instrument existed, no longer exists today and has been replaced by a viola or cello. Shostakovich's Viola Sonata is his last work; he died a few days later. A legacy of his thoughts and musical explorations, one of his most famous works. Andreas Willwohl travels as a soloist with his viola, but is also a member of the highly acclaimed Mandelring Quartet. Daniel Heide is certainly very famous as a partner to various singers, but also as a chamber musician.

This tenth volume in the 'Next Generation Mozart Soloists' series presents works that are less frequently recorded, including a concerto for two pianos (in it's original orchestration), separate movements for violin and orchestra (an Adagio and two Rondos) and, following in the footsteps of the Baroque concerto grosso, the Symphonie concertante for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and orchestra. It's an opportunity to discover a superb array of soloists from very different backgrounds: the Sakamoto piano duo, 2021 winners of the prestigious ARD competition in Munich; the Syrian violinist Bilal Alnemr, a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra; the Frenchmen Nicolas Ramez, also an ARD winner, and Gabriel Pidoux, an existing Alpha recording artist (ALPHA789); Theo Plath, principal bassoon with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra; and Blaž Sparovec, principal clarinet with the Gurzenich Orchestra in Cologne.

Natalia van der Mersch: The idea of recording all three Brahms sonatas came to us quite spontaneously. Olivier Roberti and I had played them together and thought: Why not? There was no lengthy deliberation, just the will to do it. And so it quickly took shape and we organised ourselves quickly. We had to organise the recording equipment, hire a piano and set the date, all of which required a certain amount of planning. In the end, the recordings took place at Conjoux Castle in Belgium - just like my previous recording with Natalia Kovalzon, with whom I form the duo Natalia. Olivier Roberti: "Despite all my experience, I see playing Brahms as a real challenge. Even in his chamber music works he is quite symphonic and when playing the piano you have to be able to imagine orchestral colours that are not typical for the piano or violin. It is particularly challenging here to shape long phrases powerfully, perhaps in a similar way to what Furtwangler did in his symphonies. For me, the pianist and teacher Leon Fleischer was a formative artistic inspiration - especially in this respect. He was one of the outstanding pianists of his time and his interpretations of Brahms' works had a strong influence on me. His approach of offering clear lines and controlled tempi helped me a lot to find a certain direction in my own playing."