In 1692, Charpentier wrote the Te Deum that would make him famous into the 20th century. Played for the military victory of Steenkerque, most probably at the church of Saint-Louis-des-Jésuites, this masterpiece, which glorified the armies of Louis XIV, is a powerful fresco whose prelude opens with the martial rhythms of the timpani and trumpets, symbolising the Grand Siècle of the arts, but also Louis XIV's conquests. Valentin Tournet adds pieces to the programme whose pomp is matched by their quality and expressiveness: the De Profundis has an extraordinary solemnity, while the Marche de Triomphe sounds the trumpets for the king considered the greatest in the world.

This collaboration started out with an idea of somehow combining the fields of classical contemporary music and contemporary jazz improvisation, creating a bridge between the musical worlds. The resulting album, All in Twilight, is driven by a deep admiration for the original music and its expressive potential. Toru Takemitsu´s guitar suite All in Twilight with its richness and wide musical spectrum, Erland von Koch’s Utanmyra-variationer based on a Swedish folk music tune, the explosive guitar piece Fuoco by French composer Roland Dyens and Thin Places, a new composition written for the duo by Stefan Klaverdal.

Much Ado, the solo debut album by Korean American violinist Danbi Um is as striking for the young musician’s choice of “old world” repertoire as her virtuoso interpretations and the sumptuous sound she draws from her 1683 “ex-Petschek” Nicolo Amati violin. Danbi conjures memories of a musical Golden Age, a sensibility instilled in her by a roster of internationally renowned tutors.

The title track, from Eric Korngold’s Shakespeare-inspired suite, sits alongside arrangements of works by fellow Austro-Germanic composers Fritz Kreisler and Richard Wagner. Hungarian Romani music infuses compositions by Johannes Brahms, Jeno Hubay and Erno Dohnányi, juxtaposed with music by Jewish composers Ernst Bloch, Joseph Achron and Leo Zeitlin.

A multiple award winner – Danbi has taken top prizes at the Yehudi Menuhin and Naumberg International Violin Competitions, and Astral Artists’ Auditions – she has been praised by The Strad as an “utterly dazzling” artist with a “marvelous show of superb technique.” A resident of New York City, Danbi performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and further afield with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Washington D.C.'s Phillips Collection, and the Rockport, Moab, Saratoga Performing Arts and Santa Fe Music Festivals.

REVIEWS:

“Technically assured, passionate, involved playing…there’s always a good feeling for the shape and direction of the melodic lines.”

-- BBC Music Magazine

In September 2020 Florian Berner travelled to Tuscany. Playing in the local church, and initially just for himself, he recorded the first three of Bach’s six suites for solo cello. By early 2023 he completed the cycle in Köthen, where Bach was Capellmeister from 1717-1722. The two separate experiences captured performances of unique intuition and power.

Virko Baley was born in Ukraine in 1938 and came to the USA as a refugee in 1949, eventually making his home in Las Vegas. He has long been fascinated by the poetry of Emily Dickinson, as can be heard in the two moving works recorded here – one an orchestral song-cycle setting her texts, the other a suite for violin and piano inspired by those settings. They display an acute ear for orchestral colour, a fondness for dramatic gesture and a strong sense of lyricism, occasionally inflected by distant echoes of Baley’s eastern European origins, the richness of the song-cycle placing him downstream from Mahler and Berg and the restraint of the Songs without Words occasionally evoking Arvo Pärt.

Swedish organist-composer, Mats Hylander, started composing his great work, "The Counties of Sweden", during the covid pandemic, as a kind of greeting to and comfort for the Swedish people when many was in lockdown. In this organ suite, each one of Sweden's 25 counties has been honored with its own piece. At the pipe organ of the Church of Lomma in the south of Sweden, Hylander performs his own melodious, tonal music. Easy on the ear, it’s inspired by Mendelssohn, Bach and Chopin, but also influenced by traditional tunes and folk music, in the twilight zone between sacred and earthly.

The CD "Voyages" by the young, internationally up-and-coming Eternum Quartet is a musical journey for saxophone quartet. It takes us from the great quartet of Alexander Glasunov to a Bach arrangement and two works written especially for the four young musicians. The GENUIN debut of the ensemble features two new works by composers Konstantia Gourzi and Helena Cánovas i Pares, which are ideally suited to the warm, chromatic sound of the Eternum Quartet: Gourzi's "Voyager 1" is a tribute to the space probe that has fired our imagination for the past 45 years. Cánovas' composition is a journey into the vast interior of our dreams and desires. Exciting chamber music in unusual interpretations!

Awarded a Diapason Découverte, André Lislevand’s debut album Forqueray Unchained (Arcana A486, 2021) celebrated one of moments of greatest splendor for the viola da gamba: that of the ancien régime in France. In this repertoire, the young musician proved to be "absolutely on top of his game and not afraid to explore the extremes of his instrument’s aesthetic world, though without ever losing touch with le bon goût" (Early Music Review). The same youthful freshness and energy can be found in his second album, though here he explores the German repertoire of the central decades of the 18th century, a period that witnessed the gradual decline of the instrument, but was still capable of expressing unexpected treasures and developing an idiom that often seems to anticipate the years to come.

In the program are sonatas for gamba and basso continuo (C.P.E. Bach’s WQ 136 and C.F. Abel’s B93 in A minor), Telemann's Fantasia XI for solo viol, two pieces by Abel from the Drexel Manuscript, and finally, the lesser-known Suite BWV 1025 by J.S. Bach, presented here in a version for viola da gamba and concertante lute. Also featured and playing a vital role in this project are the Duncumb brothers, two extraordinary chamber musicians: Emil on the fortepiano and Jadran, who played on the debut album, on the lute.

Copenhagen-based early music ensemble Camerata Øresund takes a musical voyage throughout baroque Europe on their debut recording Pas de bourrée. Suites of dances by Campra, Roman and Purcell alternate with concertos by Bach and Vivaldi and a programme work by Telemann. A theme of travel and journeying unites these pieces. Camerata Øresund cannot keep their feet still even in the most virtuoso of concertos. They dance an energetic "pas de bourrée" to the Allegro of Bach's Harpsichord Concerto, whilst the slow movement from Vivaldi's L’estro armonico is transformed into a hypnotic Sarabande. Pas de bourrée is a colourful kaleidoscope of moods, emotions, characters and stories. Camerata Øresund remains true to their promise that everything they touch will turn into a dance.

Wanderlust is a voyage around the world of folk and the traditions that emerged from each countries’ unique blend of traditional music. Ranging from the rolling hills of Romania to the jagged cliffs of Newfoundland, flutist Lara Deutsch and guitarist Adam Cicchillitti have compiled a survey of folk music naturally suited to the flute and guitar. Drawing on the roots of folk traditions from around the world, the duo gracefully navigates a plethora of styles through their own unique identity as predominantly classical players.

The No. 1 choice for Bach aficionados – The master of subtle and elegant piano playing on the powerful-sounding "Manfred Bürki", a Steinway concert grand from 1901.

Stanisław Skrowaczewski is one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century. To mark the 100th anniversary of this exceptional musician, MDG, in cooperation with DENON, is releasing a recording of the "Romeo and Juliet" ballet suites, which Skrowaczewski recorded with the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall. Genius – Born in Lwów, Poland, (now Lviv, Ukraine), Skrowaczewski's musical talent was recognised and encouraged early. At the age of just 13, he performed Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. Due to an injury he received during WW2, he had to give up his career as a pianist and instead had great success as a composer and conductor. Internationally sought-after, Skrowaczewski conducted in Europe, East Asia and the USA; he had long-lasting influence on the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Drama – "Romeo and Juliet" is one of Prokofiev's most popular works. Yet the ballet was initially regarded by the Bolshoi Theatre as "undanceable". A few years later, it was premiered in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), by which time Prokofiev, aware of its dramatic effect, had already arranged the music into three very effective concert suites. History – In the Tsarist Empire, Prokofiev was considered the enfant terrible of Russian music. And even in the Soviet Union, to which he had later returned after emigrating, his music struggled. His sometimes brusque tonal language with its ferocious dynamics disturbed many a cultural bureaucrat. He died on the same day as Stalin, which was why there were neither flowers nor musicians at his funeral – instead, a recording of "Romeo and Juliet" was played.

A native of Genoa, Luigi Cortese merged his experiences from studies in Paris and tuition from Alfredo Casella in Italy to create a personal idiom of lively intelligence and refined taste, largely avoiding the temptations of passing musical fashions. Salmo VIII is one of Cortese’s most important and profound works, while Cinque Pezzi is his wonderfully expressive final piano opus. This programme also contains two of the very few documents of his own piano playing in historical recordings of the Suite Française, probably Cortese’s finest achievement in the piano field, and the poetic Sonata for cello and piano.

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759) was a baroque cosmopolitan. He was born in the small German town of Halle an der Saale, where his father was a barber and field surgeon. The young Georg Friedrich received his first musical education from the city’s most influential church musician, Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, who introduced him to Protestant church music. During a long tour of Italy in the early 18th century, he was introduced to Corelli’s concerti grossi as Carissimi’s cantatas and oratorios. After returning to Germany, Händel took a position at the court in Hanover. In 1714, when the Elector of Hanover became King George I of England and Ireland, Händel followed as his court conductor. It was in England where he wrote most of his compositions, including a large number of operas and the famous oratorios. By the time he died in 1759, he was widely renowned and was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside monarchs and some of the most prominent figures of British history. Since his death, the tradition of annual Händel festivals was established. Handel’s concerto grosso opus 6, 7 in B major is a relatively late work. It was written together with eleven other concerts between 1739-40 in London. At the same time, he began composing his large oratorios belonging to the last group of his works. Some of these concerts were played as entertainment during the breaks when the significant oratorios were given. This orchestral concerto in B major is written as a sonata da Chiesa with the movement sequence slow - fast - slow - fast. Still, it is extended with a boisterous dancing movement called bagpipe or sackpipe as the last. The second movement, Allegro, is a fugue, which has an easy to follow theme thanks to its characteristic beginning. It consists of a repeated note that is rhythmized with two half notes, four quarter notes and eight eighths; a thematic treatment we hear again in Dixit Dominus’ last movement. The third movement, Largo e piano, is a peaceful resting place. Staffan Storm holds high the musical tradition from the early 20th century. His music is distinguished by extraordinary variety, sonic beauty, and solid craftsmanship. Qualities of Darkness is a commissioned work by Ensemble Syd. The work is based on text quotes from four of Händel’s large oratorios, all of which, in one way or another, are about Händel’s relationship to the dark. The combination of mixed choir and string orchestra offers an enormous sound scale and allows for an enhanced dramatic rendition of the lyrics. The eerie sound effects provided by the violins, the colourful contrasts between high and low registers, and the energy flow that emanates from the orchestral part are in focus. In the dramatic third movement, darkness is created through solid orchestral accents. Towards the end of the fourth movement, which speaks of a total solar eclipse, separate individuals appear to complain. We also encounter darkness and anger in Georg Friedrich Händel’s dramatic cantata Dixit Dominus for soloists, choir and orchestra. It was written in 1707 in Rome, probably by order of Cardinal Carlo Colonna, who also made sure that the young German came into contact with the great treasure of Italian church music in this stronghold of Catholicism. The text model is David’s 110th Psalter, which today is no longer included in the Church’s reading series due to its depictions of violence. But for the baroque taste, it suited perfectly. Händel portrays both the power of God and the splendour of the Church, but also emotional scenes. An extreme concentration of dissonance is encountered in the penultimate episode. The movement depicts the warrior who drinks from the brook after the battle. It all ends with majestic praise to God’s glory. Marion Lamberth

It was Diaghilev who persuaded Falla of the opportunity involved in making a great ballet from the material of "El Corregidor y la Molinera", not being satisfied with that farce which, moreover, delighted the public of his time. However, it should be emphasised, that the pantomime involved a formula particularly favoured by Falla as it was based on a silent performance, both in terms of dialogue and incident. Today we can return to “El corregidor y la molinera” not as a mere attempt at “El sombrero de tres picos”, but, from our own perspective, as a more faithful testimony to Falla’s proverbial wish, still outside the spectacular dimension of Massine and Diaghilev. Falla, on his side later separated “Le Tricorne” from its scenic nature by transforming the score into two orchestral “suites”, which gave birth to “El sombrero de tres picos” as a symphonic creature, without transitions and with a much less relevant vocal contribution. These “suites” are in fact the most widely disseminated and best-known version of the work.