David First's "Revolutions" is a large scale, long duration exploration of the drone. Perhaps First explains it best: "my best intention, and greatest hope, is to simply take you, the listener, to a place where you experience something beyond the daily, infinite cycles. Or better yet, tune you into them - all the way to the far-flung galaxies and back into your infinite bodily atoms and molecules. If you feel you can, trust us for an hour or so. Open yourself up and let us all in. Maybe you'll find yourself on a journey of your own creation-your own story of discovery." And, as Sarah Hennies puts it in the liner notes: "There is technical rigor here, the result of a lifetime honing a highly personal compositional approach, but there is also levity and freedom, and the ability to lose oneself entirely in the work. "Revolutions" with it's enveloping drones and surprising twists and turns of form gives the sense that one is more connected with where we come from but also hints at the wild surprises in the vast unknown. Liner notes by Sarah Hennies and David First.

Rossini's Adina is a one-act farsa sentimentale or semiseria set in a seraglio in Baghdad where we find the Caliph determined to marry Adina who is also loved by Selimo. To this standard story Rossini brought an unexpected psychological depth, augmented by coloratura arias and male choruses of richness and daring. However, for unknown reasons he omitted a vital Terzetto, which has made the work problematic to fully realise in performance. This recording employs the Terzetto from Giovanni Pacini's opera La schiava in Bagdad, a solution first proposed in 1861, much to the benefit of the opera's pacing.

Richard Strauss described his two-act opera 'Intermezzo' as a 'bourgeois comedy with symphonic interludes'. The soprano role of Christine with her shimmering cantilenas represents Strauss's wife Pauline, while the successful Court Conductor Robert Storch is Richard Strauss's alter ego in a reality drama that was avant-garde for it's time. This acclaimed production from director Tobias Kratzer brings 'Intermezzo' into the present day, highlighting Strauss's own clever switches between reality and fiction with stunning visual effects and a superbly characterful cast.

The musical culture that Josephine de Beauharnais (1763-1814), Empress of the French and Napoleon Bonaparte's wife, developed with her family and at court kept pace with fashion and even shaped the French musical taste of the period. Josephine organised weekly concerts at the Chateau de Malmaison, her preferred residence, that featured many of the most famous musicians in Paris and Europe. Informal musical soirees were also held on an almost daily basis. This recording presents excerpts from operas of the period transcribed for chamber performance, in which the most passionate emotions are expressed alongside nostalgic romances and alternate with instrumental works to recreate the spontaneity of a musical evening in Josephine's salon. This original project offers music lovers an immersion in a musical universe that is largely unknown to audiences today.

For over four decades, Danish guitarist and composer Pierre Dorge has pushed the boundaries of jazz with a highly personal voice-combining Nordic lyricism with global rhythms, and crafting what critics call "pan-cultural jazz." On Songs for Mbizo, Dorge returns in a stripped-down quartet setting that showcases his singular tone and spiritual depth, this time in tribute to South African bassist Johnny "Mbizo" Dyani, whose legacy courses through Dorge's music like a vibrant thread. Following celebrated small-group releases such as Ballad Round the Left Corner and Blui, this new live recording features Kirk Knuffke, Thommy Andersson, and Martin Andersen (drums)-a dynamic international lineup that breathes fresh intensity into Dyani's compositions.

In the second instalment of the Consone Quartet's cycle, the foursome continues it's exploration of Felix Mendelssohn's string quartets, simultaneously delving into the work of his sister Fanny, with her only work in the genre. Despite it's turbulent character, Felix's String Quartet in E minor, Op. 44 No. 2, was written three months after the composer's marriage, during a period of stability and creativity. In contrast, the String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80, was composed while he was recovering from shock, following Fanny's premature death. It is a work of striking bitterness and agitation, an unambiguous reflection of his distraught mental state. Fanny's String Quartet in E flat major is an attractive and well-crafted work, which, due to her family discouraging her pursuit of a career in composition, remained unpublished until 1988. It is given a vibrant performance here by the Consone Quartet, the first period instrument quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists.

Thibault Noally and his ensemble here reaffirm their love for and expertise in Alessandro Scarlatti's music as they celebrate his anniversary year with his famous and yet mysterious Stabat mater, a work that displays Scarlatti's more intimate side. In Noally's own words, "this is an extreme example of his stylistic eclecticism. The piece juxtaposes duets in passionate counterpoint with arias in the Neapolitan style, echoes of what he heard around him, as if they formed part of a mosaic. There is no synthesis between the different musical languages; what is most mysterious is that the motets are the musical illustration of a text or an emotion, whilst the Stabat mater requires a completely different approach. The music is no longer directly related to the text. It's as if it had become a world in itself." Noally also presents two Mottetti sacri and a Sonata a quattro, all in the da chiesa style. His collaborators here are soprano Emmanuelle de Negri, a long-time colleague, and Paul Figuier, a highly promising countertenor.

Dominique Bourg, philosophe de l'ecologie et de la politique, et Jean-Vincent Holeindre, politiste et specialiste de relations internationales, croisent leurs regards sur un phenomene majeur de notre epoque : le retour de la guerre en Europe, avec l'invasion de l'Ukraine par la Russie en fevrier 2022. en interrogeant les liens entre multilateralisme, conflits armes et crise climatique, ils revelent des dynamiques jusqu'ici trop rarement pensees ensemble. a travers une perspective historique, les auteurs devoilent les liens souvent ignores entre la guerre que l'humanite mene contre la nature et celle qu'elle se livre a elle-meme. Ils montrent que les conflits armes et les crises climatiques s'entrelacent et se renforcent mutuellement. Cette reflexion appelle un renouvellement profond des cadres de pensee strategiques et ecologiques, pour mieux comprendre et affronter les defis du monde actuel. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX et Patrick FReMEAUX Dominique Bourg, a philosopher of ecology and politics, and Jean-Vincent Holeindre, a political scientist and specialist in international relations, offer their perspectives on a major phenomenon of our time: the return of war to Europe, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. By exploring the connections between multilateralism, armed conflict, and the climate crisis, they reveal dynamics that have rarely been considered together. Through a historical lens, the authors uncover often-overlooked links between humanity's war on nature and the wars it wages against itself. They demonstrate how armed conflicts and climate crises are intertwined and mutually reinforcing. This reflection calls for a profound renewal of strategic and ecological frameworks, in order to better understand and confront today's global challenges. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX and Patrick FReMEAUX DIRECTION COLLECTION CLAUDE COLOMBINI ET PATRICK FReMEAUX

Jimmy Gourley (1926-2008) est un guitar hero americain qui a faconne l'histoire du jazz, notamment a Paris ou il s'installe en 1951. Cette anthologie evenement qui parait avec sa biographie officielle, reunit les titres les plus emblematiques de l'oeuvre du guitariste, don't certains jamais reedites. Que ce soit avec les champions americains ou francais dans l'intimite d'un duo pere-fils avec Sean Gourley, voici une plongee dans l'oeuvre enregistree de celui don't les cordes de jazz ont fait vibrer la capitale pendant plus d'un demi-siecle. Augustin BONDOUX et Patrick FReMEAUX Born in 1926, American musician Jimmy Gourley was an early "guitar hero" who shaped the history of jazz, particularly in France where he settled in 1951. This anthology, which appears together with his official biography, is a major event that brings together the guitarist's most emblematic recordings, including tracks that have never been released until now. Before he passed away aged 82, Gourley played not only with American stars but also in more intimate surroundings, such as his duo with son Sean Gourley. This set gives real insight into how this great guitarist's six strings had the French capital vibrating for half a century. Augustin BONDOUX / Patrick FReMEAUX CD1-1951-1954 : HENRI RENAUD : A NEW DATE - VENEZ DONC CHEZ MOI - PARIS JE T'AIME - BOBBY JASPAR : TOUT BLEU, TOUT BLEU - THE END OF A LOVE AFFAIR - LEE KONITZ : YOUNG LEE - LOST HENRI - CLIFFORD BROWN : ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE - GOOFIN' WITH ME - HENRI RENAUD/JIMMY GOURLEY : NOT REALLY THE BLUES - WHO CARES? - MY HEART BELONGS TO DADDY - IT'S DE-LOVELY - GIGI GRYCE/CLIFFORD BROWN : BABY - HENRI RENAUD/BOBBY JASPAR : CAPRI - SCHABOZZ - EXPANSION - ZOOT SIMS : CALL IT ANYTHING - ZOOT'S SUITE - THE THIRD HERDSMEN : EMBARKATION. CD2-1954-1961 : BOB BROOKMEYER : STEEPLE CHASE - ROY HAYNES : MINOR ENCAMP - RED ROSE - BUDDY BANKS : BAG'S GROOVE - YESTERDAYS - SANDY MOSSE/EDDIE BAKER : STRAIGHT LIFE - LET'S GO - CHUBBY JACKSON BIG BAND : FLYIN' THE COOP - LESTER YOUNG : THREE LITTLE WORDS - NEW D.B. BLUES - LOU BENNETT : AMEN - BROTHER DANIEL - WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES - (PARIS BLUES) LOUIS ARMSTRONG : BATTLE ROYAL - (PARIS BLUES) JIMMY GOURLEY : GUITAR AMOUR - JIMMY GOURLEY : FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE - THREE LITTLE WORDS. CD3-1972-2002 : JIMMY GOURLEY + RENe URTREGER : TAFIRA ALTA - JIMMY GOURLEY + EDDY LOUISS : FREEDOM JAZZ DANCE - JIMMY GOURLEY + TEXIER/HUMAIR/LUBAT : GRAFFITTI - COMON' OVAH - MISS MAGIC - JIMMY GOURLEY : REPETITION - JIMMY GOURLEY + STAN GETZ : EMBRACEABLE YOU - JIMMY GOURLEY : MONTAGNE MADNESS - SHAMEFUL ROGER - LADYBIRD - JACK DIeVAL : S.F.P. BLUES - JIMMY GOURLEY : OUR DELIGHT - JIMMY GOURLEY + ANDRe VILLeGER : MAYBE YOU'LL BE THERE - JIMMY & SEAN GOURLEY : BILOXY BLUES WALK - JIMMY GOURLEY : BY MYSELF. DIRECTION ARTISTIQUE : JEAN BUZELIN ET JEAN-PAUL RICARD

This album is a mastering of the concert performed by the Seikilos Quartet at the Fundacion Juan March on May 28, 2025. It features the world premiere recording of Quartet No. 10 (1945) and the Scherzo for String Quartet (1911) by Conrado del Campo (1878-1953), one of the most original and least known Spanish composers of the first half of the twentieth century. This recording is part of the Conrado Project. Launched in 2021, this ambitious initiative aims to present, for the first time, the complete body of his thirteen string quartets and to publish a comprehensive edition of the scores, most of which remain unpublished, along with the recordings released by the MarchVivo label. This initiative supports the recovery of a repertoire that has been unfairly consigned to oblivion.

Exciting music by Shostakovich and Prokofiev played by a violinist of the new generation In 2022, it was with Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto that Daniel Matejca, 17 years old at the time, triumphed at the competition Eurovision Young Musicians. Reviewers at journals including Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and Classica enthusiastically compared his Supraphon debut album of the complete sonatas for solo violin by Eugene Ysaye (2023) with recordings made by today's star violinists. It was clear that after that solo album, Matejca would soon return to the studio to record Shostakovich's First Concerto. The composer wrote it in 1947/48 for David Oistrakh. Shostakovich, however, had been labelled a "formalist", and is prominent use of Jewish musical motifs was another obstacle under the antisemitic Soviet regime, so the premiere of this exciting work was postponed until after Stalin's death. Sergei Prokofiev worked on his First Violin Concerto intermittently between 1914 and 1917. Full of contrasting passages, the work differs sharply from Shostakovich's dramatic concerto. Daniel Matejca is in his element in both concertos, playing with stirring energy and technical virtuosity, expressing a wide range of emotions, ranging from rawness to delicacy and captivating depth. The conductor Tomas Netopil is an experienced accompanist in the best sense of the word, shaping the orchestra's sound with a wide range of dynamic and colours, but above all keeping in perfect step with the soloist as he tells his story. The recording also features sound of extraordinary colour, presence, and spatial plasticity.

Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova's new release, Liberte, is a cultural and musical dialogue between France and America. The influence of jazz plays a central role in this tribute to French and American composers whose work transcends genres and borders. Performed together with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon under Pablo Gonzalez, the album's core pillars are Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Also featured are short solo pieces that echo it's central themes: three miniatures by Germaine Tailleferre, Time Peace, a miniature by Andrew Blickenderfer, and the jazzy�Valse�from�Partita No. 5�by Fedorova's compatriot Myroslav Skoryk. Two French chansons round out Liberte, an album where freedom, jazz, and the shared spirit of France and America meet in music.

Gabriela Lena Frank's Conquest Requiem brings to life the complexities of colonisation, identity and survival through the story of Malinche, a Nahua woman from the Gulf Coast of Mexico who was given to the Spaniards as a young slave. Using a fusion of Western liturgical traditions, indigenous Nahua poetry and Latin influences, this powerful work deals with the fundamental question of how to reconcile a legacy of historical violence that continues to shape modern issues. Antonio Estevez's wildly popular Cantata Criolla - considered one of the greatest choral pieces of the 20th century in Latin America - is the composer's most celebrated work.

David Amram's career as a versatile composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist has spanned more than 70 years. Recorded here in it's world premiere, Voyages for Solo Violin in three movements evokes ancient Egypt, Native American and African roots music and, in the words of the composer, "the tradition of the fiddler as a keeper of the flame." Ranging from prayer-like melodies to blues and polyrhythms, the Piano Sonata is one of the most jazz-influenced of any 20th-century work in this genre, while the Violin Sonata brings classical and jazz idioms together in music that inspired a collaboration with the writer Jack Kerouac.

Baroque giants La Serenissima return with VIVALDI 8 - VOLUME 2, following their previous instalment in February 2025 of Vivaldi 8 Volume 1. Recognised for 'whipping up a storm with Vivaldi', La Serenissima is 'one of Britain's best-loved chamber orchestras' (The Telegraph) known for their outstanding performances, championing a host of neglected Italian baroque composers. Uniquely, the group's entire repertoire is edited from source material by founder and violinist, Adrian Chandler OSI. Praise for Vivaldi recordings by La Serenissima: 5 stars "After being obsessed by the composer and his music world for more than 30 years, Chandler by now is Vivaldi incarnate" - The Times