Winter - from First Frost to Carnival Festivity A sparkling musical panorama of winter - harking back to the legendary Great Frost of 1708/09. From the beginning of the season over Christmas to a festive carnival: songs, opera scenes, instrumental as well as traditional pieces from France, Germany, and Great Britain. Music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Michael Praetorius, William Byrd, among others.

With this "colourful" selection of pieces, we intend to give an impression of the diverse repertoire collected in the Turin Tablature. The motets and liturgical works were most likely intended for performance in church, whereas dances and madrigals were intended more for secular settings: at festivals, celebrations, and for domestic music-making. Toccatas and ricercars could be played in both ecclesiastical and secular settings. [In light of the wide variety of purposes of this repetoire, we utilized a wide variety of instruments.] Thus, in addition to the Marx-Gunzer organ, three other stringed keyboard instruments were used: a clavicytherium in southern German design from the 17th century, a virginal after Michael Praetorius (1619), and a harpsichord of a seventeenthcentury Italian design.

There are moments in music when time seems to pause, and with Arcangelo Corelli's music, I have experienced that enchanted stillness-where each note is not just heard but felt deeply. His music, elegant and radiant, is the gentle whisper of a bygone era, yet it breathes timeless warmth and light. Corelli's art is a delicate conversation between violin and continuo, a living breath of harmony and counterpoint that dances with noble grace. Each phrase unfolds like a tender story, where voices seek, answer, and embrace one another-like cherished friends sharing secrets across the ages. It was through my mentor, Ryo Terakado, and his luminous recording of the Violin Sonatas, Op. 5 that I first stepped into this radiant world. Since then, Corelli's melodies have been a constant companion-like a soft glow in the twilight, a source of inspiration and solace. Corelli's influence extends far beyond my own story. His style shaped the musical language of generations-admired openly by Francois Couperin, absorbed deeply into the work of Jean-Marie Leclair, and echoed, even centuries later, by virtuosi such as Pablo Sarasate and Niccolo Paganini. His music is both spiritual and earthly-a beacon of simplicity and profound beauty. I am deeply grateful to Ryo Terakado for guiding me to this wellspring of grace, to Kaori Uemura and Francois Guerrier for their artistry, and to our magical producer Guido Tichelman and the Byucksan Corporation for nurturing this project. -�Eun-Shik Kim

The new album of saxophonist Asya Fateyeva, with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, presents a brand-new version of the hit 'Nutcracker' by Tchaikovsky, arranged by composer Wolf Kerschek. The recording is complemented by Christmas music arranged for saxophone and the vocal ensemble Niniwe Vocal Art.

First Flight marks the debut album of saxophonist and composer George Kontomichalis. Rooted in jazz traditions like post-bop, hard bop, and modal jazz, it blends classic influences with modern improvisation and introspection. The album reflects the collective creativity of the ensemble, highlighting interplay, rhythm, and spontaneous exploration. With six original compositions and one standard, the record serves as a personal journey and an invitation for listeners to experience both energy and reflection

Dans cet ouvrage, l'islamologue Boumediene Benyahia nous presente la pensee de quatre figures majeures de l'histoire intellectuelle de l'islam : Avicenne, Al-Ghazali, Averroes et Ibn Arabi. Apres avoir retrace la genese de l'islam au VIIe siecle en Arabie et la formation des grandes ecoles de droit musulman aux VIIIe et IXe siecles, l'auteur met en lumiere l'influence de la philosophie grecque sur la pensee islamique et la maniere don't ces penseurs ont faconne un dialogue entre theologie, droit et metaphysique. � travers une analyse rigoureuse et accessible, il revisite les debats et controverses qui ont oppose ces figures intellectuelles et marque l'histoire de la pensee islamique. L'ouvrage souligne le r�le essentiel de ces penseurs dans la transmission et la circulation des idees entre l'Orient et l'Occident au Moyen �ge, temoignant de la richesse et de la complexite de cette tradition philosophique et spirituelle. Par cette approche historique et analytique, l'auteur offre aux lecteurs des cles pour mieux comprendre les dynamiques intellectuelles qui ont structure la pensee islamique et leur place dans l'histoire des idees. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX In this work, Islamologist Boumediene Benyahia presents the thinking of four major figures in the intellectual history of Islam: Avicenna, Al-Ghazali, Averroes and Ibn Arabi. After tracing the origins of Islam in 7th-century Arabia and the formation of the great schools of Muslim law in the 8th and 9th centuries, the author highlights the influence of Greek philosophy on Islamic thought and how these thinkers shaped a dialogue between theology, law and metaphysics. Through rigorous and accessible analysis, he revisits the debates and controversies that divided these intellectual figures and marked the history of Islamic thought. The book highlights the essential role of these thinkers in the transmission and circulation of ideas between East and West in the Middle Ages, testifying to the richness and complexity of this philosophical and spiritual tradition. Through this historical and analytical approach, the author offers readers keys to better understanding the intellectual dynamics that structured Islamic thought and their place in the history of ideas. Audiobook, in French. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX CD1 - LA GENeSE DE L'ISLAM : MOTS ET CONCEPTS DE L'ISLAM - L'ARABIE ET LA MECQUE AU VIIE SIeCLE - L'ENFANCE DE MUHAMMAD - L'HeGIRE ET LA PRISE DE LA MECQUE - LES QUATRE eCOLES JURIDIQUES SUNNITES - DROIT ET eMERGENCE DE LA PHILOSOPHIE - LA FEMME ET L'ISLAM. CD 2 - AVICENNE, AL-GHAZALI ET IBN ARABI : LA VIE D'AVICENNE - AVICENNE ET L'APPROCHE RATIONNELLE DE L'ISLAM - AL-GHAZALI, PHILOSOPHE, THeOLOGIEN ET JURISTE PERSE MUSULMAN - AL-GHAZALI, IBN ARABI ET LA QUESTION DE LA ReSURRECTION DES �MES. CD3 : AVERROeS : SON OEUVRE - IBN ARABI : SA RENCONTRE AVEC AVERROeS - SUR LA QUESTION DE L'�ME - LES DIMENSIONS DU NOBLE CORAN - SUR LA CROYANCE ET LA FOI - LE STATUT DE LA FEMME - LA RELIGION DE L'AMOUR - CONCLUSION : LE LEGS DES PENSEURS DE L'ISLAM. COLLECTION ISLAM DES LUMIeRES DIRECTION COLLECTION : CLAUDE COLOMBINI FReMEAUX EN PARTENARIAT AVEC LA GRANDE MOSQUeE DE PARIS

Divine Art proudly presents�the first�vinyl edition�of�Fantasies, Burkard Schliessmann's wonderful interpretation of the solo piano works of Robert Schumann. Now issued as a�triple gold audiophile LP, this deluxe pressing follows the album's acclaimed release on�SACD and Dolby Atmos digital, which drew widespread praise for both it's sonic fidelity and interpretative depth. Recorded at Berlin's renowned Teldex Studios with producer Julian Schwenkner and engineer Jupp Wegner, the album uses a 14-microphone setup to capture the full breadth of Schliessmann's artistry - revealing the intricate emotional architecture and expression of Schumann's writing. Schliessmann draws out the music's structural sophistication, making bold connections to Wagner's�Tristan, while with spacious, poetic lyricism. The result is a revelatory journey through Schumann's psyche - one that�Schumann Journal�described as "completely new, surprising and unexpected. a MUST!" (Irmgard Knechtges-Obrecht), while the�American Record Guide�hailed the album's "perfect" sound as "one of the most beautiful-sounding recordings I've heard recently" (Rob Haskins). Pressed on�triple heavyweight gold vinyl, this edition delivers analogue warmth and detail that will reward the most discerning listener. A vital collector's release,�Fantasies�continues Burkard Schliessmann's legacy of uncompromising interpretations and outstanding recorded sound.

The currently hottest German brass ensemble with great concept albums presents Christmas classics in completely new arrangements for the first time?. All-time classics like "Driving Home for Christmas", "It's beginning to look like Christmas", "Santa Claus is coming to town", "All I want for Christmas", "Let it snow", "White Christmas", "Frosty the Snowman" give this Christmas album a unique sound?

Music without remembrance is not possible, affirms pianist Sophie Pacini, and "Rimembranza" is the title she has chosen for her 6th solo album. Here, the music deals with hope and doubt, pain and deliverance, bitter loss and - most of all - memory. At the album's core she has placed two works she finds strongly connected with pain, transience, and death: Mozart's Sonata in A minor K.310 and Schubert's Sonata in A minor D 784. Mozart's mother died in Paris shortly before he wrote his sonata. His twelve variations on the French folk song "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman!" thus already bear the seed of the Sonata in A minor in themselves. "They are Mozart's rimembranza addressed to himself", she suggests. With their plaintive title harking back to the past, these variations open the curtain on Sophie Pacini's album. Before it falls again, we hear Schubert's two Impromptus Op. 90: sounding like excerpts from his sonatas, they "brush against our memory like two bittersweet rimembranzas from the past", she muses. The last act is introduced by Schubert's "Standchen" on a love poem by Ludwig Rellstab. The subject of love likewise closes the album; from the film "Cinema Paradiso", we hear the love theme composed by the recently departed Ennio Morricone and his son Andrea - a tribute track to Sophie Pacini's second homeland, Italy.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886), though primarily known for his groundbreaking work as a pianist and composer, had an indirect but meaningful relationship with the harp. While he did not compose extensively for the instrument, he recognized it's expressive capabilities and occasionally incorporated it into his orchestral and vocal works. His appreciation for the harp's unique timbre is especially evident in pieces like the Dante Symphony and Les Preludes, where the harp adds a celestial or ethereal texture that complements his dramatic musical narratives. Liszt's circle of influence also brought him into contact with harpists of his time, and he occasionally arranged pieces that could be adapted for the harp. His transcription of Schubert's Ave Maria, for instance, has become a popular work among harpists. Though he never wrote solo harp compositions, the lyrical and arpeggiated nature of his piano writing shares similarities with harp technique, suggesting an understanding of the instrument's expressive qualities. This beautiful program presents arrangements of works by Liszt which are especially suitable for performance on the harp: Ave Maria, Schubert's Standchen, 6 Consolations, 3 Liebestraume, Angelus. The harp arrangements are by several famous harp players and composers from the end of the 19th century. Beautifully played by Anna Pasetti, one of the leading harp players of today. As a musicologist, she is the author of about 300 publications on the history of the harp and it's repertoire (including 5 monographs), but she also has numerous recordings to her credit, mostly dedicated to the unknown harp repertoire that she herself rediscovered.

The viola da gamba is not dead, despite a claim to the contrary in the Dictionary of Musicians by German composer, organist and cellist Ernst Ludwig Gerber (1746-1819). From the 16th century to the end of the 18th, the viola da gamba experienced a true apotheosis, becoming the favoured instrument for bourgeois entertainment, particularly in Germany, France, Italy and England, even if the instrument's origins lie in the Spanish Renaissance. Because of these associations with the aristocracy, but also because of advances in musical style that demanded more from the role of the lower member of the string family, the gamba lost ground to the newer cello during the French Revolution. Limited interest in the instrument persisted through the 19th century, until a rebirth occurred thanks to German cellists Christian Dobereiner (1874-1961) and Paul Grummer (1879-1965), and later the Austrian Karl Maria Schwamberger (1905-1967) and Swiss cellist August Wenzinger (1905-1996), a pupil of Grummer's and a founder, in 1925, of one of Germany's first early music ensembles. Wenzinger was appointed cello and viola da gamba teacher at Basle's new Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where Giacomo Nones (1929-2017) and Jordi Savall (b.1941) would become his pupils. Dobereiner was one of the most important pioneers at the dawn of modern research into historical performance practice, considered to have revived both the viola da gamba and the baryton from obscurity. From his Sarabande, in Handelian style, only the solo part has survived, and the basso continuo has been reconstructed by Matteo Malagoli. Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977) was an important Russian pianist and composer. He invented his own harmonic language, combining major and minor hexachords in a pentatonic scale that blended old Russian patterns and Georgian (Caucasian) harmonies. During a stay in France he became friends with Paul Grummer and in 1969 published a lovely Sonata da chiesa for viola da gamba and organ dedicated to Grummer and his daughter Sylvia. Giuseppe Selmi (1912-1987) was a gifted concert cellist, performing both with orchestra and piano. As a composer, he wrote several works for solo cello, with piano and with harp (he played in a duo with his wife Maria Dongellini). Following the gift of a viola da gamba (built by Paolo Leonori in 1952) from his wife in the 1970s, he became a passionate advocate for the instrument, writing works for it with harp or solo. Giacomo Nones (1929-2017) dedicated himself from a young age to classical music and the popular music from his native Trentino, studying violin, organ and viola da gamba, as well as musicology and organology. He has edited transcriptions and publications of Renaissance and Baroque music and has collaborated with various early music ensembles. Passionate about contemporary music, in particular 'computer music', he wrote his 10 small Algorithms for two viols with the use of a computer according to theories by the Russian mathematician Rudolf Zaripov. His only other viola da gamba works are the very different Partitas on the Lutheran chorale Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan for gamba and organ, and the Fantasia for solo viol on the Kyrie of the Gregorian 'Orbis factor' Mass. Riccardo Giavina (1937-2019) was a Piedmontese pianist and composer, later a teacher and headmaster at the 'Bonporti' Conservatory of Trento and Riva del Garda. A friend of Giacomo Nones, in April 1977 he dedicated his three short pieces for three viols (soprano, tenor and bass) to the other composer. Written in late Renaissance style, they are aimed at extending the original literature for viola da gamba into the 20th century. - Recorded April 2022 in Silvelle; July, August & December 2023 in Ponte nelle Alpi; and January 2024 in Trento (Italy) - Booklet in English contains liner notes and a profile of each of the composers - Matteo Malagoli plays a viola da gamba by Marco Salerno (Rome - Barcelona, 2004) - Cristina Centa plays a Salvi harp - Stefano Rattini plays a harpsichord by Fabrizio Acanfora (Naples, 1997) and at the Carlo Vegezzi-Bossi organ (1907; restored Mascioni, 2000) of the Trento Philharmonic Society

Avec Mes Soeurs, Stephanie prend le contrepied de son premier album : plus sombre, plus epure, plus urgent. Ce nouveau disque explore � la lumiere du crepuscule les themes chers � l'artiste : le desir, la fuite, l'�tre au monde. La voix s'y libere, fr�le parfois le parler, au coeur d'arrangements ciseles par Fred Pallem, � la maniere d'une Marie Lafor�t passee par Berlin-Est. Une matiere vive et sensuelle, o� l'elegance de l'orchestration revele la tension et l'energie des textes. Patrick FReMEAUX With Mes Soeurs, Stephanie takes the opposite tack to her first album: darker, more refined, more urgent. This new record explores, in the twilight, themes that the artist holds dear: desire, escape, being in the world. Her voice is liberated, sometimes verging on speech, at the heart of arrangements crafted by Fred Pallem, in the style of a Marie Lafor�t who has passed through East Berlin. It is lively and sensual material, where the elegance of the orchestration reveals the tension and energy of the lyrics. Patrick FReMEAUX AMOUR CHARNEL - MES SOEURS - IL N'Y A PAS D'AILLEURS - SOUVIENS-TOI - CHACUN POUR SOI (RADIO EDIT). eCRIT ET COMPOSe PAR Stephanie Acquette - ARRANGe ET ReALISe PAR FRED PALLEM

Bittersweet - Sophie Pacini's own collection of encouraging masterpieces that feels like a gentle embrace in the midst of crises and challenges. In a world often dominated by uncertainty and stress, the music on this album offers a powerful solace - a reminder that beauty, pain and hope are mysteriously intertwined. Inspired by an intimate, moving concert in a women's shelter in Munich, the ECHOKlassik Award winner was passionate about giving hope and light to many otherpeople in dark hours with a compilation of her personal heartfelt pieces. It is probably the most personal album project to date by the Munich-born artist, who -unintentionally dubbed a "wunderkind" - had to fight against discrimination, exclusion and resentment from an early age and always drew all her strength from her music. Each piece on "bittersweet" is a little encouragement, a reminder that even in themost bittersweet moments of life, the beauty of music can lead to new strength. Sophie Pacini's interpretation, between virtuosity and sensitivity, opens doors to aworld that provides encouragement in difficult times - and shows that true strengthlies especially in fragility.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, one of today's most visionary pianists, presents the second book of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, a cornerstone of the piano repertoire. Following his acclaimed interpretation of Book I (released on Deutsche Grammophon in 2014), Aimard brings his signature clarity, insight, and depth to this second collection of 24 Preludes and Fugues, exploring Bach's extraordinary harmonic and contrapuntal imagination. With a lifelong dedication to both early and contemporary music, Aimard approaches the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II not merely as a historical masterpiece but as a vibrant and endlessly inventive work. His performance highlights Bach's ability to blend expressive lyricism with intellectual rigor, creating a deeply engaging and illuminating listening experience. A renowned champion of twentieth-century music, Pierre-Laurent Aimard has released multiple acclaimed albums in his exclusive contract with PENTATONE, including Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux (2018) and Visions de l'Amen (2022), along with Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata & Eroica Variations (2021). He also joined Tamara Stefanovich in Etudes and Frames (2023), with music by Vassos Nicolaou, recorded Bartok's Piano Concertos with the San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen (2023), Schubert: Landler (2024), and Kurtag: Jatekok (2025).

Christmas is a time of music and togetherness. With warmth, intimacy, and distinct roots in Nordic folk traditions, Dybfolt reimagines beloved songs of the season - from Danish classics to Nordic treasures - where winter's quiet reflection meets the vibrant spirit of folk music.