Fanny Mendelssohn composed a diverse oeuvre that includes organ, piano and vocal works. Her organ pieces reflect the Protestant tradition and demonstrate her contrapuntal mastery. The piano works are lyrical, technically demanding and often designed as character pieces. Her vocal works are particularly numerous, including over 250 songs, which are characterized by fine word-sound combinations and romantic expressiveness. This 6 CD box allows an insight into the composer's creativity.

A new and complete survey of the attractive body of cello sonatas which, in his day, helped to make Antonio Caldara a Viennese rival to the fame of Antonio Vivaldi in Venice. Born in Venice as the son of a violinist, Caldara grew up as a chorister at the Basilica di San Marco, and won important posts in Mantua, Rome and Barcelona, as a maestro di capella to royal courts. But it was his move to Vienna during the 1710s which secured his name and his fortune. Becoming Vice-Kapellmeister to the Imperial Court in 1716, Caldara introduced the late Venetian style to Central Europe, and it's influence remained a determining factor in both church music and opera as well as instrumental music until long after his death in 1736. Through sacred works such as the oratorio Maddalena al piedi di Cristo, Caldara has won a following on record in the modern era. However, his surviving output of instrumental music has remained largely unexplored. Publishing his Op.1 Trio Sonatas in 1688, Caldara refers to himself as a 'musico di violoncello', and there can be no doubt from this collection that he knew his way around the instrument. They were composed between 22 April and 26 July 1735: Caldara's sheer facility has perhaps told against him, with a total output of over three thousand separate works. But he knew his craft, and melody seems to have come readily to him. A few Lezioni (Nos. 43, 23 & 1) from Caldara's published instruction method for learning the cello are included as preludes to Sonatas Nos. 8, 10 and 12. Most of the sonatas belong to the four-movement 'sonata da chiesa' form, but Caldara also used the three-movement archetype which became increasingly standard. There is no shortage of opportunities for virtuosic display, as well as for lyricism. These recordings are made by musicians immersed in the Italian late-Baroque world. In it's expanded form, L'Arte dell' Arco has made much praised recordings of Haydn and Vivaldi for Brilliant Classics, including a comprehensive box of Vivaldi's Concertos Opp. 1-12. These Italian musicians speak and sing Caldara's music with unforced fluency. - Antonio Caldara (1670-1736), an Italian Baroque composer, was born in Venice, where he was a chorister in the famous San Marco, with Legrenzi as his teacher. He soon spread his wings across Europe and held several important posts in Mantua, the Spanish court in Barcelona, Rome and eventually the post of Kapellmeister at the Imperial Court in Vienna. Caldara left a substantial oeuvre, consisting of instrumental music in the tradition of Corelli, sacred music and operas. - Caldara's sonatas for cello and basso continuo exemplify the transition from the late Baroque style toward the emerging galant aesthetic. These works are clearly written by a master of the instrument, as Caldara evidently was. The sonatas typically follow a four-movement structure, alternating slow and fast tempos, in the tradition of the sonata da chiesa. They blend lyrical, cantabile lines with virtuosic passages, showing the cello's agility and warm tone. - Played by one of Italy's foremost "Early Music" cellists, Francesco Galligioni, playing with fellow members of the ensemble L'Arte dell'Arco. He successfully recorded the complete cello concertos by Vivaldi, works by Dall'Abaco, sonatas by Lanzetti and others.

The key to Buxtehude's trio sonatas, both for performers and for listeners, is an awareness of the stylus fantasticus which German composers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries developed in response to the new freely inventive style of Italian composers such as Claudio Merulo and Girolamo Frescobaldi. 'It is the most free and unrestrained method of composing,' wrote one contemporary theorist. 'It is bound to nothing, neither to any words nor to a melodic subject, instituted to display genius and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues.' The seven sonatas in each of these collections, published in Hamburg in 1696, offer a continuous succession of short movements, up to eight per sonata, which alternate between slow and fast tempi, and improvisatory and contrapuntal textures, dominated by a dazzling array of ostinato variations which embed the melodies in the listener's consciousness. We encounter witty solos, dialogues and conversations, sublime suspensions, jaunty syncopations and occasional excursions into strange and modal harmony. The expressive range is accordingly wide, venturing in Op.1 No.6 into a D minor realm of darkness and desperation. The musicians on this new recording of Buxtehude's trio sonatas are experienced and skilful practitioners of Baroque style, with an impressive catalogue of albums on Brilliant Classics to their credit. Valerio Losito has recorded the violin sonatas of Scarlatti, Telemann and Tessarini, among others, while Simone Stella has made complete surveys of the organ and harpsichord output by Froberger and Pachelbel - 'performed with natural flair, especially with respect to clarifying counterpoint' (Gramophone). Simone Stella introduces these fascinating works, milestones in the history of German-Baroque chamber music, with an extensive booklet essay. This is 'music full of lyrically delicate, sorrowful, and dramatic emotions,' he says, 'as well as melodious, harmonically gratifying, and full of vitality, a world of sound that consecrates him as a unique genius in the Pantheon of Music.' - Dietrich Buxtehude (c. 1637-1707) was a prominent German-Danish composer and organist of the Baroque period, renowned for his influence on later composers such as J.S. Bach and Handel. Best known for his sacred vocal music and virtuosic organ works, Buxtehude also wrote a substantial body of chamber music. - Published in 1694 and 1696 respectively, Buxtehude's Trio Sonatas comprise two sets of seven sonatas each. On this recording they are played with one violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord. These works represent a blend of German counterpoint and Italianate style. The sonatas are notable for their variety of forms, including fugal sections, dance movements, and expressive slow passages, the inventive use of harmony and rhythmic vitality reflecting the lively spirit of the early Baroque. The Op.1 and 2 sonatas are among the earliest significant instrumental works in Northern Germany, and they contributed to the development of the sonata genre. - Played by three foremost representatives of the Italian Historically Informed Performance Practice: Valerio Losito, Bettina Hoffmann (viola da gamba) and Simone Stella. Valerio Losito successfully recorded for Brilliant Classics works by Tessarini, Veracini, Dal Barba, Telemann and Alessandro Scarlatti.

Austrian guitarist Rosa Franziska Maier - laureate of numerous international competitions - releases an imaginative musical collage with GENUIN, comprising works spanning three centuries. Centered around William Walton's "Five Bagatelles" are compositions by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Johann Sebastian Bach, Giulio Regondi, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Isaac Albeniz. In Maier's richly colored and precisely articulated guitar sound, these works evoke a wide range of luminous moods, forming an imaginary museum bathed in the light of a Mediterranean summer evening.

It took C.F.E. Horneman almost 30 years to realise his vision of a Romantic opera based on the young hero from A Thousand and One Nights. Rich in fantastical character and orchestral colour, his score for Aladdin holds ready appeal which has rarely translated into performances. In 1953, Launy Grondahl led a first-rate cast of native Danish singers in this radio-friendly adaptation, which has been newly remastered from the original tapes. This is the penultimate release of the Launy Grondahl Legacy with the last volume 11 in preparation for an autumn 2025 release. All the previous volumes from Volume 1 to this present volume are available DACOCD 880 - 889

When Germany invaded Austria in 1938, Robert Furstenthal, born in 1920, took the path of many Viennese Jews and fled to the United States, where he made his living as an accountant; the fact that he had written music in his youth was soon forgotten. Reconnection, after 35 years, with the woman who had been his first love rekindled both that flame and his urge to compose, and from then on songs and chamber music flowed from his pen, preserving the spirit of fin-de-siecle Vienna under the Californian sun - 'When I compose, I am back in Vienna', he explained. He died in November 2016, aged 96, knowing that his lyrical, eloquent music was at last attracting the attention of both musicians and microphones. [Volumes 1-3: TOCC 0519, 0542, 0577]

With Pierre Boulez's 2nd Piano Sonata Idil Biret not only makes her American recording debut, but also presents the first U.S. recording of this important contemporary work. Composed in 1948, this sonata occupies a position that exerted a causative influence upon Boulez's subsequent music. It's experimental and ground-breaking nature may be better understood if one regards it as having grown out of a response to Webern's Variations (1936), the companion piece on this album. The rigid, geometric patterns of Webern's work, the classical purity of it's encompassing organization, seems to have served as a base of departure for Boulez's broadened structures that are equally rigid but incomparably more complex. It is this very complexity that conceals the strict framework of the entire composition and projects it as the product of an ardent improvisatory impetus. It demands from it's interpreter a similar approach, along with technical prowess and intellectual control of the highest order. It was only a matter of course that this work, together with influences emanating from other sources (chiefly John Cage), should lead the path not only to open-form and aleatory compositions, including Boulez's own 3rd Piano Sonata, but also, through it's new pianistic language, urge the development of a whole new generation of virtuoso pianists. (Ilhan Mimaroglu, 1973)

The Welshman John Thomas (1826-1913), harpist to Queen Victoria, wrote prolifically for his own instrument, both for solo harp and for duos of two harps or harp and piano - a combination where the different sounds of the two instruments enhance the clarity of the texture. Thomas' original works use the elegant Romantic style of his own day, but he often drew on Welsh folksong for his inspiration and left a generous legacy of transcriptions, especially of operatic favourites. Although some of his music was intended for the Victorian drawing room, other pieces require a virtuoso technique - and all of it has a thoroughly engaging melodic appeal.�[Volumes 1-5: TOCC 0561, 0566, 0578, 0582, 0711]

The organ works of Axel Ruoff, born in Stuttgart in 1957, constitute one of the most important contributions to the literature for the instrument by any composer since Messiaen. Stylistically, his music unites the French cathedral tradition of composers like Langlais, Dupre and Guillou with the concern with counterpoint and logic heard in Reger and later German figures. Ruoff uses the unparalleled resources of the modern symphonic organ not produce music of freewheeling energy and uncompromising power. (Volumes 1-5, TOCC 0567, 0596, 0610, 0672, 0709)

Pieces for Lutha" Anders Ericson plays this unique instrument from the Gustavian era, and presents an unknown part of the late 18th century Swedish musical landscape to the modern audience. Lute player Anders Ericson plays recently restored instruments by Swedish 18th century master luthier Johan Jerner, that take us back to an intriguing and intimate sonority from another time. Swedish composers Cloos, Ankar and Wikmanson clearly display the high musical and technical level of early Swedish "Luthenists". Each work on "Solo Pieces for Lutha" is a world premiere recording, which makes this disc truly exciting. An unknown musical treasure and an unheard instrument resounds!

Joly Braga Santos (1924-88) was one of the most important composers in twentieth-century Portugal. In his early works his fondness for modal harmony, absorbed from the Portuguese masters of the Renaissance, and his busy counterpoint combine to make him sound surprisingly close to such particularly English composers as Vaughan Williams and Moeran. Although his harmonic language became more astringent with time, it retained a burly sense of humour and a powerful charge of energy, often infused with the spirit of Portuguese folk-dance. [Volumes 1-3: TOCC 0207, 0428, 0588]

Hardly any work by a great composer has undergone as many arrangements as Richard Wagner's music dramas. Just a few years ago, Cord Garben discovered the "50 Symphonic Movements from Richard Wagner's Music Dramas" in an antiquarian bookshop. They were created by the Hamburg lawyer, composer, and patron Hermann Behn (1859-1927) between 1914 and 1917. While Behn used the "conventional" method in his arrangement of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 for two pianos, four hands (Musicaphon M56915)-meaning nothing more than distributing the relevant material of the orchestral score in a way that is easily playable for both pianists-he took a completely different approach with Wagner's dramas. In 1914, he had already achieved his signature symphonic sound on the pianos in his arrangement of the first fragments of the "Ring of the Nibelung." To this end, he skillfully employed doubling of chord sequences and absurdly wide fingerings in the left hand, which can only be reproduced in a "broken" style, i.e., by quickly plucking the notes from bottom to top. This inevitably results in deliberate inaccuracies in the harmony, which-with sufficient pedal use-lead to a previously unheard richness of sound. Christiane Behn (great-grandniece of Hermann Behn) and Cord Garben play Behn's arrangements (in excerpts) on two 1912 Steinways that once belonged to Hermann Behn's cousin Rafael Behn and are now in Christiane Behn's possession. Behn himself once played his arrangements on these instruments (together with his friend Gustav Mahler, among others, as well as with Rafael Behn).

Volume 11 of Mathieu Gaudet's complete Schubert piano sonatas cycle brings us the fascinating second book of Impromptus D. 935, including the immortal Theme and Variation in B flat major. The youthful Sonata no. 2 in C major D. 279 and the � Noble � Waltzes D. 969 round up this spectacular album, full of singing melodies, contrasting atmospheres and romantic drama.

Haydn's Symphony No. 31 from 1765, known as the 'Horn Signal', lends it's name to this 13th volume of the Haydn 2032 series. Not only does the symphony feature four horns in their full majesty, but the entire ensemble of Il Giardino Armonico, directed with ardour by Giovanni Antonini, perform this music with characteristic impetuousness. The numbered vinyl recording that accompanies this volume includes a musicological introduction, a CD of the same programme, and a download code (like every vinyl release in the Haydn 2032 series). This particular volume also includes a catalogue of all the recordings already released and gives us another opportunity to admire the images taken by the photographers of the Magnum agency, our partner from the outset of the series.

The fact that the virtuoso violin sonatas from 1681, in contrast to the Mystery Sonatas, still receive little attention in today's concert repertoire is astonishing given the unbridled musical inventiveness of this music. Gunar Letzbor and Ars Antiqua Austria emphasise this aspect in their first recording of this collection from 1994 with a varied continuo line-up.