João Barradas writes: "For my first classical album, I wanted to mix original works for my instrument with transcriptions of works by composers whose art had created and formed my love for Western classical music, and so I created a wide-ranging program. One choice was obvious: the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, then came Domenico Scarlatti and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. My first choices of music written specifically for accordion were works by Luciano Berio and Astor Piazzolla, a composer and a performer who gave the accordion a new musical language. The program is completed with the French composer Yann Robin, who composed his E[NI]GMA for me and made me its dedicatee."

This album explores music for viola da Gamba and organ from 17th-century Austria, played by Viktor Töpelmann and organist Daniela Niedhammer on original instruments from that time. The recording took place in a small village church in Austria, which houses an original church organ from 1662. The viola da gamba used for this recording is a bass viol built by Hans Khögl in 1674. Together with the special acoustics of this beautiful church, the two musicians dive deep into the emotional and intimate music of that era, creating a meditative and most pleasant listening experience.

Virtuoso duo Sándor Rigó and Christina Leeb-Grill have taken Jean Françaix’s description of his own work, ‘musique pour faire plaisir’, as the motto for this program. Dance styles and rhythms are at the heart of this repertoire, from the spectacular Brazileira with which Milhaud concludes his theatrical Scaramouche, through Piazzolla’s refinement of tradition in his Tango-Études, to the Brazilian rhythms showcased in Villa-Lobos’s Fantasia. Paquito D’Rivera adapted his Invitaciónal Danzón especially for this recording, providing Sándor Rigó with space to demonstrate his brilliance in improvisation.

In releasing an album entirely of his own music, Guitarist, Lutenist and composer Lars Hannibal reflected upon an extraordinary – and somewhat unorthodox musical career. While studying classical guitar and lute with the great masters of the art, Hannibal lived a rich double life playing in a variety of bands and creative ensembles in artistic foment of ‘60s and ‘70s Counter Cultural Århus. It was during this time that Hannibal began finding his own creative voice, exploring the exciting intersections between Baroque and Classical form, the direct earnest expression of Danish folk music, the ear-pleasing appeal of popular song and the expressive possibilities of modal jazz. Hannibal has also found great joy in arranging music for the different ensembles he’s performed with, resulting in hundreds of arrangements for various instrumental combinations with guitar. Finally, as one of the most active musicians in Denmark, Hannibal has been a champion of living composer, including many of Denmark’s finest, including Jørgen Jersild, Palle Mikkelborg, Herman D. Koppel, Thomas Koppel and Vagn Holmboe. When assembling this program, it was only natural that Hannibal would draw on both his original works and his arrangements of Danish song. As a special treat, Hannibal, ever the mutli-faceted musician, the Neo-Classic composer, the pop songsmith, the faithful arranger of Danish folk song also takes pride in being Hannibal the Poppa, with his daughters, Agnete and Amalie and his life-long musical companion, his former wife Michala Petri joining him on his musical journey!

Though there are thousands of languages and countless political differences across the world, people tend to come together through equally endless forms of music and dance. On THE SUITE, the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Orlando Cela, focuses the lens on the Baroque dance suite as a method of expression that’s ripe for international flavor, artistic individualism, and human storytelling. Suites by Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach examine the gallant style’s history and set the groundwork for modern interpretations. The Baroque vanguards pass the torch on to two contemporary composers, Anthony R. Green and Jose Elizondo, who shape and mold the style to match their own compositional artistry as they paint musical pictures of civil rights activism, heart-warming moments in the sun, and the passing of time. What results is an alchemical combination of the old and the new that not only celebrates the original Baroque form, but expands upon it with contemporary, cross-cultural flair.

Made between December 1948 and June 1950, these recordings enjoy an unusual history which is bound up with the burgeoning industry of classical music retail in the postwar era. Among the best stocked record stores in New York at that time was The Gramophone Shop on 42nd East Street, co-owned by William H. (Bill) Tyler and Joseph F. (Joe) Brogan, an Irish-American collector and dealer. Trying to rival or surpass the mail-order business of H. Royer Smith in Philadelphia, the shop issued (in 1929 and 1931) two fat paperback catalogues, The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music. Three further editions, from 1936, 1942, and 1948, remain standard reference works. The store also ran it's own mail-order business with the reputation as a specialist in rare and high-quality recordings from Europe. From that arm of the business naturally developed the store's own label, marketed as the Gramophone Shop Celebrities (GSC) series. This is the first time these recordings have been available on modern media.

The three singers-explorers of the ensemble Les Itinérantes invite us on an exhilarating journey through the heart of winter. The program of this release includes popular and traditional songs from the whole world, whose a cappella interpretation warms the soul and the senses. The story of Les Itinérantes begins in January 2017, Paris, France. Three women who met through their musical comedy training sing together for the first time for what was supposed to be "One or two shows just like that" and very quickly switched to "Ok, we have to continue together!" Three musicians with varied influences: from old music (Pauline) to jazz and song (Manon) through world music (Elodie)… who have decided not to choose and to mix everything together. There you have it, Les Itinérantes are born: an a cappella trio whose repertoire currently covers 11 musical styles, 9 centuries and 19 languages.

An intriguing project, whose programme is based on Lieder and traditional songs arranged for two tenors and piano. Well-known father and son, Christoph & Julian Pregardien, present these gentle and thoughtful, improvisational and communicative arrangements for two voices. The conditions under which Schubert’s art of the song developed into a kaleidoscopically incandescent spectrum that crossed over genres and the institutionally set, historical boundaries disappear today as a rule under the pedestal that the late nineteenth century began to erect for the composer. The traces of improvisational practice were increasingly lost within a music culture that stylized the printed manuscript into a quasi sacred object. A particularly successful way of leading back to a fundamental impetus in Schubert’s art of the song is through an approach towards the songs that takes the moment of spontaneous performance seriously as a communicative act, without denying the work character of Schubert’s music. The idea of ‘one’ universal human voice seems to materialize with particular intensity in the commingling of two voices of similar timbre, which can permanently interchange and double their identity. Based on our knowledge for instance of the Schubertiade reminiscences of 1868, remembered and noted down by Moritz von Schwind, can we not imagine that the ‘Schubert singers’ Johann Michael Vogl and Karl von Schönstein might indeed have sung alternately (or even in unison)? This is an interesting project, with programme based on Schubert’s Lieder arranged for two tenors and piano.

The percussionist Vivi Vassileva is one of the most fascinating classical soloists of her generation, and she now releases her debut album, entitled "singin' rhythm", on the alpha classics label. Born in 1994 to a Bulgarian family of musicians – her mother is a pianist, her father and brother are violinists, her sister plays violin too and she herself learned the instrument – Vivi was captivated by music at an early age especially when she heard some hand drummers playing on a remote, unspoiled beach at the black sea where her parents own a house. It was then that she decided to change from violin to percussion. With her dynamic, infectious way of making music, Vivi exudes a sense of enjoyment that is in no way limited to the elaboration of rhythms or the igniting of a display of tonal pyrotechnics. Her main aim is to touch people, to tell stories expressed in terms of melodies, harmonies and rhythms. Vivi is motivated and inspired by the diversity of tonal colors and the opportunities they offer, and that is why she is so convinced that percussion is the instrument of the 21st century. However, since the repertoire for percussion is limited, Vivi Vassileva not only commissions new compositions; she arranges and composes herself, constantly on the lookout for new formations and heading up various chamber music groups. As a result, this new album features works by Guillo Espel, Eric Sammut, Oriol Cruixent and Keiko Abe, most of them premiere recordings, alongside some rarely heard or premiere arrangements and compositions by Vivi Vassileva herself.

This double album is the third and last volume of Easy Studies for Guitar. The aim of the series has been to collect original works for the guitar by 20th- and 21st-century composers that fulfill didactic functions as well as being entertaining to play and listen to. Many of the studies here are receiving their first recordings, and the pieces by Biberian, Cavallone and Franco are so far unpublished. Music by the Belgian organist and composer Jean Absil (1893–1974) shows the influence of Wagner in the same way as his better-known compatriot Franck, and he absorbed the music of Milhaud and Schoenberg during his time in Paris. However, the Pièces Caractéristiques of 1964 capture a piece of sunshine no less than the folk- inspired Sei Canzoni Ebraiche by Cavallone or the Sette Aphorismi of Franco, even while certain movements exploit the more mysterious, nocturnal character of the guitar. The idea for Brèves de Pupitre sprang from Olivier Chassain’s work as a teacher, arising from his students’ basic technical needs or flaws – as well as his own. Cristiano Porqueddu is a distinguished editor and composer as well as performer, and he has selected an especially attractive set of Ten Studies for Guitar from among the many unpublished works by Gilbert Biberian, a British composer/guitarist born in 1944. Perhaps the set’s most intriguing rarity comes from the gifted Viennese composer Ferdinand Rebay, active in the early decades of the last century, and featured on a couple of previous Brilliant Classics albums; though himself a pianist rather a guitarist, he was encouraged to turn to the guitar by a fellow-professor and also by his guitar-playing niece; he eventually composed around 600 pieces for the instrument, including these Ten Little Songs without Words.

Staszek Plewniak writes: "When I think of Christmas time, I think of the two very special days spent with my family before Christmas Eve each year: sneaking around the kitchen full of dishes prepared for the Christmas Eve table; cleaning the house, and enjoying it; building the fire in the fireplace; and the most exciting of all, decorating the Christmas tree. We like to do all these things while listening to Christmas songs. In the company of these songs Christmas is a truly blissful atmosphere of real joy, overwhelming us, and glowing with magic. This is the time when we only venture out into the winter landscape to go sledding or to make a snowman with the children, and then hurry back home to drink hot chocolate and watch Christmas movies. I associate these days with the songs that I love to listen to on the radio, and which have long been my Christmas musical dream. For ten years the dream has been of recording this album with Stan and Natalia, and each year under the Christmas tree we also wished each other to accomplish a musical project together. For me releasing this album is the fulfillment of a cherished dream, and today the realization of this ambition leaves me floating a few meters above the earth."

Timelapse creates a space where sounds of the past and present collide to form a unique musical landscape. Although the pieces were written, in some cases, centuries apart and in culturally disparate eras, it is striking how much these contrasting works inhabit such similar emotional territory. Intriguing pairings of works by Rameau and Radiohead, Schubert and The Smiths, Adés and Grieg, Satie and Reich, compliment each other beautifully in the context of Timelapse. This recording by Orchestra of the Swan provides a place where notions of time and style have become irrelevant.

The Newberry Consort and EnsAmble Ad-Hoc present A MEXICAN CHRISTMAS, an album of 17th century traditional music for worship and celebration. The collection features pieces commonly heard in both liturgical service and in the streets, and evoke the solemnity and fanfare heard in Mexico City’s convents and plazas, with jubilant vocals and lively strings, guitars, and percussion. Organ, harp, bassoon, and a variety of Mexican traditional instruments bring this exuberant and diverse music to life.

On these three albums I am thrilled to present seven highly gifted young pianists who gave their d�but performances at the Ruhr Piano Festival 2019 -promising artists from whom we can expect and are sure to hear much more in the future. The most recent volumes of our Ruhr Piano Festival Boxed Edition mainly featured work of the 18th and 19th centuries, in accordance with each Festival edition's chosen themes; this year, however, we can feature Baroque und Early Classical repertoire on almost two entire albums. On the third we then plunge headlong into the Romantic 19th century with major challenging works by Brahms and Liszt... (Excerpt from the forward by Franz Xaver Ohnesorg, Director)

Luigi Zenobi, a virtuoso cornetist known as ‘Luigi del cornetto’, was born in Ancona in the mid-sixteenth century. He later moved to Vienna, where he entered the service of the Emperor Maximilian II. His reputation grew and he subsequently worked for the Este family in Ferrara, where he was the most respected and best-paid musician at court up to that time, so sought-after were his talents. Luigi was also a painter, poet, miniaturist and music scholar. An eyewitness recalled the delicacy of his playing: ‘softer than the harpsichord when its lid is closed.’ Giovanni Sansoni, a composer and cornetist probably originally from Venice, was born around 1593. He was engaged by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Graz in 1613 and followed him to Vienna when he became Emperor in 1619. He sent his compositions to Saxony, and the young Schutz sent him former choirboys to be taught the cornet and the bassoon, two instruments on which he was an absolute master. Sansoni became the inspiration for the great instrumental composers of the first half of the seventeenth century in Vienna. Our two legends of the cornet have one thing in common: they were both knighted by an emperor, Zenobi even calling himself ‘Cavaliere del cornetto.’

The prestigious concert was conducted by Riccardo Muti for the 6th time (1993, 1997, 2000, 2004 und 2018) in 2021. He has conducted the Vienna Philharmonic since 1971 in over 500 concerts in Vienna, Salzburg and around the world. With his sixth concert, he will be the most frequent conductor of this event since the legendary era of Lorin Maazel. The New Year’s Concert live from Vienna is one of the world’s most famous and spectacular classical music events. It was broadcast on TV and radio, reaching over 90 countries around the world with more than 50 million viewers.

Although songs accompanied by a chamber ensemble are an effective combination that has repeatedly inspired composers to create masterpieces, they are heard far too rarely in concert. The Riot Ensemble presents here a series of contemporary contributions that impressively demonstrate how grateful composers are for the possibilities and different forms of this genre. The Riot Ensemble connects people to great contemporary music in concerts and events that are just as innovative, vibrant and rewarding as the music itself. Their twenty Artistic Board members are some of the top European soloists in new music, and with Riot they work as performers, curators, commissioners, and collaborators, creating and producing a diverse array of projects. Based in London, they are particularly active in bringing emerging international voices to the British new-music scene and since 2012 have given over 200 World and UK premieres by composers from more than thirty countries.

Orfeo honors Júlia Várady as one of the most important sopranos of the second half of the 20th century with the release of this 10 album boxed set ‘The Orfeo Recordings’ on the occasion of her 80th Anniversary on 1st September 2021.

A significant number of opera lovers and connoisseurs maintain that Maria Callas’ mantle ought to have passed to Júlia Várady, and that the (now eighty-year-old) Romanian-Hungarian-German soprano actually should, in her day, have ascended the international throne of the prima donna assoluta. But as it is said, her loyalty to her two musical homes, the Bavarian State Opera and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, prevented this. Nonetheless, she made guest appearances at all the world’s major opera theaters – but she was apparently not available to the market as unrestrictedly and ubiquitously as would have been necessary for her image, in order for her to be enthroned as the Várady (as the legitimate successor of the Callas). In addition to her loyalty to the two aforementioned opera houses, another reason seemed to be a natural modesty that prevented her from constantly drawing attention to herself (with a reputation, for example, of being the “difficult one,“ or even with scandals). Her marriage to the titan Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in 1977 may also have played a role, as she often and willingly stepped into his shadow.

Escerpts from reviews of previously released volumes included in this set:

Julia Varady sings Wagner

Varady's reading of the Wesendonck Lieder is remarkable, enthralling. There's nothing here of the slow, wallowing approach often favoured today. The feeling of the words is one of very present emotions. And transfiguration is a feature of Varady's concentrated, urgent Liebestod, her complete absorption with the text as much as with the music an object-lesson in great Wagner singing. The players of Fischer-Dieskau's Berlin orchestra cover themselves in glory. The recording is exemplary.

– Gramophone

Julia Varady sings Richard Strauss

The final scene of Salome, under the watchful eye of Varady's husband, Fischer-Dieskau, has the perfection of pitch and phrase one expects of this singer, as well as an expected acuity for the meaning of the text.

– Gramophone

Julia Varady - Puccini Arias

A lovely and somewhat surprising record by the most fascinating and patrician lyric soprano of the present age: 'surprising' because, though Varady is associated closely enough with Verdi, the Puccini connection is less readily made, 'lovely' because the voice is still so pure, the style so musical and the response so intelligent, immediate and full-hearted. She adjusts wonderfully well to the Italian idiom, lightening the vowels, freeing the upper range, allowing more portamento than she would probably do in other music, yet employing in its use the finest technical skill and artistic judgement.

– Gramophone

The soprano Louise Alder has been described as 'the brightest lyric soprano of the younger generation' (The Arts Desk),'a born actress' (Opera), and as having 'a voice of sparkling beauty' (Gramophone). In this her debut recording for Chandos, she and her pianist, Joseph Middleton, have devised an unusual but rewarding programme that explores the works of six contrasting composers. As she writes in her booklet note: ‘When Joseph suggested making an album of Russian songs, including Russian composers who set poems in other languages, I jumped at the challenge. The more we discussed the repertoire, the more amazed I was to see how well it fitted with my own family history. In 1916 (the same year that Rachmaninoff composed the Opus 38 songs), huge political unrest forced my great-grandparents and family to flee, shutting up the house in Odessa, travelling 1,687 km north by rail to St Petersburg, and then by sleigh into Finland, through Norway, and back to Britain. It is my pleasure to be able to honor my family’s Russian connection with this meandering sleigh ride through Russia, with songs in Russian, French, and German, into Finland, in Swedish, and Norway, in German, back to the UK for a cycle of Britten songs in Russian.’

Electrocosmia is a daring exploration of electroacoustic music for solo piano that finds pianist Peng-Chian Chen diving head first into musical worlds that are at times explosive and at others mercurial and enigmatic. Much of this album finds Chen striking a balance between acoustic and electronic sound. Whether that be using an electronic keyboard and an acoustic piano simultaneously, interweaving fixed media and live performance, or using signal processing to experiment with sound being created in the moment. Featuring works by Cindy Cox, Pierre Chavet, Elanie Lillios, and Peter Van Zandt Lane, Electrocosmia brings new energy to keyboard music being written and performed today. Each piece contributes to a growing landscape of electroacoustic concert works that defy listeners expectations and expand what concert music can mean.

“Passacaglia della Vita” – an homage to the facets of life: heartache, betrayal, seduction, impermanence, excitement, fun and laughter. At the center of the concept of the program is the eponymous song “Passacaglia della Vita” by Stefano Landi. While the stanzas depict a wide variety of life situations and repeatedly call for the enjoyment of life in accordance with the motto “Carpe diem,” the refrain repeats the rather admonishing “bisogna morire” – each of us dies. The reminder of death – or in a religious sense, the belief in redemption and life eternal – illustrates the finiteness of worldly joys and gives us a framework for life.

Franco Gulli was one of the most prominent and active Italian violinists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He began his studies with his father (a pupil of �evc�k and Mar�k at the Prague Conservatory), then went to Arrigo Serato in Siena and later to Szigeti in Switzerland. His varied and significant career included leading the Orchestra of the Pomeriggi Musicali, Milan, for several years, after which he took up a similar post with Virtuosi di Roma. Gulli's activities included a considerable volume of teaching and he was well-respected in this r�le, giving masterclasses all over the world and sitting on the juries of several international competitions including those in Brussels, London, Genoa, Munich, New York, and Indianapolis. He was a member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome, the Accademia Cherubini, Florence, and the Reale Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna, as well as holding a Professorship at Indiana University. The present release features newly remastered live recordings surveying forty years of Gulli's career.

This album of 20th-century masterpieces for flute and guitar features works composed especially for this combination of instruments plus arrangements of works by Bartók and Ravi Shankar. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Sonatine for Flute and Guitar is considered to be one of the finest compositions for this combination of instruments, contrasting joyfulness with poignant melodies. The warm sound of the alto flute is given expressive range in Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea, while Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango takes us on a journey from the form’s beginnings in the brothels of Buenos Aires, to its acceptance as one of the most loved musical art forms of the 20th century.

When I come back to this composer after months or years away from him I find his music rewarding. Some of it is also very attractive. I would recommend this sampler so you can get to know him. I suspect that you will end up, like me, with a handful of other P�rt discs.

This recording is a tribute to the chromatic harp, which, with its rich colors and theatrical effects, was perfectly tuned to the impressionist and art nouveau atmosphere of the turn of the 20th century. Geoffrey Gordon’s Jeux de Creation is inspired by music from the 1920s using both traditional and extended techniques, drawing on themes by Milhaud and Debussy to portray the past and present. Reflecting this aesthetic, the other works in this program include the artistry of Ravel and Faure, the quasi-orchestral effects of Debussy’s Danses, and Caplet’s sensuous and spectacular Divertissements.