Largo

For the musicians associated with the Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki Sarmatian Choir the 450 anniversary of the conclusion of the Act of the Union of Lublin became a good opportunity for a sui generis reconstruction of solemn sacred music from that time. Based on extremely interesting monuments of Polish music of the “Golden Age,” the programme of the album is a kind of “fantasy” on the coverage accompanying the solemn sum that had to be celebrated after such an important event for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Wide historical and musical knowledge of the artists, knowledge of the liturgy, customs, and performance style of the early Polish music makes this experiment, carried out under the artistic direction of Robert Pozarski in cooperation with the Schola Gregoriana Silesiensis, Trombastic ensemble, and well-known soloists, very credible and will bring a lot of satisfaction to all music lovers interested in the Old Polish culture.

Danae Dörken wants to show with her production that music is a place where all people are lifted to the same level – no matter what their origin or cultural background is. The focus is on the connecting element of music between all possible cultures and the folkloristic character of the works, emphasizing the peculiarities of each culture that makes it unique. Called “the discovery of the year” by classical music magazine crescendo and “on her way to the very top” by Concerti magazine, German-Greek pianist Danae Dörken is, at age twenty-six, among the elite of internationally acclaimed artists of a new generation, electrifying audiences and peer musicians alike with her stunning technical skills, exceptional charisma and great profundity of her musical thinking.

Yitzhak-Meir (Isaac) Gitlis was born in Haifa, Palestine Mandate to Jewish parents, who emigrated in 1921 from Kamianets-Podilskyi, Russia, now Ukraine. In 1951, as suggested by his teacher Alice Pashkus, Gitlis participated in the Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris, where he took fifth place. During the preliminary stages of the competition a rumor circulated that he had stolen a Stradivarius violin during the war, which caused a scandal on the day of the final. Six years after the fall of Hitler, being a Jew in France was still causing debate. In 1963, he was the first Israeli violinist to play in the Soviet Union. He gave a series of concerts under the cultural exchange program of the Soviet Union and Israel, starting in Vilnius. His other concerts were given in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and Odessa. In the same year, invited by Giancarlo Menotti, he played in Italy at Spoleto’s “6th Festival dei Due Mondi.” This release features early recordings from Gitlis, dated between 1949 and 1963.

20 years ago, Helen Buchholtz was an enigmatic unknown. In 1999, two suitcases containing around 250 music manuscripts were found, which have since become accessible in the archive of Helen Buchholtz in CID | Fraen. Only by chance had they survived: the notes, packed in sacks after the death of the composer, had been saved from a fire by a nephew at the last minute. Helen Buchholtz, daughter of a wealthy brewery owner, received early lessons in music. At the age of 36, she married a German doctor and moved with him to Wiesbaden. Widowed early, she returned to Luxembourg, where she frequented poets and musicians. There her music was performed in concerts and on the radio. The double album presents a selection of her best 51 songs and ballads, which are selectively placed in a dialogue with contemporary music: Inspired by Helen Buchholtz’s late Romantic music, Catherine Kontz, Albena Petrovic-Vratchanska, Stevie Wishart and Tatsiana Zelianko composed four new songs.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Recess Music is proud to present Celebrate Earth, the start of a children's music series with an environmental message. The fourteen songs on the disc display quality and commitment to making our planet a better place. Celebrate Earth is sure to entertain and educate kids of all ages. The album also has special features for your computer, including a sing-along, profiles of the musicians, and more!

Laula! is the third album by Mike Fentross and Maarten Ornstein; following their debut duo album, Oblivion Soave and having worked with Rima Khcheich on the second album Ombre de Mon Amant, they are once again collaborating with an extraordinary singer - the Estonian mezzo-soprano Kadri Tegelmann. She is not only a superb interpreter of the Baroque music, as featured here, but she also introduced Maarten and Mike to the deep and rich tradition of Baltic vocal music with its many folksongs, hymns and chants. Choosing the repertoire for this new album, they learned that many -if not most- Estonian folksongs are about events from the cycle of life, such as birth, marriage, lullabies, leaving and returning home, and death. These universal themes have been used in art for centuries all over the world, and they are the basis for the music on this album too. For each of the Estonian folksongs featured here they have found an equivalent from the Baroque era, and where possible paired the songs. Thus Girolamo Kapsperger’s beautiful lullaby Filglio Dormi is paired with Lauliku lapsepõli, an old Estonian song about childhood memories. Elsewhere Une Sulased is carefully woven into Tarquinio Merula’s monumental Canzonetta spirituale Sopra alla nanna. The lyrics of both songs are about the darker side of sleep, dreams, and nightmares. Mike and Maarten are particularly fond of the arrangement for Kurb Laulik, essentially a song about tears and crying so delicately sung by Kadri. In the background Mike and Maarten play Flow my tears by John Dowland, both as an accompaniment to Kadri and as a distant memory to Oblivion Soave, their first album on Zefir Records.

Prokofiev first attempted to write an opera at the age of nine. His mature operas include The Love for Three Oranges, written in 1919, The Fiery Angel and War and Peace, the last based on Tolstoy's novel. His later ballets include Romeo and Juliet, and Cinderella. Both ballets as well as the first mentioned opera are known to concert audiences from orchestral suites based on them. Prokofiev wrote seven symphonies. Of these, the Classical Symphony, a work written in 1916-17 with the work of Haydn in mind, is the best known. Of Prokofiev's five piano concertos the third is best known, written in the composer's instantly recognizable musical language, from the incisive opening to the motor rhythms that follow, in a mixture of lyricism and acerbic wit. More overtly romantic in feeling are the two fine violin concertos. His early Cello Concerto was followed in 1952, fourteen years later, by a Cello Concertino, completed by the cellist Rostropovich and the composer Kabalevsky after Prokofiev's death. Prokofiev, himself a formidable pianist, completed nine piano sonatas out of a projected eleven. His music for piano also includes piano versions of music from the ballets Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella.

Classical Music

Danacord continues it's tribute to the Danish cellist Erling Blondal Bengtsson. For this volume of recordings emanating from Danish Radio Bengtsson plays two staples of most cellists' repertoire, masterworks by Shostakovich and Richard Strauss, spicing things up with music by Berio and Ligeti, such choices opening up our perceptions of Bengtsson's repertoire, and then going further by including his sympathy for concertos written for and dedicated to him. Thus, this programme adds up to a revealing portrait of Bengtsson's versatility and virtuosity.

At the end of the 1920's and the beginning of the 30's, the German gramophone company Polydor issued a number of much sought after Brailowsky recordings, and even today the technical quality of these recordings as regards to resonance and tonality is astonishing. These old Berlin recordings, the matrices of which were unfortunately destroyed during the 1940-45 bombardment, must surely be some of the most inspiring; here the commercial 78 rpm pressings are presented in brand new digital transfers preserving the art of the "Keyboard Giant" Alexander Brailowsky, a Chopin player of rare distinction renowned for his prodigious technique and beautiful tone. The noted Russian-born French pianist, Alexander Brailowsky, studied first with his father, a professional pianist; then continued his training at the Kiev Conservatory, graduating with a gold medal in 1911. Following advanced studies with Leschetizky in Vienna from 1911 to 1914, and Ferruccio Busoni in Z�rich, he completed his training with Francis Plant� in Paris. To this day his Chopin Waltzes are considered authoritative and have seldom been outdone since he recorded them in the 1960s.

The Sofia Vocal Ensemble invites you to step into paradise, courtesy of ten of the most beautiful choral works written by composers of our time. For nearly 25 years, Bengt Oll�n has fashioned his chamber choir Sofia Vocal Ensemble into one of the finest and most distinctive ensembles of it's kind in Sweden and the world. Here, the choir presents a selection of it's favourite works of the last half century - music that has inspired and shaped it's sound. We hear works by Swedish, Estonian, Russian, Scottish and Welsh composers, separated by contrasting traditions but united by striking beauty. These masterpieces include Alfred Schnittke's hopeful Three Sacred Hymns, James MacMillan's keening Miserere, Arvo P�rt's meditative Nunc Dimittis, Karin Rehnqvist's shimmering Jag lyfter mina hander, Paul Mealor's consoling Beatitudes and Sven David Sandstr�m's radiant In Paradisum. The works are more than personal favourites. They are each, in different ways, highly suited to Sofia Vocal Ensemble's warm, lyrical sound (and in some instances tailored to it) - a meeting of Swedish choral discipline with Oll�n's longstanding work to widen the group's dynamic and expressive range. The sound is embracing and alluring, rooted in finesse of blend and perfection of diction.

Initially released in the year 2000, Karl Z�ro's first album, a little pop gem, reached cult status. Inside this tribute to extreme cocktail music, space age pop and late Fifties' exotica, audiences discovered thirteen deliciously 'vintage' acid drops, cha cha chas and other ritmos locos... Produced by Karl Z�ro and Alexandre Desplat, the album, recorded in Karl's own inimitable, singer/talk-show presenter style, contains a mischievous mix of poetry and humour that takes Henri Salvador, Daisy d'Errata and Eric Laug�rias for a ride in the wake of Marino Marini, Xavier Cugat or Mikis Theodorakis. A kind of musical U.F.O., this record adorned one of the most remarkable X-Files episodes and met with international success.

At last, they're back! La Section Rythmique, the fabulous group whose stars were always behind the scenes, namely David Blenkhorn, Guillaume Nouaux and Sebastien Girardot. Catapulted to the front of the stage with the release of their first album - it was Record of the Year for Jazz Magazine in 2015 - the group has played countless concerts and done many recordings since then with the likes of Cecile McLorin Salvant, Evan Christopher, Scott Hamilton, Lillian Boutté or Jason Marsalis among others. La Section Rythmique has moved away from the New Orleans material of their first recording and taken swing and bop directions. And since only musicians of this band's calibre could allow themselves guests like these, they've gone into the studio with two giants of the saxophone: American star Harry Allen and young Italian player Luigi Grasso. Only La Section Rythmique could provide such an amazing setting and rival the playing of their two guest soloists. Don't miss this album!

July 17, 2019, marks the date Christ Cathedral (formerly the Crystal Cathedral) is dedicated to be the liturgical and artistic center for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. The music for that service is presented here, which includes many original works commissioned for the occasion. Dr. John A. Romeri is the Director of Music and Organist for Christ Cathedral, Los Angeles. He is the conductor of the newly-formed Cathedral Choir, Vietnamese Cathedral Choir, Diocesan Children’s Choir, and the Diocesan Adult Choir. Dr. Romeri earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance, Magna cum Laude, from the Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, and a Master of Sacred Music degree from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey. Juilliard-trained organist David L. Ball serves as organist and assistant director of music at Christ Cathedral. David completed both the Bachelor and Master of Music at The Juilliard School in New York City, studying under Mr. Paul Jacobs. He was recently named one of The Diapason’s 20 under 30.

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by various composers.

As winner of the 2016 JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition, the 2013 Guitar Foundation of America Competition and more than 20 other prestigious contests around the globe, Russian guitarist Anton Baranov has established himself as one of the leading guitarists of our day. His performances in a number of distinguished halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Palau de Musica in Valencia, Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg, and Hakuju Hall in Tokyo have been described by critics as “pure magic” (Cleveland Classical), and among his list of recordings, this release on Fleur de Son Classics is part of his First Prize package of the 2016 JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition.

Songs without words

LIFT EVERY VOICE! is a two-CD, 21-track musical retrospective featuring historic live performances and studio recordings by an array of great African American artists who have performed at Carnegie Hall and contributed to the rich cultural history of music. This project covers a diverse cross-section of genres from gospel to swing, classical to contemporary, and spiritual to jazz, and serves as an audio companion to Carnegie Hall’s festival Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy, taking place in March 2009.

We are standing in a picture gallery of music. All around us we can hear snippets of the great works for string quartets, along with unfamiliar things to delight the ear; it is truly a music-lover's paradise. "Chiaroscuro" forms the conclusion of a rather special trilogy of albums by the Schumann Quartet and at the same time marks a journey's end. After searching for their own roots in "Landscapes" and engaging with their namesake Robert Schumann in "Intermezzo", the four musicians complete their trilogy with the album "Chiaroscuro", which in itself represents an equally exciting journey through time and temperament. By way of Mozart's arrangements of five selected fugues from Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier II" they look left and right into very different musical rooms. There are two early pieces for string quartet by Shostakovich, Philip Glass's "Company" string quartet, a short fugue by Felix Mendelssohn, and the six Bagatelles op. 9 by Anton Webern. The whole promenade culminates in Janácek’s last work, his Second String Quartet. "A few years ago we were even more inclined to do things 'the right way', or to fulfil other people's expectations of us." In recent years, the young musicians have progressively released themselves from these demands. And perfected their own. "We want our music to exist in the immediate moment, as we lose ourselves in it. For that to succeed, each of us must transcend their individual ego." Their focus is on the concert, and that is the way they have approached "Chiaroscuro": "We recommend everyone to listen to the whole album from beginning to end without a break." "Chiaroscuro" – Italian for "light and dark" – is the name of the programme. The Schumann Quartet combines works that could not be more different. They aim to show that despite the contrasts, the differences and discontinuities between such pairs as Mozart and Webern, Glass and Janácek, there are glimpses of common elements and evidence that many of the composers on display are brothers in spirit. It is a question of the "unity that the album forms", perhaps not in spite of, but just because of the contrasts. And when at the very end of the album, at the very end of the whole trilogy, we hear Gershwin’s "Lullaby", we cannot shake off the feeling that all this is such stuff as dreams are made of.

VOICES OF EARTH AND AIR 2 presents the best that modern choral compositions have to offer. Settings of traditional prayers are mingled with ethereal stories and otherworldly visions, and each of the eight compositions both stand unique and work together harmoniously to create a collection that nods to the future of choral music. Scott Solak's Ave Maria starts off the collection. Richly tonal and resonant, the piece is written in memory of the composer's mother, a second generation Polish Catholic. Ave Maria is followed by Jonathan Little's Crucifixus, another rich, vibrant work that presents modern interpretations of historic performance techniques and fills space with an all-encompassing listening experience. Helen MacKinnon's Gloria in Excelsis Deo demonstrates various moods throughout the piece, from tender to fiery and triumphant, all culminating in a glorious "Amen" to close the piece. The album then shifts to L Peter Deutsch's A Fisherman of the Inland Sea. With jagged intervals and interesting harmonies, and text by famed fantasy author Ursula K. LeGuin, the choir and a single narrator retell the melancholy story of a young fisherman's loss resulting from a tryst in a magical underwater kingdom. Following this story is Juli Nunlist's posthumously released Spells, an eerie, dissonant choral work that uses subtle recurrences to create an enveloping form. Daniel Morse's Nachtlied is an otherworldly soundscape that uses the writings of Austrian Expressionist poet Georg Trakl. Creating a sense of ritual, the otherworldliness is amplified by the use of electronic sounds created through manipulating pre-existing audio. Peter Greve's invocation for organ and mixed choir, Give Us Peace, is made up of four expressions of peace from four religious traditions. It follows a narrative arc of joy within communities, followed by violence and destruction, and finally a reconciliation and expression of peace between four different ideas. The album concludes with Whitman Brown's Psalm 23, a final return to sacred texts that creates a powerful bookend to the collection. Reverent and soothing, it gives a sense of conclusion to the journey of VOICES OF EARTH AND AIR 2.