Three pianist-composers from the first half of the last century form the program for Joseph Moog's new album. For this recording he is joined by pianist Kai Adomeit in three works for two pianos - Rachmaninoff's late 1940 Symphonic Dances, York Bowen's 1951 Theme & Variations, and Rachmaninoff's friend and compatriot Medtner's Two Pieces. York Bowen had many works by Rachmaninoff in his extensive concert repertoire, and he became known as 'The English Rachmaninoff' without much reason. As strange as that sounds, like the two Russians on this recording (with Prokofiev), he represents the last of the great pianistic composers of the 20th century.

After having devoted many years to the instrumental ensemble music of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, the Swiss early music ensemble Les Passions de l'?me, together with its artistic director Meret L?thi, also turned to his opus magnum, the 15 Rosary Sonatas, in a marathon of three concerts. They then went into the studio and recorded all the sonatas for a double album in co-production with Bayern 4 Klassik, which is now published by PROSPERO in a splendid edition with many illustrations and informative texts on the work.

The first time I heard the song “What Are You Thirsty For?” I was in London, deep in the winter of 2018 and deep into rehearsals for the first production of my play, The Inheritance. I was in need of an uplift and this particular demo, as sung by Marc, delivered it. It was the perfect introduction to what would become Marc and Scott’s dynamic, exuberant, swoony score for Some Like it Hot.

Countertenor Tim Mead presents Beauteous Softness, a programme containing restrained yet profoundly moving songs by seventeenth-century English composers such as Purcell, Blow, Humfrey and Webb, in collaboration with La Nuova Musica and David Bates. The album also showcases the rich musical context that provided the foundation from which Purcell rose to prominence.

Renowned both as a guitarist and a composer, Carlo Domeniconi has written over 150 compositions, combining Eastern and Western elements in striking and individual ways. Sinbad, a Fairy Tale for Solo Guitar is a perfect example of his imaginative style and is one of the most remarkable works in the entire solo guitar repertoire, evoking the panoramic journey of the sailor and adventurer known from The Arabian Nights. The piece draws on diverse sources including Oriental-Persian scales, Arabic oud ornaments and extended techniques to chart, in three cycles, the Middle Eastern atmosphere through which Sinbad travels.

The second volume of Leone Sinigaglia’s music for string quartet (Volume 1 is on 8.574183) explores a series of generally shorter pieces for the medium. These deeply expressive works, such as the yearning Romanza for string quartet and horn, combine compositional rigour with a flowing Italianate lyricism nurtured in the years 1888–89. Also included are the String Trio in A major, which evokes the world of the Baroque through its Bachian counterpoint, and the Trio-Serenata, fusing elysian beauty with joyful elegance. All but one of these pieces are world premiere recordings, many of which are played from the composer’s original manuscripts.

This is the third of four albums to be released that will form a recording cycle that explores the closely intertwined personal and artistic connections between three musical giants: Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Robert Schumann's and Johannes Brahms' symphonies will be paired and combined with Clara Schumann's chamber works and orchestral pieces, including some special gems. "I have always loved these symphonies and saw many links between them. It has always been my dream to record them and release them together. No story of these two composers is complete without Clara, as famous in her lifetime as her husband, and a strong influence on both Robert and Johannes. ?We crafted this vision with Clara Schumann scholar Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers, to combine the symphonies with pieces by Clara in ways that provide an insightful narrative to the intertwined lives and works of these three Romantics." - Alexander Shelley

Pianists Rebeca Omordia and Martin Jones present this album of world premiere recordings of works for piano and orchestra by three major composers. Joining with the BBC Concert Orchestra and award- winning conductor John Andrews, Martin Jones continues his survey of the piano works of Elisabeth Lutyens with this recording of Eos (in which he performs the piano part) and Music for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 59. Jones also performs Elizabeth Maconchy’s concise and striking Dialogue for Piano and Orchestra. Rebeca Omordia performs Errollyn Wallen’s arresting new Piano Concerto, that was commissioned for her by Julian Lloyd Webber and first performed in November of 2022.

Trio Brax is a chamber music ensemble based in Tromsø, Northern Norway, founded in 2015. In this first recording they showcase music by the three Norwegian composers; Kjell Habbestad, Håvard Lund, and Helge Iberg, as well as music by Paul Hindemith. With the unusual combination of viola, tenor saxophone and piano, Trio Brax is an odd flower in the world of classical chamber music.

De Fauré à Ferré… les subtils arrangements des interprètes du quatuor Dutilleux qui l’accompagne permettent de voyager d’un monde à l’autre avec une fascinante cohérence, révélant le parfait cousinage entre la musique populaire avec celle qu’on disait autrefois et si maladroitement « savante ».

Linn is absolutely thrilled to launch a new recording partnership with the Consone Quartet. The first period instrument quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists, the ensemble will embark on a complete Felix Mendelssohn string quartets cycle. Playing on gut strings, thus creating a warm, grainy soundworld akin to analogue photography (as violinist Agata Daraškaitė puts it), the four musicians have drawn inspiration from editions of the time, including Ferdinand David’s own scrupulously marked-up parts, to present fresh accounts of the E flat major quartet ‘1823’ and Op. 44 No. 3. These two works paired together – the former is an early work, the latter is the composer’s penultimate achievement in the genre – allow for some revealing comparisons between styles at different points in Mendelssohn’s life.

Il Gardellino is a period-instrument ensemble devoted largely to the performance of Baroque music, both instrumental and vocal. Consisting of eight core members, Il Gardellino can range in size from three to as many as thirty players, depending on demands of the repertory. That said, most of the instrumental concerts feature fewer than a dozen performers.

Subway to Sally is a true musical hybrid. Based on a heavy metal foundation, Subway to Sally is far from your average metal headbangers as they combine progressive and folk anthems with early music and liturgical references. They contribute equal parts acoustic and electric from the guitar trio of Ingo Hampf, Bodenski, and Simon. Violinist Frau Schmidt can lay down a classic Robbie Steinhardt-like roll with as much conviction as with the gentler, more traditionally based passages.

Scherchen was one of the leading conductors in the middle part of the 20th Century, especially valued for his pioneering performances of the contemporary music of his time. He was essentially self-taught as a musician, and became a violist in the Blüthner Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic when he was sixteen. In 1911 he was an assistant to Arnold Schoenberg in the preparation of Pierrot Lunaire for performance.

Pianist Alice Sara Ott was well known as a child prodigy. She has parlayed that fame into an adult career that has included critical acclaim and a contract with the Deutsche Grammophon label that resulted in an innovative collaboration with electronic musician Ólafur Arnalds.