To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of the Irish-born composer Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), SOMM Recordings is honoured to release his String Quartet No. 2 'Highgate' and String Quartet No. 4 'Harrogate' along with his Variations On an Irish Folk Tune. This follows SOMM's 2024 release of Wood's sixth and last String Quartet in a performance by the London Chamber Ensemble Quartet [SOMMCD 0692], which received a stunning review in The Observer, BBC Music Magazine, MusicWeb International, Klassik. Com and The Strad, and was a Gramophone recommended recording. Featured again on this album, the London Chamber Ensemble was formed in 2019 and is led by violinist Madeleine Mitchell. The ensemble has been praised for it's "high quality chamber music-making" (Musical Opinion) and it's "passionate and persuasive advocacy [and] gripping interpretations" (Gramophone. ) Charles Wood was born into a family of singers and musicians in Armagh, Ireland. He sang in the cathedral choir, became a student organist, and gained experience as a string player, particularly as a violist. By the time he was sixteen, Wood had begun to write chamber music. When, in 1883, he became one of fifty inaugural class members of the Royal College of Music-to study composition under Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and Sir Hubert Parry-he had composed at least one movement of a string quartet. By April 1885, he had completed his String Quartet No. 1. Two years after acquiring his degrees in 1890, Wood composed a second string quartet, which he nicknamed the 'Highgate,' (It seems that he drew the name from visits to see his brother, William, who was the music master at Highgate Grammar School. ) While a little reminiscent of Brahms, the string quartet does point to Wood's emerging individuality. The unusual third movement, for instance, makes use of a seven-bar ground bass coupled with an austere theme for his own instrument, the viola. In 1898, Wood married compatriot Charlotte Georgina Wills-Sandford.  When she was taking the waters in the famous Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate in August 1912, he completed his Fourth Quartet-hence the nickname. Wood's personal voice is evident in this quartet partly through his use of Irish folk melodies and dance tunes as thematic material; as in the captivating reel-like rondo theme of his finale, which is based on one of the Irish Melodies by the Irish writer Thomas Moore. A frequent source for many of Wood's Irish arrangements was Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909). His scintillating Variations on an Irish Folk Tune, dating from 25 August 1916, were based on Melody No. 749 of the 842 melodies in the collection. UPC: 748871072329Label: Somm RecordingsRelease Date: 5.15.26Format: CD
Baseball, Bach, a disused railway line and the misuse of music in Iraqi prisons might be unexpected inspirations behind the work of a composer who is an Oxford professor by day. But the piano music of Martyn Harry - born in Crawley, West Sussex, in 1964 - proves to be a wild, kaleidoscopic mix of just such unlikely influences: Satie, Sorabji, American minimalism, Prokofiev, Silvestrov and more, all intended to exercise the technique of his good friend, the fireball pianist Jonathan Powell, whose early death in December 2025 shocked the musical world. There is a gleeful, almost manic quality to much of this music that found a counterpart in the unflagging energy of Powell's playing. A song-cycle setting six early Anna Akhmatova poems likewise taps into the tension she found in intimacy, releasing a surprising degree of passion. UPC: 5060113447975Label: ToccataRelease Date: 5.15.26Format: CD
Spanning her debut in the 1890s to the esoteric vision of her later years, this world premiere recording features a superb line-up of rising Danish singers, breathing life into Tekla Griebel Wandall's (1869-1953) vivid songs. From the macabre irony of a -Heinrich Heine setting to the profound emotional journey of J.P. Jacobsen's poetry, Wandall grapples with seemingly irreconcilable opposites while toying with both form and feeling. UPC: 747313697021Label: DacapoRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
Alongside their respective solo careers, Helene Mercier and Louis Lortie regularly meet to perform as a highly sought-after piano duo. Both born and raised in Montreal, they have formed a musical partnership that goes back to the 1980s, developing a musical intimacy present throughout their wide-ranging repertoire. Their complicity has been strengthened over decades of playing concerts and recording together. This, their nineth album for Chandos, continues their exploration of works by Debussy. The programme features transcriptions by Ravel, Dutilleux, Woollett, Durand, Roques, and the composer of some of his best-known orchestral works (Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, Nocturnes) and solo piano pieces (Clair de lune, La Soiree dans Grenade, La plus que lente, Rêverie). These sit alongside Lindaraja and en blanc et noir, original compositions for two pianos. Mercier and Lortie alternate the first and second player responsibilities in this mixture of works for two pianos and piano duet. UPC: 0095115239520Label: ChandosRelease Date: 6.19.26Format: CD
Luciano Pavarotti is captured at the height of his expressive power, interpreting the arias that made him a legend. From the soaring lyricism of Verdi to the heartfelt passion of Puccini, this definitive collection reveals Pavarotti's unparalleled gift for shaping a melody, illuminating a character, and touching the soul. Each track glows with renewed depth and presence, drawing listeners closer than ever to the unmistakable warmth and brilliance of the world's most beloved tenor. The album is reissued with newly remastered HD audio for the very first time. These were taken freshly from the pre-master tapes in the Decca vaults and bring a fresh and beautiful perspective to these historic recordings. UPC: 028948718092Label: DeccaRelease Date: 4.10.26Format: CD
Verismo, meaning "realism," was a late-19th century movement in Italian opera that shifted the focus from kings and myths to ordinary people living vivid, emotionally charged lives. These operas confront love, jealousy, betrayal, and longing with unfiltered immediacy. The arias on this album are direct, lyrical, and often explosive, demanding a singer who can deliver both technical brilliance and raw human truth. Originally released in 1971, this reissue comes with new remastered HD audio for the first time. These were taken freshly from the pre-master tapes in the Decca vaults and bring a fresh and beautiful perspective to these historic recordings. UPC: 028948718115Label: DeccaRelease Date: 4.10.26Format: CD
Tracklist:
Onde
Nefeli
Melodia Africana III
Memory One
I Giorni
In Un'altra Vita
Una Mattina
Nuvole Bianche
Monday
Jay
Birdsong
Adieux
Berlin Song
Experience
Luminous
Elegy for the Arctic
Snow Prelude No. 2
UPC: 602488239134Label: DeccaRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
George Enescu(*1881 Liveni, Romania - 1955 Paris)"In Enescu, music became the voice of humanity per se, a voice uttering whatcannot be said." Yehudi MenuhinGeorge Enescu, far from being only Romania's most important composer, is oneof the most colourful musical personalities of the twentieth century. A real citizen of the worldmotivated by humanistic ideas and a patriot at the same time, he was born in the North-East ofhis native country but educated in Vienna and Paris, where his extraordinary talent already becameapparent at a young age. Pablo Casals considered him "the greatest musical phenomenonsince Mozart", and the Viennese press enthused about the "little Romanian Mozart", whowas admitted to the Viennese Conservatory at the tender age of seven. Enescu's genius unites agreat composer, an inspiring conductor, one of the most prominent violinistsof his time and a highly esteemed pianist. UPC: 881488250619Label: Hanssler ClassicRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
Organist Lukas Hasler presents Gold, a radiant debut album featuring his own transcriptions and arrangements for organ. What began five years ago with a fascination for Mozart's G Major Sonata in Edvard Grieg's two-piano version grew into an artistic journey into the transformative world of transcription. Hasler discovered in the organ an instrument capable not only of recreating orchestral and pianistic textures, but of reshaping them into something entirely new. To capture this vision, he turned to the iconic Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, whose expressive possibilities and glowing acoustics inspired both the selection of repertoire and the album's title.Gold offers a rich spectrum of colours and styles, from the jubilant brilliance of Bach's Sinfonia (in Dupre's vibrant transcription) to the tender intimacy of Schumann's Romance, recorded here for the first time on organ. Hasler brings theatrical flair to Lemare's arrangement of Carmen Fantasy, profound stillness to Beethoven's "Moonlight" Adagio, and symphonic vitality to Bruckner's Nullte Scherzo, while Mozart's G Major Sonata - filtered through Grieg's imagination and Hasler's own artistry - bridges Classical clarity and Romantic warmth. Rachmaninoff's stormy Prelude, Lefebure-Wely's sparkling Bolero, and the playful, genre-bending Vienna Calling complete a program that celebrates invention, personality, and the golden richness of the Viennese organ sound. UPC: 8717306265089Label: PentatoneRelease Date: 4.3.26Format: CD
In 455, the tribe of the Vandals lived up to their name when they, along with their king Gaiseric, paid an unforgettable visit to the eternal city of Rome. The literal birth of Vandalism forms the backdrop to this spectacular opera. On 13 July 1722, Georg Philipp Telemann demonstrated with this stage work that the hanseatic city of Hamburg had just appointed him as it's new opera director for the best of reasons. Der Sieg der Schonheit (The Victory of Beauty) is an intricately baroque love story with a quadruple happy ending, over the course of which all kinds of uncertainties have to be overcome. The composer pulls out all the musical and dramaturgical stops at his disposal, including captivating arias, grand choruses, martial music and intimate emotions. The result was a resounding success with audiences, a victory of beauty that - as can be heard here - still echoes today. UPC: 761203569328Label: Cpo RecordsRelease Date: 5.22.26Format: CD
The music of Artur Lemba has been strangely neglected, even in his native Estonia - although during his lifetime (1885-1963) he was held in high regard as pianist and teacher. That oversight is all the more surprising in view of the expansive, passionate lyricism of his writing - listeners who enjoy the music of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov are likely to warm to Lemba's full-blooded Romantic style. This second release in a pioneering series discovering his chamber music reveals three expansive, big-hearted works full of personality. UPC: 5060113447951Label: ToccataRelease Date: 6.5.26Format: CD
Love lies at the heart of the new GENUIN album by the internationally acclaimed soprano and Baroque specialist Magdalena Podkoscielna. Together with an ensemble of seasoned chamber and Baroque musicians, she devotes herself to musical treasures of the Baroque era that explore human and divine love in all it's manifestations.The program features works by Monteverdi, Schütz, Kapsberger, Frescobaldi, and other masters, in which the full spectrum of Baroque affects unfolds. The finely balanced ensemble and the agile, expressive voice of Magdalena Podkoscielna bring this music vividly to life in all it's richness. UPC: 4260036259537Label: GenuinRelease Date: 5.1.26Format: CD
The album takes it's title from a vocalise written by Grzegorz Ciechowski for The Witcher, which here becomes a subtle guide through the intimate soundscape of solo piano. Reflective and atmospheric, the record brings together works by leading composers of contemporary classical and film music, alongside original arrangements of iconic Polish songs. Marked by improvisations where restraint meets imagination, and crystalline tone blends with a quietly melancholic lyricism, the album showcases the distinctive personal style of acclaimed pianist Maksym Rzeminski. UPC: 5902547021485Label: Dux Recording Prod.Release Date: 5.1.26Format: CD
Swedish soprano Malin Bystrom, hailed as one of today's leading singing actors, presents a captivating journey through her celebrated German repertoire. Renowned for her perfect vocal technique, Bystrom brings to life arias and scenes that have enthralled audiences on stage and in concert, accompanied by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Sondergard.The album features excerpts from two 19th-century German operas among her favorites: Beethoven's Fidelio and Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischutz. It also spotlights Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Die Tote Stadt, a lushly orchestrated work that, despite today's relative obscurity, was one of the greatest hits of the 1920s.However, it is Richard Strauss who takes center stage, a composer whose genius for the female voice is unmatched. Bystrom's voice, described by critics as "radiant," "sparkling," and "silvery," soars through the opulence of Die agyptische Helena, the timeless lyricism of Capriccio, and the dramatic intensity of Salome's final scene. This album is a testament to her artistry, showcasing her mastery across the breadth of German operatic tradition. UPC: 7318599927756Label: BisRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
At the borders of mythical Lydia, a crisis erupts: Prince Melo takes up arms against his father, King Haliate, who has been blinded by the slanders of a deceitful adviser who made him believe he would be disinherited in favor of an usurper. It is in this torn kingdom that Sosarme, sovereign of Media and future husband of Princess Elmira, steps forward as a mediator, determined to calm the fury of blood and restore peace. Drawing on the conventions of opera seria, Handel achieves a subtle balance between the power of Antonio Salvi's text and the richness of the score, building a bridge between the Lullian tradition and the innovations later brought by Rameau. Under the direction of Marco Angioloni, the Orchestre de l'Opera Royal delivers a Sosarme that is both innovative and filled with vitality and emotion. UPC: 3760385430720Label: Chateau VersaillesRelease Date: 4.10.26Format: CD
Rachmaninoff in the hands of Marek Kozak - mastery without ostentationTo this day, Rachmaninoff's four concertos remain a touchstone for pianistsaround the world. His piano transcriptions of music by other composers(and of two of his own songs) do not attract so much attention, but whatthey tell us about the composer and his life is just as interesting. Hisarrangements place him alongside Liszt and Busoni, masters of the genre,whose transcriptions are both tributes to the originals and uniquecreations with a sonic aesthetic of their own. Rachmaninoff wrote mostof his transcriptions between 1921 and 1929, when he was busily performingconcerts and making recordings. On the concert stage, they allowed himto demonstrate his phenomenal technique. Among the supreme examplesof his transcriptions are Mendelssohn's popular Scherzo from the incidentalmusic to A Midsummer Night's Dream and three movements from Bach'sPartita in E major for solo violin, BWV 1006. The 1941 arrangementof Tchaikovsky's Lullaby from the cycle Six Romances brings Rachmaninoff'sentire oeuvre to a symbolic conclusion as a remembrance of his reveredteacher and of an extraordinary human being. Each transcription bearswitness to the humility and profound integrity of the composer's approachto such arrangements. Virtuosity, integrity, and humility are no lesscharacteristic of the performer on this recording. Following his successfuldebut album featuring neglected Czech piano concertos (Kovarovic,Borkovec, Kapralova - Supraphon 2024), Marek Kozak demonstrates hismastery even in this - only seemingly - unassuming genre. UPC: 099925437428Label: SupraphonRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
A world-premiere recording of works by a brilliant composer who died far too young at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her Ballads stand among the finest achievements in Polish piano music. Sarnecka's writing is intense and deeply reflective, marked by bold dissonances and sweeping, expertly crafted modulations. Pianist Marek Szlezer brings this forgotten music back to life with performances of striking emotional depth and powerful sonority-an ideal match for the expressive, dramatic voice of this gifted Young Poland composer. UPC: 5902547021867Label: Dux Recording Prod.Release Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
This album features songs to poetry by 20th- and 21st-century writers, composed by an artist whose vocal-instrumental works stand at the heart of his oeuvre. A stripped-down, almost minimalist sonic language shapes a meditative, introspective atmosphere-one that encourages philosophical reflection beyond the album's overarching theme of love.The two singers, commanding expansive operatic range and color, bring heightened drama and emotional intensity, carefully building tension and captivating the listener from the first note to the last. UPC: 5902547022222Label: Dux Recording Prod.Release Date: 5.1.26Format: CD
This recording is the result of my encounter with the Stephen Paulello Opus 102. From the very first notes, I was captivated by the sound of this piano. I had the wonderful feeling that I could shape the sound, dig into it, and discover it's richness - so that, little by little, it's beauty and depth unfolded beneath my fingers. Rich, transparent, and warm all at once, the Stephen Paulello Opus 102 struck me as the ideal instrument to reveal the essence of J.S. Bach's Art of Fugue. UPC: 3701174600306Label: EnphasesRelease Date: 4.24.26Format: CD
Louise Farrenc was one of the most respected pianists, composers and pedagogues in the Parisian musical scene of her day, gaining the admiration of Robert Schumann. Her Theme and Variations sets are regarded as some of the most significant pieces she composed for piano. In this volume, Farrenc takes inspiration from the famous bel canto operas of Bellini and Donizetti, as well as popular airs and dances that would have resounded throughout the fashionable salons of 19th-century Paris. Maria Stratigou continues her acclaimed survey of Farrenc's complete works for piano. UPC: 747313996513Label: Grand PianoRelease Date: 6.12.26Format: CD
This album recording, curated by violinist Marie Schreer, is based on notions of origin and belonging, geographically, emotionally and linguistically. It is centred around three new works by Marie Schreer, Aaron Holloway-Nahum, and Ashkan Behzadi, as well as a new poem by Taher Adel. According to The Strad, German violinist Marie Schreer, who lives in the UK, is "a master of various musical genres", a compelling interpreter of new works, and a prominent representative of the Western classical tradition. UPC: 4039956925125Label: Coviello ClassicsRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
The son of a mill owner, Josef Myslivecek (1737-1781) was born in Prague. After a brief period as a student of literature and philosophy, he started to study organ with Joseph Seger and composition with the renowned Frantisek Vaclav Habermann. After his success with his first symphonies he decided to go to Venice to study voice and composition with Giovanni Battista Pescetti, not only to perfect himself as a musician but probably also to integrate himself into the great operatic tradition of one of the most productive and lively cities of the time. Myslivecek's first opera 'Medea' was a huge success and soon he became the first internationally renowned Bohemian opera composer. During a stay with Padre Martini, he met Mozart in Bologna, who was greatly fascinated by the Bohemian's musical qualities.This 2-CD set presents the works for keyboard and piano: two sets of six sonatas and a Divertimento. The title specifies "for harpsichord or pianoforte, with a violin part ad libitum", which means the violin part is optional, the main part being played by the keyboard. The music remains firmly anchored in it's period, exploring all the musical potential that classicism has to offer: strong structures, refinement and charm, as well as elegant and cantabile melodies.Played on a copy of a Walter fortepiano from 1792 by Marius Bartoccini and violinist Rossella Croce. Bartoccini successfully recorded the complete keyboard music by Myslivecek for Brilliant Classics. UPC: 5063758976862Label: Brilliant ClassicsRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
This CD brings together five works by Eckart Beinke that open sonic spaces where intuition, fragility and heightened awareness intertwine. Rejecting any form of surface brilliance, Beinke turns toward the subtle and unresolved - those delicate resonances in which emotion, memory and thought merge. Each piece unfolds it's own sound-topography: at times an exploration of beginnings, at times a politically alert reflection, at times a sonic mapping of nature, chance or the subconscious. Boundaries blur between noise and pitch, structure and freedom, personal gesture and social vigilance. This CD invites the listener to experience sound as a realm of thinking - a space where perception expands and listening itself becomes a quiet act of intensity and presence. UPC: 4260412810529Label: ArcantusRelease Date: 5.15.26Format: CD
The first album of Postcards from Ukraine gave a potted history of Ukrainian music in the form of a series of miniatures for piano and violin, and the second presented four outstanding chamber works by important Ukrainian composers. This third instalment brings six new arrangements of Ukrainian folksongs, for violin and piano, by Markiyan Melnychenko, integrating them into a programme of folksong and -dance arrangements by some of his best-known virtuoso predecessors. UPC: 5060640070479Label: Toccata NextRelease Date: 4.10.26Format: CD
Fanny inspires and fascinates as a human being. Her personal biography contains quita a considerable portion of tragedy precisely because it is not a story of legendary artistic potential but an example of the strictures of the era in which she lived. UPC: 881488230710Label: Hanssler ClassicRelease Date: 6.19.26Format: CD
Marco Momi (*1978) studied piano, orchestral conducting and composition in Perugia, Strasbourg, The Hague,Rome, Darmstadt and Paris; from 2007 to 2010 he studied and worked at IRCAM in Paris.His music has been performed by Ensemble Intercontemporain, Nikel, Klangforum Wien, Neue VocalsolistenStuttgart, ASKO, Quartetto Prometeo, Trio Accanto, mdi, Trio Abstrackt, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, WDRSinfonieorchester Koln, Matthias Pintscher. Etc..In music, composer Marco Momi has, for many years, offered a brilliant example of deductive logic appliedto sounds and their combinations, a method based on musical structures and their psychological resonance.This monograph collection, which includes the complete Vuoi che cycle (Vuoi che i passi accadano, Vuoi cheperduti, Vuoi che nel fuori) as well as Almost Close (part of the Almost cycle, together with Almost Nowhere,Almost Quiver, and Almost Nowhen), is a mature and refined representation of Momi's musical thought. UPC: 8011570373465Label: StradivariusRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
This recording was made in June 1972, in the months after the construction of Nimbus Records first purpose built recording studio in Birmingham. The sessions included works by Mendelssohn and Brahms, both composers whose music Martin would go on to record for Nimbus in later years. Why the Poulenc was not released is a mystery. It was finished as a master for production less than a month after the recording, but has sat on the shelves for 53 years. Here is a joyful reminder of the youthful virtuosity of one of the UKs most highly regarded pianists. c Adrian Farmer UPC: 0710357711725Label: Nimbus RecordsRelease Date: 4.3.26Format: CD
Regarded as one of Europe's leading horn players, Martin Owen appears as a soloist and chamber musician all around the world. He currently holds the position of principal horn at the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, and Haffner Wind Ensemble, having served as principal horn of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and, on a temporary contract, as solo horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Mozart composed all of these pieces for the virtuoso horn player Joseph Leutgeb (or Leitgeb) (1732 - 1811). Leutgeb was born in Vienna and established his reputation as a soloist there before working in Salzburg, where Mozart made his acquaintance. Martin Owen writes: 'In this recording, we have attempted to portray a more youthful vigour in the earlier works (indeed, of Joseph Leutgeb himself, for whom they were written) compared to the Concerto in D, in many ways a swan song for both soloist and composer, in which I hope our performance shows more depth of tone and a higher level of maturity. I was intrigued by the fact that in 1990, sixty bars of music were uncovered in a Sotheby's auction, which were later confirmed as belonging to the concert Rondeau, KV 371 - when I was young, I only knew the work without these bars and always felt that there was too abrupt a change into the next section! Now it makes complete sense.' UPC: 0095115237724Label: ChandosRelease Date: 5.15.26Format: CD
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