This four-disc set brings together the complete Offertories of Palestrina, the supreme master of Renaissance sacred polyphony. Each disc is devoted to works for different seasons of the liturgical year and a range of solemn occasions. Conceived for the adornment of the liturgy at the foremost church of Rome, these compositions have retained their place at the heart of the Christian musical tradition, admired across the centuries for their devotional purpose and their incomparable artistic perfection.In this distinguished recording, Schola Cantorum Gedanensis-one of Poland's most esteemed vocal ensembles, with nearly half a century of artistic achievement-turns to this sublime repertoire with characteristic insight and poise. Laureate of six Fryderyk Awards and two Golden Orpheus distinctions, the choir, under the direction of Jan Lukaszewski, offers an interpretation of luminous clarity, tonal refinement, and contemplative depth, revealing anew the spiritual radiance of these timeless works. UPC: 5902547022383Label: Dux Recording Prod.Release Date: 7.3.26Format: CD
I'm delighted to be bringing this second part of our Eton Choirbook recording project into the world, to follow the first instalment, Heavenly Light. The second album moves away from the work of Wylkynson and consists of pieces by seven other composers, five in reconstructions by Russell Blacker, and two-Banester's O Maria et Elizabeth and Browne's Stabat iuxta Christi crucem-which are preserved complete in the manuscript. It is these two pieces which frame the album and inspired it's title, Earthly Solace-in contrast to the purely celestial focus of the rest of the texts, they both have a very direct relation to events happening in the English royal family at the time of their composition, and bookend specifically the life of Arthur, ill-fated elder brother of the future Henry VIII. c Daniel Gilchrist UPC: 7080930000052Label: CrdRelease Date: 7.3.26Format: CD
Published in 1739, Johann Sebastian Bach's Dritter Teil der Clavierubung (Third Part of the Keyboard Practice) is one of the most profound monuments of organ literature. Conceived as a theological and musical summa, this cycle of chorale preludes framed by a majestic Prelude and Fugue reflects Bach's deep Lutheran faith and his consummate mastery of counterpoint. Intended 'for amateurs and especially for connoisseurs for the recreation of the spirit,' it invites us into a world where intellect and devotion meet in perfect harmony.This collection is not merely a set of organ pieces-it is a spiritual architecture in sound. Every element, from it's opening tri-thematic Prelude to it's closing five-voice Fugue, is imbued with symbolism, theological meaning, and artistic grandeur. For Bach, music was never just ornament; it was a language of faith, capable of expressing the mysteries of doctrine with clarity and beauty.Bach's models for this work were inspired from two great traditions: Italian Liturgical Collections - Above all, Girolamo Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali (1635), which provided organ music for the Catholic Mass. Frescobaldi's influence is evident in the structural parallels: preludes before the service, organ verses alternating with chant, and pieces for specific liturgical moments. The other influence is the French Baroque Livres d'Orgue - Especially Nicolas de Grigny's Premier Livre d'Orgue (1699), which Bach copied in his youth, and Francois Couperin's organ masses. These works introduced Bach to the elegance of French ornamentation, the grandeur of the plein jeu, and the expressive possibilities of contrasting registrations. Bach absorbed these influences and reimagined them within the Lutheran framework, creating a cycle that parallels the structure of the Mass but substitutes chorales central to Reformed doctrine. In doing so, he forged a synthesis of Italian rhetorical expressiveness, French coloristic refinement, and German contrapuntal rigor.Played with intense devotion and understanding by Sergio Vartolo. Sergio Vartolo is an Italian organist, harpsichordist, and conductor known for his expertise in early music, especially the works of Baroque composers. Born in Bologna in 1944, he studied organ, composition, and musicology, developing a deep interest in historically informed performance. Vartolo has performed widely across Europe and recorded extensively, bringing renewed attention to lesser-known Italian composers. His interpretations combine scholarly research with expressive musicianship, making him an influential figure in the early music movement. UPC: 5063758700320Label: Brilliant ClassicsRelease Date: 8.14.26Format: CD
Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski continues his critically acclaimed piano concertos series on Linn Records with a 'spectacular' (Bachtrack) live recording of Saint-Saens' Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5, both performed at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with Thomas Sondergard conducting the colourful and energetic Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It took Saint-Saens just seventeen days to compose the Second Concerto and practice for the premiere under the baton of Anton Rubinstein! A feat as impressive as the quality of the work itself whose well-balanced movements look back on Faure and Bach. The Fifth Concerto is the composer's answer to Wagner mania. Indeed, the work can almost be taken as a hint to his compatriots that there were plenty of other sources of inspiration available, such as the Nubian love song that Saint-Saens had heard sung by boatmen on the Nile and the sound of croaking frogs, which feature in the second movement and give the work it's title: 'The Egyptian'. This Concerto is a showcase of virtuosity for both composer and pianist. UPC: 691062077026Label: Linn RecordsRelease Date: 8.28.26Format: CD
After nearly six years of artistic absence from the recording studio, soprano Simone Kermes returns with an album that is both deeply personal and stylistically wide-ranging: La Luce brings together Baroque operatic art, Classical concert arias, and the film-inspired sound worlds of the 20th century, forming a carefully conceived panorama of light and shadow. Kermes is accompanied by the Orchestra of the Warsaw Chamber Opera under the musical direction of Julien Salemkour. La Luce is far more than a stylistic collage. The album unfolds a musical dramaturgy that understands light as a metaphor for hope, transcendence, and emotional revelation. Simone Kermes employs her extraordinary technical mastery not as an end in itself, but as a means of shaping highly diverse expressive worlds - from Baroque affect rhetoric and Classical soul portraiture to modern, film-inspired sound poetry. In the sensitive yet powerful accompaniment by the Orchestra of the Warsaw Chamber Opera under Julien Salemkour, a homogeneous overall sound emerges that respects historical styles while placing them in a timeless context. La Luce thus proves to be an artistically ambitious concept album that brings different musical epochs into dialogue and once again presents Simone Kermes as an exceptional bridge between tradition and modernity. UPC: 4262353971079Label: Prospero ClassicalRelease Date: 8.21.26Format: CD
The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it unperformed for a century or more. This fourth volume presents his only symphony, a strikingly assured work for a composer in his late teens. Unsurprisingly, it owes a good deal to Schumann in it's dancing rhythms, heraldic bearing and orchestral colours - and the Scherzo might almost be by Mendelssohn on holiday in Poland. The 'Six Episodes' - charming, ingratiating and energising by turn - are all that remain of the lost full-length ballet Laurin. They were saved because Moszkowski excerpted them for concert performance, thereby creating a 'Dance Suite' in all but name. UPC: 5060113446152Label: ToccataRelease Date: 8.7.26Format: CD
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Darrell Ang and Joshua Tan, presents a compelling programme that explores the rich and often unexpected dialogue between film and concert music, featuring works by John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, and Hugo Friedhofer. Once considered distinct spheres, these worlds are brought together through compositions that reveal the breadth and depth of three composers whose artistry extends far beyond the screen. At the centre of the programme is Williams' Concerto for Solo Flute, Strings and Percussion (starring Singapore Symphony Principal Flutist Jin Ta), a work of striking imagination and expressive range, complemented by his Essay for Strings (1965), an early yet already assured statement of his concert voice.Alongside these works, Herrmann's Souvenirs de Voyage for clarinet quintet, here heard in the late Hans Sorensen's adaptation for clarinet and string orchestra, receives it's world premiere recording with clarinettist Ma Yue, offering a vivid example of the composer's distinctive harmonic language in a concert setting. Friedhofer's Suite for 5 Woodwinds, also presented in a world premiere recording, further enriches the programme with it's inventive textures and stylistic range. Together, these works highlight a shared spirit ofexploration, brought to life with clarity and refinement by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in a release that continues it's distinguished collaboration with PENTATONE. UPC: 8717306265287Label: PentatoneRelease Date: 7.24.26Format: CD
Sir Adrian Boult began his long association with the music of Vaughan Williams in 1918 when he conducted A London Symphony, earning praise from the composer. Boult's commitment to the symphony, which he described as very near to his heart, never wavered, and he conducted it over 60 times from the 1918 concerts right through to 1973. The Daily Telegraph described Boult's conducting of this performance from the 1971 Proms as 'quietly authoritative.. which held one's attention throughout'. Martin Cotton, in his booklet note, states that the performance is closer to his 1952 recording when the composer was present with a greater sense of flow than his EMI recording of the same year. The fill-ups of Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad from 1971 and Moeran's Sinfonietta from 1963 are testimony to Boult's deep engagement with British music, which remained strong throughout his career. UPC: 5060244551879Label: Ica ClassicsRelease Date: 4.24.26Format: CD
Ten years after it's sensational discovery in a Brussels auction house, the Leuven Chansonnier emerges as one of the rarest treasures of Franco-Flemish polyphony: a tiny manuscript from ca. 1470, perfectly preserved, containing 50 exquisite chansons - twelve of them unknown from any other source.This deluxe CD box offers the first complete recording of the manuscript, presented in it's original order and brought vividly to life by the acclaimed Sollazzo Ensemble. Accompanied by a groundbreaking study of the repertoire, the release illuminates the musical world of Ockeghem, Busnoys and their contemporaries, and invites us into the refined poetic universe of the Burgundian courts. UPC: 5425004841506Label: PassacailleRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
This album brings together major choral works by Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar, reflecting the richness of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British music. At it's centre is Parry's de Profundis, a large-scale setting of Psalm 130, widely admired by contemporaries for it's emotional depth, contrapuntal mastery and expressive journey from penitence to hope. Parry's anthem God Is Our Hope and Strength complements it with a grand, confident vision of choral architecture and spiritual assurance. Elgar is represented by the intimate partsong The Snow and the charming Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands, inspired by Alpine landscapes and folk traditions, capturing a more personal and lyrical side of his art. UPC: 635212100523Label: Signum ClassicsRelease Date: 7.17.26Format: CD
The Vienna based French bassoonist Sophie Dervaux continues her Vivaldi journey - completing the Bassoon Concerti step by step. She is the first female bassoonist of the famous Vienna Philharmonic. In this recording Dervaux is accompanied by La Folia Baroque Orchestra, which is one of the most important ensembles for historically informed perfomances on period instruments. UPC: 885470044828Label: Berlin ClassicsRelease Date: 8.21.26Format: CD
This album explores Gustav Mahler's early songs, tracing the emergence of his distinctive musical voice. Featuring works from his youthful Lieder alongside the complete Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, the programme reveals the composer's evolving relationship between song and symphonic thought. Performed by an ensemble of distinguished vocal soloists with pianist Joseph Middleton, the recording highlights Mahler's sensitivity to poetry, emotional nuance, and dramatic storytelling. Rooted in folk-influenced texts, these songs reflect themes of nature, love, memory, and self-discovery, offering insight into the formative creative period that shaped Mahler's later orchestral masterpieces. UPC: 635212100622Label: Signum ClassicsRelease Date: 7.10.26Format: CD
Musica ricercata is a kind of journey through the fossils of European musical culture after the explosion of the two World Wars. Like all composers living in the shadow of nuclear threat, Ligeti sees time as the great enemy: he cages it, crystallizing it into an eternal present so material, that it prevents the flow of Chance within it. UPC: 8051773578380Label: Urania RecordsRelease Date: 8.7.26Format: CD
Douglas Moore's opera Giants in the Earth receives it's world premiere recording with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra under the music direction of Delta David Gier. Set on the stark, uninhabited Dakota plains, the drama follows Beret and Per Hansa, whose deep love is tested by isolation and the harsh realities of pioneer life. Moore's text-driven vocal lines flow with natural expression, weaving short, expressive ariosos into a seamless melodic tapestry. Central to the story, Beret's ornate Norwegian chest serves as altar, refuge, and symbol of home, underscoring the opera's themes of memory, tradition, and human longing.Moore's tonal score contrasts strength and fragility through vocal ranges, building tension toward Beret's fateful choices amid blizzards and loss. Every nuance is vividly realized, from intimate lyrical passages to the opera's devastating climax. This landmark recording illuminates the emotional intensity, psychological depth, and lyrical beauty of a work long awaited in full, making it an essential addition for lovers of American opera. The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra excavated, engraved, and revived the opera in Sioux Falls on April 26, 2025. UPC: 8717306265577Label: PentatoneRelease Date: 7.10.26Format: CD
With "Kiss of Fire," Spark present their newest project and once again make a powerful statement of musical boundary-breaking. The ensemble is known for it's distinctive and varied programs that move beyond traditional genre limits and continuously redefine classical music.For Kiss of Fire, Spark has collaborated with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn. This encounter gives the characteristic sound a new tonal dimension and expands the ensemble's spectrum with an additional orchestral color.A special highlight of the album is the world premiere recording of the commissioned work by Dutch composer Chiel Meijering. UPC: 885470037318Label: Berlin ClassicsRelease Date: 5.8.26Format: CD
SPLICE Ensemble has spent the last ten years developing a repertoire for their uncommon instrumentation of trumpet, piano, percussion, and electronics. The group, comprising pianist Keith Kirchoff, percussionist Adam Vidiksis, and trumpeter Sam Wells, prizes deep collaboration with composers and a commitment to the rich possibilities of electroacoustic composition. On Ansible, the trio presents three works commissioned over the last decade by Steven L. Ricks, Caroline Louise Miller, and Elainie Lillios that highlight SPLICE Ensemble's sensitive and dynamic approach to timbre while examining issues of temporality. UPC: 780518613281Label: New FocusRelease Date: 7.3.26Format: CD
The gala concert to celebrate the 475th anniversaryof the foundation of the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden on September 22, 2023After the introductory tones of Carl Maria von Weber's festive 'Jubel' Overture havedied away, conductor Christian Thielemann turns round and addresses himself to theaudience: not an official pronouncement with an edited manuscript but a spontaneous, deeply felt expression of commitment. The principal conductor praises the'wondrous way' in which the orchestra's sound has remained true to itself over thecenturies, recalling the great succession of it's Kapellmeisters 'from Hasse throughWeber and Wagner to Busch and Bohm' and relating it to the exceptional artisticdepth of the city.With a nice touch of irony he quotes Rousseau, who praised Dresden's 'splendidorchestra' at a distance in 1763, and Beethoven, who wrote half a century later:'It is said to be the best in all Europe.' Finally Thielemann finds words that soundlike a gentle reminder in this splendid hall: 'Take care of this orchestra of mine theway you take care of Meissen porcelain and your art collections!It is an appeal and an avowal of love too - for the musicians, for the city, for a 475-yearoldtradition that never gathers dust but is constantly renewing itself.The gala concert of September 22, 2023 is more than a celebration of the past: itis an affirmation of what remains present - that Dresden light that streams forth fromthis recording. UPC: 881488260021Label: Profil - G HaensslerRelease Date: 8.7.26Format: CD
Hans Werner Henze. Royal Winter Music. Two Sonatas on Shakespearean Characters marks animportant stage in Stefano Grondona's recording career: after years of sustained engagement with itand public performances (roughly from 1982 to 1995), the musician returns to confront this pivotalwork of twentieth-century guitar repertoire. At the same time, in the manner and outcomes of thistraversal, the record bears witness to an oblique and little-trodden modality of approachingcompositions that, like this one, embody peculiarities and contradictions of the more cultured guitarrepertoire.The physiognomy of this work, as Marek Orszulik argued (Aspects of the Historical Development ofRepertoire for the Guitar. A Case Study of Hans Werner Henze's Royal Winter Music, Sonatas onShakespearean Characters, University of Alberta, 2016), reconciles the sonata, understood as a genreof large-scale form and monumental architecture, with the Character Piece, a rhapsodic, dramatic,and psychological composition. In the introductions to the printed editions published by Schott,Henze makes clear that, through the Royal Winter Music cycle, he intended to engage with a seriesof key characters from Shakespearean theatre (to whom the different movements of the sonatas arededicated), who appear and disappear through the guitar's sonic textures. UPC: 8011570373670Label: StradivariusRelease Date: 8.7.26Format: CD
In the days before recorded sound, people usually learned their orchestral music at home, playing it in piaIn the days before recorded sound, people usually learned their orchestral music at home, playing it in piano transcriptions for two or four hands. Two German-Jewish composers took that idea a stage further: Ignaz Moscheles, protege of Beethoven, wrote a symphony for four hands at a single keyboard, and Ferdinand Hiller, friend of Berlioz, Chopin and Liszt, went a step further, following Moscheles' symphony without an orchestra with an opera without singers - both works bold genre-busters well before the term had even been invented. No transcriptions for two or four hands. Two German-Jewish composers took that idea a stage further: Ignaz Moscheles, protege of Beethoven, wrote a symphony for four hands at a single keyboard, and Ferdinand Hiller, friend of Berlioz, Chopin and Liszt, went a step further, following Moscheles' symphony without an orchestra with an opera without singers - both works bold genre-busters well before the term had even been invented. UPC: 5060640070424Label: Toccata NextRelease Date: 8.21.26Format: CD
With this landmark release, Nathalie Stutzmann becomes one of the few women and the first with a major U.S. orchestra to record a cornerstone of the Bruckner repertoire. Since 2022, she has shaped the ASO into a "pristine, precisely leveled" ensemble (ArtsATL), fusing American precision with European depth. Following their acclaimed Dvorák 9, praised for it's "explosive" energy and "bold, raw" textures, she brings her acclaimed Wagnerian insight from Bayreuth (Tannhäuser, Rienzi) to Bruckner's 4th. According to Bachtrack: "With her intuitive gifts as a Brucknerian... she has interrogated every bar of these scores for herself." Stutzmann has called Bruckner one of her favourite composers and has a deep connection to his music.
Tracklist:
Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, Wab 104 "Romantic": I. Bewegt, Nicht Zu Schnell (1880 Version)
Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, Wab 104 "Romantic": II. Andante Quasi Allegretto (1880 Version)
Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, Wab 104 "Romantic": III. Scherzo. Bewegt - Trio. Nicht Zu Schnell (1880 Version)
Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, Wab 104 "Romantic": IV. Finale. Bewegt, Doch Nicht Zu Schnell (1880 Version)
UPC: 5026854324210Label: Warner ClassicsRelease Date: 5.29.26Format: CD
Following her recital dedicated to exiled composers (BIS-2332), Sueye Park joins forces with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducted by Valentin Egel, to present concertante works for violin and orchestra by Karl Goldmark and Jean Sibelius.The two composers may belong to different generations and cultures, but their musical DNA is strikingly similar; both were virtuoso violinists who weathered financial and political storms, drew inspiration from Mendelssohn and Wagner, and penned masterful violin concertos. Their paths actually crossed in Vienna (1890-91) when Sibelius studied under Goldmark, and this brief but significant mentorship inspired violinist Sueye Park to pair their works on this album.At the heart of the album is Goldmark's Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 28 (1877); a sweeping, virtuosic masterpiece that marries Hungarian folk inflections with German Romanticism. Complementing this are Sibelius's exquisite shorter works: the late Suite JS 185, the lyrical Two Serious Melodies, Op. 77, and the highly expressive Humoresques, Op. 87. Together, this program celebrates two composers who were supremely at home writing for the violin-an instrument inextricably woven into the fabric of their musical identities. UPC: 7318599927824Label: BisRelease Date: 7.10.26Format: CD
This album presents a selection of chamber works that offers a compelling cross-section of the composer's musical imagination, as well as the fluency with which he moves across a richly varied stylistic landscape. The outstanding performers respond with complete assurance to the intentions of one of the most frequently performed composers of his generation. Adrian Robak explores unconventional instrumental combinations and a wide spectrum of sonorities, while remaining in meaningful dialogue with the aesthetic currents of earlier decades. His music impresses and moves through the sincerity of it's expression-an artistic voice that has earned him growing recognition on concert stages in Poland and abroad. UPC: 5902547022000Label: Dux Recording Prod.Release Date: 7.3.26Format: CD
Sopranos Susan Narucki and Kirsten Ashley Wiest team up for an illuminating collection of music for two voices by a range of composers. Featuring music by Kaija Saariaho, Marti Epstein, Alba Potes, Jeffrey Holmes, Rozalie Hirs, and Pascal Dusapin, the duo explores a wide section of techniques and aesthetics that are the focus of composition today through the lens of the intimate vocal chamber format. UPC: 613527025076Label: New FocusRelease Date: 8.21.26Format: CD
From SOMM Recordings comes another release in their warmly received series Elgar from the Archives, drawn from the remarkable collection of producer and restoration engineer Lani Spahr, containing over 5,000 historic Elgar recordings. Reviewing the first volume of the series, Stuart Millson, a Contributing Editor to The Brazen Head, wrote, "Again, sound-supremo, Lani Spahr has done a wonderful job of "French-polishing" this (English) music." Volume 4 of the series presents the Concert Overture In the South (Alassio), Op. 50 and Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55.The volumes in the Elgar from the Archives series feature both British artists and equally laudable performers from other countries, and In the South is a 1954 release featuring the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Leipzig. The ensemble is conducted by Gerhard Pfluger (1907-1991) who was born and educated in Dresden and had the misfortune to come to maturity during the years of National Socialism, the destruction of much of Germany, and the establishment of the German Democratic Republic. He joined the Nazi party in 1940, and from 1946, as a member of the East German communist party, he held conducting positions in Rostock and Weimar in addition to Leipzig. Against this backdrop, for an East German orchestra and conductor to issue the work of a British composer was not only rare but courageous.Elgar was enjoying a family holiday in Italy during the winter of 1903 to 1904, and he was supposed to be working on a long-planned symphony. However, the resort town of Alassio on the Italian Riviera proved to be too alluring, and it inspired him to write a concert overture instead that captured the local atmosphere. He later recalled how, one beautiful afternoon in the Vale of Andora, " in a flash, it all came to me. In that time I had composed the overture - the rest was merely writing it down."Elgar did get around to completing his First Symphony in 1908, and it had it's premiere in Manchester on 3 December that year with Hans Richter conducting the Halle Orchestra. It was, as The Musical Times described it, an "immediate and phenomenal success." On the evening of 30 January 1958, the City of Manchester celebrated the centenary of the Halle Orchestra with a concert that was both broadcast and televised, and it is this live recording that is presented here. The orchestra was led by Sir John Barbirolli, their Principal Conductor from 1943 to 1970. Michael Kennedy, biographer of Elgar and Barbirolli, said of the performance, "In their finest hour, the Halle and it's conductor found the best in each other to do honour to their own traditions." UPC: 758871504928Label: Somm RecordingsRelease Date: 7.17.26Format: CD
This album brings together the world premiere recordings of works by the eminent ethnomusicologist, composer, and pianist. The solo piano pieces reflect his profound engagement with folk music, courtly traditions, and sacred song, distilled into a musical language of remarkable colour, sensitivity, and depth.Among the highlights of the programme is the late-Romantic Sonata for Violin and Piano - one of Kamienski's most significant and representative compositions - a work of striking dramatic power, emotional urgency, and dazzling instrumental writing.Szymon Telecki and Pawel Pawlik, both celebrated for their distinguished artistic careers, bring exceptional virtuosity, expressive breadth, and stylistic refinement to these performances, offering interpretations that fully reveal the artistic stature of these remarkable works. UPC: 5902547022444Label: Dux Recording Prod.Release Date: 7.3.26Format: CD
When pianist Tatiana Kozlova began exploring Peter Tchaikovsky's composition 'Seasons' on the occasion of it's 150th anniversary, she initially thought of interpreting it as images of nature and scenes from everyday life. However, a thorough study of the musical texts and the circumstances surrounding the cycle's creation led her to completely different and fascinating conclusions. Her knowledge of the Russian poems presented to Tchaikovsky for each month, as well as her knowledge of Russian literature and culture of that period, form the background to her unusual recording. UPC: 4025796026023Label: Querstand RecordsRelease Date: 8.21.26Format: CD
How the reputation of a musician could spread throughout Europe without today's means of communication is something the modern mind can scarcely comprehend. This is all the more remarkable in the case of Giacomo Carissimi, who spent his career in the service of a single Roman institution devoted to education and worship. Yet by the middle of the seventeenth century, he was attracting visitors from across Europe, drawn by his incomparable mastery in giving musical expression to every emotion and every word. In their current production, the members of the Boston Early Music Festival-fresh from winning the Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for their most recent Telemann recording-follow in the footsteps of this extraordinary composer. Alongside Latin motets and an Italian cantata, the program features two intimate oratorios whose influence long outlived their creator. Even decades after Carissimi's death, George Frideric Handel could not resist reworking substantial portions of the famous Jephte for his own purposes. UPC: 761203573028Label: Cpo RecordsRelease Date: 7.17.26Format: CD
Any close engagement with the later works of the Austrian composer Karl Weigl soon-and almost inevitably-becomes an exercise in tracing origins. Driven into American exile by the delusions of a self-proclaimed master race, he, like many of his contemporaries, remained so firmly bound to his cultural roots that a nostalgic backward glance across the Atlantic becomes perceptible even where his music ventures into comparatively advanced musical language. He never relinquishes tonal gravity, nor does he lose the unmistakable grace he carried with him into exile. As a result, even in one of humanity's most tragic moments (1939), when he entrusted his quartet with a deeply heartfelt and intimate prayer, he placed his faith in the healing power of beauty. And two years later, he was able to compose Three Intermezzi that, from first bar to last, reveal the Viennese artist he remained throughout his life. UPC: 761203553020Label: Cpo RecordsRelease Date: 7.17.26Format: CD
This album brings together piano sonatas by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and Schumann that reflect a specifically German approach to the form, distinct from the Viennese Classical tradition. Pianist Tianxu An explores works composed within a 26-year span, a period in which composers redefined the sonata through structural experimentation and greater performative expression. Central to the recording is a focus on the composers' detailed markings, including dynamics, pedalling, and phrasing, and how these shape interpretation in performance. Recorded in 2024, the release presents An's considered engagement with this repertoire and his interest in it's intellectual rigour and expressive breadth. UPC: 635212097328Label: Signum ClassicsRelease Date: 8.28.26Format: CD
