Collected Works and War of the Martian Ghosts is the definitive recorded collection of living Chicago DIY legend, Dr. Charles Joseph Smith. It also marks the first archival release from Chicago's Sooper Records. All of the music here is being made widely available for the first time ever. This 90-minute collection is compiled from 30 years of Charles' self-released music spanning concert piano, electroacoustic experimentation, electronic beats, free improvisation, and two instrumental realizations of his evolving sci-fi opera, War of the Martian Ghosts (a 2023 electronic realization, and a 2018 piano realization). This double Vinyl / Triple CD Collector's Edition includes an extensive liner note booklet containing 9000 words about the artist's life and work, as well as poetry, interviews, quotes, and 30 archival photographs. Liner notes written by Sooper co-founder Glenn Curran and edited by Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz.Dr. Charles Joseph Smith's remarkable story begins with a mute child's gift for music, and the purposeful way he nurtured this talent to become both life practice and raison d'être. Charles recounts this artistic journey in his autobiography, The 88 Keys that Opened Doors, a self-published book that chronicles a life in which music was (and still is) the primary key to overcoming immense challenges posed by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).His career as a musician starts in the church, reaches into the international concert piano circuit, and eventually settles to bear strange fruit in Chicago's experimental underground. Along the way, Charles Joseph Smith's compositional voice absorbed and metabolized popular music spanning pop to jazz, the gospel of the church, the canon of the classical conservatory, modern dance scores, and the rule-shattering experimentalism of his city's DIY subculture, where he has been a mainstay for over 30 years. Since the mid-1990s, Charles has been performing, dancing, and selling his self-published musical and written works in person, often at the local shows he frequents. He is known around Chicago as a living symbol of the power of music, and of the beloved spirit of community at the heart of DIY. This is the definitive collection of his original recordings-though it would be impossible to ever encompass the galaxies of music, poetry, and prose penned by the prolific Dr. Charles Joseph Smith.
Tracklist:
Sounds of the Beach - Two Voices (2002)
Le Leader Negatif (2008)
Beats for Katie S. Rap Song (Revised with No Ondes Martenot) (2012)
Selection from First 16-Minute Original Techno Mix with Crossfades (2012)
Love Theme (1996)
Rubber Band Improvisation (1994)
My Days Are Not Over for Me (1993)
Experimental Jazz Piano B - Latin (Improvisation) (2013)
A Mixture of Musical Styles (1994)
The Five Louises (An Experimental Opera) (2008)
Dreams of Being Viola
Acid Rain
Distribution
Instrumental Extension of Marching to War (Act 1)
War of the Martian Ghosts (2023)
Dance in Homage to the Stars Shining at Night
Foggy, Cloudy ; a Little Windy
2nd Movement of Jazz Sonata
Underscore Music Before Dissolution of Being (Act 2) - Instrumental
Dissolution of Being (Act 2) - Orchestral Version
Recapitulation - the Rap Scene from Act 2 - Instrumental
Butterfly Study in F# Minor
Final Descent
An Unusual Welcome Parade
Council of Elders
March to War
War of the Martian Ghosts (2018)
The Aftermath
Restoration
Flourishing Cities of Undead
Recapitulation
Dissonance of Being
UPC: 789091611783Label: Sooper RecordsRelease Date: 4.3.26Format: CD
Pianist Charlotte Hu presents Goyescas, an album featuring Granados' monumental Goyescas alongside two Spanish Dances. A cornerstone of Spanish piano literature, Goyescas was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya and unfolds as a richly poetic suite where passion, tenderness, shadow, and light coexist across six vividly characterised movements. From the playful charm of "Los requiebros" to the lyrical intimacy of "La maja y el ruiseñor" and the profound emotional summit of "El amor y la muerte," Granados' masterwork reveals a world of dramatic contrasts and refined storytelling. Hu captures both the virtuosic brilliance and the deeply intimate narrative of the music, illuminating it's modern harmonic language and unmistakable Spanish spirit with freshness and reverence.Complementing the suite are two Spanish Dances: the hauntingly introspective No. 2, "Oriental," and the vibrant, guitar-inflected No. 5, "Andaluza." Together, they offer concentrated glimpses into Granados' expressive range - from quiet longing and poetic reflection to radiant joy and folkloric vitality. This release marks her second album on PENTATONE, following her debut, Liszt: Metamorphosis, released in 2024. UPC: 8717306265225Label: PentatoneRelease Date: 6.5.26Format: CD
The Chiaroscuro Quartet is now offering us the fourth instalment of their ongoing complete recording of Beethoven's string quartets. This latest release spotlights the first two of the three opus 59 quartets known as the 'Razumovsky', named for their patron, the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andreas Razumovsky, who maintained a house quartet in his palace.Beethoven was particularly proud of these new quartets, despite the initial bewilderment they provoked among audiences, critics and even performers. Famously, when a violinist complained of their difficulty, Beethoven retorted: 'Oh, they are not for you, but for a later age." The first, in F Major, was almost certainly the longest string quartet composed up to that point and it's unprecedented weight and density of argument earn it the moniker the Eroica among Beethoven's quartets. The second, in E minor, is often described as a 'close cousin' of the 'Appassionata' Sonata, in that both works -composed at around the same time- are permeated by a profound darkness from start to finish.The Chiaroscuro Quartet's previous installments in this cycle have already garnered superlative praise from the musical press, hailed as "breathtaking", "bristling with excitement and youthful vitality", and "a very special experience". There is no doubt this latest release is poised to achieve similar critical acclaim. UPC: 7318599926889Label: BisRelease Date: 4.3.26Format: CD
The Azrieli Music Prizes unveil their fifth album for Analekta, celebrating excellence in music composition across four world-premiere recordings that place a spotlight on the 2024 Laureates. Jordan Nobles' kanata is a sonic and restorative reflection on place, landscape, and home inspired by his travels across Canada. Josef Bardanashvili's choral fantasy Light to My Path draws on both his Georgian choral heritage and the Book of Psalms to examine various states of belief, from doubt to ecstasy and gratitude. Yair Klartag's The Parable of the Palace explores medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides' famous parable to create a musical meditation on the limits of reason in explaining reality and our search for the divine, all sung in the original Judeo-Arabic. Closing the album is Juan Trigos' SimetrÃas Prehispánicas, which pays homage to the cultural history of his native Mexico, especially Aztec culture and cosmology, through fragments of original texts in Spanish and Nahuatl by 15th-century poets.Created in 2014 by Sharon Azrieli CQ for the Azrieli Foundation, the biennial Azrieli Music Prizes discover, elevate, and amplify excellence in music composition. UPC: 774204926526Label: AnalektaRelease Date: 4.10.26Format: CD
One of the famous operas by Richard Wagner in an arrangement for two pianos by Gustav Mahler's friend Hermann Behn. UPC: 4012476566016Label: MusicaphonRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
Gramophone (UK): Another collection of archive CDs celebrates the considerable artistry and beautiful tone of the American cellist Christine Walevska... In her prime Walevska was one of those players who virtually became her instrument Musicweb (UK): The variety of repertoire and accompanying orchestras and accompanists shows that she managed to sustain a strong career over the years and the performances reflect a broadly French-Russian inheritance, subtly deployed. This is a fine box that brings Walevska to renewed notice. UPC: 4713106280349Label: Rhine ClassicsRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
Ronald Stevenson (1928-2015) was perhaps the only virtuoso pianist-composer in the manner of Rachmaninov and Liszt to have Celtic origins, and so it is natural to find a Celtic flavour emerging in his music - his transcriptions as well as his original compositions. It also helps explain his affinity for fellow composers like Grieg and Grainger, whose creative efforts looked to the north. But Stevenson's openness of spirit put the whole world of music within his reach, and so piano rags can here rub shoulders with works more directly concerned to express his humanist impulse. UPC: 5060113447876Label: ToccataRelease Date: 5.15.26Format: CD
Christopher Tye is less famous than his Tudor contemporary Thomas Tallis and his documented life more chaotic, but the caliber of his Masses and polyphony are unsurpassed for color, full-textured fabric and interwoven melodic lines. The music may be English but the five members of Cinquecento ('16th century' in Italian) are pan-European, each bringing a lifetime of early music experience to forgotten masterpieces. This is their 17th album for Hyperion. Tye successfully negotiated the perilous politics of an era when successive monarchs, from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, pulled England back and forth between Catholicism and Protestantism, and demanded that church music bend accordingly. The Peterhouse Mass recorded here survives in partbooks found in the Cambridge college of the same name; the missing tenor part has been reconstructed by Paul Doe. UPC: 034571284781Label: HyperionRelease Date: 4.24.26Format: CD
Following the huge success of the album Spotlight on John Williams, the City Light Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kevin Griffiths, returns with an equally spectacular follow-up project: Sound of Adventure. The double CD brings together legendary film themes that embody a spirit of adventure, imagination, and emotional depth in equal measure - a tribute to the great soundscapes of Hollywood. An album that not only delights film music fans, but also impressively translates the orchestral artistry of the great screen composers into concert format. UPC: 4262353970393Label: Prospero ClassicalRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
With her new album "Mozartiana," award-winning violinist Clarissa Bevilacqua presents a fascinating musical tribute and at the same time opens up new perspectives on a timeless genius.Clarissa Bevilacqua, who studied at the renowned Mozarteum Salzburg and won both first prize and the audience prize at the Mozart International Competition 2020, combines past and present in a captivating musical dialogue on "Mozartiana."In addition to masterpieces such as F. X. Mozart's Sonata for Violin and Piano, Beethoven's 12 Variations on "Le Nozze di Figaro" and Schnittke's Moz-Art for ensemble, the album features contemporary compositions written especially for this album by Felix Willeitner, Sophia Jani, Jorge Bosso and Giovanni Sollima - all of which are world premiere recordings.As founder and artistic director of DYNAMIKfest Salzburg, Bevilacqua once again demonstrates her passionate commitment to combining classical and modern music. Mozartiana is not only a tribute to Mozart-it is a living commitment to artistic curiosity, diversity, and musical dialogue across the centuries. UPC: 885470043449Label: Berlin ClassicsRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
The album features selected works from the rich choral repertoire of Wojciech and Pawel Lukaszewski-father and son, and two of the most distinguished composers of sacred music in Poland. Their compositions bridge the sacred and the secular, drawing on texts by Poland's greatest poets. Deeply rooted in the sacred tradition, these works reach into the core of human spirituality, creating a powerful space for reflection and contemplation. UPC: 5902547021119Label: Dux Recording Prod.Release Date: 5.1.26Format: CD
Pomponio Nenna was born in Bari in 1556 and studied there under Stefano Felis. He then moved to Naples, where he began his career as a composer in a stimulating spirit of emulation; Nenna and Carlo Gesualdo each influenced the other's madrigal style in their treatment of text, dissonance, and chromatic modulation. Nenna's vocal works are complemented here by a number of organ pieces by local composers such as Giovanni Maria Trabaci and Giovanni di Macque, transcribed here for a consort of viols. UPC: 5400439004887Label: RicercarRelease Date: 4.24.26Format: CD
Since it's foundation in 2005, the Vorarlberg baroque orchestra Concerto Stella Matutina has firmly established itself as one of Austria's leading original sound ensembles. The group is a regular guest at the Kulturbuhne Ambach, where this live recording was made in 2024. In addition to Beethoven's 2nd Symphony, three concert arias by Mozart for bass voice were performed, which, in contrast to the concert arias for soprano, are unfortunately heard far too rarely in concert. The aria Per questa bella mano KV 612 also surprises with a solo double bass. UPC: 4260307439385Label: Fra BernardoRelease Date: 4.24.26Format: CD
Rediscover the music of brilliant Italian keyboard virtuosos whose works are rarely heard today. Songs, toccatas, ricercars, fugues, and dances come together in a richly woven program that captures the excitement of an era when instrumental music was just beginning to find it's own voice. Rooted in the expressive world of vocal madrigals yet pushing toward new independence, this repertoire reflects a moment of bold musical innovation.With charisma and imagination, Corina Marti brings these works to life, inviting listeners into intimate, personal moments at the keyboard-moments of reflection and creative freedom once enjoyed by court musicians behind the walls of Renaissance palaces. UPC: 5902547022277Label: Dux Recording Prod.Release Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kirill Karabits, joined by an outstanding cast led by Corinne Winters, present the world premiere recording of Thomas de Hartmann's lost opera Esther. Often written by candlelight during the Nazi occupation of Paris, Esther was composed as de Hartmann-a non-Jewish Ukrainian expatriate-lived through the unfolding horrors of the Holocaust. He perceived profound parallels between those events and the Biblical story of Esther as dramatized in Jean Racine's play, from whose text he adapted the libretto. Esther is perhaps the only major musical work composed contemporaneously as a direct artistic response to the Holocaust.Bringing this long-neglected work to life has been a rewarding undertaking, involving extensive engagement with the composer's handwritten score and the preparation of a new modern performing edition. This process required close study of de Hartmann's orchestral writing and stylistic language.Esther is a distinctive work that bridges opera and oratorio, it's dramatic momentum shaped through extended monologues, choral commentary, and a triumphant final ensemble. Richly orchestrated, it reflects the full breadth of de Hartmann's artistic development-from his early training in Saint Petersburg and the influence of Rimsky-Korsakov, Arensky, and Taneyev, to later creative periods in Munich and France, and his search for a deeply personal musical language. Esther, the composer's largest and most ambitious later work, stands as a summation of his eclectic, polystylistic approach and a compelling rediscovery for today's performers and listeners.This album marks the next chapter of the Thomas de Hartmann Project, bringing the composer's music back to the listening audience. UPC: 8717306264242Label: PentatoneRelease Date: 4.24.26Format: CD
Musicweb (UK):Â The audio sources for these inscriptions have been very well preserved and the resultant sound quality compares favourably with a commercial studio recording of that period. This is a first CD release. I hope that more recordings of this wonderful violinist surface in the future. She deserves to be heard. UPC: 4713106280325Label: Rhine ClassicsRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
The dazzling Sardinian guitarist returns to the studios for a breathtaking compendium of variation sets, many of them never recorded before, by many of the most enduring names in guitar composition of the last century. Through the course of his long partnership with Brilliant Classics, Cristiano Porqueddu has attracted superlatives and enthusiasm from all corners of the critical press and listeners everywhere. There's no denying the ability of Cristiano Porqueddu,' wrote David Hurwitz in Classics Today, citing the guitarist's 'rich sound and dexterous handling of his instrument.' His colleague Jed Distler noted that Porqueddu's 'nuanced articulation allows him to sustain and spin out legato lines as if his fingers had bows.'Porqueddu's collection of 20th-century variation sets surveys a kaleidoscopic variety of styles and idioms, demonstrating in the process the guitarist's own breadth of vision as well as his virtuosic technique and insightful musicianship. He begins with a monster of the form: the 45-minute sequence of variations on a theme of Fernando Sor, by the US composer Mark Delpriora. Musician and listener are taken on an astonishing tour de force of invention, as Sor's melancholy tune becomes the raw text for vivid pastiches and parodies in the style of canon composers from Beethoven through to Schoenberg and Busoni. Characteristically, set the challenge to 'follow that', Porqueddu does just that, with a work of his own, which takes it's inspiration from Foucault's Pendulum. On the following discs, the withdrawn, lyrical chromaticism presents a compelling contrast with both the Russian romanticism of Boris Asafiev preceding him, and the implacable shadows of the Raighines by Ermanno Brignolo. This last work was composed for Porqueddu himself, while John Duarte's Variations on a Catalan Folksong were composed in 1956 at the suggestion of John Williams; and it is in this distinguished lineage that Porqueddu belongs. Some of the following works inspire wonder at their intricacy (both executive and compositional), such as the interwoven Variants on Two Themes of Bach by Reginald Smith-Brindle, while others major on charm, such as the first set of Mozartiana composed by Porqueddu's teacher, Angelo Gilardino. There's something for everyone. UPC: 5063758966511Label: Brilliant ClassicsRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
Violinist Cristina Prats Costa makes her solo recording debut with Spiritillo Mediterraneo, a vibrant portrait of the sound world of 17th- and early 18th-century music shaped by the cultures of the Mediterranean. Inspired by Andrea Falconieri's Il Spiritillo Brando, the album takes the spiritillo-a mischievous, animating sprite-as a metaphor for the Baroque imagination: a realm of invention, improvisation, and richly ornamented dialogue. The Mediterranean emerges here not as a boundary but as a crossroads, where Italian virtuosity, Spanish rhythmic fire, and French elegance converge. Music by Falconieri, Matteis, Sanz, Murcia, Nebra, Biber, Rebel, and Vivaldi reflects these exchanges, vividly coloured by the use of castanets, which add an unmistakable Iberian rhythmic vitality. The Spanish pieces appear in Cristina Prats Costa's own arrangements, further personalising the album's musical journey.Deeply personal in conception, Spiritillo Mediterraneo also reflects Cristina Prats Costa's own artistic journey. Rooted in her Spanish heritage and shaped by years of performing across Europe, North and South America, and Asia, the album places ornamentation at it's expressive core-not as decoration, but as storytelling. Drawing on Italian brilliance, French refinement, and the earthy pulse of Spanish dance and guitar traditions, these interpretations balance historical insight with an individual voice. The result is a recording of rhythmic energy, intimacy, and colour, guided by a spirit that is curious, agile, and alive. UPC: 8717306265829Label: PentatoneRelease Date: 5.1.26Format: CD
Over the course of the last 15 years, David Lang and The Crossing, the Grammy-winning chamber choir conducted by Donald Nally, have crafted a body of work that stands apart from the rest for it's profound spiritual connection to our shared sense of humanity - through our stories, our myths, our beliefs and our dreams. 'the sense of senses' is a milestone that celebrates this connection, across time and space, to deliver a message that music can be a benevolent force for change if we only take the time to listen."This album is a collection of works that capture the intimate side of The Crossing's relationship with David Lang," Nally explains. "Only two were written for us, yet the others reflect a shared world view, a common idea about sound and community, and a collective focus on our reason for singing. David's thoroughly considered thoughts on 'why we do this' have influenced The Crossing's perpetually reexamined thoughts on that question: how to communicate deep feelings, absent of ego." UPC: 713746321420Label: CantaloupeRelease Date: 3.20.26Format: CD
Tracklist:
Parce mihi, Domine
Missa O quam pulchra es~Sanctus ; Benedictus
Missa Cantate Domino~Alleluia. Tanto tempore
UPC: 034571284385Label: HyperionRelease Date: 4.3.26Format: CD
Sensual - that's undoubtedly the word that best describes the music on this album dedicated to the early works of Josquin des Prez. In his early thirties, the composer was already developing a unique sense of sound and language. He knew how to make rhythms resonate, rendering them sometimes enveloping, sometimes liberating. His melodies are full of life - sometimes gentle, sometimes sinuous - and his duets seem to be made of glances exchanged between voices. Josquin composes with great finesse, playing on the contrasts between the intimate and the radiant. As in the art of his time, even when he addresses religious subjects, his music retains a sensual beauty, full of emotion and humanity. UPC: 5425008325149Label: Musique En WallonieRelease Date: 4.10.26Format: CD
After exploring lesser-known works for light lyric tenor from the opera-comique repertoire with the multi-award-winning So Romantique ! (ALPHA924), this new recording focuses on a unique genre: French melodie with orchestra. "Deeply attuned to the chamber dimension of music, I was naturally drawn to this form, which is rarely programmed today. Attention to tone colour is essential here, particularly in the interpretation of such brief pieces, an exercise at the very heart of my approach as a melodiste," says Dubois. Designed by the researchers and editors of the Palazzetto Bru Zane, this programme allows us to rediscover lost treasures of French heritage: refinement, the art of suggestion, delicacy, nobility of expression - everything here is so poetic! UPC: 3701624512142Label: AlphaRelease Date: 4.24.26Format: CD
PENTATONE'S release of the Czech Philharmonic's complete Mahler Cycle under Bychkov brings together one of Europe's most historically resonant orchestras with a conductor internationally recognised for his structural command and interpretive integrity. The Orchestra occupies a distinctive place within Mahler's geographical and cultural landscape - Mahler was born and brought up in Bohemia and completed his first symphony shortly after spending a year in Prague. Mahler symphonies have been central to Bychkov's programming with the Czech Philharmonic since 2018 when he opened his tenure as Chief Conductor and Music Director with performances of Mahler Symphony No. 2Symphonies Nos. 1-5, released by PENTATONE beginning in April 2022, have received universal acclaim. The recordings have been selected as Gramophone Editor's Choice and BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Month. As The Sunday Times writes, "This is turning out to be one of the truly great Mahler sets." UPC: 8717306264907Label: PentatoneRelease Date: 4.10.26Format: CD
A singular monument in contemporary music, THE ROAD is Frederic Rzewski's magnum opus - a nearly nine-hour odyssey for solo piano composed between 1995 and 2003. Conceived as a "novel for piano," the work unfolds across eight expansive books (64 "miles"), each exploring the unpredictable, often chaotic path of life. Rzewski deliberately turned away from the ideal of the perfect form, embracing instead the fractured, the absurd, the political, the intimate, and the philosophical. The cycle draws on everything from American folk songs and avant-garde percussive effects to the literary voices of Gogol, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Dostoevsky, weaving autobiography with social commentary in a way that is deeply personal and boldly universal.Musically, The Road is encyclopedic. It spans fugal writing, jazz, free improvisation, virtuosic fantasy, and the spoken word - often within the same piece. It recalls the tradition of domestic piano literature, but on an epic scale, oscillating between private reflection and public confrontation.The interpretation of this work requires not only technical prowess but also an intimate understanding of it's creator. Pianist Daan Vandewalle premiered the first two books of the Road and remained an artistic confidant throughout the creation of the remaining volumes of The Road. As Rzewski himself said near the end of the cycle: "I failed to make a revolution, but I am still here." The Road is not a solution - it is an enduring act of resistance, presence, and creation. UPC: 5425004847041Label: PassacailleRelease Date: 4.10.26Format: CD
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Fabio Luisi release a landmark live recording of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, captured over several concerts at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas in 2024. Representing a rare undertaking for an American orchestra, this historic project is released in 2026, during the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's 125th anniversary season, which falls 150 years after the first performance of the complete "Ring" cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1876. Recorded by GRAMMY winning producer Dirk Sobotka, it launches a new partnership between Delos and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. "The Ring cycle is one of the deepest and most complex musical works ever written. Across the entirety of the story, you are transformed at the end," says Maestro Luisi. Issued worldwide by Delos both digitally and as a 13CD box set, this release marks a major addition to the recorded legacy of Wagner's epic masterpiece; a significant achievement for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the history of American orchestras. UPC: 013491362427Label: Delos RecordsRelease Date: 5.15.26Format: CD
Tenor Daniel Behle fulfills a heartfelt wish and sings the "great" bel canto repertoire. However, he is not accompanied by a symphony orchestra, but by the renowned Alliage Quintet. The idea is as unusual as it is charming: instead of a full opera orchestra, four saxophones and a piano take center stage - sometimes shining velvety soft like strings, sometimes flashing virtuosically like brass instruments. Behle, one of the most versatile tenors of our time, sings arias that every opera lover carries in their heart-and which shine here in completely new colors. Bel canto with a wink, so to speak UPC: 4262353970904Label: Prospero ClassicalRelease Date: 4.17.26Format: CD
HC25065 Britten "Wer eintaucht in die musikalische Analyse dieser 25 Juwelen, in deren unglaubliche thematische Struktur, in ihren harmonischen Kosmos, wird sie lieben. Aber auch der rein emotionale Genuss von so schlicht-schonen Volksliedern ist ganz niederschwellig moglich und wohl auch von Britten, einem Volkskomponisten seiner Zeit, so gewunscht." Daniel Johannsen UPC: 0881488250657Label: Hanssler ClassicRelease Date: 6.19.26Format: CD
Exciting music by Shostakovich and Prokofiev played by a violinist of the new generationIn 2022, it was with Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto that Daniel Matejca, 17 years old at the time, triumphed at the competition Eurovision Young Musicians. Reviewers at journals including Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and Classica enthusiastically compared his Supraphon debut album of the complete sonatas for solo violin by Eugene Ysaye (2023) with recordings made by today's star violinists. It was clear that after that solo album, Matejca would soon return to the studio to record Shostakovich's First Concerto. The composer wrote it in 1947/48 for David Oistrakh. Shostakovich, however, had been labelled a "formalist", and is prominent use of Jewish musical motifs was another obstacle under the antisemitic Soviet regime, so the premiere of this exciting work was postponed until after Stalin's death. Sergei Prokofiev worked on his First Violin Concerto intermittently between 1914 and 1917. Full of contrasting passages, the work differs sharply from Shostakovich's dramatic concerto. Daniel Matejca is in his element in both concertos, playing with stirring energy and technical virtuosity, expressing a wide range of emotions, ranging from rawness to delicacy and captivating depth. The conductor Tomas Netopil is an experienced accompanist in the best sense of the word, shaping the orchestra's sound with a wide range of dynamic and colours, but above all keeping in perfect step with the soloist as he tells his story. The recording also features sound of extraordinary colour, presence, and spatial plasticity. UPC: 099925437022Label: SupraphonRelease Date: 3.27.26Format: CD
Daniel Seminara's Fantasticus is a musical journey through different eras, aesthetics and languages. From the improvisational inventions of the seventeenth century to the experiments of the late twentieth century, each selected piece reflects a common impulse: the desire to explore, to amaze, to go beyond the limits of tradition and to give voice, through the guitar and the lute, to music that is born each time as if it were the first. The repertoire spans from works by Kapsberger, Galilei and Piccinini over Sor and Poulenc to Petrassi and D'Angelo, always with the ideas of 'Stylus Phantasticus' in mind. UPC: 4260412810451Label: ArcantusRelease Date: 5.15.26Format: CD
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