The motet for solo voice and two dessus, usually two violins, and the cantata with instrumental accompaniment originated in Italy at the dawn of the 17th century. The genre was introduced to France by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and by travelling Italian musicians and rapidly became one of the key showpieces of Italian taste and style. The genre was deployed superbly in the early 18th century by two magnificent composers who were practically contemporaries: André Campra and Nicolas Bernier.

Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich present the second volume of their complete Mahler Symphonies, with his First Symphony, known as the "Titan" in reference to the eponymous novel by the poet Jean-Paul that Mahler greatly admired. Although he abandoned this title three years after the symphony's premiere in 1893, the symphony has, like many of Mahler’s works, "a clearly programmatic character" according to Paavo Järvi: "Mahler was a composer who was truly able to explore the inner world of human beings and to question what goes on inside us.”

This anthology of sacred works - all of which could be used in the liturgies of the Christmas festivities - features some of the leading musicians active in Venice in the 16th and 17th centuries. They range from the earliest, Andrea Gabrieli, who died in 1585, to the most recent, Francesco Cavalli, who died almost a century later, in 1676. At the centre of this broad chronological span we encounter not only veritable giants like Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi, but also prominent musicians connected to them, such as the Saxon composer Heinrich Schuotz, Giovanni Bassano and Alessandro Grandi.

Tenor Richard Resch presents a moving Christmas album that explores the season's deeper meaning through sacred and folk music. Named after Jochen Klepper's powerful Advent hymn, the album traces the symbolic journey from darkness to light, weaving together Baroque masterpieces, traditional carols, and lesser-known gems from across Europe. With works by Rosenmuller, Briegel, Graupner, Buxtehude, and others, the recording offers a musical meditation on hope, faith, and the light born at Christmas. Highlights include the mystical Maria durch ein Dornwald ging, the Byzantine chant Miladuka, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Von guten Machten–a testament to trust in the darkest of times.

It is a great pleasure that OUR Recordings is releasing this exceptional work by Peter Navarro-Alonso, featuring the Grammy-winning ensemble Theatre of Voices and Ensemble Stralo under the direction of Paul Hillier.

Delos is thrilled to announce a new collaboration with GRAMMY® Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer. Famed for its “accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, of color and swagger of style” (Boston Globe), the group makes its label debut with Joy to the World. This new Christmas collection blends tradition with innovation, combining Renaissance motets and fresh arrangements of classic carols with contemporary compositions, including two new commissions from Joanna Marsh. Showcasing the ensemble’s extraordinary ability to move seamlessly and expertly between styles, Chanticleer’s first Delos release conjures a wintertime world of magic, light, and wonder.

Like his flute-playing uncle Frederick the Great, King Frederick William II (r. 1786–1797) was a keen musical amateur. An avid cellist, he studied with the virtuosi Ludwig Christian Hesse, Carlo Graziani, and Jean-Pierre Duport, the latter of whom he appointed his principal cellist in 1773. He commissioned chamber music from notable composers across Europe, received the dedications of string quartets by Haydn and Mozart, and sometimes performed as a member of his own court orchestra. Months before acceding to the throne, he hired perhaps the finest cellist of his age, Luigi Boccherini, as his court composer. Boccherini served the court in absentia from Madrid, dispatching twelve new works per year to the Prussian monarch. Given the king’s insatiable appetite for cello music, it is no accident that Beethoven composed his first two sonatas for cello and piano during his brief but rewarding stay in Berlin.

This is the second album of the Saint-Saëns series with young talents​. All recordings were made with the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, conducted by Howard Griffiths.​The repertoire contains: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in G minor op. 22, Morceau de Concert in F minor op. 94, Romance in F major op. 36, Romance in E major op. 67 and Suite for Violoncello and Orchestra op. 16b​

“I'm happy to present you the second album of my 5tet. I wrote most of the songs during a two-month residency in Iceland. 10 years ago, I had already travelled around the island on my bike and fell in love with the vast and lonely landscapes. That trip filled me with deep inspiration. Last year's stay in the north allowed me to slow down and concentrate on my creative work - a luxury in our fast-paced world. Between squalls, endless days of sunshine, dense fog, leaking glaciers and volcanic eruptions, I created new pieces that tell stories of elves and trolls. Delicately realised and further developed with my fellow musicians, my ideas come to life. I wish you a good journey!” - Lea, May 2025

Sinfonia De Carnaval - that's Anna Lang and Alois Eberl on cello, trombone, accordion, percussion, electronics and voices.
The cello is bowed to percussively tapped. The trombone sung to hissingly breathed. In between beat boxing and pulsating stomp box. Plus virtuoso improvisations and ingenious arrangements. Sinfonia de Carnaval creates a unique sound: sinfonic art pop that knows no bounds!

Romanticism had many faces. Mozart’s spirit still floated through musical life and Beethoven’s mighty music set the benchmark for every Romantic composer. Mozart’s legacy was carried forward by two great pianists: Hummel, a pupil of Mozart, and Ries, a pupil of Beethoven. They each steered Romanticism in a different direction. Newspapers across Europe wrote of the ‘wild Romanticism’ of the bohemian Ries, now seen as a forerunner of Schumann. Meanwhile, the virtuoso Hummel enchanted and astonished his audiences.

The ARC Ensemble's Music in Exile series continues with this exploration of chamber works by Ernest Kanitz. Born into a wealthy Viennese family in 1894, he was encouraged in music by his mother, started piano lessons aged seven, and was composing within a year.

The album Play unites, for the first time, two of the most important American musicians of the current generation charting new paths in jazz and way beyond: trumpeter Theo Croker and pianist Sullivan Fortner. The two have known each other for more than 20 years, but Play is their first recording as joint leaders.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9! Believe it or not, we’ve arrived at the ninth edition of ACT’s holiday institution, “Christmas with My Friends.”

There are albums that arrive like gusts of wind, reshaping landscapes, and there are albums that fall like snow, quietly, imperceptibly, until you realize the ground has been entirely transformed. Bugge Wesseltoft’s It’s Snowing on My Piano was one such album. Released in 1997 on ACT Records, it slipped almost modestly into the holiday season, offering not bombast but restraint, not cheer but reflection. To everyone’s surprise, including the pianist’s own, it became one of the label’s defining successes, an unlikely seasonal classic across Europe.