Calamus Cycle is a bold world premiere recording of new Whitman songs for soprano and cello by acclaimed composer Andrew Staniland. At once bold and intimate, these contemporary songs are brought to vivid life in virtuoso performances by cellist Vernon Regehr and soprano Jane Leibel. Each of the songs is preceded by a reading of the original Leaves of Grass poem performed by actor and playwright Robert Chafe.

This album presents a powerful symphonic exploration of heroism, memory, and legacy. Jakub Hra and the Bamberger Symphoniker bring to life three deeply expressive orchestral works, each offering a unique perspective on a heros journey. Strauss Ein Heldenleben is a sweeping portrait of triumph and struggle, while Dvoks A Heros Song, Op. 111 brims with fiery energy and lyrical depth. Glazunovs elegy To the Memory of a Hero provides a poignant, reflective contrast. Together, these works form a stirring meditation on the nature of heroism in music. Recorded at Konzerthalle Bamberg Joseph-Keilberth-Saal September 2023 - February 2025.

Carl Reinecke is one of the living proofs that conservatism and originality are not mutually exclusive. His work rests on the shoulders of previous generations and nowhere does it depart from the harmonic or formal guidelines that were part of the curriculum at conservatoires in the 19th century - and yet we will encounter a personality who did not hide behind formulas, but to a certain extent between the lines and in the details. In his oratorio "Belshazzar", premiered in 1859, he indulges extensively in the tension between God-fearing Israelites and brutally blasphemous Babylonians, before succeeding some twenty years later with a "concert piece for choir and orchestra" in which vocal movements and instrumental interludes are combined in a novel way to create an unusual and unusually poetic sequence of delightful summer day pictures. An atmospheric experience.

The 'American dream' is the thread that connects these three works. Amy Beach was born in New Hampshire in 1867 and composed more than three hundred works, including a monumental suite for two pianos inspired by the Romantic tradition and based on ancient Irish melodies.

In keeping with the fascinating rediscoveries of French music made by the Palazzetto Bru Zane, this programme of sacred music presents works by well-known composers such as Saint-Saëns and Fauré as well as lesser-known works such as the Kyrie by Clémence de Grandval and Charlotte Sohy, the Ave Maria by Léon Boëllmann and Fernand de La Tombelle, and a Cantique de Jean Racine composed by the deeply religious Mel Bonis to a different text from that chosen by Fauré, in memory of her deceased son Édouard.

Recorded in the middle of a European tour in December 2024, this release marks the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists debut of acclaimed French conductor Christophe Rousset. Rousset brings his Gallic elegance and refinement to Charpentier's Baroque Christmas music - the motet In Nativitatem and the Messe de minuit pout Noel, along with the instrumental noels, or Christmas carols, that form the basis of Charpentier's unique mass.

Conductor and composer Jörg Widmann leads the Stuttgarter Kammerochester in this album of masterpieces for string orchestra. The precocious Mendelssohn is represented with his String Symphony No. 10 in B minor. It consists of a single movement, in which a sweeping slow introduction is followed by an allegro and coda. Widmann’s own Ikarische Klage takes its subject matter from a poem by Baudelaire: "Burnt by the love of beauty / I will not have the sublime honour / of giving my name to the abyss / that will serve as my grave”. Of Korngold’s Symphonic Serenade, Widmann says "What a piece, full of glittering magic!". In this work we hear dreams of a real or imaginary Vienna in the time of Mahler or Berg: a vision that looks to the future, is heart-rending but never sentimental.

The celebrated Swedish mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg is a two-time winner of the ‘Best Operatic Recital’ Award at the International Opera Awards, while Ian Page’s previous Gluck recording with The Mozartists (‘Blessed Spirit – a Gluck retrospective’) was selected by Gramophone magazine among the top 10 Gluck recordings of all time.

A powerful meditation on grief, resilience, and the human spirit, Arirang marks the debut album of Korean-Canadian cellist Daniel Hamin Go. Drawing on music from across six centuries, the program interweaves works by Marin Marais, Caroline Shaw, Ernest Bloch, Franz Schubert, Claude Debussy, and newly commissioned pieces by Anna Pidgorna and Iman Habibi.

Ratko Zjaca is back with a very distinctive world music project that finds the Croatian-born guitarist and long-time resident of Rotterdam interacting with musicians from Romania, England and India. The results of his 18th outing as a leader or co-leader are staggeringly beautiful and full of improvisational daring.

With Living Being IV: Time Reflections, Vincent Peirani and his quintet present a workdeeply rooted in the reflection and musical exploration of time. Composed of Émile Parisien, Tony Paeleman, Yoann Serra and Julien Herné, this new project invites us to explore a sound where each note is imbued with the complexity and nuances of therhythm of life.Born in the particular context of the first months of the Covid pandemic, this record isthe fruit of a moment of forced pause for Vincent Peirani, a break in his daily life that led him to meditate on the way in which time shapes our lives and our perception of the world.

A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City for over 30 years, Elliott Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from orchestral music to blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno music.

For a couple of days and nights, Bill Laurance went into hiding. He locked himself away in a place where he could be alone at the piano, lost in music, allowing himself to drift, sometimes guided by existing compositions, sometimes less so. Around him the solid brick walls of St Faith’s Church in Dulwich in South London provided a buffer from the outside world, creating a spiritual backdrop for the music. ‘I’m not a very religious person,’ recalls Laurance as he thinks back to the recording situation in early April of this year. ‘But it was special to play there while everyday life was on hold. And it’s different when you’re in that kind of setting, just communicating with yourself. I wanted to capture the freedom in music that arises at moments like that.’

“Space Cadet” is about love and jealousy in the age of social media. This project represents me going back to the things that are most important to me, and not worrying as much about people’s feedback. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. -CARRTOONS

Carl Friedrich Abel was known in 18th-century London as the greatest gamba player of his day. Having been taught in Leipzig by JS Bach, Abel later worked closely with ‘the London Bach', Johann Christian, and his own music shares a quality of liminal fantasy with that of his friend, poised as they were (in retrospect) on the threshold of the Baroque and Classical eras.