In Otto Mayer-Serra’s study we learn that Mexican composer Manuel María Ponce was one of the founders of modern musical nationalism in his country and that “[…] he might not have attracted so much attention had his work not brought together the disparate trends of the Romantic era, whose culmination was also the starting point for a qualitatively different art form.”

A good year younger than Max Reger and five months older than Arnold Schönberg, the Viennese Julius Bittner (1874-1939) earned his living as a lawyer for a long time. Nevertheless, he was already one of the most frequently performed Austrian opera composers before he gave up this activity in 1922. His one-act opera Das höllisch Gold, which premiered in 1916, was particularly well received, as were a number of his instrumental works - even though (or because) he was anything but a "neo-tonalist": he was rooted in melody, had freed himself from the Wagnerian grip and had become "folksy", as in the two string quartets (1913 and 1917) with their "pastoral" flair. In some passages, the older of the two works in particular seems like a "chamber music Mahler" - possibly a posthumous homage to the former patron who had given Bittner's talent the right direction.

According to an old tradition, it is perfectly legitimate to transfer works from one instrument to another, as long as no damage is done to the substance. This is what the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart said to himself, for example, when he transformed three piano sonatas by his admired role model Johann Christian Bach into little concertos (KV 107) at a young age, and Silke Aichhorn said the same to herself when she arranged one of these pièces for the harp with concertos by the German Johann Samuel Schröter, who was almost the same age. The pairing is no coincidence: Mozart and his father appreciated the works of the man from Guben in Lusatia, who enjoyed a respectable career as a pianist and, as the successor to the "London Bach", finally instructed Her Majesty Queen Charlotte in music in 1782 - unfortunately not for too long: Schröter died three years before and at the same age as Amadeus.

Exactly 318 years ago, Reinhard Keiser ignited a long-running hit at the opera house on Gänsemarkt: Der angenehme Betrug oder der Carneval von Venedig (The Pleasant Deception or the Carnival of Venice) was the name of the smash hit that was enjoyed for almost two and a half decades.

With “A Fleeting Glimpse”, Bjørn Riis has let his inspiration from Pink Floyd really come forth. Here he offers four new songs just under 30 minutes, where you can really cherry pick the Pink Floyd references throughout the listen. Riis even got Durga McBroom, one of Pink Floyd’s backup singers during the 80s and 90s, to do guest vocals on one of the tracks.

Max Richter is at the crossroad of many contemporary artistic languages through a wide variety of collaborations (Tilda Swinton, Robert Wyatt, Future Sound of London, Roni Size). As one might expect from a student of Luciano Berio, his work explores a very wide range of currents and influences. In this universe, film music occupies a privileged position and the variety of filmmakers Richter has worked with reflects the ductility of his inspiration.

"A voyage" is an exciting instrumental mix of concert guitar, loops, percussion, bass & soundscapes. Saalmann places the concert guitar in a new context. A cross-style album (classical, world music & ambient) with many contrasts that takes the listener on a special sound journey.

"Katabatic Lens" is the second and certainly irrefutable invitation to the inimitable artistic world of this exceptional Hungarian band.

Sonamos presents: DOGA, new studio album by Juana Molina, the eighth full-length of her career and her first album of new compositions in eight years. A record that took almost six years to brew. It was like preparing a meal for six diners with ingredients for an army. The overwhelming amount of recordings paralyzed Juana to the point that, at one moment, she thought there was no way to make an album. “Whenever I finish making an album there’s an inertia that makes me keep recording,” she says, but we can place the beginning of the composition and recording process for this new work in 2019, during the preparation for a series of concerts called “Improviset”, which Juana performed with keyboardist Odín Schwartz.

"Borrow or Rob" features never before heard tracks from Andrew Bird in celebration of 20 years of the Mysterious Production of Eggs.

GRAMMY-winning Icelandic-Chinese artist, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Laufey brings her annual holiday series.

Contains the complete stereo and quadraphonic mixes of "Azteca" KC/CQ 31776 (1972) and the complete stereo mix of "Pyramid of the Moon" KC 32451 (1973). n 1984, music critic Dave Marsh put forward the bold thesis that all rock'n'roll had a Latin American coloration. Even today, rock history is still told as a largely black and white story, although the Latin American influence is evident: from the Afro-Cuban precursors of the Bo Diddley beat to the Eastside and Tex-Mex pioneers of garage rock and the Chicano influences on punk, disco and hip-hop. After Santana's earthquake-like debut at Woodstock in 1969, a wave of Latin rock rolled out of California, sweeping up everyone from Marvin Gaye to the Rolling Stones. Columbia soon relied on a visionary 16-piece orchestra led by former Santana drummer Thomas "Coke" Escovedo: Azteca.

The Hamburg-born Ferdinand Thieriot (1838–1919) not only shared a teacher – Eduard Marxsen – with Brahms; both composers, who remained friends in later years, use a similar musical language, one which is richly melodic and effortlessly contrapuntal.

The very first EP from the album E.MOTION with Anastasia Calmus will be released on all streaming platforms on November 7th !

Alongside Alessandro Scarlatti, many composers contributed to the flourishing of Neapolitan opera in the 18th century. Most have since been forgotten, their works lying dormant in the archives of the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella. Harpsichordist Ignacio Prego conducts Xavier Sabata, Alicia Amo, and his ensemble Tiento Nuovo in bringing back to life some of the finest, never-before-recorded arias by Sarri, Vinci, and Vignola.