Cellist Matt Haimovitz, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies present the first commercial recording of Ukrainian unsung composer Thomas de Hartmann’s cello concerto. De Hartmann was an important compositional voice in his own time, connected to the greatest musicians and artists of his era, but has sunk into oblivion after his death in 1956.

On this new release PARTITAS FOR SOLO CELLO Orange Mountain Music is pleased to present the world premiere recording of Partita No 2 for Solo Cello performed by world renowned soloist and new music champion Matt Haimovitz. The album is rounded out with Matt Haimovitz performing two more selections of Glass music for solo cello including The Paris Sky from his Book of Longing song cycle based on the poetry of Leonard Cohen, and The Secret Agent, a score that Glass composed in the 1996 for the film by Christopher Hampton based on the story by Joseph Conrad.

Matt Haimovitz’s Venetian cello was made by Matteo Gofriller in 1710, ten years before J. S. Bach put pen to paper for his six solo cello suites. Domenico Gabrielli’s seven Ricercari, the direct precursors to Bach’s masterpieces, may have been the first notes heard on this extraordinary instrument.

The now infamous story of how J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations received their name – that Bach was asked to write them as a sleep aide of sorts for Count Kaiserling, whose assistant (Goldberg) would play music to help the Count fall asleep – has been found to be a somewhat unlikely and dubious account. Still, with few competing explanations, this at least makes for a good story. The variations have been analyzed and dissected by theoreticians, mathematicians, and even numerologists perhaps more than any other of Bach's works.

PRIMAVERA III: the vessel is the third of six albums in a momentous series encompassing 81 world premieres for solo cello. This digital album presents 9 new commissions by THE PRIMAVERA PROJECT for groundbreaking, multi-GRAMMY nominated cellist Matt Haimovitz. Composers from diverse backgrounds respond to Sandro Botticelli’s enigmatic painting, Primavera, and the prophetic large-scale triptych, Primavera 2020, by world-renowned contemporary artist Charline von Heyl.

PRIMAVERA I the wind is the first collection in a momentous series encompassing 81 world premieres for solo cello. This digital album presents 14 new commissions by The Primavera Project for groundbreaking, multi-Grammy nominated cellist Matt Haimovitz. Each composer responds to Sandro Botticelli’s enigmatic painting, Primavera, and the prophetic large-scale triptych, Primavera 2020, by world-renowned contemporary artist Charline von Heyl.

Which once-famous cellist toured with his own version of Jimi Hendrix's notorious "Star-Spangled Banner" and booked to play the Bach Cello Suites in nightclubs? Matt Haimovitz, herd here when he was not yet twenty, was heading off to Harvard (in the footsteps of Yo-Yo- Ma), and boasted a contract with DG. Despite brilliant reviews, the contract was canceled, and a disenchanted Haimovitz went his own way, achieving an offbeat career. He now teaches at Mcgill Univ. in canada, having spent a long time in Boston and Amherst. No doubt he's satisfied, yet one can't help but remember F. Scott Fitzgerald's remark about no second acts in American literature. Now it's also music.