Artfully hiding in the shadows of Australian folklore under shrouds of the gum trees, The Dropbear (Thylarctos Plummetus) are typically solitary hunters who move in secrecy with the oblivious, the ignorant, and, of course, the psychoactive Eucalyptus being their primary sources of food. In the face of mass deforestation, political ineptitude, and preventable disasters, the leaves that pacify the species' bloodthirsty tendencies are in short supply.

Jonathan Bielby MBE is Organist Emeritus of Wakefield Cathedral, where he was Organist and Director of Music for forty years from 1970 to 2010. As a composer Jonathan Bielby has written mainly for organ and voices, and this album brings together a selection of his recent sacred choral compositions.

Domenico Scarlatti, one of the most fascinating composers of the Baroque era, was born in Naples on October 26, 1685 – the same year as J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel. He was the sixth of ten children of the famous opera composer Alessandro Scarlatti. Domenico, who showed exceptional talent at an early age, began his musical journey under the guidance of his father. He became one of the most influential composers and harpsichordists of his time.

October 2024 marked the 80th anniversary of the death of composer Viktor Ullmann – an occasion to focus on his artistic legacy and his unshakeable belief in the power of art. As early as 1918, while stationed at the Italian front, Ullmann was intensively occupied with Rainer M. Rilke’s “Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke” (The Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke). This work accompanied him all the way to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he created an impressive melodrama from it in 1944.

The trio's fourth album, JUNE opens up to renewal and the inclusion of new languages, as the result of the group members' decades of experience in the field of improvised music and electronic sounds, which are here rendered in a completely acoustic dimension and supported exclusively by piano, double bass and drums. JUNE thus stands as a recording that honours the rich tradition of the jazz piano trio while firmly situating itself in the contemporary music scene through modern inspirations and sounds. The album features nine original compositions alongside two reinterpreted repertoire pieces, Alfonsina y el Mar and Continuum, which have been reworked and rearranged by the trio.

Working this time as a trio, Unwind's fifth recording for Rattle offers a set of elegant, unabashedly lyrical new works that explore the open, contemplative landscapes they have coursed since their self-titled debut in 2017. The space-conscious compositions on Embers are serene meditations resonant with a plaintive universal awareness that is undeniably personal.

The album contains one, but monumental work - the Neo-Romantic Symphony in F major by Emil Mlynarski, subtitled "Polonia" by the composer. Following its initial triumph, when it was presented under the baton of the composer himself on many world stages, the Symphony fell into an almost complete oblivion. The composer included a quote from Bogurodzica and the Albosmy to jacy tacy krakowiak; we can also find here other national dances. Mlynarski provided the work with an extensive programme commentary; his intention was to illustrate the history of Poland with music - in addition to the motif of fate, appearing throughout all four movements, one can also clearly hear weapons clanging, the thud of galloping hooves - called the knightly motif - fanfares and the tragic fates of the defeated heroes. In the musical layer, Polonia reveals typical sources of inspiration of young Polish composers of that time - pieces by Wagner, Liszt and Strauss. Under the baton of their artistic director, the Poznan Philharmonic appears as an ensemble operating with an exceptionally beautiful, coherent sound, which emphasises the values of the composition, the richness of its motivic material and instrumentation.

Jazzaggression is happy to present another album by this unique instrumental/avant-jazz ensemble from Leeds, UK. After their first album was picked up by renowned radio DJ Gilles Peterson, the band’s success was secured, and the group spent the first half of 2024 working on their second album, ENOS. Known for their dynamic compositions, exciting improvisations, and intricate melodies, the group continues to push the boundaries of small-ensemble jazz. The captivating melodic structures that defined their debut remain front and center, now enriched by the maturity and artistic depth of a band confidently hitting its stride.

Second album by the Cologne drummer and composer in his quartet line-up with Tony Lakatos (tenor saxophone), Billy Test (piano) and Doug Weiss (bass) as a CD in a beautifully designed three-part digipack on JazzJazz. After »Choose Loose« (2022), »Mocambo Affair« is the second album that Dominik Raab has recorded together with Tony Lakatos, Billy Test and Doug Weiss. Like the quartet's debut, it consists exclusively of Raab's own compositions, with the nine new pieces sounding even more gripping and passionate. With dreamlike certainty, Lakatos, Test, Weiss and Raab complement each other to form a virtuoso team that lets Raab's visions shine. »Mocambo Affair« is a work of one piece and offers pure listening pleasure.

This first album by the trio Tasis is not lacking in assets and this has not escaped the director of Triton, the jazz club of Les Lilas who wanted to release their first album under his indie label of independent music and organ. JP Vivante is committed to making known original works that could remain unknown, even unheard. PORQUE SÍ or the personal vision of tango, anchor music of the three virtuosos of this chamber trio with atypical instrumentation (bandoneon, piano, violin). They embellish their music with borrowings (their formidable musical culture allows them to) from classical music of the early 20th century (Bartok, Stravinsky …) to the song with this Parce que by Aznavour which takes on new colors under their fingers.

This carefully restored live ecording from 1973, of Bruckner's 7th symphony, uses the 1885 revision, edited by Leopold Nowak in 1954. Janus Classics presents the swan song Bruckner 7 of Maestro Paul Kletzki, the distinguished protégé of Wilhelm Furtwängler. This is Janus' first collaboration with the Bayerischer Rundfunk, and it's the first complete release on CD and in any form of the recording. The booklet is Janus' most extensive so far, which includes introduction to the symphony, contextualisation of Kletzki's recorded legacy, biographies of Kletzki and Bruckner, notes on the meticulous remastering process by our engineer, and photos rarely seen before.

With its album of the same name, the vocal ensemble sy'zan is not only treating itself to a present for its tenth anniversary: the acappella ensemble presents exquisite highlights from its programmes of recent years - with works that are particularly close to the hearts of both the ensemble and its audience: Starting with the name, which is directly inspired by the "Susanne un jour" by Renaissance master Claude Le Jeune, through well-known choral works by Alessandro Scarlatti, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Gustav Holst, supplemented by contemporary arrangements of not only well-known folk songs, to today's compositions with a focus on Nordic compositions and arrangements. The eight singers impress with their simultaneously powerful and delicate interpretations as well as their stylistic diversity, for which they have received several awards in the field of contemporary choral music.

Gavin Higgins’ music is bursting with authenticity. Everything he writes speaks in some way of where he comes from, of the land, of the community, of the family which formed him. He grew up in a working class former mining community in the Forest of Dean, a borderland between England and Wales with its own dialect, a liminal place where Welsh songs and stories as well as English are in the air. It’s a place where brass band music is the chief legacy of the coal mines, the last of which closed a decade before Gavin was born and where the forest, with its sounds, its colours and its stories was a constant presence.

The recent ‘discovery’ of the music of Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944) belies the fact that in the early years of the 20th century she was immensely popular, touring both Europe and the US as a pianist, exclusively in her own music. Changing fashions brought an abrupt end to this fame, but in the first thirty years of the recording industry, over 80 discs of her piano music alone were released. Her own discs from 1901, presented complete here, are some of the earliest by a classical pianist. Many of her most popular pieces were recorded multiple times, but this set presents chronologically at least one version of every work recorded on 78s and introduces as many different pianists as practical.

The flute instrument is closely associated with the Prussian King Frederick the Great and his residence Sanssouci, as the Prussian king was a passionate flautist and numerous works were composed for him. For the recorder player Isaac Makhdoomi, it is a special challenge to transfer these works, which were actually composed for a transverse flute, to his instrument. The idea behind this was to bring new aspects and facets to the works originally composed for the transverse flute, which he actually succeeds in doing brilliantly.