Bach Stories explores a new way of thinking about classical music and improvisation; it presents historical music practice in a contemporary form. This double album from Warner Classics bears the fruits of a friendship and collaboration between two young but already much-awarded musicians. Aleksander Dębicz (piano) and Marcin Zdunik (cello) combine virtuosity and musical drama with the sheer joy and freshness of music-making in a unique programme of chamber works by Bach and improvisations inspired by those works.

Handel wrote little for his native tongue, but what he did demonstrates a particular level of contemplative piety while still employing the familiar techniques of Italian opera. Praise for the beauty of nature and eternal life are the subjects of the sacred poems by his contemporary Barthold Heinrich Brockes which Handel set to music in his 'Nine German Arias'. Each aria celebrates an aspect of nature, from the beauty of a flaming rose to the sweetness of silence, with extraordinary tenderness and sincerity.

Happy Birthday, Mister Jos! Jos Van Immerseel is celebrating his 70th birthday with three important releases that will punctuate the end of the year at Alpha: a symphonic programme (Janacek, Dvorak), a chamber music programme (Schubert) and a set grouping the rereleases of his recordings of French music. These anthologies will once again demonstrate everything the pianofortist brings to the interpretation of the symphonic and chamber repertoires.

Francisco Alonso López was born in Granada on 9th May 1887. As a child he demonstrated great musical skills and curiosity, beginning his training with Antonio Segura Mesa and later with Celestino Vila de Forns, a composer and also the choirmaster of the Cathedral of Granada. Alonso soon became a major figure in the cultural life of the city thanks to his compositions and his work as conductor of two important ensembles: the Powder Workers of El Fargue Band (Granada), and the Choir of Granada Philharmonic Society.

„If ever there was a dysfunctional family, it was the one in this opera, based on a Greek tragedy but deeply imbued with the ideas of Sigmund Freud. The mother Clytemnestra (mezzo-soprano Regina Resnik) and her lover Aegisthus (tenor Gerhard Stolze) have murdered the father, Agamemnon, on his triumphant return from the Trojan War. They have an excuse: Agamemnon gave his daughter Iphigenia for a human sacrifice.

Johan Agrell was in many ways a traveler between the worlds: in Uppsala, the Swede’s great talent was recognized by the Hessian envoy, which resulted in Agrell being summoned to a court near Kassel in Germany. He later went as municipal chapel-master to Nuremberg.