A dialogue between classical and modern: Berio’s references to Scarlatti and Widmann’s homage to Schubert are contrasted with original compositions of the two earlier composers, weaving both original and reference into a new whole. This juxtaposition brings to light innovations and divergences as well as a continuation of and indebtedness to the past – fertile terrain for exciting discoveries!

The Aris Quartett, one of the most exciting ensembles on the international scene, won several ARD awards in 2016. The second GENUIN release confirms the amount of publicity the quartet has received. Two existential chamber music works can be found there, which in their unconditionality and unheard-of expressiveness demand everything from the listener. The Aris Quartett plays Shostakovich's famous 8th string quartet and Schubert's Death and the Maiden with an uncompromising style that pulls you out of your chair: spooky nocturnal pieces, deeply sad lamentation and a demonic dance macabre – world class! “One of the most sensational ensembles of the younger generation.” (ARTE) “The future of the classical music scene.” (Aspekte) “On the verge of an international career.” (NDR Kultur)

Russian-born pianist Alexander Karpeyev has been a major prizewinner in international competitions, including first prizes at the 2007 Dudley International Piano Competition, the Norah Sande Award 2008 and Oxford Music Festivals recital competition. He is a graduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and City University of London, where his doctoral thesis was on Medtner's performance practice. Alexander has given recitals in major UK venues and abroad. Dr. Karpeyev originally performed this programme at Kings Place, London, on February 13, 2017 to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution. He is grateful to all those who encouraged him to make this subsequent recording.

The band is called The Swan Chorus based in the UK and it is hard to define our style but we think it fit the "Prog" banner.

Aspects of America presents a fascinating collection of 20th- and 21st-century American orchestral music, ranging from good old Samuel Barbers Souvenirs to pieces by esteemed living composers such as Sean Shepherd (Magiya), Sebastian Currier (Microsymph) and Christopher Rouse (Supplica). The centerpiece of this album is Portland-based composer Kenji Bunchs Aspects of an Elephant, inspired by the timeless parable of six men who try to discern the traits of an elephant in a pitch-dark room, eventually discovering that only the sum of their perceptions encompasses the full truth.

Mozart achieved an exalted level of musical perfection with his Clarinet Concerto, conveying the most profound emotions and a stream of seamless musical poetics. It remains one of the most popular pieces in the classical repertoire. The Clarinet Quintet, meanwhile, sparkles with beauty - the liquid grace of the opening movement, the Larghetto's timeless poise, the playful mannerisms of the Minuet and the exquisite theme and variations finale. The essential humanity of Mozart's creative spirit is everywhere apparent in this recording, and his music remains a guiding beacon of sanity in an increasingly uncertain world. This repertoire is the perfect showcase for the virtuoso talents of Katherine Lacy, the acclaimed principal clarinettist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra which accompanies her in the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, directed by Duncan Riddell (the Chamber Soloists of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform in the Clarinet Quintet).

Hidden Details is a new studio album of Soft Machine, recorded at the late great Jon Hiseman's Temple Studio in Surrey, England, last December 2017, and it will be released in September 2018 on MoonJune Records (North America; on CD and HD Download), on John Etheridge's Dyan Records (UK/Europe on CD, and iTunes), and on Vivid Records (Japan), exactly 50 years since the release of the band's 1968 debut album The Soft Machine. Limited and highly collectible vinyl edition of only 200 coloured vinyl (orange, blue and tour edition orange & blue marbled) will be released on the Dutch label Tonefloat, on September 8, 2018.

Iskandar Widjaja just doesn't line up with the image of a musician on the classical music scene. As the ambassador of a new generation he simply can't be pigeonholed as representing this or that genre. In his new project "Mercy", Iskandar Widjaja presents a broad musical spectrum with a closely interwoven thematic structure, summing up his achievement to date and opening a new phase of his life.

For more than thirty years there had not been an individual prizewinner in the discipline of horn at the German Music Competition, that is, until Tillmann Höfs came from Hamburg in 2017. He won the hearts of the audience and literally blew the jury against the wall. His qualities, technical superiority, and great musical genius also distinguish his GENUIN debut CD, which was produced in the Primavera series in cooperation with the German Music Council. Höfs shows the entire breadth of his youthful, slim yet festive horn playing with works by Richard Strauss, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paul Hindemith and Jörg Widmann. Outstanding repertoire and interpretation!

The two composers, who represent their country as figureheads of color and sound, have almost identical dates in their lives: The Pole Karol Szymanowski and the Frenchman Maurice Ravel. The Swiss pianist Matthias Roth has put together an exquisite program for his GENUIN debut CD, which he has recorded with a crystal-clear sound and lively articulation that is unrivaled in terms of quality. You don't know what to admire more: The great works of Ravel that one knows well but experiences anew, or the unexplored beauty of Szymanowski's works, which are worth the exciting voyage of discovery in every moment!

The Austrian composer Walter Bricht (1904-1970) was one of many musicians of Jewish ancestry who fled Vienna after the Anschluss for the safety of the USA; Bricht became a valued professor at Indiana University in Bloomington. Fittingly, it is the nearby Fort Wayne Philharmonic, in its own debut recording, that has made the first album of Brichts music. The recording reveals another major Viennese voice and points to yet another potentially important career cut off in the bud by the Nazis. Bricht was reportedly Franz Schmidts favorite student, and the late-Romantic styles of the two men are indeed very closely aligned in their mix of Baroque counterpoint, Classical form and Wagnerian chromatic harmony: Brichts Symphony in A minor might almost be Schmidts No. 5.

The Austrian Salonists with violinist Peter Gillmayr are widely popular with both audiences and critics alike for their extraordinary, cross-genre programs. This new recording by the title «Russian Dances» features works by composers like Alexej Kozlov or Anatoli Novikov, traditional Russian melodies like «Dark Eyes» or «Moscow Nights» and evergreens like the «Waltz No. 2» from the Suite for Varieté-Orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovitch. Further dances are taken from popular ballets like «The Nutcracker» by Pjotr Iljitsch Tchaikovsky («Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy») or from «Romeo and Juliet» by Sergej Prokofiev. It my surprise some listeners that there also exist tangos from Russian descent, but the virtuoso Russian bajan player Efim Jourist composed numerous works that pay homage to this dateless Argentine dance.

Go back in time (for some of us, anyway) to those halcyon days of musical magic, of arena rock concerts with clouds of pot smoke and beach balls filling the air, of festival seating wherein I had to battle claustrophobia and the crush of thousands of people behind me, pushing me and my friends against the glass walls of the arena, feeling the cold reality that I could well be trampled to death once they opened the doors.

The three violin sonatas on this disc are premiere recordings of rarely heard mid-Twentieth century Russian repertoire, performed by a mother and son partnership from a famous Russian musical family. The composers of these works had enjoyed a direct professional relationship during the period between the two world wars, mainly through their involvement on the teaching staff at the Moscow Conservatoire: Myaskovsky, Shebalin and Nechaev.

Bela Bartok and George Enescu were born in same Year - 1881, Bartok in the Austrian-Hungarian city of Nagyszentmiklos (today Romania), Enescu in the Moldovian town of Liveni-Botosani (today Romania). Both pieces on this recording are youth works of theirs - 1900 (Enescu Octet) and 1907 (Bartoks 1st violin concerto). Both works were neglected - Enescus Octet for nearly a decade due to the challenges of the piece (being premiered in 1909) , and Bartoks concerto was neglected by its dedicatee, the violinist Stefi Geyer (who was also his young love), and was published only after her death, in 1956 (being premiered in 1958). Bartok and Enescu both died in self-chosen exile - Bartok 1945 in New York, Enescu 1955 in Paris - yet both were respected and admired for being contributers to the development of their countries’ culture and art, particularly as great «ambassadors» for the folk music.