In 1968, as he approached the age of 70, Georges Auric began work on Imaginées, a series of six intimate works in a modernist vein – concentrated and compelling in their expression. Famously a member of Les Six in the 1920s, the multi-faceted Auric studied under Vincent d’Indy and gained an international reputation for his film scores while also taking an influential role in France’s musical life.

With more than 40 years on the move for the blues, the Blues Company is one of the pioneers of the German Blues-Scene and one of the oldest still active German bands ever.

Under the title Gli impresari, The Impresarios – i.e. the directors of the theatre troupes that Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy engaged to perform in his opera houses – this CD gathers together some of the orchestral works by Joseph Haydn linked by their origin and their reception; they were originally conceived as theatre music, before their metamorphosis into symphonies (…)The period from 1772 onwards, when Karl Wahr was responsible for for the summer theatre programme at Esterháza, saw the peak of the multidisciplinary collaboration taking place between the court music directed by Haydn and companies engaged from outside.

The New York Philharmonic and its conductor, Jaap van Zweden, continue the revered institution's partnership with Decca Gold with the release of their latest recording, featuring Debussy's orchestral masterpiece La Mer and Stravinsky s groundbreaking Le Sacre du printemps. Both pieces were performed and recorded live in 2018 in the opening weeks of van Zweden's tenure as the New York Philharmonic s Music Director.

The Harmonia Nova series welcomes young artists singled out for their exceptional talents by offering them a technical, editorial and promotional showcase that lives up to the high standards of Harmonia Mundi’s classical productions.

“One way or another, this darkness got to give…”
The penultimate performance of Dead and Company’s Fall 2018/Winter 2019 tour proved to be an unforgettable experience for band and audience alike, for reasons above and beyond the fine music played that evening.

19-year-old Dutch recorder superstar Lucie Horsch is taking us on a trip around Baroque Europe for her new album ‘Baroque Journey’, released on Decca Classics on 22nd February. Recorded with the Academy of Ancient Music, Lucie performs some of the most virtuosic music from her native Netherlands, as well as Germany, Italy, France and England.

Although we know of at least five concertos J.S. Bach wrote for solo organ we have no surviving Bach organ concertos with orchestral accompaniment. Contrast this with the 200+ cantatas: of these, 18 feature organ obbligato, which Bach uses as a solo instrument in arias, choral sections and sinfonias. The most obviously conspicuous date to 1726. In May to November of that year, Bach composed six cantatas which assign a prominent solo role to the organ. Most of these are reworkings of movements of lost violin and oboe concertos written in Bach’s time at Weimar and Köthen.

Pianist and composer Antoine Karacostas created his trio in 2014, with the desire to explore his compositions and the richness of the Greek musical tradition. His first album, Trails, was released in 2017 and was very well received by the press. And because the human adventure is as important to him as the music and group sound they develop together, the trio has remained the same since its creation, with Anders Ulrich on double bass and Simon Bernier on drums.

Rising star from the young composer’s generation, Camille Pépin chose to record her first album with the artists who have been accompanying her since her debut. She is taken by numerous extra-musical influences: from English literature to Japanese etchings, mythology to astronomy. These disparate elements all converge on travel as their common theme, wanderlust and dreams of elsewhere. A fusion of all these ingredients, Camille Pépin's music sets itself apart above all through its rhythmic aspect, at once dancing and almost incantatory, presided over by lyricism.

On her new album, too, the soloist takes unusual paths. This time she explores the world of carnival, its dramas, characters and surprising human entanglements. The saxophone is an excellent choice for this, says Fateyeva: "The title 'Carneval' describes the spirit of the saxophone. It likes to dress up, try out, sound out different styles and slip into the roles of other instruments".

"Van Wey's previous n5MD album Heart- less found him harnessing the turmoil around him to create something vast, emotive, and brooding, yet somehow comforting, allowing you to cradle in its weight. Months after Heartless' release Van Wey moved from turbulent times of his native California home to the chilling winter of Warsaw Poland. A divergence. Alone against the icy cold, confined to the indoors in search of protection against the world outside, Van Wey channeled, as he always does, his surroundings as they coalesced with his self-imposed aberration. The outcome of this move, and period of near total isolation, is Explosions in Slow Motion.