Fernando Lopes-Graça and Amílcar Vasques-Dias are linked in their musical reflections on Portuguese identity, but at widely differing points in that country’s history. Lopes-Graça transformed traditional songs into poetic and hard-edged statements, helping to create a ‘national collective spirit’ that would not be bowed by dictatorship. Vasques-Dias’s approach to folk culture is based on more personal feelings and emotions, recalling the countryside of his childhood and its landscapes today.

Yehuda Inbar was born in Haifa, Israel, in 1987. As an avid champion of contemporary music, he commissioned Michael Finnissy to complete Schubert’s Sonata Reliquie D 840, premiered the piece in May 2017 and recorded it for the first time on this CD. The highly interesting programme is complemented by the Schubert Reminiscences by Jörg Widmann, the original Reliquie and the unfinished Sonata D 571.

In his program notes to his second Criss Cross album, After Life, master tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger writes that, as per the title, the seven original songs on the date 'pertain to a world that we may inhabit when we leave Earth. ' Returning from its Criss Cross predecessor, Genuinity, are the brilliant trumpeter Jason Palmer and bass virtuoso Kim Cass; modern drum giant Rudy Royston propels the flow, while guitarist Max Light, on his Criss Cross debut, contributes beautifully textured comping and inspired, thematic solos. The album booklet includes a suite of poems by Ruth Lepson, each one inspired by the music.

The trombone is an instrument that seems to attract a certain type of practitioner. Musicians who choose this particular horn as their passion tend to be open-minded, playful and, more often than not, extroverted. It shouldn’t be a surprise that bass trombonist Jennifer Wharton fits this description to a tee. Naturally, she takes her enthusiasm for the horn seriously and hopes to spread her joy to the public with her infectiously fun recording, Bonegasm.

After a cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos, solo albums of works by Bach and Schubert in addition to a number of award-winning recordings of piano chamber music on Ondine label, pianist Lars Vogt releases an album of Piano Sonatas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). In this album, two baroque-influenced and virtuosic early sonatas are coupled together with a touching A minor Sonata, K310 – written at the time of the composer’s mother’s death – and a delightful, Haydnesque Sonata K333.

Gerade mal 36 Jahre alt wurde Henry Purcell, doch in diesem kurzen Leben erwies er sich als enorm produktiv. 860 Kompositionen führt das vom amerikanischen Musikwissenschaftler Frank B. Zimmerman angelegte Purcell-Verzeichnis. Neben Kammer- und Kirchenmusik sowie immerhin 60 Fest- und Prunk-Musiken komponierte Purcell vor allem für die Bühne. Mit Dido and Aeneas entstand seine einzige klassische Oper. Auf dem Gebiet der von ihm geprägten Form der Semi-Opera , in der Schauspiel und Musik miteinander verknüpft wurden, hinterließ er hingegen Meisterwerke wie King Arthur und The Fairy Queen .

This fourth volume in Nicholas Walker’s complete edition of Balakirev’s piano music is structured around his three Scherzos, which take us from the youthful influence of Chopin and Liszt in the First Scherzo, to the music of his prolific final decade, from which the Second Scherzo is one of his finest compositions. Balakirev’s interest in Spanish music was kindled by his mentor Glinka, creating surprisingly authentic sounding textures and rhythms, and the programme is topped with the elegantly masterful poetry of the two Valse-Caprices.

Gustav Mahler was not yet thirty years old when he mounted the podium to conduct his ‘Symphonic Poem’ (Sinfonische Dichtung) in the Large Hall of the Redoute (Vigadó) in Budapest on 20 November 1889. The young man, who had recently been appointed director of the Hungarian capital’s opera house, was presenting an orchestral composition for the first time that evening. This work, which Mahler thought would be ‘child’s play’, was in fact - as he was to admit years later - “one of [his] boldest.”

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) is among the most prominent names in contemporary music scene today. This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu includes world première recordings of three works by Saariaho featuring bass-baritone Gerald Finley and harpist Xavier de Maistre as soloists. True Fire is a six-movement song cycle that was written to a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the NDR Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France, for baritone Gerald Finley with an original idea to explore the scope of the baritone voice.

When Kirill Petrenko performed Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony with the Berliner Philharmoniker in March 2017, one critic was “stunned at how beautiful and breathtakingly exciting this music can be”. This first audio release of the orchestra and its new chief conductor reflects the whole sonority and intensity of the interpretation – and offers a taste of an exciting new beginning.

Composed 25 years after the celebrated work of the same name by Pergolesi, and for the same forces, the Stabat Mater by Nicola Logroscino (pronounced “Logròscino”) belongs to the long list of compositions born of the Neapolitan school, beginning with the model by Alessandro Scarlatti (1723). Although inspired by its illustrious precedents, this work distinguishes itself in its strong theatrical character, derived from the author’s long experience in opera (especially comic opera), of which he was a leading figure until the mid-eighteenth century.

2019 will see the 500th commemoration of the death of one of the greatest geniuses humanity has produced: Leonardo da Vinci, scientist, inventor, painter – and musician.

The final volume in the RLPO/Andrew Manze Vaughan Williams Symphony cycle contains ‘Sinfonia Antartica’ No.7 and his final enigmatic symphony, the 9th. The 7th drew its inspiration from music RVW had composed for the film ‘Scott of the Antartic’, though very little of that score actually made it to the symphony. This often mis-understood work is a true symphony that draws on themes from the film. The composer headed each movement with a literary quotation, and these are narrated on this recording by the distinguished actor Timothy West, following in the footsteps of Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson.

Country music has a lot of branches from western swing to honky-tonk. On the new album Quick Draw (MRI), The Shootouts explore quite a few of those branches.