The best week of the young composer/arranger Miho Hazama’s life was a hectic one. In 2011, she was invited as one of eight arrangers from around the world to take part in the famed Metropole Orkest’s residency program, led by the legendary Vince Mendoza. There were master classes and rehearsals all week for arrangements the residents would write, in four days, to be performed by the Big Band conducted by Mendoza and featuring vocalist Roberta Gambarini.

The Painted Lady Suite, the debut album by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra (MLO) is inspired by the butterfly of the same name. While Leonhart was initially attracted to its flamboyant coloration and wing ornamentation, it was the butterfly’s incredible migration, which spans over six generations and 9,000 miles — twice that of the Monarch butterfly, that inspired the trumpeter/composer/bandleader to write his “Painted Lady Suite.”

There are bonds that cannot be broken. Brotherhood and musical understanding are two such bonds. Pianist Chano Dominguez and bassist Javier Colina grew up together exploring musical genres that moved them like no other, namely jazz and flamenco (a music that is inherently tied to their Spanish identities and heritage). Their new recording, Chano & Colina, reunites the two after 15 years of pursuing differing musical courses.

A versatile performer, she has toured Cuba with trumpeter Roy Hargrove, recorded a ballad-oriented duo album with pianist Brad Mehldau, and an ode to Brazil’s composers with Brazilian guitarist Chico Pinheiro .” (All Music Guide )

Mahler and Bruckner both are composers who have designed immense symphonic worlds based on intimate writings. This is the main theme of this album, which is Enrique Mazzola’s fifth album conducting l’Orchestre national d’le-de-France. It unites these two emblematic composers of the Germanic classical repertoire, with Mahler’s magnificent orchestral Lieder (Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen), beautifully performed by baritone Markus Werba, and completed by Bruckner’s Vier Orchesterstücke.

Beethoven opened the new century with the publication of his first symphony, but also with that of other important works, such as four piano sonatas (Opp. 26, 27, and 28) and two sonatas for piano and violin – in A Minor, Op. 23, and F Major, Op. 24. Originally, the two sonatas were published in 1801 as a set, under the opus number 23. But something as trivial as their having been mistakenly printed on different-size paper in their second reprint a year later compelled the publisher (and Beethoven) to present them as two distinct works, each with its own opus number – probably to save both face and money.

This autumn, intermingled melodies could be heard under the round arches of Noirlac Abbey, amongst which the strains of both Schubert’s “Trout” and Ellington’s famous “Take the ‘A’ Train” were recognisable. Karen Vourc’h, Thomas Savy, Louis Rodde and Guillaume de Chassy enjoyed navigating between the waters of the Lied and the Jazz Standard to produce this outstanding project connecting two geniuses of melody with intelligent arrangements and improvisational extravagance. And, as ever, hidden behind the old stones, a B Records microphone is there to let you share in this musical journey.

The present release is the result of a determined and independent search for sound. It represents a commitment shared between the composer, performer and producer to popularize a little known musical repertoire; one which has been largely ignored in recent contemporary Spanish compositional history, but one that is nevertheless deserving of recognition. In the search for this sound, we began with the composer Luis de Pablo (b. Bilbao, 1930), that indefatigable seeker with the wide intellectual profile. With his sterling reputation as an artist, a study of Luis de Pablo is an essential ingredient to any understanding of contemporary Spanish music. Above all, we observed the behaviour of this leading composer; assuming, in his case, it stemmed from a deep personal conviction; one which led him to manage, promote, and disseminate contemporary creativity in all of its many expressions.

In this first album of a series devoted to the complete piano sonatas of Franz Schubert, Giuseppe Bruno interprets the Sonatas in A Major, D664 and in C Major, D840. The Sonata in A Major is possibly the composer’s first breakthrough in the genre.

Supersize Polyphony is a celebration of large-scale choral works from the 16th century, performed here by the Armonico Consort and the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, under their musical directors Christopher Monks and Geoffrey Webber.

Fondé en 2018 par le chanteur Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, spécialiste de musique baroque et en particulier de Monteverdi, l’ensemble I Gemelli s’est donné pour vocation de défendre les grandes œuvres du « Seicento » italien (XVIIe siècle pour les Français), n’hésitant pas à révéler de nombreuses partitions encore inédites attendant, dans la profondeur des bibliothèques, les musiciens qui les feront revivre.

Canticum Novum sheds new light on the wonderful medieval repertory of Tuscan laude. Taken from the Laudario di Cortona, these popular sacred songs of praise from the time of St Francis of Assisi, overflowing with poetry and sunshine, are transcended by Emmanuel Bardon and his ensemble.

Pianist Roberta Rust brings her own unique dynamism to the works of eight composers with whom she has had direct contact over the years. Dedicated to her late mother and step-daughter, this collection is as personal and touching as it is memorable for the broader audience.

This album is important musically and culturally, presenting chamber works for strings by two leading Iranian composers. Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour specializes in music that reaches across time and place and is truly international, and he has worked with orchestras and artists in the UK, Denmark and Turkey as well as his home country. Presented here are his ‘Broken Times’ for string quartet and ‘Pendar’ for solo violin.