Tenor Benedikt Kristjánsson has his own view of the biblical figure of Judas, who has imprinted himself in the collective memory of Christianity as the arch-villain. He wants to see him not only as the explicitly negative figure responsible for Jesus' death, but as someone who played his part in the inevitable path of sacrificing the Messiah and thus in the core of Christian doctrine. Kristjánsson also has his own view of Johann Sebastian Bach. For his picture of Judas, he has chosen arias and recitatives from his oeuvre.

Ligeti’s interest in sonorities and instrumental timbres is well known. François-Xavier Roth and the musicians of Les Siècles, themselves true alchemists of sounds and colours, recorded shimmering interpretations of these three works in 2016, displaying unprecedented clarity and naturalness, and also tremendous humour. They have been superbly remastered for this reissue.

The MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and its artistic director Philipp Ahmann present a collection of Felix Mendelssohn’s choral music, which arguably represents the pinnacle of German nineteenth-century religious music. Ranging across psalm settings, motets, Latin verses, the Deutsche Liturgie as well as the ethereal chorus Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen, which was later adapted and incorporated into his oratorio Elijah, the album highlights the unique stylistic range and expressive power of Mendelssohn’s choral output.

Emma Rawicz is an award winning young saxophonist and composer, already making waves on the UK music scene. She has been described as 'a force to be reckoned with' (Jazzwise) and 'a fast rising star' (London Jazz News). Emma is a recipient of the 2021 Drake Yolanda Award.

Born in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, Antoine Gosswin was recruited at a very young age by the Bavarian court chapel, where he was in frequent contact with Orlando di Lasso and accompanied the Emperor Maximilian II on his travels. Esteemed as a singer and composer, he was also part of the violin band employed by Duke Albert V at the legendary wedding of Prince William in 1568. Gosswin would go on to conduct the chapel of Prince Ernest, Bishop of Freising and later of Liège, to whom he dedicated his Newe teutsche Lieder. Extremely prolific, Gosswin produced several masses and motets as well as madrigals and German songs in which he continued the musical developments initiated by his master Lasso.

BR-KLASSIK presents the live recording of a concert performance of Hindemith's opera "Cardillac" from the Prinzregententheater in Munich on October 13, 2013, in memory of the great conductor Stefan Soltész. Soltész died unexpectedly on July 22, 2022 - exactly one year ago - after collapsing while conducting Richard Strauss' "Die schweigsame Frau" at the Munich National Theatre.

The award-winning Silesian quartet present a new album featuring two composers from Warsaw – Joachim Mendelson and Grażnya Bacewicz. After completing his music studies in Warsaw and Berlin, Joachim Mendelson moved to Paris in 1929, where he joined the Association des Jeunes Musiciens Polonais, a society founded in 1926 to facilitate the study, publication, and promotion of the works of young Polish composers. Bacewicz also received support from the Association, and from Paderewski, and studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger.

The Chicago Sound is the sole album led by American jazz bassist Wilbur Ware. It features a quintet with the saxophonist Johnny Griffin and was recorded in 1957 for the Riverside label. It was subsequently re-released by the Jazzland label as: Johnny Griffin & Wilbur Ware with Junior Mance and renamed "The Chicago Cookers" in 1960.Allmusic reviewer Scott Yanow considered the album "a fine debut by Ware. It seems strange that in his remaining 20-plus years the bassist never led another album".

Inspired by a trip to Paris in late 1957, Erroll Garner entered the studio in the spring of 1958 to create his own impressions of the city, which were presented on the LP Erroll Garner in Paris (Philips B 07375 L). Garner is showcased here leading his trio, which featured bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Kelly Martin. The material consists of familiar French favorites such as Édith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose,” Paris-related songs such as Jerome Kern’s “The Last Time I Saw Paris” and Cole Porter’s “I Love Paris,” plus several original compositions.

Bob continued to amaze and surprise critics as he created a country-rock classic with this 1969 LP. Johnny Cash and Charlie Daniels guest as you hear the hits "I Threw It All Away"; "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You", and the smash "Lay Lady Lay" plus "One More Night"; "Nashville Skyline Rag", and more!

"John Wesley Harding" is Bob Dylan's eighth studio album and was originally released on December 27, 1967 on Columbia Records. It marked Dylan's return to acoustic roots music after having made three albums of electric rock. The album was incredibly well-received by listeners and critics alike, and the song "All Along the Watchtower" became one of Dylan's most popular numbers after it was covered by Jimi Hendrix the following year.

PJ Harvey’s tenth studio album I Inside the Old Year Dying marks her first release in seven years, following UK number 1 album The Hope Six Demolition Project. On this album, which was recorded with long-time creative collaborators John Parish and Flood, PJ Harvey builds a sonic universe somehow located in a space between life’s opposites, and between recent history and the ancient past. Scattered with biblical imagery and references to Shakespeare, all of these distinctions ultimately dissolve into something profoundly uplifting and redemptive. I Inside the Old Year Dying is released on Partisan Records.

Baritone Konstantin Krimmel, voted ‘Best Newcomer’ of the year at the 2023 Oper! Awards in Germany and a member of the eminent Bavarian State Opera company since 2021, presents his third recording for Alpha Classics. In close partnership with pianist Daniel Heide, he places his artistry and his feeling for words at the service of the lied repertory. This is also an opportunity to discover his vision of the work, an unexpectedly contemporary, socio-psychological analysis: ‘ Die schöne Müllerin is a work that romanticises the development of a mental illness, and shows, unfiltered, how a young person can feel without a tempered emotional world. With all its dark sides.’

1810 saw the births not only of Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann, but also of Norbert Burgmüller and Ludwig Schuncke. All four composers knew and valued each other as artists and as friends. While in later life Schumann and Chopin would go on to achiev e world fame with their works, Norbert Burgmüller and Ludwig Schuncke died young, leaving behind only a small body of works hardly known today. This recording brings together early works by Chopin and Schumann with selected virtuosic pieces by Burgmüller a nd Schuncke. All the works represent an energetic expression of these four geniuses, still youthful and seeking orientation, yet already manifestly inspired due to their precociousness.

This recording presents Kaija Saariaho’s works for choir, a cappella and with electronics, and displays her virtuosity in the treatment of texts, which she endows with the full range of verbal expression. At least one of these works is also a discographic premières.