Described by BBC Music Magazine as ‘Mozart music-making of altogether superior quality’, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s acclaimed Mozart Concertos series reaches Vol. 6. Along with Concerto No. 24, K. 491, the two concertos presented here were composed in Vienna in the winter of 1785 – 86, at a time when Mozart was working on Le nozze di Figaro. He was at the height of his fame as composer, virtuoso pianist, and teacher. These three concertos were all written for his own use in the concerts of that winter, and remained unpublished during his lifetime. Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) was commissioned by Emperor Joseph II for an important state visit and performed at Schönbrunn palace on 7 February 1786. The Overture highlights Mozart’s innate ability as an orchestrator, and serves as a demonstration piece for Gábor Takács-Nagy and the wonderful musicians of Manchester Camerata.

Following their critically acclaimed album of English Music for Strings, Sinfonia of London and John Wilson turn to Germany and three outstanding works for string orchestra. Franz Schreker’s Intermezzo, the oldest piece here, was composed in 1900, before Schreker’s rise to fame in the opera houses of Germany and Austria, but shows strong indications of what was to follow. Korngold composed the Symphonische Serenade following his return to Vienna from Hollywood after the Second World War, and shortly before he wrote his Symphony in F sharp. Korngold effortlessly conjures a vivid range of colours and textures from his large forces (32 violins, 12 violas, 12 cellos, and 8 basses) in a work that explores the virtuosity of the players to the full. Composed in 1945, as a reaction to the horrors of the war, and the desecration of German culture, Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings seems to look backwards to the German romantic tradition (a trait even more evident in his Four Last Songs, of 1948). The moving final passage, marked ‘In Memoriam’, leaves the listener to contemplate in silence.

These performances by the Ricercar Consort and its legendary quartet of soloists, from the series Deutsche Barock Kantaten, were created at a time when historical performance practice was new and sprang from original research into the performance practice. This style of music-making is now completely integrated into contemporary musical life thanks partly to these Baroque pioneers.

‘As intriguing as it is beguiling’ was how the ‘east-meets-west soundworld’ of Xiaogang Ye was described in the BBC Music Magazine on the release of a previous disc of his orchestral works in 2016. On that occasion Ye’s music was championed by José Serebrier, who returns here, sharing the task with Gilbert Varga. Between them they conduct the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and four international soloists in five works which highlight the beginning of Ye’s career as well as his more recent works. The Brilliance of Western Liang was written in 1983, during Ye’s time as a student at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and is named after a fifth-century kingdom in northwest China.

The playing of Italian pianist Francesco Libetta has drawn accolades from critics and composers alike. György Ligeti once described it as "absolutely gorgeous" and Aldo Cicciolini stated that Libetta "is the most talented instrumentalist of his generation." Born in Salento in "the heel in the boot" in Italy, Libetta studied with locally based teachers until journeying to Paris to study composition with Jacques Castérède. Nevertheless, it is as a recitalist that Libetta has made his mark; by the age of 21 he had already played the cycle of 32 Beethoven sonatas and even more impressively was the first pianist ever to take on the cycle of 53 studies on Chopin's etudes composed by arch-virtuoso Leopold Godowsky. Ligeti's comment was collected at the time Libetta premiered his L'Escalier du Diable in 1993. Libetta records for Agora Musica, Naïve, VAI Audio, and other labels, and he is a conductor and composer.

Auréolé d'une Victoire de la musique classique en 2003, le ténor franco-mexicain Rolando Villazón, né à Mexico en 1972, connaît la consécration internationale au festival de Salzbourg en 2007 dans La Traviata avec Anna Netrebko. Ce début de carrière fulgurant est interrompu par des problèmes de santé durant les deux saisons suivantes. Rolando Villazón fait un retour en fanfare à l'automne 2010 avec un opus consacré au répertoire populaire mexicain, ¡México!. En 2013, il célèbre par deux fois son compositeur fétiche Giuseppe Verdi à travers le Verdi de Deutsche Grammophon et les enregistrements plus anciens de Sings Verdi pour Virgin Classics. Partenaire régulier du chef d'orchestre Antonio Pappano, il chante sous sa direction dans une nouvelle production de Werther et un récital d'airs de concert de Mozart parus en 2012 et 2014. Parallèlement, Rolando Villazón poursuit sa collaboration avec Yannick Nézet-Séguin dans le cycle Mozart-Da Ponte (Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, L'enlèvement au sérail). En 2015, le récital Treasures of Bel Canto dévoile des mélodies plus ou moins connues de Verdi, Bellini, Donizetti et Rossini, tandis que Duets (2017) le voit donner la réplique à la basse russe Ildar Abdrazakov.

2009 debut album from Fever Ray AKA Karin Dreijer Andersson, one half of The Knife. Fever Ray is the title, of both project and album, an evocation of the music's sound, intense and anxious, yet luminous. After having her second child and eight months of the most productive daydreaming later, Karin had a batch of new songs and the raw materials for the production of Fever Ray. Unsure how to get them over the finishing line, she took half to Christoffer Berg (who mixed The Knife's work), half to Stockholm production duo Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid for a final brush and tickle. The result is Fever Ray, an album that, while recognizably the work of the same artist, is dramatically different from The Knife.

No Strings Attached celebrates master guitarist Govi at his exuberant best. This album jumps with a lively, tropical beat. Govi’s intoxicating rhythms spiced with Andean pan pipes, timbails and Indian tablas lend a world music flavor to his dazzling virtuosity. No Strings Attached brings together his liveliest tracks in a free-spirited fiesta of sound, featuring selections from Guitar Odyssey, Passion & Grace, Cuchama, Heart of a Gypsy, and Andalusian Nights.

Gunter Herbig's meditative e-guitar albums have become cult objects far beyond the classical music scene. After 'ex oriente' with arrangements of piano music by Gurdjieff/de Hartmann (BIS Records) and the Villa-Lobos album 'Tristorosa' (Aldilà Records), he has now taken on the iconic music of Arvo Pärt on his Gretsch White Falcon. He has transcribed vocal and instrumental pieces of various sizes and settings in tablature for the guitar, as has been the custom since the 14th century in order to reproduce polyphonic works on the solo instrument. Not only does the music gain an incomparable breadth and atmospheric liveliness through the resonance of the electric guitar as well as through the possibilities of subsequent shaping of the sound; at the same time, Arvo Pärt's music resounds here completely pure and simple, reduced to the essential, magical in it's eremitic power, as close to silence as we already know from Herbig's Gurdjieff album, and as perhaps only Gunter Herbig is able to manifest in this way combining inner warmth and outer beauty.

…All these pursuits made of the 'Pièces en trio' an unpretentious but charming work. They very faithfully resuscitate the climate of the sosiety of the time, its passion for music and, at the same time, its lack of concern for it. But above all they carry the seed of a skill in writing and of the qualities of composition that Marais was not slow to employ so as to give us other testimonies much more elaborate and much more remarkable.

Mariss Jansons ranks among the outstanding podium personalities of our time. His orchestral work is recognized not only because of his busy touring activities but also because of television and radio broadcasts world-wide, also documented by a sizable number of recordings.

A violinist, pianist and composer of contemporary music from small ensembles to symphonic orchestras, Grammy nominated Gregor Huebner makes music that is accessibly sophisticated and interesting, breaking down borders in between contemporary music, jazz and world music.

The recorder only features in a handful of Vivaldi’s concertos. Well known for being an exceptional violinist, Vivaldi’s innovative style is apparent in his compositions for other instruments too. He used the same technique as when he composed for the violin, using a musical language marked by gigantic tonal ranges whether or not they were models for this in their respective repertoire. The result is a concert repertoire that is madly virtuosic and music of the greatest variety. Some could even say his recorder concertos represent the greatest challenge in the baroque repertoire.

Take the title of Sonik Kicks as literally as that of its predecessor, the galvanizing 2010 Wake Up the Nation. Sonik Kicks delivers upon its titular promise immediately, coming to life with the stuttering electronic pulse of "Green," which immediately sweeps into a brightly colored psychedelic chorus, one of many dense collages and sudden shifts Paul Weller offers on his 11th solo album. Some of this contains echoes of the sprawling, picturesque double-album 22 Dreams, the 2008 record that began his latter-day renaissance, but Weller is determined not to repeat himself on Sonik Kicks.

Back in 2020, Kafé Hærverk, Oslo’s live hotspot for a wide range of jazz and experimental music, invited Master Oogway to do monthly concerts from August to December, bringing along a guest for each occasion. Two had to be moved to 2021 due to Covid restrictions, but the other three were recorded for possible use later. Initially we thought about doing a “best of” from all of the recordings, but after further listening it soon dawned on us that the concert with Henriette was nothing less than magical. To make room for the 45 minute vinyl edition, we had to drop one of the five pieces that were played on the night, and also make two minor edits.