Composed in 1771 to a libretto by Metastasio tracing the well-known biblical story of Judith and Holofernes, La Betulia liberata was Mozart’s first oratorio. Often described as a stroke of genius, this recording by Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset, with Sandrine Piau, Amanda Forsythe and Teresa Iervolino, shows the dramatic intensity of which he was already capable at the age of just fifteen and the influence of his early experiences with opera.

Reinhard Keiser’s Der blutige und sterbende Jesus is not only the very first German Passion oratorio but also a highly suspenseful contribution to the Passion season. Lost for many years, it is now available for listening on CD in the revised version of 1729. The dramatic and musical design of Keiser’s work is astonishing. As in the Italian oratorio type that gained currency after 1700, there is no Evangelist or other narrator, which means that the work has a purely dramatic structure. Even though Keiser’s librettist Christian Friedrich Hunold, whose pseudonym was »Menantes,« did not cite any one of the four Evangelists word for word in his adaptation of the Passion narrative, it is quite evident that the poetic elaboration is (primarily) modelled on Luther’s translation of the Gospel of Matthew.

For the French soprano Élisabeth Duparc, known as ‘La Francesina’, Handel composed no fewer than twelve principal roles in major works - operas and oratorios - written towards the end of his life. She took the title role in Semele, for instance, and the parts of Michal in Saul and Nitocris in Belshazzar. Sophie Junker and the Concert de l’Hostel Dieu pay tribute to her here, through some of her most successful roles as the composer’s muse.

Perhaps the greatest Quincy Jones album of the 60s - a hard-swinging batch of big band bossa tunes - and one of the greatest American takes on the bossa sound ever! Quincy really brings a lot of soul to the set - syncopating the bottom end of the tunes to really bring out the rhythms, and working with a jazzy flourish of horns that creates all these quick and clever little turns in the tunes! The sound's been heard most famously on the incredible track "Soul Bossa Nova" - an original by Quincy for the set, which has gone onto much greater fame through its use in the film Austin Powers, and a bazillion TV commercials!

In another successful "recycling" project, Vidna Obmana reconstructs original compositions which willem tanke previously had rendered on classical European organs. These variations for organ, keyboard and processors respectfully merge two musical worlds from across time, simultaneously exploring mystical/physical revelations by way of thoughtful sonic alterations. The opening five tracks encompass six canons which form The Tao of Physics; having composed the original pieces as reflections upon Fritjof Capra's East/West metaphysical writing, Willem Tanke performed them on an historic Netherlandic church organ. After careful studying, avid recycler Vidna Obmana proceeded to dismantle and reprocess the oringal acoustic recordings, reassembling them in accordance with the Canon-method, and of course, his own fine-tuned sense of sonic art…

For Lullaby, Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick draws on the quartet formation in a programme that includes some of his most exploratory and improvisatory qualities, with a cast of ECM familiars Kristjan Randalu and Ole Morten Vågan on piano and bass, and new arrival Hans Hulbækmo on drums. There’s a sense of abandon within these melodic songs, as the musicians flow smoothly between harmonies, collectively building momentum from within the forms. Eick’s immediately recognizable and soothing tone is often confronted by Randalu’s in turns lyrical and energetic keyboard-flights, soaring above a propulsive, always engaging rhythm section. The album was recorded at Rainbow Studio in Oslo.

Out May 3, ‘Funeral For Justice’ is the new album by Mdou Moctar. Recorded at the close of two years spent touring the globe following the release of 2021 breakout ‘Afrique Victime,’ it captures the Nigerien quartet in ferocious form. The music is louder, faster, and more wild. The guitar solos are feedback-scorched and the lyrics are passionately political. Nothing is held back or toned down.

Taking Turns, recorded in New York’s Avatar Studio a decade ago, finds Danish guitarist Jakob Bro joined by a multi-generational cast of improvisers, highly distinctive players all. Lee Konitz, Andrew Cyrille, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran and Thomas Morgan lend their energies to a session that bypasses conventions of the “all-star” band and puts the emphasis on teamwork. Bro’s space-conscious music encourages fresh responses: an atmospheric hint, or a fragment of gentle melody, opening up new trails to explore. “My compositions are about catching a glimpse of a feeling, sketching it down and then unfolding it as we record”, said Jakob Bro at the time.

This superlative set was taped for FM broadcast soon after the release of Herbie Hancock s groundbreaking Man-Child album, and finds the great keyboardist backed by the awesomely tight combo of DeWayne Blackbyrd McKnight, Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson, Bill Summers and Michael Clarke on a selection of his finest tracks, from Hancock s early classic Watermelon Man right up to the present.

Rekindling the familiarly flowing interplay with fellow travellers Thomas Morgan and João Lobo – the trio’s musical partnership goes back over a decade at this point –, on A New Day Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi moreover expands the group’s instrumental grasp with the introduction of American saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who makes his ECM debut here. Not only is the ensemble scope widened; with Brandon Lewis in tow, new dialects and fresh perspectives are broached, and different instrumental paths taken, inspired by an overall heightened sense of communication and Lewis’s unmistakable, confident tone. Recorded at Studios La Buissonne, Southern France, in August 2023, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

French singer/songwriter Cyrille Aimée, a matchless interpreter of song, is back with a new album and a new story to tell 'à Fleur de Peau' presents Cyrille in her own words, with her own original compositions presented in her own arrangements, developed in close collaboration with New York multi-instrumentalist and producer Jake Sherman. The music on 'à Fleur de Peau' is the most original and personal of Cyrille's career. Drawing on her Dominican heritage with its cargo of African dance rhythms and Spanish folksongs, embracing the directness and simplicity of contemporary pop forms, singing tales straight from her own life, this is Cyrille as you have never heard her before. The album's genesis originates far from New York or her adopted New Orleans home, deep within the forests of Costa Rica and an astonishing tale of a creative rebirth.

In blazing form, the trumpeter from Tel Aviv responds to the turbulent spirit of a troubled time, leading his dedicated band through a five-part suite that runs the gamut of emotions, by turns hopeful, despairing, outraged and profoundly melancholic. The melodic directness of the concluding “The Seventh”, composed by Avishai Cohen’s teenaged daughter Amalia, offers consoling contrast to the suite’s intensity. In between, Cohen turns his attention to the haunting Adagio assai from Ravel’s G major piano concerto, which has long been a highlight of the quartet’s concerts. Ashes to Gold was recorded in November 2023, at Studios La Buissonne, in the South of France.