Performed by soprano Amy Carson and pianist Nicola Rose, Hugh Benham’s Times and Seasons is a lyrical cycle of four songs inspired by the changing year, setting evocative verse by the 18th and 19th century English poets Christina Rossetti, Emily Brontë, Thomas Hardy and Walter de la Mare. Vivid musical imagery captures the fleeting beauty of spring, the endurance of friendship, the melancholy of autumn rain, and the mystery of twilight dreams.

“Changing perspectives” is something that the composer and clarinetist Rebecca Trescher has always set out to do, but this is no easy task. On one hand, she has to remain immersed in the musical activity as it happens, while on the other she strives to always remain aware of external perspectives and other ways of hearing, asking herself: Is this actually working the way I imagined? What might still be missing, and what could give it a decisive touch or the necessary kick?

Not often can listening to a recording match the excitement and transcendent power of a live performance. We in the recording business try our best to get as close as possible to the real thing of course. Sometimes, however, magic happens listening to a recording with the right people in the right environment. This occurred in the Rockport/Absolare room at the 2024 Munich High End Show listening to J. S. Bach’s “French Overture” performed on piano by Orion Weiss. It takes a great performer, a recording that “doesn’t get in the way,” and fabulous playback equipment such as we had in the Rockport room for these wondrous listening experiences. The audience sat enraptured by Orion’s subtlety and artistry and we indeed felt like we were sitting on stage with Orion in Zipper Hall at The Colburn School where we made this album.

The Hamburg-born Ferdinand Thieriot (1838–1919) not only shared a teacher – Eduard Marxsen – with Brahms; both composers, who remained friends in later years, use a similar musical language, one which is richly melodic and effortlessly contrapuntal. The musicologist Wilhelm Altmann wrote that ‘Thieriot’s chamber music is without exception noble and pure. He writes with perfect command of form and expression’ – as the works on this fourth Toccata Classics volume prove, in their exquisite balance of depth and beauty, of Brahmsian richness and Schubertian spontaneity.

Alongside Alessandro Scarlatti, many composers contributed to the flourishing of Neapolitan opera in the 18th century. Most have since been forgotten, their works lying dormant in the archives of the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella.
Harpsichordist Ignacio Prego conducts Xavier Sabata, Alicia Amo, and his ensemble Tiento Nuovo in bringing back to life some of the finest, never-before-recorded arias by Sarri, Vinci, and Vignola. Composed at the height of Neapolitan opera, these works combine dazzling virtuosity with unbridled expressiveness — a powerful testament to the art of the affetti cultivated by these Neapolitan masters, here rediscovered with renewed wonder.

The new album of saxophonist Asya Fateyeva tells the tales of the winter and Christmas season in a brand-new arrangement of the Tchaikovsky classic The Nutcracker by composer Wolf Kerschek. This piece for saxophone and orchestra, where Fateyeva is joined by the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz is complemented by other Christmas favourites for saxophone and vocal ensemble that were recorded together with Niniwe-Vocal Art. Part of the album are for example: Carol of the Bells, Corpus Christi Charol, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and Rosu Dejte.

The First Symphony was largely inspired by the composer’s tempestuous love affair with the widowed Baroness Imma von Doernberg, whom Walton met in 1929 and with whom he was living on the Continent in the early 1930s. Although the work was long in gestation, with a particular delay in the composition of the finale, the result was universally acclaimed as an outstanding success, with John Ireland commenting “unlike any other English symphony, this is in the real line of symphonic tradition. It is simply colossal, grand, original, and moving to the emotions to the most extreme degree… It has established you as the most vital and original genius in Europe”.

This Trio recorded their first live album together at the Jamboree (Barcelona) on January 3rd-2025. This trio features some really strong names in jazz today, representing three different generations: Catalan drummer Jorge Rossy, born 1964 (Brad Mehldau Trio), Catalan bassist Camil Arcarazo, born 2003 (Bill McHenry, Gregory Hutchinson, etc.), and Swedish guitarist Gustav Lundgren, born 1980 (Chris Cheek & Doug Weiss). The music is a mix of standards arranged for the trio and one original.

My third album HEROINA was born at a time when I felt like I was losing control. Over my body, over my career, over my identity. Living with chronic pain for so long, while trying to survive as an independent artist and new mom in this state of the world, forced me to go through a dark time. I created HEROINA as an armor, and as a mirror.

Prolific award-winning Los Angeles-based composer lionel Cohen has been insatiably producing music for over thirty years. He has produced countless indie artists, has commercially released almost 250 albums of his original music, and has scored films for Sony Pictures, Saban Films, Gravitas Ventures, Vertical Entertainment, and Lionsgate, among others. His discipline and creativity have garnered him over 500 IMDb credits, millions of plays on Spotify, and tens of millions of views on YouTube.

This next volume in the award-winning Bootleg Series tells the story of Dylan’s emergence and maturation as a songwriter and performer, from Minnesota to the Greenwich Village bohemia in the early 1960s. It includes rare Columbia Records outtakes, recordings made at club dates, in tiny informal gatherings, in friends’ apartments, and at jam sessions in long-gone musicians’ hangouts. The 8CD Deluxe set features 139 tracks – 48 never-before released performances, as well as 38 super-rare cuts plus a hardcover book with extensive liner notes by Sean Wilentz and over 100 rare photographs. The last two discs of the set consist of the unreleased complete recording of Dylan’s 1963 landmark show at Carnegie Hall, mixed from original tapes.

Absolwentka klasy fortepianu prof. Aleksandry Utrecht w POSM II st. im. Mieczysława Karłowicza w Poznaniu.
W 2008 roku ukończyła z wyróżnieniem poznańską Akademię Muzyczną im. Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego, gdzie studiowała klawesyn pod kierunkiem ad. dr hab. Marii Banaszkiewicz-Bryły.

Am 31. Oktober 2025 erscheint das Album „80 Jahre König von Mallorca“ von Jürgen Drews, das anlässlich seines 80. Geburtstags veröffentlicht wird. Das Album enthält neun neue Songs sowie neu interpretierte Versionen seiner größten Hits und neue Duette, unter anderem mit Howard Carpendale, Knossi und seiner Tochter Joelina Drews. Der Schlagerstar hat zudem seinen Rückzug von der Bühne angekündigt, wird aber aufgrund seiner anstehenden Geburtstagsveröffentlichung noch in der Öffentlichkeit präsent sein.

Avec son entrée dans l'écurie Naïve, Francesco Tristano semble avoir trouvé le terrain de jeu idéal pour exprimer en toute liberté son amour de longue date pour la musique de Jean-Sébastien Bach. Ses deux dernières réalisations en date pour le label français (Bach : The 6 Partitas, 2024 et Bach : The 6 English Suites, 2025) avaient fait l'unanimité. Son enregistrement des 7 Toccatas remportera tout autant l'adhésion. Habitué des prises de son sobres et sans artifices, Tristano marque comme à l'habitude l'écriture contrapuntique du Kantor d'un jeu soigant son dosage entre legato et attaques brèves.

Karen Tanaka’s Children of Light is a set of twenty-five piano pieces composed for children to perform. Its theme is animals in danger – because of climate change, persecution by poaching or other man-made changes to their habitat. These beguiling pieces appeared on various exam board syllabuses over the years and continue to do so (ABRSM Grade 6). Each animal depicted appeared on the 1996 IUCN Red List of threatened species.