In a stunning world premiere recording, music director and conductor Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, and an international cast of French Baroque opera stars present Jean-Philippe Rameau’s original 1745 version of Le Temple de la Gloire, with libretto by Voltaire. Presented as a fully staged opera in April 2017, the three sold out performances enjoyed universal critical acclaim from some of the world’s leading publications. The original manuscript had not been performed since 1745 and is housed at U.C. Berkeley’s Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library. Originally written to honour King Louis XV and commemorate the Battle of Fontenoy, the version of this ballet héroïque that has been heard up until now is the second version which was substantially changed by Rameau to appease the King and Parisian tastes.

Debussy's richly evocative Estampes takes us through exotic gamelan-like sonorities from East Asia and the strumming guitars of Spain, to end amid the bracing excitement of a violent rainstorm in Normandy. Alexander Panfilov was a laureate at the Premio Jaen competition in 2016, at which Manuel Seco de Arpe's elegantly constructed and complex Anamorfosis was the mandatory work. He concludes this recital with Mussorgsky's supremely descriptive Pictures at an Exhibition, one of the great works of the Russian piano tradition.

One of the giants of music-making in the 19th century, Louis Spohr excelled as a composer, violin virtuoso, conductor and teacher. His concertos for the violin (Nos. 6, 8 and 11 can be heard on 8.570528 and the world premiere recordings of Nos. 7 and 12 on 8.555101) demonstrate a Romantic temperament framed in a Classical style, but he was equally adept in smaller forms. The Duets for Two Violins, Op. 67 reveal a perfect sense of architecture, the two instruments frequently exchanging roles, as well as a majestic command of melody. The Duet, WoO 21, written when Spohr was just 12 years old, is one of his earliest surviving compositions.

Acknowledged as one of the finest contemporary composers, Barcelona-born Leonardo Balada has written a series of Caprichos, suite-like pieces that illustrate the range of his invention. Fusing traditional and contemporary elements, they generate a symbiosis between the ethnic and the avant-garde, as in Caprichos No. 7: Fantasies of 'La Tarara' in which an Andalusian folk melody is transformed into a surrealist canvas, and in the vividly descriptive dissonance of Caprichos No. 6. Ballet City is a youthful work, reflecting Balada's early enthusiasm for neo-classicism.

In the last two decades of his career Eugene Zador, whose music fused Classicism with Romanticism to universal acclaim, wrote a series of works that reflected his Hungarian roots. Subtly flavoured by folklore without any direct quotations, Zador's facility for melody, harmony and colour is exemplified in the Rhapsody for Orchestra, while his gift for lyricism and pithy concision is to the fore in the Fantasia Hungarica for double bass and orchestra. The Rhapsody for Cimbalom and Orchestra reveals his ceaselessly inventive imagination in music that is orchestrated with the deftest touch.

Although operas make up the most substantial part of Mercadante's catalogue, his technically challenging flute concertos are notable examples of 19th-century Italian instrumental music, effectively closing the Classical period for this instrument. Built on the agile writing and bel canto style that characterised the Neapolitan school, the Concerto in D major is unique in Mercadante's catalogue in being for two flutes. The great mutual respect between Mercadante and Rossini is brought vividly to life in the theme used for the masterly Tema con variazioni. The Capricci can be compared with those for violin by Paganini, and the joyous Sixth Concerto makes varied and eloquent use of the orchestra. Volume 1 of this collection can be heard on Naxos 8572731.

Circumstances including an overwhelming preoccupation with opera at the expense of instrumental music, two world wars and the rise of a Fascist dictatorship, resulted in a generation of Italian chamber music composers born between the 1880s and early 1900s whose music seemed to vanish without trace. Featured on this release, they include virtuoso composer-performers, such as Ferdinando Busoni, father of Ferruccio, renowned pedagogues, and composers persecuted for their Jewish origins. This is Sergio Bosi's fifth album for Naxos in a series devoted to restoring to the repertoire forgotten and rarely-performed Italian clarinet works from the second half of the 19th century to the present day.

Ten years after writing Les Corps Glorieux (8.573682), Olivier Messiaen developed a plan to compose a Book of Rhythmic Studies for the organ. This resulted in two distinct works of which Livre d'orgue proved to be an anthology representative of his compositional thinking at the time. It runs the gamut of rhythms, tone colours and sonorities, ranging from extreme delicacy to the most powerful vehemence, and includes new modes, complex Hindu rhythms, and an aviary of birdsong. The test piece Verset pour la Fete de la Dedicace offers a more serene vision in its own essay in birdsong.

Robert Schumann considered Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner the most promising operatic composer in the country, yet despite his 21 operas he has been almost forgotten. Like most leading German composers of his time he took Meyerbeer's historical grand operas, conceived in Paris, as his model. Set in Sicily at the dawn of the 1848 revolution, Il vespro siciliano ('Die sizilianische Vesper' / 'The Sicilian Vespers') is a dramatic four-act opera that reveals why he was held in such esteem by Schumann, Spohr and Mendelssohn: expressive harmonies, folksong-like strophic songs, rich orchestration, the use of the latest stylistic devices, and tuneful bel canto melodies that point to the work's Franco-Italian lineage.

“Him alone did they call the Father of all musicians, to whom the Germans were indebted for enabling them now to bring music to a standard equal to that of the Italians, if not even higher”. So wrote Johann Mattheson in 1740 in praise of Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), the most revered German musician of his generation. On this CD the ensemble inAlto present works by Schütz himself, but also by some of his students, which show why Schütz was such a good teacher, who handed on his talent to the following generation.

Brass Groove Brasil came up with the ideal of highlighting the wind instruments as main soloists in a differentiated proposal in the state of Santa Catarina. The album "Sopro brasileiro" has the participation of the legendary trombonist Raul de Souza. His compositions and re-readings present a peculiar dialogue between the melody and the counterpoint, which serves as a basis for the construction of the arrangements, creating a polyphonic texture with differentiated sonority in the current scene of Brazilian music.

The most extreme thing about Deafheaven’s remarkable fourth album is how subdued it sounds. It suggests devastation without placing you at the center of it.

Exclusive artist at Deutsche Grammophon, Julie Fuchs follows in the footsteps of her illustrious predecessors and invests songs and iconic tunes from the jewels of the stage and cinema of the roaring twenties. The texts in the spotlight develop themes widely discussed after 1918 pacifism, feminism and liberation of morals, birth that find a new resonance after the war in Poulenc's opera-bouffe, whose modernity and irrepressible fantasy plunge their roots in the vibrant interwar years when Paris was still the capital of the world.

March, 1973… A quartet known for its psychedelic inclinations delivered a fortress of an album: The Dark Side of The Moon was a musical UFO featuring the most advanced technology of the period, a stratospheric record which mirrored society and our errant human ways. Pink Floyd was about to write an essential chapter in rock history and enjoy planetary fame; even today, their album is still one of the greatest sellers of all time.

Over 36 songs this fantastic collection presents more than two hours of Celtic-themed music, both vocal and instrumental. Blending highly traditional and boldly contemporary styles, we invite you to sample the very best in Celtic songs and melodies.