Domenico Scarlatti’s magnificent sonatas were composed for the Infanta, who became Queen of Spain in 1746. Previous releases in this series have focused primarily on the sonatas contained in Venetian volumes but this one ranges further afield. It includes 13 sonatas from various Italian, Spanish and Portuguese archives notable for their refined ornamentation, brilliant figuration, rapid repeated notes and scales, and wide leaps, as well as music of meditative breadth and athletic vitality.

"Adiu, adiu dous dame" avec l'ensemble La Rota fait revivre des chants du XIV siècle italien.

Pristine performances bring out the classicist in Schubert … Ariadne Daskalakis’s skilled hands cascade off the fingerboard with a litheness and shimmering delight that capture the music’s innate charm and dance-like vivacity with a beguiling sureness of touch.'

When deciding on the repertoire for his début recital, James Newby’s first choice fell on An die ferne Geliebte, songs that he had been performing ever since the beginning of his career. But Beethoven’s song cycle – and perhaps even more so the quasi-operatic Adelaide – also sets a tone for the entire programme, that of longing and of wanting to be elsewhere, near the distant beloved. These are emotions that Schubert, perhaps more than any other composer, has plumbed in depth, and Newby went on to select five of his songs that in various ways depict the restlessness and loneliness of the eternal wanderer.

Vítězslav Novák, a composition student of Dvořák, rose to prominence with a series of increasingly ambitious orchestral works that reflect his very personal amalgam of folk music elements, impressionism and late Romanticism.

Callum Smart returns to Orchid Classics with an album described by the violinist as: “American and English music from past and present … music that has influenced me from the two countries and cultures I’ve lived in all my life…”

C. P. E. Bach and his keyboards für Kenner und Liebhaber allow us to enter into a forgotten world of sound where various keyboard instruments, especially those strings that are struck, mix and mingle, revealing new colours and accents. C. P. E. Bach's work explores this broad expressive palette that enables him to evoke successively, or sometimes abruptly, the affable and tender grace of the songs to the dry anguish of break-ups, joyful liveliness to sad melancholy.

If we were to try to visualize all the songs that are traditionally heard during Advent and at Christmas, the result might be a map with countless brightly lit dots like a night sky filled with stars. The present recording features Christmas carols from the most disparate corners of Europe and seeks to add its voice to this rich and varied chorus, in the process allowing listeners to feel a sense of amazement at the whole range of Christmas songs and to delight in the beauty of the different traditions and common roots that are on display here.

Following two CDs featuring Schubert, Shostakovich, and Beethoven, the Aris Quartett, one of the leading award-winning chamber music ensembles of recent years, has put Johannes Brahms on the program of its third GENUIN CD. Included are two key works of the chamber music literature of the 19th century: The String Quartet in C minor, dating from the early period of maturity, is characterized by how the composer dealt with personal losses and how he overcame great doubts. The Clarinet Quintet is one of Brahms' last works ever.

Born in London of Italian-French parents, Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) trained as a cellist and played in theatre and café orchestras before joining the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood in 1916.

Between 1849 and 1853 Robert and Clara Schumann wrote a series of striking and imaginative works for violin and piano. Clara’s expressive Romanzen explores the violin’s lower and middle range, while Robert’s own set of the same name balances turbulence with melancholy.

These four works represent all of Sir William Waltons chamber music involving both violin and piano, as well as being a microcosm of his compositional output between 1918 and 1950.

This is Volume 5 in Centaur's traversal of the complete organ works of Widor, performed by Joby Bell. The works in this series are performed on five magnificent Aeolian-Skinner and E.M. Skinner instruments; hence, the ""American Classic"" label. Since 2004, professor Joby Bell has served on the faculty of the Hayes School of Music, where he teaches organ and church music studies. His church music teaching emphasizes the practical knowledge needed for a solid undergraduate foundation toward successful work and further studies in sacred music. His organ teaching specializes in practice techniques, memorization, service playing, choral accompanying, and maintaining grace under pressure lessons always best taught by example.

On his Debut, the young Pianist Corbin Beisner addresses the complexity, mysticism and passion of important piano works by Franz Liszt.

Given Reynaldo Hahn’s high profile with the patrons of Paris’s pre-war artist salons, it’s not surprising that his original works for piano include a good number of short character pieces that exude charm.