‘Rachmaninov fans won’t want to miss this’ was Gramophone’s verdict on Steven Osborne’s recording of the Études-tableaux, and this thrilling new release is an equally essential acquisition. Osborne proves a predictably fine exponent of the Faustian Piano Sonata No 1 and is no less compelling in the selection of shorter works which completes the album.

The world’s pause caused by the Covid-19 pandemic created rifts in regular patterns and collaborations. Pianist Anat Fort found herself effectively separated from her regular trio of bassist Gary Wang and Roland Schneider for the first time in the trio’s 20 years of existence. When an opportunity arose to bring the trio together to perform in Germany, Fort seized on the chance to regroup and record an album that goes against the group’s typical formula on The Berlin Sessions.

A composing jazz musician - and strictly speaking, that's everyone, since improvisation means “instant composing“ - can draw inspiration from a wide variety of sources: from the characteristics of his instrument, from the music of his predecessors, from experiencing the world, whether as a memory or as a current impression, and more than in any other genre from meeting other musicians.

For the last 12 years, audiences have scrambled to get seats at venues whenever celebrated American tenor saxophonist Mark Turner toured with Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug's quartet. The bond between the musicians becomes especially evident when they explo-re their shared musical language which seam-lessly blends composed and improvised ma-terial. On his new album, NOCTURNES, Ploug presents new original compositions and fresh interpretations of inspiring source material by Danish composers Bent Sorensen and Carl Nielsen.

François Salque (cello), Samuel Strouk (guitar) and Jérémie Arranger (double bass) who form the Loco Cello trio announce their second album Tangorom for February 03, 2023 with a great tour that will stop in Paris at the Café de la Dance on 02/13/2023.Tangorom sails from Astor Piazzolla to Django, passing through chamber music and music from Eastern Europe. A crazy odyssey. We find on this second album of Loco Cello two distinguished guests: the guitarists Biréli Lagrène and Adrien Moignard.

Rainer Böhms kristallines, wandlungsfähiges und fantasievolles Klavierspiel schnellt immer anders durch diese Aufnahmen und bei allem intellektuellen Überbau bleibt sei- ne Musik stets beseelt und vital. Dieses Album ist geradezu ein Musterbeispiel für die von ihm angestrebte Emotionalität. Sie zeigt ihn auf der Höhe seiner Kunst als Pianist, Komponist und Arrangeur. Jede der Kompositionen bleibt stringent und farbenreich.

With the "Something Blue" series of releases, my goal is to present a series of focused and concise performances to create maximum enjoyment. For this 2023 release, I specifically focused on assembling a group of talented composers. I selected some familiar collaborators; bassist Boris Kozlov, alto saxophonist Markus Howell and drummer Donald Edwards. I also chose some “new” faces as well; tenor saxophonist Willie Morris, trombonist Altin Sencalar, and pianist Misha Tsiganov. I hope this program of new compositions will encourage a wider audience of listeners to increase their engagement with Jazz, so it becomes their personal preference for musical entertainment. — Marc Free, producer

ABC Classic is proud to be releasing the music from this magical cinema experience: Nigel Westlake’s evocative orchestral score to the feature film Blueback, based on the novel by Tim Winton. Performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Benjamin Northey, Westlake’s music captures in all its richness the vastness and mystery of the ocean, the intimate touch of water on skin, the unique colours of underwater light and a profound sense of love and wonder.

While she might be best known as an improviser (most notably in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, the Feminist Improvising Group and more recently with the likes of Les Diaboliques), Maggie Nicols’ talents stretch into song, dance, poetry, performance and composition.

Voilà maintenant plus de 5 ans que l’aventure Wanderlust a commencé.Dirigé par la vocaliste Ellinoa, qui en écrit le répertoire,l’orchestre s'est imposé comme une voix incontournable de la jeune génération des grands ensembles de jazz.

Steve Dobrogosz is an American pianist and composer based in Sweden whose career spans several decades and ranges in style from classical to jazz and pop. He was particularly successful in collaboration with vocalists Radka Toneff during the early '80s, Berit Andersson during the late '80s and early '90s, and Anna Christoffersson during the mid- to late 2000s. Born on January 26, 1956, in Bellefonte, PA, Dobrogosz grew up in Raleigh, NC, and later studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. In 1978 he moved to Stockholm, Sweden, and began a fruitful musical career there amid the city's vibrant jazz scene.

Seulement cinquante ans après leur écriture, les Fables de La Fontaine ont été mises en musique par Louis-Nicolas Clérambault. Méconnues du grand public, ces pièces offrent une perspective à la fois neuve et authentique sur le bestiaire cocasse dont nous sommes tous familiers. La Chapelle Harmonique a choisi de les mettre en valeur dans ce nouvel enregistrement, qui navigue entre récitation, chant et pièces instrumentales et nous plonge dans l’atmosphère des jardins versaillais pour un moment de grande poésie.

Niccolò Castiglioni was one of the most singular figures on the Italian music scene of the latter half of the 20th century. Including world première recordings, this first volume of this complete edition reveals the exceptional quality of Castiglioni’s early piano works, the cantabile solemnity found in his exploration of twelve-tone techniques, and the quest for simplicity in later pieces that include the Seconda Sonatina discovered among the composer’s papers after his death. The acclaimed pianist Aldo Orvieto has recorded and performed extensively throughout his career and is a specialist in Italian 20th-century repertoire.

The coronavirus pandemic has really shown music’s ability to bring us together and provide comfort in difficult times: whether it’s through singing on balconies during lockdown to entertain our neighbours, professional musicians performing online to bolster spirits, or providing the soundtrack to keep us moving at home.When ABC Classic asked listeners to recommend the music that gives them an instant mood boost, the response was almost overwhelming, with hundreds of different suggestions.

Maurice Maeterlinck completed his play The Blue Bird ("L’Oiseau bleu") in 1908. Several of his previous works had proved popular as operatic subjects (Pelléas et Mélisande and Ariane et Barbe-Bleue) so it's no wonder that composers jumped at the opportunity to set his latest creation to music.French composer Albert Wolff based an opera on the story, which premiered at the New York Met but subsequently fell into oblivion. Prior to that, in 1912, Max Reinhardt adapted it as a Christmas play and staged a production in Berlin, inviting no less a person than Engelbert Humperdinck to write the incidental music for it. The music was never published, but Steffen Tast eventually located the score and salvaged it for us all to enjoy. A sweet story and newly discovered music by Humperdinck that's sweeter still? Truly a recipe for a fairy-tale ending!