Music for These Troubled Times explores the melancholy of the past through the keyboard repertoire of the English virginalists of the late 16th and 17th centuries, and links this still familiar state of mind with the present — an age of social and political turbulence, uncertainty, and wars — through Maxim Shalygin’s KHORA. Inspired by Robert Burton’s 1621 treatise The Anatomy of Melancholy, which praises music as a remedy for the troubled mind, the programme moves between contemplative pavanes, witty variations, and complex polyphonic works. It includes rarely performed pieces and a first recording of the anonymous A Ground. Recorded on three unique harpsichords, it features a rare copy after 1579 L. Theewes’ earliest surviving English instrument, a reconstruction of the original state of the 1612 I. Ruckers transposing double-manual harpsichord and a copy of the marvellous 1751 H. Hemsch.

This first collaboration between the naive label and Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco, the ensemble founded in 2016 by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli and Jean-Louis Grinda (then director of the Opera de Monte-Carlo), marks the 75th volume of the Vivaldi Edition. It explores the realm of the concerti per vari strumenti ("for various instruments"), more than twenty years after the first volume devoted to the genre, which was conceived together with the Freiburger Barockorchester and Gottfried von der Goltz (Vol. 7, Concerti di Dresda, 2003, OP 30283)./quote]

Every man's death diminishes us all, but the death of a man so close to completing his greatest achievement and the summation of his life's work diminishes us all greatly – very, very greatly. When Emil Gilels died in 1985, he had completed recordings of most but not all of Beethoven's piano sonatas, released here in a nine-disc set. What's here is unimaginably good: superlative recordings of 27 of the 32 canonical sonatas, including the "Pathétique," "Moonlight," "Waldstein," "Appassionata," "Les Adieux," and the majestic "Hammerklavier," plus the two early "Electoral" Sonatas and the mighty Eroica Variations. What's missing is unimaginably priceless: five of the canonical sonatas, including the first and – horror vacui – the last. But still, for what there is, we must be grateful. Beyond all argument one of the great pianists of the twentieth century, Gilels the Soviet super virtuoso had slowly mellowed and ripened over his long career, and when he began recording the sonatas in 1972, his interpretations had matured and deepened while his superlative technique remained gloriously intact straight through to the last recordings of his final year.

On their upcoming album, conductor Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberger Symphoniker explore the six symphonies of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů – one of the 20th century’s finest symphonic cycles. Composed during the composer’s American exile, these mature works encompass poetic lyricism, epic tragedy, and Bohemian colour and energy. The Bamberg Symphoniker traces its artistic lineage to Prague, with roots reaching back to the Estates Theatre and the city’s rich musical culture. Based in Bamberg since 1946, the orchestra has brought its rich and warm sound to music lovers worldwide. In a close artistic partnership, Hrůša and the orchestra bring this shared heritage to life with clarity, depth, and expressive power.

The sophomore release from the freshly re-imagined Penguin Cafe is the culmination of two years work that has seen Arthur Jeffes - son of original composer and Penguin Cafe Orchestra founder Simon Jeffes - investigate whole new areas of sound and vibrancy, alongside his eclectic collection of musicians and characters, marking an ambitious extension from their debut 'A Matter of Life' (2011). The catalyst for the new recording came about when Jeffes worked on a project with the International Space Orchestra and NASA Ames in 2012, out of which came the pieces Aurora and 1420, which have since been beamed into space as part of NASA's Kepler project. These touchstones marked a satellitic beginning for a new album, a collection of songs that would then return to earth to undertake a rich, cross-continental, musical journey.

For most of his 20s, pianist Sunwoo Yekwon did not play the works of Franz Liszt. He had only played the composer’s pieces — notorious for their complexity — as a middle school student in the way that precocious players often do, forcing themselves to practice “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” (1851) or “Dante Sonata” (1856) to prove that they can overcome the difficulty. But somewhere along the way to Juilliard, the Mannes School of Music and Berlin, Sunwoo stopped playing Liszt. The decision wasn’t purposeful; instead, it simply reflected his lack of interest in the composer.