On their second album for Alpha Classics (following ALPHA885), Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazıl Say are not only an extraordinary performing duo, but also composers. They have recorded Szymanowski’s magnificent Mythes and Prokofiev’s sonata, written between 1938 and 1946 amid the violence and fear of war and the Soviet regime— “Every note says something about today” Kopatchinskaja emphasises… but it is Say’s sonata Lost Screams—written for Patricia Kopatchinskaja—that opens this programme: “It embodies the struggles, fears, and silent protests of our times,” explains Fazıl Say. Patkop’s UniSolo completes the album: she sought to create a musical process without knowing its outcome: “At the beginning it revolves around the note A — Situations then developed from this that have surprised even me,” explains Kopatchinskaja, who concludes: “Composing opens up your ears and dispels any sense of awe. I feel freer, and regard my works as living beings whom I’ve been conversing with for my whole life.”

The Blue Notebooks stands as a seminal landmark of 21st-century modern classical and post-minimalist composition by acclaimed British composer Max Richter. Originally released in 2004 on FatCat Records and reissued in a definitive pristine edition in 2015 by Deutsche Grammophon, this forty-seven-minute masterwork remains one of the most critically revered and influential contemporary classical recordings of recent memory. Written as an anti-war protest and meditation on violence, the album seamlessly bridges intimate acoustic piano motifs, lush string quintets, subtle electronic ambient field recordings, and spoken-word passages read by actress Tilda Swinton (incorporating literary texts by Franz Kafka and Czesław Miłosz). The twelve-track program includes Richter's most famous composition, On The Nature Of Daylight—a breathtaking, emotionally charged string arrangement—alongside delicate solo piano vignettes like Vladimir's Blues and Written On The Sky, the expansive ambient soundscape Shadow Journal, and the haunting organ piece Organum. This expanded Deutsche Grammophon edition includes an orchestral bonus version of On The Nature Of Daylight. Sourced from original high-fidelity master transfers alongside high-bitrate MP3 options, complete with EAC sector logging verification, track cue sheets, full retail artwork scans, and pristine audio clarity, this album is an indispensable centerpiece for modern classical purists, ambient collectors, and contemporary film score archives.

Star pianist Lang Lang’s upcoming EP Modern Encores broadens the musical world of Piano Book 2 by offering a fresh selection of contemporary favourites, celebrated screen music and modern piano repertoire. The project features five highly accessible works spanning film music, contemporary classical music and musical theatre.

Go Between stands as an extraordinary, avant-garde crossover collaboration bridging contemporary classical percussion, virtuosic marimba performance, and progressive jazz-rock improvisation. Originally recorded and released in 1987 (and later reissued on Summerfold Records), this forty-eight-minute album brings together The New Percussion Group of Amsterdam alongside legendary Yes and King Crimson drum icon Bill Bruford and world-renowned Japanese marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe. Across four expansive compositions—including Ruud Wiener's sweeping fourteen-minute title track, Niels Le Large's atmospheric Redbone, Minoru Miki's dramatic Marimba Spiritual, and Peter Prommel's dynamic Maenaden—the ensemble weaves a rich sonic tapestry of tuned mallet instruments, log drums, peacock gongs, Japanese taiko drums, and intricate drum kit polyrhythms. Sourced from original high-fidelity lossless transfers complete with EAC sector logging verification, track cue sheets, full artwork scans, and dual FLAC and MP3 bitrate options, this release is a prized centerpiece for progressive percussion enthusiasts, modern classical purists, and avant-garde jazz collections.

“These performances, by Heinz Holliger and Marie-Lise Schüpbach, are simply astonishing in their fluency,” wrote UK magazine Gramophone of Holliger’s album Zwiegespräche, and the description applies with equal pertinence to con slancio, with its inspired and inspiring play of energies. The title piece, which opens the programme here, was written by the Swiss composer and nonpareil oboist as a tribute to musical partner Schüpbach: “Since I began playing in duo with Marie-Lise, I’ve been fascinated by the way our two instruments expand each other’s range and palette of tone colours. New sound paths have opened up for me.”

Film Fest Gent proudly presents Philip Glass: Music for Film, featuring comprehensive highlights from the renowned composer’s career in cinema, performed by the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé. While there have been countless performances, recordings and releases of Glass’s works, this is the first time that an entire album is devoted to new studio recordings of his original film scores, including several scores that have never been recorded before.

Saxophonist and presenter Jess Gillam brings her talent, charm and energy to audiences around the world. Now she presents her next album – Shine. A listening experience packed with energy, joy and vibrancy to bring a smile to the face of listeners. The album showcases Jess’s fiery joyful virtuosity, astonishing skill, exquisite tone, and magically sensitive, quiet moments too. Spanning 900 years of music, the electrifying and diverse album repertoire captures the energy and eclecticism of Jess’ musical upbringing and tastes, as well as her live shows. Shine’s tracklist bridges genres seamlessly, from classical, folk, classic art pop, jazz to ambient.

‘Basically, I only have two symphonies: the Fourth and the Eighth.’ Shostakovich is said to have remarked. Yevgeny Mravinsky, to whom Symphony No. 8 is dedicated, wrote in his diary: ‘I spent the whole evening reflecting on and sketching out the form and dramatic arc of Shostakovich’s Eighth. It moves me ever more deeply each time. Especially the "Great Terror" section of the first movement!!’. The themes of martyrdom and the transformation of the human being into a manipulable puppet run through this unsettling and monumental work. This recording constitutes the second volume of the complete Shostakovich symphonies by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by its music director, Alain Altinoglu.

Nonesuch Records releases the first recording of Steve Reich’s Reich/Richter, performed by Ensemble intercontemporain and conducted by George Jackson, on June 10, 2022, with the vinyl due August 5. The composition was originally written to be performed with German visual artist Gerhard Richter and Corinna Belz’s film Moving Picture (946-3).

If Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians is simply described in terms of its materials and organization – 11 chords followed by 11 pieces built on those chords – then it might seem utterly dry and monotonous. The actual music, though, is far from lackluster. When this recording was released in 1978, the impact on the new music scene was immediate and overwhelming. Anyone who saw potential in minimalism and had hoped for a major breakthrough piece found it here. The beauty of its pulsing added-note harmonies and the sustained power and precision of the performance were the music's salient features; and instead of the sterile, electronic sound usually associated with minimalism, the music's warm resonance was a welcome change. Yet repeated listening brought out a subtle and important shift in Reich's conception: the patterns were no longer static repetitions moving in and out of phase with each other, but were now flexible units that grew organically and changed incrementally over the course of the work. This discovery indicated a promising new direction for Reich, one that put him ahead of his peers by giving his music greater interest and adaptability and led to the more elaborate works of the next two decades.

Origins is a digital compilation released by Icelandic cellist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir on September 18, 2026, through the UME label. This retrospective collection arrives one month before the release of her orchestral album This Will Be Us, marking the twentieth anniversary of her debut solo project Mount A. The compilation serves as a bridge between her early experimental works and her current orchestral ambitions.

A BBC New Generation Artist in 2022–24, violinist Geneva Lewis is also the recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a 2022 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and has been Musical America’s New Artist of the Month. For her recording debut on Delos, she revels in a high-flying all-American program, accompanied by Gemma New conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Starting with Samuel Barber’s neo-Romantic violin Concerto – the notorious finale provides hardly any respite to the soloist – it is followed by the first recording of John Zorn’s Partita for the Firebird, a solo violin work in which “every note burns and demands your entire self” (Geneva’s own words), and Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Written to please his father, the work is less symphonic than operatic, befitting a composer then in the full flight of operatic composition. Recipient of the prestigious 2021 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Gemma New conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in both concertos.

Badalamenti & Lynch: Music from the Film "Twin Peaks" (Version for Piano) is a classical piano interpretation album performed by Italian pianist and harpsichordist Alessandro Simonetto. Released on September 25, 2026, through the 432 Classics / OnClassical record label, the album translates the iconic, eerie, and atmospheric score originally composed by Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch for the Twin Peaks television series into solo piano arrangements.

Released in 2006 on Atavistic Records, Indeterminate Activity Of Resultant Masses documents a monumental live performance from 1981 by avant-garde composer and No Wave pioneer Glenn Branca. The centerpiece title piece—written for an astounding ensemble of ten electric guitars and drums featuring future Sonic Youth members Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo alongside Barbara Ess and Ned Sublette—creates a towering wall of hypnotic microtonal overtones, driving drone, and visceral acoustic resonance. The album also features a rare 1982 recorded commentary/lecture segment by John Cage titled "So That Each Person Is In Charge Of Himself," as well as Branca's 1989 orchestral piece "Harmonic Series Chords," performed by The New York Chamber Sinfonia. A seminal archival release in modern experimental and guitar ensemble music.

Internationally celebrated violinist Sayaka Shoji's debut recording on SFS Media label brings breath-taking virtuosity and emotional depth to Shostakovich’s monumental work — one of the defining concertos of the twentieth century. Winner of the Paganini International Violin Competition at age sixteen, Shoji has earned worldwide acclaim for performances that combine technical brilliance with extraordinary interpretive insight.