Famously invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, the saxophone quickly became an established part of French and British military bands but remained a novelty instrument elsewhere until it gained a foothold in vaudeville and ragtime bands in 1920s America. From there, it became an essential part of dance bands, and a prominent solo instrument in jazz. A great deal …

Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra present Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” and the premiere recording of Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances. The album was recorded live in the historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in February 2025. Maestro Honeck says the release of this recording “is especially fitting as America …

Recorded in 2025 in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Manuel de Falla’s birth and the 50th anniversary of the Venezuelan music education program El Sistema, Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela present three of Falla’s most iconic works: El amor brujo, featuring Spanish singer Pasión Vega; Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the …

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra led by Rumon Gamba join the very welcome trend of recording Mel Bonis’s orchestral works, composed between 1891 and 1912. Their program features the three-part Les Femmes de Légende, the Suite en forme de valses, the Suite Orientale, Three Dances, Danse sacrée, and Les Gitanos. Soprano Elizabeth Watts is soloist for Noël de la Vierge …

The Philharmonia Orchestra presents their third all-Shostakovich album conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali recorded live at London’s Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where they are resident. The Philharmonia Orchestra has an extensive legacy of recording the music of Shostakovich, and in this latest release its Principal Conductor brings his own distinctive energy, precision, and flair to two contrasting masterpieces: the sharp-witted …

Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra present two American masterworks recorded live in London’s Barbican Hall in 2025. Aaron Copland’s third symphony is a vast and beautiful work depicting sprawling landscapes, forceful intensity and the power of human resilience. Composed in the final days of World War II, it channels the spirit of a nation looking …

Formerly known as the Boulder Bach Festival, the Colorado-based virtuoso string band COmpass REsonance (CORE) has emerged as a trailblazer, connecting centuries of musical tradition with bold, modern innovation. Violinist Vadim Gluzman found a group that shared his artistic values, and they now have a close working relationship. Combining the music of J.S. Bach and Valentyn Silvestrov in one program …

Celebrating Gustavo Dudamel’s 17-year tenure as Music & Artistic Director, the Los Angeles Philharmonic presents one of Sergei Prokofiev’s most popular works that highlights the composer’s enormous gift for colorful storytelling: Peter and the Wolf, brilliantly narrated by EGOT winning actress and producer Viola Davis. The artists’ winning interpretation of Peter and the Wolf was recorded at the Hollywood Bowl …

The Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal led by violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte offer a unique survey of the music of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, drawn from varied performance contexts:  sonatas for piano and violin, string quartets, concertos, opéras-comiques, concert arias, and symphonies. “His music — that of a performer-composer, as it was the case for most musicians of the …

Leading the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conductor and soprano Barbara Hannigan present a program exploring the concept of The American Dream. “I grew up in awe of America, but now my feelings are mainly nostalgic. With this repertoire, I want to express my admiration for the incredible creativity and tenacity of composers who shaped a musical language that was truly their …

The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentleman led by Robert Rawson explores Antonio Vivaldi’s influence on a generation of Czech composers. Best remembered today for The Four Seasons, Vivaldi’s dedication of the famous concertos to Count Wenzel von Morzin of Prague implies the works may first have become known there. In 1718 Morzin brought his “virtuosissima” orchestra – to quote Vivaldi …

The Chevalier de Saint-George(s) is an exceptional figure. Born in Guadeloupe in the eighteenth century to an aristocrat and an enslaved woman, he received the education of a court gentleman in Paris and went on to become a violinist, fencer, Freemason, participant in the Revolution, conductor, and composer. It is naturally to the violin that he dedicated his finest works. …

Pianist Idith Meshulam Korman and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey, present the first complete modern recording of the surviving keyboard music of Marianna Martines (1744–1812): a composer, keyboard virtuoso, and cultural force in eighteenth-century Viennese musical life. Admired in her lifetime for her brilliance as both performer and composer, Martines occupied a central position within the city’s …

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Harris Theater, this performance serves as a souvenir from Giancarlo Guerrero’s first season as Grant Park Music Festival Artistic Director and Prinicipal Conductor. “Early in his tenure, Guerrero has already developed sufficient rapport with his players that they could mutually revel in Shostakovich’s acrobatic antics,” noted Tim Sawyier for Chicago Classical …

This 19th volume of Haydn’s complete symphonies coincides with the 40th anniversary of Il Giardino Armonico – the ensemble created and conducted by Giovanni Antonini, artistic director of the Haydn 2032 series. The Symphony No. 44 in E minor, featured in this volume, was the first work by Haydn performed by the ensemble and Antonini. The title of this symphony, …

Inspired by William Ernest Henley’s (1849–1903) iconic poem of the same name, Stacy Garrop’s new piano concerto INVICTUS was commissioned by and written for Chicago native and multi-Grammy-nominated pianist Marta Aznavoorian, who performs it with the Chicago Philharmonic under Artistic Director Scott Speck. Despite a difficult life beleaguered with health issues, William Ernest Henley’s poem Invictus, Latin for “unconquered,” is …

Kip Winger is a genre-bridging composer with a long and successful career in rock music affiliated with luminaries of the genre such as Alice Cooper, Alan Parsons, Roger Daltrey and Bob Dylan. Over the past two decades, however, Winger has been establishing himself as a composer of orchestral classical music. His celebrated ballet score, Conversations with Nijinsky, led conductor Giancarlo …

German composer Johanna Senfter (1879–1961) was a student of Max Reger, who recognized her musical talent and encouraged her to pursue advanced studies in his composition class in Leipzig, which she completed with distinction in 1909. In 1910, she was awarded the Arthur Nikisch Prize for best student composition of the year. Born into a well-to-do industrial family, she was …

Mel Bonis (1858-1937) was a great musical talent and a sensitive soul, the child of a socially aspiring family who forbid their daughter to marry the love of her life. Forced into a utilitarian marriage with a respectable husband, she later had an affair with her first sweetheart after all — the stuff of a sentimental novel. Yet she was …

Renowned horn player Felix Klieser’s eighth solo album explores Italian opera arias, film music, and song. Kleiser is joined by the Italian orchestra I Solisti di Pavia, recorded in the famous Teatro Fraschini at Pavia. The program features some of the most beloved opera arias by Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, as well as Italian songs like “O Sole Mio” and Nino …

Jonathan Biss concludes his Beethoven/5 commissioning project bringing to a close one of the most ambitious and innovative Beethoven release series of the 21st century. Over the course of five years, Biss selected a composer to write a piano concerto in response to one of Beethoven’s. The final installment of the project, featuring the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malin …

Finnish conductor Eva Ollikainen leads the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, where she has held the post of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director since 2020, in the four symphonies of Arvo Pärt. Composed over a span of forty-five years and bearing little or no relationship to one another, the symphonies represent the composer’s output at separate parts of his creative journey. The …

Marking Earth Day, Grammy-nominated harpist Yolanda Kondonassis releases her new album Terra Infirma featuring the titular work by Reena Esmail – a concerto for harp and percussion both performed by Kondonassis with the Interlochen Center for the Arts Orchestra conducted by Andrew Grams. Terra Infirma was directly informed by Esmail’s experience living in Los Angeles during the catastrophic fires of …

This album comprises world premiere recordings of seven new Nordic violin concertos by Veronique Vaka from Iceland, Sunleif Rasmussen from the Faroe Islands, Andrea Tarrodi from Sweden, Aksel Kolstad from Norway, Arnannguaq Gerstrøm from Greenland, Joel Järventausta from Finland, and Poul Ruders from Denmark. Composed for violinist Niklas Walentin and the Danish Chamber Players, these commissions reinterpret the Romantic violin …

Isata Kanneh-Mason’s latest recording stems from a long and personal relationship with the composer’s music, which reached a major public milestone when she made her BBC Proms solo debut in 2023, performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Since she first heard the concerto at the age of 18, the work and has been a key part of Kanneh-Mason’s concert life. …