Raphaël Pichon and his ensemble Pygmalion have emerged as superlative interpreters of Bach. They continue their exploration of the composer’s major works with this new recording of the St. John Passion. With their exemplary articulation and dynamic flexibility, the Pygmalion chorus is at the center of this striking drama. Raphaël Pichon’s precise direction restores the Passion’s original dramatic arc, instilling …

Sarah Kirkland Snider’s latest album features four of the composer’s orchestral works performed by Metropolis Ensemble led by artistic director Andrew Cyr. The title work, Forward Into Light, is a commission for the New York Philharmonic inspired by the American women’s suffrage movement. The album includes a reimagining of the string quartet Snider wrote for the Emerson String Quartet as …

Written in 1892, Puccini’s Manon Lescaut catapulted him to international fame, but his early works — pre-Manon Lescaut — offer a fascinating insight into his development as a composer. John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London lead a journey through this development that includes student compositions and orchestral extracts from Puccini’s earliest operas. The Preludio sinfonico (loosely based on Wagner’s …

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra presents its first recording led by Kazuki Yamada who took the helm as music director in 2023, continuing the work of such eminent predecessors as Sir Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo, Andris Nelsons, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. The rogram, recorded live at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, showcases three works by William Walton: the Coronation March Orb and …

Gil Shaham’s latest album with conductor Eric Jacobsen and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra explores the violin concerto as a vehicle for cultural memory and continuity. The program pairs Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80, and Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, with the world-premiere recording of “F. Harper,” from The Famous People by Curtis …

Considered to be the most gifted and promising pianist of his generation in Poland, Szymon Nehring is the only Pole to have won first prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv (2017). He was also a finalist at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw at age 19. His new album is dedicated to Karol Szymanowski, one of …

Known for her refined neoclassical voice, the new album from Italian composer and pianist Olivia Belli draws inspiration from Homer’s Odyssey. Belli was fascinated by Odysseus’s destined return to Ithaca and the idea that every life follows a journey toward its true purpose. This concept shaped her new piano concerto, Daimon, recorded with the German Chamber Orchestra Berlin and influenced …

The legendary Lithuanian pianist Mūza Rubackytė, a longtime friend of Krzysztof Penderecki, presents a live recording of the late Polish master’s Piano Concerto “Resurrection” with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Keri-Lynn Wilson. Completed in 2006, Penderecki dedicated it to the events of 9/11, saying: “The title ‘Resurrection’ should be understood in a broader, symbolic, and universal …

Winner of the 2024 La Maestra competition in Paris and recipient of five additional prizes, conductor Bar Avni was born in Israel and first studied percussion before turning to conducting. She counts Yoav Talmi, Barbara Hannigan, and Ayelet Geva as mentors and has assisted conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Klaus Mäkelä and Myung-Whun Chung. Known for her desire to seek …

Under Jörg Widmann’s 10-year leadership as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director, the Irish Chamber Orchestra has established itself as a globally recognized, high-energy ensemble known for innovative programming, premiering new works, and extensive international touring. Widmann, a clarinetist, composer, and conductor, often directs the orchestra while performing as a soloist on the clarinet. This album celebrates their transformative ten-year creative …

French composer Elsa Barraine (1910–99) was a pupil of Paul Dukas and fellow student of Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire. She won the Prix de Rome at age 19, before going on to hold several public posts in French music. She spent more than 20 years as a professor and was also prominent in the French Resistance during the …

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under conductor Neeme Järvi present orchestral works by Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén and Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. Born in Stockholm in 1872, Hugo Alfvén was influenced by Wagner and Richard Strauss, and his style is also permeated by the influence of Swedish folk music. The program features two works by Alfvén: Festspel (Festival Play), Op. 25, …

Rumon Gamba directs the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for this third instalment of his exploration of overtures from the British Isles. As in the case of the previous volumes, the recorded repertoire is rarely played, and the album includes three world premiere recordings: Daniel Jones’s Comedy Overture, Robin Orr’s The Prospect of Whitby, and Alan Bush’s Resolution. Other composers include Havergal …

For two decades now, Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 have been dedicating concerts and numerous recordings to the work of Jan Dismas Zelenka, the long-underrated composer from their homeland. To mark their 20th anniversary, Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 present another work from Zelenka‘s extensive sacred vocal oeuvre: the solemn Missa Circumcisionis, for the feast of the Circumcision …

The Amsterdam Sinfonietta under the direction of violinist Candida Thompson and the Netherlands Chamber Choir led by Martina Batič present an innovative program of Baltic and English works recorded live in concert. The program is bookended by two performances of Arvo Pärt’s meditative work Spiegel im Spiegel, the first with cellist Tim Posner, and the original version for violin (Candida …

Linda Hedlund and La Tempesta Orchestra led by József Hárs explore the emotional depth, color, and inventiveness of Finnish concertante works for violin and orchestra. The pieces range across the transitional landscape of the country’s national music during the 20th century, where mysticism, modernism, folklore, and experimentation co-exist. Major figures such as Selim Palmgren and Aarre Merikanto are represented, as …

John Wilson and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s second volume of works by Edward MacDowell features the tone poem Hamlet & Ophelia; the First Orchestral Suite; the Romanze for cello and orchestra featuring cellist Peter Dixon; and the virtuosic Second Piano Concerto featuring Xiayin Wang as soloist. In 1884, MacDowell and his wife, Marian, spent their honeymoon in England, and were …

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Clausen Trio, and Jean Thorel celebrate the enduring legacy of one of jazz’s greatest pianists. The album features three jazz, concerto grosso-like orchestral works recorded live. The influential Danish jazz trumpeter and composer Palle Mikkelborg was commissioned by the Danish Radio to compose his Bill Evans Suite for the Bill Evans Trio in 1969, comprising …

Nobuyuki Tsujii has performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto the world over, from London to Australia, where Limelight Magazine deemed his performance “flawless” and “second to none.” On this new recording of “Rach 3” with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Domingo Hindoyan, Tsujii also presents solo transcriptions of songs by Rachmaninoff and Mikhail Pletnev’s suite of transcriptions of Tchaikovsky’s The …

Jordi Savall presents the world premiere recording of a new performing edition of Mozart’s unfinished “Great” Mass in C minor, K. 427, restored and completed with historical rigor and musical sensitivity. Basing their score on Mozart’s own compositions and sketches, Savall and his fellow conductor/musicologist colleague Luca Gugliemi have fashioned a new version that The Times says “goes some way …

A souvenir of the famed Vienna Philharmonic’s 2026 New Year’s Day concert, an offering “a greeting of hope, friendship, and peace,” broadcast live around the world from the lavish Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. A tradition since 1939, this year’s program included beloved Viennese favorites Roses from the South and the Egyptian March along with lesser known but …

The Bamberg Symphony and their chief conductor Jakub Hrůša present a multifaceted meditation on heroism — from the swaggering self-portrait of Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, to the spiritual resilience of Antonin Dvořák’s A Hero’s Song, Op. 111, to the tender remembrance in Aleksandr Glazunov’s To the Memory of a Hero. Each of the three works engages with the idea of …

The Malmö Opera Chorus and Orchestra led by Mark Fitz-Gerald present reconstructions of previously unheard music from two significant theatre works by Shostakovich – The Shot and The Human Comedy – and rarely heard selections from his first serious opera The Nose. Shostakovich was known for his fun-loving attitude during his early years as a composer. The colorful incidental music …

For their first recording exploring the world of Bach, Sébastien Daucé, and Ensemble Correspondances give new life to the young composer’s first sacred cantatas: Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4; Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (Actus tragicus), BWV 106; and Aus der TIefe rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131. These three works were written in Mühlhausen, where he …

The recording of Dobrinka Tabakova’s Concerto for Cello and Strings on String Paths, her debut album for ECM New Series, brought international acclaim to the Bulgarian British composer. Her follow-up ECM album brings back some of the String Paths ensemble, including violist Maxim Rysanov, violinist Roman Mints, and cellist Kristine Blaumane. Friends and colleagues since conservatory days at the Guildhall …