The Dunedin Consort, under the direction of John Butt, follows its award-winning recording of the Messiah with J.S. Bach's Matthew Passion. This recording cements the Dunedin Consort's reputation as a group with particular expertise in Baroque music and performance practice. The Dunedin Consort has established a reputation for performing familiar works from the Baroque era in ways which shed fresh light on the original performance: this new recording presents the Matthew Passion for the first time with Bach's final revisions of scoring, as performed around 1742 (its most familiar form is the 1736 version).

Building on the success of Cavalleria rusticana, Pietro Mascagni’s commedia lirica L’amico Fritz was given seven encores and thirty-five curtain calls at its premiere in Rome in 1891. Considered by critics to be one of Mascagni’s best operas, the story is that of a love triangle involving the wealthy Fritz Kobus and Suzel, daughter of one of his tenants, who together sing the famous ‘Cherry Duet’ in Act II. Returning to the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence for the first time since 1941, this production was acclaimed for its superb cast and astonishingly effective modern setting. Building on the success of Cavalleria rusticana, Pietro Mascagni’s commedia lirica L’amico Fritz was given seven encores and thirty-five curtain calls at its premiere in Rome in 1891. Considered by critics to be one of Mascagni’s best operas, the story is that of a love triangle involving the wealthy Fritz Kobus and Suzel, daughter of one of his tenants, who together sing the famous ‘Cherry Duet’ in Act II. Returning to the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence for the first time since 1941, this production was acclaimed for its superb cast and astonishingly effective modern setting.

From Versailles to the Royal Academy of Music, from the Concert spirituel to the Violons du Roy, the duo that unites harpsichord and violin illustrates the fine tradition of the sonata repertoire in the 18th Century, a touchstone of the instrumental concert that was highly appreciated in the Parisian salons and princely courts.

This powerful New Series album represents “a résumé and a departure” for Thomas Zehetmair, a summing up of his work with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. In his years as Music Director of the British chamber orchestra, Zehetmair was noted both for bringing compelling new music into the repertoire and for insightful performances of classical and modern composition, qualities very much in evidence on this concert recording from The Sage, Gateshead.

Richter Ensemble is a new chamber music initiative in which the members share a mutual passion for bold artistic expression. Emphasising flexibility and freedom, the group works mainly as a string quartet, but can expand to a larger chamber orchestra. It is fervent about highlighting hidden connections in music ranging from the 17th to the 21st centuries, demonstrated through its innovative programming. Benefitting from members' vast experiences of performing with leading period ensembles, the Richter Ensemble presents a fresh palette of colors by playing uniquely on gut strings. It seeks to bring spontaneity and new light to every performance and is enthusiastic about collaborating with artists from other fields such as dance and visual media (i.e. projections, installations, art exhibitions, and film). The ensemble has a particular affinity for music from Fin-desiècle and the Second Viennese School, and strives to reintroduce that music to audiences through a new lens.

Grab your binoculars! The Great Backyard Bird Count will be held from 17th to 20th February, co-organized by major ornithological institutions including the Laboratory of Cornell University and the Audubon Society. Spot the birds in your garden and share the results with this program to help scientists know more about bird populations. Everyone can take part! For this special occasion, and as birdsongs were a major source of inspiration for composers since the dawn of humanity, we release this collection of fifty classical tunes related to birds. It includes works by composers from Rameau and Haydn to Ravel and Schoenberg, and features Emmanuel Pahud, Mariss Jansons, Maria João Pires, Alexandre Tharaud, Lily Laskine, Ton Koopman and many more…

The first group of songs on texts by Ludwig Rellstab starts out in a relatively carefree, rapturous tone: a mood of spring is in the air. In Frühlingssehnsucht, “swelling desire” is colorfully illustrated by images of nature such as the silvery gurgling brook – an evocation of splendid vitality. But clouds soon darken the horizon: the brook becomes a raging torrent of negative emotions. Euphoria gives way to disappointment. The rapturous attitude is curbed: we hear of farewell, with a clear touch of bitterness. In the next group of settings of texts by Heinrich Heine, the story returns to its onset: now less rapturous, somewhat more aloof, and with even more bitterness at the end.

Camille El Bacha is a pianist, composer and improviser. His father is the pianist Abdel Rahman El Bacha, and they often perform together as a duo, but Camille charts his own path between classical, film and electronic music, with his group Leone Jadis. He launches our ‘Piano Stories’ series with a programme entitled ‘Lumen’, which he presents as a ‘constellation of preludes and improvisations’. His own compositions resonate with the preludes of Bach and Chopin, taken from the two books of The Well-tempered Clavier and the Twenty-four Preludes op.28 respectively. Camille El Bacha invites us on a journey where styles and periods merge into a single artistic impulse: ‘At the piano, I move almost unconsciously from interpretation to composition or improvisation. A Chopin prelude can inspire me to improvise, which can then lead to a new written piece.’

Handel’s oratorio Solomon is now regarded by its performers and its listeners as one of his greatest compositions. This was not, however, always the case. Solomon was not performed outside of London during Handel’s lifetime, an unusual occurrence during his British career. The work had therefore enjoyed only a limited success, although we may well wonder why, when oratorios sung in English had been so successful until then. Could it have been the obvious lack of theatricality in the libretto, or the public’s growing indifference to the genre? Or was he afraid to alienate the Anglican church, given the rumours of lines with erotic connotations in the first and third acts? Here, Leonardo García Alarcón and his singers and instrumentalists offer us a flamboyant version of the work that would certainly have won over the most hesitant of London listeners in 1749!

Celebrating his 70th birthday on February 20th 2023, Riccardo Chailly releases 'Verdi Choruses'. The album includes the classic 'Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves' ('Va, pensiero' from Nabucco) as well as the Triumphal Chorus, March and Ballet from Aida and highlights from another 7 Verdi operas, recorded in Dolby Atmos in the auditorium of Teatro all Scala.