Celebrated Swiss cellist Christian Poltera here presents three rarely-heard yet highly individual works composed between 1929 and 1966. Poltera's previous BIS releases have gained critical acclaim - 'absorbing listening' (International Record Review), 'suave, sophisticated' (BBC Music Magazine) and 'plenty of fireworks for the soloist' (classicstoday.com) -  and gained Gramophone Editor's Choice and Diapason d'or. The equally renowned Malmo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tuomas Hannikainen again give admirable support to one of today's most impressive young cellists.

Martin Cello Concerto (1966)
Honegger Cello Concerto (1929)
Schoeck Concerto for Cello and String Orchestra Op 61

Released to help support the victims of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Bach for Japan comprises a beautiful selection of movements from the acclaimed series of Bach cantatas and orchestral works being recorded by the Bach Collegium Japan. Featuring leading international soloists, this disc - and, indeed, the Bach series in general - are widely regarded as benchmark recordings. Their recording of Bach Complete Motets (BISSACD1841) from which Komm Jesu Komm is drawn, won the BBC Music Award in 2011 in the Choral category. Many of their other Bach recordings have won awards including Diapason d'or and the Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Prize.

Arias and cantata movements, three organ chorales, Air from Orchestral Suite No 3, Komm Jesu Komm

Mozart's sacred music brims with the theatricality and lyricism that are hallmarks of all his music, though with the exception of the famous Requiem and unfinished Mass in C minor many of them remain relatively unknown to modern listeners. The opulent 'Coronation' Mass contrasts with the intimate reverence of the much-loved Ave verum corpus (one of his last works), while the Missa brevis and two Church Sonatas provide diverting contrasts. Renowned soprano Susan Gritton heads the line-up of accomplished soloists, while the world-famous Choir of St John's College Cambridge and period-instrument St John's Sinfonia are in peak form on this marvellous disc.

Mass in C 'Coronation' K317
Missa brevis K192
Ave verum corpus
Church Sonatas in E flat major K67 and in F major K224

Volume 1 in a new series of British Clarinet Sonatas presents superb chamber music by five popular composers. Stanford's sonata delightfully echoes the style of Brahms, Bliss's early work precedes his later fascination with the avant guarde, while Bax's sonata combines influences from Wagner and Richard Strauss with his own personal responses to Irish landscapes and Celtic literature. Stanford's students Ireland and Howells are also heard here, the latter composer providing a direct link to clarinetist Michael Collins: he taught Frederick Thurston who in turn was Collins' teacher. Chandos exclusive artist Michael Collins tours Australia during September and October 2012.

Stanford Clarinet Sonata Op 129
Bliss Pastoral
Bax Clarinet Sonata
Ireland Fantasy-Sonata
Howells Clarinet Sonata

Arthur Benjamin's The Storm Clouds Cantata, originally composed for Hitchcock's first version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, was so impressive that it found its way into the soundtrack for the later colour remake (with other music by Bernard Hermann). Benjamin's film score for The Conquest of Everest was one of his most popular. Several cinematic music highlights by Leighton Lucas, who also composed several scores for Hitchcock films, also feature on this disc, including movements from The Dam Busters and Ice Cold in Alex. 'Rumon Gamba conducts the music with a blazing conviction that entices the listener back to the films themselves' wrote Gramophone of another CD from the popular Chandos Movies series.

Benjamin The Conquest of Everest Suite, The Storm Clouds Cantata (The Man Who Knew Too Much), Waltz and Hyde Park Gallop (An Ideal Husband)

Lucas Portrait of the Amethyst (Yangtse Incident), Dedication (Portrait of Clare), Prelude and Dam Blast (The Dam Busters), Stage Fright Rhapsody (Stage Fright), Ice Cold In Alex Suite, This Is York, March-Prelude (Target for Tonight)

French-Canadian pianist Louise Lortie performs in April 2012 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. On this new release, the exclusive Chandos artist continues his fine interpretations of Chopin's music, Volume 1 of which was hailed by International Piano as 'likely to become one of the finest Chopin surveys', while his Chandos CD of Chopin's Etudes was named by BBC Music Magazine as one of the '50 great performances by superlative pianists',  which augurs very well for the success of this dramatic, vivacious and expressive new recording.

Nocturnes Op 9 No 2, Op 15 Nos 1-3, Op 48 No 1, Op 55 No 1
Four Ballades
Berceuse
Barcarolle

Classic Chandos presents notable re-releases from the British label's outstanding catalogue. On this new release the late Australian conductor Sir Charles Mackerras joins acclaimed cellist Raphael Wallfisch and the London Symphony Orchestra in performances that were highly praised on first release and gained Critic's Choice in Gramophone: 'deep, unexaggerated expressiveness and thrillingly taut co-ordination between soloist, conductor and the LSO...Donhanyi's Konzertstuck makes a rare and attractive fill-up'.

Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor Op 104
Dohnanyi Konzertstuck in D major Op 12

Chandos' series of recordings of Richard Wagner's music continues with these fascinating early symphonies - the first penned by a 19-year-old, the second left unfinished two years later but completed more than 50 years afterwards by Felix Mottl at the request of Wagner's widow Cosima - two heroic marches and the overture to his mammoth opera Rienzi, which begins with the music to 'Rienzi's Prayer' (the opera's best-known aria) and concludes with the dazzling military march.

Symphony in C major
Symphony in E major
Huldigungsmarsch
Kaisermarsch
Rienzi Overture

Newly remastered reissue of the classic 1968 recording of Terry Riley's epochal Minimalist masterpiece In C, which inspired Philip Glass and rock musicians including Pete Townsend of The Who and Pink Floyd. This reissue fully restores all the original album artwork and features a new essay. In C, a sensation on its initial release, remains a major triumph of 20th-century composition and recording.

Newly remastered reissue of the classic 1969 recording, with fully restored original artwork and a new essay. Terry Riley's influential 1967 composition A Rainbow in Curved Air, which with the help of a tape loop Riley performs entirely by himself, and Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band, described as a sonic 'hall of mirrors', are Minimalist classics well deserving of their revival on this release.

A Rainbow In Curved Air
Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band

Joie de vivre predominates in these wonderful works by Dmitri Shoskatovich, which are masterfully interpreted by talented young pianist Alexander Melnikov and acclaimed violinist Isabelle Faust (who performs with the Sydney and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras this month). The Mahler Chamber Orchestra, founded by Claudio Abbado, has gained an enviable reputation worldwide for its felxibility and high standards.

Piano Concerto No 2 in F major Op 102
Violin Sonata in F amjor Op 134
Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings In C minor Op 35

Young oboist Celine Moinet begins her collaboration with Harmonia Mundi with an adventurous tour-de-force CD that combines and contrasts masterpieces from the 18th and 20th Centuries. The 'tenderness' which Berlioz loved about the oboe's wide-ranging and expressive sonority is much to the fore here, especially in the modern music which sings with unparalleled sensitivity in Moinet's more-than-capable hands. She is a major talent on the verge of an international star career.

JS Bach Partita BWV1013
CPE Bach Sonata Wq132
Berio Sequenza VII
Carter Inner Song
Britten Six Metamorphoses After Ovid

2012 marks the tercentenary of Frederick the Great's birth and this lovely album comprises a 'musical visit' to his famous palace at Potsdam with orchestral and chamber works by composers who were associated with the court of the music-loving Prussian king.  Indeed, one of his own Flute Sonatas is included here. The award-winning Academy for Ancient Music of Berlin records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi.

Graun Ouverture in D minor
Nichelmann Keyboard Concerto in C minor
Frederick the Great Flute Sonata in C minor
Graun Viola da Gamba Concerto in A minor
CPE Bach Symphony No 1 Wq 183

Paul Hillier's celebrated vocal ensembles Theatre of Voices and Ars Nova Copenhagen are Estonian composer Arvo Part's preferred interpreters of his choral music, a wide selection of which may be heard on this sublimely beautiful new release. 'Paul Hillier is an eloquent interpreter of Mr Part's idiosyncratic style' wrote The New York Times, and this disc confirms in spades that assessment.

Veni Creator, The Deer's Cry, Psalom, Most Holy Mother of God, Solfeggio, My Heart's in the Highlands, Peace upon you Jerusalem, Ein Wallfahrtslied, Morning Star, Stabat Mater

For its Harmonia Mundi debut recording the London-based La Nuova Musica led by David Bates presents a Baroque rarity - the world premiere of the original 1712 version of Handel's Arcadian opera Il Pastor Fido (The Faithful Shepherd). Although a contemporary waspishly noted that 'the scene represented only the Country of Arcadia; the Habits [costumes] were old - the Opera short', this brilliant recording is free of any such production-related defects and is recommended on all counts. An excellent young cast is headed by the ravishing soprano Lucy Crowe.

2 CDs for the price of 1. Joseph Achron was an extraordinarily gifted and boundary-defying violinist/composer whose Jewish faith found expression in several pieces heard here. A prolific recitalist, his music is strikingly varied and emotionally engaging, and on this new 2-CD release it receives unbeatable perfoamnces by Hagai Shaham and Arnon Erez. Well worth discovering!

CD 1 - Hebrew Melody Op 33, Two Hebrew Pieces Op 35, Eli Zion, Prelude Op 13, Souvenir de Varsovie Op 14, Coquetterie Op 15, Serenade Op 17, Les Sylphides Op 18, Berceuse Op 20, Dance Improvisation Op 37, Scher Op 42, Marchen Op 46, Liebeswidmung Op 51, Canzonetta Op 52 No 2, Zwei Stimmungen Op 32, Zwei Stimmungen Op 36, Two Pastels Op 44, Stempenyu Suite

CD 2 - Suite No 1 'en style ancien' Op 21, Suite No 2 Op 22, Quatre Tableaux Fantastiques 'Suite No 3' Op 23, Suite bizarre 'Cycles des rhythmes Suite No 4' Op 41, Children's Suite, Pensee de Leopold Auer, La Romanseca

The Romantic Piano Concerto Vol 56. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra plays on several of Hyperion's hugely popular Romantic Piano Concerto series, which has now passed what is believed to be its halfway mark. Friedrich Kalkbrenner, an admired contemporary of Chopin, wrote big bold orchestrations that are topped (incredibly enough) once the solo piano makes its powerful entry. Such glittering panache still thrills modern audiences, especially when the soloist is the prodigious and ever-popular Howard Shelley, who performs with the TSO in July 2012.

Piano Concerto No 2 in E minor Op 85
Piano Concerto No 3 in A minor Op 107
Adagio ed Allegro di bravura Op 102

Nikolai Medtner's Second Arabesque moved Rachmaninov to exclaim 'Write one such piece and one can die', an indication of the immense delights awaiting today's listeners of Medtner's piano music. One of Britain's leading pianists, Hamish Milne has garnered the highest praise from the world's leading classical music critics and plays Medtner's many miniatures with fearless aplomb.

CD 1 - Stimmungsbilder Op 1, Trois Improvisations Op 2, Quatre Morceaux Op 4, Drei Arabesken Op 7, Drei Dithyramben Op 10

CD 2 - Drei Novellen Op 17, Vier Lyrische Fragmente Op 23, Etude in C minor, Trois Morceaux Op 31, Drei Hymnen an die Arbeit Op 49, Theme and Variations in C sharp minor Op 55, Zwei Elegien Op 59

Louis Spohr's ten symphonies remain overshadowed by Mozart's forty-one, Beethoven's nine and  Mendelssohn's five, yet they share appealing characteristics with those acknowledged masterpieces as well as their own brand of originality which have only recently begun to be appreciated. Spohr's programmatic Seventh and Ninth are among his most intriguing and innovative. The powerful Introduction and Rossini-esque Festival March round off this triumphant conclusion to Howard Shelley's revelatory survey of Spohr's unjustly neglected symphonies.

Symphony No 9 in B minor 'The Seasons' Op 143
Symphony No 7 in C major 'The Earthly and Divine in Human Life'
Introduzione in D major WoO5
Festmarsch in D major WoO3

Describing it as a 'choreographic symphony', Maurice Ravel was particularly proud of his score for Dapnhis and Chloe, which he regarded as his most important work. While the two orchestral suites are perhaps best known, the complete ballet is unsurpassable for its epic sweep, scintillating orchestration (including wordless female chorus) and story of the passionate love between the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloe. This is a luminous recording conducted by a leading exponent of Ravel's music, Bernard Haitink.

This sumptuous recording of Massenet's final great opera stars Italian bass Ferrucio Furlanetto in the title role of Don Quixote, powerfully backed by the forces of the Mariinsky Theatre. Conductor Valery Gergiev provides inspirational leadership and the the magnificent Mariinsky Concert Hall's fine acoustic is well captured on this excellent double-SACD set.

While titled 'The Triumph of Love' this gorgeous new release could as easily have been called 'The Triumph of Sandrine Piau', such is her incredible mastery of French Baroque vocal music. Among selected favourites by Lully and Rameau, the listener will also make many discoveries which reveal the extraordinary wealth of musical activity spanning the late 17th and 18th centuries.

Rebel and Francoeur Scanderberg Overture
Rameau Anacreon - L'Amour est le dieu de la paix, Les Paladins - Je vole amour, Les Indes galantes - Viens hymen, Les Fetes de Ramire Sarabande, 2 gavottes, 2 tambourins
Lully Acis et Galatee - Enfin j'ai dissipe la crainte
Campra  Idomenee - Espoir des malheureux
Rebel Les Elemens - Le chaos
Charpentier David et Jonathas - A-t-on jamais souffert
Gretry Le Tableau parlant - Overture, L'amant jaloux - Je romps la chaine qui m'engage
Favart La Zingara - Pauvre nise!
Sacchini Renaud - Que l'Eclat de la victoire se repande sur vos jours

An artist of great subtlety with truly dazzling technique, 29-year-old Russian pianist Anna Vinnitskaya performs Ravel's demanding and thrilling music with intense delicacy, amazing legato and dynamic control, and a strong sense of personal involvement. First Prize-winner of the Queen Elizabeth Competition in 2007 and Echo Klassik (Germany) 2011 Award-winner, she is a musician to watch - and, of course, to hear!

Pavanne pour une infante defunte
Miroirs
Gaspard de la nuit

No fewer than twelve of today's leading ladies of Baroque music share the spotlight on this very special new release. With arias by Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, Strozzi, Purcell, Pergolesi, Porpora and Monteverdi, Ladies Sing Baroque is a fabulous compendium of astonishing 17th and 18th-century vocal music, sacred and operatic, English and Italian, that will enhance any CD collection and surely become a much-played favourite.

The works on this remarkable disc have become Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen's signature recital pieces. From the virtuoso sets of Etudes and Preludes, through Scriabin's masterpiece, the Tenth Piano Sonata, to the amazing Vers la flamme, Mustonen conveys his profound love of this passioniste and visinoary music. 'A living dream of pianism, having broken through an expressive barrier that other players do not know exists' (The Sunday Times)

Twelve Etudes Op 8
Six Preludes Op 13
Five Preludes Op 16
Piano Sonata No 10 Op 70
Vers la flamme Op 72

As with his critically acclaimed series of Brahms symphonies recordings, John Eliot Gardiner here complements the major work - the famous German Requiem - with shorter works that help to place it in a musicological context, in this case two motets by Heinrich Schutz, whose music he loved. The profoundly moving German Requiem, one of Brahms' most highly personal musical statements, comes vividly to life on this new release. The use of period brass, in particular, is notable, while the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique are justly renowned worldwide.

Schutz Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen SWV29,
Selig sind die Toten SWV391
Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem Op 45

This is the only available documentary about Mariss Jansons, covering his career from its early days until today. This 2-DVD set includes a performance of Mahler's Symphony No 2 'Resurrection' by the internationally famous singers Ricarda Merbeth and Bernarda Fink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, of which Jansons has been chief conductor since 2002. 'No conductor has a more extraordinary story to tell than Mariss Jansons' (The Independent). Documentary: 53 min. Concert: 94 min.

Also on Blu-ray 709804

With seven renowned dancers from the world of international ballet performing their favourite solos and pas-de-deux choreographed by Michail Fokine, Renato Zanella, Marius Petipa, Uwe Scholz, Kenneth MacMillan and Val Caniparoli and dancing to music by Bach, Bruckner, Chopin, Massenet, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Weber, Great Dancers of Our Time is a must-have DVD for ballet lovers of all ages. Recorded in Berlin 2003.
80 min.

2011 live recording from Waldbuhne, one of Europe's ideal amphitheatres and home to the Berlin Philharmonic's popular summer concerts which attract audiences of 20,000 or more. On this new release the ebullient Riccardo Chailly conducts a sparkling concert of effervescent music abounding in instrumental tone colours. 105 min.

Shostakovich Jazz Suite No 2,
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Suite
Rota La Strada Suite
Respighi Fountains of Rome, Pines of Rome, Danza guerresca (Belkis)
Lincke Berliner Luft

Also on Blu-ray 2058404

YOUTTUBE CLIP

Recorded 1992 to mark Daniel Barenboim's 70th birthday in 2012 and directed by Christopher Nupen (whose award-winning Allegro Films Select also distributes), this DVD features the accomplished pianist performing one of the landmark worlds of the keyboard literature, Bach's astonishing and ever-fresh Goldberg Variations. In the bonus introduction he explains how he aimed imaginatively to evoke a range of instruments on a modern piano. Concert: 91 min. Bonus: 9 min.

YOUTUBE CLIP

Set in a time of ancient Rome's persecution of the Christians, Handel's late masterpiece Theodora tells of the tragic martyrdom of the heroine and her lover Didymus. The challenging nature of the libretto with its religious conflict, cruelty, self-sacrifice and brothel scene was discomforting for contemporary audiences, and despite Handel's magnificent music the oratorio was his least successful. This is part of a series of Handel oratorios from Martini and Junge Kantorei.

This unique program is the first time that all the ballet music from Verdi's operas has been brought together in a single recording. Although 'The Four Seasons' from I vespri siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers) and the ballet scenes from Aida and Otello have survived, substantial pieces from Il trovatore and Don Carlo are more often cut, while the ballet from Jerusalem is all but unknown. Jose Serebrier's recordings with the Bournemouth Symphony have resulted in some great successes with unusual repertoire. This release will be of interest both to opera enthusiasts and to those eager to explore Verdi's neglected and relatively small body of concert music.

Ballet Music from Otello, Macbeth, Jerusalem, Don Carlo, Aida, Il Trovatore, I Vespri Sicilliani

Also on Naxos Blu-ray Audio NBD0027

The Invisible City of Kitezh, completed in 1905, is a remarkable opera that fuses folklore, mysticism and realism. Its subject is the story of the advancing Mongol army's entry to Great Kitezh and the city's subsequent miraculous survival. Rejecting archaisms and the more religiously inclined suggestions of his librettist, Rimsky-Korsakov sought to create an opera that 'is contemporary and even fairly advanced'. It is therefore through-composed, hinting at times at Wagnerian procedure, and flooded with the composer's rich, apt and brilliant orchestral palette, fully supportive of the powerful vocal writing.

Judith Lang Zaimont's acclaimed music embraces a wide variety of forms. One of her earliest works is Nocturne: La fin de siecle, written as a 'personal valentine to the great pianist-composers of the Romantic Era'. Rich in contrast, perfect in form, it provides a deeply enriching listening experience. A Calendar Set (1978) charts the months of the year with imagination and precision, whilst the introduction of carols and familiar songs adds to the setting's lyricism. Sonata was completed in 2000 and is one of her most challenging works - atmospheric, quite impressionistic in places, and ending with a brilliantly virtuosic finale.

World Premiere Recordings. Many of the works on this recording were written for award-winning Duo Ahlert and Schwab, who have contributed greatly to making contemporary music from the United States a significant part of mandolin and guitar repertoire. The mellow tones and chiming sparkle associated with these instruments is represented in a wide diversity of pieces whose styles and influences include fragments of classical forms in Mark Delpriora's Sonata, references to the mysteries of nature in Daimonelix, named after spiralling rock formations found in Nebraska, electronic music, rock music and Middle Eastern music in Indigo Trails, and chaos theory in Strange Attractor.

Kaiser The Fates
Febonio Water Ballads Op 47
TD Edwards Strange Attractor
Axelrod Mercurials
Delpriora Sonata
Gordon Daimonelix
Harrington Indigo Trails

World Premiere Recordings. Ronn Yedidia's music has been acclaimed for its vitality, variety and imagination, and his compositions for clarinet are especially touching and intimate. Impromptu, Nocturne and World Dance was written for the birth of friends' newborn twins and is full of expressive breadth, lovely textures and a heady use of ethnic source material. Farewell, Nathaniel offers a more sombre and reflective experience in music of great depth and loss. Poeme is both romantic and impressionistic, whilst the Concertino is a feast of colour and vivid dance energy.

Impromptu, Nocturne and World Dance
Farewell Nathaniel
Poeme
Concertino

Seattle Symphony Collection. Stephen Albert is counted as one of the most accomplished pioneers of 'The New Romanticism': a generation of composers seeking to reclaim some of the emotional expression lost through the rigors of intellectual Modernism in music. Inspired by James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, TreeStone is a moving exploration of the tragic legend of Tristan and Iseult. In Concordiam reveals the range and complexity of Albert's style in uniting angular dissonance with mellifluous harmonies. Albert worked closely with the Seattle Symphony on this work, revising it during his three year tenure as Composer in Residence. Albert's Symphony No 1 'RiverRun' is available on Naxos 8559257.

Tianwa Yang's admired and revelatory Sarasate series continues with a volume of captivatingly melodic compositions. Given Sarasate's prodigious status in the violin pantheon, technical demands on the performer are often - but not universally - constant. But so too is his unfailing gift for lyricism, whether in the elegant Bolero, the balletic Serenade andalouse or the aria-like Reverie. The dazzling bowing difficulties in the Fantaisie-Caprice are thrilling, and so are the bird call harmonics of Los pajaros de Chile, written during a South American tour and only very recently published.

Bolero
Serenade andalouse
Introduction et Fandango
Priere et Berceuse
Airs ecossais
and other works

Seattle Symphony Collection. Inspired by the spacious landscape of the American prairie, Copland's ballets are amongst the most vibrant and tuneful in the repertoire. Rodeo, the second of his cowboy ballets, is about the desperate attempts of a cowgirl to become a ranch cowhand, and quotes a variety of American folk-tunes, including the irrepressible 'Hoe Down'. The orchestral suite of Billy the Kid evokes prairie and frontier town in scenes of suspense, violence and fleeting romance, orchestrated with vivid immediacy. The 1926 Piano Concerto caused uproar at its premiere. In two movements, it is saturated in jazz and blues effects, rhythmically unorthodox and highly sophisticated - a blistering assertion of New York swagger.

Rodeo - Four Dance Episodes
Piano Concerto
Billy the Kid Suite

Peter Maxwell Davies's visionary music has gained him a knighthood, the prestigious position of Master of the Queen's Music and a leading position among the foremost composers of our time. The two works on this disc, authoritatively conducted by the composer, show two sides of his remarkable musical imagination. The First Symphony is permeated by the presence of the sea and the haunting landscape of his home in the Orkney Islands, while the vibrant theme and variations Mavis in Las Vegas is an exuberant 'tribute' to the glitzy gambling capital of the world, in all its hyper-reality.

A central figure in the arts in France during his lifetime, Deodat de Severac stressed the importance of distinctive regional character in music. He derived his inspiration from Catalonia and Provence, and the genial warmth of expression in his work is reflected in the radiant imagery of Baigneuses au soleil which was dedicated to Alfred Cortot. The two groups of En vacances, the first described as little romantic pieces of moderate difficulty, are dedicated to friends, relations or colleagues, while the Fantasy Sous les lauriers roses is dedicated to the memory of the composer's teachers. Volume 1 (8555855) of Jordi Masó’s survey is a Penguin Guide 3-star key recommendation.

En Vacances
Les naiades et le faune indiscret
Baigneuses au soleil
Sous les laruiers roses

World premiere recordings. Tadeas Salva was one of the foremost Slovakian composers of his generation. His studies equipped him with a thorough awareness of the new Polish School, and his temperament inclined him toward a synthesis between contemporary technique and the inspiration of folklore. The cello was his favourite instrument. The Concerto is vibrantly orchestrated, absorbingly contoured and shares something of Penderecki's aesthetic. The Slovak Concerto Grosso marries Stravinskian virtuosity with folk impressions, the Three Arias and Little Suite are touching, inspired miniatures whilst the unfinished Preludes illustrate Salva's richness of originality and imagination.

Cello Concerto
Three Arias
Little Suite
Slovak Concerto Grosso No 3
Eight Preludes

Described as 'often beautiful and sometimes frightening' (NZ Listener), Ross Harris's Symphony No 2 is a setting of poems on the subject of New Zealand soldiers shot for desertion in World War One. Writer Vincent O'Sullivan's deeply felt descriptions of violence, love and tragedy are reflected in a moving and dramatic score. Symphony No 3 is inspired by the paintings of Marc Chagall, and develops and transforms klezmerlike tunes as its basic material. These symphonies were composed for the Auckland Philharmonia, and both won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award.

Jonathan Dove is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music, and his writing for choral forces is charged with intensity and beauty. The Passing of the Year is dedicated to the memory of his mother and sets seven texts with moving directness and a beguiling sense of the seasons' passing. It sounded as if the streets were running also celebrates nature, his setting of the storm imagery in Emily Dickinson’s poetry rich in surging climaxes. Vivid characterisation, this time of animals, suffuses Who killed Cock Robin? which, like all Dove’s music, is hugely approachable, varied and exciting.

The Passing Of The Year
In Beauty May I Walk
My Love Is Mine
Who Killed Cock Robin?
It Sounded As If The Streets Were Running
I Am The Day
Wellcome All Wonders In One Sight!
The Three Kings

Seattle Symphony Collection. Respighi had always been committed to the art of transcription, arranging Bach's Violin Sonata in E minor in 1908-09 with acute perception. This was followed during 1929 and 1930 by even greater and more resplendent Bach settings. The powerful sense of orchestral colour acquired during his training under Rimsky-Korsakov is heard to bold yet subtle effect in the Three Chorale Preludes. The Prelude and Fugue in D major is even more gloriously lavish, drawing on the full resources of the modern symphony orchestra, as does the brilliantly realised Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. Edward Elgar's transcription is a work of sustained grandeur and rich musical intensity.

Respighi orchestrations - Tre Corali, Sonata in E minor BWV1023, Prelude and Fugue in d minor BWV532, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV582
Elgar orchestrations - Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV537

William Alwyn was a consummate film composer, as capable of creating powerful marches as he was atmospheric waltzes. In these exciting arrangements by Martin Ellerby for wind band, the full variety of Alwyn's inspiration can be appreciated. There is the romantic allure of the overture to The Crimson Pirate, the compact, brilliant characterisation of The History of Mr Polly and the suite from Geordie, with its seductive use of familiar Scottish melodies. The scores for The Way Ahead and Desert Victory convey action with superb and stirring effectiveness.

The Crimson Pirate Overture, The History of Mr Polly Suite, The Way Ahead March, State Secret Suite, The Million Pound Note Waltz, Swiss Family Robinson Suite, The True Glory March, Geordie Suite, In Search Of The Castaways Suite, Desert Victory Suite (all arr. Martin Ellerby)

A member of one of the most important English musical dynasties of the 19th and 20th centuries, Eugene Goossens trained as a violinist and composer but gained fame as a conductor. His Sonata No 1 integrates a personal style with the influences of Debussy and Ravel, the improvisatory Lyric Poem being from the same period. Dedicated to Jascha Heifetz, the dramatic extremes of the Sonata No 2 range from brooding melancholy to affirmative luminosity, sharing a 'lyrical intensit' with the Romance.

Violin Sonata No 1 in E minor Op 21
Lyric Poem Op 35
Old Chinese Folk-Song Op 4 No 1
Romance from Don Juan de Manara)
Violin Sonata No 2 Op 50

A bird dancing, an ox on a roof, flowers doing a waltz, a swan twirling about...what world is this? This is the magical world of ballet. The stage is full of people in colourful costumes, but nobody speaks. All the stories are told by music and dancing. Composers have written such exciting pieces for ballet: listen to this collection and see which ones you like best!

Includes highlights from Tchaikovsky Swan Lake,
The Sleeping Beauty; Stravinsky The Firebird;
Schubert Rosamunde; Prokofiev Cinderella;
Delibes Sylvia; and more

For centuries, babies and children all over the world have been rocked to sleep with a song to calm them. Whether parents sing or play, or press play, they know that music so often soothes with success. Composers have written lullabies for different reasons - sometimes as standalone songs or pieces and sometimes as part of a larger work. Here is a variety of restful tracks to foster the sweet dreams of all!

Includes Brahms Lullaby, Schuman Scenes from Childhood - Dreaming, Faure Berceuse, Elgar Chanson du nuit, Debussy Clair de Lune, Tchaikovsky Album for the Young - Sweet Dreams, Mendelssohn Songs Without Words - Lullaby, Chopin Berceuse, and more

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky: a great Russian name for a great Russian composer! Tchaikovsky was not always a happy man. He didn't laugh a lot. But he wrote music that is full of good melodies. He often felt sad, but sometimes this made him write music that was even more special. This CD is all about Tchaikovsky. Imagine the ballet dancers twirling around to his tunes: you can twirl around too, if you like!

Includes highlights from The Nutcracker, Piano Concerto No 1, Swan Lake, Symphony No 6, The Seasons,
The Sleeping Beauty, and more

From folk music to film music, the violin is the star of instruments. Millions of children all over the world learn how to play it and the top performers make it sound beautiful. They can also do clever things on it, with their fingers whizzing up and down, and the bow moving so fast you can hardly see it. Take the music of Mr Paganini on track 1 - he really knew how to show off. Here is the violin in the spotlight: listen to it sing!

Includes Paganini Caprice No 24, Elgar Salut d'amour, Massenet Meditation, Sarasate Carmen Fantasy, highlights from Mozart Violin Concerto No 3, Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Williams Schindler's List, and more

Seattle Symphony Collection. With its bizarre story of moral corruption and violence, Bela Bartok’s final stage work, The Miraculous Mandarin, was banned after the first performance in 1926. Richly scored, it has a breathtakingly rapid pace, its nightmarish scenes depicted with vibrant and graphic musical intensity. The Concerto for Orchestra is one of Bartok's last works and one of his best known and most accessible creations. Each of the five movements plays its own role, but the overriding message is a potently expressive affirmation of life.

The 1916-19 period saw Fritz Kreisler at his peak as an artist, although the shadow cast by America's entrance to World War one in 1917 forced him to cancel numerous concerts. The improved fidelity possible by 1916 saw Kreisler making substitutes of his earlier American recordings, including his own Liebesfreud. Amongst an abundance of technical marvels, Kreisler's superb 'parlando' bowing is demonstrated in Granados's Spanish Dance. The string quartet recordings include a fine Andante cantabile by Tchaikovsky, and persuasive performances with small orchestra in 1917 include Beautiful Ohio which would later be adopted as the state's official song. After the Armistice, Kreisler was able to return to the studio in 1919 for showcase works such as Valdez's Serenade du Tzigane.

Bizet L'Arlesienne  - Adagietto, Boccherini Minuet, Brahms Hungarian Dance No 5, Brandl The Old Refrain, Dvorak Songs My Mother Taught Me, Earl Beautiful Ohio, Foster Old Folks At Home, Granados Andaluza Op 37 No 5, Hubbell Poor Butterfly, Krakauer Paradise, Kreisler Aubade provencale (in the style of Couperin), Berceuase romantique Op 9, La Gitana, Liebesfreud; Polichinelle and Rondino on a Theme by Beethoven, Massenet Meditation from Thais, Paderewski Minuet Op 14 No 1, Rameau Tambourin, Schubert Rosamunde Ballet Music No 2, Moments musicaux No 3; Smetana Andandtino 'Bohemian Fantasie', Spencer Underneath The Stars, Tchaikovsky Andante cantabile (String Quartet No 3), Valdez Serenade du Tzigane, Winternitz Dream Of Youth

This volume of the Naxos McCormack edition charts a chronological survey of recordings made in Camden, New Jersey, between April 1920 and September 1923. Two outstanding examples of the great tenor's art are here; the famous recording of Handel's O Sleep! Why Dost Thou Leave Me? - a miracle of breath control and tonal beauty - and Schumann's The Singer's Consolation, an outstanding contribution to Lieder on record. There are four collaborations with Fritz Kreisler, some superb examples of popular songs, inimitably sung, and the bonus of three recordings that were never published in the singer's lifetime, two of which, Rachmaninov's To the Children and Merikanto's A Fairy Story By The Fire are now made available commercially for the first time.

Songs by Wiggers, Handel, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Kramer, Johnson, Marshall, Hirsch, Sanders, Robledo, Kahn and Lyman, simons, Sullivan, Barnby, Nicholls, Merikanto, Whiteman and Grofe, Openshaw, Ayer, Lookwood, Squire, Dickson

This unique program is the first time that all the ballet music from Verdi's operas has been brought together in a single recording. Although 'The Four Seasons' from I vespri siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers) and the ballet scenes from Aida and Otello have survived, substantial pieces from Il trovatore and Don Carlo are more often cut, while the ballet from Jerusalem is all but unknown. Jose Serebrier's recordings with the Bournemouth Symphony have resulted in some great successes with unusual repertoire. This release will be of interest both to opera enthusiasts and to those eager to explore Verdi’s neglected and relatively small body of concert music.

Ballet Music from Otello, Macbeth, Jerusalem, Don Carlo, Aida, Il Trovatore, I Vespri Sicilliani

Also on Naxos CD 857281819

The Places The Tuscan city of Siena has a long history and is the site of one of the earliest great Gothic churches of the region, instantly recognisable from the polychrome marble and sculptures of its facade. From Siena our tour goes to Pisa, where, inevitably, the famous leaning tower and its adjacent buildings are the centre of our attention. The tour ends with a visit to Nervi, a resort that is now part of the city of Genoa, and the Villa Luxoro, with its collections of objets d'art.

The Music Music for the tour is by Beethoven, with his Piano Concerto No 1, completed in 1795, and his first numbered Piano Sonata, one of a set of three, published in 1796 and dedicated to his teacher, Joseph Haydn.