Like his flute-playing uncle Frederick the Great, King Frederick William II (r. 1786–1797) was a keen musical amateur. An avid cellist, he studied with the virtuosi Ludwig Christian Hesse, Carlo Graziani, and Jean-Pierre Duport, the latter of whom he appointed his principal cellist in 1773. He commissioned chamber music from notable composers across Europe, received the dedications of string quartets by Haydn and Mozart, and sometimes performed as a member of his own court orchestra. Months before acceding to the throne, he hired perhaps the finest cellist of his age, Luigi Boccherini, as his court composer. Boccherini served the court in absentia from Madrid, dispatching twelve new works per year to the Prussian monarch. Given the king’s insatiable appetite for cello music, it is no accident that Beethoven composed his first two sonatas for cello and piano during his brief but rewarding stay in Berlin.

This is the second album of the Saint-Saëns series with young talents​. All recordings were made with the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, conducted by Howard Griffiths.​The repertoire contains: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in G minor op. 22, Morceau de Concert in F minor op. 94, Romance in F major op. 36, Romance in E major op. 67 and Suite for Violoncello and Orchestra op. 16b​

“I'm happy to present you the second album of my 5tet. I wrote most of the songs during a two-month residency in Iceland. 10 years ago, I had already travelled around the island on my bike and fell in love with the vast and lonely landscapes. That trip filled me with deep inspiration. Last year's stay in the north allowed me to slow down and concentrate on my creative work - a luxury in our fast-paced world. Between squalls, endless days of sunshine, dense fog, leaking glaciers and volcanic eruptions, I created new pieces that tell stories of elves and trolls. Delicately realised and further developed with my fellow musicians, my ideas come to life. I wish you a good journey!” - Lea, May 2025

Sinfonia De Carnaval - that's Anna Lang and Alois Eberl on cello, trombone, accordion, percussion, electronics and voices.
The cello is bowed to percussively tapped. The trombone sung to hissingly breathed. In between beat boxing and pulsating stomp box. Plus virtuoso improvisations and ingenious arrangements. Sinfonia de Carnaval creates a unique sound: sinfonic art pop that knows no bounds!

Romanticism had many faces. Mozart’s spirit still floated through musical life and Beethoven’s mighty music set the benchmark for every Romantic composer. Mozart’s legacy was carried forward by two great pianists: Hummel, a pupil of Mozart, and Ries, a pupil of Beethoven. They each steered Romanticism in a different direction. Newspapers across Europe wrote of the ‘wild Romanticism’ of the bohemian Ries, now seen as a forerunner of Schumann. Meanwhile, the virtuoso Hummel enchanted and astonished his audiences.

The ARC Ensemble's Music in Exile series continues with this exploration of chamber works by Ernest Kanitz. Born into a wealthy Viennese family in 1894, he was encouraged in music by his mother, started piano lessons aged seven, and was composing within a year.

The album Play unites, for the first time, two of the most important American musicians of the current generation charting new paths in jazz and way beyond: trumpeter Theo Croker and pianist Sullivan Fortner. The two have known each other for more than 20 years, but Play is their first recording as joint leaders.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9! Believe it or not, we’ve arrived at the ninth edition of ACT’s holiday institution, “Christmas with My Friends.”

There are albums that arrive like gusts of wind, reshaping landscapes, and there are albums that fall like snow, quietly, imperceptibly, until you realize the ground has been entirely transformed. Bugge Wesseltoft’s It’s Snowing on My Piano was one such album. Released in 1997 on ACT Records, it slipped almost modestly into the holiday season, offering not bombast but restraint, not cheer but reflection. To everyone’s surprise, including the pianist’s own, it became one of the label’s defining successes, an unlikely seasonal classic across Europe.

There was no great cunning master plan that brought noted jazz instrumentalists Bob James {keyboards}, Lee Ritenour {guitar}, Nathan East {bass} and Harvey Mason {drums} together to form a supergroup. Released in October 1991, Fourplay - aided by the success of the smash single 'After The Dance' - peaked at No. 1 in America' s Contemporary Jazz charts for 33 weeks and sold over a million copies.

Minnesota based singer, songwriter and guitarist Mark Cameron has been active in live music for over thirty years. Mark began his performing career in the rich folk-rock scene of the early 1970s and brought this influence into several bands he founded during the 1980s and 1990s. Today his focus is centered on crafting original Blues songs with strong melodies and memorable lyrics. The range of Mark’s material stretches the Blues beyond safe limits with a focus on “foot stompin', butt shakin'” music that is built for a live audience.

Musically, Inkyra sounds at least as colourful as its predecessor Chroma, which was recorded with another band. The anthemic intro, for example, has its roots in the spiritual sound of the sixties. There are densely layered textures that reach into prog rock, as in ‘Moondrawn (dreaming)’, or references to Brazilian rhythmic roots, as in ‘Marshmallow Tree’. Some tracks, such as ‘Anima Rising’, sound as if they were played not by a sextet but by an entire jazz orchestra, while others, such as ‘Time, And Other Thieves’, sound like a mixture of heavy indie beat and shimmering psychedelia, especially thanks to Gareth Lockrane's far-reaching flute.

In the vibrant music landscape of Chicago, BJRNCK's journey as an artist was undeniably shaped by her roots, deeply embedded in the city's rich musical community and her early experiences in the church.

Just about anytime I write about Brandi Carlile, I make sure to note that no one in America loves their job more than she loves hers. And it’s true – especially when you see her perform live, Carlile’s joy is both palpable and infectious.

Boppin' with the Chet Baker Quintet is an album by trumpeter Chet Baker which was recorded in 1967 and released on the Prestige label.