Hania Rani announces "Music for Film and Theatre", a personal selection of recent compositions for film, theatre and other projects.
Writing music for film and theatre has always been a big part of Hania Rani's musical world. It is also a part of the creative process that can be tantalisingly out of reach for listeners, either the project doesn’t come to fruition or the music simply isn’t available away from the film or play. From early collaborations with friends, to last year’s two scores for full length films (xAbo: Father Boniecki directed by Aleksandra Potoczek and I Never Cry directed by Piotr Domalewski‘) Rani has been involved in many such projects, each representing an important step in her artistic development and life as a composer and artist.

'When we speak of Joseph Haydn,' wrote Ernst Ludwig Gerber in his Lexicon der Tonkunstler of 1790-92, 'we think of one of our greatest men: great in small things and even greater in large… Everything speaks when he sets his orchestra in motion.' Gerber was among the first to recognise 'new and surprising' traits in Haydn's output, particularly among his Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) works of the early 1770s. Espousing spontaneity and passion as sources of creativity, Sturm und Drang despised the new rationalism of the Enlightenment, offering darkness and pessimism to counterpoise its orderly logic.

'When we speak of Joseph Haydn,' wrote Ernst Ludwig Gerber in his Lexicon der Tonkunstler of 1790-92, 'we think of one of our greatest men: great in small things and even greater in large… Everything speaks when he sets his orchestra in motion.' Gerber was among the first to recognise 'new and surprising' traits in Haydn's output, particularly among his Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) works of the early 1770s. Espousing spontaneity and passion as sources of creativity, Sturm und Drang despised the new rationalism of the Enlightenment, offering darkness and pessimism to counterpoise its orderly logic.

The award winning Aeolus Quartet offers the second installment in their Many-Sided Music Project, Ariel and Other Poems. This ongoing project collects distinctive voices of American composers, combining the classic with the modern. Ariel and Other Poems takes its name from the original title of Sylvia Plath's last manuscript. The poems contained therein include the work that inspired Christopher Theofanidis' Ariel Ascending, and joined by the rich expansive tones of the Copland, the buzzing electricity of the Mazzoli, and the deep catharsis of the Barber, the album Ariel and Other Poems seeks to offer a small sampling of the multi-faceted collection of American chamber music.

Marc Sinan’s third ECM release is an evocative duo album with Oğuz Büyükberber which subtly covers a lot of ground. The guitarist and the clarinettist have worked together in many contexts since first meeting in Istanbul a decade ago, and Büyükberber previously appeared on Hasretim: Journey to Anatolia, released in 2013, as well as in Sinan’s music-theatre piece Komitas. The individual musical directions of the two players have effectively converged from opposite poles: Marc was trained as a classical guitarist in the western European tradition, but has increasingly been drawn to improvisation and Turkish material, while Oğuz started out with Turkish music and jazz before exploring free improvisation and contemporary composition. For White, both musicians provide new music.

With his famous two pianos and his orchestra, the great British arranger brings you sets of vintage standards as well as contemporary themes. Dating from 1976 and 1977, these two LPs feature "Spanish Eyes", "How Insensitive", "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing", "On Days Like These", "All by Myself", and many more.

Brazil's towering figure of bossa nova, both as a performer and, even more importantly, as a composer.
It has been said that Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim was the George Gershwin of Brazil, and there is a solid ring of truth in that, for both contributed large bodies of songs to the jazz repertoire, both expanded their reach into the concert hall, and both tend to symbolize their countries in the eyes of the rest of the world. With their gracefully urbane, sensuously aching melodies and harmonies, Jobim's songs gave jazz musicians in the 1960s a quiet, strikingly original alternative to their traditional Tin Pan Alley source.

In the cold grounds of Iceland Eldberg were born in 2008, led by the Sigurdsson brothers, Jakob Gretar on drums and Asmundur Svavar on bass plus guitarist Reynir Hauksson. They operated with a five-piece line-up, but departures led them back to a trio the following year. Sometime later they welcome Eybor Ingi Gunnlaugsson as the lead singer and Heimir Klemenzson on keyboards. They were discovered by Mylodon Records, which launched the band's self-titled debut in 2011. This is 100% Scandinavian Retro Prog with heavy and psychedelic leanings. Members state that listening to Focus, Procol Harum, Jethro Tull and Yes were the basic inspirations that led them to the formation of Eldberg, but the music here follows the vein of all these underground Icelandic Heavy/Psych Rock bands of the 70's, Icecross, Manar, Pelican plus a strong dose of the Swedish scene, Trettioåriga Kriget or Rag i Ryggen…

Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 is one of classical music’s all-time greatest hits. It was composed and premiered in New York in 1893, which is why – but not only why – it is known as the “New World Symphony.” On this recording, which also includes the first cycle of the equally popular Slavonic Dances, the Piano Duo Trenkner / Speidel once again demonstrates the great advantages and fascinating rhythmic verve offered by reductions for piano four hands. Trimmed of the comfortable and sumptuous sound of the large orchestra, Dvořák’s genial treatment of motives of Bohemian folk character shines in even greater glory.

The Singles Collection, Vol. 2 contains CD replicas of the 13 singles Queen released between 1979 and 1984, a five-year span when the band was one of the biggest acts in the world…