Debussy & Hosokawa: Point and Line
Momo Kodama plays Debussy's twelve Etudes (1915) interleaved with Toshio Hosokawa's six Etudes (2011-13); recorded in January 2016 at the Historischer Reitstadel, Neumarkt, produced by Manfred Eicher.
Air - Bent Sørensen, Hans Abrahamsen
Accordion music by Bent Sørensen and Hans Abrahamsen played by Frode Haltli, solo, with the Trondheim Soloists and with the Arditti Quartet; recorded October-November 2014 at Selbu Kirke, Norway.
Giovanni Legrenzi, Luciano Berio, Giovanni Gabrieli, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Dennis Russell Davies
Now, And ThenBruno Maderna's chamber orchestra transcriptions of Frescobaldi, Legrenzi, Gabrieli, Viadana and Wassenaer, with the first recording of Luciano Berio's Chemins V (Pablo Márquez, guitar); Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Dennis Russell Davies, recorded in Lugano in August 2015.
The Deer's Cry
Thirteen choral works by Arvo Pärt from 1977 to 2014, including two first recordings, sung by the Estonian ensemble Vox Clamantis under Jaan-Eik Tulve; recorded mainly in Tallinn in 2013 and 2014, with Veni Creator from Haapsalu in 2007.
Thomas Adès, Per Nørgård, Hans Abrahamsen
The Danish String Quartet's ECM debut: first string quartets by Thomas Adès (Arcadiana, 1994), Per Nørgård (Quartetto Breve, 1952) and Hans Abrahamsen (10 Preludes, 1973), recorded in May 2015 at the Reitstadel, Neumarkt, and produced by Manfred Eicher.
Carlo Gesualdo, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Brett Dean, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tõnu Kaljuste
GesualdoMusic by Carlo Gesualdo alongside Brett Dean's Carlo and Erkki-Sven Tüür's L'ombra della croce and Psalmody, performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra under Tõnu Kaljuste; recorded in Tallinn in February 2014.
Béla Bartók, Alfred Schnittke, Witold Lutosławski
Violin sonatas by Bartók (No. 2, 1922) and Schnittke (Quasi una sonata, 1967-68) and Lutosławski's Partita (1984), played by Miranda Cuckson and Blair McMillen; recorded in Lugano in January 2015, produced by Manfred Eicher.
Chiaroscuro
Two first recordings of works by Giya Kancheli, Chiaroscuro (2010) and Twilight (2004), played by Gidon Kremer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Kremerata Baltica; recorded in Vilnius in late 2014 and produced by Manfred Eicher.
Amores Pasados
Lute songs old and new: John Potter and Anna Maria Friman (voices) with lutenists Ariel Abramovich and Jacob Heringman sing new songs by John Paul Jones, Tony Banks and Sting beside Campion, Warlock, Moeran and Picforth. Recorded November 2014, Rainbow Studio, Oslo.
Lukomoriye
Fourth ECM New Series album of music by Alexander Knaifel: choral prayers, Pushkin songs and piano pieces, performed by Oleg Malov (piano), Tatiana Melentieva (soprano), Piotr Migunov (bass) and the Lege Artis Choir (Boris Abalian). Recorded 2012, Smolny Cathedral, St Petersburg.
Eine Olive des Nichts - Zagajewski, Tranströmer, Jaccottet
Poetry and sound collage by radio author Burkhard Reinartz: texts by Adam Zagajewski, Tomas Tranströmer and Philippe Jaccottet read in German by Reinartz, Anja Lais and Bruno Winzen, woven with ECM recordings. Recorded August 2013, Rheinklang Tonstudio, Cologne.
Aquilonis
Sixth ECM New Series album by Trio Mediaeval (Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth, Berit Opheim): Icelandic chant of St Thorlak, Italian laude, English carols, Norwegian hymns and works by Jormin, Brooks and Andrew Smith, recorded June 2014 at Propstei St. Gerold.
Transeamus
Final album by The Hilliard Ensemble: 15th-century English carols and motets by John Plummer, Walter Lambe, William Cornysh, Sheryngham and anonymous composers, sung by David James, Rogers Covey-Crump, Steven Harrold and Gordon Jones, recorded in 2012 at Propstei St. Gerold.
The Fifth Century
Gavin Bryars's The Fifth Century, a setting of Thomas Traherne for choir and saxophone quartet, and his Two Love Songs after Petrarch, sung by The Crossing under Donald Nally with the PRISM Quartet, recorded in Philadelphia in 2014 and 2015.
Iannis Xenakis
Trifold glossy slipcase includes two CDs, label catalogue and 16-page booklet of liner notes and images. For new initiates and avant-garde fiends alike, this Iannis Xenakis collection renders a breathtaking survey of works by the radical composer, theorist, architect and engineer, spanning the period 1956-1974 and featuring some of the greatest works of the 20th century, including the awe-inspiring sonic architecture of ‘Persepolis’.Inarguably one of the most important composers to blend electro…
Ensemble Music Vol.2
Five Xenakis works for ensemble recorded in New York in 1996 with the composer's participation: Akrata, Echange, Xas, Okho and the first recording of A la Mémoire de Witold Lutoslawski, by the ST-X Ensemble.
Ensemble Music Vol.1
Xenakis's works for ensemble and voice recorded in concert by New York's ST-X Ensemble under Charles Zachary Bornstein: Plektó (first recording), Eonta, Akanthos, Rebonds and N'Shima.
Percussion Works
First complete set of Iannis Xenakis's percussion works on three CDs: sextets, duos and solos, including Persephassa, Pléïades, Psappha, Kassandra and Rebonds, played by Steven Schick and the ensemble red fish blue fish.
Music for Strings
All of Xenakis's chamber music for strings except the quartets, from Syrmos (1959) to the first recording of Ittidra (1996), played by Ensemble Resonanz under Johannes Kalitzke, with John Eckhardt on solo contrabass in Theraps.
Robert Schumann
Thomas Zehetmair, as violinist and conductor, leads the Orchestre de chambre de Paris in Schumann's Violin Concerto WoO 23, Phantasie op. 131 and Symphony No. 1 "Spring", recorded in February 2014 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris.