A vocal ensemble comprised of four friends from the State Opera of Berlin is bringing together operatic intensity and their choral roots. The quartet performs a seven-song cycle for male voices, composed by tenor and composer Linard Vrielink. The cycle explores the meaning of life, death, and existence through Latin religious texts and poems by Thomas Hardy. With its blend of classical choral tradition and modern harmonies, the cycle features homogeneous, madrigal choir singing paired with operatic climaxes, resulting in a unique fusion of the old and the new.

The Philharmonic String Quartet Berlin presents works by Josef Suk and Antonín Dvořák with gripping precision and exciting colours. Although contrasting, the two pieces are still closely connected: Dvořák’s cheerful and dazzling String Quartet No. 13 composed during a period full of joy and carelessness, and the String Quartet No. 2 by Suk – Dvořák’s son-in-law, who premiered both of the recorded quartets himself – which was written after a deep crisis and depicts full, rich and heavy harmonies.

A highly expressive journey through music for cello and piano is performed by promising young artists Ivan Skanavi and Dina Ivanova, including an own arrangement of Griegs third Violin Sonata arranged by Ivan Skanavi.

Lush harmonies, opulence, metaphysical spheres, the spirit of the ending 19th century – this unites the three song cycles by Debussy, Krauss and Ullmann that Emma Moore and Klara Hornig combine on their first album. They portray Debussy from a rather unusually late Romantic perspective with “Cinq Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire” and induce the listener over Clemens Krauss’ impressionist-inspired “Acht Gesänge nach Gedichten von Rainer Maria Rilke” to the unique “Fünf Liebeslieder nach Ricarda Huch” by Viktor Ullmann.

What does home mean? In Schubert‘s song cycle, we meet a traveller: a stranger, a homeless person, an unhappy lover, an aimless wanderer, torn between his dreams and bitter reality. The Asambura-Ensemble connects Schubert with Persian poems and music about strangeness and loneliness, developing new perspectives. “I arrived a stranger, a stranger I depart” – in view of the homelessness of so many refugees, this newly interpreted song cycle is highly up to date.

Juris Teichmanis presents his very unique interpretation of the complete Cello Suites by Johann Sebastian Bach. Flamboyant colours are created through the standard pitch of 400 Hertz and the choice of two historic instruments fitted with gut strings. The rarely heard Violoncello Piccolo with its additional fifth string reveals a surprising perspective at the end of the cycle in the sixth suite.

After a long and intense research period, Daniel Cunha presents his first recording of Alfredo Napoleão’s piano works. A selection of colourful pieces from an almost forgotten composer reveals new perspectives on Portuguese romantic piano music.

In their new album Revelação the Costa Brothers dedicate themselves to Portuguese composers of the last century. Discover music by Luiz Costa, Frederico de Freitas and Antonio Pinho Vargas, recorded for the very first time.