Recorded live in 2014 at the prestigious EMPAC hall in Troy, NY, the second album on Ad Noiseam by the Greek composer Stavros Gasparatos departs from his usual soundtrack-oriented works. A highly conceptual piece, "Expanded Piano" explores the wide array of sounds which can be produced by this instrument and contextualizes them in the context of modern electronic music. Surrounded by 24 speakers fed by 24 microphones capturing everything happening inside the piano, the audience is placed in the middle of an uncommon yet highly touching sound-scape. "Expanded Piano" is an encompassing, abstract but emotional album which confirms Stavros Gasparatos's originality and talent.

Mesmerising sound: “I search for purity. For relationships in perfect equilibrium. As in a Japanese garden. Stones lie there, but they have not simply been laid there by someone; they each have a meaning. A story.” At the start of his career, the Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi was a loyal member of the avant-garde – but his yearning for Romanticism led him to a completely new style: minimalist, pure, hypnotically beautiful. With grace and wonderfully meditative clarity, pianist Dalal plays the maestro’s best-loved pieces on this album.

World première recordings of works by John Tavener, Arvo Pärt, Valentin Silvestrov and Alexander Knaifel sit alongside pieces by Henryk Górecki and John Cage on the first recording from a new Irish label operated by noted concert promoters Louth Contemporary Music Society (LCMS). All of these very popular contemporary composers have in various ways been deeply influenced by profound spiritual, religious or cultural encounters, and the disc celebrates them in a moving, magical programme. A Place Between intersperses - to wonderful effect - beautiful works for string quartet (Silvestrov's meditative Ikon, Tavener's deeply moving Ikon of Joy/Sorrow, Pärt's reflective Da Pacem Domine) with two solo piano works (Pärt's uplifting Hymn to a Great City, and Cage’s melodic and expressive In a Landscape). Górecki's memorial for Michael Vyner, Good Night and Knaifel’s mystical O Heavenly King both feature the haunting voice of soprano Patricia Rozario. Silvestrov's 25.X.1893 lullaby is a melancholic and lyrical piece for violin and piano.

Yann Tiersen has announced details of a brand new album, ALL, out on 15 February 2019. The album coincides with an extensive European tour throughout February and March, which includes two London dates at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 19 and 20 February 2019.

An album and video series combining Classical and Afro-Caribbean music in new piano-driven "re-compositions" for various ensembles.

Filmed at the enchanting 19th century Johnstown Castle in Wexford, Ireland, this special features stunning new music from Celtic Woman's latest album Ancient Land, along with a few of their timeless classics. Showcasing the stunning fiddle playing of Tara McNeill and the shimmering voices of Mairead Carlin and Eabha McMahon, the special also introduces the newest member of Celtic Woman, 21-year-old Megan Walsh.

As a composer of sacred music, Bob Chilcott has found his own niche by writing accessible choral works that speak to contemporary sensibilities. As has been noted frequently, his Requiem evokes Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Duruflé, mostly through its gentle feeling and serene melodies, though without imitating their style or content. Rather, it has its own mix of somber harmonies and fluid, chantlike lines, and the expression of the work is a little cooler and darker. Chilcott's music admits occasional and mild dissonance, though the orientation is strongly modal and the harmonies always feel like a natural result of the counterpoint. Chilcott's Salisbury Motets, Downing Service, and three shorter pieces share the same modern Anglican style, which is approachable and easy to follow. The Wells Cathedral Choir, under the direction of Matthew Owens, sings with a pure tone and clear diction, and the sound of the recordings is quite resonant, thanks to the responsive acoustics of the Cathedral of St. Andrew.

Through a repertoire of Consort Songs for five violas and countertenor, the Céladon Ensemble tries to underline the obvious artistic connections between the music of english Renaissance and contemporary music. This parentage, this harmonic, rhythmic and poetic logic, opens a whole field of exploration into sound identity and tradition. How have such seemingly different composers, belonging to remote eras, dealt with timbre fusion in a similar way, with the same desire to deeply affect, to create a full-bodied sound, both powerful and soothing? The two eras are not placed in opposition for this concert, as Michael Nyman’s music arises naturally from that of his predecessors; on the contrary, it is a clever mix of genres that points out to surprising similarities between these works : we could easily believe that Tye’s Sit Fast was composed very recently. From one century to the next, we face a testimony brought to song by the timbre of a countertenor, the intensity of a violas consort that carries a certain magic, the paradoxical expression of a voice which is solitary but also becomes a seventh instrument, one of the violas.

A release containing performances of musical fragments by Viola Torros, arranged and performed by Catherine Lamb and Johnny Chang.

Abbamania! The name gives it right away! What more do you want? The timeless multi-mega hits by ABBA, the super success musical Mamma Mia , the two successful movies with all the hits and the legendary Royal Philharmonic Orchestra presenting outstanding arrangements!

Recorded with the Paris Mozart Orchestra and 2 Jazz Musicians, this is Natalie Dessay’s exciting first album release for Sony Classical.

Temporal is the elegantly restrained new album by Canadian cellist/composer Julia Kent. Following the dissonance and tension of her previous album for Leaf, 2015’s Asperities, Temporal is a meditation on the transitory and fragile nature of existence. Plaintive cello lines floating over metronomic rhythms echo the passage of time, and the emotions that can evoke.

"Silent Piano - Songs for Sleeping 2" is the second collection of pieces composed by Blank and Jones and performed by pianist Marcus Loeber. The album consists of thirteen very quiet and calming piano solos played with delicate perfection by Loeber. For this album, Blank & Jones worked with soundtrack expert Marcus Loeber and created very intimate arrangements of their own classic compositions from the last decade. "Silent Piano - Songs for Sleeping 2" provides more than an hour of a calming, soothing solo piano music and as well as a respite from our crazy, noisy world.

This is a solo piano album of gently undulating sound sculptures that revel in the beauty and peace of our forests. Hauschka creates an intimacy through his focus on the most personal of insights—the delight of spiderwebs sparkling with dew; the unexpected, strange pleasure of placing hands in an anthill; the smell of wet moss…and the magic of human companionship, as the composer and his father share innermost thoughts. Hauschka’s improvisations ebb and flow, taking unexpected, intriguing harmonic paths. The coruscating “Another Hike” takes us full circle—a through-composed piece that rounds off this gorgeous, atmospheric album.

Notable guitarist, songwriter, Composer and producer Steve Vai, who has worked with Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne, and a rich catalog of solo material garnering 3 Grammy wins, 15 nominations, myriad world wide awards and over 15 million career record sales, is releasing the second volume of his project Piano Reductions, after 14 years. Vai teamed up with the extremely talented professional Japanese pianist Miho Arai, who has idolized Steve for years, to recreate piano versions of 12 of his songs, including "Burning Rain," "Lucky Charms" and "Dying For Your Love" and many more. Her virtuosity is breathtaking. Vai fans responded very well to Piano Reductions Vol I, and he is now releasing Vol II.