Many musicians dream of making a record with a symphony orchestra, but few can afford to make it a reality. Thanks to an extraordinary ability to compose melodies that take root in his listeners’ minds and because he has, for years, patiently performed these compositions on stage to the point where they are practically a part of him, Avishai Cohen was well-positioned to execute such an ambition. As Cohen himself notes, his songs seem predisposed to adaptation at an orchestral scale, and the fact that they retain the same intensity that has provoked such widespread admiration demonstrates the vigor of his music.

SOMM RECORDINGS is pleased to announce the return of pianist Clélia Iruzun and the label debut of violinist Anthony Flint with Treasures from the New World, Volume 2, a revelatory compendium of sonatas and duets by five Brazilian composers who defined the sound and soul of modern Latin American music.

SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce the debut recording of composer-pianist Iain Farrington’s Art Deco Trio, featuring 15 new instrumental arrangements blending classical and jazz influences of songs by George Gershwin.

Andrew Nethsingha and The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge release the second volume in the highly praised ‘Magnificat’ series, presenting nine settings of the Evening Canticles by celebrated Organist-Composers, written between 1932 and 1952 and non-church musicians from 1974-1989.

"Eight cellos in a circle. The audience can sit around the octet, or even inside the circle. The cellists start to play, and the resulting music spirals around like a moving object. 8 is part of a series of works that started with Timber for six percussionists playing amplified simantras, and includes Rushes for seven bassoonists and Amplified for four electric guitarists. Each of these works is meant to induce a quasi-meditative, almost ecstatic state, in the listener as well as the performer."

Schubert moved to Vienna in early 1817, which was the center of musical activities in Europe at that time. Schubert focused strongly upon composing piano sonatas, and the result was these four superb works. Korean-born pianist Sookkyung Cho brings these sonatas truly to life. Noted for her "sensitive and imaginative" (New York Concert Review) playing, Sookkyung Cho has been captivating worldwide audiences with her personal, thoughtful expressionist style. She has appeared in venues such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Sarasota Opera House, Baltimore Museum of Art, Montreal Conservatory, Beaux concerts de la releve in Quebec, Château de Fontainebleau in France, and Zijingang Theater at Zhejiang University in China, among others, and was recently heard on Chicago's WFMT.

Composer/violist Christopher Lowry's incredible performance of my Fantasy, for Viola & Piano is going to be re-released by Centaur Records on Friday, April 16th, 2021. Chris's Milestones is a gorgeous collection of pieces of his own marvelous music for viola in addition to music by me and composer Christopher Hallum.

This cd contains one of the best performances of Telemann's well-known A Minor Suite for recorder and strings. Sarah Cunningham is a fine recorder player, and Monica Hugget plays first violin and directs the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, who play on period instruments. The strings play with very little or no vibratto, which might sound a bit dry to some listeners, but the elegance and precision of this band will win over many others. The A Minor Concerto for recorder is also given an enjoyable performance, but the remaining pieces, a Suite in D for Viola da gamba, and a Sinfonia in F for recorder and gamba are less pleasing, mainly because the gamba playing of Marion Verbruggen is somewhat less than exciting.

Though the members of the Eroica Quartet, formed in 1993, belong to various period-instrument groups in their native England, they have developed their own brand of performance practice: they play on gut strings, with sparing vibrato, but at normal pitch; the cellist uses an end-pin; the others use chin rests and shoulder pads. Moreover, instead of researching manuscripts and ur-texts, they consult early editions prepared by musicians active during the composers' lifetime, such as Mendelssohn's friend and adviser, the violinist Ferdinand David. Using his bowings and fingerings may give their performances "authenticity," but it is questionable whether the resulting innumerable slides and accents, which we have since learned how to avoid, are not ultimately to the detriment of the music.

Music publisher, friend, benefactor to Mozart, and respected composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister was a significant figure in late eighteenth century Vienna; his star did not fade until well into the nineteenth century, when he was eventually disparaged as a mediocrity. Yet Hoffmeister could have no better advocates than violist Ashan Pillai and conductor Christopher Hogwood, who have restored some of this composer's reputation in a delightful album of his complete works for viola. Pillai's idiomatic and sensitive solos and Hogwood's fastidious direction of the Gulbenkian Orchestra elevate the music to a high level of elegance and charm, and it becomes apparent from these performances that Hoffmeister was much better than his detractors claimed.

“The Other Mozart” is Franz Xaver, son of Wolfgang Amadeus, who was born in the year of Wolfgang Amadeus’s death, 1791. Franz Xaver lived into the era of high romanticism and died in 1844. Franz Xaver’s lineage, some enthusiastic early reports from his teachers (not least Salieri!) and the influence of his mother, Mozart’s widow Constanze, ensured that Franz Xaver’s talents as a pianist and composer allowed him a career. He grew up and lived his last years in Vienna, but spent most of his adult life in and around Lvov (in present-day Ukraine). Constanze complained of his easy-going nature; whether this was the cause of his limited success is not known.