Henry Purcell (1659-1695) was the last great English composer before the twentieth century. The program on this Ricercar CD performed by Lionel Meunier and Vox Luminis offers some of Purcell’s most profound utterances, along with exquisite music by Thomas Morley (1557-1602) and Thomas...

This Brilliant Classics CD contains the complete string quartets of Italian composer and violinist Pietro Nardini (1722-1793) performed by Quartetto Eleusi. Coming as they do from the time – from the decade actually – that the classical string quartet form as we know it emerged,...

New York-based Stan Killian’s tenor saxophone voice can be described as pensive with influences of Trane, Mobley, Griffin, and Getz. His colors are rich and they burn in a quiet fire of long, unbroken lines, so it would seem Killian’s style settles best in a ballad – as it does on...

Sterling Records has released this album of sacred music by German-Swiss composer Joachim Raff (1822-1882) containing eighty minutes of world premiere recordings. The largest scale work is De Profundis, Op. 141, programmed alongside his Te Deum, WoO 16 and three a cappella choral works....

Elegant and lyrical, lively and buoyant, these polished concertos by Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812) are immediately appealing and enjoyable throughout. Hoffmeister’s flute concertos nos. 21 and 24 are performed by flautist Bruno Meier with the Prague Chamber Orchestra. Released by...

It’s all about the Brazilian rhythms for this jazz organ trio. Afternoon in Rio‘s tropical flavors include earthy samba funk, heavily accentuated samba-de-breque, bossa nova, chorinho, baio, and even some Latin rock. Says guitarist Paulo Morello: “We play Brazilian music in a unique...

Nostalgia – Lyrical Finnish Music for Strings is an exceptionally beautiful new release from Alba Records performed by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra under Juha Kangas. Offering compositions by a mix of familiar names along with some that are little known, the music comes from about...

It’s striking how much this Passion by Homilius sounds like the passions and oratorios of J.S. Bach at times, especially in the choruses, but also in the recitatives. This new recording of the St. Mark Passion HoWV I.10 by Gottfried August Homilius (1714-1785) is an important release...

Ars Production has made available a little known collection of pieces by baroque composer Charles Dollé (ca.1700-ca.1755), his Pièces de viole, op. 2 of 1737 for bass viol and basso continuo. The performances are by gambist Petr Wagner and harpsichordist Jacques Ogg. Very few of us are...

This Divine Art CD contains the entirety of young British composer David Jennings’ piano music, all written between 1985 and 2010. Born in Sheffield, Yorkshire in 1972, Jennings studied composition at Durham University and again at Manchester University at the postgraduate level. The...