1127 Tqaseem Mqamat El Haram

LOOSENING is a double album of five works by award winning composer GRAHAM FITKIN. Each one has the string quartet at its core but every work includes its own additional soloist. The string quartet is a really homogenous group, steeped in history and tradition, in which timbrally similar instruments create a well-honed sound through trusted communication and shared purpose. Each work has clearly defined roles for the two protagonists – quartet and solist. Each piece allows for two perspectives, two distinct approaches to the material and yet each protagonist is affected by the other. Approaches often evolve through the works, perhaps the quartet splits their honed homogeneity to focus more on individual constituents or conversely maybe they subsume the incomer into their group creating a larger group. An album of world premiere recordings: Four of the five works have never been recorded before, and the fifth is a new arrangement (also never recorded). DISTIL won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for Chamber Works in 2015.

Spiritmuse Records proudly presents ‘Kahil El’Zabar’s America the Beautiful’, a tour de force musical testament that speaks directly to the heart, mind and spirit. Kahil El’Zabar composed, arranged and conducted ‘America the Beautiful’ to speak musically about the turbulent issues in America (and the world) today, as well as his hopes and love for a better tomorrow.

Francisco Guerrero is still insufciently well known by comparison to his great contemporary and compatriot Victoria. El León de Oro here afrms his rightful place in the history of the Golden Age of Spanish polyphony.

The double CD features three original recordings from El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble plus remixes from world-renowned producers Charles Webster, Osunlade, Henrik Schwarz, IG Culture (Bugz in the Attic) and more…

La vida es sueño borrows the title of Calderón’s work for this musical and poetic journey through dreams, the night and the powerful symbolism that surrounds them, evoking a magical, mysterious, threatening and secret world. El Gran Teatro del Mundo, specialising in French music from the time of Louis XIV, revisits the operas of the Grand Siècle in this disc, offering an exclusively instrumental interpretation of scenes in which night and sleep are the best allies of love and death.