Christmas at The Castle

On the snow-swept island of Skiathos, a miraculous Christmas Eve unfolds. Weaving together spoken word with song, this recording brings to life To Christ, at the Castle by the Dostoevsky of Greece, Alexandros Papadiamantis.

The Choir of St George’s Chapel, world famous through its royal patronage, is one of this country’s foremost, participating in daily services throughout the year at its Windsor Castle home. Here the choir performs a wide range of music appropriate to the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany.

Internationally acclaimed singer, pianist and songwriter Joe Stilgoe presents a classic Christmas album, complete with star-studded line up, big band songs, Christmas choirs and fireside yuletide lullabies. Joe is joined by a host of special guests for a feast of Christmas classics, including Grammy nominated saxophonist Amy Dickson on ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’, the Canterbury Cathedral Girls Choir on ‘Rest in Peace’, iconic Jazz musician and son of Roy- Ben Castle on ‘Little White Berry’ and legendary comedian and actor Rob Brydon on ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’. Joe introduces two original songs to the festive collection- sure to become seasonal favorites for years to come.

Arthurian tales have captured the imaginations of artists for centuries. In the late 12th-century, the floodgates of Medieval Arthurian literature burst open, and across Western Europe, works about the fictional deeds of individual knights of the Round Table were written. These were tales of mistaken identity, switched births, giants, ceremonial duels, and forbidden love, that portrayed the different knights as flawed upholders of what came to be known as the Chivalric Code.

Born in Worthington, Minnesota, United States, and the son of Tiny Little, Sr., a prominent musician and bandleader, Big Tiny Little, Jr. first took up playing piano at the age of five, becoming both a honky-tonk, ragtime pianist and playing other instruments such as the organ, bass horn and bass fiddle.

Formed in 1970, Emerson, Lake & Palmer were torchbearers of the Progressive Rock sound and one of rock's first super-groups. The world-conquering, stadium-filling prog giants helped to broaden the audience for the genre from hundreds of thousands into tens of millions and were one the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1970s. Their first 7 album releases all made the U.K. albums chart top 10 and U.S. top 20. This collection includes the classic band's 10 releases (7 studio & 3 live albums) - expertly remastered for the first time in 24 bit / High Definition audiophile formats from the original tapes.

Kanon Matsuda was born in the city of Takamatsu, Japan. She started her training at 4 years of age with Professor Yoshiko Hosoda. Beginning in 2002, Kanon was a student of the Gnessin Secondary Special Music School (college), in the class of Professor Elena Ivanova. In March of 2004, Kanon was awarded the Grand Prix at the International Piano Competition in memory of Grieg in Moscow.

Unfairly neglected, Tchaikovsky’s piano music—which runs to approximately 11 hours’ worth—contains some gems, particularly such larger works as the two sonatas. Valentina Lisitsa is a terrific advocate, stepping up to the role of modern champion and shining brilliant light into this largely unexplored corner of the repertoire. Her technique is characteristically impressive—as in the opening Étude of Op. 40, which she launches with astonishing energy—and she draws a lovely sound from her beautifully recorded Bösendorfer piano. Tchaikovsky’s various piano arrangements, too, are a lot of fun, particularly the virtuoso Marche Slave. A set to dip into for rich rewards.

Peter Jacobs explores the contribution made by women composers to the genre of British piano music. Jacobs writes, ‘This introduction to my CD of piano music by British women composers is being written in the spring of 2025. It seems a highly appropriate time to be doing this. Women musicians are being celebrated everywhere, with books, recordings and concerts all extolling their achievements. Women conductors are the norm and the Master of the King’s Music is a distinguished woman composer.