Odradek Records

Acclaimed ensemble L’Instant Donné presents "Cherche titre", an album of world-premiere recordings of music by Spanish composer Mikel Urquiza, who just received the Composers’ Prize 2022 of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. Full of verve and sparkle, Mikel Urquiza’s music delicately flirts with burlesque, twists melodies and toys with clichés, a playfulness well suited to this ensemble.

Carion, one of the most celebrated wind quintets in the world, returns to Odradek with its own take on Terry Riley's legendary In C, plus a new recording of a work for which the group has won much acclaim: Nielsen's Wind Quintet, re-recorded in 2022 to coincide with the work's centenary. 'In C' also alludes both to the name Carion and to their home of Copenhagen. The release is completed by Mozart's Divertimento No. 1, Renate Stivrina's A Cycle of Miniatures, 'A Man Without a Country', dedicated to Carion, and an arrangement of the ancient Danish song Dromte mig en drom i nat- the oldest notated Danish tune - made by the quintet's horn player, David M.A.P. Palmquist.

Following the critical success that greeted his Odradek debut album Exodus (music by Korngold and Zeisl), violinist Johannes Fleischmann, known as the ‘Viennese Violinist’, returns in the company of pianist Christoph Ulrich Meier with Solitaire.Solitaire may denote a single set gemstone as well as a single piece in general. This album's programme consists of little-known individual works for violin and piano, all of them musical gems by famous composers, many of whom influenced each other. ‘Solitaire’ also means ‘lonely, alone’ and thus coincides with violinist Joseph Joachim's motto ‘free but lonely’. Famous violinists who inspired composers are also a common thread running through the programme.

Nach seinem faszinierenden Odradek-Debüt "Chalk Factory" meldet sich der baskische Komponist Ramon Lazkano mit einem Album mit Weltpremieren zurück, das intime Originalwerke für Stimmen und Ensemble enthält. Das Album wird durch die rätselhafte, schwer fassbare Poesie von Edmond Jabes, einem französischen Schriftsteller ägyptischer Herkunft, vereint. Lazkano vertont zwei Bände mit kurzen Gedichten von Jabes: "Main douce à la blessure même" und "Ceux a qui". Die isolierte, zurückgezogene Stimme von "Main Surplombe" (2012-13) ist in die instrumentale Textur eingetaucht, während die sechs Stimmen von "Ceux à Qui" (2014) eine Antwort geben, indem sie sich unterhalten und ausrufen, bevor sich der Text auflöst, während die Musik verklingt. Gesungen wird "Main Surplombe" von der Sopranistin Johanna Zimmer, die in zeitgenössischen Opern u. a. an der Deutschen Oper Berlin und an den Opernhäusern von Oslo und Antwerpen zu hören war und als Dozentin bei den Darmstädter Ferienkursen auftrat. Von 2015 bis 2019 war sie die erste Sopranistin der Neuen Vocal-Solisten, einer Gruppe von sieben hochqualifizierten Sängern, die "Ceux a Qui" aufführen. Während des gesamten Albums werden die Sängerinnen und Sänger von L'Instant Donné begleitet, einem demokratischen und vielseitigen Ensemble mit einem wachsenden internationalen Ruf.

Legendary Italian pianist Michele Campanella returns to Odradek following the success of his releases of Mussorgsky & Scriabin and Liszt's Annees de pelerinage, for which he was praised in Gramophone magazine for "vividly individual" playing that "strikes just the right balance between devotion and poetry".

Odradek Records is delighted to present 'Luna clara': the complete art songs of 20th-century Spanish composer Jess Garca Leoz in sumptuous, intimate performances by soprano Mar Morn and pianist Aurelio Viribay.Jess Garca Leoz is perhaps best known for his film music and for his 'Trptico de canciones', three songs featured on this release and justly famous for their folk-like beauty. Yet there are many other riches here to be discovered, finding passionate advocates in the Spanish artists Mar Morn and Aurelio Viribay.

Simon Gaudenz conducts the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra in the first of a series of recordings of the complete Mahler Symphonies, interspersed with world-premiere recordings of pieces by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini that reflect each symphony and pay homage to Mahler's soundworld. This first release features Mahler's Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, the Fourth preceded by Scartazzini'sIncantesimo (2020) for soprano and orchestra, and the Fifth byEinklang (2021).

Vittorio Forte continues his voyage of discovery through unusual and unjustly neglected piano repertoire with The Muse, an album devoted to the music of Nikolai Medtner.Medtner stands alongside Rachmaninov and Scriabin as among the foremost Russian composers of his time. Like them, Medtner's output grew out of his formidable abilities as a pianist and thorough understanding of the instrument's expressive range. Even so, he did not indulge in virtuosity for the sake of showmanship, but produced highly complex scores as a means of articulating his very particular vision.

Following the success of his recording of J S Bach's Goldberg Variations on Odradek, Vincent van Amsterdam returns with music by Bach's contemporaries, Francois Couperin and Domenico Scarlatti, and by one of his most famous sons, C P E Bach.

Bajo el sello Odradek, ya está disponible en plataformas digitales el nuevo álbum de la soprano navarra Sofía Esparza: "Canciones para una reina", dedicado a su paisano, el compositor Emilio Arrieta.