Studio Ko:

From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, the overture became an orchestral piece intended to precede a large-scale dramatic work. This recording brings together twelve overtures from Mozart’s operas.

Ko Matsushita, born in 1962, approaches choral music in many ways. He himself composes and arranges for choir and his works are performed worldwide. At the same time, he is active as a conductor and artistic director of numerous choirs, which have always gained recognition foroutstanding performances at international competitions. Matsushita has received several awards, including the “Robert Edler Prize for Choral Music” in 2005 – the first Asian conductor to do so. Under the direction of Georg Grün, the KammerChor Saarbrücken, one of Germany's leading chamber choirs, dedicates this recording to Matsushita's sacred works for a cappella choir. In addition, the Lieder cycle op. 6 by Max Reger and the famous choral transcription Im Abendrot by Clytus Gottwald after the Adagietto from the 5th Symphony by Gustav Mahler can be heard.

This ten-album, must-have set includes ZZ Top’s acclaimed albums: ZZ Top's First Album, Rio Grande Mud, Tres Hombres, Fandango!, Tejas, Deguello, El Loco, Eliminator, Afterburner and Recycler.

Just before his death in 1828 at the age of just 31, Franz Schubert was at work on his 10th Symphony in D major D936a, and had signed up for counterpoint lessons with Simon Sechter, who later taught the young Anton Bruckner. The 10th was destined to become yet another unfinished Schubert work, and his 6th unfinished symphony, but the extensive sketches are fascinating and show Schubert clearly moving into new sound worlds that anticipate Mahler in the central slow movement. Berio’s ingenious work ‘Renderings’ brings Schubert’s extensive sketches alive by creating a new work around and within the framework of the unfinished symphony.

As one of the finest pianists of his era and an improviser of genius, Ludwig van Beethoven’s preferred vehicle for musical exploration was the piano. His earliest composition, from 1782, was a set of piano variations and he continued to compose for solo piano until the last years of his life. His interest in the concerto form diminished as his deafness forced him to retire from performing. Nonetheless, with his five piano concertos composed between 1788 and 1809, Beethoven not only achieved a brilliant conclusion to the Classical piano concerto, but also established a new model for the Romantic era: a sort of symphony with obbligato piano which remained a reference point well into the beginning of the twentieth.

Paul Hindemith belongs to the most original and interesting composers of the 20th century. Once described by the Boston Globe as a "20th-century Brahms", Hindemith wrote music that is Modernist in its rhythmic audacity and colourful orchestration, but simultaneously inspired by Classical forms and styles.

Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer.

On her second PENTATONE album Sinnbild, soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller presents an enchanting collection of orchestral songs by Richard Strauss together with the WDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.

The world is remarkable in that people from far off places and different walks of life can have an immediate, dramatic impact on each other after meeting just once. The notion of meeting a newcomer who embraces new people and ideas but also freely puts forth his own ideas is the theme of guitarist Davy Mooney and drummer Ko Omura’s new recording, Benign Strangers. Originally from New Orleans, Mooney is a longtime regular on the New York scene and, for the past year, he has been teaching at his alma mater, the University of North Texas in Denton. Mooney’s two Sunnyside releases, Perrier Street and Hope of Home, highlight his fantastic playing and composing with an incredible cast of musicians graced with the New Orleans magic, including saxophonist John Ellis, pianist Jon Cowherd and drummer Brian Blade.