Aleksandra Orbeck Nilssen

Works by Antonio Vivaldi by definition fall within the repertoire of an Ancient music ensemble such as Pandolfis Consort, which specializes in Renaissance and Baroque music. The fact that the orchestra, founded in 2004 by violist Elzbieta Sajka-Bachler, is now releasing a second album of motets and instrumental concertos by the Grand Master from Venice within just two years testifies on one hand to Vivaldi's rich oeuvre, but on the other hand to how much Vivaldi's compositional art is close to the hearts of the musicians.

Arvo Pärt is one of the greatest and most performed of living composers. Slow and meditative, often religious, reflecting his mystical experiences, Pärt’s works are unmistakeable. Here Morphing Chamber Orchestra, under its artistic director Tomasz Wabnic, performs some of the Estonian composer’s finest instrumental works, Fratres, Spiegel im Spiegel and Summa, together with one of his vocal masterpieces, the Stabat Mater, presented here in a new arrangement, sung by three of today’s greatest operatic voices, Roberto Alagna, Aleksandra Kurzak and Andreas Scholl. Several shorter pieces, marvels of poetry and purity, sung by Andreas Scholl, complete this programme.

Anders Muskens and Aleksandra Kwiatkowska present a new album of the complete works for violin and fortepiano by an important female French composer of the nineteenth century: Louise Farrenc (1804–1875). A virtuoso pianist and composer, Farrenc was also a well-known editor and pedagogue in her time; like many women composers throughout history though, much of her output has been forgotten. This album presents her complete works for violin and fortepiano, recorded for the first time on period instruments.