Classical Sleep

The four chamber works by Austrian Thomas Larcher recorded here show that's he's a composer to watch out for. His compositional voice is strikingly unencumbered by adherence to any orthodoxy, and his work is direct in its emotional and intellectual communication. My Illness Is the Medicine I Need, for soprano, violin, cello, and piano, is particularly effective; its aphoristic texts come from a Benetton "Colors" magazine that included photographs of psychiatric hospitals and quotations from their patients. Larcher's understated text setting allows the voices of the patients to be heard with unaffected bleakness and it is strongly moving. Even though it uses a contemporary harmonic language, the string quartet Ixxu (1998-2004) is old-fashioned in its emotional clarity. Its last movement, "ruhig," is genuinely peaceful and brings to mind the serenity of Arvo Pärt's Fratres. His 1990 quartet Cold Farmer is similarly direct and generous in inviting the listener in, and here again the slow movement is especially deeply felt and engaging.

Created by soprano Lisa Delan and composer Luna Pearl Woolf, the recording of Angel Heart is a music storybook narrated by Jeremy Irons with an original story by Cornelia Funke and music by Luna Pearl Woolf, and performed by Matt Haimovitz & Uccello with world-class artists Frederica von Stade, Daniel Taylor, Delan and more. Woolf’s original score is interwoven with familiar songs and lullabies by Gordon Getty, Jake Heggie, Engelbert Humperdinck, Irving Berlin, Lennon-McCartney, David Sanford, Lewis Spratlan and Luna Pearl Woolf. The exquisite images that also tell the story are by Mirada, the Los Angeles-based creative studio and “purveyors of handmade storytelling.”

In 2022, we celebrate Vaughan Williams's 150th birthday, and the pinnacle of Albion Record's contribution to this important milestone is this Pan's Anniversary album, which contains five world premiere recordings.

Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. The word 'therion' comes from the Greek therion (θηρίον), meaning 'Beast,' i.e., that of the Christian Book of Revelation. However, the band's name is a homage to the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. Beginning as a death metal band, they later turned to combining orchestral elements with their metal music, employing heavy use of choirs and classical musicians, not only as additions to but also as integral parts of the composition. Therion is the first metal band with fully live orchestra featured. It is also the band which originated, popularised and influenced the symphonic metal genre, cited as 'the most adventurous metal band at present'. Because of these extents they take in conducting their music, they have been dubbed as 'Opera Metal'.