Every Heavenly Moment

What is the meaning of life? Is human existence meaningful or absurd? Is it even worth asking this kind of question? Anyone who has ever pondered these fundamental questions has an extraordinary adventure in store. In 36 inspiring lectures, award-winning Professor of Philosophy Francis J. Ambrosio fields the biggest of the "big" questions, in a boldly revealing inquiry into one of the most fundamental of all human concerns.

The 'heavenly lengths' Schumann loved in late Schubert are as much in evidence in the sublime G major quartet as in the other large-scale works of Schubert's final years. The Takacs Quartet's earlier Hyperion recordings of Schubert were hailed as 'near ideal' and 'superlative' and this new release is every bit as fine.

"Sound of the Morning" is written and recorded in late 2021, Katy’s latest effort is co-produced by Ali Chant (Yard Act and the helm of Katy’s debut Return) and Speedy Wunderground head-honcho Dan Carey (Fontaines DC).

Bon Iver is a Grammy award-winning American folk band founded in 2007 by indie folk singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Bon Iver won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album for their self-titled album.

The style in which the Finnish composer Sebastian Fagerlund composes might be described as ‘magic realism’, combining elements of surrealism with factual narrative. Drawing upon the symphony orchestra’s full spectrum of colours, the music reflects not only the traditions of impressionism, modernism and post-minimalism but also reveals the composer’s acute ear for other genres, from cool jazz to ambient music. An earlier recording of orchestral works by Sebastian Fagerlund was described in BBC Music Magazine as displaying 'boundless technical resource at the service of a considerable imagination'. These qualities, and his receptivity towards different musical traditions Fagerlund shares with Pekka Kuusisto, to whom the violin concerto Darkness in Light is dedicated. The title of the work is a subtle reference to a quote from author Haruki Murakami’s novella Firefly: ‘Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it’. The disc closes with the orchestral work Ignite, composed for and performed here by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, under its chief conductor Hannu Lintu.

Angela Hewitt’s notes for this important new album describe a teenager’s moment of revelation when she first came to appreciate the epic masterpiece that is the Liszt Piano Sonata. Here we have a heart-felt recording where this palpable sense of wonder is manifest alongside Hewitt’s enthralling technical facility at the keyboard.