Jan Gonda

Classical Flamenco is the first album to be released at NativeDSD by HR Recordings. It features guitarist Esteban Gonda in a new DXD recording. The album features a selection of Classical Flamenco music from traditional Spanish flamenco composers before Paco de Lucía. These are real classics of the most pure Spanish flamenco guitar. Music by masters like Sabicas, Mario Escudero, Niño Ricardo, Esteban de Sanlúcar, Manolo Sanlúcar. Along with two original compositions by Esteban Gonda. A real discovery from the very young new classical flamenco guitar player.

Fearlessly searching for new conceptions of sound and not caring where he found them, Garbarek joined hands with the classical early-music movement, improvising around the four male voices of the Hilliard Ensemble. Now here was a radical idea guaranteed to infuriate both hardcore jazz buffs and the even more pristine more-authentic-than-thou folk in early music circles. Yet this unlikely fusion works stunningly well - and even more hearteningly, went over the heads of the purists and became a hit album at a time (1994) when Gregorian chants were a hot item. Chants, early polyphonic music, and Renaissance motets by composers like Morales and Dufay form the basic material, bringing forth a cool yet moving spirituality in Garbarek's work…

"The Nymphs" tells the story of a wandering mortal who ends up in the realm of the Queen of the Nymphs. The late Scottish entertainer Jimmy Logan narrates the story, interwoven with hauntingly beautiful music composed by Jan Kisjes and magical poems recited by Bryan Maguire. The combination of story, music and poems results in a fairytale decor. The package also contains a second music-only CD.

Recorded at the Palais in the Großer Garten Dresden, Concerti di Venezia was released on October 24 on SONY Classical. The CD focuses on Venetian cello concertos and includes the Vivaldi double concerto with violinist Giuliano Carmignola and a world premiere recording of Vandini’s cello concerto in D major.

Listening to this beautifully played collection of Schubert’s piano trios, the two completed ones and the lonely single movements, I realized that this is the one recording I have that was made on fortepiano. Other favorites, including the recordings by the Beaux Arts Trio, the lesser known Trio di Trieste, and the more romantic recording by Arthur Grumiaux, Pierre Fournier, and Nikita Magaloff, are on modern instruments. That wouldn’t matter, perhaps, if the performances on this new disc were less convincing. Jan Vermeulen has been recording the Schubert sonatas to great acclaim. He now has added a recording of the trios that is clearly articulated, impassioned, at times even jaunty.

The survival of classical music may hinge on its ability to appear prominently outside the standard venues of concert halls and recording studios, thereby reaching a much larger audience of listeners who might otherwise never be treated to the masterworks of the canonical repertoire. New York-based ensemble the Knights seeks to do that by coupling its impressively broad repertoire (ranging from classical to jazz to world music) with a desire to play in locations where one might not expect to see an orchestra.