Sacconi Quartet

An album of new works written during the pandemic by celebrated composer Jonathan Dove, the Sacconi Quartet are joined by pianists Charles Owen, Katya Apekisheva and baritone Phillipe Sly. “Many works have been composed during lockdown. This will surely survive as a sonorous record of the time: for the anxiety and dislocation of its first movement, the soaring, twittering birdsong of the second, and the serene, meditative melancholy of the last.” - Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian

British pianist Charles Owen attended the Yehudi Menuhin School, where his teacher was Seta Tanyel, and studied at the Royal College of Music with Irina Zaritskaya and Imogen Cooper. He was the winner of the silver medal at the Scottish International Piano Competition in 1995, a finalist at the London Philharmonic/Pioneer Young Soloist competition in 1996, and he shared the Parkhouse Award with violinist Katharine Gowers in 1997.

The winner of numerous international competitions, the brilliant young accordion player Ksenija Sidorova here presents her debut recording; a recital for solo classical accordion. A particularly accomplished artist, Ksenija has collaborated with many leading musicians (including the Belcea Quartet, and Valergy Gergiev with the CBSO), and won numerous awards and accolades. Still an underexploited resource in western classical music, the accordion has had a fast-increasing amount of music written for it since the mid-20th Century. Here, Ksenija Sidrova brings a varied recital featuring some of the best contemporary compositions for the classical accordion, alongside transcriptions of well-known works. No composer has been transcribed more often than Bach; but the accordion - heard here in Bachs Overture in the French Style - brings an advantage that few other instruments can offer; its notes do not die away as soon as they are sounded. This allows an array of colouristic possibilities, denied to other musicians.

World renowned contemporary cellist Nick Squires teams up with London Music Works. Known for ‘Bach in the Rain’ viral video that reached more than 50 million viewers, and for his contemporary cello arrangements, Nick Squires, together with London Music Works, creates a complex, multilayered sonic world. With this album, Nick brings a fresh perspective to some of the most moving and powerful soundtrack and concert hall music. Featuring music from The Cinematic Orchestra, Gustavo Santaolalla, Max Richter Jóhann Jóhannsson, Bear McCreary, this album is bound to find its place on many major DSP playlists.