Théo Angelopoulous

L'autobiographie du nageur handisport français, 21 ans, amputé des deux bras et des deux jambes suite à une méningite bactérienne foudroyante à l'âge de 6 ans. …

Cristobal Colon (1984-1986) is the first of Spanish-American composer Leonardo Balada's two operas based on the life of the explorer. (The second, La Muerte de Colon [1992-1993], is also available on the Naxos label.) The recording of the first work comes from its premiere production in 1989 at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, and boasts two international superstars, Jose Carreras and Montserrat Caballe, in the leading roles of Columbus and Queen Isabella.

In addition to working together with living composers, the rediscovery of undeservedly forgotten works is an immense enrichment for us instrumentalists, who all too often find ourselves in the role of reproducing a few well-known pieces. It is for this reason that my joy was all the greater when one day Oliver Triendl told me about a genuine treasure: during his extensive research on composers from the Balkan region, he had unearthed a number of completely unknown works for bassoon and piano and immediately had the intuitive idea of recording them on CD. However, the result of his research was so extensive that several CDs could have been filled with the works he had found, and so we played through piles of sheet music for half a night until we finally arrived at our selection for this CD. With this CD, I hope to contribute to the expansion of the repertoire of my instrument, and also to promote a wider dissemination of the classical musical tradition of the Balkan region, which has so far been under-represented, and not only in the bassoon repertoire. – Theo Plath

Theo Croker's third full-length album, the Dee Dee Bridgewater-produced Afro Physicist, is an ambitious, stylistically wide-ranging album that showcases the jazz trumpeter's soulful post-bop chops, sophisticated arranging skills, and adventurous compositional style. The grandson of the late jazz trumpeter Doc Cheatham and a graduate of Oberlin College, Croker is an accomplished musician with a deep musical reservoir to draw from. Working closely with Bridgewater, with whom he has been performing regularly since 2009, Croker delves into a sound heavily informed by '70s soul-jazz, but which touches upon groove-oriented Latin jazz ("It's Not You, It's Me [But You Didn't Help]"), gargantuan keyboard and electric guitar-heavy jazz-funk ("Realize"), and atmospheric, dream-inducing modal jazz ("Visions," with vibraphonist Stefon Harris)…