William Carter

Transcribing compositions was a common practice in the Baroque era, and Johann Sebastian Bach frequently recycled his own music, perhaps most famously in his versions for lute. This 2017 Linn release by lutenist William Carter offers meticulous performances of the Sonata in G minor, BWV 1001, and the Suite in E major, BWV 1006a, both adapted from the original versions for unaccompanied violin, and the Suite in G minor, BWV 995, arranged from the Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011, for unaccompanied cello.

Linn Records is thrilled to introduce soprano Rowan Pierce in what promises to be a sensational debut recording. The Cares of Lovers comprises songs from across Purcell's brief career from She loves and she confesses too, one of his very first published pieces (1683), to Sweeter than roses from his final months (1695).

After what seems like years of delay, Mode has released this CD of chamber and vocal music in time for Elliott Carter's 95th birthday, which fell on Dec. 11, 2003. It was worth the wait. The Quintet for Piano and Strings (1997) is one of the two or three pinnacles of Carter's prolific eighties. Though undeniably an example of the his late style, it harks back to the First Quartet (1951!) in its long-lined writing for strings. The music is expansive and concise, light-hearted and dramatic all at once, and it is played to perfection by Ursula Oppens and the Arditti Quartet, the performers for whom it was written.