Geir Draugsvoll - Silenzio: 5 Pieces for Classical Accordion - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Carlo Donato Cossoni (1623-1700) was born into a family of musicians in the small town of Gravedona by Lake Como on November 10, 1623. By 1650 he was organist at San Fedele in Como, where he had previously been ordained priest. He published his op. 1 of two-part and three-part motets in Venice in 1665, and 13 further works followed up to 1679, all of sacred music. He bequeathed 54 sacred works to the Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln (Appellato della Madonna de Valdo, InchOur Lady of the HermitsInch), and after his death in Gravedona they were added to the abbey library. Other Cossoni manuscripts have been preserved in Milan, Como and Bologna. The NOVANTIQUA Bern vocal ensemble was founded in 1987 by Bernhard Pfammatter to prepare sophisticated choral literature for concert performance by a small ensemble. The name NOVANTIQUA expresses the ensemble's commitment to the interpretation of early works alongside the performance of music from the 20th and 21st centuries. The Kesselberg Ensemble was founded in 2004 by Latvian musicians, all graduates of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. The ensemble chose the name InchKesselbergInch, Latvian Katlakalns, to celebrate the district of Riga where Johann Gottfried Müthel (born 1728 in Mölln, died 1788 in Riga) spent his later years. J.S. Bach's last pupil, Müthel was Latvia's greatest composer of the 18th century.

The project 'Solitary Poems for Soprano Saxophone' is a creative response to the COVID-19 pandemic and it's consequent obliteration of livelihoods for freelance musicians. The 23 world premières pres ented on this album were all composed specifically for Anders Paulsson so that he and they could keep growing artistically during the pandemic when all concerts and touring came to a standstill, and simultaneously to support the creation of new music for soprano saxophone. Some pieces turned out to be extremely virtuosic while others were more contemplative and lyrical. While the vast majority of the pieces are for solo soprano saxophone, some feature a second instrument, including one that is a dialogue between Paulsson and himself. Composers from across the world have been given free rein to express musically what the pandemic has meant to them, whether it's a reflection on solitude or on the imposed standstill, a hope for a better tomorrow, a concern for crucial environmental issues or a sense of wonder at nature. All the pieces also reveal the extraordinary potential of the soprano saxophone as a classical soloist instrument. Available in Dolby Atmos on selected streaming services.

The First and Fourth symphonies of Jean Sibelius, in previously unpublished live recordings from the early 1960s, are major additions to the recorded legacy of Thomas Jensen. As a young cellist, Jensen had known and played under both Nielsen and Sibelius, and his interpretations of their symphonies are stamped with authority respectful of the score while seeing deep inside it's mysteries. This is the thirteenth volume in Danacord's renowned Thomas Jensen Legacy series.