Frederic Lambert – Iridescence (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Frederic Lambert – Iridescence (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Iridescence is the variability in the colour of an object with a change in viewing angle—an optical quality that imparts a magical shimmering to the surface of a soap bubble and fills the feathers of a peacock and the wings of a butterfly with brilliant hues. Yet it also hints at the possibility of deeper understanding with a change in perspective, an idea with a broader implication than its original meaning. The works for viola and double bass permit us to see and hear from a different vantage point: two string instruments, often in the shadows of the violin and cello, yet filled with prismatic possibility and potential. From the slow, angular jig of Fisherstreet Duo to Escenas del Sur, the multi-part lament for the families of 1960s South America under tyrannical rule, Iridescence captures a deluge of emotions and textures, inviting listeners to stretch their perspective in novel and expansive directions.

Ensemble Caprice – Handel: Messiah, HWV 56 (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Ensemble Caprice – Handel: Messiah, HWV 56 (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Leaf Music is proud to present a new recording of highlights from Handel’s Messiah, featuring soprano Karina Gauvin and bookended by two new choral works by Montreal-based composers, Jaap Nico Hamburger and Matthias Maute. Maute also conducts Ensemble Vocal Arts-Québec and Ensemble Caprice in these vibrant new choral recordings, which will be available for purchase, download, and on all streaming platforms as of November 5, 2021.

Ensemble Caprice – Jaap Nico Hamburger: Chamber Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (Live) (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

Ensemble Caprice – Jaap Nico Hamburger: Chamber Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (Live) (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

In honour of Remembrance Day and the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands, Canadian composer Jaap Nico Hamburger presents two symphonies recorded in November 2019. While these two works confront serious and challenging themes, they are nonetheless imbued with hope and optimism.

Duo Oriana – How Like a Golden Dream (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]

Duo Oriana – How Like a Golden Dream (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]

Duo Oriana is delighted to release their debut album How Like a Golden Dream with the Leaf Music Label. Join soprano Sinéad White and lutenist Jonathan Stuchbery for a live performance of the album, and pick up your physical CD at Toronto’s Heliconian Club. The event will begin at 7pm.

Recorded at Humbercrest United Church in Toronto of October of 2022, How Like a Golden Dream is a reflection on the ways people have communed with the night-time throughout history. Soprano Sinéad White and lutenist Jonathan Stuchbery lead the listener through old Irish meditations and English Renaissance melodies, lingering on the nature of night, darkness, and the stories and rituals that have emerged out of the human’s relationship with night-time.

Duo Kalysta, Lara Deutsch, Emily Belvedere – Origins (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Duo Kalysta, Lara Deutsch, Emily Belvedere – Origins (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

The title of this album, Origins, is meaningful to us on many levels. It’s our debut album, recorded in Montreal where we first met in 2012. It reflects our Canadian origins by including music by two of our favourite Canadian composers. It is inspired by the heritage of our instruments, as the traditions of both flute and harp were greatly influenced by French music. And it marks the beginning of our journey towards more recording projects, repertoire commissions, and new collaborations. We hope you enjoy listening to this album as much as we loved making it.

Dorian Komanoff Bandy, Hank Knox, Elinor Frey – Lovers and Mourners: Variations and Sonatas from 17th-Century Germany (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Dorian Komanoff Bandy, Hank Knox, Elinor Frey – Lovers and Mourners: Variations and Sonatas from 17th-Century Germany (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Lovers and Mourners: Variations and Sonatas from 17th-century Germany, offers a comprehensive glimpse into the lives of virtuoso composer-performers Johann Jakob Walther, Heinrich Biber, and Johann Georg Pisendel. The Composers featured on Lovers and Mourners drew upon the “stylus phantasticus,” a 17th-century Italian idiom whose features were marked by jagged shifts of affect and intended to display the player’s technical command and expressive abilities. Violinist Dorian Komanoff Bandy nimbly guides the listener through a labyrinth of variation sets and themes, simultaneously reproducing faithful interpretations of the music while injecting his own unique touch. Lovers and Mourners boasts a brief, yet intense survey of one of the richest chapters in the history of the virtuoso composer-performer.

Christina Raphaëlle Haldane, Carl Philippe Gionet – Tu me voyais (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Christina Raphaëlle Haldane, Carl Philippe Gionet – Tu me voyais (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Christina Raphaëlle Haldane is thrilled to present Tu me voyais, her first record on Leaf Music set to be released on October 21, 2022. Tu me voyais is the result of the collaboration between Christina Raphaëlle Haldane and Carl Philippe Gionet, along with several other artists, writers, and composers who have contributed their own offerings. This album is anchored around Gionet’s new arrangements of Twelve Acadian Folk Songs, tailored for Haldane’s voice. These re-imaginings are set in the 19th century lieder aesthetic or art song where voice and piano play equal solo parts within the musical architecture.

Charke-Cormier Duo – Equation of Time (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Charke-Cormier Duo – Equation of Time (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

The Equation of Time is the Charke-Cormier Duo’s third album and their second to feature recital programming that spans various genres and styles. Like their first album, Ex Tempore, it showcases their shared aspiration to play music both old and new, original works and arrangements, to explore the stunning timbral combination of flute and guitar. Also like their first album, The Equation of Time begins with the music of Brazilian-Canadian guitarist and composer Celso Machado. Sambamar, Machado’s second book of music for flute and guitar, is a collection of six dance-inspired pieces with evocative titles. In addition to being the composer, Machado is featured as a percussion performer on all six tracks on this recording.

Charles Hamann, Frédéric Lacroix – Canadian Scenes (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Charles Hamann, Frédéric Lacroix – Canadian Scenes (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Canadian Scenes: New Works for Oboe and Piano is an album 13 years in the making. Comprising five works commissioned between 2009 and 2022, it is a wide-ranging collection of Canadian vignettes expressed through music. One of Oboist Chip Hamann’s goals with this project was to capture a broad array of artistic statements from composers of sometimes vastly different backgrounds, all couched under the umbrella of the Canadian milieu.

Axel Strauss, Victor Fournelle-Blain, Yegor Dyachkov, Ilya Poletaev – Jaap Nico Hamburger: Piano Quartet (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

Axel Strauss, Victor Fournelle-Blain, Yegor Dyachkov, Ilya Poletaev – Jaap Nico Hamburger: Piano Quartet (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

Jaap Nico Hamburger is the current Composer in Residence with Mécénat Musica in Montréal. His compositions include commissions for orchestra, opera, chamber music and solo works. His music has been performed and recorded in Canada, The Netherlands and Israel.

Assaff Weisman, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Vincent de Kort – Jaap Nico Hamburger: Piano Concerto (2020) [FLAC 24bit, 192 kHz]

Assaff Weisman, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Vincent de Kort – Jaap Nico Hamburger: Piano Concerto (2020) [FLAC 24bit, 192 kHz]

Canadian composer Jaap Nico Hamburger presents his first recording with Leaf Music. Recorded at the Maison symphonique de Montréal under the direction of Vincent de Kort with pianist Assaff Weisman and Orchestra Métropolitain de Montréal.

Jaap Nico Hamburger is a Canadian Music Centre Associate Composer; President and CEO, Orange Music Inc., a Vancouver music production company; Member of the Board of Directors of City Opera Vancouver (2010-2020); and in 2019 was named Mécénat Musica’s Composer in Residence.

Alexa Raine-Wright – Platti: Flute Sonatas, Op. 3 (2019) [FLAC 24bit, 88,2 kHz]

Alexa Raine-Wright – Platti: Flute Sonatas, Op. 3 (2019) [FLAC 24bit, 88,2 kHz]

Known for her spirited and luminous sound, Baroque flute player Alexa Raine-Wright shares her eloquent interpretations with audiences across North America in solo, chamber and orchestral performances. This debut solo recording brings to light a collection of rarely heard works by Giovanni Benedetto Platti (1697–1763), a composer with one foot planted firmly in the Baroque, and the other foot pointed toward the Classical style. Equally at ease on the Baroque flute and recorder, American/Canadian Alexa Raine-Wright has shared her passion and talent for early music with audiences across the United States and Canada in solo, chamber and orchestral performances. Winner of several national and international competitions, Alexa was awarded the $10,000 Devonna & Amos Gerber Grand Prize as well as the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra Prize at the 2016 Indianapolis International Baroque Competition. ?Alexa is a founding member of the ensemble Infusion Baroque, winner of the Grand Prize and Audience Prize in the 2014 Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition in Chicago. She is also a member of the celebrated recorder quartet Flûte Alors!, Canada’s only recorder quartet.