Orlando Records

Fondo Barocco – Baroque Cello Sonatas (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 48 kHz]

February 3, 2024 0 Comment

Starting in Italy in the middle of the 17th century, the cello enjoyed increasing popularity throughout Europe. The instrument experienced its first heyday in the first half of the 18th century. At that time it had just established itself as a solo instrument, and consequently music was enthusiastically written for it. A number of gifted composers of this time were cellists themselves, three of them are presented in the present album; the fourth of our composers was an oboist.

Hi-Res FLAC

Eric Lamb – Icons 2 (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 88,2 kHz]

January 13, 2024 0 Comment

“ICONS 2” is the follow-up collection to my 2017 “ICONS” recording (OR0030). Like the first collection, the pieces included here are corner stones of the flute repertoire and are works that accompany me through my performance and teaching career. For this album, I have focused on six composers from various moments in the 20th and 21st centuries whose diverse musical language, artistic vision and fearlessness helped and help shape today’s musical landscape. These six composers are led in by one of the most important names in Western Classical music history: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

Hi-Res FLAC

Emerald Ghost – Copland & Galante: Song Cycles (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

January 12, 2024 0 Comment

The vocal/piano duo Emerald Ghost was formed in 2019 in Bern, Switzerland, and comprises the British soprano Lucy De Butts and the Italian pianist Giovanna Gatto.

“The reviews were so bad, that I decided I must have written a better cycle than I had realized” remarked Aaron Copland wryly to his friend and fellow composer Leonard Bernstein following the first performance of Twelve Poems for Emily Dickinson in 1950. It did not take long for attitudes towards the song cycle to change. William Flanagan argued in 1952 that it was “probably the most important single contribution toward an American song literature that we have to date.”

Hi-Res FLAC

Ana Topalovic, Nikola Djoric – Arcord: Inspired by Songs & Dances (2016) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 2, 2023 0 Comment

Inspired by songs and dances is full of the musical sophistication and playfulness which comes from two instrumentalists keen to experiment. Their opposing instruments lend a new tonal quality and emotional range to well-known pieces. The cello, whose sound most resembles the human voice, brings a new dimension to the interpretation of the arias. While Nikola Djoric brings hefty pieces such as Beethoven’s 7 Variations to life, his concert accordion playing the piano’s role. The dances and songs on the album are not just inspiration for the two artists. Instead they are given a sound revival by Ana Topalovic and Nikola Djoric – refreshing and self-assured.