Obwohl beide Meister denselben Text verwenden, unterscheiden sich die Vertonungen sowohl in ihrer Art als auch in ihrer Form erheblich. Während Haydns Melodien den Inhalt mit einem Augenzwinkern und viel Feinsinnigkeit präsentieren, lädt Holzers Stück vor Lebensfreude und Musikalität sprühend zum Mittanzen ein. Joseph Haydns Lieder umfassen ein breites musikalisches Spektrum und sind für die Entwicklung der Gattung von unschätzbarem Wert: Sie stellen einen entscheidenden Beitrag zur Weiterentwicklung des Wiener Liedes bis hin zu Franz Schubert dar. Wie bei vielen Wiener Charakteristika vermischen sich verschiedenste Stilmittel: volkstümliche Elemente, Merkmale des Singspielliedes und des norddeutschen Liedes werden unter dem zusätzlichen Einfluss der italienischen Arie zu einer völlig neuen Musikgattung geformt. Die Verbindung zum neunzehnten Jahrhundert wird durch französische Lieder hergestellt, die erstmals 1810 von dem italienischen Gitarrenvirtuosen Mauro Giuliani in Wien ausgegeben wurden. Für dieses Projekt wurde ein historisches Streichinstrument gewählt, um ein noch größeres Gefühl der Intimität zu erzeugen.

After Bach's Goldberg Variations, which won him worldwide honours (including a "Diapason d'Or"), Hannes Minnaar challenges and confronts what has become a "classic" of the 20th century repertoire: Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues, composed in 1951. Here again, the qualities of his pianism, for which he is recognised as one of the leading musicians of our time, come under the spotlight: the diversity of touch and the suppleness between tension and tranquillity to characterise every Prelude and Fugue, the precision of tone, the lack of any affectation, a natural finesse in phrasing and articulation, and a familiarity with the score going hand in hand with a freshness that conjures a sense of improvisation. Here we encounter a new landmark in the crowded field of interpretations of this wonderful music.

The continuing growth of Maik Krahl as a melodic improviser, bandleader, and composer is distinctly evident in this new release. In-Between Flow, Krahl's third outing as leader, is a portrait of a young artist who has gone through many years of dedicated hard work, study, experimentation, and refinement in order to achieve this level of instrumental and artistic prowess. Krahl belongs to a new generation of improvisers who have acquired a breadth of technical and theoretical facility, while not losing the spontaneity and rawness of this music we call jazz. As a bandleader, for this date he is joined on a few tracks by the visionary guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, whose brilliant playing adds a cherry on top of this already delicious line up.

This album can be seen as an autobiographical story. It is a reflection of Julija Hartig's Yugoslav and Dutch identity described in 10 pieces by 8 composers. All of these pieces have their unique musical language and way of expressing thoughts and feelings. From pure honest most tender love to the unearthly sounds in search of answers. Some of them speak about deep sorrow of loss, passionate greed for love and life, brutally distorted decomposed beauty or simply pure wild untamed joy. One thing that is common to all of them is that they were written or arranged for Julija Hartig with a deep understanding of her way of playing which is always intense, honest and expressive. She loves them all like my children and enjoy watching them grow. In addition to the selection of already composed music from 1990 on, three new works were written for her, especially as a part of this project.

This recording of Mozart chamber music can be listened to as a pleasant private concert "en famille". The choice of the works is dictated solely by the specific instruments played by the three family members: violin, viola and keyboard. This is not a usual instrumentation in the chamber music repertoire, yet it is this combination that has given rise to a pleasantly varied programme - thanks to Mozart's inexhaustible genius!

Quite often, a work becomes a journey of discovery towards a certain origin, translated into sound. Martin, Mansurian and Dvořák composed three such colourful works for piano trio – voyages of discovery taken here by the Delta Piano Trio through scintillating sound worlds. When an Irish-American benefactor asked him to write a work based on Irish folk songs, Martin grasped this as an exquisite opportunity to combine two of the quests occupying him at the time – music from distant cultures and rhythm. His Trio sur des mélodies populaires irlandaises (1925) is a complex, mature and multi-layered score.

Chimes of Freedom, Lynne Arriales 15th album as a leader, was recorded in Belgium for release by Challenge Records International. Lynne is joined by renowned musicians, Dutch bassist/co-producer Jasper Somsen, drummer, E.J. Strickland, and guest vocalist, K.J. Denhert.

Chiara Pancaldi is a passionate italian jazz singer. Performing live in clubs and festivals in Italy and aborad: Umbria Jazz, London Jazz Festival, CrossRoads Jazz Festival, Sunset Sunside Jazz Club, Jazzkeller Jazz Club, Porgy and Bess, Unterfahrt, Teatro Giordano, Ancona Jazz Festival, Bologna Jazz Festival, Muze, Torrione Jazz Club, Alexander Plaz Jazz Club, Cantina Bentivoglio Jazz Club, Orsara Jazz Festival, Paradiso Jazz Festival, and many more.

After more than 30 concerts and many excellent reviews about their first trio albums "Tales From The Unexpected" and "European Trio", the Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi and the Dutch double bassist Jasper Somsen recorded their third trio album with the Catalan drummer Jorge Rossy: "Common View".

Changing Shapes is Lorenzo Vitolo’s debut recording project whose songs were written during different moments of his musical and artistic growth. The thread that links these compositions is the continuous change of shapes and notes, of spaces and times, of thoughts and feelings. The project was realized in a trio line-up of musicians with whom Lorenzo had already collaborated for different concerts in their home town of Groningen in the Netherlands. This trio has found a great unity, despite the geographical distances and the different musical backgrounds of each musician. Lorenzo Vitolo has a background of classical music and jazz studies, re-emerging in his compositions and performances.