Composition / Contemporary

Works for and with cello by Wolfgang Rihm, 1969 to 1993, including Grat for solo cello and first recordings of duomonolog and Streichtrio op. 9, played by Friedrich Gauwerky with Alexandra Greffin-Klein, Axel Porath and Florian Uhlig, recorded in Cologne in 2021.

First recordings of Enno Poppe's Fleisch for tenor saxophone, electric guitar, keyboard and drumset, played by Ensemble Nikel, and Prozession for large ensemble (2015-2020), played by Ensemble Musikfabrik conducted by the composer.

Four contemporary saxophone concertos by Péter Eötvös, Georg Friedrich Haas, Vykintas Baltakas and Johannes Maria Staud, all premiered by soloist Marcus Weiss, with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, Teodoro Anzellotti and Windkraft Tirol. A WDR production.

Aribert Reimann's first opera Ein Traumspiel after Strindberg, live at Theater Hof on 17 March 2018 (Franziska Rabl, Hofer Symphoniker, Walter E. Gugerbauer), with the Rilke melodrama Denn Bleiben ist nirgends (Martin Engler, DSO Berlin, Manuel Nawri).

Hans Werner Henze's orchestral works and concertos on four CDs, played by the NDR Sinfonieorchester under Peter Ruzicka, the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Oliver Knussen with Anssi Karttunen, and Daniele Roccato with the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese; volume 2 of Wergo's Henze Edition.

The ten symphonies of Hans Werner Henze (1947-2000), including the choral Ninth after Anna Seghers, played by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Rundfunkchor Berlin under Marek Janowski, recorded 2008-2014; first box of Wergo's Henze centenary Edition.

Amen Feizabadi's chamber opera Deep Siesta, on a libretto by Dilek Mayatürk about two artificial beings, with Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and Zafraan Ensemble conducted by Yalda Zamani, plus AI voices and electronics. A Deutschlandfunk Kultur coproduction.

Portrait CD of Eloain Lovis Hübner: crunch modes 1.0 and 3.0, [untitled] and Trauma und Zwischenraum 1-3, played by Schallfeld Ensemble, Spółdzielnia Muzyczna, AuditivVokal Dresden, airborne extended, the Arditti Quartet and Lange//Berweck//Lorenz.

Portrait album of Misha Cvijović: nine works from full orchestra to minimoog and tape, played by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Enno Poppe, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Sebastian Berweck and the Trio Splitsignals Berlin.

Portrait CD of Yongbom Lee: five works for ensembles, sampler and electronics, played by Ensemble Modern, IEMA Ensemble and ensemble recherche, Broken Frames Syndicate and the cellist Kyubin Hwang, recorded in Frankfurt (2023) and Cologne (2024).

Portrait CD of Turgut Erçetin: five works including the cycle Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern for Baroque ensemble and orchestra, played by Ensemble Musikfabrik, the ELISION Ensemble and the SWR Symphonieorchester under Brad Lubman.

Portrait CD of Benjamin Scheuer: Impulsive Lieder, Sprachmaschine, Vier Attrappen, Regal and Lachtherapie, performed by Andreas Fischer and ensemble, Vanessa Porter, Schola Heidelberg under Walter Nußbaum, ensemble risonanze erranti and Nikolai Rosenberg.

Portrait CD of the Iranian composer Elnaz Seyedi: five works for duo, trio and ensemble, played by the Zöllner-Roche Duo, Alice Belugou and David Eggert, Trio Aventure, Ensemble Musikfabrik and the Kommas Ensemble, plus two online videos.

Portrait CD of the Iranian-born composer Farzia Fallah: five works from solo violin to nonet, played by Benedikt Bindewald, the guitar duo Henrik Dewes and Tobias Klich, Sonar Quartett, Ensemble DEHIO and Ensemble Aventure.

Portrait CD of Marko Nikodijević: three orchestral works, Absolutio, Abgesang with soprano Anna Sohn and da ispravitsja with organist Jakub Sawicki, played by the hr-Sinfonieorchester and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Jonathan Stockhammer and Vladimir Jurowski.

Portrait CD of Jonah Haven: six chamber and ensemble works, played by Wolftone, Ensemble Proton Bern under Gregor Mayrhofer, ensemble recherche, Trio Catch and Duo XAMP.

Portrait CD of the Uruguayan-born composer Vladimir Guicheff Bogacz: four works for trio and ensemble, played by Ensemble Musikfabrik, Trio Catch, Ensemble Aventure under Nicholas Reed and Kollektiv3:6Koeln. Mostly first recordings.

Portrait CD of Genoël von Lilienstern: Voz Comercial, Couture, Big Picture and Top, with Johanna Vargas, Soetkin Elbers, Ensemble Garage, the SWR Symphonieorchester under Ilan Volkov and Ensemble Interface.

Portrait CD of Sergej Maingardt: Rush for orchestra, ensemble and electronics, Flower's silence in empty guns for piano, electronics and Wii sensors, and Declare Independence, with the Bundesjugendorchester under Lothar Zagrosek, Paulo Álvares and Ensemble electronic ID.

Eight electronic works by Ludger Brümmer on two CDs, made with granular synthesis and the physical-modelling software GENESIS and produced for up to 42 channels; a ZKM Karlsruhe production in Edition ZKM, 2022.

Four works written for Trio Accanto by Beat Furrer, Brice Pauset, Misato Mochizuki and Rebecca Saunders, recorded in 2024 by Marcus Weiss, Nicolas Hodges and Christian Dierstein, a WDR production.

Allan Nilles of the Berliner Philharmoniker on viola and Tom Schneider on sampler, recorded in the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie: every sound starts from or returns to a single viola.

Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica play Georgs Pelēcis' title concerto, written for Kremer, Andrius Žlabys' Kaleidoscope of Lost Time and two works by Arvo Pärt, Passacaglia and Darf ich.

Originally released in 2006, Mount A is Hildur Guðnadóttir’s debut solo album. Recorded alone with her cello and released under the pseudonym “Lost in Hildurness”, it marked the beginning of a deeply personal body of work created as a space to “hear my own thoughts”. Twenty years later, its music continues to resonate, inspiring new orchestral reinterpretations on This Will Be Us. This edition also marks the album’s first-ever release on vinyl.

Portrait of Bengt Hambræus, no. 20 of the Caprice Composers Series: Rota II for multi-channel loudspeakers, made from processed bells and organ, the orchestral Ricordanza and Symphonia Sacra for choir, winds and percussion.

Concert recording from the Berwald Hall in Stockholm by KammarensembleN under B. Tommy Andersson: works by Xenakis, Boulez, Grisey, Eric Tanguy and Varèse played by soloists from the Stockholm orchestras.

Second album by The Peärls Before Swïne Experience, a live set of new pieces by David Lang, Annie Gosfield, Anders Hillborg, Tristan Murail and others, with the audience sounds between works reworked by Sten Hanson.

Debut of the Swedish quartet The Peärls Before Swïne Experience: short commissioned pieces of five or six minutes by Nordic and European composers, contemporary music presented in a concert form close to pop.

Kroumata, Omnibus and the Falu wind quintet play Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques, Anders Eliasson’s Sotto il Segno del Sole for triple brass ensemble and five percussionists, and Karl-Birger Blomdahl’s Chamber Concerto.

Two groups that commissioned much of their own repertoire, the Kroumata Percussion Ensemble and the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, meet in works by Sofia Gubaidulina and Anders Nilsson, with pieces by Hans Kox and Miklós Maros.

Sonanza, the Stockholm ensemble for new music, with guitarist Göran Söllscher: Anders Nilsson’s Divertimento, George Crumb’s Eleven Echoes of Autumn, Anders Eliasson’s Fogliame and Daniel Börtz’s Ett porträtt.

The Swedish ensemble Sonanza plays Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Anders Nilsson’s Reflections, written in its wake, and Magnus Lindberg’s Ur for five musicians, live electronics and two Macintosh computers.

The first album of the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, with Iwa Sörenson and Boel Adler: Swedish works written for the group by Henrik Strindberg, Arne Mellnäs, Göran Gamstorp, Sven-Erik Bäck, Anders Eliasson and Jan W Morthenson.

Music from the Fools Trilogy of Nya Kulturkvartetten (Jan Bark, Fuzzy, Thord Norman, Folke Rabe), the Swedish inter-media group of 1983-1997: specially built instruments, live playing and pre-recorded electronic sounds.

Live concert by Ensemble SON, the Swedish quartet of Jörgen Pettersson, Magnus Andersson, Jonny Axelsson and Ivo Nilsson, with Barry Guy as guest: music by Richard Barrett, Barry Guy and Roger Doyle where strict notation meets free improvisation.

Almost Starlight is the extraordinary new album by Jem Finer (hurdy-gurdy) and John Matthias (violin). Produced by Jay Auborn and recorded in a Medieval Church, deep in the Devon countryside, in the Summer of 2025, the music is suffused with light, heat and the natural acoustics of the space. The album defies categorisation; forced to pigeon hole it the nearest approximation would be ‘modern-classical’ but this ignores its myriad influences and explorations which encompass inspiration from Arvo …

A canon for three bassoons inspired by Hilma af Klint's 1915 Altarpieces: multiphonics, beating dissonances and whistle tones, between Scelsi, Radigue and Sunn O))). Produced by Randall Dunn.

Iris ter Schiphorst’s music combines political awareness with poetic power, sensual sonority and formal radicalism. In honour of her diverse oeuvre, the Zafraan Ensemble has released a selection of musical collaborations created for her anniversary on vinyl. A particular highlight is the recording of “Hyper-Dub” with Dirk von Lowtzow, frontman of the band Tocotronic, featuring his intense and timeless text about Berlin. Recorded at the Sendesaal Bremen, the Bonello Studios Berlin and the Nikolai…

Five world premiere recordings of orchestral works by Mexican composers Hilda Paredes, Ana Lara, Andrea Chamizo, Marcela Rodríguez and Georgina Derbez, with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Scott Yoo.

Two first recordings of John Cage's Scottish Circus (1990) with the Scottish traditional group The Whistlebinkies, plus indoor and outdoor versions of 4'33" for ensemble, recorded at Inverleith House in Edinburgh on DVD with bonus interviews.