C L ASSIC AL A UDI O BIS AS DREAMS BIS JAKOB LINDBERG ITALIAN LUTE VIRTUOSI OF THE RENAISSANCE BIS-2139 | 7318599921396 1 Hybrid SACD | SRP US $21.99 CA $26.99 COMPOSER: Alfred Janson • Helmut Lachenmann • Per Norgard • Kaija Saariaho • Iannis Xenakis ARTIST: Det Norske Solistkor • Oslo Sinfonietta • Grete Pedersen (conductor) BIS-2202 | 7318599922027 1 Hybrid SACD | SRP US $21.99 CA $26.99 COMPOSER: Marco dall’Aquila • Alberto da Mantova • Francesco da Milano • The lute flourished for more than five hundred years, until its decline towards the end of the eighteenth century, and for large parts of that time it was the most important instrument in all of Western music. • Some of the most exciting developments took place in the 1500’s, including the first instances of printed lute music as well as changes to the instrument itself. • On this release, Jakob Lindberg, one of the great lutenists of our time, pays tribute to three colleagues from 600 years ago: Francesco da Milano, Marco dall’Aquila and Alberto da Mantova. • The works that make up this adventurous release are all, to quote Shakespeare, “such stuff as dreams are made on”. • In various ways these recordings refer to night and dreams, to the distant past or to an uncertain future. With composers from Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany and Greece, and texts ranging from fragments of ancient Assyrian and Sumerian and 8th-century Wessobrunner Prayer to many other places, the concept of “here and now” become blurred and dreamlike. ARTIST: Jakob Lindberg (six-course lute) BIS FAURÉ, DEBUSSY & RAVEL BIS FRANZ SCHREKER APRÈS UN RÊVE ORCHESTRAL MUSIC FROM THE OPERAS BIS-2183 | 7318599921839 1 Hybrid SACD | SRP US $21.99 CA $26.99 COMPOSER: Claude Debussy • Gabriel Fauré • Maurice Ravel • Towards the end of the 19th century, France saw a renaissance for chamber music, perpetuated not by popular demand but by the composers themselves. An early response to SaintSaëns’ initiative came from a former student, Gabriel Fauré, who completed his Violin Sonata in A Major and gave it the opus number 13, making it the first instrumental work in his official work list. • Franz Schreker became regarded as one of the most eminent composers of his time. His operas with their symbolist, often erotic subjects and their sumptuous sonorities were triumphantly successful and he was regarded as one of the most prominent representatives of “New Music”. • From the 1930’s and onwards, an almost complete oblivion descended on his music, however, and it is only during the past few years that it is being heard with any frequency again. BIS-2212 | 7318599922126 1 Hybrid SACD | SRP US $21.99 CA $26.99 COMPOSER: Franz Schreker ARTIST: Christian Svarfvar (violin) • Roland Pöntinen (piano) ARTIST: Royal Swedish Orchestra • Lawrence Renes (conductor) 25 NAXOS OF AMERICA | NAXOS OF CANADA | NEW RELEASE GUIDE