August’s New Releases
28/8/2025
Xavier de Maistre — Händel
Multi-award-winning harpist Xavier de Maistre dedicates his new album to one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era: Georg Friedrich Händel. Entitled Händel, the album released on 29 August by Sony Classical, in collaboration with the Festival Strings Lucerne ensemble.
Joe Hisaishi Conducts
Japanese composer, conductor and pianist Joe Hisaishi releases his new album Joe Hisaishi Conducts. The project documents a concert given at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall on 31 July 2024. There, Hisaishi performed his own The End of the World suite as well as his friend and colleague Steve Reich’s The Desert Music.
Inspired by a visit to New York City in 2007, Hisaishi composed The End of the World as a three-movement suite that explores the chaos resulting from the collapse of global order in the aftermath of 9/11. By 2015, Hisaishi had transformed the suite into a five-movement work. Reich’s Desert Music was inspired by three American deserts with historical and personal significance.
For the concert, Hisaishi was joined by Future Orchestra Classics, an orchestra of young players that was established by Hisaishi himself as part of his mission to share his love of classical music with new audiences. The recording further includes The Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo and, in The End of the World, soloist soprano Ella Taylor. The album is available digitally.
Matilda Lloyd — Radiant Dawn
Matilda Lloyd joins forces with acclaimed vocal ensemble The Gesualdo Six for their new album Radiant Dawn, released on 1 August 2025 by Hyperion Records and is supported by a series of pre-release singles and a full suite of digital assets. Curated by Owain Park, the album showcases a luminous blend of sacred and contemporary repertoire, including works by James McMillan, Alec Roth, Roxanna Panufnik, Judith Bingham, Thomas Tallis and Robert White.
“Central to the project have been Owain Park (ensemble conductor, composer, performer) and Matilda Lloyd, trumpeter extraordinaire.” *****
— BBC Music Magazine, August 2025
Hartmann, Sadikova, Ravel – Conducted by Kent Nagano
Farao Classics announces the release of a new recording featuring violinist Rebekka Hartmann with the Rachmaninoff International Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano. The programme includes works by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (Concerto funebre), Aziza Sadikova (Stradivari), and Maurice Ravel (Tzigane). The album will be available from 12 September in digipak format.
On a Clear Day – A Contemporary Oratorio with Jan Vogler and Kent Nagano
Sean Shepherd’s oratorio On a Clear Day is now available via CAvi Music and Deutsche Grammophon. The recording features cellist Jan Vogler and conductor Kent Nagano with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, youth choirs from Germany and New York, and text by Ulla Hahn. The work explores themes of humanism and cultural exchange through a combination of orchestral, choral, and solo cello writing.
