‘There is a fire in the brain, in the mind, which comes from the universal fire that makes solar systems and galaxies, asteroid belts and comets, huge orbiting spirals, circles, loops that bend back on themselves in giant symmetries and stream out across millions of miles in giant asymmetries. What we humans call music is the perfect expression of this utterly fantastic image.’ George Rochberg’s extraordinary statement perfectly characterises the contrasts between order and chaos, symmetry and asymmetry, development and repetition of his immense and symmetrical Circles of Fire for piano duo.

Naxos’s acclaimed series of William Schuman’s symphonies concludes with his powerful and at times playful Eighth Symphony, in which the great American composer takes full advantage of the diverse instrumental colors available from a very large orchestra, including two harps, piano, and batteries of brass, wind and percussion instruments. The introspective Night Journey is based on Schuman’s score for Martha Graham’s ballet about Jocasta’s tragic destiny as both mother and wife of Oedipus, while his arrangement of Ives’s popular Variations on ‘America’, again rich in percussion, combines reverence and exuberance.

Bearing all the hallmarks of Herzog’s eccentric and original talent, this atmospheric documentary tells the chilling story of the sixteenth-century composer Don Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, one embracing sexual excess, ghastly murder and obsession. Filmed on location in Italy, it explores both his musical legacy and the extraordinary influence his tormented life has continued to exert on some of those who lives have crossed his past.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Audio Commentary by Werner Herzog LIVE RECORDING FROM THE ZURICH OPERA HOUSE

Leading baritone and dramatic interpreter of his generation, Gerald Finley is an artist who sets alight the stage and delights the ear, whatever the role he portrays. 

On this his first arias disc, and first for Opera in English, he explores a broad range of repertory: old favourites, hidden treasures and roles which he himself has created, among them J.Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’s Doctor Atomic and Harry Heegan in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie.

The exceptional and unaffected Martha Argerich gives here a spellbinding performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto. The rapport between Argerich and Chailly underlines the whole work, and heartfelt applause sparks a charming encore: ‘‘Vom fremden Ländern und Menschen’’. Demonstrating so clearly the beauty of film, this production allows us to witness in close-up the dexterity of some of the finest musicians in the world. But this is Schumann’s evening: marking the 150th anniversary of his death, this concert was given in 2006, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig completing their homage to him with a committed performance of his Fourth Symphony.

Never performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra before, and rarely heard in concert at all, the Requiem by Antonín Dvořák captured on this CD from a live concert seems a near-forgotten masterpiece. Dvořák scholar Gervase Hughes cites this work for four soloists, chorus and orchestra as one of the composer’s finest sacred creations, ‘a deeply moving expression of faith on the part of a composer whose religious conviction never wavered’. It’s a conviction stamped through the composer’s illuminating, fervent score.

The carefully chosen Latin fragments from ancient Pompeii graffiti inscriptions form a fresco of the society of 2000 years ago and of today; since ancient times, graffiti has been used as a tool for free expression of social or political criticism. GRAFFITI also contains references to Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, as well as to the music of Bartók and Puccini. However, GRAFFITI carries the individual sound of Magnus Lindberg, who has always been recognized as a great master of the orchestral sound, and who now has proves to be a master of choral music.

Commissioned to celebrate the marriage of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and Marie-Thérèse of Spain, the original production of Cavalli’s Ercole amante was, at the time, the grandest show ever performed in Europe. DNO’s contemporary, hilarious and surreal production, directed by David Alden, is a triumph of opera buffa, a riot of decoration and symbolism complemented by Constance Hoffman’s exceptional costumes. Luca Pisaroni’s Ercole is heroic and melodious in turn, Veronica Cangemi is a splendid Iole, and the Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera and Concerto Köln give a sublime performance under Ivor Bolton, a master of baroque music. An outstanding production, filmed in High Definition and surround sound.